Latest / The Armchair GM's Sports Network / Wrap-up News & Notes LIVE from the 2026 NHL Combine w/ Steven Ellis - Under Review Hockey Podcast

Transcript

Wrap-up News & Notes LIVE from the 2026 NHL Combine w/ Steven Ellis - Under Review Hockey Podcast · The Armchair GM's Sports Network

0:00
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network. The following
0:14
Speaker 1: podcast is Under.
0:16
Speaker 2: Review after Review on the play the Call on the
0:32
Speaker 2: ice stands.
0:35
Speaker 3: You're listening to the Under Review Hockey Podcast, your source
0:38
Speaker 3: for all trending NHL topics, previews, analysis, in depth discussions,
0:43
Speaker 3: and live coverage of events like the NHL Draft, trade deadline,
0:46
Speaker 3: and free agency.
0:47
Speaker 1: And welcome into the pilot episode of the Under Review
0:50
Speaker 1: Hockey Podcast right here on the Armchair GM Sports Network.
0:53
Speaker 1: Thank you everybody tuned down in your favorite on demand
0:55
Speaker 1: audio podcast platform. Make sure you give us a follow
0:58
Speaker 1: on x A You Are Hockey Podcast Asked, as well
1:00
Speaker 1: as on Facebook, Instagram and tech doc Research and the
1:02
Speaker 1: ar'm Jorg GM Sports Network for all of our short
1:04
Speaker 1: reels and content here as we reached the off season
1:07
Speaker 1: here live from the NHL Combine twenty twenty six here
1:10
Speaker 1: in Buffalo. Just got done with the testing a little
1:12
Speaker 1: bit a little while ago, the interviews, everything like that.
1:14
Speaker 1: It's been a long week and as always we've got
1:17
Speaker 1: a guest on this show to break it all down
1:19
Speaker 1: for you guys. Welcoming on Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff,
1:22
Speaker 1: Associate editor and prospect analyst. Steven great to chat with you.
1:26
Speaker 1: Great to have you on our sort of rebrand here
1:29
Speaker 1: of our general Hockey show here on the network, and
1:32
Speaker 1: as we go into the off season, I guess this
1:34
Speaker 1: is a good teaser for everybody.
1:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, this has been a fun couple of
1:37
Speaker 4: days here in Buffalo. It's always nice when it's over
1:39
Speaker 4: because it's a lot of it's a lot of stuff
1:42
Speaker 4: going on at one time. And I wasn't one of
1:44
Speaker 4: the people here here that was here all week long,
1:46
Speaker 4: so I know a lot of people want to go home.
1:48
Speaker 4: For me, it's easy drive, it's gout an hour and
1:50
Speaker 4: a half. But Gabe, you has to talk to these
1:52
Speaker 4: players when they're at their most relaxed point in the season.
1:55
Speaker 4: That's pretty fun.
1:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean we had two full days here for
1:58
Speaker 1: the actual, you know, registered event, but there were people
2:02
Speaker 1: here all week as you mentioned, sort of talking to
2:04
Speaker 1: some of the players and some of the teams within
2:06
Speaker 1: the hotel lobbies and things like that. But between yesterday
2:10
Speaker 1: with the six players that were made available of top
2:13
Speaker 1: prospects and then today all the players that's been started
2:16
Speaker 1: since seven o'clock this morning, so it's been it's been
2:18
Speaker 1: a long day. A lot of a lot of on
2:20
Speaker 1: ice testing, a lot of getting to know the players
2:22
Speaker 1: as well. I know, you know, we talked to a
2:25
Speaker 1: lot of different players today from all different leagues, all
2:27
Speaker 1: walks of life in the from different parts of the
2:30
Speaker 1: world as well. You know, what do you take from
2:33
Speaker 1: the combine in generality, Steven, because your lists have pretty
2:36
Speaker 1: much already been you know, made up. But what kind
2:40
Speaker 1: of day like this, I guess add to somebody's draft profile.
2:43
Speaker 4: I think, you know, today in particular, not a whole lot.
2:47
Speaker 4: I think it's more about what they do throughout the
2:50
Speaker 4: week and the conversations they have with the teams and
2:52
Speaker 4: getting to meet with the teams and they get to
2:54
Speaker 4: find out more about the person that they might be drafting,
2:56
Speaker 4: but the person they might be playing against or you know,
2:59
Speaker 4: might be training forward sometime, and that's where that kind
3:01
Speaker 4: of comes into. Do I care if someone can do
3:04
Speaker 4: a really good vertical jump? Now? Do NHL teams very minimal?
3:08
Speaker 4: I think of all the physical things, the thing that
3:10
Speaker 4: more teams are interested in is, you know, there's the
3:12
Speaker 4: endurance aspect of it, of course, because you want to
3:14
Speaker 4: see how a player can react physically lay in the game.
3:17
Speaker 4: But you know, doing you know, the VO two bike
3:20
Speaker 4: or whatever is not similar to playing trouble overtime and hockey.
3:24
Speaker 4: It's not the same. But skinning updated heights and weights
3:27
Speaker 4: and all that stuff, I think that's also very valuable there,
3:30
Speaker 4: and I think that's something that that's what the team's
3:32
Speaker 4: looking for. And other than that, it's just getting to
3:35
Speaker 4: know the people better.
3:36
Speaker 1: With the new landscape of junior hockey as well, we
3:39
Speaker 1: saw that a lot of players today either committed to
3:42
Speaker 1: colleges or said they were going to go play college
3:44
Speaker 1: next year, or they're going to go back to their
3:46
Speaker 1: junior teams. I found that interesting being able to announce
3:48
Speaker 1: that here. Obviously they've been talking to teams, and teams
3:51
Speaker 1: have been trying to, you know, get to know them
3:52
Speaker 1: as well in different areas. We know what mons All
3:55
Speaker 1: tried to do with the whole throwing a puck into
3:57
Speaker 1: the garbage can little that they did throughout their interviews.
4:01
Speaker 1: But I guess, did anything really surprise you or stick
4:05
Speaker 1: out from something that somebody said today, either from the
4:08
Speaker 1: teams or just that they announced themselves here.
4:10
Speaker 4: I can actually read out an entire quote from Tobias
4:12
Speaker 4: Trable because it was hilarious. I was laughing my words off,
4:19
Speaker 4: so he said, I remember Montrey asked me some weird questions,
4:21
Speaker 4: like if you were in the Sahara and there were
4:23
Speaker 4: two guys, one had a bottle of water and the
4:25
Speaker 4: other had a baseball bat, what would you do? So
4:27
Speaker 4: their guy told me, I have I have a wife
4:30
Speaker 4: at home, I have kids, and I have kids at home.
4:34
Speaker 4: Are you really going to kill me? I said, yeah,
4:36
Speaker 4: your family's at home and they're safe, and I have
4:38
Speaker 4: my whole family life in front of me, and I
4:40
Speaker 4: want to play in the NHL, so I want to
4:41
Speaker 4: smack you with a baseball bat. I'm like, that's awesome, man,
4:45
Speaker 4: that's a great quote. So that one's good in terms
4:48
Speaker 4: of that. Like, you know, I think always from the
4:50
Speaker 4: media side, it's always like what funny questions did you get?
