A Trip to Prospect Camp 2010

The Flyers prospects took the ice today for the second of five sessions scheduled  at the Skate Zone in Vorhees, NJ. The prospects weren’t on the ice yesterday, but they were staying fit in Stone Harbor, New Jersey at the annual Trial on the Isle.

Offensive Standouts

We’ll start off with Shane Harper (RW, Everett – WHL, Contract signed Mar. 4th, 2010), who I was actually the least impressed with today. He just didn’t seem like he knew what he was doing on the ice. Messed up a lot of drills in practice, missed many passes, and fired many passes and shots off-target (Jeff Carter version 2.0?) He regained some of all that in the scrimmage, but was still mostly invisible throughout.

Mike Testwuide (RW, Colorado College – WCHA, Contract signed Mar. 19th, 2010) is a prototypical power forward. He’s got a huge frame that’s filled out well. He’s a quick and solid skater who can win battles in the corners, which he did almost all day today. Testwuide boasts a decent and accurate shot, but really failed to do anything with it in the scrimmage, which isn’t saying much for a game that ended 1-0. He and Eric Wellwood were on the same page which was nice to see out of prospects who rarely play with each other this early in their careers.

Speaking of Eric Wellwood (LW, Windsor – OHL, Drafted 6th round in 2009), he continues to impress me every time I see him. By far my favorite of the prospects. He’s probably around a year — or less — from seeing AHL time, with NHL time not following too long after that. He’s a fast, gritty player who sees the ice well. Always makes good, crisp passes that seem to hit targets in stride perfectly. Wellwood is always extremely involved in the play and he’s a hard guy to miss, which reminds me of Claude Giroux’s defensive abilities in this instance.

Luke Pither (C, Barrie – OHL, Contract signed Mar, 4, 2010) was somewhat impressive today, especially during the scrimmage.  He showed off the flash for one sequence.  He swooped in and kicked a loose puck up to his stick and burst into the offensive zone.  He then sidestepped a defender, and was in on Nic Riopel, he tried going back across the crease and Riopel stayed with him and made the stop.  He may have been able to bury the rebound had the defender not stepped in and the officials lost sight of the puck.  Other than that, he was solid today, no major mistakes.  He’s certainly got the potential and the skills.  Keep an eye on him.

What is there to say about Zac Rinaldo (C, London/Barrie – OHL, Drafted 6th round in 2008), who resembles a heat seeking missile. Literally, Rinaldo hits anything and everything that’s wearing the opposite color. Aside from — at all times — being a bully on the ice, Rinaldo shows plenty of other skills. He’s got a decent shot which we saw more of in drills, since he was too busy being a missile in the game, which is somewhat worrisome. Whether or not Rinaldo will succeed in the NHL depends on his ability to refine his playing skills. He’s not the biggest guy, either. At 5’11, 169LBS, he’ll be easy to knock off the puck at the NHL level. If he can fill his frame and work on his puck skills, he’s got a great chance of being a cross breed of Darroll Powe and Dan Carcillo.

Finally, Andrew Rowe (LW, Michigan State – CCHA, Contract signed May 6th, 2010) caught our eye as the day went on, mainly because we had a rough time figuring out who everyone was until the scrimmage, since nobody was wearing names or numbers. Although he can show a slight lack of judgement in his cross-ice passing, he’s certainly a player who plays a well rounded game and has the tools to become a great player, hopefully at the NHL level.

Defensive Standouts

Marc-Andre Bourdon (D, Adirondack – AHL, Drafted 3rd round in 2008) stood out today, only because of how calm and collected he was. It may just be that I was watching a player with at least AHL experience playing against a bunch of recently drafted amateurs, but he really just knew what he was doing. He didn’t make any glaring errors, but also didn’t show much that was outstanding. He just played hockey, very well. Because of the Flyers latest commitments to the defensive position, it could be a few years until Bourdon sees NHL time. Hopefully he isn’t traded, and actually sees that time in Philadelphia.

Nick Luukko (D, Gunnery Prep, Drafted 6th round in 2010) actually showed me more than I thought he would. Shows a lot of poise and patience at the point and never tried to do more than he should have with the puck. Of course, he’s got a long way to go before entering the professional level, but he’s certainly a defenseman that does what he’s supposed to do. At the moment: nothing more, nothing less.

