-Lineup for tonight’s game against Hershey: Silfverberg-Pageau-Zibanejad, Dziurzynski-Culek-Stone, Cowick-Grant-Peltz, Kramer-Gazley-Downing; Eckford-Blood, Gryba-New, Claesson-Wideman; Robin Lehner gets the start.
-Tim Murray has praised Robin Lehner and Jared Cowen‘s training camp thus far.
–Mark Borowiecki talks about this year’s training camp experience:
The lockout hasn’t affected training camp too much for us. Obviously there are a few of the “big name” guys who are here with us [presumably Silfverberg and Cowen]. The intensity level has been high. Luke (Richardson) is making sure that we maintain that level of intensity everyday and I think guys are really treating this just as it is – their main camp for the season. I’ve been through six development camps now with Ottawa, so I’ve been around the organization for a while as one of the younger guys. Because of that there is a sense of familiarity with this group at training camp. There are already some relationships that have been made by going through those development camps together so it makes it easy coming back in here to prepare for the season. Our first preseason game is tomorrow night against Hershey [5th in the Eastern Conference last season]. We’ve been preparing out here on the ice at practice these past few days. We’re working hard and keeping the pace is high. I think in the end that effort will show. It’ll kind of translate over into our first game. Going into the new season I think we have something to prove. I know for me personally and I think also for our team, especially after the way last year went [30th in the league], we’re going to play with a chip on our shoulder. We want to come out and work hard to prove that we’re not that bad and after these first few days of camp I really think were going to rebound this year.
There’s nothing unexpected here, but there’s little reason to doubt Borowiecki‘s sentiment that the players feel like they have something to prove this season.
–SteffeG offers some insight on Mika Zibanejad:
I do think he’s [Zibanejad] better suited at wing. He likes to rush down the wing and try to beat his defender or fire a hard shot from distance, which might be a good way to create chances for a certain type of player, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the full capacity of the wingers are used if the finishing player is the centre. In addition to that, he’s struggled in the face-off circle in Sweden, which usually means he’d have an even tougher time in the NHL in that aspect. [Zibanejad‘s] shown great maturity and defensive qualities early in his career. Perhaps even more so in his first year, as an SEL rookie, actually. I don’t think he’ll ever be a part of a good PP unit. Well, he likes to shoot and his shot is his best PP quality, so if anywhere, that’s where he should be. Perhaps as the net-front presence if he can handle that on an NHL power play.
The description of Zibanejad‘s style reminds me a lot of Mike Fisher–a player who loved to rush down the wing and fire the puck (high, hard, and wide most of the time). That style is much better suited on the wing, although for whatever reason Fisher was never able to thrive that way.
-Binghamton plays Hershey in their first pre-season game tonight so I thought I’d look at the Bears and the changes to their roster since last season (this is their training camp roster). Six of the team’s top-eight scoring forwards are elsewhere (Chris Bourque with Providence, Keith Aucoin with the Toronto Marlies, Jacob Micflikier with Biel in the NLA, Kyle Greentree with Zagreb in Austrian league, Cody Eakin with Texas, and Christian Hanson with Providence). Remaining with Hershey are former B-Sen Ryan Potulny along with Boyd Kane, top-blueliner Patrick McNeill and the goaltending tandem of Braden Holtby and Dany Sabourin. Veterans signed include Jeff Taffe (from Houston), Jon DiSalvatore (also Houston), and Garrett Stafford (from Hamilton). In terms of interesting or highly ranked prospects there’s Dmitry Orlov (who spent most of last season with Washington) and former 8th overall pick Zach Hamill. No word on either lineup as yet. Addition: here’s a Hershey blog that examines the players in training camp.
–Bob Howard wonders if Luke Richardson will be the best coach in Binghamton’s history, basing his speculation on Richardson’s past as an NHL player. I don’t follow the logic–Scotty Bowman never played in the NHL and that didn’t hurt his coaching acumen, while there is a long laundry list of former players who have crashed and burned as head coaches.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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