Letters From Camp

Hälsningsfraser Sinitakit fanit…(slaps face)…sorry, too much time looking up stuff on Swedish and Finnish sites. Let’s try that again.

Greetings, Blue Jackets fans! Time for a summer update on the Jackets’ prospects. Let’s start off in the “leadership” realm of things. As of this writing, the Jackets will have three players with a letter on the front of their jerseys. Boone Jenner, unless he has an amazing training camp, is more than likely headed back to Oshawa to serve as the Generals’ Captain for the second straight season. In the college ranks, Thomas Larkin will also be wearing the C as part of the team’s tri-captaincy for the second straight season. This makes him the first Raider captain since Rejean Boivin (86-88) to wear it two years in a row. In Duluth, senior defenseman Drew Olson will serve as a assistant captain for his senior season which will begin in Columbus when the Bulldogs face off against the Buckeyes.

Luckily, I haven’t had to worry much about players being moved in-season since I started covering CBJ prospects; but this year, it happened before the season even got underway as 2012 draft pick Gianluca Curcuruto was traded from the last place Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds to the division champion Plymouth Whalers. Every article I’ve read (plus one of my OHL sources) make it sound like this is a great deal for Curcuruto. Plymouth lost four of its top defensemen, either because they ran out of OHL eligibility, turned pro, or went back home. Curcuruto will more than likely be on one of the Whalers’ top two pairs playing in all situations or at least using that big shot of his on the power play. Since I’m talking about transactions, I have to thank the Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville AHL affiliate) for signing Jokerit goalie Zoltán Hetényi. With Hetényi signing in North America, it moves Joonas Korpisalo up the team’s depth chart according to Eetu Huisman, my Jokerit source. Korpisalo will likely split time between being the backup for Jokerit and the starter for Kiekko-Vantaa, the mighty fishes (most European teams don’t have team names – I made it up). Korpisalo, despite being selected fifth overall by the Prince George Cougars of the WHL, decided to sign a two year deal with the Jesters (the english translation of Jokerit) and stay in Finland.

Moving west to Sweden, Daniel Zaar and Oscar Dansk were invited to take part in Sweden’s selection camp for its World Junior team.  I wasn’t able to get much detail as I can’t read Swedish and Google translate was little help. But, based on what I could find, the team played two intersquad games then played two games against the Czech Republic which included fellow Jackets prospect, Lukas Sedlak. According to Stefan G:son, it was all Sweden in both games as they scored seven goals in each. Dansk played half of the first game stopping all seven shots. Zaar also played in the first game as Sweden’s 13th forward. Dansk and Zaar didn’t play in the second game. Lukas Sedlak played on the second line, scoring no points and was -4 winning only nine of 27 faceoffs. After those games, Sweden made cuts and headed to Lake Placid to take on Team USA and Team Finland. Sadly, Daniel didn’t make the cut which left him to return to Rogle to work on what should a big year for him as either a rookie on the men’s team or as one of the offensive stars on the junior team. Dansk on the other hand made the trip over, only playing in one game making 21 saves in a 8-2 win over Finland. Now to the bad news. In the win, Oscar suffered a minor ankle injury when a Finn and one of his teammates fell on him (going off the picture Oscar tweeted with Dansking joke included). The injury caused Oscar to miss the rest of the tournament, forcing Sweden to scramble and ultimately have a forward dress one game as a backup and then dress a goalie from Illinois in the other. I’m still not sure where Oscar will be playing this season as he hasn’t signed with Erie, and  he’s missing his Swedish team’s training camp as we speak. But the local paper still seems to believe he’ll be Dansking in Erie and get the majority of the starts.

