Oilers Sign Chorney
We knew this was coming. The Edmonton Oilers have signed college defender (and high draft pick) Taylor Chorney to a three year, entry level deal.
We don’t know terms but they’ll come available soon enough (nhlnumbers.com and oilfans.com are two excellent sources for this information).
It’s hard to get a read on where Chorney ranks on the depth chart for two reasons: he suffered an injury right at the end of the college season and his skill set is duplicated at the big league level.
Coach MacTavish has in the past shown a tendency to cross names off the list if there’s a sniff of injury or players lagging in their conditioning regimen because of injury. A very good recent example would be Rob Schremp last fall.
Also, Chorney’s scouting report (steady in all areas, moves the puck very well and has plus speed) would put him in the “skill family” of Oilers D which also includes Lubomir Visnovsky, Tom Gilbert, Denis Grebeshkov. It is unlikely he can crack that group as a first year pro and the Oilers need some tough-as-nails men on the D too so Sheldon Souray, Steve Staios and Ladislav Smid would certainly rank ahead of him.
Here’s a guess at the Oilers current D depth chart and Chorney’s place on it:
- Lubomir Visnovsky
- Sheldon Souray
- Denis Grebeshkov
- Tom Gilbert
- Steve Staios
- Ladislav Smid
- Mathieu Roy
- Theo Peckham
- Josef Hrabel
- Taylor Chorney
- Cody Wild
- Bryan Young
- Sebastien Bisaillon
Yeah, I think you have that depth chart nailed.
Seconded. I presume you’d pick Peckham as most likely to leapfrog someone (Mathieu Roy) and turn up on the NHL roster?
Yeah. I actually think Peckham will pass Smid by next summer at this time, but the Oilers are going to have a devil of a time keeping Grebeshkov so entering the summer ’09 the depth chart might be:
1. Lubomir Visnovsky
2. Sheldon Souray
3. Tom Gilbert
4. Steve Staios
5. Theo Peckham
6. Ladislav Smid
7. Taylor Chorney
8. Mathieu Roy
9. Cody Wild
10. Josef Hrabel
11. Bryan Young
12. Sebastien Bisaillon
But I’m hoping that Hrabel is a strong option too. You know who is completely screwed?
Mathieu Roy. If he comes out of the next 12 months with a job he’s Superman.
Supa-Man! Supa-Man!
Good that he will have time to develop though – no need to rush him.
Jeez looks like a lot of depth – and Plante, Petry and the Swede still to come.
Based on this summer’s madness and the fact that so many teams are struggling to get to the cap floor I would bet that if Grebs proves he is a player that a) Lowe will sign him and b) he will be able to move Souray to cover that
If Peckham is the real deal and Smid continues to develop I would say that they could do that.
Smid isn’t going to spin his wheels at this level forever. He’s got the tools to be an invaluable defenceman, and I’m not sure Peckham will necessarily take that next step before Smid does.
The everywhere depth in the organization is one reason that Lowe wasn’t crazy in making the offer to Penner. Dude knew wtf he was doing.