OPENING DAY(S)
One of the great things about the lockout is that we can keep close tabs on lesser leagues and prospects outside the first round. The CHL and Europe are underway, and up next comes AHL and NCAA.
This blog is going to be heavily focused on the OKC Barons now, as we get going with exhibition games this weekend. The NCAA kids will get special play–certainly more than in the past–and I thought it might be an idea to list their opening nights.
- Kyle Bigos, Merrimack will play October 6 at Union
- Jujhar Khaira, Michigan Tech will play October 11 at Lake Superior State
- Kellen Jones, QU plays at home October 13 at home against Robert Morris
- Dillon Simpson, UND will play October 19th on the road in Fairbanks, Alaska
- Joey Laleggia U of Denver will play October 19th at home against U Mass Lowell
- John McCarron Cornell with play October 26th at home against Colorado College
I stand to be corrected on any of these (the Bigos start should be an exhibition game but is not listed as such) but it gives us an indication about these kids and when they’ll start playing.
Among the college kids, I have them ranked as follows in terms of top 20:
- #15 Dillon Simpson
- #16 Jujhar Khaira
but Laleggia and Bigos are terribly interesting players.
here are the video highlights from yakupov’s game today, with his two goals and the shootout winner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IXMPHhPXctA#!
great stuff.
Wow! Nail’s got a rattlesnake of a wrister.
Thanks striatic
Yes thanks for the link! This kid is a stick of dynamite.
Those links were terrific Striatic. Thanks again. Keep them coming!
As for the prospects, my personal preference is for Bigos, partially because I think he is closer to NHL ready than some others and this might be the make-or-break season for him. Also, it’d be nice to have a rusty-barbed-wire kind of defensive prospect available for the Oilers in the next few years. If he comes along in a similar fashion to what his rap sheet read like from last season he and Marincin could be our Beukeboom-Smith redux. Man it would be nice to have opposing forwards turn tail and run from our defence for a change.
From my perspective Khaira is the hardest of these to gauge. We know so little about him and even his season at Michigan might to be somewhat difficult to put into context. I think we’ll have to give him four years and then see what we have. With luck he will be an investment that accrues a great deal of interest.