Toby Dammit
Jäsen
- Suosikkijoukkue
- New Jersey Devils
Amanda Stein kirjoitti Hämeenahon kehityksestä jutun Devils-organisaation näkökulmasta. Ei mitään ihmeellistä, mutta lukemisen arvoinen juttu silti.
Stick to the list.
That is always the plan on the draft floor. And when the Devils did just that in 2023, knowing they did not have a first-round pick, they couldn't believe it when at 58th, Finnish forward Lenni Hämeenaho was still there.
He was next on the list, explained Devils Chief Amateur Scout, Mark Dennehy.
"After day one, 32 teams go, and the dust settles, we go back to our list and look and now we're able to look, based on a number of things, based on the chance that certain players are going to be (available)," Dennehy began, "There were eight players that we thought might fall to us, which we were very excited about. Lenni was the highest. And he also had the lowest chance of being available. I don't know that anybody in our organization thought he'd be there."
General manager Tom Fitzgerald has always said, particularly of the players the club chooses outside of the first round, is his scouts, all of them, going to bat for 'their guy', the player they believe in that the team cannot pass over. Fitzgerald often says he wants his scouts to have the passion and the banging of the fists to stand up for their player of choice.
"Fitzy to his credit, he sees how high we had the kid, and then he's like well now we might fall to us," Dennehy recalled of Day 2 at the draft table in Nashville. "And he's like, 'Alright, so what are you guys seeing that no one else is seeing?' What is he? What does he lack?' And the reality is, it's not an exact science."
It was Devils European scout Tommy Sinisalo who early on in the scouting process had Hämeenaho on his radar and ultimately the teams radar.
Right off the bat, it's looking like Sinisalo's radar was on point.
www.nhl.com
Stick to the list.
That is always the plan on the draft floor. And when the Devils did just that in 2023, knowing they did not have a first-round pick, they couldn't believe it when at 58th, Finnish forward Lenni Hämeenaho was still there.
He was next on the list, explained Devils Chief Amateur Scout, Mark Dennehy.
"After day one, 32 teams go, and the dust settles, we go back to our list and look and now we're able to look, based on a number of things, based on the chance that certain players are going to be (available)," Dennehy began, "There were eight players that we thought might fall to us, which we were very excited about. Lenni was the highest. And he also had the lowest chance of being available. I don't know that anybody in our organization thought he'd be there."
General manager Tom Fitzgerald has always said, particularly of the players the club chooses outside of the first round, is his scouts, all of them, going to bat for 'their guy', the player they believe in that the team cannot pass over. Fitzgerald often says he wants his scouts to have the passion and the banging of the fists to stand up for their player of choice.
"Fitzy to his credit, he sees how high we had the kid, and then he's like well now we might fall to us," Dennehy recalled of Day 2 at the draft table in Nashville. "And he's like, 'Alright, so what are you guys seeing that no one else is seeing?' What is he? What does he lack?' And the reality is, it's not an exact science."
It was Devils European scout Tommy Sinisalo who early on in the scouting process had Hämeenaho on his radar and ultimately the teams radar.
Right off the bat, it's looking like Sinisalo's radar was on point.
Hämeenaho Benefits from High Hockey IQ | Prospect Watch | New Jersey Devils
Stick to the list. That is always the plan on the draft floor. And when the Devils did just that in 2023, knowing they did not have a first-round pick, they couldn't believe it when at 58th, Finnish forward Lenni Hämeenaho was still there. He was next on the list,
www.nhl.com