Prospect Info: Oilers 2012/2013 draftees update

[ChaoticOrange]

The present is depressing so I'm looking toward the future.

Here's how some of our draftees are doing this year, along with whatever blog posts/updates I can find about the player.

The team listed is the one the player is currently on, not necessarily the one he was drafted from.

My thoughts are in bold.

2012 Draft

#1 Overall Nail Yakupov - NHL

don't really need to go into much detail here...moving on

#2 32nd Overall Mitch Moroz - Oil Kings WHL

62gp 31g - 28a - 59pt - +26 144 PIM

I don't pretend to be a scout or a talent analyst, but i've been to several Oil Kings games this year and have just been underwhelmed by Moroz. I've said a couple times in various threads that his parallels to Clifford are eye-opening - similar height and weight, play similar games, and have very comparable numbers in their final year of Jr. If Moroz doesn't get his cage rattled like Clifford he could be an effective third liner for the Oilers but I don't see a top 6 player there, in my humble opinion.

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/20...t-mitch-moroz-interviews-with-cult-of-hockey/

#3 63rd Overall Jujhar Khaira - Everett Silvertips WHL

51 gp 15g-21a-36pts even 50PIM

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/20...-everett-silvertips-jujhar-khaira-ben-betker/

You have to want Khaira to make it - nice kid with the size that we desperately need. I really think the Oilers are just praying that a couple of Khaira/Moroz/McCarron/Yakimov pan out.

#4 91st Overall Daniil Zharkov - Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo KHL

49gp 2g - 3a - 5pts +2 35PIM

I couldn't find much on his play this year, but being a young player in the KHL he's not exactly being used a lot. He's a big boy though at 6'4 212 at only 20 years old, and he had decent numbers in Belleville. Torpedo is also quite a good team so he might not be getting much opportunity.

#5 93rd Overall Erik Gustafsson Frolunda SHL

47gp 2g - 17a - 19pts +3 14PIM

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/20...rowded-edmonton-oilers-defensive-depth-chart/

#6 123rd Overall Joey LaLeggia U of Denver NCHC

29gp 9g - 10a - 19pts Even 32PIM

Couldn't find much of anything recent, but those numbers indicate another downward trend for LaLeggia. For a defenceman his size (5'9, 180) he lives and dies by his offence. Not encouraging.

#7 153rd Overall John McCarron Cornell ECHC

27gp 6g - 14a - 20pts Even 37 PIM

http://www.coppernblue.com/2013/9/20/4739790/cornell-captain-john-mccarron-oilers-prospect-interview

Another meat wagon at 6'2 225. The Oilers definitely went into this draft with an agenda

2013 Draft

#1 7th Overall Darnell Nurse Soo Greyhounds OHL

Darnell Nurse : 59gp 12g - 36 a - 48pts 76 PIM +4
Aaron Ekblad : 51gp 21g - 25 a - 46pts 87 PIM +3

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/20...arnell-nurse-getting-booed-in-sault-st-marie/

http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/4299500-hamilton-s-darnell-nurse-making-an-impact/

For the record, the reports of Nurse getting booed were absolutely fabricated. The GREYHOUNDS were booed a couple of times for poor play, but not Nurse specifically.

I'd also say he's having a pretty comparable year to Ekblad - granted he is older, and Ekblad looks to be more of a goal threat.

#2 56th Overall Marco Roy Blainville-Boisbrand Armada QMJHL

32gp - 10g - 18a - 28pts 31PIM +1

http://lowetide.ca/blog/2013/11/3-prospect-marco-roy.html

Too bad he's had problems with his wrist this year, getting a better read on him would have been nice. Our second round picks usually aren't phenomenal...

#3 Bogdan Yakimov 83rd Overall Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik KHL

33GP - 7g - 5a - 13pts 2 PIM +1

http://lowetide.ca/blog/2013/11/6-prospect-bogdan-yakimov.html

As Lowetide says, a kid playing as little as he does putting up .3-.4 points per game in a low scoring man's league is very encouraging. Hopefully the Oilers can get this guy over here next year.

