Oilers News, Notes & Thoughts

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Maybe it's the calm before the storm. There hasn't been much news since the organization announced Pat Quinn and Tom Renney as the next era of bench bosses for the Oilers. Fan expectation is running rampant as Oilerville ponders the fate of impending UFA goalie Dwayne Roloson, what will happen at the draft, who will and won't be signed to new contracts for next season and a subset of the market is interested in knowing more about prospects camp in July.

Goalies

Plenty of other folks in the main stream media and the blog world have tackled the Roloson situation and I really don't have anything much new to add to that conversation. My understanding is that while Roloson may have once been asking for a 2-year deal it's possible he's upped his request to 3-years (though he'd "settle" for 2). As others have reported already, it's my belief that the Oilers will not entertain ideas of more than one season for the rapidly aging Roloson.

I get the impression that Edmonton is at the crossroads where they definitely want to know what they have in Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers and that if he plays well early on, he could find himself playing much more than most believe right now. In other words, Roloson's role (or that of another veteran goalie) might be more as a safety net for JDD in case he struggles as opposed to the other way around.

Not to suggest that Deslauriers is going to be handed the starters's job out of camp, that would be ludicrous at this point, but I won't be surprised if early on he receives more starts than most are currently expecting.

Cleaning out the Farmhouse

Several contracts will be coming off the books at the end of June as the Oilers want to distance themselves from the 50-contract limit and many of those cuts will come on the farm. The Springfield Falcons had a horrendous season and the focus from above will be to replace many fringe players with more talented and effective newcomers.

While the team won't make any special announcements for who won't be resigned it's common sense to expect a few prospects not to have their contracts renewed. I don't expect to see Mathieu Roy brought back again. Wingers Stephane Goulet (pictured) and David Rohlfs have probably played their last game as part of the organization as well. I believe that tough guy Hans Benson will not be returning to Springfield and rearguard Sebastien Bisaillon will be looking for a new team as well. The writing was on the wall for goalie Glenn Fisher when he was lent to Las Vegas in the ECHL.

It will be interesting to see what will happen with Edmonton product Tyler Spurgeon. A heart and soul type player, injuries slowed his development and with new managment looking to cut where possible I won't be surprised if Spurgeon is not re-signed. I'd feel bad for Tyler but I honestly don't see him with the Oilers come July.

The two prospects I think Edmonton would like to keep in the mix are Colin McDonald and defenceman Bryan Young. McDonald enjoyed a nice turnaround after the coaching change in Springfield last year and with Rob Daum at the helm I think the belief exists that they can still get the former 2nd round pick to take his game to another level.

As for Young, I know the scouting staff has always believed in the stay at home defenceman and his own-zone first attitude is a positive on a team laden with more offensive minded blueliners. Young might be asked to accept a minor league contract which would keep him in the AHL but out of the NHL. It's a tactic Edmonton has unsuccessfully tried in each of the last two years, first with Freddie Pettersson who promptly bolted for the Swedish Elite League followed by Troy Bodie who also declined, was then signed by Anaheim and actually made his NHL debut with the Ducks last season.

And then there is the case of Josef Hrabal who was injured for much of 2008-09 and then returned to Europe before the end of the season. Very recently Peter Adler via David Staples from the Edmonton Journal had a piece on the Czech defenceman where he spoke about his desire to impress the Oilers at main camp in September. Call it a gut feeling, but I don't think he'll get the chance... I think his stay in the organization has reached an end; he's been lost in the pack and will end up being quietly bought out.

Possible New Falcons

Clearly Kevin Prendergast and the Oilers have to find better AHL veterans if the Falcons are going to have any kind of success. I'm told the team has some players in mind who have a proven track record in the AHL that they are pursuing. I believe the Oilers would like to sign 3, possibly 4 players for Springfield who would play key roles both up front and on the back end.

A couple of possible candidates include a former Edmonton Road Runner named Martin St. Pierre. Well known for using a stick that was about 7 feet long, the 5'9 center played 18 games with the Road Runners during the NHL lockout after an impressive 4-year OHL career in Guelph. St. Pierre has spent the last 4 seasons with Chicago and Boston playing mostly in the AHL but managing to appear in 35 NHL games along the way. He's quick, talented and exactly what the Falcons need to jump start a miserable power play. He's also someone who could fill in with the big club in a pinch if necessary. Getting him might mean a contract that pays pretty well on the AHL side but is probably worth the effort for the results he's shown in the league.

