Oklahoma City Barons Press Conference LIVE *TweetCast*

Welcome to another fine TweetCast by OilFieldHockey.com and OilersJambalaya.com.

Today we tune into the Oklahoma City Barons press conference where they are expected to announce who their 1st ever Head Coach will be.

It's also expected that they will announce who the assistant coaches will be too.

I have heard reports that the OKC Barons may also announce the Name The Mascot winner as well. Should be an exciting day.

The Press Conference begins at 2:00pm CDT

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE TWEETCAST

Oilers sign Shawn Belle

The Edmonton Journal today reported that the Oilers have signed D Shawn Belle to a One-year/Two-way deal worth 600,000/150,000.

Belle played for the Hamilton Bulldogs for the majority of last season, netting 19 points in 70 games in the regular season as well as 7 points in 19 playoff games. He also made two appearances for the Canadiens. In 311 career AHL games he has 13 goals and 45 assists. In 11 career NHL games he has 1 assist.

Belle should be expected to challenge for the #6 defenseman slot in Edmonton, but will make for a top defenseman in OKC.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Barons' 2010-11 Opponents Named

The AHL teams today have all been announcing who their opponents are going to be for the 2010-11 season. Of the 21 teams that have announced their opponents so far, the average number of teams that they're playing is about 14-15 different teams. The lowest so far are Providence and Manchester, who will each play 12 teams. The highest so far are Hamilton and Hershey who will each play 18 teams.

The Barons will play 13 out of the other 29 teams in the 2010-11 season, all in the Western Conference. The lone team in the conference they will not be playing will be the Rochester Americans. They will play each of the Texas teams 10 times, five at home and five away. To round out the division, they will play Chicago and Peoria eight times, and Rockford and Milwaukee six times. In the North Division, the Barons will play Lake Erie six times, Abbotsford, Grand Rapids and Manitoba four times, and Toronto and Hamilton twice. Expect the schedule sometime after the NBA schedule is released, as a few of the AHL teams share buildings with NBA teams and need to figure out non-conflicting dates.

The Barons season starts October 9th, hopefully against the Stars.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

AHL's Division Alignments Announced

The AHL today announced the Division Alignments for the 2010-11 season. The Oklahoma City Barons will be playing in the Illinois-Texas and Friends Western Division of the Western Conference along with the Texas Stars, Houston Aeros, San Antonio Rampage, Rockford Icehogs, Peoria Rivermen, Milwaukee Admirals, and the Chicago Wolves.

The schedule is still to be released with no news on a date yet. If the rumor that Scott over at OFH broke is true, that OKC is trying to have the home opener against Texas, then it will be a great way to start off our division rivalry with the Stars and the other Texas teams.

Alignment is set, now we just need the schedule. Oh yeah, and a coach and GM.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Rob Daum will not coach the Barons, not returning to the Oilers

From iNews 880:
"iNews880 Sports has confirmed that the Edmonton Oilers have chosen not to renew the contract of their American Hockey League head coach Rob Daum.

Daum, formerly the long-time coach of the University of Alberta Golden Bears, spent the last season-and-a-half coaching in the AHL, after spending one season as an assistant coach with the Oilers. The AHL club in Springfield finished last with a record of 25-39-0-16 under Daum last season.

No replacement has been named for the Oilers' new AHL affiliate that will be based in Oklahoma City this coming season."

So that brings up the questions, who will be coaching the Barons next season, and when will they be named? And, will someone have to report who it is before the Barons officially announce who it is?

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

2010 KHL Draft

The KHL held their draft Friday, and there were some players of note that were drafted.

Oilers Prospects
Olivier Roy 88th Overall by Barys
Anton Lander 149th Overall by Spartak

Other NHL Prospects
Sami Vatanen, 2nd Overall, Ducks prospect
David Musil, 12th Overall, Blue Jackets prospect
Andrej Nestrasil, 30th Overall, Red Wings prospect
David Rundblad, 43th Overall, Blues prospect
Jakob Silfverberg, 46th Overall, Senators prospect
Roman Horak, 63rd Overall, Rangers prospect
Marek Viedensky, 80th Overall, Sharks prospect
Roman Josi, 95th Overall, Predators prospect
Mattias Ekholm, 108th Overall, Predators prospect
Niclas Lucenius, 122nd Overall, Thrashers prospect
Marcus Johansson, 133rd Overall, Capitals prospect
Jerry D'Amigo, 155th Overall, Maple Leafs prospect
Rasmus Rissanen, 159th Overall, Hurricanes prospect
Erik Haula, 160th Overall, Wild prospect
Eero Elo, 164th Overall, Wild prospect

John Tavares, Philip Larsen, and Mickael Backlund were also drafted, but those were voided as they currently have NHL contracts.
-Written by Eric Rodgers-

NHL Equivalence Numbers

I enjoy stats, so I figured I'd take Behind the Net's Gabriel Desjardins' NHLE on my day off and come up with what we could expect to see next year if they were to play the full season in one league.  I highly doubt that will happen, but it gives a good idea. Keep in mind that I just used the regular seasons for these numbers. Math isn't exactly my strong suit, so if I messed up, please call me out on it.

