NHL Draft Prospect On Unique Meeting With Avalanche

There are plenty of stories out there about the strange questions NHL Draft prospects get asked at the combine.

“What do you want said about you at your funeral?”

”Do you want to be better than everyone else or the best?”

“What animal do you compare yourself to as a hockey player?”

“Would you take a $10 bill on the toilet seat or a $50 bill in the toilet?”

Bizarre questions that don’t have much to do with hockey, but teams try to do anything to get inside the mind of these young players. I’m sure the Colorado Avalanche are asking some unique questions at the NHL Draft Combine this year, but they’re also taking a slightly different approach.

Goaltender Mikhail Yegorov, who is rated as a third or fourth round prospect by various outlets, was asked which team stood out at the NHL Draft combine in the interview process. Stick tap to Sheng Peng from San Jose Hockey Now for sending me his interview, but Yegorov pointed out the…unique interview he had with the Avalanche.

“I would say Colorado, because we played some board games,” Yegorov said. “I remember beating their GM in one board game.”

Wait, is that good or bad to beat the GM in a board game? MacFarland is a pretty intelligent guy, after all.

”No, no, it was a good thing!” Yegorov said. “It was competitive, and I was really surprised that they did. They’re seeing things in kind of different way than other teams, and yeah, this more interactive interview, fewer questions, but it’s more of just games and communication during the games. Yeah, it was great, and I enjoyed it.”

I don’t really know if there’s one right or wrong way to approach interviews at the NHL Draft Combine, but this is sure one interesting way to go about it. You see how someone performs under a little bit of pressure and talk to them during the process. I think that’s a little better than asking someone how long it took for them to grow a mustache.

We’ll see if the Avalanche end up taking Yegorov with one of their later picks. Colorado picks 24th overall in the first round, but then won’t select again until the fourth round. The team could certainly use a goaltender in their system.

The NHL Draft will take place on June 28th and 29th this year in Las Vegas, and Colorado Hockey Now will be there for all the festivities. Draft content will be picking up here soon, as I just spoke to a scout about a few big defensemen that might be available at #24. Make sure you’re subscribed to CHN+ for access to that content and more.