Your Top 25 Under 25 Edmonton Oilers' Prospects

1. Taylor Hall

2. Ryan Nugent- Hopkins
3. Jordan Eberle

4. Magnus Paajarvi
5. Sam Gagner
6. Linus Omark
7. Anton Lander
8. Jeff Petry
9. Anton Lander
10. Oscar Klefbom
11. Teemu Hartikainen
12. David Musil
13. Martin Marincin
14. Theo Peckham
15. Tyler Bunz
16. Tyler Pitlick
17. Curtis Hamilton
18. Brandon Davidson
19. Taylor Chorney
20. Jérémie Blain
21. Colton Tuebert
22. Dillon Simpson
23. Olivier Roy
24. Samu Perhonen
25. Alex Plante

1) Taylor Hall
2) Magnus Paajarvi
3) Jordan Eberle
4) Sam Gagner
5) Ryan Nugent- Hopkins
6) Theo Peckham
7) Martin Marincin
8) Linus Omark
9) Anton Lander
10) Jeff Petry
11) Teemu Hartikainen
12) Curtis Hamilton
13) Tyler Pitlick
14) Tyler Bunz
15) Oscar Klefbom
16) Alex Plante
17) Ryan Martindale
18) Taylor Chorney
19) Toni Rajala
20) Olivier Roy
21) David Musil
22) Brandon Davidson
23) Jérémie Blain
24) Dillon Simpson
25) Samu Perhonen

1. Taylor Hall
2. Jordan Eberle
3. Sam Gagner
4. Magnus Paajarvi
5. Ryan Nugent Hopkins
6. Linus Omark
7. Anton Lander
8. Jeff Petry
9. Teemu Hartikainen
10. Theo Peckham
11. Gilbert Brule
12. Oscar Klefbom
13. Curtis Hamilton
14. Martin Marincin
15. David Musil
16. Colton Teubert
17. Taylor Fedun
18. Tyler Pitlick
19. Jeremie Blain
20. Chris Vande Velde
21. Ryan Martindale
22. Tyler Bunz
23. Alex Plante
24. Brandon Davidson
25. Olivier Roy

And just cos I can:

26. Taylor Chorney
27. Dillon Simpson
28. Milan Kytnar
29. Samu Perhonen
30. Martin Gernat
31. Tobias Rieder
32. Frans Tuohimaa
33. Drew Czerwonka
34. Kyle Bigos
35. Phillipe Cornet

I also like Pelss, but thats just because he’s a good story (not without talent though).

As a bonus, I think we are almost certain to see Cam Abney in an Oilers uniform at some point in the next 3 years, whether he deserves it or not.

I’m a perpetual optimist and super-mega-brainwashed Oilers fan, so I get excited about all the guys under contract with the Oilers. Plus, Bruce and Lisa’s articles tend to make me like all the guys they interview. That makes it incredibly hard to rank them, but feel free to rip apart my list.

hard to combine current importance with future importance, but since I am mostly focused on 2013/2014, I weighted to future importance.

