Tag Archives: Penticton

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects

2017 Youngstars Classic Rosters Released! Who to Watch Out For!

I love it! The NHL season is drawing closer each and every day and things are really starting to roll now that each team’s players are starting to arrive for early on-ice sessions.

Add to that the release of each team’s rosters for the 2017 Youngstars Classic in Penticton, BC.

Teams taking part are as usual the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Winnipeg Jets.

Remember the Classic from a couple seasons ago?

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the notable players that will be strutting their stuff on the weekend! I’ve got the players sorted from forwards to defense to goalies.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Brock Boeser
Jonah Gadjovich
Kole Lind

These three forwards will be causing havoc for their opponents, no doubt about that. Boeser might be the best sniper in the tournament. Gadjovich, to me, is like a Pat Maroon type. Big guy who can move and has hands. Kole Lind was on the Oilers radar this summer and was the pick a lot of pundits had their eyes on for Edmonton but he can skate quite well, he’ll muck it up, and he can score.

Olli Juolevi

Juolevi might be the best dman in this tourny. He’s very much in the Olli Maatta mold. Cerebral Professor X-type who plays in all situations. A smooth skater with high-end puck moving skills. Look for him to be the man getting the puck up to Boeser or Lind on the break and zipping it in from the point on the man advantage.

Thatcher Demko
Michael Dipietro

A couple of high-potential goalies here folks. Might just save the Canucks asses on an occasion or two on the weekend. The two goalies couldn’t be more different in terms of physical stature, Demko is 6’4″ and Dipietro is 6’0″, and goaltending style, Demko uses his huge frame more while Dipietro is very athletic and more chaotic, but both are excellent prospects for a team that will be in dire need of a goalie who can back stop their rebuild.

Full roster here.

EDMONTON OILERS

Kailer Yamamoto
Joe Gambardella
Kirill Maksimov
Ostap Safin

I’m very curious to see how Yamamoto does in this tournament. There’s no doubt that he should be one of the better forwards along with Boeser, Jankowski, and Harkins. I’m more looking forward to watching Gambardella, Maksimov, and Safin because I don’t know as much about these guys apart from what the Youtube scouting has brought me.

Safe to say that Gambardella is your Bryan Rust/Conor Sheary type whilst Kirill Maksimov is definitely the Syril Snipes of the group. The puck follows him around and he pops ‘er in. Ostap Safin… Well, he does quite a few things well but nothing amazing. I’ve seen highlights of him hitting guys, dangling them, passing through them, and sniping on them but I’m just not sure what kind of player Safin truly is. Hopefully we’ll have a better idea after the weekend.

That said, I wouldn’t be surprised of Gambardella stands out the most given he’s probably the oldest player at the tournament at 24 years old.

Dmitri Samorukov
Ethan Bear
Caleb Jones
William Lagesson
Ryan Mantha
Ziyat Paigin
Sahvan Khaira

The defence is where it’s at for this year’s Youngstars roster. None of the other teams possess the same amount of high-end defensive prospects this year and that’s a credit to Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli and his scouting staff. Finally, the Oilers have some defense coming up through the pipeline.

No Darnell Nurses this year, so I’m not sure who’ll be fighting Hunter Smith when Edmonton plays Calgary but there are some boys with some BIG clappers here. Paigin, Mantha, Bear, and Samorukov can all fire the biscuit while Jones and Khaira are VERY good skaters. Surprised Lagesson is there given other Swedes like Dahlen and Petterson for Vancouver are skipping it but he’s your Hjalmarsson. Stay at home, blocks shots and plays a physical game.

Dylan Wells
Stuart Skinner

Edmonton’s goaltending depth is finally taking shape and these two beauties should represent the Oilers for a long time if everything goes to plan. Also, we might be seeing them both playing for Team Canada at the World Juniors this Christmas. Skinner falls into that Dubnyk range though, so he might take a while to get there. Whereas Wells has shown enough progression so far that it leads one to believe he’s going to be a pro sooner than later. I’m not saying Matt Murray fast but within the next 4 years isn’t out of the question.

Full roster here.

CALGARY FLAMES

Spencer Foo
Dillion Dube
Mark Jankowski
D’Artagnan Joly
Andrew Mangiapane
Matthew Phillips

It’ll be speed and skill this year for Calgary. All of the players listed above are highly skilled and can move like the wind. Foo was up for the Hobey Baker award this past season and had Oilers fans all up in a rage when he signed in Calgary instead of his home town. This is a slippery group that’s for sure.

