Jérémie Blain - #19 In the Oilers Top 25 Under 25
by Derek Zona on Jul 17, 2011 11:31 AM MDT
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The run on defensemen continues today at #19 with Jérémie Blain, the Oilers 4th round pick (#91) in 2010. Blain leads 2011's 4th-round pick (#92) Dillon Simpson by two spots in our voting, but has risen through the rankings since debuting at #27 in the summer of 2010. Blain was #25 in the winter of 2011, and his strong play in 2010-2011 vaulted him into the top 20 in the midst of a small group of defensemen.
Jonathan likes him more than anyone in the bunch, but Bruce, Scott and myself are not so far behind in ranking Blain in the top 20 as well. Unlike Simpson, Blain was not ranked in the top 25 by our entire panel, thanks to Ben's #30 ranking.
When I spoke to The Scouting Report's Alex Arsenault, he gave us some insight on Blain's game from a scout's perspective:
Blain is an all around defenseman. He makes a very good first pass out of the zone which helps his team on the counter attack. The Titan are a good counter attacking team and Blain gets quite a few assists off of those passes out of the zone...
He has a good active stick to try and block the passing lanes but I would still like to see him use his size to clear the front of the net a bit more...
One thing I liked is that he puts a lot of pucks towards the net. They are low chance shots but very effective for rebounds and deflections because he has a nice wrist shot. In his most recent game he had 3 shots that were nearly deflected in for a goal. Blain has realized that a big booming slap shot isn’t always the most effective way to get the puck to the net...
Blain's return to the Titan lineup after recovering from a foot injury came with a boom. Below is a table of traditional stats for the Titan defense that shows just how important Blain was to the Titan:
| Player | Age | GP | G | A | Pts | P/G | PIM | +/- |
| Daniel Tanel | 19 | 65 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0.17 | 73 | 24 |
| Jeremie Blain | 18 | 40 | 2 | 35 | 37 | 0.93 | 48 | 17 |
| Olivier Hotte | 19 | 64 | 6 | 27 | 33 | 0.52 | 63 | 13 |
| Garrett Clarke | 17 | 28 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 0.57 | 69 | 9 |
| Olivier Houle | 17 | 63 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.1 | 45 | 5 |
| Jeremie Fraser | 15 | 31 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0.16 | 34 | 3 |
| Mario Kurali | 18 | 45 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0.11 | 12 | 1 |
| Sebastien Payette | 18 | 67 | 4 | 20 | 24 | 0.36 | 67 | -1 |
He was a +17 in 40 games, bested only by 19-year old Daniel Tanel who was +24 in 65 games. A full season probably would have Blain well in front of Tanel in +/-. His .93 P/G are an outstanding number - that's 66 points over a full season, and though most of them were assists, he's still an outstanding offensive defenseman. He lapped the Acadie-Bathurst field in points per game. The impact Blain had on the TItan is obvious when looking at his splits:
| Acadie-Bathurst | W | L | % | GD | GD/G |
| During Blain's injury |
17 | 11 | 0.607 | 17 | 0.607 |
| After Injury | 27 | 13 | 0.675 | 47 | 1.175 |
His presence meant half of a goal in goal differential!
Blain is not a scorer, nor even a shooter - he ranked 61st among QMJHL defensemen in dangerous shots - he boosts the offense with his biggest weapon, his first pass. As Arsenault said and Blain's assist totals confirm, he's an excellent passer, averaging nearly an assist per game. Oilers' fans may be disappointed to learn Blain isn't a heavy hitter - he was last on the Titan in hits per game - but he's good positionally and understands passing and shooting lanes, much like Jay Bouwmeester.
Blain has, at the very least, covered his draft position bet thus far. He has one season left to play in the QMJHL and he should be a force in 2011-12. A dominant season would push Blain into the upper echelon of Oilers' prospects and give the organization yet another chance to produce a top four defenseman from a group of late-round picks over the last four years.
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Memory lane
From July 8, 2010:
I was so stoked when we drafted Jeremie Blain! At least, after I figured out who he was. But he’s 6’2", which is good! He got a few points for a QMJHL team, which is even better! He went -22 on that same QMJHL team, which is so terrible I burst into non-stop hysterical laughter and had to change my pants afterwards! Now, Jeremie gets some points for the sheer horribleness of the goaltending – their starter was Guillaume Nadeau, owner of an .875 save percentage and a goals-against average above 4, which I’m pretty sure you could improve upon by putting in the Shooter Tutor. It doubtless hurt his numbers and prepared him for life as an Edmonton Oiler. All the same. -22. It’s hard to imagine a defenseman who’s in that -20 range ever ranking better than twenty-seventh no matter what league he’s in and how bad his goaltenders are. No. Impossible to imagine.
