Mike's Take: NHL Combine

Featured on this week's edition of Mike's Take, the NHL Combine has begun for the top 100 prospects of the upcoming Entry Draft, and there's a few interesting tales to be told thus far. This is a detailed assessment of the tests and some of the results of the future NHLers who took part in the gauntlet.

Hello everyone, and welcome to a new edition of Mike's Take. This year's NHL Combine features the likes of OHL superstar John Tavares, and his counterpart, Victor Hedman, who looks to improve his ranking after the weekend's gauntlet. For those who are unsure what the combine is, it's essentially a legal way to drive these draft eligible players into a series of physical and stressful situations while interviewing them to get a good sense of their body capabilities and personality while under pressure.

The Tests:

- Psychological Evaluation

"It included a long series of questions about the prospect's personality (including mental toughness and coachability), and went on to a more grueling mental efficiency test, which measured spatial awareness, decision speed, decision accuracy, concentration, and rates of mental fatigue. The potential draftees took the supervised test in a quiet room set up exclusively for that purpose. An abbreviated version of the mental efficiency portion of the test was then given a second time to each prospect immediately after he completed his fitness testing. The scores under the two conditions were then compared to determine the how much the individual player's reactions decline under stress and fatigue" - Hockey's Future.

- Medical Evaluation

"The medical portion of the testing, which took about a half an hour, included the filling out of a medical form, questions and examination by doctors, photographs of the player, an eye test, and two hand/eye coordination tasks" - Hockey's Future.

- Fitness Testing

The fitness test is the most grueling segment of the entire combine. Each player goes through 18 tests in total, and one test that is considerably stressful on the players is called the "Windgate". What happens is the player has his feet taped to the pedals on a stationary bike. He is then told, in a loud/screaming sort of way, to pedal as fast as he can for 30 seconds. The computer then accurately reads and processes the information on the measurement of explosive speed and fatigue effects of the athlete. Many GMs gather around to watch the screen and record the stats.

Jordan Schroeder, ranked #5 for the draft, vomited right after performing this test. "Everyone will say the bikes are definitely the hardest. You're a little dizzy afterwards", said Schroeder. "A little bit came up - I have to admit, a little bit came up."

The most intense segment of the combine is always the last test for the athletes, and it's known as the VO2 Max test. "VO2 max, or maximal oxygen uptake, is one factor that can determine an athlete's capacity to perform sustained exercise and is linked to aerobic endurance. VO2 max refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense or maximal exercise. It is measured as milliliters of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of body weight" - Sports Medicine. This is all performed on the bike.

While it is a draining exercise, all of the performers quickly regained their composure afterward. John Tavares, who did not do any upper-body tests due to a speculated shoulder injury, did very well on the cycling tests. Brayden Schenn is also believed to have an upper body injury.

Evander Kane, currently ranked #3 for the forwards, matched the day's high with 17 bench presses and 47 push-ups - which was far and away the highest total of the day.

Ryan Bourque, son of NHL hall of famer Ray Bourque, performed excellently on the agility tests in which the athletes jumped around a hexagonal mat.

Ryan Ellis showed up but then was granted permission to leave the testing due to unknown circumstances.

Victor Hedman showed up, and boy is he big. He measured in at 6'7", while Jared Cowen came in at 6'5", both are huge bodied individuals. Hedman was asked, "if you weren't a hockey player, what would you be?" He quickly responded "a pilot", much to the surprise of man around him.

"It's the last week to make an impression", said Hedman. "I'm looking forward to it...I've tried these tests before and I'm never going to quit." Something everyone wants to hear from a future prospect.

Brian Burke was met at the Combine and was asked of his desire to move up in the draft. "I got nowhere with it so far," said Burke. "I didn't think I would so early. There's no progress to report, but I'm not discouraged yet. So far I got nothing to report and no reason to feel positive or encouraged in any way, but that's how it is. The two times I've done this was on the floor. I'm not surprised there's no progress yet. We've got a month. If we have to stay and pick at seven we're content to do that. We're going to try to move up but we're not going to overpay to do it. We think we can get a good player at seven. We're going to try to hit it out of the park like we always do. The fact that we've put a few top prospects in the system doesn't change the desperation that I think you have to have when you go to the draft. Your mentality has to be we have to be successful here. The fact that we added Bozak, Christian … doesn't change that. It doesn't change that hunger you have to have gong into the draft. We have to get better today."

For more information of the process, read Central Scouting's NHL Combine Protocol.

Micheal A. Aldred
michealaldred@hotmail.com

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Medvedev says "Canada Deserves Better"

The Russian billionaire has publicly made it known he wants an NHL franchise and he wants to bring it to Canada, and in particular, Quebec. He's prepared a formal letter to the league to purchase one of a possible half dozen teams he is interested in on the basis of moving the club to Canada.

When asked how the league feels about him throwing his name into the hat after poaching players, his response was "when the Soviet Union fell apart, the NHL took a bunch of Russian players to the league". While that may not be a most suitable answer, it is interesting to see more and more support coming out from well financed business people on a 7th franchise in Canada.

