2019 Minnesota Wild Prospect Development Camp

[CreaseAndAssist]

2019 Minnesota Wild Prospect Development Camp, roster, schedule and players to watch for

 

Camp starts today, a little earlier than normal.  In the past I've gone to the practices and scrimmages and I have always felt they're pretty cool.  One interesting switch this year seems to be they're not doing the big scrimmages and instead replacing it with a 3-on-3 tournament.  Enjoy and discuss.  

[Alexandron]

7 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

2019 Minnesota Wild Prospect Development Camp, roster, schedule and players to watch for

 

Camp starts today, a little earlier than normal.  In the past I've gone to the practices and scrimmages and I have always felt they're pretty cool.  One interesting switch this year seems to be they're not doing the big scrimmages and instead replacing it with a 3-on-3 tournament.  Enjoy and discuss.  

Hope, DeWar, Khovanov and Lodnia will be in AHL this season, and hope also, Sokolov will be moved from the 4th line to a 3rd or even 2nd line in Iowa Wild or maybe he will start playing at least for the 4th line in a big club. Agree, by playing in the 4th line in Iowa he had excellent stats - 30 points (16 goals, 14 assists) in only 60 games last season. In genera,l wish that Iowa Wild with that solid roster will be a Calder Cup winner next year. Gordeev having a nice promise too, and like to see him also in our AHL team. Good sign for the Fillip Johansson, that he admitted a high pressure to be as a 1st round pick  last year which caused to lose his confidence. That means he will double his confidence this year to prove that he is a real 1st round pick draft. Believe he is able to show that chance to us in full.

[CreaseAndAssist]

8 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

Hope, DeWar, Khovanov and Lodnia will be in AHL this season, and hope also, Sokolov will be moved from the 4th line to a 3rd or even 2nd line in Iowa Wild or maybe he will start playing at least for the 4th line in a big club. Agree, by playing in the 4th line in Iowa he had excellent stats - 30 points (16 goals, 14 assists) in only 60 games last season. In genera,l wish that Iowa Wild with that solid roster will be a Calder Cup winner next year. Gordeev having a nice promise too, and like to see him also in our AHL team. Good sign for the Fillip Johansson, that he admitted a high pressure to be as a 1st round pick  last year which caused to lose his confidence. That means he will double his confidence this year to prove that he is a real 1st round pick draft. Believe he is able to show that chance to us in full.

 

No Cal O'Reilly in Iowa, that will be tough for them to replace.  

[IllaZilla]

17 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

No Cal O'Reilly in Iowa, that will be tough for them to replace.  

That's a bummer, but at some point the Wild need to start giving these young guys more responsibilities and ice time, and you can't do that if you keep populating the team with a majority of NHL cast-offs...

[CreaseAndAssist]

21 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

That's a bummer, but at some point the Wild need to start giving these young guys more responsibilities and ice time, and you can't do that if you keep populating the team with a majority of NHL cast-offs...

 

I get it, but he's a leader and a good example for young players to follow.  He and Mayhew and to a lesser extent Rau were the workhorses on that team.  More youngsters will have that chance to carry the mail, but I'd still want O'Reilly for culture / character reasons alone.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

Double post

Edited June 26, 2019 by CreaseAndAssist

[Alexandron]

Congrats to our exclusively promising prospect Connor Dewar, who had a Birthday(20 y.o.) today (he was born on June 26,1999). According to the eliteprospects.com he is going to play in Iowa Wild this season.  Last season was the most advanced one for his stats and for the Wild organization.  By being a Captain for the Everett Silvertips (WHL) in 59 games he had 81 points (36 goals;45 assists; +/- +27) as well as in playoffs for that team he had in 9 games 10 points (5 goals;5 assists; +/- +2).

 

I was trying to look at the main Wild website for the full list of prospects involved this summer to the development camp but did not find it. Usually we had that list in previous years.

[CreaseAndAssist]

8 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Congrats to our exclusively promising prospect Connor Dewar, who had a Birthday(20 y.o.) today (he was born on June 26,1999). According to the eliteprospects.com he is going to play in Iowa Wild this season.  Last season was the most advanced one for his stats and for the Wild organization.  By being a Captain for the Everett Silvertips (WHL) in 59 games he had 81 points (36 goals;45 assists; +/- +27) as well as in playoffs for that team he had in 9 games 10 points (5 goals;5 assists; +/- +2).

