When you walked through the concourse of Buffalo’s HarborCenter rink at this week’s NHL Scouting Combine, you’d be easily convinced if someone said it was actually just a reunion for Finland’s dominant under-18 and under-17 national teams of the last couple of years.
Everywhere you looked, they were together. They interviewed together, they ran tests together, they stretched together. And there were a lot of them — more than ever before.
Last year, when Finns Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi were two of the 2016 NHL Draft’s top-four selections, the hockey world took note.