Development Camp - Day 2

[NWTHabsFan]

I am going to start this in the prospect section even though Day one is on the main page.

Here are some thoughts from the lads over at HF who were able to attend and see the drills today.

From Whitesnake:

Here's my much small report for today's practise.

A quick resume is that it was much much much funnier than yesterday, puck control, skating drills, bungee cord 1 on 1, guys flying around, falling down......

The only quick resume I could give you is:

1- I was drunk yesterday 'cause Kosty is nowhere near the smallest guy in the arena, Ryan White though and Maxwell and Mikus wins the trophy but White comes on top.....

2- Talking about White, I believe he had the most difficult time out there. You see he ain't a natural skater and had troubled handling the puck as well. Another guy that seems to have fun though. And Maxwell owned him at the bungee cord 1 on 1 thing. One player is attached to a bungee cord to another and they all go in the opposite direction, obviously it comes to who's stronger 'cause if you don't have a good grip you'll end up falling or being pulled by the other guy. I probably don't explain it the right way so if somebody could do the translate job for me.....And White doesn't appear to me as having a great shot, and great puck handling skills.

3- At the same exercise, the funnier and most interesting battle was between O'Byrne and Gleed. O'Byrne nailed Gleed the first time, something that really looked like an uneven battle. Well, they did it again, and Gleed owned O'Byrne so hard, O'Byrne fell down hard and Gleed had fun skating with O'Byrne on his back....

4- I don't think it was Price greatest day. There was some scrimmages where there's 3 guys fighting for a puck, everyone for himself, 2 goalies, you shoot wherever you want, 2 nets were along the boards inside a blue line. Anyway, Price got owned badly by....O'Byrne! Made 2 incredible stops though on somebody else. It wasn't a bad day but not a great one either. Didn't look at Lacasse that much.

5- I had my sheets with me with pictures and all so I know who's who. I still have a hard time finding Wyman on the ice. Don't see Mikus that much either.

6- I found that Fischer had a lot of trouble controlling the puck today. Didn't have the greatest puck handling day going for him.

7- Is it me or Jon Gleed just looks like he could be a good player. Doesn't do anything exceptionnally well, but just seems to have some kind of presence about him.

8- We do have a Traverse look-a-like, Paquet is the one, again was a little bit more satisfied with his day today, had some great exercises going for him. He's his look-a-like face wise but I would like to hear the others as far as his play is concerned.


9- Impressed by Maxwell nifty moves, Korpikari again is like somebody you don't notice too much. Doesn't mean he's bad nor great but he's just doing his thing. For him, I'm just waiting for some 1 on 1, he impressed the hell out of me last year.

10- I just have a hockey man crush on O'Byrne, skates well, great passes, obviously looks like a man amongst boys.

The whole management was there, the only guy I didn't see was Timmins, but Gainey, Carbo, Jarvis, Melanson, Gingras were all there.

There was much more people than yesterday, I guess it's true that some HF boards people were there.

By the way, I was gone when some described themselves so I have no idea who's who, but I was close to where the guys were entering the ice, blue polar shirt, blue jeans and sheets on my hand with photos.

Anyway when I'll think about something else, I'll come back


...and Sakuuuuu:

Alright, I don't have my notes with me right now, but here's an off the top of my head report from this morning.

Well my player recognition skills weren't as great as I had thought/hoped, so I focused mainly on the couple of guys that I was sure I knew: S. Kostitsyn, D'Agostini, Fischer, O'Byrne, and the goalies.

- S. Kostitsyn: I was disapointed to be honest. He definitely doesn't have his brother's hands/skillset. Seemed to have a nice release, though the amount of shooting was limited. Speed and skating seemed average. Nothing special in stickhandling, though at one point, during a toe-drag drill, he did slide the puck from behind him between his legs and back onto his stick very non-chalantly. While not the smallest in the group, he did like pretty small compared to most of the others on the ice.

- D'Agostini: Wow did this kid impress me. Seems to have a complete package. Solid hands, good wheels... Admittedly, it was just 2 and a half hours of drills, but I really loved what I saw out of this kid. Oh, and he really really does look soooo much like Higgins physically lol.

- Fischer: Seems like a good kid. Chatting it up with others, laughing... Good size. Didn't see him much, but liked what I did see.

- O'Byrne: Big guy. Skates well. Needs a bit of work on puck control, but seems like he's developing a booming shot.

- Price: I liked what I saw from him. Made one amazing save during a little one-on-one-on-one game (three skaters fighting for a puck, and any of them can score on either net), where he made a stop and reached his goal stick across the net to make another save on the rebound. Was awesome in puck control drills behind the net. Moved very quickly, good passing, good control. His latteral sliding might need a bit of work as he seemed to struggle a little bit with that drill.

