That’s Oscar Klefbom, David Musil and Travis Ewanyk in a game from early October 2013, photo by Rob Ferguson. It is the first AHL game for each each Oklahoma City Barons player, Victor Rask played 10 games the year before. Klefbom, Musil, Ewanyk: It’s amazing how often one in three from the AHL land in the NHL, while the others fall away.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of The Athletic, check it out here.
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Remembering the goal that made Fernando Pisani a cult hero in Edmonton
- New Lowetide: The Oilers’ 2016 draft remains an enigma, with a glimmer of hope
- New Jonathan Willis: The parallels from the fall of Alexander the Great and the 2006 Oilers
- Lowetide: 5 AHL forwards who offer the Oilers a chance to buy low on real talent
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘Agape’: Why Oilers prospect Cooper Marody wrote a song about Colby Cave
- Jonathan Willis: Connor McDavid’s recovery is just one of 2020’s incredible Masterton stories
- Lowetide: Every prospect in the Oilers system and what’s next for each player
- Lowetide: Oilers minor leaguers over 40 years, and Jay Woodcroft’s current role
- Lowetide: Charting Theodor Lennstrom’s future with the Oilers
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Projecting the Oilers’ black aces and how much they’ll play
- Jonathan Willis: Projecting the Oilers’ lineup for their play-in series versus the Blackhawks
- Lowetide: Could the Oilers draft a defenceman in the first round?
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers should extend Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as soon as possible
- Lowetide: Oilers farmhand Josh Currie’s small window of opportunity
- Jonathan Willis: Misguided priorities helped turn the Oilers’ 2010 rebuild into a debacle
- Lowetide: Oilers greatest areas of need for the 2020 draft
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Six bold (and not so bold) predictions as the Oilers prepare for the Blackhawks
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers facing a bonus penalty for 2020-21 but the news isn’t all bad
- Jonathan Willis: Multiple choice: What might an Oilers trade at the 2020 NHL Draft look like?
- Lowetide: Mike Green’s playoff role and possible future with the Oilers
BARONS 2010-11 ROOKIES
- LC Teemu Hartikainen 66GP, 17-25-42 [52 NHL games]
- F Milan Kytnar 78GP, 13-16-29 [1]
- RD Jeff Petry 41GP, 7-17-24 [680]
- L Phil Cornet 60GP, 7-16-23 [2]
- RC Mark Arcobello 26GP, 11-11-22 [139]
- LC Chris VandeVelde 67GP, 12-4-16 [278]
- RD Colten Teubert 20GP, 2-5-7 [24]
Todd Nelson’s first rookie crew did pretty damn well if you ask me—all of them played in the NHL. I count one bona fide. Jeff Petry should be in Edmonton with the Oilers, it was clear he had the ability to play a substantial role on a good team.
BARONS 2011-12 ROOKIES
- L Hunter Tremblay 68GP, 16-15-31
- R Tyler Pitlick 62GP, 7-16-23 [248 NHL games]
- RC Tanner House 68GP, 8-12-20
- R Antti Tyrvainen 55GP, 6-13-19
- L Curtis Hamilton 41GP, 5-6-11 [1]
- RD Kirill Tulupov 33GP, 1-7-8
- R Cameron Abney 14GP, 0-0-0
This group wasn’t as strong as year one, but Tyler Pitlick and Curtis Hamilton did see some time. Pitlick took so long to develop the Oilers didn’t really get much from him before he reached free agency. I count no bona fides.
BARONS 2012-13 ROOKIES
- RD Justin Schultz 34GP, 18-30-48 [482 NHL games]
- L Toni Rajala 46GP, 17-28-45
- LD Martin Marincin 69GP, 7-23-30 [227]
- RD Taylor Fedun 70GP, 8-19-27 [127]
- LC Anton Lander 47GP, 9-11-20 [215]
- LC Ryan Martindale 41GP, 6-8-14
- LC CJ Stretch 17GP, 5-3-8
- L Kristians Pelss 20GP, 1-7-8
- LD Brandon Davidson 26GP, 2-3-5
Nelson produces more talent, Schultz was ready made but I’ll give credit for Marincin, Fedun and Davidson–plus Lander would have had a strong chance if the team ran with Nelson for a full season instead of rolling along with Todd McLellan. He had Lander playing a big role in the NHL. I count one bona fide in Schultz.
