Håkan Andersson (ice hockey)

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Håkan Andersson is a Swedish amateur hockey scout who currently serves as the Director of European Scouting for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has won four Stanley Cup Championships as a member of the Detroit Red Wings organization, in 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2008. Andersson, based in Stockholm, Sweden, scouts all over Europe including Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Russia. ^[1]^[2]

His scouting and player evaluation has been credited, along with that Director of Amateur Scouting Joe McDonnell and Assistant General Manager Jim Nill, by Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland as the reason for the long term success of the Red Wings.^[3]

[edit] Scouting career

Andersson began scouting for the Wings in 1989 after being recommended to the position by Christer Rockström, who was leaving the Red Wings organization to work for the New York Rangers. ^[4]^[5] He had been working as a fishing guide with Frontiers International Travel when he started scouting for the Red Wings, and kept that job part time until the mid-1990's. Speaking on this time of his life, Andersson claims that he "was a better fishing guide than scout".^[6]

While scouting in Sweden in 1993, Andersson visited the national team selection camp for players born in 1973 in order to scout players such as Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund, and while there noticed a young Tomas Holmström. The next year Holmström caught his attention again when Holmström's coach at the time, Niklas Wikegård, described Holmström as the best player on the team.^[4] In 1994 the Red Wings for the first time gave Andersson a draft pick, their 10th round pick, meaning he had first and final say over who would be chosen by the team in that round. Andersson chose Holmström, who has since been part of four Stanley Cup winning teams in Detroit.^[6]

It was through happenstance that Andersson discovered first Pavel Datsyuk and then Henrik Zetterberg. In 1997 he went to Russia to scout Dmitri Kalinin, noticed Datsyuk playing for the other team, put Datsyuk on his list of prospects, and the Red Wings drafted him 171st overall in the 1998 draft.^[7] The next year Andersson travelled with Nill to a tournament in Finland to scout Mattias Weinhandl. Nill was distracted, however, by "this little Zetterberg guy who always seemed to have the puck." Andersson and Nill came away with a very high opinion of Zetterberg, whom they drafted 210^th overall in the 1999 entry draft, and he has matured into a superstar in the NHL.^[5]^[8] Their decisions to go with Zetterberg and Datsyuk have paid off handsomely. The two star centers were named as finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy in 2008^[9], and later that year Zetterberg set a new franchise record for most points in a post-season (27) and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs.^[10]

In 2004 Andersson took a chance and recommended the Wings draft an unheralded defensive-minded Swede center named Johan Franzén despite Franzén's age at the time (24). Franzén was big, had a heavy shot, and very good skating abilities for his size, and Andersson believed Franzén could at least be a good checking center. ^[11]^[12] Andersson's expectations were exceeded when, in 2008, Franzén set a new Red Wings franchise record by scoring 13 goals in a single post season, a mark subsequently matched by Zetterberg.^[13]^[14]

Besides Holmström, Franzén, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg, Andersson has also been responsible for the selection by the Red Wings of Niklas Kronwall, Jiří Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, and Jonathan Ericsson, among others. ^[15]^[16]