Prospect Info: 2022 Rookie Camp

[bsu]

Wondering if McT is just taking a laid back approach to this tourney after all the hockey hes played and is saving it for camp.

This is part of camp for him lol

 

[Kalv]

This is part of camp for him lol

Not like he will Crosby it up or anything in the main camp, but this is just to get his legs moving. He is not even releasing his shot with the power he usally does. To me, its obvious he is holding it back

Tracey a pleasant surprise for me. Showing off some play driving

 

[bsu]

Not like he will Crosby it up or anything in the main camp, but this is just to get his legs moving. He is not even releasing his shot with the power he usally does. To me, its obvious he is holding it back

If that's the case I have an even bigger problem with it. I'm a big fan of players that step on the ice and try their hardest regardless of situation or setting. It's the reason why I love Brayden Point so much & the reason I gave Comtois so much shit last season. If you're a young player in the NHL you should be playing your ass off no questions asked. I usually dislike anyone that shows entitlement.

 

[Arthuros]

Boy that ref is holding his arm up in the air for a long time.

Oh wait.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Someone forget to turn the camera on or what?

Oh, and of course it cuts to center ice, where it's not pointed at the PP at all.

Guess he needed a pee break too.

 

[Kalv]

If that's the case I have an even bigger problem with it. I'm a big fan of players that step on the ice and try their hardest regardless of situation or setting. It's the reason why I love Brayden Point so much.

This is his lowest competition tournament of the 3 tournaments in the past 3 monthsm i would not read that much into it.

That being said, he does have tendencies to float around, in every tournament/league I have seen him play. That's why he will probably mever be a line driver

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Yeah the "big, physical, Kesler-type" as he was advertised is pretty much the opposite of what he is, lol. And it was the reason I was so frustrated about him, I guess, because my expectations were not living up.

Took me a while to realise he was a completely different player than that.
To me, he showed in Memorial Cup and WJC that he can be very dangerous, but that style of play will most likely take him time to flourish int he NHL. And he has his flaws.

But still I would take Memorial Cup amd WJC performance over this tournament. And there he was considerably better, just finding ways to impact the game

Even in that tournament he def was pretty streaky.... like half the time i watched canada he wasnt impressive.... hes kinda lightning in a bottle i guess... 1 shot potential.

I still would have rather gone eklund hughes or edvinsson

 

[Goose of Reason]

I'm really starting to think the scouts that said Mintyukov was good defensively but was relied on to play high risk in the OHL were correct over the guys that didn't like his risk taking. The guy isn't being super aggressive offensively but he's been our best defensive player in this tournament. A very good stick and he's excellent at moving the puck up ice quickly after breaking up play.

 

[bsu]

This is his lowest competition tournament of the 3 tournaments in the past 3 monthsm i would not read that much into it.

That being said, he does have tendencies to float around, in every tournament/league I have seen him play. That's why he will probably mever be a line driver

Every game he plays moving forward should be his most important.

I'm really starting to think the scouts that said Mintyukov was good defensively but was relied on to play high risk in the OHL were correct over the guys that didn't like his risk taking. The guy isn't being super aggressive offensively but he's been our best defensive player in this tournament. A very good stick and he's excellent at moving the puck up ice quickly after breaking up play.

He's impressed me a lot on both sides.

 

[Kalv]

Even in that tournament he def was pretty streaky.... like half the time i watched canada he wasnt impressive.... hes kinda lightning in a bottle i guess... 1 shot potential.

I still would have rather gone eklund hughes or edvinsson

That is true. So far he is finding the way against his peers and I like he is not a one trick pony.

Hughes amd Edvinsson def wouldn't been bad picks there. About Eklund not sure, he plays like Zegras but at lower level

 

[Arthuros]

Eat it, Vegas!

 

[Mr Rogers]

Perreault, Zell and MacT were really good in this one. i felt they played to their hype at least today

 

[c4rcy]

I think a lot of the guys still need some more play time, but I seriously feel Zell was our best player all tournament and is making management think hard.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

This is his lowest competition tournament of the 3 tournaments in the past 3 monthsm i would not read that much into it.

