Top 2025 Draft Prospects Put Through The Paces At NHL Scouting Combine

Looking through the newly released lists of the top historical performers in fitness testing at the NHL Scouting Combine, it’s clear that the correlation between high test results and NHL success is, let’s say, loose.

There are certainly some familiar stars among the top 20 all-time performers in each of the eight categories, as well as some developing players who have not yet reached the NHL level.

All told, it’s a reminder that physical testing is only one component of the combine, and not a clear predictor of future NHL success. The formal part of 2025 edition, which ran from June 2-7 in Buffalo, also included medical evaluations and the opportunities for teams to meet with the 90 prospects on hand and get to know them better ahead of the 2025 Draft later this month. And with the draft moving to a decentralized format that won’t bring hockey’s powerbrokers together in Los Angeles, this year’s combine was also an important opportunity for GMs and agents to gather and start laying the foundation for off-season trades and signings.

From a medical standpoint, the biggest news of the week is that top prospects Matthew Schaefer and Roger McQueen were cleared to participate in the fitness testing despite missing large parts of their seasons due to injuries.

Schaefer, a defenseman with the OHL’s Erie Otters, went wire-to-wire as the top-ranked North American skater in the 2024-25 rankings from NHL Central Scouting. After a standout showing as captain of Canada’s gold-medal team at last summer’s Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, Schaefer posted 22 points in 17 games with Erie last fall before breaking his clavicle at the wold junior championship.

While pronouncing himself “fully healed,” Schaefer did not take part in the upper-body-centric bench press or pull-up tests at the combine, “because I haven’t been doing that,” he told reporters. He did rank 15th in the grueling VO2Max bike test of aerobic fitness and measured well in both peak and mean anaerobic performance and grip strength.

McQueen, a center with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings who clocked in at 6-foot-5.25 and 198 pounds, brings the kind of size in the middle that NHL teams covet. But he has struggled with back issues for the last two years. After missing five months of the 2024-25 regular season, he returned to the Wheat Kings in March, but played just three playoff games before being sidelined once again.

Originally misdiagnosed with a bulging disk, a surgeon discovered a spinal fracture during McQueen’s time off this season, and got him on a proper healing regimen. The playoff injury was a muscle issue related to the fracture, McQueen told reporters this week. After two weeks of healing, he’s now at 100 percent.

Sitting eighth among North American skaters in the Central Scouting rankings despite having missed so much time, McQueen passed his medical at the combine and took part in all the fitness tests. His best showing was an eighth-place finish in the horizontal jump.

Two other top-ranked prospects were not able to participate in the fitness testing. Carter Bear, a left wing with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, was leading his team in scoring with 82 points in 56 games when he suffered a partial tear of his Achilles tendon in early March.

Ranked 10th among North American skaters, Bear is back on the ice and told reporters at the combine that his physiotherapist says he’s a month ahead of schedule in his recovery. Because he has just begun doing weight-bearing exercises on his injured leg, he did not take part in any of the fitness testing, but expects to be 100 percent for training camp.

Caleb Desnoyers, ranked seventh among North American skaters, attended the combine just days after his Moncton Wildcats were eliminated in the semi-final of the CHL’s 2025 Memorial Cup. He also did not test, as he is dealing with wrist issues.

After their draft-lottery win a month ago, the New York Islanders hold the top pick in the 2025 draft. According to Mike Morreale of NHL.com, new Islanders GM Mathieu Darche took nothing for granted, interviewing more than 60 of the 90 players on hand at the combine over the course of the week.

Another hot topic around the 2025 NHL Scouting Combine was the new opportunity for CHL players to join NCAA squads starting next season. The biggest names at the combine who have announced their intention to change tracks next year were 17th-ranked left wing Malcolm Spence of the Erie Otters, who’s headed to the University of Michigan, and 25th-ranked center Cole Reschny of the Victoria Royals, who has committed to the University of North Dakota. Other participants have yet to make their final decisions; some will be visiting schools during the weeks leading up to the draft on June 27-28.