Allan in MD Posted March 7, 2007 Report Posted March 7, 2007 Anyone notice the bit in the new Hockey News Futures Watch issue (p. 27) about the Sabres' highly problematic new approach to scouting players? The HN does not appear real impressed with the road the team is going down. The real concern, in my mind and as mentioned in the article, is that it will take years to determine if dumping people like Don Luce was a good move or not.
Rock DJ Posted March 7, 2007 Report Posted March 7, 2007 Anyone notice the bit in the new Hockey News Futures Watch issue (p. 27) about the Sabres' highly problematic new approach to scouting players? The HN does not appear real impressed with the road the team is going down. The real concern, in my mind and as mentioned in the article, is that it will take years to determine if dumping people like Don Luce was a good move or not. There was a big story on this a few months back, being the team to go into a "new unproven territory". I understand they did it for a cost cutting effort, thinking they won't lose quality. But to me, until it's proven, don't fix what ain't broke. We had a proven high quality system with high quality people. Watch us along with Philly in the next few years and see how each does in the upcoming drafts/trades. That will tell it all.
Bmwolf21 Posted March 7, 2007 Report Posted March 7, 2007 Does anyone have a link to the story? I can't find it on the THN website...
Taro T Posted March 7, 2007 Report Posted March 7, 2007 There was a big story on this a few months back, being the team to go into a "new unproven territory". I understand they did it for a cost cutting effort, thinking they won't lose quality. But to me, until it's proven, don't fix what ain't broke. We had a proven high quality system with high quality people. Watch us along with Philly in the next few years and see how each does in the upcoming drafts/trades. That will tell it all. I'm pretty certain the reason they did it is, while all teams are locked into spending comparably on players, the big revenue teams now have a LOT more cash on hand and can afford to pay more for things like front office than mid to low revenue teams. While I don't know if the plan will be successful or not (I'm hoping it will be but am by no means convinced it will be), by reducing the # of scouts the team needs/uses they are attempting to level the playing field (if they only need 2/3's the scouts and have a flatter org chart than other teams do then they SHOULD be able to pay each scout comparably to what the TO's, Fillys, Strangers, and Detroits pay and should be able to get and retain high quality scouts. You are very correct that the results will let us know if they are moving in the right direction or not. I won't hold my breath waiting for it to happen, but hopefully when the next CBA is worked out either revenue sharing is increased to put teams on an even more level playing field or (assuming it doesn't violate US or Canadian antitrust statutes) teams get a spending range on front office personnel that they can't exceed either. Either would give the Sabres a better chance to continue this "golden era" we have entered post lockout.
inkman Posted March 7, 2007 Report Posted March 7, 2007 Given the success rate of ANY player drafted, I can see why a cost cutting move was made.
Rock DJ Posted March 7, 2007 Report Posted March 7, 2007 Given the success rate of ANY player drafted, I can see why a cost cutting move was made. It's true that a lot of it is a crap shoot, but with the current team, you can't deny that Luce and company did a phenomenal job the past few years.
Allan in MD Posted March 7, 2007 Author Report Posted March 7, 2007 Video isn't going to help you with the human factor, i.e. how intelligent does the guy appear to be, how he relates, perspectives, preferences, etc. Hopefully, you use the video to locate prospects, than you visit with them to address the intangilbles. If you are going to go strictly with the video, you are going to lose. The other question is how good your video evaluators are. When you dump to competent scouts, who is evaluating the video besides Darcy? We really don't know enough about how the Sabres intend to proceed, in this regard. Hopefully, they will be smart about it.
shrader Posted March 7, 2007 Report Posted March 7, 2007 It's true that a lot of it is a crap shoot, but with the current team, you can't deny that Luce and company did a phenomenal job the past few years. Years from now we'll look back on the 2004 draft. If that's one of the last one's Luce had most of the control over, he did one hell of a job.
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