LOWER THE SIGHTS?
By Lowetide
7 years ago
The Edmonton Oilers have a few former Condors on the 23-man roster this season, and some of them are making a difference. Names like Anton Slepyshev and Tyler Pitlick are helping the big club in support roles, and perhaps these men will hang around and become part of the success in Edmonton. Both players have surprised with their NHL offense, and that has me wondering if we may have missed some offensive indicators in Bakersfield. Photo by Mark Williams, all rights reserved.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with Simon Boisvert, who is a former QMJHL scout and has a fantastic knowledge and insight into the Oilers prospects. I asked Simon about Drake Caggiula, who at the time was on the IR and assumed to be heading to Bakersfield for some conditioning before recall. Simon suggested that sending Jesse Puljujarvi down with Caggiula might be the best idea—because AHL teams have no real top-end offensive talents, and Caggiula (or Puljujarvi) might be stone alone.
It got me thinking about AHL forwards over the last couple of seasons and the possibility some of the offense down there is being obscured. For me, the best way to measure AHL offense is even-strength points, so let’s have a look at the last two seasons before getting into 2016-17’s boxcars.
2014-15 Oklahoma City Barons Forward Prospects
- C Anton Lander 29gp, 6-12-18 .621
- R Iiro Pakarinen 37gp, 13-10-23 .621
- C Andrew Miller 63gp, 18-18-37 .587
- C Bogdan Yakimov 57gp, 9-14-23 .404
- L Curtis Hamilton 63gp, 8-15-23 .365
- R Tyler Pitlick 14gp, 2-3-5 .357
- L Kale Kessy 17gp, 3-3-6 .353
- F Kellen Jones 49gp, 5-9-14 .286
- C Jujhar Khaira 51gp, 4-6-10 .196
- L Mitch Moroz 66gp, 5-4-9 .136
Players who spent substantial time in the NHL in the following seasons are underlined, Jujhar Khaira got an extended look (15 games) in 2015-16. Notice Khaira with the low total, Oilers rarely play entry-level forwards a lot in their first AHL seasons.
2015-16 Bakersfield Condors Forward Prospects
- C Andrew Miller 44gp, 11-12-23 .523
- R Tyler Pitlick 37gp, 7-9-16 .432
- C Jujhar Khaira 49gp 8-13-21 .429
- R Anton Slepyshev 49gp, 9-8-17 .347
- R Greg Chase 19gp, 1-5-6 .316
- C Bogdan Yakimov 36gp, 5-6-11 .306
- C Kyle Platzer 48gp, 3-8-11 .229
- L Mitch Moroz 40gp, 5-4-9 .225
- L Kale Kessy 56gp, 7-5-12 .214
- L Braden Christoffer 33gp, 1-4-5 .151
Pitlick and Slepyshev didn’t post as much offense as Lander and Pakarinen in the previous season, and yet are in the NHL this year. I am tempted to suggest their elevation this season to the NHL is due to an absence of alternatives, and that is certainly true. Even with that, does it explain the spike in offense for Pitlick (and now Slepyshev) at the NHL level?
2016-17 Bakersfield Condors Forward Prospects
- C Jujhar Khaira 6gp, 3-2-5 .833
- L Scott Allen 11gp, 2-2-4 .364
- L Mitch Moroz 12gp, 1-2-3 .250
- R Patrick Russell 12gp, 0-3-3 .250
- L Braden Christoffer 12gp, 1-1-2 .167
- C Kyle Platzer 11gp, 0-1-1 .091
- C Jere Sallinen 11gp, 1-0-1 .091
Boisvert’s point is an interesting one, Caggiula with Puljujarvi would probably represent high impact in AHL games. Running the idea backwards, it is simply impossible to have anticipated Tyler Pitlick’s spike and Anton Slepyshev’s recent run based on their minor league totals.
I think it is reasonable to suggest this is luck, and things will return to normal for both men, whatever normal might look like. Boisvert’s theory is an interesting one, though. And it is worth thinking about the possibility that these AHL men have posted shy numbers because the minor leagues house only complementary players. If Anton Slepyshev or Tyler Pitlick reach 20 goals in the NHL, we will have this conversation again. Fair?
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