Focus on Prospects: Samuel Carrier

Second in my series counting down to rookie camp, we have Samuel Carrier.  Let me know if there's someone you want to know about.

photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Man I love this awkward photo shoot

Name: Samuel Carrier

Position: D
Shoots: Right
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 186 lbs
Birthdate: 1992-04-28

Hometown: Varennes, Québec

To set the tone for this post, I'd like to share someone's first-hand experience of Samuel Carrier.  Twitter friend Sarah (of somethingsbruin.net) went to a QMJHL preseason game of the Lewiston MAINEiacs as they played the Victoriaville Tigres.  She promised to keep an eye on our Sam to see how he played.  I'll let her take it away:

"[Carrier] got elbowed from behind by [Tigre] Vincent Marcoux into the half wall.  He fell down, stood up, turned around and punched the guy in the face."

Now THAT'S what I like to hear.

The feisty French Canadian was the 2010 6th round (176th overall) pick of the Washington Capitals, and seemed delighted to be coming to the team.  He's said that he enjoys watching Mike Green, as Carrier is also an offensive defenseman who enjoys occasionally joining in on the rush.  And like Green, he too is valuable on the power play due to his offensive skills.

Carrier was drafted by the Québec Remparts in the first round (10th overall) of the 2008 QMJHL Entry Draft.  He had set several records with his Midget team (he has the record of most goals by a rookie defenseman in a single game, as well as landing in the top 5 of most goals by a rookie defenseman in a season).  But yet Carrier's offensive instinct didn't seem to kick in until last season.  He spent his first QMJHL season with the Remparts (home to Dmitry Kugryshev and head coach Patrick Roy).  But despite the talent there, he didn't exactly have a breakout rookie season.  Although he had some success in Midget, in 56 games with the Remparts in 2008-09, he scored only 9 points.

After the season's end, Carrier was traded to a struggling Lewiston team in a multi-player, multi-pick deal.  His first season there in 2009-10, he seemed to hit his stride.  In 66 games, he scored an enviable 42 points (10 goals, 32 assists).  Five of those ten goals came on the power play.  Carrier helped the MAINEiacs to the playoffs last year - a team that was last in the Central division the season before Carrier arrived.  The MAINEiacs didn't make it past the first round, but Carrier did score a power play goal in the series against Drummondville.

Hockey's Future stresses Carrier's youth and inexperience when they point out areas where he needs improvement.  He sometimes is out of position chasing after the play (though it's not like we haven't seen that before; see #8 on this list) but he is effective along the boards in the defensive zone, puckhandles well, and has a heavy, accurate shot from the point.  Carrier may not ever make the NHL, but he was still draftable due to his potential:  

"Carrier is by nature an offensive player from the backline and has some skills and creativity that set him apart from prospects his age - which is why he was drafted.  He is still young enough to develop the complimentary elements to make him a successful attacking defenseman and potential power play specialist at the NHL level."

Carrier is only 18 and therefore will return to play with the MAINEiacs this upcoming season, but he seemed to take a lot from this year's development camp.  While not making a huge impression like Johansson or Kuznetsov, he was solid on the blue line and took the experience very seriously.  He showed maturity in his approach to camp, but I also loved Carrier's naïveté - in an interview on a Potomac cruise for the attendees, Carrier admitted that he "didn't know" there was a river in Washington:



Ah, to be young and Canadian.

Some Notes from the CHL

 photo by Sylvain Buisson/Collaboration Spéciale

Last night was an interesting one in the CHL Playoffs, and some of the results may be of interest to Caps fans (more specifically, Hershey fans).  The Victoriaville Tigres and Québec Remparts of the QMJHL met in Game 4 of their playoff series last night, and the Tigres ended up victorious, sweeping the Remparts in the series.  The Remparts are now out of the QMJHL playoffs and their season is over.  So why should Caps fans care?

The Remparts elimination last night means that Dmitry Kugryshev, who the Caps signed in March, is now eligible to be called up to the Hershey Bears.  The question is, will he?  Mark French already has a stacked Bears lineup, further inflated by the recent additions of Anton Gustafsson and Cody Eakin.  Plus, the Bears only have two more games in this regular season (Friday and Saturday against Norfolk).  Would the Bears add another new forward in the playoffs?  We'll have to wait and see; as we all know this organization can definitely surprise us.

