The scout who never stops watching

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Bluesky
• Share on X
• Copy Link

This week, he’s right at home.

Holding the key to the first-overall pick

Rockets searching for their next game-breaker

May 06, 2026

Rockets await start of Memorial Cup

Chances were there. Goals weren't

Apr 20, 2026

Enough talk. Time for action

As they say in Everett, 'Let's play hockey!

Apr 10, 2026

“The two games we’ve seen so far, they’ve been very, very good,” Stein said while taking in the opening weekend of the Memorial Cup in Kelowna. “For us, this is the culmination of the whole year.”

For scouts, the Memorial Cup isn’t just another tournament. It’s the final exam.

League champions from across the Canadian Hockey League come together on one stage. NHL draft prospects, drafted players and free-agent hopefuls all share the same spotlight.

For Stein, it is another chance to confirm what months of work have already revealed.

“There’s a few draft prospects that we’re looking at,” he explained. “We’re just kind of crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s.”

That attention to detail has defined his career.

Stein knows player development rarely follows a straight line. In a hockey world obsessed with rankings and projections, he remains a believer in patience.

“I think I’ve told you this before,” Stein said with a smile. “You don’t jump from Grade 8 to Grade 12.”

Some players struggle in their first season of major junior hockey. Others take longer to develop physically and mentally. By age 19 or 20, they can become completely different players.

“There are some players that don’t do very well their first year because they’re figuring out the league,” Stein said. “Sometimes they have a really steep curve of learning, and next thing you know, at 20 years old, they’re a hot commodity.”

The Memorial Cup often reveals which players can handle pressure, but Stein believes the formula for success is surprisingly simple.

Don’t change.

“The reason you’re here already is because you’ve played a certain game all year and the coaches have trusted you to play that way,” he said. “Don’t go off the rails.”

His message to players is straightforward.

“These teams are here for a reason. They’re the top teams in the CHL. They’ve won their leagues. Each player has had his role.”

Trying to become a different player for a week won’t impress NHL scouts.

In fact, it usually has the opposite effect.

“We already know what you can do,” Stein said. “This is, you know, you’re going against some top teams here now. If you get snuffed out or you excel, let’s see what happens.”

That perspective comes from experience.

A scout’s job isn’t to fall in love with one great shift or one spectacular goal. It’s about understanding the complete player and determining whether his game will translate to the next level.

Stein also sees another reality in today’s game.

Drafted players may already have NHL logos beside their names, but the evaluation never stops.

“Money speaks,” he said with a laugh. “There’s a contract at the end of the rainbow.”

Whether a player is chasing his first NHL contract or trying to earn a second one, motivation is never difficult to find.

“They’re not going to take their foot off the pedal regardless.”

It’s one of the reasons Stein loves hockey as much today as when he first entered the business.

“That’s the one thing I love about hockey,” he said. “There’s no tanking. There’s a prize. Every hockey player that I’ve seen they go like hell. They go and go and go, and they give you their best.”

That passion is also why the Okanagan feels like the perfect setting for this year’s tournament.

Stein has spent years calling Vernon home, and he isn’t surprised the Memorial Cup has attracted hockey’s power brokers to Kelowna.

“When you look around here, there are so many NHL personnel,” he said. “I’ve heard there’s something like 400 to 500 NHL personnel that make the Okanagan home during the summer.”

The reasons are obvious.

“You’ve got golf courses, you’ve got wineries, and it’s a great place to live.”

Then, in classic Marty Stein fashion, he offered the most memorable quote of the conversation.

“If I weren’t working for an NHL team, I’d be in shorts and a T-shirt right now. I don’t like wearing long pants at this time.”

The line drew a laugh, but it also captured exactly who Stein is.

No pretense. No self-importance.

Just a hockey lifer from the Okanagan doing what he’s always done, watching, evaluating and searching for the next player who might someday make it.