Shane Pinto: My NHL Scouting Combine experience

Shane Pinto poses for a portrait at the 2019 NHL Scouting Combine. (Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images)

When Shane Pinto woke up on May 27, he was feeling both excited and nervous.

The 2019 National Hockey League Scouting Combine, which took place at KeyBank Center and HarborCenter in Buffalo from that day through June 1, was about to get under way. The first five days would feature one-on-one interviews between prospects and NHL organizations in the KeyBank Center’s suites. Fitness tests were on the docket for the final day.

“It was pretty nerve-racking because I had five interviews the first day, and the first one was with the Ottawa Senators,” the 18-year-old center from Franklin Square, N.Y., said. “I was really nervous. You’re going into a room with the management of an NHL team.”

Pinto was still feeling exhilarated by the end of the opening day, except he was much more relaxed.

“I was like, ‘Wow! This is awesome! I’m meeting with all these teams. So many kids would want to do this right now,’ ” he remembered. “So, I just enjoyed it and went with it.”The opportunity to participate in the annual NHL event was well-deserved for Pinto. The 6-foot-2, 192-pounder split this past season, his rookie campaign in the United States Hockey League, with the Lincoln Stars and Tri-City Storm and totaled 59 points (28-31-59) in 56 games. In six Clark Cup playoff contests with the Storm, he notched nine points (4-5-9).

A University of North Dakota commit, Pinto sits 28th among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings for the 2019 NHL draft, which will be held June 21-22 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. And the odds of him being selected by a team he spoke with at the combine are very high considering he was interviewed by 28 of the 31 NHL clubs.

Pinto revealed that he wasn’t asked what he would label “tough questions” during those meetings. However, there were two questions that he deemed more difficult than the others.

“Everyone asked how I would defend myself — not fighting wise — if I was an opposing defenseman,” Pinto said. “That was a tricky question because I didn’t really think about it. Another one they asked was what three words or qualities would I use to describe myself?”

For the first question, he didn’t say too much.

“I didn’t want to seem arrogant, you know?” Pinto chuckled.

For the latter one, he replied with “whatever was in my head.”

“I didn’t think about it too much,” Pinto elaborated. “That’s the thing when you go into these interviews — you can’t overthink it. You just have to speak what’s on your mind.”

The two weirdest questions included a picture of a school bus and a water bottle.

“I had to look at this school bus and determine which way it was going, and you didn’t see the bus driver on the side,” Pinto recounted.

What was the answer?

“I don’t even know,” he said with a laugh. “I couldn’t tell you. I was confused. I had no idea what was going on. It was funny.”

Also amusing was when the Montreal Canadiens made him throw a water bottle into a box from a far distance.

“They asked me, ‘How confident are you in yourself? How far do you think you can go where you know you’ll make it for sure?’ ” Pinto said. “I went pretty far, and I made it.”

In addition to being asked questions during the interviews, Pinto also experienced a multitude of memorable moments, none greater than meeting four hockey immortals.

“When I met with the Detroit Red Wings, I got to meet (executive vice president and general manager) Steve Yzerman,” he said. “He’s a legend and to meet him was awesome. Then I got to meet (Los Angeles Kings president and alternate governor) Luc Robitaille and (Kings vice president and general manager) Rob Blake. Those two guys are legends in hockey. And meeting (New York Islanders president of hockey operations and general manager) Lou Lamoriello was definitely cool. He’s such a big figure in hockey.”

Pinto admitted that the thought of meeting Lamoriello was scary at first, but his fears were quickly dispelled.

“Once I got in there and met him, I felt comfortable with him,” Pinto explained. “He’s a really nice guy. We were laughing and enjoying the whole thing. He was nice to me and we got to know each other. I had a really good time with him. He’s a really good guy.”

The biggest things Pinto learned about NHL organizations during the interview stage are that “it’s a business” and “character is everything.”

“They know you’re a good player,” he added. “If you look at all the questions they ask, they are making sure you had a good upbringing and want to find out what kind of person you are and what kind of person you will be. They really care about character.”

Pinto was able to showcase another side of him during the fitness tests, which he prepared for ahead of the combine.

“You learn about the tests when you watch the top prospects in recent drafts and look guys up and watch them work out,” he said. “I did all the testing with my trainer at Institute 3E in Eisenhower Park (in East Meadow, Long Island) and learned little things about it. You’ve been working out your whole life, but you want to get acclimated to the tests, and that’s what we did for three weeks.”

The preparation proved to be beneficial for Pinto, who feels he performed “pretty well.”

He most enjoyed doing the pull-ups test.

“I did 12,” Pinto stated, “and by the sixth one I was thinking, ‘I feel good right now.’ ”

The most challenging test for him was the Aerobic Fitness VO2max. During this test, which measures a player’s endurance and stamina, the athlete gives maximum effort on a stationary bike for as long as physically possible with limited recovery time.

However, despite the test’s difficulty, Pinto took pride in his performance.

“You go as hard as you can for as long as you can, and I felt good on it,” he asserted.

With the combine behind him, Pinto is now planning on savoring the remaining days before the draft.

“You can’t control anything now,” he said. “It’s all up to (the NHL teams). You just have to enjoy it. Once the combine was over, I had nothing to worry about. It’s all up to them now.”

Pinto will continue to work out to get “bigger and stronger” before leaving for Vancouver on the eve of the draft. Once there, he intends on exploring the city and checking out the sights for the rest of that day.

Concluded Pinto: “And then draft day comes, and it’s all business from there. It’s nerve-racking, but I’m just going to try to enjoy the whole thing.”