After Thursday nights Red-White scrimmage at the Saddledome, a really entertaining Team Canada Orientation Camp came to an end, and now there’s no question that it’s all about speculation.  From now until the final roster is announced in December, many hockey fans in this country will debate what players should or should not be on the team.

Lets remember, this camp wasn’t going to make or break anyone’s chances to be named to this team.  The locks aren’t going to play themselves out, and the longshots weren’t going to all of a sudden play themselves on to the team.  That’ll all be decided by the first 3 months of the NHL season, as Steve Yzerman and the selection staff are going to have some tough decisions to make.

The player that impressed me most was Brent Burns, no question about it.  He really stood out in Thursday’s scrimmage, and you can tell that he has a lot of tools that Yzerman and Mike Babcock could utilize.  First of all, his skating is so smooth.  Remember, here’s a former forward playing the blueline, and numerous times it’s very clear his forward instincts are being used.  When he jumps into the play, it takes him almost no time at all to be in a prime scoring position cruising into the offensive zone.  He does it so often, yet so rarely is he caught out of position coming back the other way…his first man back ability is really impressive, and he’s able to use his skating ability to push opposing players to the outside.  I’ve always been a fan, but I’m not firmly on the “Burns for 2010″ train.

How good is Drew Doughty?  The kid is 19 years old and is just nails.  Not only does he never look overmatched, more and more you’re starting to see him pop out at you for remarkable things he is doing.  There was one instance on Thursday night when he recovered a loose puck in the defensive zone with opposing forward Mike Richards (one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL) all over him.  Instead of panicking and throwing it off the boards or coughing it up the middle, he used his speed and instincts and wheeled around his own net and lost Richards once he broke back into stride.  If there were rumblings Doughty could be a bubble player BEFORE this camp, I think you’ll hear a lot more about it in the coming months.

Bouwmeester was just fine throughout…he’s pretty much got a spot I think.  Regehr looked good on Thursday I thought, and throughout camp never seemed to show any ill effects from his knee injury.  I think he needs to be on the team, but there is a camp that thinks this team doesn’t need to have a solid, stay at home guy.  That’s going to be an interesting one to watch.  Then there’s Dion.  Phaneuf played with Brent Seabrook and Doughty in the scrimmage, and did what Dion does.  Show some great flashes, and then made some ill advised reads.  Now, granted, it’s August…but he’s one of the players that is going to need a stellar start to the season to make this team.

Quietely very good was Duncan Keith…and it may come down to either him or Regehr on this team.  Keith is money.  His stick deflected at least 3 pucks on Thursday, and Flames fans know how stellar he is as a shutdown D man.  He does it so subtly that it’s sometimes hard to really notice exactly what he’s doing…but when you watch, it’s outstanding how perfect his positioning is.

Forwards?  Eh…tough to say.  Love the Iggy, Crosby, Nash line…I’m not the only one hoping that carries over to 2010.  Ryan Smyth is something else though.  He’s a different guy when wearing the maple leaf.  His ability to elevate in international competition might just be enough to get him on this team.  I don’t know…thinking about it, I don’t have a problem with it.  Dan Cleary was all over the place, always around the net, and probably could have scored 3 or 4 goals.

In net was where the show was stolen however.  Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur went toe to toe in the 1st period, and both made huge saves.  Luongo made more, and some were impressive, but Brodeur’s had the 2 showstoppers.  One came on a Crosby-Iginla 2-on-1 when Crosby elected to keep…he wired one from the left wing and was robbed by the famous glove of Brodeur.  Then late in the 1st period, he made an incredible save in front of the net to rob Jason Spezza of the games 1st goal.  In regulation play, Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury and Steve Mason all looked great too…Mason was probably under seige the most.  In the shootout, Mason not so good, as apparently everyone knew to shoot stick side on him.  6 goals were scored!  Fleury made some saves, but after the game, he wasn’t happy that he let one in to Crosby.

It’s funny…we all talked heading in how this camp wouldn’t mean a whole lot.  Yet coming out of the camp, everyone will be talking about what player really upped his chances or what player lessened his value.  All I know is that this team picked in December is going to be damn good!

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