How about someone like Chris Minard who has scored almost 100 goals over his last 175 AHL contests? He was a big part of Wilkes-Barre's offence last year and even suited up with the Pittsburgh Penguins for 20 games. The veteran has 7 years of pro experience under his belt and appears to still be getting better - he could be exactly what the doctor order for the Falcons.

Darren Haydar has been a force in the AHL over the last few seasons. He led the league in scoring by a country mile with 122 points in 2006-07 with Chicago and had 80 points last year with Grand Rapids. Like St. Pierre, Haydar is small but at the AHL level he is a scoring machine.

Downsized Prospect Camp

The annual summer get together between the organization and it's younger properties has been pushed back to July this year. This will enable the team to include the players that they will draft on June 26th. I wonder if it's also so time and money isn't spent on players who are about to leave the organization like the list above. If the camp was held in May or June like in that last few years, that would have been the case and there is no fiscal sense in throwing money out the window.

The list of camp participants will be limited to current prospect in the CHL excluding recently signed Milan Kytnar who is involved in a camp overseas. There are three such players: Jordan Eberle, Philip Cornet and Alex Plante. Also on hand will be the 5 NCAA prospect Edmonton currently has: Riley Nash, Jeff Petry, Matt Glasser, Robby Dee and Chris Vande Velde. The Oilers currently posses 8 draft picks and should that not change, all 8 will be invited to the camp. The two goalies will be Andrew Perugini and Bryan Pitton otherwise the only other pro players who will attend will be Jamie Bates and Jordan Bendfeld, the latter after missing most of the 2008-09 season due to injury.

Normally the Oilers will invite a half dozen or so players to camp to have a closer look but this year that number has been axed to just 3. The lone collegian is former Camrose Kodiak Jesse Todd who just finished his freshman season at Merrimack.

The other two players are both CHLers. Jesse Dudas was injured at Oiler camp last fall and was promised another shot - this is the Oilers holding true to their word. In the same vein, Oil Kings forward Jeff Lee joined the Falcons late in their season when they were desperate for healthy bodies. In exchange, the Oilers assured Lee's agent of a camp invite had he not signed with anyone else by then.

The prospect camp is set for the week beginning July 5th in Sherwood Park.

Speaking of Riley Nash, sources indicate to me that he will indeed return to Cornell for at least his junior year with the Big Red.

"With the 10th Overall Selection..."

It's interesting how much seems to have changed over the last month or so when it comes to players and their stock for the draft. Although there appears to be pretty much a consensus inside the top 8 or 9, the order those top players will actually be chosen seems very much up for debate.

I've heard from NHL people who believe Brandon forward Brayden Schenn will be chosen anywhere from 3rd overall by Colorado to a couple spots later to one of any number of teams including Toronto who might move up. The L.A. Kings might be happy to trade back with the Leafs because according to one source, they apparently like Nazem Kadri but not enough to take him in the #5 spot. The Phoenix Coyotes have been playing host to Russian defenceman Dmitry Kulikov fueling speculation that the Drummondville import might go higher than so far predicted. Swede Oliver Ekman-Larsson is loved by many in mock drafts and can be found well inside the top 10 on many of them but outside by just as many others. One insider predicted that if the Leafs fail to move up to grab either Tavares or Schenn that they may go off the board a bit and choose Peterborough power forward Zack Kassian - much earlier than anyone is thinking right now.

Basically, the names I keep getting suggested to me as the cream of the crop are (not in any specific order): John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Matt Duchene, Evander Kane, Brayden Schenn, Jared Cowen, Magnus Paarjarvi-Svensson and Dmitry Kulikov.

If you're one of the teams picking 9th-12th, the next handful of players to be considered the 'Best Player Available' may include London Knights forward Nazem Kadri and a trio of defencemen consisting of Swedes Oliver Ekman-Larsson and David Rundblad as well as John Moore of the USHL's Chicago Steel.

Kadri broke his jaw early in the season which probably eliminated him from WJC roster contention. After John Tavares joined the Knights, Kadri seemed to make it his personal mission to up his game and not play second fiddle. Scouts I've talked to have suggested that during the OHL series between London and Windsor, Kadri actually outplayed Tavares and won more than a few scouts over in the process.

