Tag Archives: Bakersfield Condors

Armchair GM, Bakersfield Condors, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects

Edmonton Oilers Prospects: Do the Bakersfield Condors Have the Best Top-6 in the AHL?

News to nobody is the Edmonton Oilers have sent our favorite sons Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto to their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield, California to play for Jay Woodcroft’s Flyin’ Condors.

After watching both youngsters tear up the field in the pre-season, it’s been disappointing to watch their performances tail off to the point to where they need to be sent down to the AHL. I’ve thrown a lot of vitriol the direction of Todd McLellan during the first 16 games of the season with how he’s been handling Puljujarvi and even a bit of that has landed on Yamamoto and Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli too.

Speaking of Chiarelli, should he be vilified for waiting so long to move these boys to the minors or praised for actually going through with it? I feel like it’s a bit of column A and a bit of column B. The move was a long-time coming and neither Jesse Puljujarvi or Kailer Yamamoto should’ve needed to in the press box for a week but with that, if Chiarelli had acquired the necessary forwards, perhaps McLellan wouldn’t have had to healthy scratch them.

Just a word on pre-season scoring before we get into the nitty-gritty. Jason Gregor likes to play down the competition during the preseason and I don’t agree with how he more or less mocks any player that performs well in that time because the teams are more or less glorified AHL teams. Isn’t that the utmost perfect time to be performing well when challenged? And all three of Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, and Rattie answered the call. So what were the Oilers supposed to do at that point?

Also, not all of those teams were completely AHL lineups. I believe that Puljujarvi had a helluva game versus the Canucks when they dressed 6 NHL defenseman. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Either way, I support this decision for the long-term development of both Pulju and Yammo and I hope there are no hard feelings. I understand that Jesse isn’t happy with the decision but would he rather be in Edmonton getting shafted by the coach there or in Bakersfield playing for a coach who, we hope, will play the living shite out of him.

TSN’s Darren Dreger recently reported there may be some frustration on the part of Puljujarvi that he didn’t get what many see as a fair shake to build consistency on the Oilers roster. (source)

These boys are only 20 and they’ve got a lot of professional hockey ahead of them. The way I see it is that when Chiasson and Caggiula’s production dries up, as it always does, or injuries rear their ugly mug, they’ll be looking for someone to come in and provide some offense and at that point, Jesse will get the recall because he’s got the most experience at the NHL level.


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WHO’S COMING UP?

The Oilers have 12 forwards at the moment, so they’re going to need a couple of players to replace Pulju and Yammo. My guess is two of the Condors top line of Joseph Gambardella, Patrick Russell, and Brad Malone will be coming up.

I’m sure there’ll be fans who reckon that Tyler Benson should come up or Cameron Hebig or Cooper Marody again but I would counter that argument by saying the Oilers just sent two 20-year-olds down to Bakersfield, why would they recall a couple more young players? Leave those kids in the Bake and let them continue to dominate.

I mean, I could be wrong but I feel like they’ll want older, more mature players to be brought up. Players that are very good at listening to instructions and doing what they’re told. Gambardella is the youngest at 24, then Russell at 25, and then Malone at 29.

Just as an aside, can anybody tell me why Joseph Gambardella wears the #5? I have never seen a forward in my life wear that number. There has to be a story behind it.

DO THE CONDORS HAVE THE BEST TOP-6 IN THE AHL?

Benson-Marody-Puljujarvi
Yamamoto-Malone-Hebig
Christoffer-Currie-Gust
Polei-Esposito-Callahan

That’s what the Condors’ forward lines could look like for their next game against Dallas Eakins’ San Diego Gulls later this upcoming week.

Now just imagine what that’d look like if Edmonton found a way to bring in a couple of proper NHL players and both Gambardella and Russell were on the roster!

Benson-Marody-Puljujarvi
Yamamoto-Currie-Hebig
Gambardella-Malone-Russell
Polei-Esposito-Callahan
Gust/Christoffer (Extra)

That’s a helluva forward group eh?

Brad Malone has been the team’s no.1 center this season but I don’t feel like he has the right tools to play alongside Jesse Puljujarvi. It’s important that he plays with skill players and Marody/Benson will be the best linemates for Pulju at this junction.

