Petry has a nice range of skills and has shown an ability to move the puck up ice smartly. Keeping Petry in the minors made little sense given the mountain of evidence (in just three games) that Alex Plante isn't ready.
I wrote about the Plante crossroads before his callup and maintain that point of view now. Almost all of the things surrounding Plante's career this season--the healthy scratch's, the Teubert acquisition, the bumpy audition at the NHL level and today's demotion--are downward arrows.
Plante gives the team a physical defender with size and a prospect willing to drop the gloves at a moment's notice. The issues that have him on a plane today--mobility, reading the play in a timely fashion, not getting caught out of position--are long term items. Defense is a tough position to play and the organization won't have to make a decision on him for another year (he's RFA summer 2012). However, I think it's safe to say that Plante is in about the same spot as Taylor Chorney: at a crossroads with the club that drafted and signed them.
The winners in that battle among the blue drafted in 2005-07 have emerged; their names are Jeff Petry and Theo Peckham. Cody Wild is already gone, Danny Syvret too with Plante and Chorney running out of daylight.
All the things from junior that made me think he was a dud were on display on this stint.
ReplyDeleteGod am I happy Predergast is gone.
Too slow...too unsteady.
ReplyDeleteI must saw I liked him better last season. Furthermore, going againt Flyers and then Caps certainly is not going to help his causes
Organizationally, I'd say Plante is where Wreckham was last year. Though I doubt he covers the bet like Teddy did. IMO it's even more unlikely considering the Barons have added Montgomery and Fedun.
ReplyDelete@ DF
ReplyDeletei think what Peckham had over him and eventually tuebert will is the fact that they are better skaters. Plante will need to improve substantially in that regard
I thought he was a little better last night too but overall the Oilers might have made Teubert a part of the 27 magic beans package because some of the 94 trade magic beans package wasn't working out;)
ReplyDeleteWe'll always have ROM!
Plante kind of reminded me of the early days of Matt Greene. Lots of penalties and misreads.
ReplyDeleteHe still has a year on his ELC, so no rush.
This means only two more call ups, eh?
I was reading this about Hugh Jessiman after a comment in the last thread:
General Manager Glen Sather, along with Tom Renney and the rest of the Rangers scouting staff, were ecstatic to see Dartmouth power forward and New York native Hugh Jessiman fall into their laps at 12th overall in the 2003 draft. It came as a surprise to them, since they had Jessiman ranked as the fourth best player available in the entire draft. Either they overrated Jessiman or they saw something in him that nobody else had seen. Thus far, the pick has not panned out as the Rangers would have hoped.
Keep Tom away from the draft table!
I agree w/SumOil. Peckham is a much better skater.
ReplyDeleteNow if the league continues to go soft on clutching/grabbing and slashing, Plante might be ok. I summer of watching tapes of Darrien Hatcher would do the trick.
But hopefully this call up provides Plante w/a sense of urgency about his game because he looked like a boy among men.
The difference between Plante and Greene is that Greene always had good mobility for a big man, especially laterally.
ReplyDeleteI think Plante's problem was, in part, this line-up. As was noted in the game thread, it already is home to an ocean of slow.
ReplyDeleteScoring Chance % for all Oilers on the ice for at least 100 chances this seasn:
Player %
J. PETRY 0.53
T. HALL 0.52
S. HORCOFF 0.51
J. EBERLE 0.50
A. HEMSKY 0.49
T. GILBERT 0.49
R. WHITNEY 0.48
L. SMID 0.47
J. JACQUES 0.47
S. GAGNER 0.47
L. REDDOX 0.46
J. STRUDWICK 0.45
A. COGLIANO 0.45
K. FOSTER 0.44
Z. STORTINI 0.44
M. PAAJARVI 0.43
J. VANDERMEER 0.42
T. PECKHAM 0.42
L OMARK 0.40
C. FRASER 0.40
G. BRULE 0.38
R. JONES 0.36
One quick thought on Chara, anyone wonder if a NYI call-up would've been suspended in the same situation?
amizar - a White House official responsible for improving franco-american relations.
I was a fan of Plante when he was with the Hitmen; he was big and seemed to be able to do it all. He was the benefit of a perfect storm during his draft year, as he was on a good team, was paired with Alzner, and was given a ton of PP ice. I remember the second his name was called at the draft, that the Oilers scouts must have been lured in while they were scouting Alzner.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for the guy in a way, as he's had a pretty tough road with all the injuries.
Plante's kinda my Pouliot, so you'll always know where I stand with him. Even when it's down to just me and his mom cheering for him, he'll still have supporters.
ReplyDeleteI think he's in over his head at the NHL level. But as has already been mentioned he's got another year to impress the brass. Hell even Teddy had problems up until this year at the NHL level. Plante can still cover the bet and have a career (200 games), but they won't be as a Top-4 guy.
I'm happy Petry got the call. He's what the Oilers are lacking right now and could spark the forward kids out of their dry spells.