4:52
Speaker 4: You know, that's personally it was kind of boring me
4:56
Speaker 4: now at this point, but at the same time, it's
4:57
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's good to see like the players
4:59
Speaker 4: at least relax it.
5:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, I heard way too much of how many teams
5:03
Speaker 1: did you talk to? Who did you talk to? Did
5:04
Speaker 1: you talk to this team? Did you talk to that team?
5:06
Speaker 1: We got a lot of that, especially today more so
5:09
Speaker 1: than yesterday. Yesterday it was a lot more formal with
5:12
Speaker 1: the six top prospects, but obviously with the Maple Leafs
5:16
Speaker 1: picking first overall as well. This year there's a lot
5:18
Speaker 1: of heightened I guess media coverage here yep, with with
5:23
Speaker 1: TSN Sportsnet and a lot of those Toronto markets that
5:26
Speaker 1: were here to obviously look at either Gavin mckenn or
5:29
Speaker 1: iv Our Stenberg for the first overall pick for the
5:32
Speaker 1: Toronto Maple Leafs. So is that a little bit different
5:34
Speaker 1: than you've seen in past years? Just I guess the
5:37
Speaker 1: hype and I guess the amount of Toronto media that
5:41
Speaker 1: we saw this week.
5:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, one d percent. I think when the guest today
5:44
Speaker 4: seeing all the Toronto media here, it was kind of fun.
5:46
Speaker 4: I asked like, when was the last time you hear
5:47
Speaker 4: and they're all like ten years ago? My yeah, that's yeah,
5:49
Speaker 4: that's the tracks of Austin Matthews. It feels like just anadotically,
5:54
Speaker 4: from the first few times I came here, it felt
5:56
Speaker 4: like there was more media. I remember there being more
5:57
Speaker 4: of a tough time actually getting it seat and seem
5:59
Speaker 4: to be for them today and by about one o'clock
6:02
Speaker 4: I finned out quickly here. You gotta be really dedicated
6:05
Speaker 4: to want to stick around. We'll just too bad for
6:07
Speaker 4: some of the players, but think of some of them
6:08
Speaker 4: are like, you know, take it, I'm gonna go home
6:11
Speaker 4: soon anyways. So uh, you know, yeah, it was cool
6:13
Speaker 4: to see kind of that. The Toronto aspect. Obviously, the
6:15
Speaker 4: media from Vancouver is weird, not seeing anyone Treal media
6:18
Speaker 4: this year at all, so usually there's a lot of that.
6:21
Speaker 4: But they don't seem confident in Montreal keeping their first
6:23
Speaker 4: pick this year, so you know there's that too.
6:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not a high pick for them this year,
6:27
Speaker 1: and I.
6:27
Speaker 4: Don't think they keep it. Yeah, I'd say the odds
6:29
Speaker 4: of them keeping it are very, very very low.
6:32
Speaker 1: And who would have thought Buffalo would not have much
6:34
Speaker 1: much added to that as well, because they're finally picking
6:36
Speaker 1: low for once as well. So yeah, I mean, when
6:40
Speaker 1: you look at it, we talked about the Toronto aspect
6:44
Speaker 1: of it. Austin Matthews the last Leaf to go first overall.
6:46
Speaker 1: Same time the Buffalo Savers hosted the draft in twenty sixteen,
6:51
Speaker 1: was the same year and the drafts back at Buffalo
6:53
Speaker 1: and the Leafs have the number one overall pick. Do
6:55
Speaker 1: you have any quick thoughts of McKenna. I know you've
6:57
Speaker 1: probably been asked them about them thousand times. You're ready
6:59
Speaker 1: to get through this half class, But is there really
7:02
Speaker 1: any I guess pause in your mind that he's not
7:05
Speaker 1: gonna have his name called first overall by the Leafs
7:07
Speaker 1: in late June.
7:08
Speaker 4: No, there's no indication to those points that I think
7:10
Speaker 4: that he won't be the first guy. I think you're
7:11
Speaker 4: gonna hear a lot of rumors like leading up to
7:13
Speaker 4: the week of like, oh, Toronto's considering, and then it's
7:15
Speaker 4: gonna be a smoke screen, is what I'm going to
7:17
Speaker 4: guess there, Like when there was rumors of front Dell
7:19
Speaker 4: at number two last year, even Visa at one point
7:22
Speaker 4: going number one type thing I think with when you're
7:25
Speaker 4: looking at what this, Oh, but everyone's they just announced
7:30
Speaker 4: his no more players? Thank you anyways? Yeah, Like the
7:34
Speaker 4: with McKenna, one thing is is he too small for
7:36
Speaker 4: the NHL And you look at his physical stature, he's
7:38
Speaker 4: bigger than Jack Hughes was the same age. I don't
7:40
Speaker 4: he struggled a bit when he made the NHL, but
7:42
Speaker 4: he made the NHL. Immediately you look at guys like
7:44
Speaker 4: Marner around the same height as him, around the same
7:47
Speaker 4: signe as Nikiti Kutrov and Patrick Kane. You know, like
7:49
Speaker 4: maybe a nature too difference in those cases, not much
7:52
Speaker 4: that's too meaningful there. I think with him, he's also
7:55
Speaker 4: bulked up a lot. Like the one thing that I'm
7:57
Speaker 4: talking to people here, like, yeah, he's got a lot
7:58
Speaker 4: more muscle than he had even at the juniors, and
8:01
Speaker 4: we saw him at camp, we saw him through the
8:02
Speaker 4: main tournament, and he saw watching him up close defense
8:05
Speaker 4: State and it's like it looked like he had a
8:07
Speaker 4: lot of muscles. So I think him actually skipped in
8:08
Speaker 4: the World Championship was really smart on his end because
8:11
Speaker 4: it felt like he could go out there and focus
8:13
Speaker 4: on just bulking up. He looks way better shape, and
8:15
Speaker 4: he did really want all the drills today, which you know,
8:17
Speaker 4: again it doesn't necessarily matter while the drills go. You
8:20
Speaker 4: look at some of the best players and a lot
8:21
Speaker 4: of these drills and the guy's never did the NHL.
8:23
Speaker 4: But with McKenna, it's it's still a good sign that
8:26
Speaker 4: a decent good shape.
8:27
Speaker 1: What do you think of Stenberg? Obviously he's a little
8:29
Speaker 1: bit more reserved type of a guy, but you know what,
8:32
Speaker 1: what have you thought from him? Maybe something that he
8:34
Speaker 1: said or we know he didn't go through the testing
8:37
Speaker 1: on the on the floor today.
