Colorado Avalanche Prospects: Impressions for Development Camp

The Colorado Avalanche capped off their second day of prospect development camp with on-ice drills.

The Colorado Avalanche are halfway through their prospect development camp.

The camp is comprised of draft picks and invitees. Some of the picks, like AJ Greer and JT Compher, have already signed their entry-level contracts with the team. Others, such as Gustav Olhaver and Adam Werner, are trying to make an impression.

I got my first look at the San Antonio Rampage coach, Eric Veilleux (whose name I promptly misspelled — all those vowels!):

The last coach for the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, Dean Chynoweth, was let go at the conclusion of the season. While it’s true the Rampage didn’t make the playoffs despite a strong start, it’s thought Chynoweth got his walking papers because he wasn’t adequately teaching the prospects.

As such, I had the idea that the brass might be watching Veilleux to see how he did teaching the young men. I looked around, but I couldn’t spy anyone. (Doesn’t mean they weren’t watching — it was Day 2.)

Here’s another look at the Rampage’s new coach:

Alas, I wan’t any better at spelling his name the second time around.

One of the prospects I especially wanted to get a look at was goalie Adam Werner, whom the Colorado Avalanche selected in the fifth round (#131).

Werner is particularly noteworthy because he’s so tall — 6-foot-5. Unfortunately, that wasn’t very clear from my vantage point. He looked pretty good against San Antonio Rampage forward Cody Corbett:

Another prospect I wanted to get a gander of was the Colorado Avalanche’s first signing of the summer, defenseman Anton Lindholm. Colorado selected Lindholm in the fifth round last year, #144:

I couldn’t get over thinking that he looked like Jax from Sons of Anarchy. However, the Colorado Avalanche could use some killer instinct, so that’s not so bad.

Skills-wise, he’s a sharp skater. He’s sharper than Colorado’s sixth-round pick from last year, Sergei Boikov. However, while Boikov wasn’t as sharp on the corners, he is one smooth character. (But we already knew that.)

Another big boy for the Colorado Avalanche prospect list is last year’s seventh round pick, Gustav Olhaver (6-foot-6, 214 pounds). His height was very clear. Here he is practicing some stick work:

Next to him is AJ Greer, who just signed with the Colorado Avalanche a few days ago. He’s a respectable 6-foot-3, but he looks a lot shorter than Olhaver.

Spencer Martin was in attendance. He must be getting ready to have his mask painted for the San Antonio Rampage — he spent a lot of last season with the ECHL Fort Wayne Comets.

Of course, the prospect I most wanted to get a gander of was this year’s first round, tenth-overall pick — Tyson Jost. Now, I admit I didn’t give Jost a fair shake when the Avs selected him because I had so wanted them to choose big Logan Brown.

However, the more I see of this kid, the more I like him.

Bouncing the puck on the end of your stick is a classic for hockey, players, and Jost looked good doing it. One of the things I appreciate about our new Tyson is how dynamic he is. It’s hard to see in this video, but he’s just electric in how he moves:

The kid is a lot of fun to watch — so much so that I accidentally crept him!

Ah, well, he seems like a good sport. After all that practice and off-ice workouts, Jost still took time to meet with a tiny fan:

Yep, here in Avs Nation I think we’re going to like the latest Tyson just fine.

The Colorado Avalanche are holding two more days of on-ice prospect development, culminating in scrimmages on Saturday. All events are open to the public and being held at Family Fun Sports Center.