Buffalo Sabres hope to host future NHL Combine
The Buffalo Sabres plan to put a bid in this month to host the NHL Combine. Sabres vice president of public and community relations, Mike Gilbert, confirmed that the team is indeed in the works of pitching the idea to those involved.
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The Sabres franchise has spent a great deal of time putting together the a package to show why they are the best place for the event.
"“There’s a lot of teams that are expressing interest in hosting some future Combines,” said Dan Marr, director of NHL Central Scouting. “There’s interest, but Buffalo has had a strong agenda and a strong presentation that they’d like to become the home of the Combine.”"
The center of the pitch seems to be the HarborCenter. The complex will have two ice rinks, a fitness center and a hotel, which makes it a one-stop-shop for the Combine. Interviewing players as well as undergoing the fitness portion of the event all under one roof would be incredibly appealing factor.
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In addition, hosting the Combine at the HarborCenter will allow for an on-ice portion of testing to be created. This is somewhat controversial at the moment. Some are saying that an on-ice test would be unfair to those players who finished their season the week before testing. Others may have been finished for months. Some sort of exhaustion factor would need to be placed on scores if this was to be done.
Whether or not the event will indeed move to Buffalo, the Sabre’s have an excellent pitch that is keeping everyone thinking about the future of the Combine.