1) Taylor Hall – gonna be a rock star
2) Ryan Nugent- Hopkins – better be a rock star
3) Jordan Eberle – last piece of the eventual first line
4) Magnus Paajarvi – Solid future, but second liner or competing with Hamilton / Hartikainen for the 3LW?
5) Linus Omark – could be something special here if given the chance and the right linemates
6) Anton Lander – anchors the third line. Future captain?
7) Oscar Klefbom – top pairing d-man in the future? Let’s hope so
8) Martin Marincin – second pairing guy with a mean streak
9) Curtis Hamilton – Could make Paajarvi tradeable
10) Sam Gagner – this team can live without him. Could win second line centre role by default if Pitlick and Martindale bust. On the other hand, could take ownership of the role with a big season
11) Jeff Petry – second pairing potential
12) Colten Teubert – second or third pairing, but brings much lacking mean streak to defensive core
13) Tyler Pitlick – future 2nd line player? If so, one of Gagner, Omark or Hemsky becomes expendable
14) Teemu Hartikainen – its getting crowded on the LW, but tools are too good to ignore
15) David Musil – competing with Petry for role next to Marincin in a couple of years
16) Theo Peckham – let’s see if he can build on last season
17) Tyler Bunz – trending the right way. World Juniors could be huge for this player if he seizes opportunity
18) Olivier Roy – inconsistency competing with ability. Which wins?
19) Ryan Martindale – second line centre talent. Enough compete to match the talent? Second line centre role is up for grabs.
20) Jérémie Blain – Nice season. Let’s see what 2011/2012 brings
21) Alex Plante – Needs a big year or will be off this list next season
22) Brandon Davidson – Overcoming the odds and is showing strong on a bad team. Needs a skating coach. Feel good story if he makes it
23) Taylor Fedun – smart player, could surprise
24) Samu Perhonen – interesting
25) Martin Gernat or Tanner House – which wild card? Can’t decide yet.

1. Taylor Hall
2. Ryan Nugent Hopkins
3. Jordan Eberle
4. Sam Gagner
5. Magnus Paajarvi
6. Linus Omark
7. Theo Peckham
8. Jeff Petry
9. Teemu Hartikainen
10. Oscar Klefbom
11. Anton Lander
12. Martin Marincin
13. Curtis Hamilton
14. Colten Tuebert
15. David Musil
16. Tyler Pitlick
17. Gilbert Brule
18. Ryan Martindale
19. Alex Plante
20. Tayler Chorney
21. Jeremie Blaine
22. Dillon Simpson
23. Tyler Bunz
24. Samu Perhonen
25. Olivier Roy

I have to say, I really love the top ten on this list. I think they’re outstanding young players and there may not be a bust in the group. 11-20 contains a lot of very promising prospects, but I think there’s a distinct fall-off after number 20. Still some interesting prospects, though. Really interesting list, and it will be intriguing to inspect five years from now.

