Sleek's Impressions from Monday's Ducks Training Camp Scrimmage

by Earl Sleek on Sep 14, 2009 3:14 PM PDT Comment 13 comments

I did end up going down to Anaheim Ice today with a Ducks buddy of mine to see the scrimmage. Teams went something like this (completely going off of memory):

Team White: Jonas Hiller, Justin Pogge, Teemu Selanne, Corey Perry, Saku Koivu, George Parros, Todd Marchant, Kyle Calder, Steve Eminger, Ryan Whitney, Sheldon Brookbank, James Wisniewski

Team Black: J.S. Giguere, Bobby Ryan, Mike Brown, Joffrey Lupul, Petteri Nokelainen, Ryan Carter, Evgeny Artyukhin, Andrew Ebbett, Nick Boynton, Luca Sbisa, Scott Niedermayer, Jassen Cullimore, Brett Festerling

With plenty of kids rounding out both rosters. They played some silly rules -- goalies were often changing on the fly, which led to some comical plays. Penalties weren't served, but were penalized with a penalty shot, which if missed was in play (basically nine skaters followed the penalty shot shooter into the zone). And essentially the game was played in two halves -- a 45-minute running clock on NHL ice followed by a 45-minute running clock on Olympic ice. Halfway through the crowd had to move over to the adjoining rink, essentially.

Bulleted impressions:

Any hopes I had for a strong comeback year for J.S. Giguere took a big hit today -- Jiggy looked bad on a number of goals. Team white won the game 6-4, and even though the net time was split three ways, Giguere surrendered at least 4, none of which were very impressive. He allowed goals to both Selanne and Koivu (playing on separate lines throughout) that seemed stoppable, and his worst moment was when George "the magician" Parros bounced a puck in the net off Giguere's back from behind the net. Ouch, Giguere. Meanwhile, Jonas Hiller looked as solid as he did last spring -- still a lot of rebounds, but nothing getting past him.
Saku Koivu was awesome throughout -- I think he's going to be awesome for the Ducks, especially if he's hidden behind Getzlaf. He was fantastic distributing the puck, backchecking, and seizing opportunities in front of the net. He would've had a bigger day but his linemates weren't all that good at finishing.

Aside from the Parros trick, the best "wow" goal went t o Bobby Ryan, who had a breakaway stopped but then did some fancy trick (I wish they had a replay) to roof the rebound. He may have a bit too much "show off" in his game still, but when he looks good, it looks damn good. Another good goal was scored by Ryan Carter, who bulleted a top-shelf rebound shot from in tight.

The two teams were coached by the Ducks assistant coaches -- Newell Brown and Dave Farrish -- but I didn't see Randy Carlyle there at all. He was either watching from a hidden location or doesn't take much stock in scrimmages. After the game, the teams split off and did skating drills on each rink -- the best part of the day was watching poor goalies do laps.

Two players who didn't play in the scrimmage but did make skate appearances afterwards -- Ryan Getzlaf and Erik Christensen.

I tried to keep an eye on blueliners, and certain ones did impress -- Scott Niedermayer was awesome, even paired with the unknown Stefan Warg (when's the last time the Ducks had a Swedish d-man?). Brett Festerling had a strong game, also, and I liked Sheldon Brookbank.

I was less impressed with Steve Eminger -- could have been the wrong moments I watched, but he seemed slow and did a poor job holding the puck in the blueline -- my first two impressions, at least. However, I generally did like the blueliners -- at this point, I'm not opposed to the idea of keeping Luca Sbisa in the minors for part of another year. Sbisa looked fine, I guess, but he is still a kid -- not much of an impression either way today.

Evgeny Artyukhin is huge -- the one guy throwing the biggest hits today. He may have scored a goal also -- we were on the wrong end of the rink for that one, though.

Couldn't get too much of a look at other goalies -- Justin Pogge stood out mostly because his helmet is still littered with blue maple leafs. He was the goalie (probably by chance) at the end of the game, though, and did make an awesome save when Team Black pulled its goalie. The game ended comically -- there may have been a dozen players in the crease when the final whistle blew.

I can tell you already that I am going to be confused by Joffrey Lupul's #14, much in the same way I get confused about Erik Christensen and his #26. Every time I saw Lupul, I immediately thought it was Kunitz. He did score a power-play breakaway shot, but for the most part it seems the same Lupul as before -- a guy that shouldn't be carrying the puck very often. I think Lupul may be better off if he handles the puck in less-than-two-second increments.

Hard to tell you too much about either of the tryouts' prospects for making the team. There were some decent things today out of Jassen Cullimore and Kyle Calder, but for Calder especially, there were some down moments. At this point, I'd put Cullimore's chances as higher, I guess.

