Scouting – McKeen's Hockey

Podcast: The Ice Sheet

Gus Katsaros and Ryan Wagman — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 15:04:33 +0000

Ryan and Gus conceptualize over rising above mediocrity and building a roster via a retool or rebuild, with the Vancouver Canucks as a practical example.

Oh .. and we offer a topical Movember story .

Enjoy.

Intro: Stevie Ray Vaughn - Voodoo Chile
Outro: Tea Party - Save Me

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Podcast: The Ice Sheet

Gus Katsaros and Ryan Wagman — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 04:17:38 +0000

It took three episodes, but we finally named the podcast: The Ice Sheet (Artwork pending - maybe?).

Topics in this one include some in depth looks at the Detroit Red Wings, caused by some of the furor over the decision to waive Martin Frk and Teemu Pulkinnen.

We also go into some of the Arizona Coyotes current state of affairs and ....

The curious case of Casey Mittelstadt

Enjoy.

Intro Music: Paul McCartney & Wings - Junior's Farm
Outro Music: Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run

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Podcast: Episode 2

Gus Katsaros and Ryan Wagman — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 02:17:58 +0000

Ryan and I recorded the second episode of the 'Podcast to be named later'.

We delve into such taboo topics right away to establish our own views on a subject that seems to plague so much online content and scouting reports and online fuel for deep ire, intangibles. Do they have a role to play in our player evaluation methods?

We touched on and expanded in detail about online perception when it comes to scouting/analytics and player evaluation methods, fueled by this quote provided by Bob McKenzie that made the rounds online Friday:

“The flip side of that is I never buy into – I think analytics are probably a really useful tool on a lot of different fronts. I don’t understand a lot of them as well as I should. But I try to. And I’m really open-minded on having more information as opposed to less information. But I’ve never really subscribed to the theory that – and you see this all of the time on Twitter from a lot of people over analytics – they talk about players like they’re garbage. They talk about them like they can’t even play."

Enjoy.

Intro Music: Kindergarten - Zeus
Outro Music: Tweeter and the Monkey Man - Headstones (covering the Traveling Wilburys).

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Podcast Debut: To Be Named Later

Gus Katsaros and Ryan Wagman — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 04:04:36 +0000

Filling the ever more saturating podcast market, Ryan Wagman and I will be putting together our thoughts in this podcast that has yet to be named - something we hope to rectify in the near future. There's no specific release schedule but hopefully we can pump out a weekly episode.

This isn't going to be a prospect podcast, there are others that will follow the draft eligible players and developmental league circuit, we don't want this to be about that. This is more about the art of prospecting

The concept behind this show is as a casual (stress, casual) blank canvas to allow us to discuss and expand on player evaluation process adding our own mix of philosophy and personal preferences, while going much more in depth on aspects of scouting.

This first episode is an introduction to ourselves some general scouting concepts and a loose NHL season preview. Some listeners may have questions they would like to have answered. I'm sure we'll get around to doing some of that too at some point.

Enjoy.

Intro Music: Yawning or Snarling - Tragically Hip
Outro Music: So Hard Done By - Tragically Hip

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Follow Gus Katsaros on Twitter (@Katshockey)

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Kats Krunch: Four S’s of Scouting

Gus Katsaros — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 16:31:03 +0000

First two-step acceleration and typically three live views.

Those are usual responses for the two most common elemental scouting questions I receive.

1 – What is the single most important important/identifiable skill?

2 – How many times do you need to see a player to get a good understanding of their skill level?

From a cold start – no previous live views (live is key here) – I qualify three live views as enough to place players into a model. Through video/television/online viewing, it requires a lot more to get a basic player breakdown, even as high as a dozen just to get base elements correct. Even for seasoned assessors, non-live views are tricky. There’s limited panning into the bench area to see coach’s approaches after a good/bad shift, along with body language and reaction, along with off screen developments among a variety of other concerns.

Why first two-step acceleration?

Pace and tempo are set by puck carriers (and passes), who control game flow, but players don’t control of the puck for long periods of time. Handling the puck can slow players down.

