In his final semester at Biddeford High, Brian Dumoulin has kept his focus on two things – finishing his senior year and working out in preparation for the NHL scouting combine.
Dumoulin is one of the 104 players from around the world who was invited to the combine, which will be held May 25-30 in Toronto. On Tuesday, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau released its list of final rankings for the draft, which will be held June 26-27 in Montreal.
Dumoulin, 17, is ranked 61st among North American skaters, at the top of the third-round projections for the NHL draft.
"I knew I'd be up in that region, but it's hard to tell what people are thinking because so many lists are different," said Dumoulin, a defenseman who played for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs this season. "I've done Google searches and the highest I've seen myself is 47th, but you never know what teams are thinking. You don't know anything, really, until you get drafted."
But Dumoulin said if he does get drafted, he still plans to play at Boston College this fall.
"I'm pretty sure that if you're in the top 10 in the draft, you're immediately offered a contract," Dumoulin said.
"But I'll definitely be attending BC in the fall. From that point, my progression through my freshman year, I'll get evaluated by the team that drafts me. If a team that drafts me feels like I can enter their system, then I'll go from there."
The Central Scouting Bureau's list is made up of 210 skaters and 30 goalies who play in the United States and Canada, and its European list is made up of 200 skaters and 13 goalies.
The NHL draft consists of seven rounds and 211 selections.
Candidates for the draft list are selected on the basis of scouting reports.
The list is calculated by a computer and then debated by NHL scouts, who have the final say on a player's ranking. The final list is used by NHL teams as a blueprint to properly assess potential draft picks.
"It's a subjective debate, but you're trying to be objective about a subjective thing," said Gary Eggleston, who scouts eastern-based U.S. prospects for the Central Scouting Bureau. "There are things that are hard to read in evaluating a player's performance, but we do the best we can about projecting."
Eggleston estimates he's seen Dumoulin at least 18 times since July, when Dumoulin competed at the USA Select player development camp in St. Cloud, Minn.
He said Dumoulin's size, skills, strength and decision-making stood out.
"What most impressed me is how he seemed to figure out things so much better," Eggleston said. "Going from Biddeford High School to the Eastern Junior Hockey League was quite a step but he was able to do it. He played with more confidence later in the season, and he always made the right play."
Dumoulin played on Biddeford's Class A state championship teams in 2007 and 2008 before opting for junior hockey this past winter.
In 41 games with the Monarchs of the Eastern Junior Hockey League, he scored seven goals and 23 assists.
The Monarchs' season ended in March and since then, Dumoulin has been training four days a week in Somersworth, N.H., with the Monarchs' strength coach, Bill Stewart, and a former teammate, Greg Burke, who was drafted last year by the Washington Capitals.
His training includes everything from flexibility exercises to core strengthening, power lifting and sprinting, as well as extensive time on a stationary bike.
Two tests at the combine involve bike work: one that measures power and resistance, and a second that measures an individual's oxygen efficiency during exercise (VO2 test) – regarded as one of the most grueling tests at the combine.
At the combine, Dumoulin also will go through an extensive battery of psychological tests, as well as interviews by representatives of NHL teams. Several teams already have contacted Dumoulin, including the Capitals,...
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