Top 5 Tuesday:Falcons and others who could be flying the coup next year

Today we take a look at 5 Oilers prospects who could be looking for another organization next season.

5. David Rohlfs
The Oilers drafted Rohlfs in the 5th round of the 2003 draft out of the North American Hockey League. In his draft year he scored 30 goals for 44 points in 53 games. Since then Rohlfs has a total of 51 goals in 6 seasons of hockey, 4 at Michigan State and the last 2 in Stockton, with 2 games in Springfield. .The intriguing aspects of Rohlfs are his versatility as both a forward and defenceman and his size at 6.03 and 215 pounds he should be a load to handle near the net, which you would think would lead to a few goals. Yet he has sniped just 4 times in 37 games with Stockton of the ECHL. Rohlfs joined Guy and I live in studio this past summer and spoke about hoping to spend the whole season in Springfield, you can hear the conversation which also included Geoff Paukovich (who could be on this list next year) here Rohlfs is an RFA next year and it's unlikely the team will make him a qualifying offer.

4.Glenn Fisher
He was signed to a minor league deal only last year and the Oilers will be cutting bait with Fisher at the end of the season. It was perfectly clear when the Oilers acquired Danny Sabourin and sent Fisher to Las Vegas of the ECHL that the Edmonton product wasn't in their plans anymore. Fisher played 4 years at Denver and is unfortnunately destined to be a career minor leaguer.

3. Danny Sabourin
The goaltender acquired along with Ryan Stone for Mathieu Garon has been pretty good for a Falcons team with it's head a few leagues under the sea right now. In his 5 games with Springfield, Sabourin has 2 wins, a 2.33 gaa and a save percentage of .925. But the Oilers had to many goalies before they picked him up and as we saw in Edmonton this year a crowded crease is an unhappy one. The Oilers would also test the waters with soon to be 30 year old Bjorn Bjurling who is having a pretty good year in the SEL.

2. Sebastien Bisaillon
He once scored 35 goals from the blueline and was an emergency call up for the Oilers in 2006-07 when everyone under the sun was injured and they couldn't bring anyone from the farm up to the big club. Bisaillon has a booming shot from the point but he's been joining Lerg to many times in the press box as a healthy scratch. He was sent to Stockton Monday for the 2nd time this season and the defence position is one of strength for the Oilers, especially if Joseph Hrabl returns and or Jeff Petry decides to leave school early next year.

1. Stephane Goulet
This is the player I am most certain won't be offered another contract from the Oilers. He was sat for 8 straight game earlier this year in Springfield and has just a single goal in the 18 games he has suited up in. The Oilers drafted Goulet in the 7th round of the 2004 draft, and he did score 51 goals with Moncton in 05-06, the year the Wildcats lost to Quebec in the Memorial Cup final.

So there are 5 who I think won't be offered a second contract next season. There are a few bubble players like Colin McDonald. However I spoke to someone with the Oilers today who said MacDonald is playing better as of late and settling into a checking role. Bryan Young is another RFA next year, but Young plays a pretty simple, solid game and fills they physical role as well. Mathieu Roy is another blueliner who could be cut lose by the club, simply because he can't seem to stay healthy at the NHL level. But when he's not hurt he plays fairly decent.

Agree or disagree with any of they players listed, feel free to chime in. Or you can pipe up tonight on TPS . This evening we'll welcome UND junior and Oilers prospect Chris Vande Velde, as well as ISS head scout Mike Oke, 2008 first overall selection Steven Stamkos and much more. 7-9 PM MST on The TEAM 1260 in Edmonton, and heard around the world at http://www.cfrn.com/player/player

Falcons Done In by Devils, Huge Win For Oil Kings

Despite a few new faces in the line up, the Springfield Falcons were doubled up by Lowell Friday night, giving them 5 straight losses.

Both Ryan Potulny and J.F. Jacques who were assigned to Edmonton earlier in the day suited up for Springfield, while Danny Sabourin made his Falcons debut and Taylor Chorney returned from a mild concussion, but it wasn't enough.

Springfield actually led 2-1 in this one thanks to second period goals from Carl Corazzini and Potulny, but a pair of goals from 2008 Canadian World Junior hero Matt Halischuk, including the winner in the 3rd gave the unholy the victory.

Once again a slow start where Springfield was outshot 12-5 in the first set the birds back. Overall they gave up 10 more shots than they put towards Lowell pipeman Jeff Frazzee. Sabourin in his inaugural Falcons contest stopped 34 shots with 2 Lowell goals coming on the power play. You can here post game comments from the netminder and head coach Jeff Truitt here.

In his first game this year, Jacques was -1 with one shot, while skating on the right side with Rob Schremp at left wing and Potulny in the middle. Taylor Chorney also registered a shot in his first game after missing the past 3. Potulny scored once and put up 4 shots while also going -1.

