Trevor Timmins, Asst. Director of Amateur Scouting Media Availability | 2024 NHL Draft (06/27/24)
Trevor as far as it goes with uh Ivan demov in particular I think a lot of people were unsure about him before that combine in Florida what did it do for you being able to you know see him talk to him and I think a lot of people came away with a different opinion of him then going into it well what you see on the ice is most important you know and our job is to project and it’s a difficult job especially when players play at different levels different levels throughout the world and to combine all that into one list uh is difficult and we got some difficult decisions to make um but that’s what we get paid to do so with Ivan um you know we watched him on video all year and to be able to see him in Florida at Dan milstein’s Camp was was great but he wasn’t on the ice he’s still recovering from a high ankle sprain so he’s doing rehab but to see him physically have a measured he’s bigger than what we thought 6′ and half 192 lb solid he’s an athlete but what came across most positive was his personality great kid always smiling um speaks fluent English and uh just comes across as he has that personality that uh everyone is attracted to you know he can tell a joke he can interact he’s easy to have conversation with seems like a good teammate we got the chance to watch him interact with the rest of the group that was there seems like a really good teammate and leader and very energetic and passionate about his craft and uh he’s he’s a young man who spends a lot of time in the gym um off the ice doing uh off off ice hockey workouts you know stick handling and things like that he’s a player that wants to get better with uh Kaden Lindstrom and having only played a handful of games this season how do you all of these guys have a body of work right so how do you project him compared to other one of uh I can say it’s like a box of chocolates you know the top over many guys you want to say dozen he’s another one of those chocolates that it’s in the box I mean we have to use the information that is available to us we’ve seen him a lot obviously we have two full-time Western Scouts who who know him and seen him for a while and uh we got a lot of viewings on him we were there for the playoff games and full coverage so we feel confident in what his body of work has when it projects to um and we’ll go from there we can just deal with the dealt the hand that we’re dealt we in vas so that’s good pun or good spin um with him everyone talks about the injury because he did miss that time uh I believe it a back issue or something how much of a conern is there a concern there with with that well there’s always a concern I’ve been through that um with other teams that I’ve been with and um so again our our job is to project and we you know we’re able to utilize our medical people our athletic therapists and doctors and specialists in those fields and and for them to be able to give us their professional opinion on you know if it will affect that player’s reaching his potential so we’ve done all the homework yeah and uh we’re ready to make our decisions one of the uh the guys that gets talked about a lot obviously has a pretty famous dad uh pretty good player yeah um what have you I mean just viewing him a little bit I mean did do you see similarities just base similarities in the games with yeah I can’t say that I I uh scouted his the father before um uh but you know there’s some similarities but he’s his own player he’s his own individual and he really established himself this season especially in the second half and established an identity played well for Team Canada at the uh World under 18 so you know he’s another big Prospect and as I said he’s he’s in that uh mix of the box of chocolates that you know teams are going to have to make some tough decisions on um tomorrow night why do you think that like feels like TJ gin and Becket senica in particular like those two names have been the fastest risers the more that this process has gone on why do you think that well I think because what they’ve done in the second half and through the playoffs um they they’ve really they’ve demonstrated that they can raise their game to another level and we’re looking you know we’re not drafting players um to play today you know it’s a projection and where they can get to so they’ve shown a steady increase in their abilities and their development and we think you know people think that that’s going to continue why do you think that is or or how do you guys weigh it you see a guy perform in the playoffs compared to maybe what he did in the regular season like how do you guys wait those performances well we’re looking at is players that are playing under pressure in the playoffs you know and usually in you know sold out buildings pressure pack situations must-win scenarios guys that can can raise their game and overcome pressure and adversity take their game to another level show that they can play at a higher level is it interesting to you just as a scout to kind of see cuz these guys are so young how those development pass kind of may be a little bit different or some guys get to this point and they really kind of start making big bigger steps than others it’s just kind of interesting to see just how players develop just in general just because they’re so young and they’ve got there’s so many different things that come up in this process yeah that’s the fun thing about being in amateur scouting