Rob Schremp had knee surgery at the Grey Nuns yesterday and will require six to eight weeks of rehabilitation. Early reports are all went well and he will be ready for training camp. The 20-year-old rookie suffered a medial collateral ligament tear in his left knee in an American Hockey League game in April. The surgery was performed by Dr. David Reid, the Oilers' medical chief of staff.Drafted 25th overall by Edmonton in the 2004 NHL entry draft, Schremp had 17 goals and 36 assists in 69 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Desjardins' NHLE suggests if he was given the same TOI in the NHL he received this season in the minors he could be expected to deliver 10-21-31 totals (ranking him 5th in Desjardins' NHLE among the Oilers AHL prospects, behind Nilsson, Pouliot, Jacques and Brodziak).
Just one week before his injury, Schremp saw his only NHL action, playing 14 minutes and registering two shots when the Oilers played Minnesota.
I believe Schremp's main competition in the fall for a roster spot will be Kenta Nilsson's kid Robert. A player like Pouliot can play more than one role on the big club, but coach MacT is unlikely to keep two unproven skill forwards who are indifferent without the puck on the big club this fall.
Among the Oilers top 5 AHL prospects for next season (mentioned above), I suspect Pouliot is a lock (unless traded), Brodziak has a better chance than Jacques based on a wider variety of skills, and only one of Schremp/Nilsson will break camp with the big club.
Someone is going to get traded, and if they don't get dealt Schremp's surgery may be enough to give Nilsson the advantage for the 12F slot they are probably going to be fighting over in Oilers camp in the fall.
Nilsson's odds of making the team are much better when considering age, pedigree, overall ability, and the Oilers' tendency towards choosing their own. From the moment I read Schremp's profile I thought that he was unlucky to play for the Oilers (at least under current management) and I still see him doing well for himself on a team like St. Louis or L.A.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Nillson (4th line LW) and MAP (2nd or 3rd line C) are the kids with an inside track right now for jobs next fall.
ReplyDeleteBrodziak and JFJ did little or nothing in the latter part of this season to make anyone think they are ready - so I pretty much discount them - trading one or both would not displease me either.
Schremp's injury certainly set him back but Nillson is ahead of him anyway. Again it wouldnt surprise me at all to see him traded (or Lupul). In fact I'd be happy to include either guy in a trade to move up in the draft or aquire a top 6 LW or top pair dman.
After this season I've had enough of seeing kids who may or may not ever be NHL material. We should only see the best kids on the NHL roster (MAP and Nillson) and only when they are ready to actually contribute.
When you say "only one" of Schremp and Nilsson will make the club, do you mean that one of them definitely will? Or that one might, but not both? I have little trouble imagining both of them in the AHL to start next season.
ReplyDeleteSteve: I can't see both of them in the AHL, unless one is dealt and doesn't make his new club.
ReplyDeleteOilers depth chart is certainly going to go through some changes but we know the top 10 slots:
1. Horcoff
2. Smyth's replacement
3. Hemsky
4. Stoll
5. Torres
6. Pisani
7. Pouliot
8. Torres
9. Lupul
10. Thoresen
Oilers might add another top end guy (RW shot for the PP) but let's assume they only add one guy up front who makes real money. The candidates for jobs 11-14 are:
Petersen, Stortini, Reasoner, Jacques, Nilsson, Brodziak, Schremp, Mikhnov, O'Marra, Cogliano.
There could be others (and I always forget someone) but among that group Nilsson and Schremp stand out as the pure skill guys.
After they went through the goal scoring problems this past season, I can't see MacT breaking camp with Stortini, Reasoner, Petersen and Jacques as his bench.
Maybe they'll add some veteran depth but I don't see it. Oilers have to get some of these kids at-bats if only to prove they aren't NHL players.
After they went through the goal scoring problems this past season, I can't see MacT breaking camp with Stortini, Reasoner, Petersen and Jacques as his bench.
ReplyDeleteI can easily see that, frankly, unless they manage to unload Lupul, or are prepared to make him a 13th or 14th forward. I guess we disagree on how many defensive liabilities Lowe/MacTavish are prepared to start the season with.
Time will tell, though.
LT, I think your list is missing Ethan if I'm not mistaken. He's a member of that top 10 for sure. With Smyth's replacement, we're at 11 forwards there with one regular roster spot open for grabs.
ReplyDeleteOnce you add a forward if you assume Pouliot and Thoreson have jobs, there is NO job on the line. I'm almost 100% certain Reasoner will start the season in the starting group. Unless someone REALLY impresses in training camp and the pre-season, I think Pouliot, Reasoner and Thoreson are close to sure things for the last 3 forward spots.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that "Smyth's replacement" may entail Lowe giving up more than picks and prospects.
ReplyDeleteIn order to get that elusive More Talent to Play With Hemsky Guy, you very well could see at least one of Torres, Pouliot, Lupul or even Horcoff heading the other way.
