Pens name leader of scouting and free agent department

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pens GM Kyle Dubas hired a former colleague with the Maple Leafs Tuesday to head their scouting and free agent department.

The team naming Wes Clark their Vice President of Player Personnel.  The 41-year-old has spent the last six years with Toronto starting as an assistant director of player personnel, director of amateur scouting and was promoted to running the Maple Leafs’ draft the last couple of seasons.

“Starting last fall with the addition of Trent Mann as a player development and scouting advisor and the elevation of Andy Saucier to lead our pro scouting department, we have sought to really bolster our player personnel system,” Dubas said in a statement released by the team. “Our personnel decisions in this short term will be critical as we seek to add the draft picks, prospects and young players that will serve to add an infusion of young, hungry players to our core. By adding Wes to lead the departments directed by Nick Pryor and Andy, along with the valuable experience and wisdom that Trent provides, we have tried to put the Penguins in a strong position to go out and execute on our personnel strategy in the short and long run. Having worked with Wes for many years, I have a deep trust in his ability to identify talent, lead staffs, advance our scouting process and methods, learn from mistakes to improve processes and to challenge my own thinking and planning on a near daily basis.”

The Hockey Writers, Bleacher Report along with the New York Times ranked the 2024 Toronto draft as a ‘C’ selecting a pair of defensemen with their first two picks-number 31 and 120. The Hockey Writers ranked the 2023 Toronto draft as a ‘C’ as well.

Clark has also worked a pair of seasons with the Florida Panthers as an amateur scout and a director of player personnel and development in the Ontario Hockey League (Soo Greyhounds). He was a four-year player at the University of Maine from 2004-08.