The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL prospect tournament check-ins

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

On today’s Prospect Series episode of The Athletic Hockey Show, the guys discuss all the action from prospect tournaments across North America, including Scott Wheeler at the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, Thomas Drance at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, Corey Pronman at the Rookie Faceoff in LA, and Max Bultman at the NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City.Hosts: Max Bultman and Corey PronmanWith: Scott Wheeler and Thomas DranceExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody, Max Bultman here for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. We're going to do something fun today with all the rookie tournaments that are going around. As we anticipate to start a training camp, kind of what we have to hold us over, is a lot about these prospects, and there's rookie camps all over the continent right now that we want to hit. So we're going to kind of go through. We've had people at all these places, and we kind of want to get the on-the-ground feel.

So we're joined here off the top by Scott Wheeler, who was at, You know, one of the biggest of the tournaments, the Buffalo tournament. And Scott, the host Sabres here are obviously a story with how high they've been picking for so long. I think they had five first round picks at this event. How did the Buffalo Sabres prospects show at their own event? Well, on paper, you looked at this tournament in particular, and it was a little bit lackluster. The Pittsburgh Penguins don't have a ton coming. The New Jersey Devils don't have a ton coming, especially with Anton Soliev being over in the KHL at the moment.

The Ottawa senators don't have a ton coming. And then you looked at this Sabres roster and you thought, okay, this is what an all-star sort of lineup is supposed to look like when you're talking about these kids. Their top six up front was all sort of filled with legitimate, legitimate high-end prospects. They had four or five D of interest, including former fifth round pick Vasveld Komarov, who was the former or the reigning QMJHL defenseman of the year and QMJL playoffs MVP. He's expected to play a big role in. Rochester this year. Nikitnik Novakov might get NHL games on the back end in Buffalo if they

run into some injury trouble this year. And then up front, just a litany of high-end prospects. You had Yuri Kulich, you had Kuala Kovallanius, Noah Osslin, Issaac-Rosane. Kulich stood out, despite the fact that of those five first-round picks other than Consta-Helanius, he's actually the youngest of that group of five still. Kulich was outstanding. I mean, he's an extreme threat on the power play. We've talked about him for years. But him and Casper Haltonin probably have the two best one-timers outside of the NHL right now.

He's a huge, huge danger off the flank, but just looked like an NHL player. It's expected that Yuri Kulich is going to play, if not the full season in Buffalo this year. He might start back in Rochester and end up in Buffalo by year's end. That's the kind of prospect we're talking about. But he's just holding pucks, the ability to, to get his looks, win battles. He looks strong out there. He can play center.

He can play the wing. He just looked a cut above, even a player like Consta Heleneus. I thought Heleneas was really good despite maybe not finding the score sheet like he'd have hoped to. He set up just a ton of chances in the slot. Has this sort of six cents for finding people,

really, really just intelligent, crafty, offensive zone player. So those were kind of the biggest, the biggest names of the tournament just felt like they were all on the sabers. And I thought all of those. guys in their own rights played well. But Coolidge was probably the standout for me from the Sabres, if you will. You can correct me if I'm wrong. I feel like the make or break for him in terms of how

good of a player he becomes in the NHL. We know he can score, right? He's been like a goal per game guy internationally. He's been a 20 plus goal guy from the second he stepped into the AHL at 18 years old. But the maker break is going to be what can he do that's not just ripping one-timers. Did you see anything kind of encouraging in that way from them? Yeah, he was playing a leadership role on that team. He was, he's wearing a letter. He's sort of committed in his own zone. He was below pucks. He was getting after it on the forecheck and winning battles. He was extending plays inside the offensive zone. He was kind of checking all of the boxes that you'd expect. I don't think anybody who was in attendance looked at Yuri Kulich and said, he's disappointed me this week.

