FN Weekend Open Thread – Dev Camp Thoughts

 

 

It was the development camp scrimmage this morning and more than a few folks showed up to watch (my guess is between 500-100). Ryan Pike is busy gathering player interviews as the camp progresses, but for now this thread is share the thoughts and impressions of anyone who has taken in the action thus far.

Today was my first exposure to the kids and so my observations are limited. In a single contest like this a lot of guys kind of fade into the woodwork, especially because the area seating is concentrated on one end of the rink (making it hard to scout action at the other end). Still, here’s what I came away with.

– Mark Jankowski looks bigger. In fact, he appeared to be the second tallest player on the ice behind Kanzig. He’s also still very toolsy, but relatively low impact. Janko would appear in the thick of things now and then, but disappeared for long stretches as well. I had to specifically look for him in the latter half of the game in order to notice him on the ice.

– Turner Elson was one of the stand-outs this morning. Smallish, but a buzzsaw of activity, he also made a number of nice spin-type moves in the offensive zone and set-up one of team Black’s goals after a nice deke off the boards and out of the corner. Had another high-end chance after going wide and driving the net. A pleasant surprise.

– Another unexpectedly good performer was Trey Lewis, the undrafted captain of the Halifax Mooseheads. Lewis seemed to be a decently poised defender who wasn’t shy about communicating or jumping into the rush at times.

– Bill Arnold was also a stand-out at times. He was much more mobile that I remember or expected and seemed to make consistently strong plays with the puck.

– John Gaudreau played a lot with Sean Monahan for team red and they were usually the line that drove play into the offensive zone. Gaudreau is faster this year and he doesn’t look as freakishly undersized either.

Monahan was solid all over the ice. Despite being a younger guy he rarely panicked with the puck and was never victimized on a bad play or missed read. He also scored Red’s only goal.

– Pat Sieloff was a guy who seemed to struggle with frustration/keeping his emotions in check. His signature is playing with an edge, of course, but a guy with a short fuse can cause problems on the ice because it can lead to poor decisions and bad penalties.

– Michael Ferland had a rough go. Plays died on his stick more than once this morning and he seemed to have problems both with execution and decision making. 

– Sven Baertschi was one of the most dangerous guys on the ice for Black of course. He played mostly with Granlund and they combined for a goal and more than one high-end scoring chance. I didn’t notice Granlund as much, but a few others there were raving about him.

– Keegan Kanzig is big.

That’s about it from me. Share your own impressions in the comments.