AHL Playoff`s and Player Development

Totally agree, and thats what I was going to post: I think Todd Nelson will keep the line-up fluid in the sense that Marincin, Davidson, Tremblay etc. might get a few games in, but the vets will be a constant presence, as they should be. Creating a winning team is vital for OKC, in order to build a proper franchise down there and create a following. Broiler, you seem to forget that all of Omark, Haarski, O’Marra, CVV, Petry, Plante, Teubert, Kytnar, Cornet, Montgomery etc. are all prospects/rookies that will also be benefitting from playoff experience. The likes of Marincin, Davidson, Martindale will more than likely (though not definitely) be returned to juniors for another year, so they are not necessarily the more immediate priority. Its a testament to managements dedication to development that our farm team is stacked to the brim with talent, and in my opinion even if the junior elligible kids don’t get game time they’re still learning valuable lessons in practice with the pro’s. It’s a good problem to have.

Yeah thats along the lines of what we were thinking, occasional rotation of Marincin and Davidson, although I’m not sure Helmer and Petiot are the ones to rotate with (Helmer in particular is a proven winner at the AHL level, being the highest scoring D-man in ever in the league and a 2-time captain of a Calder Cup winning team – no way you can afford to take that experience off the ice with all the young’uns there). Maybe Plante/Petiot/Montgomery. But not too often. Certainly it would be great for Marincin and Davidson to get in a few games, no disagreement there.

As for next years lineup with regards to the “mercenary talent”, we all know that Giroux won’t be back (if they do re-sign him and sound him down again after TC, you can take my bet that he’ll scarper to Europe), Moran might re-up, McDonald would if the Oilers want to (don’t see why they wouldn’t), Petiot maybe, I’d say Ondrus would, Stewart and Taylor probably would, and Helmer is already re-signed for next season (fantastic signing if you ask me). Hopefully we can attract someone along the lines of Jason Krog, Darren Haydar, Keith Aucoin or heck, even Marc Pouliot, to replace Giroux.

Can’t see Omark in OKC next year. He’s earned a ride with the big club. Keep hearing Lander is going to sign but play in Europe one more season. If he does that, he’s trying to skip the AHL altogether.

I would like to see Martindale in OKC for the club to get a better gage of his work ethic/compete.

Pitlick is more up in the air for me. Generally, if there are good minutes available, I would send him to OKC. If we are talking 4th line minutes, he’s better playing on the first line in Medicine Hat.

But, we also signed Fedun so he needs a spot. That tells me that unless one of Montgomery/Plante/Teubert make the Oilers, one of Davidson or Marincin is probably going back to the WHL. That said…

My line up would be:

Moran – Pitlick – Macdonald
Hamilton – Martindale – Ondrus
House – Kytnar – Arcobello
Cornet – o’Marra or Vandevelde – Tremblay
AHL Vet as 13th forward or Bigos

Moran is retained to teach Pitlick how to be a centre in the pros and take the pressure of Pitlick early on for big draws. Oil need centres more than they need RWs (with Hemsky, Omark, Eberle and Sam I-can’t-win-a-face-off Gagner hopefully shifting over), so teaching Pitlick to play centre would be a key objective. Assumes Hartikainen and one of VV or O’Marra makes the big club next season. Also assumes Lander stays oversees. Could also see a scenario where O’Marra is cut loose, VV makes the big club and House moves to the 4th line C. No room at the Inn for Bigos on the d-line, so if they sign him I would put him on the 4th line and see what he could do with the role.

I could live with a defence of :

Montgomery – Helmer
Plante – Teubert
Davidson – Marincin –
Fedun – Petoit

With injuries and call ups, having 8 d-men in OKC makes sense to me. Would have to have a good rotational system when all 8 are around and healthy to keep them fresh, but a smart coach would find a way to make that happen

In the net:

Roy plus a Gerber-type goalie to give Roy time to develop.