Blue/White/Camp Thoughts

"Training Camp" wrapped up Monday with the annual Blue/White scrimmage where Team White took down Team Blue 4-2. It's always exciting to see some hockey again but I also think fans and bloggers alike tend to get a little too worked up over a few scrimmage sets. The fact is, these kids are only showing what they have over a very small set of days and I would hate to think that decisions of any large scale magnitude are being made based on a few days over, say, an entire season(s) worth of a players history.

That said... here are a few thoughts I had from watching the Blue/White game and one of the scrimmages.

• The issue on Brandon Schuldhaus has been answered as he tweeted that he was returning home to Minnesota. I'm really not surprised by this one bit and I wholeheartedly agree with Jon's post yesterday regarding what I would have done if I were Schuldhaus. Absolutely no point in risking your eligibility to possibly sit in the stands for 30+ games when you could go back to one of the top prep programs in the country and be ready to possibly take hold of a top 4-5 defensive spot on the team next year.  I did like what I saw from Schuldhaus in his time here. He has a very good hard shot, has good size and skates pretty well despite the fact that he hunches over just a tad bit. As his legs get stronger I imagine coaching staffs/skating coaches will encourage him to stand up a little taller and get a little more out of his stride. Nothing major... nit picking. It's always nicer to get players in the fold right away but it just doesn't always work out for the player to do that and I can't blame him for choosing to play it safe and head back home this season (full disclaimer... the team *could* have sent him home as well. I'm just guessing that all things considered they would have kept him.)
• I bet Equipment Manager Ben Calkins was the happiest of all the campers having to put name bars on all of those jerseys knowing half of them are probably headed home the next day. Fans and this blogger sure do appreciate not having to look down at our rosters every 30 seconds to see "who was that".
• Most unheralded player I liked? 15 year old Jared Pelechaty (spelled Pelechatty on his jersey I think... can anyone confirm?) A smaller defender at just 5'8" had some really good moments during camp concluding in a nice defensive stop on a Shea Theodore rush. There are dozens of WHL defenders who can attest that stopping Shea Theodore on a rush is no easy task. I have no idea whether Seattle has listed him or if he was just a camp invite but I would have to think Seattle will get him on their list (at least I hope they do!)
• The most obvious observation (stop me if you've heard this already) is that Barzal, Gropp and Hickman looked good. Yes, they did. I think they're going to have a monster year. Hickman scored twice Monday and Barzal is, well, Barzal. So let me take a second to point out just how good I think Gropp is going to be this year. Last season saw 6 players who were 17 years old score more than 30 goals. I think Gropp can easily pot 30 and could even threaten 40 with a little bit of luck. I think Hickman will join him as well with a chance to hit 35 as well. That puts Barzal somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-65 assists... and... yup that seems about right. Sam Reinhart had 69 last year as a 17 year old and Brayden Point has 55. Seems reasonable to put him somewhere between the two.
• Kevin Wolf did not stand out very much to me and I would have to agree with some of the comments that I can't really envision him getting very much ice time this year. That would seem to open the door for another team to give him a shot and perhaps Farwell trades him to a team willing to give him some ice time for a younger project defender or an older role playing forward?
• We now know that Nick Holowko has signed an education contract with the Tbirds and that would seem to indicate that he has made the team. I liked his game a lot last year during training camp and while I didn't think he stood out as much this year I certainly like his selection to the team.
• Wyatt Bear was one of the few 15 year old players I was really interested in seeing in person, mainly because his twitter talks about almost nothing but working out with a little hockey sprinkled in. Kids like this have to be really interesting to the team because if he is actually working out as hard as it appears that he is... chances are he is going to maximize the talent that he has. I can't guarantee he'll have a WHL career but I do know that he was one of the few 15's to make it to the Blue/White game and he seemed to be involved in goals nearly each scrimmage day. I'm really interested to see how his game develops.
• Luke Osterman looks like an agitator type at forward but I'm not 100% sure he has signed. I haven't seen any indication that he has left town, so that will have to wait for Friday (or tomorrow if they release their roster).
• I didn't think any of the goalies really separated themselves over the two days that I saw and in light of that I'm still sticking to my prediction that Kozun stays and one of Mumaugh or Flodell probably gets traded and that is likely to be Mumuagh.
• As for the other 20's, I think the jury is still out. I thought Adam Henry and Sam Mckechnie were both trying a little bit too hard and Evan Wardley didn't participate. Your guess is as good as mine. If Osterman is a foward and makes the team, I think this team is short one defender and the likely means Wardley/Henry.
• I didn't see a lot from Michael Sauer. If you're fighting for a spot on the team I would have liked to see a little bit more obvious fire.
• Hauf looks like he wants to hit everything that moves but I'm not really going to be super impressed by that until I see him do it against older players.

So where do I see it right this minute (knowing this could change real quick based on the roster coming out literally any minute now)

Forwards: 14

Justin Hickman (20)

Ryan Gropp (18)

Scott Eansor (18)

Calvin Spencer (18)

Mathew Barzal (17)

Florian Baltram (17)

Alexander True (17)

Keegan Kolesar (17)

Lane Pederson (17)

Nick Holowko (17)

Donovan Nuels (17)*

Luke Osterman (17)*

Nolan Volcan (16)

Kaden Elder (16)

Defense: 7

Evan Wardley/Adam Henry (20)

Shea Theodore (19)

Jaret Smith (19)

Jared Hauf (19)

Kevin Wolf (18)

Ethan Bear (17)

Sahvan Khaira (16)

Goalies: 3

Taran Kozun (20)

Danny Mumaugh (18)

Logan Flodell (17)

*- Not convinced that Nuels makes it and we don't know the status on Osterman yet. If Osterman leaves without signing I would expect Nuels to make it and even if he IS around Nuels still might make it if they want to carry 14 forwards. I also think there are WAY too many 17's in here for my liking and especially up front and as such I would not be surprised to maybe see a goalie packaged with one of them for an 18 or 19 year old forward.

I really feel like this team could be on the cusp of something really special, if not this year, certainly next year. But, I don't currently have a lot of faith in this forward group at the moment. You are counting on getting a lot of production out of guys who have yet to show it. That doesn't mean they can't or that they won't... it just means you're hoping on a lot of "IF's". I'd love to see that group solidified a little bit with another veteran forward to push everyone down the depth chart a notch and round out the whole unit.