The Jackets had one more prospect in Lake Placid and, according to the writers who were either there or watching online, he put on a show. The prospect I’m speaking of is 2011 fourth round pick, Mike Reilly. I’ll do my normal game recap, but first, I turn the floor to a professional. Chris Peters is a former USA Hockey PR guy, freelance writer and all around patriot. Here are Chris’s thoughts on Mike:

“Mike Reilly has proven in camp that he isn’t just a good offensive defenseman, but a dynamic one. The only thing that isn’t high end about this kid is his defending, but it’s not necessarily bad at all. His value is in the offensive abilities he possesses. He has high-end to elite speed and high-end puck skills which make him a threat at all times. He does a great job taking a look at what’s in front of him and finding ways to exploit the gaps with his speed or a quick pass. Reilly can help lead the transition with either his speed or a good first pass. On the power play, he’s always buzzing, making him difficult to defend, but at the same time not hanging out his D partner to dry. He definitely freelances a little bit, in that he’ll hop into plays and even get down behind the opposing goal line if the situation calls for it. He has great speed in recovery, too. There aren’t many offensive defensemen out there like him within the American player pool which is why he’s such an intriguing option for the World Junior Championship. Defensively, he does a fine job with a good defensive stick and staying in the right position. It’s not a standout area of his game, but it’s not enough of a deficiency to be of any real concern. There’s just too much to like about what he does offensively. He’s a special talent and a real find for the Blue Jackets.”

As I said, every writer I follow, be it Chris or Hockey Prospectus’s Corey Pronman, says after every game that Mike was always among the players that impressed them.

Starting out the camp,  Team USA split into two teams with Mike playing on Team White. Team Blue had more firepower, team White had better D, including 2013 top draft prospect Seth Jones and Dublin’s Connor Murphy. The teams split the two inter-squad games with Mike picking up a assist in a 5-2 Team White win, while being held scoreless in the loss to Team Blue. Before cuts were made, Team White faced off against Sweden with the US taking a 5-1 loss and Mike scoring the US’s only goal. After cuts were made, Mike sat out the team’s game against Finland, a 5-2 US win. The US’s next game against Sweden was all USA as they crushed the Swedes 10-2 with Mike picking up two assists: one on John Gaudreau’s first goal, then picking up the other on Ohioan JT Miller’s goal to make it 8-1. The USA’s last game was against Finland and most of the top players were given the day off to allow one last look at the players on the bubble. Mike is now off to Minnesota to begin his collegiate career and, he appears to be a lock for the team that will head to Ufa, Russia for the World Juniors in December.

Last but not least was the 2012 Canada-Russia Challenge which was held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series and honor the memory of the victims of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv Tragedy. The Blue Jackets had two prospects playing for Team Canada: 2012 top pick Ryan Murray and 2011 draft pick Boone Jenner. They were two of only six players who were also on the 2012 World Junior team and both took on leadership roles during the series. The first two games of the series were in Yaroslavl, Russia. The team earned a split with Canada winning game one 3-2 but losing game two 6-3. In game one, Ryan Murray served as Canada’s captain with Boone serving as a assistant captain. In the game two loss, both Boone and Ryan were given a night off before the series headed to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Game three was a wild one as the teams combined for 11 goals in a 6-5 Russia win. Both Jackets prospects made an impact in this game…positivly and negatively. First the good stuff. After already earning an assist on Ryan Murphy’s goal and Canada trailing 2-1, Ryan Murray (goal at :15 of video) pinched in and fired a shot from the slot then picking up his own rebound to make it 2-2. Now for the bad. With the game tied at four, Boone (postgame interview) took a holding penalty that led to a Russia goal also earning Boone a trip to the fourth line in game four after playing on the third in the other games. Both Ryan and Boone served as assistant captains in game three. Game four saw a 4-2 Canada win tying the series at two. This meant we got bonus hockey, which  Islanders pick Ryan Strome ended at the 3:20 mark of the 20 minute four-on-four sudden death OT. Ryan and Boone went scoreless in the game and Ryan served as a assistant capain. So, in the series, both Ryan and Boone played in three of the four games with Ryan scoring the only points with his goal and assist in game two and Boone earning the only penalty minutes. The Canadian team should be pretty close to what heads over to Russia in December for the World Junior Hockey Championship with only Jonathan Huberdeau, Ryan Murray and a few others being in the NHL and therefore unable to play in the WJC.

Well there you have it folks, the first update of next season. Hopefully I’ll be back in a few weeks with a roster preview for the Traverse City Rookie Tournament but that silly CBA nonsense has to be figured out first. For your moment of zen: hockey that counts is less than a month away…in Sweden and Finland.