BARONS AT AEROS 23.2.13
Curtis Hamilton scored an exceptional goal last night, and this photo from Rob Ferguson (all rights reserved) tells you the story: it was his first goal since November 17th and only his 8th since turning pro in the fall of 2011 at age 19.
Toni Rajala is the emerging talent right now, having gone 6-7-13 in his last 14 contests. Kristians Pelss is injured, he was having a nice run there before last night.
Lines and Pairings
Blue
- Brett Clark-Andrew Hotham (Clark has looked good to my eye, Hotham has been consistent and dependable)
- Randy Jones-Colten Teubert (both of these defensemen have been a little chaotic to my eye)
- Martin Marincin-Alex Plante (Marincin has settled in nicely to 3rd pairing role, Plante is back after multiple HS’s)
Forwards
- Arcobell0-Cornet-Cheechoo (pushing the river at evens and PP; Cheechoo is an impact AHL player, Arcobello not far behind)
- Green-Rajala-Byers (people, get ready: Rajala might end up playing an NHL game this season based on merit)
- Martindale-Hunter-Hamilton (Martindale has turned a corner, Hunter was called up today for Pelss)
- House-Tyrvainen-Lizon (House is a low event defensive player, Tyrvainen is crazy and Lizon is down the road apiece from Tyrvainen)
Goalie is Yann Danis.
Eberle’s still #1. Incredible.
Was Pitlick healthy scratched?
Rieder has a goal and an assist tonight so far
No, he’s still injured. I’m not sure when he’ll be back.
I totally missed that injury… what happened to him?
Knee. Gone
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/01/24/tyler-pitlick-out-for-year-in-okcity/
Brett Clark might be the Oilers 5th best defender. I think he gives the Oilers the ability to trade Whitney without getting an NHL defenseman in return. They just have to up his contract to a 2-way.
Didn’t know the Barons were in town tonight. Will see if I can get down there.
Arcobello (Marincin, Clark)
The Kosice Killer is having a nice month.
Oh that was awhile ago… I probably just forgot. Too bad for him; there hasn’t been many bright spots to his season.
LT,
Check this out. Just about the coolest thing I’ve seen on the interwebs all day.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qTL4XAfgHZE
Actually, since Jan 1 there are some good stories. Rajala, Pelss, Martindale. Crazy but true. Small steps.
Mr. Mitchell, I commend your commitment to following the Barons right through to the end.
Mr. Mitchell. Nice.
I spent three hours in Kosice almost ten years ago. Had a too-brief week in Slovakia, loved it and highly recommend including some rural Slovakia time in any European trip. Gorgeous country, friendly people. Lots of problems, but hell.
…what I most remember about Kosice though is trying to find a restaurant in city centre on a Sunday afternoon while waiting for a train. Dessert shops and bakeries full of well-dressed families eating giant piles of cake and strudel after church, but if that wasn’t your thing you were SOL.
LT if you were laying a ten dollar bet on who would have ‘a career’, Marincin or Gernat…?
Zharkov with a goal tonight #20 on the year.
Gernat. He’s a killer, Frank. Killer.
Zharkov after the WJs has been a completely different player. Wonder what happened… Was it mental, confidence…? Don’t know, but I’m glad to see him back on track. Now he should be able to keep his spot in LT’s esteemed Top 20. Which must have been seriously in doubt a couple of months ago.
Riley Nash with an assist for Carolina tonight. And so it begins……
Wow, till that miss by Jennifer Jones, this match had been an outstanding display of shot-making.
#21 for Zharkov. spOILer is right. This post WJ surge is very strong on this one.
Back in the NHL…. Did RK just start a goalie controversy where I thought none existed?
“I know you people talk of starters and first-lines as you analyze things for the public, but with us, it’s a day-to-day decision. We have a great goaltending team. The feeling with the coaches was the energy and experience we needed for this game was in the hands of Nik. Today was Nik’s day. He answered this bell, and we’ll reasses for Monday in Chicago.”
Khabibulin won’t keep this up, and if he does we’re in the second season. Not a lot of downside unless Dubnyk loses his way. I don’t think that will happen. DD needs to stop everything in Dallas, though.
Marcinin with an assist and leads the team in plus minus at 16.
Where is the love?
I like him fine. Klefbom will pass him though, and there’s a bunch of guys who are going to be pushing in the fall. Gernat, Simpson maybe, there’s a bunch coming.
Klefbom will pass him if he can stop getting hurt, you mean.
I’ll admit to being a big Marincin fan, though. Really hoping he turns into a real solid NHL defenseman in 2-4 years.
Dillon Simpson with an assist early tonight.
