SCOUTS
This area has been a point of discussion and I think its vastly underused by most players based on the posts I read here. No of course I'm not talking about
you.
Fifteen scouts seems to be the limit, and that should be plenty to accomplish your goals of finding the best player, the hottest prospect, or who's finally slipping in oblivion skills wise.
From the attachment is the list of fifteen scouts currently employed by the Panthers. The AI obviously picked Garrett Doyle to scout the Entry Draft and from his Excellent rating at evaluating potential, I should get a pretty accurate report of the potential of the top prospects.
Ideally I like to have just over half of my scouts from North America and I have them scout one area to build up the skills in that area. Think of it as the scout getting familiar with the juniors teams and coaches, as time goes on the scout gets better information on the prospects because he becomes a familiar face to the coaching staff.
Whether you choose 9 or 10 North American scouts, it is important not to overlook overseas scouting. Former USSR is a gold mine of talent if you can get them signed and kept out of the KHL. Nordic scouting also breeds talent and needs watching. The same principles apply to overseas scouting and trying to keep that scout in his assigned area brings benefits of better scouting over the long haul.
Now as to ratings for the scouts, they are the lifeblood to a good draft. You need to identify both the BPA (best player available) and getting solid prospects that fit your system of play. Remember the scouts sometimes have coaching skills in forwards/defense/goalies - this does affect their efficiency in scouting reports as much as the potential or existing skills such as learning or ability to absorb instruction. (See Frank Mahavolich's attachment)
Using this information, I sometimes have a scout do a 4 to 8 week research of a player or position if I'm going after them because the scout is accomplished at that position as well as evaluating skill.
My final comment is the ratio of Excellent/Very Good skills should be a minimum of 4 scouts per 15. Conversely if you have a below average or poor skilled scout - dump them! There are far too many good scouts available in the pool to be wasting your time with this handicap.