3/20 Notes

Zoran Manojlovic of Hockey's Future has a very interesting article about Håkan Andersson, a scout for the Wings in Europe. Andersson has been with the team for 15 years and is one of three Red Wings scouts on the Continent. It provides a good look into what goes on behind the scenes in the organization with the guys who are as important as anyone in the front office in Detroit. Guys like Andersson watch 200+ games a year, are constantly traveling and jeopordizing their family life. I thnk they don't get nearly enough credit for what they do. It's all well and good for Wings fans to praise Ken Holland and Jim Nill but we shouldn't forget the scouts who are busting their butts out there "in the field" to get us an entertaining product down the road. When asked who is favorite player was out of the many he has seen drafted, he said

“Tomas Holmström. I saw him the first time with the national team selection camp with the players born in 1973. There were several other big time prospects such as Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund to name a few. He was very small at the time, just about 5’10 and about 175 Ibs. He worked hard at the camp, but didn’t make the team. “The year after, I talked with a buddy of mine, Niklas Wikegård, who was coaching Boden (the team where Holmström played) at the time if he had any good youngsters. He told me that his best player was a youngster. I went and saw Holmström play and we ended up picking him in the 10th round that year.”

I've been seeing a lot of praise for Holmstrom over this lockout and I definitely agree with it. I think he's also under-appreciated for what he does for the Wings every night, taking the beatings he gets. I look forward to seeing him back in the Winged Wheel when this is all over. He's still a small guy (I've met him and was surprised at how small he was) but, to use everyone's favorite sports cliche, he's got a big heart. Andersson had this to say about three other current Wings players:

“Henrik Zetterberg, he’s just a really nice, cool guy. Then you have Niklas Kronwall, who is my hometown guy and a great kid. Pavel Datsyuk is also a really funny guy once you get to know him. He really loves to joke around.”

I love reading that kind of stuff. It's interesting to learn more about these guys than what you get from just watching games. The article gives some more insights into scouting and it's definitely worth a read. Go check it out.