The SCOUT master
Toronto lauded by agents for the way they go about acquiring players
In the pursuit of Nikita Zaitsev, free agent defenceman, a littleknown scout named Jim Paliafito played the part of successful starting pitcher.
He worked the first several innings, did all the necessary diligence on Zaitsev, before Brendan Shanahan and Lou Lamoriello came out of the front office bullpen and closed the deal, essentially at a Moscow restaurant.
“Imagine you’re Nikita, and you’re out to dinner with your parents and with Jim to talk about the Leafs. And then who walks in to the restaurant, Lou and Brendan? Think of what that feels like. A Hall of Fame general manager and a Hall of Fame player. And they’ve come to see you. I think at that point it was like, deal done,” said Zaitsev’s agent, Dan Milstein.
“I represent a lot of Russian players and here’s what I tell the GMs I deal with. If you want my player, you have to jump on a plane, you have to make your pitch in person. Because that’s what Lou Lamoriello does.”
The chase of the European free agent all starts from the Maple Leafs’ end with Paliafito, titled as the Leafs’ director of player evaluation, his name rarely mentioned in hockey circles. His job is to watch available players, find out about them, track them, engage them, do research on them, meet them, meet their families and agents. Then do it all again.
“Jimmy played a huge role in Nikita signing in Toronto,” said Milstein, who took over from Zaitsev’s first agent, Mike Liut.
“Jimmy found him, identified him, kept in touch with him regularly.
“He did everything for me,” Zaitsev said, referring to Paliafito. “He did a huge job to bring me here. He’s an unbelievable guy.”
Said Milstein: “I think people probably underestimate what Jim does for that organization. You don’t hear his name at all. He sets up everything. The Leafs, they do it right. And then for Lou to jump on a plane and close a deal, really, that’s unheard of. Nikita had conversations with maybe 15 teams. Ask me how many GMs jumped on a plane to meet him. The answer: zero. And when a legendary GM and a legendary player does that to meet with you, it tells you how you fit in.”
The emerging Zaitsev, who has since committed long term in Toronto, is just part, maybe the best part to date, of the Paliafito file. The former Saginaw OHL general manager and former NFL player agent was the key man in the signings of Swedish defencemen Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman, who have already played significant minutes in their first NHL seasons, with one of them set to play a regular spot for the time being. He was also central to the signing of centre Miro Aaltonen, who almost made the Toronto team.
Twice in this young season, the Leafs have played with three of their six defencemen in the lineup from Team Paliafito — all signed while other teams were in pursuit of the same talent.
Lamoriello will tell you bluntly he did not know Paliafito before Mark Hunter hired him to work for the Leafs two years ago. But that’s one of the reasons Lamoriello has so much belief in Hunter. He’s hired diamonds like Paliafito and then cashed in on his findings.
“I knew the name,” Lamoriello said of Paliafito. “But I didn’t know the man.”
There were seven teams interested in Borgman, and three interested enough to present serious offers to the Swedish defenceman.
But the most dogged scout in pursuit of Borgman, from beginning to end, was Paliafito.
“He was the first one that saw me, first one to contact me,” Borgman said.
“I think he saw something before anyone else saw something.”
Borgman’s agent, Todd Diamond, said the Maple Leafs have a way not just in recruiting free agents, but in helping the players adjust to North America once they’ve signed with the team. Once you get that kind of reputation, it spreads from agent to agent, from available player to available player.
“It was a long process with Andreas,” Diamond said. “After every couple of games last season, another team would get interested in him. He started to open people’s eyes as the season continued. The longer the year went, the better he got, the more teams involved.
“Toronto was there early in the process. Andreas was surprised by this. Jim was consistent the whole way in his interest, always in contact with him. When you have someone there from the beginning, that makes a difference.
“There’s another selling point Lou made clear. Whether you play for the Leafs or the Marlies, say you don’t make the Leafs, you’re living in the same city. You don’t have to worry about packing up and moving. It’s one less thing to think about when you’re new to North America and if you’re in a city like Toronto, when you’re playing for the AHL team, the NHL general manager is watching you all the time. I think that’s a huge advantage for Toronto.”
Another agent pointed out: If you sign, for example, with the Vancouver Canucks and are sent to the AHL, you are playing in Utica, N.Y., some 4,700 kilometres away. In Toronto, the trip from AHL to NHL is about a 10-minute drive.
What Calle Rosen liked most about his involvement with Paliafito: “He told me the truth. We talked a lot about coming here, a lot about a lot of things like opportunity. I got to talk to Mike Babcock and Lou on the phone. There was a lot of open conversation the whole time. They made me feel like this was the best place for me.
“It’s more than just making a player feel comfortable,” Milstein said. “What you appreciate about the Leafs is their team effort. It starts with Jim, and he lays the groundwork. They’re all on the same page there, delivering the right message, and they’re honest with the player.
“Think about it, when you can get three free-agent defencemen on one team, that’s an asset-free acquisition. It’s a bonus. You don’t have to give up anything in return. How often can you do that? To find three defencemen without having to give up even a draft pick? That’s big for a team.”
The Leafs have just one drafted defenceman, Morgan Rielly, on their NHL roster. Two, Jake Gardiner and Connor Carrick, came by trade. The other, veteran Ron Hainsey, came through NHL free agency.
“What they’ve done with those guys in a short period of time is very impressive,” said Diamond, of the three European defencemen.
“To me, it all starts with Lou,” said Rosen’s agent, Kurt Overhardt. “I’ve been dealing with Lou since 1992 and have done several deals with him and I have respect for the integrity he brings to the job.
“What I respect is the clear communication, whether it be Lou, Mike Babcock or Jim. Jim’s unbelievable at his job, he’s a great communicator and I think that’s an extension of what Lou and Brendan Shanahan have put in place. With Calle, they were proactive, communicative, transparent. To me, that’s the quality of the organization.”
He’s a quality human being with outstanding communications skills. That’s not something I say easily. Not everybody has good communications skills. When you work in a team environment, that’s really important. He does just about everything for us (in Europe). He has this way about him, a trust, and he’s one of the most honest human beings I’ve ever been around.