Like he looked like the caliber of prospect that he should have at that level. exciting certainly for Sabres fans obviously one of the big storylines Scott at that event was Rutgers McGroarity and it's our first real look at him in in a penguin's uniform did he kind of live up to what I'm sure the penguins are hoping to see from him after trading for him well they had three points through the first two games he carried their their power play they didn't have a lot of juice in terms of high-end skills so the power play kind of started to clearly run through Rutger and he played the bumper but he would also slide out to the flank But I thought even at even strength, the big question I had with Rutger coming in,

and the big question everybody's always had about Rutger in terms of what he's going to be as an NHL player has to do with the feet and the pace of play and whether he's up to it in terms of the speed of the game. And I thought he got after it. He finished his checks. He was F1 on the four check in many cases. And I think from a he created a lot off the rush, joined the rush, scored or created a goal on a three on one. there was a lot to like about his game in transition and the pace that he was at. So that was really what I entered the week looking for.

I knew that he was going to figure it out on the power play and then he was going to be the Penguins' top forward, but he really did look like the Penguins' top forward. And I thought over the course of the games, he just really, really asserted himself on games. And we know he's a big strong kid. We know the smarts, the puck skill, his ability to shoot the puck. I think all of those things have always checked boxes with emphasis. He's been a top player on whatever team he's played at on his whole life, NTDP, Michigan, USA, internationally at the world juniors, you name it.

I think he's going to, it sounds like he's going to be a top nine player right from the jump and maybe even play alongside an Afghani Malkin or Sidney Crosby at some point early on this season to see how he fares because they need wingers to step up with that penguins group. But I thought he looked ready. So now it's on him to go into camp and to continue to look, ready and to give them no excuse to start him in the HL or to send him back to the HL after a nine-game stint.

Like I think his expectation for himself, certainly based off the trade request, is that he thinks he can play 82 games in the NHL next year. And there are some who aren't sure if he's ready for that. But I thought he looked, I thought he looked apart this week. And, you know, so much in Pittsburgh is focused on him and on Owen Pickering

when it comes to their farm system, right? It was a farm system that, I know, organically had gotten depleted over the years. but they're starting to reload it. Anybody non-Migrory, non-pickering up for you? Harrison Brunachie was the big one. I've been working on a story on Brunachie sort of entering the week.

And so I was looking forward to seeing what he would look like and whether he'd live up to some of the tire pumping, frankly, that I felt was in the story and that I thought maybe even was getting a little bit carried away and some of the excitement around him in Camloops and in the WHL and certainly coming out of U18 worlds where on Team Canada, he really established him, on a team Canada that won gold at U18 Worlds as debatably the go-to guy defensively,

PK, shutdown minutes, late game situations. It was him and Kashan Acheson over the boards, over players of more notoriety, if you will, in terms of name cachet. And this week, he was tremendous. He's an elite or close to elite skater. And that really carries his game. But I thought he was making plays. He was jumping into rushes.

He was defending in transition. he was locking guys up as an 18-year-old. It's hard as an 18-year-old defenseman, especially when you're not a first-round premium talent. It's hard at this level jumping into your first rookie tournament to make an impact. They started him in both games on the third pairing. By the end of both games, he was playing on the first pairing. I thought he was leaps and shoulders better than Owen Pickering was

and looked like a better NHL prospect than Owen Pickering did. And just his ability and transition with his skating, not just defensively, which he's always had, but increasingly his confidence jumping up into the Russian making plays, it was impressive. Like he was sort of the talk of the tournament and the stands kind of thing in terms of his play this week. So he looked closer to a first rounder than a second rounder for me and was one of the players that really, really popped for me.

Would you make an Ottawa here? I know it's, you know, they've kind of graduated a lot of their headliners by now. It's not the world's deepest, like, prospect system. But a couple big names. anybody pop for you from the senators? All eyes were on Carter Yakimchuk, obviously. I thought it was a really tough go for their entire lineup, Carter included. Carter's skating didn't look like I wanted it to look.

