Back in the olden days, the Montreal Canadiens drafted two-way players by the truckload. Even the first round picks often had a defensive aspect to their games (Shutt, Gainey) and if they missed on a quality checker they'd trade for him moments after the draft (Doug Jarvis).
As fans we often look at the boxcars and assume the other aspects of the game (discipline, defensive awareness, secondary skills) will take care of themselves. The devil, as they say, is in the details.
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The first thing I thought of when reading Stu MacGregor's scouting report about Hamilton was the old timey Habs.
- MacGregor: "An extremely smart player, a great two way player. Strong, has good size, works hard along the boards. Very strong on the puck, has good vision, very good penalty killer. A guy who plays hard and smart."
As the season began, Hamilton was getting attention for all kinds of things. Scoring at even strength and on the powerplay and hard work on the penalty kill. He also received an invite to the WJ camp and won a job with the team. One of the reasons? Two way play.
Hamilton tells C&B about his 2-way play: "It's the way I've been taught in this league and I've been successful thus far, and I wasn't drafted as a goal scoring guy - I think I had seven goals last year - but they knew I was a two-way guy and that's why they picked me. I enjoy playing the two way game, I guess some guys don't like it because they just like scoring goals, but I enjoy penalty killing, blocking shots and being counted on for the defensive side of the game too."
Hamilton is 6.03, 205; he's a skill player with a defensive conscience; the injuries of previous season stayed away in 10-11. Curtis Hamilton is a quality NHL prospect.
OKC Prediction for 11-12: 65gp, 20-26-46 (.708)
NHL Prediction for 11-12: 10gp, 1-2-3 (.300)
- Is he the first callup option on LW? No. When we discuss the regulars (probably August) I'll be including a player who will probably start in OKC but play more than 40 NHL games. That player will be the first callup.
- Hartikainen? Right. Hartikainen will probably start in OKC and take the PP minutes from Hamilton early on. I do think Hamilton will be part of the PP option sometime this year in OKC.
- Where does Hamilton fit on the depth chart right now? Hmm. NHL level it would be Hall, Smyth, Paajarvi, Eager, Hordichuk. AHL might be Hartikainen, Curtis Hamilton, Lennert Petrell (who can also play C), Hunter Tremblay.
- So, 7 of 9? Funny. Phil Cornet is probably in there too, although Stockton may be calling.
- You really like this player a lot. Yes. Hamilton isn't an elite talent in any area, but he has the potential to be a complementary winger on a 2nd scoring line or a member of a checking line. He can post crooked numbers on the PP and penalty killing is considered a strength; one guesses he'll get PK chances in the NHL long before the PP time comes (if it does).
- Why do you like him so much? He represents a change in strategy for the Oilers. The Coke Machines may return to the draft list soon, but Hamilton is a hockey player with size and is more skilled than the big guys who also play hockey in the Winchester-McDonald group of Coke Machines. He's not going to post 100 PIMS but he's also not going to get pushed around and God love him he can take a pass and make a pass.
- That sounds like a crock. Winchester and McDonald have played in the NHL. Right, but never at a level where you considered them a certain part of the hockey team. McDonald arrived in the AHL at age 22 and went 73, 12-11-23; Winchester turned pro when he was 22 and went 65, 13-6-19. Hamilton isn't a tough guy but he is a hockey player who can handle himself, and he should blow by those numbers as a 20-year old.
- You just saw those WHL numbers and jumped on the bandwagon. Well I jumped on the bandwagon alright but it was early on. He's a player with a wide range of skills--that's the kind of player I enjoy watching. Like Anton Lander, Curtis Hamilton can help in multiple roles.
- He's cutoff on the depth chart. These things have a way of working themselves out. The good young W's clearly ahead of him (Hall, Paajarvi, Eberle, Omark, Hartikainen) are certainly a roadblock, but Hamilton was always going to earn his keep in a 2-way role anyway. Should he earn top 6F minutes that's great, but his role will probably be 3/4 line LW for his first NHL seasons (should he make the grade) and beyond.
