The 2012 edition of Calgary Flames development camp finished off on Friday morning with a mixed session, comprising a 45 minute scrimmage followed by more focused drills. The scrimmage itself was a fairly low-scoring affair, either due to the early hour or to an increased focused on defense. Nevertheless, the morning wasn’t without a bit of action.
As with Thursday afternoon’s scrimmage, the session pitted Group A (minus Pat Sieloff and Chris Breen, but plus Group B’s James Martin) against Group B. Throughout the scrimmage, Abbotsford head coach Troy Ward served as ringmaster and referee, directing traffic and changing situations (and personnel) as was appropriate. With the two sides alternative man-advantages, it was a bit appropriate that Team White won 3-0, with two goals scored by NCAA sophomore Johnny Gaudreau and the other by NCAA graduate David Eddy.
As usual, some players stood out more than others. In short-handed situations, both Sven Baertschi and Mark Jankowski created offensive chances for Team Red – although Jankowski went the wrong way on a dangle and was dumped with a very nice, very clean hip-check from Brady Lamb. Lamb also stood out for utilizing his speed on offensive rushes, including one early in the session where he cut in on several Team Red defenders. Team White’s goal-scorers, Eddy and Gaudreau, were amongst their most energetic players all session. Other players that showed some flash during the session were Ryan Culkin, Matthew Deblouw and Carter Bancks.
With development camp now officially over, the prospects will go their separate ways to prepare for the rest of their summer. That is, except for four players: Laurent Brossoit represents Team Canada in the Canada-Russia Challenge in early August, while Jon Gillies, Johnny Gaudreau and Patrick Sieloff head to USA Hockey’s summer evaluation camp in mid-August.
Carter Bancks and Dustin Sylverster were a couple of guys who looked pretty good on occasion as well. I don’t know if they’ll ever be more than AHL level players, but decent guys to have in the org anyways.
before this camp started, I supported Jankowski going to USHL before NCAA. Gradual steps for a long-term project, you know?
After most people came away from the camp impressed with him, however, I’m starting to wonder if maybe he should go straight to College after all..
Does going to the USHL have any appeal for him due to his education? Or is it just a transition for him before he heads to Providence
It’s pretty late in the summer to be looking for a scholarship from a D1 school, and Providence might not have one to spare, because he was recruited with 2013/14 in mind.
Fair enough, and it’s probably unlikely that Jankowski is at that phenomenal of a talent at that level to make it a severe loss to NCAA to not have him on a team.
@Austin
Don’t quote me on it but I seem to recall some NCAA guy saying that college teams like guys to play a year in the USHL if possible because USHL teams (unlike High School teams) will have fitness/nutrician people on staff so they come into the NCAA more prepared and in better shape.
Just wanted to throw a thank you to everyone who went to the camp and provided info – it’s been great reading about these prospects.
Does anyone know if the Flames are participating in the usual prospect/training camp? I don’t remember if it’s the same time as training camp in September, but I remember 2 or 3 years ago watching our prospects play against Vancouver, Edmonton, and possibly San Jose’s prospects. It was a horribly grainy feed and I remember prospects like Breen and Nemisz playing terribly.
@FireOnIce
If you’re referring to the Young Stars tournament… then no, it’s not happening this year (Casualty of the CBA being up for negotiation).
That’s the one, thanks Parallex.
Also, is Sieloff concussed now? He made that huge hit that backfired and hasn’t played since.
No official word…but that could be it. Or some other “upper body injury” at least.
Thanks for the info Kent.
I’m just poking around other teams’ sites, seeing who else is doing prospect development camps right now. I must say, it looks like Zemgus Girgensons (thought it was Girgenson, but he’s got that last S on his jersey) might be pretty damn good.
Check the video: http://www.sabresprospects.com/2012/07/wise-pots-three-in-blue-roll.html
And they signed him to an ELC, so he’s playing either in the NHL or AHL this season. Man, Jankowski might look like he has potential in the future, but we could’ve had someone that has the potential to play in the NHL now.
Just saying.
True, but it will really matter is how good each of them will be when they get there too. Colton Gillies was selected in the first round because he was relatively “NHL ready” in terms of size and tools…and he turned out to be replacement level at best.
Which isn’t to say Janko will necessarily turn out any better. Just that we won’t know for awhile.
Kent, do you think any of the try-out invitees have earned a second look?
Most of them had a nice flash here and there, but none of them particularly stood out to me. Maybe the big goaltender should Irving flee to Europe?
A lot of them looked decent, but most (if not ALL) of them were the guys headed back to the NCAA.
Hi all,
If any players not yet property of Flames who attended the Dev Camp get a contract, my guesses based on some video and Thursday PM scrimmage would be:
Tim Schaller or Eric Robinson at forward, possibly Goalie Jared Coreau if Flames want to complicate that situation (doubtful).
definitely not Schaller. I’m pretty sure there’s a 100% chance he goes back to NCAA next season. Maybe next year.
as for Coreau, it seems to me that the Flames might make a push for him if they lose Irving (just as Kent said)
this “filler” thing called summer is great and all, but I seriously wish it was time to drop the puck already!
Given the rumors about the NHL’s opening salvo in the CBA talks, you might be waiting awhile.
@Kent
What’s the rumour? Anywhere I can read about it?
It’s ugly man:
http://www.ontheforecheck.com/2012/7/13/3158336/nhl-cba-owners-players-revenue-free-agency-negotiation
Apparently they want the players cut to go from 57-46…and they want a cap on contract length (5 years) and to increase ELC’s to 5 years instead of 3. And increase time to free agency from 7 years to 10 for players.
It’s gut punch after gut punch for the players union. I can only assume the owners are really just after one or two of these and will “surrender” on a couple of others to get the deal done.
First salvo at the negotiating table. Nobody enters negotiations aiming for the bare minimum they are willing to tolerate. You aim for the sky and work downwards from there. Unlike the last CBA there are no systemic issues driving animosity.
I`m confident there will be hockey in October, whether that means they have reached a new CBA agreement or have decided to continue one more year under the existing CBA so as to hammer out details and formalize for the future.
yeah, I haven’t heard anything from the people that are involved in this thing that indicates they’re going for a lockout. I read a quote somewhere from Fehr where he said something like if they don’t come to an agreement before the start of the season, they’ll operate under the current CBA for another year, just like you said.
Owners won’t go for that, hence a lockout.
Just out of curiosity, how did Ryan Howse do at the camp? Hopefully not as bad as his AHL counterpart Greg Nemisz…..
Mostly didn’t notice him, but he had a couple of shifts that weren’t too bad. One nice drive outside.
Anyone who thinks a lockout is on the horizon needs to brush up on Business 101.
Like in all Labour Negotiations both sides start with a lowball offer to get the process started and they work at finding a medium from there. It’s just standard bargaining procedure, in fact if they were to start with a reasonable offer than they would end up going past their acceptable area, thus putting themselves into stand still.
Basically the NHL is creating room for bargaining that they fully understand is going to happen.
This is just normal procedure and unlike in 04/05 where the NHL/Owners were looking to establish something new in the negotiations (Salary Cap) this time around the NHL isn’t asking for anything that wasn’t expected.
These terms and conditions are just a matter of figuring out %/Years and will not cause another lockout.