Overhead at the NHL draft combine: Draft wild cards, surprises … and the X factor team
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Kristen Shilton
Expect the unexpected.
That was the refrain at this year’s NHL scouting combine about the upcoming draft. While a group of 90 prospective NHLers were put through their paces with interviews, dinners and fitness testing, scouts and executives alike marveled at what could be an unpredictable first round when it comes down to making selections on June 27 and 28.
“There are maybe 16 or 18 players I could see going in the top 10,” one scout said. “It’s one of those classes. Deep. Great character guys. Lots of these players have unique skill sets. Teams will have tough decisions to make.”
Another executive pointed out that there’s an “embarrassment of riches” at the forward positions for clubs with high selections. So, while Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer may look like a consensus No. 1 overall selection for the New York Islanders, what happens from there?
Intrigue!
“The internal conversations have been heated,” the executive joked.
One name that came up plenty as a potential wild card? Carter Bear.
The Everett Silvertips forward did not participate in the combine’s fitness testing after suffering an Achilles tendon injury in March, but he expects to be fully healthy when NHL training camps begin in the fall. Bear was tied for seventh in WHL scoring with 40 goals and 82 points through 65 games last season, and ranks 10th on the NHL Central Scouting final list of North American skaters and 13th overall on ESPN analyst Rachel Doerrie’s latest big board.
If there were to be a jumper, though, Bear might be the guy. Despite not being able to go through the entire combine process, his body of work to date on the ice has clearly drawn serious attention from multiple clubs.
We’ve seen teams get creative in recent years — Juraj Slafkovsky going first overall to Montreal in 2022 comes to mind — and there could be another surprising first round awaiting us all in June. Until then, here’s the news and notes from combine week.
Eklund, Frondell the best of (competitive) friends
Victor Eklund would not be denied.
He was going to play on a line with teammate Anton Frondell. And their coach, Robert Kimby, at Djurgardens IF wouldn’t get a moment’s peace until it happened.
“I think I told him like 10 times,” Eklund said. “He was like, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah.’ But then finally, we did get to [play together].”
The alignment of two top prospects in the upcoming NHL draft had been years in the making, really. Eklund — who had 19 goals and 31 points in 42 games last season — and Frondell — 11 goals and 25 points in 29 games — started playing against each other as kids in their native Sweden, which is when Eklund first experienced just how talented Frondell was with the puck.
“When we were 10 years old, I remember playing him, and he actually made a move on me,” Eklund recalled. “Like, [he put] the puck between my legs, and I just can’t forget that. He says he doesn’t remember that, but I kind of know. But we’ve been playing against each other, but we really got to know each other when both of us started playing for [our team].”
Frondell confessed that he did actually remember deking Eklund back in the day (“it was really good,” he laughed) and shared what he appreciated the most about getting to share a line.
“Victor is easy to play with. I don’t think I’ve played with someone with so much energy,” Frondell said. “He wins every battle, even when we play against men. Victor wins all the puck battles, and it’s just easy for me finding him in an open spot, and most of the times I get the puck right on the tape. So it’s easy for me too, and we like playing with each other.”
Eklund was effusive in his praise of Frondell to explain why he dogged their coach so incessantly about finally pairing them up in January.
“Anton, he’s a tank on the ice,” Eklund said. “He has a shot like a missile. He’s just a really great, great player. I just knew from the beginning that if we get the opportunity, we’ll take it and we’ll be the best and I think we did pretty good.
And, yeah, the coach probably got sick of me asking so they [had to] finally put us together.”
Michael Misa staying put
Michael Misa learned the hard way how patience is a virtue.
The Saginaw Spirit forward expected to be a center in the OHL. But the Spirit were so deep down the middle when he entered the league two years ago that Misa was thrust onto the wing instead. He excelled there, and it helped build a foundation for where he’s at now — with the potential to be a top-two selection in the draft.
But Misa was really just biding his time until the chance to slide back into a center spot presented itself.
It finally did for Misa’s draft year — and he pumped in 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games to lead the OHL in scoring.
Suffice to say, Misa isn’t eager to change positions again anytime soon.
“Growing up in minor hockey, I was always primarily a center,” Misa said. “My first two years [in the OHL], we had a number of good centers who were a lot older. So I had to make that jump to wing. But coming back to this year, it’s what I planned to do for my draft year was go back to center and ultimately, I just feel a lot more confident down the middle. That’s primarily where my roots are at.”
Being able to dominate at the center spot has given Misa a boost going into the draft, where he’s projected to be among the first players taken off the board. And whoever selects Misa is getting a skater who is prepared to suit up immediately in the NHL.
“I feel like I am ready to make that jump next year,” Misa said. “That’s ultimately my goal, to make the NHL next year. I think gaining that center experience that I had this year definitely helped my game. And I’m just trying to become that more reliable 200-foot player defensively as well. So overall, I am ready.”
Misa said being at center allows him to be more “involved” in the play. ‘It’s not just offensively, but defensively, being reliable,” he said. “It’s been good for me … got a lot more puck touches, just carrying the play on my stick.”
