This is the Bakersfield Condors defense in 2021-22. From this group, Philip Broberg, Vincent Desharnais and Mike Kesselring have emerged as NHL defenseman over the last two seasons. That’s a solid return on investment, although keeping these players was also an option. What is next for the Condors blue?
THE CONDORS LAST YEAR
These totals are from our friend Eric Rodgers, who has been providing even-strength goal totals for about 15 years now. He’s a mensch. What can we gather from these numbers? First, it was a successful season in Bakersfield, with the entire group over 50 percent goal share.
That’s fabulous. The Condors were 165-145 at even strength overall (53.2 percent) so the first five names here were above average. Markus Niemelainen, Cam Dineen and the AHL blue were below the team average.
There are a few things worth noting. First, Max Wanner was 20 when this season went down, and his goal share was splendid. He was part of the starting six from go last year, paired early and often with Cam Dineen and later with Philip Broberg. Wanner doesn’t have a major prospect profile, but he is an effective defender who I believe will play in the NHL this season (sparingly, but he should get a game or two).
Phil Kemp has been doing this forever. The man is an outscoring machine at the AHL level. Either you believe in the strength of even strength goal share or you don’t, but Kemp shines like a diamond in this area.
As an AHL rookie in 2021-22 (I’m not counting the pandemic year; he was 7-5, 58 percent though) Kemp posted 29-25 (53.7 percent) on a team that was 57 percent without him, so that’s below average.
In 2022-23, he was 51-41 (55.3 percent) on a team that was 49.5 percent without him. That’s outstanding.
In 2023-24, Bakersfield’s most recent season, Kemp delivered 58.2 percent of the even strength goal share. When he was off the ice? The Condors played at 51.9 percent. Music!
Kemp may never play as an NHL regular, but he absolutely is an above average defender in the AHL right now and that’s a helluva league.
Finally, I’ll mention Markus Niemelainen. In hockey, as in life, timing is everything. He came back from Finland and was a better skater I swear to God it’s true. I wish he’d hung around one more year in the Oilers system. There’s a sliver of daylight for his player type now. Oilers had more than enough lefties to added Connor Carrick to the group. No quarrel with the move, just cheered for Niemelainen and that ship has sailed.
We are celebrating one year on the air! Sports 1440 brings you sports talk every day at a high level (noon to 2pm aside) and I can say without hesitation those of us who work there are delighted to be part of it. The media landscape is moving quickly and so the amount of work (and trust) required from Stingray and Jason Gregor was enormous. It’s a truly unique deal, and I don’t think it would be possible in most instances. I know Jason, and I know Susan Reade (from Stingray) and both of them are ‘big idea’ people who are also willing to work long and hard to make good things happen.
Me? I’m along for what is for me a sweet ride. I’m loving it, and I thank you for reading, listening and subscribing to The Athletic to read my articles. It’s what I want to do, and not everyone gets that chance. I’m fully aware of how lucky I am.
On today’s show, Bagged Milk will drop by to talk Oilers, Declanations will tee up the college football and NFL weekend and we’ll have a few birthday surprises along the way. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly.
Speaking of blue….
it’s been stated before by a few folks that Nikita Yevseyev needs to get over to North America next season to ensure he develops properly. Thus far he’s played 1 game this season and I found in online and tried watching it, but it was very disappointing.
He had 4 shifts in the first period, the first 2 were about 30 seconds, he looked good hos first shift. The second he was on for maybe 10 seconds for a delayed PP call.
The 3rd, he passed the puck to the wrong team, which resulted in a very dangerous chance against. That entire shift was very poor .
The 4th was 10 seconds, with about 6 minutes left in the 1st. His team was down 1-0, so i stopped watching.
The infamous Mitchell Miller appears to be a top pairing defender on this team, while our boy is clearly the #7 dman.
I also watched Berezkhin’s team’s highlights, he had a couple of apples and looked very dominant out there.