1. Taylor Hall—Will be a premier forward in the NHL, perhaps sooner than later.
2. Nugent-Hopkins—May not quite be the talent of his immediate predecessor at #1, but in a draft year that was wide open at the top, he was the only prospect everyone agreed on. I’ll trust the scouts when they all agree.
3. Jordan Eberle—I don’t know HOW good he’s going to be offensively, exactly, but he’ll likely be a top line winger for the next dozen years.
4. Sam Gagner—I think he emerges as a mid-level first line centre or an excellent second-line centre, capable of scoring 65-70 points on a consistent basis. Very useful piece, if they don’t deal him for peanuts.
5. Linus Omark—Pure offensive moxie. May actually have the best hands of the entire forward group. If he actually gets a powerplay to run that can score, may tear the league apart offensively.
6. Magnus Paajarvi—Sometimes, he looks like a bigger, faster version of Ales Hemsky. But I don’t think he’s got the pure offensive mindset to be that player. Will be very good, either as a high-octane first line player or a two-way second line player. Time will tell.
7. Martin Marincin—Still the best defensive prospect in the system. His tools, and his performance as a rookie to the North American game, were outstanding, though the season did wear on him. Has a chance to be a top pairing defender.
8. Jeff Petry—Safer bet than Marincin, but may lack the high-end offensive ability to be more than a #3. Will be a NHL regular in the next 18 months.
9. Oscar Klefbom—New picks are a little tricky to pin down, but playing in the SEL in his draft year is an accomplishment, and the scouting report makes it sound like there’s little he can’t do. Only concern is whether he will get playing time this year, given the relative lack of it he received last year. Will be interesting to watch.
10. Anton Lander—Interesting to hear he’s already a lot faster than he was on draft day. Projects into being a third line centre with enough offense to contribute. Very useful player type, that.
11. Curtis Hamilton—You know what I like? Hearing about a player who does everything well. They’re easy to bet on. I’ve heard “best defensive player in the WHL”, he played on the World Junior team on a typically stacked Canadian squad and had some success, scored at over a point per game in the WHL, and is listed at 6’3" and over two hundred pounds. If you had to bet the house on one player to make it coming out of junior (assuming Nugent-Hopkins is out), this would be the one.
12. Teemu Hartikainen—Not necessarily as sold on him as some people, but a reasonable AHL rookie campaign followed by an impressive NHL 12 game audition? Plays with a mix of grit and offense? Very nice player to have in the mix.
13. Tyler Pitlick—I don’t really know what the future holds in store, but he’s a player you want to continue to bet on due to tools, and the fact that he has tracked moderately well since draft day. May be no more than a bottom sixer, but you just want NHL players that can play some sort of regular shift out of the second round. Very interesting year forthcoming.
14. Theo Peckham—Ladislav Smid without the lingering question of whether or not he could ever bring any offense. Will likely solidify himself, eventually, as a good #5, a guy who can step into your top four with injuries, but ideally you have lower down the depth chart. Nothing wrong with that.
15. Colton Teubert—With his size and passing ability, Teubert probably just needs time to figure out how to play a calm defensive game in his own zone, and should establish himself eventually as a second pairing defender that plays with a more offense-oriented guy.
16. Tyler Bunz—Very strong season gets him on the radar as a prospect, but goalies take forever, and will need to have a strong professional season before getting any consideration for the top ten.
17. Gilbert Brule—I still think there’s a player there. Will need to see more than one bad season before I think that he can’t be a good NHL player. It would be a shame to see his career derailed by injury. One hopes that he’ll have a healthy season.
18. David Musil—Considering the pedigree, the reasonably good season and the skillset, I think he’s a good prospect. But I don’t know if there’s anything to get tremendously excited about yet.
19. Ryan Martindale—Had a good season, but… the continuing whispers that he doesn’t put in a full effort at all times, and that he wasn’t driving results on his line, keep him fairly low. Interesting prospect to watch over the next couple seasons, I’m sure.
20. Olivier Roy—Can’t think of another prospect more likely to move drastically from this spot… either up or down. Solid, but mixed season, and now he’s entering pro. If he tracks well, he could be on the radar as a call-up option as early as this season. Or he could end up fighting for a starting job in the ECHL, career in peril. Hard to tell.
21. Brandon Davidson—Interesting, in that he’s already a pretty good player with very little quality coaching in his back-pocket. I think if he turns into a player, it will be a credit to the player development side of the Oilers management. Another interesting player to watch over the next few years.
22. Jeremy Blain—Had a very good, albeit shortened, season in the QMJHL, and may have an even bigger year coming if he’s healthy. I can’t remember the last time the Oilers had an interesting defensive prospect coming from Quebec, which makes him very interesting to watch.
23. Alex Plante—He might be squeezed out of an NHL job simply from all the other young players around his age that have a step on him for an NHL spot (Petry, Peckham, Teubert) and the ones coming from behind (Marincin, Klefbom). Not worth giving up on yet, but may turn out to be no more than a depth defenceman… on another team.
24. Kyle Bigos—6’5" collegiate player playing important minutes on a good NCAA team. May be light-years away from challenging for a spot, and may not have one to challenge for when he arrives, but interesting project nonetheless.
25. Travis Ewanyk—Projects out to be a 12-14 forward that bangs, crashes, and irritates the other team’s second line forwards. As such, I think he’s the perfect prospect to take the number 25 spot.

Just missing: Dillon Simpson (don’t know enough yet), Toni Rajala (needs to do better than just okay to make me believe he can play in the top six as an NHL player) and Taylor Chorney (because, well, he’s Taylor Chorney. He hangs around the cut line, that’s what he does).

I’m not one that thinks these lists are fair to goalies – they don’t really qualify as anyone who can contribute at the NHL level until they do, and with our goalies either being very young and unproven or over 24, I left them out entirely (at this point).

