Duhaime Finishes Week as Development Camp's 'Most Improved'

ST. PAUL -- With each and every Wild Development Camp, coaches and player personnel staff are constantly looking for improvement. From one drill to the next, one day to the next and one year to the next, players who best demonstrate their ability recognize a weakness and take their game to another level will always stand out.

With his play this week, including an assist in Thursday's camp-concluding scrimmage at Xcel Energy Center, Brandon Duhaime made a name for himself in his second go round.
With his Team Green trailing Team White 3-1 late in Thursday's scrimmage, Duhaime made a slick move in the slot to create space and fed Denver University's Adam Plant to cut the deficit to one at the end of regulation.
"I spent a lot of time with him this week," Duhaime said of Plant. "I just heard him yell for that puck and he did a really good job getting open and finding an area so he made it easy for me."
Green went on to win 9-4 on the strength of six shootout goals and Avery Peterson's goal with the team's skating 3-on-3.
Duhaime received a penalty shot in regulation to go with his shootout chance but could not convert on either one. It didn't matter, though as Duhaime left his second scrimmage of the week a winner with Green coming out on top 5-3 on Tuesday.
"I think it was just the dynamic of the team," Duhaime said. "It's cliche to say, but we kind of grew together as a team over the course of the week."
What the Wild's fourth round selection (No. 106 overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft learned in his first development camp is his size and strength needed a boost before his return.
"When I came into camp, I was a little bit light," Duhaime said. "Over the course of this summer I think it was just working on getting bigger and stronger."
Duhaime's hard work paid off as the Providence College sophomore-to-be turned heads all week to be named the camp's Most Improved Player by the coaching staff.
"It gives you a little bit of confidence knowing that that the work you've put in so far is recognized," Duhaime said. "It's not done yet, I think having another month and a half to two months before the first game of the season is going to be even bigger than the first part so I'm gonna have to put in work for that."
"He looked like just a bigger athlete, a bigger man," Iowa Wild coach Derek Lalonde said. "And then he was just much more assertive with his game and that's what you like to see."
Lalonde acknowledged it's not easy for young draftees to jump feet first into development camp so soon after their selection.
"You get drafted then two weeks later you're in front of Chuck [Fletcher] and Bruce [Boudreau] and guys like that, it's very intimidating," Lalonde said. "And then they come back that second year and you like to see that growth and he's a guy we saw that growth in."
Duhaime isn't resting on his laurels, though. He's already focused on where he wants to improve by the time he comes back to St. Paul.
"Working on the areas that they talked about this week, the small things, you know, in the corners, shooting, stuff like that," Duhaime said. "Taking everything they said and putting that into the season."
After winning a Clark Cup with the USHL's Tri-City Storm in 2016, Duhaime scored four goals and 12 points in 35 games as a freshman for the Friars. It's an area of his game he said he would like to improve this winter.
"I'd like to have a little more of an offensive year," Duhaime said. "Last year I didn't really put up the numbers I wanted, so going into this year I want to, obviously keep the defensive side of the game good and looking for maybe a little more offense and that comes with defense."
Lalonde said he thought the week on a whole was very productive and credited the team's scouting staff for assembling a talented roster despite the Wild's lack of draft picks in recent years.
"When you have all these invitees that make up a majority of the camp, you don't know what to expect. You've got to give credit to our scouting staff, they worked very hard to fill these spots. I thought the level of camp was very good because our invitees were quality and our guys we expect to be good … played well and it made just for a really good camp."