Bastien living the dream at Red Wings camp

Yves Bastien heads towards the ice for the start of an NHL Prospects game between the Detroit Red Wings and the New York Rangers. Photo by Chris Dawson.

This is the third of three special features which can be seen here on BayToday.ca as Sports Director Chris Dawson traveled to the NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.

A dream became a reality this week in sorts for former North Bay Skyhawks forward Yves Bastien.

The Dowling, Ontario native spent last weekend and early this week down in Traverse City, Michigan at the Detroit Red Wings rookie camp which included the 10th annual NHL Prospects Tournament – the same tourney attended by local product and Blue Jackets prospect Matt Marquardt.

He got an opportunity to play against the likes of 2006 first overall pick Erik Johnson of the St. Louis Blues, and 2005 first round pick Benoit Pouliot of the Minnesota Wild.

Bastien was an invite to the Red Wings Camp that included Red Wings hopefuls like former 2001 first round pick Igor Grigorenko and Bastien’s former Kitchener Ranger teammate Evan McGrath.

The Peterborough Petes forward was overlooked by every team at the NHL entry draft this summer. Bastien was rated 205th by Central Scouting for North American skaters.

“It was definitely nerve wracking to start but it was great and it was a dream in itself here so I’m just trying to show them what I got and do my best,” said Bastien.

But the full-cage and helmet that Bastien was wearing at the camp are an indication of the risk. Bastien was born with limited vision in his right eye. There was even some talk among NHL scouts going into the NHL draft that his sight wasn’t good enough to pass the NHL vision standards. But Bastien claims that situation is unclear due to the fact that his vision problem is something he has dealt with his entire life and not as a result of injury.

The Red Wings are accustomed to finding marquee talent in the free agent pool or late in the draft so it’s no surprise they would want to invite Bastien to this camp.

Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill is sold on his talent. He believes the speedy forward will be one of the top players in the Ontario Hockey League this fall.

“He’s just a great hockey player, he’s got good speed and he works hard,” said Nill.

“It’s too bad about his eye injury but we thought you know what he deserves a chance to come here and let’s see what he can do and you don’t know -- maybe down the road, who knows that’s something we’ll have to figure out with the vision, but he’s just a real good hard working young hockey player and we thought this would be a good opportunity for him.”

Bastien was held scoreless in the four NHL Prospects Tournament games and he isn’t expecting the Red Wings to offer him a contract but he believes it has been a tremendous learning experience.

“It will definitely help me a lot just the speed of the game is a lot faster and it makes you help make decisions quicker so it will definitely help me adjust when I go back to the OHL,” he said.

Bastien finished up his second year in the OHL last season scoring 14 goals and 34 points in 66 games split between Kitchener and Peterborough and with another solid season in front of him Bastien will force the scouts to watch.