The 2009 NHL Combine is underway

Let the evaluations begin! TSN is blogging live from the NHL Combine...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=280255

Pretty funny read so far... "so and so" did the "such and such" test and then proceeded to vomit after it was done.

Poor kids.

poor kids nothing, they came to this event knowing if they puked, they would impress, and it wouldn't be for how much they drank like the times when I used to puke and everyone laughed

SensFan71 wrote:poor kids nothing, they came to this event knowing if they puked, they would impress, and it wouldn't be for how much they drank like the times when I used to puke and everyone laughed

Brings back the memories of puking at practice... and puking right before a game usually because of the night before... especially on road trips... heh heh.

Ahhhh... good times.

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:poor kids nothing, they came to this event knowing if they puked, they would impress, and it wouldn't be for how much they drank like the times when I used to puke and everyone laughed

Brings back the memories of puking at practice... and puking right before a game usually because of the night before... especially on road trips... heh heh.

Ahhhh... good times.

that's dedication to the game, I remember puking after the up downs at basketball practice, man I hate up downs and I still cringe when I see others doing them, those and wind sprints

Schroeder and Palmieri apparently dominated the bench press so far, 17 reps so far, the most reps I have done is with a bucket of chicken in the last 5 years.

SensFan71 wrote:

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:poor kids nothing, they came to this event knowing if they puked, they would impress, and it wouldn't be for how much they drank like the times when I used to puke and everyone laughed

Brings back the memories of puking at practice... and puking right before a game usually because of the night before... especially on road trips... heh heh.

Ahhhh... good times.

that's dedication to the game, I remember puking after the up downs at basketball practice, man I hate up downs and I still cringe when I see others doing them, those and wind sprints

Wind sprints... hated those... oh man...

SensFan71 wrote:Schroeder and Palmieri apparently dominated the bench press so far, 17 reps so far, the most reps I have done is with a bucket of chicken in the last 5 years.

I like to curl... a beer... right to my mouth... low weight, high reps... good cardio you know.

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:Schroeder and Palmieri apparently dominated the bench press so far, 17 reps so far, the most reps I have done is with a bucket of chicken in the last 5 years.

I like to curl... a beer... right to my mouth... low weight, high reps... good cardio you know.

now you are speaking my language lol. I would be like the guy on the Canadian Tire commercial doing situps in his lawn chair

SensFan71 wrote:

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:Schroeder and Palmieri apparently dominated the bench press so far, 17 reps so far, the most reps I have done is with a bucket of chicken in the last 5 years.

I like to curl... a beer... right to my mouth... low weight, high reps... good cardio you know.

now you are speaking my language lol. I would be like the guy on the Canadian Tire commercial doing situps in his lawn chair

"Going for the burn?"

"Yeah".

Ahhhh....

"High-five."

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

shabbs wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:Schroeder and Palmieri apparently dominated the bench press so far, 17 reps so far, the most reps I have done is with a bucket of chicken in the last 5 years.

I like to curl... a beer... right to my mouth... low weight, high reps... good cardio you know.

now you are speaking my language lol. I would be like the guy on the Canadian Tire commercial doing situps in his lawn chair

"Going for the burn?"

"Yeah".

Ahhhh....

"High-five."

just by reading that I have burned 3000 pretend calories lol.

back to the Combine though, the big boys are coming up this afternoon, Baby Schenn, Kane, the coveted Duchene, Hedman and Tavares. MPS wasn't included, very interesting, a lot of eyes should be on this guy.

1 on 1 video with Jordan Schroeder

http://watch.tsn.ca/nhl/clip177714#clip177714

Here's some pretty exciting news:

NHL.com wrote: New look coming to Central Scouting Web site

With the start of the fitness testing portion of the 2009 Scouting combine on Friday, fans will be able -- for the first time -- to track the progress of some of their favorite prospects.