 

I was trying to look at the main Wild website for the full list of prospects involved this summer to the development camp but did not find it. Usually we had that list in previous years.

 

I have that roster in the article.  

[Alexandron]

On 6/27/2019 at 7:30 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

I have that roster in the article.  

Thanks LIG, I found out that part from your article which I missed. According to that full list we have this year an unusual small number of invitees (just 4). That is a good sign IMO, which means we have plenty of promising prospects in our system that we can chose from.In that presented list,  6 out of 9 Russian players are involved in this development camp. Surprisingly a young Finnish goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen was not included there. Interesting what kind our team we are going to see this September (9/6-9/10) during a Traverse City Tournament. Last year we had a pretty good team.

 

It seems that Dewar, Lodnia and Gordeev will play in AHL this season. Khovanov and Filip Johansson are not there according to the eliteprospects.com. Hope at least Khovanov will be added somehow in our farm club too despite of his young age.

[Alexandron]

On 6/26/2019 at 11:32 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

I get it, but he's a leader and a good example for young players to follow.  He and Mayhew and to a lesser extent Rau were the workhorses on that team.  More youngsters will have that chance to carry the mail, but I'd still want O'Reilly for culture / character reasons alone.  

They could try to build a nice culture of the current Iowa Wild team around 3 players - Connor Dewar (who was a Captain and a nice leader in his previous team Everett Silvertips); Mayhew and Rau. Hope, Mayhew, and Rau would be involved in a big club too. Both merit that chance because progressed well last 2 seasons in Iowa Wild. Just looked on a Damien Giroux stats - he progressed pretty well in Saginaw Spirit team last season too. Still, do not know if he is going to play in AHL this season or not.

[Alexandron]

Yesterday a good article was published regarding our Development 2019 Camp which ended of a tournament with 4 teams of 6 players in each team. The winner was the "Wild" team that rolled undefeated through the tournament to win a 3-on-3 Cup. It was also nice to see  in that team a Nico Sturm( a very strong leader), 4 Russians in it(Lodnia, Khovanov,Gordeev ,Guskov) and one defenseman from Eden Prairie, MN Louie Roehl who is playing for the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Here is link to that article:

https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/3-on-3-championship-camp-wrap-062819/c-308121630

 

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

On 6/29/2019 at 3:37 PM, Alexandron said:

Yesterday a good article was published regarding our Development 2019 Camp which ended of a tournament with 4 teams of 6 players in each team. The winner was the "Wild" team that rolled undefeated through the tournament to win a 3-on-3 Cup. It was also nice to see  in that team a Nico Sturm( a very strong leader), 4 Russians in it(Lodnia, Khovanov,Gordeev ,Guskov) and one defenseman from Eden Prairie, MN Louie Roehl who is playing for the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Here is link to that article:

https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/3-on-3-championship-camp-wrap-062819/c-308121630

 

 

 

Gordeev had a wicked toe drag move in that game.  Looked like a forward in how smooth he pulled it off.  They had less players in camp.  The camp was shorter and more focused according to Brad Bombardir.  

[Alexandron]

In my opinion, the picture from the main Website of the winning "Wild"(6 players) team during a 3-on- 3 tournament of the Development Camp is a  real promising Wild future (left to right - Roehl,Guskov,Lodnia,Khovanov,Sturm,Gordeev) with added Kaprizov and Sokolov too. I would sign Roehl to the Wild, who seems is a very nice prospect defenseman. Hope, the Wild organization will not waste them for nothing special.

 

Here is a picture:

https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/2019-development-camp-gallery/c-308130572

 

The author of this and a previous article about the Development Camp made a mistake in the last name of one prospect. He wrote Dordeev instead of Gordeev. Gordiyi means Proud from Russian.

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

You can see most of the 3-on-3 tournament here 

 

 

The standouts for me...

 

Ivan Lodnia - he has a pretty wicked release.  Looked very mature and played well at both ends of the ice.  I thought he was impressive.  

