Prospect Info: 2023 Development Camp

[Hisch13r]

i was thinking last night that it feels like we’re getting a lot less updates about the day to day activities than we have previously. Could just be coincidence. The Devils’ twitter posted about a trip to West Point about an hour ago.

I wonder if that has to do with not having the big headliner. A guy like Casey is a big name to us freaks but it doesn’t really mean much to most people. For years we’ve had big name high picks so there was more interest

 

[My3Sons]

I wonder if that has to do with not having the big headliner. A guy like Casey is a big name to us freaks but it doesn’t really mean much to most people. For years we’ve had big name high picks so there was more interest

They really did let anyone close to a roster spot skip this one.

 

[Clam Jensen]

i apologize for comparing the two and being a sizeist

Nobody likes a size queen.

 

[Hisch13r]

They really did let anyone close to a roster spot skip this one.

For guys like Holtz, Clarke, Foote they’re all on the older side which probably is the reason. For Luke he’s already on the team. Nemec is the only one I would’ve expected to be there that isn’t

 

[Billdo]

I wonder if that has to do with not having the big headliner. A guy like Casey is a big name to us freaks but it doesn’t really mean much to most people. For years we’ve had big name high picks so there was more interest

It's almost certainly this. No high profile first rounder and nobody really on the cusp of making the lineup.

 

[Guttersniped]

Was I the only one who went to the 3v3?

It’s always a bit chaotic, and I had to take a migraine med which made me a bit foggy, but I have some observations. I took a few (very few) notes too.

Casey was Casey, he was playing with street trash most of the time (Middendorf & Ibragimov) which made it less fun.

Vilén was good, but I was watching the new guys and forwards with questionable futures more so I don’t have much to say on him.

The new guys:
Seeing this dudes together I’m starting to think they highlighted what’s been underwhelming from later forward picks under Fitz: Pace.

Hämeenaho: I was expecting some cerebral two-way player with Hämeenaho, but he’s an animal. He’s adventurous, he wants to do everything, he’s always zipping around and he’s going to like playing in NA. His skating is an adventure but I can see why they thought he was a 1st rd pick.
Note at game: “is good, whee!”
(They weren’t detailed ok lol)

Cheslock: game note: “I love him”
Good vision, physicality and a ton of pace. He also looks like he’s 15 years old, he could really turn into something.

Squires looked good, let’s see where he is in a year.
Brown left less of an impression, but had his moments.

But on that theme of pace.

Salminen: I had hoped he would show something that would prove haters like @RememberTheName wrong, but chalk a W for the haters.

If you ever wondered what a slower, less talented worse skating Zacha might look like, do I have the player for you.

He’s enormous, so tight space skating isn’t the easiest, but he does a thing where he seems to drift a bit, then gets engaged when a scoring chance happens, and then falls back into a semi-coma.

He doesn’t play at a pace remotely in the same hemisphere as the NHL.

Pytlik: “Salminen meh Pytlik is worse”
One of our worst mid-round picks in a while, not sure this guy plays much pro hockey in the future. He sucks. (I mean, I would love to be wrong, I’m not rooting against him and he seems like a nice kid.)

Hauser:“some nice sneaky stuff”
His pace isn’t the greatest either but there might be a player there, I would like to see him in Utica.

Shlaine: “likes to pass”
I liked him, you could see the vision as he was a guy looking to make plays. He also went to the net and scoring more is something he needs to do if he wants a shot. A guy I want in Utica.

Parent: “It’s Parent’s waterbug world and we just live there”
It’s true. Good luck in Utica, I’m rooting for ya.

Invites:
Ondrej Psenicka: “skating a problem, stiff, gets to the net a lot”
Interesting , noticeable and at times dominating, but wow, that skating is not good. I would throw him in the AHL and see what happens.

Luke Grainger: made no impression on me, forgot about him.

Cam Recchi & Brendan Fitzgerald: Despite my complaint about nepo babies, I could see both of these guys being worth an AHL deal in the future. Translatable games.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

For guys like Holtz, Clarke, Foote they’re all on the older side which probably is the reason. For Luke he’s already on the team. Nemec is the only one I would’ve expected to be there that isn’t

I was honestly expecting Luke more than Nemec, considering so much of modern development camp is about fitness, stretching, nutrition, sleep habits, etc. Nemec has already been through one, but Luke hasn’t. Maybe they’re assuming since Luke will be living with Jack (I assume? do we know this?) that he’ll have a good role model, even if he can’t cook broccoli.

