BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Penguins met with nearly 60 prospects at last week's scouting combine in Buffalo, N.Y.
That's not all for their first-round pick, of course. The top 100-plus draft-eligible prospects get invited to the combine. While the Penguins don't have a second- or fourth-round pick on the second day of the draft, they do have a third-round selection. The scouting staff also does its due diligence on prospects who might not be available in the range the Penguins pick, in order to be prepared in the event of a trade involving draft picks.
For now, the Penguins are locked in at No. 14 overall for the first day of the draft on June 28 in Nashville, Tenn.
Colby Barlow, a winger who is captain of the OHL's Owen Sound Attack, is expected to be selected in the mid-first round later this month. He met with 22 different teams at the combine last week. Interestingly enough, Barlow told me that the Penguins weren't one of those teams.
That doesn't necessarily mean he's off the table for the Penguins. Sometimes meetings happen in the draft city during that week, and sometimes teams are just already very familiar with these players from following them throughout the year.
Should the Penguins have interest at Barlow if he's available when they're on the clock later this month? Let's take a look.
Barlow, 18, led his team in scoring last season by a 10-point margin with 46 goals and 33 assists in 59 games. That's good enough for 21st in the entire OHL, and fourth-best among players who have yet to be drafted by an NHL team. That total of 79 points is also a sizable leap from his rookie OHL season, in which he recorded 47 points (30 goals, 17 assists) in the same amount of games.
Barlow, who is a left-handed shot, has some size too for a player his age. He's listed by Central Scouting at 6 feet, 195 pounds. A lot of 18-year-old draft-eligible prospects need to put on considerable weight before they turn pro. He doesn't.
"I'm a two-way power forward with goal-scoring ability," Barlow told me of his game last week. "I crash the net pretty hard and have a little bit of grit to my game, which is pretty unique for a strong winger. And I like to score goals as well."
Barlow said one reason for his increased goal production is just work he's put into improving his accuracy. He added that a lot of his goals also come from that effort in going to the net-front, which allows him to pick up tips and rebounds.
Barlow is an effective penalty-killer as well, in addition to his success on the power play. He's strong in his own end, and doesn't show an aversion to dropping to block a shot.
What Barlow said he wants to work on the most in his game is his skating.
"I want to make sure I'm getting faster for the next level," he said.
Barlow impressed in a few of the fitness tests at the combine, ranking pretty highly among the 100-plus prospects in a couple of categories. In the vertical jump (with arm swing allowed) he placed third overall with a 22.96 inch vertical. In the vertical jump with arms remaining stationary at the player's side, he placed fifth with a 19.86 inch vertical. He ranked third in the squat jump at 18.38 inches.
While Barlow needs to get faster, those tests at least suggest that he has some pretty solid leg strength to start.
Barlow, like most players available in the mid-first range, are going to be somewhat of a project and will likely be a couple of years off from reaching the NHL. But with the scoring touch and grit he already has as tools in his game, he could make for a pretty intriguing option at No. 14.
This is the eighth story in a series of player profiles from the NHL's Scouting Combine in Buffalo, N.Y., focusing on potential first-round picks for the Penguins.