Josh Currie could probably rotate in and out on either line 1 or 2 as he’s got some offensive flair to his game.

I subscribed to AHL TV, so I’ll be able to watch the games and let you know how things went for our boys.

TODD McLELLAN’S COMMENTS

We want a confident set of players and if he can’t gain that confidence or that traction here then maybe the best answer is somewhere else (AHL). Those decisions will be made as we go forward.” — Oilers coach Todd McLellan on struggling winger Jesse Puljujarvi

That is a quote taken from Rob Tychkowski, a journalist with the Edmonton Sun and the Edmonton Journal.

I have one question though, why did Tychkowski put AHL in brackets behind “maybe the best answer is somewhere else”?

Do we know for sure that Todd McLellan meant the AHL or was that a shot at Peter Chiarelli? I did ask my sources what they’d heard and their comments remain consistent. The Oilers want to be patient with Puljujarvi and do what’s best for his development but, and this is my opinion, I think if there’s a deal on the table that will make them better this year, they’ll consider it.

If Chiarelli and McLellan are performing their duties with the intentions of saving them, they’re already gone.

Edmonton’s next 7 games ring out as such:

  • Colorado – Top line of Landeskog/MacKinnon/Rantanen are on fire
  • Montreal – Somehow they are tearing through the league on the back of… Max Domi?
  • Calgary – I don’t know how they’re doing it with the goaltenders they have. They’re utter shite.
  • Vegas – Didn’t we say they’d fall back to Earth?
  • SJ – How’s that Karlsson/Burns combo working out for ya there?
  • Anaheim – They’ve had Edmonton’s number for a while but are those the winds of change I hear?
  • LA – They held Calgary to a goal against last night. Can they do the same with the Oilers?

Do you think the Oilers can run the table here? 7/7? That’d be something but I have a feeling those are some lofty wishes.

What do you think?

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Armchair GM, Bakersfield Condors, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, Lindsay Ryall, NHL

Edmonton Oilers Off-season Moves Show Well, But Will Chia Get Any Credit?

Prior to the start of the 2018-19 season it seemed the fate of Oiler’s coaching and management was set  – at least if you believed the venom of fans and bloggers on social media and radio.

McLellan was given a reprieve with a new stable coaching support, but as for Peter Chiarelli, there was no relief.  The Oiler’s had spent to the cap due to questionable FA signings, seemingly lopsided trades, and poor player management.  All these combined to put Chia in an exclusive section of Oiler hades (Where Peter Pocklington resides).

With little to work with, it appeared the pre-season PTO’s and signings would be superficial not impactful.  if anything, the Oiler’s GM had dug his team in deeper . . . or did he?

Doing a lot with not a lot

The completion of the 2017 – 18 season, left many holes in the Oiler’s line up.  Gaps on the wing, veteran leadership, and of course, defence.  The need on Defense ultimately remains a festering sore, but overall there have been some pleasant surprises from Chia’s off-season tinkering.  Here’s my review so far.

Mikko Koskinen (rating, B+): The Oiler fan base exhaled a collective sigh of disbelief when Chia chose to go out on a limb and sign the 30 year-old KHL all-star.  Things looked even dodgier when Koskinen was lit up in the pre-season, but since then his record and play has steadily improved to where he is providing positive competition for Cam Talbot.  It’s early days, but in 4 games he has 3 of the Oiler’s 8 wins including a shutout.  If he continues to improve it will give the Oilers real options in goal and justify his salary.

Alex Chaisson (rating, A): Prior to the season start there were a lot of unknown’s around Chiasson’s signing.  Injured at the beginning of the season there were some questions as to why he was there.  But since hitting the ice, Chiasson is letting his play do the talking.  With 6 goals in 10 games, he’s doing everything Milan Lucic should be doing at a fraction of the cost.  He’ll pay the price by going to the hard areas of the ice and he’s been rewarded – both in production and in the coaching staff’s confidence.  Chiasson does have consistency issues, but If he scores even 15 goals he’ll provide excellent value and a stop-gap for when the prospects can catch up.

