well i was going to penticton anyway so i swung by to watch this morning. nice arena and a busy crowd.
a few comments on noteworthy stuff.
-hughes looks to be shooting the puck harder and also looks stockier, but i did not see him live all last year.
-mynio carries himself well and seems to have all rounder skills. he also looks like he will bulk up. i think he has a decent chance.
-christian felton is very poised and made some good transition plays. nothing else stood out though and at 24 i don't see the bulk to play nhl defence.
-d-petey is really keeping it simple. get puck and make short pass to teammate. rinse. repeat. i'd say he is going to be an nhl regular dman just based on size, self-discipline and being generally able to hockey. nothing stands out in his skill set though when playing that basic style so his ceiling is in doubt. he seems completely focussed and soaking it up. they had him paired with hronek and they were constantly talking on and off the ice with pettersson seeming to be the one initiating.
-the rest of the canuck dmen prospects look more or less like ahl fodder for now. it might be partly the huge size contrast to the non-hughes top 5 dmen who make even juulsen look small. you can pick out the nhl guys based on height alone.
-they had forbort and myers as a pair and soucy and desharnais as another. the latter pairing played a much more aggressive and complimentary transition style than i expected. desharnais has some wheels and looks a fair bit less awkward and clunky than myers. he might have some upside. myers and forbert otoh had zero flow.
forwards
-heinen and sherwood have some jam and skill and were trying to show it. they look eager to impress and get off the 4th line. both are lacking in heft or i think they would be impact players.
-suter is stockier than either of them and looked like a very comfortable and effective veteran presence. i was surprised and impressed.
-sprong was skating hard but to me at least he was shy in the drills and standing around and/or stick checking a little. it looked to me as if the coaches were giving him extra attention to encourage him or else maybe they were impressed with him and letting know. he definitely knows how to hit the crossbar for effect.
-my first view of klimovich in person. i can see what they were chasing with klimovich as he is potentially a beast, but i can also see that he just has no idea how to refine what god gave him. there are just no details to his game. he looks like an 8 rinks guy who has huge natural talent but only took up hockey at 25.
-garland looks fantastic and his shot looks improved to me.
-debrusk looks a little lost despite scoring a couple of goals off ep40. they might compliment each other by being opposites.
-hoglander looks completely ready for the season and impressed me with his power and skating.
-lekkermaki is not yet there physically but seems very game.
-raty looked good at times but is not asserting himself. he looks like a winger to me.
-i watched carefully and saw nothing interesting from allrikson
coaching staff
-samuellson can still shoot the puck. he lit up patera and silovs in shooting drills.
-the on ice coaching staff in general look to be in good shape. not your typical ex pro bodies out there. hard not to see it as an intentional hiring preference.