One of Brett Stewart’s first missions as a member of the Coyotes organization sounds like it’s straight out of a spy tale. He had flown to St. Petersburg — his first-ever scouting trip into Russia — to track an undrafted Yaroslavl defenseman named Ilya Lyubushkin.

“I probably saw him play 15 times but I still remember meeting him for the first time in St. Petersburg because Lokomotiv had just played there,” said Stewart, who was hired as the team’s European development coach and is now the team’s director of European pro scouting and development. “It was a blizzard; it was snowing like hell. 

“I was sort of hiding in between two buses so the managers and coaches couldn’t see me. I had a jacket on, but nothing that could identify me being with the Coyotes. I waited for him to come between the buses so I could talk to him and just give him the whole spiel and then we were gonna go out for dinner. From then on, we became pretty close and we contacted each other a lot. One thing led to another and we signed him, but it was a really long process.”

Few of the Coyotes pro scouts’ trips are as clandestine as this one, but with so much attention focused on Arizona’s amateur scouting staff during a thorough rebuild, it can often feel like the pro scouts are hiding in the shadows. The March 8 NHL trade deadline is one of the few times each year where their work emerges into the sunlight.

The Coyotes are still focused on acquiring draft picks, but they may also look to acquire pro players in any deal they consummate before or on Friday. They did it last March when they acquired defenseman Michael Kesselring as part of the deal that sent center Nick Bjugstad to the Edmonton Oilers.  

When the offseason arrives, they may look to cash in some of the 20 picks they own in the first three rounds of the next three drafts to acquire a pro player. They did it last summer when they acquired defenseman Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick. 

They may also look to sign pro free agents out of Europe, just as they did with Lyubushkin, goalie Karel Vejmelka, forward Miloš Kelemen or defenseman Patrik Koch.

That’s where the pro scouting staff comes in.

“Pro scouting is no different than trying to find that prospect at the amateur level, except there’s a little bit more projection at the amateur level,” said Coyotes director of pro scouting Alan Hepple. “It’s not always the case in Europe, but by the time they get to the American League or the National Hockey League they have kind of found their level. Maybe they’re a bottom-six guy when we might have had them as a top-line guy while they were an amateur and they didn’t get any better. But now they have found their role and a way to impact the game. Now it’s more about their fit with your club.

“We’re constantly going over depth charts of other teams to see what they’ve got and who might be available based on their salaries, the team’s cap situation and conversations that [GM] Bill [Armstrong] may have with another team’s general manager. It’s about knowing the player thoroughly on the ice, knowing the player off the ice and then with contracts, we rely on the guys who deal with that side of things, whether it’s [assistant GMs] David Ludwig and John Ferguson Jr., or [assistant data analyst] Chase Glasberg, to say whether it will or won’t work.”

Hepple spent 25 years on the amateur side of scouting, serving as an area scout with the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche before becoming the Avs’ director of pro scouting from 2009-2021. During that latter period, the Avalanche drafted players such as Ryan O’Reilly, Gabe Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar.

Hepple had never considered the pro side before Armstrong approached him in 2021. 

“He thought it would be a good fit because I was coming from the amateur side and had done it for so many years, just like he did,” Hepple said. “I knew the players that are playing now or were going to be coming up. I have a good book on all of them. 

“I thought about it for a while. I had never done the pro side, but the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I got. I liked the challenge of the amateur draft and projecting 17- and 18-year-old kids, but now you’re getting to watch NHL games and see the skill of the NHL; see how far these kids have to go. I think seeing it from both sides has made me a better scout because now I see on a daily basis that you’ve got to be so good to play on a nightly basis and have a very big impact at the NHL level, or even in the American League.”

The Coyotes pro scouting staff consist of five men. All of them bring a wealth of experiences to the table.

Mike Guentzel (whose son, Jake, plays for the Penguins), was an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Minnesota for 22 years. Guentzel, 61, also spent one year as an assistant coach at Colorado College, and nine years in the USHL as an assistant coach, head coach and GM with St. Paul, Omaha and Des Moines before joining the Coyotes in 2018.

Stewart, 55, spent fours seasons as a coach and GM with Skien IHK and Tønberg Vikings in Norway before joining the Coyotes in 2016.

