The Athletic's Scott Wheeler (7/20/26)

episode

Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer 20 min 5 speakers 4 chapters transcribed 2 months ago

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: chapters · speakers · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Scott Wheeler 0:00

Hey, it's Bob Stauffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.

Bob Stauffer 0:09

We return to Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer, brought to you by World of Spas, Edmonton's number one hot tub and swim spa dealer. The ideal place to start your daily vacation on Oilers Radio, 880 Chad.

Aiden Ganim 0:24

Well, a reminder that some guests of Oilers Now receive gift certificates to Japanese Village. It's a true celebration for the senses, quality ingredients, and unmatched grill side experience. Book your seat at jvedmonton.ca. Trying to coordinate with Scott Wheeler here. Can't quite seem to get a hold of him. So we're going to go back into the audio vault for a second here and just play another clip from Devin Levi.

Devin Levi 0:54

Yeah, I mean going into Buffalo, playing in the NHL as a 21-year-old kid, I think everything that I've been through in that organization, I'm coming out a 24-year-old man. and I feel more mature and ready to go and help this Edmonton Oilers team to follow the way this year. So it's super exciting. It feels like the right time for me, and I just can't wait to get things started.

Aiden Ganim 1:18

Cam, did I play that clip already? I feel like that was one I might have already played at the start of the show. That's brutal. It was so nice you played it twice. There we go, I guess. It looks like we've got Scott lined up now, so we'll get right into it. Scott Wheeler from The Athletic just put out, or well, I guess last week put out his top 100 drafted prospects list, and it's a juicy one. Scott, how are you doing today, man? i'm doing well you've caught me right before a little beer league hockey of my own the hockey never stopped no it does not not at all i gotta ask you just to start off i mean if i was in your situation and i had to put together this list i think i could give you like a max of maybe 10 15 i don't know how you managed to uh to put you know with all the talent and all the prospect pools in the nhl this year i just gotta like how do you do it man

Scott Wheeler 2:09

Yeah, I mean, it helps when I have a... It's my full-time job. I don't... I don't think it's possible to do the kind of work that we do at The Athletic on the prospect side if you don't treat it that way. So it's a lot of time spent on the road. It's a lot of time traveling. It's a lot of time away from the wife and kids. It's a lot of time watching video when I am home and watching games sort of locally in the OHL around where I live just north of Toronto here. When I am home, it's just... a lot of time on the phone talking to agents and skills coaches and strength and conditioning coaches and general managers at the junior level and their coaches in college and in Europe and all of that. And then you piece it together as best you can and you get a lot of it wrong anyways.

Scott Wheeler 2:55

So it's an imperfect science. It's a hard thing to get right. I feel pretty good after a decade plus of doing this work that I'm Doing it at a high level, if you will, but even if you feel that way, you're going to make mistakes. I actually have a piece coming out tomorrow of players I was wrong about, which is an annual piece I do at the Athletic each offseason to go back over previous lists and sort of highlight some of the guys I got wrong, why I got them wrong. some of the bad habits that I maybe had in the past or things that I put too much or too little emphasis into. So I'm constantly trying to learn and get better at my craft, just like anybody in any profession, I suppose.

Aiden Ganim 3:41

Yeah, for sure. And I want to ask you as well, I mean, you're looking at a lot of different leagues here. You're looking at the SHL, the league, you know, the OHL, college and the AHL as well. So like a combination of a bunch of different leagues, how hard is it to, you know, kind of differentiate, you know, this guy's a bit more talented than a guy that's, you know, maybe playing in a weaker league. I mean, how does that kind of level out from your opinion?

Scott Wheeler 4:08

Well, certainly it's stronger data, and I care deeply about the data piece of it.