The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL rookie tournaments recap: Buffalo, Penticton, Traverse City, and Vegas

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

On a special Wednesday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series, Max and Corey are joined by The Athletic’s own Scott Wheeler and Thomas Drance to break down all the action from NHL rookie camps in Buffalo, Penticton, Traverse City, and Vegas.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowStart building your credit up. Open a Chime Checking account with at least a $200 qualifying direct deposit to get started. Get started at http://chime.com/nhlshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody. Max Boltman here alongside Corey Pranman for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show's Prospect Series. And, Corey, this episode is really kind of the official start to the year. This is our rookie tournament episode. We're going to be joined a little bit later on by Scott Wheeler and by Thomas Drance, who were at Buffalo and at Pinticton. You were at Vegas. I was in Traverse City.

So we're going to try to cover as much of the footprint as possible here from the weekend. There was a couple tournaments we didn't have anyone at. Apologies for that. I know there's some people who wanted some coverage out of Minnesota, and I wish we had a little bit more too. But we are going to cover a ton of teams today. And we're going to start with you in Vegas where, you know, I don't know if people saw our whip around article that we had on Tuesday. But you made the point starting off with Anaheim. This is a team that we've been talking on this show, centers.

They have done really well in the draft of a quip. wiring some really impressive, talented young centers. At this tournament, though, actually, let's start with one of the centers. Let's start with Leo Carlson, because he is probably one of the biggest names we're going to talk about today. What did you see from Leo? I thought Leo was very good, and not really surprisingly for the second overall pick. And a guy with his incredible toolkit and his production versus men last year, you expect him to come into this kind of level and be very good.

we expect him to push for a job in Anaheim to open the season. And while he was very good, and I think that there were some things in his game that I thought were really interesting, particularly with his skating, where there was quite a few moments in the first two games where I thought he was getting by guys with a consistency that I had not seen in prior years. I thought in his third game, though, he was getting caught a little bit more than that in a way that I had been used to seeing before when it comes to maybe what I saw as maybe more average footstops. speed in his draft year. So I think if there is some improvement to his skating, that is very interesting. And something for me to monitor going into the main camp there with Anaheim. Because if that's no longer an issue, I think that changes the projection.

And the debate about him versus Anandin fantilly in a significant way, obviously there's no debate in terms of who will get drafted, but just because those two will get compared for years to come. But in terms of how he played, I thought he was really good. Like I said, very noticeable on his assistant basis. but when I at least heard of how, like say Fantilia or how Bedard looked at their camps, I don't think Carlson Rose that level of dominance. I didn't think he was like a blow you away, clear best guy there type of performance,

more just very good, which isn't really a criticism of the player. It's just a rookie camp. But like I said, I don't think he was above and beyond, like, lights out good type of performance. And of course, the big difference that we have to talk about Leo Carlson versus those two those guys are already used to playing on North American ice. They're used to the pace of the North American game. Completely normal if Leo Carlson does need a week, two weeks, a month to get that down. Right.

And with rookie camps, I always, I try to, I can't remember how many times I've seen a rookie camp performance and changed my evaluation of the player. I think we're just looking for guys in terms of, for me, these tournaments are less about player evaluation and gauging how close the player is, being NHL ready. And if I was watching Carlson here, I mean, the body looks like an NHL body, and I think he's going to push for Anaheim to make Anaheim's team, sorry. But if I was watching him now, I wouldn't say he's 100% ready to play 82 games. I did not see that player in Vegas. Yeah.

All right. So on that note, then, we'll go back to what I was originally going to start with, and that is the Anaheim defense, because it seems like they were really the story of this tournament. I know you had the quote in one of your article from the. NHL scouts that you were watching with during the game, but they said that six future NHL defenders in the lineup, obviously at a rookie tournament, that's going to stand out in a big way.

Right. Now, they only didn't play all six of those guys in every game. They only played those six legit prospects, that being, Pavel Minchikov, Jackson Lecombe, Olin Zell, Wager, Noah, Warren, Tristan Lunoz, and Tyson Heinz. They played them all in that first game against Vegas, and it was really noticeable. I think Vegas had a good couple of first five. 10 minutes of the game, and then it was all Anaheim after that, because they were dressing Carlson

and because of that incredible blue line. And all those guys kind of are a little bit different. There's, I think, you know, Zellweger is the small but really good skating, high-end skill-tech defenseman. Mitchikov is more of the, you know, if we think of its typical high-pick profile, big defenseman, good skater, really skilled. Noah Warren, the big physical shutdown defenseman type, Luno, a big puck mover, although the skating there is a minor issue. Same thing with Tyson Heinz, but he's also big and makes a lot of plays in his own end. So there's a lot of variety there with those defensemen, and we'll see, I think there can be a lot of competition, you know, as soon as this camp, but definitely over the coming years

at various Anaheim camps for jobs among this pool of players and maybe future defensemen they may draft. Even though I think these are all very good players, I still look at that pool and I think I would even want more defensemen if I was Anaheim just because I think you want that premier talent or two and we'll discuss it a lot in the coming weeks and months. But I think there will be opportunities in the upcoming NHL entry draft to get that kind of premier defense talent to go with Mitchiekov, to go with Zellweger and to go frankly with Jamie Drysdale, who I will be very interested to see how he performs this upcoming season. and hopefully with a clean sleigh of health. You talked about the value being in maybe how close are some of these guys. Minchikov, is he the best chance to maybe crack the lineup this year in Anaheim? Or is that just kind of none of them likely to?

I think he has a very good chance because of his size and the skating. But I didn't see a guy who was clearly above the rest there. I think he's in the mix. I think Zellweger's in the mix. I think Jackson Lachom is in the mix. But I don't think any of those guys, and what I saw looked clearly better than the rest of them in terms of how close they were to playing in Anaheim.

Yeah. All right. I want to ask you about Arizona, too. And there's a few, I mean, obviously Arizona's been drafting really high up for a while. Now, of course, we're going to have a few names to talk about there. But I want to start with Josh Doan, because he's one of the players you pulled out and made a point of it in the article. And I know you said he was excellent throughout the week.

Right. Led them in goals and points, very noticeable throughout the three games. whereas like Conard Geiki, I thought, was really noticeable in the third game, but maybe not as much in the first game or two, even though I think he was still good. But Don, I thought, was very consistent throughout the event with both his skill and the offensive touch, but I thought his competitiveness really stood out too.

He was winning a lot of battles. He was around the puck a lot. I think the issue with him is always going to be on skating, and especially as an older player, I don't think you want to get too excited about it because because of those skating concerns, I think he still needs to prove it against men. You know, I'm not sure if he'll make Arizona out of camp.

Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. We'll see. But presuming he goes back to the American League to start the year, I think he needs to show that he can actually play this way consistently versus men not be like a half point per game guy like he was when he turned pro last year. But very positive signs for Don't. I saw a guy who looked like maybe a potential bottom six NHL forward,

maybe even better at that camp. And now we'll see if he carries it through into main camp. That's a nice development for the coyotes. And Geeky for you, I mean, still a little bit further away? Yeah, but I still think at least that final game he played, I thought, was some of the better hockey I've seen from Geeky, who could be a little inconsistent. You kind of see it in a stat line in Winnipeg over the last two years, but he's a 6'3, 6'4 center, who was extremely skilled, and there were, you know, at least one or two moments in every game

where he made a really high-end skill play, which for a guy that size, you know, always keeps you really in. And he still put up significant points by the end of the tournament. This is a guy who I think is good, you know, looks like he should be one of the better players in the Western Hockey League next year, has a very good chance to be a top two-line center for Kent Little Juniors. And I still think it looks like a very good prospect. I like how geeky can fit into an organization that has Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayden. If you were telling me that geeky has to be the second line center on a team that's trying to contend, I'd be like, maybe he can do that.

Maybe, not a guarantee. But if he told me, I think he can be the third line center on a team that's trying to contend. I'm like, yeah, I know, he fits in really well in that organization. Because I think HATN can be a really nice too. And I think, you know, obviously you're hoping that Kooley can be that legit one. Yeah. If I was a coyotes fan, the thing I would have been really excited about coming out of this article was you hyping up Maverick Lamaroo, is kind of the six, seven physical presence that they need.

And while the offense has been the question, it sounds like you think he held his own in that regard. Yeah, I didn't have any issue with this puck move. at that tournament. I mean, and, you know, you look up with stats in the previous years, and you'll see that offense is not really his calling card. He doesn't really score that much at the junior level, and a couple of games in a prospect term is not really going to change his history or the fact that when I've watched him over a long period of time,

I haven't seen a whole lot of puck moving in his game. Like I said, I thought at this level he showed really well. He was on their power play, and I thought he was able to make the occasional player or two and held his own in that regard. But then you add that fact that he's six, six, six, seven, skates quite well for a guy that's size, it's really physical. You know, there's other, I watch him, I think, okay,

if he hits, like, he could be like a Jamie Elegiac type. Like, this is a guy who I think, you know, I've always kind of thought maybe he sees, you know, maybe a nice little third pair of fenceman, five, six. Now I'm watching like, oh, maybe it's not a five six. Maybe it's a four or five. And I may not seem like a big deal,

but when you're trying to build an organization and you have Demetri Sinechev, you have J.J. Moser. Now you're like, okay, maybe there's, we have the third guy now in this top four that we can kind of plug in here. And maybe it is him, maybe it isn't, but I'm more open to that debate now than I was a week ago. Yeah. A few of the biggest names at this event only really played one game. But Logan, Cooley, Dylan Genther, we could lump William Ecclin from San Jose in this conversation.

These top guys, what did you see from them? Yeah, they had Cooley and Genther in the first game before they actually brought them to Maine camp because they're doing those games in Australia. And I think they need to get them out of there as quickly as possible. Cooley looked outstanding in the first period. He played against Colorado. He was just dominant. He probably the best little short stint of hockey I saw at that tournament. His second half of that game, he wasn't quite as noticeable.

But, you know, we see the things that he can do with his skating. His skills compete. He stands out. And, you know, we'll see as a 19-year-old how consistent he can be doing that kind of stuff through the main camp into the NHL season. But he definitely stood out in a good way. William Eklund stood out in a good way. I thought in the first game he played with San Jose for the same kind of reasons.

He's an excellent skater. He's high energy. He has a lot of skill. But this is a big year for William Eklund. This is the guy who's a top ten pick. I thought it was after a so-so year in Sweden two seasons ago, I thought last year in the American League, he was very good. But now, especially as a small wing, they need him to elevate. They need him to look like a legit top six-four, not a guy who looks like a pretty good, not an amazing process.

So I'm really anxious to see how he performs this preseason. Yeah, absolutely. Anyone else you want to hit from Vegas before we jump over to Traverse City? I think with Anaheim, one guy I thought that was really interesting with the play of Colson Petrie, who was, I think, a high third round pick by Anaheim this past summer. And for a guy who was 18-year-olds, I thought he stood out rather consistently with his skating, with his skill. I thought the effort level looked a lot better

than what I've seen of his previously. So he was, I thought, a bright note for Anaheim, especially given all the other names from watching, that he was consistently, I thought, grabbing my attention. Yeah. Well, you teased it earlier when we were talking about Leo Carlson. I was at Traverse City, and I wasn't there for the entire thing.

I saw three games live of the six, and I was able to watch two on YouTube later. I didn't watch the final Columbus-Dalice game, because Columbus sat all their big guys. And they did that because of how, I think, how good they were at the beginning. And Adam Fantilli is a huge part of that. I thought he was the standout player at the tournament. But really, there were four or five guys for them who I thought were really impressive.

And it was the guys you wanted it to be, right? I thought Denton Matejuk was really good. And I thought he was really good at this event last year. David Yurichick, I liked more than I had liked at this event a year ago. I thought you saw the skill. And at his size, it just pops so much. And Jordan Dumae, I think actually led the tournament in scoring, though. I have to say, Fantilli was the guy.

They weren't aligned together a decent amount, and he was the guy catching my attention. Just so complete. I mean, it was what you wanted to see from him. You saw the high skill. You saw awesome tempo. And what I was really most impressed with was he picked off a ton of passes and turned him into chances. Those are the things where you start to talk about, okay, this guy looks like I expect him to be in the NHL on opening night. Yeah, and I think we all fully expect him to be a blue jacket.

start the season and I think the question with Fantilui is not just is he going to help them it's how much is he going to help them this season yes that's right and then you don't know I mean with the rookie center you can look really good at this event and and still find that hey it's a lot harder when the other goes and the ix we were both there when capo coco dominated that tournament it's uh it's a big jump from there but I think he's different a little just because of the skating and the physicality. And I think it's going to translate rather seamlessly, but we'll see over the coming months how he performs.

You mentioned Jordan Dume. What did you think of Dumei when you've watched him? Because that's a guy from what I've seen and talking to scouts around the league, that there is not a whole lot of consensus on where this guy fits as an NHL prospect. We all see the scoring, and it seems like he continued the scoring. So this is a guy who obviously has been an outstanding. and junior player. But he's not that big.

And at least from my viewings, I wouldn't describe him as super fast. So it's like, for what you saw, did you think you saw an NHL player when you were watching him live? I think it's possible, but I get where you're going with that

and I think it's valid because I don't think what you see when you watch him screams, you got to get this guy in a top six. And when you don't have that, I'm not sure that he has a well-rounded enough game to say, well, you got to find a place

to put him in your top nine, right? I covered Detroit a lot. So Yonatan Bergeran is a player who has a lot of offense in his game, but if he's not in the top six, he can sometimes get lost in those other roles. And Dumae, maybe not even as quick as Bergeren, right? So I think there is still a question.

