Top prospects pushed to the limit during 'tough' combine testing

BUFFALO, N.Y. — After his combine testing was over on Saturday morning, Connor McDavid once again met with the media. He couldn’t stop yawning. Whether that was from the boredom of being asked the same questions repeatedly or from running the grueling gauntlet of the fitness testing, one couldn’t say.

Coming into the event, the 18-year-old said his main goal was to avoid embarrassment on the pull-up bar, which had caused problems for Flames pick Sam Bennett last year when he couldn't do a single one. McDavid passed that portion with flying colours, managing to finish with six pull-ups, a task not everyone could best. The hardest test for the prospects on Saturday was the Wingate bike test which measures peak anaerobic power and capacity and McDavid and Eichel were no exceptions.

“That one’s absolutely crazy,” said McDavid, who finished with a peak power output of 17.49. “It’s tough but it’s fun and it was good to get it over with.”

When asked what his toughest challenge was, Eichel's answer was similar.

"The Wingate," said the 18-year-old. "It's right at the end and you're tired, you've done a few tests, your body's sore and then you jump on the bike and do a really hard 30 second sprint with some resistance. It was a tough test."

McDavid is the consensus top pick for the June 26 NHL entry draft, expected to go to the Edmonton Oilers. Fellow forward Jack Eichel is expected to go second-overall to the Buffalo Sabres.

At the combine Eichel bested McDavid on almost all the tests except for the Wingate, where McDavid outlasted him by a slim 0.7 margin. In the upper body strength tests, Eichel finished with 16 reps on the bench press (nine for McDavid) and nine on the pull-up bar (McDavid had six).

Being as competitive as they are, Eichel said he was looking at the TV screens to see how his tests scores fared against the other players – including McDavid.

“I was looking at the scoreboard and (McDavid) happened to be on there,” said Eichel. “I looked at the scoreboard to see how I did. I think it’s in anybody’s competitive nature to want to top all the score lists.”

Many players complained about the difficulty in getting credit for pull-ups from the adjudicators, who were very strict about how they needed to be done to get them to count.

“They only gave me credit for six,” said McDavid. “They’re being pretty tough on that, they’re looking for tempo and form. I think a lot of the guys are complaining about it in terms of thinking they deserve better. If you have a couple of good ones you expect to get credit for it.”

Eichel won bronze with Team USA at the world championships with their final game on May 17 which only gave him less than three weeks to prepare for the combine.

“It’s tough,” said Eichel of the quick turnaround after the tournament. “Being overseas and playing in a tournament like that for three or four weeks, I think I had a little over two weeks to come back to Boston and train for (the combine).”

Both Eichel and McDavid said they’re going to continue their training and finish up their school work for the season to tie up loose ends before the draft. McDavid’s even gone suit shopping for new duds to wear at the draft in Sunrise, Fla. Like Eichel, McDavid didn’t have many days of rest after the playoffs with the Erie Otters ended before preparing for the draft. So a little downtime will come in handy.

“I’m really looking forward to having a little bit of time off here,” said McDavid. “This kind of wraps up the final part of the draft year so it was very exciting and I’m looking forward to having a little rest.”