KASPICK, CLAGUE IMPRESS AT NHL COMBINE
ll that’s left for Kale Clague and Tanner Kaspick this hockey season is the little matter of the National Hockey League draft.
The two Brandon Wheat Kings attended the NHL Combine in Buffalo last week, and along with physical testing in 14 different areas, they were interviewed by interested teams.
The two were actually handicapped at the combine by their long season that led to the Memorial Cup, because they weren’t able to do some of the workouts that might have helped, although NHL teams were aware of those circumstances.
“We didn’t have a chance to train for it but we went in there and did our best,” Clague said. “Speaking for Tanner as well, I think we did pretty good on it. Obviously we could have done better if we had been able to train for a while but I thought we did fine.”
Clague, who went into the combine rated 27th in the final NHL rankings for North American skaters, was ninth in the peak power output test, in which a player pedals at maximum effort for 30 seconds and his peak output over a five-second span is recorded.
Kaspick, who was ranked 79th by Central Scouting, finished near the top in a handful of events.
He tied for 10th in the mean power output test, in which a player pedals on a stationary bike at maximum effort for 30 seconds, and second in test duration in the VO2 max exercise, in which a player’s oxygen use and heart rate are recorded during an extended, high intensity ride on a stationary bike. He was tied for ninth in VO2 max.
“It went great,” Kaspick said. “I thought it was a real good week. I was happy with how the meetings went and we were treated very well there. The testing was good so overall it was a great week.”
The draft is being held June 24-25 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo.
The six-foot, 178-pound Clague, who comes from Lloydminster, Alta., spoke to 24 teams, adding that the questions were fairly standard. He intends to head down to Buffalo, N.Y., for the draft.
This season, the defenceman played in 71 games, missing one for rest after he played in the Top Prospects Game, and he scored six times and added 37 assists. Injuries restricted him to just 20 regular-season games and 12 more in the playoffs as a 16-year-old, although he did have 16 points in the 32 games.
He said it was nice to share the NHL Combine experience with Kaspick.
“He’s one of my best friends so obviously we’re comfortable together,” Clague said. “It was cool to go with him and nice that I got to room with him.”
Kaspick had 13 goals and 18 assists in 53 regular season games during the 2015-16. He missed an extended stretch after suffering an upper-body injury in the team’s final game before Christmas. In 21 playoff games, he had five goals and five assists.
The six-foot-one, 202-pound forward also played 53 regular games in his rookie season, scoring once and adding 17 assists.
The Brandon product met with more than half of the teams, but is unsure if he will attend the draft. Regardless, he is grateful to teammates such as John Quenneville, Ivan Provorov and Jayce Hawryluk who had been through the process before.
“Just playing with such a good team in Brandon, I was fortunate enough to play with a lot of draft picks and guys that have been through the process,” Kaspick said. “They’ve been great all year kind of mentoring Kale and I on how to handle ourselves and we just tried to learn from them. Just to spend it with Kale too has been great.”