At 34 years of age, it’s nice to finally see Mark Jankowski getting a shot 😉

But more seriously, this Calgary team should be very entertaining to watch from a pure skill perspective.

Rasmus Andersson
Josh Healey
Jusso Valimaki

I’m telling you now, Valimaki is a player you’ll want to keep an eye out for because he’s the new shiny toy for Calgary but Josh Healey will be the guy that draws you. He’s a bonafide maniac out there. I was hoping the Oilers would sign him because he’s a predator and I’d rather have him on my team than have my team play against him. Skillers better keep their heads up when he’s on the ice.

Tyler Parsons

If Parsons isn’t the best goalie at this tournament, I’m not sure who will be. Maybe Demko? The Flames have a good one here in Tyler Parsons. He’s ridiculously solid between the pipes and he definitely gives his team a chance to win just by showing up every night.

Full roster here.

WINNIPEG JETS

https://twitter.com/GarretHohl/status/902235069959479296

Jansen Harkins
Michal Spacek
Kristian Reichel

Ummmm. What happened here? I thought the Jets had one of the best prospect collections in the NHL. None of them are coming? Well at leasts Jets fans will get to see a very hard working Jansen Harkins. A very blue collar type he is.

Logan Stanley

Hello up there! Standing at a massive 6’7″, Logan Stanley shouldn’t be hard to find on the ice. Maybe he is Hunter Smith’s dance partner this year? A couple of near 7-footers dropping the mitts is something I’d watch.

Mikhail Berdin

Can’t say I know a lot about this fella but from what I have read, he’s been performing well in the USHL and is a long-term project for the Jets.

Some notable absences:

Jonathan Dahlen, Elias Petterson, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyler Benson, Kyle Connor and Kristian Vesalainen will not be playing for a variety of reasons.

Young Stars Classic Schedule
Penticton, BC – September 8-11, 2017

GAME TEAMS DATE TIME
Game 1 Edmonton vs. Calgary Sept. 8 4:00pm
Game 2 Vancouver vs. Winnipeg Sept. 8 7:30pm
Game 3 Winnipeg vs. Edmonton Sept. 9 7:30pm
Game 4 Calgary vs. Vancouver Sept. 10 2:00pm
Game 5 Winnipeg vs. Calgary Sept. 11 10:30am
Game 6 Vancouver vs. Edmonton Sept. 11 2:00pm

Have I missed anybody? Let me know in the comments below!

*VERY POPULAR* Grab the new Kassian tribute t-shirt now! Click the image above!
Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.
Pick up the NEW “Beat His Ass” shirt right now!!
Beer League Hero, NHL, Prospects

2015 Edmonton Oilers Rookie Camp and Young Stars Tournament Roster

2 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers’ hockey season is officially a go with today’s announcement of the team’s roster for the annual Young Stars Classic tournament in Penticton, BC which will run from September 11th to 14th and feature teams from Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg.

The roster went up at 10am MT. So we’ve had a bit of time to digest it but let’s take a look at it and see what’s all under the hood.

THE GOALTENDERS

In net for the tournament will be the undrafted rookie camp invite Jordan Papirny (Brandon Wheat Kings), recent signing Eetu Laurikainen (Espoo Blues), and 2014 draft pick Keven Bouchard (Val D’or Foreurs).

Out of the three I think Jordan Papirny and Eetu Laurikainen pose the most interest.

Papirny comes to the Oilers after going undrafted in his junior career despite some pretty good numbers. I think saying it was a surprise that nobody picked him might be an understatement. 44 wins 9 losses 6 ties and 5 shutouts is what he put up for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings last year. Maybe Jordan Papirny could be an option for the Oilers’ new affiliate in Norfolk.

Laurikainen played last year for the Espoo Blues of the SM-Liiga in Finland and posted a 17-10-9 record with a 2.10 goals against average, .933 save percentage and four shutouts. Not too shabby. The 22 year old is due to back up Laurent Brossoit in Bakersfield this season.

Keven Bouchard still baffles to me as to why the Oilers picked him… He played last year for Val D’or in the QMJHL and did his best impression of Hardy Astrom. 15-13-5 with 1 shutout, a 3.85 GAA and an .872 save percentage. I don’t think he’ll be receiving a contract from the Oilers when the time comes.

