Early on this year it looked as though the Oiler CHL prospects were going to enjoy an unprecedented level of success. Almost all 12 of them were off to amazing beginnings in the early stages of their seasons and most of them have actually built on those hot starts. Recently the Oilers added one more prospect to the system adding their Canadian based player total to lucky 13, the highest amount in quite some time.

 

For an additional information and comments on certain players, look to the recently posted Top 20 Oiler Prospects HF story.

 

WHL

 

Troy Bodie

Age: 19 Draft: 9^th Round 2003 Junior Year: 3^rd Outlook: Good

 

For the first six weeks of the year, Troy Bodie was either on top of the scoring race in Kelowna or a very close second. Not only was the 6’5 power forward leading his club in offense but he was also among the elite in the entire league. Much of that early success could be attributed to a better work ethic and line chemistry with fellow Oiler prospect Tyler Spurgeon.

 

“I think we come to the rink every day with the mindset of working hard and trying to improve ourselves,” Bodie said in November. “We’re getting a chance to show our stuff this year and we’re trying to contribute to the team.”

 

As an 18-year-old, Bodie did not break out until late in the season and then he really played strong hockey during the playoffs where he lead the Rockets in postseason goal scoring.

 

“Yeah the regular season was kind of average, but I stepped it up in the playoffs and got a few points and helped the team quite a bit,” he said. “I just played hard and got some bounces, maybe it was the intensity of the playoffs but I’m not sure.”

 

“I think he’s really taken his game forward and worked hard; he has really improved,” a WHL scout told Hockey’s Future. “He has to pick up his skating but his effort has really come a long way. I think the wear and tear of the season has caught up to him a little bit but overall he’s been very good.”

 

Statistically Bodie had tailed off about a month ago but he has begun factoring in on the score sheet once again and his 27 points are still good enough for third on the team. With 10 goals already to his credit, Bodie has established a new WHL career high for himself and with half the season now completed, the Manitoba born winger has surpassed his career high 20-point mark of last year.

 

While no one in the organization is expecting a ninth round draft pick to ever really play in the NHL, Bodie has definitely increased his value and raised his stock from minor league fodder to depth player. Who knows, if his development continues on the steep grade it has been on for the last 10 months, this really could be a player that comes out of no where and accomplishes big things as a pro.

 

Tyler Spurgeon

Age: 18 Draft: 8^th Round 2004 Junior Year: 3^rd Outlook: Average

 

Because he and Bodie are linemates, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Tyler Spurgeon also burst out of the gate very strongly this year. The diminutive center plays with a lot of gusto and vigor, which often creates turnovers and offensive opportunities. For many weeks it was either Spurgeon or Bodie leading the Rockets in scoring and that was something completely new to the third-year forward.

 

“Our role has changed so we have to be more offensive and step up to the plate to get things done,” Spurgeon said. The Edmonton product has already matched his personal best of 24 points in a season and it isn’t unrealistic to project Spurgeon more than doubling that amount by the end of the year.

 

As veteran players like Simon Ferguson (EDM) have graduated from the Rockets, Spurgeon and Bodie’s line has moved up the depth chart on the team and has slid into a more offensive minded slot. With the more ice time and different expectations, the duo paired with Lauris Darzins (NSH) have stepped up to the task of point production. Recently the Oiler pair has also been partnered with Justin Keller (TB).

 

“(Bodie) definitely creates a lot of room out there for me being the big guy that he is and he comes to play every night,” Spurgeon told Hockey’s Future in November. “(Darzins) understands the game and plays the system very well and is a skilled guy so we just try to get him pucks.”

 

“Spurgeon has been getting more offensive opportunity this year and he’s a guy that always produced a lot of points as a kid in minor hockey and this is just the evolution of him being able to play in those situations now,” said a WHL scout. “He’s a guy that brings a tremendous effort and character.”

 

The heart and soul player for Kelowna gives a total effort on every shift and leaves nothing left on the ice after each game. He’s an energy player and an accomplished forechecker that can hound opposing blueliners into coughing up the puck in their own end. He might not have enough skill to challenge for a NHL job in the future but his work ethic will give him opportunities.

