Thoughts & Observations From Flames Prospect Camp, Pt. II
I attended the afternoon session at Flames Development Camp yesterday, and the action was significantly more entertaining than Tuesday's session, although not that much more telling in terms of actual ability. The prospects were divided into two groups and participated in a brief 4-on-4 scrimmage, and they also practiced line rushes, as well as getting traffic in front of the net and shooting from the point. Some notes transcribed from the hasty scribblings on my roster sheet after the jump.
- After being largely unnoticeable during my first day at Prospect Camp, Mikael Backlund was clearly a man amongst boys yesterday afternoon. He skated extremely well and made several nice plays during the line rush drills and the scrimmage where he went around a defenceman and tapped the puck into the net with one hand on his stick and another where he split the defence and nearly scored.
- John Negrin didn't participate in the afternoon session, but apparently skated this morning. Ryley Grantham and Logan MacMillan are also on the injury list, and we observed the oft-injured John Armstrong donning a white jersey and sitting out on all contact drills yesterday afternoon.
- Bryan Cameron was relatively invisible again, unfortunately. I expected him to be better in front of the net and along the boards, but he appeared to be pushed off the puck with ease. He was stripped and/or lost control of the puck a few times as well, by my eye. I've been most disappointed in him and Ryan Howse, who has been absolutely invisible--to the point where we thought he was injured--this week, as they were two of the players I was most excited about watching.
- Greg Nemisz had a better afternoon yesterday than he did on Tuesday. After a rough start, he seemed to find his legs about half way through the session. He forced his way to the front of the net on a couple plays and created a few good scoring chances, and also made a good defensive play where he stuck with his man all the way back and pushed him to the outside, negating any possible scoring chance.
- If Tim Erixon has a weakness, it's likely his shot. Although it appeared relatively accurate, it's not hard enough to do any damage and he seems to have trouble getting the puck very high up off the ice. He seemed frustrated after misreading a 2-on-1 during the scrimmage, and hit his stick against the glass en route to the bench.
- T.J. Brodie also doesn't seem to have the hardest shot, but I suspect he is more of a playmaker. He did demonstrate his ability to initiate a zone breakout with a good first pass. As I mentioned on Wednesday, Ron Sutter is very high on this guy, and Jim Playfair seems quite fond of him as well.
- Invitee Giffen Nyren turned in a better showing yesterday afternoon. Despite his struggles with skating, he put himself in good defensive position in front of the net and along the boards, where he stood up opposition forwards on a couple occasions. Even though he's not the biggest guy, he appears capable of physically punishing opponents
- Similarly, Chris Breen uses his size to his advantage in front of the net, fending off opposing forwards. He doesn't have the the most accurate shot, however; think wide, but not high.
- Mitch Wahl had another solid day; he wasn't especially noticeable, but made a few good moves and created some time and space for himself. Nothing too flashy, which I'm starting to believe is going to be his career M.O.
- None of the most recent draft class (Bill Arnold, Patrick Holland, Michael Ferland, Max Reinhart, or Joey Leach) were noticeable without actively seeking them out. John Ramage is attending Team USA's U20 Development Camp in Lake Placid, according to Rob Kerr's Twitter
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You can teach players to skate better. You can get faster. What you can’t do is teach hockey smarts. If guys like Cameron and Nemisz can get power skating classes or whatever, then they will be dominant.
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I generally disagree with this, and think just the opposite. It’s easier to teach hockey smarts, positioning, defense, etc. That is just good coaching, and is why there was a lot of trapping, etc at one time – good coaching overriding talent, because there wasn’t enough of it. You can’t teach speed or offensive touch, though.
Matchsticks and Gasoline
There is a difference between talent and skill-one is something you have, and the other is something you gain. I put skating under “skill” and smarts under “talent”.
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by Justin Azevedo on Jul 31, 2010 1:40 PM PDT up reply actions
I get what you’re saying, I just disagree. I think once you’re up near/at NHL level that things like skating, hands, shot are not changing much and you either have them (and make it in the NHL) or don’t (and don’t make it). I think smarts, on the other hand, particularly positioning and team play, can be improved with coaching.
Example from recent Flames – Eric Nystrom. Dude was nearly always in the right spot and played great in the system, and that improved the whole time he was a Flame. What didn’t improve was that he had bad hands, no finish.
Matchsticks and Gasoline
Smarts are what top level scouts search for the most, and will tell you that you can develop any other skill. That being said – a bad skater at age 21 won’t become the next Bure. But players like Matthew Lombardi can skate and always have been able to but they can’t put those tangible skills to use because they don’t have the sense when it comes to where to be on the ice. Every once in a while we even saw some great shots out of Lombardi.
Yes, someone like Ovy is fast and has a great shot, but he scores so much because of how he can find soft spots in the ice – plus he uses his shot through screens or at times when the goalie isn’t expecting it. Brian Rolston has just as good of a shot but rarely knows where to be or how to use it. Watch Crosby and it’s his sense that separates him from the rest. That’s why he makes the passes he does. Or Dats… he’s always a solid plus for a reason and it’s not how well he shoots the puck or skates. Dats can make takeaways out of nothing because he reads guys’ eyes and knows where other players try to go.
where the hell were you this week, azevedo ??
ps: there are no actual scrimmages during prospect camp cause it’s deemed a development camp, not an evaluation camp. the “scrimmage” drills —as i know you know, i’m just clarifying for those not in attendance— were mostly 4-on-4. i think. i mean, i was there n’ all but i wasn’t really watching. lol. ;)
azevedo is currently bogged down by work. and when I say that, I mean “13 shifts in 7 days” bogged down. I really did want to come out. PS I still owe you a cake
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by Justin Azevedo on Jul 30, 2010 7:08 PM PDT up reply actions
i don’t actually remember what the cake was for, but if you could please have it look EXACTLY like the cake pictured above ? that would be great, thanks.
ps: i miss you guys.
WITHOUT HOCKEY MY LIFE HAS NO MEANING
I also have no idea why I owed you a cake, either.
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by Justin Azevedo on Aug 2, 2010 1:05 PM PDT up reply actions

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