What to Look for in a Hockey Prospect

Hockey is a game that relies heavily on agility, endurance and raw skill, since each player must optimize his potential to achieve the highest level of success. As a scout, there are several different facets of a player’s game you need to analyze. First, you must take into account the player’s history and stats, understanding his environment and what competition he has faced. Next, you should determine how much potential this player has, thus completing a full profile.

Past performance

Past results are very important, since you need to acquire an understanding of how a particular player performs in actual game play. This data serves as the foundation for your analysis, and you can draw on information about successes or failures to determine the quality of the player. When analyzing an athlete, take into account the level of competition, frequency of play and impact on his team to develop the most comprehensive overall profile.

Potential

Predicting future results is not an exact science, but you ought to choose someone who can perform well for your team. When trying to estimate a player's potential, examine his current physical attributes and consider what they predict about whether he can grow into a stronger and quicker competitor on the ice. The goal is to increase the player’s ceiling and allow for more skills to develop in the future.

Whether you are a scout for a college or a professional team, the process must remain the same when determining a player’s possible impact on your organization. Consider his past results and his current makeup in tandem, using them to estimate his potential contribution to the team. The more in-depth your analysis, the more comprehensive the profile you can achieve for the player you are scouting.