Jamie Kompon talks camp
I had a chance to talk with Kings assistant coach Jamie Kompon, who is essentially in charge of the prospects camp, about how things went on the first day. To answer a couple questions, Russian draft picks Vjateslav Voinov and Andrei Loktionov were not there because of visa issues, Kompon said. He expects them to be there by the weekend at the latest. All other players were present. Here's what Kompon had to say...
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On his general impressions of the first day...
``It was a great first day. Obviously there are some kids we haven't gotten to see in action or see or talk to in a development-type setting. We have an idea of how they're doing, but it's nice to see their development and where they've come from last year to this year. From now until the end of the week, I'm sure we will see some more improvement.''
On whether the camp has become a smooth-running machine...
``Every year we look to make it better. This is my third year doing this, and looking back at the first year, we've gone from somewhat putting it together to... I don't want to say we've perfected it, but we've done a much better job of getting it where we want to be.''
On what he looks for from players early in camp...''
``The hardest thing for young players is... They all develop individual skills, but the hardest part is putting them in read-and-react situations. It's about putting them in those game-type situations and seeing how they react, what they do. The only way to get experience in those situations is to put them through drills designed for that. We put them through some things this afternoon and afterward you could kind of see some of them looking around like, `Holy smokes.' Some of them have never seen situations like that before. They just have to take a deep breath and think their way through things.''
On whether he sees guys starting to compete for roster spots...
``There's always that internal competitiveness and that desire to be the best, but that's not what it's about for us. The morning session is all about skills, and if we have to break it down and go half-speed to do some coaching, we will do that. We don't want this to be about evaluation. We don't want to get that in their minds. This is for them to get better so that they know what it takes to get to this (NHL) level and what it takes to be a L.A. King. We want them to compete, but there's a time and place for that. We don't want them going around knocking each other's heads off out there.''
On the absence of the Russian players...
``From what I understand, it's just about getting visas and getting them in the country. We're anticipating their arrival, either later this week or this weekend and we're confident that we'll get a look at them.''
On whether anyone in particular stood out today...
``This was one of those days where we're just getting familiar with everyone. That's the exciting part today, just getting to see the players and be on the ice with them. I would rather reserve judgment. Maybe on Thursday we'll have a better idea. That gives them a chance to get their feet under them a little bit. For some of these kids, it's their first time in L.A. and their first time at the Toyota Sports Center with the Kings. With all our people around, it can be a bit overwhelming but it's also a great opportunity for them.''
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About Rich Hammond
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Tuebert will kill someone by Thursday.
Rich you have now totally replaced lgk as the site I go to for information and comments. Thanks, for your great work!
Rich, could you ask some of the players about the relationship building that might go on between them at the various camps during the off-season. As possibly being future teammates and future Kings, do they begin connecting with each other and getting excited about the journey ahead? Again, thanks!
nobody cares about lgk, most of us came here because it's the anti-lgk, so - never did.
Plenty of people from LGK come here as well so I don't really understand the problem brianguy. If you think by coming here that you're getting away from LGK, you've got another thing coming. I guess if you can't stand the heat, stay away from the kitchen, eh? Personally I visit as many Kings related sites as possible.
Enough with the LGK. We are here because Rich continues to provide us with unparralled information for a sports blog.
Keep it up Rich!!
Hey Rich, What's this rumor I'm hearing that The Kings are taking Erik Ersberg to Arbitration. Can you confirm this?
Rich,
Has anyone ever told you that you look like Ralph Garmans long lost brother?
I was there for the defensemen, goalies, and combined portions of todays camp.
Of course, I was eager to have a look at Doughty and Teubert. During the defensemen portion, the drills were pretty simple. You could tell Doughty likes to have fun on the ice because he was always looking to make an extra pass after his rep was over to make it more fun. He might've been a tad bored but his attitude seemed very positive. Teubert will definitely have the size to play in the NHL and he skates well too. If I had to nit-pick I'd say he needs to work on his hands a little bit but its not like he's got stone hands or anything.
Mike Donnelly, Daryl Evans and some local kids came out to shoot on the goalies: Bernier, Zatkoff, and Rowat. Ranford ran this portion. I concentrated more on Bernier and Zatkoff. Zatkoff kinda looks like Nabakov in net and he moved as well as Bernier in the non-shooting drills. Rowat seemed to keep up as well. But in the shooting drills Zatkoff gave up some bad rebounds from the point. Bernier seemed to deflect everything into the corners or over the glass. Donnelly and, Evans especially, can still fire it!
The combined drills were fun to watch; breakouts, one on ones, two on ones, two on twos, regroups. Doughty was impressive. He was always on top of the play and pressuring the forwards into turnovers, a real good stick, deflecting the puck out of trouble quite often.
I wasn't dazzled with any of the forwards although I missed the forwards-only part of it. Oscar Moller could be one to watch though, he showed some promise. Azevedo is pretty stocky but skates well although, overall, I wasn't overwhelmed by what I saw from him.
Well, hope that was worth the read for those that couldn't make it. As you can tell, I have no life so I'll probably be there for most of camp. I'll keep the reports coming!
Rich, when can us Kings fans hang out with you and kick back with a few beers? We owe you.
Rich,
to take TeamHAsHoles question one step further...do the Kings have any players that are arbitration eligible this year? I didn't think that RFA's were arbitration eligible.
Comparing apples to oranges?
Anyone else think Compon looks like a decaying stretched out Rob Blake?
I stopped by the camp today (7/9) and watched the fowards session. I have to say that i was most impressed with Geordie Wudrick (one of the 3rd round picks). He has real good size, goes strong to the net, and has a real hard accurate shot. They were doing a drill where they had to cut around one of the coaches whom was leaning on them..everytime he went to the net, he was roofing his shot with a lot of zip. Moller also looked strong, he seemed to be very comfortable on the ice, making the drill seem easy.