2010 Development Camp updates

[Freeway]

I liked Jon Rheault, but I [a] saw him only on the first day and [b] saw him just during 5 games in Abbotsford. He was good in 5 games in Abbotsford and in drills on the first day of camp.

[SuperK]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

^Don't confuse weakness with English and a lack of enthusiasm

This may be true to some extent, but facial expressions are considered a universal language. Watch youtube clips of him in interviews after being drafted by the Flames.

Don't get me wrong, I think the guy's a great defenceman, and should be solid for us when he makes the jump, but man, he doesn't look like he wants to be here.

But hey, I'm sure Darryl wouldn't have picked him if he didn't like his attitude so it's all good I guess...

[JiriHrdina]

Again you are guessing.

Is it that he doesn't want to be here or that he is uncomfortable being in front of a mic/camera because of his language struggles.

[ClubFlames]

Didn't some people say the same thing about Bouwmeester when his rights got traded here? Said he didn't seem excited, sounds disappointed and what not but he did end up signing here long term. Some people are just not good with interviews so just give it a rest.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Bingo

don't get me wrong, makes sense ... but I do think it effects traffic to the topic.

Agreed. For the last couple of days I was thinking "wow, nobody is talking about camp." And then remembered it might be in this forum instead of FOI.

[ramizle]

anything new about the prospect camp? anything at all

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by SuperK

This may be true to some extent, but facial expressions are considered a universal language. Watch youtube clips of him in interviews after being drafted by the Flames.

Some people have even-keeled, low-key personalities. Others are vivacious, bubbly, extroverted, chatty.

It doesn't really have any bearing on whether they will turn into a top player or not IMO. Especially since as others have pointed out, some players will modify their personalities a lot for interviews and some will be the same. A guy who's chatty and joking with his teammates may end up very nervous in front of a TV camera until he's done hundreds of interviews. And a guy who's a native Swedish speaker might be even more nervous in front of English cameras.

If Tim Erixon still acts the same way in front of English TV camers in a decade you might be able to say something concrete about his personality. But that still doesn't translate to any concrete ideas about his play on the ice.

So yeah, seems like a non-factor.

Some people try and read way too much into the most trivial of factors. Try watching him play and then making some judgements. Making judgements about a prospect simply based off interviews is lazy and a fairly pointless exercise unless the kid is displaying some serious attitude problems.

[Metro Gnome]

Originally Posted by ramizle

anything new about the prospect camp? anything at all

Backlund was excellent today. more competition in the drills which makes it easier to compare the players. He danced around more than one guy.

Not a lot of really big stand-outs besides. Armstrong saw limited action, the new kids faded into the wood work. I've liked a lot of what I've seen from Wahl and Brodie this week while Nemisz has been up and down in my eyes.

Again, though, there's only so much one can tell from these kinds of drills.

[Converge]

GOALIES
33 G Irving, Leland (L)
- Irving looked like the best goalie again today. Excellent rebound control and good lateral movement. It is still evident however, that he has a little ways to go before getting a crack at the NHL.

31 G Lamoureux, J.P (L)
- This was probably Lamoureux's best day so far, and I actually had a chance to watch him in some drills. Had some trouble with his angles when hugging the post, which resulted in a little extra talking to from the coach.

1 G Lanigan, Cam (L)
- Looked big in net, and used his size to his advantage when hugging the post; left no room for an embarrassing bank shot off the back of his leg or something. Has a lot of work ahead of him if he wants to turn pro.

37 G Ortio, Joni (L)
- More good puck-playing ability shown by Ortio this morning. The glove was working again as well, but Joni will need to work on rebound control; which is probably the most glaring hole in his game. Made another nice scrambly desperation save off a rebound again today.


DEFENCE
54 LD Breen, Chris (L)
- Breen's skating has looked strong everyday day so far, especially for a guy his size, but today in some drills with the puck was the first time he looked really slow like I thought he would. He continues to display his physical tools defensively though. Maybe a bottom paring guy one day. he reminds me a bit of Pardy.

66 LD Brodie, T.J. (L)
- Brodie's wrist shot is becoming more and more prevalent. I'm quite positive he scores the most with his shots out of all the defencemen actually. His offensive upside is undeniable.

80 RD Deilert, Alex (R)
- Alex had another impressive day today. Not as many mistakes with the puck, and had some shining moments with his soft hands. Even stepped up to make a check a couple times in the 4-on-4 scrimmage against guys much bigger than him.