I'm very curious which Petry we'll see for the remainder of the season. The first half of his original call-up, he was basically our best D man (or at least in a tie with Gilbert) but the second half was marked by a lack of confidence and increasing scoring chances.
ReplyDeleteIf it's Petry version 1, he can probably lock up next year's roster spot right now.
I don't think the Oilers should give up on Plante (and I'm not suggesting they are), but he's got to be one of the clumsiest looking players I've ever seen. I remember him at rookie camp and thinking he looked clumsy, and he didn't even have skates on at the time.
ReplyDeleteLT
ReplyDeleteWas trying to find place where you work to fax you a somewhat dated, now, restaurant review for your NYC trip. Couldn't find your contact info.
Nevertheless here is the article:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/wheretoeat/2006/ Found it to be very good
Late lunches at a number of these restaurants are actually quite reasonable. With time change works out ok
Expect that the Oiler D, moving forward, has already sailed with out Plante or Chorney being onboard
I think Plante will get another 2 way, but we have to expect he's not gonna be ready for prime time till he's 23-24. And it will likely be a year or two after that before he's helpful.
ReplyDeleteBut, like O'Marra, I think he will get another contract chance.
I've seen my share of bad hockey players wearing the Oiler jersey over the last few years and I must say that, for anyone who's not been brought in to fill an enforcer role, I have not seen anyone as bad as Alex Plante. There's not even a sidgen of evidence to suggest that he's ever gonna be a competent NHLer.
ReplyDeleteNada. Nil. Zilch.
If I were his agent and I'm honest with my job, I would advise Plante to quit now, get a degree/diploma and think about a career that might actually lead to something fruitful because right now he's on track to wasting his twenties riding buses in the ECHL.
Plante looks like he's skating in molasses.
ReplyDeleteAs per Derek Van Deist of the Sun Sam Gagner underwent exploratory surgery on his hand to see how much damage a cut he received in a game did.
ReplyDeleteI called th Oilers getting 5 more point in March right before the PHI game, it might be 3 or less.
Plante had a bad showing but it's no reason to give up on him. We've seen him play better before so we know he is capable.
ReplyDeleteI am kind of surprised that we're seeing Petry again and not the shiny new toy, but it's the right call. Now we just have to hope that he has another great start and brings some sustain with it.
48 is the reason why people use the term "lumbering" when describing skaters.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of referencing him with 49, Peckham still gets walked more often than he should and is still probably a 4 at absolute best but I think his biggest problem was always keeping his weight down.
Plante seems to have major issues with quickness and how many people improve that once they're in minor pro?
If Plante fails to become an NHL player after being drafted in the first round, would that make him a Magic Has-Bean?
ReplyDeleteBig guys with potential, aka "projects", often get picked a rung or two above what their draft rankings would suggest; evidence the 10th pick in last years draft spent on Dylan Mcllrath. Cam Fowler dropped close to 10 spots and McIlrath climbed about 5.
It makes you wonder if the next project that LT suggested the other day, Oleksiak, will be available when the LA turn comes up for the Oilers. Such is the lust of giants in the NHL.
You will *besighin* a lot while waiting for Plante to become an NHL player.
As recently as December, our lenses were collectively a lot rosier on Plante - see Lowetide's December 3rd article which acknowledges problems in Plante's game but suggests that his arrows were generally pointing up.
ReplyDeleteReading through the comments of that post, many were not sold but there was quite a bit more grey area then. I doubt the player is so different now than he was then, but hey - public perception is both a personal and a professional interest for me so I tend to focus on these sorts of perception changes more than most.
As for the player, he's clearly not on track to a top 4 NHL career at this stage. I think it's too early to say he's a lost cause but won't be surprised if he's a magic has-bean (thanks hoil!) before it's all over.
I'm not an expert at skating but it seems that Peckham has some quickness - even though he's not necessarily the fastest skater.
ReplyDeleteI think some of his issues over the last 20 or so games he was playing came back to the same issues plaguing the team since Whitney went down - guys are overmatched. You have 2nd pairing guys playing first pairing minutes etc...
It seems to me that in addition to being slow, Plante lacks the quickness - but I'll cut him some slack in saying that the NHL game is much faster and there is a period of adjustment that d-men need.
I like bringing Petry back to give him some more minutes. He's playing a lot more games this season (then last) and it's reasonable to infer that he was hitting the wall when he was sent down. Hopefully a couple of weeks did him some good.
does it seem odd to anyone else that they didn't let 58 play in OKC tonight before calling him up for tomorrow night's game in Det?
ReplyDeletefor that matter you may say well why not let him play in OKC for the rest of the year but travel-wise I'm sure he could have played tonight in the A and then tomorrow in the bigs.
Notable guys we could have picked instead of Plante in 2007:
ReplyDeleteMax Pacioretty,
Jonathon Blum,
David Perron,
P.K. Subban,
Wayne Simmonds,
Alec Martinez,
Jamie Benn,
Justin Braun.
