Hockey fans on the West Coast who pledge their fandom towards the Vancouver Canucks were notified on Friday that the team released an integral piece of the front office from helping reshape the next generation of Canuck prospects and ultimately players.
The team announced that they officially parted ways for with amateur scouting director Judd Brackett, who'd been with the team for 12 years and ran their amateur scouting teams since 2015.
This move wouldn't move the needle in terms of news but in Vancouver, Canucks fans grew a strong attachment to Brackett for his ability to find "diamond in the rough" prospects, particularly American USHL players who were NCAA bound, as well as franchise superstars in Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
Check out the reaction from fans and media members when the news broke, which caused Brackett's name to trend on Twitter.
“We are grateful for Judd’s contributions and leadership at an important time for our team,” said general manager Jim Benning in the team's press release.
“Judd earned the respect of his peers and fans alike; we’re proud of what he and our amateur scouting staff have accomplished. Although difficult, we believe this is the right decision for the future of our team. We are confident we have a strong scouting staff and are well-positioned for the upcoming NHL Draft."
As Benning mentioned, the team will be without a head of amateur scouting for the draft, but will instead be lead by Benning and his internal team. Benning noted that both the team and Brackett wanted to explore other opportunities, besides disagreeing on the process of selecting players at the NHL Entry Draft.
“I don’t know too many places where the team is going to give a head scout total autonomy to make all the picks without collaborating with the people higher up on the chain of command."