Or maybe they figure “hey you were already our team’s best player in a round 2 playoff game, don’t worry about it.”

 

[Guadana]

Was I the only one who went to the 3v3?

It’s always a bit chaotic, and I had to take a migraine med which made me a bit foggy, but I have some observations. I took a few (very few) notes too.

Casey was Casey, he was playing with street trash most of the time (Middendorf & Ibragimov) which made it less fun.

Vilén was good, but I was watching the new guys and forwards with questionable futures more so I don’t have much to say on him.

The new guys:
Seeing this dudes together I’m starting to think they highlighted what’s been underwhelming from later forward picks under Fitz: Pace.

Hämeenaho: I was expecting some cerebral two-way player with Hämeenaho, but he’s an animal. He’s adventurous, he wants to do everything, he’s always zipping around and he’s going to like playing in NA. His skating is an adventure but I can see why they thought he was a 1st rd pick.
Note at game: “is good, whee!”
(They weren’t detailed ok lol)

Cheslock: game note: “I love him”
Good vision, physicality and a ton of pace. He also looks like he’s 15 years old, he could really turn into something.

Squires looked good, let’s see where he is in a year.
Brown left less of an impression, but had his moments.

But on that theme of pace.

Salminen: I had hoped he would show something that would prove haters like @RememberTheName wrong, but chalk a W for the haters.

If you ever wondered what a slower, less talented worse skating Zacha might look like, do I have the player for you.

He’s enormous, so tight space skating isn’t the easiest, but he does a thing where he seems to drift a bit, then gets engaged when a scoring chance happens, and then falls back into a semi-coma.

He doesn’t play at a pace remotely in the same hemisphere as the NHL.

Pytlik: “Salminen meh Pytlik is worse”
One of our worst mid-round picks in a while, not sure this guy plays much pro hockey in the future. He sucks. (I mean, I would love to be wrong, I’m not rooting against him and he seems like a nice kid.)

Hauser:“some nice sneaky stuff”
His pace isn’t the greatest either but there might be a player there, I would like to see him in Utica.

Shlaine: “likes to pass”
I liked him, you could see the vision as he was a guy looking to make plays. He also went to the net and scoring more is something he needs to do if he wants a shot. I guy I want in Utica.

Parent: “It’s Parent’s waterbug world and we just live there”
It’s true. Good luck in Utica, I’m rooting for ya.

Invites:
Ondrej Psenicka: “skating a problem, stiff, gets to the net a lot”
Interesting , noticeable and at times dominating, but wow, that skating is not good. I would throw him in the AHL and see what happens.

Luke Grainger: made no impression on me, forgot about him.

Cam Recchi & Brendan Fitzgerald: Despite my complaint about nepo babies, I could see both of these guys being worth an AHL deal in the future. Translatable games.

Thanks! That`s 1000 times more informative than I have before from the whole internet,

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Was I the only one who went to the 3v3?

It’s always a bit chaotic, and I had to take a migraine med which made me a bit foggy, but I have some observations. I took a few (very few) notes too.

Casey was Casey, he was playing with street trash most of the time (Middendorf & Ibragimov) which made it less fun.

Vilén was good, but I was watching the new guys and forwards with questionable futures more so I don’t have much to say on him.

The new guys:
Seeing this dudes together I’m starting to think they highlighted what’s been underwhelming from later forward picks under Fitz: Pace.

Hämeenaho: I was expecting some cerebral two-way player with Hämeenaho, but he’s an animal. He’s adventurous, he wants to do everything, he’s always zipping around and he’s going to like playing in NA. His skating is an adventure but I can see why they thought he was a 1st rd pick.
Note at game: “is good, whee!”
(They weren’t detailed ok lol)

Cheslock: game note: “I love him”
Good vision, physicality and a ton of pace. He also looks like he’s 15 years old, he could really turn into something.

Squires looked good, let’s see where he is in a year.
Brown left less of an impression, but had his moments.

But on that theme of pace.

Salminen: I had hoped he would show something that would prove haters like @RememberTheName wrong, but chalk a W for the haters.

If you ever wondered what a slower, less talented worse skating Zacha might look like, do I have the player for you.

He’s enormous, so tight space skating isn’t the easiest, but he does a thing where he seems to drift a bit, then gets engaged when a scoring chance happens, and then falls back into a semi-coma.

He doesn’t play at a pace remotely in the same hemisphere as the NHL.

