The Kraken inherited plenty of European experience when Kron was named amateur scouting director in 2020, two years before the team began NHL play. Retired Finnish goalie Sasu Hovi has been a scout for the team in this country since then while three others are from neighboring Sweden, including Pelle Eklund, Marcus Fingal and supervisor of European scouting Axel Alavaara.
“We do feel we have a great coverage here,” Kron said. “And then, there’s also myself knowing the region very well and knowing a lot of people.”
And Kron has witnessed firsthand some of the remarkable Finnish hockey progress made since the country’s 2009 shift in approach.
“They kind of went to a model that Sweden used to have, where the federation got involved with the club teams,” Kron said. “And in these (youth) academies that they have, they follow the same development program for the young kids, and they were able to develop a lot of young players.”
That change came about after a 2009 summit where the Finnish Ice Hockey Association convened top coaches, agents, scouts, team leaders, general managers and more for a brainstorming session on overhauling the country’s player development following several dismal international results. The driving force behind this meeting was Erkka Westerlund, then serving as head coach of the Finnish national team and known simply as “The Professor” in the nation’s hockey circles.
With his urging, Finland proceeded to hire full-time coaches for all the boys’ national teams that follow players throughout the year even when they are back with their respective club squads. Now, after a national team tournament, the coach goes on the road to visit players and their club coaches so they can all identify and pursue areas for improvement.
The national coaches can also visit with Finnish players on club teams in neighboring Sweden or do video calls with those playing in North America. For the club teams involved, having national coaches visit them and their players regularly also generated a feeling that they all had a stake in the country’s hockey success.
Finland thereafter quickly became a power at the IIHF World Junior Championship (U20), winning gold in 2014, 2016 and 2019, silver in 2022 and 2025 and bronze in 2021. It also medaled in the majority of U18 World Championships since 2009.
The Finns further won gold at other prestigious, but non “best-on-best” world tournaments including the IIHF World Hockey Championships in 2011, 2019, 2022 and 2026 and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Last February, at the Winter Olympics in Milan featuring full NHL player participation, a Finnish squad that included Kakko took home bronze.