Monday, June 27, 2011

Predators Development Camp Attendees Start Process This Afternoon

One of the best offseason events that the Nashville Predators hold annually gets underway late this afternoon when all of the invited players show up for their physicals to kick off the week-long Development Camp.

There are four on ice sessions listed below that will be open to the public at Centennial Sportsplex. Off ice activities include a wide variety of team building sessions, education, and indoctrination into "The Predator Way"

One of the highlights last year was the final skate when the players were divided into four mini-teams that competed for a small trophy that was skated around the rink like the Stanly Cup when the winner emerged.

The preliminary list from last week is below but we do know that most of the new draft picks from the weekend will attend headed by Magnus Hellberg.

Another newcomer at camp is expected to be Kirk Muller who is expected to be named the new head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals at a noon presser today.

After the Predators best finish in franchise history, this weeks camp will give the coaches and fans a great look at the next generation of future Predators.

Make the jump for a complete release from the Predators that includes the schedule and participants...

NASHVILLE PREDATORS DEVELOPMENT CAMP OPENS TUESDAY
-Many of the club’s top prospects, 2011 draftees to attend-

Nashville, Tenn. (June 24, 2011) – The Nashville Predators will have many of their top prospects on hand when they officially open their 2011 Development Camp this Tuesday, June 28 with fitness testing beginning at 7 a.m. at Centennial Sportsplex.  Players will be available to the media on Tuesday between 9 a.m.-11 a.m. at the Sportsplex as they work through testing stations. The camp continues through Sunday, July 3 with the first of four on-ice sessions coming at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 29.

The purpose of the camp is to educate and direct players in their pro development and conditioning programs, and the week’s events will be presided over by the Predators coaching and hockey operations staff.  Nashville Predators and Milwaukee Admirals (AHL Affiliate) coaching staffs, along with Director of Player Development Martin Gelinas, will lead the scheduled training regimen, which includes a variety of dry-land activities and workouts, on-ice fundamentals work, off-ice testing and team-building activities.  The players will also receive instruction on training principles such as sport-specific power and strength enhancement, flexibility and off-ice conditioning.

It will also be new Predators assistant coach Lane Lambert’s first time working on-ice as a member of head coach Barry Trotz’s staff.

Each of the club’s first, second or third-round selections that didn’t end the 2010-11 season at the NHL level (Colin Wilson, Nick Spaling, Jonathon Blum) from the past four drafts will be in attendance, with many from this weekend’s 2011 Entry Draft also expected to attend.

All on-ice workouts at Centennial Sportsplex are open to the public.

On Ice Schedule

WEDNESDAY, June 29                            10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
THURSDAY, June 30                               10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
SATURDAY, July 2                                  10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
SUNDAY, July 3                                       2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

Preliminary List of Attendees

FORWARDS
Taylor Beck
Gabriel Bourque
Zach Budish
Patrick Cehlin
Joel Champagne
David Elsner
Ryan Flynn
Jani Lajunen
Michael Latta
Jack MacLellan
Nick Oliver
Joonas Rask
Ben Ryan
Craig Smith
Austin Watson

DEFENSE
Taylor Aronson
Victor Bartley
Anthony Bitetto
Mattias Ekholm
Ryan Ellis
Jeff Foss
Roman Josi
Charles-Olivier Roussel

GOALTENDER
Chet Pickard
Jeremy Smith

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass

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