Linus Omark Returns to the Oilers

In a surprising twist, the Edmonton Oilers have signed Linus Omark to a one year deal.

Omark, if he makes the team, will slot in on the third line with Boyd Gordon and Ales Hemsky.

If not, he's on a two way contract and will play with the OKC Barons.

Interesting move Oilers. Interesting...

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY BURNT-

YAKCITY - "Yakupov's Rise in Edmonton"

Thanks to OilersNation, a contest was run and incredible good photo shopping work was done last season to represent Nail Yakupov. They were all good but one that stood out was 'Yak City'. It did bring me to the question, 'how good is Nail Yakupov?' 'How high is his ceiling?' 'Can he improve on his defensive game any more without sacrificing his offensive output?' 'Is this guy a long term Oiler like many believe Hall is, or does he get traded in the next couple seasons for a key player to put this team over the top?' 'Can he he co-exist , sharing the stardom with the Oilers other elite players?' All these are valid questions and for right now, only guesses.

Like the previous 2 #1 selections before him in Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, people flooded the calls for Oilers jerseys to get their hands on a Nail Yakupov #64. I was no exception and the Nail Yakupov watch began in 'Oil Country'. The biggest debate was 'What position would he play? RW or LW where the need was?' NOTE: Nail Yakupov has tweeted he will remain with the #64 number rather then take #10 with Horcoff gone. 

It did not take Yakupov long to get into stride in 'Oil Country' with timely goals and goal celebrations. This guy was getting the whole NHL talking, including players, NHL player agents, GM's, players themselves, broadcasters and most of all fans. Were his celebrations appropriate? Were they tasteful or disgraceful? Lots of questions were being raised about his poor defensive game as well in spite of his scoring touch. Being a young 1st year NHL player right out of jr with only 1/4 of a season in the KHL the expectations were high. His season took some lows but also ended with some extreme highs bringing to light the question 'What is his ceiling offensively and defensively?'

Nail Yakupov is a dedicated, hard working player who has put submerged himself into our community with family support and aims to be the best player he can possibly be. 

No one can say Nail is shy and or non-fan friendly. Between his twitter account, his public appearances and easy access to get pictures, Yakupov has shown his followers he wants to give back and will make every effort to enjoy the life he has been afforded. Give Nail a tweet on twitter and if it is intriguing to him, maybe you will get a reply. He is like a rock star in Edmonton and back in Russia as well. He likes the attention and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

Nail is about to get started again here in Edmonton on his early season skating and drills with the other Oiler boys. He's easy to get along with, is a great personality, loves our city and the team, wants to be a star and most importantly to Oiler fans....He just wants to 'score goals'!

Maybe if your lucky and fortunate, you will find Nail at a local Starbucks near you. Hoping to see him there? Where can you catch a glimpse of Nail drinking a latte? Maybe spend some time in some Edmonton SW Starbucks and you will see him come through.

All I can say is, it is so refreshing to have a personality on the Oilers who likes to talk, likes to interact with the fans and does not come over as rehearsed in what he says. 

Next blog let's discuss more on the questions mentioned at the beginning of this post today. We will examine expectations, talk about predictions and discuss his game and where his future is headed.

In the meantime, keep your stick on the ice!

REVS 2014 Draft Prospects (#1 Sam Reinhart)

#1 Ranking: Sam Reinhart

Chances are pretty good, according to early reports. Sam Reinhart, a center with the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League, will make an impact prior to the 2014 NHL Draft, which will be held June 27-28 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

At 6-foot-1, 186-pound and a right-shot forward he is heads and tails IMO right where he belongs in the #1 slot.

"He has a complete game at both ends of the ice," Central Scouting says. "He does everything well. He won't get you overly excited, but from a coaching perspective, he's the guy you always want on the ice in critical situations. He's your go-to guy and team leader and is just going to be consistent at the junior level, and eventually the pro level."Reinhart, who considers his hockey sense his best attribute, led the Ice last season with 85 points as a 16 year old. 17 years old now and ready to be drafted at year end, Sam will need to continue the growing curve but nothing appears able to stop this young man, except himself.

Sam Reinhart won the WHL rookie of the year, was captain of Canada's team that won the gold medal at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament last summer, he wore the "C" for Canada's entry at the 2013 IIHF World Under-18 championship that won gold. At the U-18s in Sochi, Russia, in April, Reinhart had 3 goals, 7 points and a plus-7 rating playing mostly with Morgan Klimchuk  and 2015 draft-eligible Connor McDavid. His achievements seem to follow him regardless of where he goes. This guy is the real thing.

Sam has been tracking well for a few years now and while some have heard of him, not all people know lots or believe he would actually be a #1 OV selection if this draft class was stronger. He is worth the price of admission and come June 2014 there will be teams drooling to draft this player. If Sam can possibly grow 1 more inch and put on even another 4-5 pounds, he will be one heck of a prospect all around. (potentially being 6'2 and 190 lbs would go a long way to be drafted #1 and as a future center for whoever is afforded that opportunity)

Highlights from youtube

REVS 2014 NHL Draft Prospects (August 10/13)

It may seem early for some fans but not for those who follow the NHL draft eligible players for this upcoming season. A couple years ago I started this here at Oilers Jambalaya. Here is the history of my Prospect list

This list occurs anywhere from 1-2 months in advance of the actual playing season and a final list I put out just before draft time. It can be a real difficult challenge evaluating and ranking players so early but it is a enjoyable thing to watch as the season progresses right through to the draft day selections.

