Friday evening, we were able to speak with the trio of LA Kings prospects at Team USA’s World Juniors camp – Alex Turcotte, Arthur Kaliyev, and Brock Faber. Then, early this morning, there was a media call with Team USA GM John Vanbiesbrouck and head coach Nate Leaman.
Here’s what they had to say about those players:
Vanbiesbrouck on Faber – He’s had a tremendous start to the season. We really see him killing a lot of plays. He doesn’t get scored on a lot while he’s out there. You can call him a defensive defenseman, but he’s really not. He jumps up on the plays. I [don’t think] I’d be off script by saying the University of Minnesota probably has one of the best D-cores in the country. He really skates well, he gets up and back. But the best thing about him is his stick. He gets a lot of sticks on pucks and he knows the defender; that’s pretty stingy. he has great leg strength this year and it’s good to see his progress.
Leaman on the line of Turcotte, Kaliyev, and Trevor Zegras that’s been used in practice – It’s only been the first week of camp. We’re still halfway through the process to actually playing a game. We have the exhibition games coming up [in about a week]. So, I can’t tell you if that is going to be a line or not. However, I can tell you that they have had some good chemistry. We obviously have an elite playmaker and a shooter together. I think both of those guys have also been in the tournament, so we can lean on them a little bit. So that’s kind of what we’ve seen there.
Leaman on Kalyiev’s overall game – He needs to be [heavily involved]. He’s playing with two top guys. He’s played in the tournament previously too, so he has that experience. He’s also coming off a good year in junior hockey, last year. So, yeah. We’re expecting big things from Arty. And, certainly, we’re putting him in a role where we’re expecting for him to contribute.
Comments from the players can be found here.
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