I believe the strongest AHL farm club in recent Oilers history is the 2019-20 team. The question is: Does that Condors team represent the best farm club all-time for Edmonton’s minor leaguers? You could make a case.
The Athletic article today looks at math, points at the PK and PP and lands squarely on the skaters as main culprits. Everyone’s guilty, but some of the forwards are getting a free ride. Article is here.
THE 2019-20 CONDORS
It was a terrific team, made even more potent because Oilers management slow played Evan Bouchard partly to control the increase in cap dollars over his early pro seasons. The team housed Bouchard, now at 279 NHL games and an impact player in the NHL. He is on a trajectory for significant success and is one of the very best players in Oilers team history to play in 50+ AHL games before establishing himself as an NHL player.
Stuart Skinner (132 games in the regular seaosn, 35 in the playoffs) is the No. 1 goaltender in Edmonton; Ryan McLeod (233 NHL games) owns speed, two-way ability and transporting skills that will keep him in the NHL for many years; Kailer Yamamoto (306 games) who is on the fringe of the league now, but delivered a 20-goal season and arrived in the NHL as an absolute gem for the 2019-20 Oilers; Caleb Jones (now at 246 NHL games); Vincent Desharnais (122) who reinvented himself in Bakersfield and found an NHL job with hard work, and William Lagesson. He made it to 100 NHL games last season on the left coast. Will this team be remembered as best ever?
THE WICHITA WIND 1981-82
They didn’t win the Calder Cup (the 92-93 Cape Breton Oilers won the Calder) because the Wind played in the CHL. The appeal here is strictly the bounty of quality graduates who enjoyed NHL careers. Important to remember these men have the advantage of their entire careers written into the record. The 2019-20 group are just getting started.
Andy Moog was on that team. He had a couple of cups of coffee before and during 81-82 but established himself as a quality NHL prospect during this season. The Oilers would eventually deal Moog, but he was certainly one of the finest goaltenders of his era.
Charlie Huddy, who would play in over 1,000 NHL games. Huddy was not drafted, rather he was signed by the Oilers and spent parts of three seasons in the minors before graduating to the show. His development should serve as a strong reminder that good defensemen often take some time to develop. A splendid player.
Walt Poddubny, who would flourish in the NHL. He played 468 games and scored 184 goals, 116 of those in a stunning three season run from 86-89; John Blum, who would play 250 NHL games (most with Boston) was signed by the organization from Michigan (NCAA) after his graduation from college; Don Jackson, who rescued his career in Wichita and performed well for the Oilers during the first portion of the Stanley runs (dealt Oct 86). He was a solid role player for the Oilers during those years; Tom Roulston, who played 195 NHL games (and 47 goals) for the Oilers just before they started bagging Stanley’s every spring.
THE FORGOTTEN HAMILTON BULLDOGS 2001-02
The 2001-02 Hamilton Bulldogs are long forgotten, but they graduated a ton of talent to the big leagues and much of the talent produced came well below the first round picks.
Coach Claude Julien guided the team to a 37-30-13 record and a deep playoff run. He would get his NHL chance and delivered as an NHL coach.
Leading scorer Jason Chimera (5th rd pick) played over 1,100 NHL games; Fernando Pisani (8th rd pick) scored 102 NHL goals–regular season and playoffs combined–and one of them is an all-time goal deep in the heart of the Stanley cup finals; Marc-Andre Bergeron (undrafted) was a minor league free agent signing who made all the experts look foolish by enjoying a solid NHL career; Ty Conklin (undrafted) was a much sought after free agent and has had an NHL career of note (216 games); Jussi Markkanen (5th rd pick) was a fine goalie, who played in the most important Oilers game between 1990 and 2024.
That’s a pretty nice haul for one minor league club. I should note here that the lockout teams (2004-05, 2012-13) were excluded for obvious reasons, and I also excluded the ‘shared’ teams with Montreal. The 2002-03 Hamilton Bulldogs housed Jarret Stoll and most of the players above, and were clearly an incredibly AHL team.
How does this year’s team compare? Too soon to know, and the Matt Savoie injury puts the quality of the 2024-25 Condors in doubt. I think the minimum for consideration is four legit NHL players who spent time in a feature role, and both the Wind and 2019-20 Condors qualify there. The top four futures (possibly) currently in Bakersfield belong to Savoie, Roby Jarventie, Olivier Rodrigue and Jayden Grubbe. We’ll see.
A busy Friday on the Lowdown, we get started at noon on Sports 1440. Steve Lansky from Inside the Truck podcast will talk Oilers and the Amazon Prime broadcast. Did he like it? We’ll also chat about the new NCAA rules and possible impact. Tyler Yaremchuk from Daily Faceoff will talk Oilers and preview the Saturday game against the Canucks. Declan Krueger has Declanations and we’ll have a blast because it’s Friday!! I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio; Radioplayer Canada, we tweet out the show after it’s done and you can catch us on Apple and Spotify.
Summarizing!
Lachance was not content with one PP goal, so he potted another to double his goal total for the season.