8:38
Speaker 4: You wouldn't really get anything of interest to him. Him
8:41
Speaker 4: today or even yesterday, he was much more quiet. I
8:43
Speaker 4: think at this point he's tired. He played a lot
8:44
Speaker 4: of hockey this year, a lot more than usual. You
8:46
Speaker 4: look at the U twenty level, he played the clear
8:49
Speaker 4: most of the year, in the SHL, he played the
8:52
Speaker 4: Little Championships, the World Juniors, a lot of exhibition games,
8:55
Speaker 4: summer games, like, he played a lot of hockey. I
8:57
Speaker 4: think he's just kind of done with it at this point.
8:58
Speaker 4: I think he's tired of hearing like what if you
9:00
Speaker 4: go first a second. I think he's just tired of it.
9:01
Speaker 4: I think he's just ready to move on. I don't
9:03
Speaker 4: blame him whatsoever. So I thought he was a bit
9:05
Speaker 4: more quiet. We're used to that World Juniors we saw
9:08
Speaker 4: him he was a lot more open, and I think
9:09
Speaker 4: that was just a lot more energy for him. I
9:11
Speaker 4: think it's just like, let's just relax a bit. I
9:14
Speaker 4: don't blame him at all.
9:16
Speaker 1: Carson Carroll's also did not compete on the floor today
9:19
Speaker 1: for his on I keep want to say on ice testing,
9:22
Speaker 1: but it's on the floor testing. We know some of
9:26
Speaker 1: the other top prospects. We know keithon Verhoff got a
9:28
Speaker 1: lot of attention, you know some of those other guys
9:30
Speaker 1: as well, Caleb Malhotcher obviously a lot of a lot
9:33
Speaker 1: of top attention. But is there somebody maybe Chase Reid
9:36
Speaker 1: as well, should mention him. We had kind of full
9:39
Speaker 1: state press conferences with those players yesterday. But outside of
9:42
Speaker 1: those top five or six guys that everybody's hyping up,
9:45
Speaker 1: is there somebody that you think sneakily could really find
9:47
Speaker 1: their way somehow into the back end of that top five.
9:50
Speaker 4: Malta Gustison is an aim that a lot of people
9:53
Speaker 4: pointed out as being one of the most supressive players
9:56
Speaker 4: the last few months. But then also this week fur
9:58
Speaker 4: I heard really good things about his interviews. I heard
9:59
Speaker 4: really good things about is something we saw the physical things.
10:02
Speaker 4: I don't know what they're doing up there.
10:03
Speaker 1: Now, they're they're taking away all the equipment.
10:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're destroying the place. But you know, they did
10:08
Speaker 4: a lot of things to focus on trying to or
10:10
Speaker 4: he did a lot of things to really help his
10:11
Speaker 4: game there. He was really good the eighteenth, very good
10:14
Speaker 4: end of the season in Sweden. So he's someone who
10:16
Speaker 4: some Scott's told me today top ten, one hundred percent
10:19
Speaker 4: top ten. And that's interesting because he got guys like
10:21
Speaker 4: dxxon Rudolph, like what happens to a Toyland Lawrence? What
10:24
Speaker 4: happens to an Ethan Belchetz? Are these guys gonna fall
10:26
Speaker 4: because of these these defensemen. There's a real good chance
10:29
Speaker 4: of that. I think we remember the talk about it
10:31
Speaker 4: was a couple of years ago, twenty twenty four. We
10:32
Speaker 4: talked about how good the defense were in that draft,
10:34
Speaker 4: and then in the end it was like a lot
10:36
Speaker 4: of forwards that were also taking up to the front.
10:37
Speaker 4: We could see a lot of defense really take over
10:40
Speaker 4: this year. We'll see, but it'd be interesting to kin'd
10:42
Speaker 4: of see if they full club.
10:43
Speaker 1: I'm curious about your opinion of this, Stephen, because I'm
10:47
Speaker 1: a person that sort of like the NFL draft. Now
10:50
Speaker 1: you don't really want to talk about NFL, but when
10:51
Speaker 1: a quarterback doesn't go number one, you're wondering, what's going on?
10:54
Speaker 1: Is it a week class? Two wingers at the top
10:57
Speaker 1: of the draft with uh with mccam and Stenberg usually
11:01
Speaker 1: it's either a defenseman or a centerman. Does that at
11:04
Speaker 1: all change anything in your mind about the strength of
11:07
Speaker 1: this draft class or does that really not mean anything
11:09
Speaker 1: to you?
11:09
Speaker 4: I don't think when we get positions like that at
11:11
Speaker 4: the top, I don't think it matters too much. I
11:13
Speaker 4: think the real reality is it's a bit more of
11:15
Speaker 4: a rounded draft than we've seen in recent years, because
11:17
Speaker 4: you are going to get a lot of good forwards
11:19
Speaker 4: and defense, and you've got a good argument for four
11:21
Speaker 4: or five bullies in the second round. Maybe not on
11:23
Speaker 4: the first round. I wouldn't be apot prize if someone
11:25
Speaker 4: takes to be a Strail or Tbchi Bor Jeff in
11:29
Speaker 4: the first round. But we could see, you know, a
11:31
Speaker 4: good mix of maybe half forwards, half defense in the
11:34
Speaker 4: first round. That's that's pretty good. That's what we want
11:35
Speaker 4: to see. Is this draft as strong as it was
11:38
Speaker 4: kind of being hyped up to be. No, every draft
11:40
Speaker 4: always gets super hyped up, like right after the previous draft.
11:44
Speaker 4: That's just normal. I think in this case, it's you
11:46
Speaker 4: look at this and say, okay, well, like I think
11:51
Speaker 4: it's I had a hard time putting thirty two guys
11:53
Speaker 4: I like to in my first round. I think that's
11:54
Speaker 4: where it starts becoming an issue. But the top ten
11:57
Speaker 4: is really good.
11:57
Speaker 1: But do you've had Keaton Verhoff as a goalie in.
11:59
Speaker 4: There above me? Probably not, because I don't know the
12:04
Speaker 4: word around here was that like I'm gonna go first
12:06
Speaker 4: or second overall? Probably as a goalie. The team seems
12:09
Speaker 4: really neat a goalie that can just fall apart randomly sometimes.
12:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, for you that don't know, Keaton Verhof was a
12:14
Speaker 1: goaltender before he became a defenseman, so really cool start.
12:17
Speaker 4: Seed in how he plays defense because he's always got
12:19
Speaker 4: his one arm up basically looking like he's ready to
12:21
Speaker 4: catch the pockets. Like that's an interesting.
12:23
Speaker 1: Post, was there? I know Brooks Rogowski's baseball background spoke
12:28
Speaker 1: to him a lot in Oshawa this year, but was
12:30
Speaker 1: there anybody else that had maybe an intriguing story that
12:32
Speaker 1: peaked your peaked your interest.
