Sabres get two top performers at Scouting Combine

Saturday, 06.27.2015 / 11:55 AM

By Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor / 2015 NHL Draft blog

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2015 NHL Draft blog
Sabres get two top performers at Scouting Combine

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Two of the players who performed best during the physical testing at the NHL Scouting Combine earlier this month in Buffalo were Boston University center Jack Eichel and Prince Albert Raiders defenseman Brendan Guhle.

They're now teammates with the Buffalo Sabres, who used the No. 2 pick of the 2015 NHL Draft on Friday to select Eichel. On Saturday, they selected Guhle at No. 51 in the second round.

"It's good city for me so far," Guhle said of Buffalo.

The 6-foot-1, 184-pound defenseman had five goals and 32 points in 72 games. But at the Combine he scored in the top 10 in seven categories, matching Eichel for the most among the prospects.

His best result came on the Wingate Ergometer stationary bike test, which measures a skater's explosive power in a 30-second burst. His score of 19.9 dwarfed the leader in that category at the 2014 Combine, Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Nylander, who had a 17.5.

Guhle also had the best long jump at 122 inches; the fourth-highest vertical leap at 27 inches; tied for the third-most pull-ups with 12; tied for the fifth-fastest in the pro agility test starting right at 4.39 seconds; the seventh-fasted in the pro agility starting left at 4.47 seconds; and tied for the seventh-most repetitions on the bench press with 15.

"I was surprised about a couple things I did well," Guhle said of his Combine performance. "Better than I thought I did. And the interview went really well."

Guhle said he thought after his success at the Combine that the Sabres could be a landing spot for him.

"I had a pretty good feeling about them," he said. "And they had a lot of picks, which is a good sign."

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