Nicholl scored his 5th of the season and added an assist, earning 3rd star honours.
Mazura garnered even more apples, a pair in an exhibition match.
O’Reilly picked up a helper.
Day stopped all but one of the 22 shots he faced In a 4-1 win.
Copponi, Münzenberger, Määttä, Fischer, Berry, Akey, Clattenburg, and Stonehouse were not recipients of soup. (The House of Stone did get five SOG and was named 3rd star in his return to Ottawa.)
Wakely remained out of the lineup due to an ankle injury.
I know we got Henrique for lower than market value, but I still think that was a mistake. He moves around like Perry out there.
He’s definitely underperformed but he had the same mobility last season and ended with 51 points and was a solid 2-way plus PK guy in the playoffs.
Its not “earned” but some reps in the top 6 on the wing could get his offence going a bit
Sure, but it was a long hard playoff for an older player, a player who played only 62, 58 and 45 games in the previous 3 years.
I think that’s now 9 teams from Sprong – traded to Seattle for futures.
Lachance opens the scoring with a PP goal. 3rd tally of the year.
Time for McDavid to go on a stretch where he, not only shows why he’s the best player in the league right now, with a bullet, but why he is truly and all time top 5 generational great.
I don’t believe he was at this level last year or even close this year.
He had 2 months last season of over 2pts a game, then 42pts in the playoffs which was 4th all time.
I believe you’re making shit up.
He was 3rd in NHL scoring last season, 8 and 12 points behind the players in front of him.
Removing the game he only played 37 seconds, he has 10 points in 10 games this season.
Those are facts.
It seems today was likely a pure travel day for the team as there was no on-ice updates or media (at least not yet).
I would suspect a full morning skate tomorrow.
I would be surprised if Skinner wasn’t in the net. Didn’t like the second goal against at all, the PK goal, needed to save that.
At the same time, he was otherwise quite solid last game with some big save and they need to get him up and rolling and with two days off before and after this game, Stu needs the net.
The House of Stone has been returned to the Ottawa 67’s.
The NAmateurs now number fourteen.
Stauffer has been banging on about how the Oilers could be doing with a puck moving defender for the past few weeks and has tweeted about it today:
https://x.com/bob_stauffer/status/1854959461003374623?s=46&t=17Y0mMOtXuzaQUZgohOMdQ
Typically when he’s making lots of noise like this he has wind of something through the organization, so, it seems likely that if there’s going to be any adds it is of the puck moving type instead of a big hairy shutdown PK specialist.
Are we about to see the Ristolainen rumours resurface, or is this something else? He’s started off this year pretty well by all reports, but boy am I wary of Risto.
I think it depends on the whom. Really moving the puck isn’t the ‘main’ issue, it’s defensive play 5v5 and PK
The Oilers break stats, have always. I say this because they can run great numbers, but LT’s single events kill them, even if LT means the opposite of that
I agree that goalies are also not the ‘main’ problem. Oiler goalies often suffer from single events, and unfortunately for goalie that means a GA. The team should still be able to weather the bad goal against per game though, if they were producing
I caught Lansky today on LT’s show – love his takes and stories – he sees it as mental, as effort. Maybe he’s right. They need to somehow get to where they don’t give up the Single Event in crucial moments especially, but also rarely. Make the bad guys beat you with a great play or great luck, but do not give them anything else. Ever. That is the hallmark of strong players and teams in the larger sense. Then the odd woof will be less impactful, as they should be
To me all players need at least decent boots and puck skills. They are playing in the world’s best hockey league, and obstruction is mostly called except later in playoff series, you need everything able to move, player and puck in this era
Des is the prime example of why. You can get by reg season but the pace of every playoff game being full out exposes what are essentially tweeners or fading players, unless they are in the right spot on a team built to have them at their best, and have other skills like acumen and size. That player type is more rare every season
I think essentially they have a more skilled D now, more mobility, but they went after that at the expense of size and wingspan. D without it that are really good are special players, and rare. So who are we talking about? Another smaller fella? What bigger RS puck mover that is affordable and not a liability defending is hanging around? An analytics find?
I could see Bowman making a big splash, but he’s in pretty tight with NMC’s, little cap, and new signings. Maybe he’s got the stones to move Henrique or Arvi. Perry Podz Brown or Jan wouldn’t move the needle in a deal and it’s not much cap relief
I see Emberson in a different light than Stecher and Dermott because age, and Dermott is a tweener more so than Stecher. Ty has youth and upside and was a decent bet in a cap dump trade
I mentioned Carrier in Nashville on the Lowdown today. I’d have lots of time for that player. I also like the young man NJD just sent down, but he’s inexperienced.
Carrier isn’t having the same start as last season went, but would be better than Stecher Dermott or Emberson at this point as 2RD. He has term though, maybe they have soured. I like how feisty he is being smaller
I actually don’t put too much stock in to this type of in-season babbling from Stauff – he does it a couple of times a year – it wasn’t long ago he wanted to trade a first for Josh Anderson and banged the drum with every guest on his show.
