In a recent interview with Norman James, Mark Hunter hinted at an upcoming addition(s) to the Maple Leafs scouting staff, having gutted much of the amateur scouting group in the Spring.
It slows down for the next couple weeks. We’re just getting scouts in order, what scouts we want, making sure the direction of the scouts; they know what they’re doing and where they’re going for the upcoming year.
After hiring Ari Vuori away from Detroit a little less than a month ago and assigning him the Director of European Scouting title, the Leafs have added another European scout to the staff in former Oilers and Coyotes scout Robert Nordmark, according to Swedish outlet Expressen.se (h/t to @LoweTide for the tweet out).
According to the Expressen report, the Swedish native, who split 236 NHL games between the Blues and Canucks in his playing days, was offered a contract to stay in Edmonton but opted for the new challenge when Mark Hunter came knocking after the draft.
While the Edmonton organization is certainly not renowned for its scouting prowess so much as its ability to finish really low in the standings and/or win lotteries, Oilers Nation graded the performance of their team’s scouts back in 2013 and rated their European scouts, including Nordmark as well as Pelle Eklund and Frank Musil, the highest among the area scout groupings.
By my eye, the best of the scouting group right now is Frank Musil with Eklund and Nordmark over in Europe. Musil and company are delivering quality prospects with late picks. Only twice have they had 1st round picks and they recommended Paajarvi and Klefbom at 10th and 19th overall. While Paajarvi may never be as attractive a pick as Eberle or Hall, he is a quality NHL player and Klefbom apparently has the skillset to convince Oilers managment that he is the answer to many of their defensive problems.
Musil and the European scouts have had only one clear bust in Johan Motin, and even he hung around the organization for a long time. Of the prospects taken, only two remain unsigned, one who was selected just last year and the other who has two more years of eligibility remaining before the Oilers need to make a decision. In addition, three of their recommended players have already logged NHL minutes and are on the cusp of a career in the big leagues in Paajarvi, Lander and Hartikainen.
Granted, Paajarvi has since been traded to St. Louis and spent most of 2014-15 in the minors; he does have 228 NHL games and 71 NHL points to his name, but at age 24 his time to make an impact in the NHL is beginning to run thin. Centerman Anton Lander was a good find in the mid second round of 2009 and was considered a positive development on the ice in Edmonton last season. Another Swede, 19th overall selection in 2011 Oscar Klefbom, may not live up to the billing described above but showed some promise in putting up 20 points in 60 games off the blueline in his first full-ish NHL season last year, and should only improve as a 22-year-old mobile defender with size.
No doubt, long-time Leafs scout Thommie Bergman will know his 54-year-old compatriot in Nordmark quite well. The Leafs drafted three players out of the Europe this past draft — two out of Sweden in Jesper Lindgren and Dmytro Timashov (who played junior in Sweden before moving to the Q in his draft year) — and are building up a more sophisticated European scouting department going forward under Vuori, with Nordmark — pending confirmation — the latest piece to that puzzle.