 

Roman Tesliuk

Age: 18 Draft: 2^nd Round 2004 Junior Year: 2^nd Outlook: Very Good

 

Roman Tesliuk’s dozen points so far is the second highest total by a defenseman on the Kamloops Blazers this year but it is still off the pace the Russian had declared for himself in the summer. As a spectator at Team Canada’s summer camp in Calgary, Tesliuk told Hockey’s Future that he wanted to score between 30-35 points this year so he’s got a bit of work to do in order to match that target.

 

After getting the opportunity to play a very limited role with the touring Russian team in the ADT Hockey Challenge against a WHL All-Star squad, Tesliuk felt he might get the chance to represent his homeland at the World Junior Championships but in the end he did not get the nod.

 

“I think there have been some outstanding times and there’s been some not as good times; it’s been up and down,” a WHL scout recently reported. “Overall, he’s the No. 1 defenseman on his team and he plays against everybody else’s best players every night so he’s been challenged to do things.”

 

“He’s been asked to do a few things to work on getting better to handle on one-on-one play and he’s done that,” the report continued. “He’s playing really hard and is trying to take his game to another level with the puck. He probably needs to be a little less high risk with it but he’s played really hard and he’s competed which is why he got drafted.”

 

Devan Dubnyk

Age: 18 Draft: 1^st Round 2004 Junior Year: 2^nd Outlook: Very Good

 

After a forgettable half dozen games to begin the year, Kamloops Blazer goalie Devan Dubnyk has been reminding people why he was a first round draft pick last year. The Blazers are a cellar dwelling team in their division, and one of the weakest in the entire league, but things would be much bleaker in Kamloops if their giant keeper weren’t standing tall between the pipes.

 

“One of the stats that amazed me when I saw it was that after 28 games he’d been one of the three stars 14 times, that’s a pretty good stat for any goaltender,” said Prendergast in mid December. “That means a lot of the games are being played in his end.”

 

At the Christmas break Dubnyk had settled in with a .908 save percentage; not great but still good and definitely not bad. Obviously Hockey Canada agreed that Dubnyk’s seasonal performance warranted an invite to their World Junior team’s winter camp in Winnipeg and extended such a call to the 18-year-old.

 

Although he didn’t make the team, getting the invite was a major confidence builder in light of not being chosen to play in the ADT Hockey Challenge earlier in the month. Certainly the Oilers felt their prospect was good enough to play in those games but believe he was hurt by the quality of his club team and their dismal record.

 

“If you put Devan in (Kevin) Nastiuk’s or (Jeff) Glass’ place, he would have been there for sure,” said Prendergast.

 

Pete Peeters, Edmonton’s goalie coach, was in Kamloops working with Dubnyk when the ADT invites came out and he was able to help the youngster to realize that it wasn’t the end of the world.

 

“I don’t think he took it that badly,” said Peeters. “Not everyone is going to play on the hockey team and some of them should, it happens every year. Canada’s never been at a shortage of great goaltending, it’s one of those where you can’t miss.”

 

So like Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers before him, Dubnyk is another Oiler prospect goalie that attended the WJC camp but did not get picked for the team. But he represented Canada at the U18 tournament just over a year ago and he’s the only invited goalie this year who is still eligible for next year, so there are things in his favor for next year already.

 

“The first two weeks of the year he wasn’t as sharp as he wanted to be but since then he’s been their best player,” said a WHL scout. “He’s been their Player of the Month every month so far because he’s been very good; in a lot of cases he’s the only reason they’ve even been close.”

 

First and foremost will be to help backstop the Blazers and try to get them back into a playoff race as the second half of the season begins.

 

Max Gordichuk

Age: 18 Draft: 6^th Round 2004 Junior Year: 2^nd Outlook: Average

 

Having been both traded and injured in the first two months of the year, Max Gordichuk has had his share of distractions this season. The lanky blueliner began the year in Kamloops but was dealt to the Vancouver Giants early in the schedule to address a need on the west coast team’s roster.

