Thompson on Almond

Here's the transcript of the conversation I had today with Minnesota Wild head scout Tommy Thompson on Rockets forward Cody Almond, who was sent back to junior Wednesday.

"He played in three of the four games, in very good competition. He was the youngest player by quite a bit. The only contemporary of his was Colton Gillies, who was playing in the Canada-Russia Super Series. We played him in an unfamiliar position of center, and he preformed well. He's a big guy and will get strong as his strength catches up with his body. He has good hockey sense, and he has some fire in his belly. He has some pride out there, and we were impressed with his play".

Thompson suggested areas of improvement for Almond:

"Cody has to develop his physical strength. Developing his conditioning levels to an NHL level which is not uncommon to young guys, no matter where in the world they come from. Cody also needs to have a consistent, intense worth ethic to be there all the time. The concentration level on the ice to be there 90 percent of the time rather than 70 percent of the time. These things come with maturity. A common theme with you players is every time they lost the puck their first instinct was to put a stick on someone who is beside them. For that reason Cody got four hooking penalties in three games he played."

I was surprised Cody was sent back early from training camp.

"He played well enough that in our early years with the team he probably would have been at the big camp and would have been a candidate to play in pre-season, but the reality is we have some depth of talent in our organization. Their are guys with more experience and are close to making our club, and we have to make some important decisions with those players. Cody's time will come", Thompson added.