BLOG: Oilers prospects prepare for Development Camp

Before a big group of Oilers prospects depart to Jasper, AB, for Development Camp, they're at Rogers Place doing medicals and fitness testing.
Senior Director of Player Development Rick Carriere was on hand Saturday and commented on what the getaway is all about for the promising young recruits.
"The whole premise of the camp is not for evaluation, it's for education," said Carriere.
"We have the players we just drafted here and we have the players we drafted in the past couple of years. The big component now is on the ice. The Oilers coaches and our Bakersfield coaches get together and put together some concepts and principles that they feel are important for our players to become Edmonton Oilers one day."
Part of the program is the prospects getting individualized fitness plans created by the Oilers staff.
"They will all be having individual meetings with strength and conditioning coaches throughout the week to have their programs designed for them," Carriere said. "The next phase of the whole thing is to send them away with some things that they can focus on for the summer whether it be on the ice with some skating drills from David Pelletier or some skills and tactics that we work on with the coaches or the strength and conditioning programs that they get from Chad and Simon."
Above all, Carriere stressed the most important aspect of the event.
"We want them to have fun," he said. "We want them to leave our camp knowing that it was time well spent and that they learned something and met some new friends. They see a beautiful part of our country and our province and we're able to celebrate right here on Canada Day by going up to Jasper.
"Those are the big takeaways: the team bonding, the unity and the excitement around getting together and going out of town."