Both of these players need to come over ASAP, lots of untapped potential with these gents. I fear a second year of meandering for NY, while MB should have a very productive season, however if he doesn’t with the Oil after this season, he will probably get locked-in by his current club.
I really hope the Oilers sign these fellas, they really need to if there is truly a focus on long-term planning, of which prospect development is a critical piece.
Its just so odd with how much ice they gave Yevseyev as an 18 year old that its been the opposite the following year and, so far, again this year.
Beryzokin, in the other hand, played 1st line and PP in game 1.
Look for a signing come May.
Brad Malone hired by Oshawa as Player Development Coach.
Congrats to Brad on his new career in hockey!
I am generally in favour of this development, and I don’t think I’m Malone in saying so.
Bowman on with Gregor today.
Spoke to Knob a bunch of times about Emberson.
Knob is a big fan and thinks he can help the team.
Bowman had seem him play many times but it was a collaborative effort talking to coach and the scouts, etc.
Bowman likes his age and that we haven’t seen his best – he will have a chance to grow his game through the season, there will be growth with Emberson from October to March.
I remember an eerily similar quote about a defenseman from a famous draft almost a decade ago. Hopefully this time things turn out in favour of the good guys and balance the scales.
I think the problem with Griffin Reinhart is that no one had actually watched him play that much in the AHL.
I think one of the clips from Oil Change showed them talking about this trade, and Bob Green was on camera saying he looked good in juniors.
Rich Winter tells Gregor he’s trying to pitch Gio to the Oilers.
Bowman does think that too many bodies can get in the way – need to give the other guys opportunity. If you have 5 guys for one spot its tough to give enough opportunities to evaluate. Of course, if there are better guys.
Still figuring out of they are going to add via a PTO.
Sort of interesting Giordano appears to be targeting the Oilers.
I guess it makes sense he wants a chance to win since he’s never even played in a conference final.
Wonder if he’s got any personal connections to the team.
He broke Connor’s knee and then tried to break it again. Please no, not to mention he’s 140
38 year old Nikolai Kuleman has signed a PTO with Ottawa.
He played the last 6 seasons in the KHL.
Along with Calen Addison/
He’s a forward to boot. I do now recall him having his career year scoring 30 with the Leafs almost 15 years ago. Wow if Staios is scrapping the barrel why wouldn’t he want a big body shoot first francophone winger in Lavoie. Lavoie ends up in either Ottawa or Montreal. Booook it……..
This one looking like it might be a favour to an old friend.
Could be political.
This francophone angle of yours is bogus.
Hockey-ability is paramount.
We’re not talking the 1950s MTL Canadiens.
Like really, catch up man.
The 7 Francophones on Montreal’s current roster must be a tragic coincidence.
I can remember most Oiler players since day 1 but I would be hard pressed to remember more than a bakers dozen Francophones who played for the franchise.
OTT ≠ MTL
Lavoie should be focused on the open 3LW spot for the Oilers (unless Kane can play).
I recall when Lavoie was booked for a French Canadian market a year ago…..
Lavoie should be focused on finding an opportunity to play in the NHL.
He turns 24 in a couple of weeks and the Oilers traded for Vasili Podkholzin to block him.
Lavoie ship sailed last year add in a new G.M who trades for his man Podkolzin who’s goose was cooked the minute Tocchet hired on. Staios sees something in Bourgault next up Lavoie.
Last October every single NHL team had the opportunity to add Lavoie to their roster for no asset cost – they all said “no thank you”
Podkozin (no “h”) was brought in to compete with Lavoie. There is room for both on the roster, only one can play 3LW at a time and Lavoie should focus on that job.
— Speaking of radio : On drives to office I sometimes for a few minutes “hate listen” to the FAN which like most local media is just a mouthpiece for their home team. In this case the Leafs also the owner but I digress
— For years the FAN (and most leaf fans) keep going on about how “McDavid has to go” which was code for “he needs to come to the Leafs”
— So this morning apparently McDavid and Austin train together hang out : so FAN be like “even though less likely now as Drai signed , maybe McDavid wants to play with his buddy in his home town in the biggest market for hockey “
— I’ve hated this narrative for years. Just one more season untill Leaf Nation can finally be disabused of the notion that McD coming here just because.