 

“Vancouver has been happy with what he’s done,” the WHL scout said. “I’ve known Don Hay for years and he’s not going to lie to me and he tells me ‘We’re very happy with what he’s done’ so you have to take that at face value.”

 

Hay, the Giants coach, told Hockey’s Future the same thing in November during an Alberta road trip. The question is whether or not there has been a progression in his game from last year or even from a disappointing performance at Oiler rookie camp in September.

 

“I’ve seen him play a couple of times since he was traded,” the scout said. “His game was OK, I don’t think it was anything extraordinary, I think his play is about the same as last year.”

 

The complaint about Gordichuk is that he’s a 5’10 person trapped in a 6’4 body.

 

“He does have good puck skill for a big kid but I think the problem with Max is that he’s just not a physical, mean, aggressive person,” the scouting report ended, “Max is a great person but he’s going to have to decide what he really wants to do.”

 

OHL

 

Zack Stortini

Age: 19 Draft: 3^rd Round 2003 Junior Year: 4th Outlook: Very Good

 

As the third player from the Oilers class of 2003 to be signed to a entry-level contract, expectations for Zack Stortini were probably higher than what the Sudbury Wolves captain has delivered thus far. His offensive totals are down considerably from last year but as the OHL’s premier pugilist, Stortini is still getting his job done.

 

“I think what is happening is that Zack is spending an awful lot of time front of the goalies and he gets mesmerized,” said Kevin Prendergast. “His job is to take the goalie out of the game by being a destructive influence and sometimes he loses sight of where the puck is.”

 

“His point production is no reflection of his ice time; it’s a hard working team and he’s doing the things that he needs to do to get to the NHL.”

 

Sixth in team scoring but one of the club’s leaders in the penalty minute department, Stortini is still playing with the edge and power that got him drafted by the Oilers. Worth mentioning is the fact that after two seasons with a combined –35 rating, the big winger is flirting with being an even player for the first time in his OHL career.

 

“He’s got to work on his skating and we’d like to see him work on his offensive game to get more goals, but his job is to hang around the net and get in the goalie’s face all the time,” said a content Prendergast. “A lot of times goals are going in and he hasn’t touched the puck at all. He knows what his job will be when he gets here; we’re not going to have to explain anything to Zack Stortini.”

 

“Nobody wants it or works harder or is a better team guy than Zack Stortini,” said an OHL scout. “Zack realizes his value in front of the net and to be a protector for two highly touted young kids in Benoit Pouliot and Ryan McDonough. I think Zack is so conscious of getting to the net so these two can get off shots that he forgets that if the puck comes loose that he should go get it.”

 

Stortini will likely shatter his previous best assist total but with just half a year left to play he will be hard pressed to reach the 20-goal mark with just six to his credit thus far. However, with the Wolves looking like sure bets to make the playoffs, Stortini himself would admit that the year has been a success.

 

Bryan Young

Age: 18 Draft: 5^th Round 2004 Junior Year: 2^nd Outlook: Very Good

 

Character is one of those attributes that you just can’t teach; you either have it or you don’t. Anyone who knows him or who has seen him play can tell you, Bryan Young has it. Despite a nagging injury, Young has braved the pain and played through most of it this year for the Peterborough Petes.

 

“He’s a heart and soul kid who’s gone through injury problems this year,” said one OHL area scout. “It’s like a hip pointer except they’re worried about tissue coming off the bone. They’ve been really down on defensemen and this kid has been in absolute agony but he can move without messing it up any worse so he’s been playing through all of it.”

 

As the year continues, onlookers are impressed with the steady progression in his development since being drafted. Not only is he sound defensively but Young is also a force to be reckoned with when he’s on the ice.

 

“Physically he has been unbelievable; he kills every penalty and somebody comes off limping after everyone of them,” the scout continued. “(GM) Jeff Twohey said they gave him shit one day for playing so awful and they told him he looked tired and he said ‘well, I am kind of tired.’ He’ll never offer why or have an excuse and so finally they found out that he had been cleaning barns for 13 or 14 hours that day before the game started because his dad was sick. That’s what kind of kid he is.”