I'm not ready to call him one of the slam dunk prospects here. But when you leave the tournament and scoring, I think I got to give you your props a little bit there. And as you note, that's not the first time here for him. And I think, you know, the point totals can always be a little deceiving in that regard. You never know. They did a ton of damage on the power play. Even Matechuk, who was the highest assist leader for the tournament, I think he did a ton of that damage on the power play. But when you look at Denton Matechuk, you look at him and say, he can do a lot of damage on the power play in the

NHL. Dume, I think it is still a little bit more of a wait and see. That's fair. I guess I think he's going to be a guy that's going to be so much debate on over the coming year or two, especially if you, you know, given what he did in the queue last year, I expect he's going to light up the queue again this coming year. He's going to go to the World Junior camp again, and we'll see whether he makes the team or not. I presume he'll be in the mix. I wouldn't call him a lock, but I think he's got a really strong case to make Canada as

World Junior team. And then we'll kind of see how his game translates to the pros. You know, you look at Bobby Brink last year in the American League, and he was just fine. And I think that's the concern with that player type. Yeah, absolutely. Hunter McCown, another guy I want to just kind of quick mention. I thought there were some nice elements there.

Didn't notice him as much as obviously like a fin tillier, but I thought that was a player who I left with a pretty positive impression of on the Columbus side. One guy for Dallas that I wanted to bring up Corey, and he only played one game, is Leon Bishel. And Bishel is obviously huge. He moves well. He's mean. But I can't, the best way I can describe it is that in the third period of that game,

the entire arena of Detroit fans, it was Dallas and Detroit, were booing Leon Bishel every time he got on the ice. They were so angry with him. And they were mad at him because I think he, one of the Detroit guys had challenged him to a fight, and he wouldn't. But that only happens when you're making a huge physical impact on the game, and he was. So I left thinking, like, I, Liam Bischel is going to be a menace in the NHL.

I hate bringing up his name because he's a Troy, but maybe because just you watched him so much because he was a Red Wing. Does he remind you of a Cronwell type of player at all? I could see that, yeah. I think, you know, and Bishel is even bigger than Cronwell, right? Like, he looks gigantic every time he's on the ice and he, and he's, uses that. So, you know, is he, I think he's going to play 20 minutes a night. And so, you know, but I'm just, we were talking about it at the tournament, me and another writer. And it's, you know,

Dallas's left side. It's going to be pretty formidable when you talk about Hayeskin and Harley. So, yeah, I mean, I think Harley's trending very well too. And I, and they need those guys, because they haven't had a ton of picks. They've made the high picks. They haven't had a ton of overall picks, though. So, I mean, that they're trending well still. That being Harley, that being Bishel is very positive for Dallas, especially we consider how young and productive their core players are right now. Yeah, I did want to see a little more offense from Logan Stankovin this week. And he ended up with a couple points in the final game.

I think, though, that's the game that Columbus sat everybody. And so I have a little bit of a hard time making too much of that. But I saw some good defensive elements. I think he's playing center. And I think that's something you, with him, you're not sure. Is he a center? I think he did show some, he's got the hockey sense, he's got the skating, he's got the poise. So those are all good things.

Might have wanted to see him light up the scoreboard a little more. He did hit a post or a crossbar at one point two in a game I was watching, but might have wanted to see a little more there. Danielson and Casper? Yeah, I thought Danielson was one of the standouts for me for Detroit. I think, you know, Detroit lost all three games. So I don't know if this was a tournament for them to really remember, right? But Elmer Sotomay was their best player.

It feels like fans are more pointing the things that the goalie for that than to play the skaters. And I don't think that's unfair, but I think everyone's got a part in it. There were a ton of turnovers, especially in the first game. I think every Detroit goal was off a turnover, including some by their big players. One of them might have even been Danielson. Yes, one of them was Danielson. But in that first game, that was one of only a couple mistakes. I saw Danielson make.

I thought he played a really smart game. He has a turner with five assists in two games. So for those crying about offense on draft day, I thought that was a pretty nice opening statement for Danielson, even if some of it comes on the power play. Casper didn't create as much offensively, but there were definitely stretches where he was a hound all over the puck, the tenacity that you want to see. I don't think it answered questions about offense, so that that's still lingering, but it didn't raise any red flags for me personally either. But I thought Danielson, to me, was the more impressive. But Casper obviously, you know, he's played a little more,

he's played more pro hockey. So you do expect to see some of those elements that you did see from him. I think it'll be an interesting thing with Detroit going forward, especially after the acquired J.T. Carrifer, who I like a lot, who I think still has a lot of runway left in his game and could be a red wing for quite a few years going forward. I'll be interested to see what happens when Daniels it and Casper start pushing, because I wonder if you had to guess from what you've seen, which one of those two is better suited for the wink. Casper would be, but I also think you could flex Andrew Copp to the wing if you wanted to too, especially as he gets into his 30s. Comfer has played the wing. He could do that. So it's kind of nice because it lines up.

You got the two and three C right now expect to be cop and comfor, a lefty and a righty. And the two and three Cs of the future, you expect to be Casper and Danielson, a lefty and a righte. You could presumably just transition them in on the wing and move a guy over or fiddle how you want. But to answer your question, Casper would. Yeah, that's how I link to. I could see a really nice setup where you might have Casper on the wing of Danielson in five years from now. Yeah, it's very possible. And I think he brings the mean elements while still having the offense.

He's really fast. He could complement a skill player. Casper on Lucas Raymond's win would be money. That would be a great dynamic for them. But, you know, I think you have to keep it all in contact. Detroit was 0 and 3. I don't think you could say any of them were great. I didn't list any of them as tournament standouts, but I thought those two were good.

And their best player was Elmer Soder Blum, but as I'll talk about with Thomas Drans a little later on from the Penticton tournament, you do expect the guys who have been here before who were a little older to be better. Like, I thought Elmer was really good. Sure. And if he wasn't, it would have been a story. But because he was, I don't think it's too notable. And I mentioned that in the Donne segment, which is why I thought the play of Lamarou,

who was 19 and standing out was notable in that regard. When a teenager comes in, it could be a top player there, like Buteichuk did, like obviously like Ed and Fantili did, that's when I think you are much more interested in terms of their proximity to the NHL roster. Yeah, that's right. And I think Matechuk's not knocking on the. the door personally, just from my guess there. I think I still...

Especially on the same team that has David Eurocheck too, yeah. Exactly, yeah. But the puck moving smaller D can stand out a little more at a chaotic tournament like this, right? We do have to keep that in context. And I think Sposal is going to be pushing for games pretty soon, too. There's competition, and especially on a team that's recently acquired veteran defensemen and extremely recently, ownership has said they expect significant progress from. So, yeah, I don't think there will be a 19-year-old defenseman on that team.

Yeah, that's right. But I thought Columbus was far in a way the most impressive. I did want to get really quickly to Toronto. Easton Cowen was the guy we talked about after the draft. Maybe a little bit of a surprise first rounder. After this weekend, I'm not surprised. I thought he was really good. I thought he had exactly what I wanted to see from him.

