How Keaton Verhoeff handled the pressures of being a top NHL prospect
· Yahoo Sports
Jun. 25—GRAND FORKS — It started with a questionnaire from the Seattle Kraken.
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Phone calls, Zoom sessions and one-on-one meetings followed throughout the season for UND freshman defenseman Keaton Verhoeff.
By the time the NHL Combine rolled around, he heard from everyone in the NHL.
"Probably 32 teams," Verhoeff said. "Maybe I'm missing one or two, but it was definitely up there."
It was a season with little precedent for a UND hockey player.
It had been 15 years since UND had a freshman who accelerated his education to come to campus in his first year of NHL Draft eligibility. The last one was Dillon Simpson in 2010-11. Simpson was a fourth-round draft pick.
"I talked to some teams and scouts," said Simpson, now a UND assistant coach. "But Keaton is in a whole other stratosphere."
The last first-rounder to play his draft year at UND was Jonathan Toews. That was 20 years ago.
Verhoeff arrived on campus last summer as a projected first-round pick with a swarm of attention headed his way.
UND's staff reached out to other college hockey teams that recently had draft-eligible superstars on campus to see how they handled the onslaught of NHL attention.
Following the feedback they received, the Fighting Hawks established parameters for those who wanted to speak with Verhoeff.
They made Verhoeff available from the end of Saturday night's series finale until Thursday night. He was unavailable heading into a weekend series to allow him to focus on the games.
"When we were in our game mode, we had him off limits," UND head coach Dane Jackson said.
The NHL's Central Scouting Bureau sent those parameters to NHL teams before the season started — something they did for other top prospects like Penn State's Gavin McKenna as well.
UND general manager Bryn Chyzyk handled a majority of Verhoeff's requests and set up meetings or calls.
When Chyzyk floated dates and times, Verhoeff pulled up his calendar, where he kept his schedule, to fit in the request.
"Teams were flying in to meet with him," Simpson said. "He did Zooms, phone calls, all while trying to prepare to play well. It's not easy for a young kid. I did some testing and interviews (in 2010-11), but Keaton had another level of pressure. He did an exceptional job. I'm really proud of how he handled it. He kept his head on his shoulders. He was super mature."
On top of the team requests, Verhoeff was flooded with media interview requests.
UND sports information director Alec Johnson said he handled 86 interview requests for Verhoeff this season. Johnson denied 12 of them. If you add Verhoeff's in-person interviews at the World Junior Championship, NHL Combine and NHL Draft, he topped 100 media appearances this year.
"Keaton was an absolute pro handling each interview request that came in," Johnson said. "For someone at his age to be able to handle that many media requests and do them all with a smile on his face is remarkable. I am one of the lucky group of people to not only witness his special play on the ice, but the special man that he is off it."
Johnson fielded an additional 25-30 requests from TV networks for footage.
By comparison, Johnson said Jackson Blake had 45 interview requests during his Hobey Baker Award finalist campaign in 2023-24.
"For a 17-year-old, it was impressive how he scheduled everything and made it work within his class schedule," Chyzyk said.
UND associate head coach Matt Smaby thought of one comparable.
Smaby was the captain of Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep when Sidney Crosby played there.
"Every night, every game, there are 15, 16, 17 guys there (scouting)," Smaby said. "It reminded me of that scenario, where you have a highly touted guy who is young, who is under a tremendous amount of pressure, and has been for a while.
"I can't imagine what that would be like as a 17-year-old. I'm not sure I would be able to handle that. That was one of the most impressive things I noticed with Keaton this year, was his ability to shelf that stuff, be a kid, a teammate, and keep going."
Verhoeff said most of his meetings and calls with teams lasted about 30 minutes. A couple lasted more than an hour. One took three hours.
About 10 teams flew into Grand Forks to meet with Verhoeff in person. Some flew in and out on the same day.
Most offered to take him to dinner or coffee, but he preferred to meet in a conference room in Ralph Engelstad Arena.
"Chyz did a good job of limiting the interactions on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays," Verhoeff said. "I wanted to focus on the games and the task at hand. I tried to schedule the meetings on weekdays, so I had the weekends to hang out with the boys. It was tough at times, but it also was good, because I've been dreaming of this for 18 years."
Verhoeff was under scrutiny at the NHL Combine earlier this month in Buffalo.
He went through physical testing and met with 18 NHL teams. He went to dinner with the San Jose Sharks, who own the No. 2 and 9 overall picks, and the Seattle Kraken, who are picking No. 7.
"In meetings, it's a little more serious, a little more of sitting there and answering their questions," Verhoeff said. "At dinner, you get to know them a little more, tell some stories and be a little more relaxed. It was cool to see them in that setting."
The draft process is now coming to an end.
Verhoeff will be selected in the first round Friday night.
His rare combination of size and athleticism will make him one of the highest-drafted UND players of all time. The top three are Jonathan Toews (No. 3, Chicago Blackhawks, 2006), Jake Sanderson (No. 5, Ottawa Senators, 2020) and Jason Herter (No. 8, Vancouver Canucks, 1989).
"You look at the NHL game today and you have to be good with the puck as a defenseman," Smaby said. "He is. You cannot teach 6-foot-4, 215, at 17 years old. He is. He has good skating ability. He competes hard. One of the question marks I had, especially with a young guy, knowing and understanding the position myself, is what the defending would look like. All things considered, I thought his defending was quite good throughout the course of the year."
UND's coaching staff was impressed by how Verhoeff handled everything thrown at him.
"He did an outstanding job handling a pressure-packed situation with a lot of poise and presence," Jackson said. "He was never about himself. He was a great teammate. He was well-liked by his teammates. He did a really nice job of handling the stress and also the duties that go with it."
Smaby added: "I'm sure there was pressure and I'm sure it was stressful, but he sure didn't wear it."
Next season, there will be no draft to worry about.
The meetings and calls will be down to just one team — the one that calls his name Friday night in Buffalo.
"I think he'll take a big step, just not having the day-to-day pressure of where you're going to get picked," Jackson said. "It will allow him to play freely. He'll have a lot of confidence to play his game and let his natural gifts come through. He has good competitiveness. He has good defensive habits. He cares about his two-way game. I think he'll take a big jump on both sides of the puck."