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Alright Day 1 is in the bag, sorry if the info is scattered but hard to track everything going on so I tried to focus on a few players.
Andre Petersson was the first guy on the ice skating around and shooting pucks. Was impressive to see him lobbing pucks from the redline into the net.
One thing that stood out was every time Petersson wasn’t doing a drill, he was stickhandling a puck (very-well I might add), regardless of what was going on around him. He was clearly among the smaller Sens on the ice, but he definitely one of the more talented players. Unfortunately he left the ice during the shooting drills and didn’t return for the scrimmage and chute-skating.
2011 6th ovr, Mika Zibanejad was the focus and talk of everyone at the Sensplex, and he certainly stood out in most drills. He’s got a lot of speed and is great with the puck. While he looks to be close to NHL ready, he definetly will need to add a bit more weight to his frame to play his style at the NHL level.
It was funny to see him get chewed out a bit by Cameron for ‘fraternizing’ during one of the drills. After the camp, he signed a few autographs, including my camp roster.
A lot of people were wondering why Puempel wasn’t on the ice, including myself, but I did find him after.
The Sens had Puempel skating with Foligno and working out the Conditioning staff on another rink. I got a chance to ask Tim Murray about him, and Tim basically explained because of Puempel’s hip surgery, they were keeping him out of the normal drills, so they can work with his rehab and get an idea where his skill set is.
Chris Wideman is bigger than his listed 5’10” 177lbs, I would put him up around 6’1”-6’2” 200lbs, and his patience and poise stood out during some of the defensive skills. Wideman should get a long look for key-minutes in Bingo.
Corey Cowick looks like his added quite a big of size to his frame, and he did a good job getting into the traffic lanes and disrupting plays, but his stickhandling didn’t seem to be at the level it should be. Looks like he’s been working on his defensive game and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him play a ton PK minutes for Bingo.
Louie Caporusso showed off his hands and speed today, and it’s clear the extra year at Michigan has benefitted him. Still undersized by NHL standards but the leg power he showed during the chute-skate was extremely impressive, as he had to slow down multiple times so he wouldn’t run over Stone.
Cowen, Dziurzynski, Blood, Kramer and Borowiecki stood out of the group with their massive sizes and frames. Blood and Boro could make life miserable for teams in the A, and also give Murray a few more options when the time comes to promote another D-man to the NHL. (Outside of Cowen and Rundblad of course) Seriously though I do not remember Dziurzynski being that big…seriously he’s a big boy.
The star of today was hands-down Shane Price, he looked like the best player on the ice. His skating is so fluid, and his very fast. He didn’t have any problem handling the puck at high-speeds either. Only knock on him was he looks a little smaller than he’s listed, but other than that he looks like a steal at 61st ovr.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau is small, I mean very small. 5’9” is a very generous listing for his height, unless they measured him with his skates on. I’m 6’0” and I was still slightly taller than him when I was ground level and his was on the ice in his skates. Plenty of speed, but didn’t see much else from him today. Going to watch him more tomorrow.
Few more random observations:
All the Swedish kids excluding Big-Z (so Petersson, Silvferberg, Sorensen, Rundblad, Claesson) all skated, passed and shot with their heads-up. It doesn’t sound like much, but the fact they were going through all the drills with their head always up, and were able to make plays/receive passes speaks volumes to where their development is and how well the Swedish leagues are preparing them.
The Sens clearly did not measure or weight in Lyamin, he isn’t 5’10” or 185lbs, he looked in 6’2”-6’3” 210lbs range. Seemed pretty uninspired though, I don’t think he really has interest in being here or in the NHL. This must be kind of ‘one more look’ thing for B.Murray and the Sens brass (Mind you it is also their first look at him in Ottawa.)
Sens brass seemed to be looking at Matt O’Conner more than the other two goalies…might be a depth signing for Elmira (ECHL)
A lot of people were surprised by Rundblad’s size, but the one thing to note is Rundy is very athletic, so while he isn’t overly filled out, what he does have is pure muscle-mass.
Noesen was having a rough time hitting the net with one-timers.
Max McCormick was very skilled with his hands when in tight and in front of the net.
Going to spend most my time tomorrow watching Rundblad, Silvferberg, Culek, Grant and Blood
I'll post some video once I clean it up
