Golden Knights Development Camp: Running Blog

Throughout the last week in June, the Golden Knights are holding the team's inaugural Development Camp at the Las Vegas Ice Center.
In short, few, perhaps even none of these players will play in the NHL this season. Nor is this a training camp, where every aspect of a player's performance is being dissected.
It's more of an orientation camp for the team's prospects -- kids that will return to their college and junior teams, mostly. It's mostly their opportunity to get acclimated with the team's staff and their future teammates, and get some ice together before going back to their hometowns for the summer.
This year, however, Development Camp holds a certain importance for the organization, as it's the first time in team history that players will be skating on Vegas ice under the Golden Knights logo.
VegasGoldenKnights.com is providing all of the latest breaking news throughout the week right here.

Thursday, 7:06 PM
A few Golden Knights reflected on tonight's scrimmage.

Thursday, 6:05 PM

Thursday, 5:17 PM
Team White has dominated pretty heavily here, but in summer scrimmages, it doesn't really matter which side wins. Both sides are Golden Knights, after all.
More than anything, it's more about how players adapt to their coaches' demands, and perhaps, the skills that they show as individuals.
If anyone has impressed us so far, it's defenseman Erik Brannstrom.

Brannstrom, generously listed at 5-foot-10, isn't the largest player on the ice. He's probably one of the smallest, although definitely one of the fastest.
For a defenseman, he has also shown a fair amount of offensive upside.

Thursday, 4:16 PM
First scrimmage in Golden Knights history is officially underway.

Thursday, 3:51 PM
Our first scrimmage is about to get going in the next 10 minutes or so.
Before we get going here, Gerard Gallant took a few minnutes to catch up with Gary Lawless.

Thursday, 12:14 PM
Taking a little break here from Development Camp, the Golden Knights just hired Ryan McGill as an assistant coach, as announced by the club.
McGill comes from the Owen Sound Attack, who he led to a franchise-record 102 points last season. He's also served on the Calgary Flames coaching staff, and won a Memorial Cup with the Kootenay Ice in 2001-02.

McGill joins Ryan Craig and Mike Kelly on Gerard Gallant's coaching staff.
And we can confirm he has no connection to the Mighty Ducks movies.

Thursday, 9:53 AM
The mood is a bit different this morning. There's a light workout this morning, similar as the past few days. However, with the first scrimmages being held later this afternoon, everything going on this morning seems to be a formality before the main event this afternoon.
Although the results of summer scrimmages are pretty inconsequential, you can definitely feel a sense of urgency amongst the players to get out there for some level of real competition this afternoon.

Wednesday, 6:37 PM
Our players are off the ice on the second day of camp here.
Even though summer scrimmages aren't usually accompanied by a high amount of intensity - Gerard Gallant also said he's discouraging high-impact hits and fighting this week - you can definitely tell players are over the skating drills.

There will be some light workouts in the morning tomorrow, and then we'll move into some scrimmages later in the week.

Wednesday, 6:12 PM
Of our three first-round picks in camp, perhaps none of them has exhibited an attribute more noticeable than Nick Suzuki's shot.
The 13th overall pick might only be a 5-foot-11, 183-pound 17-year-old, but he has perhaps the quickest release in camp.

Watching Suzuki's technique, it seems as if his shot can improve a bit in terms of velocity. But the quickness of his release is off the charts.
Which is worth nothing, since that element of surprise, perhaps more than sheer power, is what often fools goalies at the NHL level.
Wednesday, 5:36 PM
Although Rocky Thompson, the head coach of our AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, is the one predominantly running camp this week, our NHL staff's presence here is certainly notable.
Gerard Gallant, Mike Kelly and Ryan Craig have all been on the ice throughout the week.

Wednesday, 5:04 PM
It's been interesting to watch out goalies the past few days.
We have Ferguson, as well as two of our draft picks, Maksim Zhukov and Jiri Patera, in camp. This is in addition to three goalies we invited to camp -Artur Pakliukov, Logan Thompson and Griffen Outhouse.
For whatever it's worth, Griffen Outhouse may be our favorite name in camp this week!
All kidding aside, our goalies have been interesting to watch because of the technology our team is using to evaluate them.
TV monitors set up on the ice, accompanied by tablets, provide our goalies with instant feedback on their technique.