I was hoping to see some improvement over the summer, and frankly, it looked clumsy and sluggish and slow in a lot of situations. When he jumped up into the play, which he does, I think, a little bit too much. He was often caught back. There were a ton of odd man rushes back the other way. He made some poor decisions trying to make things happen. It felt like he was forcing things offensively. Now, he was also their only defenseman on a decor that was all 6 foot four,

six foot five, sort of six foot six, even two six foot seven guys, really big, strong physical decor. He was their only player who actually made plays offensively. He did create on the power play. But defensively, it was a struggle for him. And I thought he looked overwhelmed. And that as your first start into NHL hockey and into his, his first training camp, I think, was a little bit worrisome,

especially after the way that he played for Canada at the World Junior Summer Showcase, where the consensus also was that he kind of had a bit of a tough up and down week. So that's now my last two viewings of Yakimchuk have been a little underwhelming defensively, and he's looked like the pace of play against top players has been a bit of a tough go for him. So the skating is going to be continued to be a question for him, I think. It needs to come. I know Corey and I have debated his skating over the last, year and Corey's higher on it than I am, but it, it looked ugly at times throughout this week.

And Ottawa's team as a whole, I thought other than Stephen Holliday, who looked like a real player, and I think he's going to play NHL games this year for the SENS, other than Stephen Holiday, I thought just about everyone on, on that Sends roster had a tough go. So it was indicative of how many guys they've graduated, obviously Ridley Greg, Shane Pinto. They've got a young core in Ottawa. but there's not a lot coming other than Yakum Chuk. And Yakumchuk looked like he was within that mix of maybe a low-end talent, it looked like he was trying to do too much and fighting it a little bit. I was in Traverse City this weekend, Scott.

And as you know, Columbus has been a staple of Traverse City for a long time. And it was, you know, I noticed that they weren't there this time around. It's a much smaller tournament in Traverse City in general. But the Blue Jackets in particular, it was like, where's Portie? Where's Brian Hedger? but they were in Buffalo with you, so you got to see them. They were. What did I miss from the Columbus Blue Jackets this year?

Well, you missed Denton Matechuk looking sort of best in class like he has for the last four or five years within his age group. Denton is obviously a former top 15 pick to the Blue Jackets and I think has been overshadowed a little bit in the last couple of years just because of Adam Fantilli and David Eurocheck and Kent Johnson and these sort of premium hot, even Cole cylinder jumping in at a younger age than expected to the NHL lineup. And as a result, Matacek has just lingered back in the W.H. He's been the best one of maybe the best defensemen and maybe even the best player

in the W.HL last season. One of the best players in the W.H.L. outside of Connor Bedard, the year prior, a star and stud for hockey Canada, including at last year's World Juniors, where hockey Canada was terrible other than their Maverick Lamura, Denton Mateechuk pairing, which really was excellent for them. So piece by piece, he's just kind of put it together and been a top player. And the common theme in a couple of conversations I had with people in Columbus over the weekend is that there are some people who think he's closer to being NHL ready than David

Yerechek. And that Yerichick with his pivots and some of the footwork issues still has work to do in areas that Mitechuk just doesn't. Despite the fact that Mitechuk is 5'11, he's actually viewed as a two-way type. He's an excellent, excellent defender and has always had high-end production and point totals and power play one quarterback at every level he's played at and all of that as well. But he's also just a mature kid. He was the captain of this week's team. He's been a captain for hockey Canada. He's been a captain in Moose Jaw. He's just sort of done everything that you could

hope for out of a player who's picked in that sort of 10 to 15 range. And I've heard from multiple people, even in doing my Calder piece with Harmon that we did, there are people within that organization who believe that he's going to be ready to play in the NHL this year, but because of Damon Severson and Provorov and Zach Werenski and the need to get Eurecheck into games, he may start the year in the HL, but Meteichick was even excellent in the HL right from the jump last year in the playoffs. He jumped right into the playoffs with an excellent Cleveland team and was one of their best players in a few games. So I think we're going to see him like, we could see him play 50 or 60 games in the NHL this year and look good doing it.

