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2022 NHL Scouting Combine Recap

by Chad DeDominicis - 0

The NHL Scouting Combine was back in Buffalo for the first time in a few years. It was nice to get back to covering an NHL event again like in the before times of Covid-19. The pool of prospects attending was smaller than in years past, but the event still had that kick-off of the offseason hype.

No Russian players that played in Russia attended the event and some European prospects all passed on the opportunity to participate in the testing.

This event matters for NHL clubs during the interview portion that takes place during the week leading up to the testing. The testing portion can have minimal impact on drafting status, but the interviews are the main feature.

Anthony and I were on site for the testing and interview portion of the combine on Saturday. There were some interesting takeaways from the afternoon in regards to the Sabres and some non-Sabre things.

Notebook Recap

Julian Lutz

  • Julian Lutz was one of the first interviews of the day. The German-born forward is projected to be a mid-to-late second-round pick in the upcoming draft.
  • The interesting part we found out was that Lutz is good friends with Sabres’ top prospect JJ Peterka. The two played together at EC Salzburg in the Austrian pro league. Lutz discussed how he spoke with Peterka ahead of the combine he spoke highly of the atmosphere around the Sabres. Lutz said that Peterka raved above the young players on the team, the locker room they have, and how excited he is about the future in Buffalo.

First Round US National Development Program Prospects

  • Perhaps the most interesting part of the day was Kevyn Adams’ brief appearance. He came out a little after 8 AM to watch some of the tests. It became evident why he choose that time. Frank Nazar was the last prospect of the 8 AM group. Then the beginning of the 8:30 AM group was Rutger McGroarty, Cutter Gauthier, and Seamus Casey.
  • Anthony and I were following that group around because they will be selected in the area where the Sabres hold their top two picks (9 and 16). That’s when we noticed the Sabres’ general manager was doing the same thing. Like us, he moved the entire length of the building to make sure he had the best view of their workouts.
  • Perhaps he was focusing on one player or a few of them. We found out a few minutes later during the interview portion that Seamus Casey met with 28 teams. The Sabres, however, were not one of them. That usually is an indication that there isn’t a lot of interest in the player from that club.
  • Frank Nazar confirmed he spoke with the Sabres and even mentioned that they were one of his longer interviews.
  • Rutger McGroarty won my interview of the day award. I could see the Sabres loving his attitude. He was the captain of the U18 American squad for that World Junior tournament. He has a great vibe to him and it helps that he’s a good player on the ice.
  • McGroarty talked about understanding that he needed to work on his skating to be able to be an effective player at the next level and discussed how he recently began working with a prominent skating coach to help improve on that area of his game.
  • He also had one of my favorite answers to the Montreal Canadiens’ question of what kind of animal are you on and off the ice. Off the ice, he said he was a father gorilla because he’s laid back and likes to chill. On the ice, he is an African hunting dog. So we were able to confirm that McGroarty does indeed have that dog in him.

Noah Warren

  • I enjoyed the conversation with big defenseman Noah Warren. He plays for the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL. Warren is a right-shot defenseman that is known more for his physical and defensive play. Not something you often hear about with defenders out of the QMJHL.
  • He seems like the type of player the Sabres could be looking to grab in this draft to boost their blue line depth. I’ll be doing some more work on him to get familiar with his game, but people I spoke to at the combine that watched him play in juniors had a lot of good things to say about him.
  • During Warren’s interview, one of the more interesting things of the day came out, in my opinion. He discussed the Toronto Maple Leafs’ interview during the week and how they were the only team that was doing video in their meetings. He mentioned that they would should him a video clip and then stop it. Then they would ask him what he thinks will happen next or what would he do next? A good way to get inside the mind of a player to see how well they do or do not read the game.
  • Sticking with the QMJHL, tall defenseman Maveric Lamoureux did not meet with the Sabres this week.

Other Notes

  • Brad Lambert did meet with the Sabres last week. Also, he does not currently have a contract in Europe. Therefore, he can come right over to North America next season.
  • Jack Devine met with only 10 teams last week. The Sabres were among them.
  • Lian Bichsel looked like a man amongst boys. The big Swiss defender met with all 32 teams during the week. He was also a teammate of Sabres’ 2021 first-round pick Isak Rosen at Leksands in the SHL. The Sabres probably got a good look at him while they kept an eye on Rosen. If the Sabres pick him, he would be the first Swiss player they selected in club history.
  • Marco Kasper and Jimmy Snuggerud were two other prospects that met with the Sabres.
  • One of the funnier comments of the day came from top prospect Juraj Slafkovsky, who did not go through the testing. A reporter told him that Shane Wright did nine pull-ups. He asked Slafkovsky if thinks he could be that. He laughed and replied, “honestly, no.”

It was good to be back doing this again in person and reminds us all the 2022 NHL Draft is just over a month away with the start of free agency a week after that.

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