I was down there as well today. All the Flames brass were there freely moving around with all the fans.
I said Hi to Bob Hartley and Brad Pascall who were friendly. Bob seems like a tough guy, probably the toughest of all the Flames brass. Kristen Hallet was there to, she's hot.
Most of these players there today are all highly skilled to begin with. The guy I was probably impressed with the most was Hunter Smith, he stood out because of his size and presence as well. I'll be interested in seeing him in training camp against regular NHLers.
Bill Arnold looked good as well, same with Agostino, Van Brabant and Gaudreau. His mom was there as well and I said hi to her too.
Good to see Sam Bennett finally, he's smaller but you can tell he's skilled, more than likely be back in Jr. this season.
Mason McDonald looked good as well. David Wolf is a big guy and he seems strong to, seemed to skate okay.
I didn't think Kanzig looked to strong in his legs, he looks like he has a tiny waist and bit of an odd skating style, maybe he just needs to get bigger and develop more.
Was it Seiloff in the blue jersey, he seemed winded and was leaning over a lot.
Also a little surprised at Austin Carrol, didn't seem out of place at all being he's from the AJHL. Looked like he has some good skill to me, good skater too.
I would recommend going out there if you can seeing some of the future stars for the Flames.
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Wolf - Great balance and good speed. Takes and gives passes while moving very well. Beats D to the net consistently. Shot looked good. I found his puck protection to be among the best on the ice.
Sieloff - Wasn't sure it was him until later on so didn't watch too closely. He's so much more noticeable during competitive drills. Skating looked good though.
Agostino - one of the top guys on the ice today. I liked his work ethic and noticed that he rarely makes mistakes. There would a lot of restarts during the drills today but I never noticed Agostino being the one who screwed up. His speed looks great and he goes hard to the net consistently. Shot looked good too. Really good showing for him.
Gaudreau - I will just echo the sentiment that he is the best player in the camp. Even though I didn't see the first practice, I have trouble believing anyone is close to him at this point. He scored 7 or 8 goals today that got a reaction from the crowd. Gillies and Jankowski were sitting in front of me and several times they just looked at each other and either shook their heads or laughed. Gaudreau is spectacular and I am more excited than I was yesterday about him.
Kulak - high-end skater. He was playing very good angles and uses his stick intelligently. He looks like a player who has been listening to his coaches throughout his junior career and does a lot of things that make an NHL player. Had one extended battle with Wolf where I thought he did a great job of limiting Wolf's options to the point where the play just went nowhere. He gave so little up.
Bennett - I was disappointed. That being said, the way he played today was so contrary to every scouting report I have seen that I would attribute it to nerves or exhaustion or something. Really looking forward to watching him as he gets more comfortable.
Smith - Better skating than I expected, though I did see one instance of his balance not being where he wants it. His shot looked hard with a fairly quick release. He uses his body to keep the puck out of reach of defenders, but could improve his stickhandling otherwise. He looked like a pretty good player and I'm excited to see him during a scrimmage, to see how much space he creates out there.
Hickey - my biggest surprise. I thought he looked fantastic. They did a drill in which the D plays 3 one-on-one's and other than a weak goal on a far out shot that I thought should have been stopped, he shut down every single guy including Gaudreau. His skating his top notch and his gap control benefits from it. He looks like a guy who knows his strengths and is smart enough to play to them. Really, really excited about him.
Valcourt - noticed him taking a lot of shots when he got the chance. Shot looked pretty good, although I didn't see him score cleanly. His skating was pretty good and he seemed to control the puck well too.
Tolkinen - RHD who showed some skill and even a little bite. Will be interested to see how the rest of camp goes for him.
Roy - Seemed to be going through the motions a little bit to me. He's got some great physical tools such as skating and play with the puck, yet I didn't come away thinking he had a great ice time. Saw him be a bit puck focused while defending.
Downing - best walk-on in my opinion. He has a hard and accurate shot that he used to beat goalies cleanly on several occasions. Best shooter out there other than Gaudreau from what I saw. He won most of the battles that he got into and he'd get his head up very quickly when he got that puck. I liked what I saw from him a lot.
Harrison - I still like him, just like last year. Looks like a solid North-South player who uses his size. I felt like he showed less of his skill than I remember from last year. Looks to have a really good attitude and has a lot of interactions with other players.
These are just first impressions and a lot of players have probably been away from the rink a bit. The second half of the practice was dreadfully boring until the 2 on 2 game, which was fun to watch (especially Gaudreau).
Top 3:
1) Gaudreau
2) Hickey
3) Agostino
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Wolf - Great balance and good speed. Takes and gives passes while moving very well. Beats D to the net consistently. Shot looked good. I found his puck protection to be among the best on the ice.
Might that be because everyone was too afraid to try and take it away from him?
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Gaudreau will convert the rest of the non believers in due time. He just never disappoints. And with each event/viewing somehow makes me think he can be better than I had thought previously.
Just a complete anomale of a prospect. I'm not even sure he's human with the way he just escalates his game again and again. Very much looking forward to Monday.
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Why Jankowski, Gillies, and Mattsson are not skating:
Randy Sportak @SUNRandySportak
#Flames GM Treliving: Jankowski and Gillies dealing with small hip injuries; Ollas Mattsson has a foot injury they know about during draft
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I've talked to a lot of small guys in the NHL, and my agent has a few smaller guys in the NHL, like (Martin) St. Louis. I've got a lot of great advice, said Gaudreau, Calgary's fourth-round pick, 104th overall, in the 2011 NHL Draft. I've just got to make sure I follow in their footsteps and do what they've been doing.
Advice such as what?
They said you need to be strong in your legs, definitely work out your legs, he relayed. And you don't need to be too big in your upper body because you won't be able to stickhandle that well. Just a lot of great pointers from a lot of great guys and I really appreciate it.
Quote:
During Saturday's session at the WinSport facility at Canada Oympic Park, among the noteworthy moments with Gaudreau was him working with the club's 2014 first-round pick Sam Bennett during a two-on-two game, and when he went head-to-head against Hunter Smith the 6-foot-7 winger drafted in the second round this year in a drill to develop angling puck-carrying players into the boards.
Even Gaudreau and Smith were laughing at the size difference.
We said it probably wasn't the greatest pair to match up in that drill, Gaudreau said with a smile. He took it easy on me, not too many big hits.
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I thought Bennett looked pretty nervous, but as he got more comfortable you could see flashes of his skill. Sometime he'd make a really good play but his partner in the drill wouldn't be in the right spot to finish it off. In the 2 on 2 drill at the end of the session you could definitely see his feistiness and skill come through. Him and gaudreau dominated some of the other pairings.
During Saturday's session at the WinSport facility at Canada Oympic Park, among the noteworthy moments with Gaudreau was him working with the club's 2014 first-round pick Sam Bennett during a two-on-two game, and when he went head-to-head against Hunter Smith the 6-foot-7 winger drafted in the second round this year in a drill to develop angling puck-carrying players into the boards.
Even Gaudreau and Smith were laughing at the size difference.
We said it probably wasn't the greatest pair to match up in that drill, Gaudreau said with a smile. He took it easy on me, not too many big hits.
Forgot I had these clips as well -- Gaudreau vs. Smith takeaway drill:
The first time they did the drill, you could see both guys laughing about it afterwards
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I'm planning on going down with my dad for tomorrow morning's session. Any tips or info that may help us out? How early should we go to get in and grab seats?
I'm planning on going down with my dad for tomorrow morning's session. Any tips or info that may help us out? How early should we go to get in and grab seats?
probably 9:45 maybe slightly earlier.
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