Carolina Hurricanes Open 2016 Development Camp

The Carolina Hurricanes opened the 2016 Development Camp on Wednesday. The Development Camp’s purpose is to bring in all of the organization’s prospects from various junior, international, and collegiate leagues together in one place.

During this time the prospects will take part in conditioning drills, on ice drills, and scrimmages. One of the major purposes of Development Camp is to see which players are closest to being NHL ready. Those players will be invited to training camp to play with the team during pre-season.

For the players who aren’t invited to training camp, Dev Camp is a great time to get instructional time from NHL coaches and to find out what goals the organization has for them during their next year in their respective leagues.

When speaking of camp Head Coach Bill Peters said “We want to make sure they have the imprint of the DNA of the Carolina Hurricanes when they leave here.”
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article88095747.html#storylink=cpy

The Carolina Hurricanes invited 27 players to Raleigh this year including 23 skaters and four goalies. Among these players are this year’s first round picks Jake Bean and Julien Gauthier, former first round pick Haydn Fleury, USA World Junior Championship goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, and OHL All-Star Roland McKeown. The full Camp roster including invites can be found here.

Development Camp for these players is very important. It is a chance to move up and down the depth chart and catch the eye of the coaches. Five skaters Josh Wilkins, Ben Gleason, Alex Peters, Adam Karashik, and Maxim Lazarev are camp invitees and will be playing for a professional contract.

Players like Julien Gauthier, Haydn Fleury, and Roland McKeown have the best chance to make the NHL this season out of any of the prospects attending. They are the players to watch this week as events unfold.

Development Camp Schedule

Development Camp is relatively short and only runs through Sunday afternoon. All the activities take place at the PNC Arena and includes the Carolina Hurricanes 2016 Summerfest. Wednesday included strength and conditioning training as well as an open practice.

Camp veterans are more used to the demands of the schedule than camp rookies. Haydn Fleury was an early standout. This year is his third year in camp and he comes in this year as a leader of the young prospects. Fleury hopes to join the Carolina Hurricanes as a full time player, and showing leadership and a calm head in drills will help him stand out.

The rest of the week’s schedule is below.

Thursday, July 7

• 10:00 a.m.: Team Practice (Streaming LIVE on CarolinaHurricanes.com)
• 5:30 p.m.: Team Practice (Open to Public)

Friday, July 8

• 11:00 a.m.: Team Practice (Streaming LIVE on CarolinaHurricanes.com)

Saturday, July 9

• 12:00 p.m.: Team Practice & Summerfest Celebration

Next: Carolina Hurricanes Looking for New Captain

This year’s schedule includes two practices that will be live streamed for the first time. Fans will be able to get a look at Carolina Hurricanes prospects in action for the first time. The week can be very important for players as the jockey for position on rosters and fight to earn training camp invites.