So Matecuk was the story there. They had Gavin Brinley and James Malatesta, who's going to be competing for a fourth line job with them this year and others. But Brinley looks like a real horse. So it's not just Eurocheck coming on that blue line. Boston and New Jersey are two teams that didn't, they didn't bring a ton of like real top prospects. I actually don't think that Boston brought anybody above a third round pick

and a lot of like invitees, honestly, on both of these teams. So I don't want to really, you know, dig you too deep into the, you know, that conversation here. But was there anyone from either of those two teams that stood out for you? Well, Seamus Casey was the big name on the Devils. And I thought Seamus looked like Seamus, just sort of so effortlessly smooth in terms of the skating, going back and getting pucks, controlling pucks, beating guys, exiting the zone, running the power play, holding pucks under pressure at the top of the offensive zone blue line. Casey was awesome with Sheldon Keefe and others in attendance.

And he's another guy like Matechuk with Eurocheck in front of him. Casey's going to have to fight against Simon Nemich and Luke Hughes and Anton Selyev. And his opportunity within the devil's organization may not be what it would have been if he were playing for the Boston Bruins, for example. And he were their top D prospect, or at least comparable to Mason Luray, who jumped into the league for the Bruins last year, for example. So he's going to have to fight against the opportunity. but I think Casey increasingly looks like he's so talented and the skating is so high end

that he's going to figure it out, whether it's with the devils or after a trade to another organization elsewhere. And then one of the other sort of very quickly, one of the minor stories of the tournament was Xavier Perron, a 5 foot eight, five foot nine kid who had 100 plus points in the QMJL a couple of years ago and then had a really, really strong season in Utica last season. I think he had 45 points in 70 or close to 70 games. was one of their sort of top four or five scorers on Utica and still doesn't have an NHL deal. And he was one of the best players in the tournament bar none. Part of that's a 22, 23 year old

kid and the age piece of it, which often happens with the older players at this tournament. But if he doesn't get signed to an entry level contract by the Devils, I think eventually another team might take a chance on him a lot like Xavier Semino, who recently earned an entry level contract with the Montreal Canadiens as a smaller kid out of the queue who just kept producing and playing well until he got signed. So Peranza player who of the invitees, if you will, looked like the one who deserves an NHL deal. Great stuff, Scott. Thank you so much for doing this.

As always, we're going to take a quick break right there. We'll come back with Thomas Drans from Penticton. All right, we are back and we are joined from Penticton by Thomas Drance for the Western Canadian teams having the Young Stars tournament out there. Dranser, I saw you tweet earlier this week that Atu Ratu stock was on the rise. What's he done to earn the emojis? Yeah, he looks a little bit faster. He's playing center full time after ending last season on the wing.

And, you know, this is an interesting tournament. As most of these prospect tournaments are max, because they've got, like, you've got pros, right? Ratu is a two-year pro playing against 18-year-old, 19-year-old kids who've never played at the pro level. maybe they've been to an NHL training camp, maybe they were in the class of 2024, and they're just gearing up for their first class. They're used to being the best player in the OHL or the best player on their WHL team. And here you've got a sort of two-year pro just dominating. And there's been a collection of the Canucks players who sort of fit this description

and some Winnipeg Jets players too, like Brad Lambert, where, man, you can tell. Those pro details, you know, it's tough. Like, it's tough to be on the fringes of an NHL roster. and when you put those guys on the sheet against junior age players, you can tell. Like the pockets get picked very cleanly. Sometimes you have like a Gulliver dynamic where you'll have multiple players trying to win a puck battle against these guys.

And there's no chance. No chance. It's like a ringer at a softball game or like a former NHL player dropping by a high-level beer league game locally. The thing about Ratu doing it though is he's only 21, right? Like he's a year older than Savoy. who's at this tournament for Edmonton. He's a year older than Jonathan McCaramacky,

who's Vancouver's top prospect, and he looks like that, right? So it's one thing for, you know, Archdeep Baines or Maxisun or, you know, even Lambert to look that way, given that they're, you know, closer to their mid-20s than it is for a guy like Ratu, who's 21.

