Prospect Info: 2016 Rookie Tournament at Coral Springs

[TheDaysOf 04]

http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=891125&navid=DL|TBL|home

The Tampa Bay Lightning will participate in a four-team rookie tournament at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs, Florida from Saturday, September 17 through Tuesday, September 20, the team announced today. The event is free and open to the public.

Also participating in the tournament will be the Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators and the Washington Capitals. Tampa Bay’s roster will be announced at a later date but will feature some of the top young talent in the organization’s system.

Saturday, Sept. 17
Washington vs. Tampa Bay 2:30 p.m.


Sunday, Sept. 18
Nashville vs. Tampa Bay 2:30 p.m.


Tuesday, Sept. 20
Tampa Bay at Florida 1:30 p.m.

Click to read more...

 

[chasespace]

Any word on a livestream?

 

[Werewolf]

Tampa Bay Lightning Announce 2016 Rookie Tournament Roster

Links to the Stories
- Syracuse.com: http://syracusecrunch.com/news/2016/8/31/syracuse-crunch-tampa-bay-lightning-announce-24-man-roster-for-2016-prospect-tournament.aspx
- Lightning.NHL.com: http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=891915

Graduated From 2015 to 2016 Tournament:
- Ikonen
- Peca
- Vermin
- Koekkoek
- Blujus
- Dotchin
- Gudlevskis

Notables absent from last year's roster: DeAngelo (Traded), DiGiacinto

Returning from 2015 Tournament:
- Erne
- Stephens
- Point
- Yan
- Darcy
- Hart
- Joseph
- Cirelli
- Imama
- Masin
- Spencer
- Walcott
- Thomas
- Wilcox

Drafted Players Attending 2016 Rookie Tournament for First Time:
- Tammela
- Howden
- Katchouk
- Raddysh
- Paquette
- Sommpi
- Hajek
- Ingram

 

[DFC]

Why would Erne be playing while guys like Peca and Vermin aren't?

This tournament is where I officially start getting excited for the start of the new season. I just wish a few games would be streamed.

 

[Werewolf]

Why would Erne be playing while guys like Peca and Vermin aren't?

This tournament is where I officially start getting excited for the start of the new season. I just wish a few games would be streamed.

Peca is 23 and Vermin is 24 (turning 25 mid-season) ... while Erne is 21.

 

[Steazy Doo]

Peca is 23 and Vermin is 24 (turning 25 mid-season) ... while Erne is 21.

Owned

 

[DFC]

Peca is 23 and Vermin is 24 (turning 25 mid-season) ... while Erne is 21.

Ah. I wasn't sure if eligibility was based on age or how long they've been pro. Thanks.

 

[Luger]

Who among the attendees who are not Lightning property would be possible targets to be signed?

 

[Werewolf]

Who among the attendees who are not Lightning property would be possible targets to be signed?

Realistically none. This is probably the most quality drafted depth we've ever had in this tournament, in the pipeline, and in the AHL/ECHL. The two defensemen invited are LHD which is a spot we are comfortable in. We've had 19 players drafted this past two years and 8 second rounders are on the roster. It's going to be a young but talented roster. If anything is missing is that very high end talent but from a depth standpoint the Lightning are pretty much all set.

The most talented is probably Point. But there is no Vasilevskiy, Drouin, DeAngelo ... This roster is riddled with mid 6 forwards and middle pairing defensemen ceiling players.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

http://www.syracuse.com/crunch/inde..._to_love_our_team_here.html#incart_river_home

Syracuse head coach Benoit Groulx on meeting the prospects at development camp:

"You have to plug into people. Today, in this era, everybody's on the cell phone. Everybody's on the computer. Everybody's on PlayStation. Everybody's on Twitter. Everybody's on the blogs. Everybody's everywhere. I'm not on Facebook. I'm not on Twitter. I'm not on the blogs. I'm not anywhere. I'm not going to say I don't know how it works. But my (16-year-old) son's taking care of that, most of the time. If I wanted a Facebook, I would ask my son to do it for me.

"What's important for me, it's the relationship we're going to have with our players. So I believe that when our players are at the rink, they've got to feel that we're connected with them. They've got to feel that we've got time for them. I think our role is to teach them, not only to teach them on the ice but to teach them how to become better hockey players, better pros and also develop that relationship with them that they know that we care, we know that they care, and we're on the same page. But when we go on the ice, it's business.

"If I go back like 10 years ago, a coach would go in a dressing room, address the team and the team will take care of itself. Now, I believe that coaches cannot go in the dressing room and address the team. I think the coach has got to take care of every individual. That's why when you look at teams now, they don't have two, three coaches anymore.

