Sabres Announce Jeremiah Crowe as Director of Scouting

[dudacek]

More from Adams in the Buffalo News

https://buffalonews.com/news/jeremiah-crowe-jason-nightingale-to-lead-sabres-new-approach-to-scouting/article_e209d896-b72e-11ea-ae8c-3fecd4c47fc6.html

We are going through the process of really looking at how we can do things more efficiently and effectively,” Adams told The Buffalo News. “One of the areas we really are looking at is our scouting system. To be honest, we want to be a little more progressive in getting away from the traditional pro and amateur scouting. We want to build more of a scouting staff. Everybody will have different roles and responsibilities and how we lay that out.

“Where I see this overall is we have talented scouts that do more than just what traditionally has been done, where you just have an amateur scout and you just have a pro scout.”

[French Collection]

9 minutes ago, dudacek said:

More from Adams in the Buffalo News

https://buffalonews.com/news/jeremiah-crowe-jason-nightingale-to-lead-sabres-new-approach-to-scouting/article_e209d896-b72e-11ea-ae8c-3fecd4c47fc6.html

We are going through the process of really looking at how we can do things more efficiently and effectively,” Adams told The Buffalo News. “One of the areas we really are looking at is our scouting system. To be honest, we want to be a little more progressive in getting away from the traditional pro and amateur scouting. We want to build more of a scouting staff. Everybody will have different roles and responsibilities and how we lay that out.

“Where I see this overall is we have talented scouts that do more than just what traditionally has been done, where you just have an amateur scout and you just have a pro scout.”

Interesting thought, a scout is a scout....

Do you think there may be interest in Judd Brackett as an AGM? Do you know if he was analytics savvy from your BC intel?

[dudacek]

And another really good piece in the News on Rick Dudley and the Carolina model, which sounds a heckuvalot like what Adams is preaching. Pretty hard to ignore the Canes as the league’s top Moneypuck operation in recent years.

https://buffalonews.com/news/rick-dudleys-hybrid-scouting-model-in-carolina-could-be-option-for-sabres/article_8023a4cb-b40b-53ec-b835-ccf13cb0cd3a.html

"It’s proven to have the ability to gather a lot of knowledge and it’s unquestionably less expensive,"  Dudley said weeks before the Sabres' mass firings. "You cut out a lot of travel. The beauty of the video, of course, is when the general manager expresses interest in a player and wants a player, and he calls me about that, then I can call all of our pro scouts and have them watch that player without actually being in attendance. The people (on our staff) that have actually watched the player live have an advantage, but not exclusively.

"I think the hybrid style is probably the best you can do, where somebody watches games on video but also sees them live a few times

Edited June 26, 2020 by dudacek

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Interesting thought, a scout is a scout....

Do you think there may be interest in Judd Brackett as an AGM? Do you know if he was analytics savvy from your BC intel?

I don’t know about Brackett and analytics. The talk was about him taking on the role Crowe was just hired for, or a similar position in Seattle.

[Marvin]

17 minutes ago, dudacek said:

More from Adams in the Buffalo News

https://buffalonews.com/news/jeremiah-crowe-jason-nightingale-to-lead-sabres-new-approach-to-scouting/article_e209d896-b72e-11ea-ae8c-3fecd4c47fc6.html

We are going through the process of really looking at how we can do things more efficiently and effectively,” Adams told The Buffalo News. “One of the areas we really are looking at is our scouting system. To be honest, we want to be a little more progressive in getting away from the traditional pro and amateur scouting. We want to build more of a scouting staff. Everybody will have different roles and responsibilities and how we lay that out.

“Where I see this overall is we have talented scouts that do more than just what traditionally has been done, where you just have an amateur scout and you just have a pro scout.”

Waitaminnit, waitaminnit, waitaminnit.  Doesn't this sound a lot like what BTG thought with video scouting, except that maybe the Sabres took it too far?

[French Collection]

8 minutes ago, dudacek said:

And another really good piece in the News on Rick Dudley and the Carolina model, which sounds a heckuvalot like what Adams is preaching. Pretty hard to ignore the Canes as the league’s top Moneypuck operation in recent years.

https://buffalonews.com/news/rick-dudleys-hybrid-scouting-model-in-carolina-could-be-option-for-sabres/article_8023a4cb-b40b-53ec-b835-ccf13cb0cd3a.html

"It’s proven to have the ability to gather a lot of knowledge and it’s unquestionably less expensive,"  Dudley said weeks before the Sabres' mass firings. "You cut out a lot of travel. The beauty of the video, of course, is when the general manager expresses interest in a player and wants a player, and he calls me about that, then I can call all of our pro scouts and have them watch that player without actually being in attendance. The people (on our staff) that have actually watched the player live have an advantage, but not exclusively.

"I think the hybrid style is probably the best you can do, where somebody watches games on video but also sees them live a few times

Yeah, why shoehorn a scout to the pro or amateur side. A scout watching the Flames game can catch a few WHL games on the same trip and watch video of a Swiss league guy during his down time.

