After Canes Summerfest week and the 30-minute scrimmage to wrap it up, I am supposed to write a blog talking about who impressed during the camp, which players are future NHLers and who looked best in the scrimmage game. I did that below.
But first, the better story of the week – Sergey Tolchinsky.
Sergey Tolchinsky is what is good about NHL hockey and sports in general, and he is also a great reminder to just individual players for who they are minus any bias.
In simplest form, Sergey Tolchinsky is a kid who has a dream to play in the NHL. It is a dream not unlike that of many other kids for either hockey or another sport. But despite being a pretty talented hockey player, Tolchinsky’s path to the NHL is a complicated and challenging one. First of all, Tolchinsky is from Moscow. There are of course many players from Russia who make it up the elite hockey ranks at a young age and are drafted to play in the NHL. But despite being a decent hockey player, Tolchinsky was not going to be in these ranks. You see, Tolchinsky is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds, theoretically too small to have anything but a prayer to play in the NHL. He needed to do something to prove he was worthy of NHL consideration. So as the equivalent of a 17-year-old high school senior, Tolchinsky packed up his stuff, moved by himself to a foreign country where he did not speak the language, set up in an apartment and did the best he could…
So he could chase his dream.
And he made reasonable progress in that chase. He notched 51 points in 62 games. He seemed to adjust pretty quickly to the smaller rinks and North American game. And he emerged from his season with the Soo Greyhounds expected to be a later round draft pick.
Alessandra Seren Rosso wrote at Hockey’s Future wrote a great article that summarized his junior season, his hockey progress in it and also some of the personal sacrifices and challenges with the life transition.
You can find that here.
Hockey Futures - Tolchinsky
But it was not to be. Tolchinsky was not drafted. Despite decent numbers, I guess it is hard to get past 5 feet 8 and 160 pounds. So instead Tolchinsky is playing the title of “camp invitee” this summer. He attended the Rangers camp recently and then spent last week at the Hurricanes camp. And with most of the players being team draftees you had to figure that Tolchinsky ranked somewhere between 25 and 30 out of 30 heading into camp. But he stood out from the very beginning. His stickhandling ability and soft hands were difficult to miss watching the drills. And in any chance to showcase himself a bit, he showed flare. And after a week of mostly drills and training when the players finally got a chance to play some real hockey, he again stood out. Playing on easily the most dominant line in the game with Erik Karlsson, Tolchinsky notched 2 goals and had other decent chances. Maybe more important than the goals, he displayed a willingness to play in crowds and not drift away from physical battles or contact. Almost on cue right after notching a goal, he came across at the puck aggressively at the blue line resulting in a collision that he seemed to get the worst of but came away fine. It was almost as if he was working through a checklist. Box 1 – Make it clear that you are more skilled than players already drafted and in the system by scoring at will. Box 2 – Follow that up by finding some physical contact and demonstrating a willingness to bang and get banged despite being undersized.
He finished it all off by just seeming to be a good kid with a positive attitude. There did not seem to be any disappointment, angst or resentment about being where he is. He seems fine with being an underdog and to some degree an outsider at this point in the path the NHL. He seemed sincerely happy to have a chance. And he seemed to still be playing the game for fun and with passion. He very much looked like he showed up to the Canes prospect camp with a purpose and a mission but NOT with a burden, too much pressure and a defeatist attitude having not been drafted. The kid very much understands where he is in terms of making it to the NHL. He gets that his strength is his stickhandling and offensive skills and that he needs to show that those are top-shelf quality. But he also gets that even if he does that incredibly well there will always be questions as to whether he can make it in the NHL at his size and that he must go out of his way to show that he is up to the rigors and physicality of the NHL too.
Sergey Tolchinsky is still just chasing his dream, even if it is not the fast and easy path of a bigger, more heralded player.
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Quick hitters primarily from the scrimmage (I find it hard to read to much into players doing training type drills):
--Erik Karlsson was easily the best player on the ice in my opinion in the scrimmage. He carried the puck at will, maneuvered around anyone in his way and created a bunch of offensive zone time and scoring chances leading to 2 Tolchinsky goals. That line was far and away the best on the ice the entire game. I could go either way but give the slight edge to Karlsson for player of the game. Y
--You could make a case for Tolchinsky over Karlsson since they played together but it is mostly semantics - both were phenomenal. Most impressive for Tolchinsky was his ability to play without the puck, read off of Karlsson and figure out where to be to receive a pass in a scoring position.
--Victor Rask looked comfortable with the puck on his stick and skating-wise. But without the puck, he looked more like his only effort was to get the puck, so he could carry it. If he is going to make a run at 1 of the open wing spots for the Canes this year, he will need to prove better at playing without the puck too.
--Austin Levi looks every bit of a big physical defenseman at age 19. He has some work to do in terms of defense and skating, but he projects well.
--Ryan Murphy scored a nice goal. But he also spent too much time playing in front of the puck which is real risky for a defenseman. On his goal he jumped into the mix about the same time that Canes half lost the puck. If the forward (I think it was McGinn) does not win the puck, it would have gone 2-1 on 1 or possibly 1-on-none the other way.
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