A Coldstream National Hockey League scout is shuffling off to Buffalo.
After a quarter-century scoping out hockey talent with the Detroit Red Wings, Marty Stein has inked a deal for his talents with the Buffalo Sabres.
“Basically, myself and a few other guys in Detroit from the Ken Holland regime, our contracts were not going to be renewed as Steve (new general manager Yzerman) told us he wants to go with his own guys and I get that,” said Stein, who turns 65 Sept. 12. “So I asked for permission to seek employment elsewhere.”
He put out feelers to all 32 NHL teams and the Sabres came back with an offer Stein couldn’t turn down. He and Lukas Sutter, son of former NHL star Rich Sutter, will be in charge of scouting Western Canada for the Sabres.
“I’m very excited to start a new adventure,” said Stein on his Facebook page. “I’m honoured to continue working in the NHL.”
And it’s not like he wasn’t working over the past year during the pandemic.
Stein watched about 150 games, either in person or via his computer.
“We were busy,” he said. “The season started with everything open, then COVID came and we streamed a lot of college hockey games. Then the B.C. Hockey League and WHL (Western Hockey League) had their pod seasons so we were back in the buildings. It was a thing we had to do.”
In his 25 years with the Red Wings working with Holland, a fellow Vernon native and former Vernon Vikings Junior A hockey teammate, Stein was a part of four Stanley Cup championships and two Calder Cup (American Hockey League) titles.
“I had the pleasure of working with some of the most incredible people,” said Stein, who helped the Vernon Tigers win three consecutive Canadian Senior B lacrosse championships from 1976-78.
He worked as a physical education teacher – beginning with his practicum at Vernon Secondary School in 1981 – retiring in 2013 from Clarence Fulton Secondary in Vernon.
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READ MORE: Stein closes book on high school
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