Travelling Through Hyperspace Ain't Like Dusting Crops, Boy!

Sage wisdom, especially on draft day.

No, travelling through hyperspace is not like dusting crops - in the same way that playing junior hockey is not like playing in the NHL. The two levels of play are vastly different and the number of draft picks that go down in flames greatly dwarfs the number of people blown away on Alderaan.

You can look it up.

Which is why I'm left wondering why the NHL does not have a pre-draft combine or on-ice workouts. Or maybe they do. Can anyone tell me that? I believe the teams have physicals done on the players and conduct interviews with them. But do they make prospects get on the ice and do any drills? If they don't, why not? And if they do, why don't we hear about it?

The NHL needs to hold an NFL-style combine where most, if not all, prospects and herded out onto the ice and put through drills so teams can see how they stack up - much like the Skywalkers' going through the droid selection of the Jawa's. Isn't this the only way to find out if what you're going to buy has a bad motivator?

Failing that, do teams hold individual on-ice workouts with prospects they like, much the same as teams do in the NBA? Wouldn't you want to see how a player performs when dealing with your coaching staff? Seems to me if I had a high, first round pick I'd be all over the prospects, having them run drills and seeing how they perform. I'd be going over them closer than Admiral Ackbar going over Death Star plans. From the outside looking in, it seems that NHL teams rely very, very heavily on video and scouting, which is fine if your scouts do a good job. But if it was me, I'd be a little more hands on.

And since we're sort of talking about it anyway...

If Sydney Crosby is Luke Skywalker, does that make Alex Ovechkin Han Solo? You know, he's a little bit bigger, got more of an attitude, less of a whiner and the guy that people just generally like better. Sure Skywalker got all the glory but wouldn't you rather have a beer with Solo? Food for thought.