David Oliver, 52, spent seven seasons as a GM and director of player development for Lake Erie in the AHL. He was also the Colorado Avalanche’s director of player development for six seasons, and a New York Rangers assistant coach for three seasons before joining the Coyotes in 2021.

Eric Boguniecki, 48, was an assistant coach with the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers for 10 seasons before joining the Coyotes in 2022.

All five men played pro hockey at various levels. Hepple played in the AHL, IHL and NHL (New Jersey Devils). Guentzel played in the AHL and IHL.

Stewart played in Italy, Germany, Norway, Austria, England and Denmark. Boguniecki played in the IHL, ECHL, AHL and NHL (Florida, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and the New York Islanders). He also spent seasons in Switzerland and Germany.

Oliver played in the AHL, IHL and NHL (see below). He also spent seasons in Germany, Sweden and England.

All of those experiences have produced a long list of contacts in every hockey playing nation; an invaluable resource when trying to view, analyze and get to know players.

The wealth of experiences has also created a mutual admiration.

“I think there’s a lot of respect for one another,” Hepple said. “It’s not about arguments. It’s about talking it out. Why does one guy like him and one guy doesn’t, as opposed to screaming and yelling, and the loudest guy wins. I think it’s important that you listen because the guy that likes him probably has a lot of good points, and the guy that doesn’t like him probably has some valid points, too.”

The Coyotes pro scouting staff divides the NHL and AHL evenly. Each North American scout takes eight NHL teams and their AHL affiliates, with some crossover when circumstances or travel dictate.

“I’ve got the two Florida teams so people think I’m in Florida every weekend soaking in the sun,” Hepple said, chuckling. “I get plenty of winter and snow in Buffalo and Toronto and Ottawa.”

For much of the year, Stewart operates as a one-man show in Europe. He might see the Coyotes’ European amateur scouting staff when he travels to certain cities, and he may tap their knowledge base if they happen to have seen a player he is tracking, but a lot of times, he’s that guy between the buses, keeping a low profile while tracking undrafted players who have progressed to the point where they could aid the organization.

“That’s where most of my work is; with guys who haven’t been drafted but have made progress,” Stewart said. “I’m trying to find that diamond in the rough. I’m trying to find Ilya Lyubushkin or Karel Vejmelka or Miloš Kelemen or Patrik Koch — these guys that strengthen the organization whether it’s with the Coyotes or Tucson.

“I just got back from Prague. I was there for five days. I’ll go to Sweden, Czechia, Switzerland, Finland, Slovakia, Russia, Germany; cover that whole area looking for free agents. I’ve seen 160 games already this year (as of Feb. 28).”

A few times per year, Hepple gets to see the Coyotes pro staff for meetings or mutual player viewings. He’s in Arizona right now and few times per year, Hepple or Ferguson Jr. will fly to Europe, mostly for tournaments such as The Karjala Tournament in Helsinki; the Swiss Ice Hockey Games in Zürich; the Beijer Hockey Games in Stockholm; and the Czech Hockey Games in Prague.

“Obviously I have a little bit bigger say with the European guys because I see them live all the time, but when Hep comes over, or when Fergie comes over we talk a lot, and then I have the utmost respect for what Dave Oliver, Eric Boguniecki and Mike Guentzel will have to say,” Stewart said. “I just sent them some video clips on a player and I already knew what the flaws of the player were. The crazy thing was, each one of those guys came back with a text that asked the same question. The exact same question. That’s how in sync we are, but it’s also helpful to get more opinions.

“Sometimes you get blinded. You watch a guy so much and you think this guy is great. He skates well, he has skill, and then they’ll come back and say, ‘Hey, just watch this situation. Does he do this all the time or get confused in this situation?’ I’ll go back and watch and I’m like, ‘Yeah, you know what? They were right.'”

Hepple and the rest of the pro staff know full well that the trade deadline may not bring back a single player whom they have scouted over the past seasons. That’s the nature of the job, but just in case, they want to make sure every t is crossed and every i is dotted.

“I’ve watched the Buffalo Sabres here for the last three years and the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators,” Hepple said. “I know them like the back of my hand. I know their games, how they play, if they’re consistent or inconsistent. That comes with just watching them over and over and over again. 

“We try to get a lot of live viewings and then when you can’t get that, you watch a ton of video. I drive my wife crazy because when I get a night off, I’m sitting at home watching a hockey game. That’s just the nature of the job. You have to love it to do it and I love it.”

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