 

The viciously aggressive blueliner from Ennismore, Ontario has recorded just four points this season but that’s basically on pace for his expected offensive production. More importantly is the fact that the 6’1 190lb defenseman is still continuing to crush the opposition at every possible turn and he’s patrolling the defensive zone like a shark.

 

Liam Reddox

Age: almost 19 Draft: 4^th Round 2004 Junior Year: 2^nd Outlook: Very Good

 

At a time when the NHL pendulum is slowly swinging back to the point where freewheeling hockey is making a comeback, smaller offensive players like Liam Reddox are finding ways to make it in a big man’s game.

 

In his draft year the center from East York Ontario represented Canada at the U18 Championships and then went on to lead the Peterborough Petes in scoring despite being a rookie. This year Reddox is again leading his club in scoring but he’s doing so in a less impressive fashion. According to onlookers, the second effort and drive they saw in Reddox last year isn’t as evident this season.

 

“It’s not uncommon after a draft to see a slowdown year; like a sophomore jinx,” said one scout. “It’s not like he’s struggling that bad but he’s not doing a lot of the things that he was doing that made him successful. He’s failing to get his legs moving.”

 

“Lots of kids who are drafted go through this and Liam is a kid like Mike Ribeiro who has scored at every level and everybody says ‘yeah but he won’t at the next, he’s too small, this is it he’s topped out here’,” described the scout. “Maybe he doesn’t feel he has as much to prove this year now that he’s drafted but he certainly does; he’s not even close to being there yet but some kids need to be challenged.”

 

Reddox is scoring but they’re not the kind of tallies that you would ever hear described as being ‘a goal scorer’s goal’.

 

“I’d like to see him snipe once in a while,” the scout said. “Liam’s style of scoring is by playing back door seams or little holes and he scoots himself to the net and bats in pucks on one time feeds or somebody’s garbage that’s hanging around. I must have saw him score a dozen goals last year and I don’t know if any of them were from outside the hash marks and I’d say 9 out of 10 were scored from inside the edge of the blue paint. He’s got a nose to find seams.”

 

Reddox leads the Petes with 43 points, good for 11^th in the entire OHL but if he can get back to being the player he was last year, he would be able to score at an even more impressive pace.

 

Rob Schremp

Age: 18 Draft: 1^st Round 2004 Junior Year: 3^rd Outlook: Excellent

 

It’s been quite the year already for Rob Schremp. After being chosen in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers last June, Schremp came to the City of Champions and showed everyone what all the hype was about. Then he rejoined the London Knights in time to help lead them to an amazing 31-game unbeaten streak, setting a new CHL record. A few days later Schremp was off to join Team USA for the World Junior Championships in North Dakota. Before the year ends, Schremp and the Knights will continue their quest for the OHL championship and then they’ll host the Memorial Cup.

 

A dream season indeed.

 

Along with two of his teammates, Schremp has been at the top of the OHL’s scoring race nearly from day one. Corey Perry (ANH), Dylan Hunter (UFA) and he have been sitting 1-2-3 for as long as can be remembered and only the time away in North Dakota will enable them to be caught by the rest of the league.

 

“Some nights he’s with Hunter and (Dave) Bolland (CHI), some nights he’s with Hunter and Perry, but they don’t click really well, the three of them, unless it’s on the powerplay,” one OHL scout told Hockey’s Future. “On the power play these guys click unbelievably. I have never seen a power play like this since maybe 1989 in Swift Current where you absolutely didn’t take a minor against them because it was a goal. Mostly what (Schremp) is doing is playing a full two minutes on the power play every time it comes about which, the way they’re calling the game nowadays is quite often. Other than that he’s been playing with absolutely everybody. The other day he was playing with Jordan Foreman and Kelly Thomson, two rookies.”

 

Schremp is currently at the World Junior Championships where the Americans have thus far put together a 2-2 record and will face Sweden in a quarterfinal match up. With limited ice time Schremp has scored twice, good for third on the team in goal scoring. The fact that Schremp is there at all shows how impressive a season he has had to this point because after a lackluster summer camp, the center wasn’t high on the depth chart for the US.

