Waived: Tyler Pitlick, Anton Lander, Steve Pinizzotto and Keith Aulie [All Clear]

[nexttothemoon]

Yakimov over Acton would have made sense just based on training camp performance but I agree... not to sit in the pressbox.

Bogdan to the AHL makes perfect sense.

The guy has never played a real high level professional game on NA ice (that I know of). And no... a few training camp games with little in the way of real structure and systems vs junior/PTO fodder filled lineups doesn't count.

He absolutely needs some time in the AHL to learn the NA game and adjust to the flow and style of game.

I personally don't think it will take him long at all... hell he might be ready now and yes he's probably good enough to beat out Arco/Acton and stick on the roster but any prudent coach on any other NHL team would very likely want him down in the AHL for at least a partial season down there as well.

I'm not going to crap on the coaches and management for going a little slowly with Yak2. He is going to be a beast in the NHL and bringing him up later after he plays a while vs AHL competition is the wise and sensible thing to do.

A team shouldn't rush a player like Yakimov who is completely green and fresh to North America just because they have such thin depth at C.

 

[Game 8]

Of course Pitlick cleared...he isn't an NHL player and can't score in the AHL


another failed 2nd rounder from Stu...to go along with Lander, Musil, and Hamilton

Moroz and Roy have chances to prove otherwise but we've gotta be the worst at picking in the 2nd round in the league

Agree our biggest remaining holes are 3rd/4th line players and a good goalie prospect. Anyone can draft early in the first round.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

You would prefer Yakimov in the pressbox?

To me, Yakimov outplayed Arcobello as well.

No. Judging by this particular poster's history, it would seem that he has some sort of vendetta against the Actons. Lots of people here can't seem to look past the fact that his father is an assistant coach and look at this objectively. If that were not the situation, I feel a lot more people here wouldn't mind him. He's a serviceable guy with a great attitude and work ethic from what I've seen. I personally think it's a waste of time to be *****ing incessantly over press box fodder.

I don't have a vendetta against the Actons, I do however have a vendetta against incompetent executives. Keith Acton for his god-awful handling of special teams last season. Will Acton for being the embodiment of the Oilers' connections over abilities, nepotism over meritocracy team culture. If this were Keegan Lowe or Jeff Tambellini getting beneficial treatment, I'd likely voice even more displeasure.

The issue here is inconsistency. I wouldn't mind one bit if the Oilers opted to keep Pinizotto and expose Pitlick to waivers, you can make a legitimate argument that he had a better training camp. Eakins claims that he's making choices solely based on performance and not taking into consideration waiver eligibility. Evidently someone neglected to inform him of the first 3 games turned in by a certain Mr. Will Acton.

 

[Tw0Shoes]

Agree our biggest remaining holes are 3rd/4th line players and a good goalie prospect. Anyone can draft early in the first round.

Years of Kevin Predergast should tell you that this is not true at all. The Oilers have previously bunged up a lot of first round picks. The fact that Stu has so far made a bunch of good choices in the first round is a breath of fresh air compared to most of the Oilers history. You only need to look at the 2000s drafting of the Canucks to see that really not everyone can draft well.

 

[No Good Names Left]

Why? Its about role. Does Pitlick PK or win faceoffs or play defensive centre?

No. Its not Acton vs Pitlick.

Its Pitlick vs Joensuu vs Pinozotto.

Joensuu won.

Acton was battling Lander, Yakimov etc to be the 5th line centre role and penalty killer. That's something that Pitlick doesn't do. At all.

Great post...

 

[Tyrolean]

yeah stu isn't a good head scout, no doubt about that anymore... he has picked exactly one home run (eberle), and arguably he has hit a couple doubles (to keep the baseball metaphor going) with marincin and klefbom... the other picks that he gets credit for were #1 overall picks... there are numerous whif-picks, such as pitlick, musil, lander, hamilton and moroz ... all of those picks were in the top-50, so its not like i'm picking on him for missing picks in the 3rd+ rounds.... those rounds are such crap-shoots that you can't be blamed for always missing, although i would argue that its odd that he hasn't produced one single NHLer since 2008 in those later rounds, not one

how stu still has a job is beyond me

Ol boy's club

 

[tiger_80]

The people saying risking Pit is no big deal are out to lunch.

