As the Edmonton Oilers find themselves near the bottom of the standings, their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, find themselves in a similar position. Through 48 games, the Condors are 20-20-8, which has them sitting in dead last in the Pacific Division.

The Condors haven’t had the benefit of seeing NHL first-round picks roll through their system for an extended period of time (Jesse Puljujärvi played 39 games last season and also got into ten games this season before being recalled), and because of that, the Oilers AHL affiliate is struggling.

So what’s wrong with it? Bad players? Bad coaching and development? Both?

Let’s take a look at the last FIVE Calder Cup Champions.

Two undrafted players led this team in scoring (Matt Lorito and Ben Street), but first rounder in 2015 Evgeny Svechnikov had 51 points in the regular season, adding 12 more in the playoffs, and second rounder in 2012 Martin Frk scored 27 times, and added 15 points in 16 playoff games. Frk is now a regular with the Wings, and Svechnikov is a key part of the 2018 Griffins. The Bakersfield Condors finished 33-29-6. They missed the playoffs, and Anton Lander led the team in scoring.

The 15-16 Monsters are loaded with Blue Jackets draft picks. Sonny Milano was drafted in the first round back in 2014, he had 31 points in 54 games, while Oliver Bjorkstrand  (third round in 2013) and Lukas Sedlak (sixth round in 2011) stole the show in the post season, each scoring 16 points in 17 post season games. Between the pipes, they were backstopped by the duo of Joonas Korpisalo (third round in 2012) and Anton Forsberg (seventh round in 2011). The Condors finished 31-28-9, missed the playoffs, and Matthew Ford led the team in scoring.

The Los Angeles Kings organization had a nice run of success, winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, also winning the Calder Cup in 2015. Jordan Weal was drafted in the third round pick in 2010, and scored 69 points in 73 games. Colin Miller was drafted by the Kings in the fifth round in 2012, he had 19 goals and 33 assists that season from the back end, and their goaltending tandem of JF Berube (fourth round in 2009) and Patrik Bartosak (fifth round in 2013) had a combined save percentage of .916%. The OKC Barons finished with a 41-27-8 record and lost in the second round of the playoffs. Todd Nelson started the year coaching in OKC, and finished it in the NHL.

Curtis McKenzie scored 27 times this season for the Stars (sixth Round in 2009), Colton Sceviour scored 32 times, and added 31 assists (fourth round in 2007), and netminder Jack Campbell posted a tidy 2.53 GA in the postseason (first round in 2010). OKC finished 36-29-11 before getting swept in the first round of the playoffs. Anton Lander once again led the team in scoring.

The Griffins roster in 2012-13 had a couple dynamic players on offence (the NHL was in a work stoppage to begin the season). Gustav Nyquist (fourth round in 2008) scored 60 points in 58 games, Tomas Tatar was a second-round pick in 2009, he had 23 goals that season and Petr Mrazek (fifth round in 2010) played in 24 playoff games, leading the Griffins to the championship with a save percentage of .916%. OKC went 40-25-11, and the three leading scorers were Mark Arcobello, Jordan Eberle, and Justin Schultz. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Lightning’s AHL affiliate lost in 2013 and 2017, but players like Tyler Johnson (undrafted), Ondrej Palat (seventh round in 2011), and Richard Panik (second round in 2009) spent the better part of two seasons in the AHL.

If you look at the current roster of the Condors, are there any players you could see having an impact on the Oilers in the next five seasons? Ethan Bear? Possibly. Caleb Jones? Maybe.

Jujhar Khaira is the only regular Oilers forward, NOT drafted in the first round, who spent an extended period of time on the farm (133 games between 2013-17), with players like Pakarinen and Slepyshev bouncing back and forth since 2015.

In 2012, the Oilers drafted Nail Yakupov first overall. After that, they went with Mitch Moroz, Daniil Zharkov, Joey Laleggia, and John McCarron. Zero NHL games between those five players.

Jujhar Kharia was selected in the third round and has finally become an NHL regular. Erik Gustafsson was drafted in the fourth round, and has gone on to play 54 NHL games with Chicago.

In 2013 (after selecting Darnell Nurse 7th overall), the Oilers drafted Marco Roy, Jackson Houck, Kyle Platzer, Aidan Muir, Evan Campbell, Ben Betker and Greg Chase. The eight players I just named have played in a grand total of zero NHL games.

In two years, those are twelve names that haven’t had an impact at the NHL level. Twelve swings, twelve misses.  You don’t need every mid-round pick to pan out for your organization, but you cannot succeed with zero.

In my opinion, the Oilers prospect system and development isn’t anywhere close to where it needs to be if this team wants to compete for a long stretch of time.  Peter Chiarelli has a lot of work to do this off season, but I believe restocking the AHL cupboards needs to be high on his list. The depth chart is so thin that any injury slides players up a slot or two higher than they should be playing.

I’d like to think of the Edmonton Oilers organization as a house. Right now, the house has some awesome features (I mean… Connor’s pretty good), but the house also has a weak foundation. Some may not think it’s a problem now, but it could be a huge problem in a few years.