On Tyler Pitlick and the World Juniors

Word reached us earlier in the week that Tyler Pitlick will not be attending Team USA’s “tryout camp”, and was met with a lot of hand-wringing among Oilerdom. A couple of explainations were put forth, with many of them nicking Pitlick because he spurned NCAA hockey in favour of the CHL this past offseason. The hole in this theory rests with Jack Campbell’s selection to the team. Gone are the days where the American team was as close-minded as the Ruskies, they’re pulling the best talent from wherever they can find it.

While it’s hard to take initially, there are a lot of factors at play here that may benefit Pitlick and Team USA in the long run.

Pitlick is off to a decent start with Medicine Hat, but results have been a tad underwhelming. We had been led to believe that young Pitlick would immediately get to work dominating WHL competition. A slow October gave way to a better November yet he was passed over by a couple of curious selections, filling out Team USA’s 29 man camp roster. With as many as six returning forwards from last year’s Gold medal winning team, Pitlick was in tough to crack this roster to begin with. The newcomers to the selection camp are of similar stature to Pitlick and will bring the tenacity and speed that was a hallmark of last year’s entry. Also along for the ride in what may be a case similar to Jordan Schroeder is 5’6” Rocco Grimaldi who is eligible for the 2011 entry draft.

If Team USA had used the same style of selection camp that the Canadians are fond of, there is little doubt in my mind that Pitlick would have been among the names called. I have to say I’m a fan of the Americans’ camp (minus the lack of goaltending competition) because the coaching staff have fewer players they have to focus on before making a decision. However Pitlick is not on this roster, which leaves him in Medicine Hat for a lenghy duration, possibly minus two of his star teammates.

Unlike Pitlick who did not make the selection camp roster, Anaheim’s 2010 first rounder Emerson Etem is vying for a spot. Selected two spots before Pitlick, Etem possesses that effortless speed that the American brass has been fond of in recent years. While speed isn’t exactly a weakness of Pitlick’s game, it can’t be called a strength either. A flashy scorer with some grit to his game, Etem could fill multiple roles for the American squad. This leaves a hole in the Hat’s top-2 lines, especially if Etem is suiting up for Team USA come boxing day.

Another traning camp invite went to Canadian Linden Vey, the leading scorer for the Tigers. Vey has been on fire early this year and would be considered a huge loss to Medicine Hat over the Christmas break. I don’t know much about Vey other than he’s been around the Dub for what seems like forever. He’s bounced around quite a bit but has found a home on Medicine Hat’s top line. He’s a year older than both Pitlick and Etem and has the offensive game to crack the Canadians’ final roster if he has a good camp and catches some instant chemistry with similarly skilled players.

All this means that Tyler Pitlick could be missing two key teammates in Medicine Hat and might be looked upon to fill the void. This is a great chance for us to get a better idea of what Pitlick can bring in the WHL. If he’s able to step up in the absence of Etem and Vey it’ll mean that Pitlick is on track at becoming a Top-6 guy at the NHL level. If the Tigers falter without their two stars it’ll be on Pitlick that most of that blame falls. Time to see if the move from NCAA hockey was worth it.

Prospects Live!

The night of Friday, December 3rd 2010 will not soon be forgotten. The AHL’s newest franchise, Edmonton’s affiliate the Oklahoma City Barons made what will be an annual pilgrimage to Manitoba to battle the Moose. It’s a match-up of future members of Northwest Division rivals, and both franchises have some nice things to look forward to if today’s game was any indication.

Attending tonight’s game was a gathering of Winnipeg’s Oilogosphere community. Along with myself, the Junior Vice-President of Bubbling Under, were two superb commenters who I happened to first come to know from visiting Lowetide’s fine site. Providing witty insight, and scamming free beer off the fine-featured waitresses of our pre-game boozenglug was the irreverent Showerhead. He is a man I’ve come to know on a more personal level ever since we discovered we share a passion for the field of Environmental Sciences, and have since taken two University classes together. I also had the pleasure of meeting another wise commenter in Icecastles, a man who has likely seen more snow in his life than most 70-year olds have, and still manages to remain loyal to the Oilers. As quick with his humour as he is with his adept hockey commentary, it was a pleasure meet the man and share a couple hours of drinking and hockey. There was also a friend of Showerhead, whose moniker will be Chris, because he lacks a handle around the Oilogosphere that I know of. Chris was indispensible, providing more colourful commentary and, well, shelled out the money up-front for the tickets.