He was hard, but he also had offense, you know, made good passes. He was able to get to free space, the right space to finish some plays. Breakaway or two, if I remember correctly. I can clearly recall at least one. He kind of looks a little awkward sometimes, but he is quick. Like, he's not slow. There's a little hunch, but it works. Yeah, I think he's a good scare.

The question with me, I agree, I think he's really smart. I think he's really competitive. The question I've had on Easton is, I think he's measured in a barely 5-11 going into his draft. And I would say the offensive dynamics. I was like, what's the projection here? And the people who love him would say Sorrelli. So I guess from what you've seen, and you had very positive, impressions, what do you think would be the projection there for count one in the NHL?

It's a good question. I almost want to say like Pavelsky, but that's a little high, right? Yeah, Pavalsky is a lot of offense. Yeah, no. I just think when you have a guy who's that smart and that competitor, it surprises me that you say 5-11. I would have thought he was for sure six foot watching him. Again, people might grow for all, but I'm just telling you what he measured in

that going into the draft. I usually use those measurements unless I watch a guy. I'm like, okay, you're clearly not this anymore, just because people flinched those things all the time. Yeah, no, but I buy it as basically what I'm trying to say here. My question is, is he a wing or a center? I think he, you know, skating the brain that compete, like those are all good things you want to see. But I might like, much like a Casper who has all those exact same traits. I think Casper won notch higher, but, you know, I thought Cowan was probably better at this tournament.

So you could make those same arguments that we just talked about with Marco Casper. for Easton Cullen. I didn't mind Fraser Minton either. And I thought Roney Hervonan had a lot. He's a really smart player. I don't, he's the one where with the size and skating, you're just not 100% positive what it would look like in the NHL. But I thought he or he operated really smoothly.

I tend to agree on Hervonan. I mean, it's the same kind of issues Toronto has dealt with him. The guy Brazzi. It's like, where does he fit in an NHL lineup, given those limitations? The offense as a pro has to be, I think, so significant. Otherwise, especially on a good team like Toronto is, There's just nowhere to put him. Yeah, exactly.

So, you know, he might end up just being a good HL or kind of a depth player in the NHL, but he was good here. And Mitten, you know, the skating with Mitten, I think, does make him a potential. I don't know that he's top six, but I think he's useful NHL player for sure. That's kind of what I think, too, like third line wing, fourth line center. That's kind of what I envision him as like a two-way all-around player. Yeah, yeah. So that's where I was at.

And I thought, you know, the bummer here, Corey, and we're going to, we're talking about all these different tournaments today, is it as, as they've, as they've, proliferated, you just get so much fewer of these teams in one place. The first Traverse City tournament I went to was eight teams and we're just walking back and forth between two sheets of ice all day. I used to love the Traverse City tournament. It was like a gigantic hockey conference because you'd have all, you know, like you said, the eight teams, the chaos of the games going on, two games at once.

And there'd be so many hockey people who would go to that tournament because of, you know, we'd have so many scouts from other teams. You have, like, you know, teams typically for these tournaments, and they still do, will send their entire hockey up staff to these things. So, you know, you would see, like, general managers and assistant general managers, you know, basically just sitting in the stands with your typical fans. It was a very unique environment, and it's unfortunate, and I understand why there's a financial component getting to Traverse City is not easy

for some of those teams that are not located in the Midwest, and they want to have them closer to home. So I understand that it's just, it is unfortunate that the Traverse City, what I thought was a very special event. It's still an event, but it's lost a little bit of its luster and like the allure of the quote unquote winning the Traverse City prospect championship. Yeah, that's right. I mean, it used to be, you know, you'd walk across and you had to almost just like go up to a scout and be like, hey, how's this guy looking? Because you missed the first half of that game maybe or the first half of that period because you were on the other sheet. And there was like a little bit of a competition with teams.

They had the banners raising when they won those things. Like there was actually a playoff round to it, which no longer exists anymore. So that's unfortunate. No, I know. It's a bummer. But still a good event. And we'll talk about another one coming up here with Scott Wheeler at right after this break. All right.

We are back with the Photockey Show Prospect series. We're joined now by Scott Wheeler, who spent the week at what is now, I think, the biggest tournament, Is Buffalo the biggest tournament now, Scott? I think there are two six-team tournaments then. Was Corey's tournament in Vegas, not six teams? Corey was it Vegas? Yeah. Anyways, yeah, six teams in Buffalo now, though.

One of the biggest tournaments. Certainly some of the teams that have been drafting the highest recently, and that obviously starts with the host, the Buffalo Sabres. We're going to get to them in a second, but I want to start just Matthew Savoy, one of your tournament standouts, and we did our standouts article this week. week. But I know you mentioned in there that he sustained a shoulder injury. Is there any update on that? How serious do we think that is? Yeah, it looked on the ice. It looked troublesome. This was the first shift of the game in the third and final game of yesterday and really the finale of the tournament.

So really had an opportunity to leave a sour note on that's a voice season, potentially. Shoulder injuries can be a six-month thing, as we know. And he dealt with one in his draft year. He actually played through a pretty serious shoulder injury in his draft year. And any time you have two shoulder injuries, especially if it's the same shoulder, obviously. Then you immediately start to have conversations about surgery, right? So that was the initial worry. He fell to the ice driving the net on the first shift of the game. It was about 10, 15 seconds in.

Sort of it looked like his shoulder was hanging out of the socket as he skated off. It was one of those sort of obvious injuries. It was clearly his shoulder that was bothering him. But then the prognosis from Seth Apert postgame was that they're just kind of expecting him to miss a little bit of time. They're hoping that even by potentially by the end of training camp that he might still be able to factor into training camp, which it sounds like extremely positive news all told because he didn't return. He skated straight down the tunnel. And it was just one of those things where it was like, oh, no, here's this kid who had a real opportunity, especially after Jack Quinn's injury while training this summer.

With the absence of Jack Quinn for a good chunk of this season with the Sabres, it looked like there was really a race between Yuri Kulich and Matt Savoy for sort of a nine game, 10 game, to start the year in Buffalo. And now, if Saboy's out for the most of training camp, maybe it's Yuri's spot to lose, if you will. So an interesting layer for Matt Savoy. I was speaking with Matt Fairburn, or Sabres writer obviously, there this week. And we were both sort of expecting that Savoy was at least going to start

in Buffalo and play a few games. And then maybe he goes back to the Winachie Wild and plays in WHL and goes to the World Juniors with Team Canada and all of that. But now, if you're not involved in training camp or if you're getting there late in training camp and you're a 19-year-old kid who's coming off an injury, maybe it's just straight back to Wenatchie. And that's the way that his season played out. So it could still be a bit of a bummer for Matt in terms of just what he had in front of him. But by all accounts, a pretty positive prognosis, though. Yeah, it sounds like honestly, like, better than feared.

