The 2025 NHL scouting combine in Buffalo featured a decentralized draft where team executives conducted evaluations remotely. This shift affected traditional practices, such as taking prospects to dinner and personal meetings with their families. Instead, team personnel utilized designated suites for structured interviews. Prospects experienced intense schedules, moving quickly between interviews described by one as a 'gauntlet.' The changes reflect a significant evolution in how teams assess players, with a greater emphasis on prior evaluations to minimize casual interactions.
The decentralized draft means execs cannot take prospects to dinner or meet families, impacting traditional evaluation methods before draft night.
The scouting combine's setup allows teams to interview players extensively, with general managers and scouting department leaders present, streamlining the evaluation process.
Prospects are subjected to a tight schedule during the combine, moving from room to room for interviews, which one player humorously called the 'interrogation gauntlet.'
Top prospects typically won't meet with teams unlikely to draft them, focusing on teams with higher picks to optimize their pre-draft interactions.
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