12:34
Speaker 4: Well, so we already knew that Jackson Cover was from
12:36
Speaker 4: the Cayman Allens when we started playing ice hockey a
12:38
Speaker 4: couple of years ago. Ryder Calli was not too different
12:41
Speaker 4: from him in that case. He was also from the
12:42
Speaker 4: Cayman Islands, moved to Switzerland, came to Canada. He only
12:46
Speaker 4: made triple A when he's fourteen years old. Two years
12:48
Speaker 4: later he was at Canada's U seventeen camp. Like, that's
12:50
Speaker 4: a pretty quick rise, and he took that instead of
12:52
Speaker 4: going to the OHL and continue to expeed his development up,
12:55
Speaker 4: he took the year to play in the OHL and
12:57
Speaker 4: he put up fantastic numbers. He was great. Fantastic move
13:01
Speaker 4: for him, and I think that he's got to the
13:02
Speaker 4: point where he's really put himself on the map. So
13:05
Speaker 4: I like that. And then Jack's covered same thing. Hele
13:08
Speaker 4: like started playing ice hockey when he was like fourteen
13:10
Speaker 4: or thirteen I think it was, and here he has
13:12
Speaker 4: potential second round pick in the NHL. Very cool story.
13:15
Speaker 4: And then Tyas Sparks his dad was a former cfler,
13:18
Speaker 4: so that's a very athletic family there too.
13:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you talked about Ryder Coli. He's a
13:22
Speaker 1: guy that's playing for the North Bay Battalion right now.
13:24
Speaker 1: A good program. He just changes commitment as well. In
13:26
Speaker 1: NCAA he went from I believe it was Harvard and
13:29
Speaker 1: he changed it to Providence. So what do you think
13:32
Speaker 1: of that? Even before they they're still playing in junior hockey,
13:35
Speaker 1: they committed early and maybe when they're seventeen, and then
13:38
Speaker 1: they end up changing their commitment by the time they're
13:39
Speaker 1: ready to actually go to college.
13:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, sometimes you know the recruiting staff that brought you there.
13:44
Speaker 4: Changes and situation. Changes could be something like school related
13:48
Speaker 4: in a lot of cases. So there's a lot of
13:50
Speaker 4: reasons for why a player would change, but a lot
13:52
Speaker 4: of it's also just looking for a new opportunity. Like
13:54
Speaker 4: I think with you know, Roger McQueen not there necessarily,
13:57
Speaker 4: maybe there's another opening for him to go out there
13:59
Speaker 4: and play a big role. So I think Ryder cally
14:01
Speaker 4: he's he's been smart on every part of his development.
14:04
Speaker 4: Nothing's been rushed for him, So I imagine he and his
14:09
Speaker 4: management there, they're making the right moves.
14:11
Speaker 1: We know, with the ever changing landscape of junior hockey
14:13
Speaker 1: now with the rule change and everything like that, and
14:16
Speaker 1: the five year rule for the NCAA as well, how
14:18
Speaker 1: do you think that that has sort of really changed
14:20
Speaker 1: this year's combine as opposed to what maybe we saw,
14:23
Speaker 1: you know, every year before this rule change began.
14:26
Speaker 4: I don't think the combine portion changes much. I think
14:28
Speaker 4: it's more of a like drafting strategy It's like for
14:31
Speaker 4: guys that were in the chl that you're like, Okay,
14:33
Speaker 4: I gotta make a decision if I want this guy
14:34
Speaker 4: in two years. If you like a guy but you
14:37
Speaker 4: know there's some flaws and they're going to need some time,
14:39
Speaker 4: this opens up more opportunities where they can spend a
14:41
Speaker 4: few more years where they don't have to worry about
14:43
Speaker 4: their rights. Like a guy who's a fringe guy that
14:45
Speaker 4: you might not sign up for two years. If he
14:47
Speaker 4: goes and plays college, then you've got that extra time
14:50
Speaker 4: to go, Okay, let's see what happens here. So that
14:53
Speaker 4: would have been like interesting, like for Jack, like for
14:55
Speaker 4: Jack Britam in his case, now Chicago will or Chicago
14:58
Speaker 4: was going to lose his rights. He goes to Tampa
14:59
Speaker 4: Bay Tampa it's to keep his rights. But he was
15:02
Speaker 4: a guy that's like where does he fit in the system,
15:04
Speaker 4: and if he wasn't traded, like he was going to
15:07
Speaker 4: be basically a free agent, Like who knows what was
15:08
Speaker 4: going to happen there. And I think it was a
15:10
Speaker 4: good move for him. He's gonna he's he's committed, he's
15:12
Speaker 4: to the NC double A and he'll be able to
15:14
Speaker 4: continue his development. That's kind of the type of player
15:17
Speaker 4: where they're looking for here, someone who's like, Okay, we
15:19
Speaker 4: like them, it might not be a perfect fit. We
15:20
Speaker 4: need you to spend a few more years in college.
15:23
Speaker 4: That's where gets more interesting at.
15:24
Speaker 1: How is that fifth year rule change affected positively or
15:28
Speaker 1: negatively the CHL aspect and the NC DOUBLEA aspect.
15:31
Speaker 4: I guess we'll have to see really kind of how
15:32
Speaker 4: that works out, because my understand they're still kind of
15:34
Speaker 4: working on that ruling, but they It's something where I
15:38
Speaker 4: think with all this it's kind of just a wait
15:40
Speaker 4: and see. I think there's just still a lot of
15:42
Speaker 4: questions and what's going to happen there, and I don't
15:45
Speaker 4: think anyone really.
15:45
Speaker 1: Knows, so I guess, you know, going forward here, did
15:49
Speaker 1: you notice the difference between I know, we talked about
15:51
Speaker 1: McKenna really you know, bulking up and he looked noticeably
15:55
Speaker 1: different this this offseason or this this combine. But was
15:58
Speaker 1: there anybody else that really stood out to you maybe
16:00
Speaker 1: the last time that you had seen them in person
16:01
Speaker 1: or watch them play that you're like, Wow, this person
16:03
Speaker 1: has either you know, grown or gained a lot of
16:06
Speaker 1: muscle mass.
16:07
Speaker 4: Navy Alexander command the Swedish Center. I feel like that's
16:10
Speaker 4: a guy that's kind of earned a lot of love recently.
16:12
Speaker 4: He's one of my favorite Centerman prospects this year. He's
16:15
Speaker 4: a guy that has really just kind of shown like
16:17
Speaker 4: he's had some physical maturity, but he's also mentally stronger.
16:21
Speaker 4: He seems to really good personality. Guys kept talking about
16:23
Speaker 4: how good of a two way player he is, So
16:25
Speaker 4: that's a guy that's really kind of pushed himself up
16:27
Speaker 4: rankings this year in a big way.
16:29
Speaker 1: Fourth Wall is the official merchandise supplier of the Armchair
16:31
Speaker 1: GM Sports Network. Our user friendly site is print to order,
16:35
Speaker 1: with no minimum items or inventory needed, shipped right to
16:38
Speaker 1: your doorsteps, safely and efficiently from their North American warehouse.
