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Lightning well represented at evaluation camp
- Updated: August 3, 2016
PLYMOUTH, Mich. – The Tampa Bay Lightning spent the summer solidifying their present. They also have done a strong job planning for the future.
The Lightning have seven players taking part in the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation camp this week, most of any team in the NHL. It’s the first step toward picking the teams that will play at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Six of the players are with Canada: Forwards Brett Howden, Anthony Cirelli, Mathieu Joseph and Mitchell Stephens, defensemen Matthew Spencer and goaltender Connor Ingram. Finland forward Otto Somppi also is a Lightning prospect. Forward Jonne Tammela was supposed to play for Finland at the camp, but is out because of a knee injury.
“I don’t know if any of the guys we have here are home runs,” Lightning director of amateur scouting Al Murray said. “But there’s lots of solid doubles that can stretch into triples, we think.”
Among the players the Lightning have high hopes for is Howden, the No. 27 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft.
The 6-foot-2, 193-pound center had 64 points (24 goals, 40 assists) in 68 games with Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League last season and is well-regarded for his defensive play.
“We always felt Brett was first and foremost very skilled,” Murray said. “He’s got good size, good skills and he’s very smart. The more you watch him, you realize he’s almost maintenance-free when it comes to the defensive part of the game, and how everything comes together between offense and defense. His attention to detail is very strong.”
Smart players with two-way abilities are the hallmark of a number of the Lightning’s prospects here. Cirelli, a 2015 third-round pick (No. 72), scored the overtime goal in the Memorial Cup championship game for Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League in 2015. …
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