Day 1: NHL Draft Combine - Fitness Testing (Day 2 Added)
PostedCOLON Fri May 28, 2010 6:30 pm
DAY 1
Well, one day, one to go.
First of all, fucking amazing. This is such an amazing experience words cannot express it. I met and talked to Steve Yzerman today, I met John Ferguson Jr. (yay..) and I saw a bunch of other NHL GMs Dale Tallon and George McPhee and hockey personnel like Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller. When they play it on TSN tonight, I'll probably be on TV numerous times.
First, I'll start off with who the Leaf scout was looking at the most (he was sitting right behind the station I was running). When John McFarland came out, it seemed as if this scout followed him around to 4 or 5 of the fitness stations. So I can only assume that is who Burke targets if he lands a 1st in the 20's. Also, I noticed him writing rigorously when: Brock Beukeboom, Brock Nelson, Jonathon Merrill and Bradley Ross came around to where he was sitting more often.
Also, the Ducks seemed very intrigued in Jake Gardiner's brother, Max Gardiner. Talking it up a lot about him.
The Ducks/Leafs scouts also talked a lot near the end. I couldn't hear too well because the Leaf scout was a fag and talked SO quietly and hid his note sheet more than anybody else, but the Ducks Scout was saying how such bad shape they are in if/when Niedermayer leaves and such like that. Then within a sentence or two later I heard the Ducks scout something about "a prick" and "arrogant". Now I don't know if that's about Niedermayer, but it was literally like 15 seconds later, so you never know.
A lot of scouts seemed concerned with Alexander Petrovic. His heart rate was 208 after only 40 seconds on the bike, which apparently is insanely retardedly high. And it was the highest on the day for anybody, as well.
I'll go through a couple prospects that stuck out for me, both good and bad, and any other questions you have (there are still some to get tested tomorrow), I'll best the answer I can, regarding said prospect. Just so you know, the tests that I had a clear view to witness were: The VO2 max test, where they are riding the bike for something like 20-30 minutes. It's insane. Then I also could see the Windgate Bike test, which is pretty much the Maximize "all out" for 40 seconds with tension on the bike. I was running the balance test, and I could also see the Agility Test, Vertical Leap, Long Jump, Ball throw. So my observations are based on that.
Okay, so the Good:
Jack Campbell - This guy is a fucking beast. Seriously. His leg strength was insane and he almost maxed out on the Vertical Leap. You just saw scouts pay all the attention to him as he did his 2nd and 3rd trial. Same with the Long Jump. It was just insane the leg strength he had.
Nick Bjugstad - Same as Jack Campbell, since most of the tests I saw were based on leg strength. His Vertical Leap and Long Jump were nuts. I think he had one of the faster times on the Agility Test as well.
Tyler Seguin - This man is fucking JACKED. I don't think there is an ounce of fat on him. His Vertical Leap didn't stand out to me, but his balance and bike tests did. He seemed to be going the hardest at the end of the 40 second sprint compared to everybody else.
Mark Alt - Insane vertical leap as well. He came within 2 notches of being at the max. Just nuts.
Evgeny Kuznetsov - Two words: He cares. He was the hardest worker out of all the Russians there, IMO. His results were fairly average (what I saw), however he was giving it his all. Which brings me to the bad..
The Disappointing:
Maxim Kitsyn - Seriously, I don't know why he came. He looked so lackadaisical and looked like he was giving 50%. The bike, when they are all yelling "HARD, HARD!!!!!" he was just coasting through and didn't even go hard. It was almost embarrassing.
Taylor Hall - He's not actually bad, he just didn't participate in anything near me because of his lingering injuries, so I only saw him for like 5 minutes when he entered to sign in. Kind of a let down.
Nino Niedrreiter - Not anything was really BAD, but ... nothing stuck out at all and average from what I observed. Maybe I was just hoping for more..
