With the Edmonton Oilers signing Martin Gernat to a three-year, entry-level deal, the Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman will be playing with the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons next year along with Martin Marincin and Taylor Fedun, if the Oilers re-sign him. Fedun has quietly had a nice first pro season.
The Oilers are at the maximum 50 pro contracts, but Gernat won’t count against that because he’s still playing junior in the Western Hockey League.
They do have to make some decisions on farmhands, however, to open up room for Gernat next season. It’s unlikely they’ll re-sign restricted free-agent defenceman Alex Plante.
- The St. Louis Blues are getting over-the-top goaltending from Brian Elliott right now, but can they win in the playoffs if T.J. Oshie (surgery for broken left ankle) is out for a long period? Oshie is one of the few Blues forwards who can create stuff off the rush. The rest of the St. Louis players do their best stuff around the blue paint, where the Blues get most of their goals. But there are a lot of guys in awful slumps, like Chris Stewart, who has just two goals in his last 14 games. Oshie broke the same ankle in 2010, and started having trouble with it two years earlier.
- People keep pumping Mark Streit’s tires, figuring the New York Islanders defenceman might want to join his old Swiss national team coach Ralph Krueger in Edmonton as an unrestricted free-agent signing by the Oilers in July. He has a big shot and could certainly help a power play, but Streit turns 36 in December. The Islanders may give him three more years at $5 million per season, for example, a bump from his current $4.1 million because he’s their captain and the Islanders have lots of salary-cap room, even with it coming down from $70.3 million to $64.3 million next season. But Streit is a risk anywhere else, isn’t he? Kimmo Timonen is 38 and he’s fourth in NHL scoring for defencemen with 29 points in 44 games with the Philadelphia Flyers. Sergei Gonchar is 40 and he has 24 points in 40 games for the Ottawa Senators this season, which puts him in the top 15.
- With Robyn Regehr playing 21 minutes a night in Los Angeles, the Kings have bumped Ryan Jones’ old Miami University teammate Alec Martinez, who played 14-1/2 minutes a game through their 20 playoff matches on the way to the Stanley Cup last spring. How many teams are that deep? With Matt Greene back in the lineup, Keaton Ellerby is out, too. “We missed Matt. He does the talking in the room, along with Jarret (Stoll),” said Kings head coach Darryl Sutter. Regehr’s arrival — they’ll likely re-sign him — means that Willie Mitchell (knee injury) is likely gone after this season.
- When the New Jersey Devils were on their 10-game winless streak, veteran goalie Martin Brodeur took to wearing a different watch every day. How many guys have 10 watches? His daughter also picked out a different tie for all 10 games until they finally blanked the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 on Thursday. “I know it sounds silly to the common person,” Brodeur said after earning his 121st career shutout. The win was the Devils’ first without Ilya Kovalchuk in the lineup, going 1-6-4.
- Yale captain Andrew Miller, who signed a one-year entry deal with the Oilers last week, isn’t reporting to the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons because he’s finishing up his degree with a major in political science. “He goes to Yale. That’s a pretty good school to have a degree from,” said Scott Howson, the Oilers senior vice-president of hockey operations. Reports say there were between 12 and 15 NHL clubs trying to sign Miller, even if he’s undersized at five-foot-10 and 180 pounds. Miller’s six-foot-five, 215-pound Yale teammate Antoine Laganiere, who the Oilers also tried to secure, signed with the Anaheim Ducks, but he’s finishing up his education as well.
- With Lindy Ruff coaching Canada’s world championship team this spring, I wonder how many guys he’ll want off his old Buffalo Sabres team? Tyler Ennis? Cody Hodgson? You can bet that Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz will be working with Ruff in Stockholm, if he wants the gig. Phoenix Coyotes bench boss Dave Tippett is a good possibility as well.
- The Montreal Canadiens will sorely miss Alexei Emelin’s hard-nosed 20 minutes a game on the back end, especially his puck-moving Russian partner Andrei Markov. They were one of the NHL’s quietest, best pairs, until Emelin ripped up his knee. He’s done for the season.