BARONS 2013-14 ROOKIES
- CR Andrew Miller 52GP, 8-26-34 [15 NHL games]
- LD Martin Gernat 57GP, 4-17-21
- LC Austin Fyten 47GP, 7-13-20
- LD David Musil 61GP, 2-10-12 [4]
- LC Travis Ewanyk 68GP, 7-5-12
- LD Oscar Klefbom 48GP, 1-9-10 [378]
- L Kale Kessy 54GP, 2-4-6
Oscar Klefbom is the crown jewel of the Barons years in my opinion. He arrived in 2013 fall and we still didn’t know if he would deliver offence, but the man has matured and is now an impressive talent. He is the bona fide from this year.
BARONS 2014-15 ROOKIES
- C Bogdan Yakimov 57GP, 12-16-28 [1 NHL game]
- LD Jordan Oesterle 65GP, 8-17-25 [209]
- L Josh Winquist 46GP, 8-11-19
- LD Dillon Simpson 71GP, 3-14-17 [3]
- F Kellen Jones 49GP, 5-10-15
- LC Connor Jones 41GP, 4-6-10
- LC Jujhar Khaira 51GP, 4-6-10 [218]
- L Mitchell Moroz 66GP, 5-4-9
- RD CJ Ludwig 28GP, 1-4-5
- G Laurent Brossoit 53GP, 2.56 .918 [68]
The final season in Oklahoma City had some promising talent but Khaira, Brossoit and Oesterle are the only ones still running. I count no bona fides.
Jeff Petry, Justin Schultz and Oscar Klefbom could have formed one half of a quality NHL defensive six but the Oilers as an organization weren’t able to negotiate the rapids of patient development. They all landed as NHL players and that’s a good thing.
CONDORS 2015-16 ROOKIES
- L Joey Laleggia 63, 8-19-27
- L Anton Slepyshev 49, 13-8-21 [102 NHL games]
- LC Marco Roy 42, 8-12-20
- RC Kyle Platzer 48, 6-11-17
- R Greg Chase 19, 1-6-7
- L Braden Christoffer 33, 1-4-5
- LD Ben Betker 14, 0-2-2
- G Eetu Laurikainen 18, 3.42 .907
A confusing period for the Oilers, Roy played fourth line minutes without an NHL contract, outscored everyone, and no one noticed. Kind of hope an organization picks up on these things. No bona fides.
CONDORS 2016-17 ROOKIES
- R Jesse Puljujarvi 39, 12-16-28 [139 NHL games]
- R Patrick Russell 68, 8-9-17 [51]
- G Nick Ellis 34, 2.69 .918
A small group but it could land as one of the strongest if Puljujarvi delivers on his considerable promise. I’m not talking 30-goal seasons, but a man that size who can scoot and displays nice hands in close should be a dominate name on this list five years from now.
CONDORS 2017-18 ROOKIES
- L Joe Gambardella 50, 13-6-19 [15 NHL games]
- RD Ethan Bear 37, 6-12-18 [89]
- LD Caleb Jones 58, 2-15-17 [60]
- RD Ryan Mantha 41, 3-7-10
I have a feeling two bona fide defensemen are going to come from this rookie crop. We can’t count them yet, sophomore slumps are famous for a reason, but Bear and Jones are talented men who came up through the system. This is how it’s supposed to look.
CONDORS 2018-19 ROOKIES
- L Tyler Benson 68, 15-51-66 [7 NHL games]
- RC Cooper Marody 58, 19-45-64 [6]
- RD Logan Day 64, 7-27-34
- R Cam Hebig 64, 11-18-29
- LD William Lagesson 67, 8-19-27 [8]
- R Kailer Yamamoto 27, 10-8-18 [53]
- RC Tyler Vesel 61, 5-13-18
- L Nolan Vesey 17, 0-3-3
- G Shane Starrett 42, 2.33 .918
- G Dylan Wells 12, 2.84 .909
There is much to be written for this group, Yamamoto emerged after Christmas and now we wait for Benson and hopefully Marody and Starrett but injuries have caused havoc with the college men.
