Prospect Camp: Day 1

Day 1 of the Sabres Prospect Camp has ended. Here’s how things were organized today.

Team Blue (Main Rink):

Ennis-Adam-Kassian

Henley-Shipley-Jokinen

Parker-Navin-Beyers

Crawford-Biega

McNabb-Gauthier-Leduc

Schiestel-Adams

Eno

Houser

Team White (Aux. Rink):

Foligno-Sundher-Tropp

Boychuk-Cattenacci-Szydiowski

Lagace-Varone-Isackson

Zarbo, Sutch, McCarron

Brennan-Matt Mackenzie

Drew Mackenzie-Pysyk

Lepkowski-Fienhage

Knapp

Cullen

Today’s session mainly featured various 1-on-1, 2-on-1, and 2-on-2 drills. These are the guys that I thought were the most impressive on each team.

Blue:

Forwards: Ennis, HM: Adam

Defense: Biega, HM: McNabb

White:

Forwards: Sundher, HM: Tropp

Defense: Pysyk, HM: Brennan

-The local kid Lepkowski looked good. He had a good stick and out-muscled would-be attackers. During a screen-drill, Foligno had a tough time establishing position in front of the goalie, Cullen, which was very impressive.

-Pysyk was very impressive in the drills. Excellent positioning and was willing to mix it up a bit as well. The highlight of his day from what I saw was him rubbing out Foligno behind the net. If Sekera ends up being moved, there may be a spot for him if he has a good showing in camp

-Brennan looked bigger to me. Outside of a rough start on the 2-on-1 drills from the half-wall, he looked very solid. Good mobility and good positionally.

-Tropp had a lot of battle in his game. He was playing the body a lot and displayed some great stick-handling and a good shot.

-Outside of being huge, I didn’t notice McNabb that much, which is a good thing. Very positionally-sound, physical defender.

-Ennis-Adam-Kassian was putting on a clinic and had some damn good chemistry with each other. They did have to do plenty of push-ups though and Adam got a couple of friendly whacks on the helmet from Lindy.

-Ennis in particular was spectacular. He was the best player on the ice and it wasn’t even close, which is what I expected. Drill-after-drill, he was destroying defenders with his skill.

-Cattenacci played as advertised. Great speed, skating, and tenacity. Him and Sundher fed off of each other well during the 2-on-2’s. At one point, it looked Cattenacci got Fienhage frustrated a bit during 1-on-1’s as well. His offensive ability is a little on the raw side in my opinion, but the potential is there.

-I was taken aback a bit by Foligno. Maybe it’s just me, but I would’ve like to have seen him assert himself a bit more. Not very creative with the puck, which surprised me a bit since he improved in the goal-scoring department in junior last season. He displayed some good leadership qualities while he was giving some instruction during the drills though. All in all, Foligno was solid. Just wanted to see a little more from him.

-Kassian had a better, but similar day to Foligno. He had some trouble with the puck, but the offensive and physical potential was on display. Might have just been rust. Like Foligno, I would’ve like to have seen more from him, but he had a good showing. We’ll see how things progress.

-Sundher was the best forward on the Aux rink. Very fast, very creative, and the release on shot was excellent. He had a nice goal on Cullen. The battle he and Pysyk had during 1-on-1’s was epic.

-I always come away impressed when watching Biega at camp and today was no different. Very fluid skater with a quick release and a rocket of a wrist shot. He sniped Houser a couple of different times. Size will be the only issue with him.

-Didn’t notice Schiestel that much, but it looked like he was skating well during the times I saw him, which is good since he’s coming off a knee-injury. I’ll try to pay attention to him a bit more tomorrow since he does have an outside chance of making the team out of camp as well.

Look for my blog on day 2 tomorrow. It might not come until late afternoon/early evening though because I’ve got plenty of mulch to spread around the landscape.