51 LD Erixon, Tim (L)
- I finally got a chance to see what Tim's game looked like when all of his abilities were on display in a game like scenario in the 4-on-4. His skating looked kind of slow today, but still very smooth and transitions very well. He likes to shoot for the tip, but will not hesitate to shoot to score if given the opportunity. Decision making is a split second to slow and will need to be addressed before he expects to make the NHL. He also needs to step up on the puck carrier a little more, as his slight lack of speed caused him to get beaten around the outside a couple times. Tim was also paired with Deilert for most of the drills this afternoon.

45 LD Leach, Joey (L)
- Physicality is his strength, but his puck skills look decent. Skating still looked a little slow to me.

63 RD Meyers, Josh (R)
- Probably the most physical guy again today. Josh's experience is apparent in his defensive play and shooting ability.

61 LD Negrin, John (L)
- I'm not sure how long Negrin was actually out today, but I know he wasn't out in the afternoon again. Can't really comment because of this.

40 LD Nyren, Giffen (L)
- Nyren is just trying to do too much, he's overthinking everything. I usually wouldn't try to speculate this kind of thing, as you never really know what's going on in a players head, but with Giffen it's hard not to notice. Lost the puck a lot this morning in the cones, took a couple spills again, and his skating looks pretty sloppy. Despite this, he hasn't been that bad, and although his skating hasn't been very good, he's still very fast and has an above average shot.

43 RD Seabrook, Keith (R)
- I didn't notice Keith today as much as I did before. His shot was kind of underwhelming. Not much to say here.

[Converge]

FORWARDS
75 C Armstrong, John (R)
- Armstrong has been surprisingly unnoticable the past two days compared to the first day I saw him. All skills looked strong, but nothing really stood out. He also had one incident where he missed a simple pass three straight times in a drill. Also worth noting, he was the only player not in Black or Red this afternoon, not sure why.

49 C Arnold, Bill (R)
- Arnold's best asset is probably his shot. He hasn't shown a lot yet, so I don't have much to write about, but he does need to work on his skating, that much is clear.

60 C Backlund, Mikael (L)
- I don't know what it is with Backlund (and Erixon) but on some drills he almost looks defiant to do it quite the write way. While everyone else skates around the cones lifting one skate off the ice the whole time, he only does it half the time. The same goes for Erixon. Besides that Mikael had another stand out day, similar to the past two. His speed and skill is impossible to ignore. His skating is excellent; very smooth. His offensive abilities were finally on display in the 4-on-4, where he looked a step ahead of everyone else.

74 C Carpentier, Hugo (L)
- Hugo looks like a very hard worker, but there aren't much more good things to say about him. He has good size, but his skating and lack of skill give him a very low ceiling.

77 C Marvin, Aaron (L)
- Marvin continues to be all over the place. His skating is still very sub-par and his puck control, especially around the cones with putting his head down is almost non-existent. He still has one of the absolute best shots at camp, and good offensive decision making abilities. His physical play is also starting to show through in some of the scrimmages. I need to watch his defensive tendencies more still.

71 C Patterson, Gaelan (L)
- Gaelan looks to be a potential 3rd liner at this point. His brings nothing special to the table besides a solid game. He is about as average as a prospect can get, but not necessarily in a bad way.

59 C Reinhart, Max (L)
- This was by far Max's best day. He was almost invisible the past two days, but today he (along with the rest of our 2010 picks there) was the first guy on the ice in the afternoon. He has a good shot (specifically his snap-shot and slapper) and is smart with the puck. He also struggled today at times though, his skating seemed like a big weak point.

52 C Wahl, Mitch (R)
- At this point it is very close between Wahl and Backlund for who has the best shot at camp, which I am shocked by. Wahl's wrister is wicked, it is very hard, and very accurate; but he's also not afraid to windup up and blast pucks either. I have strangely not really seen very much playmaker instincts from him though, and if I didn't know any better I would assume he was a pure goal scorer based on his performance so far. He also has strong stick skills, with excellent puck control and very good hands. Mitch also seems to get along with everyone very, very well. He's always passing the puck around with someone, or talking with another player. He looks like a very good team guy, and is probably easily a top-5 prospect in the system at this point, maybe top-3.

46 LW Bancks, Carter (L)
- Bancks looked awful today. Weak shots, slow footspeed, and his puck control was sub-par to say the least.

68 LW Bennett, Spencer (L)
- Bennett finally stood out a bit today, mainly in the 4-on-4, he used his 6'4" frame to drive towards the net hard and cut towards the net.He also had good net presence.

57 LW Bouma, Lance (L)
- I hardly even saw Lance today.

79 LW Ferland, Michael (L)
- Ferland continued his trend of strong skating and decent offensive play, mainly with his shooting.

