The 2025 NHL scouting combine took place in Buffalo this past weekend -- with a little spin to it.
With the draft decentralized this year -- with all team personnel at their own headquarters while the draft takes place in Los Angeles -- execs will not have the opportunity to take prospects to dinner during draft week, meet their families or get one more evaluation done prior to draft night. So the typical fitness testing, meetings and interview process took place in Buffalo.
The scouting combine has changed dramatically over the past decade. Each team uses a private suite at the Sabres' KeyBank Center to set up their interviews. Players go from room to room, in 15-minute intervals (one player termed it the "interrogation gauntlet" a few years ago). This is the first time players will meet with team executives, as most teams have their general manager and the assistant GM who oversees the scouting department present. Throughout the season, area scouts will interview prospects or send questionnaires. When teams select who they'd like to interview at the combine, having base knowledge of the player removes the need for small talk.
Usually, teams take three or four players out for dinner during draft week and will meet with several others. Players are unlikely to attend dinners with teams that have no chance of taking them. No. 1-ranked prospect Matthew Schaefer isn't going to dine with any of the top teams, and frankly, probably doesn't need to meet with anyone besides the New York Islanders and San Jose Sharks, who pick first and second.
For players like James Hagens and Porter Martone, they may meet with four or five teams in the range to select them. For what it's worth, the Isles took Schaefer, Michael Misa and Hagens to dinner during combine week. Had the draft been centralized, it is likely they would have met again over a meal, along with their families.
More interesting, Chicago, which owns the third pick, did not take anyone to dinner. That is certainly a calculated decision from its brass. Perhaps the Blackhawks plan to invite players to Chicago (or fly out to them) during draft week? It's anyone's guess, but their strategy was the topic of some conversation among other teams. The Philadelphia Flyers famously passed on the opportunity to take Jett Luchanko to dinner last season before drafting him, so as to not raise alarm bells with other teams. Perhaps Chicago is taking a page out of that book.
Hagens also dined with the Utah Mammoth (picking fourth) and interviewed with 16 teams overall -- a wide range for a player expected to go very early. If Hagens falls out of the top five, we may see a team trade up to grab him because he becomes a value pick after third overall. Utah also had meetings with Jake O'Brien and Brady Martin, though it is believed their pick could be available for the right price in trade.
If the Islanders select Schaefer at No. 1 (as many predict they will) and Hagens is still there at No. 4, there are a few people who think the team will make a play for that pick as well; one rumored deal has the Isles offering multiple early-round picks to move up. After all, Hagens did say his dream is to win a Stanley Cup with the Islanders.
The Flyers cast a wide net, including O'Brien, Martin and Porter Martone. It is no secret the Flyers need a center, and they are certainly in a position to draft one with the No. 6 pick. Notably, Martone is a winger, but he's big and has some pest qualities to his game, which would interest the Flyers. The Flyers also met with quite a few goalies at the combine, and given their uncertainty in goal, is it easy to see why they would have interest in Joshua Ravensbergen, Jack Ivankovic, Alexei Medvedev and Semyon Frolov. With three first-round picks -- they also have the Avs' pick at No. 22 and the Oilers' at either No. 31 or 32 -- it's not hard to imagine a scenario in which the Flyers take a goalie.
The Canucks took Braden Cootes to dinner and are believed to have done significant due diligence on Roger McQueen. Their organizational need for a center is well documented, and given the absence of GM Patrik Allvin at the combine, which raised a lot of eyebrows, many believe the 15th pick will be used in a trade to acquire immediate help at center. Similarly, there is belief that the Columbus Blue Jackets are looking to move some of their draft capital for immediate help.
Brady Martin has built a hype train that is chugging full steam ahead. While he's likely the 12th- to 15th-ranked player available, Martin's stock has seen a boost from Sam Bennett's playoff performance with the Florida Panthers. The farm boy who had a unique training regimen growing up is now rumored to go as high as No. 4. When asked by reporters who he models his game after, he called out Bennett, Matthew Knies and Tom Wilson.
The prevailing belief is that he won't get past Boston at No. 7, meaning the likes of Martone, O'Brien and McQueen could be available much later than anticipated. Some scouts love his raw potential, and some see him as a second-line pest type. If a team truly believes he can be the next Sam Bennett, there is an argument to take him in the top 10, but there are many cautionary tales of passing on players with higher ceilings while drafting for a certain type of player.
There were some fun interview tidbits to come out of the combine too. The Pittsburgh Penguins used video in their meetings, a Kyle Dubas special. The team had clips of each player and played them back slowly, quizzing the player on what happened next, why they made a certain decision and what they saw on the play. In speaking to people who were part of the combine process during Dubas' time with the Leafs, he does this to get a feel for a player's ability to read the game, as well as their belief in themselves when pressed about a decision they made on a particular play.
The Ottawa Senators asked players to tell a joke, a lighthearted way of finding out who can think on their feet or who may be a jokester in the locker room. Known for their odd questions, the Montreal Canadiens asked players what they would do if they were stranded in the desert with another person, a bottle of water and a baseball bat -- and the other person took the water and would not share it. Other questions from teams included what kind of animal a player thinks he'd be.
The consensus from the interviews was that Martin, Anton Frondell and Caleb Desnoyers really impressed NHL executives. They were engaging in conversation, and that will certainly help all three. Desnoyers has steadily climbed draft boards, but he didn't take part in testing because of wrist injuries he suffered during the season.
Speaking of injury, all eyes were on Roger McQueen during fitness testing. There is significant concern about his back and the possibility it could be a recurring issue, though it was a fracture and not a muscular injury. One executive said he'd be in the conversation for second overall if injury concerns weren't a factor.
Instead, McQueen could find himself available through the early teens. He completed the combine testing without issue, told teams he felt 100% healthy and ripped off nine pull-ups during the combine, and nearly hit a 10th. Given the back muscles associated with that test, McQueen's performance is believed to have quelled some of the concerns.
Will Horcoff showed off high-quality explosiveness, setting the combine record for the standing long jump, and he finished first in the no-arm vertical. While those aren't tests of his skating explosiveness, those scores are a sign of his muscular makeup and his potential. The son of Shawn Horcoff was already climbing draft boards and did himself quite a few favors with his fitness testing and interviews.
Questions about Anton Frondell's fitness seemed to linger among scouts, and he all but shut those down, with one of the best performances on the VO2 max test, along with Cole Reschny.
Mason West, the dual-sport dynamo from Minnesota, declared that he was choosing hockey. The high school quarterback measured at 6-foot-6¼ and is considered to be one of the more interesting prospects in the draft. Many believe multisport athletes are more successful when they finally specialize because their athleticism is not built around one sport -- they are likely to have better coordination and reaction skills and be functionally stronger. Given West's size and raw talent, he is someone to watch very early on Day 2 of the draft.
Outside of the typical combine testing, the decentralization added another twist. The draft floor is where a lot of trades and chatter occur. That won't happen this year, and the overwhelming feeling is that a lot of those discussions took place at the combine -- given it is the only opportunity for the GMs to be in the same city prior to the draft. That made Allvin's absence all the more curious given the Canucks' goals and potential for setting off some serious trade fireworks.
Not only were many GMs present, but all of the major agents were also present. A who's who of the hockey world descended on Buffalo, and the prevailing feeling was that a lot of groundwork was laid on potential trades and free agent signings (despite tampering rules) over the past week.
One thing is for sure: We have entered the silly season, and first-round draft picks are unlikely to be the only major chess moves in the coming weeks.