Day Two of Panthers development camp featured a few more faces as head coach Kevin Dineen watched over the first group of prospects (in white sweaters) for a short while along with newly-minted manager of player development Bryan McCabe. San Antonio Rampage boss Chuck Weber worked with both groups in a more instructional role than Day One. Drills were much more positionally focused with players paring up in groups of three for shooting drills, giving a better view of each prospect’s defensive game.
A few quick notes on several participants:
- Nick Bjugstad: Played defensemen in some of the drills and was a huge against his teammates in group one. His skated looked solid (even if he did fall) and still has everyone on edge on where he’ll be playing next season.
- Michael Matheson: Showed off his offensive talent and his defense, which is hurt by his size (currently 6’1″). In the first skating drill, he was beat with two much taller skaters, including the 6’6″ Justin Vaive. His second go around in the drill was better, but was against skaters his size.
- Alex Petrovic: His defense was alright, but I want to see how he does in a scrimmage. Offensive skills were present, including a few nice shots.
- Jonathan Racine: Racine is quickly becoming my favorite prospect. His skating is supreme, his defensive awareness is solid, and he appears to be having fun on the ice. After the end of the second squad’s ice time, Racine, along with Rasmus Bengtsson and Jonatan Nielsen, skated with the coaches. And his last name is pronounced Machine with a R, hence Racine.
- Justin Vaive: Vaive has always been a player that looks good in various camps, but fails to make an impression beyond. He worked with the coaches after the end of group one’s ice time, as I believe he did last season, so the coaching staff does have hopes for him.
Videos from Day Two below (and all can be accessed from LBC’s YouTube page at any time here):