Blackhawks Announce Prospect Camp Participants, Times
On Thursday morning, the names of players participating in next week’s Blackhawks Prospect Camp was released as were the dates and times of the individual sessions.
What’s interesting looking at the list of players (below) is the mix of players with no professional experience with players who have been on NHL and AHL ice previously. Marko Dano and Kyle Baun both played in the NHL last season; Dano was arguably the centerpiece of the Brandon Saad trade, while Baun signed with Chicago as an undrafted college free agent.
Also attending from Rockford will be Garret Ross, Mathieu Brisebois and Tanner Kero, as well as Mark McNeill and Stephen Johns, two players who hope to be on the NHL roster soon. Robin Press and Carl Dahlstrom signed with Rockford late last season, and Dillon Fournier played a full professional season last year as well. Phillip Danault is not on the list.
Graham Knott and Dennis Gilbert, the Hawks’ top two picks in the 2015 NHL Draft, are on the list, as is defenseman Gustav Forsling, whom the Hawks acquired from Vancouver for Adam Clendening during the 2014-15 season.
Among the drafted NCAA prospects in the organization, Nick Schmaltz, John Hayden, Tyler Motte, Chris Calnan, Luc Snuggerud, Luke Johnson, Mat Iacopelli and Sam Jardine will be at the camp. Vince Hinostroza, who finished his career at Notre Dame last season, will be at the camp with a professional contract already signed.
One player to keep an eye on is forward Fredrik Olofsson, a 2014 draft pick who skated with the Chicago Steel last season. I like his game a lot and he has good size as well. Also of note, 19-year-old winger Yushiroh Hirano from Japan scheduled to attend.
Here is the alphabetical list of players coming to Johnny’s West starting Sunday:
2015 Chicago Blackhawks Prospect Camp Schedule
*All times subject to change
Sunday, July 12
10:30-11:45 a.m. Practice: Team C
12:30-1:45 p.m. Practice: Group 1 & 2
2:00-3:15 p.m. Practice: Group 3 & 4
Monday, July 13
9:45-10:15 a.m. Practice: Team A
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Scrimmage: Team A vs. Team B
12:30-1:00 p.m. Practice: Team B
1:15-2:30 p.m. Practice: Team C
Tuesday, July 14
9:45-10:15 a.m. Practice: Team B
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Scrimmage: Team B vs. Team A
12:30-1:00 p.m. Practice: Team A
1:15-2:30 p.m. Practice: Team C
Wednesday, July 15
10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Scrimmage: Team A vs. Team B
1:15-2:30 p.m. Practice: Team C
Thursday, July 16
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Practice: Forwards
12:45-1:45 p.m. Practice: Defensemen
Friday, July 17
10:00-11:30 a.m. Scrimmage
Where is Ryan Hartman? I thought he looked good the 20 min he was called up.
re: Jax – VERY interesting that Hartman, Danault & Pokka are NOT on this list but McNeill & Johns are…
What about Morin? ha ha ha ha ha…
Just like last summer – two guys I’ll be very interested in following at prospects camp are Hayden and Hinostroza. Hayden played for the US at WJC and then kind of fell off the map after returning to Yale. Not sure is if was solely injury related or is there was some other problem. Hinostroza is that undersized “water bug” player who left Notre Dame after his sophomore year and got in a couple games with Rockford at the end of the season.
Happy to see Johns, Dano and McNeill putting in the effort. Be interesting to see how Schmaltz does after an inconsistent freshman season at N.Dak.
Hey – at least it’s something else to talk about other then the Sharp trade soap opera.
Tab; I hate to even mention this , but do you think this due to trade possibility?
Tab, on the potential trades Versteeg, Sharp – do players have the right to veto trades?
No Hartman, Danualt or Pokka is Very interesting indeed. particularly because I like all 3 players. Hopefully they were simply given a pass until camp.
Tab, it is likely both Johns and Mcneill are attending prospect camp because both missed a lot of time last year due to injuries.
Interesting to note Nick Mattson is not on the list. He signed an AHL contract and has been to the last 5 camps so no real surprise there … and goaltender Ken Appleby is not on the list either – he was on the Memorial Cup winning team and attended their camp last summer as well as a mini camp before the draft. He is in the St. Louis camp this week. Thought for sure the Blackhawks would invest a late round draft pick on him but it didn’t happen.