NHL Central Scouting's public Web site (CentralScouting.NHL.com) has been redesigned and will be re-launched Friday morning when the first group of prospects begins the fitness testing at 8:30 a.m. ET.

"The top 10 in each of the combine categories will be posted, along with the average score of all the competitors," Director of NHL Central Scouting E.J. McGuire told NHL.com. "This is very parallel to the NFL Web site where they publish combine results. We designed it after that."

While there is no on-ice component to the combine tests, there are a number of other measurements that will be taken. Among them are basics like height, weight, wingspan and flexibility.

Strength measurements will include tests for grip strength, bench press, timed push-ups and sit-ups, vertical leap and distance for a seated medicine ball toss.

The two most important tests are a pair of stationary bikes, which measure aerobic and anaerobic fitness.

The Wingate cycle ergometer test measures a player's anaerobic fitness by testing their maximum power output during a regular shift length.

The players' aerobic fitness is measured through a VO2 max test. This test attempts to measure how much time a player needs to rest between shifts.

The new look to Central Scouting's Web site only begins with the combine. Fans soon will be able to track more prospects as the site is further populated with things like statistics and schedules.

"The new structure and foundation allows us to load a lot more and a lot more current data on that public Web site for the consumer," said McGuire. "While the curtain was up, a lot of good improvements were made and we think the foundation is there to make a better product for the public to use."

Pretty cool stuff...

some of the info from the big boys, some intriguing speculation that Tavares may have an upper body injury, wonder how that will hurt his # 1 status?

2:25 pm - Some of the big boys were in this group and there were some big men on hand to watch. NHLPA agent Pat Brisson, Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, Leafs' Senior VP of Hockey Operations Dave Nonis, Leafs' Senior Advisor Cliff Fletcher, Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson and Panthers GM Jacques Martin are all in attendance.
Possible #1 selection and OHL leading scorer John Tavares did not do upper-body exercises at all, leading to speculation that he has an upper-body injury. He did do 46 sit-ups, which is one of the highest totals seen on the day. Tavares is fit but there's obviously something going on - possibly a shoulder injury - as he did not do push-ups or the bench press. Tavares did do cycling and is looking good.
Evander Kane (#3) had an excellent workout. He had 17 bench presses, which ties the unofficial high for the day. Kane also did 47 push-ups, which seems to be far and away the best so far. In general, the 17-year-old looks like he's in really good shape. At 6'1, 176 pounds, he has lots of room to grow but was certainly ready for this judging by his workout.
Zack Kassian (#10) did an impressive 16 lifts on the bench.
Fourth-ranked Brayden Schenn did not get into the room until the next group started doing their exercises, so Schenn will probably now be going with Group #5.

Interesting... any Sens presence there? I have not seen any mention.

Tavares must have a shoulder injury... that's not good timing...

shabbs wrote:Interesting... any Sens presence there? I have not seen any mention.

Tavares must have a shoulder injury... that's not good timing...

The Sens are waiting to get an idea of how many first-round picks will be left after Burke decides how many he will take this year.

No sense in doing too much when you're just waiting for leftovers.

Unfortunately, Marcus Foligno isn't attending the combine. It's a shame, I wanted to see how his fitness levels would compare to some of the top names...

shabbs wrote:Interesting... any Sens presence there? I have not seen any mention.

Tavares must have a shoulder injury... that's not good timing...

If by "presence" you mean scouts, then yeah there absolutely is. Every team in the league has people there watching and evaluating. Any team that didn't would be pretty dumb.

Bass Destruction wrote:Unfortunately, Marcus Foligno isn't attending the combine. It's a shame, I wanted to see how his fitness levels would compare to some of the top names...

Is that a by choice thing or are only a certain number of players/prospects invited?

I see Schenn also did not do upper body stuff... interesting...

SensFan71 wrote:

Bass Destruction wrote:Unfortunately, Marcus Foligno isn't attending the combine. It's a shame, I wanted to see how his fitness levels would compare to some of the top names...

