Development Camp - Day 3
Jul 12, 2006 23:23:57 GMT -5
Post by NWTHabsFan on Jul 12, 2006 23:23:57 GMT -5
Okay, it was the day of Zednik, Johnson and Samsonov, so pretty hard to focus on the 18-22 year olds. Here are the HF reports from today and there are some detailed good ones:
From raketheleaves:
ok....
I was impressed with the size and skating ability across the board. Much better than the last development camp I went to in 2002 (Komi, Higgins, Archer, Ferland, and midgets).
There were 8 defensemen on the ice and SEVEN were righties. The lefty was Korpikari. He was good. He stumbled once switching over to backwards, but had good hands and good skill and hustled. Excellent skater.
The guys who stood out to me were: D'Agostino, Carle, Fischer (very mature for his age, great skater), Korpikari and Chipchura. Latendresse was not there (at least I hope he wasn't, hard to tell with no names or numbers on the back).
I was pretty well impressed with almost everyone though. Very good group. The hands aren't as good as in the past, but they all have solid hands to go with good size and skating across the board. Lots of NORTH AMERICANS too. Only Korpikari, S.Kosty, and Mikus were Euro. I like that!
Hard to pick out who was who, but I guess it's better that way because it's easy to see who stood out. For me it was:
Carle: Excellent acceleration and agility, nice skill set and can finish in close. One-on-one he will need help against bigger players, but he doesn't play the puck, he plays the man, and skates well backwards. Looks like he enjoys the defensive side of things. I like him. He's got a shot at the bigs.
D'Agostino: This guy is a future Hab. No doubt about it. Very accurate shot, quick skater and very hard worker. He was a fan favorite. Now this is the kind of player we need, tons of energy. Outside shot at a second line spot one day, but he definitely has the looks of a two-way NHL player.
Sergei Kotsitsyn: Had the best hands out of anybody, but his skating was a bit sluggish. Still, hard and accurate shot with a nice release. He has to pick up his work habits.
Fischer: Excellent speed and size for a kid his age. His stride is very wide and he has long legs. He wasn't physical at all though, preferring to tie people up. His shot is nothing to write home about and his hands are so-so, but solid. Excellent passer and definitely a character guy and a leader. The other players were gravitating to him.
Chipchura you know. Looks like he's improved his skating a bit. His feet are quicker. His hands are decent and he's fearless about driving the net. He keeps fighting when other players would give up.
Korpikari: I like him. Dynamic skater, good hands, and good finisher in close with an accurate shot (not something you need from a defenseman, but it's true).
Price worked hard and looked solid fundamentally. Didn't go lateral much, so I couldn't tell about that. Handles the puck well. Didn't see him use his glove much. He got beat there once on a bad one, but looked like he was loafing on it. Gave up some rebounds too, but it was a one-on-one drill, so the shots were from close. I'd like to see more of him before I pass judgement.
Muller, Jarvis and Lever were on the ice with a couple other dudes. One of them had a video camera and was filming stuff up close. A few media types smirking around. At the end, during the 1-on-1-on-1 drill, Carbo and Boivin were standing at the top of the stands and were later joined by Timmins. Didn't see Gainey. Lots of people there (200?). And it was cold.
I went to Lafleur's for a hotdog afterwards and it was good. Now I'm going to eat my blueberry pie.
And whitesnake:
Took some videos but my battery dies on me before the most interesting part of the day, the 3 guys battling for the puck and all that stuff in the end. Anyway here are my general impressions:
Again, I still think as a whole this is the best bunch of guys we've had for a long time as far as a great mix of skills, heart, dedication and grit. I was totally impressed by everybody today (White included.....). I thought that most of them had great puck handling skills, and great speed as well.
It always depends on who you look more and all but my heroes of the day are.....CARLE, WYMAN, PRICE, D'AGOSTINI and FISCHER.
For the forwards :
- Wyman, well I was really looking for him today, always thought he had the perfect size and a great package to become a good power forward and wasn't dissapointed. And today he had surprising great hands and good puck handling skills. Nice speed as well.
- Mikus was especially spectacular in the first part of the practice but he was quite good nevertheless. It may have to do with the fact that his next coach was in the stands (Martel was there....) This guy has some serious hands, may have the best hands of the bunch. Great, great speed as well.....Did a couple of great moves on d-men in the 1 on 1.
- Maxwell, I like his hands, and his touch for the net. Needs to fill that upper body though but it will come with time. Good speed but not as great as I thought, but that's my problem.
