The one time in my life that I got the chance to see the Edmonton Oilers rookies take on the University of Alberta Golden Bears was the year Leon Draisaitl joined the team. I remember him, Darnell Nurse, Dillon Simpson, Mitch Moroz, Laurent Brossoit, and a couple of Russians starring for the Oilers in this game.
One would think that it was Nurse or Draisaitl running the show, but it wasn’t. Bogdan Yakimov and Vladdy Tkachyev were doing their best impressions of Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau.
Which leads me to this, according to a source of mine, Bogdan Yakimov will sign with the Oilers for 1-year soon. Of course, this could all change. As I always say, but as of right now, I’ve got two sources on this and they’re both in alignment with each other. If it does come to fruition, I don’t think this will be a two-way deal. Can you see Yakimov coming all the way from Russia without a guarantee to be playing in the NHL? And if it doesn’t work, they could just loan him back to a European club as they did with Jesse Joensuu way back when.
What does it mean for the roster in this case? Well, given the fact that the Lucic to Vancouver rumors won’t go away and now there are radio stations in Vancouver discussing this weekly. I wonder if there’s a deal that would send Looch and Jujhar Khaira to Vancouver? Two local lads coming home is always a good story and Edmonton needs to create some roster space, right?
And now the Kyle Brodziak to Ference Island rumors are popping up. We spoke about this back in February, right? Either he retires and loses his remaining year of salary, he gets traded (something I don’t imagine he wants to do now that he’s planted roots), or he heads to LTIR.
So if Ken Holland finds a way to move Milan Lucic, Jujhar Khaira, and Kyle Brodziak off of the Oilers roster, those are three very big men but also three ineffective men. That said, there still needs to be balance on the roster and say what you will about player intimidation, it’s a thing, and I believe the Oilers would add someone who brings a bit of truculence and fear-mongering to the office. Yakimov isn’t that guy mind you, but maybe that opens the door for Evan Polei as a long shot to make the team. Maybe Michael Ferland or perhaps Garnet Hathaway would be options? If Edmonton decides to re-up Alex Chiasson, he’d be another.
The one thing you’re not going to get with Bogdan Yakimov is speed. This is a big dude who moves well, don’t get me wrong, but he’s no Chris Kreider out there. His assets lie in his hands and his smarts.
So, we’ll see on this one. It would be kinda cool if the Oilers could bring back that old Russian tag-team of Yakimov and Tkachyev, wouldn’t it?
Draft Notes
Earlier in the week, I posted my top-ten for the draft and it got some heat, which is fine. Twitter is hard place to justify your ideas sometimes. So, I’m going to try and do that now.
Here is the top ten that I posted,
- Jack Hughes (C)
- Kaapo Kakko (RW)
—————— - Bowen Byram (D)
- Alex Turcotte (C)
—————— - Cole Caufield (RW)
- Spencer Knight (G)
—————— - Matthew Boldy (LW/C/RW)
- Trevor Zegras (C)
- Dylan Cozens (C)
- Peyton Krebs (C)
So one of the first things said to me was by my friend SPR (@theoilknight) and he questioned the idea that the 5th and 6th best player on the USNTDP squad are still better than every player in the Canadian Hockey League apart from Bowen Byram. It didn’t seem right to him and he wondered how would Krebs or Cozens do if they were on that team and if they’d be ranked higher.
Very fair questions.
This is the way I see it. Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko are near guarantees to be first line players in the NHL at some point and I believe that Bowen Byram will be a no.1 defender. As for Alex Turcotte, he’s got the tools to be a 1st liner in the future but will his health allow it? If it does, whoever drafts him will get a very dynamic and intense center.
After Turcotte is when things get interesting for me. Cole Caufield is THE best goal scorer in the draft and that has massive value to me as does being the best goalie since Carey Price. Spencer Knight deserves to be in the top ten of any team’s draft list IF goaltending is a priority for them. We’re not talking about your run of the mill goalie here with Knight. This guy will be competing for a Vezina Trophy within the next ten years, if not five. Caufield and Knight are specialists if you will. They are the best and what they do. If you like having the best on your team, you take one.
We follow up with Matthew Boldy, Trevor Zegras, Dylan Cozens, and Peyton Krebs. What I’d say about this group of players is this, Boldy is the most complete player in the draft in my opinion. He’s both effective on offense and defense, he’s a goal-scorer and a playmaker. Zegras has that dusting of Mitch Marner in his game, in that he’s uber-creative (aka a risk taker) and he’s a very good skater with speed. The fancy moves he performs to make a pass, that could very well be his downfall, but with the way the league is trending; I can see him being the next Barzal.
Dylan Cozens had a fine season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Damn fine, but he’s been ranked no.3 or no. 4 for near the whole year. He hasn’t done anything to knock him down the rankings, he just hasn’t done much to keep him up there. In my viewings of this player, I saw two different skaters.
- One who moved his feet and was dominant.
- One who didn’t move his feet and was very easy to contain.
That is a problem for me in light of what the kids on the USNTDP were doing. Sometimes he’d get the puck and stop skating too or he’d try to dangle a defender 1v1 instead of chipping and chasing. Now, is it a big problem? I don’t see it that way. Leon Draisaitl has games where he’s not moving his feet or he tried to do too much with the puck, and he scored 50 goals and 100 points last season. Cozens has a pro-ready shot and his work along the boards is fantastic. There’s a player there for sure, but maybe I’m not so enamored with him as much as I once was.
Peyton Krebs was a guy I wasn’t convinced of early in the year but I watched him at the u18s and he turned my head a bit. I love his tenacity, his hands are silky smooth, his shot is hard and accurate, and he’s not one to make a conventional play. He’s really creative I find. I wonder if he tries to do too much though. After doing as much as he could for a very poor Kootenay team last year, did he pick up that marginal bad habit?
See, Krebs and Cozens played on the same line during the u18 tournament (for the most part), but they weren’t the line drivers. Alex Newhook was. But alas, it’s only one short term tourney and we shouldn’t make too much of a fuss over that handful of games.
I just feel like if it’s completely within the realm of possibility that those six USNTDP could be better than the best forwards the CHL has to offer. Why not? Another possibility is that the USNTDP just might be taking over the CHL as the premier developing program for professional hockey players.
Sean asked, what would happen if we dropped Cozens or Krebs onto “The Program’s” roster? I bet they’d perform quite well. On the other hand, how would Trevor Zegras do if he had played for the team that holds his CHL rights, the Mississauga Steelheads? Do you think that they would’ve traded Owen Tippett and Ryan McLeod if Zegras was on that team? I don’t. Would the Halifax Mooseheads be Memorial Cup champions if Matthew Boldy was on their team? How many goals would Cole Caufield have scored playing alongside Morgan Frost or Barrett Hayton in Sault Ste. Marie? Would Chicoutimi have moved past the first round of the QMJHL playoffs if Spencer Knight was tending net for them?
Good hockey players are good hockey players where ever they play. It’s not the USNTDP’s fault that they happen to have an outstanding crop of draft eligibles this year nor is it the CHL’s fault that it’s not a great draft class for them at the top.
