Best rookie surprises/disappointments at training camp & preseason??

[S E P H]

At Avs camp Meurs and Aittokallio have been very good surprises.

Meurs is very quick and shifty with a great shot. He's been very solid so far, but there have been shifts that he has dominated and this has been against NHL defensemen.

Aittokallio has been the Avs best goaler besides Varlamov and at times has outplayed him imo. He plays very big and at same time is very quick. Also has very good reaction time and always see's the puck even with bodies in front. Rebound control is also very good, but still vulnerable to squeaky goals.

Pickard in one word..........horrible. He's been one of the worse players so far. Yes he's playing for a weak team (team blue to be exact), but man he's getting lit up every game he's played so far. Ton of goals from bad angles going high glove.

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[LT]

Glennie isn't even there again...

I hear Vincour's looked very good. Some of our new bottom 6 guys have looked really good on the stat sheet.

Benn's benn a monster. Really could have quite a breakout season this year.

 

[vad87]

Yemelin and Gallagher for Montreal. In the 1st scrimmage, Yemelin layed 4-5 big hits with a really good defensive coverage. Today, he calmed down a little bit but he displayed very good offensive skills. As for Gallagher, this guy's a steal. He's small but he never stops; crash to the net, play physical despite his stature, amazing offensive skills, etc. Every shift he was on the ice he created scoring chances.

H.M: Tinordi played a good physical defensive game and Beaulieu has some really nice 2-way skills. No real defensive liabilities as some people expected about him.

 

[kilgro]

kenny ryan has impressed enough at the rookie tourny and early on in camp that he is being rewarded with some preseason action tonight against the sens

 

[Soundgarden]

Pickard in one word..........horrible. He's been one of the worse players so far. Yes he's playing for a weak team (team blue to be exact), but man he's getting lit up every game he's played so far. Ton of goals from bad angles going high glove.

Man, that's too bad to hear. Chet, on the other hand, looks to be turning his game around.

 

[thalegion]

For the oilers

Positives:

- obvious is RNH, delivers as promised, better 2 way and faceoffs than expected, shifty as sin
- martindale, no evidence of him taking shifts off
- Marincin, upgraded the size of his legs from twigs to branches, scary stickwork and positioning

Negatives:

- Reider, hasn't impressed me as much as I hoped, not bad but needs more development
- Blain, for someone who put up pretty good junior stats last year he looks lost at times
- Rajala, meh prospect IMO fast though

Obviously I have other favorites but these were key, also loved lander, hartikainen, pitlick, hamilton and so on

 

[zeus3007*]

For the oilers

Positives:

- obvious is RNH, delivers as promised, better 2 way and faceoffs than expected, shifty as sin
- martindale, no evidence of him taking shifts off
- Marincin, upgraded the size of his legs from twigs to branches, scary stickwork and positioning

Negatives:

- Reider, hasn't impressed me as much as I hoped, not bad but needs more development
- Blain, for someone who put up pretty good junior stats last year he looks lost at times
- Rajala, meh prospect IMO fast though

Obviously I have other favorites but these were key, also loved lander, hartikainen, pitlick, hamilton and so on

Pretty good analysis. I'd like to add Antii Tyrvainen to the positives though. He has looked great, everything his game is not what I expected it to be. He'll never be a top line scorer, but to expect him to be a solid 3rd/4th line checker isn't out of the question at all.

 

[Okposofan21]

nino niederreiter was promoted to play with moulson and tavares while ryan strome and anders nilsson have opened eyes as well. strome will be sent back to his junior team and nilsson who was one of the best goalies in the SEL last year will be headed to the ahl for playing time and avoid the three headed goalie monster we have on long island already.

 

[TRask]

Believe it or not...Zach Hamill has actually been said by many to be one of the top fowards on the ice thru Bostons first two days of camp. And had a few slick plays during todays scrimmage(day 3) according to one of the Boston writers. Even had sum praise in the media from both Peter Chiarelli and Claude Julian

 

[Minister of Offence]

Co-points leader in the WJC in Sask a couple years ago, Andre Petersson was said by management to be the most skilled prospect in Ottawa's system. Thought he looked clearly more dominant than 23 year old Bobby Butler was at last years rookie tourney.

In the past his draw backs were compete level, size, skating, defense. Ottawa fixed his back issues, he played with bite, tenacity, and he was the quickest Sens player on the roster...very quick. Still Karlsson small and shorter, he displayed a high level of hockey sense and vision.

 

[Michael Gary Scott]

Dont mean to start **** but in the Leafs v. Ottawa Rookie tournament game, David Rundblad really let me down. I was looking forward to seeing him and he was just, meh. He had some nice moves, but really played average and had Jesse Blacker one-uping him all night. Didnt see the offence that was promised other than one cheesy spinorama at the blueline that accomplished nothing. I hope it was just an off game for him, I have a soft spot for all swedish prospects for some reason.

 

[Teemu]

Brandon Saad has continued his solid play since prospects camp, and doesn't look particularly out of place among the big boys. Philip Danault has also impressed on both ends of the ice, and Brandon Pirri had some nice plays (and goal) based on the clips of scrimmages posted online.

The disappointment is Jeremy Morin--still not cleared to scrimmage with the team.

 

[Gobo]

Ryan Martindale has opened a lot of Oilers fans eyes who previously didn't view him as an important piece of the puzzle.

