#18 - Marco Roy

For me, the toughest part of the Oilers' Top 25 Under 25 to care about are the rankings in the high teens. At this point we've moved past the wouldn't-it-be-fun-if-they-made-it long shots, but we haven't yet reached that group of prospects who are knocking on the door. This is the mushy middle of the Top 25 where the prospects who are falling out of favour tend to land. Players like Marco Roy  for example. After being ranked at #15 following the 2013 draft, Roy slipped to the 16th spot last spring, and now finds himself a little farther down the list again checking in at #18.

Previous Rank: 21

When we last checked in with Marco Roy he was going by the name Marc-Olivier. I don't know why he made the change, perhaps Michael's decision to use Marco for typing efficiency got him thinking about a change. Whatever the reason, it hasn't reinvented the player in our minds or kept him from continuing to slip in our rankings. Of our ten voters who also participated in the last rankings, Marco has dropped on six and stayed flat on three others. Only Alan likes what he sees, moving Roy up one spot.

One big reason why the player formerly known as Marc-Olivier has fallen in our rankings is a drop in his on-ice production. After recording just over a point per game during the regular season and the playoffs of his draft year, Roy was forced to deal with a injuries last season (including a concussion) but not only failed to match that point per game pace, he actually backed up slightly. Hardly an encouraging sign from a prospect who was drafted in the second round and supposedly has an offensive skill set.

Roy's counting numbers from the last three seasons - draft-1 through draft+1 - can be found in the table below.

Some of Roy's drop off in production can no doubt be traced to his having to deal first with a wrist elbow injury, and then with a concussion. Those aren't just bumps that you play through, those are the type of injuries that, even when you're healthy enough to return to action, can hamper affect a players comfort level, and in turn his performance.  So with that in mind, if you are looking for a positive in Roy's season you might be able to find it in his shot totals.

On a per game basis the he took fewer shots per game last season than the year before, but the difference, 0.12 shots per game (less than a 5% decline), isn't worth getting too upset about. After you account for the difference in his shooting percentage from 12/13 to 13/14 his goal total is almost identical year over year. Of course level production isn't what a team is looking for from their junior aged prospects, but given the other injuries he had to deal with it's a little more understandable.

This season Roy will be back in the QMJHL for his last year of junior hockey with the Quebec Remparts (who are hosting the Memorial Cup) Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. That should give him a chance to show us all if last year was the result of bad luck, or the start of a pattern.

Check out previous stories in the Top 25 Under 25 series in our StoryStream.