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About This Page: This is a discussion on News within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. Originally Posted by LoyalRoyalW/chs
Simmonds is in the Gold group. I'm sure KingsPawn will have a write up on him when he posts his Gold group notes.
Thanks for the
Like everyone else here, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You King'sPawn. Your more valuable to us Kings fans than anyone the local print media's sports departments have to offer. And that's, dabatabley, including Hammond. I'm sure with all the passion and hard work that you show here on LGK, you'll realize your goal of becomming a professional scout.
LOL, thank you, and that's nice of you to say, but I'm sure if Hammond weren't on vacation, he'd have a lot more than what I have. It was just the way things turned out that people REALLY wanted news, and the guy they usually lean on was on vacation.
Quote:
Question: Is the format you used in your summary for the players evals something you came up with or something you picked up from Lombardi in the few years you've picked his brain?
It's concise, yet very thorough and well organized. In getting to know a little about DL's way of thinking thru all the info on LGK, it would seem to be a method that DL and his scouts would use in their evals of prospects. Just curious.
Thank you, I thought it up myself, essentially. I pretty much detailed all my interaction with DL in this thread already, so no, he didn't tell me how to format it. I have read a few different scouting service publications (McKeen's, Future Considerations, ISS), and tried picking out things that I liked and things that were practical. For example, I like the rating system of ISS, but it wasn't a practical tool for my limited experience, when you have up to 35 guys on the ice you're using as a relative comparison.
Like I said, this development camp was for me as well as the players; At this point, I wanted to detail the thought process and experiences when watching these guys, hence why I have "pre camp thoughts" and "first impressions." I wanted those very brief, because I didn't want them to be confused with the actual evaluations.
The "development" section needs a lot of work, because there are facets of the game I still need to pick up on and notice. Like board battles and face-offs (as was brought up). They're things that people see, but don't notice, know what I mean? I completely overlooked them.
And finally, with the "If they make the NHL" bit, it's something I like from Future Considerations, when their draft guide has potential roles for their top players. As a fan, the evaluations mean nothing unless you can imagine some type of role or fit for them, especially on the Kings. It's also my fall back on my evaluations; if people think I'm ranting and raving about a player, they might assume I feel he's locked in for a top line role. Similarly, if he's not very talented, people assume he sucks and needs to be traded, without realizing that even the Red Wings didn't have 4 forward lines and 3 defensive pairs of hall-of-famers.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. I'll start working on some of the evals now, but won't be done until late tonight. I've been away from family all week, so they may actually be happy to see me again and want to spend time with me
And yes, Simmonds was part of the Gold Group.
__________________ It's a gift, and a curse. - Monk
Anyway, sorry for the rant. I'll start working on some of the evals now, but won't be done until late tonight. I've been away from family all week, so they may actually be happy to see me again and want to spend time with me
KP, I was gonna give you a call right now but I think I'll leave you to your important work. Oh, and your family.
You won't believe this, but I saved all those pages, and one time when I brought up my browser, every bookmarked page was gone! Do you happen to have those sites still?
No. All those old pages fall off into the bit bucket. That's why you have to save the HTML files (& subfolders) individually on the hard drive.
In a nutshell:
1) As much as we all appreciate your diligence in Kings fandom, hanging around Lombardi like a lost puppy isn't going to do anything to advance your goal of becoming a scout.
2) If you're going to hang around the Kings training facility for Prospect Camp, the Rookie Tournament (do they still have these?), or Training Camp, you need to identify the scouts ..... and pick their brains, not DL's.
3) If I remember right, you have no playing experience, thus no obvious track record that you really know hockey intimately (outside of buzzwords that any diligent fan can familiarize themselves with). That means you have to start at the bottom. That means being an unpaid bird-dog scout for some hockey customer (the WHL, BCHL, USHL, America West HL, etc., or individual teams therein) who has little or no eyeballs on a market they could pull real talent from (California Bantam & Midget AAA teams). These teams/leagues need to identify players who have a lot of potential, but can't afford to be on the kind of travel team that gets visibility by going outside California every weekend (LA Selects, LA Jr Kings). "Who's good in So. California but isn't at the Mac tournament in their 15th & 16th years?" That's what they need to know. Forget about the NHL, this is where you need to start (as unglamorous as hanging around dingy old California rinks may be).
4) When Detroit rolls through LA next year, check out their Hotel and the times they practice at TSC, and see if you can 'bump into' Jimmy Devallano. He never played hockey, but worked his way up to becoming part of the braintrusts that built the early-80's NY Islanders dynasty and the Red Wings recent 4-cups-in-11-years squads.
__________________ "Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another -- their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun."
-- Atlas Shrugged
Note: I don't suggest that you do a google images search with the terms "jock itch." That was a bad idea.
Why do I get the feeling that lots of people will do exactly that? I think it's the same instinct that makes you sniff after someone says "Oh my God, this must have gone bad, it smells awful!! Here, smell it."
__________________ Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.
Why do I get the feeling that lots of people will do exactly that? I think it's the same instinct that makes you sniff after someone says "Oh my God, this must have gone bad, it smells awful!! Here, smell it."
Bear in mind I only saw two "drill" days for the Gold group specifically, and one of them I was late. I'm a lot less confident with these than the purple group.
Drew Bagnall Pre-camp thoughts: Top Manchester D-man next year? Initial Observations: Wants the job Development: Bagnall is one of those players I didn't want to read about, simply because I was getting such mixed reviews that if I predisposed myself to one of those observations, I'd gravitate toward the wrong one. Overall, though, Bagnall just showing up is reflecting what Dean was saying about some kids appreciating the chance they're getting and he was taking a bit of a leadership role among the d-men.
He skates very well and makes smart plays with the puck, and he's one of the better one-on-one d-men, especially from this group. He needs to keep his head up more to evaluate his options, and one breakout pass Kompon wasn't happy with how he wasn't looking, and said, "Bags! Come on!" He won't shy away from physical contact, but he's not a physical defenseman.
When he's on the ice, he communicates well with his teammates. He motions to his partner who to cover, and stays with his man. He quarterbacked the powerplay during the special teams scrimmage quite well, and while he wasn't the catalyst of any goals, it was at least serviceable while under his watch. If he makes the NHL, he'll be: #3, 4, 5, 6 d-man. He could be a top d-man on a bad team (or a team that's not NHL caliber). He will do whatever role is asked of him, but down the road, I just don't think his skills and style fit in with a top pairing d-man.
Marc-Andre Cliche Pre-camp thoughts: To hell with pre-camp thoughts, I just want to have initial observations Initial Observations: Just came out of nowhere. Development: Cliche was one of those players I wanted to see, but didn't know what to expect. I was watching him skate for the first time around the ice, before actual drills. He wasn't skating hard, so I really didn't know what to expect. Suddenly, he had to do skating drills, and I saw just how fast this kid is.
His acceleration is probably the top of this camp class. If he were a car, he'd go from 0 to 60 in 2.6 strides. His shot, like his skating, can come out of nowhere. He doesn't have a bullet, but there are times I was watching him shoot that I thought he'd never make one in, then he suddenly surprises the goalie with a good shot. In other words, he's inconsistent.
He's not a flashy player by any means. He can control the puck, but he lacks the creativity to do anything to wow the crowd. Not necessarily a bad thing. If he makes the NHL, he'll be: 2nd or 3rd liner. He looked a lot like Eric Belanger before he had a down year; gets going quickly, good speed, and has the work ethic to be good defensively. Might be a bit more gritty. Not good enough to be a good first liner, and having him as a 4th liner would only be acceptable if you're running 3 scoring lines.
Winsomemore
