NHL / AHL SCOUTING REPORT
Winkler’ s Byron Froese:
Scouting A Hidden Gem
For Everett Silvertips scout Doug Sinclair, Winkler’ s 25-year-old Byron Froese was a hidden gem,“ in every sense of the word,” at the start of his career. He was your classic late bloomer, a guy who spent three seasons in the WHL and even played in the ECHL to keep his career alive. Last season, he played 56 games with the NHL’ s Toronto Maple Leafs and although he was – surprisingly-- sent to the AHL after a solid Leafs training camp, he’ s battled his way back and was called up by the Leafs in late December. Sinclair calls Froese“ a character player,” and he tells Game On readers why.
By Doug Sinclair, as told to Scott Taylor Photos by Jeff Miller and Graig Abel
Byron Froese is a kid we’ d call a“ late-bloomer,” but for me as a scout, there was just something about him that always kept drawing me back. In his Western Hockey League Bantam Draft year-- before the advent of Manitoba regional bantam AAA programs-- Byron played for the Bantam AA Winkler Flyers. I’ d seen his team play several times that season and it was a decent team, but nothing to get too excited about. I guess you could say Byron was the same way. He didn’ t have the obvious package and he wasn’ t flashy, but he did all the little things well and that caught my attention. He was definitely a player you had to watch at length in order to appreciate what he brought to the rink. At the Bantam level, he didn’ t have much size, he was not a prolific scorer and he didn’ t have blazing speed. In fact, he was pretty average in all of those areas, but he did a lot of things consistently well. Then, at the rural provincials that year, he turned in a rock solid performance. He never turned over pucks, he made smart, simple plays, he was great in the face-off circle, he was very good on the penalty kill, he was solid in both ends of the rink and he scored a point or two. Of course, that seemed to be the way he was every time I saw him play. He was Mr. Consistency. That’ s definitely what he became as a junior and professional player and that’ s what he still is to this day. And that consistency was probably the reason for his second career call-up to the Toronto Maple Leafs
68 GAME ON 2016- 17 ROSTER DEADLINE EDITION