I think that's where it sort of stands out to me, given that he's improved his pace, given that, you know, he scored so prolifically down the sort of stretch of the HL season last year. You know, he's just sort of coming out of this camp, maybe on my radar as a guy to watch with a little bit more interest

when Canucks camp kicks off, a guy who maybe has a shot to upset the Applecart and fight for a job on an NHL roster, like right now. You mentioned Matt Savoy, and I think a lot of people are going to be really interested in kind of his first look after the trade. What's the first impression been of Matt Savoy in an Oilers uniform? Yeah, and you know, this Oilers team,

I mean, there's a lot of invites on the roster, unsurprisingly, this Edmonton team's been contending. They've been trading draft picks. They've lost every game at this tournament so far. And, you know, he's been quiet. He's been quiet. There have been some moments. Like, he had a beautiful setup on the opening goal in the sort of prospect version of the

Battle of Alberta on Saturday night, sort of streaking down the wing, low pass into the slot, lovely stuff. So there have been flashes where his skill shows through. But I think for a player, his age, with his pedigree, given what he's done in the WHL, given some of the reaction to the trade, the idea, I think, in the minds eye of Oilers fans, that he might be prepared right now to help that team

or play center. You know, I see very little evidence of that. I wouldn't necessarily categorize him as like a disappointment, but certainly you'd hope that he dominate at a tournament like this at this level. You'd certainly hope that he'd have that same sort of pro-level aura that I was talking about for a guy like Ratu. And that's not quite there. So, you know, looks to me like a guy who's going to need some time before cracking an

NHL roster, unless, of course, he's just sort of pacing himself for main camp. And we've seen that before, too. I've seen guys like Beau Horvad and Mark Shikley sort of go through their paces at this tournament and then, you know, have great rookie seasons in the NHL. So there's always a chance that that's what's happening. But, you know, it wasn't a lights out tournament. It wasn't a statement tournament, certainly, from Savoy. Among some of the big names, I mean, people in Calgary are going to be really keyed into what Zane Perak has been able to do this week.

And such an exciting season last year, obviously a piece that they don't really have as he kind of lives up to the billing so far. Yeah, and I think the thing with Perrek is, you know, he is that 18-year-old, right? The Oilers, or sorry, the Flames Prospect Group has eight guys that they drafted from that 2024 class here. They are the youngest team by some measure. They are the least experienced team by some measure. They have one three agent on the roster. And over the course of this tournament, like they were able to hang with, you know, I don't think the result was ever in doubt, but they were able to hang with the, you know,

Winnipeg Jets, far more experienced prospect group. They were able to beat the Edmonton Oilers group that was probably a more even matchup for them. And Perak's been their best player by far. You've seen, you know, moments like he had this one sequence that I think sort of typifies why he's been so impressive of this tournament where, you know, he legitimately sort of breaks a cycle. Bodies Chibrakov on the Jets, a guy who's played an NHL game and is very much in the mix for that 23-man roster going into Jets training camp next week. Big body forward too. Then he makes a defensive zone deep to engineer a clean exit. And then, you know, he has this shooting opportunity,

skates in, like makes it a better shooting opportunity. And one thing that's been fun to watch about, correct, he's doing a lot of the contemporary stuff that you're seeing more and more from blue liners these days, right? I don't think I've seen him take a single slap shot from the point all tournament. He's always stepping inside, trying to get close to the Bowman line, trying to change the angle on a wrist shot. And those wrist shots have been dangerous.

He's almost always getting them by the first defender, just like these little details in how he's attacking sharply that just feel very contemporary to me and very mature for a guy who was just drafted a few months ago. When you combine that with the pace, when you combine that with the way that he's been able to dictate play, and when you combine that with the fact that this flames team has been under siege territorially a lot throughout this tournament, and he's been sort of one of the guys who can keep his head about him, managed to sort of exert some measure of control over the, environment. I mean, that's everything you want to see, and probably more from a, from a

flame span perspective. So, yeah, no, I'm coming out of this tournament, pretty excited about him as a prospect and what his NHL future could look like. And then on Winnipeg real quick, you did mention Brad Lambert, and he had such a great season last year in Manitoba. Winnipeg's been a tough lineup for young guys to crack in recent years, so I don't want to set the expectations too high here, but how close does he look to be able to at least challenge for that? Oh, he should, he should, be in the mix to crack that NHL lineup this year. I think pro level details are there.

