NHL Draft Prospects React To Combine: 'It Makes You Angry When They're Right In Your Ear'

BUFFALO – The Wingate cycle ergometer test does more than measure an athlete's fatigue index.

At the NHL scouting combine, where the administrator shouts words of encouragement in the faces of the draft prospects, it brings out emotion and energy.

"It makes you angry when they're right in your ear, so I think it kind of translated into working a little harder on the bike," North Bay Battalion center Ryder Cali said. "It's pretty hard."

Added Prince George Cougars right winger Kayden Lemire: "lt's pretty surreal, being here with all these guys, it's awesome. But that bike's not easy. It's pretty hard. The people yelling at you gives you that little extra energy and that little extra push."

Last week's combine in Buffalo had a large contingent of draft prospects being evaluated on their fitness and their interviews with club management and scouting staff.

This year, there were a few tweaks to the testing, including new evaluations, and one of the more infamous tests was moved out of the public viewing.

The VO2 test also involved the spin bike, except the prospect keeps pedalling until either they stop, experience difficulty breathing or chest pain, or the appraiser stops them because they can't maintain that required speed despite intense effort. It's been known to make players throw up.

While in past years, the test was done on the testing floor in public view, this year's VO2 test was done earlier in the week without media present.

"I'm pretty gassed I'd say, but it was awesome," Blainville-Boisbriand Armada defenseman Xavier Villeneuve said Saturday. "The Wingate (was definitely tough); I thought the VO2 yesterday was something, but that was so tough."

Presumptive first overall pick Gavin McKenna finished with the top score in the VO2 test. He also finished in the top five in the newly added squat test.

The league added the isokinetic squat test and a 10-meter sprint test this year to measure lower-body strength and speed from a stationary start. Owen Sound Attack right winger Cole Zurawski had the best time in the sprint, with a time of just under two seconds.

It is unknown how much the fitness testing results in general factor into a team's selection of a player, compared to what a club gleans from the in-person interview process.

The Montreal Canadiens asked prospects to try to throw a puck into a garbage can from anywhere in the room with the caveat that if they missed, Montreal wouldn't pick them.

Other teams presented life-and-death scenarios.

"They asked me one question: if you're the captain of a destroyer in the Navy during World War Two, your job is to destroy submarines, and there's a submarine that you could destroy, but 10 of your crew members are overboard, so if you destroy the submarine, you're killing your crew members." USA Hockey National Team Development Program right winger Casey Mutryn said. "Do you destroy the submarine and kill your crew members, or do you let the submarine go and save your men?

"I just said you got to destroy the submarine – that's your job."

Another question seemed to test a player's creativity.

"They (put) a brick in front of me and said, 'List as many things in a minute as you can think of using this brick,' and that was not normal," Boston University center Tynan Lawrence said.  "(I replied) build a house, break a window or use as a hammer, just all sorts of stuff like that."

Now, teams must finalize their draft lists ahead of the NHL draft, scheduled for June 26 and 27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

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