Well that's all I am going to write for now, and all I can think of for little tidbits I picked up along the day. If you have any questions about specific prospects (Assuming they have been tested, and most of the "big" names have), I'll do my best to answer your question(s).
It was a fucking long ass day to say the least. I left my house at 5:30am, and got home at 7:00pm. But I loved it..
DAY 2
Today was a lot shorter. About half of the prospects that there was yesterday, and not really many big names. Most of the top 50 players went yesterday, today was more 3rd rounders with some projected 1st and 2nd rounders sprinkled in.
Yesterday I met Yzerman, today I met Mark Messier. Nice guy, although again it was only like a 10-20 second confrontation.
I think the Leaf scout purposely sat away from me because I tried to listen to everything he said lol. Oh well. Bruce Boudreau and one of the retarded Sutters were there as well. No media coverage today, just one camera in the entire building I believe. I ran into Boudreau in the bathroom. I didn't wanna say much because it feels like such a weird place to talk to somebody lol.
Again, not many "star" athletes were there today, so I'm only going to cover the "good" from a couple guys I saw..
Stephen Silas - He was the Tyler Seguin of today, in the sense that he was so fucking jacked I can't begin to explain it. Nothing stood out in fitness in particular (his balance was pretty good though). Just wanted to point out this guy is build like a brick wall.
Jonathan Johansson - This guy powered through the Wingate sprint. He finished almost as hard as he started (or so it seemed form the untrained eye). There was buzz behind me as he finished because he didn't seem to slow down very much.
Dylan McIlrath - At first, I was like "meh". But then he hopped on the bike, and that's where he did great. His agility was alright, but.
Justin Shugg - I didn't catch anything until he got to my tests, the Equilibrium tests (IE- the Balance Board). This kid fucking raped it. He didn't touch the ground once and was only the 2nd person out of everybody from both days to do it out of 100. Insane.
I made some nice contacts while I was there, hopefully I can snag a nice job from this experience.
Again, anybody you have questions on. Let me know and I'll tell you what I remember. Likely if I don't remember much, they didn't stand out or I didn't catch them on the bikes (which is where it's easier to noticed the good and the bad).
Well, one day, one to go.
First of all, fucking amazing. This is such an amazing experience words cannot express it. I met and talked to Steve Yzerman today, I met John Ferguson Jr. (yay..) and I saw a bunch of other NHL GMs Dale Tallon and George McPhee and hockey personnel like Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller. When they play it on TSN tonight, I'll probably be on TV numerous times.
First, I'll start off with who the Leaf scout was looking at the most (he was sitting right behind the station I was running). When John McFarland came out, it seemed as if this scout followed him around to 4 or 5 of the fitness stations. So I can only assume that is who Burke targets if he lands a 1st in the 20's. Also, I noticed him writing rigorously when: Brock Beukeboom, Brock Nelson, Jonathon Merrill and Bradley Ross came around to where he was sitting more often.
Also, the Ducks seemed very intrigued in Jake Gardiner's brother, Max Gardiner. Talking it up a lot about him.
The Ducks/Leafs scouts also talked a lot near the end. I couldn't hear too well because the Leaf scout was a fag and talked SO quietly and hid his note sheet more than anybody else, but the Ducks Scout was saying how such bad shape they are in if/when Niedermayer leaves and such like that. Then within a sentence or two later I heard the Ducks scout something about "a prick" and "arrogant". Now I don't know if that's about Niedermayer, but it was literally like 15 seconds later, so you never know.
A lot of scouts seemed concerned with Alexander Petrovic. His heart rate was 208 after only 40 seconds on the bike, which apparently is insanely retardedly high. And it was the highest on the day for anybody, as well.
I'll go through a couple prospects that stuck out for me, both good and bad, and any other questions you have (there are still some to get tested tomorrow), I'll best the answer I can, regarding said prospect. Just so you know, the tests that I had a clear view to witness were: The VO2 max test, where they are riding the bike for something like 20-30 minutes. It's insane. Then I also could see the Windgate Bike test, which is pretty much the Maximize "all out" for 40 seconds with tension on the bike. I was running the balance test, and I could also see the Agility Test, Vertical Leap, Long Jump, Ball throw. So my observations are based on that.
