Scouting Department Changes Announced

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Crowe ran last year's draft.

Sounds like Adams has come to the proper conclusion dat one man can't oversee both the amateur and pro scouting departments.

Also sounds like he handed the gig to the most senior guy in-house (it was him or Kevin Devine) rather than hunt for the most qualified person for the job.

Forton struck me more as a schmoozer than a bird-dog even before @brawndo offered more of his excellent info.

As always, I've got limited insight and will judge him on results. But dis is not promising.

Forton being involved with the draft as long as he has been has me concerned. They have not drafted well and he is clearly a voice in dat room making these bad decisions. 

[dudacek]

23 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Forton being involved with the draft as long as he has been has me concerned. They have not drafted well and he is clearly a voice in dat room making these bad decisions. 

Let's take a closer look at Crowe as well.

Previously under Adams he was the director of both pro and amateur scouting. Prior to that, he was a pro scout for three years under Botterill, and he worked for the USNDTP before that.

He had to have had some voice in this off-season's acquisitions of Hall, Staal, Eakin, Rieder, Irwin and Davidson.

He may have had some voice in the acquisition of these Sabres: Skinner, Johansson, Berglund, Sobotka, Sheary, Vesey, Frolik, Lazar, Simmonds, Kahun, Elie, Montour, Miller, Hutton, Jokiharju and Thompson.

Honest question: I wonder how he has demonstrated the keen eye for talent that earned him this important post?

[Thorner]

I wish they would just bring in real, outside talent. It’s not freaking rocket science 

It’s always internal promotion and shuffling. 

Even a simple AGM hire when most teams have multiple can’t get finalized 

[klos1963]

On 3/26/2021 at 6:09 AM, Gatorman0519 said:

I’ve said it before, Darcy was an absolute genius compared to the clown show. I’d take him back at this point. He got us to the conference finals 3 times and Cup finals once. At least we were competitive. 

And he did it with a criminal family in charge and then with Golisano, who wasn't going to be a free spender.  Also, when the NHL was running the team. He really did a great job.  Things didn't end well, but do they ever?

[Gatorman0519]

Just now, klos1963 said:

And he did it with a criminal family in charge and then with Golisano, who wasn't going to be a free spender.  Also, when the NHL was running the team. He really did a great job.  Things didn't end well, but do they ever?

In hindsight he did a phenomenal job 

[Brawndo]

On 3/26/2021 at 9:35 AM, LGR4GM said:

So is he the reason dat they picked Oscari Laaksonen over David Farrance in the 3rd round? 

Forton prefers College Players, That’s His Area of Expertise, so I imagine that’s More a Botts Move 

[tom webster]

59 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Forton prefers College Players, That’s His Area of Expertise, so I imagine that’s More a Botts Move 

As I have said before, even though Botts had taken over, it was still Tim Murray's staff and his rating system put an emphasis on high ceiling/ high risk picks after the top half of the first round, hence the Laaksonen pick, which despite LGRM's protestations, is still to be determined.

The irony of his system, if he used it throughout the draft, he would have chosen Draissaitl over Sam.

Edited April 8, 2021 by tom webster

[dudacek]

Wasn't the 2017 draft the only one headed by Jeff Crisp?

If I remember correctly he took the reins when Greg Royce was fired along with Murray and Jankowski didn't step in until after the draft?

We've signed our final four picks from that year (UPL, Laaksonen, Bryson, and Weissbach), which is pretty unusual.

Other 2 picks are Casey, and 2nd-rounder Marcus Davidsson, who we have until June to sign, and is looking like a bust.

[Brawndo]

15 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Wasn't the 2017 draft the only one headed by Jeff Crisp?

If I remember correctly he took the reins when Greg Royce was fired along with Murray and Jankowski didn't step in until after the draft?

We've signed our final four picks from that year (UPL, Laaksonen, Bryson, and Weissbach), which is pretty unusual.

Other 2 picks are Casey, and 2nd-rounder Marcus Davidsson, who we have until June to sign, and is looking like a bust.

Not sure, Elite Prospects has Crisp listed as Head Scout for the 2017 Draft and then became Director of Scouting for 2018 and 2019

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Not sure, Elite Prospects has Crisp listed as Head Scout for the 2017 Draft and then became Director of Scouting for 2018 and 2019

Yeah, that fits. Crisp was the senior guy when Royce was fired so he took over. Botts brought Jankowski to be director of amateur scouting over Crisp after the draft.

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/sabres-hire-director-of-amateur-scouting/c-290336526

Jankowski is the scouting director for the Coyotes now, while Crisp is a scout with the Kraken after each was fired in the Botterill bloodbath last June.

[Thorner]

4 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Forton prefers College Players, That’s His Area of Expertise, so I imagine that’s More a Botts Move 

And now he's Head of Amateur scouting. Does anyone still doubt we'll be mostly avoiding the CHL in later rounds? The scouting department is specifically configured to doing so currently. 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Thorny

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

And now he's Head of Amateur scouting. Does anyone still doubt we'll be mostly avoiding the CHL in later rounds? The scouting department is specifically configured to doing so currently. 

Not specific to your question, but is it not true that there has tended to be more hits from college and Europe in the late rounds than CHL players?

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Not specific to your question, but is it not true that there has tended to be more hits from college and Europe in the late rounds than CHL players?

League wide? I'm not sure. Like I said, my mission here isn't to prove it's bad just that it's likely happening by design still. That's my guess anyways. 

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

Not specific to your question, but is it not true that there has tended to be more hits from college and Europe in the late rounds than CHL players?

Not sure what you mean by late rounds exactly but I think for a long time euro players slid. Not the case these days. 

As for college, very few players play in college during their draft year so that number is low regardless. 

[Brawndo]

The times they are a changing

 

https://twitter.com/isshockey/status/1440015720079896580?s=21

[Flashsabre]

59 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

The times they are a changing

 

https://twitter.com/isshockey/status/1440015720079896580?s=21

Terry planning to move the Sabres to Moscow confirmed. High level talks with Putin.😜😁