WRAP REPORT: BARONS BLUE 11-12
Lowetide
April 17 2012 08:37PM
Alex Plante started this hockey season with some question marks. His progression had been slow, the organization had traded for a very similar prospect in Colten Teubert and Plante was hindered by foot speed issues. Alex Plante's arrows were not headed in a good direction. What a difference a year makes.
This has been a topsy turvy year for the Oilers defense. The incumbent home grown blue (Theo Peckham) battled injury and ineffectiveness and his status in the organization is in some question at this time. The "tweener" Jeff Petry began the season as an "AHL option" because he didn't have to clear waivers--that won't be an issue for many years to come. Corey Potter was a late July 1 signing with a less than 50% chance to make the team, and he ended up with an extension before season's end.
What a year!
Here are the OKC boxcars for the blue.
OKC BARONS EVEN STRENGTH SCORING—DEFENSE BY POINT PER GAME
|
NAME |
GP |
EV |
EA |
PP PTS |
EV/G |
|
JEFF PETRY |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.500 |
|
TAYLOR CHORNEY |
50 |
5 |
13 |
18 |
.360 |
|
ALEX PLANTE |
41 |
0 |
11 |
11 |
.268 |
|
RYAN LOWERY |
28 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
.250 |
|
KIRILL TULUPOV |
33 |
1 |
7 |
8 |
.242 |
|
JOHAN MOTIN |
10 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
.200 |
|
COLTEN TEUBERT |
46 |
2 |
7 |
9 |
.196 |
|
BRYAN RODNEY |
26 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
.192 |
|
DYLAN YEO |
48 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
.167 |
|
MARTIN MARINCIN |
6 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.167 |
|
DAN RINGWALD |
31 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
.161 |
|
BRYAN HELMER |
69 |
1 |
10 |
11 |
.159 |
|
KEVIN MONTGOMERY |
48 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
.146 |
|
ANDREW MARTENS |
12 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.083 |
Petry didn't spend much time in the AHL, and he won't return for a long time if ever. Chorney had an interesting season, and with his footspeed may well have been a multi-millionaire if the NHL had kept their post lockout rules. Plante has a decent number here for a stay at home type and that combined with a solid plus minus and improved play under coach Todd Nelson earned him a spot at the mid-season All-Star game.
OKC BARONS POWERPLAY SCORING—DEFENSE
|
NAME |
GP |
PP G |
PP A |
PP PTS |
PP PTS/G |
|
BRYAN HELMER |
69 |
2 |
11 |
13 |
.188 |
|
BRYAN RODNEY |
26 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
.154 |
|
TAYLOR CHORNEY |
50 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
.120 |
|
DYLAN YEO |
48 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
.104 |
|
ALEX PLANTE |
41 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
.073 |
|
DAN RINGWALD |
31 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
.065 |
|
KEVIN MONTGOMERY |
48 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
.042 |
Veteran Bryan Helmer is as old as the hills and twice as dusty, but the AHL record breaker delivered the best PP number for this Barons team. Rodney helped after coming over mid-season and Chorney--who spent some NHL time with both Edmonton and St. Lous this season--had some success on the PP.
OKC BARONS SHORTHANDED SCORING—DEFENSE
|
NAME |
GP |
SH G |
SH A |
SH PTS |
|
COLTEN TEUBERT |
46 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
 Teubert is the only defender to get a PK point this season.
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WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
 
Todd Nelson's work in OKC has been an enormous positive for the Oilers in the last 24 months. A young man like Jeff Petry should be a major part of the organization for most of this decade, and if one of Plante, Chorney, Teubert or Marincin (who is OKC for the playoffs after playing well at the end of the regular season) can develop into a solid NHL defenseman then the Oilers hard word in procurement and development will have been worth it.Â
A year ago, the men OKC looked to graduate to Edmonton in 11-12 were Jeff Petry, Teemu Hartikainen and Linus Omark. This fall, Hartikainen will be joined up front by Magnus Paajarvi and Anton Lander, and on defense by Alex Plante and Colten Teubert.
It takes awhile to graduate to the best hockey league on the planet, but there is progress. Next stop: Oilers training camp.
Petry Fist line D for next decade
Why bother?
It seems the Oilers are moving in the right direction in quite a few areas, but why the mid-season extension to Corey Potter? Why, with so many good young defensemen close to, or just starting pro hockey (so the team keeps telling me)? It seems premature for half a season of work. I guess you can't have too many NHL defensemen in your system.
It was a contract that the organization can fit into their AHL budget easily. Potter didn't perform well at all after coming back from injury, but given a full summer to recover it'll be interesting to see if he can grab an NHL job again.
LOWETIDE IS RIGHT! Potter played like an amateur after the all-star break.
QUESTION: Does anyone know the status of OSCAR KLEFBOM and whether he'll be trying out for the Oilers in the fall? And how does he rank beside Tuebert, Plante and Potter???
Draft BPA. Expect early contributions from forwards and years of discouragement from defense and goalies. But those years of discouragement have a chance of ending well with good minor league coaching.
So riddle me this. Why do the Oilers look so inept at the NHL level and so admirable at the ECHL and AHL levels? A half-wise cynic would say there is method to the madness. Build a foundation, which takes years (three seasons of excellent draft picks is a good starter recipe) while taking NHL priced ticket money from Edmonton fans and businesses who know that if they give up their season tickets they might not get them back.
If Mr. Katz had admitted this was the plan, what would the paying fans have done?
Mr. Katz does not tell us much in public, but what we have seen looks a lot more like urgency to build success in the minor leagues before the big leagues.