Said tickets, it should be noted, were primo. First row between the blueline and faceoff circle, Barons attacking zone for two of three periods. We were so close to the action that Shawn Belle was actually able to look like he was ignoring me when I yelled “TAKE A SLAPSHOT” at him before a faceoff. While it did make for a bit of a trying time identifying things like breakout structure and defensive posture of the Oilers prospects, Showerhead always had to be on his game to avoid a glass-rattling hit from Johan Motin up-ending his overpriced alcoholic beverage.

My initial thoughts on the size of these fine upstanding gentlemen as the game was in its infancy is that these are some large mammals we’re dealing with. Alex Giroux stood out in my eyes as being much larger than advertised. Alex Plante also remains one of the largest defensemen I’ve seen. But the player that stood out more than the rest was Manitoba’s starting goaltender, a rookie by the name of Eddie Lack. He’s Dubnyk-sized and then some.

The Moose have a lot of things going for them this year, but have been treading water in the middle of the pack in the North Division. They found an adequate replacement for first round draft pick Cory Schneider between the pipes in the aforementioned Lack, who interestingly enough is the son of the goaltending coach previously employed by Florida’s goalie of the future, Jakob Markstrom. The Canucks took a flyer on him this off-season, betting on his bloodlines and look to have another NHL-calibre goaltender in the fold. He impressed me with his positioning and puck-moving abilities. The Moose are a veteran-laden team up front for the most part, but also feature a tandem of young first rounders in Jordan Schroeder, who scored, and Cody Hodgson, who did not. Both had relatively unspectacular nights and had gone somewhat unnoticed by my counterparts. A conversation with Showerhead went as such:

Showerhead: Hodgson was a fairly highly touted draft pick, wasn’t he? He seems to have lost a lot of his career already.

Doritogrande: He’s coming back from a pretty serious back injury that limited his playing time last year. Think of him like JF Jacques, with talent.

--------------

The Barons are a nice mix of veteran forwards and green blueliners this year, and tonight was no exception. They iced the following line-up:

Giroux-Moran-Macdonald
Omark-O’Marra-Reddox
Stewart-VandeVelde-Ondrus
Cornet-Kytnar-Hartikainen

Chorney-Plante
Bendfeld-Motin
Belle-Petry

Gerber

I’ll start with those I’ve identified as Bubbling Under’s prospects, and then talk a little about the team as a whole.

Linus Omark is one slick fucker. He’s got a reputation as a turnover machine and tonight was no exception. But as is the common refrain when Hemsky’s turnovers are mentioned, players that control the puck more are bound to turn over the puck more often. Omark’s linemates went out of their way to get Omark the puck, because he can do things with it. Created offense all night long by stick-handling through traffic, spotting the open man and outhustling his opponent to loose pucks. Did a lot of great work on the boards battling with men much larger than he, and showed off some impressive speed in a couple instances. Drew two penalties due to his hard work and constant motor. Clearly at the top of the AHL calibre players and wouldn’t look out of place on the Oilers. Oh, and he tried to pull his lob-shot out in the shootout. He started his attempt off with a spin-o-rama to pick up the puck and carry it in across the blue line. It made the four of us giggle with delight and want to have his babies. Okay, maybe just me. He’s an entertainer.

Chris VandeVelde was pegged as the de-facto checking center tonight, and was given the linemates befitting a player that the coaching staff wants in a defined role. He was able to saw-off the Moose top line of Hodgson-Volpatti-Shirokov with a little help from his friends. He showed good hustle, average speed and good skills in the faceoff dot. Although he appeared to defer to Milan Kytnar once in the third period when both young centers were on the ice together (a draw that Kytnar did win). Wasn’t shy in throwing his weight around in the corners either. Was the last Barons shooter in the SO and wasn’t able to impress, attempting to out-deke Lack only to run out of both time and space rather quickly. Wasn’t a good effort, especially with Reddox and Moran left on the bench.

Phil Cornet showed some hustle and a lot of try, but wasn’t much of a factor. He also didn’t get much ice-time so it wasn’t like much else could be expected about him.

