Chicago camp notes

[Dakkster]

Today I\'ve read a bunch of message boards about Chicago\'s training camp and I\'ve found a couple of interesting consensus tidbits among the fans who have attended the scrimmages or watched them online.

- Bolland is clearly outplaying Kontiola so far.

- Niemi is the best/hottest goalie so far, but Khabibulin, Huet and Crawford haven\'t really played bad either. At this point it seems that most want Niemi to be the backup this year.

- Skille and Brouwer aren\'t ready for the NHL yet. Versteeg looks a lot better than those two. Aliu is having attitude problems... again.

- Makarov is blowing all the other prospects away with his play. Apparently it\'s not even close. He\'s like an Ovechkin light out there, making an effort every shift, backchecking like crazy, hitting guys left and right, very aware of where everyone on the ice is, digging pucks out of the corners and scoring some goals. He\'s playing with Toews and Havlat and has great chemistry with them, which resulted in a pretty goal yesterday when Toews fed Makarov from behind the net and Niemi didn\'t have a chance. He later got an empty netter. The chemistry between those three is apparently undeniable.

- Kontiola, Sharp and Kane have not really found their chemistry yet, but Bolland, Ladd and Byfuglien have really hit their stride.

- Seabrook and Keith are solid, as usual. Barker is looking good with Campbell.

- Beach has no place whatsoever in the NHL this year. He tried fighting Seabrook but was pummeled thoroughly by the veteran.

It\'s only been a few days of course, but the commentary on the boards (mainly the one on blackhawks.nhl.com) has been very solid and there are some clear trends so far.

[Lamplighter]

Word out of Chicago is that Savard will initially go this way with his top 2 lines, but obviously nothing is set in stone:

Bolland will center Kane and Sharp

Toews will center Havlat and Ladd

[ultrawhiteness]

thanks for that sentium.

boy, i really pull for aliu, but how can he be showing attitude problems at this camp after getting booted out of the London Knights camp last week? he really needed to make the big team this year, because now he may have an unfriendly environment to return to.

i\'ll try to dig up more on this.... i feel like sometimes his reputation precedes him and the stories kind of write themselves.

[leafnation]

Is that the same Aliu that fought Steve Downie at practice with the Windsor Spitfires? Seems to be a pretty clear pattern

[GoHabsGo]

leafnation wrote:

Is that the same Aliu that fought Steve Downie at practice with the Windsor Spitfires? Seems to be a pretty clear pattern

Ya, that\'s the same guy.

[ultrawhiteness]

interesting... Chicago Tribune Story

\"On the left side it\'s going to be a kid,\" Tallon said. \"A [Troy] Brouwer, a [Jack] Skille or [Akim] Aliu or even [Kyle] Beach or [Kris] Versteeg. There are a lot of assets we have that are going to fight hard for jobs. Nothing would be more satisfying than to have our own group of young players we\'ve developed and drafted make our team and take us to where we need to go.\"

[Dakkster]

That article was written before camp started. Makarov isn\'t a very well known name, I guess because he hasn\'t crossed the pond yet, but he\'s been the runaway leader so far for that LW spot.

[John Ferguson Jr]

i took makarov last week with the last overall pick in our \'farm draft\"
half the GM\'s didn\'t know who he was/is.

Sure hope he makes it, i\'d hate to see him go back to russia.
although, if he does make it, lets hope he has a more sustainable impact and doesn\'t become the next Dmitri Nabokov....hmy:

[fzusher]

Hey, JFJ, congrats on the new Sharks gig :lol:

[John Ferguson Jr]

thanks fzusher, lookin forward to gettin some sun on the left coast.
I certainly won\'t miss howard berger, that lil bugger!