I was in Penticton for the tournament, went to all 3 games.

As described above, almost the entire defense, except for Wanner ,were Camp Invites.. (Akey didn't play) .. Oilers had youngest team.. most of team without any pro experience.

The games were super tight, no real offense, for any team, Oiler squad were 6 even goals against and 1 for..

Some notes;
Lajoie
Best defenseman IMHO was Marc Lajoie.. he's 6'-6" and mobile.. very smart player.. great positionally, high hockey IQ.. good pivots, smart passes.. and at 6'-6" he has NHL reach and size.. which he he uses efficiently with great success.
He's only 21, going to to play for U of A Bears this season.. but after watching him play I think the Oilers would be smart to sign him before anyone else does. he looks like he has Desharnais's size and reach but much smarter and better skater.. and only 21. It took Desharnais until he was 27 before he figured anything out.

Lajoi was also the leading goal scorer (26) among WHL defensemen last season while on the Oil Kings squad.. so he can contribute offensively.. Desharnais never did anything close to that at ANY level.. he was a revelation to me.. I was interested to see him at teh tourney just based solely on his size.. but he really surprised me on his skating and processing ability.. much better than Wanner IMO. It looked like based on the deployment by Chaulk, that he had Lajoie & Wanner playing #1 & #2 D during the games.. so it looked like the coaching staff had had come to a similar conclusion about Lajoie as I had.

PLEASE SIGN HIM OILERS !!!!!
Get that MAN a contract!


Wanner
To me, Wanner plays too spastic right now, seemed to get turnstiled routinely, lots of turnovers, didn't physically over power anyone, poor reads, and skating is not as good as I had hoped for.. which is the most important skill. Its funny I read some reviews from the usual Edmonton sports writers and they all seemed to rave about Wanner.. both last year and this tourney.. but I just can't see it.. he's 2 years away at best.. or ever.. Too bad because I had big hopes for the guy. :(

Not much mentioned about Lajoie.. maybe they all watched on a live stream instead of at the game?

Nicholl
The most surprising forward for me was Nicholl. The guy was everywhere, he was a puck possession machine, excellent in the cycle, good wheels, agile, motor never, ever quits,.. plus he has great hands.. high skill level.. he was the best I saw from an Oiler forward.. but he needs some man-strength (like all of them).. good bet for an NHL future IMHO.. I expect he'll do really well in the OHL this year for London.

Savoie
You could see the talent Savoie has, but he wasn't able to get much done.. he was partnered with Clattenburg and O'Reilly.. both having first pro camps.. O'Reilly was the youngest on the Oiler's squad.. and the Oiler's squad was the youngest at the tournament. Jury out on Savoie pending more evidence.

Clattenburg
He was another pleasant surprise. I expected just a big lumbering guy crashing around the rink. But the kid has decent speed.. he gets to places quickly.. and he hits EVERYTHING that moves. EVERY shift. Doesn't need to be coerced to fly around and hit people.. its natural to him.. you can tell he likes it. He cycles the puck well, he's sound positionally... he could be a very good late round find.
He had a scrap in the 2nd game, against a big stiff on the Flames, Parker Bell.. fed him a F-250 full of upper cuts.. Bell is 6'-5" 205#(20 yo) .. Clattenburg 6'-2" 197# (19 yo)
https://www.instagram.com/flamesnationdotca/reel/C_6-HADyFDD /

Nathaniel Day (G)
Day played well (1 game), young inexperienced defense gave up a lot of chances, Day kept them in it, Canucks peppered him and only allowed 2 EV goals.
He had a brutal year in Flint last year.. which was a poor team.. his stats might be unrepresentative.. he is going back to Flint this season.

Connor Ungar (G)
Ungar also played well (1 game), small sample size.. time will tell

Petrov
Kept hoping he'd distance himself from the rest in the tournament by some measure, but really never got any traction.. skating is so so.. he's 21.

Grubbe
Never saw anything that stood out.. had a couple scraps to show he was engaged.. works hard but speed is not one of his assets.. he's 21.. he needs to gain a step (or two!) to progress up the pro ranks.. sorry to say. :(

Corbet
Honourable mention to Nate Corbet (son of Rene), a defenseman with WHL Medicine Hat last year, who had a scrap in every game (3).. against bigger older AHL players.. he's a gamer! .. Corbet is only 18

[Updated on: Wed, 18 September 2024 19:41]

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