-White, didn't quite saw him a lot which is good for him, 'cause I wasn't looking for him yesterday and he stood out....not in a good way. Today, he was good, and his hands were better, puck handling was good as well. But if this guy want to play a grit and energy role, he has some serious filling to do upper and lower.
- Aubin, didn't notice anything spectacular except 1 goal in the 3 guys for the puck, but you see him as a serious contender for Hamilton. He has great size, would look to see him being a little faster though. But seems truly confident with the puck and I can assure, based on what I saw, that there's a world of difference between him and Urquhart. He's not afraid to mix it up a little.
- Chipchura started obviously slower than anything else, didn't seem that fast at first but picked up and was much better towards the end. It's his first day compared to the 3rd for the rest of them so.....But you sense that confidence, leadership and great skills he had. Will see what he does tomorrow and the days after. Will pay more attention to him.
- D'Agostini is just great. Seriously I don't see too much flaws with everything in his game. Totally committed, drives the net, is just unafraid of anyone, nice scoring touch, great passes, well I was totally impressed today.....Who the hell compared him to Milroy?
- Kosty Jr. was better than the past 2 days, showed more speed and more puck handling skills as well. But you see more what he can do in the 3 for the puck game or any scrimmange that actually look more like a game where he could actually use more his body than anything else. He's not his bro as far as skills are concerned, but he's so strong on his skates and love driving the net as well.....But when you compare Aubin and D'Ago strong candidates for Hamilton, you do see that Kosty needs to go in London before making the jump.
- Stewart, didn't notice him that much today. Nothing great, nothing bad, average day for him.
D-MEN
- Carle scored a couple of beauties in the 3 guys for the puck battle, undressed the other 2 and the goalie with a great move. That guy has definately serious offensive skills but didn't know he had those great hands either. And he did a good job defensively as well
- O'Byrne, well a little more quiet than the other days, but still and will always be a favorite of mine, just use his size adequately and the speed that comes with it is surprising. Great hands as well, Just feels like watching Komi all over again.....
- Fischer, well had a great day today. Always having fun, but was so good, that the coach used him as an example on one exercice that the guys were cheating on a little bit. Offensively he's there but towards the end that had some 1 on 1 and he was unbeatable defensively using his long reach and stopping close to everybody coming towards him. Made a couple of moves that makes you think this guy will be a stud in a few more years.....
- Korpikari, even though the guy doesn't flash, doesn't mean he's not good. And I don't know why, I just think this guy could do a great job with at least the Dogs one day. He's not going to win a scoring title, that's for sure, you see the limitations there, but I find the guy very powerful defensively and using his body the way it should be. The guy needs to play next year though 'cause if he doesn't play much again, he could be a candidate for a major setback that will cost him.
- Gleed, again it may be, but just watching how this guy play makes me think he'll make in the pros, if not the NHL at least with the Dogs. He's just solid, looks solid, surprising hands, defensively very good. Offensively, well there's tons of things to learn. But I believe he has more speed than Archer when I saw him at last year's camp, and Archer made it with the Dogs. So I do feel Gleed, with a nice progression could surprise a lot of people.....
- Paquet, Well he shows me nice progression since the first day when I called him the Traverse look-a-like.....Showed some nasty side as well, surprising speed and good hands today. Needs to fill out obviously to contain the biggest guys, but is solid defensively.
- Cepek, I like him. For a 7th rounder, showed some great things offensively, has very good hands and overall speed. Had some trouble defensively today though. I don't know if you'd agree with me, for those who were there, but would he be better at the forward position???
- Fréchette, just another tryout that won't go further than this camp. Though I believe he had more qualities than any other try-outs we had in the past like Petit, Godin and the rest......Showed some quality as far as passing skills are concerned. But he's not a force down there to say the least.....
GOALIES :
- Price had a great, great day, much better than yesterday, the guy is just dominant, especially in the 3 for the puck thing. Made an incredible save with the glove, was so dominant, that most of the guys had to go score on Lacasse instead.....Almost hurt when he received a shot close to the shoulder, was fine and continued. Looks a little in his own zone, do not bound so much with the guys, but he's dedicated, and serious about everything. It's all business for him and that's good enough for me.
- Lacasse didn't have a great day, a lot of things not going his way. Had a new mask today so hope it wasn't the only reason. But even though he's quite big in nets, there's still some holes to fill...........
