The Edmonton Oilers signed another graduating junior today, this time Q winger Philippe Cornet. I ranked him as the
13th best prospect in the system in December and there are several reasons to like this player.
- Redline Report: "From a kid that we've had concerns about being on the smallish side and a bit of a perimeter player, that shows us some of the intestinal fortitude we've been looking for from Cornet since he was drafted second overall at the 2006 QMJHL draft."
Since 2001 the Oilers have used 10 draft picks on kids from the Q and the results have been mixed. Ales Hemsky certainly covered the bet, and young Olivier Roy looks like he's on track to become a solid pro. However, some of the QMJHL picks have not been able to deliver at expected levels once they sign Oiler contracts.
Cornet is a bigger, more physical winger than the one Kevin Prendergast drafted, but how did his offense develop after draft day? Let's compare him to a couple of Oiler drafts from previous seasons, by age.
Age 17
- Marc Pouliot 65gp, 32-41-73 (1.05)
- Slava Trukhno 64gp, 25-34-59 (.921)
- Philippe Cornet 61gp, 23-26-49 (.803)
At this age the first round pick is clear of Trukhno (120 overall) and Cornet (133 overall). People always comment that Pouliot's numbers were due to Sid Crosby playing on the same line, but the kid wouldn't arrive in the Q until the following season.
Age 18
- Slava Trukhno 60gp, 28-68-96 (1.60)
- Marc Pouliot 42gp, 25-33-58 (1.38)
- Philippe Cornet 63gp, 29-48-77 (1.22)
Big season for Trukhno and Pouliot's injury woes are a runaway train. Cornet shows nice improvement year over year. Crosby's linemates this season were mostly Roussin and Stewart, although Pouliot did play with Sid the Kid.
Age 19
- Slava Trukhno 60gp, 25-77-102 (1.70)
- Marc Pouliot 70gp, 45-69-114 (1.63)
- Philippe Cornet 65gp, 28-49-77 (1.18)
Trukhno never made it in the AHL let alone the show, which feeds the old line about Quebec Major Junior stats being worthless. I don't really buy that, it seems to me every junior league has some clunkers in their top 10 scorers (speed, size, gumption issues are most often blamed for failure). Having said that, we can see that Cornet (offensively) trails the other two men at the same age.
Here's a ranker of Desjardins' NHLE's (with Cornet in bold) from this past season's junior, college and European prospects on the Oilers list:
- Jordan Eberle 22-24-46 (19) (WHL)
- Riley Nash 13-26-39 (20) (NCAA)
- Magnus Paarjavi-Svensson 16-22-38 (18) (SEL)
- Linus Omark 20-15-35 (22) (KHL)
- Chris Vande Velde 13-21-34 (22) (NCAA)
- Philippe Cornet 10-17-27 (19) (QMJHL)
- Teemu Hartikainen 12-14-26 (19) (SML)
- Toni Rajala 11-15-26 (18) (WHL)
- Milan Kytnar 8-14-22 (20) (WHL)
- Anton Lander 9-12-21 (19) (SEL)
I forget, did Cornet at least get an invite for the WJHC camp in his 19 year old season, or was he looked over completely?
ReplyDeleteHe was invited and was a late cut. Guy has a story up and mentions it.
ReplyDeleteI saw him play one game in St. John this season, definetely a perimeter player in his own zone but always hustled to join the backcheck when the puck got turned over.
ReplyDeleteMoney on the powerplay 1g 3a (all pp points) in 6-4 loss. The Huskies pp system was "give the puck to Cornet over and over til he has space and time to shoot, then tip it or pick up the rebound"
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo, another dwarf.
ReplyDeleteAHL material, and in the case of this sad sick franchise, maybe concentrating on the AHL is the smart way to go forward.
On a lighter note, looks like the end of the Wings as a serious contender, as they just coughed up a 2 goal lead in the 3rd period with a 2-0 playoff disadvantage. Well, shiver me timbers, it happens to the best of them.
Hunter: How is he a dwarf? He's a six footer...
ReplyDeleteThe Oilers definitely need another bottom 15 player.
ReplyDeleteOnly 26 on the roster at the moment.
San Jose up 3-0. overundersidewaysdown.
ReplyDeleteI'll take the Wings in 7.
ReplyDeleteSure Trak, whatcha you wanna bet on it.
ReplyDeleteflamingpavelbure:
ReplyDeleteTalent wise, he's a dwarf.
PDO:
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure. I lost all my money betting on the Oilers to win the cup.
We were only 1 veteran center away.
Taylor Hall back in the Memorial Cup. Two in a career is impressive in any era.
ReplyDeleteIf you draft Hall you walk away with house money. Seguin? Who knows..
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or does that List either show VDV good or Omark bad?
ReplyDeleteI have high hopes for the Flyin Dutchman.
Lowetide said...
ReplyDeleteTaylor Hall back in the Memorial Cup. Two in a career is impressive in any era.
Absolutely.
The jury is still out for me.
I have no hope in Gagner as a 1C, so I likely should be gunning for Seguin, but my worry is that Hall is a better player than the positional effect can overcome.
Spoiler,
ReplyDeleteYou have no hope in Gagner as a #1 center? Was he supposed to be running away with the job at 20?
The pathetic argument is that Hall plays on a "stacked" team, whereas Seguin doesn't.
ReplyDeleteAs if playing on a good team is something to be avoided when drafting a player, as if said player(s) have little or nothing to do with the fact their team is stacked in the first place.
It's similar to the sucker up to bat mentality that got Oilers Pouliot instead of Parise.
I want to see Cornet play at least one game in the NHL if for no other reason that this line from Lord Bob:
ReplyDelete"Still, if Cornet shows up in the NHL I'll print off this blog post and eat it."
Also On The Bench, there's no reason why you shouldn't develop a player like Cornet if you can, so he's not an elite prospect, very few are. I hate comments that basically boil down to: "Oh great, another player, he's not top 6 forward", that's just as lazy as "Plan the parade" every time there's a depth signing.
Hunter, I don't know if Cornet is a dwarf talent wise. He has everything stacked against him but I think he's got a shot as a decent skilled 3rd line wing, who can chip in on the PP. Most of these kids don't pan out anyway, but he's got as decent a shot as any modern 5th round pick has.
@uni....and don't forget, the Oilers need to rebuild their AHL team too, so if anything, Cornet may be one of those building blocks for the A, and not perhaps for our NHL roster?
ReplyDeleteboopronger said...
ReplyDeleteSpoiler,
You have no hope in Gagner as a #1 center? Was he supposed to be running away with the job at 20?
Boopronger, Hope speaks to the future, not the present. I don't see enough in his game today, that leads me to hope he'll be a 1C in the future.
And considering the faction that wants Seguin drafted, I'd say there's a fair number of people who lack the same hope.
Drafting is about projection from age 18. Now that a lad's 20 years old, we can't project? Of course we can. Pull your head out of your ass.
Another french player who will do nothing. Oiler are on a losing streak with this french players worse then with russians.
ReplyDelete