It's very possible that he becomes the next Husso, but Toronto is not in a position to guess about that. If he becomes the next Husso, great. Then your goaltending situation is set. But what if he doesn't? Then you're stuck with Campbell and Sparks/Hutch 2.0. No thanks.

does anybody know why they keep having the Combine in Buffalo?

You'd be taking the same risks with any FA backup? There is not much out there
Scott Wedgewood
Eric Comrie
Casey DeSmith
Charlie Lindgren

The options are really slim.

There are also guys like Holtby, Fleury, Halak, Koskinen, heck even big save Dave that are all more proven options, that are less likely to blow up in your face. Or trade options like Georgiev and Reimer. I think Kallgren has a solid career ahead of himself, but I do not want to risk going into next season and having him struggle, and having no options behind him. I'd much rather sign someone who does the job well enough, and have Kallgren work his way in by his play. Even if he is the next Husso, then it would be best to have an "Allen" that you have before "Husso" breaks out, and then trade away the "Allen" afterwards, just in case Kallgren doesn't actually become Husso.

All good, agree to disagree. Holtby Koskinen, Rittich, Georgiev would scare me just as much as Kallgren scares you. I could get on board with Reimer but you have to imagine the Leafs are looking for a new #1 and unless the off load some salary, having a backup making less than a mil might have to happen.

Time will tell, will be interesting to see how this all plays out

They never make the playoffs so there’s nothing else going on there this time of year

Wait the combine is in Buffalo and the Sabres still took Mittlestadt after he couldn’t do a single pull up 😭

Wasn't it Bennett that couldn't do pull-ups?

To answer the direct question, teams and players both really like the Buffalo venue. It's merely a mutually-agreed upon location.

To be fair, except for Holtby and Fleury who won't sign in TOR, what these options have proven is they're either bad or washed. I feel like you take the same risk with Kallgren with maybe more upside and for cheaper.

Pull-ups don't mean much I'd like to know what hockey motion needs good pull up skills, at least stuff like the dash, bike test, vertical, etc are related to a hockey motion/a hockey skill

Mittelstadt also couldn't.

Both of them couldn’t do one push up I believe

“Hey Mitts could you do a pull up for us?”
Mitts:

Idk as a training professional myself I think it’s heavily a con on your resume.

Both are strength movements (yes there’s some skill to them and mobility/ stress in terms of your joints) but if I’m drafting either guy I’m quite weary of scoring poorly there as a pro athlete.


Bennett has found a decent game in Florida but I assume a lot of his upstick on production comes from the team - but he plays a pretty physical game and does well so it’s going alright.

But Casey has yet to really do anything notable imo. It’s less about the result to me and more about the process.

Why CANT you do a pull up, why CANT you do a push-up.

They’re both simple movements that require strength and not being able to move your own body weight as PRO athlete worries me personally in terms of why haven’t you increased your strength? They’re quite applicable in terms of; you’re going to be playing against guys who are 6’6 240; you should be strong in the NHL to have better chances of succeeding.

I wouldn’t necessarily drop them like “80 spots” but it is giving me questions into the “why”.

David Scott, The Habs' sports psychologist, has apparently confused many prospects.

He asked Calle Odelius: "would you rather take a 10$ bill on the toilet seat or a 50$ bill inside the toilet?".

Filip Mesar said he was interviewed by 27 teams and the Habs was by far the hardest.

Word is he **** his pants trying tho, just look at the determination lol

Great article from The hockey news on a research made between the correlation of combine results vs nhl results, apparently a good vertical and bike test means a higher likelyhood of early NHL success and lower scores on upper body exercises meant a higher likelyhood of a long career

Oh yeah the application of combine -> is interesting.

Or how some teams care less about your score and more about your approach or your effort or so on.

It’s definitely interesting and more of a showing of mingling and learning about each kid.

I definitely as I said; wouldn’t use the combine to determine your draft position.

Some teams think VO2max is the best result/ only one that matters and so on.

Supposedly every team loves identifying the wingate test.

Im praying the top 13 goes like this:

1. MTL - Wright
2. NJD - Slaf
3. ARI- Cooley
4. SEA - Nemec
5. PHI - Jiricek
6. CBJ - Savoie
7. OTT - Geekie
8. DET - Lambert
9. BUF - Kemmel
10. ANA - Yurov
11. SJS - Lekerimaki
12. CBJ - Mateychuk
13. NYI - Nazar

Personally I see it like this (BOLDED changes)

I need Ottawa (or whoever they trade the #7 to) to take Geekie or Gauthier at 7. I'd be good with Kasper , Lambert, Lekerimakki or Nazar to the isles, but Nazar is by far my 1st choice.

Don't put that evil sh*t out there and say isles are taking Geekie lol

Fair, but at least then it’ll be a “you tried” scenario instead of “Dubas you suck for not even trying” scenario. Plus let’s not forget signing another goalie doesn’t mean Kallgren disappears.

Agree to disagree is fine with me. And yes, time will tell who is right. I’d be happy to be wrong and have it work out. I just feel like this off-season is not the time to experiment with unproven commodities.

Looks good mock draft and rankings wise ( minus Geekie at 7 rankings wise )