Jason Gregor today, posted on Twitter that JFJ would be recalled to Edmonton on Tuesday. With the reports today that Smid is out with a concussion and that Peckham has a wrist injury from last night's game, it'll be interesting to see if any of the Barons D-men are on the flight with him. Richard Petiot is out right now with a lower body injury. He returned to practice today, but didn't take part in any drills, he just skated around. So that leaves the three big choices right now as Shawn Belle, Jeff Petry, and Alex Plante.
The number one choice is Belle. He'll be the first D-man called up hands down. His 15 points and his physical presence have been huge so far for the Barons. Petry has been alright, but he's been making quite a few little mistakes that have led to scoring chances, hence his -11 rating. He's also not a "physical force" weighing in at 200 lbs. compared to Belle's 232 and Plante's 225. Petry and Belle have been playing as the 1st D-pair as well, for anyone that didn't know. Plante has been really stepping it up lately. In Friday's game against Chicago, he had one big play where he guarded the right post for Gerber. He withstood a couple of Chicago forwards by blocking shots and hitting sticks to allow Gerber to get his glove on the puck.
In my eyes, Petry and Belle are somewhat along the same lines of defensemen. They both can defend well, but they like to cheat up more on the offense; Petry more than Belle. Plante is just a defenseman, and a good one at that. If the Oilers make any calls tonight, I'd say that Belle goes up, and if the Oilers want a second D-man, Plante gets the call. If the Oilers to call up Belle and Plante to fly up with JFJ, it'll definitely give the Oilers the physical players they need.
So that brings up the question of who the Barons will bring in to fill those spots. With Petiot injured, they're playing with 6 d-men right now. Bendfeld is probably the obvious choice, having been with the team on two occasions but not playing in a game with the Barons this season. In 5 games with the Thunder, he has no points, but has a +4 rating. He served a 2 game suspension earlier this month for an illegal hit to the head during their Nov 7th game. For the other defender, they have a couple options. Justin DaCosta, who was in training camp with the Barons, has been doing well with the Allen Americans this season. He's scored 3 goals and has 8 assists so far with a +3, putting him tied for 4th in the Central Hockey League in points among defensemen. Another choice is Anthony Aiello, who was also with the team in training camp. He was sent down to the Stockton Thunder at the beginning of the season where he has 1 goal and 7 assists so far this season with a +5 rating. (You can read Scott's article on this here)
We'll have to see how it all shakes out. The Oilers play Wednesday night against the Blackhawks, and the Barons next game is Friday against the Texas Stars.
-Written by Eric Rodgers-
