AHL GAME 3: TUCSON ROADRUNNERS AT BAKERSFIELD CONDORS
The Bakersfield Condors play at home tonight against the Tucson Roadrunners in the third game of the season. A quick start for several prospects is cause for excitement among Oilers fans, as we may be seeing a few of these young players in Edmonton soon.
Today on Saturday Sports Extra, I had a chance to speak to Simon Boisvert, who is a former QMJHL scout and a man who is tuned in to the Oilers prospects. I appreciate his input, and today thought it might be an idea to transcribe some of his comments.
- On Jujhar Khaira: I do think he is NHL-ready. He is very confident now offensively, he reminds me of the Khaira I remember from the BCJHL. This is the year when prospects who have already spent two years in the AHL should be in the NHL—otherwise they become career AHLers. Or tweeners. He is ready for the show. He is their best forward (in Bakersfield), now the question is when will he be called up?
- On Matt Benning: I think he needs a full season, perhaps they will call him up before if there are injuries. Don’t forget he is a righthanded shot, which is very convenient for the Oilers. He is a defenseman, he is fresh out of college hockey. He is playing exactly the way he played during training camp, he is very confident with the puck, he skates well, he is well positioned and he supports the forwards very, very well.
- On Dillon Simpson: He has been there for awhile now, he is 23. He always makes the safe play, I think if it weren’t for his lack of foot speed he would be in the NHL as a sixth or seventh defenseman. He will never generate much offense but he doesn’t make too many mistakes.
- On David Musil: They (Oilers) have a lot of good of AHL defensemen, with Reinhart, Oesterle, Laleggia, so obviously time is running out for Musil. He is a free agent at the end of the year, I would say this will be his last season in the organization, and perhaps for some other defensemen that I just mentioned.
- On Griffin Reinhart: He will probably get the benefit of the doubt, and a bigger chance than the other guys because of what he cost. The problem with Reinhart is that he doesn’t really stand out. He doesn’t play badly, but you don’t see him progress very well. I think he could be a 6 or 7 defenseman in the NHL but no more than that, unfortunately.
- On Joey Laleggia: If you are going to be a rover, you better be good. That is a problem with a lot of small defensemen.
- The future on defense in Bakersfield: Next year, they are going to have Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones and perhaps the college guy, William Lagesson. At some point, you have to make room for these guys, and Oesterle, Laleggia, are already 24—time is running out. They have had a cup of coffee in the NHL, and you can see they have pretty much reached their ceiling. I think it is pretty much the same with Musil.
Boisvert is refreshing because he calls it like he sees it and doesn’t mince words. He agreed that the three prospects of note so far in this season are Jujhar Khaira, Matt Benning and Nick Ellis. Full interview is here, beginning at minute 28. The guy is gold. Seriously.
TRANSACTIONS
The AHL transaction page has Laurent Brossoit in Bakersfield (and playing tonight) and Eetu Laurikainen in Norfolk. Matt Benning is an Oiler again and Ben Betker is back down. Details here.
LINEUP
- Hamilton—Newbury—Beck
- Benik—Platzer—Descheneau
- Allen—Sallinen—Russell
- Moroz—Currie—Christoffer
- Reinhart—Oesterle
- Simpson—Musil
- Fraser—Laleggia
- Brossoit (Ellis)
No word on injury to Jujhar Khaira, he may be getting some rest or possibly a recall is in the offing. Updates on this game and other prospects this evening in the comments section.
Ouch about Reinhart.
Whatever you can say about the insane price paid for Larsson, it’s the first time in ages they’ve acquired an *actual quality today NHL defenseman* rather than a guy who might, like, have the potential to maybe round into form as an asset who has a chance at developing into a player who could fill a regular spot in the NHL, one day. Maybe.
Man that threshold between third-pair NHL defenseman and solid AHL vet is a chasm.
Goes to show how rare and valuable a player developing like Davidson is.
John Marino picked up an assist for Harvard in their first game of the year.
Graham McPhee with an early assist for Boston College this year, I believe that is the first point for him this year.
Gustavsson was such a bad backup choice for the Oilers that Don Cherry just ranted about Gustavsson STILL being responsible for the Leafs bad goal tending during tonight’s Coaches Corner.