UPDATE 4/9/10: It has been reported that Dmitry Kugryshev has been called up to the Hershey Bears and is expected to join the team Monday.

photo by Tyler Brownbridge/The Windsor Star

In other teams-I-like news, the reigning CHL Memorial Cup champions the Windsor Spitfires required extra time in Game 4 of the OHL Western Conference semi-finals, finally defeating the Plymouth Whalers in OT 3-2, sweeping the series.  At the end of regulation, the Spitfires had put an eye-boggling 66 shots on goal, yet only scoring on 2 of those shots.  Calgary Flames prospect Greg Nemisz scored for the Spits with just 19 seconds left in the 3rd period to send the game into OT.  Florida Panthers prospect Scott Timmins then scored the OT winner.

The amazing part of this story is that the Whalers did not even have their #1 goalie in net - Matt Hackett had been suspended for the game due to a roughing match penalty in Monday's game.  Back-up Plymouth goalie Scott Wedgewood, just 17 years old (eligible for the 2010 draft), ended up facing 73 shots for the night, saving 70.  Spits goalie Philipp Grubauer faced 21 shots.  73 to 21.  Unbelievable.  A Whalers blogger has a really great recap, I recommend reading it.  Windsor will meet the winner of the Kitchener Rangers/London Knights series, which is currently tied 2-2, in the OHL Western Conference Finals.  Game 7 (if necessary) for the Rangers/Knights series is scheduled for April 12, so Windsor will have some rest until the next round begins (likely mid-next week).  The winner of that matchup will play for the OHL Championship.

Focus on Prospects: Dmitry Kugryshev

 photo by russianprospects.com

Name: Dmitry Kugryshev

Position: RW

Shoots: Left

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 187 lbs

Birthdate: 1990-01-18

Hometown: Moscow, Russia

When it was announced last week that Dmitry Kugryshev was signed by the Caps to a three-year entry-level deal, fans were excited.  Anyone who attended development camp knows that he looked to be a promising young player from the land of Alexander Ovechkin.  The Moscow-bred 20-year-old is now eligible to play with the Hershey Bears once his Québec Remparts season is over.

Dmitry first came into the hockey public eye in the 2008 World Junior Championships.  He had 4 points (including a goal) in 7 games, and helped the Russians toward a bronze medal.  His 2008-09 rookie season with the Remparts was a great entrance into North American hockey.  That season, he scored 40 goals and notched 54 assists, and won the Michel-Bergeron Trophy, awarded by the QMJHL to the Best Offensive Rookie of the year (an award that Sidney Crosby won in 2004 with Rimouski Océanic).  Drafted by the Caps in 2008 (2nd round, 58th overall), Dmitry showed excitement about his drafting team, especially considering the Russians on the team at the time - Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Viktor Kozlov, and Sergei Federov.  On his visit to Washington after the draft, Dmitry was invited to dinner with Ovechkin, his parents, Semin, and Federov.  On his blog (H/T to On Frozen Blog), Dmitry was pleasantly surprised by his selection:

I was extremely happy – to be picked at all, and to be picked by them. There are a lot of Russians on the team, and the team itself is really good. Went there for the training camp. Loved everything: the City, the Team. Honestly, everything was awesome.

Now into his second QMJHL season with the Remparts (of which he's considered the star), his numbers have improved still - in 66 games played, he's scored a whopping 87 points (29 goals and 58 assists).  Hockey's Future currently ranks him #10 on their list of Washington Capitals prospects - one spot above Cody Eakin, who was signed by the Caps earlier this season.  Hockey's Future offers the scout's perspective on Dmitry's skills.  He's called a "solid winger" and especially talented along the boards "where he uses his technique, balance and toughness to win most of the battles also thanks to his resilience to opponent’s physical play."  His passing still needs work, but some work with the Bears' A-line (Giroux, Aucoin, and Gordon) should definitely help his passing play.  He's a very dedicated and passionate player, but doesn't "over-rush his play to impress the coach or the scouts."

His Remparts coach Patrick Roy agrees.  In an interview with Dmitry Chesnokov in June 2009,  Kugryshev said:

Patrick told me that I have everything to play in the NHL. But he also told me that I shouldn’t stop working on improving myself and turn my good hockey skills into even better ones. He is very interested in me realizing my dream of playing for the Capitals as soon as possible.

With his current numbers and provided his improvement in some areas (which is certain in a system like Hershey), Kugryshev is poised to become the next Nicklas Backstrom (although Kugryshev says he gets inspiration from Semin's play).  But knowing how valuable Backstrom is to the team, the eventual addition of Kugryshev to the lineup will be a very good move for the Capitals.

Update:

I enjoy this interview that Kugi did with sportsandmoore.com earlier this season.  His English has improved by leaps and bounds since his first training camp.