Colorado Avalanche: Landeskog Best Combine Interview. Who’s the Worst?

Unsurprisingly, Gabriel Landeskog gave great character interviews when he attended his Combine in 2011. A surprising player gave a terrible interview in 2012.

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog gives good interviews. Apparently he always has. Recently, former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke talked about some of the interviews he conducted when he was with the team.

Landeskog attended the 2011 NHL Combine ahead of the his 2011 draft. Part of the proceedings at the Combine are for players to hold interviews with representatives from the team. These representatives include the general manager and scouts and sometimes coaches. Sometimes even the team owner is involved.

The interviews are perhaps one of the most important aspects of the Combine. The team will already have been talking to players they’re interested in. The Combine interview gives them a chance to get a feel for their character. They’re trying to understand the motivation and drive of the player to see if he’d be a good team fit.

Well, in the 2011 NHL Combine, the Leafs had two first-round picks, but they weren’t until 22 and 25. Landeskog was never going to fall that far — he was scouted solidly at #2, his draft position.

Nonetheless, Burke and the Leafs entourage interviewed him at the Combine. And he impressed. Here’s what Burke said of him:

"“He finished his interview and we wanted to have him sit down, help us talk to the other kids. I think he’ll be a general manager in the league. I really do. I really respect him.”"

Oh, yeah, Landeskog the ambassador — or one-day general manager. Maybe when Joe Sakic retires, he can take over the GM job the way he took over the captaincy. (Yes, there were two other captains in between, but Landeskog is second only to Sakic in tenure.)

Obviously we don’t have Landeskog’s Combine interviews, but here he is mic’d up on his draft day:

Look at him working the crowd! He was so young. I also just love all the nice things he said about the Avalanche.

More from Mile High Sticking

The Colorado Avalanche went into the 2011 NHL Draft looking for a leader, knowing as they did that Milan Hejduk wouldn’t captain the team for that much longer. They found exactly that in Landeskog.

Now, this whole conversation with Burke came about because he was dishing on who his worst Combine interview has ever been. And, to be honest, it’s surprising. He named another player, and one who spent a brief amount of time with Colorado.

Nail Yakupov. Burke said his worst-ever interview was Yakupov, whom he talked to the following season.

In 2012, Leafs had the #5 pick in the draft. So they were probably looking more closely at players who were scouted to go high. Nail Yakupov was the top-rated North American skater — he’d spent the last two seasons with the Sarnia Sting.

So, Burke did his due diligence and interviewed Yakupov. Here’s what he said of the interview:

"“He was defiant, obnoxious, and sullen. John Lilley, one of our scouts … almost fought him in the interview, so it was not a good interview.”"

Wow, I mean, just wow. He never carried even the tiniest hint of that kind of behavior with the Avs. In fact, he was always very willing to give interviews for the Avalanche, and he was never anything but polite and nice.

Here’s an interview he gave at the Combine for, interestingly enough, Leafs TV:

Sure, he’s pretty serious in this interview, but I think that’s expected. I sense no impatience.

Now, admittedly some teams try to push players’ triggers at the Combine to see how they’ll react. They’re specifically looking for pressure points. They’ll often critique a player’s game.

I don’t know if that’s what the Leafs team did with Yakupov — knowing how intensely they take their hockey, I’m going to guess yes. Whatever happened, it made up Burke’s mind:

"“We weren’t going to take him. His draft interview was the worst interview I’ve ever had in my life. Terrible.”"

Well, they didn’t have to make that decision. Apparently the Edmonton Oilers weren’t bothered by their interview with Yakupov, and they selected him first-overall.

Well, things didn’t work out with Nail Yakupov and the Colorado Avalanche, though I never heard it had anything to do with attitude. Yakupov is back in Russia playing for the KHL. And our 2011 selection is our captain.