"Year End, Oiler talk"

Oiler fans are dying for a reason to get excited about more then a future superstar draft pick. Granted, no one is complaining about the great picks the Oilers have brought into the fold, in Hall, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins. While next season we may still not see the playoffs yet here in Edmonton, it must be almost a given that 2013-2014 will see that playoff flame burning bright here in Edmonton while our 'arch nemesis' to the south will be "Burning" with envy. (at least we hope they are).

Instead of going on about a single topic I have decided to answer some questions I continually am asked to talk about in Oiler related news. While some may totally disagree with my views, feel free to comment and do so here at oilersjambalaya. That is the great thing about the internet, we all have a chance to state our views and air our grievances, but if we do so, I say we do it with respect to one another.

 

Where will the Oilers end up placing?

No way do I see a remote possibility (other then winning the lottery) picking first again this year. On the other hand I am 95% certain they will pick 2 or 3. Unless they pull off a winning streak of sorts, my bet is still on 29th place finish.

Who are the players the Oilers would want to select 1-5 in place of available talent at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft?

It's only my educated guess but by things I have heard in the mainstream media, some back door conversations I would say their order of preference will be....1) Nail Yakupov 2) Mikhail Grigorenko 3) Ryan Murray 4) Morgan Rielly 5) Griffin Reinhart

What do you think are the chances of signing Ryan Suter in Edmonton?

Just have this feeling that Nashville finds a way to keep him and if not, he will end up in another non-hockey hotbed ashe signs for the big bucks, rather then the hockey.. Of course we could dream, that it's Suter's dream to be a Oiler and compete for a Stanley Cup with Hall and the boys.

What are the chances the Oilers will actually be able to sign a top 2 defencemen this off season?

Slim to none. There is just not much out there. On the other hand, it is quite possible that Tamby goes out and brings in another Schultz type player. I would gladly exchange one or 2 top d-men for 4 or 5 guys like Nick.

Do you think Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will win the Calder Trophy?

It's interesting how fast time flies when your having fun. Other then watching Ryan play, looking at his stats and listening to the opinions of the commentators around the league, why not take a look back at a article I wrote here at oilersjambalya at the beginning of the year.

www.oilersjambalaya.com/2011/09/calder-trophy-candidate.html

My answer is yes, while he may have been out 20 games, the pace he is scoring at for a rookie player on a 30th place team is incredible.

Is it possible for Taylor Hall to score 30 Goals this year?

All you need to do is look how close he is already with still 12 games to go. With close to 30 in the bank, to actually think this is just him getting started is pretty exciting. To me it's a no-brainer. I think he will hit over the 30 goal mark this year.

Will Jordon Eberle be able to finish with a point per game pace come the final game of the year?

As this season comes to a close I am a believer of Eberle and his chase for a 80 point season. In fact I am guessing he could very well be a few points over at year end. Jordon has been playing good, but not great in his own standards. Imagine a even better Eberle?

How likely is it, that Nugent-Hopkins, Hall and Eberle all get invited to play for Canada at the World Championships?

Well, since Lowe is running the show, it's highly likely. But even so, what GM or coach would not want these three guys playing together. They are all dying to play some meaningful games and based on how well they have carried this Oiler team themselves, I think they are a lock, all three will get the invite. Nugent-Hopkins faces the stiffest competition but I think he still makes the team.

What % would you give the Oilers chances of landing a Goaltender from outside the organization to play with the big Club?

IMO, 5% chance of landing anyone. This is a rebuild and the Oilers brass, see no reason to chance the plans now. Dubynk once again has a pretty good win loss record on a bad team and is growing, be it, too slow for most Oiler fans. Roy has excelled at the ECHL and will likely get his shot for a couple years in the AHL and more then likely Bunz will get a year of seasoning at the ECHL level next year. The plan from how I see it, those two are to be the future here in Edmonton.

For continued information on Oiler and Baron news and 2012/13 NHL draft watch, you can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/revingev

Bickering Amongst Teammates Leads To...

It's been reported that there was some bickering on the Oilers bench the other night. Captain Shawn Horcoff fully admitted this and it should be no surprise that this happened. Losing sucks. I'd be pissed off too.

The big question should be, who was doing the bickering and over what?