Maybe Nostrils signs a 1-year league-minimum contract on July 1, 2028 with the Oilers so he can finally win a cup!
Unfortunately the legacy media is drowning. Their best strategy has been to move away from investigative journalism, or straight facts reporting, and into clickbait/ragebait content to drive engagement as a metric to sell ads.
Nothing will whip up leafs nation into a frothy lather faster than suggesting McDavid coming home to play at the ACC. It’s half of how hacks like Cathal Kelly still have jobs.
Sorry but having worked in the ‘legacy media’ way back when I have to disagree.
They are reaping what they sowed.
I know, and you’re correct. Perhaps it was a generous use of the word “unfortunately.”
Perhaps I harken back to a time when our institutions had credibility and meant something.
I walked away from my last job in journalism about 30 years ago. Because I had worked for a cabinet minister at the leg’ I had pretty good access for interviews, information etc. that wasn’t necessarily available to others but I had a problem with my editor. He kept re-writing my stuff in subtle ways.
For example, maybe I wrote that so and so “said” something and when it got printed it would show up as “claimed” or “denied” or some such thing so as to imply skepticism or anger or that the guy was lying.
Anyway I called him on it because that is the sort of thing that can end up with a “he’s not available” the next time you phone and I was told – remember this was 30 years ago – that we were in a ‘culture war’ and I had better decide what side I was on because neutral was not an option. I decided that it was time to move on since even then I was too old to go to war. 😎
I still see his name from time to time. Writes political columns out of Ottawa.
I always tell people that in my experience there are no virgins in politics or the media but if you have to choose who to believe you will be right picking the politician more often than the guy who wrote the story. Isn’t that a sad state of affairs.
A) thank you for opening the kimono to a degree. I know you typically eschew this kind of post but I, for one, find it most informative.
B) my own experience in j-school was relatively similar, which caused me to nope the fcuk out of the industry pretty much before I got started. I grew ever more wary/uncomfortable with my exposure to the whimsy of other people’s fancy, and said no thanks.
I think some (myself included) are attracted to this place because of the strength of civil discourse with limited culture wars. Those here that post without this integrity are usually called out on it pdq.
You know they may be on to something. Connor may want to go back to trying to get out of the first round, on a worse team, a bigger challenge you know
Yeah, the fan and the Buffalo station I flip back and forth between. Nauseating, McDavid is going to be a Leaf, the when, why and how keep changing.
The Sabre talking heads I feel for. Reminds me of living and listening to radio in Edmonton during the bad years.
— true re Buffalo talking heads. They aren’t thankfully as smug as Centre of Hockey Universe Toronto and yeah their team his nuthin’
— Sports radio has gone through so much. I was listening to Alan Cross “History of New Music” podcast on how streaming in the 2010s changed the rules for music and radio. Alan Cross by the way is just been producing killer content for years and able to adapt over the generations. I can’t recommend him enough.
— So many parallels to sports talk on radio and his insights on music streaming. Kids just don’t listen to radio : unless they are stuck in the car with their parents like me as far as I can tell.
Big fan of Alan Cross. I remember listening to him introduce music on airplane flights in the 80’s.
I enjoy Overdrive via pod form. TO based by not like the Fan.
Agree. Overdrive used to be very Leaf and Matthews biased but the last couple of years they 100% agree Connor (and even Drai) and Oilers are another level better. They are actually quite negative on the Leafs but still talk about them a lot, of course.
and Noodles is great when on and Struddy is always awesome.
I’ll always have a lot of respect for Mathews after that one play for team North America during the World Cup of hockey.
McDavid took a questionable hit and Mathews came to the rescue feeding the offending player a good number of hard cross checks.
