After spending six seasons playing with the Powell River Regals and winning Allan Cup national championships, Erin Ginnell now has a Stanley Cup to his credit.
The former hockey player is now an amateur scout with the Vegas Golden Knights and was on hand to witness the Golden Knights’ defeat of the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final. The Panthers were a team for which he had also scouted.
Ginnell said in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, however, he played with the Regals, which he characterized as “a great group of guys.”
“We kept everybody intact for the most part and did a lot of winning in those years,” said Ginnell.
Ginnell was introduced to the Regals by Powell River Minor Hockey product Troy Butler, with whom he had played hockey previously at Red Deer College. Butler called him and asked him if he was interested in playing hockey for the Regals.
“They were down in the Vancouver area quite a bit, so I’d play down there and I’d also come up to Powell River whenever I could, and obviously at playoff time, and Allan Cup time for sure,” said Ginnell. “It was a fun time. I developed a lot of great friends from those teams and we’ve kept in contact, which is great.”
Ginnell’s scouting career began with the Columbus Blue Jackets when they came into the National Hockey League. At the time he was still playing for the Regals, working in parks and recreation, and he had his own hockey camp. He was going to school part time, but the opportunity to help with amateur scouting came up and he dedicated his efforts toward that pursuit.
“Once you get into your 30s you have to set your priorities,” said Ginnell. “That was the end of my Regal time.”
He worked with Columbus for a couple of years, but two years later, an opportunity came up for a full-time scouting position with the Florida Panthers. He moved to Calgary and started to travel extensively to look for NHL prospects.
He spent 14 years with the Panthers until Vegas came into the league. Ginnell said he left when the Panthers wanted to go in different directions with the scouting program and his contract was up.
“Vegas came into the league and I got a call saying they were interested in hiring me, and we went from there,” said Ginnell. “I’ve been there seven years now and it has been nothing but outstanding.”
Ginnell said he scouts in North America and in Europe, and his main goal is to build a list for the draft. He said his job involves a lot of travel.
“There’s all kinds of tournaments in Europe and I’m probably there three or four times a year,” said Ginnell. “I also scout the junior leagues, the United States Hockey League, plus high schools and colleges at times, too.
“I spend a lot of time in rinks and arenas, as well as in hotels, airports and rental cars.”
Ginnell said he has seen some of the amateur players he’s scouted move into the higher echelons of professional hockey. He said, for example, that some of the players he scouted with the Florida Panthers became Stanley Cup finalists this year, such as Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad.
“I was glad to see those guys mature from just young kids to Stanley Cup finalists,” said Ginnell. “It was fun for me but I’m glad that we beat them.
“We’ve also had some success with our picks here in Vegas that we’ve used as assets to build a really solid team here.”
Ginnell said the lifeblood of a hockey organization is the amateur scouting.
“It really helps with your depth and keeps your organization moving forward,” he added.
Draft decisions
When a team wins the Stanley Cup they get the 32nd pick in the next amateur draft, which is the last pick in the first round.
“We’re just in the middle of our scouting meetings now in preparation for the draft,” said Ginnell. “We are going to go over everything one more time and see what shakes out.
“It’s a pretty good year for the draft. There’s good depth and we’re hoping that somebody falls down to us.”
Having won the Stanley Cup with a really deep team, Ginnell said the Golden Knights are looking for the best players available at the draft rather than trying to fill specific positions.
“You have to remember that these players are probably five years away by the time they get here,” said Ginnell. “To try to plug a hole, you might be able to do that with a top five or top 10 pick, but when you’re picking later, you’re just trying to pick the best available player.”
This year was the second year Vegas made it to the Stanley Cup final, after the magical inaugural season in 2017/2018.
“That was a special run,” said Ginnell. “This year it felt a lot more doable. We had a solid four lines, solid defence and goaltending.”
Ginnell was able to take in the playoffs and was in the arena for the finals.
“It was quite the atmosphere,” said Ginnell. “There had to be 20,000 people outside the rink and close to 20,000 inside. Obviously, the Las Vegas strip was nuts.
“There are close to two million people in Vegas. A lot of local people here really love hockey.”
Ginnell attended the party for the Golden Knights in Vegas on June 17, then it was back to business, preparing for the 2023 entry draft in Nashville on June 28 and 29. Over the summer, he’ll have the Hlinka Gretzky Cup to attend in Europe to watch some of the best under-18 players, then he’ll have a bit of a break until training camp.
Ginnell has come a long way in hockey since playing for the Regals.
“I just kind of started scouting on a part-time basis but really enjoyed it and loved it,” said Ginnell. “Now it’s kind of rolled up into a full-time job for the last 20-some years here. It has been really fun and rewarding.”
