That was Fugly. Our goalie was good though, and I hope he gets a spot somewhere.
If he keeps it up it sounds like he will, Henning already mentioned he's made his way through to main camp so I wouldn't be surprised to see him join the organization. Other then that, Polasek was really the only strong player. Really missed K-Conn's ability to actually moved the puck up ice today.
My oh my, Mr. Polasek woke up feeling mighty adventurous this morning.
You can see the ability there and at times he looked good, but a lot of the time he looked like he was playing shinny out there. Impressive that he can look like he's shinny and still controlling the play like he was, but that shenanigans isn't going to fly in the AHL. And at times, he looked like a one man firedrill in his own zone, spinning in circles chasing players all over the place, etc.
I'm not really going to read anything into that. Just gonna chalk it up to the environment, with an early start to the last pre-preseason prospect game, just trying to impress and have fun. But it was eerily like the 'good bieksa/bad bieksa' routine.
Rodin was a lot more noticeable today, but i still feel like he's a really 1-dimensional player right now. Seems to love stealing moves from 'crest-sniper Sammy' and 'puck-hog Raymond'. Questionable effort defensively. Every now and then you see him hustle though, and he looks a lot more promising.
Anthony came out strong, then sort of fell into the shadows a bit when MacT shuffled the lines a bit. Clearly not a guy who is going to carry a line, but i liked what i saw from him defensively, and as a complimentary player with the skilled guys. Positionally, it looked like he was taking it a lot more seriously than most. I really think he would be an interesting linemate for Rodin, as Anthony seems willing to do a lot of dirty work and a reasonably adept passer, but fairly reluctant to actually shoot the puck...with Rodin looking somewhat the opposite.
Schneider looked like what you expect from a big kid with AHL experience playing in a game like this. Had his moments and he certainly does have that PK prowess, but outside of that...i still don't get it. Seems like a wasted contract to me.
Tochkin definitely has some patience and creativity offensively...but when you hear the 'Wellwood aspirations' and then you watch him playing at this level, and looking about as effective as Wellwood at the NHL level, i can't help but think he's going to have an incredibly uphill battle to make it to the AHL, but MacT seemed interested in seeing what he had to offer.
Erixon skated well again and oozed confidence with the puck. I like a lot about his game and there's really nice potential there, but as a Pro, i hope he's able to pick his spots better. Remains to be seen how he adapts to the added physicality and the more robust forechecking of the north american pro game. Really love his skating though, and if he can build around that, we may really have something.
Grenier is still so incredibly raw, but the potential is there. Every now and then he showed flashes of really exciting play, but away from that seemed unremarkable at best. Really looking forward to watching how he develops in juniors this year, with what should be a pretty good surrounding cast.
Friesen impressed me again. Another year with Niagra could really benefit him, but he plays far bigger than he is, is good defensively, and seems to have pretty decent vision and hands to boot. Excited to see what he can bring to camp next year.
St.Laurent looked good again, but you have to wonder where he'd fit in to the Canucks plans. I don't really see anywhere that he fits...unless they want to bring him on board as an ECHL guy or something. At his age and experience level, you kind of expect him to look competent at this tournament, and while he was good again today...it was FAR from the sort of dominance we saw from Lack last year. An interesting guy though, wonder what will happen with him.
Right now, IF we signed him, St. Laurent would be behind Lack and ahead of Honzik. Probably behind Cannata too but really hard to say since we know little about Cannata. As you say, our NHL and AHL goalies are set. Maybe he goes back to the Surrey Eagles.
The big issue for any of our tryouts is that we are at 48 contracts. For St. Laurent, his contract wouldn't slide so he counts. Whether or not MG plans on signing anyone I can see him making a couple of minor trades to free up contracts just in case. I believe I remember him mentioning he wants the flexibility.
We really need a way to rid ourselves of Ellington's contract.
Right now, IF we signed him, St. Laurent would be behind Lack and ahead of Honzik. Probably behind Cannata too but really hard to say since we know little about Cannata. As you say, our NHL and AHL goalies are set. Maybe he goes back to the Surrey Eagles.
The big issue for any of our tryouts is that we are at 48 contracts. For St. Laurent, his contract wouldn't slide so he counts. Whether or not MG plans on signing anyone I can see him making a couple of minor trades to free up contracts just in case. I believe I remember him mentioning he wants the flexibility.
We really need a way to rid ourselves of Ellington's contract.
pretty much. i think the best hope there is for a sort of deal like throwing Oberg in for Higgins. but Ellington is even more of a stretch as excess baggage than Oberg was as an actual AHL player. it's also hard to see Gillis bringing in another midling sort of player though. not sure how he'd be able to sneak Ellington et al into a deal instead of the waiver-wire dump-offs we saw with guys like O'Brien and Hordichuk last year, but maybe? here's hoping...
Michael Curtis, Centre
Craig Duininck, Defence
Ryan Harrison, Centre
Steven Janes, Right Wing
Brendan Jensen, Goaltender
Jonathan Lessard, Right Wing
Ian Saab, Defence
Andrew Smith, Right Wing
Michael Curtis, Centre
Craig Duininck, Defence
Ryan Harrison, Centre
Steven Janes, Right Wing
Brendan Jensen, Goaltender
Jonathan Lessard, Right Wing
Ian Saab, Defence
Andrew Smith, Right Wing
No real surprises. Curtis and Saab exceeded my expectations a bit, they've both had pretty modest junior careers but didn't look out of place amongst the bigger names.
pretty much. i think the best hope there is for a sort of deal like throwing Oberg in for Higgins. but Ellington is even more of a stretch as excess baggage than Oberg was as an actual AHL player. it's also hard to see Gillis bringing in another midling sort of player though. not sure how he'd be able to sneak Ellington et al into a deal instead of the waiver-wire dump-offs we saw with guys like O'Brien and Hordichuk last year, but maybe? here's hoping...
Gillis was somehow able to trade Dan Gendur, so it won't be hard.
St.Laurent looked good again, but you have to wonder where he'd fit in to the Canucks plans. I don't really see anywhere that he fits...unless they want to bring him on board as an ECHL guy or something. At his age and experience level, you kind of expect him to look competent at this tournament, and while he was good again today...it was FAR from the sort of dominance we saw from Lack last year. An interesting guy though, wonder what will happen with him.
Disagree a bit about his age and experience level - he's only 20 and only played about 50 games of major junior hockey over 3 years. Similar background to Lack, actually - big guy who didn't get lots of game time at lower levels as he was always a backup. And he is nearly 2 years younger than Lack was at this camp last year.
Agreed, though, that he is an interesting case. Looked very good in this tourney, and if we'd taken him in the 2nd or 3rd round in 2009 and he'd played like this, we'd all be stoked about his progress. Has size, looks technically very good and mentally sharp.
But contract slots are an issue ... would like to see him go to the ECHL and play a bunch down there next year with an eye on an AHL spot for 2012-13. Has an awful birthdate as he's 2 days too old to go back to junior next year.