I received a message from a Springfield player tonight responding to a question I had about team morale. His answer was that spirits were high on the farm, the team was working hard, they were just having trouble scoring goals. So atleast things aren't as bas as they might appear on the outside.

This Tuesday TPS is hoping to speak with newly acquired forward Ryan Stone. For more on the upcoming show check out our site.
(photo courtesy Springfieldfalcons.com)
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As for the Edmonton Oil Kings, they picked up a huge win over Regina on the road Friday night. The OK kids, the Pats and P.A. Raiders came into the contest tied for 8th, and thanks to a Brandon win over Prince Albert and their victory, Edmonton is temporarily in the post season.

There are 2 great write ups on this contest. One from the Oil Kings website and the other from the view of Past broadcaster Rod Pedersen.

Two things strike me about reading the stories from both websites. One is how much of a gut check and team effort it was by Edmonton, and the other is how much the fans are fed up with Colton Teubert and some of the other Pats.

Edmonton heads to Brandon Saturday night.
(Photo courtesy Reginapats.com)

Oilers Stone-d After Trade

The Edmonton Oilers and the Pittsburgh Penguins announced a deal on Saturday morning that sees veteran NHL netminder Mathieu Garon head East in exchange for minor league goalie Dany Sabourin, farmhand Ryan Stone as well as a 4th round pick.

Half of The Pipeline Show loved this deal as soon as it was announced for obvious reasons. Millard's man-crush on all things Wheat Kings has undoubtedly got my co-host giving a wobbly thumbs up this afternoon (house warming party last night).

I'm fairly underwhelmed by the deal. At least the Oilers finally took care of the 3-headed monster in net... but they did so by adding yet another netminder to the already full-to-capacity farm team. Would the big club decide to keep Sabourin in the NHL, he's been in Pittsburgh all year despite his losing record and sub-.900 save percentage?

I'm assuming that Sabourin heads to Springfield which would give the Falcons a pair of capable goalies. That would be unfortunate for Devan Dubnyk and his development who's stats are an improvement (slightly) over last year. But the team is mired in a pretty serious funk right now that prompted President Bruce Landon to post a State-of-the-Union letter to the fans on the team website.

Ryan Stone, the former Brandon Wheat Kings captain who notched 99 points in his final WHL campaign playing alongside 50-goal sniper Eric Fehr, will add to the toughness and depth departments of the Oiler franchise. He was taken 32nd overall in 2003 but in all the conversations I've had with Oiler scouts over the years about that particular draft, Stone's name has never come up. Does that mean they didn't like him back then? Not necessarily but I think it's fair to say he wasn't a major target for the club. (They would have seen him plenty though as Fehr was a definite player of interest for Edmonton).

Stone had a terrific AHL season in 2006-07, the same year that the Oilers and Penguins shared the Wilkes-Barre roster. The forward had 33 points in 41 AHL games that season and, if memory serves, was back and forth between the NHL a few times although he didn't dress for the big club that season.

He's got decent size at 6'2 and 200 lbs and by all reports, he isn't afraid to get his knuckles bruised if need be. This season Stone had 28 points in 38 games for Wilkes-Barre so he'll add some offence to a Falcons squad that is badly in need of just such an injection.

Here's a clip of a recent fight Stone got into but I have to say, after watching the few of his bouts that I could find, I'm not sure if Oiler fans should be expecting much more than a Mathieu Roy-level scrapper here.



The Oilers also pick up a 4th round pick for the 2011 draft which, as always, is simply another lottery ticket for the draw. By the time the 4th round rolls around it will be the area scouts who have an opportunity to shine.

For me, taking a goalie back in this trade is sensless unless it was the only way that Pittsburgh was willing to follow through. From the Penguins perspective, they're adding Garon and would have to push Sabourin through waivers to get him to the farm where they have two decent youngsters they're trying to groom in former Denver Pioneer standout Adam Berkoel and Boston University alum John Curry. So why would they want to clog up their development system? It doesn't make any sense to do that right??

So they lump Sabourin into the deal and make him Edmonton's problem. Good for Pittsburgh, bad for the Oilers. GM Steve Tambellini knows sabouring from their days in Vancouver where the Canucks brought in the keeper for a stretch of games before losing him back to the Penguins on waivers.

Considering the L.A. Kings only managed to get a 7th round pick for Jason Labarbera, admittedly not as experienced as Garon, I guess a 4th + farmhand + tweener goalie is decent enough return for Edmonton in this deal. I don't think it makes them any better though and it really hasn't addressed a need so it seems like a fairly... unspectacular swap.

Hopefully it's the first of a few moves the Oilers make in short order.

So the official grade from TPS has Millard giddy and giggling like a school girl to see a former Wheatie involved while Flaming decidedly gives this one an un-enthusiastic thumbs up, but just marginally.