Hey guys! I am sure some of you were there as well so I figured I'd try my best to give my opinions on as many players as possible. I forgot a pen so I wasn't able to take notes but I remember the players that stood out. Feel free to post your views here as well!
Gillies: It was ironic to me because he was a man amongst boys just like the NHL was to him last year. He is still lanky, has great n/s speed and decent hands. I believe he had two goals. He was strong on the boards and down low around the net. He came together with Kalus (whom I don't think made any friends today--more on that later) once and they tangled a bit. I expect him to have a productive year in Houston. Give him more ice time and 15-20 more pounds and I believe he will be a good player to use as a checker and on the powerplay.
Petr Kalus- He has speed and some size but he certainly doesn't care about backchecking. I know this was a prospect scrimmage but he didn't skate hard unless someone had their head down or it was an offensive opportunity. He played really physical the first of two periods and absolutely rocked someone (help me out guys, I believe it was Brian Kaufman but am not sure). He did go to the net and played a lot up front with Madsen. They looked comfortable but did not dominate the way you would expect being older and more experienced. Again, it was just two 25 minute periods of play but Kalus appears to have that "me" attitude.
Alexander Fallstrom- I really liked what I saw from him. He is a big player with some good speed and good hands. He was a noticeable player all day and appeared to have a good hockey IQ. I am happy he is intelligent (Harvard) but wish he was going to a better hockey program. But, again, I liked what I saw from him today.
Anthony Hamburg- The only player who had to wear a full shield today does have some sick hands. But, he doesn't skate much and was weak on the puck. He showed great hands down low. Hopefully, being drafted and maturing with light a fire underneath him. He and Foucault had the best hands today but Foucault showed decent speed, hustle and a good shot, whereas Hamburg was lazy and weak.
Hickey- I hope someone else got a good read on him. I noticed his number once or twice and that was because he was carrying the puck.
Kaufman- Like the above, I didn't notice him much.
Foucault- I was really impressed with Foucault. He showed great hands in transition, some good saucer passes and a good shot. I hope he is the late bloomer he appears to be. He showed decent speed and wasn't taken off the puck easily.
Kassian- He stood out with a sore thumb because of his lack of hockey IQ. He skates better than Boogy (who doesn't?), can shoot, but appeared to be one step behind.
Haula- Haula had the nicest play of the day, toe-dragging around Cuma (Cuma got worked again by either Kyle Medvec or Sean Lorenz--damn pen!!), then deking out Hackett. Haula also played physical and appears to be a pretty stocky player. He reminds me of Filippula of Detroit. He didn't have blazing speed or a rocket shot but had good positioning, good hands and was physical. He was fun to watch.
Madsen- He definitely looked more experienced than most of the players out there but for having two AHL seasons, didn't look like a man amongst boys. He looked bigger and able to cut in from the outside but that was it. He's only 22 but he doesn't looke like anything more than an AHL player who will probably be overseas in a few years.
McMillan- This kid was noticeable as well. He is a big guy who appears to have more tools than Foy and Wanvig did. Again, this is only a prospects scrimmage but he seemed to be able to move E/W pretty well. He has good speed, was physical and had a few goals. One I believe was sitting around the net and the other was a nice hard slapshot that beat Hackett's lower left side. I think he will be a good player for Houston this year.
Eero Elo- He looked very average to me. I can't tell if he was hustling but he doesn't come across as a guy with the greatest athleticism. He was a big body who got a couple OK shots on net but was not noticeable with his hands or around the net/wall for his frame. I was hoping to see a little more speed and physicalness from him.
Jarod Palmer--I didn't notice him in the scrimmage but he had the nicest shootout goal of the day. He dropped the puck between his legs, kicked it to the backhand, went to forehand, then as his body went to the left dragged it to his backhand with one hand and barely slid it in.
Leddy-- He does skate very well but looked to be the weakest player out there. His passes were not hard, he wasn't able to play physical, so he will need some time. I think his hockey sense and skating are there; he just needs to mature physically.
Sean Lorenz--He seemed to have some decent speed but didn't stand out to me.
Kyle Medvec- I was expecting to see some giant that couldn't skate. Medvec showed some mobility and decent hands but was just average with his passing and breaking out abilities. He is a large body with a great reach.
Tyler Cuma-- He was clearly the smartest defenseman out there but seemed to be concentrating more on creating offense for the fans than playing good defense. He made a horrible cross ice pass within the first few minutes, then later on got walked twice by the toe drag, both of which led to goals. He did move the puck well in the offensive zone, was tough along the boards and had some decent shots on net. He reminds me of a more competetive Nick Schultz. He did seem to play better when he had better players out there so he may be one of those guys that always plays at the level of his competition. When he was with Falk and Gillies, they controlled the offensive zone fairly easily. All in all, I was impressed with Cuma.
Scandella-was he even out there?? I didn't see his number once.
Ilvonen--I only noticed him on one decent rush in which he displayed some good speed. I didn't notice him defensively, in terms of positioning or physical play.
Justin Falk-I like this kid a lot. He was big, mobile and had a hard shot. The year in AHL definitely made him look like a vet out there. When he was paired with Cuma, it looked like they could control the play all day. Give him some more time to gain confidence and he will be a good defenseman. I was really surprised with his passing and shot. It didn't appear that he is looking to score but he doesn't look lost like other big defenseman can.
Maxim Noreau--He did stand out as a fast, mobile offensive defenseman with some decent hands. I didn't see him run the point or create anything down low but I could have missed some things. He did seem pretty small, though.
