BIG OPPORTUNITY
By Lowetide
7 years ago
Anton Slepyshev and several young Oilers received a big opportunity when Peter Chiarelli chose to make just one major move at the deadline. PC protected himself a little on the wing with a minor transaction, but the final 18 games (and playoffs) are going to be a chance to gain traction on regular employment for a few prospects. As Oilers fans, we have seen it before. Who is most likely to win a regular job? All photos by Mark Williams, all rights reserved.
LAURENT BROSSOIT
During his media avail, Peter Chiarelli stressed the team was happy with Brossoit’s work and aside from three poor games around Christmas, his AHL work has been good:
- December 20—three goals against in seven shots faced
- December 21—five goals against in 23 shots faced
- December 26—four goals against in 28 shots faced.
For the year, Brossoit is 21gp, 2.67 .908, well below his career average of .914. However, if you take those three games out of the overall numbers, LB’s save percentage corrects to .919. I think he has done enough to earn this audition, but would have pulled the trigger on a veteran rental.
Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan are going in the direction of youth, representing an enormous opportunity for Brossoit. If he performs well in his starts down the stretch, and Edmonton wins something of great value like second place in the Pacific Division, he will have contributed and built on his resume for the backup job in 2017-18. It will be fun to watch this play out.
MATT BENNING
Matt Benning has been a healthy scratch a time or two during his rookie season, including some recent nights in the pressbox. That is about the only thing that hasn’t gone his way during a brilliant rookie season, one of the best in recent seasons by Oilers freshmen.
At the deadline, Oilers management had a choice. With Brandon Davidson vulnerable to the expansion draft, the opportunity existed for the team to change him out for immediate help in the form of a UFA addition (David Desharnais, as it turned out).
If Benning had regressed a great deal, or proven unable to handle the NHL job, it would have been easy to send him to Bakersfield for more seasoning. The fact that the Oilers traded Davidson—and did not feel a need to add a defender to the current group—reflects well on young Benning.
ANTON, DRAKE AND JUJHAR
The addition of Desharnais gives Edmonton 10 every night NHL veterans:
- Connor McDavid
- Leon Draisaitl
- Patrick Maroon
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
- Jordan Eberle
- Milan Lucic
- David Desharnais
- Mark Letestu
- Zack Kassian
- Matt Hendricks
For Anton Slepyshev, Drake Caggiula and Jujhar Khaira, those final three spots represent opportunity. Edmonton also has Iiro Pakarinen on hand and available, with Benoit Pouliot working his way back from injury.
The window for the three youngsters could be a key to landing a role as an NHL regular in the future. It’s true that past Oilers hopefuls like Raimo Summanen, Ralph Intranuovo and Liam Reddox were in this spot and didn’t make it. However, it is also true that the opportunity is there and these three men are going to get some playing time.
Each of the young prospects have things that given them an advantage—Caggiula has speed, Khaira has size and strength, Slepyshev has a combination of the two—but history tells us that it is unlikely for all three men to make it as Oilers regulars and hang around Edmonton for several years.
OFFENSE
A lot of this is going to come down to their ability to produce at least some offense. None of these players is going to be a monster scorer (although Caggiula has intriguing potential) and their NHL careers offer us a very small sample size. For the record, here are their 5×5 numbers so far:
- Anton Slepyshev 3-6-9 in 458 minutes, 5×5 60= 1.18
- Drake Caggiula 3-3-6 in 489 minutes, 5×5 60= 0.74
- Jujhar Khaira 1-1-2 in 209 minutes, 5×5 60= 0.57
These are small samples, but I think Slepyshev has a chance here. Although not procured by Peter Chiarelli (he was a MacT pick), the young Russian can help in a lot of different ways.
Anton Slepyshev is going to get a look, and at some point the other two will as well. All three men have to be aware of the presence of Jesse Puljujarvi, but for now making an impression is the number one priority. Things will change during the summer, and some of these men could be in Vegas, Bakersfield and parts unknown come the fall.
If forced to pick one player from the trio to stay in Edmonton for several years, it would be Khaira. His size and speed will have appeal to Peter Chiarelli, and none of them appear to be a strong offensive option based on an admittedly small sample size. We wait.
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