1. Taylor Hall
2. Jordan Eberle
3. Magnus Pajaarvi
4. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
5. Sam Gagner
6. Anton Lander
7. Jeff Petry
8. Linus Omark
9. Curtis Hamilton
10. Oskar Klefbom
11. Teemu Hartikainen
12. Martin Marincin
13. David Musil
14. Tyler Pitlick
15. Theo Peckham
16. David Musil
17. Antti Tyrvainen
18. Chris VandeVelde
19. Ryan Martindale
20. Colten Teubert
21. Gilbert Brule
22. Taylor Chorney
23. Taylor Fedun
24. Jeremie Blain
25. Tony Rajala

WTF: I feel pretty strongly that I have the right 15 players in the top fifteen, and the right 5 in the top five. Outside the top fifteen, who knows.

1) Taylor Hall
2) Jordan Eberle
3) Magnus Paajarvi
4) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
5) Sam Gagner
6) Anton Lander
7) Teemu Hartikainen
8) Jeff Petry
9) Theo Peckham
10) Oscar Klefbom
11) Linus Omark
12) Curtis Hamilton
13) Martin Marincin
14) David Musil
15) Tyler Pitlick
16) Colten Teubert
17) Chris VandeVelde
18) Taylor Fedun
19) Jérémie Blain
20) Dillon Simpson
21) Taylor Chorney
22) Alex Plante
23) Brandon Davidson
24) Tyler Bunz
25) Samu Perhonen
26) Olivier Roy
27) Toni Rajala
28) Travis Ewanyk
29) Kyle Bigos
30) Martin Gernat
31) Tobias Rieder
32) Ryan Martindale
33) Drew Czerwonka
34) Milan Kytnar
35) Mark Accobello

1 Hall
2 Hopkins
3 Eberle
4 Gagner
5 Paajarvi
6 Hamilton
7 Marincin
8 Petry
9 Omark
10 Peckham
11 Hartikainen
12 Klefbom
13 Teubert
14 Lander
15 Pitlick
16 Musil
17 Plante
18 Bunz
19 Blain
20 Roy
21 Martindale
22 Davidson
23 Perhonen
24 Fedun
25 VandeVelde

1. Taylor Hall
2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
3. Jordan Eberle
4. Sam Gagner
5. Magnus Paajarvi
6. Linus Omark
7. Oscar Klefbom
8. Jeff Petry
9. Curtis Hamilton
10. Anton Lander
11. Teemu Hartikainen
12. Theo Peckham
13. Martin Marincin
14. Ryan Martindale
15. Tyler Pitlick
16. Tyler Bunz
17. Gilbert Brule
18. Colten Teubert
19. David Musil
20. Brandon Davidson
21. Dillon Simpson
22. Jeremie Blain
23. Alex Plante
24. Olivier Roy
25. Samu Perhonen

Funny how I keep reading that the fan base has soured on Gagner, but I am the only one that ranked Gagner outside the top 5. Seems this group, although a small sample size, still has a lot of faith.

1. Taylor Hall
2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
3. Jordan Eberle
4. Magnus Paajarvi
5. Sam Gagner
6. Oscar Klefbom
7. Linus Omark
8. Jeff Petry
9. Anton Lander
10. Theo Peckham
11. Martin Marincin
12. Teemu Hartikainen
13. Tyler Pitlick
14. Curtis Hamilton
15. David Musil
16. Gilbert Brule
17. Colten Teubert
18. Tyler Bunz
19. Jeremie Blain
20. Alex Plante
21. Samu Perhonen
22. Brandon Davidson
23. Taylor Fedun
24. Olivier Roy
25. Martin Gernat

I’m sure there’s a glaring omission in there somewhere, and I ranked them thinking of who I would be willing to trade for who, omitting thoughts about contracts.

