Photo by Artem Korzhimanov via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons license
Regular commenter Mr. DeBakey believes that help for the Barons means temporary help for the Oilers must be addressed first.
When the latest spate of injuries struck the Oilers last week, I suggested the Oilers look to Europe for a couple of bodies to fill out the roster. This would allow most of the Barons to remain in Oklahoma City as they battle for a play-off position and a playoff appearance would be a boon to the young players in the organization as well as the Barons franchise.
The Oilers set a precedent a year ago when they signed Charles Linglet for the last couple of weeks of the season. Actually, Linglet is available again. He and fellow Gorkian Matt Ellison, a center, were both available after fine seasons in the KHL and their Torpedoes have been knocked out of the KHL playoffs. As usual, The Oilers ignored my suggestion. Its not fluke they're about to draft in the Top 10 for the 4th time in five years.
Be that as it may, when looking at the scoring leaders in the KHL, I noticed something interesting. Here are the Top 20 forwards showing club team, home country and sorted by PPG:
| Player | Team | P/G | Home Country |
| Alexander Radulov | Ufa Salavat Yulayev | 1.48 | Russia |
| Patrick Thoresen | Ufa Salavat Yulayev | 1.20 | Norway |
| Roman Cervenka | Omsk Avangard | 1.20 | Czch Republic |
| Sergei Mozyakin | Mytishchi Atlant | 1.13 | Russia |
| Pavol Demitra | Yaroslavl Lokomotiv | 1.13 | Slovakia |
| Brandon Bochenski | Astana Barys | 1.13 | USA |
| Alexei Morozov | Kazan Ak-Bars | 1.06 | Russia |
| Jaromir Jagr | Omsk Avangard | 1.04 | Czch Republic |
| Josef Vasicek | Yaroslavl Lokomotiv | 1.02 | Slovakia |
| Lauris Darzins | Riga Dynamo | 0.98 | Latvia |
| Matt Ellison | Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo | 0.94 | Canada |
| Ryan Vesce | Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo | 0.94 | USA |
| Igor Grigorenko | Ufa Salavat Yulayev | 0.91 | Russia |
| Mattias Weinhandl | St. Petersburg SKA | 0.91 | Sweden |
| Petri Kontiola | Magnitogorsk Metallurg | 0.87 | Finland |
| Charles Linglet | Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo | 0.85 | Canada |
| Alexander Korolyuk | Yaroslavl Lokomotiv | 0.83 | Russia |
| Lukas Kaspar | Astana Barys | 0.82 | Czch Republic |
| Jan Marek | Multiple Teams | 0.78 | Czch Republic |
| Andrei Subbotin | Multiple Teams | 0.78 | Russia |
There are only six Russians amongst the top scoring forwards in the KHL! Four Czechs, two Canadians, two Slovaks, two Americans and singletons from Norway, Sweden, Latvia and Finland make up the rest of the top 20.
Just missing the cut was another Czech, Center Jiri Novotny, selected 22nd overall in the 2001 draft. Lucas Kasper, 18th on this list, was also taken 22nd overall in 2004. Novotny, with 189 NHL games, would've been another good choice for the Oilers if Ellison was unavailable.
And if the Oilers were ever paying attention to me.
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