Toronto Maple Leafs: Updates at development camp
By Omar L
Taking a look at some things that have been going on at the Toronto Maple Leafs rookie development camp.
Toronto Maple Leafs rookie development camp has been running for a couple of days now. More has happened since day one, when the young players were split into groups and the fan base found out Timothy Liljegren got a haircut.
Coverage of the camp may increase with the drafted player scrimmages beginning Tuesday. Here are some brief summaries of what has gone on at camp so far.
Invitee Standouts
The group of camp invites have been taking part in scrimmages the past three days. Out of that group, Kristian Pospisil has been the most notable.
Pospisil has been taking care of the offence for his team with five goals in two games, including a hat-trick in game one.
Leaf Development Camp trade today as Kristian Pospisil goes from Blue to White. 5 goals in 2 games , the sniping Slovak changes sides.
— Paul Hendrick (@HennyTweets) July 10, 2017
Other invitees who have been standing out are Austen Keating and Austen Rueschhoff. Seems like the name Austen (and its other spelling versions) have a knack of performing well in Toronto.
I spy a Babcock
TSN’s Kristen Shilton tweeted that head coach Mike Babcock was taking in Sunday’s action.
First Mike Babcock sighting (by me, anyway) at #Leafs development camp. Checking out the defensive prospects.
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) July 9, 2017
Checking out the young d-men makes sense, considering it is the position of need in the organization. Not to mention that some of them have incredible size. Luckily for Babcock, these young players are that height all the time.
The Leafs drafted 7 defencemen the last 2 years. Dev. Camp this week plays a major role in expediting that process. pic.twitter.com/3f9CEqq5ef
— Paul Hendrick (@HennyTweets) July 9, 2017
Missing in action
Jeremy Bracco has missed the past two days of camp. According to Paul Hendrick, Bracco’s absence has been due to an illness. Better that than an injury right?
Unfortunately, Bracco isn’t the only one missing time. Michael Augello tweeted that goalie prospect Joseph Woll left practice early, shaking his leg.
#Leafs G Joseph Woll leaving practice early, was shaking his leg at the bench, but could just precautionary.
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) July 10, 2017
As Augello stated, it could just be a minor tweak. No point playing through something small and running the risk of making it worse.
On Tuesday and Thursday, the camp invites will be playing against the prospects. It’ll be interesting to see how the other group of players fare in a game, but also to see how the invitees fair against arguably better competition. You can catch these scrimmages on Leafs TV.
Next: Leafs' rookie development camp begins
What have you made of development camp so far? Are there any particular camp invites you’ve paid attention to? How do you think the prospects will fair in their upcoming scrimmage games? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!