Philly.com indicates that if prospect camp is any indication, undrafted free agent signee Mike Testwuide already has planted himself squarely on the bubble of the Flyers’ opening night roster.
“It’s a cool opportunity and it’s really humbling when someone says that about you – that you can have an impact right away,” the 23-year old said of comments made by GM Paul Holmgren that Testwuide is someone who might surprise in training camp. “But you know, nothing is given to you at this level. You’ve got to work for everything. I know it’s not going to be easy.”
According to the article, at 6-3 Testwuide is the prototypical power forward-type right wing the Flyers have been missing. He is a solid skater and gifted scorer – with superb hands for a player his size – who isn’t afraid to dig for pucks and play the physical side of the game.
With his college experience, Testwuide brings a size and maturity that few players coming out of the junior level can carry into their first pro camp.
“I’m a big guy and I’m going to use my size,” Testwuide said. “I think I’m a little bit of a better passer than people give me credit for. I like to take pucks wide and I’m good in the corners – those are my strengths.”
PMB IMPROVING
The Pioneer Press indicates that Minnesota Wild personnel, along with Pierre-Marc Bouchard, are cautiously optimistic that the playmaking former first-round draft pick will play for the Wild this season. He missed all but one game with post-concussion issues last year and GM Chuck Fletcher can’t wait to see the shifty, 5-foot-10 forward back in the team’s line-up.
“He will come back, and the sooner the better, but again there’s still some healing to be done,” Fletcher said. “He generates offence and he has a skill level that’s unmatched by most players in the NHL, so clearly his addition to our line-up will give us a boost.”
Bouchard and Fletcher agree there is no timetable for a return, but the huge news is that PMB is riding an exercise bike, swimming laps and stepping outside for half-hour bike rides around Montreal.
“I’m not quite 100 percent yet,” Bouchard cautioned. “There are still days I feel some pressure and (days) I’m a little bit more tired, but I can do some little stuff and I’m sure in the next few weeks, I’ll be able to go up a notch.”
Nevertheless, after a miserable season on the shelf, Bouchard sees a light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’ve been smiling a little bit more this summer, let’s put it that way,” he said.
Still, as things stand today PMB should really only be considered a late-round gamble for fall drafts and even that’s pushing it. Even he, through this entire process, has learned to temper his enthusiasm.
“I don’t want to get too excited because I’m not quite where I want to be,” he said. “So I cannot be, ‘Yes, it’s over,’ because it’s not. There’s still little headaches here and there, but it’s a big step.”
He has not begun lifting weights and he won’t allow his heart rate to climb too high.
“I have good days, and I have average days, but at least it isn’t getting worse, and it’s been a long time that I’ve been waiting for that,” Bouchard said.
QUOTABLE
“I’m not thinking about that too much,” Zach Parise told Fire & Ice on the subject of how Ilya Kovalchuk’s potential signing with the New Jersey Devils might impact the team’s ability to re-sign Parise after next season. “Right now, it’s more to the point of what’s going to help us win next year and the year after. A guy like (Kovalchuk) will help us. I guess we’ll see what happens after that.”
Thinking about the Devils’ chances of winning, Parise would be happy if Kovlachuk decides to re-sign.
“He’s someone that can help us,” Parise said. “He scores 40 a year. I don’t care who you are. Any guy that scored 40 goals a year and 85-90 points, that’s a good player anywhere. So, if we’re able to get him to come back, that will be good for us.”
BRODEUR LIKES HEDBERG ADDITION
With Johan Hedberg joining the Devils as a UFA signee this month, The Star-Ledger writes that there will be another season of attention on whether Martin Brodeur plays fewer games. The legend doesn’t seem to think he’ll automatically have a lower GP total though.
“The more I play, the better and I feel and the more we win. It’s all about making the playoffs,” Brodeur said. “You can’t have success in the playoffs if you don’t make the playoffs.
“We’ll see, but I think having him back me up is a big luxury.”
