This morning I dragged myself out of bed on the only day of the week I generally get to sleep in and made my way over to Rexall Place just so that I could watch Oilers Development camp.

The Oilers, might I add, made this experience as welcoming as possible. I arrived to Rexall and was met with free parking in the main lot. I entered the building free of charge. And, waiting for me in the concourse, I was given complimentary popcorn and pop. They charged me nothing when they easily could have. I appreciate that and it caught me off guard.

The Oilers broke up the players into two groups. One that would hit the ice at 9:30 and another at 11:15. The players there ranged in skill level and draft pedigree but they all had one thing in common – they were all in the amateur ranks last year. For that reason we saw Nurse, McDavid, and Draisaitl but not Reinhart who was a full-time pro in 2014-2015.

The Oilers have 3 “A” Grade prospects at the camp and several others remain very good prospects but aren’t exactly at the level of the previously mentioned trio. The club chose to have Draisaitl in the early group and the duo of Nurse & McDavid in the later group. I’m going to do my best to say a few words on all the prospects who stood out for one reason or another. If I didn’t say anything it’s because I didn’t see enough to comment on.

Something to keep in mind is that I have only had one viewing. This isn’t an exhaustive scouting session. It was just a glimpse into what these kids were doing. If they were having an off day then that’s what I caught. The day was spent doing some skating drills that focused on agility, some puck battling drills, shot blocking, 1v1 drills, and 2v1 drills.

Connor McDavid: Facing the choice of watching a bunch of kids practice a game for 3 hours or stay with my family for the same amount of time, McDavid tipped the scales to the drills. Watching him run through the drills you get the sense that every aspect of skating comes effortlessly. Or at least that’s the way it looks now. I don’t doubt for a second that countless hours of work went into his stride and edges. It shows. McDavid is fast. Hilariously so. Just watching him go through the drills you can see he’s a special skater. He can go from moving laterally to full speed ahead in an instant and when he’s was doing the 1v1 and 2v1 drills that acceleration made him almost untouchable.

We were laughing in the stands when McDavid and the defender (EVERY Defender except for Nurse) would start at the same place in the drill and within 2 strides he was effectively on a breakaway (actually pulling off the Forsberg once). In the puck battle drills McDavid took on a few opponents but most notably took on the 6’2” 232 pound John McCarron. McCarron might as well have been a Tim Horton’s Tim Bits player because all that size didn’t do squat and at least McDavid might have been inclined to let the kid have a turn with the puck. The only drills that McDavid wasn’t particularly good at were the shot blocking drills. Actually, he was pretty bad at it but something tells me McLellan isn’t going to tell him he needs to practice blocking shots over the summer. He’s better off using his hands and feet in the offensive zone. His passing is great, his hands in tight are impressive, and his quickness stands out.

Darnell Nurse: He was the most physically dominant player at camp. Bar none. Nobody was meaner. In every drill where there could have conceivably been contact, Nurse made sure there was. He was wallpapered to every sorry forward who had the misfortune of lining up against him. Of all the defenders at the camp, Nurse was head and shoulders above the rest. To the point where it truly looked like an NHL player lining up against teenage hopefuls. He was a match for McDavid in skating agility. He moves faster backwards than most of the prospects could forwards.

Nurse has all the tools. He has size and appears to still be growing, he has the puck skills, he has the mean streak you want, and he has ++ skating. He dominated the puck battle drills because he can use his strength so well, but also because the puck isn’t a grenade on his stick. He was able to go from behind the net out front and get shots away as well or better than most of the skilled forwards. I think his offensive ability is criminally underrated right now because he is too good defensively to be wasted on cushy OZ starts. In the 1v1 drills most of the attacking players couldn’t even get close to the net. In the 2v1 drills his active stick, excellent skating, and gap control neutralized the threat almost every time. He’s the real deal.

Leon Draisaitl: Wasn’t on the ice with Nurse or McDavid but he was hands down the best player in his group. He looked like a man among boys and was clearly the alpha dog in the group. In all of the puck protection drills he was an unstoppable force. There was nothing anyone could do to take the disc away from him. His passing ability is sublime and his shot is going to catch a lot of people off guard. The area of concern (for some reason) that people have for him has been his skating.

I cannot, for any reason, figure out why so many people are concerned about Draisaitl’s skating. In the Oilers skills competition last year he was the fastest on NHL club. At the development camp he was again showing his wheels. On many drills it looked like he was fired out of a cannon. I think there are people who saw the way he slowed the game down and assumed he was doing something inherently wrong. It is not the case that all players must skate at a single speed (full acceleration) all the time. Draisaitl is an exciting prospect because he CAN turn on the jets when he wants to but uses his hockey IQ to modulate his speed.

Greg Chase: Had a rough year in the WHL but showed why he’s still a prospect. He has good speed and a nose for the net. He battles hard every chance he gets. In the 2nd tier of talent he was noticeably near the top of that group. He’s still a pest. That annoying nature plus his skill and speed will make him a favourite to eventually grab a bottom 6 role with the Oilers.

Tyler Vesel: I would take my eyes off of him and then a few seconds later I would be drawn right back. He was drafted as an overager from the USHL where he had 71 points in 49 games. This year in the NCAA he had 23 points in 39 games. Keeping in mind the low scoring nature of the NCAA we shouldn’t be too upset. Just maybe there’s a player there.

Ethan Bear: 5th Rounder in 2015. Undersized defender but he used his stick very effectively. Showed well in the 2v1 and 1v1 drills. Pleasantly surprised.

John Marino: 6th Rounder in 2015. Looked good skating with all of the players outside of the big 3. He has decent quickness and he absolutely demolished Braden Christoffer against the walls. He went up against Draisaitl a few times and was thoroughly embarrassed, but Draisaitl against anybody in that group was unfair.

William Lagesson: 6’2” but looks bigger. He skates very well and looks like a Tom Gilbert clone. No really, grown in a lab from a cheek swab. Looks just like him. Anyway, he has good gap control and pretty good skating. It could always get better though.

Joey LaLeggia: I wish I could have watched more of him. He was very quick and had plus passing ability. I ended up focused on others though.

Ben Betker: 6’5”, 223 pounds and looked every bit like the giant he is. The consistent problem I saw was his skating. He had a real problem moving backwards. When he was on top of his game he was effective, when he was caught flat footed even the C prospects walked around him. To his credit he was out before his session and stayed after to work on skating with the coaches. He knows what his issue is. I’d say he’s a project right now, but if he can become more agile then he will become very interesting.

This isn’t a list of all the players I saw, just the ones I could comment on after just the one viewing. It was a good time and in many ways something I needed to get my Oiler hockey fix even in the summer.

Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy

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