NHL Combine

[waltdetroit]

they were drafted 2 years apart and lawson crouse's stock didn't improve that much in the combine. iirc, he was ranked top 5 on many/some lists before the combine. it wasn't the combine that made crouse top 10 pick, though it might have hurt mittelstadt's draft position.

but i do agree that the combine doesn't matter that much for the NHL. these kids are just 18.

Yes, it was a non-nonsensical statement which I thought made it funny (edit, those Pens bloggers)

 

[Frk It]

Sure if you find losing enjoyable. Can't imagine how bad four rookie defensemen would be in the NHL for one team.

1) TZE didn’t even mention a timeframe.
2) Miller and Dobson are going to take some time to develop. They won’t all be rookies at the same time.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Did anyone watch/listen to the interviews? I was not at all impressed with Dobson as a person. If he slides this could play a part.

 

[Orthodox Caveman]

Did anyone watch/listen to the interviews? I was not at all impressed with Dobson as a person. If he slides this could play a part.

Why? Is he not as cocky as Hughes? Not as nice as Bouchard? Not as serious as Rasmussen? Lol

He seems like a good kid.

 

[Henkka]

I can never figure out what the right way to think about this is: if you have a player who succeeds primarily based on one attribute, do you want to see great combine performance in that area (meaning that he is, indeed, great at that one thing), or do you want to see just okay performance, which means he could get even better?

Bad res.ults are always more room for future potential. Physically ready guy has less room to develop.

 

[Dotter]

Does how strong he is right now really matter?

I just care what he can get up to. If he can get to 185-190 lbs, he’ll be alright. I think Datsyuk was 5’9” and 150 something lbs at his age and he got up to that. But if he’s maxes out at 175 lbs, I can’t see how he is ever going to log big minutes.

It’s pretty surprising to me that 2 out of the 3 brothers chose to play defense, to be honest with you. It’s a bold gamble even if they think the game exceptionally and skate as well as they do.

I would gladly draft Hughes at 171st, too!

 

[newfy]

So if I'm looking at this right, Bouchard did just as well as Ty Smith and Noah Dobson at the agility speed test, but really fell behind in what are essentially the lower body strength tests: agility MPH, wingate, the jump tests. Edit: it also occurs to me that Bouchard doing as well on those 2 tests at 195 as the other guys at 175 is a meaningful thing.

I don't know a lot about hockey athletic training, but it comes across like that's fixable. He doesn't have slow feet so much as he needs to squat all summer long.

Unrelated: Dobson has really good lower body strength for such a lanky kid. He's only 6'3 176, but he's up there with guys much more filled out than him, and on basically every lower body test. I wonder what he could do with more muscle on him.

Boqvist as well. That guy is strong AF for being 165.

Bouchard did really well in the skating stuf at the top prospects game as well. His skating"issues" are overblown for sure, and I think its possibly because Dobson, Boqvist and Hughes are what I would consider elite skating prospects. Hes not on that level, but hes still a very good skater. You dont do what he did in his draft year if youre a below average skater. I think youre bang on with the tests about him being weaker strength wise, seems like he could pack some muscle on those legs and improve.

With the other guys, theyre 175 and strong already. That could mean less room to add muscle/weight onto their smaller frames. Of course we could be reading into that too much but I think theres some logic there.

On a side note, Hughes didnt actually get measured or step on a scale?? Pass from me. If he was at least decent size to not make people extremely worried he would've measured

 

[Ezekial]

I'm really putting my contacts at risk by sharing this, but I've obtained this exclusive photo of Hughes at the Red Wings interview.

Didn't he room with Larkin at the WCs? They probably had him measure Hughes in his sleep.

 

[Frk It]

I wonder if Quinn Hughes not participating will actually make him drop. If so, it would be interesting if NYI took him and Bode Wilde at 11 and 12. They will be teammates next year at Michigan. Would be kind of crazy if 1 team was able to get both. Could be a big time future pairing for someone.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Why? Is he not as cocky as Hughes? Not as nice as Bouchard? Not as serious as Rasmussen? Lol

He seems like a good kid.

Intellectually he wasn’t a great speaker/ on the spot thinker. Let’s see if he slides a spot or two because of this.

 

[Hen Kolland]

Intellectually he wasn’t a great speaker/ on the spot thinker. Let’s see if he slides a spot or two because of this.

I'm sure most of us would be uncomfortable with microphones and cameras shoved in our faces at 18 years old; trying to answer questions in the "correct" manner. How a kid handles a mass media presence for likely the first time in his life is nothing to hold against him. Bouchard seems to be mature well beyond his years, and Hughes is not new to this; he's been in one on one interviews with people like Custance and has spent time around NHL pros and media outlets during the WC's. There's nothing to be concerned with a kid being a kid. Teams know he's got a lot to learn on ice and off ice, but the talent is there.

 

[Frk It]

Top 10 in each drill:
2018 NHL Combine results: Top 10 at each drill - Sportsnet.ca

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

I wonder if Quinn Hughes not participating will actually make him drop. If so, it would be interesting if NYI took him and Bode Wilde at 11 and 12. They will be teammates next year at Michigan. Would be kind of crazy if 1 team was able to get both. Could be a big time future pairing for someone.