 

Ivan Khovanov - he can score from in close or on the perimeter, very noticeable in terms of his quickness, skill and stickhandling to dangle around opposing skaters.  Great instincts.  I liked how he relished his team's victory a bit more than his peers.  

 

Brandon Duhaime - his hustle and superior strength was very noticeable, he also had 3 goals...lead the way for his team which is good to see from a player who is in at least his 3rd prospect camp.  

 

Fedor Gordeev - far more skill than you'd expect from a big guy.  

 

Nico Sturm - a man among boys out there, was named the camp's hardest worker...used his size and strength very effectively to protect the puck.  

 

Bryce Misley - this kid had more goals in the 3-on-3 tournament than all of last season for the Catamounts, he had some nice snipes.  Also worked pretty hard in his own end, I noticed him a lot.  Hopefully he can have a big year at Vermont this fall & winter.  

 

Damien Giroux - he ended up being named Most Improved and is a pretty well-rounded player...I noticed him more defensively than offensively.  Not real explosive but he doesn't give you much time and space

 

Connor Dewar - good instincts although he does seem to look to be fed the puck a bit too much for my liking, but isn't afraid to go into the high traffic areas.  

 

Dmitry Sokolov - Great hands, another player who can score in a lot of ways...noticed he was talking to the coaches a lot during the intermissions, seemed to be having a good time.  

 

Marshall Warren - Great skater, played more like a forward than a defenseman, a bit too cute with the puck and he crashed the net a lot.

 

The Meh group...

 

Matthew Boldy - he had a few flashes, but the skating issues were kind of apparent with the 3-on-3 games being played in just one zone of the ice.  I thought he struggled with the quickness of the game.  He had a shootout goal, and probably should've had a late goal in the semi-final game that went off a glove but beyond that he wasn't that noticeable to me.  I expected more.  

 

Adam Beckman - I see what they mean by scouts saying he plays a cerebral style of game.  He isn't the quickest but he positions himself well and uses his smarts to be where he needs to be most of the time.  However, the lack of burst also seemed to be exposed in some of the 1-on-1 situations when he was trying to defend and just struggled to keep up with the pace of play.  I didn't see much of anything from him offensively either.  

 

Filip Johansson - I noticed him a bit trying to tie up his man along the boards, but he still seems small and lacking strength.  He wasn't dominant.  I am still trying to see what the Wild see in him, yet I'm glad he was at camp.  

 

Jack McBain - more noticeable than I expected him to be.  Seemed to struggle a bit with the quickness of the game but still got involved in a fair amount of battles in around the goal in the offensive zone.  Wanted to see a bit more; I am curious about his collision with future BC teammate Matthew Boldy.  Was that just a goofy collision or was there a little bit of nastiness there? 

 

The ugly group...

 

Dereck Baribeau - I realize he had a rough, injury-plagued season in the QMJHL but he was a sieve the whole tournament.  Oh a goal was scored...who was it on, yup...Baribeau again.  

 

Shawn Boudrias - I can't recall seeing him on the ice other than skating around during intermissions.  Not a good thing to be invisible as a power forward.  Yes, the tournament probably favors smaller, quicker players but you'd hope he could use his big frame to work the puck down low or drive to the net.  Never saw anything from him.  

 

 

 

[Alexandron]

10 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

You can see most of the 3-on-3 tournament here 

 

Thanks LIG for posting. I liked a very nice speed and a puck control for the most players. Commentators said that we had this Development Camp a very high level of talents in comparison to other years. Interesting, that Gordeev having a nick name Gordie which was a first name of Gordie Howe. And agree, Gordeev having a pretty nice size for the defenseman and a high skills which forwards usually  have.  Maybe he could be our second Brent Burns? I am not surprised that Nico Sturm was named as a hardest worker, because that is a common style of work for most Germans who liked everything to be in a superb order and best results as in general and as in sports as well. Like I said before, he could be a very nice leader in a future, hope a Captain, for the big club. Time will show. In general , I think we are having at least a nice chance to win a Calder Cup this season if the most promising players from the Development Camp will be signed to the Iowa Wild this season.