Hackett--He got scored on more than Kuemper but he definitely appeared to be the more athletic and mobile of the two. Both goalies had 1-2 really nice saves. A few of Hackett's goals were right around the crease and I do believe if the defense was playing physical and competing at 100% (the competetiveness didn't seem to pick up until near the end of the first period), I think a few of those goals wouldn't have gone in.
Kuemper--He just seemed like a big body that takes up the net when he goes down into the butterfly. I think that his weakness is moving side to side and just overall athleticism. He was a little chippy with Gillies there and they ended up hugging after the whistle but it is nice to see Kuemper not be intimidated by someone who has already played in the NHL.
That is it!! Feel free to post your own thoughts!!
Nice write up, I'll try to add my two cents from what I remember hours ago.
The player that stood out the most to me was Fallstrom. I really like his game and think he will definitely help the Wild someday down the road.
Cuma was very good and very aggressive. He probably does need that last year of juniors just so he can have the season his missed last year by being the man on the team and being a leader, instead of sitting on the Wild bench getting spotty minutes all year.
Leddy has talent but he was very passive all day and he looks like he is definitely a few years away. The good news is he has the skill to play in the NHL, he just needs to physically mature and harness his ability and be more aggressive.
Haula also had a great game playing a lot of the time with Fallstrom. You could see the chemistry between them and they both impressed because of it.
Kalus was the biggest disappointment for me, he looked very disinterested and was getting knocked down on his ass more times then everyone else combined it seemed.
Gillies had a real solid game and he did have the presence of being a man amongst boys even though there were a couple older players there. He had one really nice goal and I think one rebound goal so he showed skill and grit out there along with a lot of speed. He definitely will be a very useful player with some seasoning, even if it is on the 3rd line because of his size and speed.
No one else really stood out consistently one way or another although many players had a moment or two. Also Scandella was one of two players who didn't play today (know idea why) along with Jere Sallinen
I wasn't able to go there unfortunately, so thanks a million for the nice reports, guys! It's very much appreciated.
A lot of what you reported confirmed my gut feeling about some of these players. Really disappointed with Kalus though, I thought he'd be busting his ass all over the ice, but I guess not. If that's his deal, he can go back to the K (or wherever he came from).
Care to rank them, anybody? In terms of their NHL potential, not necessarily their current skill.
I wasn't able to go there unfortunately, so thanks a million for the nice reports, guys! It's very much appreciated.
A lot of what you reported confirmed my gut feeling about some of these players. Really disappointed with Kalus though, I thought he'd be busting his ass all over the ice, but I guess not. If that's his deal, he can go back to the K (or wherever he came from).
Care to rank them, anybody? In terms of their NHL potential, not necessarily their current skill.
While it is fun to try to rank them on potential, I want to stay away from that since I only saw them play one time. The format was 4 on 4 and wasn't physical until Kalus drilled someone.
I will say that Gillies looked the best, followed by Fallstrom/Cuma/Falk, then Haula/MacMillan/Foucault, then Kalus/Madsen (had higher expectations for these two...so I am biased), then the rest. Hamburg showed good hands. Someone on the main boards liked Hickey. It was hard to judge some of the defensemen on their defensive abililities due to the four on four and no penalty kill. I did feel that Cuma played like Schultz along the wall with his poke check but Cuma seemed more intense and physical than I remember Schultz being as a 19 year old or even now.
Thanks for the recaps. I didn't know that these scrimmages were open to the public. Is this the first year?
Yea, this was the first year they have opened it to public. I hope they do this every year. I remember back around year one or two when I saw that Columbus had opened theirs up and was always hoping the Wild would do the same.
I guess I don't remember Kalus drilling anyone so much as him running around every now and then and falling on his ass as a result. The best/worst was behind the play he tried to hit Gillies and Gillies shrugged him off and he went hard to the ice so Kalus grabbed him by the skate and wouldn't let go and Gillies looked like he was getting upset and was able to shake free before he pounded on him. Kalus reminded me of an agitator trying to get under skin except he didn't skate hard and couldn't stay on his feet so really he just looked like he didn't give a ****.
Nice write up, I'll try to add my two cents from what I remember hours ago.
The player that stood out the most to me was Fallstrom. I really like his game and think he will definitely help the Wild someday down the road.
Cuma was very good and very aggressive. He probably does need that last year of juniors just so he can have the season his missed last year by being the man on the team and being a leader, instead of sitting on the Wild bench getting spotty minutes all year.
Leddy has talent but he was very passive all day and he looks like he is definitely a few years away. The good news is he has the skill to play in the NHL, he just needs to physically mature and harness his ability and be more aggressive.
Haula also had a great game playing a lot of the time with Fallstrom. You could see the chemistry between them and they both impressed because of it.
Kalus was the biggest disappointment for me, he looked very disinterested and was getting knocked down on his ass more times then everyone else combined it seemed.
Gillies had a real solid game and he did have the presence of being a man amongst boys even though there were a couple older players there. He had one really nice goal and I think one rebound goal so he showed skill and grit out there along with a lot of speed. He definitely will be a very useful player with some seasoning, even if it is on the 3rd line because of his size and speed.
No one else really stood out consistently one way or another although many players had a moment or two. Also Scandella was one of two players who didn't play today (know idea why) along with Jere Sallinen
Cody Almond and JP Testuide were also out due to injury
I just wanted to correct myself on here as I was able to see some of the highlights on wild.com.
Gillies' second goal was a nice little breakaway/rush on the left side and sniped over the glove. Now I remember sitting there and Kuemper didn't even see it. The puck was out of the net before he even moved.
I had Palmer's shootout deke backwards (damn pen again!) but you all can see it on wild.com!!
Really nice kid.
