-Binghamton fell 4-2 to Norfolk last night in a game I was unable to watch. Each team had more than 40 shots on goal which suggests defense was not particularly strong either way; Binghamton fell behind 2-0 and 4-1, so on paper were never in the game. Bishop took the loss, while Benoit and Wiercioch scored; Wiercioch lead the way at +2.
-Part two of Bruce Garrioch’s discussion with Pierre Dorion about scouting is up with some more interesting comments:
Scouts don’t rate every player they see but after every game they do grade the ones they are following closely. Players are given a mark from as low as one to as high as seven. All members of the scouting staff are required to give grades nightly. “It’s the most important thing because we are paid to give an opinion, we are paid to rate players and you have to say on a night-in/night-out basis, ‘This is what I think a guy will be and this is why that guy is that number,’ ” Dorion said. “That’s what we think. It does change. We could see someone (in October) that we think will be a top-three-line player, then we realize (in March) he’s a fourth-line role player. It’s a process of getting to know a player for the year.” Once the ratings are in, Dorion keeps a close eye because he is responsible for pro and amateur matters. If a rating has changed, he will circle back to the scout to ask why. He speaks to all the club’s scouts at least once weekly.
“If you polled 10 guys who were scouting any game and looked at their reports, you could have guys seeing things 10 different ways,” Dorion said. “It comes back to the fact it’s not an exact science. “Certain things can help a player become a player, but you also have to understand there are intangibles. Who knows if a guy just broke up with his girlfriend before the game, if a guy’s parents told him a week ago they were getting divorced or if his grandmother died? They play hockey for a living but they still have to live their life.” As one GM said: The best scouts are ones who can pick out the “little things that will make a difference.”
“As scouts we get attached to the players we drafted or we traded for,” he said. “You have to realize what a guy’s limits are. Sometimes we overrate our own players. Sometimes you have to understand, ‘This is what a guy is.’ “One of the things I told Bryan when I got hired is, ‘As a scout I’m going to make a mistake and we’re going to make mistakes.’ It’s my job to make sure we don’t make the same mistake twice whether it’s on a certain player or a different player.”
–Rick Emrith looks at five players in Binghamton that he projects will play in the NHL, but doesn’t offer any new insight on Robin Lehner, Mika Zibanejad, Jakob Silfverberg, Jared Cowen, or Mark Stone.
-Elmira lost 3-1 to Gwinnett last night, with Maxime Clermont taking the loss. Downing had a goal while Peltz and New were kept off the score sheet.
–Allan Muir wraps up the CHLPA story and after going through it adds the most pertinent point:
If nothing else, the CHLPA group succeeded in exposing a gaping flaw in the CHL’s education plan, a flaw that’s not going away even if there aren’t multiple Derek Clarkes to harp on it.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
Leave a comment
No comments yet.
eyeonthesens 
Leave a Reply