CONDORS 2019-20 ROOKIES
- RD Evan Bouchard 54, 7-29-36 [7 NHL games]
- LC Ryan McLeod 56, 5-18-23
- R Kirill Maksimov 53, 5-8-13
- L Ryan Kuffner 36, 6-5-11
- LD Dmitri Samorukov 47, 2-8-10
- G Stuart Skinner 41, 3.31 .892
Bouchard is as close to a lock for a bona fide career as there is over the decade, and I do think Ryan McLeod is going to push. Maksimov didn’t deliver a strong debut but he has talent and will get a good chance in 2020-21.
I don’t know how many of Puljujarvi, Bear, Jones, Yamamoto, Benson and Bouchard are going to have bona fide NHL careers. I’m guessing it’ll be at least three, enough to match the Oklahoma City years.
CONDORS ROOKIES 2020-21 (PROJECTED)
- R Raphael Lavoie 56, 18-21-39
- L Ostap Safin 49, 6-10-16
- LD Theodor Lennstrom 56, 3-11-14
- LD Markus Niemelainen 39, 0-4-4
- G Olivier Rodrigue 25, 2.77 .907
I believe Lavoie will get a push, but one of the issues surrounding Condors wingers is the quality of centers available. Benson’s rookie season doesn’t happen without Marody, as an example. I don’t know who Lavoie’s center will be, but the pool includes a lesser Marody, McLeod and perhaps Brad Malone. The 2018-19 Marody likely won’t be available to him.
The other rookie I have performing well enough to mention is Rodrigue, who has a dynamite chance to pass the other goaltenders under contract for AHL work.
What does that have to do with MacKinnon vs. Drai for the Hart, which diverged in to Oilers only have 3 top 6 forwards (when your points where challenged on the original topic).
My goodness the strawman is strong – make a point, it gets refuted or challenged, make a totally separate point that has nothing to do with the original.
defmn,
That was very well said, thank you for the perspective.
defmn,
That article was outstanding. Thank you for posting.
Nice post. The MSM has lost almost all credibility and will likely cease to exist a decade from now. People are tuning out and searching for alternative sources of information. News reporting is now so polarized that it’s almost impossible to have a nuanced position. Although I support the protests, I denounce the violence, looting and property destruction. It’s impossible to find this perspective in the MSM, yet I would think the vast majority of people feel the same way. I’ve really grown to detest the phrase “largely peaceful protest.” What the hell does this even mean?
Don’t let the the facts obscure a good narrative please.
The Avalanche had the highest 5v5 PDO in the league.
And even with the injuries MacKinnon had better linemates than McDavid. Their points only look close because of games missed and McDavid getting the Oilers 2nd best set of linemates for much of the year.
Despite missing massive games lost to injury, the Avalanche finished the season +46 in goal differential.
The Oilers were +8.
One of these is not like the other.
Who, the Oilers?
Draisaitl 1.55 Pts/game
McDavid 1.52
Yamamoto 0.96
Nuge 0.94
Kassian 0.58
Neal 0.56
The Avs
MacKinnon 1.35
Rantanen 0.98
Landeskog 0.81
Burakovsky 0.78
Kadri 0.71
Donskoi 0.51
A PPG with nominal PP time – imagine if he was on the best PP of the era….
Just like Drai did when McDavid was hurt and when Nuge was hurt and when Neal was hurt.
Anyways, that wasn’t the point that the poster was making – he was stating that if he had better linemates he would have run away with the Hart.
Harpers Hair,
Cone on friend, you know you’re baiting us now :/
Yamamoto had a shooting percentage of 25%.
It’s a mirage.
OriginalPouzar,
You could also argue that MacKinnon stepped up his game all year because his teammates were hurt.
It’s also a common theme with Malkin when Crosby is hurt
Which has nothing to do with a Drai vs. MacKinnon Hart Trophy conversation.
However, NHL 5 X 5 P/60 (300 min minutes):
Malkin
Panarin
Yamamoto
https://www.naturalstattrick.com/playerteams.php?fromseason=20192020&thruseason=20192020&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&stdoi=std&rate=y&team=ALL&pos=S&loc=B&toi=300&gpfilt=none&fd=&td=&tgp=410&lines=single&draftteam=ALL
Imagine of Nuge was a top 6 forward…..
McDavid went down during an important stretch of the season and as the team was going on a tough eastern road trip.
The hope was the team could tread water in the 3 weeks they were going to be without their captain.
They didn’t just tread water but moved up the standings mainly due to the fact that Leon Draisaitl elevated his game with McDavid out (and facing ALL the tough matchups on the road).
Stepping up when the top teammates are hurt – that’s evidence of Hart worthiness.
