The author and Sportsnet Central co-anchor Ken Reid discusses his new book The Next One: Hockey Scouts, Remote Rinks and Hidden Talent (Simon & Schuster, 2025), with Joseph Planta.
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The Next One: Hockey Scouts, Remote Rinks and Hidden Talent by Ken Reid (Simon & Schuster, 2025).
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Next One |
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
Ken Reid joins me again. He’s got a new book out, The Next One: Hockey Scouts, Remote Rinks and Hidden Talent. It’s full of stories of the scouts who find the superstars like Borje Salming as well as the players of grit and drive, who might not even make it to the big leagues. The scouts that Mr. Reid talks to seek and find the teenage prodigies and the might-never-bes. It’s easy to find the next superstar, the next Connor McDavid or Connor Bedard, but scouts also have to find players that will fill all the parts of a team’s roster. It’s the clutch scorer, the goalie who can contort themselves in front of a net or stand on their head. It’s the character player, character in all senses of the word, the one who’s a thoughtful teammate or outright unforgettable. And it’s not just NHLers that the scouts in this book that are sought after and found. Ken also looks at scouting at the PWHL too. There’s something fascinating about how these scouts see. It’s like they not only see the talent in front of them, but also have the foresight to see beyond, like how a teenager might look on the ice when they actually break out, or even ten years down the line, what with how much longer players are playing nowadays. I’ll get Ken to tell us about the book, and the memorable scouts he’s encountered along the way. Ken Reid has been with Sportsnet since 2011, where he co-anchors (with Evanka Osmak) their primetime broadcast Sportsnet Central. We’ve seen a lot of Ken and Evanka not just during hockey season (I see them after a Canucks broadcast when it’s usually after midnight in Toronto), but also those recent really late nights when the Blue Jays were playing late into the morning. In over twenty years of broadcasting, Ken Reid has covered the Olympics, the Stanley Cup Finals, the Grey Cup, and the Super Bowl. He is the bestselling author of six other books, including Ken Reid’s Hometown Hockey Heroes, which he was on with last year. This new book is published by Simon & Schuster. The Pictou, Nova Scotia native joined me from Toronto ten days ago. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Ken Reid; Mr. Reid, good morning.
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