58 Names
Jim Matheson tells us today there will be 58 players at main training camp this season for the Edmonton Oilers. No non-roster NHL veterans (Betts that’s a mistake?) and a bunch of kids with no chance to make the big club. However, there are some interesting battles coming up and if you’re a pro player bubbling under (like Colin McDonald, in photo) this is a chance to get noticed so that your name is on the list when injuries happen.
Yesterday I listed the players who were involved in 2 or more pre-season games since 2005 and in those seasons it was a strong indicator about what the organization is thinking about for the long winter.
So, just for fun (and since the TC list isn’t up yet) let’s see how close we get to guessing those 58 names Matty was talking about this morning.
- G Nikolai Khabibulin: Roster spot a lock
- G Jeff Deslauriers: Strong favorite for backup spot
- G Devan Dubnyk: Should push JDD hard this fall
- G Andrew Perugini: Had a strong pro season a year ago
- G Bryan Pitton: He might be in tough but is signed
- G Aaron Sorochan: Organization is high on him
- D Lubomir Visnovsky: Quinn’s new Kaberle
- D Sheldon Souray: 400 minutes on the powerplay?
- D Tom Gilbert: He had a beauty season in 2008-09.
- D Denis Grebeshkov: Turned a corner last season
- D Steve Staios: Could use softer minutes, better partners
- D Ladislav Smid: Must continue progress
- D Jason Strudwick: Roster spot vulnerable
- D Dean Arsene: Certainly possible he’ll see NHL time
- D Theo Peckham: Injury news hurts his chances out of TC
- D Taylor Chorney: Looked good last training camp
- D Cody Wild: Underrated player based on math
- D Jake Taylor: Solid AHL veteran
- D RJ Anderson: College grad
- D Matt Nickerson: Future Falcon
- D Johan Motin: How tough is it to jump from SEL to AHL?
- D Alex Plante: 1st round project turns pro
- D Jordan Bendfeld: Likely AHL bound, possibly ECHL
- C Shawn Horcoff: #1 center. dammit.
- C Sam Gagner: Is this the season he blossoms?
- C Patrick O’Sullivan: May play anywhere, needs to score
- C Marc Pouliot: Another golden opportunity
- C Gilbert Brule: Needs to show a lot this TC, team has options
- C Rob Schremp: Last Chance Texaco as an Oiler
- C Ryan O’Marra: Wishes he could see the Last Chance Texaco
- C Geoff Paukovich: Size and style make him interesting
- C Milan Kytnar: Has some things
- C Derek Hulak: Interesting prospect
- L Dustin Penner: Needs to channel Mahovlich
- L Andrew Cogliano: 25 goals and he owns the town
- L Ethan Moreau: Needs to make like Cher and turn back time
- L JF Jacques: Time to deliver or be trampled underfoot
- L Ryan Potulny: Massive opportunity this fall
- L Ryan Stone: Dark horse could stick based on rugged style
- L Liam Reddox: Patiently waiting for the first rounders to fall away
- L Steve MacIntyre: In the mix for the big club
- L Slava Trukhno: For God sakes do something
- L Bryan Lerg: Now would be a good time to turn on the jets
- L Kip Brennan: Tough guy
- L Phil Cornet: There’s some traction with this prospect
- L Jeff Lee: Has some size and skill
- L Jordan Skellet: A long shot but some nice things
- R Ales Hemsky: Oilers need an impact season
- R Robert Nilsson: Danger Will Robinson!
- R Fernando Pisani: He needs to stay healthy. No backup.
- R Zack Stortini: Can he improve?
- R Chris Minard: A long shot but he has talent
- R Jordan Eberle: He’s going to play some
- R Colin McDonald: A long shot but you never know
- R Miroslav Lazo: A complete wild card
- R Colton Fretter: AHL veteran
- R Burke Gallimore: Might want a longer look
- R Jamies Bates: Hanging around
Did I miss anyone?
Hmmm, I thought Mike Comrie was getting a look? Not that I endorsed it, but it seemed to be what was going down.
Does anybody know how many guys at the typical NHL training camp are courtesy invites? Friends of Lubo. Random UofA schlub. Owner's nephew. Guys like that.
Because there doesn't seem to be a point to clogging up the ice with 58 bodies when 28 of them are barely going to get their gear unpacked before they're sent out to Springfield, or North Haverbrook, or Capital City, or wherever the Oilers' castoffs will play this year.
Seriously, what's the point of having anything more than 30 guys at camp?
Never any official indication that Comrie was going to suit up for training camp. The Oil might give him a training camp spot on a tryout (as a favour), but that is probably a last minute contract if it happens.
I think Tambi would give him a tryout contract to help him get in shape, but the media attention would be overwhelming, so they may only give him a contract if they really think he is worth a look.
bookie – yeah you're right, I'd hate to see the backlash that would happen if we had to end up letting him go. This isn't exactly like Anson Carter V 2.0. Comrie might have a legit shot at making this team, but without a contract as of right now, he is in tough.
