A total of 33 players will spend the next four days at the Phoenix Coyotes development camp at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz.
The group includes six players selected Friday and Saturday in the NHL draft, and six players who spent last season with the Portland Pirates, the Coyotes’ American Hockey League affiliate.
“It’s basically all of our young players,” Pirates Coach Ray Edwards said. “All but one of our draft picks will be there.”
Phoenix’ first two selections in the draft — Henrik Samuelsson, son of former NHL defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, and Jordan Martinook, who scored 40 goals for the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League — are among 20 forwards at the camp.
The nine defensemen include new draft picks Justin Hache, Rhett Holland, James Melindy and Niklas Tikkinen.
Mathieu Brodeur, who was drafted in 2009, and Mark Louis, who was signed as a free agent, are the only two defensemen who spent time with the Pirates last season. The camp roster also includes Brett Hextall, Evan Bloodoff, Jordan Szwarz and Ethan Werek, who were rookie forwards with the Pirates last season.
“They’re all second year players, and we want to see how much progress they’ve made,” said Edwards. “Training camp is two months from now, and we want to make sure they’re going in the right direction.
Three of the four goalies at the camp were drafted by the Coyotes — Mike Lee (2009), Louis Domingue (2010) and Mark Visentin (2010). Chris Rawlings, a free-agent invitee, has been the starting goalie at Northeastern the past three seasons and has one season of eligibility left.
The defensemen in camp include 2011 draft pick Connor Murphy, 2010 pick Brandon Gormley and 2009 selection Justin Weller.
Forwards include 2012 fifth-rounder Samuel Fejes, 2011 picks Darian Dziurzynski, Kale Kessy, Zac Larraza, Lucas Lessio and Alexander Ruuttu, 2010 selection Phil Lane, and 2009 pick Chris Brown, who has one season remaining at the University of Michigan.
Other forwards in camp are Scott Arnold, Alex Belzile, Austin Carroll, Miles Koules, Nick MacNeil and Brendan Shinnimin.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at: pbetit@pressherald.com
Twitter: PaulBetitPPH
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