There was honestly very little to report on this year's development camp. Last year's was far more competitive and there was just better high-end talent on the ice. Outside of Nieto, who looked like an NHLer skating out with a bunch of kids (gee shocker), none of the kids really shined or stood out. It could possibly have been the nerves of skating in front of thousands of people at SAP, opposed to the practice rink as last year's was. Or it could be just that we have a very diminished prospect pool right now.
A lot of people were complaining about Mirco Mueller's skating on HFboards (It's fair to say that there's some bias against him here). He did fall a number of times, which I seem to recall last year as well. However, none of them caused any kind of defensive breakdown or anything as dramatic as what people of been posting about. It was usually when he would try to pivot into position to receive a pass. Outside of that, he showed poise in the defensive zone and honestly was more physical in his board work than his partner Julius Bergman.
The scouting reports are pretty dead-on that Mueller and Bergman make simple, clean first passes. Bergman showed good-enough poise as well. A flaw I noticed with him is that at least three different times, Bergman went for a big hit and completely missed, putting himself way out of position. He stayed calm though and recovered well each time. (He did have one decent hit on Daniil Tarasov, who acted like a total baby afterward and Tarasov was completely invisible afterward.)
Mueller and Bergman were easily the two best defenders on the ice, but they weren't stand-out performers by even the slightest stretch. Joakim Ryan was pretty invisible after looking great at last year's camp. Dylan DeMelo looked completely lost at times and I expected a lot more for someone who has a year of pro on his résumé. Randy Gazzola (tryout) looked OK but I hoped for more. Rick Pinkston (tryout) wasn't bad. None of the other D were very impressive. In fact, I spoke with Mark Purdy today and he noted how the Sharks didn't waste any time signing Scott Hannan the day after development camp. That should give you an indication right there about how the readiness of the defensive prospects.
As far as the forwards go, without Goldobin there, there's not much to tell. Eriah Hayes looked a lot stronger than last year, as he should have. Ryan Carpenter showed some promise and generated a few chances. 6th rounder Kevin Labanc took two penalties, but probably showed the most effort of anyone there and had an assist on the first goal. Melker Karlsson scored a slick shootout goal and was OK during the scrimmage, while Petter Emanuelsson (who is inferior to Karlsson anyway) needs to get significantly stronger to even be an AHL factor at this point. He and Gabryel Boudreau both looked better at last year's camp. Boudreau continues to try too hard and ends up just looking clumsy. Todd Fiddler (tryout) had two or three impressive moments but wasn't noticeable beyond that. 3rd round pick Alex Schoenborn looked better than I thought he would, but that's not saying much. Jake Jackson had a great celebration on his goal into the wide-open net after Gazzola's wide shot caromed straight to him.
