This time last year, when the Bruins bosses gathered in Buffalo for the annual NHL Combine, Brandon Carlo was among their interviewees. The defenseman did not give his future employers the impression that he was only 18 years old.
“He was really, really focused,’’ recalled director of amateur scouting Keith Gretzky. “He was quiet. He was really mature for his age.
“When you compare that to a younger kid who’s really raw and is like a deer in headlights, you can tell, ‘OK, this player is going to take a little longer. He’s got to mature. He’s got to realize what it’s going to be like to be a pro.’?’’
It is probably no coincidence, then, that Carlo, picked No. 37 overall, is the most NHL-ready of the 10 Bruins’ picks from 2015. After completing his junior career with the Tri-City Americans, Carlo landed in Providence and played in eight games, including one postseason appearance.
In all likelihood, Carlo will return to Providence in the fall to launch his first full professional season. The Bruins are hoping his AHL internship will not last long.
“We all thought Carlo was the most ready last year of the players because he was so mature,’’ Gretzky said. “He can skate. He’s big and strong. All those things play in.’’
The Bruins, currently sitting at 14th overall and either No. 29 or No.?30 in the first round of this year’s draft, depending on San Jose’s result, are conducting a similar exercise this week in Buffalo at this year’s combine.
For the first four days of the week, the 30 NHL teams will interview the 114 draft-eligible players scheduled to attend. On Friday, the players will undergo physicals. The combine will conclude at Buffalo’s HarborCenter Saturday with testing, including the dreaded Wingate bike spin, which measures a player’s power output and his threshold for keeping down his breakfast.
The draft is the NHL’s annual dart-throwing ritual. There are can’t-miss exceptions such as Connor McDavid in 2015. Toronto, Winnipeg, and Columbus, owners of the first three picks in 2016, have a good idea even before they see combine results that Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, and Jesse Puljujarvi will be the names they call at the draft June 24.
But for the most part, it is impossible to determine with certainty how a pimply Instagrammer will develop into an NHL veteran with kids to feed and a mortgage to pay — if he does so at all.
With that in mind, the combine is the NHL’s attempt to provide additional data points for crystal-ballers such as Gretzky to interpret. The Bruins, whose draft misses have contributed to their back-to-back playoff no-shows, need all the information they can get.
“The biggest thing for me is it’s a chance to sit down, get to know the players, and see what they’re like,’’ Gretzky said. “We’ve done our background on all the players. Our scouts in each area do interviews during the year. They make a lot of phone calls and find out information about players. We’re not caught off guard.’’
This will be the third time for Gretzky to lead his staff into the combine. In 2014, the in-person impression they got from David Pastrnak helped convince the Bruins to pick the right wing 25th overall.
Last year, eight of the 10 players the Bruins ended up drafting attended the combine. Daniel Vladar, the goalie the Bruins picked in the third round, had the longest wingspan (84 inches) of any player. Jesse Gabrielle, their fourth-round pick, churned out the combine’s highest average power output during the Wingate test. Zach Senyshyn, one of the team’s first-rounders, recorded a 115-inch leap on the standing long jump, a good test of skating power. Jack Eichel, taken second overall by Buffalo, also scored a 115-inch jump.
The intelligence gathered at the combine, however, is like the draft itself: an inexact science. Agents and family advisers coach their clients to provide the answers teams prefer during interviews. Strength coaches train players specifically for the physical tests, such as the Wingate, VO2 Max, vertical and long jumps, bench press, and pull-ups. There is no on-ice component at the combine, a shortcoming that continues to mystify many around the game.
So like the in-season viewings, interviews, and study of statistics, the combine is just another resource for teams to employ. It is up to each organization to determine how much or how little to weigh its results.
“Everything,’’ said Gretzky, “is a piece of the puzzle.’’
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.
