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C MOON OPTIONS FOR BAKERSFIELD WINTER
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Lowetide
Jul 28, 2016, 23:25 EDTUpdated:
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The Edmonton Oilers appear set at the NHL level at center, but the loan of Bogdan Yakimov to his KHL team means the Bakersfield Condors will have a new look at the position this fall. Let’s have a look at the candidates for center in the AHL.

EDMONTON OILERS C 16-17 (Projected)

  1. Connor McDavid
  2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
  3. Leon Draisaitl
  4. Mark Letestu
That is the likely starting point for the Oilers entering training camp. Anton Lander (693) and Matt Hendricks (453) also took a large number of faceoffs, and both men could be deployed at center next season.

BAKERSFIELD C 16-17 (Projected)

  1. Jujhar Khaira (just one faceoff in 15 NHL games)—A big forward, strong, good skater, physical. He can pass, and showed up
    in good places during his NHL audition. I saw him good, certainly
    better than his NHL stats.
  2. Kyle Platzer (played only 48 games in the AHL last season)—He comes with a two-way reputation, I hope he gets a full chance in 2016-17. 

OTHER OPTIONS

  1. Drake Caggiula—played on the wing much of last season but has experience at center. He is the most dynamic offensive prospect on this list (save the big three in the NHL).
  2. Joey Benik—Benik is a small (5.10, 174) and quite skilled—his St. Cloud State
    career totals (126 points in 137 games) are impressive. Interesting
    addition to the team, suspect ECHL time is likely. Touted by at least one report as being good in the circle. Source
  3. Greg Chase—He is a winger, but did play some center in Junior. Yakimov’s exit may help him get more playing time in the AHL this year.

LIKELY ADDITIONS

The Oilers (Taylor Beck) and Condors (Ryan Hamilton) have added veterans who can help as required this coming season—although both have played much of their careers on the wing. There is also the chance we see another veteran minor leaguer signed—Phil McRae from a year ago being an example—to play big minutes at pivot.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

NHL teams should be developing future solutions at the AHL level, and this season should have been the chance for Yakimov to dominate the AHL and push up to NHL employment. Detroit drafted Andreas Athanasiou in 2012, he played 80 minor league games and then made the NHL—it looks like to stay.
Some of this is drafting, some of this is probably a young man preferring a KHL cheque to an AHL deal. Some of this is probably the Oilers not having the organizational torque to send a player of Yakimov’s reputation to the minors—the Red Wings would send him out, guaranteed.
And some of this comes from having actual NHL depth at a vital position. Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl are going to block a lot of centers in the future, so Russian Bo is going to have company.
The difficult thing for this observer comes in giving at-bats to the Phil McRae’s of the world. Precious development TOI will now be given to an AHL veteran whose outer marker is known, instead of giving those minutes to Yakimov—who not so long ago had a future.
Edmonton ends professional relationships with young players far too early. Jason Chimera, Kyle Brodziak, Andrew Cogliano, others. Bogdan Yakimov was not tracking in a fashion similar to any of those men, but his entry-level deal had another lap to go. It is always wise to hold on to prospects until they make themselves known. Bogdan Yakimov heads back to Russia, his story incomplete.
For Edmonton, the great modern Russian experiment began with Nail Yakupov, continued to Daniil Zharkov, then Bogdan, Anton Slepyshev—and Ziyat Paigin in 2015. This seems very early to pull the plug, and a reasonable guess has Caggiula and Platzer getting regular minutes in Bakersfield (I think Caggiula also gets NHL time). Edmonton cannot afford to have these third-round picks fail every time. Seriously.
(Photos by Mark Williams)
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