This n' That

~
While the NHL and AHL playoffs inch closer and closer to the finals and the Memorial Cup will be decided on Sunday, there are some things going on that may have gone unnoticed.

Summer Camp with the Oil Kings

For example, the Edmonton Oil Kings are in the middle of their annual get-to-know-ya summer camp. The WHL club has all of their '93 and '94 born players skating at NAIT right now so it's basically the 2008 and 2009 drafted players with a few listed players thrown in for good measure. Speaking of measure... 16-yer-old goalie Laurent Brossoit strode onto the ice and several of us standing rinkside were commenting on how big he is. He's isted a 6'2 but I swear he looked a lot bigger than that.

I had a chance to talk with Brossoit before today's on-ice session and was struck by how well spoken he is already. Keep in mind he's only 16 and is fresh out of Midget hockey. You can hear that conversation HERE.

Dean Millard and I also spoke with 2009 1st round pick Griffin Reinhart. This guy is going to be a player. Dean said he's heard people compare Reinhart to a 15-year-old Karl Alzner... the Oil Kings will be mighty happy if things turn out that well. You can hear our conversation with Griffin Reinhart HERE.

The third Oil Kings player we spoke with is the guy most will be looking to for this coming season - 2008 1st round pick Michael St. Croix. The Winnipeg kid is visibly bigger than a year ago and is a bit more comfortable in front of a microphone too. He had a special season in Midget leading Manitoba in scoring and also appearing at the World U17 challenge as the youngest player on Team West. Hear what St. Croix had to say HERE.

Interesting note: The Oil Kings have listed Henrik Samuelsson (credit A.J. Jakubec for the tip). Samuelsson is the younger brother of defenceman Philip Samuelsson who Edmonton drafted in the 2007 Bantam Draft. The older brother has signed a letter of intent with Boston College although he's not expected to play much there as a freshman in 2009-10. I was told today that Henrik will definitely be in town for training camp in August. Might we eventually see both brothers wearing Oil Kings jerseys? Philip played for the Chicago Steel of the USHL but whoever drafts him (if he gets drafted) might steer him to the WHL over a smaller role with Boston College. Samuelsson played for USA at the World U18s in Fargo but didn't get great reviews. They are the sons of Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson who played in the NHL for several teams including Hartford, the Rangers and the Penguins.

Oiler Defenceman Re-Hab continues

He missed most of the 2008-09 campaign with a seriously injured knee but blueliner Jordan Bendfeld was on the ice with the Oil Kings bench staff helping run drills and shoot on the two netminders. I had a chance to speak with Bendfeld during the practice session and got a full report on how the injury happened, the re-hab process, what life was like in Stockton and obviously how key this off-season is for him as he looks ahead to Oiler camp in September. Hear what Bendfeld had to say by clicking HERE.

More signings

The Chicago Blackhawks signed Kyle Beach, their 2st round pick in 2008, to a 3-year entry level contract. The controversial forward will either stick with the Hawks next season or be returned to the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL. The Canes are still looking for a new GM and a new head coach as well with Rich Sutter leading the rumors for the bigger job according to Pat Siedlecki, the voice of the Canes.

Anton Gustafsson was signed by the Washington Capitals. He was their 1st round pick (21st overall) and officially joins the club that his dad was a part of during his NHL career. Gustafsson is a big center who played at a lower level that the SEL in Sweden this past year. Here is more from Elite Prospects.

The Oilers officially announced the signing of Swede Johan Motin that we told you about earlier in May.

The New York Rangers signed Finnish defenceman Ilkka Heikkinen last week. The 6'2 rearguard will turn 25 this November and has played 6 years in the SM-Liiga with Lukko Rauma and HIFK Helsinki. Heikkinen was never drafted.

Matthew Pistilli's QMJHL days are behind him. The 6'2 and 220 lb forward had 93 points with Gatineau in 2007-08 and followed that up with 45 goals and 86 points for Shawinigan this past year. The forward was never drafted.

Finally, Dwight King of the Lethbridge Hurricanes has signed his 3-year entry level contract with the Los Angeles Kings. the 4th round pick in 2007 had 60 points in 64 games with the Hurricanes in 2008-09.

STILL unsigned

The Oilers have 8 days left to get both Milan Kytnar and Alex Plante under contract or they will be up for grabs and returned to the pool for the 2009 Entry Draft. I was told yesterday that there was nothing new to report since I reported that the team and Plante were "a little ways apart" - that was on May 14th.