Art Vandelay: Many of these names are a massive guess on my part, the Oilers may in fact bring in better people. I'm extremely disappointed that there are no tc invites.
I suppose they made some offers and the players had better options elsewhere.
Hahaha! The Jamie Bates comment made me laugh!
So Jamie… you here to makes the oilers?
Nope
Hmmm the Falcons then?
Nope
Well the ECHL?
Nah, i'm just here hanging around and stealing stuff.
But yeah the comments, i wonder if it would look like this, if Coaches really speaked up theyr mind. xD… Drunk Pat Quinn Hazard
Actually Bates had a very decent first pro year in Stockton.
I say he finishes TC ahead of Schremp on the organization depth chart.
[He'll be filling McDonald's spot on the Falcon's roster]
I don't mind that they aren't bringing in guys. Teams are going to be trying to dump players all this season for next to nothing the way they were dumping goaltenders last year.
Hey LT,
It's only sort of on topic, but are the Falcons going to be a good team this year, i.e. they make the playoffs with the chance of winning a round, or will they be just less bad. (Should be easy to be less bad.)
Let's say the lineup looks something like the following.
Forwards:
Stone, Potulny, Minard, Reddox, Schremp, Trukhno, McDonald, Lerg, Lee, etc.
Defense:
Arsene, Taylor, Peckham, Chorney, Wild, Motin, Plante
Goalies:
Dubnyk,Perugini,Sorochan
The lineup looks better than last year and there are more vets, but I'm not convinced. You?
I think you're light on goaltenders. Maybe Mucha or that fellow that Tampa Bay let go.
I don't think Jeff Lee goes to main camp; he's more or less committed to CIS this year.
Are Novotny or Kostromitin in the mix or will they skip the main camp because they need to go to their junior teams? If they are in the mix, I couldsee either bumping Anderson or Skellett.
kris: I think they'll be better. Oilers have signed several AHL vets like Arsene and Minard, plus Jake Taylor will be healthy.
Should be better.
I got one.
Former NHLer Bryan Young.
Jonathan: How many goalies is reasonable? Matty mentioned something about the Oilers taking only a couple over from rookie camp, I think 6 is quite a few.
I left out the kids from the dub because I wasn't sure if the Oilers could bring draft eligible players into their tc.
Seriously, what's the point of having anything more than 30 guys at camp?
Its pretty typical I think for the NHL. Its the one time in the year that the whole management gets to look at all of the assets. It also reminds the players that they are 'that close' to the big leagues so keep working hard (or bitching and complaining and eating cheeseburgers while watching yourself on Youtube)
Anyway, its just how its done I think. Lots of guys who are not going to make the team come for a few days
I bet Comrie would tear up the AHL and really help the Falcons out.
LT,
Will they make the playoffs?
kris,
What I don't know about the AHL is a lot.
Cody Wild: Underrated player based on math
Rob Daum talked to Gregor late last week.
The conversation turned to mayhem in the AHL.
Daum mentioned that there were Falcons, not Canadian Junior grads, who were intimidated by the intensity of AHL goons.
[Hence the need for Nickerson and others.]
I'm wondering… Wild?, Lerg? Chorney?
LT,
You're too self-effacing.
But yeah, it is damn hard to keep track of more than a couple of AHL teams, though, so I do see how it's hard to tell how the current Falcons stack up against their opposition.
C Shawn Horcoff: #1 center. dammit.
Can this replace "A Period of Transition" at the top of the blog eventually?
And 58 players without an invite to Malholtra or Betts is a slap in the face. 28 of these invites will be wastes of time.
They play what, 8 preseason games? I hope for the last 4 games, they've got the roster down to 28 guys or less and spend some serious time on systems, something MacT and Co. never seemed to figure out….
LT: You should quit your day job and report live from training camp this year, with multiple updates a day.
You know, for us!
We dont know if the Oilers tried to invite Betts, he may have not wanted to come here.
//We dont know if the Oilers tried to invite Betts, he may have not wanted to come here.//
So, you wanna be the checking line center, on a cup contending team, or do you wanna go freeze your ass in Edmonton, and likely miss the playoffs?
Asking the question is answering it
Seriously, what's the point of having anything more than 30 guys at camp?
I don't blame the Oilers one bit for having 58+ players at camp this particular year.
Because of the Olympics, they only have 13 days to play 8 preseason games…which also includes 5 games in 6 nights to start things off.
Why in the world would you risk all of your players that matter in a wringer like that? They'd be idiots to not carry at least 2 full squads to get through at least the first half of these preseason games.
Art Vandelay said: "Seriously, what's the point of having anything more than 30 guys at camp."
You got to give something for the bloggers to obsess about on the one day a week they aren't dumping on (fill in the blank of endless number of Oiler targets).
