Hello folks, this is the question thread for Sebastian, post your questions now or during the AMA for him to see and respond to.
We’d like to thank Sebastian again for taking the time out of his Saturday to join the community and chat with us!
A quick recap of Sebastian:
My name is Sebastian High and I am the head scout at Dobber Prospects as well as a lifelong Habs fan. I spent the past 9 or so months combing through the 2023 draft class and scouted over 200 eligible players. Since I actually used to lurk on the subreddit, I thought it would be really fun to do an AMA on the draft class, the Habs’ prospect pool, and scouting more broadly!
If you’d like to see more of my work, it can be found on Twitter (@high_sebastian), Substack (http://sebastianhigh.substack.com), and at http://dobberprospects.com
by GenZero
11 Comments
Question from /u/slymanjojo
Hey Sébastien were all high on Lane Hutson but what is his realistic projection? Most people me included in this sun think he’s #1 defensemen but most scouts don’t think so. Thank you 🙂
Question from /u/MetalOcelot
Have you read Thibaud Chatel AMA on here or on Tony Marinaro’s podcast and what he has to say about Reinbacher from an analytical point of view, and if so, what did you think? I believe the predraft ranking I found by Dobber has Reinbacher out of the top ten and behind Simashev as the top defender so it’d be nice to hear a dissenting opinion compared to Thibaud Chatel’s even though his admittedly sounds really nice.
Question from /u/gotricolore
What are Slafkovsky’s current floor and ceiling?
Question from /u/DrLivingst0ne
Some players dominate in Junior, but don’t become very good NHL players. Others don’t dominate in Junior but become very good NHL players.
One of the jobs of a scout is to try to predict that. How do you do it? Are there key skills that you try to identify?
Hey Sebastian, the habs really went off the board for their later round picks this year. There was rumblings about a possible private combine they used to possibly find some diamonds in the rough. Do you believe it’s a worthwhile strategy to aim at some overseas over-agers rather than just go down the list of 18 year olds?
Hi Sebastian,
As a scout, what do you think is the key to starting up a career in scouting or hockey writing?
Hey Sebastian. I really like your Team High tracker on your Substack, which compares your draft calls to the Habs’ draft calls. It’s a nice way to check your priors and see how your judgment evolves over time. When looking back at your mock drafts (for all teams, not just the Habs), what are a couple of your big hits and big misses? Who are some guys you were way too optimistic about who didn’t pan out, and who are some guys where you did way better than consensus? How has your thinking evolved since you started scouting?
Hi Sebastian. Thanks for doing this. Let’s talk about Joshua Roy.
He has shown an ability to play at a high level against his own age group at both the club and national level. Roy has an ability to have a high impact when the puck is in cycle (both in offensive and defensive zones) but struggles to aid his team in transition. Great hockey sense and terrible foot speed. He likely starts in the AHL this year.
Do you think Roy has the potential to carve out a regular spot on this supposedly up and coming Habs team? Where you do think his potential lies?
Hey Sebastian, thanks for doing this! Wanted to know your thoughts on the habs’ forward prospect pool/depth chart. The team clearly lacks high-end production, so are there any guys in your eyes the general public is sleeping on that could come in and potentially develop into a legitimate star forward? And what pathway is there for a guy like slafkovsky to turn into that after a fairly underwhelming rookie showing and some worries before the draft about his production in liiga vs tournaments.
Hi Sebastien, thank you for doing this. Nick Bobrov and Hughes have gone on record saying that they believe that that the young core (Suzuki, Cole, Dach) still has some untapped potential. What are your thoughts on this?
Hi Sebastian, I appreciate you taking the time to do this.
Does the fact that so few NHLers have come out of the NL make it harder to evaluate Reinbacher versus if he had come out of the SHL/Liiga? Since there are hardly any comparables outside of Josi.
Also, how do you think Reinbacher compares to the top dmen of the 2022 draft, notably Jiricek/Nemec?