I realize: tongue-in-cheek and all that. I just hope you guys mercilessly mock the new class of leftovers in much the same way as you did to dudes like Blain and Bunz — it seems to be paying early dividends!
by hellofasandwich on Jul 17, 2011 12:10 PM MDT reply actions
Defense
I should begin by saying im a longtime fan of the site and these rankings, in fact i have been reading the copper and blue since JW started it on blogger years ago. These rankings are obviously subjective and a matter of perspective, but i find it very perplexing that you have Blain rated ahead of Teubert and Plante. I can understand Plante to a degree, as he may only be a bottom pairing D-man in the NHL (I think he’ll make it eventually, he is only going into his 22 year old season), but Teubert is getting crapped on way more than he should for having a pretty good to normal AHL rookie season for a young D-man. I would bet good money he will have a longer, better NHL career than Blain. BTW, i enjoy this list so much i’ve even made my own, of the players you’ve rated i have Blain (19), Teubert (13), Plante (17), Perhonen (23), Simpson (28), Roy (20), and Chorney (29). I tend to rate players closer to helping out in the NHL higher, i just believe recent draft picks still have too much uncertainty to value a guy like Simpson over Plante.
When we wrap, we’re going to have a post asking for our readers’ Top 25 and we’ll compile those like we did for the draft.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Honestly, I’ve got Teubert and Plante pretty much neck-and-neck in terms of level of ability, with the difference being that Teubert’s a year behind.
Teubert was an occasional healthy-scratch in Manchester, and while that team had a deep blue-line he hasn’t been a top-four defenseman in the AHL for any length of time yet – and when it comes to big defensive defensemen with negligible offense, they need to be taking on top-two minutes before I start taking them seriously as anything other than depth.
Plante hasn’t made the leap; Teubert might and if he does I’ll bump him up my rankings – just like I did with Theo Peckham, who I was exceedingly skeptical about until he started killing top-pairing minutes in OKC.
Mileage may vary; those are just my reasons. Blain might struggle with the jump the same way Teubert did, but he’s ahead of Teubert for the same reason Teubert’s ahead of Plante in my books – he has more time.
A posse ad esse.
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by Jonathan Willis on Jul 17, 2011 12:49 PM MDT up reply actions
With Teubert there is just too many positive arrows from the past few seasons for me to place too much emphasis on his lone AHL season. Not getting killed in the AHL as a rookie D is considered an excellent first step in my books. His Junior results for the Pats and Team Canada were outstanding to good, his draft pedigree is excellent, as is his toolbox and will to succeed. Most Defenseman of his ilk do take time (Plante was concidered a project on his draft day), as Greene, Mitchell, Peckham, Smith, Scuderi, and countless other Defense first D-man have (This list is hardly definitive, i know). So although he hasn’t got it done per say in the AHL, his past results, and those of other similar players make me believe its very likely he will. Thanks for the reply:)
And thank you for your well-considered answer :)
I don’t think we’re going to agree on this (at least at this point), because Theo Peckham was playing top-pairing AHL minutes (and doing it well, given the team around him) at the same age Teubert was in 2010-11.
In any case, we will know a lot more a year from now, and with a little bit of luck I’ll be revising my rankings and be forced to tip my hat to you.
A posse ad esse.
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Twitter: @JonathanWillis
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by Jonathan Willis on Jul 17, 2011 1:12 PM MDT up reply actions
I remember that analysis. Wasnt that Peckham’s second Ahl season?
Success is not a goal..its a byproduct
If Jonathan is making reference to these results, then yes, it was his second AHL season.
The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 18, 2011 10:14 AM MDT up reply actions
While I am not saying that Tuebert would suddenly start doing great in that role, there is still time. If one looks as Tuebert just as a prospect, he is not a bad one at all. #1 D man for his junior team.
As someone pointed out, he was paired with hickey who has had a terrible pro career. So his HS too is w/e
As they say its good for a young player to watch the game from the PB once in a while
Success is not a goal..its a byproduct
Gah!
You’re supposed to be able to rely on your memory at the age of 25.
That changes things a bit, and changes the way I would have ranked Teubert, in all honesty. Not a lot, but a bit.
A posse ad esse.
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Twitter: @JonathanWillis
Mail: jonathan.willis@live.ca
by Jonathan Willis on Jul 18, 2011 10:08 PM MDT up reply actions
I agree with you on Teubert and Plante, and actually most of the panel agrees with you on Teubert. It’s just that Jon and Derek really put the boots to Teubert, so Blain ended up sneaking just ahead of him in the combined rankings.
Blain is a guy I’m really looking forward to watching in the rookie tournament. One of the reasons I’m still a bit skeptical is that he got pyloned badly a couple of times last year. Of course, he was younger than a lot of the players in that tournament, but I think foot-speed is a pretty big question mark in his game.
The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 17, 2011 2:24 PM MDT up reply actions
Both Blain and Teubert played toughs in their +1 year. Blain brought the same about of offense as Teubert in 20 fewer games.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Let’s be realistic about Teubert, though. He’s a third-pairing AHL defenseman at this point with no offense to speak of. If it weren’t for the fact that he was a first round pick we’d barely be talking about him at all.
A posse ad esse.
