LAS VEGAS (AP) While the rest of the NHL chased veteran players in free agency
Womens Brett Hundley Packers Jersey , the Vegas Golden Knights finished up the franchise;s first player development camp Saturday with optimism for their young future. The
expansion club;s prospects spent the week working out at the diminutive Las
Vegas Ice Center, about 15 minutes southwest of T-Mobile Arena and 10 minutes
from its nearly-completed practice arena. The rink was packed with fans when the
Golden Knights held intrasquad scrimmages over the final three days of camp.
Vegas general manager George McPhee wasn;t active in the veteran free-agent
market, only signing six players to minor-league deals. Although he took plenty
of calls and swung a trade to send defenseman Alexei Emelin to Nashville for a
third-round pick, McPhee largely used the week to learn more about the talent in
the Golden Knights; system. ;I hope they had a great week, ; McPhee said of his
youngsters. ;I hope they learned something while they were here, hope they got
to know future teammates, hope that for the rest of the summer they do what
we;ve instructed them to do, in terms of training and eating right and
accelerate their development process. It;s been nice to be able to be here and
focus on these players that are here. ; The lone player in Golden Knights camp
with any NHL experience was Alex Tuch. He wasn;t expected to attend after being
acquired in an expansion draft trade with Minnesota last week, but the
21-year-old forward showed up anyway. ;I wanted to get my bearings under me, get
the lay of the land and everything
Jamaal Williams Packers Jersey , ; said Tuch, who played six games for the Wild last season. ;I hadn;t been to Las Vegas at all, so I wanted to get the feel of that,
see how the weather is, which is pretty nice. It;s a brand-new organization, a
lot to learn, new set of eyes, new management, new coaching staff, and that was
my first thought coming in
Cheap Green Kevin King Jersey , that it would be awesome to get some more experience and comfortability with the staff and management coming into training camp. ; Tuch
said the Golden Knights; camp was a bit different than the three he has attended
in the past, in that they involved more conditioning drills and were overall a
bit more grueling. This week was more about fundamentals and going through
seminars with coaches and guest clinicians, not to mention bonding with a group
of players who barely knew one another. ;They;re not trying to kill us, ; said
Tuch, who had 37 points in 57 games with Iowa in the AHL last season. ;It;s a
learning experience. This has been a real good camp. Everybody has worked hard
and you can see everyone wants to be here and wants to make an impact. There;s a
lot of younger guys … and I think everyone has learned a lot this week. ; Tuch
was an elder statesman in camp with the likes of 18-year-old Cody Glass, Vegas;
first-ever draft selection. The Portland Winterhawks center was chosen sixth
overall last week, and while he probably won;t see any NHL action for a couple
of years, the camp was a key milestone. ;I think the week went by really fast,
but it was a really good experience, ; Glass said. ;For me
Cheap Green Aaron Jones Jersey , I was just trying to take it all in. Getting into those games, obviously there;s some strength-related issues I need to work on. To get
to the next level you;ve got to be bigger and faster, and that;s why in the
summertime, that;s a huge thing for me. ; The Golden Knights are two months away
from their first training camp, but they;ve already got most of their inaugural
core in place from the expansion draft. McPhee won;t stop looking for talent.
;We talked to people, but we just didn;t see a fit with anyone for our club this
year, ; McPhee said. ;We;ll keep talking to clubs. If there is a deal there that
makes sense, we;ll move the player. If not, we;ll keep him until we get to camp.
We did really well in expansion … so why don;t we just see how they can do? ;
Vegas retained just under $1.2 million of Emelin;s salary — More AP NHL:
https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey .
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