Is there anything quite as perversely entertaining as looking back at old drafts and checking out who the Oil missed out on?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm no doctor, and dont want to speculate about how bad it could be before details emerge, but "exploratory surgery" doesn't sound like a simple nick that will be healed in a day or two. And for a skilled forward who makes his living with his hands, you've got to hope that the cut wasn't to tendons, ligaments, nerves, that could potentially create problems long term for Gagner.
ReplyDeleteI will say that with Macilrath that he shows much better then both Teubert and Plante did in the dub.
ReplyDeleteI seem to have had a post deleted. Boo.
ReplyDeleteAs recently as December, our lenses were collectively a lot rosier on Plante - see Lowetide's December 3rd article which acknowledges problems in Plante's game but suggests that his arrows were generally pointing up.
ReplyDeleteReading through the comments of that post, many were not sold but there was quite a bit more grey area then. I doubt the player is so different now than he was then, but hey - public perception is both a personal and a professional interest for me so I tend to focus on these sorts of perception changes more than most.
As for the player, he's clearly not on track to a top 4 NHL career at this stage. I think it's too early to say he's a lost cause but won't be surprised if he's a magic has-bean (thanks hoil!) before it's all over.
Showerhead: It got caught in my spam thingy. Good to go now.
ReplyDelete@commonfan13...I also go back and look at the drafts every once and awhile.And when I do,I always make sure that the Flames did indeed take Trevor Kidd instead of Marty Brodeur.And then I have a nice chuckle followed by a sigh of relief.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's unlikely that Plante will ever be a top-4 d-man, and might never be a regular NHLer, isn't it a bit quick to dismiss him at age 21?
ReplyDeleteDrafted in '07, lost most of his development the following year to a freak injury, he played a good 19 year-old season in junior, and had a decent first year in pro on a HORRIBLE team that probably set back the development of all prospects playing in the AHL. One more year in the AHL (hard to judge his development there as he isn't about offensive numbers, and plus-minus isn't a reliable parameter), and an unsuccessful three-game call-up on a horrible NHL (half AHL) team, and we're starting to throw him under the bus.
Get a grip. Give him some time to develop in better circumstances. For every Drew Doughty, who eases into the NHL with confidence and grace, there are 1000 Alex Plante's.
Yeah, last time around Plante didn't look that bad.
ReplyDeleteDon't think it's lights out for him already.
Make him do some power skating, sounds silly but Mike Ribeiro used to have skating issues, so did Guillaume Latendresse and they both fixed it.
Of course he won't be a top skater but he should be fine.
To paraphrase Flames fans - stupid Oilers for taking a slug(Alex Plante) in the first round, whining that he's a "project" when everyone and their dog knows it's just another oafish player.
ReplyDeleteAnd he was paired with a quality player in junior? Gee Batman, I guess that makes MA Bergeron an all star after playing with Pronger.
Any fool should understand that in the NHL you don't make reach picks in the first 2 rounds - you just don't.
Of course Lowe has 6 cups rings, so all is forgiven + he gets a job for life.
PS: My heart's not really with this team lately, so forgive the last post.
ReplyDeleteFrom The Sun:
ReplyDeleteSENT DOWN: Alex Plante’s call-up was short lived.
The Edmonton Oilers returned the defenceman to their AHL affiliate in Oklahoma City, calling up Jeff Petry in his place.
“I think because it was his second time up, he was hoping to do much better,” said Renney. “But we’re a little different animal than we were a year ago, when he was trying this, too. Our back-end depth has been challenged and he had to play a lot, and sometimes that’s going to happen.”
Plante, 21, did not register a point and was minus-2 with 11 penalty minutes in his three games with the Oilers.
Sounds like Renney regrets not being able to shelter him rroperly.
''Project'' just seems another word for ''Going to fail/be under expectations''
ReplyDeleteGagner done for the season, per Tencer.
ReplyDeleteGagner done for the season as per Tencer's twitter.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that strikes me about Plante is that he isn't really a natural fireplug which is the role he'll apparently need to fill at the NHl level.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed at the draft he was a guy that was seen to have some offensive upside, and was more of a skill defenceman then anything else despite the size.
I'm not sure the Oilers need another gritty bottom pairing defenseman that isn't really gritty. They already have Smid for that.
jinx buy me a coke
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteeven for the Oilers, losing three of your top six fowards in about a 10 day span is bad.
what does this mean for his future?
also, I guess O'Marra gets the call and 33 will play for every game the rest of the season.
Well, it's good to see that everyone is buying in to the rebuilding plan. Enjoy the extended vacation, boys!
ReplyDeletehttp://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=889242
ReplyDeleteVideo on Ryan Strome - some pretty in there
Brule fun from Matheson...
ReplyDeleteRenney is expected to put forward Gilbert Brule back in the lineup after he’s missed the last three games with another bout of flu. If Brule plays and Gagner does, too, then winger Alexander Giroux will have to come out. Giroux was only up on emergency recall for Brule to give the Oilers 12 healthy forwards.