CHL prospects take centre stage at NHL Scouting Combine

 

With the 2018 NHL Draft in Dallas less than a month away, NHL teams took the opportunity to get to know eligible prospects off the ice this past week in Buffalo, NY as players engaged in a series of off-ice interviews and physical testing at HarborCenter.

A total of 50 CHL players were in attendance including 27 forwards, 19 defencemen and four goaltenders. Twenty-four prospects came out of the Ontario Hockey League, 15 were products of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and 11 play in the Western Hockey League.

As a sign of respect and solidarity with the community of Humboldt, Sask. following April’s tragic bus accident that claimed the lives of 16 members of the hockey club, all 104 prospects attending the combine received a pair of shorts and baseball cap with the Humboldt logo stitched on each item.

Among the physical testing session’s top performers included highly athletic London Knights forward Liam Foudy who finished atop the results of five different exercises including Standing Long Jump, Vertical Jump, No Arm Jump, Pro Agility Test and the Wingate Test. Other top CHL performers included the Baie-Comeau Drakkar duo of forward Gabriel Fortier and Xavier Bouchard who both enjoyed a first place finish, WHL standout Eric Florchuk of the Saskatoon Blades who fared well in a number of different tests and OHL forwards Cam Hillis of the Guelph Storm, Curtis Douglas of the Windsor Spitfires and goaltender Jacob Ingham of the Mississauga Steelheads who were consistently competitive throughout the day.

The event, which was the fourth consecutive NHL Scouting Combine to be held at Buffalo’s HarborCenter, featured top CHL players ranked in NHL Central Scouting’s Final Draft Rankings including number one North American prospect Andrei Svechnikov of the Barrie Colts, third-ranked Halifax Mooseheads forward Filip Zadina as well as fourth and fifth-ranked blueliners Evan Bouchard of the London Knights and Noah Dobson of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Players engaged in a total of eight different skill-testing exercises and were evaluated based on a variety of different measuring units. Changes were made to the way the bench press and the Wingate test were administered at the combine this year. Rather than measure the number of repetitions on the bench press, a device called “Gym Aware” was used to measure the velocity of the bar while the player pushed it up. The weight on the bar was 50 percent of the player’s body weight.

Here’s a complete look at how CHL players fared in the various testing exercises:

GRIP STRENGTH (LBS)

Right Hand
2. Curtis Douglas (Windsor Spitfires) 179
T-3. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 160
T-5. Ryan McLeod (Mississauga Steelheads) 157
T-5. Xavier Bernard (Drummondville Voltigeurs) 157
T-8. Riley Stotts (Calgary Hitmen) 155

Left Hand
2. Curtis Douglas (Windsor Spitfires) 166
3. Ryan McLeod (Mississauga Steelheads) 159
T-5. Riley Sutter (Everett Silvertips) 155
7. Philipp Kurashev (Quebec Remparts) 152
8. Andrei Svechnikov (Barrie Colts) 151
T-9. Jared McIsaac (Halifax Mooseheads) 150
T-9. Xavier Bernard (Drummondville Voltigeurs) 150

BENCH PRESS (REPS)
4. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 7.72
6. Kevin Bahl (Ottawa 67’s) 7.3
T-7. Andrei Svechnikov (Barrie Colts) 7.25
10. Mitchell Hoelscher (Ottawa 67’s) 7.11

STANDING LONG JUMP (INCHES)
1. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 118.8
2. Jacob Ingham (Mississauga Steelheads) 115.0
T-7. Carter Robertson (Ottawa 67’s)
T-7. Olivier Rodrigue (Drummondville Voltigeurs)

VERTICAL JUMP (INCHES)
1. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 27.65
5. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 23.82
9. Jacob Ingham (Mississauga Steelheads) 22.63

SQUAT JUMP (INCHES)
2. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 21.87
3. Eric Florchuk (Saskatoon Blades) 21.32
4. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 21.32
8. Riley Stotts (Calgary Hitmen) 19.71
10. Andrei Svechnikov (Barrie Colts) 18.65

NO ARM JUMP (INCHES)
1. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 27.81
3. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 20.92
7. Eric Florchuk (Saskatoon Blades) 20.42
8. Andrei Svechnikov (Barrie Colts) 20.13
9. Noah Dobson (Acadie-Bathurst Titan) 19.67

PULL UPS (MAX #)
T-2. Evan Bouchard (London Knights) 14
T-4. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 13
T-4. Benoit-Olivier Groulx (Halifax Mooseheads) 13
T-4. Mitchell Hoelscher (Ottawa 67’s) 13

PRO-AGILITY TEST (SECONDS)

Left
1. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 4.2
T-4. Aidan Dudas (Owen Sound Attack) 4.3
T-6. Jacob Ingham (Mississauga Steelheads) 4.4
T-6. Xavier Bouchard (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 4.4
T-6. Noah Dobson (Acadie-Bathurst Titan) 4.4

Right
T-2. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 4.3
T-2. Andrei Svechnikov (Barrie Colts) 4.3
T-5. Aidan Dudas (Owen Sound Attack) 4.4
T-5. Xavier Bouchard (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 4.4
T-5. Barrett Hayton (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds) 4.4

WINGATE TEST – Mean Power Output (watts/kg)
1. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 17.2
T-3. Kristian Reichel (Red Deer Rebels) 16.7
T-3. Alexander Khovanov (Moncton Wildcats) 16.7
6. Eric Florchuk (Saskatoon Blades) 16.1
7. Cam Hillis (Guelph Storm) 15.9
9. Noah Dobson (Acadie-Bathurst Titan) 15.8
10. Kody Clark (Ottawa 67’s) 15.8

WINGATE TEST – Peak Power Output (watts/kg)
1. Liam Foudy (London Knights) 19.8
2. Kristian Reichel (Red Deer Rebels) 19.6
4. Alexander Khovanov (Moncton Wildcats) 19.1
5. Luke Henman (Blainville-Boisbriand Armada) 19.1
6. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 19.0

WINGATE TEST – Fatigue Index
1. Joe Veleno (Drummondville Voltigeurs) 13.3
4. Kevin Bahl (Ottawa 67’s) 17.1
8. Eric Florchuk (Saskatoon Blades) 18.3
9. Evan Bouchard (London Knights) 18.6
10. Milos Roman (Vancouver Giants) 18.9

AEROBIC FITNESS – VO2max Test Max
1. Cam Hillis (Guelph Storm) 65.0
2. Aidan Dudas (Owen Sound Attack) 63.0
3. Xavier Bouchard (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 62.0
5. Ty Dellandrea (Flint Firebirds) 60.0
6. Gabriel Fortier (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 59.0
T-7. Olivier Rodrigue (Drummondville Voltigeurs) 58.0

AEROBIC FITNESS – VO2max Test Duration
1. Xavier Bouchard (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) 16:45
2. Curtis Douglas (Windsor Spitfires) 16:35
4. Kevin Bahl (Ottawa 67’s) 16:10

For a full recap of top stories from the 2018 NHL Scouting Combine, visit nhl.com.