So that's the good news. Let's talk about the rest of the sabres here. They've made a ton of high pecks. And two of the guys I want to ask you about are Zach Benson and Isaac Rosen, two of the kind of small, skilled, quick players that Buffalo has certainly made a habit of stocking up on. Yeah, and just Buffalo on the whole were pretty clearly the most talented team. When you looked at the six rosters and looked at them on paper, it was like, okay, holy moly. They've got Roseanne, they've got Kulik, they've got, obviously Matt Savoy, Zach Benson, who you mentioned.

It was a talented group. I thought Novakov, their defenseman out of Russia, who's 21 years old and has already played two full seasons in the KHL, six foot four defensemen who's coming over to play for their HL team this year was tremendous, maybe the best defenseman in the tournament. So a lot to like there. But just specifically on Roseanne and Benson, Isak in their first two games was the best player on the ice. And he looked like a better player than Koolik, looked like maybe a better player than Matt Savoy,

who I thought was tremendous in those first two games. he was dynamic on the puck, he was making plays, he was creating sort of shift to shift. He looked like a player who was knocking on the door and it was funny to hear Seth in some of his comments throughout the week as well. So pretty plainly that he thought that Erie Kulik and Isaac Roseanne were right there to compete for roster spots at this point with Buffalo. So a really positive development for Roseanne who's had a bit of an up and down time, kind of that classic, streaky, smaller scoring winger type. But when the puck starts to go in for him, the talent is pretty clear. And then Benson, as an 18 year old,

sometimes 18 year olds can struggle in this thing, just playing against those sort of 22, 23, 24 year olds, especially a team like Boston in this tournament. Boston was made up of a bunch of HL guys because they don't have much by way of young prospects. So to see sort of Benson go out and perform, he played in all three of their games, which isn't all that common for top, top prospects, but I think they wanted to see what they had there. And I thought in all three, he was good and one of their sort of better playmakers and sort of on the puck all the time. And him and him and Savoy both are just such hard workers, such driven players that you notice

them even when they're not creating offensively because they're winning back pucks and making plays and getting after it on a four check and tracking back to lift pucks off of guys on steals and all of that. So Benson's another one. He's going to be on the World Junior team for Canada. He's going to be a big, big sort of. and tender at least for the scoring top scorer reward in the CHL this year, I think. And he looked like a kid who was drafted 13th overall.

Like he kind of looked exactly like you'd hope he would as an 18-year-old. So even more exciting young talent on the way for the Sabres, who already have plenty of it. Let's stay in Atlantic. And I know, yeah, exactly. Josh Waugh was one of your standouts from Montreal. And that's another team that I think had a few guys that you really liked at this event. Yeah, I think of their forward.

he was the sort of the clear driver. They had a really talented team as well, probably second to Buffalo in terms of just pure talent on the roster. They had sort of established guys like Jan Mishak, who've been a part of this tournament a couple of times. They had first rounders like Philip Mayshar. They had players who, like a Sean Farrell, who was one of the top scorers at Harvard

and in NCAA hockey last season. Owen Beck, obviously, who played an NHL game last year and had a big breakout year in the OHL. And even amongst that group, it felt like everybody had their best game when they were playing with Josh Wah. Like he played one game with Sean Farrell. He played two games with Owen Beck. He played one game with Yon Meshach. And it seemed like those guys were scoring and those guys were getting their looks when they were playing with Joshua. And he was a big part of just creating a ton of offense. I think he finished with four or five primary points in three games and was just a driver. And the big thing with with Waugh is that for a long time, he was viewed as kind of this.

one-dimensional player. He was the first overall pick into the QMJHL. He was a star prospect in minor hockey on a Chevalier Triple A team that went undefeated. He had like a 40 game, almost a 40-game win streak in AAA hockey in Quebec, which is unheard of. And then it had a bit of a tough time in St. John, requested a trade out of his QMJL team in his draft year, was a fifth round pick instead of a kind of first or second round pick. And then obviously since then has been at two world juniors, has put up two 100-point seasons in the QMJL. And now, legitimately on the ice looks like a kind of first round talent. And has rounded out his game is no longer the player he used to be.

They were, he penalty kills on all of the teams that he plays on now, whether it's in the QMJL, Hockey Canada this week for Montreal, effective penalty killer, tracking back, supporting his linemates, just dialed in in terms of the little details, which is a long, long way from where he was. So, uh, Wawa looks, he looks like a sort of found gem at this point. Like he looks like he's going to be an NHL player. And for a fifth round pick, that's obviously huge, huge value.

So I thought that was impressive. And then their D were a talking point throughout the week. William Trudeau has emerged as a huge success story for them. A kid who sort of came out of nowhere in the QMJHL. They drafted him on a hope and a prayer that he was just a strong, sturdy kid who played the game efficiently. Had a really solid HL season last year was the captain of their team this weekend in Buffalo. And Trudeau is another kid where just a mid-to-late round pick who suddenly, looks like he's going to get NHL games at some point in the next year or two. And that's another

player that just job well done. They've got some questions about some of their first rounders, like I like Philip Nashar, for example, who may not pan out, but certainly they've done a really good job sort of, and that's without getting into Lane Hudson and those types who weren't even participating this week. But they've done a good job finding sort of deeper value. And Trudeau was another one that I just wanted to sort of draw a little bit of attention to. Yeah, Mayu is an interesting one for Montreal for me because obviously there's a lot of context here, but it seems like he has elevated into a tier where, you know, he's becoming a player we're going to have to talk about. Yeah, yeah, no question.

And this week was kind of chuckling with Arpin when I ran into him at the rink this week because it was kind of the tale of Logan Mayu. Logan Mayu, the conversation around Logan Mayu and his game now, strictly the on ice piece of the puzzle is that here's this. kid who you see him at the rink, you run into him. Like he is an athlete, a tremendous athlete, like a really tall, stocky, strong, sturdy kid. And then on top of that, you see it on the ice. He's a great skater for his size. He commands the ice physically in terms of boxouts, battles in front of the net, corners, stepping up in neutral ice to separate man from puck.

All of those sort of elements to his game are strong. He can really skate the puck. He's got a cannon from the point. So all of those things get people really excited about what they might have there. And then there's the decision making and the read elements of his game that remains a red flag. So they're going to have to sort of work through that with him. I think they're hoping that just with a season or two in the HL and some reps and good coaching and a proper development plan that he can sort of figure out the IQ piece,

there are still times where he goes back and gets pucks and has no idea what to do with it. And he waits too long to outlet it. and then he's sort of sending a pass up through neutral ice that gets intercepted and picked off. And there are times where he doesn't know in front of the net, whether he should be in front of the net or chasing the guy in the corner. And just a lot of sort of decision-making errors where he gets caught and he gets beat. But the natural gifts are sort of clear NHL qualities. So they're just going to have to work with him. And some guys never figure out, I mean, how many NHL players have we seen that have NHL talent that just struggle to figure it out?

