This Devil knows how to pick talent

Longtime scout David Conte examines character, maturity

David Conte has been scouting NHL prospects for 29 years and his track record with the New Jersey Devils is excellent.

The Devils have drafted Brendan Shanahan, Bill Guerin, Martin Brodeur, Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rolston, Jason Smith, Petr Sykora, Scott Gomez, Zach Parise, Travis Zajak and others in the first round during Conte’s tenure.

Conte’s staff has drafted other solid NHLers in the later rounds as well, but for a 15-year span, no team had more success in the first round than Conte’s Devils.

The executive vice-president and director of scouting for the Devils spoke with me about his philosophies on scouting as we near the NHL entry draft. Gregor: You’ve had a lot of success scouting, 29 years with the Devils and 20 years as the head of scouting. How much different is the preparation for you now than it was then? Has the increase in entry level contracts made it more exhaustive? Conte: Well, I don’t know if the money or the contracts has any change on what you do. I think obviously every team has gotten far more sophisticated with the advent of computers and now there are a million pundits out there from Red Line (Report) to Craig’s List to Bob McKenzie to Central Scouting, so there is a consensus level that’s out there for the general public to consume, which is fine when you’re looking at 30 picks. It’s a lot more difficult when you’re trying to look at one for your particular team. Gregor: How much, if any, has advanced stats entered into your scouting reports? Conte: We talk a lot about it, the Moneyball theory and everything else, and I don’t think that the hockey playing public is a big a sample as all of that. It is totally relevant, clearly it is relevant, and clearly there are some trends. If you’re going to invest your picks and your money into high-level young talent, there should be some substantiation via productivity and height and weights and various factors, but the real factor is watching them play. It comes down to “Do you want them on the team or you don’t want them on the team?” Gregor: What has been your basic guideline or specific attributes that you need to see in a player, and how have you been able to find them on a continual basis? Conte: When I figure out what that is, I’ll let you know. But right now, we’re just trying to ascertain all of the different things from character to style of play and how they fit into our culture. I think that nothing has terribly changed, but I think that each draft is a unique and new experience. There is no next Scott Stevens. There is the next great player, there is the next Nathan MacKinnon, but there is not the next Mario Lemieux. I mean, they are all so special unto themselves and I think that we need to take each year as it comes and start with a clean slate and some level of objectivity. Gregor: When you go to a top10 or even a top-five pick, and we do see historically that there is a drop-off. How do you find where that drop-off is? Is it noticeable from an experienced scout as yourself as much as it seems to be when you read all of those mock drafts? Conte: I try not to be influenced by that. We try to categorize and quantify the value of each particular pick and see where those drop-offs are and try to adjust accordingly. So try to move forward, try to stay where you are or move backwards. Again, there is too much of this talk. It’s great for you and it’s great for the fans, but for those of us who have to make an absolute decision, it’s kind of better to rely on our own knowledge, on our own scouting reports, and our own people and basically sequester ourselves to making the choice that we think is right for the New Jersey Devils. I suppose that what might be popular with the media, or popular with the fans, or even popular with your coaches sometimes, might not be what we see. This is a pick that will impact, especially when picking ninth, this franchise for a long time to come. It is easier to get caught up in the up-and-down rankings because you are only waiting nine turns, but I also think it’s far more important to pick correctly because you have less room for error. Gregor: When you break down a player’s skill, how do you know whether a guy has peaked at 18 or 19 or if he still has room to grow? Conte: I don’t think that you do know, and sometimes they’re so advanced at that age, their level of maturity both mentally and physically is evident and, sometimes, that’s enough. Other times, you just see potential oozing and the improvement ratio over the years. Each given case is so very special unto itself. If you can get a mature guy who is 18 years old now, but it is like he is going on 22 physically, he is big, strong and talented and competitive and he can help your team tomorrow, well that’s a bonus. Conversely, if you have to wait two or three (years) and he’s going to be a great player, well that’s patience that you need to have as well. Your questions are excellent, but I don’t think a right answer exists for this one. Gregor: When you look at a player it’s easy to see their boxscores; their height, their weight, even if you want to look at their family history, and how many goals and assists and points they’ve had. You brought up character earlier, how do you evaluate character from one player to the next from year to year? Conte: With difficulty, but players that play under pressure, players that elevate their games in the most important situations, players that work the clock and the score and they play for the team, I think those are things that are trademarks of players that have survived and prospered with the Devils. We’ve not had a lot of players that put “I” before the team and we’d like to keep it that way. Again, how do you make that happen? Well you don’t, but often if you have enough players of that great character, everyone follows suit. If you have people that are selfish and are into it for individual things, well, other players will follow suit in that regard, too. So it is an important thing, the contagious element of your team and how that will impact your guys. Are your older players nurturing and do they want young players to be better or do they consider them to be threats to their own security? There are a myriad of factors that really have to be handled often when the players arrive in the NHL or arrive in your organization. But, me personally, I want to give the raw material to our coaching staff and the management that we can make the appropriate trade if we need to, that we can give them the appropriate types of players to be successful. It’s never been an exact science, and it never will be an exact science, but it’s exciting. NOTE: Part 2 of Gregor’s interview with Conte will continue in Tuesday’s edition.