 

[c4rcy]

From the Ducks:

Highlights:
Brandon MacMillan has really impressed and will see a major improvement from last year.
Palmieri does not look physicall overmatched and his speed has increased from last year.
Holland, whom everyone thinks is a bust, had a really impressive showing (minus his faceoffs).
Etem delivered as well, scoring a goal in the training camp scrimmage, and decking Sheldon Brookbank when he didn't expect it.
Andrew Gordon - Showed why he was a top scorer in the AHL last year. He'll definitely see some time with the big club this year.

Lowlights:

DSP - Had a rough showing during the scrimmage and training camp sessions. Still very solid and an extremely hard worker, but his conditioning wasn't up to par.
Smaby - While he looked exceptional during the drills, he looked to me a bit lost in the scrimmage.
Mark Bell - Slow as molasses.
Marroon - See above.

 

[chasespace]

Cory Conacher is getting praise from Boucher and Yzerman at Tampa's camp.

 

[airforceones25]

From the Ducks:

Highlights:
Brandon MacMillan has really impressed and will see a major improvement from last year.
Palmieri does not look physicall overmatched and his speed has increased from last year.
Holland, whom everyone thinks is a bust, had a really impressive showing (minus his faceoffs).
Etem delivered as well, scoring a goal in the training camp scrimmage, and decking Sheldon Brookbank when he didn't expect it.
Andrew Gordon - Showed why he was a top scorer in the AHL last year. He'll definitely see some time with the big club this year.

Lowlights:

DSP - Had a rough showing during the scrimmage and training camp sessions. Still very solid and an extremely hard worker, but his conditioning wasn't up to par.
Smaby - While he looked exceptional during the drills, he looked to me a bit lost in the scrimmage.
Mark Bell - Slow as molasses.
Marroon - See above.

... I've been trying to hype Holland every time I get a chance on the Ducks boards. IMO Holland is clearly the Ducks best prospect AINEC..

 

[gifted88]

From the Ducks:

Highlights:
Brandon MacMillan has really impressed and will see a major improvement from last year.
Palmieri does not look physicall overmatched and his speed has increased from last year.
Holland, whom everyone thinks is a bust, had a really impressive showing (minus his faceoffs).
Etem delivered as well, scoring a goal in the training camp scrimmage, and decking Sheldon Brookbank when he didn't expect it.
Andrew Gordon - Showed why he was a top scorer in the AHL last year. He'll definitely see some time with the big club this year.

Lowlights:

DSP - Had a rough showing during the scrimmage and training camp sessions. Still very solid and an extremely hard worker, but his conditioning wasn't up to par.
Smaby - While he looked exceptional during the drills, he looked to me a bit lost in the scrimmage.
Mark Bell - Slow as molasses.
Marroon - See above.

This is the first I am hearing of this...the knock on Holland was his motivation. And it looked like he had a lot more drive last season.

 

[HanSolo]

... I've been trying to hype Holland every time I get a chance on the Ducks boards. IMO Holland is clearly the Ducks best prospect AINEC..

Whoa now. Best? Maybe. We'll see. NEC? How about no. Etem, Palmieri, Vatanen, Schultz, and Gibson show some serious promise.

This is the first I am hearing of this...the knock on Holland was his motivation. And it looked like he had a lot more drive last season.

He was improving toward the end, and hasn't really stopped since then.

 

[Judas Tavares]

Jake Gardiner keeps looking solid and had 2 assists tonight. If he keeps this up he has to make the team.

 

[startainfection*]

i find it surprising that nino is playing with jt and moulson, does that count?

i also like stome and nillson more everytime i watch them

 

[squidz*]

For the Wild:

Positives
Phillips' skating. If you didn't know that he was greatly knocked for his skating, you probably wouldn't even notice it.
Scandella is playing like a man possessed at training camp.
Gillies has already been largely penciled in as making the team, but he's still proving that he really deserved it.
Bulmer has been everything he was advertised to be. He's really taking after Clutterbuck, although he still has penalty trouble.

Negatives
Wellman hasn't shown anything to say he can make that jump to NHL play.
No one in the cluster of potential 7th defensemen have taken a step above anyone else. There's still hope that someone will jump out and put pressure on the bottom two pairings for ice time, but it looks like we might be signing Hendry off the tryout for that depth spot.
McMillan has been largely invisible...to the point where I just had to find proof online that he was at training camp before I posted this.

 

[airforceones25]

Whoa now. Best? Maybe. We'll see. NEC? How about no. Etem, Palmieri, Vatanen, Schultz, and Gibson show some serious promise.



He was improving toward the end, and hasn't really stopped since then.

Like i've stated it's of my opinion. Yes I think Holland is far better than the prospects we have at the moment. Sure can other step up and pass him without question but IMO it's not close.. Holland's game translates extremely well to the NHL well all of our other guys are a bunch of top 6/9 tweeners with the exception of Etem..

So once again i'll state IMO Holland > others AINEC

 

[HanSolo]

Like i've stated it's of my opinion. Yes I think Holland is far better than the prospects we have at the moment. Sure can other step up and pass him without question but IMO it's not close.. Holland's game translates extremely well to the NHL well all of our other guys are a bunch of top 6/9 tweeners with the exception of Etem..

So once again i'll state IMO Holland > others AINEC

I understand that it's your opinion buddy. The point to debate is to to argue on opinions that we disagree on. Come on. It's not like your a Kings fan here. Let's keep it chill.

 

[danishh]

jared cowen showed off his shot today with 2 goals vs the leafs.

 

[wakeupguy]

Sven Bärtschi(13th ovr in 11') looked great in rookie camp and the 18 year is getting a shot tommorow night on a line with Backlund. Feaster has said if a player should be on the team, he'll be on the team, no matter how young he is. A solid preseason should get him his 9 game tryout.