So many things went wrong during that game (and previous games), it would be hard to pin point it and where it started. I personally, hope it was the young guys on the team like Hall and Eberle that were giving the tongue lashing to the vets. I see it on so many different levels that the kids are going to sub plant the vets sooner rather than later as the leadership corps. For most of the veterans, their time here is almost up.

If it was the vets (like Horcoff, Belanger, Jones, etc) that had the beef with the kids, then I have an issue with that. If anybody with a decent amount of NHL experience on the team had the drive to win like Taylor Hall does, this team could make the playoffs now. But they don't.

On a couple of occasions we seen Hall try and make a save to try and stop an empty net goal. He was never successful in stopping the puck either time, but admiration from Oilers fans and alike grew. We seen right there how bad he wants to win. He'd do anything for the W. That screams leader to me. Give the kid a letter ASAP.

Then we have mr. clutch, Jordan Eberle. He wants to score the big goals. He wants the puck on his stick. He wants to win. Two more guys like him on the team and the Oilers are Stanley Cup champs. Forget mr. clutch. I'd love it if by next season he wore the C and we could officially call him Captain Clutch. He's that good.

But back to what I started with...

I sure do hope it was the kids chirping the vets. The kids are leading this team and they deserve respect. The vets IMO have no room to speak. They've as a collective unit, have sucked.

A new era isn't just coming, it's here.

GOILERS!!!

-written by Smokin' Ray Burnt-

REVS 2012 Prospects List (March 10/12)

REVS 2012 Prospects List (March 10/12)

1.Nail Yakupov

GP 41 G 31 A 38 PTS 69 Plus/Minus+15

(was injured on a couple occasions)

2.Mikhail Grigorenko

GP 56 G 39 A 45 PTS 84 Plus/Minus+38

(out for a few games with injury following world jr's)

3.Ryan Murray

GP 41 G 9 A 20 PTS 29 Plus/Minus+1

(was out with a injury, returned just before world jr's)

4.Alex Galchenyuk

As 16/17 year old had 83 PTS in 68Games 

(About to return to ice possibly in next week or two)

5.Morgan Rielly

GP 18 G 3 A 15 PTS 18 Plus/Minus+6

(Currently Injured but possible return before playoffs)

6.Mathew Dumba

GP 64 G 19 A 31 PTS 50 Plus/Minus-4

7.Derrick Pouliot

GP 68 G 10 A 46 PTS 56 Plus/Minus+10

8.Griffin Reinhart

GP 54 G 12 A 22 PTS 34 Plus/Minus+19

9.Filip Forsberg

GP 43 G 8 A 9 PTS 17 Plus/Minus+3

(playing in SEL so stats will be affected)

10.Cody Ceci

GP 60 G 15 A 41 PTS 56 Plus/Minus+23

11.Brendan Gaunce

GP 64 G 27 A 37 PTS 64 Plus/Minus+3

12. Olli Maatta

GP 54 G 5 A 26 PTS 31 Plus/Minus+25

13.Zemgus Girgensons

GP 37 G 15 A 24 PTS 39 Plus/Minus+13

14.Jacob Trouba

GP 15 G 3 A 11 PTS 14 Plus/Minus+9

(plays in U.S. Development league so less games played)

15.Radek Faksa

GP 57 G 26 A 33 PTS 59 Plus/Minus+16

As some may notice, I have removed Martin Frk and Nick Ebert from the top 15. Ebert has not been consistent enough in his play and has not grown in his development of decision making with the puck for my liking. Frk, while still a good talent on a powerhouse team has not even been able to get back to that point per game offensive player that was thought he could be at a minimum. Also while I have shown their point totals and plus/minus it does not give a accurate read of a player alone. For example a defencemen is much more then their scoring totals, but their plus/minus is then even more important to see, even on a bad team.

For those of you who been following my prospects ranking from October/11, you will notice some small changes again. Unfortunately as I mentioned before with so many injuries in the 2012 Prospect Draft class it has been much more difficult to read each players development in comparison to each other. This list is not a mock ranking as to where they will be selected but my personal ranking in terms of talent that is available at that ranking.

Honourable mention that did not rank in the top 15 in my ranking is....

Slater Koekkoek

For Oiler ,Baron and Thunder news and the 2012/13 NHL draft watch www.twitter.com/revingev

Theodore Peckham

So after an unjust lengthy stay in the press box, Renney is reminded that we have a young, big, aggressive defencemen that NEEDS ice time to deveolpe. Tom turns a says, oh and who is that?. Theo Peckham, the informer answers. And with that Pecks gets back into the line up.