Well, Latendresse wasn't here today and might not be there all week. Had an ankle injury at the Gym it seems, pretty odd considered that he was in Toronto yesterday and it happened anyway so......It's really dissapointing......
So I'll be there close to the boards if you have any specific questions.
From raketheleaves:
ok....
I was impressed with the size and skating ability across the board. Much better than the last development camp I went to in 2002 (Komi, Higgins, Archer, Ferland, and midgets).
There were 8 defensemen on the ice and SEVEN were righties. The lefty was Korpikari. He was good. He stumbled once switching over to backwards, but had good hands and good skill and hustled. Excellent skater.
The guys who stood out to me were: D'Agostino, Carle, Fischer (very mature for his age, great skater), Korpikari and Chipchura. Latendresse was not there (at least I hope he wasn't, hard to tell with no names or numbers on the back).
I was pretty well impressed with almost everyone though. Very good group. The hands aren't as good as in the past, but they all have solid hands to go with good size and skating across the board. Lots of NORTH AMERICANS too. Only Korpikari, S.Kosty, and Mikus were Euro. I like that!
Hard to pick out who was who, but I guess it's better that way because it's easy to see who stood out. For me it was:
Carle: Excellent acceleration and agility, nice skill set and can finish in close. One-on-one he will need help against bigger players, but he doesn't play the puck, he plays the man, and skates well backwards. Looks like he enjoys the defensive side of things. I like him. He's got a shot at the bigs.
D'Agostino: This guy is a future Hab. No doubt about it. Very accurate shot, quick skater and very hard worker. He was a fan favorite. Now this is the kind of player we need, tons of energy. Outside shot at a second line spot one day, but he definitely has the looks of a two-way NHL player.
Sergei Kotsitsyn: Had the best hands out of anybody, but his skating was a bit sluggish. Still, hard and accurate shot with a nice release. He has to pick up his work habits.
Fischer: Excellent speed and size for a kid his age. His stride is very wide and he has long legs. He wasn't physical at all though, preferring to tie people up. His shot is nothing to write home about and his hands are so-so, but solid. Excellent passer and definitely a character guy and a leader. The other players were gravitating to him.
Chipchura you know. Looks like he's improved his skating a bit. His feet are quicker. His hands are decent and he's fearless about driving the net. He keeps fighting when other players would give up.
Korpikari: I like him. Dynamic skater, good hands, and good finisher in close with an accurate shot (not something you need from a defenseman, but it's true).
Price worked hard and looked solid fundamentally. Didn't go lateral much, so I couldn't tell about that. Handles the puck well. Didn't see him use his glove much. He got beat there once on a bad one, but looked like he was loafing on it. Gave up some rebounds too, but it was a one-on-one drill, so the shots were from close. I'd like to see more of him before I pass judgement.
Muller, Jarvis and Lever were on the ice with a couple other dudes. One of them had a video camera and was filming stuff up close. A few media types smirking around. At the end, during the 1-on-1-on-1 drill, Carbo and Boivin were standing at the top of the stands and were later joined by Timmins. Didn't see Gainey. Lots of people there (200?). And it was cold.
I went to Lafleur's for a hotdog afterwards and it was good. Now I'm going to eat my blueberry pie.
And whitesnake:
Took some videos but my battery dies on me before the most interesting part of the day, the 3 guys battling for the puck and all that stuff in the end. Anyway here are my general impressions:
Again, I still think as a whole this is the best bunch of guys we've had for a long time as far as a great mix of skills, heart, dedication and grit. I was totally impressed by everybody today (White included.....). I thought that most of them had great puck handling skills, and great speed as well.
It always depends on who you look more and all but my heroes of the day are.....CARLE, WYMAN, PRICE, D'AGOSTINI and FISCHER.
For the forwards :
- Wyman, well I was really looking for him today, always thought he had the perfect size and a great package to become a good power forward and wasn't dissapointed. And today he had surprising great hands and good puck handling skills. Nice speed as well.
- Mikus was especially spectacular in the first part of the practice but he was quite good nevertheless. It may have to do with the fact that his next coach was in the stands (Martel was there....) This guy has some serious hands, may have the best hands of the bunch. Great, great speed as well.....Did a couple of great moves on d-men in the 1 on 1.
- Maxwell, I like his hands, and his touch for the net. Needs to fill that upper body though but it will come with time. Good speed but not as great as I thought, but that's my problem.
-White, didn't quite saw him a lot which is good for him, 'cause I wasn't looking for him yesterday and he stood out....not in a good way. Today, he was good, and his hands were better, puck handling was good as well. But if this guy want to play a grit and energy role, he has some serious filling to do upper and lower.
