Rob Schremp vs. Linus Omark
8 years ago
Say what one will about Rob Schremp and Linus Omark, neither player has been forgotten in Oil Country. Both are having interesting seasons, and as another disappointing year winds down in Edmonton it’s probably a good time to check in on a pair of players who continue to inspire emotion in Alberta years after their departure from the Oilers’ organization.
Rob Schremp
The video above is from this year’s AHL All-Star weekend, and shows Schremp doing the same things that made fans in Edmonton so excited when the Oilers drafted him late in the first round of the 2004 Draft.
Schremp played just seven games as an Oiler before he was claimed off waivers by the New York Islanders in the fall of 2009; he left Edmonton right before the team utterly collapsed. He spent most of two season with the Isles, had a brief cameo in Atlanta and then headed overseas in time for the 2011-12 season. He had four seasons in Europe with mixed results (he had a great year in Sweden and a lousy one in the KHL) and came back to North America this year, signing with Florida’s AHL affiliate.
He was pretty good early on. He had 25 points in 30 games through December 31, enough to lead the low-scoring Portland Pirates offensively. Then he slumped badly in the new year, recording just two points over a 23-game stretch during which time he also went minus-18. I don’t put much stock in plus/minus, but that’s pretty ugly.
He’s rebounded of late, with six points in his last 10 games, and he’s still the Pirates’ leading scorer on the season with 21 goals and 40 points in 69 contests. I doubt we’ll see him in the NHL again, but he’s certainly shown the ability to be a veteran offensive threat on an AHL roster. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him in the minors again next year, or perhaps back in one of Europe’s top leagues if that’s more to his liking.
He hasn’t had the NHL career anybody hoped, but he played 114 games in the majors and scored 20 times. He’s 70th overall in games played by 2004 draft picks and tied for 46th in total goals scored and he’s still playing high level hockey at the age of 30.
Linus Omark
The best thing about this clip is the pan of the grins in the audience and on the players’ benches. Guys like Schremp and Omark get hammered for showboating at times, because hockey culture doesn’t like showing off, but sometimes I think people forget that hockey is supposed to be entertaining. These all-star events are one of the few times that absolutely nobody minds a bit of showmanship.
Omark spent the bulk of his NHL career in Edmonton during the really bad part of the rebuild (you’ll know the worst is over one year when you can’t name the five best draft prospects on January 1), and the Oilers have had and still have worse wingers on their roster today. He played 66 games for Edmonton, put up 30 points and was passed over in favour of people like Lennart Petrell, Ben Eager and Darcy Hordichuk. He got shipped off to Buffalo for a conditional pick, played a dozen games without having a positive impact and then headed overseas in time for the 2014-15 season.
He has played two years in the KHL now. He had 47 points in 60 games his first year back, and this season posted 57 points in 60 contests and helped his team to the third round of the postseason. He had 21 points more than teammate Nikolay Prokhorkin (that’s one player who was rumoured to be coming back if L.A. had traded for Justin Schultz) and finished fifth overall in league scoring, eight points ahead of Ilya Kovalchuk.
I imagine his NHL career is probably done, though if the league expands to 31 or 32 teams he might just get another shot (he wouldn’t be the first player or even the first Oilers prospect to do it) and make something of it.
Omark was draft 97th overall in 2007, and has outperformed his draft number. He currently ranks 60th in NHL games played from his draft year and 43rd overall in terms of total points, and he’s still an awfully good KHL player. People laugh that off like it’s nothing sometimes, perhaps forgetting just how terrible Dany Heatley and Vincent Lecavalier looked at that level when they gave it a spin mid-career. Success in the KHL doesn’t guarantee success in the NHL, but the reverse is almost just as true.
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