Milan Kytnar was effective in the time he was given. Good positioning and faceoff skills. His speed is somewhat lacking at the AHL level and will hold him back from going any farther in his career.

To see Teemu Hartikainen on the fourth line was, to be honest, a shock. He got some extra time on the PP but didn’t put it to good use tonight. He was faster than I thought given most of the scouting reports knock his top speed. He’s also a battler along the boards and is willing to go into traffic with the puck. Drew a penalty by keeping his feet moving. A so-so effort in the shootout. He’s got a long way to go apparently, but he’s on track.

Taylor Chorney....The four of us had a nice comment on him when we noticed his jersey number. #4...check. Taylor...check. Chorney...damn. So close. To be truthful though, he was rushing the puck in a style similar to Edmonton’s current #4 tonight. It didn’t really work that well unfortunately. He was in good position most of the time tonight, but was caught flat-footed a couple times and took a careless tripping penalty in his zone. If my eyes were good tonight, he and Plante were facing the top two lines of Manitoba for a good chunk of the night.

Alex Plante is, as mentioned, a large mammal. He was good positionally except for a twenty-second stretch late in overtime where he made two successive mistakes. He was able to use his speed and physical prowess to make up for the first, throwing the Moose attacker to the ice in a rather impressive forearm shiver. He was taken wide about 15 seconds later and wasn’t able to recover, and was forced to take a hooking penalty to negate a dangerous scoring chance. Made up the second PP unit with Chorney but seemed tentative to unleash his shot from the point, preferring to pass to the sideboards time and time again.

Johan Motin knows how to finish checks, but doesn’t know how to stay out of the sin-bin. Took two penalties tonight for hooking/tripping infractions that could have been avoided through better positioning and speed. He’s regressing as a prospect in my opinion, not only due to the influx of new prospects to the system, but his own mental mistakes.

Jordan Bendfeld drew into tonight’s game, and holy hell did he make an impact. I’ll assume something’s up with Richard Petiot because a veteran presence would have helped tonight. Bendfeld’s shining moment came when he popped a moose forward center-ice just as he was receiving a pass. He came high and brought an elbow to the player’s head which resulted in an immediate whistle. That still didn’t stop former first round pick Ryan Parent from attempting to blind-side the forgotten prospect. Even though he didn’t seem prepared for the act of goonery, Bendfeld emphatically dropped Parent with a couple of quick haymakers. Two minutes for elbowing, two for roughing and a pat on the back from the entire Barons team.

Jeff Petry was an impressive physical specimen, both in his size and his skating ability. What surprised me was that he and Shawn Belle were kept away from the Moose’s top players at even strength. I had thought that Petry was taking on tough opposition but this wasn’t the case tonight. It is important to note however that the Petry-Belle tandem was the first over the boards on both SH and PP chances, and that’s a good sign for the young prospect. Maybe they’re taking the lessons learned from Chorney (throwing the kid into the deep end and hope he knows how to swim), and are bringing Petry along slower at EV but with added special teams responsibilities. Was relatively high-event tonight, on the ice for both Barons goals and one goal against.

A note on Gerber. He’s exactly what this team needs in net, especially with a blue-line as bereft of veteran presence as this one. He was solid tonight and came within a perfect Sergei Shirokov shot over his glove-hand from extending the SO. He’s also got a great mental attitude, as was demonstrated perfectly during the second period. The rowdies near us decided this was the best time to start the ever popular let’s-try-and-say-the-goalie’s-name-in-a-mocking-fashion trick. Hilarity ensued.

Showerhead: Stupid people. Gerber’s unbreakable!

Doritogrande: Uh...didn’t he break his neck last year?

Showerhead: ....so?

The Barons veteran forwards, to finish off my synopsis didn’t show up ready to play tonight, with the exception of Liam Reddox. The ginger was everywhere and was gifted the game’s first goal courtesy the best pass Marco Rosa has ever made. Note: Rosa plays for the Moose. Reddox had a full five seconds in front of Lack to deke seven different ways, finally and mercifully putting the puck five-hole. Giroux managed an assist on a nice pass to Belle coming into the zone late, but didn’t create much more offense than that. Moran was even more invisible. These two, along with Ryan O’Marra have to be better if they hope to take the second game of the back-to-back tomorrow night.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the game as much as I did.