And I've seen him now at this tournament three times, right? So I remember the first time and sort of the breakneck pace and the wild chances and sort of the wild horse nature of his game. And, you know, I'm not going to lie to you, I loved it. But

man, those reins are on now, right? Like he is a very different, very more mature player, far more selective in the chances he takes. And he's one of those guys who looked like a ringer at times in this tournament, right? Who, you know, was able to, it was very clear, very regularly that he was at a totally different level than most of the players on the ice, whether he was producing or not.

And he did produce. He had an unbelievable spinning cross-team feed to Chibrakow for the opening goal that the Jets scored on Saturday night against the Knucks. I mean, that was phenomenal, phenomenal stuff. So we've seen some of the high-end skill that we know is there. We've seen a lot of the, you know, puck dominant skating through the neutral zone stuff that is his bag. But we've seen it in a way, maybe at like a lower decibel level, a more thoughtful sort of decibel level than what we've seen in the past where, you know, he'd take these unbelievable chances. And man, was it fun to watch.

But you knew that if a coach was watching it, they'd be sion. Right. It's like that part of his game is gone, but all the good stuff he does is still there. and those pro details are very much grafted onto his game now. So pretty excited to see what he looks like in exhibition play and whether or not he can actually crack that Jets lineup. Exciting stuff and great stuff all around from Drancer there. Still at the rink, by the way.

So we will let you go now, get back to watching the games. We'll take a quick break and be right back with Corey Promen. All right, we are back. And Corey, you're our closer here. I think you're back now from L.A., but that tournament, one of the biggest tournaments, maybe the pound for pound talent-wise, certainly some of the top systems here.

You had San Jose, you had Anaheim. What really stood out from this tournament for you? Yeah, like you said, there was a lot of talent. There are a lot of top two round picks in this event. And I think when you go to some of these tournaments in times, one or two players clearly stand out. For me, it was tough to decipher one or two players that I thought were,

the clear standout in this tournament. There were plenty of good prospects, plenty of prospects who had a good game or two good games, but mostly just one good game. Even for a Macklin Celebrini, who I thought was good in the one game they played against Utah, oh, compared to other games I've seen from Celebrini over the years, it was like his 20th or his 25th best game.

I've probably seen live. But I, so I think was actually the most impressive takeaway from me from this tournament was the performance of the San Jose Sharks team, particularly in their game against the Anaheim ducks. Anaheim had all of their top guys going in this game, except for Beckett Seneke, who was out due to injury, he's going to miss the opening month of the season. But they had Cutar Goethe in there. They had Tristan Luno in there.

They had Noel Warren. They had Kerry Terrance and Dan Colangelo, Sasha passed the job. They had, you know, some Tyson Heinz. They had some guys invested reasonably high picks in in recent years, and Sharks didn't even play Celebrating in that game, and they rolled over them. It was 7-2. It couldn't even be a bigger margin, quite honestly, watching that game.

The Sharks had a lot of their top prospects, and their first-round picks playing that game like Will Smith, like Quentin Mustie, Sam Dickinson, and some other picks like Casper Houto and In, or their recent college free agent signing, Colin Graf. and it was a very impressive overall performance. They dominated the game. Quentin Mustie was in particular very impressive,

scoring a hat trick in the game. And it showed why I put the Sharks pipeline as and there were two ranked under 23 pipeline this summer. But quite frankly, they were neck and neck with me with Chicago. I think you could have easily argued Sharks as the best overall collection of young talents in the league right now. And they've got a long way to go before they're ready to start winning N.

