Eleven months of scouting, evaluating and poring over reams of stats and data were all worth it for Mark Yannetti when it boiled down to one big night.
The Boxford native, the co-Director of Amateur Scouting for the NHL's Los Angeles Kings (along with Mike Futa), knew his team needed to have a big draft as they try to speed up the rebuilding process. The Kings finished dead last in the Western Conference a year ago with just 71 points.
The 37-year-old Yannetti — who joined the Kings two years ago after scouting in the NHL and AHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs the previous six seasons — knew it was his job to help select the best players possible for Los Angeles to take great strides in the near future.
Yannetti and Futa agreed the Kings' biggest need was defensemen. Holding the No. 2 pick — the first time the team had picked that high since 1986 — the Kings set their sights on 6-foot-2, 219-pound blue-liner Drew Doughty of the Ontario Hockey League's Guelph Storm. Yannetti felt that Doughty, who was the top defenseman at the recent World Junior Cup, could be in the NHL soon; he's been compared to Bruins' legend Ray Bourque.
With Doughty safely in the fold, Los Angeles turned its attention to its second pick of the first round, at No. 13 (after three separate trades landed them in that spot). There they chose another physical defensemen, hulking Colten Teubert of the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats.
"We had targeted Doughty and were trying to get into the area where we could get Teubert," said Yannetti, in explaining how the Kings got the two players they really wanted. "We had heard two other teams were very interested in drafting (Teubert), we tried to move up by trading (Mike Cammallieri to Calgary) for the 17th pick — then we traded that pick along with No. 28 (to Anaheim) to get the No. 12 pick.
"From there, we made a special deal with Buffalo (owner of the No. 13 pick) on the condition they wouldn't go for the player we wanted, and we also got a third round pick for next year."
In all, four of Los Angeles' first four picks at the draft were defensemen, including its top three selections. Vjateslav Voinov of Russia was picked 32nd overall by the Kings, who then went for center/wing Robert Czarnik (of the U.S. Under-18 Team) before tabbing Sault St. Marie defenseman Andrew Campbell at No. 74.
Later, Yannetti and Futa took a chance on three smaller centers in Andrei Loktionov of Russia, Justin Azevedo of Kitchener in the Ontario Hockey League, and 5-foot-7 Derek Roe from St. Cloud State.
"Down at the end we took a chance on a few small guys," said Yannetti. "The Russian has tons of potential, and Azevedo was the Ontario Player of the Year and the best on his team in the playoffs. He's the type of guy you take a chance on. Roe is also small, but he scored from start to finish. Small guys have an opportunity to play in the NHL today."
Constantly evaluating — and travelling
Now that the Draft, as well as a flurry of trade activity on that day, is behind him, don't think Yannetti is thinking about a vacation. Quite the opposite; he began work on this most recent draft last July 15.
"Because I do a lot of work in player development, I'll be heading out to Los Angeles soon for our Development Camp," said the former All-American defenseman at Williams College, who played in the minor leagues for seven years. "We'll get our new players on the ice and take a good look at them. Between Development Camp and scouting, there's not much time for rest."
Throughout the year, said Yannetti, he and Futa made lists from the team's scouts in the West, Central and East. They watch those players during the summer in tournaments, then travel to Europe to see other prospects.
He plans on being in Los Angeles for two weeks before returning to his family in Topsfield, then heading out again Aug. 10 for a tournament in the Czech Republic. He'll return home again after that, only to head back out to LA at the end of August when the team begins training camp for the 2008-09 season.
Yannetti, who is based out of Boston, was hired as a pro scout for the Kings but took over as Director of Amateur Scouting a year ago when new management took over and fired most of the scouting staff.
"There are different philosophies now," said Yannetti of the Kings' new ownership group. "Last July I hired a couple of new scouts, and kept on a few of the old ones. It's a good blend.
"When Marc Crawford was fired (as Kings' coach earlier this month after two seasons), it was a blurb on television that led to a 5-minute discussion by us. Honestly, we were so busy getting ready for the Draft that we went right back to our job."
Yannetti has dealt with both professional athletes and amateurs on the way up. He doesn't really prefer one over the other, but says each has its advantages and disadvantages.
"When you deal with pros, there is a more immediate impact, and if it doesn't work out you've got an immediate problem for yourself," he said. "When you're drafting 17 and 18 year-old kids, there is a lot more potential that can be realized, but others don't work out the way you expect. You are looking at what they are going to be like five years from now, and unless you have a crystal ball there is some uncertainly involved.
"With amateur athletes you have to build from the ground up, and sometimes that is more rewarding. You see kids from age 16, draft them at 18, and see the whole picture come together in a few more years."
No place but up
When you're coming off a 32-43-7 season, there is no place to go but up. The Kings have several holes to fill with the big league club, and it will take time. On the plus side, their AHL team, the Manchester (N.H.) Monarchs, are in excellent shape.
"From the management to the fans, the franchise is a first class situation," Yannetti said of the Monarchs. "That helps me a great deal because only a handful of AHL franchises offer what we have, with 10,000-plus people coming out for games and our guys able to play in an NHL atmosphere. Mike O'Connell (the former Bruins general manager who is now Director of Pro Development for LA) does a tremendous job with all of our development there. I can't imagine any team having a better situation than we do with the Monarchs.
"We knew the Kings were in for some lean years; you don't make big changes when the team is in first place. I envisioned tough times for three or four years, but getting better each time while the foundation we built was taking shape. Then things will pay off.
The son of Joe Yannetti, the former St. John's Prep head coach and former Director of Scouting for the Chicago Blackhawks, Mark Yannetti feels he and Futa work well together because they "share one brain." He believes they complement each other's strengths well and agree much of the time.
There are times the two travel together, but more often than not they go off in different directions. When Yannetti heads for Ontario, Futa goes out West. When Yannetti starts to move West, Futa visits Quebec.
"We try to do it like an assembly line because we can cover a lot more territory that way," Yannetti said. "When it comes to players we like, we tend to value different areas. My No. 1 value is hockey sense, while he values competitiveness more. Our disagreements are small, but a lot of his strengths are my weaknesses and vice-versa, so we are actually better together."
Yannetti never gave much thought to what he would do when his hockey career ended, always thinking something would come up.
"In each season while I was playing I would go to games with my Dad, and we'd talk about players. He was involved, and I kind of fell into the job. I guess all those times picking his brain helped me."
