No pull-ups, no problem.
Three weeks after he couldn't do a single pull-up at the NHL combine, the United States Hockey League's Casey Mittelstadt came off the board in the first 10 picks of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, going No. 8 to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
Mittelstadt, an 18-year-old from Minnesota, faced some scrutiny for his scrawniness at the combine, where he also managed just one 160-pound bench press rep. But Friday night, he was a first-round pick.
Welcome to the @BuffaloSabres, @CMittelstadt. #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/GfGc5CIwIC
— NHL (@NHL) June 24, 2017
See that smile there? That's the face of a young man who knows pull-ups don't define you.