Draft picks and scouting

[connormcjesus]

How do you guys scout during the regular season to find "diamonds in the rough" for the later rounds in the draft?

Any specific countries, leagues, or regions to look at?

Also, is the 2017 draft really awful for everyone else as well?

[deknegt]

I assume you're managing in the NHL, because the scouting system can be vastly different depending on your league.

I at least have 2 guys scouting the NHL draft, one set on every player, and one set on ignoring well known players. The latter is a ''gem-hunter''.
Then I look at which nations produce the most NHL prospects... USA/Canada, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic.
All those nations matter of course, but not all of them produce a comparable amount of talent..

So we gotta start looking at which leagues specifically to start scouting.
Well the obvious ones are the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL. The three main Canadian Junior Hockey Leagues. These three need a permanent scout finding talented players, at all times. The CHL is your main location of prime talent, and it's imperative that you scout it.

Secondly there's the US Collegiate System, but there's an issue because every University Conference is classed as it's own entity, so that means you'd have to scout 10+ divisions... Which needless to say is a waste of staff.
So the best way to get around that issue is by sending your scout to scout the nation of the USA, and to make sure he doesn't include older players in his job you'll tell him to filter between ages 1 to 20, that way he will try to scout every draft eligible player... Sadly enough due to limitations, this will include u20 players that have been already drafted and are playing in the USA, but those exceptional players are few and far between.

Like the USA, you'll scout Russia/Sweden/Finland/Norway and all the others nations you want to scout just the same way. Upper limit of 20 years of age to make sure you'll only find draft-eligible players.

Once you've done all that, you'll hopefully have some scouts left to use. Well you first take two scouts and put them on ''youth players'', one on all, one ignoring well known... These players are 13-15, so they won't be draft eligible, but the earlier you start scouting players the bigger your knowledge-base will be once they get into the NHL draft.

The scouts you have left after that are pretty much a case of you deciding where your interest lies. You can always send more scouts to Canada and setting those extra scouts to once again ignore well known players.

Finally you can always scout on region, but I feel there aren't a lot of advantages to it and you won't find a lot of players you wouldn't find quicker through nation scouting...
Of course, you'll never have a perfect knowledge of every player in the draft, there will always be players slipping through the cracks, and whilst you could go through the draft list and individually have them scouted, but that's crazy work.

Personally when you go deeper in the draft and talent dwindles, I prefer to search for players with great mental attributes. The hard working professionals who might not look great, but maybe in the future might become solid 3rd linemen and handymen. If they're scouted and you check the scouts ''general impressions'', try to find blurbs that will attest to their mental makeup. Players who are ''professional'' are guys who have great personalities. "Ambitious" personalities always want to get better and want to become the best they can be. "Model Pro"' players are literally the best personalities you can find, they work hard, they get better, and among personalities they're the best you can find.
If you can find a ''model pro'' who is consistent and has great mental attributes like determination, teamwork, bravery, and work rate can become great players given enough time and a bit of luck. It's the old story of hard work beating talent if talent doesn't work hard. Mental abilities are one of the hardest things to improve, and some don't improve ever. And things like technique and physical skills can be bettered by just having a player work hard.

So deeper on, start looking less for clear ''talent'' and more for people that are guaranteed to work hard, because they might end up being late bloomers. The opposite is true when you draft a greatly skilled player with a bad mental makeup, who might have talent to burn, but lacks the grit and consistency to really have it click together when it matters.

Someone on the Football Manager forums did an experiment with personalities, and he took a bunch of players with the exact same talent and attributes, but changes one important thing, their overall personalities. And it had massive effects on player growth and performance. Unambitious and lazy players progressed slower, and sometimes didn't even reach their peak. Whilst professional and hard working players improved quicker, reached their peak much faster, and also were better performance wise.
Since EHM is based on the engine of FM, the same rings true in EHM. So never underestimate hard working kids.