VegasGoldenKnights.com will be looking more into how our team is using this technology throughout this week. Stay tuned for what we find.
Wednesday, 3:31 PM
Dylan Ferguson, the goalie we received in the deal that sent Marc Methot to the Dallas Stars on Monday, has been off to a strong start in camp.

Which is impressive, considering the whirlwind few days Ferguson's been through -in danger of not being drafted, drafted by Dallas and traded to Vegas within 48 hours.
For more on Ferguson's journey, CLICK HERE

Wednesday, 3:16 PM
After a morning of off-ice activities, our players are back on the ice for Day 2 of Development Camp.

Wednesday, 12:17 PM
As our players walk around T-Mobile Arena, it fits, but doesn't really fit.
Most of these kids are used to playing in small rinks in small towns, sprinkled across the northern United States and Canada.
This is a far cry from T-Mobile Arena, smack dab in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.
So figure our young players - mostly teenagers - if they seem a bit like kids checking out their new school for the first time.

Wednesday, 8:53 AM
Before heading over to Las Vegas Ice Center for the on-ice sessions later today, our prospects are checking out T-Mobile Arena for the first time.

Tuesday, 5:52 PM
At the end of the first day on the ice here, the talk is mostly about firsts.
After all, this was the first day in the history of our team that players skated on Vegas ice under the Golden Knights logo.

Stayed tuned for more tomorrow!
Tuesday, 4:34 PM
As the second on-ice session begins, much of the conversation amongst those in attendance and on social media is about the team's practice uniforms, which debuted today.
Receiving an extra amount of attention are the grey tracksuits that our coaching staff wears and the white and gold gloves worn by our players.

No NHL team currently wears white gloves.
Tuesday, 4:13 PM
The first of two on-ice sessions today has ended, and players are speaking to the media.

Tuesday, 3:39 PM
It must be noted that all 12 players the Golden Knights selected in the NHL Draft last weekend are in Vegas this week - Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki and Erik Brannstrom.

Joining these 12 players and the 27 non-roster invitees are six players acquired by other means.
Keegan Kolesar, who we acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a second-round draft pick last weekend.
And both Jake Bischoff and Alex Tuch, also both in Development Camp, were acquired in Expansion Draft-related trades with the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild, respectively.
Reid Duke and Tomas Hyka, signed earlier this spring as free agents, are the other players at Development Camp who arrived by other means than a non-roster invitation or via Entry Draft last weekend.
Tuesday, 3:17 PM
The first few minutes here have been relatively low intensity.
Which is fine, considering most of these players haven't skated much since their seasons ended 2-3 months ago. Maintaining a high temp isn't really the purpose of Development Camp, anyway.
More than anything, Development Camp serves the purpose of getting the team's prospects acclimated with the organization: management, the coaches, their possible future teammates and even the city.
In the case of the Golden Knights, 27 of the 45 players in camp are invitees, who not having been drafted or signed by the club, are hoping to catch the team's eye this week.
One of those players is defenseman Dylan Coghlan of the Tri-City Americans.
"I originally talked to them a few times during season, we had a good conversation and then it just seemed the right fit to come here after I was passed through the draft," Coghlan said. "It's been really great so far and I'm happy I chose to come to Vegas.
"That's what everyone comes here for (a contract), that's the main goal. But mostly just to come here and show them who I am and it's just a great opportunity."
The amount of invitees at Golden Knights camp is, however, a product of the team not yet having built out its entire base of prospects.
In typical summer, this is how Development Camp will look.

Tuesday, 2:31 PM
It wasn't accompanied by a lot of fanfare. There wasn't a large crowd, there weren't spotlights and it was accompanied by much attention at the Las Vegas Ice Center.
But what we just witnessed was one of the most important milestones for this organization.
As the first few prospects just entered this arena's North Rink to begin Development Camp, it was the first time in Golden Knights history that players took the ice under the team's logo.
Here's what it looked like.