Bob dropped Erik Gustafson as a possible target yesterday.
Why does 2002 feel like yesterday? 2001-2002 was the last year of high school for me. What a time.
I always wished that the Oilers had held onto Chimera, what a solid player he was.
Slow day. Looks like we need some 80’s dance music ……..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEfmwXPT3cM
“If you’ve got a crush don’t beat around the bush.
When I’ve got a crush run run away …”
One of the great in sports journalism is retiring today. Congrats to Eric Duhatschek.
Prospectssssssss!
A busy day means no preamble.
A Full House Friday sees everyone in action at 5 p.m. Hanna time except Fischer (4 p.m.) and Mazura (5:30 p.m.)
I like Grubbe but I just don’t share your enthusiasm on him. Smart player, hard worker, responsible but even NHL checking centers are able to produce decently at the AHL level (with some exceptions, I’m sure). I don’t think any of his “4th line center skills” are at a level that they will make up for a lack of production but time will tell.
I’ve got Wanner on that list, well ahead of Grubbe.
I’ve only seen Jarventie play twice and I think the only thing that could stop him from having an NHL career is the ability to stay healthy. His game on Friday night, his first game in 10 months, was advanced.
Did you hear what his injury was ( I say groin) anyhow in hindsight was it a good idea to pound him with minutes in his first game back and then play him in back to backs. It’s easy sitting in the peanut gallery like myself but what’s your take?
I haven’t seen anything on what the injury is. The intel was that it wasn’t expected to keep him out long – hopefully he plays tomorrow.
I had posted about expecting him to be eased in to the lineup but then, for his first game, there were 4 forwards out (2 call-ups and 2 injuries) and he played what must have been over 20 minutes and then the next night.
I expressed some concern at the time.
No way for us to know if the “too much too soon” was/is the reason or if something specific actually happened.
I have yet to see another Condor create more scoring chances than Yamo did that year. If I recall correctly, Yamo was playing with “middle of the roster players” and was an absolute scoring chance creation machine – shift after shift after shift. Given his linemates that season, his AHL box-cars, in my opinion, vastly underrepresented his impact on the ice.
If not for his hands he would of had 4 plus years of 25-30 goals. You can’t teach hands either you have them are you don’t.
For those of us without twitter, has Curlock given his impression on the Gleason/Attard swap?
Looks like Overchin is finding another gear and is going to topple Wayne’s goal scoring record late this year or probably next year. The dirty hit by Suter in a Canada Cup series was uncalled for. Gary who was a fantastic player and competitor will always be remembered for being a schmuck and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree with Ryan. Without that needless dirty cross-check and the back problems Wayne faced for the rest of his career cost him hitting the 1000 mark and beyond in my opinion.
Great read Tks LT.
OIL vs Van tom night.
Be nice to see the Oil come out and pump the Canucks. Not sure they do.
The D definitely needs to help the goalies out, and whoever gets the net has to have a game.
Stay out of the box and get the pop going.
sounds like Nashville could start trading some guys. Do they have any d that can play in that 3/4 spot and a Rightey? Carriere, Fabro. Does anyone like either. Not sure they are fits?
I like Carrier, haven’t checked on his numbers this season.
This is my largest bugaboo about the D: Who on that Preds can clear the front of the net? Bouchard and Nurse (inexplicably) both underperform in clearing the front. Oilers let in too many goals at distance because of it. It’s like 60% of the game where half your defense is too hospitable. This was a problem at the start of the year last year as well — teams would send floater after floater from the blue and aggregated, they made the difference too many nights. Now you see the same thing this year and especially on the PK. Missing Ceci more than anyone.
Maybe Jeremy Lauzon. He’s lefty but might fit well with Emberson on the third pair. Makes $2M becomes UFA after next season.
Too bad Micheal Kesselring is no longer with the organization.
That one hurts especially Bumstead not resigning which then cost a 1st obtaining Henrique. Holland burned through a herd of D-Men when he started his 5 year contract.
This is very true but, also, revisionist history for most.
There were very few (myself, Curlock and, I believe, LT) that had issue with Kesselring being included in the trade. I expressed great distaste at the time but most were thrilled to get a “big 3rd line center who could PK” and were “all in” to “win now”.
I do think management under-valued Kesselring’s ceiling as well as how close he was to being NHL ready
Not my recollection OP. Others weren’t that hot on Bjug. Another 8 second look into it by Holland and crew. He was running good goal shares, which he did reg season with the Oilers as well, which was probably their ‘analysis’, but the playoffs are two steps too fast for Nick
That may be true but it’s not my recollection – I could be misremembering though.
Agreed that there were varying opinions on acquiring Bjugstad but I recall that being target based and not cost based. I recall very few having an issue with the prospect they threw in.
That matches my recollection as well. Most were quite happy with the trade and with Bjugstad.
It was only once he got outscored against Vegas that the trade became less popular. He was 2-0 5v5 goals against LAK even.
But until the Vegas series almost all the talk was about if/how the Oilers could find the cap to re-sign him.