He didn't get selected for the Swedish entry at the WJC in Ottawa and at the midseason point he was ranked well outside the first round by ISS, however, Oliver Ekman-Larsson's (pictured) stock has been skyrocketing as June 26th gets closer. He's a terrific skater and has solid offensive ability but some I've chatted up have questioned his mental toughness and wonder if he'll last in the NHL.

David Rundblad is ranked 10th overall by The Hockey News but that's higher than everywhere else that I've seen. He's been described to me as a really steady 2-way blueliner who played "in the SEL on one of the best teams and never looked out of place at all". He's a bit bigger and heavier than Ekman-Larsson and isn't getting near as much pre-draft hype but no one has mentioned the same concerns about Rundblad's mental toughness either.

There's a reason why we asked John Moore to do some blogging with us - he's a smart, humble, respectful kid who won us over when we had him on the show. That's the same sort of feeling scouts got when talking to him at the combine or at other times in the season. Not only is he a first class person but his skating is considered world class and the NHL team that takes him knows he's got two solid options of where to play next year - Colorado College or Kitchener. "We've only seen the tip of the ice berg with this kid, because he has no idea how good he actually is."

A wild card to keep in mind could be Brandon forward Scott Glennie who, despite a lackluster combine interview, possesses a few things the Oilers traditionally hold dear; speed, size and hands. Some have suggested that he benefited greatly from playing with Brayden Schenn and Matt Calvert all year but while both were tied up with Hockey Canada, Glennie showed he was able to do it himself.

For the Oilers, a five-name list doesn't really narrow it down all that much but what I do know for certain is that Edmonton's scouting staff will meet again all next week beginning on Tuesday night and I'm sure they'll be debating right up until Friday afternoon.

If I am reading the tea leaves correctly, I doubt that offensive but small players like Golden Gopher Jordan Schroeder and Ryan Ellis of the Windsor Spitfire are in the mix for Edmonton, at least not with the 10th overall pick.

Like I said, things have changed a lot over the last month. On Tuesday Dean and I will be unveiling our revised mock draft and you'll notice several alterations from a month ago when we started the process in its daily form.

(Photos Courtesy: Edmonton Journal, Brandon Wheat Kings,Springfield Falcons, Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oil Kings, QMJHL, ECHL)

Hrabal Bound For Sweden

After refusing to report to Stockton when Springfield assigned him to the ECHL club, Josef Hrabal is heading to Sweden.

I spoke with Oilers Assistant G.M. Kevin Prendergast today and he confirmed that the Czech blueliner whom the Oilers drafted in the 8th round of 2003 will suit up the rest of the year with one of 3 Swedish Elite League teams that have offered contracts.

Prendergast assessed Hrabal as "not being patient enough with himself" adding he needed better work ethic. Hrabal was the 8th blueliner for the Falcons and with others returning from injury was not going to get enough playing time. He had registered just one point in 17 Falcon games, while picking up 4 assists in 8 games with Stockton earlier this season.

According the Oilers Assistant G.M. there were some bright spots from the D-man who was hurt during rookie camp in Camrose, and he is expected back at Oilers training camp next September.

Farm Almanac - Nov 7

For a change of pace on the minor league updates I thought I'd check in with the Stockton Thunder who are now seven games into the ECHL season and sit in 3rd place in the 5-team Pacific Division.

It's early but if the .429 winning percentage doesn't really get anyone excited, keep in mind that only opening night was a home game for the California squad. The Thunder have a 3-4-0-0 record with victories coming against Victoria (twice) and Bakersfield. The fact that Stockton hosts the Salmon Kings tonight and tomorrow should be a good thing then.

Cory Urquhart leads the team in scoring with 3 goals and 11 points which has him tied for 9th overall in league scoring. Urquhart is a former 2nd round pick of the Montreal Canadiens (40th overall in 2003) who has never gotten a sniff at the NHL. The Oilers... I mean the Springfield Falcons, signed him to a contract last summer. Urquhart was knocked out of the Falcons' last game after a collision and is currently listed as day-to-day.