Good teams win cups not just a flashy top 6. Pitlick could end up being a great depth player home grown and about 3 times cheaper than signing a UFA to do what he can. Skate and hit and shoot.

Cap world developing guys like Pitlick is very Important.

I think Pitlick will put it all together eventually as a good bottom 6 winger, if he stays healthy. Will take him a few years to establish himself in the league though. His upside is Glencross, imo.

 

[dustrock]

Glencross has a shot. Pitlick has hands of stone.

 

[Wheathead]

Why? Its about role. Does Pitlick PK or win faceoffs or play defensive centre?

No. Its not Acton vs Pitlick.

Its Pitlick vs Joensuu vs Pinozotto.

Joensuu won.

Acton was battling Lander, Yakimov etc to be the 5th line centre role and penalty killer. That's something that Pitlick doesn't do. At all.

Get your common sense off of my HFOil.

 

[The Nuge]

Glencross has a shot. Pitlick has hands of stone.

Umm... what? Pitlick has a rocket

 

[guymez]

Umm... what? Pitlick has a rocket

Too bad he cant hit the net.

Pitlick isnt going to be a legit 2nd/3rd line player like Glencross. He will be lucky to be a steady 4th liner.

 

[tiger_80]

Too bad he cant hit the net.

Pitlick isnt going to be a legit 2nd/3rd line player like Glencross. He will be lucky to be a steady 4th liner.

At Pitlick's age Glencross was nowhere near the NHL. He really established himself only after getting traded to the Oilers at the age of 26. Pitlick has almost identical tools--similar size, speed, shot, grit.
It's a question of putting it all together--hence why we are talking of upside.

 

[McDNicks17]

At Pitlick's age Glencross was nowhere near the NHL. He really established himself only after getting traded to the Oilers at the age of 26. Pitlick has almost identical tools--similar size, speed, shot, grit.
It's a question of putting it all together--hence why we are talking of upside.

Pitlick isn't really gritty though.

He throws hits, but he's scared of his own shadow when it comes to scrums or any confrontation.

 

[thadd]

This year is going great for us so far.

Who cares if we have a few minor injuries, nobody is picking up our waived guys so when he do suffer serious injuries we at least have someone to call up from the farm team.

I was worried that Pitlick was going to be claimed and I thought that there might be a small chance that Aulie got claimed. This helps the kids in OKC as well. As they have some experience to play with. Very happy!

 

[redgrant]

Pitlick isn't really gritty though.

He throws hits, but he's scared of his own shadow when it comes to scrums or any confrontation.

He was fighting for a job and didnt get it. His in your face type hockey is sustainable for 2 weeks in training camp then hes out of energy.

More disturbing is it doesn't even look like that 2 weeks of energy is enough to out play Will Acton.

 

[Beerfish]

Years of Kevin Predergast should tell you that this is not true at all. The Oilers have previously bunged up a lot of first round picks. The fact that Stu has so far made a bunch of good choices in the first round is a breath of fresh air compared to most of the Oilers history. You only need to look at the 2000s drafting of the Canucks to see that really not everyone can draft well.

Yeah Stu has had to think a lot about all of his top 10 picks, his top 5 picks and such as opposed to his 20-30th 1st rounders.

Stu has overall done a lousy job. Most of the 1st rounders that high are going to produce something, drafting very high in each and every subsequent round is a huge advantage which the oilers have totally failed with.

 

[guymez]

At Pitlick's age Glencross was nowhere near the NHL. He really established himself only after getting traded to the Oilers at the age of 26. Pitlick has almost identical tools--similar size, speed, shot, grit.
It's a question of putting it all together--hence why we are talking of upside.

Actually Glencross was 24/25 when he was traded to the Oilers and became an NHL regular that season...Pitlick will be 23 in less than a month.

That aside I just dont see the hockey sense, offensive touch, or the overall toughness in Pitlick that Glencross has.

IMO its very unlikely that Pitlick becomes the 2nd coming of Glencross. I would be happy if he became a solid 4th liner.

 

[Tw0Shoes]

Actually Glencross was 24/25 when he was traded to the Oilers and became an NHL regular that season...Pitlick will be 23 in less than a month.

That aside I just dont see the hockey sense, offensive touch, or the overall toughness in Pitlick that Glencross has.

IMO its very unlikely that Pitlick becomes the 2nd coming of Glencross. I would be happy if he became a solid 4th liner.