Pytlik: “Salminen meh Pytlik is worse”
One of our worst mid-round picks in a while, not sure this guy plays much pro hockey in the future. He sucks. (I mean, I would love to be wrong, I’m not rooting against him and he seems like a nice kid.)

Hauser:“some nice sneaky stuff”
His pace isn’t the greatest either but there might be a player there, I would like to see him in Utica.

Shlaine: “likes to pass”
I liked him, you could see the vision as he was a guy looking to make plays. He also went to the net and scoring more is something he needs to do if he wants a shot. I guy I want in Utica.

Parent: “It’s Parent’s waterbug world and we just live there”
It’s true. Good luck in Utica, I’m rooting for ya.

Invites:
Ondrej Psenicka: “skating a problem, stiff, gets to the net a lot”
Interesting , noticeable and at times dominating, but wow, that skating is not good. I would throw him in the AHL and see what happens.

Luke Grainger: made no impression on me, forgot about him.

Cam Recchi & Brendan Fitzgerald: Despite my complaint about nepo babies, I could see both of these guys being worth an AHL deal in the future. Translatable games.

on the drafting note, i think it’s likely that any player with as much skill as these guys have (i.e. “some”) that DOES play with pace probably got drafted earlier.

My gut says it’s easier to teach a player to move their feet than to have fundamentally good puck skills or instincts. Higher ceiling, lower floor. Probably more likely to work out when you have a ton of picks, but when you only get a couple in the mid rounds, you end up Saturated With Salminens.

Stillman would likely have brought some energy and kicked guys into gear a little bit, but i feel like he’s a good illustration of the pace/skill trade off at work. He would’ve been a great 4th round pick.

 

[Hisch13r]

Was I the only one who went to the 3v3?

It’s always a bit chaotic, and I had to take a migraine med which made me a bit foggy, but I have some observations. I took a few (very few) notes too.

Casey was Casey, he was playing with street trash most of the time (Middendorf & Ibragimov) which made it less fun.

Vilén was good, but I was watching the new guys and forwards with questionable futures more so I don’t have much to say on him.

The new guys:
Seeing this dudes together I’m starting to think they highlighted what’s been underwhelming from later forward picks under Fitz: Pace.

Hämeenaho: I was expecting some cerebral two-way player with Hämeenaho, but he’s an animal. He’s adventurous, he wants to do everything, he’s always zipping around and he’s going to like playing in NA. His skating is an adventure but I can see why they thought he was a 1st rd pick.
Note at game: “is good, whee!”
(They weren’t detailed ok lol)

Cheslock: game note: “I love him”
Good vision, physicality and a ton of pace. He also looks like he’s 15 years old, he could really turn into something.

Squires looked good, let’s see where he is in a year.
Brown left less of an impression, but had his moments.

But on that theme of pace.

Salminen: I had hoped he would show something that would prove haters like @RememberTheName wrong, but chalk a W for the haters.

If you ever wondered what a slower, less talented worse skating Zacha might look like, do I have the player for you.

He’s enormous, so tight space skating isn’t the easiest, but he does a thing where he seems to drift a bit, then gets engaged when a scoring chance happens, and then falls back into a semi-coma.

He doesn’t play at a pace remotely in the same hemisphere as the NHL.

Pytlik: “Salminen meh Pytlik is worse”
One of our worst mid-round picks in a while, not sure this guy plays much pro hockey in the future. He sucks. (I mean, I would love to be wrong, I’m not rooting against him and he seems like a nice kid.)

Hauser:“some nice sneaky stuff”
His pace isn’t the greatest either but there might be a player there, I would like to see him in Utica.

Shlaine: “likes to pass”
I liked him, you could see the vision as he was a guy looking to make plays. He also went to the net and scoring more is something he needs to do if he wants a shot. A guy I want in Utica.

Parent: “It’s Parent’s waterbug world and we just live there”
It’s true. Good luck in Utica, I’m rooting for ya.

Invites:
Ondrej Psenicka: “skating a problem, stiff, gets to the net a lot”
Interesting , noticeable and at times dominating, but wow, that skating is not good. I would throw him in the AHL and see what happens.

Luke Grainger: made no impression on me, forgot about him.

Cam Recchi & Brendan Fitzgerald: Despite my complaint about nepo babies, I could see both of these guys being worth an AHL deal in the future. Translatable games.

