Development camp can be a make or break time for some young prospects. Generally if you are a first-round pick you shouldn’t have too much to worry about. If you are Thomas Chabot, the Senators 2015 first-round pick, you apparently have plenty to worry about.
Assistant General Manager of the Ottawa Senators Randy Lee had plenty to say to the Ottawa Sun about Chabot’s performance this past week.
“I thought Thomas should have been a bit more intense, I thought Thomas should have dominated.”
Yikes. Not good.
Lee also added this:
“I think Thomas should look at the landscape and see we’ve got six signed defencemen (to NHL contracts), Thomas and I have talked about it.”
The Senators aren’t exactly hurting on the back end but some improvements could be made to make this one of the better groups in the league. The judgment on Chabot during a camp like this is a little much if you ask me.
Development camp is used exactly for it’s namesake. Not everyone is going to play like a bat out of hell. I have seen many of these types of camps and you will see seventh-round picks make a mockery out of a first-round skater every once in a while. It isn’t something you should go spouting off to the media about as if you are in some sort of contract dispute.
Chabot had this to say when asked about his chances this fall:
“I’m their first pick from last year, they expect a lot from me, I don’t think I did what they expected from me. They only have six defencemen signed, so, for sure, I want to work as hard as I can this summer to work for a spot (next season).”
Standard fare if you ask me. So why do this to your young draft pick? This may be a case of bad asset management.