73 LW Grantham, Ryley (L)
- Did not skate.

58 LW Larson, Nick (L)
- Nick's skating looked okay today, he had really good balance and decent speed. Puck control was his biggest problem of the day though, he kept losing the puck in the cones. But besides that he looked really good. He loves to have the puck on his stick, he has sick hands and a great shot. making him a really exciting player to watch. It was great to see him out on the ice after the skating session ended going over a drill he struggled with and trying it again. He looked excellent in the 4-on-4, he competed really hard for the puck and used his big frame well infront of the net. I see a lot of potential in Larson, I really hope he pans out.

38 LW MacMillan, Logan (L)
- Did not skate.

72 LW Severyn, C.J. (L)
- Severyn was pretty unnoticable again today. Nothing to say here.

39 RW Cameron, Bryan (R)
- Cameron looked very, very slow this morning in some drills, causing teammates to finish drills in jumbled-up groups of 4 or 5 from having to slow down as well. I was kind of shocked to see this, becuase his skating looked better the past two days. Aside from that he displayed the same skills he did before; Lots of dekes and dangles with a hard shot as well.

78 RW Holland, Patrick (R)
- Hardly saw Holland again today.

64 RW Howse, Ryan (L)
- My disappointment with Howse has turned into confusion and bewilderment. His shot is starting to look pretty awful in comparison with a lot of other prospects. His puck control is okay and his speed is probably a little above average, but Howse hasn't looked like anything special at all...

48 RW Nemisz, Greg (R)
- This was the first day Nemisz's skating has looked bad. He looked slower today and fanned on some shots from some nice passes from teammates. He tried to throw his weight around a bit more in the 4-on-4 but didn't really overpower anyone; he was pretty evenly matched I'd say. His hands did look really good though, he can dangle like crazy, and as cliché as it sounds, he looked like he could stick handle in a phone booth.

47 RW Rheault, Jon (R)
- Rheault looked the same again today, good speed, an okay shot and pretty strong work ethic too. A jaffray type of player I'd say.

Note: Howse joined Arnold, Severyn, Bouma and Bancks in skating with the defencemen this morning.

[jeremywilhelm]

Something you should all take into consideration with everyone, even Backlunds skating, is that the skating instructor for the prospects pretty much re-tooled every single players skating posture and stride this year. He is changing the push off motion of the players stride to eliminate toe dig, which is a bad habit that pretty much every player can get into when they are not constantly being observed.

He said that Backlund has the best stride and posture of any of the players but that, even then, he has work to do.

He also said that the veterans on the Flames dread when he shows up at the beginning of the year because this new style of skating stride that he is implementing is totally different than what older players are used to.

I think this is what Sarich was doing in ice sessions this week when someone had seen him.

He explains his theory a bit on the flames NHL video site.

This could be why some of the prospects look slower than normal, or look a little off, especially Cameron who said in the video that he is learning a new way to skate (ad libbed).

Edit: I would imagine it is pretty tough to focus on puck handling or shooting if the coaches are harping on proper skating position and stride.

I know in my sport, when I had to fundamentally change my entire posturing and motion, I looked like a complete fool for well over a month until muscle memory was established.

[think,thenthrow]

Sarich was out again yesterday and today with the power skating coach. Had 3 other guys with him both days, don't know specifically who they are but will find out if they are there again tomorrow.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by wireframe

Here is a link to the FanBlogger's comments:
http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/randy-workman/20313/

Yeah, I see someone has used my online moniker. It's not me, although I have to admit I'm a critic of his work.

[Torture]

Thanks Converge! I kept checking this thread and I'm glad somebody finally posted exactly what you've been posting.

[Torture]

Nice to hear some good things about Wahl. I remember last year there were a lot of comments on him struggling and his shot being inaccurate.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I think part of the problem is the thread location in the farm club page.

At least somebody understood my question! This is what I was getting at. We used to have lots of updates in years past. I get the usefulness/uselessness of prospect camp reports.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by SuperK

Wow. Tim Erixon is brutal at interviews. He sounds really scared or nervous to answer the questions... Or maybe he's very uninterested. Even when he was drafted, I don't think he was happy at all to be coming here. Compared to Erixon, Backlund seems as pumped to play as his Captain!

People said the same thing when they heard Bouwmeester first talk to the Calgary media.

[Canada 02]

Backlund interview

http://www.fan960.com/media.jsp?cont...30_164944_7516

Playfair interview

http://www.fan960.com/media.jsp?cont...30_164421_3364

[Sly]

From listening the Backlund interview... it worries me that he suffered so many minor injuries leading up to this camp.

[Beerfest]

Originally Posted by Sly

From listening the Backlund interview... it worries me that he suffered so many minor injuries leading up to this camp.

What minor injuries?