Prospects’ interviews with teams are a mixed bag — no young player has talked his way onto a club, although a few have hurt their chances when talking with teams. Everything is open to interpretation and scouts’ predispositions. Scouts have a unique talent for talking themselves into supposedly character-challenged players and out of reputed Boy Scouts. William Nylander’s interviews were a priority for teams with picks in the top 15 at the draft, mostly because of their views of his father.

One scout who gave Nylander high grades based on performance came away from the combine pegging him as aloof and “really full of himself.” The scout mentioned that he spotted Nylander wearing jeans and sneakers but no shirt and walking with a bunch of prospects over to a restaurant down the street from the hotel, stuff that passes for rock stars but not NHL players.

Another scout who knew Michael was willing to give both son and father the benefit of the doubt.

“He was pretty much the kid I thought he would be. He grew up around NHL arenas, so he knows the drill. Polite, considered his answers, didn’t tell you what he thought you wanted to hear. Talking to him, I didn’t get the idea that he was aware of his father’s reputation around the league. I asked him if he liked the game — you know, it’s a problem if a kid is just doing it because his father pushed him into it. That wasn’t the case, though. I thought he was pretty genuine about loving the game and just being around the arena. At the end of the day, you have to say that maybe [Michael] was a pain in the ass, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his kid’s best interests in mind.”