Also just noticed that there is a rather small amount of forwards. Obviously my list isn’t “right”, but I only had 10 forwards, and I think most people will find their lists with similar numbers. I would have expected 15+ forwards, especially considering how everyone always says we have so many young forwards and lack young defensemen, this exercise seems to imply the opposite.

First off, doing this just reminds on crazy deep of a pool we have. The top end is quite nice, as is the middle portion, but both of these are to be expected for a "good prospect pool". It’s the bottom end that’s excellent. These are the guys that provide solid organizational depth and trade packaging material. Exciting.
 
I am rating this purely on speculation longterm potential while keeping in mind the boom/bust factor. This unfortunately means that the goalies are gonna get shafted by me, cause their bust potential is insufferably high. So you might see some ones that you think are "funny".
 
So I finished my list and I went through it and I noticed some trends in how my players got grouped, and I. I provided some reasoning. What do you think?
 
1. Taylor Hall- No comment needed
2. Ryan Nugent Hopkins – I actually don’t know what to make of him. What is his top end? What is his bust potential? That’s enough to drive someone crazy trying to evaluate this guy.
3. Sam Gagner – Yep, I said it. 4 years from now he will look better than eberle. And this is a compliment to gagner, not an insult to eberle.
4. Jordan Eberle
5. Magnus Paajarvi – It was hard to put him this low, but that just speaks to our depth.
6. Jeff Petry – I’ll be honest, he is only here because his bust potential is low at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him surpassed by a few defencemen in the near future.
7. Linus Omark
8. Anton Lander – a skillset and work ethic that is sorely needed on the oilers, even though not the most talented
9. Teemu Hartikainen – see Lander
10. Martin Marincin – Unknown quantity, intriguing possibilities
11. Oscar Klefbom – see Marincin
12. Curtis Hamilton – Injury issues, could be a beauty though. Will be interesting to see if he goes Center or Wing moving forward in the big leagues…
13. Tyler Pitlick – See Hamilton
14. David Musil – The more I think about this the more I love it. I was tempted to put him MUCH higher. Was a top ten pick a year ago, dropped ONLY because of his very low numbers (no other issues such as motivation or injury come to mind). There is no way his numbers get worse, and on the off chance he had a bad year last year (or he was just more focused on his defensive game) and his numbers rebound, this could be a huge steal of the draft. If not, he is in the same class as tuebert/theo.
15. Colten Tuebert – better physical skillset than theo
16. Theo Peckham
17. Jeremie Blaine – Any one of these three dmen (Blaine, Simpson, Davidson) could outperform their draft positions by a considerable margin. It is likely that only 1/3 of these guys ever plays regularly for the Oilers, but depending on how they all do, they could be intriguing trade package material.
18. Dillon Simpson
19. Brandon Davidson
20. Ryan Martindale – only this low because of apparent work ethic issues. Nilsson/Schremp left a bitter taste. Fantastic skills though.
21. Tyler Bunz – I just don’t have faith in goalie prospects, so I lumped them all together near the end
22. Olivier Roy
23. Samu Perhonen
24. Taylor Fedun – might have a gem here
25. Tayler Chorney – might be forever ruined, still a good skillset.

 1.Taylor Hall
 2.Ryan Nugent Hopkins
 3.Magnus Paajarvi
 4.Jordan Eberle
 5.Sam Gagner
 6.Anton Lander
 7.Oscar Klefbom
 8.Jeff Petry
 9. Gilbert Brule
 10.Linus Omark
 11.Curtis Hamilton
 12.Martin Marincin
 13.Teemu Hartikainen
 14.Tyler Pitlick
 15.Colten Tuebert
 16.Theo Peckham
 17.David Musil
 18.Samu Perhonen
 19.Alex Plante
 20.Tyler Bunz
 21.Tayler Chorney
 22.Olivier Roy
 23.Jeremie Blaine
 24.Ryan Martindale
 25.Brandon Davidson