NHL draft combine: Top prospects wrap up testing, here’s how the final day went

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The top draft prospects were all smiles in front of the media at the LECOM HarborCenter.

Was it because they were at the NHL scouting combine and 20 or 21 days away from realizing their dream of getting drafted by an NHL team? Maybe. But it was probably because they were finished with testing.

After going through the grip, VO2 max (as they ride, the resistance increases and a player rides until they cannot keep up the required revolutions per minute), and Y balance tests on Friday, more than 85 top prospects participated in multiple physical tests, including vertical and horizontal jumps, the bench press, and the Wingate test on Saturday.

» READ MORE: NHL draft combine: Previewing each test the top prospects are put through

The consensus No. 1 draft pick, Matthew Schaefer, did not participate in the bench press or pullups as he continues his return from a broken collarbone. Carter Bear, Henry Brzustewicz, and Caleb Desnoyers did not test; Bear (Achilles) and Desnoyers (wrists) are dealing with injuries and Brzustewicz, like Desnoyers, just wrapped up his season on Sunday in the Memorial Cup final.

The Wingate may sound simple, but it’s also the most daunting test of the day — and it is the last one to boot. As center prospect James Hagens said with a laugh and some relief behind it: “It’s a tough one.”

Players ride the bike for 30 seconds, with no clock in view to see when the end is coming, and trainers shouting to keep going. Some players walked off with assistance to make sure they were OK, and it’s not unheard-of for a player — or several — to get sick after.

“I think digging deep just kind of shows everything you have inside,” said Hagens, who met with the Flyers. “You want to stop pedaling. It’s 30 seconds. It’s tough. You have to make sure you push harder and harder every second you go. Just digging within and putting everything you have out there.”

» READ MORE: Flyers draft: Here’s what potential targets James Hagens, Jake O’Brien, and Anton Frondell said at the combine

Anton Frondell, a top center in the draft class, finished tied for No. 2 in the Wingate with 16.8 watts of power per kilogram of body weight after tying atop the board for the VO2 test with Cole Reschny. Frondell was one of the first players on the bike Saturday and went through the gauntlet with his teammate and buddy Victor Eklund, a top prospect among the wingers.

“We asked to do it in a pair because we love to compete against each other,” Frondell said. “We felt like, if we go together, it will probably give us both our high scores.”

Added Eklund: “We switch turns to whoever goes first. So he started at pullups, and he did nine, so I make sure that I beat him.” Eklund did 11. Bill Zonnon, a left winger from the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, was No. 1 in pullups with 16.

The talk of the day was center prospect William Horcoff, the son of former NHLer Shawn Horcoff, who almost flew off the horizontal jump when he set a record of 124.8 inches. It bested last year’s record of 123 inches by New York Rangers first-round pick EJ Emery. The younger Horcoff, who said he met with the Orange and Black and “would love to be a Flyer,” trained for the test. He also had the best vertical jump without the use of his arms (22.84 inches).

“You could have all the talent in the world [but] the most important thing is work ethic and competitiveness, and I think I do both those things really well,” he said. “I think I’m the type of player who has a high potential. I know I have a long way to go, but if I just put the work in, I know I’m going to.”

One standout who Flyers fans should keep an eye on for the team’s late first-round picks is Shane Vansaghi. The right winger finished 20th in VO2, 12th in the no-arm vertical jump (19.29 inches), fifth in the 50% body weight bench press, tied for second in pullups (15), and atop both the left and right hand grip tests. A teammate of Karsen Dorwart’s at Michigan State, he oozes orange and black.

“I play one way and one way only, and it’s big and physical, and it’s a hard-nosed game, and it’s in your face, and I’m not going to change the way I play,” he said.

So … is he a gritty player?

“I embrace that. That’s my identity. I feel like that’s kind of one of my strengths, is having that gritty skill, having the hard skill, and having that skill that comes out when you’re under pressure and you don’t have a whole lot of time space,” said Vansaghi, a St. Louis native who also met with the Flyers.

“So, yeah, I love to get in people’s faces. I love to make it hard, and love to get involved with the game inside the game, you know, the extracurricular activities maybe after the whistle.”

Roger McQueen, who played only 17 regular-season games for Brandon of the Western Hockey League because of a fracture in the L4-L5 vertebrae in his back, completed all the tests at the combine. The forward’s best finish was eighth in the horizontal jump (112.8 inches). … Haoxi (Simon) Wang, a defenseman for Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League who moved to Toronto at the age of 12 from China, had an 82¼-inch wingspan. … Like Eklund, Justin Carbonneau, a right winger for Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL, said he models his game after Travis Konecny. Carbonneau could be a teammate of Flyers prospect Spencer Gill next season after the defenseman was traded to Armada two days ago. … Known for his hitting and physical game, center Brady Martin gets his strength from his family’s dairy farm in Ontario, where they have 250 cattle, 4,000 pigs, and 60,000 chickens. … Radim Mrtka, a defenseman from Czechia who played for Seattle of the Western Hockey League for part of this season, faced former Flyers forward Jaromir Jagr in Czechia’s top professional league earlier this year. In one game, the 53-year-old star didn’t play, but Mrtka said of Jagr: “It’s like ‘God’ on the bench.”