2026 NHL Draft Combine Schedule, Changes And Previous Records
The annual NHL draft combine is underway in Buffalo this week, featuring some of the future stars we'll see in the NHL.
NHL teams will get official measurements of plenty of 2026 draft-eligible players, such as Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, Chase Reid, Caleb Malhorta and Keaton Verhoeff, and will also have the opportunity to speak with them and see them participate in physical tests.
The scouting combine takes place at the KeyBank Center and LECOM HarborCenter. The NHL draft, which is set for June 26 and 27, will also take place in Buffalo.
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Records And Fun Facts
Although the combine can be a great indicator of the physical traits players have developed or lack, it's not the be-all and end-all.
In the past, Sam Bennett or Casey Mittelstadt failed to do a single pull-up at the combine, but both players have gone on to have long NHL careers. In other cases, we've seen players impress at the combine but fail to make the NHL.
Since 2015, the five players with the most pull-ups all took part in the 2022 scouting combine:
1. Jack Hughes (Los Angeles, 51st overall in 2022): 19 pull-ups
T-2. Lane Hutson (Montreal, 62nd in '22): 18 pull-ups
T-2. Jake Karabela (Washington, 149th in '22), 18 pull-ups
T-4. Julian Lutz (Arizona, 43rd in '22), 17 pull-ups
T-4. Matthew Poitras (Boston, 54th in '22), 17 pull-ups
Of that top five, only Hutson and Poitras have played NHL games so far, and the latter spent most of this season in the AHL. Hutson, meanwhile, has the third-most career points by players drafted in 2022, with 146 in 166 games. He also leads the class in career points per game among those who played at least five games, with 0.88.
In the agility test, we've seen outstanding times since results were published online in 2014, highlighted by Toronto Maple Leafs top prospect Easton Cowan. He set the combine record in 2023 with a time of 4.07 seconds. Anaheim Ducks prospect Stian Solberg ranks second with a time of 4.10.
The most recent record set was by Pittsburgh Penguins prospect William Horcoff in 2025. He set the record for the longest horizontal jump, at 124.80 inches.
Although most tests haven't been tracked online as long, the longest-standing combine record is Sean Farmer's 196.9-pound grip strength result in 1995.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 9:58 AM.