You're kind of playing with dates here.
Glencross got traded to Edmonton in February 2008, he was definitely 25. If you want to count that as his 24 year old season since he turned 25 during the season that's fine, but then you have to count this as Pitlick's 22 year old season by the same metric. Glencross's 22 year old season he had 25 pts in 41 games in the AHL. Close to what Pitlick had last year as a 21 year old (22 pts in 39 games).
Still unlikely that Pitlick is the second coming of Glencross(not as gritty), but I certainly wouldn't write him off just yet. Hopefully the injuries are behind him.

At this point Curtis Hamilton is actually ahead of where Glencross was at the same age.

 

[guymez]

You're kind of playing with dates here.
Glencross got traded to Edmonton in February 2008, he was definitely 25. If you want to count that as his 24 year old season since he turned 25 during the season that's fine, but then you have to count this as Pitlick's 22 year old season by the same metric. Glencross's 22 year old season he had 25 pts in 41 games in the AHL. Close to what Pitlick had last year as a 21 year old (22 pts in 39 games).
Still unlikely that Pitlick is the second coming of Glencross(not as gritty), but I certainly wouldn't write him off just yet. Hopefully the injuries are behind him.

Not playing with dates at all. I simply looked at the year Glencross was traded and knew he was 24/25 that season. That entire year was a successful season for Glencross. He got more minutes in Edmonton so his point totals went up.

Pitlick will be 23 years old 10 games into this season...thats a fact as well.

As for Pitlick...why would you suggest that I am writing him off? Nothing could be further from the truth. I think he has a very good chance to be an NHL player. I just dont see him being a 2nd/3rd line player. Like I mentioned...his offensive touch, hockey sense and overall toughness arent at the level of a Curtis Glencross. That is not writing him off its just a recognition of his shortcomings.

I am will to bet that he never becomes anything more than a serviceable 4th liner. That is still an NHL player though.

Could I be wrong...of course. BTW...I would be happy to be wrong about Pitlick and watch him become a 2nd/3rd line player.

I wouldnt bet on it though.

 

[tiger_80]

Actually Glencross was 24/25 when he was traded to the Oilers and became an NHL regular that season...Pitlick will be 23 in less than a month.

That aside I just dont see the hockey sense, offensive touch, or the overall toughness in Pitlick that Glencross has.

IMO its very unlikely that Pitlick becomes the 2nd coming of Glencross. I would be happy if he became a solid 4th liner.

It's a minor quibble, but Glencross was born in late 1982 and got traded to the Oilers in the first half of 2008. So he was 25/26 when he became an NHL regular.

 

[Dorian2]

Yakimov over Acton would have made sense just based on training camp performance but I agree... not to sit in the pressbox.

Bogdan to the AHL makes perfect sense.

The guy has never played a real high level professional game on NA ice (that I know of). And no... a few training camp games with little in the way of real structure and systems vs junior/PTO fodder filled lineups doesn't count.

He absolutely needs some time in the AHL to learn the NA game and adjust to the flow and style of game.

I personally don't think it will take him long at all... hell he might be ready now and yes he's probably good enough to beat out Arco/Acton and stick on the roster but any prudent coach on any other NHL team would very likely want him down in the AHL for at least a partial season down there as well.

I'm not going to crap on the coaches and management for going a little slowly with Yak2. He is going to be a beast in the NHL and bringing him up later after he plays a while vs AHL competition is the wise and sensible thing to do.

A team shouldn't rush a player like Yakimov who is completely green and fresh to North America just because they have such thin depth at C.

Good post.

The thing that is interesting to me is that you even have to write this.

I don't keep track of what certain people post, but there sure seems to be a at least a few posters that previously complained about the organization developing players correctly, then continue to beef about a few young players being sent down in place of older, more experienced players.

Hard to get a handle on sometimes to be honest.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

This year is going great for us so far.

Who cares if we have a few minor injuries, nobody is picking up our waived guys so when he do suffer serious injuries we at least have someone to call up from the farm team.

I was worried that Pitlick was going to be claimed and I thought that there might be a small chance that Aulie got claimed. This helps the kids in OKC as well. As they have some experience to play with. Very happy!

Could be much, much worse. Calgary, for example, has one very highly touted young player apparently *this* close to demanding a trade (Baertschi) and Bennett might need shoulder surgery and be out for the year. The grass isn't always greener - sometimes, it's dead.