Without the puck, my basic concept of hockey at an individual player level is about creating separation offensively, or cutting down/eliminating space defensively. Players exhibiting superb first two-step acceleration (from a cold hard stop or cruising speed) have advantages over peers, especially if they can kick into higher gears when the play demands it.

The Four S’s of Scouting

Many of these subsets will bleed into more than one category – for instance, speed can be an item of skating, but it’s also a skill, the weighting between the two left to the assessor to determine – as long as a viable conclusion can be made. Shooting is a skill, but the ability to sense release points and locations can be an element of ‘Smarts’.

Some of these sub categories can be shuffled about, while they can remain as sub categories for multiple ‘S’ classifications.

These are not steadfast rules, only guidelines to be able to break down players.

The next stage (albeit with some subjectivity) is to produce assessment sheets that can track and assess player skills in views over time.

SKILLS

Discussing a skilled player has more components than typically described in these subsets. Skating qualifies as a special distinct skillset deserving its own detailed category, however, without a well-defined, high end skating ability, the skills below don’t take root and go unnoticed at peak ability. A soft skater doesn’t enhance elite skill levels, but it’s not entirely a hindrance either. An elite skater will enhance some skills elements, but not all.

stickhandling
quick hands
shot generation
quick, tricky release point
stick preparation (with and without the puck)
specialty moves
elusiveness
skating ability (expanded – See Skating)
balance and agility (see skating)
physicality and hitting ability
puck protection skills

SKATING

stride power
stride length
knees inside stride, or bow-legged
stop/starts
edges/edgework
dead-stop first step acceleration
in-motion first 2-step acceleration
cruising speed
cruising speed acceleration bursts
lateral and diagonal cuts
balance
agility
forwards/backwards distinction
transition from forward to backwards (and vice versa)
pivots
leg strength

SMARTS

I feel smarts is the most important ‘skill’. Smart players have the ability to adapt to ever changing in-game conditions, while off-ice intelligence is a boon for coaching staff and with other players understanding concepts. Off-ice behavior, character and maturity is difficult to ascertain from high up on a perch. On-ice determination of hockey sense (or smarts) are detected by assessing decision-making process during game play – a hindsight assessment, but there’s a relationship between the player’s decision-making and results of those decisions from game play.

positional play
transitional capability
inside the dots versus outside the dots mentality
risk assessment
play reading
play support
teammate support
proactive rather than reactive
teammate replacement (covering the point on a pinching defenseman as example)
replacement position within a system
freewheeling away from the system – and dropping back in formation
observational innovation – reading the play and being proactive on changes instead of reactive to the overall play
dead ending the play with the puck or skating into a dead end
pinching decisions
safe plays versus assessing offensive risks
playmaking without leaving your teammates in positions to regroup when abandoning formation
shift length
smart passing plays – no suicide passes, no difficult passes
simple enough plays so as not to confuse teammates or complicate flow of play
using linemates for space, passing options and outlets under pressure
finding quiet ice
stealth
finding and filling holes
losing checks
coachability
takes instruction from coaches on bench during stoppages, in practices and accepts critiques

SPEED

This is an often misunderstood element. When discussing speed, most likely defer to player speed, or skating speed. There’s an overlap to this subset, no doubt, but I’d refer to players skating speed under the skating categories.

This category is more specific to on-ice conditions and game play, with player elements of speed captured under the skating classification.

pace
urgency
skill deployment at varying speeds
setting the pace
varying pace/tempo
carrying gameplay tempo
forcing opposition to shift tempo for exploitation of skating/skills subset
tempo maintenance during transition from forwards to defense skating (also a skating subset)

Not every element will be represented in every scouting report. Players differ, that’s why they need separate reports. To make assessments, each element should be studied.

Scouting progression begins in basic skill assessment. As scouts get seasoned with experience with success and failures, more elemental characteristics blend together and develop into models.

Incorporating skills from each ‘S’ category in harmony becomes more rudimentary with more views. Judging potential in one area can improve/enhance other elemental skills e.g. improved skating to get to scoring areas to use lethal shot; balance and agility upgrades for transitions from forwards to backwards skating, pivots and directional shifts.

For now, here are your guidelines into creating a good scouting report.

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