Hakan Andersson, a true fisherman's tale

On November 16 & 17, the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the 2023 NHL Global Series. To commemorate this historic event and pay tribute to Detroit's Swedish connection, each week leading up to the Global Series, we will feature a Swedish Red Wings story in our series, 'How Swede It Is' presented by JP Wiser's. Each story is a testament to the dedication and resolve between the players and the Red Wings to build upon and maintain a tradition of excellence between Swedish hockey and the Red Wings. We begin our series with Hakan Andersson, the Red Wings Director of European Scouting.

In 1989, Detroit Red Wings general manager Jim Devellano was facing a potential crisis in his scouting department.

Neil Smith, Detroit's head scout, left the Wings to become general manager of the New York Rangers and in the process, offered a job to Detroit's chief scout in Europe, Christer Rockstrom, who accepted.

"I really wanted to retain Christer very badly, almost to the point that I got down on my knees to beg him to stay, but he was really tied in with Neil," Devellano said. "He went to the Rangers. So now what do I do? I need a good man in Europe, in Sweden, and Christer was probably the best at that time.

"So before he left for the Rangers, I said, 'Christer, you're going to be a hard person to replace. I don't know whether I can trust you with this request, but could you recommend us to somebody that could take your place?'"

Devellano was aware of the risk involved in what he was asking, especially in the competitive NHL. Rockstrom could have recommended just about anyone, but his recommendation was sincere and continues to have a positive impact on the Red Wings to this day.

Rockstrom told Devellano, "I have a young guy that I fish with in the summertime, he's a cab driver in the winter and he comes to all the junior games with me, and he played junior hockey in Sweden, and he knows players and he sat with me, and I told him what I look for. I think you should give him a chance." Devellano replied, "Well, who's that?" Rockstrom said, "He's about 23-24 years old, his name is Hakan Andersson."

There were a few drawbacks to Andersson, with the most glaring being he was never a scout before, but he was a former player and Rockstrom's friend. Still, Devellano was hesitant and needed a bit more information before he would turn over Detroit's European scouting branch to an inexperienced fisherman.

So Devellano decided to send his assistant general manager, Nick Polano, to Sweden to scout games with Rockstrom and Andersson. However, Polano was not there to scout players, he was there to scout Andersson and report back to Devellano if he thought Andersson was the man for the job.

"Nick called me from Sweden after about three games," Devellano said. "He said, 'Jimmy, he's a nice young guy, he seems to know, he wants to learn, he's enthusiastic, his work ethic will be good. Why don't you let me put him on a one-year trial?' I said, 'I love it. I love it.' So, we signed him for one year on a trial basis. Well, it's 2023, he's still with us. So that's the story of how Hakan arrived with the Detroit Red Wings." Andersson's relationship with Rockstrom certainly opened the door for him in Detroit and as much as he was looking forward to becoming a scout, he was a little uneasy until Rockstrom reassured him the Red Wings would offer him support and time to learn.

"I had never scouted in my life, but I played until I was 18," Andersson said. "We had mandatory military service, and I had a knee operation. I stopped playing after that, but I had friends who played so I was watching hockey and talking a lot of English too, because I was doing the fishing guide (job) in the summer. There was quite a bit of North Americans fishing. I knew Christer was a part-time coach at the time. Christer actually told me, he said, 'Kenny Holland, I know Kenny, he's a really good guy. He's going to help you along.' But I had never scouted before I got the job with Detroit.

"For the first two or three years, Kenny was really good, he helped me along. We had a lot of conversations. There was a lot more draft picks back then. There was 12 rounds or something. So you were looking for more players. One of the things that we talked about was maybe taking a flier on some of the European players in the later rounds because he wasn't always happy with the late-round names that came from North America."

Some of Andersson's late round European "flier picks" turned out to have long and distinguished Red Wings careers. Tomas Holmstrom (257th overall,1994), Pavel Datsyuk (171st overall, 1998), Henrik Zetterberg (210th overall, 1999) and Jonathan Ericsson (291st overall, 2002). Despite his prowess to unearth late-round gems, Andersson admits it didn't happen overnight. It took him several years to gain the confidence to not second guess himself.

