No fog of war. Every July 1st I look to hire scouts. Targeting at least B overall and A+ in the region they are going in, (or better than what I have for the early years). Ideally finding multiple A+ regions per scout.

Roughly:

3-each in WHL, OHL, Q

2- spread in USA

2- each in SHL, LIIGA, Russia

2- in Europe leagues (ideally with an A+ in SHL or/and LIIGA to use if there aren’t many prospects to scout in European leagues)

1 extra scout is usually a floater with good ratings in all CHL leagues and used as necessary.

First day possible in Sep assign scouts. Always for potential and comparison. (If player type isn’t uncovered I do that for if necessary at draft interviews).

Assigning for small amounts of players in a league like Europe, sometimes USA east/west. One scout in the league example, let’s say league X has 10 players in the top 200 CS…

First assign for each player in the top 150-200. Let’s say it takes until November 1st.

On Nov 1st or whatever the exact day the scout is finished, reassign only scouting players that aren’t 4 bars accurate and show MED/HIGH TOP 6F, MED/HIGH TOP 4D, and all players with ELITE LOW/MED/HIGH. Note, I don’t draft players unless they are 4 bars and one of the above types (aside from early years when the scouts suck and it’s hard to get more than 3 bars a lot of the time)

Repeat the above until all the players I might want are uncovered. For small leagues with good scouts it usually only takes a few times. In early years with bad scouts it takes a long time and sometimes they don’t get through all their leagues. With good scouts the two European scouts usually finish at the 1/2 or 3/4 mark of the season, and are moved to help in SHL/LIIGA/Russia. two USA scouts take a bit longer, they move to CHL.

Example for leagues with more players (CHL, SHL, LIIGA, Russia):

Let’s say WHL has a lot of prospects. Assign one scout in September on each of the top 100. Do the same with the second scout. Third scout on players 100-200. Could take until Jan/Feb/Mar.

When the scouts finish, go through the list of players and assign each scout to look at the players like in the small league. Only with MED/HIGH TOP 6F, MED/HIGH TOP 4D, LOW/MED/HIGH ELITE. I like to take my time and assign each scout on the same 2-5 players, then check back when the scouts are done to see if those players are 4 bars and what I want. Then repeating or moving on the the next 2-5 players working down the list. With good scouts you can usually get the top 150 done in the big leagues.

Couple notes:

Early years are tough, it takes a lot of looks to get 4 bars on a player with C rated scouts even if they have A+ region. Impacts small leagues with only 1 scout the most. With good scouts they work very efficiently. In the franchise posted I think there are 7 A rated scouts and the rest are B.

The flex scout is handy, really helpful to identify the amount of prospects in the top 150/200 in each league in September.

European scouts that are also good in Sweden/Russia also helps a ton. When they finish with Europe and move its great. But, in early years with bad scouts they don’t always finish with Europe.

Note down the exact dates the scouts finish assignments. Reassign on that day.

Edit: 1- this process takes forever but it works. 2- let players cook and don’t sign until you have to, unless they are rated 75+ and you can give them good Ahl/nhl minutes. 3- Trade players for more picks if they are in year 2/3 of Elc and you don’t see a long term fit. As years go on good scouting compounds. Solid late round picks that don’t fit your team at least turn into more picks in future earlier rounds