- The Oilers want Ottawa 67s centre Sean Monahan if he’s still available at their turn in the entry draft on June 30 in Newark, N.J. Edmonton would most likely be picking anywhere from fifth to ninth, but if he’s gone, they wouldn’t be adverse to taking a defenceman. The best two defencemen on every scouting list play in the Ontario Hockey League: Six-foot-five Darnell Nurse of the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds and six-foot-seven, 225-pound Nikita Zadorov, who plays for Dale Hunter with the London Knights. Zadorov is a bruising hitter, with some offensive ability, and a really good first step to pull away from checkers. You could see him in the Memorial Cup if the Knights return.
- The most intriguing name on the NHL draft board? Portland Winterhawks’ tiny centre Nic Petan, who won the WHL scoring race at age 17. “Unbelievable smarts,” said one NHL GM, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He only weighs 166 pounds, however. Who will take a shot at him late in Round 1 of the NHL draft, hoping he can maybe get up to 175 pounds a few years down the road? “He’s small, but Tyler Ennis only weighed 148, I think, when he was drafted (by the Sabres),” said one NHL amateur scout.
- Did anybody noticed that Toronto Maple Leafs centre Nazem Kadri didn’t score in eight games after Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry gave him that playful kiss on March 30 after his first NHL hat trick against the Ottawa Senators? Kadri snapped out of that slump on Saturday against Ottawa. Joffrey Lupul has 100 points in 106 games for the Leafs when he’s healthy. He’s turned into a heck of a player.
- Former Red Deer Rebels coach Jesse Wallin could resurface as coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Western Hockey League next year. He’s been working in the oilpatch since Red Deer coach/GM Brent Sutter took over behind the bench early this past season. There’s an opening in Everett, Wash., too, and the Silvertips might be eyeing Oil Kings associate coach Steve Hamilton when Edmonton’s playoff run ends. I’m also hearing Don Hay, who’s over in Sochi with Canada’s under-18 squad, might be thinking of stepping aside as Vancouver Giants head coach, although that might be a bad scoop. Saskatoon Blades coach/GM Lorne Molleken will likely stick to managing after the Blades host the Memorial Cup.
- Minnesota Wild blue-liner Ryan Suter, who could be the best defenceman in the NHL, is playing with one healthy arm these days, not so anybody would notice. He played 27 minutes against the Oilers the other night. Nobody makes it look as easy defensively as Suter. “He sticks his stick on the butt of a player, gets them off-balance and takes the puck,” said Ian Herbers, the University of Alberta Golden Bears coach who was with Nashville’s AHL farm club in Milwaukee for several years.
- The world under-18 tournament drew tons of NHL folks, all looking ahead to this June’s draft. But the two hottest players in the tournament might be two babies — Erie Otters’ (Ontario Hockey League) Connor McDavid and American Jack Eichel, who is part of the USA national development team program. They’re only 16 and aren’t draft eligible until 2015, when they could go 1-2 overall. “Eichel skates like Mike Modano,” said one NHL amateur scout, who was astounded at how good the Massachusetts native (six-foot-one, 177 pounds) was at the world under-17 tournament this year in Quebec. Eichel’s Canadian Hockey League rights are held by the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but there’s no indication he’ll be jumping to major junior any time soon.
- The St. Louis Blues have been living on the edge as they tenuously hold on to a playoff spot in the Western Conference standings. They’re 9-1-1 when the games get past 60 minutes. Only the Chicago Blackhawks, at 10-0-4, are better. They’ve won four times in overtime and five times in shootouts, with Andy McDonald a perfect four-for-four on his tries.
- One of the reasons the San Jose Sharks dealt defenceman Douglas Murray to the Pittsburgh Penguins is his foot speed going back to retrieve dumped-in pucks. In today’s racehorse game, it wasn’t nearly good enough. It’s all about retrieval and quick head-man passes to start the attack these days.
