#25 in white is Blair Riley, playing for Ferris State. Riley was signed by the Springfield Falcons today, which is a very interesting item. Riley is 6.02, 220 and 24-years old. This past season he blossomed offensively (40gp, 18-20-38) and was listed by Redline report as one of the most sought after college free agents this spring.
Quoting Redline report Riley is a "thick, rugged winger with soft hands and a hair trigger release. At his best when battling below the circles and in front of the net. Lacks quick feet but knows how to use his limited speed judiciously." He also "creates space by utilizing tremendous shielding abilities and strength on the puck."
I'm not quite sure what "shielding abilities" means but look forward to seeing it. Riley's signing is confirmed here and it'll be interesting to see if he's an AHL hire or if he's in the Oilers plans. This kind of signing was exactly what I was hoping for here and here.
Using your body and hands to protect the puck is shielding
ReplyDeleteRLR likes him more than Butler and Wellman. Pretty interesting considering that stat differential.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Tambellini can pluck a goalie from the NCAA as well. Ben Scrivens would be nice and I hear Chris Rawlings might have the most potential from those who follow collage hockey.
FPB: Oh. I thought it was something out of Star Trek. :-) They keep coming up with new hockey references, old guys like me can't keep up.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a Dustin Penner clone to me.........Let's get him here NOW.
ReplyDelete*College
ReplyDeleteJesus
It's unclear to me whether or not Riley (if successful in his try-out) would stay in Springfield or migrate to OKC. Still, it's nice to see some potential signs of life down at the farm.
ReplyDeleteJust to complete the quote from RLR, I found the last sentence to be quite interesting, considering how much we talk about quality of competition:
ReplyDeleteOn a team that lacks offensive firepower, he's been shadowed nearly every game but has been able to fight through checks and continue to produce.
U of A forward Jesse Gimblett was also signed to a ATO by the Falcons today. Third Bear in three years to go to the Falcons.
ReplyDeleteGeez am I the only one who though Riley Nash was signed for a split second there?
ReplyDeleteFrigging Colorado is going to find a way to let the Flames back into the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of hard to take this guy seriously with the picture of him playing against a big doofy looking guy with a Zero on his chest.
ReplyDeleteThat's 450 lbs of college LW the Falcons have added in the last 24 hrs.
ReplyDeleteThere's a line about the student body in there somewhere
Fernando Pisani type?
ReplyDeleteYAWN....
ReplyDelete*rolls over and goes back to sleep*
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
More good news from the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
ReplyDeleteGlimmers of brain power somewhere in the Oilers organization?
Lordy.
Also,
Apparently Fortuna owes one to the Sutter clan.
Colorado has had an entire season of luck that match the luck runs the Oilers had when all the kids were hitting at the far end of the bell curve, and now they are crashing down to earth. Their kids must be feeling the grind of an NHL season.
Wow, that's a lot of mixed metaphors for one statement.
LT
ReplyDeleteIf Springfield signed Riley can other teams get ahold of him? Or is he property of the Oilers, like a draft pick? Will he be in Springfield next year or will he follow Edmonton?
Sorry if these are easy questions I just don't know the answers.
LT, please go back to the white/black style comments? PLEASE!?
ReplyDeleteI am not even able to figure out the the heck this new systems is
ReplyDeleteIf Springfield signed him, he's Springfield's property.
ReplyDeleteThe Oilers may choose to sign him at the end of the season, and at that point the Oilers can send him to Siberia if they choose to.
If it's true and Riley has only signed an AHL contract (which I'm sorely hoping that's all that's happened), he has absolutely no ties to the Oilers organization.
@Mr DeBakey: And Gimblett's lost weight.
ReplyDeleteIf Riley has no ties to the Oilers organization, why are we so excited? At the end of the try-out, doesn't every other team have the same shot at the guy?
ReplyDelete1. I am shocked that LT didn't get the shielding reference. I thought it was obvious and my heart sank a little when LT expressed confusion; I could see him aging right before my very eyes:)
ReplyDelete2. It would be nice to pull an NHL-ready player out of a hat like perhaps the Leaves did with young Bozek. BTW, I haven't looked at his underlying numbers and I can see he's putting up more points in the bigs than he he did in the A - and perhaps that tells me all I need to know - but what was the buzz on Bozak this time last year?
3. It looks like the FA signing is back in vogue again the past two years - though I'm not sure the last time it really was In vogue - and it reminded me of the old THN I had that trumpeted the Wings dual collegiate signings of both Ray Staszak and some other guy named Adam Oates; that sadly also reminded me that I'll be 35 on Sunday. I haven't really trusted collegiate free agents since Sather pleasured himself over Eric Heffler and the Peter Senja hoopla with the Blues was also a factor.
4. Nice point by WG that the Oilers look to be improving just a little here in the way they accumulate/and or the places they look for talent. It might be just an incremental push forward but at least it's going forward.
Buzz on Bozak was that he was the most coveted College FA due to his ability and age. Was considered to be the most NHL ready, and possibly able to step right into the NHL. His projection was as a decent 3rd line pivot, 4th line at worse. I don't think anyone had him earmarked as a 2nd much less a 1st line scoring centre. HF had him rated as a 6B if I recall. His cap hit is something like 3 million I think.
ReplyDeleteHe took some time to adjust initially, the AHL was an option for some time, then since his recall he's had Kessel and Kulemin on his wings and hasn't looked back. There is some notion that he can stir the drink himself though, since Stalberg and Hanson seemed to have stepped up their game since being reunited with him. Be interesting to see if this is just an anomaly, or if Bozak is actually establishing himself, would be interesting to see the underlying numbers as mentioned.
I didn't realize he'd been moved away from Kessel-Kulemin; I knew that's where he was making his paper but if he's keeping it up with different linemates then they might have a little something there.
ReplyDelete