THE DEFENCEMEN

Manning the blue will be Darnell Nurse (Sault St.Marie), Kevin Davis (Seattle Thunderbirds), Ethan Bear (Seattle Thunderbirds), Colton Waltz (Brandon Wheat Kings), Ben Betker (Everett Silvertips), Caleb Jones (USNTDP), Joey Laleggia (Univ. of Denver), and Loik Leveille (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles).

Notable names are obvious in Darnell Nurse, Ethan Bear, Ben Betker, Caleb Jones and Joey Laleggia. But some lesser knowns like Kevin Davis, Colton Waltz, and Loik Leveille will join them.

I watched Darnell Nurse at the Golden Bears/Oilers Rookies game last year and he was a beast, as advertised. He’ll be the best defenceman at this tournament barring injury. At that same game Ben Betker commented on my Beer League Heroes hockey jersey saying, “That’s the best jersey here!”. Admittedly I had no idea who he was but the revelation came later when I was going over the players on the roster…

But personally I’m most looking forward to the performances from Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones and Joey Laleggia.

Bear’s reputation for being an extremely hard worker and outstanding teammate is something I value in players. The Oilers are a young team coming together and they are going to need some glue to keep them from unraveling. Bear is that kind of player. By all accounts and reports, I see him as the Charlie Huddy type.

For Laleggia I wonder if he’s got the Brian Rafalski to him? Small in stature but oozing with skill and hockey IQ. Could he be the guy that sends Justin Schultz packing? Doubtful do to the fact that he’s left handed but stranger things have happened. I think he’s going to put up some gaudy numbers in Bakersfield this season but watch out for him. He’s got future PP quarterback all but locked up.

I want to see how Caleb Jones does more or less due to the fact that he’s Seth Jones’ brother. I like the way Bruce McCurdy has him depicted in this article from the Cult of Hockey. Very Physical and can skate very well. McCurdy said in his article that he thought Jones would be the perfect partner for his brother. So it looks like the Oilers are starting to get mean! Makes me think of the bus driver in the movie Slap Shot when he’s punching holes in the side of the bus with a pickaxe.

As for Davis, Waltz, and Leveille, they’re on the roster to keep the peace.

THE FORWARDS

Ohhhhh Baby! As the legenday Bob Cole used to put it. They’re bringing out the big guns so If you’re heading out to Penticton to see this tournament you’re in for a treat! Let’s list ’em off here.

Connor McDavid (Erie Otters), Leon Draisaitl (Kelowna Rockets), Anton Slepyshev (UFA), Kyle Platzer (Owen Sound Attack), Greg Chase (Victoria Royals), Tyler Soy (Victoria Royals), Mitch Moroz (Oklahoma City Barons), Josh Winquist (Oklahoma City Barons), Alexis Loiseau (Rimouski Oceanic), Marco Roy (Quebec Remparts), Cole Linaker (Kelowna Rockets), Rihards Bukarts (Brandon Wheat Kings), Connor Ranking (Calgary Hitmen), Cole Sanford (Medicine Hat Tigers), Braden Christoffer (Regina Pats).

Woof! This whole roster has a very “Westerny” feel to it…

The painfully obvious names are well documented. McDavid and Draisaitl are the headliners. They’ll be the ones you’re paying to watch. If you’re looking for some flash and dash, watch out for Josh Winquist, Tyler Soy, Marco Roy, Anton Slepyshev, and Alexis Loiseau. Handling the defensive aspects will be Kyle Platzer, Cole Linaker, and Connor Rankin. The muscle and grit will be there in droves with the ever-smiling Mitch Moroz, Greg Chase, Rihards Bukarts, and Braden Christoffer. Lastly, falling somewhere in the middle of all of this is Cole Sanford.

I’m dying to know what Anton Slepyshev will bring to the table in North America. He’s been hyped up quite a bit since being drafted and if he’s something special I wonder if that would put someone like Nail Yakupov on notice.

If you’d like a more descriptive player-by-player analysis, check out this post by Lowetide.

If you’re heading out to watch the Young Stars Tournament in Penticton why not represent the Oilers with a 16-Bit Darnell Nurse, Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl shirt. Click on their names or head on over to the Beer League Heroes Merch Shop and pick up a men’s, women’s, or kid’s t-shirt, hoodie or long sleeve.

If you’re not an Oilers fan that’s okay, we’ve got plenty of different players, colors, and sizes to choose from!

Don’t forget to follow us on all the major socials!

Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments below who you’re looking forward to watching at this year’s Oilers’ rookie camp and Young Stars Tournament!

Take Care!

BLH