I can’t recall who the offending player was, but he was a Leaf, lol.
All BS aside, Matthews and McDavid were a legendary combination on the biggest of stages.
I can see why Hog Town based media are continually grinding themselves into a fine powder about repatriating Connor to his hometown market.
Foolish as it may be.
3 more Ontario radio stations announced today they will shutting down.
— Which ones? CHML last week in Hamilton was fairly big news…Lots of broadcasters
Sorry can’t find the article again.
One was in Toronto and two in outlying communities..none major players but another symptom of the malaise.
I’m an old too, and I do listen to sports radio when I can’t be fussed to put on music or a podcast. It’s a habit I simply can’t break.
Since I live on the West Coast, it’s Canucks focused, but the morning guys – Halford and Brough – are excellent. Good enough that I’ll tune in while I’m making my lunch/doing dishes etc before work.
It’s a shame that sports radio is slowly circling the drain, but thankfully many can make the jump to a podcast easily enough though they won’t have the same kind of public availability as radio.
I’m happy for LT and Gregor and everyone at 1440.
Stan Bowman was on Overdrive for 12 minutes or so yesterday.
Nothing new or overly interesting to report but, presuming there are others like me that like to take in all media done by management, he spoke yesterday.
What are the Cole’s Notes?
Nothing really notable – more of the same.
Cap flexibility was the reason to not match the offer sheets. Leon was the priority. They have a ballpark for what they think the big 3 will come in at and worked with that number when deciding to let both players go.
Thanks man. I don’t catch all the spots the way I used to, so appreciate/rely on your renumeration of the various availabilities for my convenience and dissemination.
Welcome – NP.
Now that Leon is out of the way when is the earliest Bouchard legally can sign his next contract?
Today.
I hope they are able to do this now
Odd there has been so little discussion about it.
I would guess it will become more topical now that the other priorities that had to be taken care of first have been completed. Extending RFA’s for next season is less time critical than dealing with UFA’s as important as Leon or offer sheets on RFAs this season.
Bouchard and the Oilers are in the same spot as Dobson, Oettinger, K’Andre Miller and a whole host of other 2025 RFAs are with their teams.
Certainly less urgency but might be wise to get out ahead of the market in case some other GM loses his mind as in the Nurse/Jones debacle.
Holland cost himself 2 million per year on Nurse by taking Keith off of Bowman’s hands so that he could trade for and sign a direct comparable in Jones. Holland sure was fixated on Veterans the man didn’t have the time or patience for organic growth.
He didn’t have to wait to sign Nurse. Ken was a NHLPA sleeper agent
If he stays healthy given the changes in the top 6, waiting could cost another million, over the 2-3 for not signing him long, and as you said the market could change and it won’t be down
Bowman needs to extend Bouchard ASAP. I believe the possibility of an expensive contract rests with Bouchard. He’s entirely capable of a 100 point season, as he produced at a 105 point pace over 25 games in the playoffs.
Isn’t this the number one reason Bouchard wouldn’t sign right now? You can’t force Bouchard to sign a contract and surely he sees the same thing.
About the same as Brock Boeser. Canucks better trade him – it will be hilarious to see him walk to market.
Not at all the same.
The Canucks want to see if Boeser is actually a 40 goals scorer.
If not, they have an internal replacement.
The Oilers have no replacement for Bouchard.
What kind of absolute nonsense is this?
Bouchard is an RFA at year’s end.
Boeser is a UFA at year’s end.
You are right they aren’t comparable and you have the urgency of each completely backwards.
Nonsense. Dishonest nonsense.
I can see the Oilers PTO a scruffy forward type especially without Kane probably not good to go for awhile or perhaps even longer. Who are some eligible candidates would Clutterbuck fill this role at his age.
I’m not so sure they really need a scruffy forward; I expect to see at least one or two defensemen. I’m thinking along the lines of Travis Dermott, he plays both sides and would cover the bet in a bottom pair role. Cal Clutterbuck is 36 years old, I think Nick Cousins at 30 would be a better bet. Maybe we see both of Travis Dermott And Nick Cousins added on PTO’s.