So am I just missing the outrage of Hughes not testing? It seems to be a big deal around here, but does anyone actually know what the industry makes of it? From the Wings' perspective I am not at all worried given how much time our head coach spent with him at the WC. I am not expecting us to take him at this point, but that is a different discussion all together.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Bad res.ults are always more room for future potential. Physically ready guy has less room to develop.

Good results can also indicate potential for amazing results in the future (i.e. if someone's already good at something at 18, imagine after a few years of NHL training regimes and diet?), compared to bad results that means someone will have to work hard just to catch up.
But I'm not sure any of it makes anyone wiser. Wasn't it Mittlestadt who couldn't make a pullup? Hockey games aren't won by pullups though. Looking at a lot of the top 10 in drills, not many of the top prospects show up there. Can't make too much of any of it.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Good results can also indicate potential for amazing results in the future (i.e. if someone's already good at something at 18, imagine after a few years of NHL training regimes and diet?), compared to bad results that means someone will have to work hard just to catch up.
But I'm not sure any of it makes anyone wiser. Wasn't it Mittlestadt who couldn't make a pullup? Hockey games aren't won by pullups though. Looking at a lot of the top 10 in drills, not many of the top prospects show up there. Can't make too much of any of it.

Sam Reinhart was the pull up man. Or the not pull up man, as it were.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Didn't he room with Larkin at the WCs? They probably had him measure Hughes in his sleep.

oh my....

 

[RedWingzz]

Sam Reinhart was the pull up man. Or the not pull up man, as it were.

*Sam Bennett

 

[Tatar Shots]

I wonder if Quinn Hughes not participating will actually make him drop. If so, it would be interesting if NYI took him and Bode Wilde at 11 and 12. They will be teammates next year at Michigan. Would be kind of crazy if 1 team was able to get both. Could be a big time future pairing for someone.

I'm guessing he didn't test because his height and weight are lower than what is speculated. I'm guessing he is 5'9 and 155-165 lbs right now. Hard to justify spending a top 5 pick on a Dman with those measurements.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

So am I just missing the outrage of Hughes not testing? It seems to be a big deal around here, but does anyone actually know what the industry makes of it? From the Wings' perspective I am not at all worried given how much time our head coach spent with him at the WC. I am not expecting us to take him at this point, but that is a different discussion all together.

The disappointment, not outrage, is because it comes off wrong

They may be 18 years old but some of them will surely be multimilionaires for life, that's a big commitment so you should expect and demand the same from the prospects

It looks like he has something to hide or is afraid. Either one is a lousy character trait to have in a NHL player.

Their is no way if he were some small town Swiss kid people would say, ah who cares.

 

[Oddbob]

The fact that Dahlin is only in one of these, shows how meaningless they really are to how good a player will be. To me this stuff is so blown of out proportion to players potential. If you are good at hockey, I don't give a rip if you can long jump 50 feet, or ride an exercise bike at 90 mph.

 

[Ezekial]

oh my....

*Quinn Hughes waking from a sound sleep*
QH: Uh Dylan why do you have a tape measure?

DL: It was for your height! Your height!!!!

 

[Sparty]

Wonder if Blashill and Larkin could have told Hughes not to test at the combine while at the World Championships because they assured him he will be drafted no later than #6.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

The disappointment, not outrage, is because it comes off wrong

They may be 18 years old but some of them will surely be multimilionaires for life, that's a big commitment so you should expect and demand the same from the prospects

It looks like he has something to hide or is afraid. Either one is a lousy character trait to have in a NHL player.

Their is no way if he were some small town Swiss kid people would say, ah who cares.

Again, I am not interested in why it disappoints you personally. I want to know what the reaction has been among actual NHL scouts and executives. This place has a history of getting bent out of shape over all sorts of unimportant crap.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Again, I am not interested in why it disappoints you personally. I want to know what the reaction has been among actual NHL scouts and executives. This place has a history of getting bent out of shape over all sorts of unimportant crap.

This place isn't a forum for NHL scouts and exeutives but rather the personal opinion of fans about said individuals, players etc

 

[Hen Kolland]

Again, I am not interested in why it disappoints you personally. I want to know what the reaction has been among actual NHL scouts and executives. This place has a history of getting bent out of shape over all sorts of unimportant crap.

It probably doesn't mean anything personality wise; that's what the interviews are for. I think, if anything, it can hurt or help him because it doesn't give an official test to be referenced by the scouts and management team. Maybe his performance would be terrible, well then it plays into his favor because it forces teams to look only at his film, which is supposed to be his strong suit. Maybe it hurts him because a team can't decide based on film alone, but they have the other players' combine performances and know for a fact what kind of athlete they are getting, so they decide to pass on him.

If a team NEEDS to get his measurements and physical performance to be willing to draft him, I'm sure they have a different source to get the information they need. But it rightly makes fans concerned, because we are the greatest critics of everything this team does, this is what we love.