NOTE: This is one game at the Oilers development camp – this does NOT mean a lot in terms of future potential or overall talent in these players. These are my observations from the game though:

Dylan Wells – great lateral movement along the ice, had not a lot of defensive help on three goals allowed.

Stuart Skinner – made a big save post-to-post, good at tracking the puck, didn’t allow a goal.

Shane Starrett – biggest goalie on the ice, made a nice glove save on a breakaway, goal against was poor D coverage but he left a hole or two in his net.

Oliver Rodrigue – like Wells, I noticed good lateral movement along the ice, didn’t have much of a chance on the goals allowed but I wonder about his blocker side being a target.

Vincent Desharnais – He’s HUGE – but he’s also quite slow, his skating work is rough. He has an active good stick + nice reach so when he did get beat, he could still make plays to take the puck away. His puck skill is limited.

Evan Bouchard – the highlight on the ice, I was impressed by many things that Bouchard does. His ability to move the puck under pressure is excellent, he made some fantastic tape-to-tape passes in seams where other players simply don’t look. Always had his head up. His two assists were a tape-to-tape excellent cross-ice pass down low to Ryan McLeod and another off his backhand to an open Graham McPhee in the slot. His vision is awesome. His goal was a one-timer half-slapper in the top shelf from a Yamamoto pass that had no chance to be stopped. He had another hard wrister that just missed, wish we saw more of his slapshot in this one.

Some of his passes were subtle and small but nice regardless and smooth – he’s incredibly calm under pressure and when he had the puck, everyone watched him and he could still find ways to thread the needle. I also liked how vocal he was – he talked a lot on the ice to teammates during play + during downtime with a smile on his face. His leadership ability was on full display.

His defensive game is sometimes a question mark – he’s definitely not an aggressive guy but he’s smart with his stick. He got beaten wide by Tyler Benson on one play to the net and sometimes his positioning was off but he also made one nice zone exit off the boards and if the puck is on his stick, he has a knack to find a guy to move it out with rather than dumping or clearing it.

Phil Kemp – He was doing work defensively and doesn’t give you clean access to the net, along with some smarter small plays to get the puck out of the zone. He got walked twice and I didn’t see a ton of puckmoving skill but there’s some upside there.

Dmitri Samorukov – Looked like a hybrid of Dmitri Kulikov + Dmitri Orlov out there – one of the only guys who was throwing hits and he shot the puck 7 or 8 times. Made a few adventurous plays both offensively and defensively with some coverage gaps. Looks like a good project and he can skate for sure.

Caleb Jones – I see shades of Darnell Nurse in his game but he’s more offensively aggressive – lots of tools here. Good edgework in his skating, shifty, some solid passes and he roves around the ice a lot. There were moments he went too deep and got caught for a 2 on 1 the other way – smarter pinches will improve his game. An interesting package.

Michael Kesselring – His skating is a bit lumbering, he was a step below the rest of the Oilers, but made some smaller smart plays. As the game went on he got more confident and made some deeper rushes into the offensive zone (not a lot of vision though) – also had a rough shift where he got caught and had a nightmare problem covering when he got back. There’s size + tools here but he has a lot to learn.

Logan Day – Showed decent puckmoving up ice but got burnt on multiple occasions in his own end or off giveaways. EDIT: He was the one who passed to Maksimov for his 2nd goal, a nice read by him to go deep.

Matthew Cairns – Not a lot of things to say about his performance – saw some decent puckmoving ability, a bit of good defensive work, there’s a few lapses in his game on both ends where he kinda loses focus but otherwise didn’t stand out. Had one really rough giveaway that led to a big chance against.

Graham McPhee – a pleasant surprise, he’s gritty and good on the boards, a very underrated passer which led to two points on the board. Had a beautiful backhand shot past Wells for a goal. I didn’t notice him much in the first half but in the 2nd half he worked really well with Kailer Yamamoto for multiple chances. Size is not a deterrent for him. He’s developed nicely. Made a great stretch pass to Safin for a breakaway.

