Meet superscout Hakan Andersson

From Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press:

What makes Andersson so good?

The first thing he mentions — and this cannot be overstated — is that the Wings listen to him. If Andersson fights for a player on draft day, they usually draft the guy. Wings general manager Ken Holland and his assistant Jim Nill trust Andersson, and as Holland often says, “We don’t judge players by their passports.” Many other teams still do.

“I know one scout who tried to bring up Niklas Kronwall’s name with his team,” Andersson said. “They just laughed at him. They never even had a serious dialogue. They just stopped him. They said ‘a 5-11 Swedish defenseman?’ Our organization is more open-minded than that.”

This is crucial, because in drafting, small victories reap huge rewards. Andersson points out that he could not have been that high on Zetterberg since the Wings did not draft him until the seventh round. But obviously, the Wings were higher on Zetterberg than anybody else was.

So that’s the first thing: Andersson’s bosses trust him. But it also helps that Holland, Nill, Andersson and the other scouts all share a philosophy. Generally speaking, they value skill over size.

Read the entire article here.

The most important point raised in this article is that of skill over size. It is obviously a trademark of the Detroit drafting system. You may be thinking that it is quite an obvious point, but really lots of teams would let that affect their drafting. That being said, it does not mean that the Wings way is the only way to success. Take for example last season, where the Ducks out-muscled their opponents on the way to the Cup.