News and Notes XX: The off-season is near, lets go Golfing!

[Anton Dubinchuk]

The McBain shirt was me

Martin was the standout to me today, he always seemed to make the right play and the only time I saw him get beat was Goat simply going full beast mode and bulling his way through.

Dave (and the room), are you nervous that since Gauthier relies so much on the fact that he's built like a man and can plow through his current competition that once he actually gets into the NHL (with men) his ceiling is lower?

I'm worried about that, but I don't watch him play.

 

[bleedgreen]

I'm worried about that. He looks like a third liner at this point. Little lateral mobility, bull in a China shop down the wing. He can shoot, for sure. Will it translate? I think he'll make the bigs but I think he's a project.

 

[Roboturner913]

 

[RodTheBawd]

The McBain shirt was me

Martin was the standout to me today, he always seemed to make the right play and the only time I saw him get beat was Goat simply going full beast mode and bulling his way through.

Hahaha that's good stuff. Yeah my buddy and I were 2 rows directly behind you then. You got excited at one point there.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

Wonder what Gauthier's hockey IQ is.

Seems like the meathead football player that got all the chicks but failed every class.

 

[Roboturner913]

he looka like a man

 

[Vagrant]

he looka like a man

reaching deep for that one.

 

[Roboturner913]

he's built like a man .

so yes, he looka like a man

 

[DaveG]

Dave (and the room), are you nervous that since Gauthier relies so much on the fact that he's built like a man and can plow through his current competition that once he actually gets into the NHL (with men) his ceiling is lower?

I'm worried about that, but I don't watch him play.

Hard to say what his upside is right now. He could be a guy that uses his physical gifts effectively in the league, or he could be a 3rd liner, hard to tell at this level of competition. He needs time to develop in the AHL first imo.

Hahaha that's good stuff. Yeah my buddy and I were 2 rows directly behind you then. You got excited at one point there.

Yeah one Koukkanens plays definitely caught my eye, a lot of others too by most indications.

 

[Novacane]

Damn, wish I had checked this sooner to meet up. I was whatever section was just to the right of the "promotion" booth, 2 rows up from a guy in a McBain t-shirt.

Aside from Roy, who was clearly the best out there, Luke Martin was my standout (if there is such a thing at one of these). Goat had better hands in tight than I would have thought. Kuokkanen attempted a lot of skill plays that usually resulted in nothing. Bean is impressive, but the off-putting thing to me was how gassed he looked early. I get these were basically bag skates, but no one else showed they were tired. Rubbed me the wrong way a bit. Not much out of Necas. Elynuik surprised me a bit. Can't really take much away from the goalies; Booth, LaFontaine and Helvig looked fine, didn't notice Makiniemi at all.

Hopefully we're not talking Tolchinsky-esque here. Are we?

 

[RodTheBawd]

Hopefully we're not talking Tolchinsky-esque here. Are we?

Worse. But again, this is during drills. He attempted a lot of **** that ended up lost in his feet or easily swept away.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Dave (and the room), are you nervous that since Gauthier relies so much on the fact that he's built like a man and can plow through his current competition that once he actually gets into the NHL (with men) his ceiling is lower?

I'm worried about that, but I don't watch him play.

I've been low on Gauthier since this time last year, because other than his shot he has really mediocre puck skills. In particular, he's a poor passer relative to a top-6 NHL'er. Can't seem to place it on anyone's tape in a drill, and the puck always seems to flip as it comes off his stick.

Being a big guy with a shot will result in some goals, but a guy who's a turnover machine won't be getting a lot of great opportunities in this league. I don't see him as a two-way type of player really, more of an Erik Cole north-south scorer, so he can't afford to be throwing garbage passes around in a game environment. His chance for success is in the top-6, where unforced errors aren't acceptable.

For that matter Nic Roy was showing some of that yesterday as well. He's got more skill than Gauthier, but if he can't handle the puck at speed he's not going to last long on a Bill Peters team.

 

[MinJaBen]

I've been low on Gauthier since this time last year, because other than his shot he has really mediocre puck skills. In particular, he's a poor passer relative to a top-6 NHL'er. Can't seem to place it on anyone's tape in a drill, and the puck always seems to flip as it comes off his stick.

Being a big guy with a shot will result in some goals, but a guy who's a turnover machine won't be getting a lot of great opportunities in this league. I don't see him as a two-way type of player really, more of an Erik Cole north-south scorer, so he can't afford to be throwing garbage passes around in a game environment. His chance for success is in the top-6, where unforced errors aren't acceptable.

