Prospect Development Camp - Day 4 Recap

Another day in the books for the Pittsburgh Penguins 2014 Prospect Development Camp. As mentioned previously, we've got some talented guys who have been covering and reporting on Camps for years. Make sure to check out Eric Majeski (@LGP_netwolf) who always provides us with excellent Camp reports. Also, former Pensburgh contributor and WBS Baby Pens expert Tony Androckitis (@H_P_Hockey) will be there starting tomorrow and will have updates for us at his website Highland Park Hockey. And Ian Altenbaugh (@IanAltenbaugh) who covers the Penguins for Hockey's Future is another great follow. I'm not sure who else is attending, but be sure to give them a shout out as well.

Team Roster

Day 4 was dominated by half-ice 3-on-3 scrimmages, so the groups were split into 4 teams so that they could run two game simultaneously. They weren't as balanced as they were when split into 2 teams though. Of course considering half the prospects can play Center in addition to the wing it's not too important to get hung up on who is listed at which position.

3-on-3 Scrimmage and more

They started the day with a long session of drills and line rushes. While there wasn't anything overly exciting happening with simple drills, we did get to see some unexpected offensive flair from what are normally primarily defensive D. Big body D Alex Boak picked a corner with a clean shot and Reid McNeill got his stick on puck and scored on a tip-in.

The bulk of the players waited in the neutral zone for their turn to hop into action, while the games themselves were played on the other side of the blocked off blue line. Two nets were set up in each zone along the boards, and each team used 1 G, 2 F, and a D for their scrimmages. The action was fast paced, with lots of back and forth and it was easy to miss something if you were busy paying attention to what was happening at the other end. However, there were still some players that stood out from the rest.

Getting into an actual game situation it was the first chance for the goalies to stand out, and this time around Matthew Murray made his presence felt. He did get beat on occasion, it would be next to impossible not to with such a flurry of activity in a confined space, but he made a number of excellent saves and looks to be ready to battle for starting minutes in WBS this fall.

On the blue line it was yet another day for Brian Dumoulin to stand out amongst the crowd, using his speed and maneuverability to undress opposing players, as well showing off his offensive skill with slick stickhandling and accurate shooting.

Harrington had his moments, particularly in the odd-man situations, but he wasn't quite as impressive as he had been in previous days. He is still one of the top D out there, but he just wasn't miles above this time.

Another D that got a chance to showcase his seldom used offensive talent was Nick D`Agostino, who scored a couple of slick goals of his own.

Being the first game situation, it was also the chance for the defensive side of things to stand out, and Ryan Segalla was not shy about laying big hits and separating players from the puck.

Reid McNeill also got to throw his weight around a bit, but he continued showing off the side we didn't know existed as he cleaned up a rebound to score.

Clark Seymour was mostly invisible, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for a defensive D, but as the physicality ramped up towards the end of the session he started to make his presence known.

Up front it was a big day for Tom Kuhnhackl, he showed off a decent amount of strength and physicality, as well as solid defensive plays, in addition to a renewed offensive burst from our German sniper.

Perhaps the most impressive though was Anton Zlobin, he undressed Oskar Sundqvist, nearly toppling over the giant as he deked past him. But we already knew about the offensive skill of our Russian sniper, so what made him stand out was how well he played at both ends of the ice, picking pockets and breaking up plays.

Matia Marcantuoni had his moments as well, using his speed and skating to make space and showing that he is better offensively that his numbers playing for one of the worst teams in the OHL would indicate.

Jean-Sebastien Dea also continued to impress with his slick skating and sniper mentality, he may be rather slight for an NHL-calbre forward, but his speed and hands more than make up for that.

It was also a big day for Adam Payerl, not only did he get the opportunity to showcase his physical talent in a game situation, but he also showed that he does still possess a decent amount of offensive skill as well.

Somewhat overshadowed by his more experienced teammates, Kasperi Kapanen also showed enough of his underlying skill to indicate that the potential is indeed there for him to be an excellent addition to the team at some point in the near future. He did get to showcase his talent in the shootout though.

Jake Guentzel and Teddy Blueger also showed some decent skill playing together, but unfortunately they are both more playmakers, so while they could make space and set up plays, they weren't necessarily that great when it came to finishing.

There was also some decent two-way play from Bryan Rust, showing some decent hands when it came time to make a rush, but also showcased his ability to defend and break up plays. He also scored some timely goals, including going 5-hole on the shootout.

Conor Sheary wasn't putting on as much of an offensive clinic as he had in the playoffs last spring, but he showed he can be effective at both ends of the ice as he was picking pockets left and right.

Probably the best defensive performance by a forward was Oskar Sudqvist, who other than gettign taken to school by Anton Zlobin was excellent when it came to muscling players off the puck or breaking up plays before they could turn into a quality scoring chance.

Dominik Uher also managed to make his presence known, mostly for his physicality and defensive skill, but it is always fun to see him showcase that untapped offensive potential of his. He got tripped, scored on the penalty shot, and later took a shot to the hand, momentarily skating to the bench in discomfort but later returning to the ice to score the game winning shootout goal in the final match-up between Team 3 and Team 4.

After the 3-on-3 scrimmages they did some full ice shootout drills. During the shootout there was a clean goal by Brian Dumoulin and a cannon blast of a goal from Oskar Sundqvist, but most impressive were the players that didn't get noticed much in other situations. Harrison Ruopp scored an unlikely shootout goal, but most impressive were the slick moves put on by Blaine Byron. His performance was being referred to a a "Forberg" move to outmaneuver the goalie and be the only player to score on both his chances.