#4 Anton Slepyshev 88th Overall Ufa Salavat Yulayev KHL

34 GP - 3g - 5a - 8pts 4 PIM

The most recent article I could find was right after the draft so I didn't see a ton of point in posting it.

#5 Jackson Houck 94th overall Vancouver Giants WHL

62GP 30g - 23a - 53pts 50 PIM -2

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/08/08/jackson-houck-mid-round-draft-pick-with-a-chance/

Houck is having a nice year with the Giants, looks like he might be a guy worth an entry level contract in the offseason.

He's also being charged with assault...that's no fun.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vancouver+Giants+charged+with+assault+updated/9145881/story.html

#6 Kyle Platzer 96th overall London/Owen Sound OHL

(Combined stats) 59gp - 20g - 14a - 34pts 22 PIM -13

It should be noted that Platzer's scoring numbers have skyrocketed to nearly a PPG in the 20 or so games since his trade. Not much out there for articles since his drafting.

#7 Aidan Muir 113th overall Indiana Ice USHL

41gp - 12g - 14a - 26pts - 54 PIM + 18

Of all our prospects in these 2 years this kid is the one I know the least about. Is he our Mark Jankowski? He did score one hell of a goal though, clearly he has some talent...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...res-instant-classic-knees-075932024--nhl.html

#8 Evan Campbell 128th overall UMass-Lowell H-East

25GP - 6g - 1a - 7pts 14 PIM

Campbell was talked about as a wasted pick at the time of his drafting and his year so far hasn't exactly disproved that

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/20...ck-when-they-drafted-evan-campbell-on-sunday/

#9 Ben Betker 158th overall Everett Silvertips WHL

60gp - 5g - 10a - 15pts - 93 PIM -12

See the Jujhar Khaira article as it talks about both of them

#10 Greg Chase 188th Overall Calgary Hitmen WHL

62 GP - 31g - 42a - 73 pts 63 PIM + 23

It's a strange place to be in when the guy that I'm most excited for out of this draft after Nurse was drafted in the 7th round. He is having a great year in a key role for a very good Hitmen team, and he is everything the Oilers need - team first player, a pest, a talented agitator and an absolute steal in the 7th round. If he'd been passed over until this year I think he'd be an easy 3rd round pick.

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/20...n-oilers-best-seventh-round-pick-in-a-decade/

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/chase-helps-whl-down-russia-in-series-finale/

Thanks for the read ladies and gents. It's gotta get better eventually...right?

Click to read more...

 

[Zaddy]

I'm not very confident with this group of prospects at all. I think we're lucky if Slepyshev and Yakimov pan out and become contributing regulars on our team. The others will at best be bottom-six guys, yippi-kay-yay. One guy that might be a dark horse though and whom I'm very curious about is Erik Gustafsson. I've never seen the kid play but from what I've read about him and looking at his stats it looks pretty damn good for a kid that literally no one is talking about. I'm just silently hoping that he can become a gem. It would be a very welcome change to have someone outside of the 1st round actually panning out.

 

[rockinghockey]

Nice reading. I don't see any top 6 fwds in this group but a few bottom 6 players with some size and nastiness that this team could use but they still need 2-4 yrs to develop properly. I would say players like this have until they are 23 to make it to the NHL as bottom 6 players.

 

[Petes2424]

I'm not very confident with this group of prospects at all. I think we're lucky if Slepyshev and Yakimov pan out and become contributing regulars on our team. The others will at best be bottom-six guys, yippi-kay-yay. One guy that might be a dark horse though and whom I'm very curious about is Erik Gustafsson. I've never seen the kid play but from what I've read about him and looking at his stats it looks pretty damn good for a kid that literally no one is talking about. I'm just silently hoping that he can become a gem. It would be a very welcome change to have someone outside of the 1st round actually panning out.

In the big 3 games I've watched both Slepyshev and Yakimov ( I feel like Im talking about 2 of the seven dwarfs) both actually impressed me. Saying that though, I still have that same feeling I had when they were picked. The "Are you kidding Me?" moment..