Will Horcoff sets scouting combine record
When an NHL team asked Michigan forward Will Horcoff which animal he would be off the ice, he answered a silverback gorilla.
Based on his horizontal jump at the combine, Horcoff might be better associated with the impala. Because just like an antelope, Horcoff can clear incredible distances in a single bound — his 124.75-inch mark set a new combine record, a feat he trained hard to achieve.
“I knew I had a chance to do it coming in,” said Horcoff, whose previous best jump was 122 inches. “It was just whether I executed it. And I did. I’m happy about it.”
Horcoff — the son of former NHLer Shawn Horcoff — was focused on his horizontal moves but also wanted to show well in the vertical category. But his strategy had to change.
“It was a little weird; I jumped higher with my hands on my hips than I did with my arms,” Horcoff said. “I don’t know, at U-18 Worlds, I jumped 4½ inches higher than I did here. So I don’t know what happened there.”
The 6-foot-4, 181-pound center added — perhaps unnecessarily — that “I’m a competitive guy” so the discrepancy in his figures was perplexing. Still, Horcoff was pleased overall with how his work paid off in front of NHL scouts and executives from the 31 teams he met with throughout the combine week.
“I think I could be a skilled power forward in the NHL,” Horcoff said. “I’d love to play like [Ottawa Senators forward] Brady Tkachuk. That [mean streak] is something I’ve added this season, and I think I’m going to continue doing it more consistently next season.”
Oh, and why the gorilla pick?
“He’s a leader,” Horcoff said. “And he protects his family.”
Players forced to confront their mistakes
The purpose of a combine is to put your best foot forward.
But that doesn’t preclude some missteps from the past from reappearing.
Such was the case in certain team interviews, where execs asked prospects to break down footage of themselves from the season. And the videos weren’t exactly positive.
“Pittsburgh did that,” Moose Jaw Warriors forward Lynden Lakovic said. “They didn’t show my highlights; they probably showed my lowlights, but asked me to break that down. It was good. I thought I handled it well. They weren’t my greatest clips, but I’m aware of that, and I thought I broke it down pretty well.”
Carlos Handel was similarly caught off guard by seeing his poor plays return front and center during the meet and greets.
“Carolina did that,” the Halifax Mooseheads defenseman said. “They showed me some bad clips, and wanted, for example, how I react [to it], but also they wanted to know how my coach, for example, wants me to attack there and what my opinion about that [play] was.”
If nothing else, these interviews kept prospects on their toes throughout the week.
“Most of the [talks] were fun,” Lakovic said. “But there were a couple ones that were a little bit more intimidating.”
Can Nashville do it all?
The Nashville Predators did not anticipate being a lottery team. But the best-laid plans sometimes go awry.
Nashville ended up finishing the season 30-44-8 — but the lottery delivered the No. 5 overall pick, just one of the three selections they have in the first round. And there is talent to choose from that could potentially immediately help the Predators.
Boston College’s James Hagens, Frondell or Brantford’s Jake O’Brien could all be there at the fifth slot to bolster Nashville down the middle, and each has the potential crack an NHL lineup sooner than later. Brampton winger Porter Martone would also be a solid fit for Nashville.
The Predators signed Steven Stamkos in free agency last summer, and he would be an excellent mentor to any young player entering the league as well.
Speaking of Stamkos, the Predators didn’t bring him on board for a rebuild. They will want to be back in the playoff mix next season. How they ultimately use the 23rd overall pick (acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning) and the 26th pick (from the Vegas Golden Knights) will tell us plenty about what’s to come this season from the Predators.
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Bradford Doolittle
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player to be enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, one of five new members of baseball’s hallowed institution.
After enduring the baseball tradition known as a rain delay, the five speeches went off without a hitch as the deluge subsided and the weather became hot and humid. Joining Suzuki were pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, and sluggers Dick Allen and Dave Parker, both of whom were enshrined posthumously.
“For the third time, I am a rookie,” Suzuki said, delivering his comments in English despite his long preference for conducting his public appearances in Japanese with the aid of an interpreter.
For the American audience, this provided a rare glimpse into Suzuki’s playful side. Teammates long spoke of his sense of humor behind the closed doors of the clubhouse — something the public rarely saw — but it was on full display Sunday.
When Hall voting was announced, Suzuki fell one vote shy of becoming the second unanimous selection for the Hall. He thanked the writers for their support — with an exception.
“Three-thousand [career] hits or 262 hits in one season are achievements recognized by the writers,” Suzuki said. “Except, oh, one of you.”
After the laughter subsided, Suzuki mentioned the gracious comments he made when balloting results were announced, when he offered to invite the writer who didn’t vote for him home for dinner to learn his reasoning. Turns out, it’s too late.
“The offer to the one writer to have dinner at my home has now … expired!” Suzuki said.
Suzuki’s attention to detail and unmatched work ethic have continued into the present day, more than five years since he played his last big league game. That was central to his message Sunday, at least when he wasn’t landing a joke.
