Prospect Info: Ottawa Senators Development Camp 2023

[aragorn]

Kids

They are much younger than me.

 

[Ice-Tray]

They are much younger than me.

I think they meant the kids were eating smaller kids… lol

 

[RAFI BOMB]

 

[Ouroboros]

That's cool that they brought McGrattan in to talk to the guys. Guess he's not working for the Flames any longer.

 

[Dan Patrick]

That's cool that they brought McGrattan in to talk to the guys. Guess he's not working for the Flames any longer.

Was just thinking the same thing. Especially with this group they are going to need to hear the reality of not being a super flashy skill guy and that most of them are going to be in for a big grind in order to make the NHL.

I’m sure there are still a few gems (even when you exclude obvious guys like Klevin) in that room though. Which still makes this dev camp fun.

 

[armani]

McG doing his consulting work with the kids is superb. Glad they brought him in, such an open book for kids to learn from.

Seems like Dave Smart set the motto for this development crew: Toughness. Effort. Attitude. Hope they instill it in their game to give themselves a solid chance as future pros.

 

[Dr Quincy]

I just heard Dorion at development camp say he had to get an agent, he's never had one before. Not sure why though? Boo Boo was there today as well & when somebody asked what was happening he said not much going on right now, kind of quiet.

Surprisingly a good number of people at development camp this afternoon, not many big name prospects except for some of the guys we already know about, Kleven, Ostapchuk, Boucher & Merilainen. Lots of very big players at camp, just before the practise started there was Kleven, Halliday, Boucher & Ostapchuk passing the puck around.

Biggest surprise today for me was Halliday. I thought he was lazy, slow & disinterested at last yr's development camp & then he went on as an overager to have a very good yr at OS, shows you what I know. This yr he's a completely different player, works hard, much faster & so much more determined, he is a completely different & a much improved player to me. He's 21 yrs old so old enough to go to the AHL & a left shot, maybe they move him to LW, not sure if he is going back to school or not.
Nordberg had the goal of the day with a beautiful deke, but it was at the other end & I didn't get to see the finish, but all the players cheered which is always a good sign of a nice play. As he was celebrating he wiped out in the corner haha. Kleven at my end made a nice between the legs (Tkachuk) play & scored, he handles the puck very well for his size. Petersson just looks like a hockey player, he has decent size, handles the puck well, has a really hard shot & skates well. He seems to be a cerebral player who is always in control & looks for the play to come to him & then when an opportunity presents itself takes off.

I really liked Oliver Johansson LW today too, he looks like a very skilled player. He was part of a tandem today with Nordberg on a drill against two other guys where they made a really nice passing play to the net & Johansson put a really nice shot under pressure top shelf, a pretty skilled play. I liked Johansson, Nordberg, Kleven, Halliday & Petersson today, these three Swedes will be interesting to keep track of. Always fun to see the figure skating coach who is about 4' tall yelling at hockey players who tower over her lol.

Good to hear about Johansson. I liked him at the draft. A very important year for him this year I think.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Remember when Dzingel was still going to Dev camp before he made the permanent jump? He was completely dominating.

 

[aragorn]

Day 2:
I got there rather late today & only saw the last 45 minutes, where they were all set up at one end of the rink inside the blueline & the nets were at oposite ends. I must say that this development camp seems like most of the players are fairly close in skill level & no one player stands out all that much, but occassionaly make a nice play that stands out.

I didn't see Boucher or Ostapchuk on the ice until I walked over to the other rink. Boucher was definetly there & wasn't take part in the contact maybe because of his shoulder. I'm guessing Ostapchuk was with him because he also wasn't part of the scrimmage on the other side, but his jersey had no name or number on it & they were at the far side of the rink taking shots on Schenkel & Reidler. Maybe he's still recovering from his playoff run, who knows.

Of the four goalies Merilainen is the clear best goalie at camp. In the scrimmage 2 versus 4 Mercer was getting lit up at the other end & while Merilainen let some in because there were a lot of very open shots he was pretty good. He isn't as big as Reidler or Schenkel, but he takes up a good portion of the net, plays a very good positional game & is very athletic, gets across the net very fast & effectively. Something happened to him when they started playing 3 on 3 for the full rink with just a few minutes to go & he left leaving the net open. Maybe it was equipment malfunction or he tweaked something, who knows, hopefully he is back tomorrow.

Kleven is a big skilled defenceman, in the 3 on 3 full length he almost had two breakaways, the first pass hit him in the skates & he had to wait for it & then the guy was on him. The second would have been a full breakaway, but the puck bounced over his stick. In the 2 versus 4 inside the blueline Clattenburg took the puck from Kleven & he plastered him into the boards & took the puck back. He also had some nice shots on net 3 versus 3 ringing the post on one. Did I mention there are a lot of big guys at this camp.

Toure had a really nice goal today, got to see Ride, another big guy but I have to say that this camp has a lot of players that are fairly close in skill level & big. They all play fairly well positioning wise & are all careful not to get beat too badly. There were a few people with phones taking videos so I imagine they will post them somewhere. I completely missed guys like Donovan, Petersson & Hamara, I have yet to see these three, they could be right in front of me, but I didn't see them at all.

