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Much of the scouting work would depend on what level of hockey one is scouting for and what age group. At The NHL level much of the scouting tends to be much narrower and players who actually make it to that level might in fact be only extremely good in one small area of the game. For example a fighter might be the bomb at fighting and nothing else. A penalty killing specialist might be a terrific open skater with little hockey sense otherwise, but an awful open ice threat to the other team. Some goalie may be so so but a terrific puck handler and terrific puck handling goalies save years on D Men careers. A very strong team might have only 3 able puck control forwards. The debate could go on and on.
The are a host of imponderables and non quantifiable variables in player assessment. Things like hockey sense, leadership and mental and physical toughness are often framed in the negative. It really shows if the team doesn't have those qualities.
At the junior and collegiate level winning is often a function of how quickly the prospects can grow their game and improve. If a kid played his best ever hockey at the last level issue a caveat.
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