This guy is such a bad goalie, hes ruining TWO teams goal tending situations. 🙂
What a time to be alive. (Also, never change Don.)
Haha. Thanks for this, seriously could not figure out what the hell he was talking about.
Joel Eriksson Ek scores for Minnesota on a dandy, parked right in front of Schnieder.
Those damn Oilers were onto something, if rumors were true they wanted him instead of Barzal at #16. (Barzal has not lived up to the hype during his short NHL stint in Brooklyn, from what I’ve heard.)
But none of that matters because we have Griffin Reinhart who beat up some dude in the minors and might get a dozen NHL games after the trade deadline right?
(I had to bring your mood down, you seem too chipper 😛 )
Haha. McPhee with his second assist of the game.
Oilers prospects have been doing well, I’m encouraged that they are finding guys with some offense as opposed to PIMS in the past.
Sekera?
Overall, though, I agree that there’s been precious little of that since Kevin Lowe finished as GM.
(And I’ll repeat my view that, if hockey teams consisted only of forwards and goalies, MacTavish would have been a pretty decent GM.)
Edit: Arguably Fayne and/or Gryba (do we want to argue?). But other than that, our veteran defenceman pickups in recent years have been just atrocious – Nikitin, Ference, Nick Schultz, Larsen (depending on the definition of “veteran”), Belov (depending on the definition of “veteran”), Grebeshkov round 2, Fistric, Barker…just a dog’s breakfast. And not a finicky, pampered dog, either. I liked the 2011 trade for Andy Sutton, I guess – as I recall, we traded away Kurtis Foster, another of our all-star veteran acquisitions.
David Musil, incidentally and a propos nothing, is a .5 pts/gm NHL player.
Another assist for McPhee, three on the night.
Test 2
Home IP banned
Work and phone Ok
It is YOUR blog.
Snapped at the years of bullying!
I have enjoyed the analytical discussions over the years.
Pouzar, frjohnkf
Corsi against is a measure of forwards.
Corsi x,y is a measure of the dmen.
Shot per corsi is measure of the d
Open/closed % is measure of d and goalie by side.
Open hole save % is a measure of goalie.
Good bye!
Yes, it is. 🙂
“Steve Smith”,
I liked Fistric for what he was, and think Belov was a good gamble. You can get a lot of leighway with how you fill defenceman 5-7.
Remember when we had a quality top 4 of Souray, Vishnovsky, Gilbert, and Grebeshkov in his one good year? Lowe built that. Then he blew it up and replaced it with years of the worst D-corpse I have ever seen. What a weird management career that guy has.
I taped the Alumni game. I assume some people here watched it- is it worth watching, or should I just catch the highlights?
I think it is worth watching, fabulous scenes. As hockey it is a great museum, but this is history.
Watch it.
For Tikkannen if nothing else.
stevezie,
Yeah, okay, Fistric was in the Gryba category. And I agree that Belov was a reasonable bet – I liked it at the time (though, if I’m being honest, I liked the Grebeshkov reclamation too, but that was clearly just unreasonable Glitter Twin nostalgia unsupported by the evidence). But Belov clearly didn’t work out.
As for the leeway when filling the 5-7 spots…I extend more of it when 1-4 are well taken care of.
Does anyone know if JW still writes for Cult of Hockey? He has not written an arcticle in ages so my guess is no.
No, Jon has moved on to other ventures, including Oilers Nation.
Jordan Eberle is on a 5 game point streak.
Does that continue Sunday?
Only if he gets a point.
Yes,
I believe there is a standing bet that he won’t score 30 flanking Greased Lightning.
Is there anything better then someone losing whilest betting against Oiler success?
Well there’s lots of things, but you get the point.
Benson with an assist in the first period tonight.
Wow! Today at the Heritage Classic Alumni game was the experience of a lifetime
Do you think he will get a point smarty pants? 😛 Lol.
Congrats to the Cubs. Those fans deserve this.
Lowetide,
I’m imagining you with all of the boxscores open on your computer of every game an Oilers’ prospect is in, refreshing them every 20 seconds.
I do because he is healthy and playing very well.
And Winnipeg is not the greatest defensive team.
