Prospects jump for combine

Toronto, ON — Last weekend the top 104 draft eligible players for selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft made their way to the 2009 NHL Draft Combine at the Westin Bristol Place in Toronto.

The event gives NHL clubs a final chance to evaluate the NHL’s future stars less than a month before the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal that’s set to go on June 26 and 27.

The invitees represent the NHL Central Scouting’s top-rated 75 skaters and eight goaltenders from North American leagues and the projected top 20 skaters and the top goaltender from Europe.

Among those who participated on Friday were John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Matt Duchene, Evander Kane, Brayden Schenn and Jordan Schroeder.

Schroeder, listed as 5’8”, plays for the University of Minnesota. He set the pace for the 150lbs. bench press when he managed to do 17-reps.

“I should have bet on the on the bench,” joked an exhausted Schroeder after completing his combine. “I thought I did well on other things, but don’t know all of my results yet.”

The combine also gives NHL teams a chance to conduct interviews with the prospects to get a better idea of who they are. Schroeder was a hot commodity for a lot of teams throughout the week. Ranked at the number five spot for North American skaters there are a number of teams that are looking at him.

“I got a chance to talk to quite a few teams, about 23 of them,” said Schroeder. “I was busy from the moment I got here until now.  It was a fun process, I learned a lot, but I’m glad its over.”

The combine floor was inundated with media, scouts and team executives when Tavares walked in around 1:30p.m. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse at what the number one ranked prospect could do.

Tavares fed on of the attention.

“It gets you jacked up, everybody’s watching you,” he said. “You get excited and gets the nerves up and you have a little more adrenaline to push yourself further.”

Tavares, who is still nursing a shoulder injury, skipped the bench press and upper body push and pull strength test much to the chagrin of the assembled group.

“I didn’t want to push it,” Tavares explained after his tests. “The doctor said I could have prepared for it but I have to take some time off after the combine and prepare myself for the season.”

Vancouver Giants’ star forward Evander Kane, ranked number three in North America, looked like he hasn’t left the gym since his Giants were eliminated from the playoffs. Nevertheless he enjoyed proving himself with the other top-prospects.

“It was definitely something I’ve never done before, but everyone does it,” said Kane with sweat still dripping off his face. “It was an interesting experience and I’m glad I got through it.”

Kane was interviewed by 18 different teams and said that playing in Canada would be “really cool” but he’s happy to go wherever. He also explained the weirdest interview question he faced.

“Somebody asked me to do a celebration,” he said while a smile crept along his face. “And they started joining in with me, that was probably the most interesting one and an ice breaker for sure.”

Players had to go through 16 events which typically went in this order: Wing span, reach, height, weight, skinfold measurement, grip strength, upper body push and pull strength, sit-ups, push ups, vertical jump, bench press, trunk flexion, standing long jump, jump timing mat, equilibrium test, wingate cycle ergometer and after a 25 minute break, the dreaded VO2 test.

Interestingly, recent Memorial Cup champion, Ryan Ellis left early. Ellis did height, reach, weight, wingspan, and skinfold measurement and promptly ducked out and wasn’t made available for interviews.

For a look at the combine check out the photo gallery here.