- How close is he to Hartikainen? I'd say Hamilton is a slightly better offensive player with a good reputation on special teams, but we'll know more a year from now. Hartikainen is more of a PF and has nice hands, plus he's a year older and closer to being an NHL regular. I think Hartikainen has a better chance of landing on a pure skill line but that's a guess. Hartikainen being a year older is a big advantage but probably only for this season. The big Finn will need to make progress.
- Will one cost the other his job? Maybe, but there's work to do for either of them to establish themselves. Hartikainen is blocked right now by the kids and Smyth on LW and that probably means he starts in OKC. Hamilton is farther down the chain (7 of 9 or 10) and needs to post a strong season (like Hartikainen did) to be in a good situation next season.
- Is there another bunch coming? Not really. Drew Czerwonka and guys like Travis Ewanyk are in the system but the future on LW is Hall, Paajarvi, Hartikainen, Hamilton from my pov. That's a nice group and they could always turn Paajarvi around or move Hall to C. This is a nice group of talent--just don't trade any of them!
- His luck could change. You can say that about anyone. From what we know, Hamilton might have been a little undervalued on draft day based on his skill set and a year later the pick looks like a win. Anything beyond that we're guessing.
- For a big guy who finishes his checks, Hamilton doesn't have a lot of PIMS. He's an intelligent player who can play a physical game with skill. He has size and his footspeed is considered NHL calibre.
- Bah. He's a checker. That would be just fine. The Edmonton Oilers have Hall, Paajarvi and possibly Hartikainen to post goals in the future; it's that role player they're looking for now. A winger who can do the tough work without taking a penalty or losing his mark. Curtis Hamilton is in a very nice spot right now with a lot of work and possible rewards straight ahead.
Poo Twoo
ReplyDeleteThank god for collarbone injuries. Without them this guy wouldn't be an Oiler and probably would've been a 1st rounder.
ReplyDeletePoo #2 just seems redundant. I propose that CH is known as #2 from here on out. Poop.
ReplyDeleteAbout Collarbones:
ReplyDelete''Recovery is usually complete, with a full return expected. Patients may notice a persistent bump where the fracture was (often for months or longer), but this should not be bothersome.''
It's not a recurrent injury. Just shitty luck. So he's no Pouliot V2 in any form.
I like Hamilton. He's a guy with size who can score. That's how you draft'em.
Drafting a guy for his 2 way play is shitty.
Drafting a guy who can score and has 2 way play as a plus is a winning formula.
I want to watch more of this guy. He was really, really, impressive in the world junior championships. As MacGregor said in his report more than once, "strong" is the word that comes to mind when watching him play.
ReplyDeleteI second MacGregor's "smart" comments. Easily the brightest kid of his age I've talked to. Took his time to consider his answers and had a vocabulary. Bright kid.
ReplyDeleteoh, and:
"we play from our end out"
Yeah. Smart kid.
Even more impressive than him making the WJC is the fact that he started the tournament on the fourth line and then moved up the order until he was playing near first line minutes. Tournament of Small Samples Sizes? Yes. Still, a positive arrow to go along with other positive arrows.
ReplyDeleteHe and Lander seem to bring a complementary sort of leadership. In three or four years time, they have the potential to form 2/3 of a dynamite shut-down 3rd line and a potential PK duo. It may be too much to hope for both to be able to pan out that well, but even if one of them does... that's a solid 2nd round selection.
I'd say the chances of Curtis Hamilton outperforming Harski in terms of offence is small. I think Harski's ceiling offensively is a lot higher than Hamiltons, but I do like Hamilton's game, so it's not impossible he surpasses Harski.
ReplyDeleteHarski has instincts you just cant teach.
You can never have enough of this type of player in your system. There is a strong possibility that he turns into a NHL player and does not really have any huge glaring holes in his game.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could pick-up someone like him in the 2nd round every year.
Think he has a real chance to develop into a John Tonelli/Bob Nystrom type. Big, strong, tenacious, very hard to play against.
ReplyDeleteWhich is a pretty damn good hockey player
Course someone will now probably say ....but those two guys didn't score much and were just lucky to be on good teams!!
I like Curtis Hamilton in our prospect pool. And I take a bit of issue with your alter-ego suggesting that he is a checker :P He might be good at it, but I figure it will be with a nice added offensive upside.