I can't say very much about any of the prospect kids, except there is definitely a talent gap between them and those who have played in the NHL. They're young, though -- I do look forward to some future day when Peter Holland, Josh Brittain, and some other player whose last name is a country team up to form Anaheim's "U.N. Line".

Lastly, I do have to say that Corey Perry looked strong out there -- only took one dive, as far as I could tell, and had a super-sweet assist to MacGregor Sharp.

All told, a pretty good time; I may end up going again tomorrow. Go ahead and shoot any questions about anything I neglected to mention -- I didn't take any game notes or anything, but I'm a moderately attentive guy and I'll do my best to answer.

Go Ducks.

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I saw you there this morning…didn’t get a chance to say hi though.

The Jiggy thing was pretty painful to see. I’d like to say that yesterday was different…but for the most part, it’s looking much like it did at the end of last season.

Koivu definitely looked A LOT more comfortable out there today than yesterday, maybe those first day jitters are going away.

I like Sbisa. I don’t know if it’s because I’m supposed to, but he just seems like he plays confident.

And that Artyukhin…he’s a monster!

OH! And Carlyle was there…he was at the opposite end of the rink up on this platform that jets out from the offices. Murray was with him as well and so was the new goaltending coach…

GO DUCKS!!!
DUCKSandPUCKS.com
SKeleven on Twitter

by SK eleven on Sep 14, 2009 3:40 PM PDT reply actions

Yeah, I was out of town yesterday, plus didn’t want to fight any weekend crowds, but the place was still reasonably filled today. To tell the truth, I haven’t been to a Ducks training camp in like a decade — the last time I went was when Oleg Tverdovsky first returned to Anaheim.

I like Sbisa, too, but like Bobby Ryan, I don’t really know what the sense is in rushing the kid. It may be a better long-term plan to keep the kid hidden a bit longer, and he is still only 19. Why not go the same route as Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan, etc. — hard to say it’s worked badly for any of them.

It’s probably good they keep Murray hidden away from the crowds. Hopefully he’s in a section with solidly-fastened seats.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Sep 14, 2009 3:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Yea, I was really surprised at the day 2 outcome! Last year I went to the first two days and day 2 was like a ghost town…so it was nice to see so many people there today.

I agree, there is no reason to push him into the NHL if they don’t need to…but it would be a shame to pass up the oportunity to get some Niedermayer in him?

GO DUCKS!!!
DUCKSandPUCKS.com
SKeleven on Twitter

by SK eleven on Sep 14, 2009 4:17 PM PDT up reply actions

I have no idea who he is, but I’m pulling for today’s NiederBabySittingJob, Stefan Warg. The fact that I’ve never heard of the guy plays strongly into my bias.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Sep 14, 2009 4:29 PM PDT up reply actions

we need more of these kinda posts…

Put those cookies back..Mutha fucka!!

by SPADE-IN-VICTORHELL on Sep 21, 2009 1:45 PM PDT reply actions

Well, I only went to camp one day — and my weak attempt to go to a preseason game got thwarted by laziness.

But theoretically, anybody can write a FanPost, I suppose.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Sep 21, 2009 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions

Oh yeah, and go check out Anaheim Calling — they’ve got more than my meager synopsis written about camp.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Sep 21, 2009 2:04 PM PDT up reply actions

i feel i actually learned somthing about our beloved ducks..

Put those cookies back..Mutha fucka!!

by SPADE-IN-VICTORHELL on Sep 21, 2009 2:08 PM PDT up reply actions

In fairness, I actually caught a fair amount of heat for what I thought was a pretty innocent post on some Ducks boards — people think I was unfair and should have been in love with Eminger in particular.

Whatever, though — I’m quite comfortable with different observers coming away with different observations on an informal game. More comfortable than some messageboarders, apparently.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Sep 21, 2009 2:14 PM PDT up reply actions

thats why i dont read those other biased posts…man i sound like i got a mancrush on earl sleek…i need to shut up

Put those cookies back..Mutha fucka!!

by SPADE-IN-VICTORHELL on Sep 21, 2009 2:34 PM PDT up reply actions

Heh, no sweat. I’ve developed a bit of a Spade fanboyism myself. :)

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Sep 21, 2009 3:14 PM PDT up reply actions

how romantic.

hooked on quack

by tu madre on Sep 22, 2009 9:50 AM PDT up reply actions

I love Spade’s comment: “Hey, you guys went, did some research, and then reported on what you saw! You should do that all the time!”

The West Coast is the Best Coast.

by RudyKelly on Sep 23, 2009 8:29 AM PDT reply actions

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Pacific Standings

	GP	W	L	OTL	PT
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