The World’s Best Minor-League Defenceman
7 years ago
Taylor Fedun was a fan favourite in Edmonton virtually from the moment he joined the Oilers. The undrafted college defenceman had an impressive training camp in the fall of 2011 and appeared on track to make the team when he slammed into the boards during a preseason game, breaking his femur.
He lost a year to that injury, and has spent most of his subsequent seasons in the AHL. He’s always showed well during his various recall, and today finds him in the majors again and once again scoring at an unexpected rate.
Fedun worked his way back from that ugly incident, and has had cups of coffee in the majors over each of the last three seasons coming into this one. He’s always managed to chip in offensively during his NHL stints:
- 2013-14, Edmonton: 4GP, 2G, 0A, 2PTS
- 2014-15, San Jose: 7GP, 0G, 4A, 4PTS
- 2015-16, Vancouver: 1GP, 0G, 1A, 1PTS
In all, he’s played a dozen games over the last three years, recording seven points in the process. Those numbers always clashed with his work in the minors, where he’s pretty consistently played 60-odd games and scored 30-odd points every season.
He’s well ahead of that pace this season. Now with the Buffalo Sabres’ organization, he put up an eye-popping 12 points in 14 games for their minor-league affiliate, making him the team’s leading defensive scorer by a significant margin.
That impressive performance earned him another recall, and late last week he stepped into Buffalo’s lineup against Tampa Bay. He got immediate power play work, as one might expect, and he’s seemingly made an impression and the coaching staff:
- Nov. 17 vs. Tampa Bay: played 14:02, recorded one assist
- Nov. 19 vs. Pittsburgh: played 15:21, recorded one assist
- November 21 vs. Calgary: played 17:15, recorded two assists
Last night, the Sabres power play scored three goals in the second period, including the game-winner, in a 4-2 defeat of the Flames. Fedun assisted on two of those goals in his role as right-shooting point man.
None of the points have been particularly spectacular; he’s been more a facilitator making calm passes rather than a human highlight reel.
His assist on Johan Larsson’s goal demonstrates nicely what he does:
In this play Fedun (No. 38) fakes the shot at the point, drawing the top man of the Flames’ penalty kill out to meet him before making a quick lateral pass to Evander Kane. Kane then takes advantage of that space to walk to the middle of the ice and fire the puck into a lane with multiple Sabres, including Johan Larsson who redirects the puck.
With four points in three games during this recall, Fedun now has 11 points in 15 career contests, which is awfully good for a guy who has looked all down the line to be trending towards a career in the minors.
Oilers fans will (I assume) be happy to see him doing well, but there’s an interesting wrinkle to this. Fedun’s 28, and if he stays on the major-league roster long enough he’ll need to clear waivers to be sent back down. With right-shooting point-men in somewhat short supply league-wide, that may not happen. On the other hand, if the Sabres choose to keep him, he’d be the fifth right-shooting rearguard with offensive skill on the roster.
Either way, his strong play might create an opportunity for Edmonton.
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