There is a considerable drop-off in scoring to get to Garet Hunt, second highest point getter for Stockton this far with just 3 goals and 3 helpers for 6 points. Hunt was the piint sized pugilist of the Vancouver Giants the last few years and does standout in 2 categories so far: his plus-5 rating and 26 PIM are both tops on his team.

Bryan Lerg has only played half of the games in Stockton but his 5 points still put him in a small group of point-per-game Thunder players. Frankly, I would surprised to see Lerg back in California this year.

Players with Edmonton connection like drafted forward David Rohlfs and recent selection Jordan Bendfeld are not making much of an impact on the score sheet. Former Michigan Wolverine Rohlfs has 3 points but is also a minus-7 while Bendfeld is pointless thus far and only has 6 PIMs.

Some familiar names since they were all at camp this year... Robbie Bina, Ryan Huddy, Jamie Bates, Justin Chwedoruk and Milan Maslonka are all performing like ECHL players. Take that as you will.

Ryan MacMurchy and Adam Huxley have only played in two games each so far but the former has 2 points and the latter (a crowd favorite) has 7 PIM in thise 2 games.

Josef Hrabal will make his Stockton debut tonight after being sent back down from Springfield earlier in the week.

The two players Oiler fans are most likely interested in hearing updates from are goaltenders Bryan Pitton and Andrew Perugini (pictured). Coming into this weekend's play, Pitton has a 2.99 goals against average and .899 save percentage that has him ranked 24th in the league in both categories. Pitton, a 5th round pick in 2005, has started 6 or Stockton's 7 games.

On the other hand, Perugini's 60 minutes is an extremely small smaple size so take his .914 save percentage (16th) and 3.00 GAA (25th) with a healthy dose of sodium. Immigration issues kept him from getting into action until game #7 but you can expect to see more from him now that the red tape has been navigated.

As a team, Stockton's power play is ranked 4th in the 23-team league with an impressive 22% effective rate. The California club has potted 9 of their 25 goals while having the man advantage. The PK isn't horrible, placing 9th with a .829 which might be helped a bit by the fact that the Thunder are the 4th least penalized team in the ECHL right now.

The Thunder will "Go Pink" tonight, an annual tradition based on a breast cancer promotion where the ice is literally turned pink.

Other Oiler prospect Notes:

The Pipeline Show has learned that winger J.F. Jacques is about 6 weeks away but is beginning his rehab "this week"... Springfield winger Slava Trukhno burst out of the gate with 5 points in 3 games but has cooled off considerably since then. The Russian has managed only 1 goal and 1 assist in the last 6 games... Rob Schremp and Ryan Potulny continue to play well together. Schremp has 8 assists in 7 games (no goals) and Potulny has 8 goals (no assists) in 9 games. If you could meld these two together you might have a hell of a player... Liam Reddox is riding a 5 game scoring streak where he has picked up 6 points in that span... 2008 1st round pick Jordan Eberle is currently 7th in WHL scoring with 14 goals and 26 points in 19 games and recently had a 10-game scoring streak come to an end... Once red-hot Milan Kytnar has come back down to Earth. He has just a single assist and no goals in the last 8 games... Defenceman Alex Plante has been named as an alternate captain in Calgary after ending his self imposed exile... Rimouski forward Phil Cornet has 16 points in 15 games but put into perspective where league leaders routinely have twice that much. Cornet is tied for 40th in QMJHL scoring... Collegian Riley Nash finally gets to play a regular season game as Cornell's ridiculously late starting schedule begins tonight... In Sweden, Linus Omark is tied for 8th in Elite League scoring with 17 points in 19 games...

(photos courtesy: George Steckler and Stockton Thunder)

Friday Farm Report: Hrabal Ready to Go

I just got off the phone with Springfield Falcons Head Coach Jeff Truitt and learned that injured import blueliner Josef Hrabal will make his North American debut tonight when the AHL club takes on the Albany River Rats.

Hrabal has not played a game since the opening period of the Oilers/Flames tilt in Camrose suring the rookie tournament. Initial reports suggested he could be out much longer but the shoulder responded to treatments and he is good to go.

"We're going to get him into the line up and see what he's got," Truitt told me, "He's been practicing hard and our trainer has said that he's as close as he's ever going to be and he certainly wants to play so it's time for him to get his feet wet."

Cody Wild will be the one getting the short straw making way for Hrabal.

