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.
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.
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.
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