If you think the burning questions prospective NHL teams have for draft prospects are about their style of play, personality, or hockey journey, think again.
From the event that brought you groundbreaking and totally logical questions such as “how do you describe the color blue,” “what is your Uber rating,” and “if someone said something about your mom or sister, would you be able to hold yourself back– in terms of the Chris Rock/Will Smith Oscar slap” (teams won’t have to ask Gavin McKenna that one), comes the newest edition of “who can ask the weirdest question to a bunch of stressed out 18 year-olds,” formally known as the 2026 NHL Scouting Combine.
Per San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, Caleb Malhotra, shared this year’s strangest and arguably most disturbing question on Friday.
According to Malhotra, an unidentified team — later revealed to be the Montreal Canadiens — asked: “If you were on a desert island with no water for a day’s walk, and you had someone beside you with a water bottle, would you kill them to take the water?”
While Malhotra later clarified that he personally wasn’t asked the question, he still shared his answer with Peng, saying he initially thought he would kill for the bottle, but doesn’t think he’d actually go through with it.
Malhotra’s revelation follows what happened at last year’s combine when the Canadiens asked a very similar, tweaked question, per Taylor Haase of DK Pittsburgh Sports:
Montreal, as always, has the most unhinged questions this week. They’re asking players if they were stranded in a desert with someone and only a bottle of water and a baseball bat, and you can’t share the water, and the other person takes the water first, what do you do with the bat?
The Canadiens seem to be a constant source of off-the-wall interrogation at every year’s combine, also frequently asking prospects what animal they think they would be on and off the ice. Jackson Smith, selected 14th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets last year, notably answered that he’d be a mix between a mammoth and a goldfish.
Another example of deranged and often gruesome combine questioning comes from David Reinbacher, who was selected fifth overall by the Canadiens in 2023. The Austrian defender was asked: “It’s World War II, and you’re the captain of a boat, and you have to bomb an enemy boat, but your teammates are swimming in the ocean,” per an interview with TSN. Reinbacher responded, “No, I wouldn’t do it,” because he would want to save his teammates.
Even the questions about hockey have twisted layers and mind games to them. A team asked prospects if they’d rather have a four year career with a Cup, or a ten year career with none, per the Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek. He shared that a prospect told him they chose the four year option because that’s what they thought the team would want to hear, but Marek heard from someone else that they’d want players who chose the 10 years, because it demonstrates they play the game for the love of it, not for a trophy.
It’s not all borderline psychological warfare, however, but it is almost all absurd. Keaton Verhoeff, a top-five North American prospect, told Elite Prospects that one team asked what he would do if he ordered a BLT with cheese, and his sandwich came out with no cheese (although, the option of murder technically remains).
The Canadiens and other teams also often have prospects get up and do activities that test their ability to focus or their risk-assessment awareness. According to RG’s Marco D’Amico, the Habs asked players to try to throw a puck into a garbage can. They could throw from anywhere in the room, but if they missed, Montreal wouldn’t draft them.
The Nashville Predators asked prospects to stack golf balls to test how long they would spend on the task before quitting, according to Jeff Marek. This isn’t a new tactic for the Preds, also having prospects attempt the extremely difficult but possible feat at the 2025 combine as well.
Possibly the most absurd of all, Marek was also reportedly told that the New York Islanders put a brick in front of prospects, and gave them 30 seconds to name as many different uses for it as they could. They did the same with an umbrella as well, per Islanders beat reporter Stefen Rosner.
In the spirit of nonsensical fun(?) the NHL teams seem to be running off of, I thought I’d share my thoughts and answers on some of the weirdest questions to come out of the Scouting Combine in recent years.
First up, Malhotra’s question of doom and despair.
Important detail here in the 2026 version– Malhotra says the nearest water is a day’s walk away in this scenario. He may be getting that exact detail wrong, but if so, the question loses some of its edge, since I wouldn’t need the water. Teams may be seeing who catches that nuance.
However, ignoring that specification makes the question much more interesting. I would initially think of convincing the other person to share the water. If that wasn’t an option, what’s stopping me from just grabbing the water and running without killing them?
If the options were strictly kill or have no water, I’d still choose not to kill the other person. I’d scavenge for a clean water source, and if there isn’t one, then the water bottle is just delaying the inevitable. In that case, I’d rather die with my morals than with an extra day or two.
I’m not really sure what answer they’re looking for here. Saying no demonstrates selflessness and strong morals, while saying yes demonstrates a willingness to do whatever it takes. Trying to negotiate shows you are a good communicator and may signal good leadership. Looking for other options proves problem-solving skills and the ability to think outside the box.
Next up, Reinbacher’s war question. I’m loving that these questions share a common theme of death, not hockey.
Reinbacher said no because he would want to save his teammates, and I agree. I think “no” is the best answer here because it shows you are a good teammate and willing to stand up for what you believe is right. The other option is always to follow orders, even when they don’t seem to direct you to the best choice, which is not typically praised.
Finally, as for what animal I would be, I’d probably answer with some version of the generic “apex predator on the ice and friendly dog off the ice” answer. That sounds like the boring answer that an NHL general manager would be enthralled with.
As for the brick question, I’d probably use it to break the nearest window and escape these deranged lines of questioning.