ReplyDeleteWe seem very very strong on the wings. MacGregor and co have stockpiled the book-ends. The centers are a bit of a question mark still (as are defense and goalie prospects perhaps), but at least we have RNH and Pitlick as our potential scoring centermen.
Stu has done a pretty magnificent job ;) Or at least on paper.
I've been high on Hmailton for a while now, but that's not why I'm commenting.
ReplyDeleteI'm commenting to say that I can't believe LT passed on a chance to indulge in his love of posting pictures of Jeri Ryan.
(Side point: my verification word is "inednoun", which I assume is Blogger mocking my grammar.)
About Hamilton's offensive upside - I think it's considerable. Possibly better than Hartikainen, even.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, he outscored Jeff Skinner as a 16-year old before seeing his draft year derailed by injury.
JW: lol. I always wonder about the guy who designed those outfits (and you KNOW it was a guy). I mean, how did that go? "Hey, Jeri this is the outfit you need to wear. I understand it's comfortable!"
ReplyDeleteI always love reading the C&B top 25, because Zona is the only guy who on the planet stronger on Gagner than me.
When he wins a Stanley, Zona and I are going to drink this town dry. And his town too. :-)
I was about as far from jockhood in juniour high school as humanly possible. Early on I had learned that exercise was a barrage of negative body signals no adult ever bothered to explain.
ReplyDeleteLater when I figured out how to do it properly, I discovered that I kind of enjoy suffering, but not the way runners do, or some other "recreational" rowers whose shoulder joints you could hear ticking like an insecure bomb with separation anxiety at every stroke in the shell beside you. A mad sprint on the rowing machine at the end of a 6000m set to the verge of lactic acid lockup (but not beyond) really opens up the brain for a late night coding session.
Returning to juniour high school, I was frail, shy, gangly, introverted, sensitive, and lost in the labyrinths of my own imagination.
One day for PE we had touch football, which for me consisted of anticipating where the line of scrimmage would be for the next play, and jogging as slowly (and laboriously) as I could manage, while the jocks tore up the field far away. I was in precisely such a listless hustle of mock enthusiasm when the class bonehead decided to demonstrate his profoundly superior enthusiasm to the PE teacher by changing up from behind and launching his shoulder into the gap between my shoulder blades, completely blindside.
Normally I kept my eye on this guy, because in metal shop, he was always the guy walking up to the acetylene or oxygen tank and randomly twisting the knobs. I basically followed him around the whole year closing explosive taps behind him, mostly without his noticing. His gratitude in one instance consisted of slamming my temple into a press drill. I think he regarded the human skull as a vestigial organ. In my home life, I was conducting chemical researches out in the spare chicken coop that put me in the frame of mind *not* to find inside any potential combustion vessel, so I had to weigh my choices.
(TBC)
A friend I made in my adult years tells a story from around the same age of deciding to play at home one day: the brainiacs in his neighborhood were mixing aluminum foil and drain cleaner in glass jars with lids, on the premise that nothing happened until after you shook it. Shortly after he explained to his father why he was uncharacteristically playing inside on a beautiful sunny day, there was a thump down the street followed by manic shrieks. His father, a type A jock professor, nearly passed out. It's sickening, but we laugh ourselves silly over this. There really is a Darwin gene out there, and some people don't have it.
ReplyDeleteBlindsided by bonehead, who escaped my surveillance on the football field for lack of any available hazard that could blow up the whole school, I hit the ground hard and broke my collar bone on impact. I'd broken many bones before this. The first time at age eight I walked into the house and said, "Mom, I think I've broken my arm." Radius and ulna. Took three settings, the final one by the doctor for the Calgary Stampeders. There were black men in the waiting room whose shoulders occupied half the chair to either side. You didn't see a lot of black people in Calgary in those years. I had Wayne Harris's autograph from his visit to my boy scout troop. This didn't impress me as much as it should have. My Dad was a big fan of Thumper, but my mother didn't appreciate the graphic description his prowess warranted, so all I knew was "really good".
