The on-ice portion of the Philadelphia Flyers' 2017 Development Camp gets underway today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. When the prospects gather every year, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall and assistant general manager Chris Pryor annually repeat the same mantra to the attendees and the media.
The July camp is not an evaluation camp and should not be treated as such. It's called a Development Camp because it's all about tips for developing into a pro both on and off the ice. It will not be factored directly into immediate competition for NHL or even AHL jobs.
While this message is consistent, it is hard for young players to tone down their competitive instincts, especially when they often can glance up at the balcony and see the likes of Hextall, Pryor and team president Paul Holmgren standing side-by-side and peering down. Development coaches John Riley, Kjell Samuelsson, Brady Robinson (goaltenders) and Brett Hextall will be down on the ice with the players.
Meanwhile, for prospects who do not have NHL entry-level contracts in hand or least an AHL contract -- especially the smattering of undrafted invitees -- it is hard to view the July camp as anything but a chance to impress.
For the already signed players, especially one the ones who are now Development Camp veterans, it is easy to take the message to heart that the camp is a development checkpoint and springboard to getting a good start on training camp preparation.
For other young men, it's hard not to feel like it's a bit of a competition with others beside themselves. That's just the reality, no matter how many times they are told "Don't worry about impressing us; just focus on asking questions and learning."
For example, undrafted attendee Ivan Kosorenkov is aiming for an invitation to an NHL rookie camp this September and an entry-level contract, whether it's with the Flyers or another NHL team. Otherwise, he will go back to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for next season with no professional club holding his rights.
Conversely, the undrafted collegiate hockey bound attendees are stocking away the experience toward their hopeful future development. That is what past Flyers Development camp invitees such as Mike Vecchione, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Eric Hartzell did before eventually obtaining pro contracts a year or two down the line. Due to NCAA eligibility regulations, the collegiate hockey attendees (whether drafted or undrafted) have to cover their own expenses to take part in these camps. As soon as they sign a pro contract, their amateur hockey eligibility ends. In Vecchione's case, of course, the eventual ELC was with the Flyers while TVR and Hartzell signed with other organizations.
Hextall said the principles of Development Camp need to be followed up all year, not just for one week. That is the key to the rationale for why, over the past decade, the Flyers have greatly expanded the Development Coach role from part-time to full-time work. It is why there are dedicated development coaches who work year-round with the goalie prospects (Robinson), the young defensemen (Samuelsson) and the forward hopefuls (Riley).
Ultimately, it is up to the players to take advantage of their one-on-one access to the development coaches to get the most possible out of the July camp. Hextall wants to make sure the best possible resources are available at the young players' fingertips.
In the old days, even the best NHL organizations were primitive in their notions of development. They basically threw prospects in the pool and told them to sink or swim. Two summers ago, Hextall wistfully recounted how, at his own first pro training camp, he was clueless about offseason training. He thought he'd come to camp in the best shape of anyone and got a rude awakening when he realized that was far from the case.
During the period in which Flyers assistant coach Ian Laperriere (previously a development coach before being promoted to working with the NHL roster) ran the Development Camp, he told the attendees that the one and only thing they could do to make an impression on the decision makers was show they were passionate about their own development: embrace mentorship, pick the brains of seasoned pros, follow the tips on nutrition and diet, pay attention to the talks about how to conduct oneself off the ice in today's social media age.
It can be tough for young men to fully understand and embrace all of these lessons -- especially the latter ones about self-discipline when there isn't someone there to blow a whistle and tell them what, when and how to do something.
The Flyers do not expect perfection on the ice or angelic behavior 24/7, but they do expect genuine passion for placing a hockey career as one's overriding priority.
People such as Hextall, Samuelsson and Laperriere -- men who have differing personalities and played different positions during their careers but who share in common their longevity in the game -- can weed out the kids who are going through the motions from the ones who are committed. It cannot be faked. The kids who truly burn to play hockey stand out in these camps for reasons that have nothing to do with things that can be immediately measured with a stop-watch or a vertical leap bar.
When one talks to Hextall or Pryor about prospects, they emphasize will almost as much as they talk about skill. One of the things that Development Camp does is that it reveals which young men play hockey because they feel they are supposed to and which ones do it because it's their passion.
Back at the 2012 Camp, apart from his obvious speed, agility and polished first-pass prowess that already looked to be pro caliber, the biggest thing that set a 19-year-old Shayne Gostisbehere from most of the other young men in the camp was the way he carried himself off the ice. He could already see the big picture as he took in the experience. His passion, enthusiasm, intelligence and poise resonated when you talked to him. He was very self-confident, too, already talking about wanting to be an inspiration to other undersized young players to persevere with the game. It was genuine.
Former Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi is fond of telling the story of how, during the Kings' 2007 camp, he came in very early one morning to get some work done several hours before the sessions began. Looking out the window of his office, he was surprised to a see another car already in the parking lot. Lombardi discovered the team's scrawny-looking recent second-round pick was sleeping in his car. The young man's name: Wayne Simmonds.
As Simmonds recounts it, he had a place to stay with a friend but it wasn't located close to the rink and he didn't want to take any chances with traffic. So he came to the rink a few hours ahead of reporting time and didn't think anything of it. Lombardi did, however, as it made a big impression on him about the desire to play that burned within the raw 19-year-old forward's heart.
Every player at Development Camp, whether it's first-time attendees such as Nolan Patrick (unable to participate in on-ice work while recovering from June 13 sports hernia surgery) and Morgan Frost or it's a camp veteran such as Travis Sanheim or Oskar Lindblom (both in their fourth and final Development Camp) has something to gain. In the case of the more developed players such as Sanheim, who already have some pro hockey experience under their belts, the hope is that they show leadership-by-example capabilities that the younger players can follow.
In each of the past two Development Camps, all eyes were on the defensemen. That is still somewhat true this year, with Sanheim, Philippe Myers and Mark Friedman on hand, but the likes of Ivan Provorov, Samuel Morin and Robert Hà¤gg have now graduated from attending the July camp. Swedish defenseman David Bernhardt, who played in the World Junior Championships last season, merits some added attention this year.
This time around, though, the forwards will likely draw the most attention even without Patrick on the ice. There are still players on hand such as Lindblom, 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov and countryman Mikhail Vorobyev (both first-time attendees), collegiate prospects Wade Allison, Tanner Laczynski and Cooper Marody, Connor Bunnaman (who is now under entry level contract), 2017-18 bounceback candidate Pascal Laberge and the group of 2017 draftees that include Frost, Isaac Ratcliffe and Matthew Strome.
Among the goalie prospects, Phantoms goaltenders Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon have both graduated from Development Camp. However, both Carter Hart (second-time attendee, now under entry-level contract) and Felix Sandström (third-time attendee, likely to be signed after next season in the SHL) are on hand to work with Robinson and to participate in the 3-on-3 tournament on Tuesday.