NHL Central Scouting Bureau

The NHL Central Scouting Services (CSS) is a department within the National Hockey League (NHL) that ranks prospects for the NHL Entry Draft at specific times during the hockey season.

Players are ranked based on how well they will translate to the professional game in the NHL. It was founded by hockey executive Jack Button in 1975 to establish a centralized database of NHL prospects.

Button served as the director until 1979. Its current director is Dan Marr.

The Department consists of staff at the NHL Offices in Toronto along with 8 full-time scouts and 15 part-time scouts throughout North America.

To report on prospects playing in Europe, the NHL employs the services of Goran Stubb and his staff of six scouts at European Scouting Services based in Finland.

All twenty-nine scouts reporting for Central Scouting will combine to see approximately 3000 games each year.