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NHL Draft Combine Test

The annual NHL Draft involves interviews, medical screenings, and fitness tests over a four-day period. All 30 NHL teams send representatives to watch the testing and to take part in the interviewing of the young prospects. To see for yourself what goes on at the draft camp, see these videos.

Interview

Possibly the most important part of the testing weekend is the daunting 20-minute face-to face with team personnel. Some teams include a sports psychologist among their staff of individuals at the interview table.

Psychological evaluation

This test was introduced in 2007 in response to the teams' request for a mental assessment of the potential draftees. The test consists of a two-part computer test of approximately an hour's length. The first part is a long series of questions about the prospect's personality, including such things as mental toughness and coachability. It includes 220 questions that you answer yes or no. One example was something like "if your coach was talking, would you interrupt him if he’s wrong". The second part of the evaluation is a mental efficiency test, which measures spatial awareness, decision speed, decision accuracy, concentration, and rates of mental fatigue. A shortened form of the second part was repeated immediately after the fitness testing component, to determine the how much the individual player's reactions decline under stress and fatigue.

Medical Evaluation

The medical portion of the testing took about a half an hour, and includes:

filling out of a medical questionnaire
questions and examination by doctors
photographs of the player
an eye test
two hand/eye coordination tasks

Fitness Testing

In total, the players are given 18 tests, lasting about an hour and a half for each player.

The tests include the following (not a complete list):

hand grip strength
wingspan which determines arm span or reach
push-ups
sit-ups
bench press: maximum number of reps at 150 pounds.
standing long jump
vertical jump
seated medicine ball throw
balance: balance on a balance board, and measured how many times you touched the floor in 60 seconds
agility: a few tests, one like the hexagon test there is an ‘X’ at the center of a circle and I had to jump from the ‘X’ to the top of the circle, then back to the ‘X’, then to the right side, then back to the ‘X’ and so on. There are sensors all around the circle to measure speed.
Wingate test 30 second bike test for anaerobic power (measures explosive speed and fatigue)
Aerobic Bike VO2max Test: endurance test measures VO2, heart rate, and duration of ability to pedal with differing resistance.

Skill Testing

The NHL is looking into adding an on-ice skill testing component to the test procedures for 2008.

Draft Camp Videos
AFL, NFL and NBA draft combine tests
Hockey SPARQ rating system
fitness testing for sports