Like I'm just being from Toronto, we dealt with. with it here with Casperi Capinen, who just took so long despite natural gifts to sort of figure out what he was in the NHL. And that's a tale as old as time. So for some guys, the smart piece never does come. But if, as I was talking to Arpin about, if it can even get to passable for Logan, then he's probably going to be a very good NHL player. Yeah. Speaking of figuring it out, one guy who seems like he's there is Ridley Gregg from Ottawa. I guess we'll stay in the Atlantic a little longer here. What did you see out of him? Yeah, he only played in one of the three games, and I still included him in my standouts just because he just looked head and shoulders above

the rest of that roster. They had the weakest roster in the tournament by a long shot. I think they had 20 or 21 camp invites. They only had five or six guys attending the event who were actually drafted players. In the third game, they actually ended up sitting all of them. Tyler Boucher Robi Jarventi, Ridley, Greg, Zachastapchuk, Tyler Cleven, all five of those guys sat. So it was an ECHL Hopeful's roster, basically, that they rolled out. And I think because of that, he just stood out so strongly in that first game. He had two goals.

He was only credited for two goals, but I'm looking back at the tape and sort of contrasting it against the score sheet, I'm pretty confident. He also had a primary assist from below the goal line, so I think he should have had three points in that game. He was just on the puck. He was physical. He laid a huge open ice hit. He actually got laid out once himself as well. That's just kind of Ridley's game. He's in the mix in everything. He's a very physical, competitive player. He's always on the puck. And then he's got decent skill. So he makes enough ways to sort of complement that package. And he played center, centering their top line with Robbie Arvenki. I thought they were excellent, the two of them together.

And he just looked like a kid in this event. There's always three or four kids that just look like, that kid's ready to play in the NHL. And obviously, I think he had nine points in 20 games last year, so he does have a little bit of an NHL cup of coffee under his belt. And now there's an opportunity, by the sounds of it, for him to take a sort of third-line role with that team alongside Shane Pinto and sort of become a young, fun third line there for the Sends this year. And I think just based off of what I saw this year or this week,

he looked like he was right there. Boucher Cleven, do anything for you? Yeah, again, they didn't play in all three games. So it's hard to get a read on the guys who really only play once or twice. I thought Boucher looked like Boucher, the shot is heavy. He's another kid who's extremely physical. Another kid you run into a lot like Maiu around the link and you think to yourself, holy crap, this kid is an athlete.

This kid is the son of an NHLer. He's just, he's jacked and he's advanced that way and you can see it on the ice. The thing with him is just going to be his and has always been just his pace and his footwork. And that's something that I sort of keyed in on this week. And it still looks below average. Like it still looks like it might be a bit of a barrier for him. But the way he works, the way he shoots the puck, the physical sort of piece of the puzzle that he already has, you just hope at this point, I know they drafted him 10th overall, but at this point you're hoping that he can just become a sort of contributing bottom six guy for you.

And I still think that Tyler has an opportunity to do that. And then Cleven, I mean, Cleven's another guy, only played one game. and the reason why is that he's going to be in the mix for one of the seven jobs on that blue line. More likely sort of a number 7, eight for them, but it looks a bit this year. But it sounds like he's going to get some HL time and some NHL time this season. And I think he just looks like at this point, like a very physically advanced, physically mature, sort of stay-at-home type who's going to be a good partner for a busier defender. Yeah.

And I don't want to short these teams, I guess, but maybe a little less star power. I guess what I kind of said that about Ottawa too. but Pittsburgh, Boston, New Jersey, any names we should know coming out of those three teams? Yeah, I mean, New Jersey, no surprise, but I thought Simon Nemich played well. New Jersey had a tough goal of it this week. They were badly outplayed in, I would say, the majority of all three of their games. Nemich is the stud there. Another kid who didn't play in all three games, though.

Another kid who just looks like he's ready. It'll be interesting to see what happens in camp there, because we know that the organization, in terms of the management group and the coaching staff in New Jersey have actually talked pretty openly about how they're not sure about two rookie defensemen. And it seems like Luke Hughes is going to have the sort of leg up there. So it sounds to me, at least, like Simon Nemich probably starts in the HAL. That doesn't mean he doesn't come up if an injury happens and stay in the NHL for the remainder of the season. But it does seem like Luke Hughes is the guy there in terms of if they're going to have a rookie, it's going to be Luke, especially after the way they played him in the

playoffs last year. So almost a bit of a tough break for Simon because I think on 28, 29 of the 32 NHL teams, he's probably a guy going into camp with the way he played in the second half in the H.L last year, who you're looking at to be one of your top six defensemen. So New Jersey's just in a bit of a unique situation that way. But I thought Nemitz played well for them. Braden Yeager predictably stood out for a Penguins team that, as we know, doesn't have much by way of prospects. I thought I thought I thought Jaeger as an 18 year old handled himself really well he had a point one point in all three games which is sort of what you'd hope for head of a player like that they spoke very highly of his play off the puck that's become a defining quality for braiden yager he was known as as sort of a shooter and a scorer all the way up and still is and scored a beautiful goal yesterday in their third game ripping it past scott ratslav but it's the roundedness of yager's game that continues to impress and then boston was tough Boston's roster, as I kind of mentioned off the top, was made up of like 25 and 26 year old HLers predominantly.

And then guys like Fabian Liesel didn't really play all that much. So the standout there for me was probably Brett Harrison, who was sort of a very good OHL player all the way up, a top liner hockey prospect, but has had concerns about his skating. Tall kid who can really shoot the puck, has played center and the wing for Oshawa over the last couple of years, and is now turning pro and expected to play for Providence in the HL.

And I think he had four goals in five games and a couple of assists. So anytime you have five or six points in a tournament like this, especially as a player who's just about to turn pro, that's a good start to your training camp in your preseason. And I thought even yesterday, he scored again yesterday, he had a couple of more looks in the third period to nearly sort of pull off a bit of an upset for the Bruins as well. So Harrison was probably the positive, if you will, for Boston.

Awesome. That is great stuff, Scott. Really appreciate you jumping on here today. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back with Thomas Drans. We are joined now by Thomas Drance from the Athletic in Vancouver, who has been at the Penticton Rookie Tournament this week. A lot of good teams there to talk about here. But I know one of your big standouts that we started with in the piece was one of this year's picks, and that's Bo Ake. What did you see from him this week? Yeah, and I mean, we'll get into this because there was a pretty significant experience and age imbalance between the four teams that went to Penticton. And so while Boe Akey may not have been the best, quote unquote, defenseman at the tournament, he was the most impressive. 18 year old late second round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2023. He looked really like rangy and long. You know, I think he's slight still, but looked like a player that as he grows up will have pretty close to prototypical NHL size for that sort of like Danny DeKaiser, Chris Tanev's style of transitional defensive defenseman. And he certainly looked like he had the intelligence to project as that type of guy based on how advanced he was in terms of defending the rush.

you know, these rookie tournaments are so chaotic in terms of the on ice environment, right? It's not like these guys have ever played together. Some guys have played major junior only. Some guys have played four years of college. Some guys are 27 and you're like, what are they doing here?

