Updated Roster for the Nashville Predators' Development Camp

The Nashville Predators have updated the list of attendees to include recent additions from the 2011 NHL Entry Draft with all seven draftees attending. Make the jump to see the list of attendees along with a few interesting notes and tidbits about the players that will be in camp...

NASHVILLE PREDATORS 2011 DEVELOPMENT CAMP ROSTER

FORWARDS
Brent Andrews (Added)
Chase Balisy (Added)
Taylor Beck
Gabriel Bourque
Zach Budish
Patrick Cehlin
Joel Champagne
David Elsner
Ryan Flynn
Jani Lajunen
Michael Latta
Jack MacLellan
Nick Oliver
Joonas Rask
Ben Ryan
Miikka Salomaki (Added)
Josh Shalla (Added)
Craig Smith
Ryan Thang (Added)
Austin Watson

DEFENSE
Taylor Aronson
Victor Bartley
Anthony Bitetto
Mattias Ekholm
Ryan Ellis
Jeff Foss
Roman Josi
Simon Karlsson (Added)
Garrett Noonan (Added)
Charles-Olivier Roussel
Scott Valentine (Added)

GOALTENDER
Magnus Hellberg (Added)
Chet Pickard
Jeremy Smith

Prospect Notes

- All but four of the camp attendees were drafted by Nashville. Victor Bartley was a free-agent signee of Nashville last month, and Joel Champagne is under contract with Milwaukee (AHL). Jack MacLellan and Scott Valentine are camp invites.

- Of the 30 draftees, three were first-rounders (Watson, Ellis and Pickard), six came from the second round (Budish, Hellberg, Josi, Salomaki, Jeremy Smith, Roussel), five were third-rounders (Aronson, Beck, Latta, Shalla and Thang), five were fourth-rounders (Ekholm, Noonan, Oliver, Ryan and Craig Smith), three were fifth-rounders (Bourque, Cehlin and Karlsson), three were sixth-rounders (Bitetto, Flynn, Foss), and five were seventh-rounders (Andrews, Balisy, Elsner, Lajunen and Rask).

- Ryan Thang is this year’s oldest attendee (24 years, 1 month) while Simon Karlsson (17 years, 11 months) is the youngest.

- Predators Connections: Magnus Hellberg played the 2010-11 season with Almtuna in the Allsvenskan (Sweden). Anders Lindback played his draft-eliglble season with the same team. Hellberg is built the same as Lindback and Pekka Rinne, and plays a style similar to the Nashville duo.

Miikka Salmomaki was drafted from Karpat Oulu, the team that produced Rinne.

Chase Balisy is the third Californian to be drafted by the Predators in the last five years, joining Jonathon Blum and Taylor Aronson. Blum and Balisy live on the same street in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

Craig Smith, a teammate of Blake Geoffrion’s while at Wisconsin, is just two months removed from being named one of the United States’ three best players at the 2011 World Championships.

Jani Lajunen posted a point in each of Finland’s three medal-round games en route to a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships. He and Joonas Rask were also teammates on Finland’s 2009 World Junior Championships entry.

- Average height/weight: 6-1/195 pounds

- Breakdown by birthplace:

United States: 14  (Minnesota – 4; Michigan – 3; California – 2; Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota and Wisconsin – 1)
Canada: 13          (Ontario – 6; Quebec – 3; Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island – 1)
Sweden:  4
Finland: 3
Germany: 1
Switzerland: 1

- Breakdown by 2010-11 league:

NCAA: 8  (WCHA, CCHA, ECAC and Hockey East – 2)
Ontario Hockey League: 6
American Hockey League: 5
Swedish Leagues (Elitserien, Allvenskan and Junior League): 5
Finnish Leagues (SM-Liiga): 3
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: 3
ECHL: 1
Germany Second League: 1
United States Hockey League: 1
Western Hockey League: 1

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass