Rookie Camp

[The_People1]

Watched some of this on fast forward but from what I can see,

 

Wolf - Looks like NHL material.  I was wrong about him thinking he's too small (and he still is) but boy is he fast.  His angles are perfect and he comes out quick.  Feet are quick.  Glove hand is quick.  Recovers back to his feet quick.  And generally speaking his reads are elite... he "gets it" and is smart.  Not sure if he's a starter in the NHL yet but so far he looks very good.  I feel better NHL shooters would take advantage of his size picking spots but this is the AHL so he looked brilliant.  The Oilers had enough chances to score 10 times in this game with countless point blank shots but Wolf was outstanding to answer.

 

Whynot - great compete and fiesty.  Decent skater and always scanning.  He's got some potential but needs to get stronger.

 

Kuznetsov - Big player but IMO, a bit slow, stoic, and emotionless.  He's looking like a stay-at-home type who lacks a mean streak and was a bit soft at times.  He is a "contain" type defender rather than a punishing defender.  But his stride is too slow and smaller players are going to cut around him easily.  He makes up for it with a long reach.  His first pass is decent.  Generally speaking, I think the basic fundamentals are there and there's lots to work with but he has a long way to go.

 

Poirier - showed some flash and energy.  Was creative and made a few deceptive passes.  I think he has a lot of offensive potential and can carry the puck up ice.  Good natural skater and because of it will create chances off the rush.  I would say, at the same age, he's already better than Kylington.  Ceiling is pretty high in my opinion and he's not far off from putting it all together.

 

Duehr - had a very strong game.  He plays simple/smart hockey and uses his size well.

 

Pelletier - Fiesty and has energy as advertised.  Has breakaway speed, a good stick, and high compete level.  He seems to always be chopping at players and finishing his checks.  However, he has a weak shot/finish and lacks deception with the puck.  He's going to be the type to score because of hard work but not because of smarts.  And that said, it's hard to imagine him as a big points guy at the NHL level given what we can see here.  Comparing him to someone like Mangiapane or Dube, he doesn't have that level of creativity and dynamics.  He's just going to out work and out compete everyone.

 

Francis - got lots of potential.  Smart and creative.  Blazing speed and good playmaking.  He's as advertised and you can see why everyone thinks we got a sleeper of a pick in him.  Really, the biggest knock on him is his 5'-9" size because he does just about everything else very well.  I wouldn't call it elite but his ceiling is high.  He just needs to bulk up and get stronger.

 

Zary - what a great skater and stick handler especially when he is closely checked.  Shifty moves that look effortless allows him to come out of close checking and bring the puck into open areas.  He's going to make plays and looks to have a great release on his wrist shot... just couldn't bury his chances.  Away from the puck, I found he coasted around a bit and he will have to polish that part of his game a bit.  Overall, he needs to bulk up and get stronger to have success at the NHL level but his ceiling is high.  A #2 Center looks to be a reasonable expectation at this point.  He's not NHL ready yet though.

 

Pospisil - probably our best forward overall in the game.  Very involved and works hard.  He wouldn't look out of place on the Flames in the bottom six if the season started today.

 

 

[rocketdoctor]

The guy I was disappointed in was Kinnvall.  He seemed slow to me but it is only one game and you cannot see off camera.

 

Zary stick handling in close and his ability to see open ice looks like we might have got ourselves a good player.

 

 

 

 

[zima]

I'm a little confused I get Zary is center nut pel was on the top 2 lines in the U20 and put up points after one game you guys have him as a pointless plug I think he will replace Backs some day very soon smarter than you give him credit for and 1 or 2 games doesn't define him in the world juniors he moved from 3rd to top line he just kept getting better ended up on the top line and made that line better me thinks the other players knew they could get away with things because he was there to protect the play.