The past 15 months have been some of the most challenging for NHL scouts, but if there is light at the end of the tunnel, it will be shining on North Texas for these next two weeks.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IIHF U18 Men's World Championship was moved from Michigan to Texas. The 10-team tournament will start Monday and have its gold-medal game on May 6. Games will be held in Frisco at Comerica Center and in Plano at Children's Health StarCenter. Fans can watch games in Frisco, while games in Plano will be limited to scouts only because of a lack of seating and the need to be compliant with COVID protocol.
Plus, the scouts are a pretty big deal.
This will be the last best chance for teams to assess talent before the 2021 NHL Draft on July 23 and 24, and it will be a reflection of just how much the industry has been affected by the pandemic. Some leagues have played, some leagues started and stopped, some haven't played at all.
Still, scouts have had to try to collect as much information as possible in order to be prepared when their number is announced.
"It's been a challenge for everyone," said Stars general manager Jim Nill. "It's just a lot to deal with for the players and for the scouts. It will be nice to have a little normalcy here, just seeing guys again for the first time in a year or so, so that does help just make us all feel better."
Joe McDonnell, the Stars director of amateur scouting, lives in Ontario. With the OHL shutdown there, he has had to rely mostly on video, on film highlights, and on conversation with coaches and people in the industry. It's been a tough year.
"It's just so different than what we normally do," McDonnell said. "Every year, we try to dig into their backgrounds, but this year has definitely given us more time to do that kind of research and just do everything you can to find out as much as you can. If you do enough homework, you'll feel pretty good when the draft gets here."
Still, McDonnell said the process of scouting is an in-person art. That's why the scouts tear up the roads during winter storms and make the effort to get to every rink, no matter how small the outpost. Bottom line, you always think you can see something that someone else doesn't.
"It's tough, because the eye test is still the best part of scouting," said Nill. "You like to see them get ready for a game, how they handle a certain situation and even just see how they interact with their teammates. That's all harder to assess now.
"You also miss out on seeing their development. How did they look at the beginning of the year versus how they look now? That development has changed too because the schedules are so different.The leagues haven't played enough games and they haven't gone through the same routine, so a lot of what you have right now is off of last year's scouting. There's just a lot of subtle things about scouting that get changed."
That's why these two weeks will be fun. Not only do the scouts get to be back in the building with players, they get to be back with fellow scouts. Scouts from other countries might still have to jump through hoops to get to Texas, but once they do, the experience should be electric.
"The skill level is unbelievable at this age," said Lucas Reid, director of amateur hockey and partnership development for the Stars, and the man who helped bring the tournament to Texas. "It really is going to be a treat for fans, because these players are the best of the best."
The U18 World Championship will pit teams from the United States, Canada, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Belarus, Latvia, Germany and Switzerland. Among the participants will be a great many players who will be selected in July's draft.
Canada has at least two players to watch in Brandt Clarke and Dylan Guenther, while Sweden also has a pair of players who will get close inspection from the scouts in Simon Edvinsson and Fabian Lysell. And while he's not draft eligible until 2023, 15-year-old Connor Bedard of Canada also will be an attraction.
"I think the fans who go to it will be shocked by the skill level," said Nill. "These kids start so early, and work so hard, and have so much help that they aren't intimidated by anything. It's high-end hockey and people will be pleasantly surprised just how good they are."
Of course, the hope is scouts aren't surprised. Because players have had odd seasons, they could react differently to this tournament. They could be exceptionally great or they could struggle with the adversity. Either way, Nill said scouts have to be careful with their assessment.
"Somebody might come in and have the best two weeks of his life, and then is that accurate? Same story, you could have a player come in and they're dealing with illness or an injury or they just don't have it for two weeks, and then that can change how he is viewed," Nill said. "You just have to be careful to read this tournament correctly. It's the best 18-year-olds in the world, it's a great tournament, and it's your last chance to look at them, but you still have read everything with an open mind."
Does that mean that a smart scout could actually get a leg up on his competition because he can read players better in a strange setting? Could the opportunity to use clips and video calls and just a few games make this year even more exciting.
"Exciting? No," McDonnell said with a sardonic chuckle. "It's more frustrating than anything. We want to be at hockey games, we want to watch hockey live. We all have our different eyes and things we see differently in players, and to really use that, you need to be there. It's not the same, it really isn't. You need to see them live."
Well, then, it's a good week to be in North Texas.
2021 IIHF U18 World Championship
Group A: Sweden, Canada, Belarus, Latvia and Switzerland
Group B: United States, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic and Germany
When: Monday through May 6
Where: Comerica Center, Frisco, Texas; Children's Health StarCenter, Plano, Texas (closed to the public)
Tickets: ComericaCenter.com/IIHF
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.
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