For that matter Nic Roy was showing some of that yesterday as well. He's got more skill than Gauthier, but if he can't handle the puck at speed he's not going to last long on a Bill Peters team.

It is assessments like this, coupled with my limited viewings, why I would be perfectly fine throwing either of these two guys into a trade for Duchene if that became a possibility. I just don't see either being more than a third line guy.

 

[bleedgreen]

Watched the last 15 minutes of today's skate. Necas looks as advertised. Shifty and quick with the puck, built like a baby bird. He scored a nice goal in shootout, as did Gauthier but it was Cotton with a Doug Weight hip pivot into a forsberg one hander that stole the show. I liked what I saw from Cotton in the NCAA this year, looking forward to seeing him get a bigger role. Interesting project.

Like others have said, few of these will make it but I like the pool overall.

 

[Vagrant]

It's also worth keeping in mind that a lot of these guys still have a lot of growing to do in regards to the mental aspects of the game. And that includes being a little jumpy in front of your NHL club at times. I would try not to base too much off of practice situations with players that probably aren't in peak hockey condition at this point. A lot of these guys had long seasons. There are some things to be learned and observed, but it's always worth staying cognizant that Sergei Tolchinsky won prospect camp and even training camp for 3 straight years and produced squadoosh as a professional. Again, not trying to discount observations but remember this is just a part of the snapshot.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Yeah, and being my first time attending anything like this, I wasn't expecting to take much out of it. Just tried to evaluate guys relative to everyone else on the ice. Not to mention the fact I know **** all about evaluating prospects, for the most part.

 

[bleedgreen]

I could care less about rookie camp. It was fun to see Cotton do something, and fun to see Necas live. Neither are close. You can't tell anything about them as nhl'ers from this setting.

 

[bleedgreen]

The main board keeps telling me Buffalo got fleeced on their trade. I'm not feeling it. Traded a guy they had to trade, who's a good but unspectacular player and got Buffalo to take back Pominville (wow) while giving them cheaper forwards. A healthy Ennis can score 25 and Foligno is a very good role player. Quick legs for both. And they saved cap space. I feel Minny at least came out even?

 

[Vagrant]

Yeah, people aren't really taking into account how big it was for Minnesota to get out from under that Pominville deal because he's still moderately productive. They're evaluating it as if it's an even swap for Ennis. The actual cash value on Ennis is also much better due to the structure of his deal. Plus, as you mentioned, Marcus Folingo is a good soldier. It's not that bad all things considered. Of course they could have done better without having to include Pominville, but sometimes teams prefer these kinds of trades to bail themselves out.

 

[Novacane]

The pretty well stacked the red team didn't they?

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

The pretty well stacked the red team didn't they?

Anywhere to see the rosters?

 

[Novacane]

Anywhere to see the rosters?

http://nhl.bamcontent.com/images/assets/binary/290243400/binary-file/file.pdf

Team White won anyway though after the shootout

 

[tarheelhockey]

It's really weird to me that they get these bloggers from "independent" websites to come sit on a panel, and it's basically just a cheerleading session. It was the same way last year. The Storm Squad brings more critical analysis than this group.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Final thoughts on rookie camp:

Necas - What we're seeing right now is irrelevant IMO. He's not close to being grown into his frame. It'll be 3 years before we see what he's capable of doing.

Gauthier - He's clearly an NHL talent. Big guy with wheels and hands. My concern is the way he thinks the game, and especially his ability to pass and receive passes at speed.

Bean - I was impressed by his performance in the game environment. He's shifty and thinks fast. Still a work in progress but he's a good asset.

Roy - I feel like other people see something in this guy that I'm just not seeing.

Martin - This was the surprise of camp for me. He's a fine skater, thinks the game VERY well, and has good stick skills. Has a great sense for where the offensive lanes are, where to jump in and where to back off, and he controls his gaps nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing him against pros in training camp.

Elynuik - He has all the attributes of an up and coming NHL'er, but the in-game performance didn't look good at all. He might not be hockey-smart enough to make it.

Kuokkanen - It was an up and down camp for him. To me he seems like a player who's more than the sum of his parts. He plays a pro-style game and has a good amount of raw skill. Seems like he has a Jokinen-like upside, and a decent chance of hitting it.

The rest are in over their heads against NHL competition, no need to bag on them but I don't see them making it.

 

[Breakdowns]

What about Eetu Luostarinen - 2nd round pick?