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While it’s tough to get a handle on a statistic that the AHL doesn’t record or publish, a couple of different sources calculated estimated time-on-ice (eTOI) both had Platzer on the low end. Long-time OKC Barons follower and friend of the blog Eric Rodgers put itat just 10:33 per game, 16th and last among forwards who played 20 or more games. The resource AHL.Prospect-Stats estimated a slightly-more-generous 13:07, which still ranked outside the top 12 regular forwards.

The point raised by Willis about the depth of talent ahead of him was a legtimate one, but this observer has grown weary of watching Edmonton’s farm team relying on veterans to play key minutes. The primary purpose of the farm team is to develop players for the NHL squad, yet year after year those players on their Entry Level Contracts often seem to wind up playing second, third, or even fourth fiddle to minor league veterans. Memo to the Oilers: it hasn’t worked well. It particularly didn’t work well in Bakersfield, which failed to make the playoffs in 2015-16. If the reliance on AHLers like 31-year-old Matt Ford, 30-year-old Ryan Hamilton, and 29-year-old Rob Klinkhammer (forwards all) doesn’t result in even a modicum of success on the ice, then what exactly is the point of giving them the primo minutes?

On this matter I find myself in close agreement with another friend of the blog not to mention Patron Saint of the Oilogosphere, Allan “Lowetide” Mitchell, who has been scratching away at this itch for some time. A good example is this recent post comparing the usage of the Condors compared to that of the Providence Bruins, the immediately past team of incoming Assistant General Manager Keith Gretzky. That same week, Mitchell and I discussed the issue in our weekly chat on his radio show, The Lowdown with Lowetide, with the relevant segment starting at 22:00 of this audio archive. It’s a thing and it’s been a thing for some years, dating back to the rookie years of Tyler Pitlick and Curtis Hamilton in OKC, never mind the schmozzle in Springfield or the chaos of no AHL affiliate at all for a couple years after the lockout. The organization is stillpaying for that blunder in this observer’s opinion, and continues to struggle to provide appropriate opportunity for youngsters taken outside of the first round. Perhaps it’s something that will change on Gretzky’s watch.