HL games on a consistent basis, but I think you really see the collection of talent they have. And even like when someone like Sam Dickinson had an average game, I thought it's still a really impressive overall group of young players. People are obviously going to want to hear about Celebrity. I know he was not, you know, in the lineup every single game. But when he was in the lineup, what did you see from him? I mean, he's the skating is, you know, excellent. He, you know, just jumps out of you when he's on the ice and turns out he can be first on

Pucks, how he can transition play, how he makes plays, the compete level. I don't think, even though he scored a goal in the opening game against Utah, I don't think the offensive skill was on display, like how I'm used to seeing him during his playing college and junior. I don't think he was dominating with his playmaking and his even strength play. I mean, in power play, he was doing okay. but I just, like I said, even just for an okay celebrating a game, there's still a game where he scores, still a game where you notice him a ton of even strength,

still a game where you notice him in transition a lot. There's a reason why he didn't play the rest of the tournament because they, I think they obviously expect he's going to be a massive part of their NHL team in October and just make sure he doesn't get hurt. And I think he'll be more than fine and ready for what October rolls around. I know we kind of headline here with the sharks is the story here, but there's some top 10 picks I want to quickly kind of hit with you here. Cutter-Ghote.

I know you mentioned that Anaheim San Jose game didn't go the Ducks way. What did you see from Gautier at the tournament? I mean, he got some of his points. He scored twice. One was kind of a fluke goal. And he made a nice assist on a two-on-one. I thought, though, outside of the scoring plays, I thought his tournament was kind of average.

I thought there was a lot of him being in the background of the play, not really making a ton happen with the pocket even strength. And he was playing center here at this tournament. You know, the ever-green argument with Cutter Goce, is he a center? Is he a winger? Talking to a lot of scouts who are watching him at that tournament. They're like, oh, boy, I don't know if the center thing's going to work at the next level for him when to see how he was playing against men while, you know, the 23, 24, 24, 25-year-olds

who tend to be at this campus invites. And I do expect when the NHL season opens, I expect him he will be on the wing for Anaheim. Like I said, his shot, his size, his speed are all very noticeable traits. I do wonder about his playmaking and his compete at times, though. For L.A., Brandt Clark, another recent top 10 pick, a guy who, you know, I certainly hope is in the NHL more this year than he was last year. Seems like that's a real possibility. Did you see kind of the foundations for that at this event?

Well, he only played the first game, and I think he played like a guy who expects to be in the NHL because I think he played like a guy who was trying not to get hurt, trying not to, you know, really impose himself on the game. Like, I know he can with his offensive skill. He made some really nice plays. His offensive sense is outstanding. skating looks as funky as ever, and we'll see how his defending goes in the NHL.

But I wouldn't say he was a standout by any means in the one game he played, but he was good enough. And given that they didn't sign Matt Roy this offseason, it's all, I think, but presumed. He's at least going to start the year in the NHL, and we're going to see how it goes there. But I think the Kings need him to not only be on the roster, but to help them in a meaningful way.

Otherwise, I'm not really sure how this organization is going to take that next step. And then kind of on the other side of that, you know, you talk about Clark kind of thinking maybe he's in the NHL or ought to be. Berkeley Caton's getting his first taste in one of these kind of tournaments here. And what did you see from him? I thought, you know, after seeing him at the World Junior Camp where I thought he was outstanding at the junior level, you know, just, you know, I thought he was flat out dominant. at times against some older players here.

I thought he wasn't quite as impactful. I think this is a guy who's, you know, he's obviously going back to junior this season. He's not making the crack. And I think, you know, his, you know, his frame and his lack of strength, I thought showed up at times. I didn't think he can impose himself on the game like he could versus the younger players.

And that's kind of how I view these tournaments generally. This is not me assessing the players' talents. I mean, I know. you studied these players for years and I'm not changing my sense of a player's hockey sense or they're skating typically based on one or two views. There's some things you notice. I thought Tristan Lunoe on the Ducks, for example, I thought his skating took a little bit of a jump from what I've seen of his in previous years. That was a thought interesting. But usually I think I'm using these tournaments to find out, are they ready to play in the NHL? Not are they a good

prospect or not? But because they're getting to play, usually I'll get some bunch of college free agent and major junior invite to older players. You're kind of using that as a bar. Like, okay, are they ready to play against older players? How is the main camp going to go? Are they ready to take that next step or do they still need some more time? And I think in the case of someone like Katten, it looks like he needs more time.