 

“It was hard for them not to put him on the team with the way he’s been playing,” Kevin Prendergast said before the tournament began. “The way he’s playing in London now is not the kid that played in the U.S. camp in the summertime. Dale Hunter has won him over as to what it takes to be on a winning team and what it takes to play a lot.”

 

Many in the hockey world are commenting on his improved defensive play, but he’s not done developing just yet.

 

“Overall I wish Robbie would shoot the puck more, he’s always looking to make an unbelievable snap pass, which he can do, but I’d like to see him trying to score from areas where he’s going to have to score in the pros because he can’t find ice in the same locations that he can now,” said the OHL scout. “I’d love to see him start following shots a little bit and get a chance on a rebound. Robbie Schremp has never scored on a rebound in his life! If Robbie and Liam Reddox could some how splat into each other like a couple pieces of play-do, you’d have a 100-goal scorer because Liam would score 50 from in tight and Robbie will score 50 absolute highlight goals.”

 

To his credit, Schremp showed in Edmonton that he is willing to put in the extra work needed to become a better player.

 

“I worked a lot with Kelly Buchberger when I was out in Edmonton and he’d work out with me for about half an hour after every practice,” Schremp told Jason Gregor of TEAM 1260. “I brought that stuff back here to London and it’s really helped me out. My defensive game has come a long way and I don’t think I’m a liability on the ice anymore, last year there was a lot I needed to learn. I think I’m a complete player now.”

 

As always there are critics and many now seem to be focusing on the fact that the one thing Robbie still isn’t able to do is throw his body around and punish opponents, but to one OHL scout, that’s a ridiculous condemnation.

 

“Kent Nilsson probably had as great a stick as we’ve ever seen and nobody ever said that he wouldn’t ever play in the NHL because he doesn’t check hard enough,” the scout scoffed. “Robbie has put his nose to the grindstone and is working his ass off.”

 

The hard work has shown and Schremp’s dream season continues.

 

QMJHL

 

Marc-Antoine Pouliot

Age: 19 Draft: 1^st Round 2003 Junior Year: 4^th Outlook: Excellent

 

In a similar situation as Schremp’s in London, Rimouski’s Marc-Antoine Pouliot finds himself in the company of a pair of teammates near the top of the league’s scoring race. With Sidney Crosby and Dany Roussin slightly ahead of him, Pouliot has been enjoying a return to health this year by piling up the points. With 53 points in 42 games, Pouliot has been scoring at well over a point per game pace for the last two months.

 

Pouliot is strong in the faceoff circle winning 55 percent of his draws, which makes him a very valuable penalty killer and power play skater. He has taken almost double the number of faceoffs as anyone else on his team and four of Pouliot’s 21 goals have been game winners, highest amongst Oceanic players. Most importantly for Pouliot, he hasn’t missed a game all year, which has enabled his development to continue.

 

“Pouliot has improved his speed,” said a scout. “His slip speed has improved and he can definitely skate at an NHL level.”

 

Although on the short list for Team Canada roster spot consideration, Pouliot was not one of the 32 players given invites to the December camp in Winnipeg.

 

Jean-Francois Jacques

Age: 19 Drafted: 2^nd Round 2004 Junior Year: 4^th Outlook: Very Good

 

Few Oiler prospects have surpassed expectations at quite the same level as the captain of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Jean-Francois Jacques has been nothing short of outstanding this year by consistently showing an offensive flair that he had only previously hinted at in years prior. His 46 points in 37 games is good enough to position Jacques on the edge of the top ten in league scoring, and those numbers are new career best for the Quebec born winger.

 

There has been a steady increase in production over Jacques four-year QMJHL career but nothing like the way he has eclipsed his previous best was ever expected from Jacques. Not that the Oilers are complaining, but the numbers certainly come as a surprise to them too.

 

“He’s just blowing me away,” Prendergast told Hockey’s Future earlier this season.