Rob Schremp, Stephane Goulet and Ryan Potulny will play together again tonight after a successful game against Hartford last week. Hanz Benson, Ryan O'Marra and Colin McDonald will be another trio. Liam Reddox, Tyler Spurgeon and leading scorer Slava Trukhno have played very well. Gullaume Lefebrve, captain Tim Sestito and Carl Corazzini appear to be entrenched as the shutdown line with the way they have performed thus far.

Theo Peckham will also play tonight after his one-day recall to the NHL.

More on the farm later.

Hrabal in, Chorney out...for now

It's a good news, bad news day for the Oilers when it comes to prospects. The news that the Josef Hrabal camp decided the offer the Oilers were making was indeed good enough, means a new 2 year-2 way contract for the Czech blueliner with some good offensive instincts. I was told today that Hrabal is a poor man's Denis Grebeshkov and with some AHL seasoning could turn into a valuable commodity for the Oilers. He skates really well and can move the puck effectively. Hrabal will not be at this week's prospect camp, but will come over for main camp and is expected to stay for the entire season, regardless of where he ends up playing.

Now for the bad news.

Taylor Chorney will not be in Edmonton this week for prospect camp, and there's a chance he won't be here for training camp in the fall as well. The negotiations between the Oilers and Chorney's advisor (he can't have an agent yet as it would ruin his college eligibility) are not going well. So bad in fact, there's a good chance the D-man might be returning to UND for his senior season.

In my opinion, it sounds like Chorney is getting some bad advice. What else does he have to accomplish at the college level. If anything his development will likely take a step back by playing for the Fighting Sioux one more year. And now with a guy like Hrabal about to get a full year of pro hockey in North America, it means another guy who will be ahead of Chorney on the development track.

I have been told the Oilers have made their final offer, and a deadline might soon be put in place for the Chorney camp to sign, or the Oilers will pull it off the table and he will have to return to college, which is something neither side wants.

Hrabal Signs With Edmonton

News today out of Oilerville that Edmonton has reached an agreement with defender Josef Hrabal and signed him to a 2-year 2-way contract. Many of you have probably never heard the name Josef Hrabal so allow me to give you a bit of background.

The Oilers drafted the Czech born rearguard (in the picture he's the player on the left wearing the dark NASCAR uniform) back in 2003 using an 8th round pick to do so. Credit should go to scout Frank Musil for finding Hrabal who had played 6 games in the top Czech men’s league during his draft year at the age of 18. Hrabal played parts of the next four years in the league before bolting for a bigger opportunity and a bigger pay cheque in Russia. There he hooked up with Severstal Cherepovets, the club he has played the last year and a half for.

Hrabal made his first appearance in Edmonton back in June of 2006 when he attended prospect camp at Rexall Place. Sitting with Kelly Buchberger that week I remember clearly how Hrabal surprised us by dominating a shootout drill with finesse moves no one was expecting.

Just three weeks ago I’d contacted Kevin Prendergast for an update on Hrabal’s contract status and this brief report is what I was given.

“He's got to be signed by June the 1st and if he's not signed then he'll become a free agent," said Kevin Prendergast, "We have made an offer and we're just waiting to hear back."

Shortly there after I received word that negotiations had fallen through and that Hrabal would indeed become a free agent June 1st. Well Something obviously changed in the last 14 days as the player and the team have reached an agreement. More on that when I get it.

Hrabal has some offensive abilities but it would be better to describe him more as a Ladislav Smid than a Denis Grebeshkov. His career high is the 13 points in 56 games (including playoffs) that he just earned this past year in Russia.

One thing the Oilers have learned over the last two injury plagued years are that you can’t have too many d-men in the system. With former UofA Golden Bears captain Harlan Anderson opting to playing in Germany next year instead of in Edmonton’s system, there is definitely room for Hrabal.

The fact that he has a 2-way contract means you can pencil him in for Springfield unless one of two things happens: he shocks the world and makes the Oielrs out of camp or he heads back to Russian instead of playing in the minor leagues of North America. I assume that the Oilers have some assurance that he won't do that but I have yet to confirm that. Keep in mind that Alexei Mikhnov had a similar deal except his was only a 1-year agreement whereas Hrabal has singed up for two.

I am still trying to confirm whether or not Hrabal will be at camp next week.