Alright, some last thoughts to wrap this up. Today was the same format, one team that did shooting work to warm up the goalies and then the three teams each did an hour of skating work with Tracy. As I mentioned earlier a new little wrinkle in the shooting work was one of the players making a pass or shot to another player in front of the goalie and then either player could go for the rebound. Magyar and Beaudin, who hadn't really stood out earlier showed they are at their best in front of the net. The skating stuff was on stops, starts and also exploding out of a spin move, which this led to some actual skating with the puck and shooting on the goalie.
Overall I thought everyone put in decent effort and worked to improve. As I said earlier I don't think anyone was terrible especially as much as its been reported elsewhere. Its not really a competitive type thing, they are just working on skills so I don't think heavy analysis of their performance is needed. That said, it was nice to see the guys live and in person and a take away a few impressions.
Rantanen is smooth, skilled, subtle. He's not the best skater or has the hardest shot so he didn't always stand out in these things they were doing this week but he would flash just often and subtle enough that I always wished there was some way to go back and see what he just did. He'd all of a sudden do a drill and make a move on the goalie or fire a shot that was wow worthy. At the very end of his session today he was taking and making long passes with the coaches and firing beautiful saucer passes. Lots to be excited about with Rantanen, its really going to come down to how he looks next to NHL players and how he is in battles and defensively. But he certainly has a varied and polished tool set already.
Greer was definitely a standout especially for his age. A lot of the new draft class showed their age, not that they didn't try or have the capability but just maybe not assertive enough in their games at the stage in their development. Greer was a ball of fire from minute one to the last minute. He would go all out on absolutely everything even just skating in a straight line. He wouldn't rest a moment, always talking to a coach or shooting pucks between drills, pumping him self up for the next drill, he was always ready. It was easy to see the power in his game, he's a powerful skater and his shot was very good in the shooting portion. He's going to be a real interesting one to watch. Its a damn shame he can't come to main camp and will be a another year until we see him in an Avalanche capacity.
Biggest surprise might have been Boikov and part of that is due to not knowing much about him. I even tried to find some info and there isn't much out there. He really impressed in the skating portion and was easily one of the best in the whole group. He was always having fun too. He was the first to score in the explode spin drill and got some cheers and put his stick straight up in the air. Really interested to see what he does in the camp and if he can continue making an impression in his defensive game.
The trio of Bigras, Geertsen and Wood showed what we've known them for and come to expect but with another step of maturity. That step was probably most evident in Wood who has grown into his size and game much more than he was last year. He's not the greatest skater but he held his own in the skating sessions. And he's really owned his shot, he was just lighting it up in the shooting portion. I can't believe how big Geertsen and Wood are, seeing them up close on the glass just confirms it even more. Bigras its the smoothness and confidence in his game was really clear. Geertsen won't ever have that explosive part of his game in his shot or skating but he's just an absolute horse physically, it seems like he never even gets tired.
Of the invitees, I liked Hamonic better. Moves pretty well for a big man and seems to have a little skill. Wonder if they'll bring him back for training camp.
Was nice to get a little preview of camp in July now that we go into the abyss of nothing for two months. I think from the interviews the guys appreciated it too, they got to do a little hockey but also some other things. Hopefully they feel it was a success and give us a little taste of on ice stuff in the future.
