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Originally Posted by Naitix
Training camps are terrible ways to evaluate a player, it is usually first real game action players have seen for 4 months.
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Yet this is how every team in hockey evaluates players and talent. System is obviously broken because a TINY player is not gifted a position.
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Phillips had a great camp this year and was one the best players in each game he played. But not even talking about Phillips, just take a look at Pelletier. He looked quite useless in camp, now he is a completely different player. It usually takes players some time to get going, so having an opinion on players based on what you have seen in camp is pretty useless.
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Except he wasn't. People oohed and ahhed over his cross ice pass in OT on a 4-on-3 PP against a bunch of other AHL palookas. After that, he quickly faded and didn't do much as more and more NHL players filtered into preseason games. He became less noticeable and faded into the woodwork
Cry all you want about training camp and the evaluation process, but that is how it works. Come to camp prepared and you stand a chance to make the team. Your job is to stand out and make the coach notice you in every shift you have. Every team follows this exact same process.
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By that measure, people would still think that Klapka is one of the best farm players just because he had 3 good camp games when nobody else was going yet, now he is struggling. It is quite documented occurrence where players dominate camp and pre-season but can't do anything when the season gets going.
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Struggling in what measure? You have no idea if he is struggling. You look at points scored as the only measure of whether a player is successful. He could have been told to go down and work on his 200' game. The kid turned heads because he was BIG and he showed some offensive ability. Where he was not great was in his coverage assignments. So he was a cut and went down with instructions on what he was to work on. I suspect he is on radar because of his size and the fact he has shown he has some softness in his mitts. He has something very valuable to teams around the league. Size, skating ability, and some offensive flair. Kind of like Ruzicka.
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Or take a look at Ruzicka, he was quite bad in camp and pre-season, looks like a different player now...
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Showed enough to stick and then worked hard to get into the lineup and did what he had to do. Ruzicka is actually a terrible example for you to use because he did everything he was asked to do and improve in the areas where he showed weaknesses. Still not a Selke nominee but can play at both ends of the ice. Sutter does not fear putting the BIG kid out there. You may consider the preference to size as unfair to guys like Phillips, but that is just the game. There's a reason why guys under 250 don't get to the NFL to play the offensive line, or guys that run a 6.0 forty don't make it to camp at all. To play in certain leagues you need certain characteristics. To play in the NHL you need size, or you need to be exceptional. Exceptional players don't get cut mid-training camp.