Their parent
club might be on the outside looking in at the post season, but for a myriad of
Oiler prospects this spring, the playoffs are still very much a reality. The three major junior leagues in
Oiler VP of Hockey Operations Kevin Prendergast was eager to give updates on several key players during
QMJHL
“I think from Jeff’s stand point there’s a real competition there, both
being French goalies and both being from the same draft year and so on but it’s
good for Jeff to be in that kind of atmosphere,” explained Prendergast. “It gives him a real good purpose as far as
wanting to win against a team they might not really have any business
beating. If
If by
chance
“He’s agreed already that if they get beat
that he’d go to
The Rimouski
Oceanic easily swept past
“He missed the final two weeks and then (
Pouliot has had an injury plagued season beginning with a hip flexor
suffered in the summer at Team
“With the stomach, it’s not something that
means you’re fragile or anything it just happens from training,” Prendergast
explained. “The wrist, we’ve had all
kinds of problems with wrists (in
Pouliot sat for the final two weeks of the
year but did suck it up for the three weeks prior to that before finally
agreeing to rest the arm.
“He’s the captain of his team for a reason
and certainly he has leadership qualities and now he’s got an opportunity that
he’s healthy to take that team through the playoffs.”
The other prospect the Oilers had involved in
QMJHL playoff action was Jean-Francois Jacques but Baie-Comeau was quickly eliminated by
“Jacques had a really good year but I think
it was not a very good hockey club,” said
This week Jacques will visit a surgeon in
Montreal and then undergo some testing by Edmonton trainer Ken Lowe in regards
to a shoulder problem Prendergast first told Hockey’s Future about back in
December.
“(Jacques) says it feels pretty good and he
came through the year better than he thought he would with it and once we get
the testing back on it next week we’ll make a decision of what were going to do
with it,” said Prendergast.
OHL
There is only one OHL player to follow if you
are an Oiler fan but Zack Stortini is quickly garnering plenty of attention and
respect from those outside of
“He had a guaranteed win night when they went
into St. Mike’s rink and he ended up scoring the winning goal in the second
overtime so that shows you what he’s made of,” Prendergast said while grinning
from ear to ear. “He’s a pretty quiet
kid so they must have really upset him to get him like that.”
Stortini was singled out in a late season OHL
coach’s poll in both the hardest working and most improved player categories.
“It doesn’t surprise me, he’s a kid with a
big heart and he’s going to find a way to play,” added Prendergast. “He’s in
WHL
The Moose Jaw Warriors are led by captain Kyle Brodziak and are currently knotted up with the Red Deer Rebels in their second
round WHL series. If you are an Oiler
fan, you have to be excited about the development of Brodziak this year when
seemingly from out of nowhere, the seventh round draft pick stayed at or near
the top of the scoring race for the entire season.
“He’s had an outstanding season and he’s a
young man that’s not going to quit,” beamed Prendergast. “He finished third in scoring in the league,
he’s captain of his hockey club, and he did everything that was asked of
him. He’s got great offensive tools,
he’s very good in his own end, and he’s just a solid hockey player. He’s going to get a little bit bigger and
stronger like all of them do at that age but anybody in
At this stage, all signs point towards
Brodziak playing next season in
“When he’s had the type of year he has had in
junior this season, you want to take that skill to the next level,” confirmed
Prendergast. “We’re going to have
another young team in Toronto again next year because we have a lot of kids
coming sort of at the same time so we’d like to get him in the system as quick
as we could.”
Brodziak himself remains focused on the
business he currently has at hand but also acknowledges his desire to turn pro
next year too.
“That’s
what I’m hoping for sure but you never know what’s going to happen,” said Brodziak after game 3 of the series with
Edmonton’s
only other WHL prospect is Troy Bodie and as a member of the Kelowna Rockets, he’s guaranteed to make a
Memorial Cup appearance in a role as one of the hosts. Bodie has a pair of goals in the eight games
that the Rockets have so far played but is generally not an impact player on
that squad. Through 71 games this season
Bodie totalled just 20 points but had 112 penalty minutes.
NCAA
“He’s a
kid that thinks everything really through and he’s got pulls on him from all
sides,” said Prendergast. “He hasn’t
made a decision on an agent, which is good, he’s got a coach there that is
throwing the captaincy at him to come back next year now that Parise’s gone,
he’s got his parents telling him how important schooling is, he’s got his own
mind wondering if his current level is enough for him or if it’s time to move
on. He’s going to take his time, he’s in
no hurry, and then when he’s made his decision he’s going to give us a call and
let us know.”
