The Nineteen
14 years ago
Interesting quote from Pat Quinn in his post-practice press conference today. Fielding a question about whether Fernando Pisani would be able to play on Sunday, he answered:
“I don’t know. [Pisani] ended up feeling good enough to practice, but we’re still cautious with him. Injuries at camp always make the process harder, because you know that he plays here. As far as the 19 that was articulated at the start by our management that could play on this team, he’s in that 19. We know he’s played here with great success, certainly three years ago great success.”
A little later in the interview, Edmonton Journal reporter Joanne Ireland mentioned Kip Brennan’s name in connection with the 19, and Quinn was noncommittal. Still, she certainly took the 19 reference to mean players on the bubble.
Given that Quinn named Pisani in connection to that group, I interpreted it a little differently; assuming that Quinn was referring to 19 players who management had decided were all but locks to make the team. I think the fact that Quinn used the word “could” instead of “would” reflected a desire to soft-peddle the fact that certain jobs were not up for grabs, because that reality is certainly at odds with Quinn’s obvious desire that every player compete like his job is not assured.
That makes my first question to the comments section: what did Quinn mean when he talked about this group of 19?
Assuming that my interpretation is correct, let’s try and guess who those players would be:
- F – Ales Hemsky
- F – Shawn Horcoff
- F – Dustin Penner
- F – Sam Gagner
- F – Andrew Cogliano
- F – Patrick O’Sullivan
- F – Ethan Moreau
- F – Fernando Pisani
- F – Mike Comrie
- F – Zack Stortini
- D – Sheldon Souray
- D – Lubomir Visnovsky
- D – Tom Gilbert
- D – Denis Grebeshkov
- D – Ladislav Smid
- D – Steve Staios
- D – Jason Strudwick
- G – Nikolai Khabibulin
- G – Jeff Deslauriers
Assuming too that the organization wanted to get Devan Dubnyk some more development time in the minors, that left four spots open for some combination of the following:
- F – Kip Brennan
- F – Gilbert Brule
- F – Jordan Eberle
- F – J-F Jacques
- F – Steve MacIntyre
- F – Robert Nilsson
- F – Marc Pouliot
- F – Liam Reddox
- F – Rob Schremp
- F – Ryan Stone
- D – Taylor Chorney
- D – Theo Peckham
At this point it seems safe to assume that the defenseman (Chorney and Peckham) are out of it, that Jordan Eberle will be returned to junior, and probably also that Rob Schremp and Kip Brennan (whose contract is an AHL-only deal) are out of the running – which leaves four spots for seven players. To the best of my knowledge, everyone in that group of seven is waiver eligible, but based on what the organization has invested in these players, Quinn’s comments, and the likelihood of each being claimed, I still think that the Oilers will go with the group I listed on September 17th (barring trade or injury).
In any case, my second question is this: assuming the first question was answered yes, does that group of 19 seem logical?
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