Columbus Blue Jackets Development Camp Filled with Young Stars
Day one of the Columbus Blue Jackets Development Camp is in the books. 36 CBJ youngsters took the ice Monday with some of their future teammates and coaches.
Many of the Columbus Blue Jackets’ top prospects are in town for this week’s annual development camp. The camp is the first time several of the players and coaches have had the chance to meet and talk.
Some of the bigger attending names include 2016 third overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois, Latvian goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks, second-year Gabriel Carlsson, and many others.
Notable names that are not going through the full camp are QMJHL MVP Vitaly Abramov and this year’s 45th overall pick Alexandre Texier. Abramov is not participating in the camp currently due to strep throat. And Texier is still healing from shoulder surgery so he is not doing any on-ice activities either.
The full list is as follows. The photos are from BlueJackets.com.
Despite the name, the Jackets dev camp is not so much about evaluating the players, at least according to CBJ development coach Chris Clark. Coach Clark emphasized the importance of getting to know the young players.
When the players arrived to Columbus on Sunday, they were tested medically and even physically as each non-injured player ran two miles with the goal being to finish in under 12 minutes. Dubois apparently finished in 12:40 and was not happy about it.
Clark said there isn’t much down time for the players due to all of the activities. That’s to be expected as this is one of the more important beginning stage of becoming a Blue Jacket. Tuesday and Wednesday should be better for everyone involved as the players and coaches shake off more rust.
If you want to follow the camp along in real-time, I suggest following CBJ writer Alison Lukan and Columbus Dispatch writers Aaron Portzline and Tom Reed on Twitter.