Edmonton's Top 25 Under 25 - #15 Chris Vande Velde
by Bruce McCurdy on Jul 21, 2010 11:17 AM PDT
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Chris Vande Velde is exactly the sort of player the Edmonton Oilers desperately need. He's a big (6'2, 204), grinding, two-way centreman with faceoff skills who projects into that 3C role the Oilers have been unable to fill with the likes of Andrew Cogliano, Marc Pouliot, or Ryan Potulny.
A fourth-round flyer five years ago, Vande Velde has progressed very nicely indeed through a year in the USHL and then the full four years with the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. He showed steady progress throughout, and blossomed in 2009-10, scoring career highs in assists and points despite a drop-off in quality of linemates. Vande Velde delivered in the crunch, scoring the winning goal in the WCHA Final Five championship game and being named to the all-tournament team. The honours hardly stopped there: Chris was voted team MVP by his teammates, was named UND's Male Athlete of the Year (all sports), and made the All-WCHA Academic Team. A very nice mix of smarts, leadership, and performance.
Vande Velde has moved up in the C&B rankings from #19 to #15 despite the injection of the 2010 draft class. Derek has been bullish on him all along, and is starting to convince the rest of us that the youngster is a strong prospect whose profile fits a major need on the big club. The kid also made a strong impression with this C&B interview back in February.
Five years removed from his draft date, the 23-year-old Vande Velde signed a two-year entry level deal with the Oilers this past spring and immediately injected himself into the mix of strong young prospects bubbling under. He made a strong first impression at the recent development camp.
It seems reasonable to expect he will start the upcoming season in OKC as he acclimatizes to the pro game, but if all goes well it could be a short apprenticeship in the manner of a Shawn Horcoff, Matt Greene, or Tom Gilbert, four-year NCAA players all who were in the NHL to stay before the end of their first professional season. Perhaps that's a trifle optimistic, and Vande Velde's path to the bigs is a little more protracted in the manner of a Fernando Pisani, who needed 2½ years of seasoning in the AHL before emerging as a complete, NHL-ready player. But I have high hopes that young Mr. Vande Velde is destined to wind up in the show.
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I don’t see CVV carrying his offense to the NHL level. Some of the red flags that I see are as follows.
I am not including his rookie year at ND.
- shooting 15.6% while his teammates collectivelly shot 10%.
- 23 of his 49 goals coming on ST. 21 on PP and 2 SH.
He won’t be able bring his sniper % or his time spent on the PP to the big leagues. I think his top end is more Brodziak than Horcoff.
I think his top end is more Brodziak than Horcoff.
This team sure needs a guy like Brodziak. Whatever happened to him anyway?
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Right. The lack of top-end offence is why I would project CVV into a 3C or even 4C role, rather than a 1C. But if he can win draws, kill penalties, and play up to his size he could be a very useful piece. As was Brodziak.
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by Bruce McCurdy on Jul 21, 2010 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions
I maintain that there’s a good chance that he sees the big club’s roster by December.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
I’ll be interested to see what kind of offense he brings in the AHL. He’s 23 right now, correct? Brodziak was close to a point per game in the AHL at 22 and put up 31 points in the NHL at 23. I know Vande Velde’s NHLE is in the range this season, but that’s including a bunch of younger players in the values. If you group with the older players (i.e. 22 or older), that NHLE value goes way down. Having Nash out of the organization, Pitlick going to junior instead of the AHL, and Lander in Europe definitely helps him, but he’s going to want to really push to get the roster spot this season before Lander and Pitlick are competing with him in earnest.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 21, 2010 3:56 PM PDT up reply actions
I still can’t comprehend how CVV (23 years old, no pro experience) is a better prospect than Theo peckham (22 years old, 3 years pro expereince), especially when Vande Velde doesn’t project to be much more than a 3C.
I’ll admit to only have seen him a handful of times, but he’s never really done much. He scores all his goals by virtue of being bigger than almost everyone else, but that’s not going to happen in the NHL. He’s only move on the face off is to over power the other centre, and if he tries that in the pros he’s going to get destroyed.
I just don’t see much in him.
Having seen Vande Velde a few times is a few more times than I’ve seen him. I’m not all that high on Vande Velde, but I’ve never liked Peckham and I doubt that he contributes NHL-level performance at any time in his career. His best chance at the NHL is likely the John Scott type fighting role and that doesn’t have a lot of value IMO. With Vande Velde, I think there’s a reasonable chance for him to contribute on an NHL team, though if you’re right that he’s accustomed to being the biggest guy on the ice, that will surely take some adjustment. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in the AHL because I think that will really tell us a lot.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 22, 2010 7:39 AM PDT up reply actions
Everything you’ve said about Vande Velde applies to Peckham’s game, if you flip it to a defensive frame of reference.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Except Peckham has already adapted his game to the AHL and performed rather well (he hit a bit of a wall last year due to injury). And it’s also a lot easier to translate your strength when you are 6-2 225 than it is at 6-2 205. Peckham is still one of the larger players around… Vande Velde goes from being one of the larger ones to being pretty average.
