Hartford’s camp opens this week, the day after the first round of cuts from the Rangers. If it wasn’t for the fact that all the slots are already filled in New York, it would be hard to say which of the Pack kids would be tapped to grab that last place or two. After two days of camp, for the most part they all looked good.

Goalies:
Scotty Meyer finished last season with a 4.34 GAA in Hartford and departed as a free agent this summer. However, he was in camp this weekend and dramatically outplayed Jason LaBarbera, who signed a new contract in the last few days. Scotty is small and plays a hybrid style, often preferring to stay on his feet because dropping to his knees exposes so much of the net over his shoulders. In the past, though, this has left him vulnerable at the corners as he lacked the quickness to move side to side effectively. I’m not sure what he did for training this summer, but whatever it was gave him desperately needed speed and explosive power, hopefully keeping him from having to drop so much because he is still vulnerable high on the glove side. Scotty held his own against the best in camp though, and would likely be the number one goalie in Hartford, at least until Blackburn returns. Jason, who looked fit but uncomfortable between the pipes, would likely back up Scotty until Danny’s presence forces a decision on netminders. Seeing as he is the heir designate, Danny would clearly be given the lion’s share of games with Jason and Scotty battling for the privilege of carrying his bag.

There also were two other goalies there, Phil Osaer and David St. Germain, neither one of which was in the least remarkable. They’re headed to Charlotte, at least until one of them has to be moved when Blackburn returns from injury and pushes out either Labarbera or Meyer. I’m not even sure that Osaer is signed.

Dunham and Markannen both looked good, as expected, although Dunham played like he had been told to avoid injury at all costs - he even removed the Marsh pegs from the net he defended in the scrimmage.

Farm Stand: Assuming Dunham and Markannen in New York, that leaves Blackburn (IR), Meyer and Labarbera in Hartford (until Blackburn returns) and sends Osaer and St. Germain to Charlotte for now.

Defensemen:
Lawrence Nycholat had Lindros as his assignment in the scrimmage today. To Lawrence’s credit, he did make an effort to stand up a few considerably larger Rangers at the blueline – with predictable consequences. I hope Lawrence doesn’t get too discouraged, as it would go a long way towards making him more tolerable if he didn’t flee the first sign of on ice contact. Matt Kinch continues in his quiet, responsible, mostly invisible but very effective defensive style. Both of these guys are really just too small to make it in the NHL, as they aren’t large to begin with and play even less so, but they will be fine in Hartford for another year. Patty Aufiero looked like an older and more cautious version of the Labrador retriever he was last year. Since a large part of his upside was his energy with and without the puck, I’m not sure how this maturing/aging/fear of another concussion will affect his value as a player.

Fedor Tjutin. *sigh* Fedor is the blueliner version of Alex Kovalev – immensely talented, endlessly capable… and with the attention span of a cocker spaniel. Fedor also shares with Alex a tendency to get bored with what everyone else is doing (presumably because it is easy to the point of being insulting) and start screwing around. In Sunday’s session he was attached at the hip (there may have actually been fishing line involved here) to Boris Mironov. I’m not sure whether Boris was mentoring, babysitting or guarding, but Fedor seemed a bit more on track when he was on the ice with Mironov. Malakov did not play in the scrimmage, so perhaps he is injured again – just in time to prevent Sather from trading him. In that case, Fedor would be an interesting partner for Bobo.

Bryce Lampman looked absolutely awesome. He’s a smaller guy who plays much larger, and drives opponents insane. Somehow, he always manages to do it without even looking like he is involved, and he reacts exactly the same whether it’s Lindros or Larose bearing down on him. He sees the ice incredibly well, always knows exactly where everyone is and therefore can make the outlet pass without even having to look around – perhaps the reason why he always looks so calm and confident. He was paired with Kaspar this weekend, and was the perfect foil for the ‘oops, I did it again!’ king of the blueline. Bryce will pick up after Kaspar as he goes off on a mission of destruction. If Leetch stays out and/or Malakov is traded, Bryce would a nice addition for the Rangers in that capacity. Of all the blueliners in Hartford, he’s the one that would least rattled by the step up in intensity.

There were a bunch of big guys who hit everything they could catch out there, including Craig Weller, Jeff State, and John Jakopin. Rory Rawlyk and Karol Sloboda aren’t in the same weight class, but they attack the ice with the same intensity. Craig showed up desperate to start something with somebody, anybody - he looks to have put on some weight from last year, and was playing with a ferocity that verged on playoff level. Jeff State continues to be big and surprisingly mobile, and was hitting more as the weekend went on, including a monster hit on Craig that smeared him along the glass before he slid to the ice. Unfortunately, there was no demonstration of skills Jeff gained through his boxing lessons this summer. Rawlyk and Sloboda are both first year pros and are likely to go to Charlotte for some more seasoning, although Sloboda is actually attending camp on a tryout and could be released. As a group, the kids were playing 'pin the tail on the Janne', chasing down the hapless Hlavac and crushing him every chance they got.

John Jakopin is huge, skilled, and did I mention huge? He is the same size as State, with much the same game (and they even both were PIM leaders at Merrimack College) but with his greater experience John is much more likely to be called up if there is a need in New York.

Mike Wilson, who played a handful of games for the pack after being acquired in the Kovalev trade last year, was a surprise to see at camp this year. Apparently he was bought out by the team, and now is back in camp. He’s big, he’s not very steady on his skates, and makes me think of no one so much as Jeff Toms.