16:42
Speaker 1: All of our logos are available to supporters, listeners, and
16:45
Speaker 1: viewers can have the best variety available to them for
16:48
Speaker 1: their swag preferences. All items are priced as low as possible,
16:51
Speaker 1: allowing everybody who wants to support our business with the
16:54
Speaker 1: opportunity to do so, receiving quality and comfortable products in return.
16:58
Speaker 1: Shop today a fourth with a direct link to our
17:02
Speaker 1: Armchair merch store. In the description of all episodes and
17:05
Speaker 1: in the bio of all of our social media accounts
17:07
Speaker 1: become an armchair GM today with fourth wall.
17:11
Speaker 3: Butt Ends are hockey stick grips specifically for the top
17:14
Speaker 3: of the stick. Designed to replace traditional clock tape. They're
17:17
Speaker 3: made of rubber and offer a more consistent and comfortable
17:20
Speaker 3: grip and tape aiming to improve performance and reduce slippage.
17:23
Speaker 3: Butt Ends are an alternative to regular stick tape that
17:26
Speaker 3: provide enhanced grip and comforts, are durable, reusable, and consistent
17:30
Speaker 3: with the ability to reduce vibration. The grips are available
17:33
Speaker 3: in a variety of styles, designs, colors, and even have
17:36
Speaker 3: options for specific player names. At butt Ends. They are
17:39
Speaker 3: committed to providing the world's highest quality stick grips and
17:42
Speaker 3: continue to bring new technology and ideas with each new
17:45
Speaker 3: grip design regardless of sports. Alex Putrangelo Atteo, Thomas Max Dilmy,
17:50
Speaker 3: Aiden Hill and Tim Stewt's Law are just a name
17:53
Speaker 3: a few who have proudly used butt ends for peak
17:55
Speaker 3: performance at the NHL level. Check them out at butt
17:58
Speaker 3: ends with a z dot com and use referral code
18:01
Speaker 3: but ends dot com slash discount slash armchair GM to
18:04
Speaker 3: get ten percent off your order as part of our
18:06
Speaker 3: community engineered for greatness and performance, but ends the number
18:10
Speaker 3: one group in hockey. You're listening to the armchair GM
18:15
Speaker 3: Sports Network.
18:33
Speaker 1: So going off of that Stephen, I mean, when you
18:35
Speaker 1: look at the at the list and the guys that
18:37
Speaker 1: we spoke to, you know, there's what was it, ninety
18:39
Speaker 1: guys that were here this week, give or take. You know,
18:41
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to judge every single player. But was
18:45
Speaker 1: there somebody that maybe that you didn't see coming in,
18:48
Speaker 1: that you saw in the testing, or that you spoke
18:50
Speaker 1: to that maybe wasn't on your radar. But now all
18:54
Speaker 1: of a sudden you say, even though your list is
18:56
Speaker 1: probably done at this point, you say, you know what,
18:58
Speaker 1: maybe I want to, you know, start this guy as
19:00
Speaker 1: a sleeper pick.
19:02
Speaker 4: That's a hard one to say, you know, I think
19:05
Speaker 4: the one I didn't get to talk to is Adam Golder,
19:07
Speaker 4: and that's actually what I really wanted to talk to.
19:08
Speaker 4: So h the one, okay, one I'll say is Jonas
19:11
Speaker 4: Legeberg Hohen a guy that I really did not know
19:14
Speaker 4: much about like two weeks ago, and I talked to
19:16
Speaker 4: some guys or the last couple weeks, like you should
19:17
Speaker 4: watch this guy. He's a he's a really smart two
19:19
Speaker 4: way player, plays physical, he's got some skill, he's a winger.
19:22
Speaker 4: He's got some talent there, and actually he seems like
19:26
Speaker 4: a guy that some people think could be a second
19:27
Speaker 4: round pick. So I think the hockey senses there, the
19:29
Speaker 4: skills there, and just got to show it consistently, and
19:31
Speaker 4: I think he'll be someone that could be a little
19:34
Speaker 4: bit of a surprise.
19:35
Speaker 1: I know the goalies aren't here at the combine, and
19:37
Speaker 1: unfortunately a few of them are. You would have loved
19:39
Speaker 1: to see more, obviously as a goalie yourself.
19:41
Speaker 4: Fifty of them? What's what?
19:43
Speaker 1: But what sticks out to you there? I mean you
19:45
Speaker 1: talked about there might be about five or six guys
19:47
Speaker 1: in the second round, maybe not necessarily a first round goaltender,
19:51
Speaker 1: which we see a lot these days. But what are
19:53
Speaker 1: you thinking from the goaltending position in this draft? As
19:55
Speaker 1: far as quality, I.
19:56
Speaker 4: Think it's a good year for goalies. I think to
19:58
Speaker 4: be a Trable is probably the best goalie this draft.
20:00
Speaker 4: Dimiti Borco is one of the better ones. There's a
20:03
Speaker 4: lot of good goalies coming out of the WHL.
20:05
Speaker 1: In particular.
20:06
Speaker 4: To be a Stabarnecks fan, very interesting. Harrison Bondager was
20:09
Speaker 4: not one of the guys I believe that was here,
20:11
Speaker 4: and he's a He's a pretty solid goalie. So I
20:14
Speaker 4: think there's it's actually a pretty good year for goalies. Like,
20:16
Speaker 4: are there any real starter potential guys? I think maybe
20:21
Speaker 4: to be as for Babel is probably the closest. But
20:23
Speaker 4: then I think you're looking at you know, Brady Noling's interesting.
20:27
Speaker 4: If you can focus on working on getting his glove
20:29
Speaker 4: hand quicker, he'll probably be fine. But yeah, I think
20:31
Speaker 4: we're gonna be looking at maybe four or five goalies
20:33
Speaker 4: taken on the second round of the draft, I think,
20:36
Speaker 4: And then that's where the fun really begins.
20:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean when you when you start looking at
20:40
Speaker 1: the draft order and sort of you know, with what
20:42
Speaker 1: we could see here going forward, we saw a lot
20:44
Speaker 1: of teams that were represented. Some of those teams at
20:47
Speaker 1: the top of the draft. We talk about the Torontos
20:49
Speaker 1: and and things like that, San Jose, Vancouver, Chicago, New
20:52
Speaker 1: York Rangers. Do you think we're gonna get into a
20:53
Speaker 1: point maybe when when it hits Draft night where you know,
20:57
Speaker 1: one of these teams that are outside the top five
20:58
Speaker 1: or ten, you know, really swoop in and try to
21:01
Speaker 1: take some of these guys. Could you see a lot
21:02
Speaker 1: of movement on draft night, because given the free agent classes,
21:06
Speaker 1: what it is the season.
21:07
Speaker 4: I'll believe it when I see it. And that's the thing.
21:08
Speaker 4: Every Like last year was like rumors of this being
21:11
Speaker 4: like the biggest draft trade day of all time, and
21:13
Speaker 4: then like nothing basically happened at all. I don't think
21:15
Speaker 4: it was a single trade for the first round, so
21:18
Speaker 4: I don't really ever believe it. But I will say,
21:20
Speaker 4: like a team like Columbus has a really good argument
21:22
Speaker 4: to make a trade here where they got the fourteenth pick.