I went up to the PE teacher and said "I think I'm hurt". I don't even know if he saw me hit the ground. He said, "well, if you're such a wimp, you can sit on the sidelines". So I did, for about ten plays. At which point the pain began to vibrate in a familiar and menacing way, so I quickly wrapped up my deliberations. I went back to the PE teacher, and said "you know, I really think I'm hurt". He said, more or less, "OK, pansy boy, you can go back to the school if that's the best you can manage". It might have been mostly conveyed with jock eyebrows of eternal shame.
I called my mother from the principal's office to come get me. By this point my world has shrunk to the unpleasant contents of my throbbing skull. Mom waited in the parking lot for an hour while I sat in the office and throbbed, in a world now reduced to a grapefruit. She said, "why didn't you come out?" Never the athlete, my mother.
Then she takes me home and leaves me to lie on the living room carpet while she completed some urgent long distance call which took hours, or so I recall. Not so much as an aspirin. We didn't believe in aspirin. My stoic reserve left room for other priorities. I think one of my cousins was driven to emergency over a horsefly bite. She knew how to command attention. I take solace in knowing it's a poor life skill later on.
(TBC)
Finally we get to the doctor who hands me a bra-like contraption (my worst nightmare confirmed), tells me I have to wear it to school every day for six weeks, and that my shoulder will heal up even stronger than before, which is how it played out.
ReplyDeleteNear the end of the healing process, it had stopped throbbing continuously, but it was still ready to go five alarm over any movement greater than 10 degrees. I was walking along a rock wall, lost my footing, and restored it by yanking up my sore arm over my head, the first movement greater than 10 degrees in over a month.
If someone had fired a nail gun into the shoulder tissue, it couldn't have hurt worse. A dentist once tried to replicate this by driving a cleaning tool deep into a live nerve root. I'll give him credit, he came close. Every pore on my forehead opened simultaneously, but there were enough gaps in the fireball of red implosion for me to notice this. On that fact alone, it wasn't so bad.
When my PE teacher sighted me a day or two later wearing the collarbone bra an epiphany of culpability briefly crossed his testosterone spark gap. He told my mother at the next teacher interview, "not a lot of boys are like your son, brave enough to approach me twice". I felt *so* endorsed. I'm sure he went far in life, coaching real men, such as Sheldon Souray.
The next year I went to a better school, where many of the boys were smart enough to blow you up, but also clever enough to not get caught, which severely constrained any potential strew of corpses or maimed bodies or the use of glass encasements.
If you have a decent pain threshold, a collarbone is not much of an injury, really. It throbs for a long time. You ignore it.
Just pray you like sleeping on your back. Every night without fail as some point I tried to roll over into my happy dream position, with instantaneous regret. Some subconscious programs never learn, even with the hot poker of reinforcement night after night in your deepest repose. I have to say, that part sucked.
Deadman: I grew up Jehovah's Witness. Used to worry all day about getting cut.
ReplyDeletePansy.
:-)
Just because I knew it would be on Youtube...BOOM!
ReplyDeletePaajarvi, Lander, Pitlick, Hartikainen and Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteThese 5 players will very important while Hall, RNH and Eberle go for glory.
One word, versatility. When injuries arise, they will be able to move these guys around so the team doesn't become crippled.
The forwards are starting to take a nice shape.
These 5 players will very important while Hall, RNH and Eberle go for glory.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go out on a limb and predict that only a maximum of three of them will be.
The Hockey News told me Jari Kurri was pretty good but that Raimo Summanen would be Gretzky's winger for a decade.
ReplyDeleteWe wait.
When he wins a Stanley, Zona and I are going to drink this town dry. And his town too. :-)
ReplyDeleteJust wait for the top 5 of the top 25.
And we'll drink the town dry even if he wins it in Buffalo.
at least we have RNH and Pitlick as our potential scoring centermen.
ReplyDeleteRacki: We have RNH and Gagner as potential scoring centremen.
And Pitlick. But I'd rank the two high first-rounders ahead of him at this point.
@DMW: Outstanding stuff! What a great read.
Hamilton is the kind of player you look forward to seeing him do his thing in a tight playoff series....yeah, remember what a playoff series is?
ReplyDeleteLove the Tonelli comp.
ReplyDeleteTonelli played where ever they needed him and was a bigger,(6'1", 200lbs in the 80's) tough player in the corners and on the puck.