"We started with one coach (earlier in his career). They went up to three coaches. And now every team's got four, five, six, seven coaches. Why is that? Not only to do videos, or this and that. It's because they all understand the importance of the ratio, the ratio of players and coaches so everyone feels connected to their coaching staff, everyone feels that they're important because the coaches have the time to connect with people. For me, it's the key now. I think we have to teach them, we have to teach them our culture and philosophy. But the most important thing for us as coaches, we've got to plug into people.''

"I had the chance to talk to some of them. But right now, I think their focus is the NHL. I think there's a good time to start a discussion. And I think if Ben Groulx or anyone in this coaching staff starts talking to Gabriel Dumont or Adam Erne or anyone else, Luke Witkowski, about Syracuse in October, I don't think they're paying attention. I think their focus is on Tampa. And our focus is on Tampa as well.

"For us, we're excited to go there (Wednesday) and start working with our rookie team, get to know them, get to know each other behind the bench and all that. And then for me, starting from (Wednesday) it's step by step. Rookie tournament, then NHL camp, then we'll see how it plays out. We start to get to know the players a little bit more on the ice. And then once we're coming back here, then we really start working on our team. But I think it's about learning, looking around in Tampa, teaching, get to know them on the ice. If we have an opportunity off the ice, let's do it. But I think we've got to respect that their focus is Tampa.''

 

[Werewolf]

Heading to the tourney tomorrow morning ... can't wait!! Predators are bringing Fiala, Washington is bringing Vrana, and Panthers are bringing Hawryluk. Which group would you rather have:

Panthers: Hawryluk, Matheson, Hunt, Mascherin, Malgin, Ang
Preds: Fiala, Kamenev, Saros, Girard, Carrier, Dougherty
Caps: Vrana, Bowey, Barber, Boyd, Johansen, Sanford, Siegenhaler, Vanacek
Bolts: Point, Howden, Stephens, Erne, Katchouk, Raddysh, Hajek, Masin, Ingram

 

[MattM92]

Heading to the tourney tomorrow morning ... can't wait!! Predators are bringing Fiala, Washington is bringing Vrana, and Panthers are bringing Hawryluk. Which group would you rather have:

Panthers: Hawryluk, Matheson, Hunt, Mascherin, Malgin, Ang
Preds: Fiala, Kamenev, Saros, Girard, Carrier, Dougherty
Caps: Vrana, Bowey, Barber, Boyd, Johansen, Sanford, Siegenhaler, Vanacek
Bolts: Point, Howden, Stephens, Erne, Katchouk, Raddysh, Hajek, Masin, Ingram

Bolts group by a pretty fair margin. May just be because I don't know a much about the other groups outside of the top 1 or 2 players in each, but Bolts are really good.

 

[Bandit Keith]

Heading to the tourney tomorrow morning ... can't wait!! Predators are bringing Fiala, Washington is bringing Vrana, and Panthers are bringing Hawryluk. Which group would you rather have:

Panthers: Hawryluk, Matheson, Hunt, Mascherin, Malgin, Ang
Preds: Fiala, Kamenev, Saros, Girard, Carrier, Dougherty
Caps: Vrana, Bowey, Barber, Boyd, Johansen, Sanford, Siegenhaler, Vanacek
Bolts: Point, Howden, Stephens, Erne, Katchouk, Raddysh, Hajek, Masin, Ingram

Benefits of having what, 19 picks in the last two drafts? lol

 

[Werewolf]

I'm having a hard time predicting the lines tomorrow. I'll give it a shot:

Erne - Point - Joseph
Katchouk - Stephens - Yan
Tammela - Howden - Raddysh
Somppi - Cirelli - Imama

Masin - Spencer
Hajek - Thomas
Walcott - Murray

Wilcox

I'm betting the two scrubs Darcy and Hart get lots of minutes though. We'll also need to find some time for Imama and Paquette somehow. I'm looking at Hart, Imama, and Paquette all playing one game each. And Howden moves to wing, Somppi comes out and Darcy gets a game or two.

 

[HoseEmDown]

I'm having a hard time predicting the lines tomorrow. I'll give it a shot:

Erne - Point - Joseph
Katchouk - Stephens - Yan
Tammela - Howden - Raddysh
Somppi - Cirelli - Imama

Masin - Spencer
Hajek - Thomas
Walcott - Murray

Wilcox

I'm betting the two scrubs Darcy and Hart get lots of minutes though. We'll also need to find some time for Imama and Paquette somehow. I'm looking at Hart, Imama, and Paquette all playing one game each. And Howden moves to wing, Somppi comes out and Darcy gets a game or two.

