Cole Eiserman of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program Under-18 Team is filing a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28-29. The 17-year-old left wing (6-foot, 195 pounds) and native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, is No. 12 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters for the 2024 draft. He was second on the NTDP with 89 points (58 goals, 31 assists) in 57 games this season. He ranks first in NTDP history with 127 goals and 52 power-play goals. Eiserman scored the record-breaking 127th goal for the United States 8:31 into the second period of a 6-4 loss to Canada in the gold medal game of the 2024 IIHF World Under-18 Championship on May 5. Eiserman filed his most recent diary after completion of the 2024 NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo.
Hello hockey fans. It's been a pretty cool week here at the NHL Scouting Combine.
I got into town Sunday and during the week I was here, I met with 23 teams.
I didn't get too many weird or strange questions. Teams mostly just wanted to see my way of how I play the game, and they seemed to change their minds a little bit. It seemed like they kind of understood the way I thought, and that's kind of what I came here to do. It was pretty cool to show them what I think.
The most common question I got was if wasn't to score goals, what would I do, and that's something that I continue to evolve and would love to show. Right now I'm just scoring goals. So it's something that once I start going up the ranks I'll start doing more stuff and working on.
The week also was fun to catch up with some friends, especially Macklin Celebrini, who I went to Shattuck-St. Mary's with. He was in my room with Zeev Buium every night, watching movies, wrestling a little bit.
I also got to meet some of the Canadian kids, the guys that beat us a few weeks ago at the World Under-18s. Obviously some tough love, but they're great kids and super respectful. And it was cool meeting the Europeans.
I did the Vo2 Max bike test on Friday. I felt like Bane from the Batman movie with the mask on, kind of just breathing through it. But it was really cool. I just tried to do my best, work as hard as I can. I told them before you've got to tell me to get off because I'm not getting off early. And that's what happened.
The rest of the fitness testing started at 10 a.m. on Saturday for me. I know some people won't eat before, but I definitely needed breakfast. I like to get my food in me, and just a little bit of water but not too much. But definitely have to get enough protein and carbs so you feel good.
It's definitely a cool experience walking into the testing room and seeing all the scouts and GMs. You've got a little more adrenaline and you kind of try to keep that same compete you do when you're trying to get better.
I thought the 5/10/5 (pro agility drill) is pretty interesting. You had to touch the line so I had to do it like four times, but I ended up getting a pretty good score. So that was fun.
The Wingate bike test was hard. That's the 30-second sprint, and it's good to have people in your ear yelling at you and kind of keep you going. You've just got to have that internal kind of motivation to kind of keep going and just go until they tell you to stop.
Next I'll be heading back to Boston University to continue training for next season. Also my nephew was born Friday, so I'll go see him and spend as much time as I can with my family before the draft happens.
Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll talk to you next from Las Vegas.