[CreaseAndAssist]

2 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Thanks LIG for posting. I liked a very nice speed and a puck control for the most players. Commentators said that we had this Development Camp a very high level of talents in comparison to other years. Interesting, that Gordeev having a nick name Gordie which was a first name of Gordie Howe. And agree, Gordeev having a pretty nice size for the defenseman and a high skills which forwards usually  have.  Maybe he could be our second Brent Burns? I am not surprised that Nico Sturm was named as a hardest worker, because that is a common style of work for most Germans who liked everything to be in a superb order and best results as in general and as in sports as well. Like I said before, he could be a very nice leader in a future, hope a Captain, for the big club. Time will show. In general , I think we are having at least a nice chance to win a Calder Cup this season if the most promising players from the Development Camp will be signed to the Iowa Wild this season.

 

From an Iowa perspective, they look like they will have some nice additions to the roster, at least up front.  Gordeev will be a nice addition to the blueline.  A big player with more skill and mobility than you'd expect.  If I was Tim Army and Brett McLean I'd really like what I saw at camp.  

[lynxrattle]

I just watched the 3-3 Youtube clip. Get those Russians in major offensive roles. They seem to be able to score and have the hunger to shoot when they get the chance. I was impressed by them. Otherwise pretty meh.

[CreaseAndAssist]

3 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

I just watched the 3-3 Youtube clip. Get those Russians in major offensive roles. They seem to be able to score and have the hunger to shoot when they get the chance. I was impressed by them. Otherwise pretty meh.

 

Lodnia will probably be in Iowa, but Khovanov will be back in the QMJHL most likely.  Guskov, back to the OHL.  

[IllaZilla]

Think they're going to give Sturm a roster spot or have him start in Iowa? Personally I'd rather see Sturm get top line minutes in Iowa rather than be stuck on the fourth line with Rask and whatever flotsam and jetsam the Wild acquire...

[Alexandron]

5 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Think they're going to give Sturm a roster spot or have him start in Iowa? Personally I'd rather see Sturm get top line minutes in Iowa rather than be stuck on the fourth line with Rask and whatever flotsam and jetsam the Wild acquire...

It would be better to give him more minutes   in Iowa and help the team to reach Calder Cup finals. But I do not exclude that he could be  used in the top lines of the big club as a Center player with a line, for example,  like Zucker (LW)-Sturm(C)- Zuccarello  (RW having a left shot).

[IllaZilla]

8 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

It would be better to give him more minutes   in Iowa and help the team to reach Calder Cup finals. But I do not exclude that he could be  used in the top lines of the big club as a Center player with a line, for example,  like Zucker (LW)-Sturm(C)- Zuccarello  (RW having a left shot).

Sturm would have to play like Connor McDavid to move Staal and Koivu off the 1C and 2C slots.  That leaves the 3C which Eriksson-Ek is probably going to center or the 4C which is probably Rasks spot. And you don’t want Sturm wasting his time on the third or fourth line. Hopefully Fenton doesn’t extend Koivu so in a year Sturm has a shot at getting meaningful playing time...

[CreaseAndAssist]

23 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Think they're going to give Sturm a roster spot or have him start in Iowa? Personally I'd rather see Sturm get top line minutes in Iowa rather than be stuck on the fourth line with Rask and whatever flotsam and jetsam the Wild acquire...

 

(shrugs)  Nico Sturm looks to me like he could be a decent 3rd or 4th line center to start.  I just don't see this team moving #12 or #9 off the top 6.  Sturm plays responsible defensively I think he'd be able to play that role and not look like a fish out of water.  

 

The more I think about Joel Eriksson Ek, the more I want to see the club try trade him.  I saw some suggesting the Wild deal Eriksson Ek for Pujuljarvi who is a right shot, right wing.  IMO, Luke Kunin should be the player we're working into the Top 6 and having Koivu play 3rd line.  Now if we could only get someone to take away slow frail ghost Victor Rask...

 

I guess for myself, while I would not be upset or disappointed to see Sturm start the season in Iowa to get more minutes but I think he projects more as a bottom 6 center anyways.  No matter what, I think his strength and maturity have been obvious from the start.   He's a bit older too, so I am not sure you want him spending another season or two in the minors.  Just my 2 cents.  I am not in favor of simply giving him a spot, make him earn it; but I think he really would with his work ethic, strength along the boards and ability to use his bigger body to protect the puck.  

