Canadian WJ Dev. Camp Underway, Let's Start Speculating on the Roster!

The Canadian World Junior Development Camp is underway in St. John's Newfoundland. Think of this as an event where NHL Combine-like workouts go on and on ice workouts as well, scrimages, NHL scouts get more info on their prospects and of course the Team Canada management search for standouts for their team. There are 48 players invited to the camp, Taylor Hall and Ryan Ellis both declined the invite and Calvin de Haan and Jared Cowen are at the camp, but not involved in on-ice sessions; assumably due to recovering from injuries. With out further ado let's take a look at big names at the camp, undrafted players, players I think have a legitimate chance of making an NHL roster, and players that breakout and show their true potential if they make the roster.

-Big Names

The big names and presumably the players that are sure things, at the camp are: Tyler Seguin and Brayden Schenn. Tyler Seguin shockingly never made the 2010 roster, but it did well for Seguin giving him motivation with the Plymouth Whalers by going on a scoring tare after he was cut. Brayden Schenn did in fact make the 2010 roster and was a great fit and was also to go back to junior and still finished with 99pts in 59 games. Schenn will actually be only 1 of 3 potential returning players from last year. the 2010 roster had 6 gold medalists from the previous tournament. The big factor facing both players is the fact that both face the possibility of cracking an NHL roster. In fact Pierre McGuire reported that there 20 potential players that could makes the NHL. Of course Seguin more the Schenn, but when you factor in that both Boston and Los Angeles have stuffed rosters; there may be no room for them. But of course there are tons of rumours of the Boston trading Marc Savard (he has NTC, so he has all the say) and trading or demoting Michael Ryder. So Seguin making the NHL is more possible.

-Undrafted Players

There are three players at this years' Dev. Camp that are undrafted: defenseman Neil Manning, defenseman Nathan Beaulieu and the NHL's No.1 overall front runner in next year's draft, left winger Sean Couturier. Neil Manning is player that was eligible for last year's draft but was not selected. Scouts must not think much of the competiveness in the WHL but he had more pts than Cam Fowler (by 1, but you understand my point) of the OHL. His stats show other wise that he is easily a 1st round pick or at the least 2nd round pick type player. I really can't get over how this player was passed up by every NHL clubs . You could say Couturier is a lock for the roster, but a lot people said the same for Seguin. He is definitley has more for management to argue over than Seguin, Couturier can play in any situation. He is a great scorer and isn't afraid of hitting everybody. He can play on the 1st to 3rd line, play on the powerplay or on the penalty kill, and can be your go-to-player. Couturier is compared to Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins; who would be a no.1 centre on almost any other team (which would show his true capabilities) but he plays "3rd fiddle" to Crosby and Malkin at centre. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of information about Beaulieu but he did produce 33assits and 45pts in 66 games. Solid numbers; seems like a good powerplay quarterback.

-Potential Breakout Players

I think these player are really good, after a good showing at the WJC (and of course a great junior campaign) they will be have fans getting anxious to see them play i.e Nazem Kadri, Taylor Hall, Alex Pietrangelo and Jordan Eberle.These players include : Joey Hishon, Brad Ross, Louis Leblanc and Jaden Schwartz. Joey Hishon is a player that was overlooked by team at the draft, but Colorado has some great scouts. The realized Hishon was injured half the season playing 35 games and still putting up 40 pts. Colorado knows he has great potential, he showed the year before scoring 81pts in 65 games. Brad Ross is a player for Maple Leaf fans to get excited about like Nazem Kadri (to a lesser extent). Brad Ross is going to a be a fan favourite, with his scoring ability, grittiness, and tough guy attributes. He managed to score 68pts, but he fell in the draft because scouts bought into the fact he was on a line with Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Johansen. Which definitley is a big factor, nonetheless he will score some atleast and will rack up some minutes, like he did last year with 203 PIMs. Louis Leblanc went the USHL route, odd for a Canadian, but I must assume it has to do with him attending Harvard; where he now plays for their team. He definatley showed the he can be consistent scoring 23 pts in 31 games (which isn't bad being in the NCAA). But the fact he has not played with Canadian Junior players and he has been scouted by his stats in the USHL and NCAA, we should see what he capable of if he makes the roster. The fact that there could potentially be a homegrown top of the line player for the Montreal Canadiens, down the road is going to be great. Finally Jaden Schwartz who is in the same boat as Leblanc, but definatley shows he will exceed Leblanc in his potential. Schwartz went the USHL route as well, he scored 83pts in 60 games. And again to play with Canada's best junior players will make him even better.

