dont know what they have schumacher listed as but he looks even bigger than last year.
Most places have him listed at 6'5" ~200lbs but I remember him looking alot bigger than that last year. He just seems to dwarf most of the other players out on the ice. Wouldn't be that shocked if he's actually about 6'7".
i think it would be fine by me if he is brian boyle number 2. dude is having a nice nhl career. and yes they have similar styles... big bodies, good hands.
Does the dude have skills, or is he Brian Boyle 2.0?
If Brian Boyle wasn't a 1st rounder, no one would have been down on him. Schumacher was no first rounder, so if he turns into Brian Boyle, that's plenty fine by me.
gravel and forbort both looked good on the drills.
both scoring 2 goals each when hardly anybody else was beating a D and the Goalie, which was one of the main drills.. both of gravel's goals were top shelf corner picks.
one other person that scored was deslaurier, who was pretending to be a forward for the drill. He was facing away from the goalie and the D to his back.. he passed the puck through his own legs and quickly spun off from the D and recovered the puck and wristed it in.
Hyka did the same move earlier on the forward drills...
I expect that loop-hole to be closed by the new CBA.
No loophole this time...Schultz was not a 1st rounder so he left and the Ducks got nothing. Forbort was a 1st rounder so even if he leaves, I believe LA gets compensation in the next draft...a 2nd rounder.
So when exactly are the scrimmages? I'm wondering because I can possibly make it early Monday morning but I wouldn't want to go if they're just doing drills.
(didn't take notes this is all off memory so some facts may be off) day breakdown:
--8am forwards take the ice and skate a few laps
--nelson emerson ran the forwards drill
--stick handling drills to follow... 4 lined up straight across and stick handling down to the other end of the ice.. forehand then backhand... all with their heads looking up the whole time.
--50 / 50 drills involving both forwards chasing a puck in the face off dot and controlling the puck within the circle
--9:40 defenseman and goalies take the ice... D men work on one side of the ice(with some random goalie) while the 2 goalies work on the other end with some random shooters in yellow kings jerseys.
--started with just some backwards skating and passing
--followed by some in tight defending drills mostly body positioning and stick checking
--a fun drill followed where one defender standing in front of the goalie is looking at about 6 shooters in front of him w/ the puck and one behind the net... a coach would call out which shooter to attack the net, and each would take their turn on the ONE d-man.
(took a nap on the beach / went to the lobster food truck for a lobster roll / went to starbucks to people watch and internet nerd-out)
--3:15 teams come out in black and white jerseys:
--same stick handling drills for the forwards followed by break outs and one-on-ones on each goalie
--cones(tires) were set out and then everyone had their turn skating around them as fast as they could and going in on the goalie for shots.
--followed by 4 on 4 scrimmages. Full scrimmages were played 4 on 4, no ref, and the coach would blow the whistle for wholesale line changes, and the play kept going.. the puck was live wherever it was when the whistle was blown. no body checks.. and since it was 4 on 4 there was a lot forwards playing d (covering up) and defenseman activating down low. Definitely a fun drill to watch since it situational game situations MINUS the hitting... i believe d-men were instructed not to be aggessive on the body quite yet..
PLAYERS I ALREADY LIKE BASED ON PREVIOUS DEV CAMPS:
--DESLAURIER: Still slick as can be / has really good escapeability on break outs / I feel like he's really simplified his game, instead of trying to be flashy all the time, i felt like he was a little more reserved but in a smart way. Love this player still and liked what i saw today. Definitely maturing.
--CZARNIK: new number 53 looked the same as always, quick / good shot / good accellaration
--WEAL: i liked him his 1st stint in camp but thought camp #2 for him was weak. however, he played more like he did in camp 1. He made a gorgeous pick pocket behind the net and centered it to Dowd for a goal during the 4 on 4's. He was used as the example in one of the stick handling drills.
