Ok wait – when I saw that photo at the top I thought “oh there’s Barkey walking with Soko.” Then I looked closer and read the caption and realized it was Bump. Bump is listed at 6’0”, Barkey 5’10”. I realize Bump is a bit closer to the camera but Barkey can’t be more than 5’8”. It makes his accomplishments/play all the more impressive.

Great piece, Charlie.

Nice summary, thank you.

Zero reason for Martone to participate in either rookie game, there’s just no good reason to do it and some pretty compelling reasons not to–think injury. He’s been a good trooper, attended rookie camp when he didn’t need to, so let him sit until main camp starts. If he’s in for rookie games and ends up injured, we file a fan class action lawsuit against the brass for negligence and loss of hockey viewing pleasure!

Rookie camp is an interesting time in these players development as you have some players like Martone who are already ready and you have other such as Luchanko who need to improve in their first real stint of pro hockey.

Great article. I just looked back to see what you said last year about barkey and you had him at 3 percent chance to make the team out of camp. He did not make the team out of camp, but impressed the organization and made the team later on in the season. That should be motivation. Excited to watch and read this year