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This in from Elliott Friedman of Sportsnet on “unhappiness” in the Edmonton Oilers organization about player development at the American Hockey League level: “I did not see Ziyat Paigin myself, but there is disappointment that he has asked to go back to Russia, especially after a summer where he stayed to train in Edmonton. Rightly or wrongly, there is a feeling too many of their prospects are not panning out there.”

My take

It’s hard to know where this is coming from. Who is exactly unhappy with who? But it can’t be good news for Bakersfield coach Gerry Fleming. Still, it’s an odd way for news to leak. If the Oilers don’t like Fleming’s work, they’ve had two years to fire him. They can fire him now. So why moan about him to Friedman? Or is this just an exercise in making excuses for the team not doing well this year? Is this a case of ‘Blame the AHL coach because the NHL team isn’t doing well and because someone in management wishes he had more good young players to plug into the Oilers line-up’? The Oilers hired Keith Gretzky as Asst. GM one year ago, so perhaps he’s had time to assess and he doesn’t like what he sees. I saw Ziyat Paigin, a 22-year-old Russian prospect, play last spring in the Bake and he looked good, a massive, mobile d-man with a monster shot. He then looked terrible and slow at the Young Stars tournament in Penticton this September, getting burned repeatedly. He got plenty of AHL ice time last spring, but only played every second game this year. Of course, you could see that coming because Oilers management brought in minor league vets Keegan Lowe, Ryan Stanton, adding those two to Mark Fayne, Ben Betker and Dillon Simpson. On top of that, the team was bringing in promising rookies Caleb Jones, Ethan Bear and Ryan Mantha. It was clear from the start there was not going to be enough ice time. Perhaps the Oilers should not have brought in Lowe, who has limited NHL potential? In any case, Lowe and Fayne have been injured, so Paigin did get a chance, but it was a crowded roster and he seemed low man among the prospect class players, behind Bear, Jones and Mantha. There is all kinds of development time at the AHL level now because the California teams often don’t play games during the week. That makes it absolutely critical that the Oilers have outstanding hockey skills teachers at that level. Do they? Jesse Puljujarvi’s skating agility, puck protection and hustle look better now than they did last year. Can we give credit to the coaches in the Bake? Or did that come about due to young Puljujarvi’s normal developmental curve and his desire to get out of the AHL into the NHL? It’s hard to say unless you’re close to the situation and watching practices in Bakersfield. It’s fair to say all kinds of top Oilers prospects failed to develop in the AHL. David Musil, Travis Ewanyk, Curtis Hamilton, Colton Teubert, Mitch Moroz Marco Roy and Bogdan Yakimov come to mind from recent seasons. That said, Tyler Pitlick, Jujhar Khaira, Brandon Davidson and Anton Slepyshev all developed into NHLers down there. And any team is going to have more misses than hits in its prospect pool. It’s a steep climb up the NHL pyramid of success. I usually watch about 10 to 20 AHL games each year, and from what I’ve seen there’s been too much use of veteran players in the Bake. Thegreatest example was the case of Brad Hunt, who had run out of juice as a prospect in the Oilers organization by the 2015-16 season, but still got all the AHL power play time. Hunt, 27 at that time, did well in that role, putting up 41 points in 57 games. Because the Oil were desperate for a power play guy and Hunt had all the choice power play minutes in the AHL for more than two years, Hunt got seven games in the NHL when Oilers coach Todd McLellan was looking for a power play boost that same year. In Bakersfield that same season, however, two 23-year-old prospects, Jordan Oesterle and Joey LaLeggia, could have used those power play minutes to develop their own power play skills. But not to be — and that represented a fail on the part of the Bakersfield coaching staff and of Edmonton Oilers oversight (whomever was making decisions on usage of players at AHL level). This same question has come up in the past, most notably in the 2013 playoffs, when team insider Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now wondered why coach Todd Nelson was playing so many veterans. For example, 26-year-old Andrew Hotham, who was in the line-up instead of prospect Colten Teubert. Wrote Stauffer on Twitter: “I’m all for having quality AHL veterans like Jonathan Cheechoo and Garrett Stafford helping developing prospects down in OKC. But IMO it makes little sense to have 26 year-old ECHLer Andrew Hotham playing ahead of Colton Teubert who just turned 23, or ECHLer CJ Stretch who turns 24 in August playing ahead of 21 year-old Ryan Martindale. My guess is under Craig MacTavish the Oilers organization will make it a priority to stick with their prospects at the AHL level, along the lines of what Ottawa has done.” What to make of it all? It doesn’t sound good. At the best, there’s dissension within the Oilers that is leaking out. At worst, there’s a real problem at the AHL level, and if that’s the case Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli has also been slow to recognize it in his two-plus years in charge here. To be fair to Chiarelli, he had major fires to put out in Edmonton and only last summer got his man Gretzky in place. If a coaching change is in order, the Oilers might do well to hire a Canadian or U.S. university college coach, someone with a speciality in dealing with that many practices and focusing on major skill development. That same coach can have one or two ex-pro players as well to cover that “NHL insider knowledge” base.

At the Cult of Hockey

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