Tobias Rieder (rating: B): Rieder has no goals in 16 games but he does have 7 apples and with his speed provides the speed component when teamed with countryman Leon Draisaitl.  He seems to have good chemistry with LD and on a team where there is a lack of pure speed (save Captain Connor).  Overall he seems to be providing what was expected.

Kyle Brodziak ( rating -B): It’s my belief that when the Oilers traded Matt Hendricks it left a large “lead by example” gap in the dressing room.  Brodziak does not embody the same level of leadership, but he is a veteran professional who brings a strong work ethic to the rink every day.  He’s a good example to the young players and has the skill to make timely contributions from the fourth line.  Typically you can’t expect too much from a fourth-line add, but so far so good.

Jason Garrison (D to C-): Garrison was never a fast player, and now he’s even slower.  As a result, he is often a defensive liability but, when he is playing well positionally he can survive and, more importantly, he provides a cannon on the 2nd powerplay unit.  It may not be enough to keep him in the lineup, but when he is, he will fire away at will.    It’s good to see because there are far too many passes on the Oilers power play in my opinion.  The good news is, he is not costing the Oilers a lot and can fill a role.

Tyler Benson fights for the puck

Help on the way?

For the first time in recent memory the Oilers have a farm and prospect system that appears to be in a position to support the big club.  On the Bakersfield Condors farm team the kid line of Marody, Hebig, and Benson are producing at a  ppg or better.  Chiarelli did not physically scout all these players but Cameron Hebig was a very shrewd signing that is paying nice dividends so far.

It’s difficult to project prospects but Marody has already shown well on a brief call-up, at least one of these forwards could be with the big club next year, maybe more.  Add standout prospects like Ryan Mcleod and Kirill Maksimov ( non-first rounders ) and you have to say the Oilers have the looks of a legitimate farm system for the first time in . . . well, I can’t recall when the Oilers have had a well-stocked system, to be honest.

What’s a fair assessment of Chiarelli’s Work

To be fair, Chiarelli has more than earned much of his criticism.  The Griffin Reinhart trade could go down as one of the worst in NHL history.  Many would give the Taylor Hall trade a similar critique, although the question would also need to be asked, what would the Oiler’s Blueline look like without Adam Larsson?  Personally, I would have liked to have seen more in return for Larsson, but in my view, it’s clear: Tylor Hall would not have reached his potential here, and may have negatively impacted Mcdavid’s.  Lucic?  Well, we all liked the signing at the time, now, not so much.  For the Oiler’s, bold moves, are not likely.  Instead, strategic value signings, good drafting, and a well-stocked prospect system, and farm are how the Oilers will move forward.  And on those points, Chia is doing ok.

Elias Pettersson’s nickname is “Alien”. Here’s a shirt to celebrate it! Click the image to buy one!
What a hilarious phrase! Click the pic to get yours today!
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Bakersfield Condors, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects

Around the Oilogosphere: Oilers Prospect Update: Kirill-er Week from Oilersnation

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*We’re experimenting with some content curation tactics here at Beer League Heroes and so many of the posts you’ll find coming from the BLH website will be snippets of full posts from other sites. We’re not interested in ripping any other writers off but we are looking to expand our audience a bit. If you’re blog has been featured in one of our “Around the Oilogosphere” posts and you don’t want it to be, contact us @beerleagueheroe on Twitter and let BLH know. He’ll be happy to remedy the situation. Otherwise, we hope you enjoy the content!*

Just a note for the Update: As the seasons wind down on the seasons for the Oilers prospects I will be adding in when they are eliminated so you will know when their updates will stop. 

The Bakersfield Condors continue their long-shot push to get to the playoffs. They have been lighting up the scoreboard all over the place, including a franchise record for goal scoring with eight goals.

We have a smart cookie alert to extend. Tyler Vesel was named the NCHC senior scholar athlete. Meaning he has now collected the scholar athlete award three times in his career. He was also a finalist for the defensive forward of the year award.

