Fresh Alexander Steen Interview

[STL fan in MN]

This was a good interview. Steener was always a good representation of what it was to be a Blue. One thing I pulled from this is that he still has a hunger for the game. Just getting a prospect coaching role wasn't enough to satisfy his fire, so we will have a hungry GM here who will be a little green in the gills.

I always figured that the Swedish thing was Steener pushing. I think it's fair to say that he had a heavy hand in it and because those players are doing a decent job, it gave them a vote of confidence for him. It's probably a good thing we have a pipeline like that, that could be unique to STL.

I’ve always found the Swedish thing and Steen’s likely influence on that to be likely overblown. Even in this interview, it’s not like Steen brought it up. One of them brought it up and he was like, yeah, I was involved. As sure, of course they got the impression of the former Swedish Blues player who lived in Sweden at the time that worked with the Swedish U20 team a bit at the time. But I doubt it was Steen banging on the table for these guys and only these guys. People then expected the same Swedish slant last year…and we drafted zero Swedes. Went with 3 Czechs…to go with a Czech and 2 Slovaks from the year before.

In the end, I think they just take whatever kid they think is the best player but it is good to have someone like Steen who’s pretty plugged into Swedish hockey.

Minnesota forget about just the Swede influence or connection but do you think Steen is better wired/connected into most all of Europe with his background and recent time on that continent than many of his contemporaries?

I mean, I suppose he’d be more wired/connected than an American or Canadian front office exec but this is also why all teams have European staff as well. For the Blues, Jan Vopat is the Head of European Amateur Scouting but I know Stefan Elvenes is based in Sweden. Tommy Sjodin and Eero Somervuori are also based in Europe and Alex Starovoytov is our Russian scout. IMO, giving Steen all the credit for Stenberg and Lindstein (and Dvorsky since he was playing in Sweden that season) takes away deserved credit from these guys. I recall during the 2023 behind the scenes video they put out it was clips of Elevenes that did a majority of the talking with Vopat also adding a lot. They then added Steen on video call (he wasn’t even in the room!) and got his opinion.

I understand that for sure. I know an MLB scout and all he puts into his work and what the odds are on a hit.

None of us know just how Steen will do with this big responsibility. I do like his personality and his openness best I can gauge and while he has been given a huge opportunity coming up the ranks on a rather short term as GM's go, I have to think he's earned DA's respect in the process or he would not be considered for the position.

Ultimately, with all the years in NA playing hockey yet calling Europe home is likely a big advantage imo.

I wasn’t questioning Steen’s ability to be the GM of this team in a year and going forward. I was questioning how much credit some fans give him for 2-3 of our 2023 1st round picks.