- Lacassee: Not overly impressed. He played well in the one-on-one-on-one game, but he struggled a lot with the puck control drills, even slamming his goal stick hard against the boards in frustration at one point. Perhaps a future AHL-er, but needs plenty of work (playing for Roy's team will certainly be good for him).

Carbonneau, Muller, and Jarvis were out on the ice for the beginning drills with pucks, but sat in the stands with Gainey after the break and let Gingras run the skating drills.

Players and coaches signed autographs for kids after the skate. Kostitsyn was all smiles.

They really need to put numbers on those jerseys, or at least on the helmets. It was slightly boring I guess, but fun all the same.


...and Top Corner2:

D'agostini, O'Byrne and Aubin definitely looked to be among the most mature out there.

Ryan White and Ben Maxwell were among the least. They really look young and nervous. Ryan White needs to work on his skating, but he seems to have some intangibles. Reminds me of Ryder back when he was that age. Same build. Ryan White will probably end up being more of a plugger.

Fisher looks like he has talent but is still very raw. He does remind me of Hainsey. Let's hope we develope him better.

I couldn't figure out who everyone was, so I really focused on White + Maxwell. I can see why they slipped. They are going to need time. But considering that our plan is always to be patient, I can also see why we took them. Both look like they have what it takes.

O'byrne is big and fast and agile. It will be interesting to see how these guys compare to Chips and Lats tomorrow.

[NWTHabsFan]

Matthew Macaskill had this great report from HabsWorld. He also promises to do a full report/article at the end of the camp.

Well I was quite pleased to see Coaches Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller, and Doug Jarvis hit the ice today along with the players. The presence of the coaches seemed to motivate the players as they had a much more high-tempo practice today.

Bob Gainey was also in attendance for a bit during the first hour. As soon as he took a seat all of the video cameras from various television stations swarmed him. All of a sudden, the prospects weren’t the main attraction.

The drills were much different than yesterday. Today most of the drills involved puck movement or stick handling where yesterday there was no puck involvement at all. They also had a drill where there would be three players fighting for the puck in order to try and score on either of the goalies. This drill was interesting because it allowed some of the bigger players to showcase their physical ability. A couple of guys were even a bit shook up after this one.

Anyway, here are the specific players I took note of today and what I saw. I won’t be sharing everything, as I want to have a good article at the end of the week, but I’m sure you’ll be pleased.

RW Matthew D’Agostini – Skates with his head down while stick handling, could be dangerous. When he did start to look up, he lost control of the puck. He look smaller than I expected, may need to beef up a bit. He does possess some quick hands though, and certainly has potential to be a shifty winger. His stick work helped him create a few scoring opportunities for himself. Surprisingly I found him to be a very smooth backwards skater.

C/RW Mathieu Aubin – Looks up the ice more often than D’Agostini, but looks down every so often to check that the puck is still on his stick as he handles it. Though, he strikes me as a power-forward type player, so his skill with the puck isn’t too bad considering. He had some trouble stick handling at a fast skating speed. Thus, he may be the kind of player who rather push the puck up ice and chase it down. Not afraid to challenge defenders physically.

RW Sergei Kostitsyn – Had a pretty good shot, and seemed to slow things down when he was in control of the puck. He’s a sharp skater, able to control his speed. He really didn't catch my attention that much today.

D David Fischer – Had some trouble stick handling with the puck, seems to slow down his skating in order to concentrate on the stick handling. He seemed to be a step behind everyone today, but is a much better backwards skater. At times Fischer looked a bit tight out there. I caught him holding his breath as he went through one of the drills, he was clearly nervous. He showed some strong skating every so often, and looked very good on one occasion rushing down the rink with the puck. I found that he was hooking the opposing players quite a bit while defending, a habit he’ll have to shake before he gets to the new NHL.

D Ryan O’Byrne – He continued to impress me today. He’s very good when he has to pivot one way or another, and can do it while skating fast. When challenging an opponent, he liked to power his way through rather than skate around. Threw some big body checks on the boards during a mini-skirmish, then skated away and scored on Carey Price. He looked like a man amongst boys. Proved that he’s a skilled skater, just not extremely fast, takes him a little longer to get to his top speed.

C/RW Ryan White – Like Fischer, he was a step behind everyone. However he did show some good stick movement. Not afraid to use his body to get by a defender. White surprised me when he was able to get off a quick snap-shot while in traffic. It reminded me a lot of Michael Ryder. Still, he isn’t the fastest or smoothest skater.

D Mathieu Carle – Very smooth skater and great with the puck. Had a few good shots as well and even scored a goal on Price. While defending against a forward, he used the same trick 3 times to win the battle. He basically obtained the puck and did a spin to deke out the attacker and skated away. It was a nifty little play, but I’m not sure how many times it would work in the NHL. Very good skater.