Johansson had another nice goal today while fighting someone off on Merilaineen to boot. Halliday wasn't as impressive today with guys on him, but he did make a nice no look pass to a guy breaking in on net inside the blueline on the short rink. O'Neil is another guy with some skill & built like a bowling ball who pushes his way to the net & can score, he has a nice hard shot, but a lot of guys here do. There just aren't that many that stand out, a lot of these guys are carbon copies of each other.

One guy at camp that wasn't on the list was Danault who seems healthy again after missing quite a bit of time last yr in Belleville. He & Johansson seem like two very skilled players & very much alike. Savard is a lot bigger than his father & has some decent wheels & skill but clearly not like his father. Nordberg is a very mobile defenceman, given he is a left shot they should turn him into a LW he seems to have enough skill to play that position on a 4th line. Not sure I can make it tomorrow so we'll see.

 

[armani]

Day 2:
..Did I mention there are a lot of big guys at this camp.

thought i saw you at the rink

Good scouting report from the camp as always, we appreciate it!

 

[aragorn]

thought i saw you at the rink

Good scouting report from the camp as always, we appreciate it!

I was the guy challenging Boo Boo to drop the mitts & I body slammed him.

 

[armani]

I was the guy challenging Boo Boo to drop the mitts & I body slammed him.

 

[Canadian Game]

In an article posted this afternoon by Bruce Garrioch, he adds that Jorian Donovan hasn’t skated at development camp and was injured during the testing portion and doctors need to take a further look at his ailment.

 

[aragorn]

In an article posted this afternoon by Bruce Garrioch, he adds that Jorian Donovan hasn’t skated at development camp and was injured during the testing portion and doctors need to take a further look at his ailment.

No wonder I didn't see him, thanks.

 

[Icelevel]

thought i saw you at the rink

Good scouting report from the camp as always, we appreciate it!

Hilarious if Aragorn was 5’4”

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Can't wait for this guy to be in the lineup full time

 

[aragorn]

Can't wait for this guy to be in the lineup full time

I think he is the best overall player at this camp.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I think he is the best overall player at this camp.

Great News !!!

 

[aragorn]

Great News !!!

I would put Merilainen as the 2nd best player at camp & he's slated for Belleville. Boucher & Ostapchuk are not taking part in any contact drills, Donovan apparently is injured & I have yet to find Hamara or Petersson. I thought I saw Petersson, but haven't seen him since & now I'm not so sure it was him.

I thought I saw Daoust today too who is not listed as being at this camp, but again not sure. So far I also liked Johansson & Nordberg at this camp they have stood out a little from everyone else. Lots of similar type players at this camp, the smaller guys look similar as do a number of the bigger guys. It's certainly interesting.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I would put Merilainen as the 2nd best player at camp & he's slated for Belleville. Boucher & Ostapchuk are not taking part in any contact drills, Donovan apparently is injured & I have yet to find Hamara or Petersson. I thought I saw Petersson, but haven't seen him since & now I'm not so sure it was him.

I thought I saw Daoust today too who is not listed as being at this camp, but again not sure. So far I also liked Johansson & Nordberg at this camp they have stood out a little from everyone else. Lots of similar type players at this camp, the smaller guys look similar as do a number of the bigger guys. It's certainly interesting.

I really appreciate the reports from Camp.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Boucher: It`ll just be nice to get my toes wet

 

[Icelevel]

Yeah thanks aragorn. Couldn’t make it out this week so much appreciated. Good to hear about merilainen

 

[RAFI BOMB]

I would put Merilainen as the 2nd best player at camp & he's slated for Belleville. Boucher & Ostapchuk are not taking part in any contact drills, Donovan apparently is injured & I have yet to find Hamara or Petersson. I thought I saw Petersson, but haven't seen him since & now I'm not so sure it was him.

I thought I saw Daoust today too who is not listed as being at this camp, but again not sure. So far I also liked Johansson & Nordberg at this camp they have stood out a little from everyone else. Lots of similar type players at this camp, the smaller guys look similar as do a number of the bigger guys. It's certainly interesting.

Any assessment of Tyler Thorpe (#91)? He has only played limited time in the WHL so he is probably pretty raw but with his size, physicality and what he has demonstrated at the WHL level he might be worth a contract to control his rights.

Also have you seen anything interesting from camp invites Djbiril Toure (#73), Tyler Savard (#76) and Connor Clatternburg (#67)? I know you mentioned a bit about them above but I am interested to hear how their overall play has been. Do any look like they could earn a contract?

 

[dmarc]

Thanks for the reports Aragorn, one of the best parts of the off season are the fan accounts of devo camp.
Oliver Johansson is interesting, 3rd round pick so you expect a bit of upside, didnt make the WJC so was curious to how he was trending.

 

[Icelevel]

Boucher: It`ll just be nice to get my toes wet

That’s not a quote by him btw. He said something about getting his toes wet and that it will be good (at the very end) but he didn’t say “it’ll just be nice to get my toes wet”.
Just saying. Cause you never know who or how thing will get read. Either way, poor journalism misquoting someone.