--VEY: Guy keeps improving and seems more confident. Tough to tell about work in the corners/toughness/gritty kind of play overall since it seemed to be a minimal contact kind of day across the board. see czarnik
--SCHUMACHER: yes i believe he did grow, he's quick and has good hands...young kid with a huge frame who seems to be comfortable already w/ his size... doesn't seem awkward out there at all.
--ANDREOFF: remember how i said there wasn't much contact? don't think andy got that memo. He threw a couple of checks and scored i believe 3 times on the break out/ one-on-one drills with the goalie. Who doesn't love a feisty player with a scoring touch!
NICE SURPRISES:
--TANNER PEARSON: he's a pretty good darned hockey player, just an all around guy with no weaknesses that i saw. He created some plays, finished some plays, broke up some plays, and just looked SOLID with a capital "S". loved what i saw from him
--NIC DOWD: never noticed him at all in previous camps but he was very noticeable today, lots of creativity when he was the puck carrier into the zone, did a couple of things to freeze his opponent.
--MICHAEL MERSCH: strong on the puck and seems to be a very smart player.
--KEVIN GRAVEL: surprised about some offensive flair that i saw, also made a few great anticipation break up plays as the team is attempting to break. He stepped up and caused a couple of nice turnovers that led to chances. He's got good size and doesn't seem to have any weaknesses thus far.
THE GUYS YOU WANNA HEAR ABOUT:
--FORBORT: He's coming along really well! Didn't care for this pick when it happened but after not seeing him after a couple of years you can really see how far he's come along.. Really calm, poised, and reacted properly it seems. Size is there, Strength looks like is there, and not a slouch on the offensive side. Think Aaron Miller with a better offensive skill set.
--EBERT: a bit undersized and was barely noticeable except for the good skating. Made one slick play on the 4 on 4 drill, but other than that during the drills i thought he was a forward... I guess that means the offense is there. Tough to judge D today sinice it was very Skating / Puck Handling / Positioning kinda day.
--PROKHORKIN: not at the forward drills but was there for the full group session. Not afraid to go to the middle and take a hit. Didn't dazzle by any means but he kept up nicely with everyone.
--HYKA: way flashy and noticeable in the forward drills but was hardly seen during the 4 on 4. Skating/Speed wise this guy is as advertized
--TOFFOLI: New long flowy curly locks. He looked good.. not great.. not bad.. not standouty...but he was good and solid.
Ok i am starting to have ADD and i need to get some rest... it's been a long day.
feel free to cut and paste this for LETSGOKINGS since i'm banned from posting on their site. It appears that they are quite hungry for camp updates.
I posted an ORIGINAL KINGS SONG that i wrote/performed for the kings playoff run and they deemed it as "spam"... *shakes head*
here's my "controversial" video:
won't be there tomorrow but i'll be there sunday / monday / tuesday.
take care
--jose
Last edited by losingsand: 07-06-2012 at 11:33 PM.
They're not doing any this year, it was reported and stated more than once around here somewhere.
I thought the scrimmages where always a part of the rookie camp that will happen in August? I thought this camp has always been nothing but drills and focusing on improving deficiences in the players games. Rookie camp will have more players and then they usually have a couple intersquad scrimmages and then a scrimmage or two against another teams rookies like what happened last year with Phoenix...
I thought the scrimmages where always a part of the rookie camp that will happen in August? I thought this camp has always been nothing but drills and focusing on improving deficiences in the players games. Rookie camp will have more players and then they usually have a couple intersquad scrimmages and then a scrimmage or two against another teams rookies like what happened last year with Phoenix...
I wonder if that is still scheduled, not only is Phoenix up in the air, but lots of the prospect tournys that go on at the same time have been cancelled due to CBA concerns.
I wonder if that is still scheduled, not only is Phoenix up in the air, but lots of the prospect tournys that go on at the same time have been cancelled due to CBA concerns.
I think everyone has cancelled their rookie camps.
I'll be honest, the morning editions were very hard to actually grade a prospect considering they weren't given drills where anyone could stand out. Defenseman maybe considering the one drill they ran, but besides that it was a rough morning if you attended.