Prospect Statistics - November

Apologies for my lack of posting during the month of November. Turns out my laptop isn’t as bulletproof as the price-tag suggested it should be. Nor is the extended warranty.

But I digress. November saw a couple of prospects pull away from the pack, while others came crashing back down to Earth after putting up successful showings in October. 2010 is turning out to be a banner year for Stu MacGregor, our resident talent finder, but it appears that the lustre is quickly dulling on 2009.

On a formatting note, I can’t stand the way I tried to organize the October stats, so I’ll be tweaking them yet again. Please comment if you’ve got suggestions on how this can be improved.

*Edit: I’ve not yet completed the icetime totals for our NHL prospects (Eberle, Hall, Paajarvi) and would like to get this thing up ASAP. I’ll have a second post up later on with their respective icetimes and comments.

Cameron Abney RW Edmonton/WHL
NOV 9GP 0-0-0 -2 9PIM 9ZPG
YTD 24GP 3-1-4 -4 26 PIM

Best use of a 3rd round pick ever? He’s a tough guy who appears unwilling to goon it up anymore. What good is he now that his burgeoning offensive talent has dried up? Didn’t dress for the last two games of November.

Phil Cornet Wing Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 5GP 0-0-0 -2 2PIM 2SH 5ZPG
YTD 15GP 0-2-2 -3 2PIM 12SH

Not sure what to expect here, as I didn’t peg him as an every-day player in OKC this year. Missed 6 games in a row in early November, likely due to JF Jacques’ conditioning stint. He’s not on a feature line, so the points aren’t likely to come. He’s also not pushing for additional ice time with his performances, so he’s likely in “next year territory” already.

Drew Czerwonka LW Kootenay/WHL
NOV 8GP 2-1-3 +3 13PIM 5ZPG
YTD 23GP 7-5-12 -1 26PIM

He’s come back down from his soaring heights of October, but he’s still producing at a respectable level for what he is (a 6th round pick). He’s seeing powerplay time (one PP goal this month) so his point totals should be taken with a grain of salt. Interesting player steadily earning the trust of his coaches.

Robby Dee C Maine/NCAA
NOV 5GP 0-1-1 +1 2PIM 15SH 4ZPG
YTD 13GP 5-7-12 +4 4PIM 36SH

As well as the month of October was to our long-lost 2005 draft pick, November was the polar opposite. His Maine squad had a very infrequent schedule which might have had some effect on his consistency, but that’s a poor excuse for a collegiate athlete who at 23 should be dominating the league. On a positive note, his faceoff percentages are hovering around 60% on the year (62% in November in just under 200 attempts). He, like VandeVelde, might garner a contract due to his toolbox meshing nicely with what the Oilers organization needs (big bodied C with faceoff skill).

Jordan Eberle RW Edmonton/NHL
NOV 14GP 0-7-7 -6 2PIM 22SH 7ZPG
YTD 23GP 4-11-15 -4 4PIM 41SH

Eberle continues to impress me at the NHL level with his consistency and work ethic. He’s the best of the kids and the coaches are rewarding his growth with special teams time (one powerplay assist). His lack of goal scoring is of little concern to me because he’s still creating offense. Some will point out that he’s been a premier goal scorer wherever he’s played in the past, but then again Liam Reddox was pegged as a top-6 guy or nothing at all coming out of junior, most kids will be different players once they mature. Hoping for more good things to come.

Taylor Hall LW Edmonton/NHL
NOV 14GP 4-3-7 -1 2PIM 36SH 8ZPG
YTD 23GP 6-6-12 -5 6PIM 55SH

Hall is improving over the last two months, and that’s a great sign for Oilers fans. He’s shooting, he’s more involved in the overall game, and he’s got confidence playing with Eberle and old man Horcoff. It’s great to see chemistry developing with our youngest player and our most responsible two-way forward and it’ll bode well for Hall’s future if he can be relied upon in all three zones. He’s scoring at even strength (3-2-5) as well as the PP (1-1-2) and his production has been consistent (only one multi-point game in November). The only question I have left is whether he can sustain this positive growth throughout the months to come.

