Tigers add new faces to scouting staff

By Ryan McCracken on September 30, 2017.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Tigers entered their first road trip through Saskatchewan this weekend as one of just two Western Hockey League teams without any players from the province on their roster.

While the Tigers haven’t had a Saskatchewan product on the ice since goaltender Mack Shields left the team at the end of the 2015-16 season, they have a handful of prospects on their way up through the system and recently added more scouting staff in the prairie province.

“Saskatchewan is a good province. Historically a lot of great players have come from there and it’s definitely not something that’s been on purpose, to not have players from there,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston. “We did draft a couple of players in this last draft … We hope that as we move forward we have good representation.”

While Tigers senior director of player development Darren Kruger parted ways with the team after being hired as a scout with the Calgary Flames in the off-season, the longtime Tigers staffer left his mark on the team for years to come. Kruger was responsible for the selection of Josh Williams in the 2016 WHL bantam draft as well as this year’s Saskatchewan-based draft picks Austin Dycer and Davis Chorney, and the recent hiring of Saskatoon scout Dustin Wlaz and Calgary counterpart Brayden Beckley.

“We’ve got a couple young (scouts) who are on board. They were here at camp,” said Clouston, adding when it comes to drafting players, they follow a simple formula. “If he’s a good player, we don’t care where he’s from.”

Clouston says the Tigers are in the process of finding someone to fill the absence left by Kruger’s departure, and hopes to have something finalized soon.

“We’re zeroing in on what we want and hopefully within a week or so we’ll have that sorted out,” he said.

The Everett Silvertips are the only other team in the WHL without any players from Saskatchewan on their active roster, while the Swift Current Broncos have the most in the league at eight.

The Tigers close out their brief road trip Saturday at 7 p.m. in Prince Albert against the Raiders before returning to the Canalta Centre to face the Regina Pats next Friday.

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