For as much faith I have in them picking D the inverse is the case for the forwards

 

[Mgd31]

Other than some general Casey has skill posting and Hameenaho scoring a goal in a shootout do we have any real idea of what the players are doing at the Development Camp and who is playing well? Pity they didn't offer any online stream.

Not getting much from the writers this time around.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

For as much faith I have in them picking D the inverse is the case for the forwards

aside from a few glaring exceptions, i feel the opposite. The Devils are on a pretty serious tear as far as turning mid/late round picks into NHLers. Fitz deserves serious credit for turning Zacha, Zetterlund, and Sharangovich into better players, but those deals don’t happen with a system full of John Quennevilles. And on a crummier team, Boqvist is pencilled in for 3C or maybe even 2LW next season.

Good drafting means getting NHL players out of late rounds, not superstars. The Devils have been really good at that relative to the rest of the league and that gives me some optimism that one of these no-name guys is the next Sharangovich, Gritsyuk, etc.

 

[Hisch13r]

aside from a few glaring exceptions, i feel the opposite. The Devils are on a pretty serious tear as far as turning mid/late round picks into NHLers. Fitz deserves serious credit for turning Zacha, Zetterlund, and Sharangovich into better players, but those deals don’t happen with a system full of John Quennevilles. And on a crummier team, Boqvist is pencilled in for 3C or maybe even 2LW next season.

Good drafting means getting NHL players out of late rounds, not superstars. The Devils have been really good at that relative to the rest of the league and that gives me some optimism that one of these no-name guys is the next Sharangovich, Gritsyuk, etc.

It was true under Ray that it was good forwards, bad D. It’s mostly flipped since Fitz took over. Bratt, Zetterlund, Yegor, Gritsyuk, Bastian, Boqvist were all under Ray

 

[My3Sons]

Was I the only one who went to the 3v3?

It’s always a bit chaotic, and I had to take a migraine med which made me a bit foggy, but I have some observations. I took a few (very few) notes too.

Casey was Casey, he was playing with street trash most of the time (Middendorf & Ibragimov) which made it less fun.

Vilén was good, but I was watching the new guys and forwards with questionable futures more so I don’t have much to say on him.

The new guys:
Seeing this dudes together I’m starting to think they highlighted what’s been underwhelming from later forward picks under Fitz: Pace.

Hämeenaho: I was expecting some cerebral two-way player with Hämeenaho, but he’s an animal. He’s adventurous, he wants to do everything, he’s always zipping around and he’s going to like playing in NA. His skating is an adventure but I can see why they thought he was a 1st rd pick.
Note at game: “is good, whee!”
(They weren’t detailed ok lol)

Cheslock: game note: “I love him”
Good vision, physicality and a ton of pace. He also looks like he’s 15 years old, he could really turn into something.

Squires looked good, let’s see where he is in a year.
Brown left less of an impression, but had his moments.

But on that theme of pace.

Salminen: I had hoped he would show something that would prove haters like @RememberTheName wrong, but chalk a W for the haters.

If you ever wondered what a slower, less talented worse skating Zacha might look like, do I have the player for you.

He’s enormous, so tight space skating isn’t the easiest, but he does a thing where he seems to drift a bit, then gets engaged when a scoring chance happens, and then falls back into a semi-coma.

He doesn’t play at a pace remotely in the same hemisphere as the NHL.

Pytlik: “Salminen meh Pytlik is worse”
One of our worst mid-round picks in a while, not sure this guy plays much pro hockey in the future. He sucks. (I mean, I would love to be wrong, I’m not rooting against him and he seems like a nice kid.)

Hauser:“some nice sneaky stuff”
His pace isn’t the greatest either but there might be a player there, I would like to see him in Utica.

Shlaine: “likes to pass”
I liked him, you could see the vision as he was a guy looking to make plays. He also went to the net and scoring more is something he needs to do if he wants a shot. A guy I want in Utica.

Parent: “It’s Parent’s waterbug world and we just live there”
It’s true. Good luck in Utica, I’m rooting for ya.

Invites:
Ondrej Psenicka: “skating a problem, stiff, gets to the net a lot”
Interesting , noticeable and at times dominating, but wow, that skating is not good. I would throw him in the AHL and see what happens.

Luke Grainger: made no impression on me, forgot about him.

Cam Recchi & Brendan Fitzgerald: Despite my complaint about nepo babies, I could see both of these guys being worth an AHL deal in the future. Translatable games.

Thanks as always for sharing that. Hopefully you are feeling better today? Migraines can be very debilitating.

