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Day 2 Recap of Wild Rookie Camp
July 08, 2009 @ 4:30 PM ET
The Minnesota Wild held their second on-ice session at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights because of a concert at the Xcel Energy Center. Twenty-one out of the 26 players invited took the ice Wednesday morning.
First-round draft pick Nick Leddy did not attend because he was in class at the University of Minnesota. Sean Lorenz flew back to Notre Dame to take a final but is supposed to be back by Friday. Cody Almond, Jere Sallinen and J.P. Testwuide all are injured. Their exact injuries were not disclosed. Petr Kalus, who sat out yesterday because of illness, was on the ice today.
The prospect camp is a chance for all of the Wild draftees to get together.
“One of the objectives is to bring all our drafted players from all over the world together,” said Assistant General Manager Tom Thompson. “This is the only time that they are all together. We have the rookie camp in Traverse City but the European guys and the U.S. college guys aren’t there.”
The Wild started out by power skating for about 45 minutes. The power-skating session was lead by Sergey Tartykov. He has been the Wild’s head skating coach for about six years. Tartykov is also a former member of the Russian National team.
During the power-skating session the goaltenders tested their lateral movement. Andrew Hackett looked decent during this drill but Darcy Kuemper was more impressive. Kuemper looked very comfortable and confident in net throughout the practice. He had some great glove saves during practice and just always seemed to be aware of his position in net.
The remaining hour and fifteen minutes was run like a normal practice. Three players that stuck out during practice included Kalus, Tyler Cuma and Colton Gillies.
Kalus’ skating and puck-handling skills were very impressive while Cuma had two great goals during drills against Hackett. It’s evident that Gillies is the one with the most NHL experience as he looked very confident and had some great shots. It definitely looked like some of the younger prospects were looking up to him.
One play that stuck out was during a three-on-two drill when Alex Fallstrom passed the puck from behind the net to Gillies who then beat Hackett glove high. Hackett looked a little shaky during the drills as it seemed like he was having problems moving laterally.
The prospect camp offers a lot more than just on-ice training.
“It is learning everything about being a pro,” Thompson said. “That includes things like cooking classes and a whole bunch of other things.”
The prospects will have on-ice practice at the Xcel on Friday and then a scrimmage on Sunday.
Other Notables:
Saku Koivu has signed with the Anaheim Ducks. It is reportedly a one-year contract worth $3.25 million. The Wild had been interested in Koivu but talks stalled when they couldn’t agree on the length of contract.
