Corbin McPherson is a tough guy to miss. But even though he stands 6’4” without skates on, the hockey world is only just starting to notice him.
Last season, the Cowichan Valley Capitals defenceman flew well under the radar. When the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting service ranked 210 North American skaters for the entry draft, McPherson wasn’t one of them. But those rankings didn’t matter to the New Jersey Devils, who had watched him closely during the BCHL playoffs and realized he’d be a steal. And they wanted him so badly they used a third round pick (87th overall) to select him.
“The Devils flew me out before the draft for a combine and put me through some physical testing,” he said. Still, he had no idea how high he might go. “I was ecstatic,” he says of his reaction when he got the call saying he’d been a third-round pick. “It was a big surprise to me.”
Overshadowed by better-known prospects Kyle Turris and Riley Nash, both first-round picks, McPherson’s draft day surprise went largely unnoticed outside Cowichan Valley and California, his home state. But unlike Turris and Nash, who both moved on to the NCAA, McPherson is back in the BCHL this season – minus the anonymity.
It was a stroke of luck that first brought McPherson and the Capitals together. Cowichan Valley assistant coach Doug Bodger first learned of the defenceman through Derek Eisler, his midget coach in San Jose. The connection had been forged during Bodger’s time playing with the Sharks, for whom Eisler had been an assistant coach.
“He called and said he had a guy we would really like,” Bodger said. The Capitals brought McPherson north for a rookie camp, and it didn’t take long to get a sense of the gem that had fallen in their lap.
“He could skate and he could play and we said `Wow, this kid is good’,” Bodger said of his first exposure to McPherson. “We said `This guy looks like Chris Pronger out there’.”
But a stroke of bad luck delayed McPherson from making the impact the Capitals were expecting in his rookie season.
“Corbin broke his thumb in training camp and missed the first ten games, which definitely slowed him down,” Bodger says. “But in the playoffs last year he was very good for us and obviously New Jersey thought the same thing.”
Clearly, the relationship between player and team has been mutually beneficial. McPherson can see growth in his game since he came north. It’s come as the result of physical maturation, hard work, and playing against high calibre competition.
“I can definitely see an improvement,” McPherson says. “My decision making, getting used to the pace of the game and the faster players, and making decisions faster, that’s all gotten better.” But it’s McPherson’s raw tools – size and speed- that caught the attention of Devils west coast scout Glen Dirk.
“He's a very good skater for a big boy,” says Dirk of McPherson. “You don’t see many kids at his size with that agility, quickness and mobility.”
“I saw him play six times during the playoffs and he was improving every game. This season, I’ve seen him and he’s been playing very well.”
Bodger works closely with McPherson, and was one of the few people who knew the Devils had their sights set his way.
“They were around quite a bit following him,” Bodger says. “They asked me what I thought [of selecting Corbin] and I said it’s a no-brainer. All the skills are there. His mobility and skating are both top notch. And I guess they saw that potential.”