21:24
Speaker 4: They need someone who can make a more immediate impact,
21:26
Speaker 4: and you're not given that at fourteen unless someone like
21:28
Speaker 4: really slides, then you're questioning why the slide. I think
21:31
Speaker 4: with him or of them, that would be good. Florida
21:34
Speaker 4: could be one where it's like, okay, well we just
21:35
Speaker 4: got our first round pick back that we weren't expecting.
21:38
Speaker 4: We'll we made the Seth Jones trade. Like do we
21:39
Speaker 4: just go all out trade up, see what happens, get
21:42
Speaker 4: someone who can immediately help, or do they trade down
21:43
Speaker 4: and say we'll just take some extra assets. I think
21:45
Speaker 4: there's some good arguments there, but Saint Louis is one
21:48
Speaker 4: I would pay attention to because they get in a
21:49
Speaker 4: lot of picks. I think Vancouver they got that second
21:52
Speaker 4: round pick, but they've also got an early third round pick.
21:54
Speaker 4: Could they try and sweep maybe see what happens, then
21:57
Speaker 4: get the rock Twins, like who knows. So you know,
22:00
Speaker 4: there's a couple of decent arguments, but I'll believe when
22:03
Speaker 4: I see it.
22:04
Speaker 1: You think somebody tries to go after the rut Twins,
22:06
Speaker 1: you think they'll be split up.
22:08
Speaker 4: It'd be stupid to have them split up because I
22:10
Speaker 4: think they're best together. They've proven before that when they're
22:13
Speaker 4: not playing together, they're not as effective.
22:14
Speaker 1: Get them together probably between the fifteen and twenty five picks.
22:18
Speaker 4: I Marcus is a guy that I could see go
22:20
Speaker 4: on the second round, early second round, which is why
22:22
Speaker 4: Vancouver's interesting because they got a mid to late second
22:26
Speaker 4: rounder or first round them they got a early second rounder.
22:28
Speaker 4: They could use that to their advantage.
22:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, is there any like top five realistically?
22:32
Speaker 1: I know San Jose, you know, they get another second
22:34
Speaker 1: overall pick that they weren't expecting to get, could take
22:37
Speaker 1: plus best player available, could trade down if somebody wants
22:39
Speaker 1: to trade up and maybe they want to take a
22:41
Speaker 1: defenseman there, but they're kind of an intriguing team. Is
22:44
Speaker 1: there any anything else you could see movement wise in
22:47
Speaker 1: that top five or ten? Or do you think it's
22:48
Speaker 1: just going to be all smoke? Again?
22:49
Speaker 4: I think it's mostly smoke. I think with Chase red
22:52
Speaker 4: like that'd be a perfect fit for them, and number
22:54
Speaker 4: two for San Jose.
22:55
Speaker 1: Do you think that's a reach of two?
22:57
Speaker 4: No, because I would have them a three, so I
22:59
Speaker 4: wouldn't say it's reach. But I think with him, it's like,
23:01
Speaker 4: you're that makes the most sense for what they need.
23:04
Speaker 4: Giving up var Stenberg is a tough one, but I
23:06
Speaker 4: think the argument could be made, could you find another
23:08
Speaker 4: var Stenberg in two years? Probably not San Jose because
23:11
Speaker 4: you hope they're gonna be good by then. But you
23:13
Speaker 4: also have to a belief in guys like Aklund and
23:15
Speaker 4: guys like Quintin Musty and Chernishow. These guys are already
23:18
Speaker 4: having the system that they're gonna be able to make
23:20
Speaker 4: it work. And then you're like, Okay, well then we
23:22
Speaker 4: don't really necessarily need Semburg. But always, always, no matter what,
23:26
Speaker 4: pick best player available, because your needs could change two, three,
23:30
Speaker 4: four years down the line. Yeah, they need defenseman. Now
23:32
Speaker 4: what if in three years they have cal mccarls, Like,
23:35
Speaker 4: like not saying that's unrealistic obviously, but like in general,
23:38
Speaker 4: it's like their needs will change as the team can
23:40
Speaker 4: make adjustments, and having a ton of forwards gives you
23:44
Speaker 4: trade assets, so it's not something to take for granted.
23:47
Speaker 1: And John Jacob GM at the Toronto Mapleafs basically confirmed
23:49
Speaker 1: that yesterday they're going best player available. Is there a
23:52
Speaker 1: team that you really like We've seen that You've been
23:54
Speaker 1: on a lot of different different hits with different teams,
23:56
Speaker 1: different franchises around the league. Is there a team that
23:59
Speaker 1: you really think needs to hit a home run in
24:01
Speaker 1: this draft to really get themselves back, you know, into
24:04
Speaker 1: where they want to be.
24:05
Speaker 4: Columbus, for sure, that's the one where it's like they
24:08
Speaker 4: don't have a good pipeline. The roster continues to miss
24:10
Speaker 4: the playoffs. They've got to figure something out here. And
24:12
Speaker 4: I think getting a good player or trading up a
24:14
Speaker 4: good player is really what they need to do here.
24:17
Speaker 4: What other rooms would be. You know, the Blues make
24:20
Speaker 4: that quantity count. If you've got three picks and you're
24:22
Speaker 4: gonna keep all three picks, make three really smart picks here,
24:24
Speaker 4: maybe use a third one on the upside, but go
24:26
Speaker 4: out there and get guys you can really believe in it, and
24:28
Speaker 4: I think the Blues can make that happen.
24:30
Speaker 1: New regimes Toronto, Vancouver.
24:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, then you look at Winnipeg's another one where it's
24:34
Speaker 4: like they you kind of expect they're gonna be good
24:36
Speaker 4: again next year. That was kind of just like a
24:38
Speaker 4: bad year, but you've got to really prove Conor Hellibuck
24:40
Speaker 4: and Trifley, these guys you got a long term okay,
24:42
Speaker 4: like we're actually serious about the future here. That's again
24:46
Speaker 4: where things get interesting.
24:47
Speaker 1: Nashville took two guys in the first last year. They've
24:49
Speaker 1: got a new new regime and they picked tenth again.
24:52
Speaker 1: So I think that's a team that I would watch
24:54
Speaker 1: to see possibly what they would do. We know Chris
24:56
Speaker 1: McFarland's not afraid to make moves and clear out the
24:58
Speaker 1: draft cupboard. If he's willing to.
25:00
Speaker 4: Make moves, he doesn't want his draft or is scouts
25:03
Speaker 4: that will actually do any work. He gives them the
25:06
Speaker 4: draft off a fielding.
