My extended thoughts:
Overall I thought the best period for everyone was the first. A lot of guys got sloppier into the second and third.
Luneau was solid throughout and looked really impressive. For a guy that plays second fiddle to Zellweger and Mintyukov, I was really impressed with his vision, 200ft positioning and play with the puck. He may not be as electric as Zellweger but there's some legit talent there.
Zellweger clearly has the footspeed, vision, and hands to be a threat but there were times I felt he was forcing passes or shots that weren't there. I'm not gonna cry hockey IQ concerns over a rookie friendly but I was hoping for a little better execution from the space he was he wearing for himself. And, on the other hand, he's not used to playing with a lot of these guys.
Same goes for Carlsson. Some sloppy passing angles here and there but it's a slapdash lineup of guys he's barely played with. His skating is good but with a better first step, he'd be even more effective. Clearly has tremendous vision and good game sense, and to say nothing about how nobody on the Vegas side could outmuscle him. His time playing against grown men really showed tonight. He and Zell are definitely in the mix to earn spots and it'll be interesting to see how they look in preseason. I'll say that the play on North American ice didn't look to he much of a factor. Yeah he had less room to work with but he still had plenty of positive plays with the puck. His marking defensively could use a little work but he showed he's not afraid to get in tight on a puck Carrier which is good. Definitely has a bit of Getzlaf in him. Passed up a few good opportunities for a shot opting for the set up play.
Minty had a pretty meh second period but was one of the few guys who looked Improved in the third. Head always on a swivel, very good sense of the space on the ice and where his teammates are paired with pretty consistent passing is a strong combo. He has a good but not great release on his writer. Hoping it's just a work in progress as a little more zip on his shot would go a long way.
I'll be honest. I forgot Pitre was a draft pick from this year. Definitely a spark plug type energy guy who isn't afraid to get up in a bigger player's face. Definitely noticeable out there, but from my vantage point it looked like his puck handling and decision making with the puck could use some improvement. Couple that with maybe like 15-20 more pounds of muscle and the kid could be a real steal from the third round.
Noah Warren is definitely going to be a Dirk favorite. Probably the truest Manson type we have in the system with the physicality. He's imposing and strong on his skates but I'd like to see him work a bit on his agility, the explosiveness in his stride, and a little more work on gap control. With his imposing style of play he showed he can neutralize an attacking player effectively, but when he's not in position to cover the gap, his guy is going to make an effective play with the puck. I noticed that more after the first period. He didn't outright blow coverage in a bad way, but he wasn't neutralizing the way he could have been.
Nate Gaucher seems like a lock to make it as a solid depth guy. I don't really see the toolkit to be a top 6 scoring threat but I can see a solid two way blue collar third liner with the capacity to chip in occasional depth scoring.
I've talked about Lacombe a few times in the thread but I didn't really explain myself. It's not that I thought he didn't look good. It's that he didn't look as good as I was expecting. It's been pointed out that he had multiple assists but what bothered me was seeing the occasional listless play with the puck on his stick and he just didn't seem to either be driving the play with the puck on his stick or scanning the situation to find the best play in a cerebral kind of way. He mostly just got the puck and handed it off. So while, yes, he ended up on the score sheet numerous times, I never felt like he was driving those plays. Felt more like incidental assists. In his own zone he was mostly solid with good gap control and stick positioning. He missed assignments a small handful of times, but nothing egregious. Smooth skating, seems to have good vision. Solid game, just nothing outstanding for me.
Nesterenko was pretty disappointing overall, seemed to make a lot of errors with the puck on his stick. I guess the one thing I can say in his favor was he was effective at getting to loose pucks, just didn't seem to have the capacity to actually do something positive when he had it.
Hinds was mostly unnoticeable except for a few bad moments of blown coverage. Didn't really notice anything negative or positive in the offensive zone.
Myatovic stood out to me from, on more than one occasion losing the puck from being hounded by pressure from Vegas that he couldn't get himself out of. Didn't notice much else from him.
Terrance looked all right but could use work on his passing under pressure.
The other forwards were completely unremarkable to me.
Clang was most solid on short play offense from Vegas but he seemed to go into panic mode anytime they had extended pressure in his zone. Not ideal but definitely something that can improve with experience.
Overall a solid performance by the kids. Unfortunately for the other side of my fandom, Vegas' best players on the ice were Brisson and Cormier and I don't think I could, in good faith put them top ten among a joint Ducks-Knights ranking. I thought as a whole, Vegas' lineup operated better as a unit with better team passing but the individual talent disparity was way too much.