Doesn’t having Hedberg set the stage for more rest for Brodeur?
“We thought the same when Weeksie (Kevin Weekes) came in,” he said. “He had played 300 games. “I think what (Hedberg) is going to bring is that ability if I don’t play well, or I’m tired or if I get hurt. You have a guy you’re not afraid to put in there. I’ve always liked him. I don’t know him much, but I know him enough to be comfortable about having him around. When we played against each other we’d always say hi to each other.
“For the time being, not having any young guys coming up, the guys who will maybe take my job eventually, having a guy like that is a good thing.”
Hedberg may or may not get more than the handful of games normally afforded Brodeur’s back-up, but with Jersey’s addition of shot-blocking defenceman Anton Volchenkov on the back end there should be even more reason to look for a NJD back-up goalie for spot starts in ’10-11. Yann Danis was 3-2-1 last year with 2.05/ .923 splits.
CONNOLLY ALREADY FASTER
This is a little scary for a guy who was already considered a potential steal with the sixth pick of this summer’s draft, but winger Brett Connolly is a faster skater after just one brief practice at the Lightning’s development camp.
The St. Petersburg Times writes that skating guru Barry Karn said Connolly simply maintained a straighter posture as he drove forward. Connolly said it was about “using all the power you can.”
Whatever the formula, Connolly went from 2.9 seconds for a sprint from goal line to blue line to 2.3 and from 12 strides to eight. It also was a step toward him proving his injured hips, which limited him to 16 games last season for Prince George, are healed. An MRI exam on Friday also was clear, the team said.
“Absolutely not,” Connolly, 18, said when asked if he had any doubts about his fitness. “I can’t wait to get out there again and show what I can do.”
He’s expected to be back in the WHL next season, but he’s hungry to make a name for himself this summer.
“I’m not just coming here to go through the motions,” he said. “I want to work hard. I want to impress people and, for me, I want to show people that I’m healthy and can play.”
WINGS EXPECT BOUNCEBACK FOR MCCOLLUM
According to Michigan Live, The Detroit Red Wings aren’t reading too much into goaltender Thomas McCollum’s rocky first season with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He was 10-16-2 with 3.48/ .881 splits on a team that didn’t fare too well across the board, but the organization sees it as a learning experience many young goalies go through while transitioning from amateur to pro.
“There’s one good goaltender underneath that jersey and we just got to find a way to get it out of him,” Griffins coach Curt Fraser said during the Red Wings development camp at Joe Louis Arena. “I think this year he’s going to show us all why Detroit took him so high and why we think the world of this kid.”
McCollum was Daniel Larsson’s back-up last season, but Larsson decided that two years in the AHL were enough and he headed back to Sweden this summer. McCollum and veteran goaltender Joey McDonald will compete for the starting job now and the youngster said he’s going to use the fact that he finished ’09-10 on an upswing to move forward. He thinks he has sorted out some technical issues in his game.
“My last 10 starts I really focused on being a lot more patient and let the play come to me,” McCollum said. “Once I stopped rushing everything, I felt I was in much better position; much more in control. That’s where my season really turned around.
“I want to work on playing at the top of the crease, use my size (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) to my advantage. I know if I stay out and try to make guys beat me with the shot, there’s not much room to put the puck in the net.”
Said Fraser: “Tommy moves so well and looks so good out here – he’s just got to take that into his games. In a couple of years, he’ll be great for this Detroit Red Wing team.”
The article notes that growing up just outside Niagara Falls, N.Y., McCollum was a huge fan of the Buffalo Sabres and Dominik Hasek. McCollum learned at an early age he wasn’t flexible enough to mimic Hasek’s unorthodox style, but he can copy his work ethic.
“I heard nothing but great things about how hard he worked,” McCollum said. “You see him battle night in and night out and that’s something I tried to incorporate in my game. I learned growing up watching how Dom battled all the time and how it really helped him on third and fourth saves.”
With Chris Osgood’s contract running out after next season, McCollum could become Jimmy Howard’s back-up for the ’11-12 season… something not lost on McCollum.