 

One eastern scout who has seen Jacques this year raved about what the big man has been able to do.

 

“That team is absolutely terrible, they have no prospects for the draft,” began the scout. “This is (Jacques’) third year in the league and I think it’s just that he’s learning to use his strength and his size to his advantage. He’s taking the puck to the net or battling in front of the net to get goals that way. He’s learning how to be a power forward and I think he’s the go-to guy on that team.”

 

Not only has his hockey skills improved this year, but so has his grasp of the English language.

 

“He’s the captain of the team because he has character,” said Prendergast. “He’s like Stortini in a way, I think he’s got to feel more comfortable with the environment around where he is.”

 

If learning some English in the offseason to feel more comfortable in Edmonton is all it takes to produce this kind of successful development in their players, perhaps the Oilers should be sending dictionaries to Russia for Alexei Mikhnov and Ivan Koltsov.

 

Jacques and Pouliot would normally have to be signed by June 1^st or else the Oilers would lose both players back to the Entry Draft. However, with this year’s CBA issues still unsettled, all things concerning the draft are up in the air.

 

“I don’t think anybody knows the clear answer to that question,” said Edmonton Assistant GM Scott Howson. “If there is no CBA, we will not sign them by June 1^st; you can’t sign anybody unless the NHL comes out with a new directive on these players which I don’t suspect they will. There’s a great deal of uncertainty on the upcoming draft but we believe we will still retain their rights and that will get taken care of when the new CBA gets executed but there are no guarantees on that, but we won’t be signing them by June 1^st without a new CBA.”

 

Zack Stortini was signed last summer but issues with both Pouliot and Jacques kept those negotiations form proceeding. Not surprisingly money was a major factor.

 

“With Pouliot, his injuries factored into it a little bit and for these types of players who were drafted higher than Zack, under the old system you would have normally had to pay more money for them and we just weren’t willing to do that at that time knowing we still had another year on them,” explained Howson. “With Zack it was more that he had a very impressive training camp last year and another this year and the dollars made sense so that was why that was pursued.”

 

Surely the impressive seasons from both Jacques and Pouliot will make them priorities as soon as clubs are allowed to pursue signing their prospects.

 

Stephane Goulet

Age: 18 Draft: 8^th Round 2004 Junior Year: 2^nd Outlook: Very Good

 

The other pleasant surprise this year in the CHL comes in the form of eighth round choice Stephane Goulet who is having a fantastic season with the powerhouse Moncton Wildcats. His career high 14 points of last season are a distant memory this year for Goulet who already has 25 at the midpoint of the schedule.

 

“I think Moncton might be one of the best teams I’ve seen so far, they’re big, strong, they can skate, and they have four big solid lines,” said Prendergast. “Goulet’s getting opportunities because they are putting him out there in all key situations and his coach is happy with him. He’s got to work on his skating a bit, to lengthen out his stride, but he has good hockey sense. Playing on a good club and playing every night is important too and being a part of that winning attitude is important for him.”

 

“His skating has improved from last year; he’s using his size after putting on more weight and strength and he’s playing on a good team with good guys around him,” agreed another eastern scout. “I knew the trade to Moncton would do good things for him. He’s keeping it simple and getting some points. With the strength he’s added he’s playing with more confidence. All he needed was an opportunity and Moncton has given it to him as well as responsibility, which is good.”

 

Moncton currently has the best record in the QMJHL and is ranked third in the nation so a Memorial Cup appearance by Goulet and the Wildcats is certainly a reasonable scenario.

 

CIS

 

Jordan Little

Age: 23 Draft: 1^st Overall (Making the Cut) CIS Year: 3^rd Outlook: Average

 

No one was really sure what to make of Bell’s Making the Cut, the reality TV show that filmed last summer and was shown on CBC this fall. The premise was that any unsigned hockey player in Canada could try out for one of six invites to an NHL training camp and the hopefuls came out by the thousands. The masses were whittled down to 60-some participants for a two-week training camp held in Vernon B.C.