Curtis Hamilton Wing Saskatoon/WHL
NOV 11GP 7-11-18 +13 0PIM 2ZPG
YTD 26GP 15-22-37 +26 6PIM

An outstanding month for our Dub stud has seen his stock rise on a National level, with an invite to Team Canada’s U-20 tryout camp. Hamilton has shown the ability to score at will and, perhaps more importantly, remain healthy. A big body who knows how to create offense on the PK (scored a SH goal this month) is a welcome commodity to any team. He might not be the kind of guy TC is looking at using in a Top-6 role for this year’s team, but I doubt they’ll find a better energy/role player who has a 6’3” frame. I’ll be surprised if he isn’t playing key minutes in Buffalo over Christmas.

Teemu Hartikainen RW Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 11GP 3-3-6 -3 10PIM 22SH 6ZPG
YTD 23GP 7-4-11 -11 17PIM 47SH

Hartikainen is doing what we thought he’d be doing in a Pro North-American league; score goals. He’s been very effective on the powerplay, all his goals this month came courtesy the man-advantage, but he’s still giving a lot back in terms of scoring chances the other way. He’s improving in this regard, his +/- is nowhere near as bad as his October statistic, but there’s lots of room to improve still.

Kellen Jones Wing Quinnipiac/NCAA
NOV 8GP 1-0-1 -1 6PIM 12SH 7ZPG
YTD 15GP 4-4-8 -1 25PIM 30SH

Not a lot of promising performances to write about for the wundertwins at Quinnipiac this month. Both brothers have been relatively ineffective. What’s more concerning is that their struggles appear to be affecting the team, who have been in a tailspin since the Jones’ offense dried up. As Kellen and Connor go, so too does their team. They’ve got to get back to their scoring ways or risk losing their team, and themselves back to relative obscurity.

Milan Kytnar C Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 11GP 0-2-2 -5 4PIM 8SH 9ZPG
YTD 22GP 1-4-5 -7 6PIM 17SH

A mediocre month for Kytnar. His offense is about where we should expect is, but the minus-5 isn’t what I was led to believe was par for the course. He’s not likely to be handling hard minutes as the Barons are a veteran-laden team, which makes his +/- a very disappointing stat.

Anton Lander C Timra/SEL
NOV 8GP 2-3-5 +1 4PIM 14SH 142.07TOI 4ZPG
YTD 24GP 6-6-12 +2 18PIM 40SH 434.16TOI

The 19-year old Lander is handling 3rd line duty in a professional league very well. He’s seeing on average 18 minutes of all-purpose ice time per game and is using it to score goals and keep opponents from scoring. He should be expecting a call from the Swedish junior National team where he could be the team’s top center and captain. He’s proving that his decision to stay another year in Sweden was sage advice. Continued play like this and Lander should be in line to make a direct jump to the NHL next year as a bottom-6 C.

Ryan Martindale C Ottawa/OHL
NOV 12GP 8-12-20 +12 8PIM 3ZPG
YTD 27GP 17-23-40 +21 18PIM

Okay. I’m starting to come around on the supposed “lazy oaf”. He’s kicking down the doors of the OHL along with fellow 2010 draftee Tyler Toffoli and 2011-eligible Shane Prince, and he’s doing it at even strength (5-12-17 EV scoring). It’d be interesting to see how the kids did if they were split apart, but if I’m coaching the 67’s I don’t fix what ain’t broke. Should be attending the Team Canada camp (who wouldn’t want a 6’2” center with offensive skill at least around for the tryouts?), but I’ll get over it. Keep it coming kid.

Linus Omark Wing Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 11GP 8-4-12 +4 6PIM 36SH 4ZPG
YTD 23GP 12-9-21 +5 28PIM 62SH

Linus has had a great start to the season in the AHL, but appearances are somewhat deceiving in November as his stat-line was the beneficiary of an un-repeatable performance against the Baby-Leaves. While 5 goals in a game is an impressive feat, that accounted for more than half his goal totals for the entire month. I might be nit-picking but if he’s to be garnering interest from the NHL team, he’s got to be a consistent scorer at even strength, which wasn’t the case in November (4-3-7 on the man advantage). The creativity is there and it’s being noticed, but he won’t get by on offense in Edmonton.