Cousins signed a one year deal with Ottawa earlier this week.
They got the only scruffy forward I’d consider on a PTO. Good for them.
Why wouldn’t we roll with Kemp for a test drive and at least see what we have in him? We can always acquire a Dermott type d’man on the cheap and on the fly if needed
Dermott is a LHD that has also played RHD at the NHL level. He would be a versatile veteran depth defenseman. It would probably be worthwhile having a look at him on a PTO.
A left side vet to bridge the massive gap between 3LD and 4LD makes more sense to me than a RD that isn’t able to play 2RD (the Oilers have 2 d-men that can surely play 3RD, plus Brown, plus Kemp).
I do think DeAngelo could be invited as he’s the only one that has an actual chance to handle the 2nd pairing.
I’ve been on about a PTO or league minimum deal for Clutterbuck for weeks.
He skates at a league average pace, has an above average shooting percentage, good on the PK, solid away from the puck, can pot a shortie or two basically every year, knows his role (IE not going to shy away from the rough stuff), and doesn’t need to play every night to step in and be effective/reliable in depth minutes.
Clutterbuck is the guy they should have signed instead of Perry, IMO. But he could join the team and spell off Perry and Ryan depending on the opponent/injury/mojo.
The 32 Thoughts podcast gets a new co-host.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sportsnet-new-32-thoughts-host
Bukaskis is a straightman with a face for TV and a voice for… well… not radio. I mean compared to LT’s fine baritone…
I’ve never been impressed by his work.
Vanilla.
No edge I could be wrong but appears to have been babied.
I believe Phil Kemp is good enough to play regularly in the National Hockey League.
And congrats Allan. I like going for long walks with you chirping in my ear.
He might be but I’m not sure he gets a real opportunity to prove it – will they give him ice over Josh Brown?
LT none of my biz but I’ll ask anyway – you still seeing that gal you mentioned a month or so ago ? Congrats on the year and good vibes from your favorite Phoenix fans.
I am, in fact. She’s an exceptionally kind person and I’m thankful to have found her.
Happy for you.
I hope the radio keeps rolling along LT, I know the times are challenging. I have a small business (I enjoy the ride and hope it keeps going) which allows me to comment too much and catch the Lowdown at times. The way you talk to your co-hosts is hilarious, I see your show as the best place for those young guys to cut their teeth – if they can keep up with you, keep their heads together when your are changing angles on them, bringing up things from long ago, and saying mock outrageous things, they’re golden
Unique, as all of your work is. Thanks and I hope we get to continue to hang around your places for a long time yet
And congratulations!
Declan is growing on me – we share alot of takes.
He’s got a bit of sass for LT as well, entertaining ‘mostly sports’ radio
Allan: Congrats to you & all at Sports 1440 on the anniversary. Meant to mention it on air yesterday.
You’re a big part of it, my friend. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy our conversations. I especially like saving up the hard questions for you! 🙂
This is basically the last chance in the organization for Phil Kemp – he needs to play pretty much the entire season or else he will become a Group VI UFA.
I think most would agree that Max Wanner is the 3RD of the future with a higher ceiling than Phil Kemp (I see alot of Jason Smith in Max Wanner) but, at the same time, today, right now, Phil Kemp is the more NHL ready player.
Will Phil Kemp get that opportunity? I would suggest that Josh Brown is currently 7D/4RD and Kemp is in behind him.
At the same time, we KNOW that Josh Brown is a limited player at the NHL level who, while he can skate decently, he isn’t able to suppress goals against and help outscoring at 5 on 5. His best attribute appears to be face punch – plus PK, which does matter.
I don’t know that Phil Kemp can help suppress goals against at the NHL level and outscore but I don’t know that he can’t.
