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.