I would think Erne and Point only play 1 game. They don't need to prove much and I expect them to remain with the big club while the majority go back to junior. Hart and Darcy need these games more to show something, they're both 22 with 2 years left on their ELC, if they can't outplay 18-19 year olds in this tournament they need to be moved which might be hard to do. Paquette not so much since he just got drafted and is young, he needs to be back with the Niagara quickly as that's where he'll improve the most.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Lines for the 1st game last year were:

Ikonen-Peca-Vermin
Erne-Point-Stephens
Yan-Darcy-Hart
DiGiacinto-Cirelli-Joseph

Masin-DeAngelo
Blujus-Spencer
Walcott-Dotchin

And then of course Masin has spent 2 years playing next to Spencer, guys like Thomas, Cirelli, Point, and Tammela spent some time with Syracuse at the end of last season, and a lot of these guys have been together for Team Canada's junior camps. There's a lot of familiarity with this group. Hopefully that helps with chemistry if Groulx decides to puts certain players together. He might not go with the same combos Zettler did a year ago.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

>>> https://www.youtube.com/user/FloridaPanthersVideo

 

[Werewolf]

Bowey is a POS. First shift grabs Erne. If he wanted to fight Imama is in the lineup. Friggin puss.

 

[Werewolf]

Don't really like the lines but here they are:

Erne - Point - Hart
Stephens - Darcy - Katchouk
Paquette - Cirelli - Yan
Imama - Howden - Raddysh

 

[Werewolf]

1st period:

Masin / Walcott
Hajek / Spencer
Murray / Thomas

2nd period:

Masin / Hajek
Walcott / Thomas
Murray / Spencer

Hajek is awesome. Murray is terrible. Walcott and Thomas as expected. Spencer needs to be better - clearly has the physical tools but needs to make better decisions with the puck.

 

[Werewolf]

Killing the last 30 secs...Stephens, Cirelli, Point, Masin, Hajek. It's safe to say i'm 100% onboard the Hajek hype train.

 

[Werewolf]

Only non Preds, Bolts, Caps, Cats personnel i've seen here: Calgary Flames have a representative/scout here.

 

[Bandit Keith]

Liked what I saw from Raddysh. Definitely a smart player, and had a nice pass to an open Howden for an easy goal.

 

[Werewolf]

Liked what I saw from Raddysh. Definitely a smart player, and had a nice pass to an open Howden for an easy goal.

I like Raddysh as well. Thought he was better than Katchouk. Kat didn't impress much...i'd have to say Raddysh > Katchouk. I thought the fellas didn't do a good job of finishing their checks...Imama hits everything that moves. He must have asked 5 or 6 players to fight. Nobody wanted a piece of him.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Full Game





http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=892802

“I thought we got better as the game went along,†Groulx said. “I really liked our third period. I thought we controlled that third period; our forecheck was good, our second effort was good. We did a lot of good things. I liked the grit we brought to this game because we were down 2-0 early, we came back. We were down 4-2, came back again and then took control of the game. A lot of good things for our first game obviously.â€

“It felt good,†Howden said. “It’s just great to be out here with everybody. Everybody’s a great player. Every shift you go out there, you’re working as hard as you can. Everybody’s having a lot of fun, and that’s the biggest thing, if you’re having fun, everybody’s playing (well).â€

“We’ve got a lot of talent in this room,†Point said. “We believe we can score goals, and I think today was proof.â€

“He’s [Point] not only a skilled player, I think he’s a fierce competitor,†Groulx said of Point. “When he’s in the battle for the puck, when he’s in the race for the puck, when he’s driving the net to beat his opponent to get open, he’s someone that wants to make a difference. He’s someone who wants to make the play, wants to score the goal, wants to make that pass. That’s the compete he’s got, and I think that’s what made the difference in his game. When you bring that skill level and that compete, you have a player like him. It was nice to see him dominate the game today.â€

“I liked the way he brings the game to his speed, like he can adjust, like he’s got different speeds to his game,†Groulx said of Howden. “Obviously, he’s still a young player. He’s got to grow into his body. He’s got to get bigger and stronger and faster, but the first impression is very good. He’s a smart player, competes, can pass the puck, shoot the puck, good vision. I thought he had a good game.â€

“I think it’s a good group,†Groulx aid. “It’s a fun group to be around, talented, skilled. I think we’re going to see many of them one day in a Lightning uniform for sure.â€