why a lot of people like amateur scouting compared to the proide of scouting is you know we’re looking at these young men and to see where they get to at the end is it’s rewarding when you’re right not so rewarding when you’re wrong and it’s difficult process I mean we all look back to when we were 17 years old and then where we were when we were 25 years old you know and you look back just to make an analogy to those players I mean why some players Peak when they’re when they’re younger maybe they’re more physically mature MH and they Peak early and then they they they stagnate where other players maybe physically they’re still growing and they keep rising and keep developing so it’s like you know back in high school the the girl who you know maybe none of the guys paid attention to she wasn’t that the pretty girl and in the end when she’s 21 years old she’s a model no one saw that one coming right yeah we’ve all been there we’ve all been there yeah I’ll ask you kind of what I would with v out though I mean it’s such a long process and you spent so much time on these kids and now it’s here I mean just is it almost like Christmas morning tomorrow or the Super Bowl of scouting or something yeah it is it’s exciting yeah yeah I always compare it to the Super Bowl you play all year for that one game and uh then when it’s over it’s over and you got to start all over over again and that’s the tough part we’re so excited we have these two days then boom I mean now we got to start all over the next day for the next year’s drive so that’s the tough part starting all over this is the exciting part this is the fun part you ever been part of one where you had all the excitement build up and then your GM trades to pick yes I have that’s probably not the greatest feeling right what gets worse the drop was in my hometown oh Montreal no in Ottawa was in Ottawa oh my gosh I was with Montreal Bob gu was a general manager and we traded the pick uh to Calgary for Alex Tang okay yeah that was the pick you don’t want to know who the pi I was going to say you you were going to it all the 26th pick overall okay you know who it would have been hold on it was an Ottawa it would have been John Carlson oh it would have been cuz he was still there that’s who you had that’s who you had slotted for that’s amazing you uh Don was telling us uh last week I believe when we talked to him a Kind of a Funny Story just about how the interviews like he had a guy come in one time didn’t say who you don’t know if you heard the story basically said I don’t even like playing hockey I just want the money in the car oh no I never heard that one yeah did you those interviews I’m sure you’ve had some doozies where you go in there and you meet just interesting personalities yeah yeah they’re nowadays they’re really coached they’re really coached yeah so you try to ask questions to catch them off guard and just to get them talk talking about themselves and find out more how how important are the interviews do you feel are they have they gotten less important because of the coaching and stuff like that or it’s the more valuable information comes from your area Scouts who do a lot of the homework you know they they talk to coaches trainers people around their teams try to find out as much of the personality background as they can gotta what kind of chocolate is Cole e if you had to pick one right there’s a question for you a good question we’ve referenced a couple I guess what I’m getting at is everyone talks about his shot and his obviously uh but so when when you have a guy like that who one skill really stands out among pretty much everybody but maybe the rest of it has some work to do I mean how do you how do you assess a guy like that you know like when you’re putting them in rank and well I mean you take into consideration his strengths and weaknesses and does he have any weaknesses that are going to impede his getting to reaching becoming a 30 40 goal score goal score is there anything going to hold him back okay that’s what you have to look into yeah that’s just like a balanced way exactly Montreal Co carfield the only thing that would have potentially held him back was his size right like a skating his hockey sense his compete his personality all that was off the charts just the size and that’s what pushed him down where we got him in Montreal thinking of last year when you guys traded back into to draft pedal at at the very end do you kind of circle some guys maybe lower that if like hey if this guy’s here at a certain point like let’s really try to make like is that is there a certain process to that or you it have to we have yeah we follow the list we have the list so if we have a guy you know pretty good on our list still there in the seventh round you know we’re going to try to get a pick to to get them for sure 100% is it size thing changed a little bit over the years because of guys like the brink kit and Coffield andson you know like the guys who are not the biggest but they’re they’re succeeding it depends on the team and the philosophy of the team and the general manager and how they want their team built and the coach and the opportunity and who they get to play with or who they don’t get to play with yeah you know is there a lot of them no do they have to be exceptional yes you have to be exceptional
Asst. Director of Amateur Scouting, Trevor Timmins, meets with the media ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft.
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