-Potenial NHL Rookies from the Dev. Camp

These players include: Tyler Sequin, Brayden Schenn, Calvin de Haan, Jared Cowen, Brandon Gormley, Jeff Skinner, Erik Gudbranson, Carter Ashton and Dylan Olsen. All these players have verying degrees of making the NHL. I'd say Seguin, Schenn, Gormley, Jared Cowen, Calvin de Haan and Gudbranson could seriously make the big league. Skinner Ashton and Olsen also have a great chance, but face roster spots problems, but could change by the start of the season.

Here it is, my predicted roster

Forwards

Sean Couturier
Brayden Schenn
Tyler Seguin
Cody Eakin
Jaden Schwartz
Brad Ross
Scott Glennie
Joey Hishon
Ryan Howse
Riley Sheahan
Casey Cizikas
Louis Leblanc

13th Quinton Howden

Defense

Neil Manning
Simon Despres
Dylan Olsen
Taylor Doherty
Mark Pysyk
Tyson Barrie

7th Nathan Beaulieu

Goaltenders

Olivier Roy
Calvin Pickard

(I think Cowen, de Haan, Gormely, and Gudbranson will make the NHL)

Of course I am not totally confident with my roster, but I do think at least 50% of the guys will make roster for sure. It's freaking AUGUST! but only in Canada do you begin speculating months before the tournament itself. Ultimately the players' performances during their junior campaign changes mind of the public, and that is bound to happen.

ALL NHL TEAM

I've recently read an article on Puck Daddy about an idea ESPN analyst put up, 5 Suggestions To Improve the NHL. One of them (and the one Puck Daddy talked about) instead of having an East v.s West All-Star game with NHL vs. World. I think it would be interesting to atleast try to see how it goes. It could be a hit, could be a the Summit Series 1972 sequel; to a lesser extent of course. Except this time the two sides are trying to show which style and players are better. All the money is on the NHL, but with their own great talent and some ex-NHLers, the World team could be David to Goliath. There would be players from the Swedish leagues and other European leagues and of course the NHL's bitter rival the KHL. So let's see what the NHL team would look like. Remember its a lot different than the All-Star teams, just 1 team instead of two so their are some diserving players left off; 12 forwards 7 defenseman and 2 goalies.

KEEP IN MIND: I am picking players by listed posistion even though there are players that can play centre and wing, I am putting into play that the possibility of this game hapenning with be in 2-3 years, so there will players that have declined in production or retired, the lines obviously could be different (accept the 1st line looks pretty great) and finally there are tons of great players left off.


1ST LINE

2ND LINE

3RD LINE










4th LINE

1ST PAIRING











2ND PAIRING













3RD PAIRING










7th Defenseman










Goaltenders

I spent awhile adding players taking them off and adding them again, but I am happy with this roster. Every All-Star game (even though this wouldn't be one, it would still have the same feel) is fully offensive. But for the fact that the NHL would want to show superiority for hockey in the world; it would be best to have two-way defenseman and forwards. Every team needs a fourth line (in this case it is easily a 1st line on any team), with Nash Thornton and Iginla you get fighting, hits, grit and of course goal scoring aswell. Some people have forgot how good Evgeni Malkin is, he is just a year removed from a 113pts season, he was setback this year from injury (67 games) and still put up 77pts. As I said, I would think it would 2-3 years down the road so there are some players that I think will be breakout stars, Rask and Enstrom. I chose Rask over Luongo because of Luongos inconsistentsy; even though Rask is a rookie, I see a brighter future for Rask than Luongo. Enstrom is not that popular, but improves every year; being drafted in the 8th round, he could be the defenseman equivalent of a Dastuyk or Zetterberg. There are two players that I really wanted to put on and Stamkos was one of them. He should be great and could an annual 100pts guy, but I'd rather Sedin and Malkin over him. I was going to put him as a 4th liner, but he doesn't have enough grit to go there. Nicklas Backstrom is the other, it is the same for him. With players like Tyler Myers and Drew Doughty certainly are gonna be even better than their already stellar short careers so far, aging player like Thornton and Iginla will still be their powerforward selves, Ryan Miller is a consistent goaltender and is getting better every year and Rask looks to be like a superstar a few years from now, finally the line of Ovechkin Crosby and Kane possibilities are just outstanding!