 

No one was really sure if they should take this too seriously or if it was just simply going to be spectacle for Florida GM Mike Keenan and his head scout Jack Birch. However, the Oilers saw the possibilities right from the start.

 

“There’s always somebody that might deserve an opportunity and it gives guys who, for whatever reason, felt that they might have never got a break, it gives them an opportunity to show something,” said Prendergast when asked about the idea last summer. “It’s our national past time so who knows?”

 

“I know Jack Birch really well and he knows what type of players it takes to play in the NHL,” Prendergast added. “I don’t know why we wouldn’t want to get involved with a player who has worked that hard to get there and give him an opportunity. Certainly if you go through the whole country and there’s six players there, there’s got to be something worthwhile to look at.”

 

The fact that the were a myriad of NHL scouts involved in the show gave it a certain amount of credibility although the obvious TV production got in the way of the realistic feel of the camp. Scenes like players being ceremoniously cut from camp while fully dressed at center ice in a darkened arena didn’t help erase the fantasy aspect of what was going on.

 

That said, there were several players who took part that had already been drafted before or played pro hockey at various levels. Many players involved in the show can be found playing professionally in the ECHL, AHL or in Europe this year.

 

In the end, after a ceremony to determine which Canadian team would pick first from the 18 finalists, the Edmonton Oilers captured the top choice.

 

“The Oilers finally win a lottery, unfortunately it’s not the Crosby one!” laughed Prendergast recently. “It was funny because we were sort of sitting there where we had to go up and pick one of six pucks and when it comes to gambling, I’m never one who has ever walked out with any money so I didn’t think it was looking like a very good situation. I was sitting there and I thought ‘well Kevin Lowe isn’t feeling to good, he wears #4 so I’ll take the fourth puck’ and that was all I did. (Leafs GM) John Ferguson said to me ‘You knew it was No. 1!’”

 

So with a clear path to grab whichever player they wanted the Oilers selected 6’4, 220lb defenseman Jordan Little. After a terrific 2001-02 MJHL year with the Winkler Flyers, which included leading Team Manitoba as the captain at the Viking Cup tournament that same year, Little opted for life away from hockey.

 

“He played for Winkler and then he quit playing hockey for a few years to play golf,” said Prendergast. “Then he went back to the University of Manitoba because he decided he missed playing and at the same time he wanted to get an education. He only decided to go to Making the Cut the day before the tryouts! He’s not in what you would call AHL game shape but he’s not far off.”

 

As a member of the University of Manitoba Bisons, Little has been seen by the Oilers this year no less than seven times so this is definitely a person they were interested in.

 

“Stu MacGregor, Lorne Davis, Billy Moores, Charlie Huddy and I had all watched him and we felt he had an upside,” said the Oilers chief scout. “He’s 6’4 and 220 lbs, he’s a good skater and he showed some pretty good skills last night in the skills competition.”

 

Little actually took part in the summer camp held by the Toronto Maple Leafs and was impressive there as well.

 

“(Leaf scout) Mike Penny told me that they thought the kid had a chance and so do we. It’s not costing us anything outside of bringing him in to camp and if we can get a kid his size with some ability who we understand is very tough too, we might have something that can play for us with the Road Runners next year.”

 

Don’t get the idea that they saw something during the run of the TV show though; the Oilers did their homework.

 

“I didn’t see anything in the episodes, it’s very hard on TV to catch anything,” Prendergast said. “Stu went in this summer with a list of six players we were interested in, he looked at them, we talked yesterday on the phone to go over them again, and the guy we felt had the biggest upside was Little. We were lucky to get him at one; we wouldn’t have at two.”

 

Very few players have stops in Canadian University hockey on their way to an NHL career but there are some who have blazed that trail already including Oiler blueliner Cory Cross, former Washington Capital Mike Ridley and current Anaheim center Steve Rucchin.