Maksimov had a great week this week on and off the ice. He signed his ELC and put up eight to head into the OHL playoffs on a tear,

Read the entire Oilersnation post on the previous week’s performances from all of the Oilers prospects here: https://oilersnation.com/2018/03/18/oilers-prospect-update-kirill-er-week/

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Armchair GM, Bakersfield Condors, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Podcast, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

Oilers Trades: Real, Rumored, and Speculated

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This week the Oilers trade talk has been a real treat to experience. We’ve had deals that were never made, deals that are being made up, and an actual trade. The common denominator in all of them, Oilers fans have been given another reason to bitch and moan about Peter Chiarelli.

I mean isn’t it amazing, if you go to the sponsored Oilers blogs like Oilersnation, The Oilers Rig, Copper and Blue, or Oil on Whyte, it’s all FIRE CHIARELLI! Get rid of McLellan!

I get why they do it apart from clicks for the sites but it’s really a shame. I thought re-hashing the Larsson trade every month was bad but this is getting ridiculous (and unoriginal).

Rant over.

 

The Speculated Trade

Ray Ferraro threw a trade idea out into the wind this week that sparked the fires of discontent amongst Oilers fans. A deal centered upon two stars, Max Pacioretty and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

“What if there’s a deal to be made between Edmonton and Montreal that involves Nugent-Hopkins, and Pacioretty is in it? And there are some other pieces to equal the way that works. Edmonton gets a shooter. Gee, that would look pretty good on McDavid’s side. Montreal gets a centre. Gee that would look pretty good in that centre spot.”

Over at the Athletic, Jonathan Willis also jumped on the “trade Nuge” bandwagon this week and his reason was that all of his numbers are basically the same as they’ve always been but the difference being this year he’s riding a shooting percentage that is 40% better than his career average. Sort of the opposite of what usually happens to an Oiler before he’s traded.

My thoughts: If there’s a year to trade RNH, it’s this one unless the Oilers go on a ridiculous tear and are in a playoff spot come trade deadline. His value couldn’t get any higher and the Oilers still need a top 4 right-handed PP specialist on defense. Someone who can transition the puck a helluva lot faster than what the Oilers dmen are doing now. They could also use a proper right-handed 3rd line centre who is a marvel on the PK too and if they acquired both of those pieces in a trade for RNH, what’s the problem?

On the other hand, if the Oilers are looking for a LW who can score, why not simply move RNH to McDavid’s left wing and be done with it. Internal solution utilized!

The Real Trade

Al Montoya from the Montreal Canadiens to the Oilers for a 5th round pick which may turn into a 4th rounder if the former 6th overall pick plays more than 7 games.

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My thoughts: I like it but the folks in the Oilers Twittersphere who think they’re smarterthan everyone else hate it because they think that the Oilers could’ve grabbed a backup off of the waiver wire, even Montoya had they waited for Montreal to activate him off of the IR. The problem with that line of thinking is we don’t know what the price was for those backups and the Oilers defense could be held just as responsible for the poor goaltending performances earlier in the year.

Another thought out there was that 3rd string goalies can be had anything for a 4th round pick but I don’t subscribe to that. If that was the case, we would’ve seen some of these goalies like Pickard, Hutchinson, Hammond, Lindgren, or Sparks with new homes.

Todd McLellan said that they’re worried about Brossoit getting reps but somebody is going to have to be sacrificed for LB to get some games in. I’m guessing Brossoit hits waivers (gets claimed… wouldn’t that be fun fodder for the Chia-haters?), clears, goes down and then Eddie Pasquale goes to the ECHL or is traded/loaned. Nick Ellis, who’s had better AHL stats than Brossoit since taking over in Bakersfield is getting a raw deal here and I feel bad for him.

The Rumored Deal

What did Peter Chiarelli do to Darren Dreger? Geez.

Yesterday on Dustin Nielsen’s show Dreger dropped this massive bombshell that the Oilers had a deal with the Ottawa Senators that would’ve seen Taylor Hall traded for Cody Ceci but Sens ownership needed to approve it, was nowhere to be found, and subsequently Adam Larsson was traded for instead.

Taylor Hall was rumored to be traded for a lot of different dmen before he was actually traded. PK Subban was one, Dougie Hamilton was one, and Kevin Shattenkirk was another. So don’t get your speedos in a bunch by second-guessing Chiarelli’s player evaluation abilities.