Magnus Paajarvi LW Edmonton/NHL
NOV 13GP 0-0-0 -8 0PIM 17SH 13ZPG
YTD 22GP 2-4-6 -4 6PIM 41SH

Ouch. An O-fer month should spell the end of Paajarvi’s season in the NHL on any team other than the Oilers. The kid’s clearly in over his head and needs more time developing at a level where he can succeed. If he’s not going to get the linemates or ice-time (he trails Hall and Eberle in both categories)in Edmonton, get him the hell outta dodge.

Tyler Pitlick RW Medicine Hat/WHL
NOV 13GP 8-5-13 +5 12PIM 5ZPG
YTD 22GP 11-12-23 +4 19PIM

Pitlick is still adjusting to life off-campus, and he’s also adjusting to a new position. He’s been moved off center, a move he’s made before. The offense is coming through in bursts (one 4 point game, one 3 point game) and he’s also contributing on the PP (1-2-3). He’s in the range of expectations I had at the start of the year, but he’s not dominating like his teammates (Linden Vey is on fire right now, Emerson Etem is no longer shooting blanks). Continued growth is important for Pitlick in all areas of the game, and we’re seeing baby steps from the 2010 2nd rounder.

Kristians Pelss RW Edmonton/WHL
NOV 11GP 1-5-6 +3 4PIM 8ZPG
YTD 25GP 2-6-8 +2 12PIM

The Latvian import seems to be getting better accustomed to the WHL, and it’s starting to show in his offensive totals. It’s coming in the form of multi-point games (3 of them for his 6 points), but we’ll take progress wherever it comes from with the 7th rounder I had no expectations of. He’s lapping Cam Abney right now, with the next goal being a guy the coach can count on for top-6 minutes.

William Quist

I don’t have anything nice to say.

Toni Rajala Wing Ilves/SM-Liiga
NOV 4GP 2-0-2 -1 2PIM 24SH 59.27 TOI 2ZPG
YTD 17GP 5-4-9 -7 2PIM 77SH 253.25 TOI

Rajala had a string of six missed games during the month of November. It could be military services, it could be a re-aggrivation of the October injury, but I don’t speak Flemish. He showed well in the games he participated in and appears to be getting a regular shift in the Top-6 when healthy. He’s been really trigger-happy this year, which I like to see. Hopefully he can find his way into more games as the season progresses and get his ass back to North America next year.

Chris VandeVelde C Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 11GP 3-2-5 +2 8PIM 14SH 7ZPG
YTD 22GP 4-3-7 -6 14PIM 23SH

The biggest area of improvement for VandeVelde is his +/-. He’s starting to understand where he has to be on the ice and is helping his team win hockey games. Point totals are nice to see, but isn’t what’ll get him to the NHL. Another month of numbers in the black and he’ll be pushing for a call-up.

Jordan Bendfeld D Stockton/ECHL

When last we chatted, I mentioned that Bendfeld had surfaced in Stockton for a game in October. Since then I’ve noticed he’s played in a couple more with middling results. I wasn’t able to get the game-by-game statistics due to an issue with the ECHL’s website. Suffice to say he’s not a threat to any of the young blueliners in Oklahoma.

Jeremie Blain D Bathurst/QMJHL

Didn’t play a game in November. He’s still injured with no timetable for his return to action.

Kyle Bigos D Merrimack/NCAA
NOV 8GP 0-2-2 -1 22PIM 11SH 6ZPG
YTD 13GP 0-4-4 +2 38PIM 20SH

Bigos is playing big on the Merrimack blueline, as his PIM totals seem to indicate. He’s not messing around and putting up the occasional assist. He’s still seeing powerplay time (1 PP assist) but the points aren’t coming as readily as last year. Still a longshot to have an NHL career but he’s having a decent enough season thusfar.

Taylor Chorney D Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 11GP 0-4-4 +3 2PIM 19SH 8ZPG
YTD 23GP 0-7-7 +4 10PIM 37SH

He was billed as an offensive defenseman, a puck-mover, when he signed out of UND three seasons ago. He’s putting up points on the PP (all four points this month) but isn’t doing much else. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing mind, as he was known for being too “high-event” with the big club last year. If he can keep his game steady and mistake-free he might make his way back to the NHL one day.