 

“It’s not impossible, he’s got a really good shot; he had a 97 mph shot last night and he scored 3 out of 5 goals in the shooting drill so he’s done things I wasn’t sure he was capable of,” Prendergast said. “I saw his coach here today from Manitoba and he says the kid works really hard and he could be a player down the road. We’ve always prided ourselves on our patience with bringing players along when we felt they had a chance and I think if you go back in the past we’ve given guys opportunities. Brent Henley was one of those kinds of kids, we took him from the ECHL and he’s worked really hard to play with the Road Runners and has a chance to possibly play with the big team when they go back to work.”

 

“[Little]’s a nice kid with a nice family background and like anything else, we’re in the business of winning and if we can get a free agent to come in and play for us then great,” the head scout stated. “Jordan wants to be a player and we’ll do everything we can to make him one.”

 

So the next step is for Little to come to Oiler training camp in the fall, provided there is a camp and a season to train for. Until then, Little will finish the year off with Manitoba and may even end the year off with the Edmonton Road Runners of the AHL. Not only will Little be at camp but if the needs arises, the Oilers have interest in a couple of the other players from the show as well.

 

“I think there were ten kids there that could have been selected and could have had an opportunity. Unfortunately we were only taking six, but I talked to two of them afterwards and told them that if they had nothing going to make sure they talk to me in the summertime and we would give them an opportunity at our camp next year because I was impressed with them,” Prendergast said. “Not only with their personality but in some cases we know them from when they played junior or college and you see the big difference in maturation.”

 

“We have to be realistic here, he has a long way to go in order to make it to the NHL but he has the basic talent in that he has size, toughness and he can skate and certainly we will do everything we can to get him going in the right direction,” Prendergast summarized. “The show did a great job, they treated all these young men like pros but can they make it to the NHL? The odds are very much against them but from our standpoint we’re looking for a player that could maybe play for the Road Runners and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll give Jordan every opportunity to prove he belongs in our system and work with him from there.”

 

Prospect Quotes

 

“He and Crosby are playing on different lines but together on the power play. They’re exciting and fun to watch but Marc is learning other aspects of the game and being the captain of the team has been really good for him.”

-          Prendergast on Marc-Antoine Pouliot.

 

“He’s gone back and done everything we’ve asked him to do and more.”

-          Prendergast about J.F. Jacques.

 

“He’s one of those guys that others in the league don’t want to fight. There’s younger guys in the league who know who he is so they stay away from him.”

-          Prendergast on Jacques and why his PIM are way down this year.

 

“I think he’s learning that if he goes out and plays hockey and keeps his mouth shut, life’s a lot easier.”

-          Prendergast on Rob Schremp’s fine start to the year.

 

“Trying to do too much and not getting anything done!”

-          An OHL scout half jokingly describing Zack Stortini’s lack of offensive numbers earlier in the year.

 

“If they can pass on a power play guy like that then I’d love to see the team they’re going to have. If I could have a power play with Schremp, O’Sullivan and T.J. Hensick on it, nobody would touch them!”

-          OHL scout before Schremp was named to Team USA although the London forward has been used sparingly at best so far in the tournament.

 

“Every scout in the land comes up and tells me what a great job the Oilers did taking him and how he looks to have turned the corner, but I don’t really know how much of a corner there was for him to turn. Nobody wants to play the game like this kid does.”

-          The anonymous OHL scout about Schremp.

 

“You’re never too good to get benched and maybe I didn’t have a really good start to the playoffs so he went with some different guys. There’s not much I could do about that, all I can do is work on what he told me I needed to in order to play this year and that’s what I’ve done. Our relationship is a lot better, not that it was really bad; he just didn’t think I was ready to play in those games so I didn’t play. I can’t hold that against him; if he thinks I’m a liability then he’s the coach and he gets paid to coach the team so I have to do what he says.”

-          Rob Schremp comparing this year to last in regards to his relationship with London coach Dale Hunter.

 

“He never played in the WHL before, he played tier II junior and then went to the University of Manitoba so it’s not like he’d gone through the Western League and had been washed through. Here’s a guy who wasn’t too old, he has good size, he’s strong and he skated pretty well. He kept the game simple, moved and shot the puck really hard, that sort of thing. This guy is a big kid and it looked like he had some potential.”

-          Anonymous scout on Jordan Little.

 

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