The 2025 NHL Combine interviews are a player’s final exam. Teams talk to players all throughout the year, and there’s a good reason for that. They are trying to gain some insight into what makes them tick. I do that as well, and that’s why I interview as many players as I can. I have a process for this, and each season I fine-tune it. It can help me decide things about what a player is willing to do. What their drive is to make it. Is this a job or a lifestyle? These are a few things that I find important.
I don’t make much of these reported dinners. I don’t think the New York Islanders will draft Michael Misa because they took him out to dinner. This is just a small part of getting to know a player, and doing this with Misa, as an example, could be valuable for the future. But that’s far down the road.
Rumors
I’m already hearing a bunch of rumors about teams trading up or trading down. Here’s my feeling about this. I don’t expect any team to trade completely out of the Top 10. Do I think some teams will move down? I can make a case for the Buffalo Sabres to do this for the right package, and I don’t think Utah or Philadelphia will trade down. If I were Buffalo, I would trade down for a 2026 2nd-round pick to compensate for the one they traded, as some of what they are looking for can still be obtained through a pick swap. Will the Sharks obtain the first overall pick in a trade with the Islanders? No.
Colleges Are Recruiting in a Big Way
I expect Porter Martone to pick a college at some point. Same with presumptive first overall pick in 2026, Gavin McKenna. Jackson Smith is headed to Penn State. Cole Reschny is headed to North Dakota. Do I think more are heading this way? Yes, but I’m not sure how many, but I will keep an ear out for this. I expect many of the top prospects to say they’re undecided and announce it afterward to avoid all of the extra attention.
Adam Wodon is the managing editor of College Hockey News, and he had this to say about this developing situation.
“To me, it strikes me as somewhat amusing, because for decades, and even still today, hockey people said that NCAA was lesser because it played fewer games. Clearly, the NCAA path has not hurt the development of many high-end players over the years, but now we have guys directly leaving major junior for NCAA because they think it’s a better development option for them for that post-draft year. If McKenna chooses NCAA, it’s a drop-the-mic moment for college hockey.”
Stefen Rosner got a nice scoop. He found out that James Hagens had 16 interviews. If you want more great Islanders information like this, sign up for his substack