“I think about it here and there and a lot of times during the summer it helps push you a little harder in workouts,” McCollum said. “But my main concern is next season, building on a strong finish. If I do that, it could happen. But if I don’t have a good season, (a promotion) is not going to be anything to worry about.”
QUOTABLE
The San Jose Mercury News asked Kevin Epps, the agent for Niklas Hjalmarsson, how much of the Sharks’ offer sheet on the RFA, was playoff payback; a chance for the Sharks — one way or the other — to take a bite out of the team that swept them in the Western Conference finals.
“From San Jose’s point of view, they really liked the fit and decided to really try to get that player. I think the whole process was to get the player – it wasn’t to screw the other team – which I don’t think happens regularly; but sometimes that’s what ends up happening.
“The case here is (the Sharks say) we need a player to fill Rob Blake’s shoes and we had this amount of money to add him to the core group. Let’s do it. I think it was thought through a lot more than sometimes the other ones are.”
THE OTHER STAAL
The Raleigh News & Observer notes that Jared Staal (49th overall in 2008) remains the only Staal brother not in the National Hockey League. Eric and Jordan already have a Stanley Cup ring and Marc has made a name for himself on the back end with the New York Rangers.
“They made the jump pretty quickly and they were ready for it,” Jared Staal said. “I want to make the jump as quickly as possible. That’s my goal.”
He’ll likely start next season with the Charlotte Checkers, the Canes’ new AHL affiliate, after being traded to Carolina in May for a fifth-round pick in the 2010 draft.
Staal told the RN&O that his brothers have offered the same advice for advancement: work hard every day, soak everything in and have some fun doing it.
“They said to be a pro about everything you do,” he said. “It’s the way you act, the way you carry yourself off the ice and on the ice. It’s a huge thing and goes a long way.”
Mike Foligno, who coached Staal in the OHL and is now an assistant in Anaheim, praised the youngest Staal.
“He has been in the limelight a lot because of his family, and there’s no question there’s pressure in being the fourth brother,” said Foligno. “I think he has handled the situation well and grown up a lot. He has grown and matured as a player.
“He’s intelligent, understands the game well and positionally is very good. He has the stature and smarts to one day play on the NHL level. He does need to improve his overall quickness, find that extra step, and he needs more man muscle.”
EKMAN-LARSSON BEST PP OPTION?
Oliver Ekman-Larsson was the sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft and he has gained 15 pounds over the past year (6-2, 185 now). The soon-to-be 19-year old defenceman has a legitimate chance to make the Phoenix Coyotes this fall after a season in the Swedish Elite League and his ears should perk up following two comments made by GM Don Maloney. The first relates to how age will only be a number when the team evaluates who should open the season with the big club.
“Basically, our philosophy now is if you can help us win in October, you’ll stay. I don’t care if you’re 18 or 40,” Maloney told The Arizona Republic. “If you can’t, then you have to go somewhere else until you can help us win.”
Ekman-Larsson, naturally, would prefer to make the jump this season. The AR notes that the overriding factor is that Maloney will put players in a position to succeed and not rush players, either from a physical or mental standpoint. He said the 82-game grind, playing against older players, is probably the biggest challenge youngsters have to overcome to have meaningful impacts.
“The good thing for us now vs. the three years when I came in, I really believe we don’t have to force-feed young players into our lineup,” Maloney said. His next observation should interest single-season poolies in deeper formats looking for potential late round sleepers.
“We have the luxury of letting players develop. I say that, but you look at Oliver Ekman-Larsson out here at 19, the way he skates and moves the puck… he may be our best power play guy next season.”
SAVARD’S STOCK RISING
Blueliner John Moore’s potential has fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets excited, but David Savard has significantly boosted his own value over the past year. The ’09-10 CHL Defenceman of the Year (13-64-77 in 64 GP) also nipped a potential weight problem in the bud thanks to some attention from Jackets development coach Tyler Wright.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that the offensive defenceman managed to gain eight pounds in four months despite playing 25-plus minutes a game for Moncton in the Q.