That being said, he does have tendencies to float around, in every tournament/league I have seen him play. That's why he will probably mever be a line driver

Is this really a competition tournament or just an exhibition/scrimmage for the medley of young prospects to be introduced to their drafting team? I remember last year's rookie tourney where the most exciting game was game 1 with McTavish on it. The rest of the games were boring despite having both Zegras and Drysdale in the lineup. Zegras and Drysdale already had been in the AHL and played 24 NHL games going into last year's tourney. It was McTavish's first time last year and he did make a huge impression in that first game before getting injured.

While I don't like we didn't get Mayhem McTavish, maybe we're putting far too much stock in these rookie exhibitions, especially when recalling last year's rookie tourney games 2 and 3.

We'll find out shortly at training camp. The first pre-season game is six days away.

 

[GunnarStahl]

I’m kind of glad this camp is tempering people’s expectations on some of these guys. There were people saying Zellweger had a great chance of being better than Drysdale a couple weeks ago.

Not saying something like that is impossible but seems pretty unlikely to me. Can still be a very good player

As someone who watched dozens of his games last year in Everett this tournament has done nothing to make me change my tune on him being potentially being as good or better than Drysdale, his one lame-ish tournament game is clearly the outlier at this point.

 

[Duck Off]

Least entertaining prospect tourney I’ve seen so far imo. Most encouraging sign was Tracey consistently seemed like one of our best players. Disappointing that McTavish was so meh.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I think a lot of the guys still need some more play time, but I seriously feel Zell was our best player all tournament and is making management think hard.

I don't get that feeling about Zell making mgmt think hard. Both he and McT were huge letdowns for what I was expecting out of them, especially after their WJC-20 performances. Maybe I need to remind myself this is an exhibition than a tournament.

The ones who stood out the most, imo, were Hinds and Tracey. Both of them have been at this rookie tourney before and didn't prevent either one from showing up (ahem McT and Zell).

 

[S.S. Giggy]

Would it be fair for me to say that it is very much situational in that both McTavish and Zellweger know they are going to Preseason so they held back a little whereas a lot of other players are just fighting for a spot?

 

[Rybread86]

Would it be fair for me to say that it is very much situational in that both McTavish and Zellweger know they are going to Preseason so they held back a little whereas a lot of other players are just fighting for a spot?

Thats kind of my thinking. Some kids are using this tourney to get the legs moving, while others are trying to showcase.

Im not reading much into it for the guys we know are going to camp

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Would it be fair for me to say that it is very much situational in that both McTavish and Zellweger know they are going to Preseason so they held back a little whereas a lot of other players are just fighting for a spot?

When I recall last year's rookie tourney, Zegras and Drysdale didn't dominate the games. So it might be fair when using that context. But it looks bad when others did show up at this tourney.

For this rookie tourney, they aren't fighting for a spot. It's more of a meet-and-greet-and scrimmage. They only had one official practice day before the tournament started. We also are missing a lot of our prospects b/c they're in college right now.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Would it be fair for me to say that it is very much situational in that both McTavish and Zellweger know they are going to Preseason so they held back a little whereas a lot of other players are just fighting for a spot?

It’s a likely explanation. I think the discussion is whether that is ok, or if it is instead a sign that they’ll pull a Comtois at some point.

 

[bsu]

Would it be fair for me to say that it is very much situational in that both McTavish and Zellweger know they are going to Preseason so they held back a little whereas a lot of other players are just fighting for a spot?

L mentality. Zellweger was playing his ass off though he was all over the ice.

 

[FiveHoleTickler]

It’s a likely explanation. I think the discussion is whether that is ok, or if it is instead a sign that they’ll pull a Comtois at some point.

It's also possible there is a directive from management or the staff to use this tournament as an opportunity to prepare for training camp.

I don't really see this tournament as anything more than a marketing tool to build hype for young players throughout the league.

 

[Static]

It makes sense that since the best part of this franchise is its young core and prospects that we probably put an undo amount of pressure on just being entertained by them.

But, for me at least, the disappointment I felt for these three games was just from my lack of entertainment, not any sort of actual meaning derived from what were essentially glorified scrimmages.

 

[bsu]

It's also possible there is a directive from management or the staff to use this tournament as an opportunity to prepare for training camp.

I don't really see this tournament as anything more than a marketing tool to build hype for young players throughout the league.

If management directed him to coast and play half ass why even put him in the tournament? Seems like we are trying to find excuses lol