“If you consistently do the little things, there’s no limit to what you can achieve,” Suzuki said. “Look at me. I’m 5-11 and 170 pounds. When I came to America, many people said I was too skinny to compete with bigger major leaguers.”
After becoming one of the biggest stars in Japanese baseball, hitting .353 over nine seasons for the Orix BlueWave, Suzuki exploded on the scene as a 27-year-old rookie for the Seattle Mariners, batting .350 and winning the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP honors.
Chants of “Ichiro!” that once were omnipresent at Mariners games erupted from the crowd sprawled across the grounds of the complex while the all-time single-season hits leader (262 in 2004) posed with his plaque alongside commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark.
Despite his late start in MLB, Suzuki finished with 3,089 hits in the majors and 4,367 including his time in Japan. Suzuki listed some of his feats, such as the hit total, and his 10 Gold Gloves.
“Not bad,” he said.
Sabathia’s weekend got off to a mildly rough start when his wife’s car broke down shortly after the family caravan departed for Cooperstown. They arrived in plenty of time though, and Sabathia was greeted warmly by numerous Yankees fans who made the trip.
After breaking in with Cleveland at age 20, Sabathia rocketed to stardom with a 17-5 rookie season. Alas, that came in 2001, the same year that Suzuki landed in the American League.
“Thank you most of all to the great players sitting behind me,” Sabathia said. “I am so proud and humbled to join you as a Hall of Famer, even Ichiro, who stole my Rookie of the Year Award in 2001.”
Sabathia focused the bulk of his comments on the support he has received over the years from his friends and family, especially his wife, Amber.
“The first time we met was at a house party when I was a junior in high school,” Sabathia said. “We spent the whole night talking, and that conversation has been going on for 29 years.”
Parker, 74, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease on June 28, less than a month before the induction ceremony. Representing him at the dais was his son, Dave Parker II, and though the moment was bittersweet, it was hardly somber.
Parker II finished the speech with a moving poem written by his father that, for a few minutes, made it feel as if the player nicknamed “The Cobra” were present.
“Thanks for staying by my side,” Parker’s poem concluded. “I told y’all Cooperstown would be my last rap, so the star of Dave will be in the sky tonight. Watch it glow. But I didn’t lie in my documentary — I told you I wouldn’t show.”
Parker finished with 2,712 hits and 339 homers, won two Gold Gloves on the strength of his legendary right-field arm and was named NL MVP in 1978. He spent his first 11 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and entered the Hall representing the Bucs.
Wagner, whose 422 career saves ranks eighth on the all-time list, delivered an emotional but humorous speech about a small-town guy with a small-for-a-pitcher 5-foot-10 stature who made it big.
“I feel like my baseball life has come full circle,” Wagner said. “I was a fan before I could play. Back when baseball wasn’t so available on TV, every Saturday morning I watched Johnny Bench and so many of the other greats on a show ‘The Baseball Bunch.'”
In one of the moments of baseball serendipity that only Cooperstown can provide, the telecast flashed to Bench, sitting a few feet away from where Wagner was speaking.
Allen’s widow, Willa, delivered a touching tribute to her late husband, who died in 2020 after years of feeling overlooked for his outstanding career. The 1964 NL Rookie of the Year for the Phillies, Allen won the 1972 AL MVP for the Chicago White Sox.
“Baseball was his first love,” Willa said. “He used to say, ‘I’d have played for nothing,’ and I believe he meant it. But of course, if you compare today’s salary, he played almost for nothing.”
Willa focused on the softer side of a player who in his time was perhaps unfairly characterized for a contentious relationship with the media.
“He was devoted to people, not just fans, but especially his teammates,” Willa said. “If he heard someone was sick or going through a tough time, he’ll turn to me and say, ‘Willa, they have to hear from us.'”
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Alden Gonzalez
The Atlanta Braves acquired veteran starting pitcher Erick Fedde from the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later or cash, both teams announced Sunday.
As part of the deal, the Cardinals will cover the majority of what remains of Fedde’s $7.5 million salary for 2025, a source told ESPN.
Fedde, 32, is a free agent at season’s end, making him a surprising pickup for a Braves team that was swept by the Texas Rangers over the weekend and is 16 games below .500, trailing the first-place New York Mets by 16½ games.
But the Braves have sustained a slew of injuries to their starting rotation of late, with AJ Smith-Shawver (torn ulnar collateral ligament), Spencer Schwellenbach (fractured elbow), Chris Sale (fractured ribcage) and, more recently, Grant Holmes (elbow inflammation) landing on the injured list since the start of June.
Fedde reestablished himself in South Korea in 2023, parlaying a dominant season into a two-year, $15 million contract to return stateside with the Chicago White Sox. Fedde continued that success in 2024, posting a 3.30 ERA in 177⅓ innings with the White Sox and Cardinals.
This year, though, it has been a struggle for a crafty right-hander who doesn’t generate a lot of strikeouts. Twenty starts in, Fedde is 3-10 with a 5.22 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.
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