Oh, so his point was related to MacKinnon catching McDavid, not Drai.
Of course, he wasn’t mature enough to mention that to me when I honestly asked – just condescension and pretencion.
Your whining to the wrong crowd. It Mcdavid wasn’t playing on 1 leg all year he wins it easily just like Leon’s going to do.
A pleasure trying to have a hockey talk……
It’s easy to make up what ifs and claim he would have won the Hart.
MacKinnon would have needed 31 points in his remaining 11 games to catch up to the duo’s 1.52 p/gp rate.
Mike Smith’s .902 save percentage compared to the Avalanche average .920 is a big factor to consider for +-.
Koskinen being at .917
At the end of the day, they ended up #1 and #2 in scoring and the team “only has 3 top 6 forwards”
That makes it even more impressive, no?
Life is a bitch when you only have three top six forwards.
And if Mcdavid played with Drai and Nuge 5v5 he’d be my uncle
Rantanen missed 38 games.
Landeskog missed 26.
Kadri missed 19.
If those players were healthy, MacKinnon would have walked away with the Hart.
Just as impressive, McDavid had 8 points in his last 5 games with linemates AA, Ennis, Kassian and Neal.
I don’t believe MacKinnon would have caught up with McD although both are obviously amazing players.
Keep in mind he missed 7 games this season and was second place in p/gp with 1.52. Trailing only Drai at 1.55
Geekie doesn’t count
Whoosh!
OK, then what was the point of the post with MacKinnon’s points in his last 5 games?
Serious question, I must have missed the context.
Street Pro Tip #1. I feel for you but sometimes life isn’t fair. Even for you this was a pretty lame attempt
In that case allow me. In the 1960s social sciences were probably still technically sciences, but I recall attending college in the 80’/90’s and social science was little more than a buzzword for communist ideology/viewpoint towards society. It’s a disgrace how they’ve been corrupted.
Indeed, but CHL production doesn’t predict ice time either, which of course is no better.
I suggested nothing of the sort.
Not a word out of place.
Unfortunately, one of the pillars of democracy has crumbled and is currently completing its destruction.
Mrs. Hair and I were driving back from Campbell River this afternoon and I tuned the radio into CBC and challenged her to find a non “progressive” voice during Cross Country Checkup”.
They had the Police Chief of Ottawa as a guest. He began his career teaching police recruits about cultural sensitivity issues but every time callers asked how difficult it is for the police to police the police, he was cut off by the host so more callers could rail on about historical grievances.
You can’t get there from here.
I try to avoid discussing politics on this site. It never leads to anything good since there is a perception in democracies that politics is an easily understood subject due to a genetic acquisition that takes place during the 2nd trimester of our gestation.
I only half joke.
That said I sent the same link to an old friend earlier today when I saw it on my twitter feed.
Very sad.
I have written for both liberal rags and conservative rags during my working life. That was several decades ago now since I decided when I turned 45 that I didn’t like work so much so I should make some money and retire.
Even then it was a war. Just hidden better.
I can’t remember if I mentioned this here before or not – old man memory – but the last assignment I ever wrote involved my editor informing me that there was a culture war going on and that I had better decide which side I was on. I decided I was too old to go to war and quit. That editor, btw, is currently employed as a feature writer for a national daily.
===========================
I will say this and I hope it is not too much because I don’t want to be partisan.
We are both old enough to remember when the bigots congregated on the right. We are both old enough to see that these days the bigots are on the left.
The reason for this is that bigotry is not an essential attribute of either the left or the right but it is almost always found in the dominant ideology of the time.
These days that title belongs to the progressives.
This all makes sense if you understand that a bigot is a person who dislikes or even hates you based upon your conclusions rather than on the reasoning process you used to arrive at your conclusions. The word ‘ideologue’ is very similar in meaning but really, hating somebody because they arrived at a different conclusion than you on what is right or wrong without understanding ‘why’ is pretty much what makes a person a bigot.
How we got here is a story written by political philosophers that is probably of little interest to most people. I won’t comment on the role social scientists played in this drama because I think that got me in trouble earlier in the week.
Regardless there no shortage of blame to go around but I think the complete and total lack of credibility that the MSM has acquired for itself in some quarters and the naive acceptance of what is written in other quarters is extremely unhealthy. Good education is key to a healthy democracy and I would say that our failure in this country is not quite as acute as in our neighbour to the south but it is nothing to be proud of either.
