[BACKCHECK!!!]

As someone who didn't see any of the development camp ice times, here are my (in many cases first) impressions of several players tonight. I focused on one player from each line or pairing for each period, but made note when someone else did something to stand out.

1) Really disappointed with Monahan's skating. I was expecting a guy who could skate but had maybe awkward stride mechanics or something. But his mobility, stability, and top end speed were all quite poor for a high 1st rounder. Definitely tempered my expectations of him.

2) Ramage looks very good offensively. He is an older prospect at this tourney, but unlike some of the other older guys, he was able to leverage that into performance.

3) Speaking of older guys, Taranto and Jooris both stood head and shoulders above the most other forwards. They really delivered, and I think they made Reinhart look good too. I was trying to watch Reinhart, but his wingers kept winning puck battles and making noticeably smart plays.

4) Kanzig's offensive production at junior level is so shockingly bad, I just couldn't imagine how he could ever be considered a legit prospect. Well, he went a long way towards changing my mind today. I still think he's a (very) long shot, but there is something about him. He was able to effectively use his size, but surprisingly wasn't able to outmuscle guys very often. However, he's still very young, and that's probably the one aspect of his game that I am least concerned about. An intriguing player.

5) Granlund was the best player of the night. Hands down. Looked how a pro playing at a prospect tournament should look. Very impressive. He might be NHL ready, or very close to it.

6) Hanowski has gotten a bit quicker over the summer. We know from experience that the rest of his game translates well to the NHL level, the only question is can he improve his speed (which was absolutely unacceptable) enough to make it in the big show? It doesn't look like it yet, but at least he's moving in the right direction.

7) Seiloff was adequate. Although he did show some offence, and also did a super-man dive straight into an oilers defenceman while on the rush, so that's a plus. I did not focus on him, but he stood out for a) putting the puck on net a few times, and b) trying to play the body but being overmatched by bigger and stronger players. That's not what you want to see from a young defenceman.

8) I noticed Tyler Wotherspoon twice all game. THAT'S what you want to see from a young defenceman. Nothing interesting happening when he is around.

9) Baertschi was not super impressive. By which I mean he looked like one of the Oilers forwards. By which I mean bad.

10) Knight is sound, but doesn't look NHL ready. A guy who wants an opening-day roster spot needs to be an undeniable impact player at this level, and he simply wasn't. Especially when he's one of the oldest guys on the ice.

11) Ferland has shown moments of greatness. Great effort, good hands, strength on the puck, etc. Hes looked good at prospect events before, but he looks like he's taken the next step. I almost wrote him off as an NHLer, but he'll force to reconsider if he keeps playing like this.

12) Kulak was... not good. Hopefully just a bad game, but he stood out to me in a bad way. I noted #61 a number of times, and none of them were good

13) Brossoit came as advertised. Evaluating goalies is pretty much all voodoo and **** anyways, but he looked good to me.

That's my 2 cents.

F*** the Oilers.