With all the players skipping off to Europe these days, the Oilers need to stay away from them as much as possible. If they want to take chances in rounds 6 and 7, Im ok with that. Not in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

They need to concentrate on kids who play in good professional like systems instead of throwing flyers on Europeans who more an more are staying in Europe until they're either ready or get their KHL deal.

 

[40oz]

#3 Bogdan Yakimov 83rd Overall Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik KHL

33GP - 7g - 5a - 13pts 2 PIM +1

http://lowetide.ca/blog/2013/11/6-prospect-bogdan-yakimov.html

As Lowetide says, a kid playing as little as he does putting up .3-.4 points per game in a low scoring man's league is very encouraging. Hopefully the Oilers can get this guy over here next year.

Shenanigans! That's only 12 points.


Also, on average Yakimov is playing 9:55/game and Slepyshev is playing 10:21/game.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Shenanigans! That's only 12 points.


Also, on average Yakimov is playing 9:55/game and Slepyshev is playing 10:21/game.

Oops. I'd fix it but I'm far too lazy.

Thanks, where did you track down their TOI?

 

[40oz]

Oops. I'd fix it but I'm far too lazy.

Thanks, where did you track down their TOI?

KHL website tracks it, also you can see that Yak2 is 58.3% in faceoffs.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

KHL website tracks it, also you can see that Yak2 is 58.3% in faceoffs.

Wow. All the more reason to get Yak 2.0 in North America pronto.

Edit - he's 20 in April, meaning AHL eligible, correct?

 

[40oz]

Wow. All the more reason to get Yak 2.0 in North America pronto.

Even bigger reason?
http://en.khl.ru/stat/players/244/all/4384/

Everyone ahead of him in scoring plays at least 5 minutes more per game. There's 22 forwards alone who get more ice time per game than Bogdan, 13 of which are have played at least 20 games. Which tells me that even the callups and injury replacements are getting icetime over Yakimov.

 

[Tarus]

Wow. All the more reason to get Yak 2.0 in North America pronto.

Edit - he's 20 in April, meaning AHL eligible, correct?

AHL age restrictions are only for major junior players, so Junior teams have a chance to retain players after they are drafted.

Yakimov never played for any junior teams.

 

[Metamind]

Fire stu

 

[BarDownBobo]

Wow. All the more reason to get Yak 2.0 in North America pronto.

Edit - he's 20 in April, meaning AHL eligible, correct?

There's a slight chance he could be over in a couple weeks. His KHL season will be done on March 5. No idea if it will happen but it'd be nice to see him potentially join the Barons for their playoff run.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

There's a slight chance he could be over in a couple weeks. His KHL season will be done on March 5. No idea if it will happen but it'd be nice to see him potentially join the Barons for their playoff run.

I don't think he'd come over just for a playoff run. Usually with those guys it's all in (to north America) or not at all.

 

[BarDownBobo]

I don't think he'd come over just for a playoff run. Usually with those guys it's all in (to north America) or not at all.

He's said he's committed to coming over to NA next year, and will play in the AHL, so maybe he'd decide to start that journey early. I have no idea if he would be or not, just stating that it'd be possible within the NHL/KHL agreement.

 

[LaGu]

I'm not very confident with this group of prospects at all. I think we're lucky if Slepyshev and Yakimov pan out and become contributing regulars on our team. The others will at best be bottom-six guys, yippi-kay-yay. One guy that might be a dark horse though and whom I'm very curious about is Erik Gustafsson. I've never seen the kid play but from what I've read about him and looking at his stats it looks pretty damn good for a kid that literally no one is talking about. I'm just silently hoping that he can become a gem. It would be a very welcome change to have someone outside of the 1st round actually panning out.

Gustafsson (22 y.o.) is an interesting prospect but he is way down the LD prospect depth chart.

Gustafsson is a offensive / PP defenseman. In an organization where you are low on prospects but have decent D core with one or two offensive LDs he could have been given some consideration but in the Oilers right now I just don't see it.

LDs: Marincin, Klefbom, Nurse, Gernat, Musil.