There are always an addition or two or three to the publicized list so we’ll wait and see.
Looks like 19 free agents per this list. Connor LaCouvee was the backup goaltender for Boston University, he backed up Matt O’Connor who drew tons of interest as a free agent this spring, including from the Blackhawks (signed with Ottawa). Some of the names on this list are worth watching for the annual college free agent signing frenzy come next March & April – this is part of the whole relationship building / recruiting process.
How about an updated scouting report on Garret Ross ?
I’ve seen reports that compare him to Andrew Shaw and he’s always on Rockford’s top line. Any chance of Ross wearing an Indian Head this year?
Looks like none of the Rockford group that made up the Black Aces’ during the playoffs are in this camp. Maybe they feel they saw enough of them in those practices and want to look at some other prospects.
I am hoping to attend again. Its nice to “see” these kids competing against each other. From my unprofessional eye you could just see who belonged and who didn’t. Speaking of someone who I thought belonged; Dennis rasmussen isn’t on the list, I believe he was given a contract, I am assuming he did not sign.
Also Surprised Mark Visentin didn’t get an invite? Matt Tomkins is the only goalie attending?
Looking forward to Watching a few guys who caught my eye last year.
Robin Press
Robin Norrell
Andreas Soderberg
& John Hayden
TVR had a solid camp last year and was paired up with Johns(I remember thinking management must really like him because he was out there a lot), but Tuevo stole the show.
SSHM,
There will be several goaltenders there. LaCouvee is one, the guy from St. Lawrence Hayton is another, the Swede Stefan Steen, Matt Tomkins as you mentioned. Rassmusen was given a qualifying offer but hasn’t signed a new deal yet, plus he is an older pro so this prospect camp is really not for guys like him.
The guys who were Black Aces, yeah, they were participating in full hockey activities well into June so that’s likely the reason they’re not here.
As for Garret Ross, he’s a heart and soul guy who improved his game this year, yea he does have some similarities to Shaw and at the very least is a depth guy who could be called up assuming the roster stays basically as it is, which I suspect it will not.
@ DAVEMANSON22
Garrett Ross is a nice player, its fair to say he has already exceeded expectations since he is a 5th rounder skating in the AHL as a top line player. I can see the comparisons to Shaw. His game is far from flashy but he has a nice shot and has good touch around the net. He does like to mix it up a little too, like Shaw. He is 23 so he is getting to the point where maybe he has maxed out in AHL. He has a uphill battle to make the Hawks next season.
IMO there are 3 guys who have a realistic chance to put on the Indian Head at some point Dano & Johns (surprised they are here actually) and McNeil who is getting to the end of his rope with the Hawks. Everyone else I would deem a LONGSHOT.
Michael Lackey is another big goaltender coming to the camp. He played for the U.S. Development Program and played for Team Olczyk in a tournament game. He’s going to Harvard in the fall.
I am surprised Ivan Nalimov did not get in invite, he looked awful in camp. Actually all the goalies were a joke and Tomkins looked the best and he is the only one returning, funny how that worked out.
^I agree, the goalies did look pretty terrible at last year’s camp. And Tomkins has had a less than stellar run at Ohio State and unless something drastically changes I doubt he’ll be signed.
None of the Big Boys ( Brandon Mashinter, Cody Bass, and Pierre-Cedric Labrie ) are on the list. Are they still with the organization?
Guys if you look at the rosters, all of the AHL pros are on team C and the will only be practicing not scrimmaging. Just an observation, but no sense in having guys like johns, McNeill and Ross out there battling 18 year olds.
Reading comments on this Olofsson kid has me jacked to track him at Prospect camp too. He was the Hawk’s 4th round pick in 2014. He’s got good size (6’2″/204) is supposedly a good skater with a boat load of skills. Had a nice breakout year with the USHL Chicago Steel last year getting 27g/33a in 57 games, good for 10th in USHL scoring. He’ll be going to college in the fall (Nebraska-Omaha) where he’ll join fellow Hawk draft pick from 2014 (5th round) Luc Snuggerud.
I won’t attend camp, so I’m hoping for lots of eye witness reports from the rest of you guys. :)
Ross is the real deal , smooth skating, nice touch all around. Led Rockford in points all season until McNeil edged him out.