The Prospect Who Might Make Oilers Fans Forget about Adam Larsson

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The Hockey Writers

Oilers That Failed to Live Up to Their Preseason Hype

Tomas Jurco

On July 1, 2019, Jurco signed a one-year deal with the Oilers, worth $750,000. At first glance, it looked like he’d build off of his AHL success. Showcasing his skills that made him a second-round pick, he registered three goals, two assists in five preseason games.
Yet, after only 12 games and registering a disappointing two points in the regular season, he was re-assigned to the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL.

Ty Rattie

He was given an opportunity of a lifetime when the 2018-19 preseason started, as he found himself on a line with McDavid and Ryan-Nugent Hopkins. Rattie didn’t disappoint. He reclaimed his scoring touch, netting a hat trick against the Vancouver Canucks, and led the entire NHL in preseason points— producing seven goals, four assists in only four games.
While his preseason point totals showed signs of a breakout season, things didn’t pan out for the one-time WHL Playoff MVP. While suffering an early-season injury, he was taken off Mcdavid’s line and found himself on the bottom six. He finished the year with four goals, seven assists in 50 games.

Jussi Jokinen

In the preseason, Jokinen showed promise. In a game against the Winnipeg Jets, he had a three-point night, finishing with a goal and two assists. He wrapped up the exhibition round totaling five points in four games.
After registering only one assist in 14 games, he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Mike Cammalleri…

Mike Comrie

On Sept.10, 2009, then Oilers general manager, Steve Tambellini, signed Comrie to a one-year deal to return to his hometown team. In an exhibition game, Comrie won over the crowd, registering four assists— he also got in a tussle with Florida Panther Eric Himelfarb.
That preseason, he led the entire league in points with 10 points in five games— even beating out a 24-year-old Anze Kopitar for the league-lead by two points.
Unfortunately for Comrie, after contracting mononucleosis, he finished the campaign with 21 points in 43 games— watching his points-per-game (P/G) drop from 2.0 in the preseason to 0.48. He would go on to play another year before retiring due to injuries.

BLH’s Thoughts: So this begs the question, will there be an overachiever on Edmonton’s roster this year and who might it be?

I’m going to go with Ryan McLeod, PTO man Colton Sceviour, or Alex Stalock. The reason being that during preseason, bottom-six players and backups tend to get more TOI than what they would in the regular season and it’s usually against a less than full-strength opposition.

With McLeod’s speed, Sceviour’s tenaciousness and scoring touch, and Stalock’s adrenaline from not playing for more than a year, I believe there’s potential for the sort of scenario that is presented in the excerpted article above.

Edmonton Sun

Edmonton Oilers knee deep in prospect defencemen knocking on the door

At present, the Oilers have Darnell Nurse, Duncan Keith and Kris Russell as the first three left shot D, with Slater Koekkoek and William Lagesson also in the mix. But Keith is 38 with two years left on his contract; Russell is 34, on a one-year. Some of the prospects are going to be pushing. And soon.
(Dmitri) Samorukov (third-round pick in 2017), coming off shoulder surgery, was terrific on a stacked CSKA Kontinental Hockey League team in Moscow last season until he got hurt in a practice battle drill in February.
His game improved dramatically from a lukewarm first pro season in Bakersfield, and he played in a number of NHL-sized rinks in Russia, not the big ice.
(Philip) Broberg (first-round pick in 2019), captain of the Swedish world junior team, is a fantastic skater and he’s played two teenage years in the Swedish Hockey League in Skelleftea, but he’s also two years younger than Samorukov, who plays a physical, hard game (maybe a left side model of Adam Larsson).
Broberg has a wealth of talent but assimilation to the pro game here may take longer because of the difference in ice-surfaces, where fore-checkers get on defencemen quicker and there are more board battles.
For now, Samorukov, who had a very strong first practice at rookie camp Thursday, looks ahead of Broberg on the depth chart. He’s taken some of the risk out of his game with the usual mantra for D — less is more. Simple passes, hard on the puck-carrier.
Broberg’s skating is elite, however. It gets him out of trouble in terms of moving the puck. Also allows him to close people off on the rush. If he starts in Bakersfield, he’ll have the best giddy-up of all the young D there. You can’t teach that, either.

BLH’s Thoughts: Bob Stauffer couldn’t hide his “enthusiasm” for Samorukov during his radio show yesterday. He said that Dima looks like a man and sounded very impressed with how well he looked on the ice.

There’s going to be a spot open on Edmonton’s roster for a cycle-breaker and Sammy might just be the guy to fill it. I talked about how I wondered if an Eric Cernak-type player could emerge from the Oilers system not too long ago, right? Well, this big Russian assassin may just bulldoze his way onto the Oilers roster sooner than many previously thought.

Question, why are folks still commenting on how Broberg will need some time to acclimate to the North American ice? The whole reason he was discovered was his ability to play on the small ice in Edmonton during the Hlinka/Gretzky tournament a few years ago. This guy thrives on the small ice where his skating and ability to close down on forwards due to said skating and his size/reach excels.

I’m curious if these two young men force Ken Holland to make a tough decision during the season… Then again, Koekkoek and Russell aren’t exactly known to stay healthy for whole seasons at a time… Maybe a window of opportunity will open up for Samorukov or Broberg in 2021-22 to claim a spot on the Edmonton Oilers roster.

The Hockey Writers (Rumors)

According to Chris Johnston of The Toronto Star, “Hearing the #NYI are bringing defenceman Erik Gustafsson to training camp on a PTO.” He is a left-shot defenseman and it seems like the Islanders want to see what he’s got left to offer if anything.
Duncan Keith has joined the Oilers for on-ice skates. There was some chatter about why he wasn’t there with the rest of his teammates to start informal on-ice sessions, but he was still coaching his son’s team in Kelowna.
Patrick Johnston of The Vancouver Province reports, “Don’t be surprised if the Hughes deal turns out to be a little north of $8m. You can probably figure out what that means for term.” The hint here is that the Canucks are looking long-term and eight years for Hughes, trying to avoid a bridge deal.
The New Jersey Devils added a few interesting names to their training camp roster, signing Jimmy Vesey, Mark Jankowski, and Tyler Wotherspoon to professional tryout contracts.
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly offered a few updates as far as the league was concerned during the NHL/NHLPA media tour.
- He noted there would be partial capacity in Montreal and Vancouver; he was awaiting guidance in Ontario, but full capacity in Alberta and Manitoba.
- He also noted the NHL salary cap is expected to go up $1 million for next season and that the league is still looking into the situations with Evander Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks allegations.