It all depends on how far Lowe's willing to take this.
The way I look at it, with the disastrous year the forwards suffered through I'm only willing to predict ironclad jobs for 3 forwards:
Hemsky
Stoll (if healthy)
Moreau
That's it. It's not so much that everyone else is junk, only that very few forwards should be considered 'untouchable' after a season where the Oilers were the 25th best team.
Not that the Oilers would want to but I'd say that because of the freight, it would be hard to get rid of Moreau. For that reason I'll pencil him in.
ReplyDeleteMoreau-Reasoner-Thor-MP-Hemsky-Horc-Stoll
Torres-Pisani-Lupul-UFA plus Nilsson or RS and I'll say the former makes the club. You'd get differing reports on how just much progress RS made this season but I doubt anyone would say that this year's summer wasn't a jumping point for some major improvement. That's up in the air now though with him missing 6-8 crucial training weeks while he's rehabbing. Plus, Nilsson's proven in the AHL at least, that he can put up a PPG and in terms of age and draft class it just makes sense to give him the first crack over RS.
As for the D, it very well could be smith-staios-smid-greene in the top four with grebs-gilbert in the bottom pairing. I know guys are laughing and vomiting all over the place but Vic said at the time of the Smyth trade that he'd bet the Oilers were wagering that Tavaras would take legal action to come out early in '08 and he figured the Oilers would be try and get all over that. I really can't find a reason to argue with him if you believe that season ticket renewals are going swimmingly and thus there's no real pressure being put upon the Oilers NOT to suck this coming season. So in keeping with that theme, they can go young on D again this year and play Gilbert because he showed a little last year, Greene because they thought the same and a guy like Smid plays in the top four because dammit he did it last year!!!:D
I know that in constructing this lineup, it's possibly likely that someone will go when Lowe tries and makes his trade splash for a D or forward but if the fans are gonna eat shit, then I say the Oilers serve up another helping in '08 and gamble on Tavaras.
The only potential hurdle for this scnario is that Lowe doesn't have an extension so he might try and do something to angle for his next pact or his next org. There's also the thing where Nichols seemed to throw him under the bus, and rightfully so I might add, for being too quick on the Pronger trade so maybe Lowe doesn't have an extension because the EIG's in a wait and see mode. And while I'm sure Lowe thinks he won't have a big problem finding another job, and let's face it he won't considering that Doug Maclean is getting interviewed, a 'plum' position in Phx is about to be filled and maybe Lowe goes off the map to try and improve the '08 squad.
Then again I'd just as well agree with Vic's guess.
Dennis: I think Vic made his guess before the Oilers started throwing around the $45MM number all over the place. I was on board with that line of thinking about a month ago, but now I'm not really sure. If they dropped it once then I'd say they're up to their old tricks, but that's not the case this time.
ReplyDeleteIf they don't live up to the promises I think they're going to have some trouble with the fans.
One more thing. This made me laugh:
ReplyDelete9. Lupul
10. Thoresen
How silly is it that Lupul has managed to make this particular ranking in doubt let alone unjustified?
At this point I can't see Lowe improving this club significantly while Lupul is on the roster. That salary is just way too large for such a massive negative contribution. If it was possible, I'd deal him to move up in the draft, mostly to clear the cap space.
I dunno, Riv, I think we really need to know just how the ticket renewals are going before we decide if the team's ready to go on the cheap again. Frankly, if there isn't any pressure from the public, I'd be willing to bet that the Oilers run out another half-ass roster that they know is doomed to miss the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteI think back to last summer and when we saw what we got back in return for Pronger and how the Markov's and those guys didn't wind up here, I said I thought the Oilers were trying to rebuild on the fly but were spending just enough money as not to arouse suspicion. There's really no other reason to explain why the D lined up like it did. But no said Lowe, they'd spend more money once that magical dman became available. Well, in hindsight, there's no way the Oilers couldn't have matched Cgy's offer for Stuart. And of course there's also the tagline of how the team was in first place until the injuries, which may be right but the blueline was so thin that we could see disaster coming from a mile away.
But I just think they were on the cheap from day one. Markov and Eaton didn't get overpays and Shaggy got one year because they didn't want to make it all too obvious. Now we've got the 45 mill thing being thrown out but what if we're both 'right' and 45 mill is the figure they're willing to go to AFTER they pick up these magical players again during the season or at the deadline? In that case we could start off at 41 mill and that's also where we might finish.
I'd like to see Smyth brought back, Redden brought in and Toivinen rescued from Bosron, but I'm just as well prepared to see Hartnell on an overpay, Smid's older brother propping up the D and Edm native Rob Tallas as Roli's backup. Once again it all depends on the ticket renewals, I don't think the EIG is spending any money unless people are really clamouring for it.