Okay, so the Good:
Jack Campbell - This guy is a fucking beast. Seriously. His leg strength was insane and he almost maxed out on the Vertical Leap. You just saw scouts pay all the attention to him as he did his 2nd and 3rd trial. Same with the Long Jump. It was just insane the leg strength he had.
Nick Bjugstad - Same as Jack Campbell, since most of the tests I saw were based on leg strength. His Vertical Leap and Long Jump were nuts. I think he had one of the faster times on the Agility Test as well.
Tyler Seguin - This man is fucking JACKED. I don't think there is an ounce of fat on him. His Vertical Leap didn't stand out to me, but his balance and bike tests did. He seemed to be going the hardest at the end of the 40 second sprint compared to everybody else.
Mark Alt - Insane vertical leap as well. He came within 2 notches of being at the max. Just nuts.
Evgeny Kuznetsov - Two words: He cares. He was the hardest worker out of all the Russians there, IMO. His results were fairly average (what I saw), however he was giving it his all. Which brings me to the bad..
The Disappointing:
Maxim Kitsyn - Seriously, I don't know why he came. He looked so lackadaisical and looked like he was giving 50%. The bike, when they are all yelling "HARD, HARD!!!!!" he was just coasting through and didn't even go hard. It was almost embarrassing.
Taylor Hall - He's not actually bad, he just didn't participate in anything near me because of his lingering injuries, so I only saw him for like 5 minutes when he entered to sign in. Kind of a let down.
Nino Niedrreiter - Not anything was really BAD, but ... nothing stuck out at all and average from what I observed. Maybe I was just hoping for more..
Well that's all I am going to write for now, and all I can think of for little tidbits I picked up along the day. If you have any questions about specific prospects (Assuming they have been tested, and most of the "big" names have), I'll do my best to answer your question(s).
It was a fucking long ass day to say the least. I left my house at 5:30am, and got home at 7:00pm. But I loved it..
DAY 2
Today was a lot shorter. About half of the prospects that there was yesterday, and not really many big names. Most of the top 50 players went yesterday, today was more 3rd rounders with some projected 1st and 2nd rounders sprinkled in.
Yesterday I met Yzerman, today I met Mark Messier. Nice guy, although again it was only like a 10-20 second confrontation.
I think the Leaf scout purposely sat away from me because I tried to listen to everything he said lol. Oh well. Bruce Boudreau and one of the retarded Sutters were there as well. No media coverage today, just one camera in the entire building I believe. I ran into Boudreau in the bathroom. I didn't wanna say much because it feels like such a weird place to talk to somebody lol.
Again, not many "star" athletes were there today, so I'm only going to cover the "good" from a couple guys I saw..
Stephen Silas - He was the Tyler Seguin of today, in the sense that he was so fucking jacked I can't begin to explain it. Nothing stood out in fitness in particular (his balance was pretty good though). Just wanted to point out this guy is build like a brick wall.
Jonathan Johansson - This guy powered through the Wingate sprint. He finished almost as hard as he started (or so it seemed form the untrained eye). There was buzz behind me as he finished because he didn't seem to slow down very much.
Dylan McIlrath - At first, I was like "meh". But then he hopped on the bike, and that's where he did great. His agility was alright, but.
Justin Shugg - I didn't catch anything until he got to my tests, the Equilibrium tests (IE- the Balance Board). This kid fucking raped it. He didn't touch the ground once and was only the 2nd person out of everybody from both days to do it out of 100. Insane.
I made some nice contacts while I was there, hopefully I can snag a nice job from this experience.
Again, anybody you have questions on. Let me know and I'll tell you what I remember. Likely if I don't remember much, they didn't stand out or I didn't catch them on the bikes (which is where it's easier to noticed the good and the bad).
