St. John’s, NL (CP)
The Rovers wrapped up their prospect camp in St. John’s this weekend, and the coaching staff felt it was a great success. They saw the potential of many would-be Rovers and were able to make a number of evaluations about who among them are closest to making an immediate impact. “I think we saw a few guys stand above the rest”, said Ulf Dahlen, Rovers newly-appointed director of player development. “We’re looking forward to seeing a few of these players making an impact in the main camp and competing for jobs this season. The message to the rest of the prospects is that this is the level you need to reach to compete for an RHL job. We will continue to monitor their development with their respective junior, minor-league and European clubs”.
Meanwhile, it was announced that nine players were invited to the main training camp. Forwards Evgeni Malkin, Travis Zajac, Brian Boyle, Troy Brouwer, and Mike Glumac, defensemen Christoph Schubert and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and goaltenders Jaroslav Halak and Yann Danis will all compete for jobs on the RHL18 Rover roster. Of the nine, Evgeni Malkin is the closest to a slam-dunk as possible. Malkin is expected by all scouts and by his performance in prospect camp to step into a top-six forward role and not look back. There also seems to be room on the roster right now for Zajac and Vlasic, although center and defense are the two deepest areas of the team. As well, the make-up of the roster may be different after free agency, which opens this week.