Now after sitting for so long, I totally expected an "off" night even by a young D's standards. It would seem that quite a few Oilers fans expected him to have made gains in his game and developement, and subseqently shit all over him on twitter lastnight. This was unfair to Theo. He was simply trying to tread water as I'm sure things were happening really, really fast for a guy that hasn't played in a month.

Is Andy Sutton a better option right now....Yes, absolutely. It would seem that fans would prefer to play Sutton over Peckham, but then I ask....How exactly is Theo going to get better? Minors is not an option. He has to pass through waivers and there would be a long line to pluck him off the wire if he ended up there. The ONLY way Peckham gets better is by playing and making mistakes. It's how defencemen learn in the NHL.

Pecks is exactly what this team needs, he's big, strong, and aggresive. If he gets the ice time, he will be ready in a couple years. Which is about the time we need him to be ready, to challenge for the Cup. He has alooong way to go but in my humble opinion it is much too soon to give up on him. We will be kicking ourselves in 2-3 years if we do. Just look west at Mr. Matt Greene, wouldn't he be nice right now.

"All HAIL for Mikhail"

Mikhail Grigorenko has been touted by many scouts, coaches and former players alike, to be a great player in the making. Even before his decision to come over to play for the Quebec Remparts in the CHL, Mikhail was considered one of the best in the world in his age group.

While few people even knew much of him (including few in the Mainstream media) I had the luck to notice the player while he was still 15 years old playing in the MHL. Originally, it was thought he had no interest in playing in the NHL, however it is sometimes funny how things get lost in the interpretation of languages. Mikhail is a honest, humble guy and not a player who will complain regardless of the role he is asked to play. Recently during the World Jr. Championships, he was asked to play a third line role, and did so well in the games he played. He still put up some points, but he was given the role of defensive checking center and flourished at it. Even with a injury, Mikhail pushed things to get back in the line up as soon as it was possible.

While disappointed in their overtime loss to Sweden, Mikhail still was able to show the world, he is not only a offensive player but he does have defensive abilities as well. The Remparts coach and legend, Patrick Roy and his coaching staff have been working with Grigorenko to develop his all around game. He also plays on a team with several smaller but quick and offensive players who will occasionally need that defensive center support. Even with that, Mikhail still continues to continue scoring a point or more every game regardless of the team they play.

Recently, there have been reports out there that are saying Mikhail Grigorenko is not a player who plays with passion, he is sometimes lazy and takes a night off. Some scouts are trying to tell us, he is only excelling offensively against the weaker teams and does not rise to the occasion when the pressure is on.

I don't agree with these reports and actually believe they are more biased to either a different type player or even a league (i.e.: WHL or OHL vs QJMHL). TSN posted a article recently saying one team scout went as far as saying he would not even pick him top 10 and he could fall to the 25 slot in the 2012 NHL Entry Level Draft. What? Is this guy smoking something? 25? Myself, when a scout talks like this, everything else he says, i take with a grain of salt. OK, maybe he does drop a few, but to 25? This is someone to me who lacks hockey common sense. Some scouts see him play once and then comment he played a ok game so leave unimpressed. Got news for those scouts, some scouts have been only at 1 or 2 games that Sarnia Stings Nail Yakupov played and left thinking his defensive game lacked big time and said they believe he won't be able to dominate as a power forward with the big boys of the NHL. It's all perspective and that's how you need to look at things.

At 6'2-6'3 and getting close to 200 lbs Mikhail is a big center and with that, comes a different skating style. While he does not possess the speed of Yakupov, he is very quick and agile for a player his size. Interesting enough, the Great Mario was even considered a slow skater and had low work ethic. Try telling that to Mario's coaches and players who played him and they will tell you, your crazy. Grigorenko will do just fine. Maybe he does not go in the top 2, maybe he falls to 3 or 4 but mark my words, any team passing on him will be regretting they did.

Truth is, Mikhail will need to show his playoff game with better performance should he convince his greatest critics stating he is a player who shows apathy on the ice. Perform at the highest levels of hockey, you will turn heads pretty quick.

I say, LET THE PLAYOFFS BEGIN!

 

For Oiler ,Baron and Thunder prospect news and the 2012 & 2013 NHL draft watch www.twitter.com/revingev