I really like Khaira’s game, as I’m sure a lot of you do as well. Make no mistake he is a Chiarelli type player and I believe he will be a mainstay in the bottom 6 after the trade deadline possibly sooner.
Lowetide,
Any chance you would be interested in posting the contract status along with the current line up?
It’s always interesting to ponder next years possible line up and probable deadline rentals.
I know this info is available on other sites, but this is the only place I visit.
If you like this idea (Im sure you’ve done this in the past), I’m honoured.
If you dislike this idea, I’m asking for a friend. 🙂
Haha. I do updates on it from time to time, will try to get a contract update out in the next while.
Lucky bastard
Haha. Nothing so intense, it has always been a habit of mine since the kids were small. I am about to BBQ here in the next half hour, so updates will be slower now. 🙂
Scott Allen (Patrick Russell, David Musil) 1-1
thepeetso,
I love Tikannen. I’m in.
“Steve Smith”,
Hundy P, as the kids say. You can hire Belov for the third pair, but you can’t hire Barker for the second. And decide Petry is expendable for picks. And put the first pairing in Jutlz’s hands. And make Nikita your highest paid defenceman. etc.
Good mercy. Just good mercy.
Condors Goal: Scott Allen (Russell, Musil)
Awful lot of AHL vet forwards playing tonight in Bakersfield. Not to mention 25 year old Sallinen and 24 year old Benik.
I am curious as to why Khaira isnt playing. It could be he has been recalled, injured or being rested. Weird time to rest a player, though, after such a great start.
Condors twitter feed said he was out with a day to day injury.
Nice play by Yak on Blues 4th goal
So we traded the picks so we didn’t have to wait for the pick to develop except now most of the players in that range are beating Reinhart to the show and he is even being passed by dmen like Brandon Carlo. Hated that trade on that day. Chia is lucky he got McDavid otherwise he probably wouldn’t have survived that trade
Someone over in Missouri taught that enigmatic kid how to stay onside! Beauty little play by YakCity sticking it to the Pleghms!!
Nail made a dandy play on that goal, actually two of them. Pretty happy for the Missouri Russian.
Lowetide,
That Perron guy looking ok, also.
The only thing sweeter than a hard-fraught win against a solid team is seeing them beat up on Calgary the next game!
I am watching the Calgary / St Louis game. Just saw Yakupov’s impressive assist thinking “Why do the Oilers invest years training players – then give them away?”
That’s really nice hockeying by Yakupov
rickithebear,
– Did Ricki get banned?!
– Some great posts at end of last thread from Dee Dee and Georges
– Since the start of last season, Chia has added the following NHL players:
1) Larsson
2) Sekera
3) Russell (man thats 3 bonafide D)
4) Lucic
5) Maroon
6) Kassian (man thats 3 heavy F’s that can play a bit)
– The following players have now reduced roles on the teamt:
1) Nurse
2) Lander
3) Pak
4) Griff (in minors, not good enough)
– The following players who were not real NHL players but played on our team are gone:
1) Nikitin
2) Jultz (ok he’s fine as a #7 D on a good team)
3) Ferrence
4) Hunt (man that is 4 shitty D that were on the team )
4) Korpi
5) Klink
6) Gadzic
7) Boyd Gordon (man that is 4 shitty slow F that were on the team)
– This is a massive shift in the team towards having a real roster
– The only NHL players we traded away for this improvement: Hall+Yak (who I hope will prove to be the worst of the 2 trades).
– When we talk about what Chia has done or not done, consider the above
– Not to mention some of the good that LT highlights that is brewing: JJ, Griff, Benning. And of course pool-party: there are a lot of pieces not contributing now that can shortly
Phlegms schedule is brutal the next 10 games. They can be out of the playoffs by mid November. 🙂
This makes more sense. Bakersfield doesn’t play until next week Friday so giving him a rest didn’t really make sense.
Why Greg Chase hasn’t played yet, though, is a bit of mystery to me.
That is so very true.
Cool little story: father backing up his son in AHL game for Ontario Reign.
http://lakingsinsider.com/2016/10/22/jonah-imoo-to-be-backed-up-by-father-dusty/
EDIT: they lost today… 5-4. 31 shots against. The dad didn’t get in the game.