Poti continues to stun small animals with his incredibly heavy shot, but still shies away from physical play or even direct eye contact. Devries looked to have settled in well. Dale was oddly withdrawn, avoiding contact and ignoring everyone else on the ice – the early stages of Sandy Mac Disease? Kasparaitis… you know what he’s like. Goofy as hell, but he did have a great hit on Richard Scott after he started to go after Jamie Lundmark. Malakov, as I said, appears to be injured, as he came out of the practice in the grey jersey and didn’t show for the scrimmage. Mironov did fine even with the free ranging Tjutin attached to him, and won me over by actually checking McGill during a drill that ended with a defenseman running the coach in the corner.

Farm Stand: Assuming Leetch (IR), Poti, Devries, Kasparaitis, Malakhov, Mironov, Purinton plus one other in New York (until Leetch returns), and Sloboda and Rawlyk headed directly to Charlotte. That leaves Nycholat, Kinch, Jakopin, Aufiero, State, Weller, Tjutin, Lampman and Wilson in Hartford – one of them will stay in New York until Leech returns, but after that someone may be off to Charlotte. The AHL doesn’t have roster limits, only a limit on the number of guys you can dress for a game, but this regime doesn’t like to have players sitting around in the stands when they could be playing in the ECHL. At least one of the guys above will go to Charlotte, possibly two. I’m not really high on the play of Aufiero right now, but my guess is that it would be State and/or Weller headed south again, as they are the odd men out in an organization that prizes offense over defense in its blueliners.

Forwards:
Richard Scott seems to have gone backwards in his development – he looked smaller and not as strong on his skates as last year, and seemed to be running around chasing the play more often. He seems to have gone backwards also in terms of his team ranking, as he was playing on the dreaded ‘turquoise’ line with other straight-to-Hartford guys like Benoit Dusablon. Desperate to make an impression, Richard was trying to get anyone he could to go with him, but without any luck – his one attempt, when he turned on Lundmark after Jamie tried to pull him away from the goalie, led to a friendly bear hug from Weller and a not so friendly dumping from Kaspar. Very very disappointing.

Kenny Gernander is still a great teacher with the kids, and was centering a line with two babies out there, another odd colored line (this one was orange) that indicates they probably shouldn’t unpack their bags in Burlington. Looking healthy but older each year, our captain is beginning his tenth year in the organization. Layne Ulmer looked a bit dead on Saturday, but by Sunday he had woken up and was starting to hit the back of the net – Layne has always been streaky (more off than on) and although he is now playing with a stick made some time this decade, his lack of consistency isn’t exactly countered by anything else being brought to the table.

Bobby Andrews continues to be everyone’s favorite attack accountant, hitting hard and refusing to stay down when he gets hit. He is absolutely fearless, charging into opponents regardless of size or stature. Benoit Dusablon was virtually invisible. Garth Murray, on the other hand, was doing his best impression of a rabid dog – he would tackle opponents and just work them over until he came up with the puck, scrambling to keep up with the play after taking an elbow to the face from Petro in one case. Cory Larose continued to cruise around the ice taking more shots than any one else, but he also potted a few goals on the weekend – but is too small to be a viable candidate for a slot with the Rangers.

Lucas Lawson may have been actually trying to hide from view, since every time I saw him he looked overwhelmed – this rookie could definitely use some time in Charlotte to get his game up to speed. Juris Stals, on the other hand, is ready to go at the AHL level and seems like he could challenge for a spot in New York in a few years – he’s got good size and speed and great hands. Dominic Moore showed good speed as well, and although he was given one of the coveted red jerseys with Lundmark, would probably be helped by some time in the minors to fill out some more.

Chad Wiseman and Jason MacDonald, while not making a particularly good or bad impression on me, will likely land in Hartford simply because they have too much experience to be sent to Charlotte. Jed Ortmeyer has a pedigree that demands a longer look in Hartford before shipping him out, so he may get the benefit of the doubt. Brandon Cullen and Dusty Jamieson, both of whom played in Charlotte last year with occasional call ups to Hartford, may be more a victim of the numbers game than any lack of ability on their part. Ben Guite was an unknown who appeared on the ice, but to date we haven’t been able to learn anything about him.

Finally, the Rangers: Ruchinsky, Kovalev, and Nedved looked awesome. Lindros, Simon and Lundmark looked very good. Holik, Barnaby and Carter veered between struggling and okay, with Messier, Petro, LaCouture and Hlavac looking truly bad. At least on the last three, the kids seemed to sense the blood in the water and were using them for target practice.

Farm Stand: Assuming Messier, Holik, Simon, Lundmark, Carter, Ruchinsky, Kovalev, Barnaby, Hlavac, Petrovicky, LaCouture, Lindros, Nedved in New York, but with Petrovicky lost on waivers. This leaves Gernander, Scott, Ulmer, Larose, Dusablon, Andrews, Stals, Murray, Wiseman, Moore, Ortmeyer, MacDonald still in Hartford with Jamieson, Cullen, Lawson, Wirill (if signed) and Guite heading to Charlotte.

So there you have it – the farm hand’s view of the Rangers training camp. We’ll see how it plays out when Wolf*Pack camp opens this week with the first round of Ranger cuts in just a few days.

Recent Articles Pond Hockey, The Movie I Made A Birdie

Toby the Great and Other Stories

NHL Tickets NY Rangers Tickets New Jersey Devils Tickets

Web Hockeybird.com