"Scouts?"

On the Merc's website yesterday, David Pollak wrote about the scouts who have been present at the Tank for San Jose's last couple of home games. Two of the teams mentioned (the Canadiens and the Panthers) have been mixed up in assorted trade rumors with the Sharks from time to time this season.

I don't really have anything to say about any potential trade rumors involving Patrick Marleau--they are rumors and nothing more. There's not even any evidence to indicate that the folks from Montreal and Florida and elsewhere were at HP Pavilion to watch Marleau any more than they were there to watch any other player on the ice.

However, the blurb did get me thinking...I wonder what hockey scouts--people who make their livings observing and evaluating hockey players and making recommendations that have consequences (as opposed to, say, bloggers, or TV analysts, whose opinions really don't matter)--would say about the undeniable drop in Marleau's production this year? What might they see that could explain it? Is it something he is doing, or isn't doing? Has he lost a step? What about Cheechoo? Does his disappointing season have something in common with Marleau's? If these scouts are in a box scribbling notes about either of these guys, what I wouldn't give for a peek over their shoulders...