I think this is a ranking not based on potential of a prospect rather than a ranking based on the value a player has in the organisation. With the showing that Plante had last season, perceived value of Motin and poor play of Peckham, he has really lost his value at least in the eyes of fans. Where he was previously the only Defensive D in the system, he is now being challenged by the above mentioned players.
CVV has more value to the Oilers than Peckham going forward. A good 3rd line center is something we lack right now. With a strong start to the AHL campaign, he could be in the Nhl by December. Actually being 23 year old is sort of a a good thing, because he has learned his trade over 5 years. He is at exact right age to step into the NHL roster as a checking player. He is defensively responsible center. We doint really need him to be scoring a lot of goals. If CVV is a 15-20 player who can consistently play a good checking role and takes a regular shift on PK, then he is a success.
Shouldn’t actual ability come into play though?
Sure the Oilers may need a #3C to come in and do a bang up job but that doesn’t instantly raise the value of everyone who could potentially fill that role.
Personally speaking, I think CVV is going to have a hard time translating his offense from college to the pros and I think his defensive game is rather over-rated.
At least for me, ability certainly does come into play. It’s the number one factor. I just don’t think that Theo Peckham is very good. I agree with you about VDV’s offensive game not translating all that well to the pros and that’s part of the reason I’m looking forward to his AHL results. If he ends up at 0.6 PPG or better, I think there’s real potential for an NHL player there in a fourth line center role. If he’s good on FO’s, plays well in his own zone, and gets the puck moving the right way, that can be a valuable guy.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 22, 2010 11:10 AM PDT up reply actions
I’m in total agreement with that. Particularly given Peckham’s AHL performance relative to the rest of the defensive prospect crew.
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by Jonathan Willis on Jul 22, 2010 5:48 PM PDT up reply actions
Chris Vande Velde is what everyone thought Riley Nash was.
by Benjamin Massey on Jul 22, 2010 10:51 AM PDT reply actions
I’m pretty confident that Riley Nash is the better of the two players. His offense is better at a younger age and I don’t really see any of VDV’s other skills trumping those of Nash to a significant degree. Why do you think VDV is the better player?
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 22, 2010 11:01 AM PDT up reply actions
Vande Velde plays for a far superior program. By all accounts, he is a better “true centre”: superior faceoff and rink generalship skills. His offense, certainly, will be negligible at the NHL level, but he could still go through as a Blair Betts type if he meets expectations.
I don’t consider age a huge concern. He has a strong all-round toolkit, whereas Nash I think got a reputation that he didn’t quite deserve for that. I’m not saying that I’d rather have Vande Velde than Nash straight up, necessarily.
by Benjamin Massey on Jul 22, 2010 9:32 PM PDT up reply actions
Vande Velde plays for a far superior program.
In a far superior conference. Nash got to play a conference full of patsies – he’s in the Southeast, essentially.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
I think this can be overstated. The ECAC had some really good teams over the last couple of years, and while they had their stinkers, the WCHA had a couple of stinkers as well. Both Alaska and Michigan Tech don’t look competitive. Further, Yale, Cornell, and Union each played some games against North Dakota and St. Cloud State last year and the ECAC went 2-2-2 (W-L-T), losing the goal differential battle 14-11. So it’s not like this is a conference full of scrubs.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 22, 2010 10:32 PM PDT up reply actions
I don’t know which accounts have said he’s not a better “true center” but I’m actually not sure what that means. Good defensively? Good positionally? Isn’t that what Nash was good at when he was drafted? We disagree about age, I think it’s a big factor. Nash putting up better offense in a worse (but not so much worse) conference at a younger age is, to me, a pretty significant distinguishing feature between the two players. The other stuff (“rink generalship”) just seems so vague, though that could just be my lack of seeing the two guys play the game.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 22, 2010 10:35 PM PDT up reply actions
I don’t know about that. I’d much rather have a 21 year old Nash vs a 23 year old Vande Velde. Nash produced early (2nd his first year in PPG and 1st in years 2 and 3), and did it at a much younger age.
2nd his first year in PPG and 1st in years 2 and 3
Sorry, powerplay goals or points per game? I hate duelling acronyms! I’ve adopted P/G for the latter but it’s not universal.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Jul 22, 2010 1:56 PM PDT up reply actions
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