On July 9, Alain Chainey hopped on The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro to discuss his scouting experiences with an NHL organization.
Chainey spent 20 seasons with the Ducks, three as a scout from 1993 to 1996 before becoming their director of amateur scouting. He then became the director of player development in 2008 and remained in that position until 2012.
Given his work, Chainey has plenty of stories from his time with the Ducks and shared some of these stories with Marinaro.
“If you want to draft a top-6 forward in the NHL, first of all, for us, it was hockey sense first,” Chainey said. “Even if you’re not a great skater, if you can compensate by having great hands (or) great hockey sense or lots of creativity, you’re going to have a chance to be a hell of a player in the NHL.”
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Hockey sense was and still is an attribute that the Ducks greatly value when targeting players in the draft. They did it last season with Leo Carlsson and again this year with Beckett Sennecke and Stian Solberg.
“To say your hockey sense, you’re born with it, yes it is,” Chainey said. “But you can also have help from your coach. It’s just a question of maturity with the puck and making the right decisions with and without the puck––and also defensively.”
Martin Madden Jr., who is currently the Ducks’ head scout, was tabbed by Chainey for that position as Chainey began to ease off on his workload toward the end of his tenure with the Ducks.
“I told my GM: ‘I have a man in mind who could do a good job for the Ducks and replace me’ and I suggested Martin Madden Jr. and Martin Madden accepted the job and since then, he’s done a hell of a job. He’s the best in the business.”
Madden joined the Ducks in 2008 after several seasons as a scout for the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes. He took over as the director of amateur scouting from Chainey with Chainey moving to become director of player development.
“I know Martin very well, obviously he’s a friend of mine,” Chainey said. “What he’s doing in Anaheim is absolutely incredible. Year after year, drafting great players. The projection is perfect for them and he likes to go with upside, meaning that the…