Is that a by choice thing or are only a certain number of players/prospects invited?

I was wondering that myself... I know they can't have everyone who is draft eligible go... And i'm pretty sure it's by invitation... I'm not sure why someone wouldn't go if they were invited.

SensFan71 wrote:

Bass Destruction wrote:Unfortunately, Marcus Foligno isn't attending the combine. It's a shame, I wanted to see how his fitness levels would compare to some of the top names...

Is that a by choice thing or are only a certain number of players/prospects invited?

I'm curious on that too... is it by invite or what? I see they say "Over 100 of the top prospects available in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft are in Toronto to take part in the league's Combine".

What is the criteria?

More results as per the TSN live blog, possibly more injury bugs nagging the prospects.

3:24 pm et - Schenn came in and did the same thing as Tavares, skipping the upper-body exercises and leaving onlookers to speculate that he may have an upper-body/shoulder injury.
Landon Ferraro (#18) then followed suit, opting out of the bench press and push-ups.
Tyson Barrie (#52), son of Lightning owner Len Barrie, had a solid workout overall. He is not particularly tall for a defenceman but is built solidly.
Ryan Bourque (#49), son of NHL legend Ray, is relatively small but did a great job on the agility drills where players hop around a hexagon. He excelled during this exercise, doing better than most of his counterparts. Ryan is also the spitting image of his father, like a smaller version of his dad.
Calvin De Haan (#25) and Jordan Caron (#21) had solid but uneventful workouts.
Highly-touted centre Matt Duchene (#2) looked relatively solid but he will need to get much stronger. The 18-year-old's body also needs to mature a little more for him to be an NHLer.
16th-ranked Ryan Ellis signed in and was then allowed to leave due to unknown circumstances.
Bruins vice president Cam Neely has joined the proceedings.
No. 1-ranked European Victor Hedman is huge, measuring in at close to 6'7, and will be undergoing his testing soon in the same group as Jared Cowen.
Also coming up: a mystery TSN personality will give the NHL Combine his best go. Check back here soon to find out how he or she did.
On a related note to the day's proceedings, the following Combine attendees were named to the Canadian development camp roster for the 2010 World Juniors:
Jared Cowen, Ryan Ellis, Dylan Olsen, Charles-Olivier Roussel, Gabriel Bourque, Jordan Caron, Matt Duchene, Scott Glennie, Nazem Kadri, Evander Kane, Zack Kassian, Brandon Kozun, Louis Leblanc, Ryan O'Reilly and Brayden Schenn.
STILL TO COME THIS AFTERNOON: Victor Hedman, Jared Cowan and the mystery TSN personality will be up soon. Be sure to check back in with us!

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My guess that 'mystery' TSN personality is James Duthie. The guy is a comedian. Although, James Cybulski is trying hard to make comedy his niche as well. I find he tries a little hard, which means he's not as funny, but he has his moments too. It could be him as well.

Bass Destruction wrote:My guess that 'mystery' TSN personality is James Duthie. The guy is a comedian. Although, James Cybulski is trying hard to make comedy his niche as well. I find he tries a little hard, which means he's not as funny, but he has his moments too. It could be him as well.

either way, they will both be puking within 5 minutes lol, and that is before getting on the bike.

Here's something that stood out for me:

"No. 1-ranked European Victor Hedman is huge, measuring in at close to 6'6. Jared Cowen (#9 overall, according to NHL Central Scouting) is 6'5. Obviously both players have long limbs which enabled them to have good all-around workouts."

Really surprising. Cowen's recovering from a pretty severe lower-body injury. Many thought he wouldn't be able to take part in the combine.

Does "good all-around work-outs" still allow for him to have avoided some of the drills, or has the recovery process really been that fast?

asq2 wrote:Here's something that stood out for me:

"No. 1-ranked European Victor Hedman is huge, measuring in at close to 6'6. Jared Cowen (#9 overall, according to NHL Central Scouting) is 6'5. Obviously both players have long limbs which enabled them to have good all-around workouts."

