Kent Hawley Hired As Amateur Scout, Dan Labraaten As European Scout
In News, Team Ops
Kent Hawley is the newest addition to the list of "hockey-lifers" finding their way on to George McPhee's inaugural front office staff.
The 28th pick of the 2nd round of the 1986 draft spent much of his playing days in the minor leagues, but has had a successful post-playing career as a coach and for the last 15 years a scout.
Since being let go on June 22nd, he'd been with the Edmonton Oilers since 2005 as an amateur scout. He also coached and played for a team in Wisconsin called the Madison Monsters. Suddenly Monsters looks like a nice name for Vegas.
Or, it's awful and I'm officially beginning to lose my mind with all the team name stuff.
Either way, Hawley appears to be yet another excellent hire to a staff that's pretty much received nothing but praise from every corner of the hockey world.
Also announced today was the hiring of Dan Labraaten as a European Scout. Labraaten spent 28 years with the New Jersey Devils working under Las Vegas' Special Advidsor to Hockey Operations, David Conte.
He played with the Red Wings, Flames, and internationally with Team Sweden.
Hopefully some of this happens in Vegas with these two.
In 1999, (Conte) asked Devils European scout Dan Labraaten who the best player in Europe was, which led to the Devils signing Brian Rafalski, who played seven seasons with the Devils and won two Stanley Cups. –Ken Campbell, The Hockey News
Dan LabraatenFront OfficeGeorge McPheeKent Hawley
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You're officially beginning to lose your mind….
Not sure what to make of it. The highest selections the Oilers have used on the OHL, Taylor Hall and draft bust Nail Yakupov
I was thinking the same thing. Oilers have a history of busts. Certainly it isn't entirely the fault of this one guy, but his resume isn't exactly glowing.
Ross Mohr
I would tend to agree…looking at the Oilers draft record it is abysmal with the exception of some #1 overall picks…Yakupov is a total bust and was an OHL product…they don't have a very many picks in rounds 2-7 that have panned out if any really…must be friends with someone in organization…Scott Luce?
"Either way, Hawley appears to be yet another excellent hire to a staff that's pretty much received nothing but praise from every corner of the hockey world." Says Ken Boehlke
Yikes! This statement might be a bit much based on the Oiler's drafting record the last 7-8 years.
Certainly a fair point. Just to key you in on my process, the first thing I do is scour everything I can find relating to the person they hire to see what people are saying/have said, about the person in the past. With Hawley there was very little out there, so then I try to reach out to people in the city where he came from. Almost to a man, they weren't familiar with much of his work. You are probably right saying "excellent hire" is a bit of a stretch, especially now that I've taken a better look at the draft record, but I was really just going on experience, which he has plenty.
@RJ
They have a reputation for struggling to find players outside the first round of the draft. A change of scenery can often help former Oilers …