The Kids Are Alright - At Least Until One Gets Beat Up

This past Friday through today was the Blackhawks Prospect Camp. Since we're losing players faster than Patrick Kane probably loses bills at a gentleman's club, I figured I might as well go on Saturday and see the players who will one day (probably too soon) be replacing them. Plus it was free and it's not like I have anything better to do. They invited 70 kids to the camp and divided them into four teams. They had two sessions with two teams apiece - each had a 15 minute practice before a scrimmage of two 30 minute periods.

You're not going to get a great breakdown of each prospect and their skill set (or lack thereof) from me. I don't pretend to be a great evaluator of talent by any means. There's an excellent post on SCH, if you're into that sort of thing. I went to have fun, take a shitload of pictures and goddammit, I miss hockey. I will point out a few players who caught my eye when it wasn't attached to my camera viewfinder.

Kevin and Jimmy Hayes

Kevin was our first round draft pick this year and we acquired his brother in a draft day trade. Both scored in the scrimmage I saw. Kevin ended up with 4 goals (tied for the camp lead) and his brother was right behind him with 3. How great would it be for both of these kids to be on a line in a few years? Another prospect, Eriah Hayes (no relation), also scored in the next scrimmage so it was a Hayes hat trick!

Marcus Krüger

He's probably got another year in Sweden, but the consensus is Krüger is a potential #2 center. I would just like to one day have a Hawks sweater with umlauts on it.

We interrupt this post to implore Scotty Bowman to coerce Gary Bettman to increase the salary cap. C'mon Scotty, you gotta have pictures or *something* on him!

Shawn LaLonde

This kid is as close to a lock as anyone at the camp to make the big team. He spent last year at Rockford and with the Hawks still down a third D-pairing, he's sure to get a serious look. I didn't notice him too much, meaning he didn't make any big mistakes. He led all D men at the camp with 3 points (1G, 2A) so that's a good sign. 

Nick Leddy

Leddy seems like he has the potential to be a very good PP quarterback and apparently he had a laser beam of a goal today. He's only 19, and I figure he'll have at least another year at Minnesota before he gets called up. Of course the fact I was sitting next to his family had nothing to do with this opinion - they were very nice. 

FIGHT!

That's Sena Acolatse vs. Justin Courtnall. I think Acolatse won, but it was a good clean fight that was probably a bit of a set up. It was fun to watch. 

Dear Mitch Versteeg - Do you have mad rapping skillz like your big bro? If so, I welcome you for your comic relief. If not, I hope you can at least dump the puck better than him. (Note - I didn't really notice him - I think he was there for the novelty of it all).

Calvin Heeter

Heeter (wouldn't that make a great jersey?) was my favorite goalie. He communicated really well with his teammates and stopped everything in his 30 minutes of work. He also stood up on the bench and shouted encouragement to folks. And he has really incredible blue eyes - sorry, I seem to have a thing for goalies. I also liked Mac Carruth who we got this year in the draft and Phil Cook. Cook should make the team for the sole reason he has Cookie Monster on the back of his mask.

Niklas Hjalmarsson would like to take a moment of your time and remind you of the spelling of his last name. You may commence the buying of his jersey. For the record, I am happy he's still a Hawk, angry he cost so much (fuck you Dougie Wilson!), and sad that Nemo is probably a goner. I'm glad I held off on buying the Niemi jersey.

 You'll notice a name missing on here: Kyle Beach. He was undoubtedly the most hyped up player going into camp. He scored 52 goals in the WHL last year, and most are hoping for him to be a more offensively minded Ben Eager or Dustin Byfuglien with his penchant for fighting. He fought in the first day of camp - no big deal. When I saw him on the second day of camp, I honestly wasn't all that impressed - he seemed clumsy, more interested in hitting people and would have had a goal if he had elevated the puck on a penalty shot. Then he got into *three* fights yesterday. And that isn't even the worst of it:

What a fuckhead. Guess what - Mathis Olimb, the kid Beach pummeled for the second time in that fight, is reportedly now out FOUR MONTHS with a shoulder injury. Real classy - beat the shit out of a much smaller player before he even gets his damn gloves off in a fucking prospect scrimmage game. Apparently Beach didn't even suit up for today's scrimmage - which I'm glad because with asshatery like that he doesn't deserve to be there, and I'm sure his potential future teammates didn't want to see him anyway. Beach, I hope you enjoy being buried in beautiful, scenic Rockford, because you shouldn't get a second look until you get your head on straight.

So, in closing, Prospect Camp was definitely a fun time and I look forward to going for many years to come. If you'd like to see more pictures I have (of course) put them in a set on Flickr.