NAIL and the Gang

Day 1 at Oilers Development Camp passed and the players began another step in their hopeful new career into the future. The crowd was buzzing with excitement about some new players at camp like Zharkov, Klefbom and of course Yakupov.

As with Hall in his camp year, Yakupov is a fast and fierce player but his kind of skill is not going to be displayed in these drills and exercises. As the week goes on we will see how well Yakupov gets with the practices. He performed well, but the buzz and talk among the crowd was far more enjoyable.

Nail has definitely brought a excitement to Oil Country but not only because of his skills but because of his personality. The crowd was laughing, pumped with excitement of the potential of a 'fab four'.

There were a couple highlights today that stood out to me while I observed the agility skills and exercise routines. Tobias Rieder, Oscar Kelfbom, Taylor Fedun, Dillion Simpson, Daniel Zharkov, Martin Gernat and Martin Marinicin all were players I followed more closely today. For those of you following me on twitter, you already followed some of my comments during yesterdays camp.

Things that stood out to me:

Tobias Rieder ; Very smooth, has really picked up in his agility and can shoot the puck like it's nobodies business. Hisaccuracy looks to have improved substantial this past year.

Oscar Klefbom ; Has a incredible ability to manevour quickly in tight spots and can skate well on his edges. His speed is already NHL ready and his puck handling skills look 

extremely good as well

Taylor Fedun ; His leg no longer looks to be a concern and hopefully it is a sign of good things to come for this young man. His skating was looking sharp and his puck skills and shot is as accurate as it was before his injury.

Dillion Simpson ; Dillion looks two steps faster this year. Watching him move out there, you would think that he was two years more advanced in his training. Will be interesting to see how he fares going forward. 

Daniel Zharkov ; Interesting player , can definitely see that size, but even at around 200 lbs he looks like a string bean. His passing skills looked somewhat poor but maybe it's just rust from time off. On the other hand, good passers don't lose their touch that much. Players can always improve but not sure he has that ability naturally. 

Martin Gernat ; Impresses me everytime I see him play. 10 pounds heavier this year coming in and looks more solid. Now at 6'5 and 200 pounds pretty much, Gernat has some great offensive flare.

Martin Marincin ; Marincin once thought to be a offensive dynamo, looks more and more like a well rounded D-men then ever. Does not do anything that stands out specifically during his drills, but looks quite relaxed and still has that great outlet pass up the ice.

While Nail Yakupov is the show, there are several defencemen that have some great possibilities of showing well in the future.

Heading back over to the ice to catch more action this AM. If your interested in any LIVE information this morning from Oilers Development Camp 2012  give me a follow on twitter , as I will be tweeting LIVE from Millennium Place in Sherwood Park.

For Oiler prospect news and the 2013 or 2014 NHL draft watch, go to

 www.twitter.com/revingev