Getting Deeper

The Nashville Predators currently hold the top spot in the Central Division.  This is important, as they will take on a wild card team, which means they won't have to deal with either St. Louis or Chicago in the opening round, the two teams that are immediately behind the Predators at the moment.  To give themselves a better chance of staying in first, the Predators picked up a couple of players that were originally draft picks of the team in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs yesterday.  Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli were acquired in exchange for Olli Jokinen, prospect Brendan Leipsic, and the Predators' first round pick in this year's draft.

For the Predators, the trade adds depth to the blue line while adding a speedy, versatile forward that can play in most situations.  Franson was with the Predators from 2009-11 before being traded to Toronto while Santorell returns to the team that he played 32 games for before a whirlwind tour that saw him go to Florida, Vancouver and Toronto.  The Predators are still a score by committee group, and Santorelli will give the Predators another player that can step up when needed.

The Maple Leafs, by making this trade, are indicating that they are going into rebuild mode.  Jokinen is likely not going to be in the blue and white, possibly being dangled as trade bait for another team.  The things they wanted were a first round pick, which given that this year's draft is deep with talented players, is a plus, and a top end prospect, which Leipsic has shown this year.  Leipsic is on the small side, but he will provide some offense and be a pain to play against, though given his disciplinary history (he's been suspended a handful of times while playing for Portland in the WHL), there is still some rough edges to smooth out there.  However, he also made the AHL All-Star game this year, indicating that he could be a special player.

A few pounds lighter

For all of the drama that Evander Kane caused while in Winnipeg, he was also a talented player that has the potential for 30 goals a season.  However, the last few weeks proved to be too much for both the Winnipeg Jets and Kane, as Kane was a healthy scratch for a recent game and Kane went on injured reserve a few days later and is out for the season.

That did not stop the Buffalo Sabres from picking him up in a trade, as the Jets and Sabres completed a major trade today.  The Sabres get Kane, Zach Bogosian, and a college goalie prospect while the Jets will get Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, prospects Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux, and one of the Sabres' 1st round picks in this year's draft (no, it will not be their own pick).  The Sabres picked up Kane with an eye towards next season and presuming that the Sabres get either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, the Sabres will be a better team next season just with that prospect happening.  Bogosian and Myers changed places, and while neither guy has truly lived up to the hype of being first round picks in 2008 (Bogosian went 3rd overall and Myers went 12th overall), the change of scenery may benefit both players.  The Jets essentially get a rent-a-player in Stafford that can help in the team's push for a playoff berth, yet maintain an eye towards the future, as Armia and Lemieux are prospects that will challenge for a spot in a few years' time.  The first round pick the Jets will get is either going to be the pick they got from the Islanders (in the Thomas Vanek trade) or the one they got from the Blues (in the Ryan Miller trade).

Kane is an immense talent that has his share of issues, and it may or may not get better if Ted Nolan is still coach next season.  He will have some time to get acclimated to Buffalo and perhaps Nolan will be the guy to get the most out of him.  However, if the losses pile up, and it's likely, Kane's demeanor will bear watching next season.

WHL Playoff Picture: Eastern Conference

This year, the WHL is following the NHL's lead in the playoff format, going with three automatic qualifiers from each division plus the next two teams in each conference, and yes, the pairings are the same as it is in the NHL.  With the playoffs a month away, it's time to see where each team is in the race.  The Eastern Conference is first, so here goes (the teams will be listed in accordance to where they are in the playoff standings, as listed on the WHL site):

EASTERN CONFERENCE

East Division

1. Brandon Wheat Kings: Lead the conference in points and is the first team in the playoffs for the conference.  They currently hold a 19 point lead on the nearest division rival in Regina and are almost certainly going to be the top seed in the conference.

2. Regina Pats: Despite trading away some of their top stars this season, the Pats are comfortably in second place in the division, and appear to be headed for a home ice advantage against the third ranked team in the division, which appears to be...

