Thoughts After 2008 Camp
So much to see and maybe it all means jack since it was, after all practice and a chance to evaluate what the kids need to work on in order to be successful at the next level. But maybe it also meant a culling process, which kids to invite to training camp, to see who stood out, who had the drive and tools to take a run at the main roster.
Yep it was both sets of things and this group of kids were up to the challenge in a dozen ways.
Mikkel Boedker, Kevin Porter stood heads and shoulders above the other kids. Hands, heads and skates were all on fire just bout every time they made a move. The Bod and KT had a chemistry that was phenomenal and they looked very polished out there. Both still need weight and maturity, but I fully expect Mikkel’s name to be right there with Turris’ on the final roster. Kevin Porter is almost a case of instant chemistry with whomever he plays with. This guy could setup the algae in my pool and it would score. (ok maybe thats a small exaggeration) but give this guy a few runs with a line mate and he makes you think there’s some truth to Pierre’s telepathic link scenario.
After those two it gets kinda dicey. MacLean is going to be one hell of a left wing but needs some skate work. Tikhonov is closer to the roster than I expected and had a real good camp but playin mostly with Kevin and Chad probably helped, so I can’t really factor out the Michigan connection to give a fairer assessment, I think he gets a real long look at camp and preseason. Kolarik ditto. It would be a sorry thing to break up what he and Porter have going on. (think Sedins with both brothers sharing scoring ops instead of one passer and one scorer)
Summers and Hextall were the next tier in offense and had moments of creativity and shine but since Chris is apparently going back to school in the fall we can count him out of training camp. Hextall will probably be giving the AHL a good RW perfomance (along w/ Pat Brosnihan) and challenging hard for a spot fairly quickly but neither has the speed of the others, good vision though and fairly responsible defensively.
EDIT: Hex will be attending the University of North Dakota…
Not sure what will happen w/ Ferrerio, Perry, Long and Lunden… interesting players but very much over shadowed by the draftees. Staal, as alluded, will be a work in progress for a while.
Not sure if anyone else noticed that this camp was overrun with defensemen?
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