Foudy keeping focus amid whirlwind summer

The way this summer is going for Liam Foudy, the Blue Jackets' top pick in the 2018 NHL Draft is experiencing what it must be like for opponents trying to keep up with him.
Since being selected 18th overall June 22 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, the speedy center from the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ont., has gone through a whirlwind.
First was development camp in Columbus, which was held the week after the draft. Then, a couple weeks after Hockey Canada announced its initial roster for the World Junior Summer Showcase in Kamloops, B.C., Foudy was invited as an injury replacement. The showcase started Monday, so Foudy departed for Western Canada Sunday morning - but not before signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets.
"It was just starting to wind down a bit and then I got the invite to the world juniors camp, so now it's ramping right back up," said Foudy, who will head to London, Ont., when he gets back to begin preparing for another season with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. "I've got the [showcase] next week and then I'll go to London, and then from there I'll go to Columbus and have the rookie tournament [in September], then training camp and go from there. Obviously things are different this summer and it's pretty exciting."

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It's a lot to digest, but Foudy is excited about it all.
He's not getting much down time this summer, but it's only because he's chasing the dream of playing in the NHL. Foudy has gotten more spotlight this summer, especially after the draft, and he's got another chance to shine this week in Kamloops.
The same holds for the next six weeks, not to mention next season - which will be his third in the OHL, assuming he doesn't make the Blue Jackets' roster to start the year.
London had four players selected in this year's NHL draft and has high-end talents joining via the CHL Import Draft - including highly-skilled Russian center Matvey Guskov and puck-moving defenseman Adam Boqvist, the Chicago Blackhawks' top pick this year (No. 8 overall).
The Knights are expected to have a big year, but Foudy isn't concerned about the pressure of increased expectations. He's looking to build off an impressive finish to last season, when he scored 14 of 24 goals during a 13-game stretch Feb. 9 to Mar. 7 - when he added 22 of his 40 points.
That hot streak happened after the Knights traded some older players, which left a vacancy at second-line center. Foudy filled that role and hopes to earn a promotion this season. He's not, however, letting his newfound status as a first-round pick inflate his ego.

"I'm still just going there to do my job, just play hockey and hopefully have a good season," he said. "We're supposed to have a good team. We've got some pretty good guys coming in, so hopefully we can make a deep playoff run. That's the goal right now."
First, there will be more NHL-related tasks.
The NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City, Mich., which runs Sept. 7-11, will be a good opportunity for Foudy to show off his speed and underrated skill - and then he'll get his first taste of an NHL training camp Sept. 13, when the Blue Jackets take the ice at Nationwide Arena for the season's first official practice.
Combined with development camp and signing his first NHL contract, that stretch should help Foudy fully process all that he's seen and done since the draft.
"It's going to be interesting to start there, to see how everything goes, going to the prospects tournament and then to main camp in Columbus," he said. "It's going to be an exciting month. I think about [the Blue Jackets] here and there - not too much, but obviously that'd be a dream come true to get in a game with them."