3. Swift Current Broncos: Nine points clear of Moose Jaw for the last spot in the division playoff race, the Broncos are not out of the woods yet, as they still have some division games to play, and that could be big if they don't fare well there.

Central Division

1. Medicine Hat Tigers: They lead the division by six points ahead of Calgary, but their hold on the division lead is fairly tenuous.  The Tigers also didn't make many moves at the trade deadline, which could come back to haunt them.

2. Calgary Hitmen: Just six points back of Medicine Hat, they are also in a fight to maintain home ice advantage for the first round, as they are just three points ahead of Red Deer.  Picking up Brendan Burke helps their goaltending, but by how much remains to be seen.

3. Red Deer Rebels: Eight points clear of Edmonton for the last automatic division spot, the Rebels are also gearing up for next year, when they will be hosting the Memorial Cup tournament.

The Rest

1. Edmonton Oil Kings: The defending league and Memorial Cup champions find themselves fighting for their playoff lives.  Fortunately, they have a 10 point lead on Moose Jaw, but don't appear to be in position to move into the division qualifiers at this point.

2. Kootenay Ice: Dead in the water before Sam Reinhart came back from his NHL audition, the Ice suddenly find themselves occupying the last wild card spot.  Like Swift Current, they are nine points above the cut-off line.

3. Moose Jaw Warriors: The Warriors need to pick up their game if they want to qualify for the first time since 2012.  This will be easier said than done because they don't score enough to offset the sometimes porous defense.

4. Prince Albert Raiders: Back by 11 points, the Raiders are pretty much thinking of next year, as the trades of both Josh Morrisey and Leon Draisaitl have left the Raiders bereft of any difference makers.

5. Lethbridge Hurricanes: The Brad Robson/Drake Berehowsky experiment was an abject failure, and both were shown the door mid-season.  However, they don't occupy the cellar at the moment, thanks to a strong week. Oh, and they're not making the playoffs, a feat that will mean the Hurricanes will see playoff-free hockey for the sixth straight season.

6. Saskatoon Blades: Already eliminated from playoff contention, the Blades were already in rebuilding mode, thanks to the trade of Nikita Scherbak early in the season.  Currently, the Blades find themselves in the cellar.

Moving Up

The news of the past week is that the Plymouth Whalers will be changing hands, meaning Peter Karmanos, who also owns the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, is selling to Rolf Nilsen, owner of IMS Hockey Corporation.  The deal is pending approval of the OHL Board of Governors, and once approved, it will not only end the 30-year ownership run of Karmanos, but will also signal the end of the Plymouth Whalers franchise.  The team is moving to Flint, MI next season, meaning the team will be moving an hour north to start play in Perani Arena.  Whether the team will be still known as the Whalers is not known at this time.

New Life in a Different Sport

Yesterday, the Edmonton Oilers were the subject of a piece on how failure can spread.  It just so happens that the gentleman you see in the picture was one of the coaches during the Oilers' current run of failure, and believe it or not, he's actually had the most success of any coach since the 2009-10 season.  Why does Ralph Krueger's name come up you ask?  In a piece on the English football club Southampton on television last night, his name came up, so in an effort to figure out what his connection to Southampton is, some research had to be done.

In February 2014, Krueger switched from hockey to football and became the director of Southampton, a club that had as recently as five years ago, been playing in the country's third tier league.  In March of the same year, he would be named chairman of the club.  The documentary, called "The Southampton Way," was aired on NBC Sports and for viewing purposes, can be located here.  Krueger's part is included in this piece, and it is an insightful look into a club that wants to be the best while on a relatively modest budget.

Getting to the Root of the Oilers' Problems

The incompetence that is the Edmonton Oilers is well documented, and while it has been an ongoing problem, there are certainly ways to fix this problem.  Today, I look at one issue that has been plaguing the Oilers since before their first Stanley Cup championship: drafting and scouting.

Before you say anything about the recent picks and the failure of them panning out, remember that this is not an entirely new phenomenon, as the Oilers have drafted poorly for much of their existence in the first round, it just showed real signs when the Oilers started dismantling their championship team of the mid-80's with the Wayne Gretzky trade in 1988.

