Tuesday FTB: Recapping day two of the development camp

It’s day two of Toronto’s development camp with their various prospects and non-drafted invites. The schedule was a repeat of day one, with the players divided into two groups and working on the ice for a couple of hours with the various coaches. And just like yesterday, there was a period where some of the prospects were made available to speak with the media.

Except, today, for Matthew Knies, who was alone of all the prospects to be kept on the ice past the regular period to work with some of the coaches.

On-ice sessions are over for today’s Dev camp but Matthew Knies stays on the ice working with 4 development coaches. pic.twitter.com/UzSiyY8Arc
— David Alter (@dalter) July 18, 2022

There were four of the players who spoke with the media. Here’s some short notes of what they talked about.

William Villeneuve

As soon as he finished the initial celebration from winning the Memorial Cup, William Villeneuve said he was back in the gym and skating on the ice to prepare for the development camp. He remarked how he liked how Toronto has so many support staff and coaches, and he’s looking to stay in Toronto after the camp to keep working on improving his strength and skating. And I’ll add that whatever improvements he makes to both those areas will give him a much better chance of making the NHL.

Ryan Tverberg

Ryan Tverberg talked initially about the experience of being part of Team Canada’s World Junior camp this past winter. From the disappointment for just barely missing the cut, to how great it was to being around such high quality players considering where he was drafted.

Tverberg mentioned how much he liked the cooking day they had, and how one of his main goals at the camp was learning proper cooking and nutrition because he’ll be living by himself this coming year at college. So he wants to learn how to eat like a pro. His goal for on ice improvement is to learn how to play different styles, and how to adapt to different styles from other teams and players. That’s part of his journey to becoming more of a complete player.

Nicholas Moldenhauer

Asked about what he wanted to learn at the camp and what he might steal from other players, Moldenhauer touched on learning to improve his puck protection as a smaller player. It was something he was seen to be working on during one of their drills.

Nick Moldenhauer and Ty Voit showing their puck protection skills here on day two of #Leafs dev camp. pic.twitter.com/Wwoyye5TLG
— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) July 18, 2022

He praised the high level that Toronto seems to do things with their camp and prospects with the development staff, something every player seems to touch on. He also talked about how great it was to have John Tavares walk up and talk to them. Also told a funny story about how he got to hug Ryan Hardy, his former GM with the Chicago Steel, and how when he was recruited to the Steel it was his brother than Hardy was originally looking at.

Max Ellis

One of Toronto’s NCAA signings, Max Ellis spoke about his work with the development team, coaches and staff and how much he’s taking from it all. His on-ice work seems focused on skating off rims, corner play and cutbacks to improve those areas. He’s also asked a lot of questions about how to succeed as a smaller player against bigger opponents. “It meant the world” to be able to sign with a historical franchise like the [checks the label on the inside of his guitar a la Spinal Tap] Toronto Maple Leafs. Though he did add being able to work with the development staff and their success with smaller players was a factor in him choosing to sign with the Leafs.

Tomorrow, we get our first scrimmage game between all the players involved with the camp. It will be helped between 4:00 and 6:30 pm. Wednesday and Thursday will repeat the on-ice development segments, broken into the two groups, and we’ll get a final scrimmage on Friday from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Not sure if it will be broadcast or streamed anywhere.