Tomorrow Is Such A Long Time
By Lowetide
12 years agoOne thing Oiler history can tell us this morning: growing pains are real. This weekend has been full of signs about the future–Magnus Paajarvi sent down, the spectacular Eberle and the impact players in waiting Hall and RNH. Some signs are so good it’s enough to make you giddy, and others remind us of just how long a day can be.
One minute you’re shooting pool with a pretty girl and the next minute you’re thinking about retirement. Time slips away so quickly on one hand and on the other it takes forever to reach a goal. Life is funny that way.
Watching the game last night, I was struck by just how many outstanding young talents are playing pro hockey in Edmonton and Oklahoma City this winter. You know, we talk about "when Hartikainen arrives" or "the day Pitlick can provide a physical edge to the top 9" but the truth is not all of these young men will find their way to the NHL and the Oilers.
The problem is obvious: not enough slots for the players available. We’ll be having the same discussion in a couple of seasons about the defensemen–Marincin, Klefbom, Gernat and others. For now, the available forwards under 25 represent an exceptional amount of talent at forward:
- 18 year old: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
- 19 year old: Taylor Hall, Tyler Pitlick, Curtis Hamilton, Ryan Martindale
- 20 year old: Magnus Paajarvi, Anton Lander
- 21 year old: Jordan Eberle, Teemu Hartikainen
- 22 year old: Sam Gagner
- 24 year old: Linus Omark, Chris VandeVelde
That’s the pro level, there are players bubbling under too and maybe someone like Cornet has sustain and joins the group. I count five or six very skilled players and some nice 2-way types who could post 20 goal seasons. There’s some grit and some grease in there, although a Lucic enforcer for the skill lines would be a welcome addition.
How many of these kids will turn out? How many will be long term Oilers? It’s blowing in the wind, but history can help.
THE DILEMMA
I have no idea how smart Darcy Regier is but his quote on skill players is golden:
- "with young players there’s a window of opportunity, especially ones with skill. You don’t know if you’ll be able to help them find the switch in time before the window closes. Some make it, some don’t … some just squeeze through and that’s the game we all play."
Man, that’s it right there. What a tremendous insight into procurement and development. Does anyone really think the Oilers weren’t trying to help Paajarvi get his groove this season? Of course not. And the demotion also tells us that just as a year ago we talked about the trio that included Paajarvi, the trio we now talk about includes RNH and excludes the Swede.
Some make it, some don’t, some just squeeze through and that’s the game we all play.
The 1995-96 season had a major impact on the decade that would follow for the Oilers. Ron Low, Glen Sather, Bruce MacGregor, Barry Fraser and the others involved in procurement and evaluation had managed to gather a lot of young talent. The key of course is to keep the right people, send away players who don’t make it for useful parts and move the battle forward.
Let’s list the forwards on the major league roster who were 24 and under:
- Doug Weight (24) 82gp, 25-79-104
- Jason Arnott (20) 64gp, 28-31-59
- David Oliver (24) 80gp, 20-19-39
- Todd Marchant (22) 81gp, 19-19-38
- Miro Satan (20) 62gp, 18-17-35
- Dean McAmmond (22) 53gp, 15-15-30
- Marius Czerkawski (23) 37gp, 12-17-29
- Scott Thornton (24) 77gp, 9-9-18
- Ryan Smyth (19) 48gp, 2-9-11
- Kent Manderville (24) 37gp, 3-5-8
- Louie DeBrusk (24) 38gp, 1-3-4
- Ralph Intranuovo (21) 13gp, 1-2-3
- Jason Bonsignore (19) 20gp, 0-2-2
- Tyler Wright (22) 23gp, 1-0-1
- Dennis Bonvie (22) 8gp, 0-0-0
I count Weight, Arnott, Satan, Czerkawski, Smyth and Oliver among the skill forwards, and Marchant, McAmmond, Thornton, Manderville and the others among the worker bees. Among those 15 young men there were an incredible 6 quality careers on the horizon. That’s a very good number.
The key is to identify the pure quality in the group and to make sure Satan doesn’t get sent away before he becomes Satan.
- Ron Low about a year after Satan was traded: "He could always score but he was a very streaky scorer. We’ve got streaky scorers here too, but they’re all streaking the wrong way. Miro’s become a lot more complete player there than here, like a lot of young players."
Some make it, some don’t, some just squeeze through and that’s the game we all play.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
Magnus Paajarvi isn’t going to be Miro Satan, we knew that some time ago. Still, there’s all kinds of talent there and developing it is a major item for these Edmonton Oilers.
Some make it, some don’t, some just squeeze through and that’s the game we all play.
Amen.
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