For the first time in three years, the incoming NHL Draft class has been called up in Buffalo for the league’s Scouting Combine.
Canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the combination has returned to the KeyBank Center in Buffalo and Lecom Harborcenter this week, giving the 32 clubs in the league one last chance to assess this high number of hopefuls in the world. League before the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal.
Ninety-six prospects have been invited to the combination, which began on Monday and will run until Saturday. Sixty-three strikers attended, as well as 30 defenders and three goalkeepers. Highlights include Canadian center Shane Wright, Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovsky and US center Logan Cooley: the trio are expected to fill the top three when the draft arrives on July 7th.
Wright leads the group, a native of Burlington, Ontario, who has amassed 32 goals and 94 points in 63 positions for the OHL Kingston Frontenacs this season. For a long time it was expected to be the first name called when the Montreal Canadiens took to the stage and made the No. 1 selection, Wright made it clear that it felt the same.
“I think that’s where I should go. I think I’m the best player,” he recently told Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino. “I’m a competitive guy and I want to be in this position. I don’t want anyone to take it away from me. I think I deserve to be in this number 1 position, and I think I’ll be the first to be selected.”
Slafkovsky, who has spent the last few years preparing for the Finnish TPS, enters the draft as the best international skater. The big body saw his project further grow at the 2022 Olympics, scoring seven goals in seven games to win the tournament’s MVP honors and help Slovakia win the bronze, the first Olympic medal to be won. country has claimed in this sport.
Cooley is the latest in a growing line of elite talent from the U.S. National Team Development Program, which has seen six of its players selected in the top 10 in the last three drafts. Cooley, who is one of nine NTDP players invited to the combination, looks set to join this group and could become the most recruited player to ever leave Pittsburgh.
While the core component of the combination is fitness testing, most of which will take place on Saturday, the week also offers the NHL team a chance to meet one-on-one with prospects. The Canadians have already met with the three Wright, Slafkovsky and Cooley before their first overall selection.
Next on the record is Saturday’s list of exercises. This is what the trio and their potential partners will be working on:
The first is the Y-Balance, a dynamic test that “requires strength, flexibility, central control and proprioception” (the ability to feel the movement and position of the body). It consists of three directions of movement (anterior, posteromedial and posterolateral), the aim of the test is to maintain a position of one leg while reaching as far as possible with the other leg. Each test is repeated three times, with the maximum range in each direction. The Y-Balance is used to “assess physical performance, demonstrate functional symmetry, and identify athletes most at risk for lower limb injuries,” according to the league.
The functional motion screen uses a rating system (0 to 3) to assess a player’s mobility and stability through seven motion tests: deep squat, obstacle course, online lunge, mobility. shoulder, active straight leg lift, trunk stability flexions and rotational stability. The aim is to identify “the quality of the basic movements possessed by an athlete, which in turn determine the athlete’s ability to improve the specific skills of the sport.”
The inclusion of the functional movement screen comes from the fact that athletes often have limitations, weaknesses, or imbalances on the right / left side in the basic levels of movement, depending on the league, that can be masked with compensatory or substitute movement patterns; these problems can negatively impact motor learning, movement perception, body awareness, and mechanics, which can undermine the improvement of sport-specific skills, so the Screen is made to raise awareness among athletes. of any limitation or imbalance.
The grip strength test is fairly straightforward: players will adjust the grip dynamometer to the size of their hand, fully extend their arm, and tighten the dynamometer with as much force as possible, with the test performed on each hand.
Athletes’ aerobic fitness, that is, the ability of their cardiovascular and respiratory systems to supply oxygen to their muscles, is assessed by measuring “the amount of oxygen used during maximum exercise using the determination of volume and exhaled air analysis “.
The test is performed on “a professional grade bicycle ergometer cycle (Watt Bike) with a Cortex Metalyzer VO2 cart”. Essentially, the athlete is sitting on the bike with a tight heart rate belt on his chest and a silicone face mask. The athlete will move through the different levels of the test while the Metalyzer monitors their heart rate and VO2, recording the data breath by breath.
The test progresses as follows:
It concludes when the athlete stops pedaling, when he experiences chest pain or difficulty breathing, or when the athlete can no longer maintain the required rpm.
The measurements of the height and wingspan of each player are taken as follows: without shoes, the athletes are standing with their heels together and the back of their feet touching the base of a height measuring device. laptop. Athletes are asked to take a deep breath and their height is measured 0.25 inches closer from the highest point of the measuring device.
The athlete then extends his or her arms sideways and his or her wingspan is measured 0.25 inches closer from the tip of the middle finger to the tip of the middle finger.
For the long jump standing, each athlete stands with their feet slightly apart, their toes behind the jump line. Then, using an arm movement to help, they jump as far forward as possible. The distance from the jump line to the heel mark in the best of three tests is recorded to the nearest centimeter.
An AccuPower Dual Force Plate system is used to measure the direction, strength, and time of the three-dimensional force produced by each athlete during hockey-related movements. Two high-speed cameras are also used to capture video data. Overall, the test assesses movement efficiency, physical performance, and injury potential, depending on the league.
The test is performed by determining the “ground reaction force profile” created by an athlete, the force exerted by the ground on a body in contact with it, during different versions of vertical jumps.
“The vertical jump combines the two qualities of the sprint (fast) and agility (smooth) components. Ideally, athletes should quickly load the vertical jump on their descent, before stopping smoothly and using that energy to accelerate upward to jump, “states the summary of the league’s fitness tests.” By analyzing the entire strength and timing curve, teams can individualize and identify what the athlete needs to improve to drastically increase their performance and reduce injury rates. “
Three types of jumps are performed: vertical jump (with arm twist), jump without arm (without arm swing, hands on hips) and squat jump (start on squat, hands on hips). Each jump test includes three separate attempts separated by 10 seconds of rest, with the best attempt of each recorded.
Using a standard padded bench press, athletes lift 50% of their body weight, lying on their backs and grabbing the bar with their thumbs approximately shoulder-width apart. The starting position is with the arms fully extended; then the bar is lowered to the chest and, after a slight pause, the athlete pushes the bar as fast as possible until his arms are fully extended.
The weight to be lifted is determined as follows:
Each player will perform three repetitions at top speed with a pause between each repetition. A device is also used to measure the speed of the bar and the ability of the athlete to produce power.
For the professional agility shuttle race, each athlete performs a 5-10-5 yard (or 15-35-15 ft) shuttle to assess their multidirectional speed, agility, whole body reaction, and control. The test is timed using a laser timer.
Each player records the maximum number of consecutive pullups performed with the correct technique, to assess their forearm and upper arm flexor strength, endurance, and core stabilization.
The Wingate test is done with the spin bike cycle ergometer (Watt Bike). The test goes like this: the athlete warms up by pedaling with low resistance for two minutes; then you have to pedal at a progressively faster rate so that when the designated workload is reached, you are pedaling at full capacity.
They must pedal to their maximum capacity against the designated workload for 30 seconds. Revolutions are recorded for each five-second period. The output power is then calculated for both the maximum period of five seconds and the duration of 30 seconds.
According to the official schedule of the combination, Wright will be part of the fifth group that goes through the test circuit. Cooley will be part of the eighth group, while Slafkovsky will not participate …