We know GMs talk all of the time and they hash out potential deals on a weekly basis and then tweak them up if need be. Sometimes they sit on a trade for months before pulling the trigger.

The timing couldn’t get any better eh? Dreger had been sitting on this little tidbit of information for nearly two years before throwing it out into the world right when the Oilers mired in a 4-game losing streak and the heat couldn’t get any hotter on Peter Chiarelli?

Or was this a veiled shot at Sens GM Pierre Dorion?

Either way, what was Dreger’s motivation to do this? I can’t see any scenario where saying this would benefit anybody but himself or TSN’s radio numbers. He did mention it whilst talking about Edmonton and Ottawa not being good trade partners but still, I do not believe it was mentioned without ill intent aka it was a dick move.

Last Night’s Game

Fack! Was that a fun game to watch or what?!

The win versus the Ducks has their record versus teams in the Pacific to 4-1-0. They’ve outscored their division rivals 23-12 in that time but do you know what the fun part about the rest of the year is?

21 out of the remaining 41 games remaining in the season for the Oilers are against Pacific Division teams… And if you’re worried about that home PK (obligatory statistical preface: #smallsamplesize), the Oilers PK at home versus the Pacific, 85.7% and an added bonus is that their PP is 37.5%.

Peter Chiarelli said that he was going to build a team that would compete in the Pacific and despite how you feel about his handling of assets, you have to agree that he’s a man of his word.

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors, Trades

Oilers Now at 49 Contracts, Trades Are In The Works

There’s nothing sweeter than dropping a 7-spot on the Calgary Flames during the late game on Hockey Night in Canada eh? Adding to that sweetness was,

  • Pulju getting two goals (nearly three)
  • a shorty from Letestu (who has 9pts over the past 15 games)
  • ANOTHER goal from JJ Khaira (7pts in his past 8 games)
  • Eric Gryba rebounding to get 2 assists and going +4
  • Kris Russell having TWO good games in a row there. He had 6 blocked shots! When Brodie put that puck in his own net I yelled, “VINDICATION!”
  • The Oilers chasing Mike Smith from the net
  • Special teams for the Oilers were a tad better. Would like to get more PP goals for though.
  • The game was in Calgary and the Oilers did it without their no.1 goalie and their top 2 (arguably) defensemen… Making it double-sweet that the Oilers won it.

A stat that was kind of interesting to me given the status of the game at hand was that the Oilers only had 9 hits to Calgary’s 14. You’d have thought there would’ve been WAY more hitting, right?

On the other side of the coin though, there were some disconcerting happenings…

  • Draisaitl and Strome were the only forwards NOT to get a point. Benning and Auvitu went pointless as well.
  • Laurent Brossoit’s near-historic meltdown in the third which has probably landed him either on another team shortly or in the minors once the Oilers find a backup to trade for.
  • A shorty against and a PP goal against does nothing to help the Oilers ongoing special teams struggles.
  • Speaking of reffing… Two powerplays for Edmonton to Calgary’s six?… How is it that teams are simply not getting the calls vs. the Oilers? It’s mind-boggling if we’re being honest and I have to wonder if Peter Chiarelli has called Steven Walkom to have a chat with him about the standard of officiating during the Oilers games?

OILERS ADD WALKER AND DAVIDSON

Peter Chiarelli has gone out and added some speed and glue to the bottom-6 and another left-handed bottom-pairing defender which tells me a couple of things,

  • The players whose spots Walker and Davidson might be playing in are on notice.
  • The team may very well be going the whole taxi squad thing.

On Saturday night, the “healthy” scratches were Anton Slepyshev, Ryan Stanton, and Nathan Walker. Now we have to add Brandon Davidson to that list right? I’d venture a guess that Ryan Stanton will be heading back to Bakersfield.

Just an aside, but is anybody else shocked that Buffalo, Arizona, and Florida passed on Davidson? Maybe there’s something about Davidson that the Oilers looked over though. He couldn’t find a way to overcome 3 AHL dmen and a teenager in Montreal and to me, that’s a bit of a yellow flag. Not a major concern because we don’t know what the deal was with Julien and/or Bergevin. We do know he’s a great locker-room guy that was well-liked before he was dealt for David Desharnais last year and that will help.

