Lost Russians: Edmonton Oilers

 

 

The Oilers were always cautious when it came to drafting Russian-born players. Over the entire history of the franchise they picked just 19 Russians, while only one of them left a noticeable mark – Alexei Semenov. Remember him? No? Ah well, nobody is going to hold it against you.

What’s intriguing is that just as their arch-rivals from Calgary, the Oilers didn’t do a very good job in terms of scouting players they drafted from the Motherland. Among those 19 guys there are only 9 who were lucky enough to build some sort of successful careers in pro hockey.

Perhaps, being fully aware of their inability to pick the right Russians, the Oilers have been shying away from this idea for 5 years. Let’s take a look at some Russian players they picked recently (even though it’s a very relative term in this case) and find out what went wrong.

Age – 24

Position – LW

Height – 6’0

Weight – 181

Drafted – 2006 round 6 #170 overall

Current club – Metallurg Novokuznetsk (KHL)

This Lada Togliatti alumni was projected to have a wonderful pro career. He played for Team Russia at the U17 and U18 World Championships and got a taste of Russian Super League at the tender age of 17 – back in 2004/2005 he played 7 games for Lada and scored 2 goals. Next season he spent completely with the first team, which he led with 9 goals and 23 points in 40 games. Not bad for an 18-year-old.

Most likely this is exactly what the Oilers thought when they opted for him in the 6th round. Think about it – it’s not a bad deal after all. Unfortunately for them, the Oilers are not as good at finding gems in the late rounds as the Red Wings. It looked like they might have for a brief period though when Bumagin scored 2 goals and 8 points in 6 games at the 2007 World Juniors helping Team Russia to win the silver.

Turned out that was the pinnacle of his career. He finished the season with just 2 goals and 3 assists in 41 games for Lada and continued his career in Atlant. It didn’t work out for him too well and none of the top Russian clubs were interested in signing him, which forced Bumagin to ink a deal with the modest team from Novokuznetsk. Over the past 3 seasons he played 101 games in the KHL, scored 17 goals and 37 points. Do you think the Oilers even remember that Bumagin is still in their system?

Mathieu Perreault, Jan Mursak, Derek Dorsett, Erik Condra, Arturs Kulda

Age – 24

Position – C

Height – 6’2

Weight – 196

Drafted – 2005 round 4 #120 overall

Current club – Medvescak Zagreb (Austria)

Vyacheslav’s father, Leonid, was once a very well-known player in Russia. He played for U18 and U29 Team Soviet Union. He was an okay forward and played for Red Army and Khimik Voskresensk – 2 powerhouses of the Soviet league back in a day. However, when the iron curtain fell, Leonid opted for Denmark and recently finished his career 2 seasons ago.

As a result, his son Vyacheslav’s career began in Denmark and continued in North America. Believe it or not, the only time Trukhno laced up for a Russian team was in 2005 when he was invited to play for Team Russia at the U18 World Championship where he had just one assist in 6 games games.

Apparently, that was sufficient for the Oilers. They probably figured that drafting a guy who scored 25 goals in 59 points in his rookie season in the QMJHL in the 4th round was a right move. In the next 2 seasons he scored 53 goals and 198 points in 120 games for as a PEI Rocket and a Gatineau Olympique. Things sure looked promising.

Nevertheless, Trukhno was unable to bring up his game to a pro level and was sent down to the ECHL after 3 so-so seasons in the AHL with the Falcons. This off-season, he signed a one-year deal with a team in Austrian league. Do the Oilers need him? Only if they need guys to play on the 3rd line in their AHL affiliate.

Darren Helm, Cal O’Reilly, Tim Kennedy, Matt D’Agostini, Sergei Kostitsyn, Anton Stralman, Patric Hornqvist, Kyle Cumiskey.

Age – 25

Position – D

Height – 6’1

Weight – 216

Drafted – 2004 round 2 #44 overall

Current club – Beibarys (Kazakhstan)

Born in a northern city of Murmansk, Roman moved to Moscow to play for Red Army’s junior team. In 2003 he was drafted by the Kamloops Blazers and moved to Canada. He turned quite a few heads with his physical game, which was a delight for the scouts to see from a Russian defenseman.

He played 212 regular season games for the Blazers, garnering 28-goals, 73-points and 336 penalty minutes. This was good enough for the Oilers to draft him in the 2nd round. It’s safe to assume their scouts had to know what they were doing since they had every opportunity in the world to watch him play in Kamloops, BC.

Teslyuk played his first game as a pro for the Reading Royals of the ECHL in 2005-06. He ended up with 4-goals, 6 points and 32 penalty minutes in 24 games and… moved back to Russia after that. He played for a few minor league teams in his home country for 3 years before moving to Kazakhstan last season. His team even won the championship but what difference does it make to the Oilers? Exactly – none. He’s a lost cause.

Blake Comeau, David Booth, Brandon Dubinsky, Alex Goligoski, David Krejci, Sami Lepisto, Brandon Prust, Andrej Sekera, Alexander Edler, Johan Franzen, Tyler Kennedy, Ryan Callahan, Kris Versteeg, Mikhail Grabovski, Troy Brouwer, Pekka Rinne, Mark Streit.

Age – 26

Position – C

Height – 6’3

Weight – 212

Drafted – 2003 round 3 #72 overall

Current club – Spartak Moscow (KHL)

One hell of an odd pick. Mikhail’s father, Sergei, played for a long time at the blue line for SKA St. Petersburg in the USSR before moving to Sweden after the fall of the iron curtain. This is where Mikhail learned to play hockey. Through Mora and Arboga, Zhukov made his way to the well-known Swedish club HV-71.

You would think that this is why the Oilers drafted him rather high. Don’t be mistaken – Zhukov made his debut for HV-71 after he was drafted. How many 3rd-rounders do you know that were picked directly from Allsvenskan – Sweden’s second-tier pro league? Did the Oilers know something no one else did? It doesn’t look like it now.

Zhukov never came to North America but is having a modestly successful career in Russia. He won the RSL championship in 2005 and Gagarin Cup in 2009.

Daniel Carcillo, Clarke MacArthur, Zack Stortini, Jan Hejda, Paul Bissonnette, Kyle Quincey, Lee Stempniak, Brad Richardson, Marc Methot, Drew Miller, Joe Pavelski, Kyle Brodziak, Tobias Enstrom, Dustin Byfuglien, Matt Moulson, Tanner Glasss, Jaroslav Halak, Nick Tarnasky, Brian Elliott.