I have the early september ranking I produced with the actual players selected in their positions to their right side. While not perfect these past two years the top 15 still has produced well. The exact draft order can be difficult due to a team's preference. Some players as you can see fall off the map or come on late.

 REVS 2012 NHL Draft Prospects

1.Nail Yakupov (Nail Yakupov)

2.Mikhail Grigorenko (Ryan Murray)

3.Ryan Murray (Alex Galchenyuk)

4.Alex Galchenyuk (Griffin Reinhart)

5.Morgan Rielly (Morgan Rielly)

6.Mathew Dumba (Hampus Lindholm)

7.Nick Ebert (Mathew Dumba)

8.Filip Forsberg (Derrick Pouliot)

9.Griffin Reinhart (Jacob Trouba)

10.Martin Frk (Slater Koekkoek)

11.Derrick Pouliot (Filip Forsberg)

12.Cody Ceci (Mikhail Grigorenko)

13.Olli Maatta (Radek Faksa)

14.Zemgus Girgensons (Zemgus Girgensons)

15.Jacob Trouba (Cody Ceci)

**Selected 11 of 15 of top selected players**

 REVS 2013 NHL Draft Prospects

1. Nathan Mackinnon (Nathan MacKinnon)

2. Seth Jones (Aleksander Barkov)

3. Sean Monahan (Jonathan Drouin)

4. Aleksander Barkov (Seth Jones)

5. Hunter Shinkaruk (Elias Lindholm)

6. Curtis Lazar (Sean Monahan)

7.  Jonathan Drouin (Darnell Nurse)

8.  Ryan Pulock (Rasmus Ristolainen)

9.  Elias Lindholm (Bo Horvat)

10.  Valeri Nichushkin (Valeri Nichushkin)

11.  Anthony Duclair (Samuel Morin)

12.  Max Domi (Max Domi)

13.  J.T Compher (Josh Morrissey)

14.  Josh Morrissey (Alexander Wennberg)

15.   Adam Erne (Ryan Pulock)

**Selected 10 of 15 of top selected players**

The following is my early ranking this year for the 2014 Draft class. I will be starting a write up on all the 15 players very soon. This years class may not be a deep top end talent as last year but they all will hold their own in the top 20.

 REVS 2014 NHL Draft Prospects (August 10/13)

1.Sam Reinhart

2.Aaron Ekblad

3.William Nylander

4.Roland McKeown

5.Jake Virtanen

6.Blake Clarke

7.Nick Ritchie

8.Leon Draisatl

9.Michael Dal Colle

10.Jakub Vrana

11.Ivan Barbashev

12.Jared McCann

13.Anton Karlsson

14.Joshua Ho-Sang

15.Sam Bennett 

Honourable mentions:

Oskar Lindblom

Haydn Fleury

Nick Schmaltz

'A closer look into the Oilers Bottom 6 forwards'

There has been lots of talk about Edmonton's bottom 6, but as it currently sits with Hemsky still in the mix, I don't quite see it as bad as others might. When you look further around the league most good teams spend very little on those bottom 6 and too much IMO is made of the bottom 6. It has been mentioned our bottom 6 was the scoring problem last year. I agree, they lacked scoring ability last year but our second line struggled as well. I do feel strongly that Perron will make a huge impact on that 2nd line with puck possession ability and relentless forechecking.

Taking a look here at the Oilers VS others teams bottom 6, I feel much better about our ability to produce this year. 


Edmonton
Ryan Jones- Boyd Gordon- Ales Hemsky
Ryan Smyth- Anton Lander- Jesse Joensuu/Mike Brown

Vancouver
Higgins-Schroeder-Hansen
Weise-Richardson-Santorelli

Carolina
Bowman-E.Lindholm-Palushaj
Westgarth-R.Nash-Dwyer

San Jose
Torres-Pavelski-Wingels
Sheppard-Desjardins-Burish

Buffalo
Foligno-Ott-Flyn
Kaleta-Grigorenko-Adam 

Pittsburgh
Bennett-Sutter-D'Agostini
Glass-Vitale-Adams

Ottawa
Conacher - Zibanejad - Condra
Greening - Smith - Neil

Tampa Bay
Palat-Johnson-Malone
Panikt-Thompson-Crombeen

This list could go on but very few teams actually have a incredible bottom 6 forward core. Nothing earth shattering here but nonetheless maybe its time to relax on picking apart our bottom 6 forwards and focus in on other others for growth and improvement. IMO, Edmonton has always been more focused on bottom 6 forwards then most teams fans in this league. Just a thought to ponder through a real slow summer.