Portland Winterhawks’ Seth Jones, on handling the media crush

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Seth Jones, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin were front and centre at the NHL combine Thursday, like they were all season long.

The tight-knit trio have arguably had more scrutiny than any three NHL draft prospects in any given season in recent memory. The combo of a lockout-delayed NHL season, making their respective countries' national junior teams and their status as stars on stacked major junior teams which met in the MasterCard Memorial Cup final ratcheted up the attention. Representing three distinct puck archetypes — Jones being a 6-foot-3 defenceman, MacKinnon a speedy centre and Drouin a playmaking left wing — also created more debate fodder.

Some young players get a little geeked out by all the attention; sometimes it seems like the bigger the prospect's profile, the blander his answers. Over the season, all three have been open and engaging by teenager standards. In the spirit of that, Buzzing The Net opted to interview Jones about his interviews. Here is what the 18-year-old Portland Winterhawks D-man had to say:

BTN: "How old were you when the media attention first hit?"

SJ: "How old was I? It probably started when I was in Sports Illustrated when I was 14, turning 15. That was the start of it. Getting used to it didn't take too long. My agency, CAA, holds a camp that I went to in the summers and they did a good job with advice, so I have always had a lot of training. Everyone has a different approach to how they listen. I just try to answer the questions — that’s what I’m here for."

BTN: It seems like you have a fairly serious approach to it.

SJ: "Pretty much. I try to joke around when I can, but when someone gives me a serious question, I know they expect a serious answer… a lot of pro athletes, they do like to joke around with the media. I do too, but most of the time I’m pretty straightforward."

BTN: Is that influenced by your father (Brooklyn Nets assistant coach and former NBA forward Popeye Jones) being a sports person?

SJ: Not really. That’s just who I am, I think. I’m not going to beat around the bush.

BTN: "As far as roommates go, what was Ty Rattie's worst habit? When two males share a living space, they’re going to get on each other’s nerves eventually."

SJ: "Worst habit? Well, he didn’t like to drive. We had two cars. He’d make me drive sometimes ... neither of us really liked to because we lived pretty far from the rink, about 25 blocks. No one wanted to make that drive, especially at the beginning of the year when there was traffic.

"His worst habit? He doesn’t really have one. I liked him, he’s a great guy. I’m not going to give you any secrets."

BTN: "Nathan MacKinnon just got asked what was the most unusual item he had ever signed. For you, what it has been?"

SJ: "I actually signed a kid’s forehead."

BTN: "What? Nathan said that too! How old was the child?"

SJ: "Couldn’t have been more than 10. It was right after we won the WHL championship."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.