- Aubin, didn't notice anything spectacular except 1 goal in the 3 guys for the puck, but you see him as a serious contender for Hamilton. He has great size, would look to see him being a little faster though. But seems truly confident with the puck and I can assure, based on what I saw, that there's a world of difference between him and Urquhart. He's not afraid to mix it up a little.
- Chipchura started obviously slower than anything else, didn't seem that fast at first but picked up and was much better towards the end. It's his first day compared to the 3rd for the rest of them so.....But you sense that confidence, leadership and great skills he had. Will see what he does tomorrow and the days after. Will pay more attention to him.
- D'Agostini is just great. Seriously I don't see too much flaws with everything in his game. Totally committed, drives the net, is just unafraid of anyone, nice scoring touch, great passes, well I was totally impressed today.....Who the hell compared him to Milroy?
- Kosty Jr. was better than the past 2 days, showed more speed and more puck handling skills as well. But you see more what he can do in the 3 for the puck game or any scrimmange that actually look more like a game where he could actually use more his body than anything else. He's not his bro as far as skills are concerned, but he's so strong on his skates and love driving the net as well.....But when you compare Aubin and D'Ago strong candidates for Hamilton, you do see that Kosty needs to go in London before making the jump.
- Stewart, didn't notice him that much today. Nothing great, nothing bad, average day for him.
D-MEN
- Carle scored a couple of beauties in the 3 guys for the puck battle, undressed the other 2 and the goalie with a great move. That guy has definately serious offensive skills but didn't know he had those great hands either. And he did a good job defensively as well
- O'Byrne, well a little more quiet than the other days, but still and will always be a favorite of mine, just use his size adequately and the speed that comes with it is surprising. Great hands as well, Just feels like watching Komi all over again.....
- Fischer, well had a great day today. Always having fun, but was so good, that the coach used him as an example on one exercice that the guys were cheating on a little bit. Offensively he's there but towards the end that had some 1 on 1 and he was unbeatable defensively using his long reach and stopping close to everybody coming towards him. Made a couple of moves that makes you think this guy will be a stud in a few more years.....
- Korpikari, even though the guy doesn't flash, doesn't mean he's not good. And I don't know why, I just think this guy could do a great job with at least the Dogs one day. He's not going to win a scoring title, that's for sure, you see the limitations there, but I find the guy very powerful defensively and using his body the way it should be. The guy needs to play next year though 'cause if he doesn't play much again, he could be a candidate for a major setback that will cost him.
- Gleed, again it may be, but just watching how this guy play makes me think he'll make in the pros, if not the NHL at least with the Dogs. He's just solid, looks solid, surprising hands, defensively very good. Offensively, well there's tons of things to learn. But I believe he has more speed than Archer when I saw him at last year's camp, and Archer made it with the Dogs. So I do feel Gleed, with a nice progression could surprise a lot of people.....
- Paquet, Well he shows me nice progression since the first day when I called him the Traverse look-a-like.....Showed some nasty side as well, surprising speed and good hands today. Needs to fill out obviously to contain the biggest guys, but is solid defensively.
- Cepek, I like him. For a 7th rounder, showed some great things offensively, has very good hands and overall speed. Had some trouble defensively today though. I don't know if you'd agree with me, for those who were there, but would he be better at the forward position???
- Fréchette, just another tryout that won't go further than this camp. Though I believe he had more qualities than any other try-outs we had in the past like Petit, Godin and the rest......Showed some quality as far as passing skills are concerned. But he's not a force down there to say the least.....
GOALIES :
- Price had a great, great day, much better than yesterday, the guy is just dominant, especially in the 3 for the puck thing. Made an incredible save with the glove, was so dominant, that most of the guys had to go score on Lacasse instead.....Almost hurt when he received a shot close to the shoulder, was fine and continued. Looks a little in his own zone, do not bound so much with the guys, but he's dedicated, and serious about everything. It's all business for him and that's good enough for me.
- Lacasse didn't have a great day, a lot of things not going his way. Had a new mask today so hope it wasn't the only reason. But even though he's quite big in nets, there's still some holes to fill...........
Well, Latendresse wasn't here today and might not be there all week. Had an ankle injury at the Gym it seems, pretty odd considered that he was in Toronto yesterday and it happened anyway so......It's really dissapointing......
So I'll be there close to the boards if you have any specific questions.
