My final thoughts on the Prospects Tournament were, essentially, that I don’t see any players ready to “take a job” from someone at the NHL level yet. Raymond looked to be the closest, and at 19 that’s fairly impressive. Veleno looked stronger, skating well, but his defensive play isn’t where it needs to be as a center (and I’m fairly certain he’ll be on the Wing if/when he does get called up). Berggren has skills, but needs strength.
And so, it was interesting to see that Bobby Ryan is coming to camp on a PTO. At the start of the season, his line with Fabbri and Zadina looked like the best line last year. Injuries and COVID took their toll quickly and dispersed the crew. Ryan ended up playing in 33 games and scoring 7 goals (not bad, would have been on pace for 18+ in a regular season) and 7 assists. What’s interesting is that, for my mind, the top 6 is fairly well set.
Vrana, Larkin, Zadina, Bertuzzi, Suter and Fabbri look to be the top 2 lines. In no way am I trying to be down on any player, but Fabbri would be the spot that is the most “in flux”. Ryan, then, would be looking at a 3rd line role with Rasmussen and possibly Stephenson. That would push Erne down to the 4th line where Smith, Gagner and Namestnikov are all looking for jobs. That’s a fairly crowded roster in the bottom 6. I bumped Stephenson up to the third as it’s been “speculated” he will grab the center spot and move Rasmussen to the wing. Obviously, we’ll see how it all works out. In reality, a veteran could be hitting waivers if Ryan does grab a spot.
Potentially, the most exciting story line this year will be the defense. Hronek has been a Godsend in development. He’s been the steadiest contributor at a fairly young age and with a new extension in hand. Seider is coming in and, based on the conversation, he and Hronek are your top 2 righty’s. Possibly paired with Leddy, the 2019 first rounder was featured in the vignette that I embedded up top. What I noticed right away is that his neck looks 2 inches thicker than the draft footage. Seider has strength that belies his thin frame, and if he’s putting on muscle, all the better. For the first time in a long time, the blue line is going to get a lot of the “hype” going into camp.
Let me know if/where you fit Ryan into the group. I’m almost counting on a top 6 injury (Bertuzzi or Fabbri) and so Ryan could be promoted in that situation. Again, he worked well with Zadina, so it would be nice to see those two go back in forth if that is the case. Camp is almost here, soon enough we’ll have scrimmages and preseason games. Enjoy the ride, and lets hope there aren’t any more injuries in camp.
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