It was true under Ray that it was good forwards, bad D. It’s mostly flipped since Fitz took over. Bratt, Zetterlund, Yegor, Gritsyuk, Bastian, Boqvist were all under Ray

Fitz gets a lot of goodwill with Mercer but you make a good point.

 

[Guttersniped]

on the drafting note, i think it’s likely that any player with as much skill as these guys have (i.e. “some”) that DOES play with pace probably got drafted earlier.

My gut says it’s easier to teach a player to move their feet than to have fundamentally good puck skills or instincts. Higher ceiling, lower floor. Probably more likely to work out when you have a ton of picks, but when you only get a couple in the mid rounds, you end up Saturated With Salminens.

Stillman would likely have brought some energy and kicked guys into gear a little bit, but i feel like he’s a good illustration of the pace/skill trade off at work. He would’ve been a great 4th round pick.

Stillman’s motor is one reason why I still give a shot to make it but I don’t know how much of that is just his him running around (aka moving his feet). We need to see how he does in outside of juniors.

Part of high pace is being a puck hound, but at it’s best, high pace is also being a very active player, with good vision, who processes the game quickly and is trying to do all sorts of things offensively.

Hämeenaho is very much an offensive player, in a good way. Obviously, a 3-on-3 drill would highlight that side too, but no other forward there came close to him in pace and creativity.

Part of that is we have some real duds when it comes to pace though, sadly.

Shlaine was arguably the 2nd most notable standout among the forwards. Good for him, but that also says something about the forward group there.

Salminen really lost me after one shift where he just randomly floated down the middle of the ice. He could have been waiting for play to develop, but he also didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. That passivity is a killer. And f***ing annoying. (He was the big disappointment of the day, to a shocking degree, which is why I’m dumping on him.)

Filmon and Squires were ok with pace, but they both definitely do feel like “juniors” players still to me. There were later round picks though and both have potential. They need time to develop their overall game.

Oh, before yesterday I worried that Hauser might be too slow but was intrigued by him. And yesterday didn’t help at all lol, but there’s something genuinely power forward-y there. Something of a long shot but I get why we got him. He could be a truck.

I’ll probably go Friday too.

 

[devilsblood]

i apologize for comparing the two and being a sizeist

Fitz is sizeist as well when it comes to dmen. So they must have really liked his game.

 

[Guadana]

It was true under Ray that it was good forwards, bad D. It’s mostly flipped since Fitz took over. Bratt, Zetterlund, Yegor, Gritsyuk, Bastian, Boqvist were all under Ray

Because Fitzy is trying to fix the mess Shero lefted. We don`t know what we have in Edwards, Vilen, Bardakov, Orlov, Filmon and Karpovich are very good late round picks. Two of them are forwards. And we will know later how Leddy, Cheslock and Barabosha will grow, I`m not ready to write them in, i`m not ready to write them off. It`s a lot good defensemen, who were picked in later rounds again because only Okhotiuk and Misyul were... some kind of good defensive picks in all of this Shero`s years.

 

[Hisch13r]

Because Fitzy is trying to fix the mess Shero lefted. We don`t know what we have in Edwards, Vilen, Bardakov, Orlov, Filmon and Karpovich are very good late round picks. Two of them are forwards. And we will know later how Leddy, Cheslock and Barabosha will grow, I`m not ready to write them in, i`m not ready to write them off. It`s a lot good defensemen, who were picked in later rounds again because only Okhotiuk and Misyul were... some kind of good defensive picks in all of this Shero`s years.

Having to pick more D doesn’t mean making a lot of the forward picks bad.

 

[Guadana]

Having to pick more D doesn’t mean making a lot of the forward picks bad.

Having to pick more good D does mean making a lot of the bad defensemen picks bad.

 

[devilsblood]

Nobody likes a size queen.

Are we talking beds here? Im perfectly fine in a queen.

 

[Guttersniped]

Thanks as always for sharing that. Hopefully you are feeling better today? Migraines can be very debilitating.


Fitz gets a lot of goodwill with Mercer but you make a good point.

I got an injectable medication a few months for migraines that has helped a lot.

Pro Tip: Don’t go through menopause if you suffer from migraines guys. It’s a bad combo.

I’m going to try to make Friday’s game, I would like to see Hämeenaho’s much discussed speed.

Going for hockey sense/pace guys is a very good bet. I actually meant this as a positive about the new guys.

By the way, here’s the footage of Salminen getting drafted.