I do know that he a highly relied upon d-man at the AHL level who is a very very strong defender – great positionally, fantastic angles, battles hard on the boards and net front, can be Adam Larsson Light filthy and will drop the gloves when a teammate is done wrong without hesitation. He also has a decent shot and very under-rated passing and transition abilities.
His skating – still an issue but is it prohibitive?
I hope he crushes exhibition and passes Josh Brown on merit.
Wanner is the future (with Akey in ahead of him) but not for the now!
I wonder what the deal is with Kemp? It’s not like Vinny was a good skater or ended up using his reach as much in the NHL
For me Wanner has a higher ceiling than Akey. Beau has more skill but he right now is quite a small guy, and unless he’s going to be like Bouch offensively he might have a challenge sticking. We’ve seen it with others like Addison, Boqvist
The way Max is progressing, and with his size and attitude and can skate, he seems like a sure bet to me, and I see him as a top 4 no problem when he establishes because he has a rounded skill set
We’ll see, completely different type of players.
Wanner is not bereath of offensive abilities and instincts, but he really has a defence first (and potentially defence only at the NHL level) mentality. He can get going once he gets moving but his skating is somewhat clunky – that likely improves.
I see some Nicholas Kronwall attributes in him – he’s a vicious hitter.
I haven’t seen much of Akey given he hasn’t turned pro but his skating is special – I see some Philip Broberg in him – maybe with better offensive instincts but not as high end of a defender (as I think Broberg can be).
Yes they are kind of opposites. Akey’s scouting reports show a very good all round player, great skater as you said. If he was bigger I bet he would have been a first rounder
After all of these years around here and elsewhere, there seems to be a certain level of strength needed, unless players are elite skill, especially for D. I of course hope he can do it, I see Wanner unless something goes sideways as almost a sure bet at this point
Akey will see the NHL probably because he is very talented, but might have trouble sticking. That he can angle and box out junior players might not translate against men
Is Akey that small though?
He was listed at 6’0 and 186 on draft day – he likely gets up close to 200 pounds by the time he’s in to the pro game and training properly, right?
As you would know working out as you do, it depends on his build and ability to gain mass. The Oilers have him at 173 which is the most common weight I see, I did also see the one you had
He’ll be 20, so if he can gain muscle and doesn’t have too small a frame I agree he could get up to 200 ideally, and that would be fine at 6′. If he’s 185 say as his top this is where he would have to be pretty top end to stick or not bounce around as some smaller guys do
His defensive play does make him different than many smaller D who are usually offense first, but what seems to happen is at some point they go for a bigger version if there aren’t good offensive numbers. Forsling might be a good comparable, he’s 6′ 195, ~ .5 PT/GP D
Akey was 173 when drafted, but as OP mentioned is now listed at 6′, 186 (or 183) at 19 years old. With guys still filling out at that age the larger height/weight is almost certainly the more accurate one.
You are correct that size/strength will most likely be Akey’s biggest challenge, but he’s not that small (and likely to add weight still).
Tons of guys in that size range have been quality D, and not all of them shrinking violets either – the aforementioned Kronwall, Chelios, K. Russell, Morrissey, Hronek, Montour and Forsling like you mentioned (and that’s setting aside the high end offensive guys like Makar, Hughes, Karlsson etc).
Anyway, it’s a little soon to be writing Akey off because of his draft weight, and likewise pronouncing Wanner a top 4 NHL D.
I can’t wait to actually see Josh Brown perform at camp and in some exhibition games before making harsh judgements.
Because his 6 years of history in the NHL isn’t enough for you?
There you go being negative again.
I imagine very few on here have watched Josh Brown much at all in any of his 6 seasons as a full time NHLer. It’s probably limited to games against the Oilers (there have been 11 of those) and most likely didn’t pay much attention to him in those games. The opinions on here are mostly based on public data (which is very limited in assessing all the attributes and contributions of a rugged stay at home defenseman) or the odd piece written by other outside observers. He has been good enough for those 6 season not to be waived even once, even if he spent some time in the press box as a healthy scratch.