Other players of note still without a contract include Oil Kings goalie Torrie Jung, Carloina forward Justin McCrae and Chris Terry, a trio of Blackhawks made up of Colin Greenop, Maxime Tanguay and goalie Josh Unice, Ondrej Roman of the Dallas Stars, Florida's Corey Syvret, goalie Linden Rowat of the L.A. Kings and both Maxim Gratchev and Simon Lacroix for the Islanders.

it's possibly I missed one of the above being signed so if I did, please leave a comment and a link.

WHL Overagers

Alan Caldwell has done a terrific job of breaking down the overage situations for every WHL team and the choices they have to face coming into the 2008-09 season. (See his work here.)

There are a couple of things worth noting in regards to the Edmonton Oilers and the Oil Kings.

First, Caldwell speculates that new Oiler defenceman Jordan Bendfeld will return to the Medicine Hat Tigers next season although my Oiler sources have all been telling me otherwise. Since the draft the organization has been talking about the contribution to Springfield (AHL) they think Bendfeld can make, especially in the toughness department.

However, the roster in Springfield was bulging before the addition of Jake Taylor so maybe there isn't room for Bendfeld now. The argument then becomes 'what's better for Bendfeld - the ECHL or the WHL?'

The other thing to consider is contract negotiations. I haven't asked but perhaps talks are going no where which would put Bendfeld back in a Tigers uniform by default. Pure specualtion.

Now for the Oil Kings... and what a situation GM Bob Green is going to find himself in. From Caldwell's report:

Edmonton Oil Kings: Cameron Cepek (D), Brenden Dowd (F), Robin Figren (F), Jeff Lee (F), Brandon Lockerby (D), J-P Szaszkiewicz (F)

Figren is gone pro. The other five should be back; I'm thinking I'd keep Cepek, Dowd, and Szaszkiewicz if I were them but on the other hand, the Oil King blueline is so horrible looking for next year that they might need to keep Lockerby too just to have another veteran guy.

I was not a fan of Cameron Cepek last year; I didn't travel with the team so I didn't see the road games but at Rexall, most nights I thought he was somewhere between average to awful. But, as Caldwell says, the Oil Kings defence is still rather lacking so they might need him back.

Brenden Dowd, while hot and cold, I thought was one of Edmonton's better players; I bring him back. Szaszkiewicz (or 'Jips' to coach Steve Pleau) is a local product and helped out on the ice during the spring prospect camp. I find it hard to imagine he won't be around as he's surely a favorite for the coach (both were in Spokane before the expansion to Edmonton). But he is a depth player.

It gets interesting with Jeff Lee though. Here's a guy they talked out of the NCAA to come and play for them. Edmonton needed a big forward and Lee wasn't playing much for his NCAA prgram in Alaska. However, if he loses his WHL job, he can't go back to the NCAA and for some reason I have a hard time seeing Bob Green doing that to a kid he recently wooed to his team.

Green is very conscious of how the Oil Kings are viewed by agents, players and parents. Last year the team had a verbal agreement with Robin Figren that they wouldn't trade him at the deadline and, despite a really nice offer from Regina, Green kept his word and let the Swede decide if he'd take the trade or not. Figren stayed and spoke publicly about the class and honor that Green and the WHL organization had shown him.

Yet they'll cut Jeff Lee? Maybe, he's certainly not the same sort of impact player that Figren was but it still doesn't seem right. Edmonton does have some incoming youth, especially up front, that could have an impact in helping Green make his decision.

It'll be interesting.

Caldwell also mentions that Kootenay might opt to dump goalie Kris Lazaruk and go with a youth movement. (Lazaruk is the goalie in the photo making the save on J.P. Szaszkiewicz).

Right now it looks like Edmonton will have Dalyn Flette and one of a couple youngsters vying for the back up spot. Flette didn't exactly light the world on fire last year and while the future for the Oil Kings looks fantastic (see Laurent Brossoit and Cam Lanigan) Green might have an interest in a guy like Lazaruk for one more year.

One more thing: Caldwell conveniently lists all the prospects for each WHL team on his site as well. You'll find the links at the top left on his site. Extremely handy for those of us who care about such things. 'Small Thoughts At large' is recommended reading and we've had it listed under Pipeline Pals for some time now.