Avalanche Development Camp: Winners And Losers
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.
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