Lowetide: I am about to BBQ here in the next half hour, so updates will be slower now.
.
I have been waiting for your call – I love steak. Had too many beer; maybe next time… 😉
This is an interesting look back at the Oilers search for a RHD. VANOIL completely called the Larsson/Hall trade on June 10, 2015. This is a couple weeks before the Reinhart trade. I had mentioned they should be looking at Benning among others like Parayko, Paliotta, Petrovic, Pysyk, Pulock, basically anyone with a P name and a few more. I still really like Madison Bowey as a possible 2nd pair RHD.
https://lowetide.ca/2015/06/10/screaming-targets-dougie-hamilton/
Not a good sign if he is getting no playing time in 3 games.
Was at the game today and had a blast… Sign Selanne he can still go. 5 pts in a five goal game. MacT looked pretty good today. Smyth Messier Kurri and Anderson all looked good. Kris King beyond Selanne looked good for the jets.
Nighty night, Flamers!
I dislike the fans & some of their players. I feel sorry for the new coach.
It’s nice watching them eat shit.
They got DP’d
Man, i love Yak.
But man am i gonna hate Yak if we ever play the blues in the playoffs.
No, not at all. Of course, the Oilers have used a 50-man spot on him. If he’s not playing in Bakersfield for the first 1.5 weeks of the season, might as well send him to Norfolk.
Wow, 20 year old RHD Kyle Wood is off to an impressive start in the AHL. 6 pts in 3 games. He’s also 6’5″, 209lbs. Arizona property.
Exactly.
Flames lose.
Everybody dance.
thepeetso,
In regulation, no less!
Thanks former Oilers for bringing the pain!
Woot!
Except… Kings and Canucks earning Bettman points… ugh.
Quick is going to be out for months it sounds like, the Ducks went full Carlyle and a Lindholm deal doesn’t sound like its close. Calgary looks like a complete mess, their new coaching group is not connecting with their youth it seems. I think there is a chance for the Oilers to make some noise
There’s a shot, yeah. Number of points required for that third seed could be astonishingly low this year. The Pacific isn’t looking like a hard division to compete in, so far.
On the broadcast, they mention VAN spotting LA a lead and how it’s Van’s recipe for winning. Sure enough Van scores two in the final minutes to force OT. Didn’t win (this time) though.
Yes, shame the Kings won and Vancouver still picked up a point.
I was hoping for a Vancouver win. Would prefer to keep the Kings down for as long as possible.
I’ll be cheering like heck for Khaira. Unfortunately, like Lander I think his lead feet will prevent him from making any kind of impact in the show.
Hopefully he can prove me wrong.
this kind of rhetoric can be harmful to an organization in practice. We continuously as super fans look to long standing models of success like Detroit, and highlight their patience with prospects- allowing these players to stew in the ahl until they are ready for more responsibility. Give up on a guy like Brandon Davidson after two seasons of AHL and the Oilers are short a very valuable piece to their defense (when healthy). There’s a lot of hoopla around the NHL being younger, and while it is more common to see SOME younger players take the step into the show earlier than they might have, the NHL is still a man’s game that requires grooming and/or shelter for the opportunity to succeed as young players. There is some merit to some of these arguments but a guy like Platzer may take some years in the AHL but that’s a guy I don’t think should be written off, as is Griffin Reinhart. Obviously there needs to be progress, but 22 or 23 isn’t ancient and human beings are still developing into people as well as hockey players and that takes time.
Related to the Jets’ coach yesterday?
F^ck the Jets.
F^ck those guys.
Agree.
Graham McPhee is related George McPhee, the former Washington & future Las Vegas GM.
Tom McVie (pron mcVEE) is unrelated as you can see by the spelled name. McVie coached three of the worst teams in NHL history in the post-expansion Caps, the post-merger Jets, & the Mickey Mouse Devils. For a few years there his career record stood at an abysmal 84-227-58 = .306 until he finally got one last kick at the can with the thoroughly-mediocre-but-far-superior-to-his-other-clubs Devils of the early ’90s. That raised his career points percentage to .352, fourth worst of all coaches who with 200+ games.
He did of course have a short run in the dying embers of the WHA, when his Jets pulled the upset of the first-place Oilers in the last Avco Cup finals. Bastard.