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Twitter: @JonathanWillis
Mail: jonathan.willis@live.ca
by Jonathan Willis on Jul 17, 2011 9:46 PM MDT up reply actions
Except that he was a first-round pick, which I acknowledge isn’t supremely important, but I also don’t think it’s meaningless when we’re discussing players that young; it certainly suggests that he’s got some natural gifts. Further, he’s also had just the one tough year, which also happened to be his first season as a professional. I think it’s quite realistic to expect him to be substantially better at that level in 2011-12 than he was in 2010-11, especially considering one of the major issues in his game last year was physical maturity.
The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.
by Scott Reynolds on Jul 17, 2011 11:03 PM MDT up reply actions
Jason Smith was a first round pick. He too was a Regina Pat. Like many/most stay-at-home defencemen he was a slow developer, and for a few years they thought it was a wasted pick, never going to live up to his pedigree. Then he got traded to Edmonton and …
I have high hopes for Teubert. I had zero problem with trading for a young defender who’s already three years along the development curve. Of course he has warts, they all do at that age.
That said, I have high hopes for Blain too. I’m just an incurable optimist, I guess.
Writer for The Cult of Hockey, 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 21, 2011 7:57 PM MDT up reply actions
The really interesting thing about Blain (the Titan’s top defender, with all the minutes that implies) is the team’s record with and without him:
With: 28 wins, 13 losses (0.683 winning percentage)
Without: 16 wins, 11 losses (0.593 winning percentage)
That may or may not be Blain’s impact, but given his role on the team I don’t find it unreasonable to suggest he makes that much of a difference.
He’s an elite defender in the QMJHL, and I think if we took draft pedigree out of the mix he’d be ranked a lot higher.
A posse ad esse.
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Twitter: @JonathanWillis
Mail: jonathan.willis@live.ca
by Jonathan Willis on Jul 17, 2011 12:44 PM MDT reply actions
Blain is an all around defenseman. He makes a very good first pass out of the zone which helps his team on the counter attack. … Blain gets quite a few assists off of those passes out of the zone…
He has a good active stick to try and block the passing lanes but I would still like to see him use his size to clear the front of the net a bit more…
It’s Tom Gilbert re-incarnated!
The Edmonton Oilers - All we do is win!!
Wow. How he can be in a Bunz not is a mystery to me. Bunz had a strong year statistically, played well in the playoffs and is one of only 4 goalies in the CHL invited to the canadian junior team camp, which objectively would seem to make him one of the 4 best goalies in canada (for his age group).
No one has Blain as 1 of the 4 best defencemen in canada for his age group, or even top 10, that I know of.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the kid’s game and trends, and I hope he thrives, but this seems optimistic relative to the apparent pessimism around bunz..
Also, I don’t get the comparisons to Teubert. They play a completely different game. Teubert’s game is about taking care of his own end and punishing players. That doesn’t sound at all like Blain. Apples and oranges, really. They may actually make a good pairing down the road with Teubert clearing he front of the net and working the corners with Blain moving the puck and setting up the offense.
by gcw_rocks on Jul 17, 2011 4:20 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
I don’t think anyone was comparing the two as hockey players, but rather debating their worth/ potential. On the overall list Teubert is rated lower than Blain, and i expressed some curiosity to as why. I know someone brought up they both play toughs, but i don’t think anyone insinuated they go about doing that in the same way.
Teubert often gets slammed for his offensive output, and is compared to players like Blain. Scott Stevens had way less offensive output than scott neidermeyer but wasn’t any less valuable a player to his team.
When I look at the Oilers relatively small soft forwards, I would rather have more stevens at the expense of a little neidermayer.
That’s why Teubert will succeed while Blain is a a maybe.
by gcw_rocks on Jul 18, 2011 6:04 AM MDT via mobile up reply actions
Didn’t Teubert play with a recovering wrist injury and had to play with a wrist brace most of the year. Also he received this injury at the Kings TC and didn’t start playing until mid November. The Manchester coach has a history of rotating his defensive core in and out of the line up, so I wouldn’t take anything into the healthy cuts. Did not Tambo mention he was keeping the 7th defense-men position for one of the rookies and mention Petry and Teubert. From the looks of things ST rates Teubert a lot higher.
I agree. I think the healthy scratch stuff is being overplayed for a 1st year player, with an injury, on a team that seemed to be deep in defencemen.
by gcw_rocks on Jul 17, 2011 7:16 PM MDT via mobile up reply actions
What about him being a HS on OKC then?
In theory, there is little difference between practice and theory, but in practice there is!
rotation policy.
Also in the playoffs the team did better when he was playing.
Success is not a goal..its a byproduct
A rotation policy doesn’t involve the best options on the team.
In theory, there is little difference between practice and theory, but in practice there is!
Well no one said he was the best D man on the team. He was among the bunch in the bot 4 and certainly the youngest of all in both organisations. That said even Richard Petiot was a HS one game. .
Success is not a goal..its a byproduct
LA is very deep in good defensemen and Teubert was the rookie on the squad. He played with Hickey for a 1 1/2 months, then his partner was ever changing. You should know that when he played with Hickey, Hickey suck and was a healthy scratch a number of times. So there was a number of factors that effected Teuberts play in Manchester.
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