25:07
Speaker 1: Here coming over from Colorado, I guess you kind of
25:09
Speaker 1: need that. Speaking of that, Stephen, just a couple more
25:11
Speaker 1: minutes here with you before we wrap up and get
25:14
Speaker 1: out of the scouting combine. But we saw a lot
25:17
Speaker 1: of brass here from different teams, you know, throughout the
25:19
Speaker 1: week itself. You know, could be an early opportunity for
25:23
Speaker 1: some early draft or trade discussions, some potential contract extension
25:28
Speaker 1: sign and trade type things. You know, do you take
25:31
Speaker 1: much from that, like what do you expect and maybe
25:33
Speaker 1: if anything that they took away from from a week
25:36
Speaker 1: like this.
25:37
Speaker 4: I think when you look at you know, it didn't
25:40
Speaker 4: seem like there was a ton of GMS here, a
25:42
Speaker 4: lot of at least not today, not Saturday, a lot
25:45
Speaker 4: of a GMS. So we'll see how many trades are done.
25:47
Speaker 4: But I think in general you're looking at this and saying, like,
25:51
Speaker 4: if they got rid of the centralized draft, which means
25:54
Speaker 4: trades kind of have to happen at a thing like this,
25:56
Speaker 4: this became a little bit more important. But it still
25:58
Speaker 4: felt like we didn't see as many GMS here specifically today,
26:03
Speaker 4: So yeah, it'll be interesting to see. But like, given
26:05
Speaker 4: it's not a great free agent class, you got to
26:07
Speaker 4: make some moves and this is a draft where I
26:10
Speaker 4: think unless you're picking like the top three or four,
26:12
Speaker 4: you're probably okay with trading your pick.
26:14
Speaker 1: I'm with the draft being here in Buffalo once again,
26:17
Speaker 1: but it's decentralized once again, right, So what are your
26:20
Speaker 1: thoughts on that? Because they're gonna have the players here
26:22
Speaker 1: in Buffalo, but then the teams are going to all
26:23
Speaker 1: be back in their own facilities.
26:25
Speaker 4: I was there in LA last year. I didn't like it.
26:26
Speaker 4: It wasn't fun. It felt like the event was not important,
26:29
Speaker 4: it was not special. There was nobody there and they
26:30
Speaker 4: were just a tough time. And I think you they
26:34
Speaker 4: got to make it feel a bit more special. They
26:36
Speaker 4: talked to a few players who said, like they hated
26:37
Speaker 4: that format last year. That's not what you want to
26:41
Speaker 4: hear if you're the NHL or the broadcast partner. So
26:43
Speaker 4: you got to make it feel like a big deal again,
26:45
Speaker 4: which is partly why I feel like doing it at
26:47
Speaker 4: the rink is not my favorite place. Where would you
26:49
Speaker 4: do it in Buffalo? I don't know. Right by the
26:51
Speaker 4: water was something cool about there? Do we make it
26:53
Speaker 4: an outdoor draft, you know, like let's have some fun, Like,
26:55
Speaker 4: let's do something unique. Doing it back in a rink,
26:58
Speaker 4: but making it like like I think that he's centralized
27:00
Speaker 4: portion is like maybe not as big of a deal
27:02
Speaker 4: as some people really made it out to be because
27:04
Speaker 4: you were just watching dudes just sit in chairs. That
27:07
Speaker 4: being said, when there were really not many notable moves
27:10
Speaker 4: being made last year and it was just a clunky mess.
27:12
Speaker 4: That's where it kind of fell crappy, and it just
27:15
Speaker 4: something about the like, I'm fun of LA, but it
27:18
Speaker 4: just felt like last year it was not a special event.
27:20
Speaker 4: You just felt like it was something to do and
27:23
Speaker 4: there was not much buzz around it, and that kind
27:25
Speaker 4: of sucked.
27:26
Speaker 1: You think like in LA there'd be a lot to
27:28
Speaker 1: a lot of buzz, you.
27:29
Speaker 4: Know, like I felt like they were gonna have more
27:30
Speaker 4: stars come out. I think that would have been data
27:32
Speaker 4: at least. Hear of Buffalo clearly proven this is a
27:34
Speaker 4: massive hockey markets. We just saw the playoffs. How much
27:38
Speaker 4: fun that was. I hope it's well supported.
27:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we saw we see what the NFL
27:42
Speaker 1: Draft does every year. They go they go outside, they
27:44
Speaker 1: do it, they make a big spectacle out of it.
27:45
Speaker 1: They don't go inside of an NFL stadium and do it.
27:48
Speaker 1: So maybe the NHL needs to think about something, like
27:50
Speaker 1: you said, a waterfront or something outside.
27:52
Speaker 4: Well, like last year, you know it was a theater.
27:54
Speaker 4: It was fine, not the world's greatest set up, it
27:56
Speaker 4: was fine. But the Sphere is hard to beat. That
27:59
Speaker 4: was the coolest event ever been to in my life.
28:01
Speaker 4: I've been to the day Tour five hundred twice and
28:03
Speaker 4: the Sphere school in that as much as I love Daytona.
28:06
Speaker 1: All right, Steven, So a few more quick ones for
28:07
Speaker 1: you here, guys. Here we know these are sort of
28:11
Speaker 1: the top guys. Is there is there a prospect or
28:13
Speaker 1: too that you've really been watching this in this year's
28:15
Speaker 1: draft class? And you're almost sick of the twenty twenty
28:17
Speaker 1: six draft class and you'll be happy to be done
28:19
Speaker 1: with it in a few weeks. But is there somebody
28:21
Speaker 1: you're really looking forward or that you've I guess hyped
28:24
Speaker 1: up or willing to co sign as a really good
28:27
Speaker 1: sleeper pick in this draft.
28:28
Speaker 4: Well, one guy that I don't think is getting enough
28:30
Speaker 4: love in the top ten is why at Colin. I
28:33
Speaker 4: think the fact he's a really skilled winger, really smart,
28:35
Speaker 4: really good numbers this year at the NTVP for a
28:37
Speaker 4: guy that you know when you look at it like
28:40
Speaker 4: he grew like five or six inches. He's grown a lot,
28:42
Speaker 4: He's got a lot more physical, He's done a lot
28:44
Speaker 4: more to become more effective. I really like him. Adam
28:47
Speaker 4: Valentini Kitchen Rangers fans probably wish they had him. Didn't
28:51
Speaker 4: seem to matter though Memorial Cup didn't didn't need him.
28:54
Speaker 4: But he's very promising prospect, very interesting there. Where does
28:58
Speaker 4: ton of Lawrence fall? I think that's the big question.
29:00
Speaker 4: A lot of people had him as number one, made
29:02
Speaker 4: way for the season, So we'll see. And then, you know,
29:06
Speaker 4: we've talked about goalies' talked about Jackson Cover a little bit.
29:08
Speaker 4: I think he's so fascinating, Mattiaz Fannin and we saw
29:11
Speaker 4: him at the the Momoral Cup. He was very good there.
29:16
Speaker 4: So I think that's another one where you look at
29:17
Speaker 4: and say, you know, interest, see where he lanes. I
29:19
Speaker 4: think he's, you know, got maybe top forty talent, maybe
29:22
Speaker 4: not a top fifty, you know, rounded type of player,
29:27
Speaker 4: but we could see him in the fifty to sixty range.