Beginning with the 1984 Draft (the first five drafts produced players that would be instrumental to the team's dynastic run on some level), the Oilers have had 38 total first round picks, which includes the 2014 Draft, and while it is too soon to tell whether Darnell Nurse or Leon Draisaitl will pan out, it is clear that the Oilers don't exactly know what to do with them once they are in the system.  In fact, from 1984 until 2001, the only players to have even had a significant impact with the Oilers were Jason Arnott (1993), Ryan Smyth (1994), and Ales Hemsky (2001) while players like Boyd Devereaux (1996), Tyler Wright, and Martin Rucinsky (both 1991) made an impact elsewhere in the NHL.  That means the Oilers got almost nothing out of their picks from 1984 to 1990.  No wonder the Oilers were in dire straits when the likes of Gretzky, Messier, Fuhr, and Coffey were sent out.

While on the surface the Oilers should be past the rebuilding stage at this point, remember that the Oilers have been in such since 2006, when they traded Chris Pronger after he wanted out.  Despite having had three first overall picks from 2010-12, the Oilers have had, at best, uneven effort from the trio (Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Nail Yakupov), while at worst, Yakupov plays absolutely no defense (-18 this season).

What the last bit says is that the Oilers are wanting to accelerate the rebuilding process while forgetting to actually build a solid foundation for the players to succeed.  Translation: their blue line is still minor-league level and they haven't been able to identify a number one goaltender since Curtis Joseph in the late 90's.

The Oilers have a multitude of problems, with their inability to figure out what to do with their prospects most of the time being one of them.  It's going to be major digging out for a team that hasn't found much success this century.

Back from Holiday Break

It's been a while since the last update, and yes, I realize that I've missed weekly updates for both the Erie Otters and the Portland Winterhawks. To that end, here is what has been missed since the last update:

• The Erie Otters will be getting Connor McDavid back after he missed time due to injury and the World Junior Championships.  McDavid had a slow start to his WJC tournament, but he got better as the tournament went on, helping Team Canada to gold in a tournament where the true stars of the team included the likes of Max Domi, Sam Reinhart, and Curtis Lazar.
• McDavid will be rejoining the team and will have to get familiar with a couple of new faces, as the Otters acquired Jake Marchment and Remi Elie from Belleville.
• The Portland Winterhawks get Nic Petan back this week from the WJCs, where he tallied a hat trick in the semi-final game against Slovakia.  He too, will have to get familiar with a couple of new faces, as Adam Henry was acquired from Saskatoon while Evan Johnson was acquired from Calgary in a deal that saw Brendan Burke go the other way.
• The soap opera that is the Toronto Maple Leafs took another turn, as Randy Carlyle was fired this week and Peter Horachek was named interim coach.  No need to rehash the many issues that the Leafs have faced here, as it's ongoing.
• Over the holiday break, the New Jersey Devils did a little house cleaning of their own, relieving Peter DeBoer of the coaching duties, and taking over in the interim is Lou Lamoriello, with Scott Stevens and Adam Oates handling assistant coach duties on defense and offense, respectively.  Yes, you've heard this story before, as Lamoriello is coming down from the press box to take over as coach again...while still being employed as General Manager.
• The Edmonton Oilers fired Dallas Eakins and Todd Nelson is now the interim coach.  Oh, and the Oilers are still stinking up the joint while the front office group is somehow still employed.
• The WHL trade deadline is this Saturday, and some big names are getting moved, with Morgan Klimchuk jumping from Regina to rival Brandon, Brycen Martin going from Swift Current to Saskatoon, Tyler Sandhu heading to Tri-City from Red Deer, and Kelowna loading up for a deep playoff run, acquiring Josh Morrissey and Leon Draisaitl from Prince Albert.

There is plenty of hockey movement going about, and with the All-Star game in Columbus looming, it's just getting started.