LW Gregory Stewart – Not afraid to use his body to challenge the defender. He found the net a couple of times as well. Seems to be a smooth skater.

D Philippe Paquet – Not a very crisp skater, but he has some speed. He looked better today than he did yesterday though. He’s tall and thin, and it causes him to be a bit clumsy. He’ll need to add some weight. Rather skate and maneuver around opponents than use his body. Still, showed some fast and agile backwards skating.

G Carey Price – Seems to be a pretty good skater. Quick/crisp movement with and without the puck.

G Loic Lacasse – Looked slower and a bit clumsy handling the puck. At one point the goalie coaches were giving him a lot of pointers, but it may have discouraged him, as you could tell by his play that he was a bit frustrated.

-Matthew Macaskill

[NWTHabsFan]

DonKay from scout.com:

I attented this mornings seassion...I have to say its fairly difficult to know who is who considering the players have no names or numbers on.

I was able to recognize a few, including Fisher,O'Byrne,Stewart,Kosti,and obviously the two goalies.

Chipchura and Lantender weren't there, I'm not sure D'Agostini was ther either.

First off...Fisher has very very good size, once he puts some weight on he'll be a big strong guy. Extremely mobile dman, moves very well, very solid in the skating drills, good lateral movement combined with speed...skating comes easy for him. He's also the most chatty guy, like Chipchura in the past during this type of camp he was the one chatting it up with everyone, definitely seems to be a team guy.

O'Byrne, massive fellow, huge,I pressume he's gonna be as big as Komisarek...skates well for a man his size, obviously has a little more trouble in pylon drills and lateral skating drills but considering his size does well. If most here think JP Cote has a futur as a depth dman that so does this guy because he's not any less mobile than Cote.

Young Kostitsyn...this kid is very impressive, possibly the smoothes skating forward out there today, seems very composed when he skates, seems to glide out there, may not have blazing speed but has good speed. Also alot bigger than I suspected, if he puts on weight he'll be bigger than his brother, I think it helped alot that he spent the year in NA, I remember his bro at this camp a few years ago, often lost and looked excluded from the rest of the guys for obvious reasons. The younger Kosti seemed to fit in well with the others and never had any problems with the drills. I honestly believe the Habs got a steal with this kid.

Greg Stewart, big kid, skates pretty well, but unlike Kosti has to work his ass off to get that speed, chips away at the ice hard, definite role player down the road...had a good work ethic out there.

Carey Price was mostly working drills with Rollie, but he handles the puck like an NHL goalie, too bad that new rule came into play because he can be like a 3rd Dman out there, much like Brodeur.


I know the recent draft picks were out there, Maxwell,White,Carle,Cepek etc...but couldn't tell who they were, overall they were a good bunch, all guys were working hard.

Carbo and Muller were there on the ice assisting in drills, Muller still looks like he can play as does Carbo, but Muller just has that physic on skates.

[Deleted]

Looks like O'Byrne could be a defensemen we've been wanting without having to go out and sign anything and everything.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

mattdhf said:

Looks like O'Byrne could be a defensemen we've been wanting without having to go out and sign anything and everything.

O'Byrne may be our next Ulanov, but we need somebody like Marco Materazzi to question Komisarek's mothers reputation and light a fire under all that muscle.

[SchoonerGuy]

habsfaninla said:

mattdhf said:

Looks like O'Byrne could be a defensemen we've been wanting without having to go out and sign anything and everything.

O'Byrne may be our next Ulanov, but we need somebody like Marco Materazzi to question Komisarek's mothers reputation and light a fire under all that muscle.

Ouch! Komisarek's mother recently passed away from cancer.

[seventeen]

habsfaninla said:

mattdhf said:

Looks like O'Byrne could be a defensemen we've been wanting without having to go out and sign anything and everything.

O'Byrne may be our next Ulanov, but we need somebody like Marco Materazzi to question Komisarek's mothers reputation and light a fire under all that muscle.

We get the idea, HFLa, but not in the best of taste. The sporting world would be better off without trash talk. It continues to be a fact of life, but not one I care for. The best way to silence trash talk is to beat your opponent on the scoreboard.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

seventeen said:

habsfaninla said:

O'Byrne may be our next Ulanov, but we need somebody like Marco Materazzi to question Komisarek's mothers reputation and light a fire under all that muscle.

We get the idea, HFLa, but not in the best of taste. The sporting world would be better off without trash talk. It continues to be a fact of life, but not one I care for. The best way to silence trash talk is to beat your opponent on the scoreboard.

Looking back I probably deserve a head but for that one. It's just that we've been waiting for Komisarex to put Sundin into the third row of reds for a few years and instead he acts like the Friendly Giant talking to Jerome. "Look at my boots, look waaaay up...."

HIT SOMEBODY!!!