"After three or four years, I started thinking, I think I know this. Then there were a couple more years where you realized, 'Geez, am I off on some of these players?' That was really humbling," he said. "I can't tell you for sure, but I bet you it must have probably taken me 10-plus years before I really felt that I could stick with my opinion and know that I had a little bit of an eye."

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill worked with Andersson in Detroit's front office from 1994 until April 2013. Among Nill's responsibilities with the Red Wings was Director of Amateur Scouting, which included running the NHL Entry Draft.

Nill revealed Andersson has a knack as a storyteller and one of his stories he enjoys sharing with Nill, is about Nill, when he was still playing for the Red Wings. It was one of Andersson's first training camps and it was Nill's last training camp. Every time he saw Nill on the ice, Andersson would blurt out, "What's that old guy out there for?" After he relayed the story, Nill smiled and said, "He was right, we always get a chuckle (out of it)."

But Nill saw something in Andersson's ability to hone in on a players skill set which, if developed, could translate well into the NHL.

"A real passion for the game. He had a good feel," Nill said to describe Andersson as a scout. "There are certain attributes when you watch for scouting. Some people like size, some like skating. Hakan loved hockey sense. He loves guys that have good skills and good hockey sense. But he had a good way of projecting.

"The toughest part with scouting is we can watch Connor McDavid when he's 18 and say he's going to be a star, it's finding the Henrik Zetterberg's, the Pavel Datsyuk's, when they're underdeveloped, they're 18 years old, they can't skate good enough, but you got a feeling about them that that (skating) can get better, that's where he was good. He had a great way of projecting who he thought had a chance of playing because their weaknesses, he thought they could become strengths down the road. And he loved the hockey sense."

Andersson is reluctant is pat himself on the back. He is quick to offer praise and thanks to Devellano, Holland, Nill, Kris Draper and Steve Yzerman. He realizes it's a team effort and open communication along with trust have been keys to his success because his approach to scouting might be a little unorthodox.

"I think I look at it a little different. I look at a player and try to figure out what he can be," Andersson said. "On a team, there's so many different types of players. If you just look for smart players, if you don't care about speed, for example, you now have a certain kind of team or compete level. I look at every player and try to see, does this guy have any attributes that fit in the NHL, may it be compete, skill, smarts, whatever. So that's more how I look at it."

Scouting has changed over the years with the evolution of hockey analytics, and though Andersson sees the benefits to analytics, he still hasn't abandoned his old-school ways.

"I think the eye test is by far the most important, including the gut feeling when the season is over and I have gathered info about a player," Andersson said. "This is because they play at different levels. How do you compare the Czech junior league to the Swedish Hockey League or the Western Hockey League, stats wise?

"But we have Soupy Campbell (Bryan Campbell, Director of Statistical Analysis and Hockey Administration) at the office, and he provides some good stats, both from earlier drafts and also if you ask him, he can provide certain stats from the different leagues, so, (analytics are) coming into our scouting more these days."

Looking at some of Detroit's recent European draft picks (Jonatan Berggren in 2018. Moritz Seider and Elmer Soderblom in 2019, Lucas Raymond and William Wallinder in 2020, Simon Edvinsson in 2021, Marco Kasper in 2022 and Axel Sandin Pellikka in 2023), it's apparent that Andersson's assessment carries a lot of weight with Draper and Yzerman.

When Draper began overseeing the Red Wings' draft in 2020, he wanted to expand Andersson's duties to include three trips per year to North America because he wanted Andersson to see top-end North American talent. Andersson was all for it because it all comes down to building the Red Wings into an elite team competing for Stanley Cups.

"Sometimes I go in some kind of work mode where I just (feel), 'I'm hired to find players, I must get to work and find players. I want to win. I want the Red Wings to win. I don't care really about the passport,'" Andersson said.

Perhaps Devellano's summation of Andersson is all you need to know about the profound impact the former fishing guide has had on the Red Wings.

"All I had to do, all Kenny had to do and now all Steve has to do is when Hakan tells us about a player, we draft him, and we sign him. That's it. The rest is all Hakan," Devellano said bluntly.

It's not a bad endorsement for a man who might be a better fishing guide than he is a scout.

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