Flyers Prospect Development Camp Recap: Tuesday

The Flyers prospects had a lot to show at Player Development Camp on Tuesday. After the forwards and defensemen were split up on Monday; the two corps intermingled and we got to see some intriguing match ups. A lot the drills were 1 v 1 which showed the strengths and exposed some weakness' of the prospects.

Here is a recap of some of the players performances Tuesday.

Petr Straka, who was the most impressive player I saw on Monday, was showing off his skills again Tuesday morning. Probably the part of this game most on display today was his speed. One drill required the forward to receive a pass from a defenseman, skate around obstacles through the neutral zone, turn around at the far blue line and the go in one on one against the defenseman. Straka was able to use his speed to get the defenseman back on their heels and was usually able to release a shot unincumbered. Straka did fumble the puck a couple times, but was overall strong on the puck. A left handed right wing, Straka has a great ability to cut to the middle from the right wing, something a Jakub Voracek just developed last year. He struggles mightily cutting from the left wing to the center; so I wouldn't count on him pulling the reverse Ovechkin anytime soon.

Nick Cousins probably put on his most impressive performance at a Flyers Prospect camp ever on Tuesday. He was able to show off some of the skills that made him one of the OHL's top players over the past two seasons. A two on one drill allowed him to show off his impressive passing skills. And he was able to show off his hands and was able to create space on multiple one on one drills.

Mark Alt was probably the most impressive defenseman at camp today. Alt's raw skill has been talked about a lot since the Flyers acquired him. Andreas Lilja called him "something special" (which might not sound like a lot, but he has played with some great defensemen in his time and more importantly some defenseman who would go on to become great). What impressed me most about Alt was his positioning. He always always between the shooter and the goalie, preventing the shooter from getting a quality shot. He used his big frame and considerable strengths to drive players outside. He was an all around defensive force. That is all on top of offensive skill. He can make a quick first past and has a very heavy wrist shot, probably the hardest amongst defensemen at camp.

I got a much better look at 2011 First Round pick Scott Laughton on Tuesday. I thought he looked good after seeing him briefly on Monday, but he is apparently at a whole other level. Laughton has showed off some impressive offensive skills. He has very good hands and showed no fear in using those hands against some of the Flyers top defensive prospects. His shot has always been impressive, but he seems to have become more accurate. His tenacity and willingness to initiate contact with defensemen allows him to drive defensemen back or catch them off guard and go right past them. We knew he was a smart player, we knew he was tough, we knew he was strong defensively, but he's become a much better offensive player than when we drafted him last season.


Shayne Gostisbehere was pretty tenacious in his own right. We all think of Gostisbehere as a small, puck moving, point producing forward; which he is. But if you've seen Gostisbehere, either at World Juniors or at Union, you'll know he has a physical side to him. Every time I watched play at Union I saw him step up and blow up a forward from the other team. He is an aggressive player. We didn't see him drop anybody at camp today, but we did see him use his speed to get into players faces and force them outside.

Robert Hagg had a strong Tuesday. His gap control and active stick made him a hard to play against one on one. Most of the time players couldn't even get a shot off. He has an impressive wrist shot but he isn't incredibly accurate. He did struggle in the two on one drills.

One player that I found surprisingly impressive as camp invitee Stephen Harper. Harper was ranked 38th Overall amongst North American skaters half way through the season. Craig Button had him as the 30th ranked prospect overall in October. But Harper struggled throughout the season, fell to be the 128th ranked North American skater by the end of the season, and fell completely off the board on draft day. Today I got my first look at Harper and you could see that first round potential he had at the start of the season. He's fast, aggressive, and has a quick release on his shot. Probably the most impressive part about Harper is how he plays away from the puck. In the two on one drill he would always put himself in the best position. I don't know why he struggled so much this past season. But he has tons of potential. He may be invited to the prospect camp in the fall, but I would love to see them sign him before another team sees his potential and snaps him up.

One of the most interesting drills was a one on one drill that pitted two players against each other for a long period of time (well a long period compared to the usual one on one drills). It was essentially a one on one battle until the forward scores, the defenseman clears the zone, or the goalie covered it. And since players were usually pitted up against the same player again and again we got a consistent look at how guys play. Here are some of the match ups.