Oliver Lauridsen (D, St. Cloud State – WCHA, Drafted 7th round in 2009) is huge. Lauridsen is a physical player who can definitely throw big hits. For his height, 6’5, he’s a very smooth skater. It’s surprising, actually. His point shot wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great, either. He made a few good outlet passes during the game.  Didn’t make any big mistakes in that regard, got the puck out nicely or chipped it off the glass when needed.  He stayed in position pretty well while defending the rush.  Blocked a shot or two.  With his size, he’s got a hell of a reach which he used well, knocking the puck loose a few times.  He did well in the corners and in front of the net, thanks to his size which he really uses well.  He’s not going to give the offensive numbers, but he should make a very reliable defensive-defenseman.  And did we mention he’s huge?

While a lot of the tryout players didn’t show me much today, Jesse Dudas (D, Bloomington – IHL – Corpus Christi – CHL, tryout) really stood out to me for some reason. He had a hell of a shot from the point and was very smart with the puck. More so than previously mentioned  Nick Luukko. Who knows if he’ll see anything more than a tryout here in Philadelphia, but he can definitely splash into the NHL someday if he plays his cards right.

Goalies

Sergei Bobrovsky (G, Novokuznetsk – KHL, Contract siged May 6th, 2010) didn’t see much action today and we didn’t get to see him on the other rink, so there isn’t much to write on him.   Bobrovsky’s a tough read right now, he’s dealing with new gear.  And any goalies know how rough that can be.  So some of his awkward movements/saves may be related to that.  Hopefully he’ll get accustomed quickly and there will be more information about him available quickly.

Brian Stewart (G, Northern Michigan – CCHA – Adirondack – AHL, Contract signed May 6, 2010) looked pretty solid today.  He made some nice saves during the scrimmage.  Including one sprawling stop with  the paddle.  He got knocked down behind the net after a collision with one of his own defenders and quickly scrambled back up and dove across the crease to stuff a rebound attempt.  He also challenged shooters well, taking the angles away.  He also seemed to anticipate things well, which was more noticeable during drills early on.  Quite a few times he’d slide across as the shooter got the puck, leaving him nowhere to shoot it but directly into him.  Much like Riopel last year, he was a pleasant surprise in goal.

Nic Riopel (G, Adirondack – AHL – Moncton – QMJHL, Drafted 5th round in 2009) was solid again this year.  He really impressed us last year and stood out quite a bit.  He started out pretty rough in the AHL this year, but was outstanding once he returned to the QMJHL.  From last year, he seemed to improve his lateral movement.  He’s still very solid positionally.  While he wasn’t tested during the scrimmage, he made the saves when needed.  I look at the Pither sequence here.  He stayed with him as he cut cross-crease and got his leg pad on it.  He still looks like one of the better goalie prospects in the system.  Should be interesting to see if he can land the backup job in Adirondack behind Backlund, or if he gets loaned out to another AHL team or the ECHL.

Thanks to Geoff Detweiler over at Broad Street Hockey, we’ve embedded a video of Riopel practicing over on the other rink, which we missed completely.  So, here’s that.

A Slideshow of Photos From Today
(Individual shots can be found on our Facebook page)

Thanks for reading. If there’s anyone that we missed that you wanted to know more about, don’t be afraid to leave a comment down below. We’ll either edit the post or leave a response comment.

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On The Farm #1

So I’ll be honest, I haven’t followed the Phantoms as closely this year. It’s kind of hard getting to games when I’m in another state. Oh well. I also don’t think I’m going to shell out my money for AHL Live’s subpar service, so I’m stuck looking at boxscores and relying on beat writers from lovely Glens Falls, NY. As of today, the Phantoms are 5-4-1 for a total of 11 points, good for 3rd in the East Division.

So far, they’ve played the same handful of teams, and are playing Albany a total of 12 TIMES. Yes, 12. The AHL isn’t huge on teams playing outside of their own backyard. This should get old fast. To make matters worse, both teams introduced special jerseys to be worn on the occasion that the two meet, which are visible on their websites and Flickr, because nobody mainstream wants to look at them. From the looks of it, the purple is completely gone, meaning that my sweet purple phantoms third from last year is a waste. Oh, and they got rid of Jeff Szwez too. Sweetastic. I’m sure you’ve seen their current jerseys, but the headshots on AHL.com of the players lead me to believe that they’ve got a retro-themed alternate that mimics the parent club’s current orange beauties. I’ll buy it

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