BLUES CLAIM CHORNEY..UPDATE ON INJURIES
By Jason Gregor
12 years ago
In a surprising move, the St. Louis Blues claimed Taylor Chorney off waivers today from the Edmonton Oilers. Chorney, the 36th overall pick in 2005, tallied one goal, seven points, 16 penalty minutes and was -30 in 56 games as an Oiler.
I don’t see Chorney’s departure as a big loss for the Oilers. It will hurt their AHL depth, but he wasn’t going to make this team any better.
Some will argue that this hurts the depth, and in a sense that is true, but at this point if the Oilers get into injury problems I’d rather see Colten Tuebert than Chorney.?
I severly doubt the Blues would have claimed him if Carlo Colaiacovo didn’t get injured. Chorney is a stop-gap guy at this stage of his career. I hope for his sake he gets a chance in St. Louis and proves me wrong, but I don’t see him as a regular NHLer on a winning team.
The Blues have Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, Jackman, Nikitin, Polak and Huskins, so Chorney will likely battle Huskins for playing time until Colaiacovo returns, then they will have to make a decision.
Right now Corey Potter is a better option than Chorney, and when Ryan Whitney returns it’s likely that Potter will be the one heading to the minors, so the Oilers really had no choice regarding Chorney today. I don’t think his loss as something Oiler fans should fret about.
"I feel I’m an NHLer, and I’m happy to be getting a chance in St. Louis," said Chorney. He has to believe he is an NHL player, or he will never become one, but he wasn’t a fit in the Oilers’ puzzle moving forward.
He isn’t big enough to be a shut down D-man, and he doesn’t provide enough offence to warrant icetime. He has NHL skill and speed, but to stay in the best league in the world, borderline players need to be very good or great at one aspect of the game to stick around. Right now I don’t see him fitting into any area.
QUICK HITS
- Either Linus Omark is in Tom Renney’s doghouse already or he is banged up, and the way he skated at practice this morning it looks like the former. Omark was skating on the "Baby Blue Aces" with Sam Gagner and Ben Eager. Normally the extra forwards are called the Black Aces, but today the 5th line was all in baby blue jerseys. I will find out after practice if he suffered an injury.
- **UPDATED**…Some line rushes and contact drills start and Omark puts on white jersey and rotates in on 4th line…Eager put on dark blue jersey, first time he wasn’t wearing baby blue. Clearly Omark’s play earned him demotion. Will find out after if Eager will be cleared to play by Thursday..
- Omark didn’t get demoted for his missed shot in the shootout, but more for his less-than-inspired play in regulation time. Renney vowed that this year the leash on players who didn’t play well would be much shorter, and it looks like he is sticking with that line of thinking.
- Ryan Jones was skating in Omark’s spot with Shawn Horcoff and Magnus Paajarvi. The top-two lines stayed the same, while Anton Lander skated between Lennart Petrell and Darcy Hordichuk.
- Ryan Whitney skated with Potter, so he likely isn’t ready for Thursday in Minnesota. I think the Oilers will be very cautious with his ankle/foot. I’ll find out after practice how much closer, if any, he is to returning.
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