"Leach and Holland were among the scouts at a tournament in Europe in 2016 when Heiskanen was an underage prospect. Leach was on staff with Nill and McDonnell in the Red Wings organization and had built up a relationship with Hall of Famer Igor Larionov. In 2016, Larionov had transitioned into his career as an agent. At the tournament, the former Red Wings great asked the two scouts a question.
“He mentioned to us, ‘I want you to see this kid and then tell me, who does he remind you of?’” Leach said. “It didn’t take long to recognize him. Even as a 16-year-old, Miro was very special. … We came out and we talked and I said, ‘Oh my God, he reminds me of Nick Lidstrom.’ His nuances, his thought process, his poise and his patience, all of those things and his ability to be under pressure, it was crazy. I told Igor, ‘It reminds me of Nick. Just totally Nick.’”
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Oettinger’s allure was in his first impressions, the ones he made and the ones others had of him. Oettinger also had a lot to offer, which led to different elements of his game standing out to different scouts.
“Numerous things, but his size and athleticism were huge,” McDonnell said.
“He had an ability just to make a big save,” Leach said, “Really competed in tough situations when the puck was right in front of him or in the slot area. He never gave up on plays. Just something special about his competitiveness and his will.”
“He is such a calm and composed goalie,” Kolb said. “You notice him in the game, just with his size and the way he plays the game. That hasn’t changed much.”
Kolb and Leach were two of the primary scouts involved with Oettinger. Kolb, based in Minnesota near Oettinger’s hometown, had an early pulse on the goaltender. Leach, who grew up in Boston and is based in New Hampshire, was close to Boston University, where Oettinger played 35 games in 2016-17.
Leach watched a lot of Oettinger but leaned on the expertise of Takko, who was an
NHL goaltender himself, on what to look for. The
Jack Campbell experiment had officially ended in 2016 when the Stars traded the former first-round draft pick, so it was clear that the organization was going to be in the market for a goaltender in the draft. Athleticism, an ability to read plays, positioning, rebound control and focus with traffic were some of the main things Leach looked for when he watched Oettinger’s games. By the time 2017 rolled around, Leach and many within the Stars felt confident that Oettinger was the best goaltender in that draft."
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When Leach watched Robertson, he could see why skating was a knock against him but it wasn’t something he overreacted to. When a player has a weakness, two of the main considerations are how much the deficiency is dragging down the overall play and whether that deficiency is something that can be improved upon.
“He had great hands, he had a great release,” Leach said. “He knew where to be. He was dangerous. Once he got to the top of the circle down, he just scored goals. He would get scoring opportunities. His skating was his biggest knock but you can’t teach the things he can do with the puck. You can’t teach his release. He had a knack for scoring goals in all the different ways, with people wrapped around him and pressure on him. He was really good on the power play. If his skating got good enough, he’ll overcome it with his work ethic and drive.
“We saw a kid who’s really offensively talented, has a great set of hands, has a really good release and he scores goals,” Leach said. “I don’t know if we saw a 40-goal scorer.””
the article also talks about Jacob Peterson from that draft, but thankfully no quotes from leach praising him.
