Development Camp Reports

[Caged Great]

I had posted this in the development camp thread, but handgroen and flame^thrower said I should create a separate thread for my post, just so everyone could see it, in case someone would have skipped the thread being bumped.

Here it is in full.

I have finally completed writing up all the player profiles on our prospects. There are 24 separate articles.

Goalies
Mason McDonald
Jon Gillies

Defensemen
Brandon Hickey
Oliver Kylington
Adam Ollas Mattsson
Riley Bruce
Brett Kulak and Ryan Culkin
John Gilmour
Patrick Sieloff
Rasmus Andersson
Keegan Kanzig
Kenney Morrison
Jakub Nakladal

Forwards
Sam Bennett
Emile Poirier
Morgan Klimchuk
Austin Carroll
Hunter Smith
Pavel Karnaukhov
Garnet Hathaway
Andrew Mangiapane
Matt Deblouw
Louick Marcotte
Mark Jankowski

[handgroen]

great work man, thanks again.

[killer_carlson]

wow.

well done.

question.

On Morrison's profile you describe him as being in the race for the #6/7 spot.

Is the suggestion that one will replace Engellend? I'm very curious in your predictions. Exciting if true.

[Cheese]

were going to hold you to these CG!
Nice work!

[btimbit]

So would people put Morrison above Wotherspoon at the moment? All I know about Morrison is what I've read here, never seen him, but lots of people seem high on him

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

wow.

well done.

question.

On Morrison's profile you describe him as being in the race for the #6/7 spot.

Is the suggestion that one will replace Engellend? I'm very curious in your predictions. Exciting if true.

I think it will be a 4 way race between Nakladal, Wotherspoon, Morrison, and Engelland for the 6th and 7th spots. I would expect Engelland to be at very least to be the #7.

It all depends on how Spoon and Morrison do in the preseason. If they progress and look good, one of them will win the spot. If they both perform poorly then Nakladal will be the #7.

I am expecting Wotherspoon to take the spot after the challenge thrown at him by the staff, but Morrison will be right there to fight for one as well.

I wouldn't actually be shocked if the Flames eventually move both Russell and Wideman to allow the younger guys some room to grow. I doubt it would be this year though. All of Kulak, Culkin, Wotherspoon, Morrison and Hickey will be pushing for spots in the immediate future. Might be a way to save some $ to afford extensions for Hudler/Gio + others.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by btimbit

So would people put Morrison above Wotherspoon at the moment? All I know about Morrison is what I've read here, never seen him, but lots of people seem high on him

My personal preference would be for Morrison due to his offensive skill, he has similar offensive instincts as any of the Flames offensive D. Spoon is better in his own zone, but they are both steady.

[Jacks]

As a Flames fan I'm not used to seeing so much depth at almost every position. Thanks for the great write up.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

I think it will be a 4 way race between Nakladal, Wotherspoon, Morrison, and Engelland for the 6th and 7th spots. I would expect Engelland to be at very least to be the #7.

It all depends on how Spoon and Morrison do in the preseason. If they progress and look good, one of them will win the spot. If they both perform poorly then Nakladal will be the #7.

I am expecting Wotherspoon to take the spot after the challenge thrown at him by the staff, but Morrison will be right there to fight for one as well.

I wouldn't actually be shocked if the Flames eventually move both Russell and Wideman to allow the younger guys some room to grow. I doubt it would be this year though. All of Kulak, Culkin, Wotherspoon, Morrison and Hickey will be pushing for spots in the immediate future. Might be a way to save some $ to afford extensions for Hudler/Gio + others.

Completely agree - particularly with the bold

Originally Posted by Caged Great

My personal preference would be for Morrison due to his offensive skill, he has similar offensive instincts as any of the Flames offensive D. Spoon is better in his own zone, but they are both steady.

My preference would be Wotherspoon because I think his solid defensive play, and left-handed shot, would make him a perfect partner for Hamilton (leaving Russell and Wideman together)

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Jacks

As a Flames fan I'm not used to seeing so much depth at almost every position. Thanks for the great write up.

You and me both. After years of hoping players like Carsen Germyn, Dustin Boyd, Eric Nystrom, and David Moss would turn into useful players, they wouldn't register in the top 20 now. It's just nuts.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

My preference would be Wotherspoon because I think his solid defensive play, and left-handed shot, would make him a perfect partner for Hamilton (leaving Russell and Wideman together)

It's one of those things that either player could do the trick. We just won't know which until we get to September. It's fun to have such competition instead of knowing what the roster will be in July.