With a crop as good as this year's unsigned crowd, not inviting any to camp is a near-crime. I don't get our aversion to improving the bottom six; or at the very least some margin for error.
Jonathan Willis said…
I don't think Jeff Lee goes to main camp; he's more or less committed to CIS this year.
Last time i checked his goal/plan is to get a professional contract and to do that he needs to show up well in main camp. I'm almost positive his intentions are to go to this camp, if invited, and then if nothing comes of it he will go the CIS route.
I think you're light on goaltenders. Maybe Mucha or that fellow that Tampa Bay let go.
What about Olivier Roy?
FYI: heard betts got an invite to flyers camp. Really could have used him here, if only to expose the deficiencies of our young centres and the need (like it wasn't obvious last year) of another veteran defensive centre.
Can the org reqally be so blind as to think we are set going into the year? Are we as fans so jaded that we don't realize the deficiences of 3 very young centres? Am i missing something? Are brule and Pouliot much better then we realize? I am searching for some kind of assurance that Tambellini actually knows our young guys are not the Chicago young guys (and even they dealt for a vet centre, and signed one in the off season).
59. Robert Lang: please oh gods of hockey make it true.
Can the org reqally be so blind as to think we are set going into the year? Are we as fans so jaded that we don't realize the deficiences of 3 very young centres? Am i missing something?
I think that this is the wisdom of the GM and co.
1. Need to see what the team has in assets before making trades (last year was bizaroworld and assesing player trade value based on it is very very difficult).
2. Bringing someone in would mean dumping someone else. I think the men upstairs feel that there are too many unknowns with this group to randomly dump a player.
3. The trade deadline is not the start of the season, but rather some months away, thus the Oilers can try to re-tool later in the fall.
4. Their strong defensive core will be as valuable or even more valuable as other teams start seeing defensive weaknesses in a couple of months time.
5. Dammit, Heatley might still come here, he might, he really really might. We are sending him a fruit basket with a recording of the 'Sounds of Edmonton in the Spring"
Yeah I can not believe they did not invite Betts. He said he was interested in playing here. Dan Tencer said the other day Betts would sign for 650k.
I am guessing he did not make that number up and got that from Betts whom he talked to in person recently. Nothing against Strudwick but we just re-signed him for more than it would take to get Betts. Who brings something we actually really need.
bookie said…
5. Dammit, Heatley might still come here, he might, he really really might. We are sending him a fruit basket with a recording of the 'Sounds of Edmonton in the Spring"
Crickets?
Why is everyone here panicking over the need for a vet 3C? C'mon we've got depth, lol. Not only do we have O'Sullivan, Cogliano, Pouliot, and Brule, but we've got Milke "suitcase" Sillinger to teach them. They will all be like Mike on the dot–~56%.
Okay, before I get lynched, I am only joking…
In out of town news, Anaheim should have a reasonably solid top 5 forward group, supplemented with a vociferously lacking bottom 6.
Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry [PVP outscorers]
Selanne-Koivu-Lupul [Soft minutes outscorers]
Perry and Getzlaf locked up for next 4 years at 5.325M
Defense is a bit of a struggle with the loss of Pronger and Beauchemin.
Neidermayer-Whitney
Wisniewski-Boynton
Eminger-Sbisa
Brookbank
____________________________
Could the Oilers better than line-up? I think so. It is also possible this year's Anaheim team will be the 2007-2008 Dallas team [an entity that advances deep into the playoffs and fails to maintain the pre-season expecatations generated by credible hockey analysts]
Oilers continue to amaze their fans, preparing to enter yet another season with gigantic holes in the lineup.
These same long suffering fans have no choice but to adopt a wait and see approach, as Katz spends the next 3-5 seasons learning about the NHL. Whether he learns it properly or not is another matter.
Hunter: I agree to an extent. I doubt the Oilers stay with this group long, as Quinn will want changes when he sees the holes.
But with regard to Katz, yes it's a learning curve. It'll cost the Oilers for a few seasons.
But with regard to Katz, yes it's a learning curve. It'll cost the Oilers for a few seasons.
I don't know that it will cost more than the EIG did, they were pretty involved in hockey decisions.
If Katz were to marry some gold-digger, die and leave her the team, I wouldn't rule out minor league veteran Jake Taylor making the roster.
We'd just have to hope that if she intentionally stripped down the roster, Jake could lead a motley crew of walk-ons and nobodies to the Cup and foil her plans to make the team bad enough that she could move it to a warmer climate.
How do we know that Betts and other unsigned FA weren't extended an invitation?
A: We don't. We can only see where they accepted the invitation. Let's not jump to conclusions so quickly.
"I bet Comrie would tear up the AHL and really help the Falcons out."
Hilarious
Besides Milan Kytnar the Oilers invited two other Saskatoon Blades to camp. Burke Gallimore and Derek Hulak.
Oilers officially sign Comrie to 1 year deal as per Stauffer on Oilers Lunch.