The Oilers staff involved in the decision to sign him to a contract include people who have watched him either in person or on video a lot and have access to way more comprehensive analytics to help them make their decision. Clearly they believed Brown has the potential to provide something they might need on the ice from time to time, either full time or perhaps more likely, the occasional insert into the line up.
Nothing wrong with waiting to see if the bet they placed pays off or not. No signing is a sure thing, but it is a fairly low risk bet from a hockey management standpoint. No cap risk and they use up one of the 50 roster spots. The extra 225,000 salary over the league minimum is really only a minor challenge/drawback if he spends most of the season in the pressbox.
I have no idea how Brown plays is he nasty is he sneaky dirty is he hard to play against will he step-up without cue cards. A 3 year commitment at 1 million is a strange contract for a farm worker. I can see him rotating 35-40 games depending on the opponent in and out of the line-up especially if he’s good on the PK.
I didn’t say he would be a farm worker nor that the Oilers thought he would be either. Just that if he does end up on the farm it wasn’t a horrible bet. The bet is likely they expect him to be their number 7 with a variance of +1 or -2 on the current depth chart. The +1 may seem more possible now with the swap out of Broberg for Emberson on the current roster.
Little chance he goes above this range on a healthy roster, but poor performance by him and/or better performance by others could move him further down the range.
1) True on lack of substantive game viewings but I’ve still yet to see one review, from eye-watching scouts or behind the keyboard crunchers that have him as anything more than a replacement level player, if that.
2) Its notable that he’s lost ice time and lineup spots to Troy Stecher and Mike Kesselring
3) That extra $225K is apx $1MM of annual cap hit at the deadline – very much significant.
4) Similar to Kulak (and Ekholm) brought in blocking Broberg, this further blocks Kemp.
5) When he was signed, the Oilers had a right side of Bouchard, Ceci, Broberg and they brought back Stecher (who played over him in other orgs) – I don’t think the plan on signing was to start in the NHL. I thing the 3-year term was waiver claim protection.
6) I do agree, they signed him for a reason and he will play.
I don’t think blocking Broberg and ‘blocking’ Kemp are remotely comparable things.
Not on the same level but the management brought it a number of vets with lots of NHL experience slated for the lineup over the prospect.
I was more meaning to compare the level of prospect involved.
An (at the time) 22-year old #8 pick who’d played quite decently in 79 prior NHL games (including playoffs).
vs.
A 25-year old #208 pick who’s a solid AHL player and who sort of played 1 prior NHL game.
It’s conceivable Kemp could find a role and play some NHL games going forward, but this is not the kind of ‘prospect’ you clear the runway for, right?
‘Blocking’ your 25-year old career AHLers with NHL players is generally good business, is it not?
Sure, that’s valid.
There are also 8 professional seasons of play from the 30 year old that would provide information on the player.
I think they signed him for a reason. They like his size and his shutdown ability.
Plus, Knoblauch has some familiarity with him. So does McDavid.
100% they signed him for a reason.
I suspect he was signed for depth due to size, toughness and some PK. He’s moved up the depth chart on the right side by a spot (or two) 4RD since they signed him and I think that’s higher on the depth chart than initially planned on July 1.
This blog is about Phil Kemp and I see Kemp and Brown as in direct competition – clearly Brown starts camp ahead.
If Kemp has a strong camp, I can see him getting a long look.
I have a feeling this could be his year. Or, at least, I’m certainly hoping so.
Brown doesn’t look like he scrapped when he was younger I think he just added it to his repertoire the last few years. If this is what’s keeping him in the league than it’s better he does it over Nurse who seems to have abandoned that skillset in his game.
Not quite sure where you are getting that – he’s scrapped alot:
https://www.hockeyfights.com/players/16992
Imagine if it turns out he’s a solid defender and can be used at times with top lines. I want to see Turtle or Bennett grabbing Connor after the whistle. Kane at LW. Old school Oiler