Dennis Cholowski

Dennis Cholowski, the Red Wings' top pick in 2016, takes center stage with members of the front ice (from left: Ken Holland, Kris Draper, Tyler Wright, Jeff Finley, Marty Stein).

(AP file photo)

DETROIT - They've watched them play and gathered data from a variety of sources. Now the Detroit Red Wings are off to the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo to meet face-to-face with some of the players they will draft next month.

Teams begin interviewing prospects today at First Niagara Center. The Red Wings are scheduled to meet with 12-15 players per day through Friday, a total of between 65 and 70. Prospects undergo medical screenings Thursday and about a dozen off-ice fitness tests on Saturday, including bench press repetitions, standing long jump, vertical jump, pull-ups, push-ups and medicine ball throw.

The Red Wings have 11 selections in the draft, which is June 23-24 at Chicago's United Center, including the ninth overall pick.

"The amateur scouts and management spends the entire year on the road watching them play and certainly there's a lot of interviewing and due diligence that goes into the process prior to the combine," Red Wings assistant general manager Ryan Martin said. "You're interviewing coaches, you're interviewing teammates, you're interviewing billet families, strength coaches, opposing coaches.

"The hockey world is really small. You can learn a lot of information about players by talking to people. So, when you get to the Combine, hopefully you got a book on the player as it relates to his on-ice performance and you also have a book on the player in terms of his character and what makes him tick. Then you utilize your 15 minutes with them at the Combine to hopefully dig deeper and drill down on some issues the player may have."

Martin, general manager Ken Holland, assistant to the GM Kris Draper, director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright, chief amateur scout Jeff Finley and scout Andrew Dickson will be among the Red Wings' contingent.

"I don't want to describe it as an intimidating environment, but it's a job interview of sorts," Martin said. "They're in a suit and there's six, seven or eight scouts and management sitting around. It can be an intimidating process, so you see how players handle that and you talk to them about their upbringing and their background, and if there's red flags that have come up through the year watching them, they can address those. It's really part of the due diligence process and it's a chance for us to learn more about them."

Centers Nolan Patrick (Brandon, WHL) and Nico Hischier (Halifax, QMJHL) will be among 104 prospects at the Combine. They are expected to be the top two picks, in either order, going to New Jersey and Philadelphia.

After that, the field is fairly wide-open, with maybe a dozen or so players that could go in any order.

The Red Wings' biggest needs are on defense and at center. There are several centers, in addition to Patrick and Hischier, expected to be selected in the first half of the first round. They include Gabriel Vilardi (Windsor, OHL), Casey Mittelstadt (Eden Prairie, Minn., High School), Cody Glass (Portland, WHL), Martin Necas (Brno, Czech Republic), Michael Rasmussen (Tri City, WHL), Elias Pettersson (Timra, Sweden) and Nick Suzuki (Owen Sound, OHL).

The top defense prospects are Miro Heiskanen (HIFK, Finland), Cale Makar (Brooks, AJHL), Timothy Liljegren (Rogue Jr., Sweden), Jusso Valimaki (Tri City, WHL) and Callan Foote (Kelowna, WHL).

Top wingers include Owen Tippett (Mississauga, OHL), Eeli Tolvanen (Sioux City, USHL), Klim Kostin (Dynamo Moscow), Lias Andersson (HV71, Sweden), and Kristian Vesalainen (Rotunda, Sweden).

Martin said the club's highest pick since 1990 doesn't change what they'll do at the Combine, other than conduct a few more interviews with players projected to go high.

"We still interviewed quite a few players at the top of the draft even when we weren't picking as high as we are now because you never know - Cam Fowler and Zach Werenski fell further than expected," Martin said. "(Former Red Wings assistant GM) Jim Nill tells the story that they didn't even interview Jiri (Fischer) because they didn't think he'd be there picking as late as they did (25th in 1998), and he was.

"Other than one or two guys, there really is no clear-cut group of top 5, 10 players. I think everybody's lists are going to be different. So that's even more reason to get a better book on a more variety of players."

He added: "You always have to prepare for trade scenarios that may involve guys that really aren't on the list of where you might pick."