“It’s
one of those things that as Matt gives it more thought, his number one goal in
life is to be a hockey player,” he continued.
“Irregardless of the school whether it be Harvard, Notre Dame or North
Dakota, if you want to be a hockey player there comes a time when you have to
make the decision that now’s the time to go.
That’s where he is right now, he’s not sure if he’s ready to go or if he
needs one more year of schooling before he makes that decision.”
Clearly
the Oilers would like to see Greene decide to turn pro sooner rather than later
because they feel he can already challenge for an NHL position.
“I think when he was here last summer
he physically could have played,” Prendergast complimented. “He’s 220 lbs and it’s
solid muscle but it’s a step and I think that’s something Matt has to
understand. Brad Winchester and Joe Cullen went through it this year and there’s a
process you have to go through. We’re
not going to rush guys, we want to make sure we put them into a situation that
they can succeed in and it’s a very young team in
The opportunity for Greene to finish the
season in the AHL is definitely still on the table though.
“We’ve talked to him and I think at this
point he’s still trying to get over the disappointment of not playing,”
concluded Prendergast. “He said he
wanted to take a little bit of time just to contemplate whether he wanted to go
back to school for another year or if it was time to come out so we’re just
going to let that lie for the time being.”
Kenny Smith and Jason Platt joined the
Roadrunners on amateur tryout contracts as soon as their seasons came to an end
at Harvard and
Europeans
Mikael Svensk, the bruising blueliner from
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow when I go through
The Oilers are high on Svensk and believe
that he can definitely play for the Roadrunners next season and eventually
challenge for a job with the Oil.
Speaking of challenging, the efforts to sign Alexei Mikhnov have temporarily been put on
hold.
“We’ve had discussions with the agent and
(Mikhnov) is very interested in coming over,” confirmed Prendergast. “He’s with the National Team training right
now in
By all accounts progress is going well and at
this time, it is looking quite promising that an agreement will be reached that
will see Mikhnov play in
While Mikhnov appears headed for
“He’s in the process of signing with TPS
Turku and I think from the standpoint of, ‘if there is no NHL next year’, I
think he has to get back playing again,” confessed Prendergast. “His agent is going to let us know, they’re
in the negotiation stage and when it gets really serious then they’re going to
talk to us and see what our plans are for him.
I hope to talk to him when I’m over there on this trip.”
If Niinimaki does sign in
“Well he could probably come over depending
on when the camp is,” said Prendergast.
“They would probably release him for four or five days to come over to
our mini-camp but if there is a training camp in September then no he wouldn’t be able to come for that, at this point it doesn’t
look like it. That goes back to
the injury, he basically only played eight games all year and from our
standpoint as a first rounder we’d like to see him play more and get bigger and
make a decision on him from there.”
Prospect
The mention of the mini-camp suggests that
since Prendergast and GM Kevin Lowe spoke with Hockey’s Future in March, the
announcement of the possible suspension of the event is being reconsidered.
“I think it’s gone from being on, to off, to
basically being about half on right now,” smiled Prendergast. “We’re going to meet in the next few weeks
about it. I talked to Kevin (Lowe)
briefly the other day and he said that it might not be a bad idea if we could
find the money to do it again.”
“It’s just a matter of finding the right
date,” he explained. “We don’t want to
do it before the draft because I want to bring in this year’s drafted players
to it, then we have the AHL meetings right after the draft so if we do
it, it will be after the first weekend in July.
That would be the Monday or Tuesday, which is the 6th or 7th
of July, for three or four days.”
The mini-camp last year was a big success for
the organization and even more so for the players who were able to take
part. Not only is it an undeniable
benefit for the players but strictly from a public relations perspective, with
the league headed for a possible lengthy work stoppage it would be great for
the fans as well.
“Absolutely, I agree with you that it’s a
great thing for many reasons,” Prendergast admitted. “We’re in a financial situation here with a
possibility of no hockey next year, it’s something that I think Kevin has to go
to the ownership group and talk to them about.”
Financially it is a bit of a burden because
of all the expenses many people don’t think about. Those playing in the NCAA must pay their own
way because of regulations with their league but in all other cases, the Oilers
foot the bill.
“You have the other North Americans and we
brought over a bunch of Europeans over which was pretty expensive because we
have to put them up, pay for them, pay for ice, pay for sticks and equipment,
pay for trainers and stuff like that,” Prendergast listed. “It’s not huge costs but it’s still a
cost that when you’re struggling from a money standpoint, even though we
know it’s good, maybe from an ownership standpoint they might feel that we
could wait a year for these kids, but I think Kevin’s going to try his best to
push this through.”
While hockey in
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