Oilers Recall Petry

The Edmonton Oilers have recalled D Jeff Petry from Oklahoma City of the AHL. Petry was taken in the 2006 Entry Draft by the Oilers and joins Theo Peckham who was taken later in the same draft. Petry has all the tools: size, speed and puck moving ability are his calling cards.

We've discussed Jeff Petry a lot on this blog. If he emerges as a solid two-way NHL defenseman the Oilers will have gone a long way to solving their gaps along the blue. With Peckham already at the NHL level, and men like Plante on the way, things could be looking up for the Oilers at the position.

Petry showed well at training camp this fall, but the organization was cautious in light of the Taylor Chorney development fiasco (Chorney was elevated too soon with predictable results).

• Tom Renney at training camp 2010: "We have to make sure--even with a player who has been very impressive here--as more of an adult looking player here at this camp; Jeff is not an NHLer today. It's not the wrong thing for us to make sure he goes to Oklahoma City, so he can get a feel for the physical nature of the game. We can expect too much of this player who is so good in so many areas, and then three months from now we're saying 'what happened?' Well let's not go there."

Tom Gilbert didn't skate today and Jim Vandermeer isn't healthy either. What does this mean? Jeff Petry will make his NHL debut tomorrow night. I wonder if his Dad (former Detroit Tigers pitcher Dan Petry) can make it on time.