The latest club to join the prestigious National Hockey League is the Seattle Kraken. The organization from the 775,000-strong city made its debut in the elite league in the 2021/22 season and has only reached the playoffs once so far. Currently, the Kraken are eleven points behind the final eighth playoff spot for the 2025 season. Since the organization’s inception, the talent scout has been Canadian-born Mike Dawson (51). As a player he only reached the Dutch league. As a scout, he has been working among the hockey elite for thirteen years.
You are Canadian, living in Kingston, Ontario, and scouting for the American team Seattle Kraken. The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) is the best junior hockey league in the world. In 2024, 39 players from the OHL were selected for the NHL, which is the best result for the league since 2018. After COVID-19 (although the 2020/21 season was not played at all), is the quality of this league on the rise again?
“I think so, yes. Although I don’t think it ever went away. Different countries and leagues vary year to year. The OHL has been strong the past couple of years and projects to be strong again next year. This year is shaping to be above average again with plenty of draft picks.”
Canada has been eliminated in the quarterfinals of the World Junior Championships twice in a row, while the United States has become World Junior champions twice in a row. Are the United States slowly catching up to Canada in hockey?
“Yes, they have arrived as a major player in the and a contender every year. It’s great for hockey as it’s such a great rivalry.”
From February 12th to February 20th, a tournament of the four best hockey countries in the world, the so-called 4 Nations Face-Off, will take place in Canada (Montreal) and America (Boston). What do you expect from this tournament? What is your pick for the winner?
“I’m biased and going to pick my country Canada to win but it should be an amazing event and long overdue to be able to watch some of the world’s best play together and against each other.”
Seattle Kraken employs twenty-one scouts. In addition to the director of professional and amateur scouting, there are three scouts who follow professional leagues overseas and one who focuses on NCAA. Eight scouts (including you) are responsible for junior leagues abroad, and one specializes in goalies. For Europe, there’s one supervisor, three scouts for junior leagues (Sasu Hovi and two Swedes), and one Russian part-time scout. You are responsible for the Ontario region, or is your scope even larger? Mike Johnson, a TSN commentator, said that when he hops on his bike at home, he can pass by twenty-two arenas in just ten minutes.
“I cover all leagues in the world and travel all during the hockey season to various provinces, states in the USA and some European countries. Living in Kingston, we are close to some major hockey centres. In less than 2.5 hours drive I can be in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.”
The National Hockey League is made up of organizations of varying financial resources, ranging from wealthy to moderately wealthy to less solvent ones. In terms of the number of scouts, the Colorado Avalanche have the most (26), followed by the New Jersey Devils (25). The Seattle Kraken are somewhere in the middle with 21 scouts. On the other hand, the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, and Ottawa Senators each have the fewest scouts, with 15. Does the equation hold true that the more scouts an organization has, the better they select talent? Or is it possible to do just as thorough work with a smaller group, as you experienced with the Carolina Hurricanes?
“I think quality of scout is more important than quantity of scouts. The scouts need to be able to identify prospects with a real chance to play and contribute for your team at the NHL level. They also need to be organized and detailed with their day to day scheduling, game reports, player views, etc. There is a lot that goes into executing the job efficiently. There are advantages and disadvantages to both models. It really just depends on internal budgets and management’s scouting philosophy.”
You’ve been in the industry for thirteen years. You started scouting for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2012. Back then, Slovakia had twelve players in the NHL who scored 67 goals in the 2012/13 season. Today, Slovakia has only seven players in the NHL, and by mid-season 2024/25, they’ve scored just 18 goals. Why has Slovakian hockey declined like this?
“Hard for me to comment on that. I am not familiar with the development system. There are many good Slovak players and it was only three years ago that they had Juraj Slafkovský, Šimon Nemec and Filip Mešár all go in the first round NHL draft. It may just be a dip for a year or two. It happens in every country to different degrees.
Europe often seems like a “farming system” for the NHL. Do you think the crop of young players coming from Europe is sufficient? Juraj Slafkovský (born 2004) is struggling to score, and Leo Carlsson (December 2004) is also facing difficulties. Among players under 22, the only Europeans in the top 100 of the NHL’s scoring list are Swedish duo Lukas Raymond and Viliam Eklund, and Russian winger Matvei Michkov is close to the top hundred. Will these players develop into stars later on? Or is European hockey no longer producing stars like Kucherov, Draisaitl, Rantanen, or Pastrňák?
“I believe all of those players are excellent and have bright futures. Time and patience is required. They are still young and gaining experience. I have no doubt that Europe will continue to produce many NHL stars for years to come.”
A hockey team is a living organism and every NHL club needs different types of players in a given time. One club, for example, needs to get an offensive right-handed defenseman in the draft and another a robust winger for the second formation. Is it possible to describe in some general way what kind of players are in demand the most in the NHL these days?
“That answer may vary from team to team but I think most would agree that high end speed and skill is the most in demand. High end offensive players that can produce in the NHL. The game keeps getting more skilled and faster. A superstar goaltender would be high on the list for all teams that don’t have one as well.”
How strong will the 2025 NHL Draft be compared to previous years? The top picks are American center James Hagens (NCAA), Canadian defenseman Matthew Schaefer (OHL), Canadian forward Michael Misa (OHL) and Swedish center Anton Frondell (HockeyAllsvenskan).
“I think it looks very good. Perhaps not quite as strong as the first round last year but there is some high end talent and the top guys are all a bit different than each other. Time will tell and a few years down the road we’ll know which of the recent drafts had the best returns.”
You are working as an NHL scout for the thirteen season. Can you name one player you have scouted, who was selected in the lower rounds and who ended up making a significant impact in the NHL? Or was there someone you were convinced would be a star in the NHL and who ultimately failed to do so?
“One of the picks from my area when I was with Carolina was Steven Lorentz who we took in the 7th round after he was not drafted the year before. It has been fun to watch him become a full time NHL player and win a Stanley Cup last year with Florida. As far as players I thought would make the NHL and didn’t get there….there are too many to single out any specific names!”
