On The Future Of Ottawa Senators Scouting

Behold the Ottawa Senators Scouting Organization,

My opinion on same after the jump.

European scout

Vaclav Burda is chief European scout, who puts on the most miles. According to LinkedIn, he’s an Independent Sports Professional, a consultant.

George Fargher

Amateur Scout

George Fargher is responsible for amateur scouting for western Canada.

Archie Henderson

Professional Scout

Archie played for the Washington Capitals, Minnesota North Stars, and Hartford Whalers. but spent most of his time in the AHL. Check out his fight with Bob Probert on Youtube. Archie scouts professional talent, at the NHL and AHL level. The likes of Matt Carkner arise from the work of Archie.

Bob Janecyk

Amateur Scout

Goalie scout. Born 1957. I still remember his time with the Kings.

Greg Royce

Amateur Scout

Covers the OHL, some WHL and QMJHL. A longtime scout for Phoenix. One of the younger North American scouts.

Trent Mann

Amateur Scout

Quebec League, primarily Maritimes.

Bob Lowes

Amateur Scout

Western Hockey League, primarily in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Occasionally European scouting. Relatively new.

Jim Clark

Professional Scout

Jim spent nine seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets organization. He’s likely one of the guys in the stands scouting CBJ folks.

Anders Forsberg

Amateur Scout

Via The Sens Forum:

“Bryan Murray, of course, was general manager of the Detroit Red Wings in the early 90s. During this time he worked with Detroit’s legendary European scout Hakan Andersson.

For those of you who don’t know who Hakan Andersson is, I must digress, he is one of the greatest, and certainly the most celebrated NHL amateur scout of all time. He is giving much or all of the credit for Detroit drafting Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Ville Leino, to name a few. I remember reading a story in a Sports Illustrated not too long ago about the 89 draft, when Andersson was just a no-name scout looking to make a name for himself and get into the business, he went the first two rounds trying to convince Jim Devallano to take a chance on a Swedish defenseman named Nicklas Lidstrom, but to no avail (this was back when drafting any European was considered high-risk). finally, by the third round, Andersson was practically begging Detroit’s GM and chief scout to pick him, and they finally did.

So during his time as GM, Bryan Murray developed a personal relationship with Andersson and they are still friends to this day. In early 2008, Andersson’s friend Anders Forsberg was looking for a job, Andersson and Forsberg worked together in Sweden for the past decade. So Andersson recommended to Murray to hire Forsberg.

In the 2008 draft Forsberg was instrumental in convincing Murray to draft Erik Karlsson in the first round and likely played a large part in the drafting of 2 more Swedes in that draft, Andre Petersson and Emil Sandin as well as two more Swedes in the 2009 draft, Jakob Silfverberg and Robin Lehner in the second round.”

Bill McCarthy

Amateur Scout

A part time scout, based in Minneapolis. Primarily US high schools in the upper midwest.

Lewis Mongelluzzo

Amateur Scout

NCAA recruiting.

Nick Polano

Professional Scout

Part time scout. Pushing 70.

Mikko Ruutu

Finnish Scout

Jarko’s older brother, now the Senator’s Finnish scout.

Above lies Bryan Murray’s legacy for the Ottawa Senators. He is building a scouting network of full and part timers in the mould of the Detroit Red Wings.

Hakan Andersson has been saying that Anders Forsberg is as good a scout as he (Andersson) ever was, if not better. Along with Mikko Ruutu they will form the core of scouting for the Ottawa Senators, with Burda increasingly in a support capacity.

The results speak for themselves, first in 2008:

5 Erik Karlsson Sweden
42 Patrick Wiercioch Canada
79 Zack Smith Canada
109 Andre Petersson Sweden
119 Derek Grant Canada
139 Mark Borowiecki Canada
199 Emil Sandin Sweden

Then in 2009:
9th, Jared Cowen, Canada
39 Jakob Silfverberg Sweden
46 Robin Lehner Sweden (from Columbus)
100 Chris Wideman United States
130 Mike Hoffman Canada
146 Jeff Costello United States (from Boston via Phoenix)
160 Corey Cowick Canada
190 Brad Peltz United States

In 2010:
76 Jakub Culek Czech Republic
106 Marcus Sorensen Sweden
178 Mark Stone Canada
196 Bryce Aneloski United States

For 2008 Karlsson is now a roster player, Zach Smith should be if cap space allowed, Patrick Wiercioch is likely one season away. Andre Petersson is tearing it up in the SEL. Of the Swedes only Emil Sandin is struggling.

Jared Cowen, Cory Cowick, and Robin Lehner will likely be NHL ready in 2011-2012.

Last year’s late pick, Marcus Sorensen, is scoring like mad in the SEL and may be NHL ready next year as well. Jakub Culek is struggling.

Of the eight recently drafted prospects (Karlsson, Smith, Weircioch, Petersson, Cowen, Cowick, Lehner, Sorensen) that have a real shot of being roster players next year four come from Sweden, and four come from Canada. None come from non-Scandinavian Europe. None come from the United States, although Weircioch, a BC player, played in the NCAA.

It points to a real find in scouting with Forsberg, but also real problems in Ottawa’s scouting outside of Scandinavia and Western Canada. Cowen and Smith are WHL players. Cory Cowick plays for the Ottawa 67′s, a local guy.

What it indicates is that many of our long time amateur scouts, Vaclav Burda in particular, may not be producing well enough. According to LinkedIn, Burda describes himself as ‘independent’, which is a very different model than Detriot’s tight scouting circle.

What might be needed is a tight scouting circle, with Forsberg in Europe coupled tightly with a prime North American scout.

Who should that be?  In my opinion, a newly retired GM named Bryan Murray, as Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations, aiding his nephew Tim in the same way Scotty Bowman advises his son Stan in Chicago.  In today’s NHL the Senators need a deep dedicated scouting network far more than they need a rock star GM, and a GM must be able to trust his scouts. In the future, one of those scouts will be Daniel Alfredsson.

The result is a long term combination that can finally get Bryan and Daniel’s names on a Stanley Cup. Perhaps not as coach or GM or player, but as members of a Senators organization with long term goals in mind.