The GM will get more opinions on the same player. This approach is growing on me.

[Randall Flagg]

I feel like the stuff these guys are saying about analytics are dreams come true for a bunch of Sabre fan nerds (I mean that in a loving way) 

I hope they can parlay it into acquiring good hockey players

[Cascade Youth]

My buddy and I have a running text chain going back over a year where we make up names of guys who probably worked on building the Erie Canal.  Jeremiah Crowe will be this week’s entry for me!

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Waitaminnit, waitaminnit, waitaminnit.  Doesn't this sound a lot like what BTG thought with video scouting, except that maybe the Sabres took it too far?

I'm not sure anyone knows how far they took it. Darce was always very tight lipped and proprietary about it.

[darksabre]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I'm not sure anyone knows how far they took it. Darce was always very tight lipped and proprietary about it.

I think it's probably a reach to even try to compare what video scouting means now to what the Sabres might have been doing back then. Even if they were trying to accomplish the same goals, the difference in available technology and theory now makes it a whole different animal. 

[Curt]

I’m feeling pretty great about the structure that Buffalo’s scouting department is taking on.

I don’t know if the individuals are good at their job, but I think they’ve got the right idea.

[nfreeman]

31 minutes ago, Curt said:

I’m feeling pretty great about the structure that Buffalo’s scouting department is taking on.

I don’t know if the individuals are good at their job, but I think they’ve got the right idea.

The idea is intriguing to be sure, and I think they’ll get enough resources as we get closer to when more bodies are needed and available.

They just need at long last to execute well.  

[kas23]

I don’t think Crowe is a person we should dismiss with a “who”. The guy sounds like he has a head on his shoulders. 
 

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/jeremiah-crowe-looking-forward-to-new-role-as-sabres-new-director-of-scouting/c-317268304

 

...he spent two seasons with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, where he served as assistant director of player personnel in 2015-16 before being promoted to director of player personnel for the 2016-17 season.

Seventeen players that Crowe helped recruit and develop at the USNTDP were selected in the 2019 NHL Draft, a record number for the program. Eight players were drafted in the first round.

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

So it looks like it's going to be analytics for the future. Not the way I'd go but I guess we will see. 

My own view is that analytics are a tool and just part of the equation. Should be more of a 1/3 1/3 1/3 type of thing, as in analytics, what you see on the ice first hand, and lastly the experience/gut of your scouts and how they assess personalities, potential etc.  Relying too much on analytics imo is a recipe for failure. 

[dudacek]

14 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

So it looks like it's going to be analytics for the future. Not the way I'd go but I guess we will see. 

My own view is that analytics are a tool and just part of the equation. Should be more of a 1/3 1/3 1/3 type of thing, as in analytics, what you see on the ice first hand, and lastly the experience/gut of your scouts and how they assess personalities, potential etc.  Relying too much on analytics imo is a recipe for failure. 

I think if you read through some of the links, you will see Adams is pretty much on the same page.

He just wants his entire department to rely on all areas, rather than have specialists fixating on each.

[French Collection]

Wow, live NHL event, I’m having a snack and a drink.

Let’s go Buffalo!

[Huckleberry]

Just glad Adams appears to have some sort of plan.

[Andrew Amerk]

I’m still hoping they have a spot for Tre White after all the fine work he’s done with the goaltending academy. 

[inkman]

5 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Waitaminnit, waitaminnit, waitaminnit.  Doesn't this sound a lot like what BTG thought with video scouting, except that maybe the Sabres took it too far?

What is a BTG?

[Andrew Amerk]

4 minutes ago, inkman said:

What is a BTG?

Bill Theodore Gates 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

I think if you read through some of the links, you will see Adams is pretty much on the same page.

He just wants his entire department to rely on all areas, rather than have specialists fixating on each.

Maybe, but I read it differently. I saw it more as spin on hiring less people and thus having the same guy do multiple things. Specialists are specialists for a reason. Presumably they focus on and know their specialty. Really I just see this department travelling less, seeing players less and relying more on correlating data from behind their screens in the office. Cheaper, but also less informed and more reliant on the data than the experience. 

[Brawndo]

Friedman did have an interview with Crowe and he mentioned that some outside help was coming to the organization 

[French Collection]

Well, they have the draft board compiled by JBot and his gang as a starting point.

They have tons of time to review video, crunch data, interview people and brainstorm together to tweak the list.

They may even be able to poach someone from another organization for added opinion. I believe many contracts end in July.

[dudacek]

26 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Well, they have the draft board compiled by JBot and his gang as a starting point.

They have tons of time to review video, crunch data, interview people and brainstorm together to tweak the list.

They may even be able to poach someone from another organization for added opinion. I believe many contracts end in July.

Yes. June 30.

Some guys are getting short-term extensions, but many expect to see a ton of guys not getting their contracts renewed as teams across the league cut costs.

[nfreeman]

I’d expect that KA has a list of guys he is watching as to whether they become available after June 30.