Matt DeBlouw impresses at NHL Scouting Combine

By Stefan Kubus –

While names like Nail Yakupov, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan Murray are garnering the most attention for the upcoming 2012 NHL Entry Draft, a former Muskegon Lumberjacks center and future Michigan State Spartan shined at the NHL Scouting Combine.

Matt DeBlouw, an 18-year-old Chesterfield native, tested in the top-10 among 105 draft-eligible players in six categories, including lower-body power, upper-body strength, and body fat percentage.

“Matt’s natural ability is very good, but he put in a ton of hard work and bought into what we’re doing here in Muskegon,” Lumberjacks assistant coach Dave Noel-Bernier said. “It’s just great to see him succeed at the combine and represent us well.”

DeBlouw – ranked No. 37 out of 210 North American prospects for the upcoming draft – led the Lumberjacks in assists (23) and was second in points with 34, in his second season with Muskegon.

The future Spartan finished with the second-best peak power in the Wingate stationary bike test, a test considered to be one of the toughest tests at the NHL Combine. In addition to maxing out in the power department, DeBlouw also averaged the seventh-best power output over a 30-second span on the Wingate bike.

“The [bike tests] were just as hard as I expected because I knew you had to push as hard as possible,” DeBlouw said.

He also ranked highly in two upper-body strength categories. In pull strength, DeBlouw was seventh according to body weight, and his right-hand grip strength rated out as sixth.

DeBlouw also shined in body fat tests, where he had the ninth-best traditional test and seventh-best modern test. His 7.5-percent body fat was just shy of the lowest numbers generated at the combine.

“He’s heading into college as strong as ever,” Noel-Bernier said. “He came in two years ago without much strength training experience, but he leaves as one of our best-conditioned athletes.”

The NHL Scouting Combine, which concluded Saturday in Toronto, featured representatives from all 30 NHL teams, and serves as a chance for the clubs to evaluate the physical fitness and strength of the game’s top prospects.

“[Team representatives] are watching just about everything you do at the physical testing,” DeBlouw said. “I woke up about two hours before my alarm Saturday morning, so I’d say I was ready to go.”