It is almost like we are re-living the summer riots in the late 60’s – only with more dangerous weapons.
This is probably more than I should have said so I will leave it at that.
*of that scene
That is indeed the best value contract in the league.
Are you suggesting that Nate MacKinnon may have caught Leon in the scoring race if the season had gone to 82 games.
So MacKinnon had 8 points in 5 games with his current linemates.
Leon had 45 points in 27 games with his…..
Well you’d think given that I correctly predicted a 71 game season I could tell you both hub cities and the total number of wins and losses for each team, but alas two different timelines are giving me a bad case of double vision this week:
https://lowetide.ca/2019/10/02/2019-20-game-one-canucks-at-oilers/comment-page-1/#comment-866106
Didn’t the PA and NHL recently sign off formally on the format you needed settled to launch? i.e. 5 games for the play in and the normal 7 for all the real rounds with reseeding.
So you could relaunch already if speeds confirms that, but for kicks why not wait until the 22nd when they announce the hub cities?
Nathan MacKinnon has a cap hit of $6.3 million for another three seasons.
Sakic is such a dummy.
When the season was paused , Colorado had a game in hand on the Oilers.
MacKinnon had 8 points in his last 5 games and finally had healthy linemates in Rantanen and Landeskog.
Caution: Things in the rear view mirror are closer than you think.
Pro Tip: when making bets on injury prone players, always bet points per game.
Wow – you expressly asked if Jesse would be available for Seattle to take if he didn’t have a contract. You were told yes, by multiple posters. You double-downed and even posted a link to the rules about Seattle needing to take 20 players under contract not realizing that mean non signed players can be taken.
There is no baiting – you were wrong and proven wrong and condescended others while trying to prove your (incorrect) point.
You are unable to admit that you were incorrect – this isn’t a matter of opinion – this is a factual matter – it is cut and dry, black and white.
Now you try and say that your point wasn’t your point.
My goodness.
I won’t ask again and I will leave this issue along – you have answered the question – a resounding no.
It has nothing to do with me (and numerous others) “being right” – it has to do with condescending nature in which the (incorrect) information was given and then doubled-down on when shown it was wrong and then the poster disappearing and refusing to acknowledge the topic in the 3 days since.
Ya, maybe I’m being juvenile, but given how condescending the poster is to me generally, I remain interested to see if he’ll show the maturity to acknowledge
Interesting read – thanks for posting.
I don’t imagine that many players on non-playoff teams would be too interested in being “forced” to attend team sanctioned camps (or whatever they agree on) – in particular as I would anticipate they would be subject to all the same protocols, restrictions, etc. that phase 3 is going to entail.
Agreed – that’s the deal with Sammy.
I doubt Sammy would be playing anywhere but North America if things were as normal.
This is the correct answer.
I don’t imagine Holland doesn’t believe the AHL is a good place to develop d-men – not with Bear and Jones arriving this past season and Bouchard showing great strides through the year.
Sammy heading to the KHL is to ensure he’s actually playing as that league’s training camp starts next month and the season in early September – the AHL may not start until December (or even later).
I think he wanted to bring Berglund over but the player himself asked for one more year in Sweden.
Broberg is 18 years old right now, he won’t even turn 20 until next season is over. The AHL is a really tough league for teenage d-men – so is the SHL but I think is a solid place for him.
I think the best part was Ursula Andress coming out of the sea, but I may be mistaken
All this list proves is how cap unfriendly the McDavid contract is compared to the other ones.
Bwahahahahahahahaha
N64,
Since you heroically stopped Death March™ from launching prematurely, perhaps you can tell us when we can start it back up properly.
Best part was watching his steel hands, trying to grab at the steel railing.
1. Leon Draisaitl EDM 110 pts
2. CONNOR McDAVID EDM 97 pts
3. David Pasternak 95 pts
4. Artemi Panarin 95 Pts
5. NATHAN MACKINNON 93 pts
My apologies for the wasted pixels.
I’m old too.
Given your background, I’m wondering about your reaction to this.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-news-media-is-destroying-itself
I had actually tried to clarify my position on the issue since I was initially responding to a poster who suggested if Jesse was exposed it would “save” the Oilers from losing a defenseman but the post vaporized.
Since I haven’t considered the constant bating to be worthy of a response.