So who is going to come out of the lineup vs. Philadelphia on Wednesday?

Eric Gryba would be your first inkling, no? The Flyers are on a ridiculous 10-game losing streak (hopefully they can break that vs. Calgary this week) and usually they play a typical Flyers-like game. Heavy. So would Gryba be a better fit then? Davidson has the size and he’s a much better skater though. I probably still lean Davidson here but is that how you reward a player for a good bounce-back game? Tough call nevertheless.

How about the forwards? Who comes out if you want to see Walker, Aussie Oiler?

Right off the bat, I know exactly who I’d take out. Drake Caggiula for sure.

Chiarelli is not happy with his performances at all and I’d be surprised if he isn’t the guy dealt for a backup goalie. I mean, Caggiula CAN play much much better than he is and he doesn’t have to play on Connor’s wing to do it. He’s quick, he’s tenacious, and he can score… But he simply isn’t. Now, do we chalk that down to the sophomore slump or is there something else?

As for Anton Slepyshev, I love the guy because he doesn’t play the traditional Russian style. He’s got more sandpaper to his game and isn’t afraid to muck it up on the wall but he’s a guy that also has to be scoring and isn’t. I’d say he’s also a candidate to be used to bring back a netminding upgrade on Brossoit.

My initial reaction on the addition of Nathan Walker was that the Oilers had just added a younger Matt Hendricks and just as the Oilers dressing room lost a huge personality when Hendricks was let go, the Washington Capitals have as well.

Caps fans were NOT HAPPY that the team let Walker go on waivers. That right there should tell you all you need to know about the kind of player he is. He’ll be liked in Edmonton.

So will Nathan Walker be the Conor Sheary that Craig Button was talking about? I’m not so sure. He’s more waterbug that speed demon and that might just help us even more. Meaning he might be able to draw a few more penalties with his playing style and Lord knows the Oilers could use a few more of those players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbmV6MHSURo

49 OUT OF 50 CONTRACTS

In normal circumstances, teams don’t want to be so close to the maximum contract allotment because it gives them very little wiggle room IF they want to make a trade. So right now any deal that Chiarelli makes will be made from behind the 8-ball a bit. I think he could probably find a team to give him a draft pick for Anton Slepyshev and that kind of trade would alleviate the pressure or another way would be to find a team that would take a Lowetide special (3-for-1). But how many teams are going to be doing the Oilers any favors, right?

As for the players on the way out, I believe that Chiarelli has to move some of those AHL players he signed. The Bakersfield Condors are NOT doing well and these AHL vets are simply taking up spots that could be used for the Oilers prospects.

50-man list courtesy of Lowetide

The problem moving said AHL vets is finding a team who’d take them. The Oilers do have a solid chunk of cap space on hand and they could use that to take back an unsavory contract from another team in exchange for two or three of the blue-colored players above. At this point, I’d say that’s his best bet if he wants to create some room on the list…

A COMPITENT BACKUP

Everybody and their dog knows that Peter Chiarelli is now on the lookout for a goalie upgrade. We’re not going through another promising season with bad goaltending. So who is all out there that the Oilers have the remotest chance of trading for?

  • Chad Johnson (BUF) – The Sabres are eating shit right now and I can’t see them making a huge run for the playoffs. He’s got a career .913 SV% and right now it’s sitting at .883. Was effective for Calgary last season.
  • Calvin Pickard (TOR) – This was exactly the reason why the Maple Leafs got Pickard. Now they can ask a premium for him.
  • Garrett Sparks (TOR) – Sparks, Pickard, and a stacked Toronto Marlies are having a helluva time in the AHL this year.
  • Michael Hutchinson (WPG) – Is doing very well in the AHL right now and Eric Comrie got the call-up over him when Mason went down… 9-1-1 .951 Sv% 1.73 GAA.

There are others like Neuvirth in Philly and Grubauer in Washington but my question is, do you go for an older veteran backup OR do you find a younger one that is just better than Laurent Brossoit?

Let me know in the comments below!!

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