Training camp

[crashnbang]

Not a great game for sure, guys were more challenged in our own blue and white game. I thought Hilsendager made some very smart plays and like someone mentioned Cole made a few big hits and mostly on MJ veterans. Other than that, same old with Steel putting up numbers and Christoffer looking very impressive as he should. Fuhr did make some nice saves when challenged, Hollett wasn't really challenged at all. Schioler doesn't get a very good look going forward in my opinion after seeing him in game action, his skating just isn't at the level it needs to be at.

[patsdude114]

I agree on every comment you made especially about Schoiler, he isn't afraid to go to the dirty areas though which is nice to see but there are just too many 16s and 17s with a better all around game then he has.

Another guy who really has to work on his skating is Gardiner

[chopper]

I didn't notice Ortynski on the pre-season roster?? 2nd round draft pick.

[RWAH]

Not going to make it to tonight's game, (family stuff) so any posts will be appreciated.

[RWAH]

Here is a feature on Small Thoughts with a depth chart. If the link it his article does not work go to Small thoughts web site

Depth Charts



I've got a new feature here on the ol' blog - WHL team depth charts. Basically what I've done is created a spreadsheet with the names of every player (that I know of) who has signed a WHL education contract with a WHL team. This is NOT a list of every player that a team owns the rights to (ie, the PPLs) but only those who have committed to playing for the team. Obviously some teams do not publicize their signings and so those teams are simply going to have fewer names listed here. It doesn't mean they have signed less players, but only that we don't know everyone they have signed.

For my purposes, a player who plays in a WHL game (preseason, regular, or playoffs) will be considered as having signed, even if no signing has been announced.

I've separated the players by birth year and position so you can easily see how many 17 year old defencemen (for example) your team might have to choose from next year, etc, etc.

I have removed players who are believed to have retired, been released, or whom there is no realistic possibility that they ever play in the WHL again (ie, most overage players with NHL contracts). Teams may still own those players' rights but it seems pointless to keep the names here.

The spreadsheet is read-only but if you spot any errors or omissions, please do email me (or leave a comment) and let me know.

enjoy

[patsdude114]

I didn't notice Ortynski on the pre-season roster?? 2nd round draft pick.

Ortynski was sent home after the inter squad game 1 of 4 players sent home if I recall correctly and I'm sure he has been dropped off the 50 man list as well.

He had 1 very good scrimmage game the rest was invisible.

[Thatshockey1965]

Thoughts on tonight's game? Best players? No performers?

[cpaw74]

Ryker Cole reminds me of a young Garrett Mitchell.

[patsdude114]

Ryker Cole reminds me of a young Garrett Mitchell.

I do agree with this to a point forsure just the difference I see even as a younger Mitchell he was more willing to drop the mitts then Cole seems to be but on the flip side Cole appears to have more of a scoring touch then Mitchell ever but there are similar traits forsure.

As for what I saw last night... Well first off it was nice to watch an actual hockey game, what we saw on Thursday night was not a hockey game by any means. The win means nothing to me we could of lost 6-5 and I still would of been quite entertained.

I must say I was quite impressed by a few players last night and this 1 guy I rarely have much good to say about him but Brooks looked really good last night and Im glad to see it finally. I hope Brooks can keep up with that type of play and show some offensive flare like he was expected to do when he was drafted.

Another guy who impressed me last night was Zimmer, he did a lot of good things with the puck in his decision making along with taking the body. These are key things he needs to do on a regular basis as there are just too many quality kids in his age group that could take his spot.

Krammerer seems to be finally getting it in the North American game, he showing that it wasn't a mistake by any means to bring him back for another season.

I also thought Pouteau (who was a +4 last night) played a very good game as well, to me he is ahead of Krushen which im sure is expected by many. Hilsendager is growing on me more and more, each time I see this kid play I am liking more about his game. Last night I thought that was the most physical game I have seen him play to date so far, something our back end lacks.

Im also really liking Kroeker, he has lacked abit of finish on his chances but im not too worried about that as he is putting himself in this spots to get quality chances and plus he still has 2 assists (although it looks like they took away his assist last night so may only be 1 now).

I don't know if Webb or DeRoose did enough to impress me last night, Hansen did more then enough though so unless 1 of those 2 big bodies do more in todays game (if they play in it) looks like Hansen will be definitely chosen over both of them. I just wish Hansen had alittle more will with some toughness, other then that I like Hansen as a player.

One guy I haven't seen anyone talking about on here is Zborovsky this kid has a lot of real good tools to go along with his size. Sure he took a couple penalties last night both of which were pretty bad especially the 2 handed slash he gave out but on the flip side with him he moves the puck really well, has a good shot (wont surprise me 2 years in a row that a Russian has the hardest slap shot from the point for us) and for his size he skates very well. Im very interested in seeing how he progresses over the season, he is already better defensively then Sinitysn was (IMO) he may not have the offensive instincts like Sinitsyn had but that's ok too as all it takes is a good first pass to be off on the offensive attack.

[chopper]

Reading Paddock's comments about the Calgary game, he refers to the size of our team or should I say lack of size compared to Calgary. He said the young guys were the most impressive ones on the night.

The one thing I did notice in my limited time at camp is that we are not particularly big, once again. Considering this was an articulated as a goal of the club, it didn't appear to materialize. We still have a lot of 5'10-5'11 type players.

This was an issue along with poor goaltending this spring in our first round of playoffs. I hope they find a way to address it. IMO opinion Edmonton is the model. They're a big fast skating club and nobody could handle them, icluding Guelph.