“I like the fact that he’s going to Denver.” Oops. (He didn’t go to Denver.)

That’s Greg Royce (grey hair) talking to Scott Harris.

Greg Royce

Greg Royce is now Head of CHL Scouting.

Niklas Evertsson is now listed as Head of European Amateur Scouting in the Team Directory.

Scott Harris left!?! I either never knew this or forgot.

Paul Castron is still a Director of Amateur Scouting and Mark Dennehy is Chief Scout, Amateur Scouting.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Just please don`t compare Butcher with Casey. I would take Casey in 1 000 000 times out of 10 in trade, draft, FA market etc. Butcher was a cow on the ice. Casey may will have a problem in NHL, but he is electric player with awesome potential and puck battles issues(may be, may be he will use his small size to gain musclus right and protect the puck the way Bratt is doing it).

Describing Butcher as a cow is so perfect. This is the most appropriate description of the way a player plays the game ever

 

[Devs3cups]

i apologize for comparing the two and being a sizeist

 

[Guadana]

Describing Butcher as a cow is so perfect. This is the most appropriate description of the way a player plays the game ever

I try to be careful, caring, patient, gentle and tolerant. Butcher&Smith is a company whose services I would never turn to.

 

[RememberTheName]

Was I the only one who went to the 3v3?

It’s always a bit chaotic, and I had to take a migraine med which made me a bit foggy, but I have some observations. I took a few (very few) notes too.

Casey was Casey, he was playing with street trash most of the time (Middendorf & Ibragimov) which made it less fun.

Vilén was good, but I was watching the new guys and forwards with questionable futures more so I don’t have much to say on him.

The new guys:
Seeing this dudes together I’m starting to think they highlighted what’s been underwhelming from later forward picks under Fitz: Pace.

Hämeenaho: I was expecting some cerebral two-way player with Hämeenaho, but he’s an animal. He’s adventurous, he wants to do everything, he’s always zipping around and he’s going to like playing in NA. His skating is an adventure but I can see why they thought he was a 1st rd pick.
Note at game: “is good, whee!”
(They weren’t detailed ok lol)

Cheslock: game note: “I love him”
Good vision, physicality and a ton of pace. He also looks like he’s 15 years old, he could really turn into something.

Squires looked good, let’s see where he is in a year.
Brown left less of an impression, but had his moments.

But on that theme of pace.

Salminen: I had hoped he would show something that would prove haters like @RememberTheName wrong, but chalk a W for the haters.

If you ever wondered what a slower, less talented worse skating Zacha might look like, do I have the player for you.

He’s enormous, so tight space skating isn’t the easiest, but he does a thing where he seems to drift a bit, then gets engaged when a scoring chance happens, and then falls back into a semi-coma.

He doesn’t play at a pace remotely in the same hemisphere as the NHL.

Pytlik: “Salminen meh Pytlik is worse”
One of our worst mid-round picks in a while, not sure this guy plays much pro hockey in the future. He sucks. (I mean, I would love to be wrong, I’m not rooting against him and he seems like a nice kid.)

Hauser:“some nice sneaky stuff”
His pace isn’t the greatest either but there might be a player there, I would like to see him in Utica.

Shlaine: “likes to pass”
I liked him, you could see the vision as he was a guy looking to make plays. He also went to the net and scoring more is something he needs to do if he wants a shot. A guy I want in Utica.

Parent: “It’s Parent’s waterbug world and we just live there”
It’s true. Good luck in Utica, I’m rooting for ya.

Invites:
Ondrej Psenicka: “skating a problem, stiff, gets to the net a lot”
Interesting , noticeable and at times dominating, but wow, that skating is not good. I would throw him in the AHL and see what happens.

Luke Grainger: made no impression on me, forgot about him.

Cam Recchi & Brendan Fitzgerald: Despite my complaint about nepo babies, I could see both of these guys being worth an AHL deal in the future. Translatable games.

Very excited to watch the scrimmage tomorrow, especially for Hameenaho. I'm a big fan of the pick so I'm excited for him to show some good stuff tomorrow, and hopefully prove some of the naysayers regarding his skating wrong.

Not surprised you had the same opinion on Salminen, though. Still cannot believe some people were comparing Hameenaho's skating to Salminen's. Not only does it look like Salminen is skating with shit in his pants, he is content with just meandering around in the middle of the ice like no one notices rather than trying to act normal or do something about it. The worst combination of skating and pace of play I have ever seen.