Interviews a big part of drafting
Canucks GM Benning looks for honesty and character in prospects Ben Kuzma
The art of the NHL Scouting Combine interview is akin to a pitcher working a batter. Draft prospects will face fastballs, curveballs, sliders and change-ups this week in Buffalo as teams seek better reads on those they’ve bracketed as possible selections June 22-23 in Dallas.
Some interviews will confirm what the Vancouver Canucks have already seen and heard about a player. That was the case with quietly confident first-round picks Brock Boeser (2015) and Elias Pettersson (2017) and with the gregarious Jonah Gadjovich (second round, 2017) and Michael DiPietro (third round 2017).
Other interviews will hopefully answer curiosities about character, me-versus-we concerns and time management skills. The potentially addictive video game craze may also pop up in some pointed queries. Imagine that.
“We have three or four standard questions,” said Canucks general manager Jim Benning. “We design specific questions for what we may have heard about a particular player and we ask him to get the truth.”
Benning and his interview team want honesty.
One of the standard ploys is to pepper a prospect about what kind of a teammate he is and how he is viewed by his peers. Truth is of paramount importance because one phone call could clarify the confusion. And if a skilled prospect is narcissistic, the Canucks will pass and choose someone who fits better in a team environment.
“We want to draft high-character people — those are the guys you end up winning with,” Benning said. “Some of the best players over the years have come in and had a quiet interview because they’re shy and young kids. Others have come in and you can just tell by their personalties and their energy, that they’re passionate about wanting to be NHL players — and that says a lot about them.”
The trick is to ask the right questions, hoping to get the right response and the right read from body language. Boeser was a classic case of what you see is what you get. He was picked 23rd overall and was a Calder Trophy candidate this season with 55 points (29 goals, 26 assists) in 62 games before missing the final 16 with a back injury.
“He was a real humble kid and mature beyond his years — very genuine,” Benning recalled of the 2015 combine interview. “It’s kind of what you see in him now. He was driven to be a good player and not just an everyday player. That was the quiet confidence you saw this year.
“He has had adversity in his life and showed he could handle it. And he showed us he could get through it as a player and get to where he needs to be.”
Boeser’s father, Duke, has battled Parkinson’s disease for eight years and suffered a severe brain injury in a car crash when his son was an emerging high school freshman. He had to stop working while his wife, Laurie, worked three jobs to support the couple’s three children.
Boeser’s grandfather, Bob, died hours before the winger played his first U.S. Hockey League game and his sister, Jessica, plays hockey in an adapted program for those with developmental disabilities.
If that isn’t enough of an endurance test, Boeser’s world was rocked in August, 2014 when a car crash claimed baseball teammate Ty Alyea. Boeser was at a hockey tournament when he got the tragic news and could have easily been in that car with his best buddies.
“You get all the results from office testing and with the top guys, you probably have 80 viewings throughout the course of a year,” Benning said. “With that, all the boxes are checked, but then you get to sit down and really find out more. “This is an important week for us.” The Canucks own the seventh selection this year and no matter how the draft dominoes fall, there are going to be at least two defencemen to choose from to address a positional need. Memorial Cup champion Noah Dobson of AcadieBathurst (QMJHL) has rocketed up wish lists, as has Quinn Hughes of the University of Michigan (NCAA), who looked poised for the U.S in the recent world championship.
There is also Evan Bouchard of London (OHL) and Adam Boqvist of Brynas (Sweden, J20) to consider if the Canucks don’t trade down. They could also take a hard look at U.S. National Development Team (USHL) centre Oliver Wahlstrom at No. 7 and chase a blueliner in the second round.
OVERTIME — The Canucks have signed diminutive bowling-ball winger Petrus Palmu, 20, to a threeyear, entry-level contract. The sixthround 2017 pick was named top rookie in the Finnish SM-liiga after collecting 36 points (17-19) in 59 games and then adding six points (4-2) in 11 playoff games. Passed over twice in the NHL draft, he was fourth in OHL scoring in 2016-17 with 98 points (40-58). In the recent Postmedia News ranking of top franchise prospects, the 5-foot-6, 172 pound Finn was ninth. “He’s not overly big, but he’s so strong,” said Ryan Johnson, the Canucks’ director of player development. “He’s built like a tank. That can make up for the height. He has no fear in him at all.”