NHL Draft Combine Wrap Up

The 2011 NHL Draft Combine wrapped up last weekend in Toronto, and here's a brief interview with Rocco Grimaldi following his fitness testing:

...and with JT Miller following his fitness testing:

Miller and Grimaldi were roommates at the Combine, and with Grimaldi wrapping up his fitness testing before Miller, apparently a little gamesmanship was in order. Here's an excerpt from this link that followed Miller and other Pittsburgh area prospects throughout the Combine:

Miller kept a daily blog for PittsburghPenguins.com for the first three days of the Combine (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), and he told us that his roommate here in Toronto was USNTDP teammate Rocco Grimaldi.

Grimaldi was in the first fitness testing group from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. So of course, I asked Rocco if he was going to return to the hotel and tell J.T. any horror stories. His response?

"Oh, absolutely. I’m going to get in his head and I’m going to try and make him a little bit nervous. But I’m not going to try and make him too nervous. He’ll be great here."

I then asked J.T. if he had heard from Rocco and he said, "I sure did." While Miller said he wasn't getting nervous, he did say he was getting "just a little intimidated."


Below is a summary of how the two Sioux recruits fared during the fitness testing portion of the Combine, and here is a link for the top ten for every test.

Sum of Six Skinfolds (mm)

T1   32.8 mm  Rocco Grimaldi

Percent Body Fat

T1   6.8%   Rocco Grimaldi

Hand Eye Coordination

5   24.3   JT Miller

Vertical Jump (Pause)

T9  28.3 inches   JT Miller

Vertical Jump (No Pause)

5   29.8 inches   Rocco Grimaldi

4 Jump - Avg. Jump Height

T6   24.2 inches   Rocco Grimaldi

Push Ups

4   39   Rocco Grimaldi

Push Strength (lb/lb body weight)

3   1.67   Rocco Grimaldi

Pull Strength

7   294 lbs.   JT Miller

Pull Strength (lb/lb body weight)

6   1.56   JT Miller