Hockeysverige.se’s Ronnie Ronnqvist interviews famous scout Christer Rockstrom today, discussing hockey experiences with one of the first prominent Swedish scouts in the NHL. Rockstrom worked for the Red Wings, Rangers and Canadiens, but he’s hanging up his scouting notebook at 68 years of age, and he describes his start in the NHL with the Red Wings…
How did you work initially?
“I came in the middle of the season, and I got some travel money to leave some information. Then I wasn’t really a scout, but it was more than I would keep track of the defenseman born in 1967 and 68’s.
“Then Detroit and Neil [Smith] began training me as a scout. Year two I was hired and got it as a part-time job. The first half of the year I didn’t report, but instead just a compilation of interesting players in Sweden. I wrote that together in cranky English and sent it in. The following year I started scouting, so it was with the 1968 litter that I really started my job as a scout.”
And Rockstrom discusses his time with Detroit…
What did Neil Smith and Detroit include in the education that they gave you?
“To understand what scouting was and how it was to find talent that would be good in the future. Not the one that was necessarily best at the time.”
“Look around the corner. Be curious. But first of all, see what kind of player it is. What is his upside? Is he physically developed, late or early in puberty? What specific qualities does he possess? We talked about this very early on.”
“At the time Detroit was one of the worst teams in the league. It was actually Neil’s idea that the organization should look to Europe to find talent. Meanwhile, Detroit drafted two of the league’s toughest players in Bob Probert and Joey Kocur, who would protect skilled players such as Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstrom. There, the backbone was built for the team that would win the Stanley Cup in ten years. At the same time, they wanted to play the Canadian style but also be able to steal good talent from Europe in the late rounds before the other teams reacted.”
“It was New Jersey with David Conte who were in Europe early. Philadelphia and Vancouver were also there early. Then some teams came, too, but Detroit was early on the chop to bet on this. Now everyone is treating Europe with the utmost respect. They did not do that in the first years.”
Rockstrom also discusses determining a successor when he left the Red Wings to join Neil Smith with the Rangers…
How was it received in Detroit when you left?
“The first week it was a bit grumpy. Then it dropped and this kind of thing happened all the time. Big companies change managers, underlings and seats all the time, so they were probably quite used to such things happening.”
“It wasn’t a worse relationship than asking me if I knew someone who would be relevant to take over my role. One of my friends, Hakan (Andersson) was one I thought as going to be a sensible scout. He was a pretty good hockey player with good character traits.”
“I told Detroit to try Hakan and it was a magnificent job. Maybe even better than keeping me. Hakan has done a good job.”
And the conversation continues, with Rockstrom mostly deferring credit and discussing how his job was a team effort in concert with other scouts and team management.
Several of Rockstrom’s more famous draft picks weigh in, including Team Sweden’s Johan Garpenlov, Mattias Nordstrom, Carl Hagelin, and some guy who went through at least three sticks a game:
Nicklas Lidström: “Rockstrom was the one who discovered me and followed me when I played in Vasteras IK’s juniors, and when I came up to the A-team. He showed interest in me and in the way I gained a little more confidence, when I knew it was an NHL team that was interested.”
“I don’t remember our first meeting, but we used to meet the fastest after games. Sometimes he got in touch before the game, and other times he only showed up after the game. It was probably a way of seeing me when I didn’t know whether he was going to be there.”
“He followed me during the season, and it gave me a boost. We talked about waht it took to play in the NHL, attitude, etc.”