Brandon Davidson D Regina/WHL
NOV 12GP 3-12-15 +1 17PIM 2ZPG
YTD 27GP 4-21-25 -7 28PIM

I’ll be the first to admit that when tallying the November totals for each player, I was outright surprised by Davidson’s, more than anyone else. Those single point games night in and night out really did add up for Davidson in November. He’s even improving his +/- from a month to month perspective. Has he turned the corner to the point where we can discuss a career in hockey once he graduates from junior? He’ll certainly be relying on the PP at the next level (2-4-6 in November).

Troy Hesketh D Chicago/USHL
NOV 10GP 0-0-0 -9 4PIM 5SH 10ZPG
YTD 21GP 0-0-0 -9 28PIM 7SH

Hesketh is getting schooled in a league where Jeff Petry was an All-Star. Troy is not even close. Offensively, defensively, everywhere.

Martin Marincin D Prince George/WHL
NOV 10GP 2-10-12 -4 14PIM 4ZPG
YTD 26GP 9-21-30 +5 35PIM

Marincin’s offense is continuing to hum along at a level most players can’t even dream about, but he’s starting to show holes in his all-around game. He’s still got blue-chipper written all over him, but he should be concerned about that minus-4 he’s got looming over his November. Also, he was a PP-dynamo this month, going 2-7-9.

Johan Motin D Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 10GP 1-2-3 -2 11PIM 10SH 8ZPG
YTD 19GP 1-2-3 -2 18PIM 14SH

Motin had a couple of good games in November, but it was one step forward, two steps back for the young Swedish defender. His -2 actually looks flattering, especially when noticing he had one game where he went +3. He was HS’d once in early-November and is the first defender to draw out of the line-up in favour of a more veteran presence. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he saw more of the pressbox as the season progresses.

Jeff Petry D Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 11GP 2-5-7 -1 8PIM 22SH 6ZPG
YTD 23GP 4-10-14 -9 12PIM 48SH

Petry had a much better month when judged by the metric that the first job of a defenseman is to defend. Reports are suggesting that Petry is playing fairly tough competition in the AHL, and it looks like he’s becoming better suited to his role. Offensively, Petry continues to hum along at a high level, particularly on the powerplay (1-3-4 in November). He also has a SH goal to his credit. Consistency is key for Petry if he wants to see NHL hockey this year.

Alex Plante D Oklahoma/AHL
NOV 10GP 1-3-4 +4 24PIM 14SH 6ZPG
YTD 22GP 1-5-6 +2 56PIM 22SH

Plante continues to gain momentum as a professional defenseman. He’s putting up a bit of offense, preventing the opponents to score, and laying a beatdown on anyone who so much as looks at him the wrong way. He’s exactly the type of defenseman the Oilers need right now. Could see NHL action in the new year.

Tyler Bunz G Medicine Hat/WHL
NOV 10GP 8W 0.923 SV% 2.27GAA 1SO
YTD 17GP 11W 0.913 SV% 2.57GAA 1SO

Tyler Bunz is trending up. He’s finally getting a starting goaltender’s workload and he’s proving that the faith in him is well deserved. He had a great November from a statistic viewpoint where he outplayed the front-runner for the U-20 starting goalie (also an Edmonton prospect). Nice things for a late-round pick.

Bryan Pitton G Oklahoma/AHL

Pitton didn’t play in November with the arrival of Jeff Deslauriers to OKC. Even with the recall of Martin Gerber to Edmonton, Pitton didn’t see a minute of action even though Deslauriers had a couple of off nights. I suspect he’s played his last game for the Oilers organization.

Olivier Roy G Bathurst/QMJHL
NOV 7GP 0.890 SV% 3.54GAA
YTD 18GP 0.907 SV% 2.88GAA 1SO

Olivier Roy is being touted as the odds-on favourite to be Team Canada’s starting goaltender in Buffalo this year. Let’s hope they didn’t look at his November stats, because they aren’t very pretty. He’s playing on a weak and undermanned team in Acadie-Bathurst, he’s being counted on to be the Titan’s best player night in and night out and he’s delivering mediocre results. I wasn’t convinced he had true #1 potential, and he hasn’t done anything in November to sway me.