Medvedev refused to comment on exactly which teams he is looking at, but he seems optimistic about getting a deal done and landing himself an NHL franchise. He is the Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom energy company, as well as the President of the Kontinental Hockey League, the President of SKA Saint Petersburg and the Russian representative to the IIHF Council.

Looks like we're going to have an interesting few years ahead of us in terms of the battle between the NHL and anyone trying to bring a 7th franchise to Canada. I am curious how the league will react to Medvedev's attempt after poaching players, let alone Balsillie who just does what he can to get a team in Canada. You would have to imagine the hatred runs a bit deeper for Medvedev.

Micheal A. Aldred
michealaldred@hotmail.com

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1 for the Money, 3 for the Show

By now, everyone knows of the $212.5M bid Jim Balsillie has on the Phoenix Coyotes pending a relocation to Canada, and every knows Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, is also interested, but his bid is believed to be roughly $100M less than the proposed off by Balsillie. What people do not know is that there is a third group of bidders on the franchise, as well as an interesting clause in Reinsdorf’s offer.

There were reports that Gretzky was supporting Reinsdorf’s bid, but that must be called into question now that it is publicly known that the offer is conditioned on the fact that Gretzky be fired. Reinsdorf believes the paycheck Gretzky has been cashing as head coach of the Coyotes is above and beyond fair. Gretzky is set to earn $14.5M over the next two seasons behind the bench and if the franchise is in fact sold to the Bulls/White Sox owner, Gretzky will no longer be a part of the franchise.

What is also interesting is Gretzky mentioning he will not be keeping his share in the Coyotes franchise if it moves to Canada. It was something I found a bit suspect considering the amount of money he has invested in the club and a relocation to Canada is nothing short of a gold mine. Unless he feels the process Balsillie is taking to gain ownership of the franchise is improper, what business man in their right mind would not want to cash in on relocation?

Now, it has come to the attention of the courts and the media that a third bid has been placed on the Coyotes. John Breslow, avid hockey fan and 2% owner of the franchise, is believed to have a group of investors ready to purchase the club and keep it in Phoenix. The proposal has already been delivered to the courts to consider along with the current battle of ownership. On June 22nd there will be a decision and if necessary, a court-regulated auction of the franchise.

There’s no doubt the league has no interest in allowing the franchise to be moved by command of the judicial system, but the conspiracy theorist in me believes the league could be contacting anyone and everyone to get their nickels and cents together to outbid Balsillie and maintain control of the Coyotes franchise.

It’s a different approach to a similar situation with the league as it was with the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The league formed a contract for Balsillie that included the guidelines of maintaining the Penguins franchise in Pittsburgh regardless of a new arena and if the club begins the lose money, Balsillie is still unable to move the franchise and the league would take control. Then came the Predators and the refused sale to Balsillie at roughly $240M and was sold for just under $50M less, but that’s alright because Craig Leipold, then owner of the Predators, was immediately sold majority ownership of the Minnesota Wild franchise. Seems like it’s good to be on Bettman’s happy list and not in the black book like Balsillie.

The most frustrating part of watching the circumstances unfold is being a Canadian. There’s no doubt every Canadian viewer overlooking the procedures are crossing their fingers for a new franchise, wondering if it’s right for the courts to determine where a franchise should and should not be, and also recognizing just how much the league doesn’t give a shit about Canada. The fact is, when the league was ready to expand by 4 teams in 1998 and onward, there should have been a Canadian team on that list.

My only question: When is the league finally going to give back to their largest, and ever growing, hockey market? It’s about time.

Micheal A. Aldred
michealaldred@hotmail.com

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Coyotes Mess: Nobody's Talking

Could the NHL and RIM CEO Jim Balsillie resolve their differences, and come to an amicable solution? It seems highly doubtful considering Balsillie's underhandedness in trying to gain a franchise with the singular goal of relocating it to Southern Ontario, but there has to be some compromising ground.

The problem is that neither side has ever negotiated in good faith with the other. Balsillie's bent on moving a franchise, while the NHL is steadfast in keeping all existing teams where they currently are. It's been to his own detriment for Balsillie not to at least be open to the NHL Board of Governors stipulation of trying to make a team work in its existing location as a condition of ownership transfer.

The fact that Balsillie has gone out of his way to slap the NHL in the face by currying the favor of the Canadian fan base also hurts himself and the league. It's a direct shot at the Board of Governors, basically stating that he feels he doesn't need to follow their rules...that corporate law supercedes any actions the NHL can take internally. This action alone has grave consequences for all of pro sports, and it's the main reason the NBA, NFL and MLB have all written statements imploring Judge Baum to strongly consider the NHL's right to determine both team ownership and relocation issues.

In following live reports from the hearing today, the judge has stated previous cases do support the NHL's stand on relocation, but it won't be determined today who is rightfully in control of the team. The judge has stated that Balsillie's groups should have worked with the NHL instead of jumping the gun, and has wondered about current owner Jerry Moyes also working out a better deal with the league.

One thing is for certain. None of the parties involved seem to want to talk to each other, and that has caused a lot of the dysfunction in this case. Given the history, it's understandable that Balsillie would have doubts to the NHL negotiating with him in good faith. What's surprising is that the NHL seems more interested in taking over the franchise altogether, rather than sitting down with Moyes to discuss the future, possibly including the supposed deal from White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

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