Author Archives: agb14

This piece was written by Austin Garret — you can follow him on BlueSky @Austin716. As I went to write the bi-weekly post a week and a half ago, I realized that the bulk of the players that I have been excited to watch this year were coming up on their third game for me toContinue reading “Bi-Weekly Musings: The Last One Before Scouting Reports”

This piece was written by Austin Garret — you can follow him on BlueSky @Austin716. As we head to the American Thanksgiving holiday I find myself having just a few players left on my preliminary list that I haven’t tracked or scouted yet. This time of year usually marks the end of identifying the top-endContinue reading “Bi-Weekly Musings: Into the Depths We Go”

Written by Austin Garret We at Smaht Scouting have our first rankings call coming up this Saturday, October 25th. This is a bit earlier than usual, and given the amount of rankings that have come out early this year, it makes sense that we’ll get started on our initial top 32 as well. There are stillContinue reading “Bi-Weekly Musings: The Ranking Before the Ranking”

Written by Austin Garrett With the CHL/USHL seasons roughly three weeks in and the NCAA kicking off this past weekend, I thought it would be a good time to bring back the bi-weekly blog post talking about North American prospects I’ve seen with a focus on who’s trending up and down with a potpourri of thoughtsContinue reading “Smaht Talk: North American Musings 10/7”

Written by Austin Garret On Sunday, December 1st the Smaht Scouting team will get together for our first ranking for the 2025 NHL Draft. We’ll rank an initial 32 players with a scattering of about 5-10ish honorable mentions as well.  As a North American crossover scout, my focus for the past 4+ months have been playersContinue reading “Bi Weekly Musings: Where I’m at Before Our First Rankings Call”

Written by Austin Garret The USNTDP has been a juggernaut as of late in producing highly talented, first round caliber prospects. The last two years we’ve seen 8 alumni of the program get drafted in the first round, with countless others being drafted throughout the draft.  Coming into the 2025 season I expected it to beContinue reading “Bi-Weekly Musings: Evaluating the NTDP”

Written by Austin Garret I love to scout players, but it also comes with an absolute love of college hockey. On the weekends you will find me with my computer scouting players with a college hockey game on the TV in the background at all times. From the fan atmosphere (my trip to Yost last yearContinue reading “Bi-Weekly Musings: Start of the NCAA and Players Catching My Attention”

Written by Austin Garret As we build up to the first ranking for Smaht (which will most likely be in early-mid November) and then the first scouting reports which usually drop around the World Juniors in December; I thought I’d offer some bi-weekly scouting ramblings about North American players I’ve watched, some thoughts on whereContinue reading “Some (very) Early 2025 NHL Draft Class Thoughts”

Photo Credit: Michigan Photography Gavin Brindley is currently ranked inside the top 10 for Smaht’s final 2023 NHL draft ranking, and he sticks out like a sore thumb when comparing his consensus ranking to our rankings. The Smaht team is considerably higher on Brindley than most. There isn’t a prospect I’ve watched more this yearContinue reading “Scouting Report: Gavin Brindley”

Photo Credit: Steve Dunsmoor / Kelowna Rockets Andrew Cristall is currently the seventh ranked player in our Preliminary rankings and is currently fifth in total points in the WHL and fourth in points per game. This is Cristall’s second full season in the WHL. Last year he amassed 28 goals and 68 points in 61Continue reading “Scouting Report: Andrew Cristall”