2015 Rookie Camp Day One: Lines & General Impressions

Lines

Nick Ritchie - Julius Nattinen/Charlie Sarault - Stefan Noesen

Bryan Moore - Matt Bailey/Nathan Noel - Nicolas Kerdiles

Kenton Helgesen - Lane Pederson - Wyatt Johnson

Joseph Cramarossa - Alexandre Alain - Matt Berry

Josh Manson - C.J. Garcia

Shea Theodore - Jaycob Megna

Brandon Montour - Andrew O'Brien

Kevin Gagne - Eric Knodel

Ryan Faragher

Landon Bow - Brendan Burke

Impressions

Purely drills for the first public session, with a focus on puck possession and retrieval. Players were on the ice for just over an hour, with the exercises designed to get the players communicating with one another and getting a general idea of tendencies heading in to the two weekend games against the San Jose Sharks rookies (Fear The Fin has info on the teal fish side of things) at the SAP Center on Saturday and Sharks Ice on Sunday. A few random thoughts:

- It's funny seeing the organizational theory on defense pairs extend down to the rookies, with puck-mover Theodore getting paired with big body Megna. The Gagne-Knodel pair fits that bill as well.

- Of the amateur tryout skaters Garcia seemed the most polished, operating well with Manson and crisp in his play.

- No matter how often you read about it or see it, Ritchie's shot is still impressive. The CHL goalies clearly will be glad not having to face that any more.

- Speaking of goalies, of the two amateurs Bow appears more pro-ready. His size allows him plays much larger vertically than Burke despite both being the same height, with better rebound control. Burke did a lot of crouching to see through and around screens, relying more on reflexes.

- Matt Berry will likely endear himself to Gulls fans with his tenacity along the boards and ability to win puck battles on the forecheck, while Bryan Moore could be a nice complementary offensive piece beyond the first line.

As Rookie Camp was going on, over on the Olympic rink several members of the Ducks were participating in a scrimmage. There was one additional non-Duck who took part as well:

Hiller is here pic.twitter.com/cdF6wTUJz4

— Alyssa (@AlyssaGibbons95) September 11, 2015

We'll have coverage of Sunday's Ducks-Sharks rookie game from Sharks Ice.