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By Ken Warren, The Ottawa Citizen
Tyler Toffoli isn't losing any sleep about having been drafted into Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, but he's on pins and needles leading up to this weekend's National Hockey League draft in Los Angeles.
"I'm trying to make my days go faster," says Toffoli, the Ottawa 67's forward who is expected to be chosen somewhere between the middle and the end of the first round of the draft on Friday night. "I've talked to my friends and to my trainer (Scott Heffernan) a lot, all about what it takes to get to the next level.
"It's hard not to think about (the draft) all the time."
Toffoli acknowledges feeling the pressure of being a potentially high draft pick all season long with the 67's. After a slow start, he finished with 37 goals and 42 assists in 65 regular-season games, and he added another seven goals and six assists in 12 playoff games.
The NHL's Central Scouting Bureau had him rated 16th among North American skaters at season's end ( goaltenders and European prospects are rated separately), but he admits being caught off guard when Traktor Chelyabinsk chose him in the seventh round (169th overall) of the KHL draft earlier this month.
Toffoli was one of only two Canadians chosen, and he talked to no one with the Russian team before or since that draft. "I had no clue about that," he says. "My Dad told me. I have no clue how that works, but obviously my dream is to play in the NHL. Making the NHL is the only thing on my mind."
That's where the presence of Heffernan helps. He's not all that far removed from the draft process himself, a fifth-round selection by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2000 whose own career ended early because of post-concussion syndrome.
Heffernan, who also serves as the 67's trainer, played only six professional games with the Dayton Bombers of the East Coast League in 2002-03, but experienced life in a big-league camp. He says every teenage prospect believes he's prepared for what awaits him, but the detailed interview process and conditioning requirements are usually far more intense than a prospect expects.
"The last thing (NHL teams) ask is about hockey," Heffernan says. "They ask stuff like, 'If you were going to war, which family member would you bring with you, and why?' They try to make you feel small to see what kind of character you have."
Heffernan has also been pushing Toffoli physically since the end of the season, helping him bulk up from 178 pounds he had on his 6-0 frame during 2009-10.
"My first NHL camp was a big eye opener," Heffernan says. "You just can't let down when you're working out, and (Toffoli) has put on eight pounds since the season ended. He has to eat properly, he needs the right amount of time off the ice to work on his strength."
Heffernan says the continued excellence of 35-year-old Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Chris Pronger is an indication of how disciplined and determined most NHL players are towards their training.
Toffoli is listening. He says he learned countless lessons last season, particularly early on. He scored only one goal and two assists in the opening 10 games of the season, and that slump mirrored the 67's weak start.
He had come into the season on a high, starring for Canada's gold-medal team at the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in the Czech Republic during the summer. Toffoli scored four goals and five assists in four games, playing on a line with Plymouth Whalers centre Tyler Seguin, who is expected to be chosen either first or second overall on Friday.
"It was a tough start for myself and the team," Toffoli says. "All the pressure was on me. People said I was the 'go to guy' after I had a good under-18 tournament. I wasn't prepared. I wasn't ready to live up to the expectations."
It's no coincidence that the 67's turned their season around when Toffoli did.
"Maybe he was gripping the stick a little bit early on, but the whole team was," 67's coach Chris Byrne says. "He's a very offensive player, with good vision and hockey sense. The bigger the game, the better he plays. We're expecting him to be a first-round pick, wherever he goes."
Regardless of which NHL team picks him, Toffoli will be more familiar with that organization than he is with Traktor Chelyabinsk, which is based in a community 1,500 kilometres east of Moscow.
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