2018 Draft diary: Brady Tkachuk

Boston University freshman left wing Brady Tkachuk (6-foot-3, 196 pounds), No. 2 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2018 NHL Draft, had 31 points (eight goals, 23 assists), 131 shots on goal and a plus-15 rating in 40 games this season. He's the son of United States Hockey Hall of Fame member Keith Tkachuk and the younger brother of Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk. Brady has offered to maintain a diary for NHL.com, leading up to the NHL Draft in Dallas on June 22-23. In his most recent entry, Tkachuk recaps his experience at the 2018 NHL Scouting Combine.

Hey everyone!
The last day of the NHL Scouting Combine means it's time for fitness testing. After a week filled with interviews and meetings it all winds up with my body being put to the test.
All week I've been waking up at 7:30 a.m. to get ready for interviews so it became habit to get up then, but I was glad my testing was at 11:30 this morning so I could rest a little more. I just sat in bed for another hour or two and kept quiet so I didn't wake up my roommate, Quinn Hughes.
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Quinn didn't go through testing today because he just got back from playing for the United States at World Championships about a week ago, but I had to bust his chops for not doing it. He needs the time off after a long season with Michigan as well as playing at the World Junior Championship with me, but I may have called him a little soft just for fun.
After that I had breakfast and headed back to the room to get ready a little bit earlier than usual and just warmed up a couple of times. The worst part is sitting on the bench waiting to go, but I'm glad it's over with now.

I tried the hardest I could and my scores weren't too great, but I did do well with my pullups. The Tkachuks have a reputation for not being very good jumpers so my jumping scores weren't too good. It's OK though, I can do better at that later with offseason workouts and off-ice stuff.
I was trying to find little ways to improve my score at the jump station and make my highest jump better. That may sound like I'm cheating but if you're not cheating, you're not trying. I tried kicking my legs up to get a couple extra inches but the guy caught me so I couldn't cheat; I just had to jump. I'm not a great jumper but it comes with strength and that's somewhere I can definitely improve myself.

The best part about going through the testing was having my friend Oliver Wahlstrom (No. 7 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters) there with me. We kept each other loose by having fun with it and joking around a bit. Whenever he had a good score I'd tell him something like, "That's an awesome jump, I wish I could do that," and stuff like that.
It's a pretty healthy competition between us and we both pushed each other. He's a strong, big kid and I think the only test I had on him was pullups.
Now that the combine is over, I'm headed to Washington with a few of the other prospects to be at Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final (on Monday). I haven't been to a Stanley Cup Final game since Game 6 of the 2013 Final in Boston between the Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks when Chicago won the Cup.
I'm really excited for the draft on June 22 because at the end of the day I know I tried my hardest and proved to teams who I am, and now it's up to them to decide on who they're going to take.