Scouting combine dress rehearsal for draft
Giants’ Kulak among 100 top NHL prospects to be tested and interviewed May 28 to June 2 in Toronto
Scout, scout, scout. It’s a never- ending cycle for hockey teams trying to unearth the next great one.
From spring hockey to summer tournaments to league play beginning each fall, there is always a prospect to watch, to evaluate and to analyze. Then when all the bird- dogging is done, there is the NHL scouting combine.
The combine — now in its 19th year — brings together the top 100 prospects for next month’s entry draft and the 30 teams that will be selecting them. It’s the biggest deal happening in the hockey world next week — May 28- June 2 in Toronto — other than the little Stanley Cup tournament the league also has going.
Player and possible future employer have the chance for a meet- and- greet. Player does dryland testing while possible future employer observes. Player performs a variety of tasks, among them vertical jump, long jump, bench press, VO2 Max ( aerobic) and Wingate ( anaerobic).
It’s a must- attend event and the Vancouver Canucks will be there with an army of eyeballs.
Assistant GM Laurence Gilman, who oversees the Canucks amateur scouting department, is leading the contingent that includes all the full- time amateur scouts, some of the parttimers as well as conditioning coach Roger Takahashi and even Takahashi’s assistant, Bryan Marshall.
“I think the best way to describe the combine is that it completes the body of work that has gone on in the prior eight months,” Gilman explained.
“Our scouts have been on the road watching hundreds of games across the globe. The combine affords them an opportunity to see a player’s personality where, often times, you don’t see it when you’re scouting a game and just watching them.
“It also gives us an opportunity to see them tested physically. So it really just brings together everything that has been collected from conventional scouting.”
Gilman emphasized that the Canucks don’t rely solely on these interviews to probe a player’s psyche. Scouts are asked to gain a lot of intel on prospects throughout their draft- eligible seasons.
“We expect our scouts to do office homework and get to know the kids as well as they can,” Gilman said. “We expect them to talk to their coaches and, if possible, go into the school, talk to their principals, speak to their billets, talk to their teammates. But a player’s stock can be enhanced, or in the alternative, can decrease based on his performance at the combine.
“So the combine is extremely important. It is clearly an opportunity for a player to audition and, like any audition, some go well and some don’t.”
Vancouver Giants defenceman Brett Kulak, 18, is among the anointed 100 heading to Toronto. He is projected to be an early third- round pick by The Hockey News. Central Scouting has listed him No. 55 among North American- trained skaters.
A smooth- skating puckmover, Kulak has been doing a little scouting of his own, seeking out Giants teammate Davil Musil and other pals who have been to the combine.
“They just told me ‘ be ready’ and to train hard leading up to it,” Kulak said Wednesday from his hometown of Stony Plain, Alta. “So that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m more excited than nervous. I’m going to take this opportunity and make the most of it.”
The interview process can be tiring and Kulak has been warned he could do as many as 15 a day.
“I’ve started to think about the questions I might be asked and to prepare myself a little bit for it,” he said. “I’ve already had one written kind of test for a team and there were some really weird questions on there. You kind of didn’t know which answer was right. Yeah, there was one like the ‘ which- animalwouldyou- be?’ question.”
Edmonton- based player agent Gerry Johannson, who represents prominent Nhlers Milan Lucic, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Seabrook and Carey Price, has been sending clients to the combine ever since it began. This year he has five, including Kulak. He keeps his advice simple: prepare for the physical testing and be yourself in the interview room.
“I really try not to prepare the players for the interview process because I think they need to go in relaxed,” said Johannson, 45, a one- time defenceman for the New Westminster Bruins. “They’re sometime meeting 20- 25 teams and, generally, there will be at least five guys, and maybe six or seven, in the room. Some are just visiting with you, some are challenging you and some want to talk about your teammates.
“So we just want our guys in there being relaxed and comfortable and being themselves. They’ve had interviews throughout the season so they’ve met with scouts before and they kind of get it.”
This year’s entry draft goes June 22- 23 in Pittsburgh.