[Funkhouser]

Wow! Thanks for this!!
If I were to do the Coles Notes version I would summarize this as:

WILL MAKE IT
Bennett, Poirier, Jankowski, Hickey, Morrison, Kylington

SHOULD MAKE IT
Klimchuk, Hathaway, Smith, Anderson, Kulak, Culkin, Gilles, McDonald

COULD MAKE IT
Carroll, Karnaukhov, Mangiapane, Gilmour, Kanzig, Nakladal

WONT MAKE IT
Deblouw, Marcotte, Mattsson, Bruce, Sieloff

Even if you are right on half of these, we are looking good!!

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Funkhouser

Wow! Thanks for this!!
If I were to do the Coles Notes version I would summarize this as:

WILL MAKE IT
Bennett, Poirier, Jankowski, Hickey, Morrison, Kylington

SHOULD MAKE IT
Klimchuk, Hathaway, Smith, Anderson, Kulak, Culkin, Gilles, McDonald

COULD MAKE IT
Carroll, Karnaukhov, Mangiapane, Gilmour, Kanzig, Nakladal

WONT MAKE IT
Deblouw, Marcotte, Mattsson, Bruce, Sieloff

Even if you are right on half of these, we are looking good!!

That's pretty much how I'd break it down.

[Jay Random]

From all I've seen, I'd put Kylington under ‘Should make it’ rather than ‘Will make it’. But if he does make it, he's likely to be something pretty amazing. His only serious weakness is his defensive play – but for a defenceman, that could be fatal to his chances. Time will tell if he can improve that to NHL quality. At least it's the easiest part of his game to fix.

[Funkhouser]

This is also interesting if you add our non-development camp prospects:

Originally Posted by Funkhouser

WILL MAKE IT
Bennett, Poirier, Jankowski, Hickey, Morrison, Kylington [Ferland, Ortio, Granlund]

SHOULD MAKE IT
Klimchuk, Hathaway, Smith, Anderson, Kulak, Culkin, Gilles, McDonald [Wotherspoon, Arnold]

COULD MAKE IT
Carroll, Karnaukhov, Mangiapane, Gilmour, Kanzig, Nakladal [Rafikov, Elson, Agostino]

WONT MAKE IT
Deblouw, Marcotte, Mattsson, Bruce, Sieloff [Van Brabant]

[Funkhouser]

Even more enjoyable to read when you compare it to our rivals (based on my limited knowledge of their prospect base)

Oilers
WILL MAKE IT
McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Reinhart,

SHOULD MAKE IT
Yakimov

COULD MAKE IT
Brossoit

Canucks
WILL MAKE IT
Vitanen, McCann, Corrado, Clendening, Boeser

SHOULD MAKE IT
Jensen, Baertchi, Kenins

COULD MAKE IT
Demko, Shinkaruk, Cassels, Gaunce

[Rick M.]

Thanks for all the hard work CG! These are very useful. I hope you'll repeat the exercise after training camp.

[Da_Chief]

Where's Agostino?

[Funkhouser]

re: Agostino

He was too old/experienced to be at development camp

[handgroen]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

I am expecting Wotherspoon to take the spot after the challenge thrown at him by the staff, but Morrison will be right there to fight for one as well.

interesting to think how the 6th spot on the flames could (just my theory) dictate all the pairings.

if it's wotherspoon, then i'm okay with having wideman pair with him as the 5th defender, and then play lots of PP minutes. wideman's an experienced guy, offensive minded, right shot. to go with the rookie wotherspoon's left shot, simple d-minded game.

if it's morrison, then having him paired with russell on the bottom pairing makes perfect sense to me. morrison's an offensive minded right shooting rookie. russell is a defensively responsible experienced lefty.

if spoon makes it these are my pairings:

giordano - brodie
LH LH

Russel - Hamilton
LH RH

Wotherspoon - Wideman
LH RH

Engelland
RH

Good balance, spoon sees the least ice time as wideman plays PP minutes and Russel and Hamilton are your top PK pairing. Gio and brodie get a crack at going back to being the best pairing in hockey.


If morrison makes it these are my pairings.

Giordano - Hamilton
LH RH

Brodie - Wideman
LH RH

Russell - Morrison
LH RH

Engelland
RH

Lefty/righty on each pair. Hamilton gets to play top minutes with a great leader. wideman/brodie would be a damned good 2nd pairing and gives wideman an opportunity to put up points again this year. russell/morrison pairs the raw rookie with a good teacher, and russell will still get good minutes on the PK.

the only scenario i can't picture, is that the pairing of russell/wideman, which was so terrific for us down the stretch last season, stick together as the second pairing. with brodie gio and hamilton all being top flight talent i cannot picture any of them moving down to 3rd pairing minutes.

BTW i may have been thinking about this a little too much lately.