Really surprising. Cowen's recovering from a pretty severe lower-body injury. Many thought he wouldn't be able to take part in the combine.

Does "good all-around work-outs" still allow for him to have avoided some of the drills, or has the recovery process really been that fast?

There goes what little shot we had at Cowen then. If he's good enough to do a combine, he'll rise back to the 7th or 8th slot - if not higher.

504Heater wrote:

asq2 wrote:Here's something that stood out for me:

"No. 1-ranked European Victor Hedman is huge, measuring in at close to 6'6. Jared Cowen (#9 overall, according to NHL Central Scouting) is 6'5. Obviously both players have long limbs which enabled them to have good all-around workouts."

Really surprising. Cowen's recovering from a pretty severe lower-body injury. Many thought he wouldn't be able to take part in the combine.

Does "good all-around work-outs" still allow for him to have avoided some of the drills, or has the recovery process really been that fast?

There goes what little shot we had at Cowen then. If he's good enough to do a combine, he'll rise back to the 7th or 8th slot - if not higher.

True, but we're guaranteed one of JT, Hedman, Duchene, MPS, Kane, Schenn, Cowen, Kulikov or OEL if we so choose.

:KKK:

I know, I was saying that the other day and the person I was talking to didn't believe me. It's no longer just the top 7, it's the top 9 now.

I like the ring of that personally.

SensFan71 wrote:

Bass Destruction wrote:My guess that 'mystery' TSN personality is James Duthie. The guy is a comedian. Although, James Cybulski is trying hard to make comedy his niche as well. I find he tries a little hard, which means he's not as funny, but he has his moments too. It could be him as well.

either way, they will both be puking within 5 minutes lol, and that is before getting on the bike.

It ended up being Darren Dutchyshen.

TSN SportsCentre anchor Darren Dutchyshen took his best shot at the
same tests that the prospects did. Dutchyshen first weighed in at a
robust 220 pounds, and for his first test, completed 29 push-ups. That
total was about average when measured against the prospects, but is
very impressive considering that Dutchyshen weighs more than most of
the players. He did 10 or 11 sit-ups, although it's not known if all
would have counted if the results were formally measured. His vertical
jump was very good.

Dutchyshen's best event was the bench press, where he turned in 25
lifts of 150 pounds. That total was the best of the day, far better
than the top prospect total of 17. Again, Dutchyshen has an advantage
since his frame is fully developed, while the 18-year old prospects
will still mature a lot in the next few years.

Upon completing the Wingate cycle test, one of the athletic trainers
told Dutchyshen "you should take a lot of Advil - you're going to feel
it tomorrow and the day after that".

Impressive effort by Darren!

Wonder how Garrioch would do?

MurderOnIce wrote:Wonder how Garrioch would do?

He'd prolly drop dead with a donut in his mouth. After an autopsy it would be revealed that he died of a massive clot in his gravystream.

From tsn:
"39th-ranked Ryan O'Reilly had a fantastic workout, excelling in everything - he had a good vertical, he was solid on the bike, great on the bench press and seems overall to have more of a mature body than most of the other players in attendance. He is physically stronger than the vast majority of players that have been seen already."

I've said it for a few months now. I want this kid. I pray he's around when we make our 2nd selection. This kid is all heart and leadership. I'm thinking Fisher, with more offensive talent, but without the hot girlfriend and $5 million salary.

Aren't we 9th pick? So, if he's exactly 39th and does not go earlier, he should be ours.

Dash wrote:Aren't we 9th pick? So, if he's exactly 39th and does not go earlier, he should be ours.

Possibly, but with an impressive combine showing, he could go higher. This kid is just the type of player an organization can never have enough of.

I'd love to say I am excited for the draft/July 1, but I'll be missing most of it due to being out of the country. I'll be counting on updates from this site if and when I can hook my lappy into the internet somewhere!