Red #23 is...

....15 year old Mike Nolan. Well, that's who it is at the Hitmen's camp, anyway. :)

I spent much of today at the first day of the Hitmen's training camp. Roster has been added to the rosters post, for anyone interested. A few notes....

- Ian Schultz and Michael Stone are there and scrimmaged although obviously they'll be leaving soon and not coming back.

- Rigby Burgart and Misha Fisenko did not report, so they're out of the overage picture. Burgart was probably never in that picture (which is probably why he didn't bother coming to camp) but Fisenko would have been a nice option as a two-spotter, seeing as how they only have one import in camp. The other import options, Erik Haula and Dmitri Jaskin, are not there either....no surprises there though.

- Kyle Aschim is there but is not expected to be ready to play until mid-October due to a shoulder injury. So, the Hitmen will be able to keep him around and not count him amongst their overagers until he's ready to play....then they'll have two weeks to settle on three.

- top '94 defencemen prospect Keaton Lubin is also there but also hurt. No idea about his status.

- the two Kalalshnikov brothers on the roster are not imports, despite their Russian names. The family moved to Canada last year, so they count as regular North American players.

- some older free agent players with previous WHL experience are trying out: defenceman Justin Slobozian played 46 games for the Regina Pats over the last three years; forward Brandon Brossoit played a couple games for Lethbridge in 08-09; forward Corey Scott played 78 games for Moose Jaw the last two years; forward Neil Landry has previously been the property of the Kamloops Blazers, and forward Justin Faux was the property of the Prince George Cougars for a couple years. Neither Landry nor Faux have ever played a WHL game though, I don't think.

I am surprised that there are not more older "2nd chance" type players here though. You would think this would be a dream opportunity for 18/19 year olds who were let go from other WHL teams in the past - a quality organization like the Hitmen, with plenty of openings. But perhaps the Hitmen opted not to flood their camp with those kind of players either, in order to give their youngsters a chance.

I saw the first three of the four games today....overall I would have to say that the younger players mostly disappointed me. I did not see a single 15 or 16 year old player who really stood out from the pack. Nobody who made me say, "wow, there's a future WHL star right there". In the past there has always been one or two of those....but I won't worry about it, I'm sure there are some future stars there. They just didn't jump out at us today.

The returning veteran Hitmen players were all good, especially Foucault, Beach, Fiddler, and Schultz up front, and Stone, Wilson, and Mackenzie on the back end. But this is to be expected, isn't it. It's nice to see those players dominating because it gives you a standard to compare the other players to....nobody was close to their standards.

I did like Brossoit, he was the best of the older tryout players. Faux was not bad either, and Landry had a few good moments. Scott didn't do anything and I thought Slobozian looked unmotivated. He got let go from Red Deer's camp earlier this week amid questions about his conditioning, so perhaps it wasn't a lack of motivation as much as a lack of fresh legs.

The goaltending battle....well, Snider and Holly are the best two there, that's for sure. Matt Hrynkiw did look good in the one game I saw him though. Burdeny got lit up bad in his game.

Need to see more of Hrynkiw but right now, I wouldn't rule out the Hitmen going with the two 19 year old goalies.