STRAKA VS LUUKKO

 I praised Luukko yesterday for becoming a strong defensive player. Today he was matched up against one of the best offensive players in camp. He did quite well. He didn't give Straka many open looks, but he also couldn't keep the puck away from Straka for very long. Whenever Luukko was able to knock the puck off Straka's stick Straka would win the race to the puck. That's a big plus for Straka; he wants the puck. The only way somebody would beat him to the puck is if he got lazy and that's not how he plays.

NOEBELS VS ALT

Noebels was able to pull of a couple of nifty moves early; but this was the Mark Alt show. Noebels is big, strong, and offensively gifted. Those three things come together in Noebels better than they do in anybody else in camp. And Mark Alt dominated him. He was physical when he needed to be physical; he was smart when he needed to be smart.

COUSINS VS WILLCOX

 Cousins has great hands, decent speed, and good escape ability. Maybe Willcox, who is 6 inches bigger than Cousins, was just too much for Cousins to handle but Willcox handled him pretty much every time they squared off. Willcox has become a strong defensive defenseman. He went from being lanky last camp to beefy at this camp. His combination of physicality and smarts reminds me a lot of Nicklas Grossmann. He may not get to the league as fast (Grossmann was a regular NHLer when he was 22/23) but I think he can be just as effective.

HARPER VS HAGG

This was the best battle between two players in this drill. One time Hagg would dominate and Harper wouldn't be able to get a shot off. Sometimes Harper's aggressiveness would be too much for Hagg to handle. This wasn't a battle between a 2nd round pick and a camp invitee, this was a battle between two very talent players imposing their will on one another. Both were very impressive.

LAUGHTON VS MORIN

It should have been the clash of the titans. Two first round picks going toe to toe. It wasn't. This was Scott Laughton taking Samuel Morin to school. Laughton's speed and escapablity would usually be too much to handle, but Laughton didn't rely on his strengths, he went right for Morin's strengths. He initiated contract, meaning he went right into Morin's strength and in the range of Morin's reach. He went right at what Morin does best and he beat him at it.

Samuel Morin was primed to have a great day in camp. In early drills Morin was playing well. He scored glove side three times (twice going short side on Penn State Goalie Matt Skoff, once going long side on 6th round pick Merrick Madsen). Then things started going down hill. Morin began fumbling the puck and missing guys on passes while still going through offensive drills. But when it turned to defensive drills is when things went bad. On the one on one fast break drill he retreated far too fast allowing most players to get shots of unencumbered. One time Stephen Harper came down the wing, initiated contact, and then blew right by Morin and tucked by the goalie far side. Morin went against Harper again, this time Morin was more aggressive and forced him into the corner. In the two on one drill Morin again retreated to fast allowing the two forwards to pass around him like a pylon. One time through the two on one drill Morin looked dominant, but as he was skating the puck out of the zone he was caught by (guess who) Stephen Harper, who stripped him of the puck. Morin then laid out to block a pass to Harper's partner (Andrew Johnston, I believe) and slid out of the zone allowing the two players to go back and forth a couple times before Morin got back in the zone.

Luckily for Morin, the things he did bad today can be easily fixed. One problem is that Morin might not be fixing those things until he gets to the Phantoms. Morin has had the same coach, Serge Beausoleil, for both his seasons at Rimouski. If Beausoleil hasn't fixed this yet he probably isn't going to while Morin is still in junior. I wish Morin could jump straight to the AHL. He's not ready for the NHL, not by a long shot, but he could learn and grow so much by playing in the AHL. Players like Morin can only learn so much by pushing around 16 year olds and undersized 20 year olds in the QMJHL. He needs to play against men as soon as possible. That's why you see a handful of great defensive defensemen coming out of Europe at a younger age (Grossmann was 22, Ladislav Smid started his first full season at 20) cause they play and practice against men. Unfortunately, because of a transfer agreement, Morin can't go to the AHL until he is 20.

In goalie news Anthony Stolarz was might impressive today. He even showed off a little bit of his prowess playing the puck. Stolarz has easily been the best goalie in camp so far, which is impressive considering Ryan McKay was dominant in the NCAA as a 20 year old freshman. Merrick Madsen had another impressive day; seeing a higher caliber of shots from guys like Laughton, Harper, and Taylor Leier (yesterday he only played against defensemen).

Trial on the Isle tomorrow and the Flyers prospects are back on the ice Thursday.

Here are my thoughts on the Flyers at Prospect Camp from Monday