Avalanche Development Camp: Winners And Losers
Tracy Tutton prepares to lasso a prospect for a skating drill. Photo credit: Nadia Archuleta
This year, the Colorado Avalanche development camp had one clear focus. The large majority of ice time was used to work on skating –mostly without pucks — with the help of power skating coach Tracy Tutton and Avs legend Adam Foote. That, however, proved to be a great decision.
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Skating is becoming more and more important in professional hockey. When reading scouting reports and rankings before drafts, you often read things like “he would be ranked much higher, if it wasn’t for his below-average skating”. Watching prospects at the Avalanche development camp proved that many players need that extra work, if they want to make it to the NHL.
So obviously, skating drills don’t tell the whole story. But they do tell an important part of it. Therefore, here’s a list of players who came out of the three days of ice time as winners and who came out at losers. Please don’t take this as an overall player evaluation.
Luckily, we have a longer list of winners than we have of losers — six winners and three losers to be exact. But how much of a loser can you be after three on-ice sessions anyway?
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Avalanche development camp winners
Sergei Boikov (2015 6th round pick)
With the first Avalanche development camp winner comes the first big surprise. Sergei Boikov was not exactly a standout player in the QMJHL, but the Avalanche must have seen something in him. After all, he was still just a 6th round pick.
The Russian D-man was one of the best skaters out there. While he still needs to work on a more powerful stride, he is an extremely smooth skater. Boikov had no problems with any of the agility drills. Furthermore, he showed that he is a more than decent puck handler with some offensive skill.
Andreas Martinsen (2015 free-agent signing)
We still don’t know exactly how well Martinsen will do in North America when he is among other professionals. But boy, did he look good in development camp. When you just look around, you can tell that he is a more mature player than most others. He has a large filled-out frame and looks like a man among boys — which is essentially what he was.
For a player his size, his skating is very good and especially powerful. But what really stood out is that Martinsen brings a lot of skill. He knows how to move around with the puck, how to pass it and how to shoot it. A big forward with skill — exactly what Patrick Roy wants.
Next: Avalanche development camp loser
Avalanche development camp loser
Anton Lindholm (2014 5th round pick)
Lindholm is the first loser on our list and while it may sound harsh, it is not meant to be. The Swedish defenseman simply didn’t impress and showed some struggles in all areas. His skating technique is not the best — to put it nicely — as it looked really rough in many of the drills. Arguably the worst skater of this camp.
His puck skills are better, but also leave a lot of room to improve. He shows potential, but has a lot more work to do before he is ready to come over. It didn’t always look like he was trying the hardest, but he did improve after talking to the coaches. So that’s a good start.
Next: Avalanche development camp winners
Avalanche development camp winners
Mason Geertsen (2013 4th round pick)
As the exact opposite to Lindholm, Mason Geertsen’s skating is a thing of beauty. That may come as a little bit of a surprise, considering his 6-foot-4 frame. However, it also makes it even more impressive. Geertsen had no problems with any of the drills whatsoever and definitely knows all the best skating techniques.
Especially good was his backward stride, which is also especially important for defensemen, who have to stay in front of forward skating Taylor Halls in the NHL. His puck handling, shot and passing were nothing special, but if he develops into that big, well-skating physical defenseman for the Avs one day, we can be more than happy.
Chris Bigras (2013 2nd round pick)
Maybe even a little bit better than Geertsen was fellow defenseman Chris Bigras. He showed a lot of power, balance and agility in all of the drills and hardly ever struggled. While Geertsen did struggle with a few things revolving around moving the puck, that was not an issue for Bigras at all. He knows how to move it, how to pass it and how to shoot it.
We are all hoping that Bigras can move into that first-pairing with Erik Johnson one day and after the development camp showing, he may be even closer than we thought. His skating is elite, his passing is outstanding and his shot is great as well. Bigras clearly wasn’t an OHL standout by chance. Not wanting to reach to far, he could turn into a big-time steal of his draft year, if he continues his development like that.
Next: Avalanche development camp loser
Avalanche development camp loser
Alexis Pepin (2014 4th round pick)
First you think “oh, come on. He was a 4th round selection a year ago, give him some time.” But then you look at those Geertsens and Boikovs and go over to “I guess this is reasonable.” Alexis Pepin is of course not one of the top prospects and he never was. But you will likely find quite a few pee-wee players who skate at least as well as he does.
Nothing in Pepin’s skating is powerful, smooth or anything else you want to see. It is mostly slow and rough. He shows a lot of skill and a really good shot, but that won’t be enough if he wants to make it. You can make the NHL as a great skater if you don’t have the greatest skill. But you can’t make it with a good amount of skill and horrible skating. Fighting with Lindholm for the “Worst Skater of Avalanche Training Camp Award”.
Next: Avalanche development camp winners
Avalanche development camp winners
Mikko Rantanen (2015 1st round pick)
Before anyone starts running around yelling “what do you mean our oh-so-great No. 1 European skater isn’t on this list,” here he is. Mikko Rantanen made it on the list of winners and there is no real surprise in that. Imagine a kid that’s actually born on a frozen lake and — very much like Bambi — has to learn how to skate, before it learns to walk. Well that’s what Rantanen looks like when you watch him.
Not like Bambi struggling to move, but like someone who learned skating before anything else. His every move just looks natural and he has no issues whatsoever moving around on the ice. Learning a thing first doesn’t make you perfect, it just makes it look natural. So what I’m saying is that he can still improve his skating, but he is already far ahead of many others.
All that said, Rantanen also has great skill and a very precise shot. Especially after this, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the lineup on opening night. However, if he wants to make it that far, he will have to add ten pounds or so and get stronger before training camp. But like he said in an interview with Eurolanche, his plan is exactly that — go back home to Finland and work out until main camp.
A.J. Greer (2015 2nd round pick)
Is this one a surprise? Perhaps a little one. Many people — including myself — questioned this pick a little bit, mainly because Greer hasn’t played a big role on his team in his draft year, due to him being the youngest player in the entire NCAA last season. While we still have to see how he does once he gets to fill out a bigger role on the BU Terriers, he had a first great showing at Avalanche development camp.
So, Greer isn’t actually one of the best skaters in that group and probably not even that close. A lot of his skating is rough and choppy. But what stands out about him is how incredibly hard he works. Greer was probably the only player who really pushed himself again and again throughout the drills.
He never stood still and always wanted to go harder and harder. Sometimes it is better to go about things slowly and focus on technique, rather than pushing yourself to the limit and it is also a good idea to stand still when the coaches are instructing. I wanted to include Greer on this list nonetheless, because work-ethic is a really important part of turning pro.
Next: Avalanche development camp loser
Avalanche development camp loser
Nick Magyar (2014 4th round pick)
To wrap things up, we have a last loser of this camp — Nick Magyar. His skating was choppy and lacked power. He didn’t show great agility, speed, balance or anything. That said, it wasn’t all terrible, it was just slow and anything but great.
So let’s just get to his puck work, which was also not exactly great. His shots were as slow as his skating and neither his puck handling nor passing could make up for that. It became very apparent why he only recorded 32 points in 65 regular season games in the OHL last season. To compare, Chris Bigras had 71 points in 62 games — as a defenseman.
What do you think about the Avs’ prospects? Who are you most excited about heading into main training camp? Let us know in the comments!
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