29:29
Speaker 1: I have to ask you about him because I've covered
29:30
Speaker 1: him for many years and he's an intriguing player. Depending
29:32
Speaker 1: on where he goes Ryan Robricks hasn't played since February,
29:36
Speaker 1: had an unfortunate injury, didn't play the rest of the year.
29:38
Speaker 1: You know, this is a guy we had talked about,
29:40
Speaker 1: this possible top five or ten draft pick coming into
29:42
Speaker 1: the season. You know, sort of fell out of the
29:45
Speaker 1: first round, back up into the possibly the back end
29:47
Speaker 1: of the first round as well. You know, he clocked
29:50
Speaker 1: in today six foot three, a little bit smaller than
29:52
Speaker 1: his brother, but a little bit maybe faster, more and
29:55
Speaker 1: more skilled. We know he's an elite goal scorer. He
29:57
Speaker 1: spoke to us today very honestly about just need to
30:00
Speaker 1: continue moving his feet and things like that. What do
30:03
Speaker 1: you like about Ryan Robrick And what do you think
30:05
Speaker 1: that a team's gonna, you know, really take a chance
30:08
Speaker 1: on to hopefully they hit a home run with him.
30:09
Speaker 4: He has a great shot, one of the better shots
30:11
Speaker 4: in this draft, and in an offensive zone position, he
30:14
Speaker 4: could do so much danger or damn damage. But like
30:17
Speaker 4: you said, it's what the they're blowing things up there,
30:21
Speaker 4: sounds like the building exploded. They He needs to move
30:25
Speaker 4: his feet more, he needs to be more engaged, He
30:27
Speaker 4: needs to be more active with the puck because he's
30:28
Speaker 4: got the skill to make it work, but he's got
30:30
Speaker 4: to show every single shift, and that's something that really
30:32
Speaker 4: falls apart for him. I think, you know, coming back
30:35
Speaker 4: next year with the draft, the draft off his mind,
30:37
Speaker 4: I think will help because it felt like it was
30:39
Speaker 4: kind of the same thing where he played really well
30:41
Speaker 4: in his draft minus one oahel year, didn't get exceptional
30:44
Speaker 4: status and had just an okay draft year, then played
30:47
Speaker 4: really well in his first tear in they.
30:48
Speaker 1: Owagin had the late birthday.
30:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, late birthday. So I feel like this is something
30:51
Speaker 4: here where maybe next year is where he kind of
30:53
Speaker 4: finds things again and Scott's get really excited again.
30:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely so, Steven. I guess we're gonna wrap up here.
31:00
Speaker 1: It's been a long week of the NHL Combine here,
31:02
Speaker 1: a lot of interviews, a lot of things we learned
31:05
Speaker 1: about players. Maybe somethings are already new. But I guess
31:08
Speaker 1: what are your final thoughts and takeaways from this as
31:10
Speaker 1: we approach the twenty twenty six NHL Draft in a
31:13
Speaker 1: few weeks.
31:13
Speaker 4: It's a good event, and I'll just say to anyone listening,
31:16
Speaker 4: just you know, be careful for rumors around this time
31:17
Speaker 4: of year, because this is the time where you start
31:19
Speaker 4: to hear you know, all goal where they're gonna their
31:21
Speaker 4: team's going to trade back, we're gonna do this, we're
31:23
Speaker 4: gonna do that, and so much of it doesn't happen.
31:25
Speaker 4: So don't get your hopes up on a lot of
31:27
Speaker 4: the rumors. But it's fun, I.
31:29
Speaker 1: Guess right, Yeah, I mean it is racing season.
31:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I really wish I'd decided to go
31:34
Speaker 4: to Michigan for the rest of this weekend. NASCAR Canada
31:38
Speaker 4: Quebec they got rained out. I just got a message
31:40
Speaker 4: about it because I'm on a crew list for a
31:42
Speaker 4: race that I'm not a crew member for US. I'm
31:44
Speaker 4: getting all the updates and they're racing tomorrow. It's also
31:46
Speaker 4: broadcasted on YouTube NASCAR Canada for Americans starting tomorrow. So
31:51
Speaker 4: love to see it.
31:52
Speaker 1: And after the NHL Draft, you're going right off to
31:54
Speaker 1: a race.
31:54
Speaker 4: Going to the six Hours walkins Glenn one of the
31:56
Speaker 4: best sporting eventgel possible. It's so much fun. It's so
31:58
Speaker 4: good because it's like with the Glenn, get to go
32:00
Speaker 4: anywhere on the track you want. The race is incredible.
32:02
Speaker 4: Last the last two races and went to came down
32:04
Speaker 4: to literally like last lap moves. It's awesome, except the
32:08
Speaker 4: weather sucks. Every year it's either pouring rain or like
32:11
Speaker 4: nine thousand degrees and there's no middle gram and but
32:14
Speaker 4: the worst part is it's usually both in the summers.
32:16
Speaker 1: Steven ellis associate editor and prospect guru on Daily Faceoff.
32:22
Speaker 1: You can check him out Dailyfaceoff dot com for all
32:24
Speaker 1: of his final rankings and all the things that he
32:26
Speaker 1: does all season long for Prospect Hockey. Steven appreciate it.
32:29
Speaker 1: It's been been fun catching up with you, and I
32:31
Speaker 1: know you're excited about ball, hockey, racing and other things
32:34
Speaker 1: that aren't related to covering an NHL draft. You do
32:38
Speaker 1: a fantastic job and enjoy the summer, hopefully see at
32:40
Speaker 1: the draft and ready to do it all again in
32:42
Speaker 1: the fall.
32:43
Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to you know, it's it's gonna be.
32:45
Speaker 4: I'm gonna try and not think about hockey for a
32:47
Speaker 4: few weeks in the summer, but man, I'm ready for
32:49
Speaker 4: Land the DuPont season.
32:50
Speaker 1: Absolutely. So that's going to wrap it up for this
32:52
Speaker 1: pilot episode of the Under Review Hockey podcast right here
32:54
Speaker 1: on the arm here GM Sports Network NAT. Everybody tuned
32:57
Speaker 1: in on our on demand audio podcast platforms, make sure
33:00
Speaker 1: to give us a five star rating whatever when you
33:01
Speaker 1: chose to listen to us on You can also give
33:03
Speaker 1: us a follow on x at ur Hockey Pod as
33:06
Speaker 1: well as on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok by searching the
33:09
Speaker 1: Armchair GM Sports Network. Forever our short reels and content
33:12
Speaker 1: as we hit our off season. Now appreciate everybody tuning in.
33:15
Speaker 1: That's it from the NHL Combine here in Buffalo, New York,
33:18
Speaker 1: and we will be back with the NHL Draft in
33:20
Speaker 1: a few weeks for Stephen Ellis to daily face Off.
33:22
Speaker 1: My name is Brandon Kuto. Have yourself a great rest
33:24
Speaker 1: of your week and we'll talk to you again very soon.
33:25
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.