In the case of Goce, when I was hoping he would, you know, he has a guy who I think is going to play in the NHL, I was hoping he'd be much more noticeable. But that being said, I still expect he's going to be on the duck. this season. I know kind of as we go through this weekend every year, you know, you kind of hear a little buzz that seeps out from other tournaments. Any names kind of make their way to you from not only, we already covered kind of Penticton and Buffalo, so you don't have to necessarily include those unless there's somebody you really want to. We discussed Tim, I feel like on a

weekly basis, but it seems like the Lane Hudson show was buzzing in the Montreal, Toronto series. People there were speaking very highly of how. how he played there and not really a surprise. Lane is a great player. And like I said, you know, now he's playing against older players. That's a good sign that he's able to actually make a positive difference there.

And let's see how it carries into main camp. And I think the expectation is he's going to make the Montreal Canadiens coming out of their camp, although still a couple of weeks to go on that front. So I think that that was a noticeable positive. You know, Frank Nazar from all accounts of the people who are there, seem to have a very good camp at the Tom Kerver Showcase. for Chicago talking to our Chicago reporters got powers. He seems like the Chicago prospect with the best chance to make the team out of camp.

And then I think in the national tournament, it seemed like Connor Geeky, who was the main piece that Tampa got back in the Kyle Sergachev trade, had a very positive showing. And I think Tampa's hoping that Geeky can either make the jump right away to the NHL or do so very soon because I'm not really sure how that organization stays in that consistent playoff mode if they don't get at least some sort of significant young player to come up and help them and geeky is their is their best shot in it right now and you mentioned at the outset

that the L.A tournament is probably where the most talent was and there were seven teams there and it was a really fun event to go to with the two rings the two the two ring kind of back to back to each other. It reminds me of the good days of Traverse City when they had the eight teams and the overlapping games. That tournament is kind of a little bit of a ghost now in terms of what it used to be. But you were at the Traverse City Turbets for with Detroit and just Dallas. What did you see there?

Well, you definitely felt what you're describing, right? Like it did not feel the buzz was not the same. You know, there's the excitement because it started the year. and all that, but with just two teams, and honestly, not even as talented of rosters as we've really seen either of those two teams bring in past years. You know, Detroit had Danielson and Brancic-Neeguard and Shai Buem, who just turned pro as, you know, high round picks. You know, Dallas had Bixel there and Emil Heming was there.

Yeah, but, and I thought Heming was okay, but, like, you know, Dallas only scored three goals at the whole event. He's in on two of them, so that's good. But I would have a hard time saying there was like a big stand out there from Dallas. and even, you know, Detroit, I thought the games in general were not dominated by the guys you particularly expect. The guy who I would point to is Danielson, I thought, was consistently really noticeable. It only really turned into one assist in terms of production. But, you know, I looked at my notes and there's a ton of, you know, Danielson created slot chance. Danielson create good

look, you know, as a playmaker. So I think his skating pops, you saw that the sense, the vision, he is creating chances and all that. So he'd probably be the guy I'd point to there. And I know, you know, that's been something you've been watching is, you know, his assent and, you know, can he push for time? I think that's possible, but I probably wouldn't bet on it at this point. That sounds a lot like his junior career in general. He looks really good if it doesn't get the points. Yeah. And so I think that's kind of the, you're right. That's the question with him is, like, how much of that is, okay, you put them with an NHL finisher and good things are going to happen and how much of it is, you know, at some point it has to turn into production. So impressive, like you

said, I think you want to see it on the scoreboard a little more, and we'll kind of see where it goes. All right, that is going to do it for us. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. You can catch more from all the prospect tournaments that we will have coverage on the athletic. And of course, training camps open this week. So get ready for a whole lot of stuff. We'll talk to you soon.