Coach likes new format for junior summer camp
MONTREAL — Coach Brent Sutter likes the idea of facing real competition at the Canadian junior hockey team’s summer camp.
He’ll get that this year as players vying for spots on Canada’s world junior championship team skate together for two days at the Montreal Canadiens practice rink and then head to Lake Placid, N.Y., for exhibition games against Finland, Sweden and the United States.
Sutter says that easily beats holding intra-squad match-ups.
“Change is good,” Sutter said Saturday as the players arrived at the team hotel from across the country. “Talking to some players about it, they’re excited.
“It’s different from going through an evaluation, with red-white games. Now you’re playing Sweden, Finland and the Americans and they’re bringing their best. We’ll get a better sense of where we’re at. And, as a coaching staff, it’s new for us too.”
The camp, which opens with practices today and Monday in Brossard, Que., is the first step in selecting the team that will play at the world junior championship Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Malmo, Sweden.
The players returning from the team that finished fourth in Ufa, Russia last year — forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin and defencemen Morgan Rielly and Griffin Reinhart — will skate the first two days but will not travel to Lake Placid.
Those four have already shown what they can do, and leaving them behind will give more ice time to those the coaches know less about.
“We’re taking 32 guys, and it’s a lot of bodies,” Sutter said. “You’ve got to get everybody in at least one game.
“It gives us a better feel for everybody else.”
Jake Paterson was on last year’s team as the third goalie but didn’t play. He will go to Lake Placid.
Sutter also likes that there are fewer players than the usual 45 or so at summer camp, so he has only what he called “the cream of the crop” to evaluate.
The group includes Erie Otters star Connor McDavid, who has a good shot at becoming a rare 16-year-old to make the squad. The gifted winger is already the favourite to go first overall in the 2015 NHL draft.
Sutter said he has watched McDavid on video, and is looking forward to seeing what he can do against the world’s top juniors. He said he wouldn’t be shocked if he ends up on the roster when the team is picked in December.
“He’s obviously an elite player,” he said. “A top player on his club team.
“He dominated at the under-18s, so we’re actually thrilled that he’s part of this, and he’s certainly going to get an opportunity to show us what he can do. When you have special players, there are special circumstances, and he’s certainly in one of those situations.
“We’ll see how it all unfolds. There’s no guarantee of anything come Christmastime, but the fact is, he has a opportunity here to compete against the best players and play with the best players and we’ll see how he manages that.”
Sutter has had special talent on his teams before. Sidney Crosby played as a 17-year-old at the 2005 world juniors.
Another “underage” player in camp is 17-yearold Kootenay Ice forward Sam Reinhart, who is expected to go high in the 2014 draft.
Before becoming an NHL head coach, Sutter coached the national junior squad for three years.