Players Of Interest At The World Championships

The Edmonton Oilers have a few players participating in this year’s World Championships, including some prospects who have yet to play in North America.

The chart below shows Oilers players (as well as a few others of interest) and how they have performed so far at the Worlds:

Jaromir Jagr has had a nice couple of games for the Czechs, and although he’s now out of consideration for the Oilers it’s interesting to see his success so far at the Worlds. I’m still a little surprised that some NHL team didn’t offer him enough money to bring him back, since he can almost certainly still play, although not at the same level as he once did.

In the ‘former Oilers’ category, Patrick Thoresen is having a nice run for Norway (he leads the team in shots) and he’s coming off a nice season in the Kontinental Hockey League. He’s expressed a desire to play NHL hockey again, and seems like a possibility for some NHL team.

As for current Oilers, the Americans are having a rocky tournament (Taylor Chorney took a pair of high-sticking penalties in his rather limited ice-time) but the Swedes seem to be doing well. Paajarvi-Svensson and Omark both have nice European resumes and their performance at the Worlds is a nice sign.

As for Jordan Eberle, it’s highly likely that with the injury to Ryan Smyth, he’ll get some game action with the Canadian team. Eberle’s best known for his heroics at the World Juniors, and it will be interesting to see how much time he gets with the senior team.