Quick hits from Day 1 of rookie camp (aka the best time in their career to evaluate players)
- The two guys who make me sit up in my seat are Suzuki and Honka. Suzuki comes as advertised, he’s squirrelly with the puck and has some wonderfully soft hands. Good skater in his turns, nice quick first step. Excellent vision.
- Honka, and I know this is an unfair comparison, gives me a huge Alex Semin vibe. First 20 minutes of drills he was just kind of coasting around casually with a glazed-over look on his face, like he didn’t want to be there. It was red flagging me TBH. Then they started puck drills and it was like, wow, this guy is doing pretty much whatever he wants out there. I’m not sure what to make of a guy like that but he’s definitely not your typical prospect (for better or worse).
- Jack Drury’s skating has improved, though he had the weird distinction of taking an extra second to get started after the whistle blew. It was odd. Anyway, he’s a better skater than last year but still seems to lack the hands and puck instincts you want to see. Maybe he’s got a chance as a grinder, but I’ve still not seen “it” in him.
- Was not impressed with Puistola. A lot of little bobbles and bad decisions with the puck.
- Felipe is a lot older than most of these guys and not a whole lot better.
- De Jong is better than his brother. He has a choppy, almost hyperactive skating stride. Usually that means a low ceiling.
- Cotton’s a big dude who likes the front of the net. His hands are nothing special so I’m not sure he’s going to make it to the NHL, but I could see him as a Checker eventually.
- Jamieson Rees has some potential, but he seems to fight the puck a little. He either needs better hands or he needs to relax... hard to tell based on a practice.
- I’m not going to pick on the invitees. But Blake Murray and Dominick Fensore, both draft picks, looked like invitees. It’s not ok for a 3rd rounder to look as bad as Fensore did compared to this group.
- The rest looked varying degrees of “fine” and obviously I wasn’t watching all of them all the time. Killinen and Henman had a couple of good moments, Webber knocked a guy down without trying to. Nothing you can draw much insight from.