 

Call me vindictive but I really want to see Greenway and Donato start in Iowa to humble them a bit.  Make them stay their a month and appreciate the fact they should give their best ALL of the time no matter if you're in St. Paul or Des Moines.  

[IllaZilla]

22 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

(shrugs)  Nico Sturm looks to me like he could be a decent 3rd or 4th line center to start.  I just don't see this team moving #12 or #9 off the top 6.  Sturm plays responsible defensively I think he'd be able to play that role and not look like a fish out of water.  

 

The more I think about Joel Eriksson Ek, the more I want to see the club try trade him.  I saw some suggesting the Wild deal Eriksson Ek for Pujuljarvi who is a right shot, right wing.  IMO, Luke Kunin should be the player we're working into the Top 6 and having Koivu play 3rd line.  Now if we could only get someone to take away slow frail ghost Victor Rask...

 

I guess for myself, while I would not be upset or disappointed to see Sturm start the season in Iowa to get more minutes but I think he projects more as a bottom 6 center anyways.  No matter what, I think his strength and maturity have been obvious from the start.   He's a bit older too, so I am not sure you want him spending another season or two in the minors.  Just my 2 cents.  I am not in favor of simply giving him a spot, make him earn it; but I think he really would with his work ethic, strength along the boards and ability to use his bigger body to protect the puck.  

 

Call me vindictive but I really want to see Greenway and Donato start in Iowa to humble them a bit.  Make them stay their a month and appreciate the fact they should give their best ALL of the time no matter if you're in St. Paul or Des Moines.  

 

That would be delicious...

[Tomdog]

Of all our up and comers in the near future, I only see kunin playing center above the 3rd line. 

The rest are 3rd or 4th liners. 

Unfortunatly without more right hand shooters, kinin will be forced to play wing. 

I was really hoping Fenton would package a bunch of these marginal players with draft picks for players with more upside. 

[Alexandron]

Why I liked the “Wild” team and why this team rolled undefeated during the tournament? Because it had a nice balance of scorers, playmakers and offensively minded defense. I was not impressed about the goalie play in that team, because it was Baribeau and agree, he had too many softies/ goals he definitely should take. From Sturm, Lodnia, Khovanov, Gordeev I liked their individual skills on the puck control and shots from the close and far distances. Sturm is more a playmaker and Lodnia and Khovanov are more a goal scorers(both I would say similar to a Panarin style of play). Interesting, that Panarin congratulated Lodnia through the tweet as soon as Lodnia was drafted by the Wild organization. Maybe they have a good relations. Special words I would like to say about Matvey Guskov – extremely nice center forward, having a very strong shots. His one timer goal was just a beauty. I also discovered from the eliteprospects.com about Guskov that his father Alexander Guskov was a long term professional defenseman for the Russian team at the World Championships ,as well as Russian Federation and KHL famous teams there, who won a silver medal at the World Championship and 2 golds at the Russian Federation Championships. Alexander actually was drafted in 2003 by Columbus Blue Jackets, but never had a chance to play in NHL. That means we have now 2 dynasty players(Lodnia and Guskov) in our system which fathers were Russian professional hockey players.

 

Besides the”Wild” team I also noticed the “Fighting Saints” team which had 2 trio players (Boldy,Dewar with a defenseman Warren and Sokolov,Nesterenko with a defenseman Filip Johansson). It seems Nesterenko could be developed into a smart solid playmaker. Sokolov had a couple nice goals when he played together with Nesterenko and Johansson in that trio.

 

Hope also, we will be able to see and evaluate our second round #42 overall Vladislav Firstov play performance during a Traverse City tournament this fall if he will get a visa by that time. Wish that our prospect goalies Jones and Lindberg as well as Kahkonen will be involved too into that tournament. With our talented promising roster this year, I think, we have a chance to win that tournament for the first time if we will be prepared mentally and physically well to it.

 

In general IMO, as more our prospects will be able to participate in a short term competitions (tournaments) including international one as more valuable players we could develop in a future for the Wild organization.