Linus Omark
2009-10 KHL: 36 points in 56 games = .643 Points per game
2010-11 AHL Projected: 97 points in 80 games = 1.21 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 44 points in 82 games = .533 PPG

Magnus Pääjärvi-Svenson
2009-10 Elitserien: 29 points in 49 games = .591 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 83 points in 80 games = 1.04 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 38 points in 82 games = .461 PPG

Teemu Hartikainen
2009-10 SM-Liiga: 33 points in 53 games = .623 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 61 points in 80 games = .764 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 28 points in 82 games = .337 PPG

Jordan Eberle
2009-10 WHL: 106 points in 57 games = 1.86 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 64 points in 80 games = .800 PPG*
2010-11 NHL Projected: 46 points in 82 games = .558 PPG*
(*Question you probably have right here is, why does Eberle have a lower projection in the AHL but a higher in the NHL than MPS and Omark have. The NHLE numbers have a specific conversion rate for the CHL leagues that skewed the numbers a little bit.)

Toni Rajala
2009-10 WHL: 63 points in 60 games = 1.05 PPG
2010-11 AHL Projected: 36 points in 80 games = .452 PPG
2010-11 NHL Projected: 26 points in 82 games = .315 PPG

Like I said, let me know if I messed something up please.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Team name? Check. Logos? Check. Mascot?

Now that the team name and logos have been officially announced, Prodigal has decided to hold another contest. This time to name the mascot. Actually, a better way to describe it is a Create-a-Mascot contest. As there isn't an actual mascot to be named, it's a pretty fair assumption that they're going to create it based off of the name. Myself, I'd be fine without the team having a mascot, but that's just me. But thinking about it, what could be associated with the name "Baron"? Most likely, the first thing that comes to mind is Red Baron pizza. Or the Red Baron from Peanuts. A pilot and a dog dressed as a pilot. Is that something that could be used as a mascot? Evidently so. Doing a Google search, I found pictures of other Barons mascots.

This plane was the mascot of the Ocean City Barons(now the Nor'easters), a fourth-tier soccer team. Besides exceeding the non-controllable parts width(I'm sure people have been hit in the head by the wings as he went down flights of stairs), if it wasn't for the soccerball "wheels" and spinner, there's no soccer association, and I'm assuming the red plane is alluding to the Red Baron.

The Birmingham Barons mascot, a dog with it's tongue hanging out. With the goggles and the helmet, obviously alluding to the Red Baron.

So that brings me to our mascot. Unlike Ocean City and Birmingham, we have the history of oil barons. Will they decide to go with a human character like the Tulsa Oilers? Or like Ocean City and Birmingham, a characterized mascot such as a walking oil derrick? I'd rather they go with a human character. Other than the oil derrick, I can't think of anything else that would encompass Oklahoma's oil history.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Oilers Jambalaya Creates The Minor Leagues And Gains A Contributor

I'm going to kill two birds with one post.

First, I would like to introduce Eric Rodgers to the readers of Oilers Jambalaya. Eric is a guy who been hanging around lately at OJ (and a real nice guy), so I thought, what the hell, let's hear what he has to say.

So with the journalistic findings from OilFieldHockey.com and now the fans view of his new favorite team from Eric, Oilers Jambalaya has improved big time. Welcome Eric, we look forward to hearing from you about the new Oklahoma City Barons.

-----------------------------------

So what's this minor league thing I'm talking about?

OK, it's maybe not quite the minor leagues, but a starting point for many people, myself included.

I personally started out at the Oilers.com message boards and that progressed into a everyday commenter at OilersNation.com. Once I did that for a while, I was inspired to start up Oilers Jambalaya.

So as I was talking with Eric over on the OJ site, he suggested I try something new.

"Great idea!", I proclaimed. And *poof*... *drum roll* An Oilers Jambalaya Readers Forum.

With the help of Eric, we will be commenting and monitoring the forum and if we find something that either blows us away, or makes us pee in our pants, we will post it directly on Oilers Jambalaya (with your permission of course).

I just thought that it would be a great way for OJ readers to get their feet wet in the blogging/writing business as that's how I started.

So, I now welcome you to a place where you can be you, the Oilers Jambalaya Readers Forum.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Howdy, from OKC

Hey y'all! (Okay, enough with the slang) I just wanted to introduce myself real quick. I'm new to blogging, so I apologize in advance for being inexperienced.

First, thanks to Ray for giving me the opportunity to post my opinions here, I really appreciate it and look forward to helping out the site. Just a bit about myself, I was a Blazers fan for the last 5 years of their existence. I lived outside of OKC for all of it, so I went to games when I could and kept up online the rest of the time. I was disappointed when they folded, but with the rumors that the AHL was coming, it was only because I'd be without hockey for the year. Now that the Barons are here and opening night being October 9th, I'm very excited for the season. Having kept on eye on the Oilers struggles, and reading up on the prospects the organization has, I'm looking forward to the future of both franchises.

Leading up to the season I hope to give my take on the team and the prospects, and once the season gets started I hope to give a recap on most of the Barons games.

To keep up with me, you can follow my Twitter account, @AHLBarons. Any questions or comments, you can email me at erictheblue17@gmail.com

I'm looking forward to the season and riding the ride with y'all (last time). GO BARONS!

-Written by Eric Rodgers-