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NHL Combine: “Who cares about the scores?
Mathis Therrien
NHL Combine: “Who cares about the scores?
Credit: The National Hockey League’s famous Combine is fast approaching. It will once again be held in Buffalo, where all the NHL teams and the top prospects in the 2025 draft will be there in the next few days, from June 2 to 7. It’s an event we look forward to every year, because it shows […]

The National Hockey League’s famous Combine is fast approaching.

It will once again be held in Buffalo, where all the NHL teams and the top prospects in the 2025 draft will be there in the next few days, from June 2 to 7.

It’s an event we look forward to every year, because it shows that we’re getting closer and closer to the draft, and so we know more and more about each prospect.

The problem with this event, however, is that it’s often seen as overrated or pointless by fans, given that on-ice skills aren’t evaluated, and that it’s simply various physical tests.

However, it’s important to look at the relevance of each of these tests, and above all, to understand what teams want and are looking for with these tests.

Because at the end of the day, well, teams don’t give a damn about the scores, i.e. the best scores in each of the tests.

Indeed, as you can read in Nicolas Cloutier’s excellent latest piece, it’s pretty clear in the mind of Dan Marr, Director of NHL Central Scouting, that scores don’t matter.

Teams aren’t looking to draft the one who benchmarks the most, or the one who jumps the highest.

What teams want is to get as much data as possible on each of the prospects at the combine, so they can place each of those prospects on their athletic growth curve.

Teams want to know where each prospect is in their physical and athletic progression, based on age, weight, height and other factors, so they can then assess where they should be in a few months and years.

It’s a way for each team’s decision-makers to get a much better overall picture of the type of player each prospect is, and the physical skills he’s likely to have in the future.

“We can conclude that he can add 8 to 10 lbs and that he can become more explosive. There’s an arsenal of information to use to build the player’s athletic profile.” – Dan Marr

In short, the NHL Combine may be more important than we sometimes think, so it’s important to understand that the bottom line really isn’t what determines the quality of a prospect.


Overtime

– The Lions unfortunately lose the first game of the Kelly Cup final.

– Read on.

– Bravo.

– A favorite eliminated in the Round of 16.

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