You don't have like super crisp systems play. And there are types of players that can sometimes get lost as a result of how you know, scrambling the hockey itself is one type of player, though, that I think can pop is the defender who can bring some calm amid sort of that storm. And Akey looked like that. You know, there were a lot of rush chances where with a smart stick or good body position, he was able to quickly turn the puck over, get it

moving the other end, really good on retrievals, sort of played on the power play for the Oilers prospects and often looked like the best part of that power play. Just a bright player showed a lot of hockey IQ, a lot of some, some of the raw skills that you look to in terms of projectable ability. And, you know, I'd say of the like high highest upside prospects on the blue line at that tournament, and there's some pretty good ones. No real first round picks, but, you know, you think about Elias Solominson from the Winnipeg Jets or Hunter Bristevich from the Canucks of 2023 third round pick, Etienne Moran,

Calgary Flames, second round pick in 2023. Like he really did shine and stand out above that group. And all of them had moments, but Akey, you know, I sort of come away with the sense that he's really a guy that, you know, hockey fans should be, and certainly Oilers fans, but hockey fans in general should be paying attention to in the Ontario League this year, a really sharp kid. I love that point and you're so right because it is it's the chaos. These teams have usually practiced one at most two times together. And so they are going out there and they're trying to cook. They're also trying to impress people. Like it's, it's probably not the structured hockey that is

going to await them at the coming levels. But I think it is. You said those poised defensemen, Denton Matechuk was one of those guys at the Traverse City tournament for me that I was like, when this guy has the puck thing seemed to go a little more according to plan than like the rest of the game, right? So I love that as a call-out. I also love that you brought up the age thing, because it's something I want to talk with you about. One of the, I think you had Aidan McDonough, you called him the best, most dangerous player in the tournament in our whip around right up on the athletic on Tuesday morning. And I believe you. But my question is, he's 23. And I want to know how much should I care that a 23-year-old was able to be the best, most dangerous player at this

tournament? Yeah. And I think more than anything, it's like you just have to check a box if you're Aiden McDonough in this tournament. You know, the thing that could have happened is he could have come in and not stood out above, you know, your Danila Kleemovich, you know, Atu, Ratu, Arshdeep Baines tier of Kinnock's prospect. And that would have been concerning, right? With a player like McDonough, because you have less developmental runway, right, if he's going to be an NHL player, right?

a full-time NHL player, much less an NHL impact player. Like, he better be the talk of the town in Vancouver for the next four weeks, right? Like, the decision to cut him has to come right before Canadian Thanksgiving, like, right before the roster deadline hits. You know, he better be back in the NHL by January, right? Like, that's sort of the career progression he's going to need to take if he's going to be a player, because frankly, he's at an age where, I mean, he's the same age as Quinn Hughes.

And one thing I often say is like, you know, Quinn Hughes is smack in the middle of his statistical prime. And I say that because, you know, in my view, we have to stop talking about him as a young player. He's an established vet. He's an NHL captain. That's right. So, you know, so for McDonough,

I think more than anything, it's that he had to dominate, but he did. And so I still think you get the DAP for that. You still get the credit for that. He did, you know, he'll now go into training camp, and it's a vital training camp for him,

feeling damn good about himself. He should feel damn good about himself. His shot played, his ability to drive played, the passing, you know, I still think it's going to need a little bit of work in terms of off the rush, but in zone absolutely can contribute

to a productive cycle and often did. They dominated play with him on the ice and then he absolutely lit up opposition net minders on the power play. You know, he's been a guy I've been a high on anyway. Always been a lot of concerns about his speed and stuff like that, but I've always thought he has the athleticism. And he's got the understanding and it's a pretty mature understanding of how to work to find open space. And I mean, I'm sure you're the same way. like I've seen a million first round picks play in major junior or in college. And it's like, oh, man, they just skate through everyone with the puck, but without it, right?

And I don't mean without it defensively. I mean, without it offensively, you know, the understanding of how hard you have to work to get open, the ability to find that space consistently, that that's something that he's always had when I've seen him in Northwestern or Northeastern in the past that stood out. And it was absolutely apparent in Penticton. Yeah, absolutely. How about Atu Ratu? Because he's a guy who especially for the Canucks, a centerpiece of the Bo Horvat trade and a guy that they need to be a real prospect.

What did he do for you this weekend? Yeah, you know, I thought he was, he showed really well, especially with just some really subtle, sharp playmaking ability, um, shone through throughout his sort of tournament. With Ratu, you know, the offense, the intelligence, and I think some of the defensive stuff was there. And he was one of those players that I was a little worried about going into the tournament because Ratu, you know, can, is not really a one-on-one type, right? The one-on-one type player is always going to show a little bit better at a prospect tournament like this.

I see Ratu as a guy who, you know, once he's like up and running, once he's in his, you know, a fully developed, like, once he's at the apex of his own powers, you know, I think he's going to be effectively like a really good systems executor. you know, maybe maybe in the middle six if he hits sort of the absolute top of his ceiling. And I thought that was a player type that might struggle, but he didn't. Like he really, I think it helped that Vancouver had a more experienced team and dominated play so much because they really did have the puck more than most. A lot of those guys played together down in Abbotsford last year. You know, one of his linemates, Archdeep Baines, was his teammate down the stretch and in the playoffs in Abbotsford. so there maybe was a little bit more familiarity, a little bit more structure for the Canucks

than there were for many of these prospect tournaments or a tournament entry teams sort of across the continent. But look, he played really well. Ultimately for him, though, and the one thing that I didn't get a good enough sense of yet is like his feet are his fate in terms of will he stick in the middle, right? Like his speed, will his speed play at center at the next level, I think is the big question.

and I don't know that he like answered that question yet. He might not answer that question, you know, until April of this season. And clearly the Canucks should be letting him fail at center before considering converting him. But, you know, I think that's that's sort of the big question mark that remains for him. But the skill, the hockey IQ, the work rate, I mean, there's no questions about any of that. And that part of his game allowed him to be, you know, certainly one of the stand. out forwards at the tournament. Yeah, absolutely. A couple of 2023 first rounders there, Samuel Hansett, Colby Barlow. They are two couple kind of power winger types. And that's always an

interesting. That can maybe be a little bit of a mitigating factor when you're the young guy at a tournament like this. How did they look this weekend? Yeah, I mean, Hansik, I liked a lot. The flames were like two years younger in terms of the average player age on their roster than the Edmonton Oilers and a year and a half younger on average than the Canucks and Jets. So this was the youngest team at the tournament. Also the least experienced team at the tournament. Hansik played a pretty significant role for them, like was out there a lot. And he kept it pretty simple.

You know, I didn't see much flash. I didn't see much dash. There's not much flash or dash in his game anyway. But I thought he showed a lot of what you want to see based on who Hansick is. right, which is clearly he's imposing physically. He can definitely make simple plays to like recycle the puck on the cycle. And he did that consistently. His size, you know, the toughness, the flames played like a pretty physical pair of games against the Jets prospects and the Oilers prospects late in the tournament.