The minor league foundation is in place. Time to build something impressive on the ice at the NHL level.
I can't even begin to express how awesome these fancy new orange-hued tables look. Feels like reading the back of old time hockey cards! The numbers just seem more alive somehow, more real.
Alex: My guess is Klefbom signs in the summer but spends another year in Sweden. Too many kids graduating this year.
Randall: It's all coming together. I see Willis and his fancy graphs and slide rule hipster crap. Well, I'm taking back the nigh, er, well I'm using orange because it was what I clicked on and I can't rememmber what I did.
Isn't Klefbom injured again? I think he had to opt out of the World Championships. His year was full of missed games and a lack of TOI have to be a concern.
...move along, nothing to see here...
It seems he was quarterbacking the #1 PP up to the point where he got hurt! He was hindered for the rest of the season! Good dman & he's aggressive on the backend as well! I like him.
/offtrack The debate is OVER :
Yakupov likes Canadians and would like to play in Edmonton.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2012/04/17/yakupov_wants_to_play_for_oilers_in_canada/
I do believe that unbiased bit of reporting should silence all the KHL critics and firmly place the #1 pick in our pocket!
/ontrack
In two years we could be trying to move some D prospects to shore up our __Blank__ if even 3 of these kids stays on track.
@Clyde Frog
Please forward to Tambellini.
The Oilers Defense needs a major over haul, Potter, Barker, Whitney, Peckham, where all brutal through out the year. As for Whitney he has to come back healthy or move him along.
As for next season I expect at least two new established NHL defensmen and let the others develop in the AHL.
Hopefully some of the Junior defenseman carry over some of their offense to the pro level, because the OKC backend is devoid of offense and legitimate NHL talent.
Hey Mr. Frog[reply button skuppered]:
I hope you can agree with me that Rexall must remain a Sutter free zone. At the same time, it should also remain commie free. Don't you think Yak just might have a change of heart when the inevitable adversity hits? The KHL will always loom. Plus, he is a Russian! I don't hear any chatter about the great Grig, the wonder Russian who is in,what, 37th place in QMJHL playoff scoring? Shop local, Ryan Murray will do nicely. Also, I am sure your comrade Mr. Mantooth will weigh in with his opinion, but if he searches his feelings I just know he will come around. Nyet nyet soviet.
@Reg Dunlop
Oh ya, fore show I'll throw down! 9 out of 10 pro scouts say Yakupov is the man! EVERY scouting source or expert out there says he's the pick you take! At the highest level of play the WJC Yakupov was the clear cut better player heads up! In fact made Murray look foolish a couple of times Anyone else remember Murrays game against Russia. Went on record as saying he wants to be an Oiler and play in CANADA! Murray is an overage 18 year old, in fact had he been two weeks older he would have been picked at last years draft right about 17 right when we picked Klefbom! Murray will take ANOTHER two years to three years to develop Yakupov is ready now. Da, for Yakupov comrade.
Yakupov is Tatar and proud of it, are you proud of being stupid redneck?
I know stupid rednecks do not learn well but try to remember it is NET not nyet. It's only 3 letters so even you might learn something in your boring life.
Thank god it's only russians that bolt for the NHL. Only drafting Canadian kids means Edmonton can avoid the risk of players bolting for KHL. Tambo just needs to avoid the Russians so Edmonton doesn't get into a situation like Nashville did with Radulov, and Calgary did with comrade Giardano.
Or we did with Omark...
I hope Sutter loses control of the bench and Canada fails at the WC's so that we can turn out attention to Todd Nelson as coach next season.
@Reg Dunlop
Aww, you sound like my grandpa! Bless his toothless heart.
What's that famous quote - When the GM starts listening to the fans, he'll soon be sitting among them?
Does Potter's "2 year extension," signed mid-season, take him to the end of next season, or to the end of the 2013-14 season?
@ Sloppy Joe , to the end of the 2013-2014 season
Thanks
Just to get back on track as this article isn't about Yak, it's about OKC dmen...I've always thought Plante is a great defender. His foot speed is a bit of an issue perhaps, but it hasn't really affected his boxcars at the NHL level...And he kind of looks like Jason Smith.
Normally I would agree with drafting a Canadian but this year its hard because Nail has pulled well ahead of others. If they were ranked very close and scouts were labelling them as 1A/B then I would go for Murray but Nail is touted at the #1 hand down. If they can somehow swing a deal for another 1st round pick they could take a defenseman later on but I'm not so sure they are going to do that anyway. They have a lot of defenseman soming into the system almost too many and not enough spots for them. I wouldn't be surprised to see them take Nail get another pick and look for a bigger physical forward later in the round.
To make a great soup you need to let it simmer for a long time. I like all this development. I like soup.
Hey I am a redneck and that guy make us look bad. do not group stupid people and rednecks together as clearly we are smarter at certain things like Nascar, Rum Running(true story my grandmother smuggled booze to the states durng the prohibition.)and hunting. With out Red necks you wouldn't have mud wrestling, Ring girls, duck and deer blinds and Jeff foxworthy.
Wow. I leave to attend to my boring redneck life only to return to find young Lenny taking great offence to my semi-serious comments about Yakopov. Like many here I enjoy stirring the pot but I assure you that whomever the oil draft, I will cheer their successes and defend their honor in all debates with flame and canucklehead fans. By the way, I heard an interview on CFRN this AM with the noted redneck Terry Jones. He stated that if he were head scout of a NHL team he would employ a private investigator to find out how many glasses of vodka any Russian prospect drinks daily before drafting him. Funny, and probably semi-serious comment. In the future, Lenny, I bet you can respond without name calling. You hurt my feelings:(