Scouting Combine 2026

[Star Platinum]

Viggo's going to measure in at 6'0, get drafted 3rd oa, and then it will be revealed he got measured with his shoes on and we will have to start the draft over

 

[Star Platinum]

Feel like asking "where did they go?" as I need some recommendations for places when next visiting my sister in WNY.

Buffalo Wild Wings, of course

 

[Chainshot]

Bar Bill is the goat (in my non-Buffalo but travel there multiple times a year opinion)

(I lived in WNY for almost 40 years, I know about Bar Bill).

Buffalo Wild Wings, of course

Other than Ranch on Pizza, that might be the second most defensive thing somebody has posted in this thread. Lol.

 

[Smif]

Cam Robinson with Elite Prospect poll'd a bunch of head scouts at the combine and created a draft order list based on that poll.

Here's how he thinks most teams have their order:

1. Mckenna.
2. Malhotra
3. Stenberg
4.Carels
5. Reid

Interesting...

 

[Smif]

I just read through all 8 pages of this thread at once and only got dinner updates. Kept saying, gotta be next page, gotta be something next page...wth??

 

[CLW]

I just read through all 8 pages of this thread at once and only got dinner updates. Kept saying, gotta be next page, gotta be something next page...wth??

Go read the NHL.com coverage. They have an article on McKenna's tattoo.... riveting stuff.

(This league is becoming completely sterile and controlled in every aspect = boring asf).

 

[dmcccdmn]

Sharks need to be prepared for the scenario where McKenna isn't drafted 1OA. What then? Trade down for a haul and pick Reid/Stenberg? Or draft McKenna and go to bed asking wtf just happened.

 

[hockeeyyy]

For what it’s worth, I think it’s less Stenberg dropping because he’s done nothing to hurt his draft stock, and more teams moving Malholtra up the draft board.

 

[viper0220]

Cam Robinson with Elite Prospect poll'd a bunch of head scouts at the combine and created a draft order list based on that poll.

Here's how he thinks most teams have their order:

1. Mckenna.
2. Malhotra
3. Stenberg
4.Carels
5. Reid

I am praying one of them drops to 6.

 

[My3Sons]

For what it’s worth, I think it’s less Stenberg dropping because he’s done nothing to hurt his draft stock, and more teams moving Malholtra up the draft board.

Issue is measurables/center over a smaller winger even if the winger possess more skill.

 

[BaybayShark]

Sounds like the NHL teams are vaulting Caleb Malhotra up while Stenberg is quietly dropping.

Seems polar opposite of how HF boards sees it.

Do team scouts genuinely give their honest opinions and rankings in polls like these though? Or is some of it smoke? If I was a GM I would never want my scouts giving real rankings to the general public. Just always feel polls like these have a lot of misinformation in them, some truth mixed with false info.

 

[SympathyForTheDevils]

Do team scouts genuinely give their honest opinions and rankings in polls like these though? Or is some of it smoke? If I was a GM I would never want my scouts giving real rankings to the general public. Just always feel polls like these have a lot of misinformation in them, some truth mixed with false info.

From an NHL team's POV, I imagine there's not much meaningful info that can be gleaned from an anonymous aggregate list like this. It's useful for us to have a general idea of how NHL scouts see the draft top-end, but this is all stuff other NHL scouts would know already. Scouting is a small community, and people talk.

 

[brrt]

Do team scouts genuinely give their honest opinions and rankings in polls like these though? Or is some of it smoke? If I was a GM I would never want my scouts giving real rankings to the general public. Just always feel polls like these have a lot of misinformation in them, some truth mixed with false info.

Probably. The opinion of individual scouts shouldn't reveal too much about the team's actual draft board.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Sharks need to be prepared for the scenario where McKenna isn't drafted 1OA. What then? Trade down for a haul and pick Reid/Stenberg? Or draft McKenna and go to bed asking wtf just happened.

It ain't happening. Our gm flew to Whitehorse to meet Mckenna and they have another meeting scheduled after the combine. Us taking Mckenna is like the worst kept secret in hockey right now.

 

[CanaFan]

Do team scouts genuinely give their honest opinions and rankings in polls like these though? Or is some of it smoke? If I was a GM I would never want my scouts giving real rankings to the general public. Just always feel polls like these have a lot of misinformation in them, some truth mixed with false info.

These polls are based on personal / working relationships in the fairly close-knit scouting community. They see each other at rinks and tournaments all year long and probably grab more than a few beers and dinners together. Pretty sure it would be considered shitty to give deliberately bad takes when asked for your opinions. Guys would probably just decline the poll if they were that worried about it.

 

[Grub]

Seems a bit weird to me that we don't have much "official" news from the Combine? It started June1... today is June 4... used to be NHL.com and then a bunch of posters followed testing and stuff and posted schedules of activities and more than just who-took-who to dinner anecdotes by now?

This is what scares me. Back then it was the younger guys in HFboards that would do it, but now we're all 35+.

The demographics is getting old. It's a lot easier for a 18-25 year old covering young guys in a combine, it's now weird if were just some random 35+ year old dude, people just would not do it, the gap between 35 and 18 is massive. These combine threads use to be massive here with lots of updates.

 

[CaptainShark]

BUT WHAT DID HE ORDER????

Enter Sheng:

“I got surf and turf. We went to Hutch’s. It was really good.”

 

[bigdog16]

This is what scares me. Back then it was the younger guys in HFboards that would do it, but now we're all 35+.

The demographics is getting old. It's a lot easier for a 18-25 year old covering young guys in a combine, it's now weird if were just some random 35+ year old dude, people just would not do it, the gap between 35 and 18 is massive. These combine threads use to be massive here with lots of updates.

The combine threads did use to be a lot of fun.

 

[TGWL]

We get all the juicy information today.
How Chase held his knife funny.
And when ordering dessert, he said no whip cream.

 

[DesmondDekker]

We get all the juicy information today.
How Chase held his knife funny.
And when ordering dessert, he said no whip cream.

« No hwip cream »

 

[hockeeyyy]

We get all the juicy information today.
How Chase held his knife funny.
And when ordering dessert, he said no whip cream.

I've seen enough. He drops to 60.

 

[bigdog16]

This is what scares me. Back then it was the younger guys in HFboards that would do it, but now we're all 35+.

The demographics is getting old. It's a lot easier for a 18-25 year old covering young guys in a combine, it's now weird if were just some random 35+ year old dude, people just would not do it, the gap between 35 and 18 is massive. These combine threads use to be massive here with lots of updates.

If I remember they used to have blogs on nhl.com that were posted daily. I think the players used to write them. Can't totally remember but I enjoyed reading those. Its gone pretty stale now

 

[Maplebeasts]

We get all the juicy information today.
How Chase held his knife funny.
And when ordering dessert, he said no whip cream.

I heard Stenberg hogged all of the mayo and skipped dessert completely.

 

[57special]

It's amazing how the NHL shoots itself in the foot by keeping events like these off limits, or nearly so.

 

[TGWL]

NHL has to protect gambling sites. We can't give away too much information.