Has this on his Wiki page:
"During his eight seasons with the Islanders, coach Al Arbour used Tonelli on the famed "Banana Line" with Wayne Merrick and Bob Nystrom, on the top line with Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy, and later he played flank for Brent Sutter and Patrick Flatley."
If Arbour coached in Edmonton, they would have called him Arblendor.
DMW,
Excellent!
You look at the depth chart on LW and you see that's the tree that's gonna have to be trimmed in order to bring us the dman we so desperately need.
ReplyDeletethe hitting's coming along fine but the pitching needs a lot of work.
Tonelli's career numbers:
ReplyDeleteRegular season:
1028gp 325g 511a 836pts 911PIMS
Playoffs
172gp 40g 75a 115pts 200PIMS
That's a hockey player.
Dennis is right.
ReplyDeleteDeadman, that was classic.
Fuck was I pissed when Tonelli ended up in Cowtown. I don't like to talk about him to this day. Can we move on?
Lowetide: ... Zona is the only guy who on the planet stronger on Gagner than me.
ReplyDeleteAhem
As I said, only GUY on the planet.......
ReplyDeleteMy stupid typewriter. :-)
Suuure...
ReplyDeleteI would think the one who first opened your eyes would warrant an invitation to the debauchery. Wouldn't you?
lol. I'll pour the drinks. Good?
ReplyDeleteThat'll work... till you fall down.
ReplyDelete;-D
Oh. GAME ON! :-)
ReplyDelete"The hitting's coming along fine but the pitching needs a lot of work."
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. This team should be able to mash shortly, but the pitching is going to get crushed.
The biggest thing the Oilers need to do is establish who the centers are. If the centers are better, the D will be better, if the D is better the goaltending will be better. Its all part of the evolution.
@Steve Smith
ReplyDeleteWay off topic.....I think we have a friend in common. I saw a Steve Smith with you avatar as their facebook profile picture comment on a friend's facebook status a while back and I figure it had to be you.
TUG - You are almost certainly correct, since my avatar (which is indeed the same here and on Facebook) is a charcoal drawing one of those street caricaturists did of me, and I'd be very surprised if any other Steve Smith had pirated it for himself. Now I'm curious - let me know either here or on Facebook who the friend is.
ReplyDeleteAs well, I recognize your name and distinctly recall having some interaction with you at OilersNation, but couldn't place you or remember the nature of the interaction. Refresh my memory: do you and I get along?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDangerMan,
ReplyDeleteIF Tambellini doesn't do something stupid like trade away our only right-handed centre; who, by the way, is very effective in the D-zone provided he's on the ice with at least two guys who know where the **** to go and what the **** to do when they get there.
And...
IF RNH comes as advertised and really does think the whole ice game, centre could be a considerable strength... eventually. We'll still need more balance in the top 4 D, though. I'd rather not discuss goal, thank you very much.
:-)
Steve Smith
ReplyDeleteSure we get along, or at least we don't not get along. Brownlee doesn't like either of us, so that's good enough for me.
Our mutual friend's name is Carmen. She is from Golden and just graduated from U of C Law. I was in her class.
13 bottom 6 players and counting.
ReplyDeleteDSF said...
ReplyDelete13 bottom 6 players and counting.
You got mad skills DSF.
Out of all these quality prospects in the Oilers pipeline, I'm curious as to who's going to pan out. Historically speaking, we know the majority of them likely won't.
http://www.puckprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1026
ReplyDeleteInteresting read on a few Oilers prospects
"Hartikainen is a below-average skater who at times shows below that, and is not an impressive mover in the least. He keeps his feet moving consistently, and it's the least he'll need to do to survive in the pro game. His puck skills are fringe too although the hockey sense helps him be a decent distributor of the puck. However, he's not a puck holder or a true offensive player by any means."
ReplyDeleteWow...they've sure missed the boat on this one.
@flamingpavelbure
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting that. I like Hamilton but considered him Poo 2 as well.
A friend of mine was a motocross racer and ended up at the point with his collarbones that Doc said one more and your done. That concerned me for CH.
I hope your quote is right otherwise Hammer (copyright) might not last long hammering Canucks and Flames.