Cameron Hebig – forced a few plays through defenders (his shot is good though). Otherwise I didn’t notice him a ton.

Tyler Benson – in the first half it seemed like he was the only guy with the puck on his stick who could do something on his team, in the second half he looked stronger and he found a finisher – had shifty moments including one where he walked around Evan Bouchard. Made some nice passes. Overall I saw a good amount of skill today from him. Size doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Kailer Yamamoto – a lot of his skill was on display – 2 goals + 1 assist – I loved how aggressive he is with his stick when he DOESN’T have the puck – he’s a tenacious bugger, always trying to get into the play somehow. Showed nice chemistry with Graham McPhee and Ryan McLeod for some solid plays and his tape-to-tape pass to Evan Bouchard was perfect. Very shifty. Interesting note – at one point he got stuck on a 1-on-3 situation and had to dump it in…when he came back onto the bench, he slammed his stick and yelled at his linemates for leaving him out to dry – I didn’t find it to be an aggressively bad thing though, it was quick. He’s very vocal out there.

J.D. Dudek – I saw some tools and hands – he tried to force some plays in the middle of the ice. Made a nice move on a penalty shot Forsberg-style but was stopped by Wells. I didn’t notice him a ton.

Ostap Safin – his skating is quite effortless – he almost can look lazy out there – but there’s lots of skill here. He hit two crossbars and he likes to shoot the puck – maybe more far out than you’d like for a guy with his size. Didn’t go to the net really. Showed some nice hands. You can see the potential in him.

Cooper Marody – he’s got some wheels to him, made some smaller nice passing plays, looks pro-ready to me but nothing stood out in his game – he looked like the type of guy who plays top six AHL + can pinch hit in the NHL bottom six when necessary. Made smart plays leaving the zone to get it out. In this game, he looked like one of those veterans who just made things look simple. I noted one solid 2-on-1 chance with him and Ryan McLeod that forced a nice stop by Shane Starrett.

Colin Larkin – gave himself room for one higher-slot chance – otherwise he was hard to notice. Didn’t touch the puck a lot.

Nolan Vesey – don’t think he made one play that I can document on here. Didn’t notice him at all.

Ryan McLeod – easily the fastest player on the ice and what’s impressive about that is he can still make plays with that speed. Made some nice passes tic-tac-toe for two assists, including one to Kailer Yamamoto cross-crease for a goal. Had one end-to-end play he just missed wide. Hard to see him not becoming a pro someday with that kind of speed – I saw some Andrew Cogliano in his game but I think McLeod’s hands warrant higher upside (not a lot of chances to display any defensive game tonight).

Skyler Brind-Amour – Only had the puck on his stick a few times, but seemed to slow the game down when he did (in a good way). Had one good shot that was stopped high. Not easy to fight on the boards but didn’t win a ton of those battles. I only noticed him on maybe two of his shifts and he had a few giveaways.

Kirill Maksimov – hard game to really get a grip on his real style of play – first half he was a bit of a ghost but in the second half he converted two chances down low for back-to-back goals with his fast accurate shot release. He knows which areas to go to for success. Tried to force a few passes. You can see glimpses of skill that he showed more consistently in the OHL this year.

GOALS:

Yamamoto (McLeod, Bouchard) – This was a tic, tac, toe play with two amazing passes and a good finish.

Bouchard (Yamamoto, McLeod) – McLeod to Yamamoto and a soft set-up for a half slapper howitzer to the top corner by Bouchard. This got the most OOOHS and AWWWS.

McPhee (Bouchard, Dudek) – A fantastic backhand pass through the middle of the zone by Bouchard to an open McPhee in front of the net and a great backhand roof finish.

Maksimov (Benson) – Benson made a nice cross-ice pass and Maksimov finished this one fast.

Maksimov (Day) – very similar to the goal above where he just released the shot the moment it hit his stick and boom – in the net.

Yamamoto (McPhee) – a give-and-go play where the two passed to each other and Yamamoto finished in front of the net. McPhee’s feed was quite nice.