“Tyler said if I wanted to make it as a pro I had to change things and one of those things was my body weight,” he said. “You have to make changes if you want to improve your game.”
Wright and coach Scott Arniel said the 19-year-old, who needs to improve his foot speed to compete at the NHL level, scored well in conditioning tests at the recent development camp. The 6-foot-2 defenceman weighs 214 pounds, or about 6 pounds less than when Wright “caught him off guard” with their January chat.
“He was playing a lot and he was playing really well, so he probably wasn’t thinking much of it,” Wright said. “It wasn’t a scolding session. I just told him, ‘Listen, we need to take care of this, and I’m giving you the opportunity to take care of this. And if you don’t, then it’s going to become an issue with us.’
“It never did and he’s been real good since.”
QUOTABLE
“When you’re trying to win the Stanley Cup, you dream about bringing it back home and sharing it with family and friends and what it would mean to them,” Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews told The Chicago Tribune after bringing the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy to Winnipeg over the weekend. “You have to try to fight off that feeling when you’re in the moment, because the more you think about it, the more pressure you put on yourself.”
PERFECT FOR POSTMA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that Thrashers’ defensive prospect Paul Postma — known for his offensive abilities following his breakout ’08-9 campaign with the Calgary Hitmen, during which he exploded for 23-61-84 in 70 GP– may soon be a perfect fit for the system planned by new coach Craig Ramsay.
Ramsay plans to implement his aggressive style and Postma, who was one of the final players cut by the Thrashers last year during training camp, was happy to hear about the hire.
“I was pretty excited when I saw that,” Postma said Friday at the team’s prospect camp. “He seems like an awesome coach and he likes his [defence] jumping up in the rushes, which is exactly what I do. So that’s a very good thing for me. Hopefully he likes what he sees.”
Thrashers general manager Rick Dudley has mentioned Postma (15-14-29 in 63 GP in his AHL debut last season) as a player who could compete for a roster spot when training camp begins in September.
“He had a huge year for us last year,” Dudley said. “For a young kid he went in and scored 15 goals. He started out slowly, but by the end he was using his skills pretty well. We think there is nothing but upside there. … We think he can continue to get better offensively.”
Postma is looking to put on more weight (6-3, 190 now), get stronger and improve his defensive play. He’ll be working out hard with best friend T.J. Galiardi this summer.
DUCKS, RANGERS SWAP PLAYERS
The Orange County Register notes that the Ducks on Friday dealt defenceman Steve Eminger to the New York Rangers for left wing Aaron Voros and prospect Ryan Hillier.
GM Bob Murray is looking to add another top-four defenceman (the team has Lubomir Visnovsky, James Wisniewski – a still unsigned RFA -, Toni Lydman and Sheldon Brookbank) but the move of Eminger could also be a sign that they may be ready to fast-track the development of some youngsters in the system by opening up a spot.
The article notes that the Ducks, however, haven’t given up their pursuit of another experienced rearguard and are thought to be one of the teams that is interested in Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa, who is believed to be on the trade market after the Canucks added Keith Ballard and Dan Hamhuis. Murray would not comment on specific players he’s targeting.
Speaking of the scenarios in either going young or adding a veteran, Murray said, “Both are possible. I haven’t decided yet. We have some options.”
The OCR indicates that Voros, 29, figures to vie for the fourth-line opening on the left side created when the Ducks traded Mike Brown to Toronto at the draft last month.
“I wanted to get a more physical forward on left wing and I found a guy,” Murray said. “He’s penciled in there. He’s shown every once in a while that he can get on a run and score some goals. He can play higher.”
The Rangers re-signed Daniel Girardi on Friday and now must get RFA Marc Staal under contract. Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival are still chewing up $11.5M in cap space on the back end, while Matt Gilroy and Michael Del Zotto will also be on the back end for the team in ’10-11.