And like him and William Stromgren were sort of two guys who seemed to be better the messier the game got, the more physical it got. So I think you like to see all of that, but I would say Hansik looked to me far more like a project than a dark horse candidate to challenge to make the Flames roster this fall, which is, you know, no knock against him. It's just he didn't have that like, oh, this is something to watch if you're a Calgary Flames fan going into training camp, don't be surprised if in two weeks, you know, Hansick's the story. I think he's a ways away from that. And where it's going to. to be interesting with him too is a new Vancouver Giants coach, Mani Viveros, right? The former Henderson Golden Knights, or Silver Knights, excuse me, head coach, has talked openly about experimenting with Hansik at center. And I think the flames are pretty on board with that. They wanted him, I think, playing the wing at training camp just because that's where he's most comfortable. They want to, they want him in a position to succeed. At least that's how Craig Conroy

explained it to me. But Hansick moving to center in the dub, with sort of the Flames' blessing is very much a story to track on the Hansik file. Yeah, at the Combine, I remember, someone asked him, you know, what do you like better? And he was pretty clear he likes the wing better. So whenever I hear that, it's like, okay, I mean, I'm sure he'll try it. He seems like a good kid. I'm sure he'll do whatever it takes. I don't know if he is aware of how much more valuable he becomes as a center.

But certainly Calgary is. And that is why they're going to try that. I want to ask you about another guy who at various points we've had the center wing conversation about, and that's Brad Lambert, 2022 for us. round pick, Winnipeg prospect. From what I was reading, it doesn't sound like he made quite the impression you were hoping to see in that year two tournament. Yeah, although I will say with Brad Lambert, you know, he was there last year and he was

the most exciting player on the ice. That's right. And, you know, for good and for bad. And I saw him in the dub last season and he was the most exciting player on the ice. And I saw him at this tournament, I guess, you know, like I didn't. barely noticed him. But I've seen Brad Lambert enough to know that, you know, that's not a reflection of his game. You know, I just don't know that Brad Lambert felt like he had to impress at this tournament.

I think this was perhaps a guy saving his reps because there was absolutely almost no relationship between the electric, you know, sometimes error prone guy I've seen in the past. and what I saw this week, or this weekend in Penticton. So I honestly think I got nothing of evaluative value out of Brad Lambert whatsoever. And I will be zero percent surprised if he's, you know, a shocking surprise for the Jets at training camp. I don't think this means anything for him. You know, the Jets, like neither shovel day off nor Rick Bonas were there. Yeah. And I think that's another key thing.

not that they wouldn't get reports, not that they wouldn't wait this tournament, but it's not like he had anyone to impress actually present, and I think that was probably reflected in how he played. Well, the first thing that came to my mind when you said that is when you talk about him being the most electric player on the ice in both directions,

is there any chance that this was a reflection of a change he's looking to make here? And that, like, I need to, you know, be a little more measured in my decisions. I hope not. because Brad Lambert's super cool. I mean, no, I just, honestly, I just don't think we saw him at full tilt. Like, that's, it's hard for me.

And, you know, I don't know this or anything, but it's hard for me to conclude anything else based on the player I've seen in the past, get me, you know, very much to the edge of my seat every time he touches the puck, both at this tournament last year and in the dub last year with that loaded team in Seattle. And what I saw this weekend. I honestly went stretches for getting he was on the ice, and that's not the Brad Lambert I've seen play live like 10 times previously. Yeah, that's great. Anyone else you want to mention? I know you talked about Elias Salmanson earlier. He was a guy who was really good here in Plymouth at the World Junior Summer Show because

I think he's probably going to be Sweden's number one defenseman at the World Juniors this year. Him or anyone else you want to give a couple thoughts on before we let you go. No, I mean, you know, his size, like he's 6-2, but he's a really good skater. So, I mean, he was disruptive with that. I didn't see a lot of dynamic puck skills from him. Pretty interesting that it feels like there's a generation of Swedish defenders coming out that often sort of match that description. Like really great skaters, really interesting defenders, really assertive defenders, but not necessarily with that like Hampus Lindholm type skill level that we used to associate with the defenders out of Sweden. It feels like there's a lot of Ekholm types coming out of that nation at the moment.

You know, with Canucks first round pick in 2023, Tom Villander sort of fitting that mold as well. Broberg. Yeah, Broberg. You know, I mean, Edvinson probably has slightly better puck skills than that, but I think you can throw him in that bucket. And as an NHLer, I do think that's his game. His game should be as a stopper. Yeah. Right.

So, you know, there's been a, there's been a, it's been an interesting sort of, you know, change, I guess, or, or trend that we've seen out of Sweden in recent years. and I think Solminson fits within that. You know, in terms of other guys that, like, jumped out to me, one guy that a lot of scouts that I was chatting with kept pinpointing was Archdeep Baines. Now, Baines is also a little bit older, 22. But, you know, he was at this tournament and played pretty well a year ago. But he didn't have the body.

Like, he had the brain to do really cool stuff. He'd led the WHL in scoring by, like, a fair bit. as an overager. You know, he had this collection of spin passes and just like the mind for the game. He had a center's brain on the wing. And that was evident last year. But now, after a year of pro hockey, and, you know, I can tell you internally, the Canucks love this kid for the work ethic.

But like, he's added at least half a step, right? His skating looks materially stronger. He looks bigger. he's able to protect the puck and do various sort of pro-looking things that he just wasn't a year ago. So his improvement, I think, really stood out to me, right? There's a lot of guys who were at this tournament last year. I think about like Adam Klapka or Danila Klemovich, you know, some guys who sort of returned this season. And, you know, they looked fine, but Archdeep Baines looked materially different for what he's added to his sort of

sort of physical toolkit. And that to me becomes really interesting, especially because he's got a brain for the game. One scout that I was chatting with, an NHL scout, Eastern Conference noted, a comp to me. And they said, seems a little bit like Brandon Hagel,

which was interesting to me because, yeah, Hagel was drafted, whereas Baines wasn't, but both signed, you know, following breakouts in the WHL. Now, if he's, and both had sort of fine,

but not great rookie seasons in the AHL. The thing with Hegel, though, is, like, he was in the show his second year pro. Like, he, and he never left, and he was productive. So that's a pretty high bar for Baines to get to. But the Canucks did scratch him that third game, which to me is always an interesting sign that maybe a guy's done enough. Yep.

And, you know, certainly with the work he's put in to make his physical tools, kit, more pro level, and how successful that experiment has been for him. He becomes an interesting name that I'll definitely be watching when I go to Victoria tomorrow to take in Connect's training. Awesome. That is great stuff. Thomas Trance, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today. That is going to do it for us for this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show prospect series. You could follow us on YouTube at YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show. And right now, you can get a one year subscription to The Athletic for $1 month when you visit Theathletic. slash hockey show for Corey and Scott and Thomas. We'll talk to you soon.