Lucinius: Defensemen will break your heart. Pick three you like, and assume one will make it. It’s the Petry rule.
Lowetide,
Oh yeah, totally in agreement. But I’m really pulling for Marincin and Klefbom… if both can make it (Klefbom in the next two years, Marincin in the two after that) Oilers could see some real good results from the draft on the back end that is sorely needed.
Mainly I like Marincin’s combination of his toolset and size. He’s even got a bit of a mean streak that could be coaxed along — and if he ever really fills out he could be a monster on the back end as a 4-7 defenseman.
At the development camp Klefbom was the best of the bunch.
Marcinin and Gernat looked very equal.Marcinin has a killer slapshot which isn’t being used right now as he doesn’t get PP time in ok city.
Musil if he ever makes it will be like Fistric and that would be just ok with me.
New realignment proposal:
http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2013/02/report_red_wings_would_move_ea.html
Bettman is screwing us and Calgary putting us with the Pacific teams instead of Dallas and Colorado.
russ99,
I don’t mind that much, honestly.
But, personally, I want to see a return to the top-16 teams make the playoffs and increased East-West games.
Russ: Well, you get out of our conference and its clear sailing|!
sliderule,
I think Musil will be more like N Schultz than Fistric. Positional defenseman rather than a (out of position) hitter
russ99,
The grouping kind of makes sense. What doesnt is the number of teams in one division – 7,7,8,8. I would have to think that NHL will group one diviosion of 8 teams with one of 7 and figure out 8 teams among them which will make playoffs. Rinse and repeat for the other group.
russ99,
Look for Van/SJS to be on the decline. Calgary on a long road to recovery. We should be stronger than Ana as well. That leaves LA to be better than us and edmonton in a group with Phx, SJS, Van and ANA/Cgy clearly inferior.
gangplank,
Don’t forget the prospective owner of an NHL team in the new Seattle arena mentioned he believed the arena would not get an NHL team via relocation but through expansion, for what little that may be worth.
Dillon Simpson with another assist. I’m telling you, folks.
Has to be asked: Is the PED testing leading up to the WJrs way more stringent than anything they’re subject to in the CHL?
Galchenyuk – Sigh
That is all.
With McDonagh and Girardi both potentially out, Tambellini should definitely be sending the Rangers Ryan Whitney montages.
Interesting to see San Jose returning to form. Their past 10 games have been very telling — almost completely erasing that hot start they got out to.
Be interesting to see how long Ottawa and Toronto can keep it up.. I don’t think either will do so for much longer. Montreal might with Price.
Dillon Simpson 1-2-3. A very nice player.
That’s a damn fine game for a defenceman.
It’s not just Defensemen. I could have sworn one of Pitlick or Hamilton would turn out to be a solid bottom 6-er, and though it’s early to count them out completely, their arrows are decidedly downward. I thought one of Roy or Bunz would be a future starter and though Roy is still in the hunt, Bunz is falling down the elevator shaft this season and and Roy has struggled at times in the AHL, so is no guarantee. I’m beginning to see that you really need three reasonable prospects for every major role. One will be lost to injury, the second will tank out at some higher level of competition due to who knows what, and you hope the third will make it.
Which leads me to believe that maybe an interesting way to look at prospect depth is to look at potential roles and the three best prospect for each role to really get a sense at what true prospect depth is like.
Well that’s a kick in the junk.
I sort of remember the injury, but I guess I missed the story the next day. Shit.
Not recent montages please.
Nice way of looking at it.
The DiPietro idea in the last thread is pretty interesting. It sounds like the Isles are up for sale, and I’m sure they would love to get his contract off the books for prospective buyers.
By taking DiPietro what could the Isles do for us?
Could they bring us O’Reilly?
What piece would we have to move to the Isles to get the Snowman to help us?
Probably depends on what they have to give to Colorado. The Avs might have an interest in Visnovsky and could use the PP help.
Would they be okay with getting the cheaper Whitney and moving DiPietro’s albatross in return for forwarding O’Reilly and losing whatever assets it will take to get him from Colorado? That doesn’t sound like there’s enough in it for the Isles, if O’Reilly costs Visnovsky+blue chip. They would have to. really not want to amnesty DiPietro to give away a player like O’Reilly (once they got him).
Or…
Is it possible to get the Isles to trade one of Vis or Streit for the crippled Whitney, if we take the equally crippled DiPietro albatross off their hands?
Just noticed that in terms of real dollars, Whitney is much more expensive than Visnovsky or Streit.
Unless Dipietro gets injured and you can’t buy him out. Then you’re stuck with his contract for the next 73 years and can’t even bury his cap hit in the minors. Not worth the risk unless you can literally bubble-wrap him.