From the Front Office: A Q&A with the Kraken’s Scouting Directors 

Robert Kron, Director of Amateur Scouting

What can you share about the amateur scouting meetings a couple of weeks ago? What were they all about and what was the goal of that time together for you?

Yes, we've concluded our meetings, and they were very productive. Everybody came prepared...we have a great staff here and the goal of the meeting is pretty much to see what is out there in terms of (draft-eligible) players and how they are developing into the list that we will put together as we go. We get to hear from everybody from all the regions and we're still digesting (all of that information) to get us ready for the second half of the season.

Are these meetings a time for discussion about players? Is this a time when rankings maybe do start to come about even broadly? What is the spectrum of conversations you have?

Yes, we have discussions. Throughout the year, we do run a weekly Zoom call, and every (other) week, (we’re talking to either) North American scouts or European scouts, so we try to stay on top of things as we go.

But (these mid-season meetings) are very important for everybody to get into one room and submit their midseason lists and put all of that together and start to organize our organization list into priorities, so to speak. So yes, it was very important to talk to everybody and hear their voice about the players that they do have on their list and then have the ability to start getting (our) list together going forward.

You've been part of a lot of Draft preparation and Drafts, can you give our readers an idea of how much you expect things might change on your list between now and draft day? How close is your list to being complete, or are we nowhere near close?

No, we're nowhere close (laughs). We have a general idea, but we're going to the second half of the season and it's important for us, especially for what we refer to as our “crossover scouts” that oversee the whole list to have the ability to productively and effectively schedule themselves to see the top players live in the rink. The list is coming together, but this is a long season. These players obviously might take a trend one way or the other. But now we are set up for the second half to kind of have a general idea and knowledge of where we need to deploy resources and maybe dig deeper.

What is the value of being able to just get everyone in one room? You can obviously use Zoom, and everyone's all over the world, but how valuable is it to have people face to face?

To me, I don't think you can replace the face-to-face personal interaction and having everybody included. We work (together in the same) room and we also get to have a bit of social contact after the meetings - it's irreplaceable. It was something that was missing during the COVID years - we were productive, but it's really hard conducting everything on the Zoom screen, in my opinion. It is very important for us to get together and have that face-to-face interaction for sure.

Obviously, when you look on the pro side, the trade deadline is coming up they have that milestone but is there something about this time of year that makes it important for you to get together in person at this specific time?

You know, our scouts do such hard work. They are on the road most of their week, pretty much. So, they deserve to be in one room with the management and that way the appreciation for what they do can be expressed to them. Also, behind closed doors when you have people not arguing but discussing players and the ups and downs of their performance throughout the year, it’s a good midpoint check for everybody to do that and It's best done in person.

And to that point, when your meetings conclude, what is the directive that you give to your scouts and to your team to continue through to get ready for the Draft?

Well, nothing changes much. We are at the midpoint (of the season) so we continue with the work that we do. We delegate and trust our scouts. They have specialty areas because they have the knowledge in their particular area about the players that they need to double check on or make sure that what they've seen so far is still correct or if the players are developing or going the other way.

Now they have the ability to look at their schedules and productively put their time to good use. There's a lot of players they should go through and not all of them will end up on our list so, we're going to try to see how we can manage the (final) list into a manageable number that is ready to go at the Draft.

Is there anything that you want to make sure we share?

I just really want to express my appreciation for the people who work for us and do this on a daily basis. You know, they're away from their families, but they love what they do, and for them to be recognized and have a say is very important for our group.

Dave Baseggio, Director of Pro Scouting

Your whole team came to Seattle last week for a series of meetings. What is this time about for you?

The biggest thing here for this week (it's a little bit shorter than end-of-season meetings), is we do a brief summary of the seasons that the other (NHL) teams are having, (and we have the information) if anyone has any questions on any of the teams. If and when Ron (Francis) speaks to another team, he'll have something in front of him and something in memory to speak to them about.

Everyone on our scouting staff has priority teams. So we came to Seattle to present to Ron and the other staff what we're seeing with each team in the NHL: their strengths, their weaknesses, and our opinions on specific players. We also start our preliminary free agent list for players to watch for the rest of the season, and we start to put that in order of priority so to speak.

What can you share about the process? Do scouts get up and present on a team? Is it more of a discussion? How does it work?

The individual scout whose priority team it is will present that team. There's usually questions afterward about how this person is playing, and how another person is playing, and then we move on and go through the 31 teams. The R&D team will also present on the team and any notable players.

On the amateur side, there can be a certain number of viewings we want for a specific player. You’re scouting a different level of the game, how many different people do you have with eyes on each team?

Every scout has their own priority teams, and it can be seven to eight or nine teams total. I have five myself. But (assistant general manager) Jason Botterill goes around to see games, as do so many other members of our staff. We have eyes all over the place.

For the most part, we expect there should by now be about ten viewings on each team, including the minor league teams. That gives us a good grasp of who's playing well, who's not playing well, who's not being used, and maybe who can help us and that's predominately what we're looking for.

This time of year, obviously, the goal is to have the front office be prepared for the trade deadline, but how do you pick this time of year for your meetings? You want to be close enough to the deadline but not too close and not too far away?

Our job is to help Ron be prepared for any conversation he is having with teams leading up to the Deadline. At this time of the year, we’ve had enough viewings to have an understanding of where teams are and what their priorities may be.

What is the discussion like in these meetings? Is this more of a presentation? Is there debate maybe over the value of a player or where a team might be?

The debates usually start with the free agent list and the rankings. It’s about “why do you have so and so ahead of so and so?” “What do you like about him?” “Why do you have him higher?” Then we go from there. It's all healthy debates. It's great. We work with our R&D group as well. We have a list that’s analytically driven along with our eyes and ears list, and we talk about why they like some players better than we do and what they see and it's a great discussion. Ultimately, this allows us to come up with a better picture of the player.

Your team of scouts is all over the place all the time. Is there value for you just to be able to be together in the room for a couple of days?

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's nice. You know, we have Zooms and I see the guys one-on-one when we're around, but to have everyone together…we have great discussions and some of the best discussions are sometimes not even in the meeting rooms - it's on the car rides to and from. We talk about things and it's really good to hear what's going on from the other scouts and understand what they're seeing. It's also great for us to come in and see our team play too because we watch obviously a lot on TV and whenever we can, but just to see it in person and to see the coaching staff and Ron and the management team in person…to hear from them is also a big plus.

Is there anything else that I haven't asked you that's important to share about your team or the work you do this time of year?

I think it's just a process. Our job is to know the rest of the league. And we go about our business and try to know every team in the league as best as we can and every player in the league as best as we can. We try to help our group make the best decisions moving forward and when you break it down, that's basically what we do. I think it's a great process. Our entire staff with R&D and our pro staff…I think we've been able to come up with the best possible solutions for our team.

This transcript was lightly edited for brevity and clarity

READ | Part 1: A Q&A with Ron Francis

READ | Part 3: A Q&A with Dave Hakstol

READ | Part 4: A Q&A with Ricky Olczyk