2026 NHL Draft Combine Notebook: What we learned
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Just under 100 prospects spent the past week in Buffalo to give one lasting impression ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft.
Players were split into 12 groups containing between 6-8 players, taking turns doing various drills in 30-minute increments. It came after days of players talking and meeting with teams, agents, and future opponents.
Daily Faceoff was in person on Friday and Saturday, and it’s time to empty the notebook:
* Montreal is always known for its… funky draft combine moments. This year, they gave prospects a puck in a room, had them pick a location, and then saw where they’d throw it from. Was it a way of seeing how they’d handle the pressure? I guess so.
* Casey Mutryn said the Canadiens, as expected, had the best question: “If I’m the captain of a destroyer in the Navy during World War II, and your job is to destroy submarines, and there’s a submarine that you can destroy, but 10 of your crew members are overboard. So if you destroy the submarine, you’re killing your crew members. So they’re like, ‘Do you destroy the submarine, kill your crew members, or do you let the submarine go and save your save your man?’ I just said, ‘You gotta destroy the sub. That’s your job.'”
* This quote from Tobias Trejbal, though, is the best: “I remember Montreal asked me some weird questions. Like, “If you were in the Sahara and there were two guys, one had a bottle of water and the other had a baseball bat. What would you do? So, their guy told me,” I gave a wife at home. I have kids at homes like, are you gonna really kill me?’ I said, “Yeah, your family is at home. They’re safe, and I have my whole life in front of me, and I want to play in NHL, so I will smack you with the baseball bat.”
* The VO2 Max drill – typically a favorite of social media users – was held privately away from the media on Friday. I guess the NHL didn’t want tons of footage of players puking all over the floor anymore.
* Ivar Stenberg and Carson Carels were among the most notable prospects to sit out the fitness tests. Stenberg just finished the World Championship (a physical affair, at that), while Carels was injured during the WHL playoffs.
* Carels said he’s excited to join the University of North Dakota and play alongside Keaton Verhoeff. He said their opposite-handedness, as well as their play styles, should complement each other quite well.
* Gavin McKenna was listed as 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds prior to the Combine – he measured exactly the same today. BUT… he looks to have added some significant muscle over the past few months. Scouts don’t seem worried about his size.
* Viggo Bjorck was listed as 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds – about three pounds heavier than he was at the start of the year. It’s noteworthy because he’s the best “small” forward in the draft.
* Vladimir Dravecky, Casey Mutryn and Rudolfs Berzkalns received extra love for how their team interviews went.
* Every Swedish player wanted to talk about Malte Gustafsson, with phrases like “Beast”, “Monster,” and “Most underrated defenseman in the draft” getting repeated multiple times.
* Another guy scouts really love: Daxon Rudolph, who some scouts liken to Zach Werenski. He’s definitely someone I’m high on. Don’t be surprised if a team in the 5-8 range takes a chance on him.
* Niklas Aaram-Olsen said he was one of the last cuts from Norway’s World Championship team that won bronze for the first time ever. He had one of the biggest smiles of the day as he talked about the team’s performance.
* A few players I talked to mentioned that they watched the decentralized draft the year prior and felt like the luster and the excitement that made it feel so special were lost compared to the last centralized draft at The Sphere in Vegas.
* A few teams, most notably Pittsburgh, spent significant time showing prospects plays they made mistakes on. Every player I talked to about that said they appreciated the team’s honesty, which forced them to explain their thought process.
* Aleksander Barkov was the most common forward that the prospects tried to emulate, somewhere in the double digits. We’ve seen his name mentioned much more in the past few years as the Florida Panthers have become a powerhouse. Josh Anderson got a lot of love, too. On defense: Devon Toews. I believe seven blueliners cited him specifically.
* Lithuania’s Simas Ignatavicius said he learned about the sport through watching the game at a mall when he was three years old. He was eating pizza, if you care. His father was a basketball player, but wanted his son to try a different spot. So, with very few rinks to choose from, Ignatavicius learned to play the game at a mall. Ignatavicius has the opportunity to become the third Lithuanian player drafted to the NHL this year.
* Daxon Rudolph said the Seattle Kraken took a group of prospects to dinner. While the dinner beat is definitely overblown, it sounds like they took more defenders than forwards – Keaton Verhoeff being one of the blueliners who went there. Will they… actually draft a defenseman in the first round?
* Zac Olsen’s name was mentioned quite a bit as one of the toughest players to play against in this draft class. Olsen is projected to go somewhere in the 62-90 range this year – he’s absolutely fearless, and had a good showing at the U-18s.
* Ryder Cali credits spending his Draft-1 year with the OJHL’s Milton Menace in helping him build confidence and hockey IQ. With more players passing on Canadian Jr. A, Cali – who is from the Cayman Islands – used it as an opportunity to keep his development at a steady pace, especially since he didn’t make AAA hockey until he was 14 years old. Olsen said Cali was the most underrated player in the draft, as well.
* Speaking of the Cayman Islands, it’s wild that such a small nation has two players – Cali and Jaxon Cover – with the potential to go in the top 64 this year. There has never been a player from the CI drafted to the NHL.
* Markus Ruck fell during the vertical jump and didn’t finish all the fitness testing.
* Adam Valentini was the only player I could find who talked to all 32 teams. But Tommy Bleyl and Jack Hextall both talked to 30.
* Giorgos Pantelas said if he could make a rule change in the NHL, he’d become more lenient on goalie fights. His Brandon Wheat Kings goaltender, Filip Ruzicka, dropped the gloves with Taylor Tabashniuk back in February. In Pantelas’ words, the NHL would have “much fewer penalties” if he were in charge.
* Ryan Lin is a big Tyus Sparks fan – says he loves his energy and confidence. Sparks’ dad, Nate, played with the B.C. Lions in the CFL. Sparks said he was better at hockey and decided that was the better route for him. Tyus is a huge Lin fan, too.
SPONSORED BY bet365