SILVER LINING

Jordan Eberle may play in the AHL this season, and as Jason Gregor told us this week Ebs is unlikely to be going alone.

Jason also updated us on Taylor Hall, with the 2010 #1 overall still recovering from injury and unlikely to play in the AHL. Nail Yakupov is also on the outside looking in, but after that all the kids can wheel in OKC this fall and winter.

That’s a lot of firepower.

If it all works out, OKC Barons fans could be watching the following forward lineup opening night:

This might mean players like Curtis Hamilton, Ryan Martindale, Cameron Abney and Kristians Pelss may spend time in Stockton this season. Here’s the possible blue:

This may mean Brandon Davidson, Martin Marincin spend time in Stockton, with Corey Potter possibly also in the mix for OKC employment (thus sending others down the depth chart). The goaltending situation should remain constant, with Yann Danis being backed up by two quality prospects in Olivier Roy and Tyler Bunz.

While we should be excited about the Barons 12-13 and their future–holy crap this is a loaded minor league team–we should also be aware that other NHL teams will be using the same option. It’s also true that the AHL was a helluva league before all of this, and anyone expecting insane numbers will probably be disappointed.

Hopefully, we’ll get to see a few OKC Barons games this winter, or subscribe online or maybe fly down there and maybe zip over to Houston and have a coffee with Les Alexander.

The Oklahoma City Barons are going to be a tremendous hockey club to watch, especially for Oiler fans. It is an unexpected chapter in Oilers history, but as Jason indicated in his article, it could be beneficial for the future of the organization.

What’s that about every cloud having a silver lining?