They Read the News, Oh Boy : Blues Scouting Report, Left in Hotel, Shows Up in Detroit Newspaper

The St. Louis Blues’ strategy against the Detroit Red Wings seemed obvious: forecheck hard, finish checks (particularly against European players), take long shots at Mike Vernon and aim for goalie Chris Osgood’s stick side.

But in case the Red Wings didn’t know what had happened to them, all they had to do was read Tuesday’s Detroit News, which printed a copy of the Blues’ scouting report.

The 13-page report, compiled by the Blues’ scouting staff, listed each Red Wing’s weakness and suggested how the Blues should exploit them. Right wing Brian Noonan left his copy under the bed of his Detroit hotel room, where it was found by a hotel employee last week. The employee gave it to a friend at a Detroit radio station, who gave it to the News. The hotel employee has been fired.

Little in the report was earth-shattering--it told how defenseman Paul Coffey “hates to be bothered physically,” winger Darren McCarty is “not reliable defensively,” and forward Sergei Fedorov “hates to be hit.” But the recommendations to pressure Detroit’s defense, forecheck persistently and get a lot of traffic in front of the Wings’ goalies proved effective, as has the Blues’ execution.

Noonan wasn’t aware that he had left his copy behind, and shared his teammates’ surprise that it was published in the News. “It was a personal belonging with my name on it and I don’t think the hotel has a right to give it away,” he said.

Coach Mike Keenan was also irate. “I think someone should be fired from the hotel because if you leave your wallet in a room it should be forwarded to the people who own it,” he said. “Hopefully, the league will do something in terms of security. It’s an ethical thing more than anything else.”