Josh Anderson's story is one that all young players who aren't playing Major Junior dream about. One year, he's playing in Junior A, gets scouted, and the next he's playing for a strong team in the OHL Playoffs. But why would a guy who's only generating 0.34 pts/gm in the regular season and 0.28pts/gm in the playoffs be on anyone's draft radar?

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Dear armchair GMs, prospect enthusiasts, NHL team fanatics, and everyone else who may or may not be somewhat interested in the 2012 NHL Entry draft this summer.

I am writing this post for you.

I know that you want to know more about what's happening. About the draft, the prospects, the suspects, the scouts, the politics, and all the rest. So... I've got a proposal for you...

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(Photo from http://www.jatkoaika.com/mestis.php?sivu=kolumnit&id=12139, taken by Joona-Pekka Hirvonen)

Joonas Korpisalo has strong hockey bloodlines. According to Wikipedia, Joonas Korpisalo is the son of Jari Korpisalo (born February 17, 1966), a Finnish former professional ice hockey player, who played 575 games in the SM-liiga with Assat Pori, scoring 213 goals and 231 assists for 444 points, while accumulating 893 penalty minutes as well as competing in the 1993 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships as a member of the Finland men's national ice hockey team.

So, who is he, and why do we care?

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It's really a lot of fun to wander over to Behind the Net every once in a while and take a look at what the various numbers are saying about players in the NHL.  Please note that this is not about scientific  or rational analysis.  Its about names and numbers that jump out at me, and any kind of narrative that happens to show up (possibly in my mind) while doing that.

After the jump, a look at the leaders in P/60.

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Taylor Chorney is returning to the Oilers because injuries to more than half of the NHL Regulars, so it seemed a perfect time to take a look at a defenseman who can be read one of two ways:

• he's a poor player who doesn't have the size and grit to play at the AHL level, as shown by his at atrocious +/- over his AHL career,
  

OR

• he's a reasonable player who isn't going to win you any games but can play a balanced game and potentially help to put up some points

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Oilers cut 12.  Roster now sits at 35.  Oilers trim roster by twelve

Edmonton Oilers General Manager Steve Tambellini announced today the club has reduced its training camp roster by twelve players.
 
The following were assigned to Oklahoma City (AHL) today:

Ryan Lowery (D)
Olivier Roy (G)
Philippe Cornet (LW)
Tanner House (LW)
Chris VandeVelde (C)
Alex Plante (D)
Milan Kytnar (RW)
Curtis Hamilton (LW)
Ryan Martindale (D)
Tyler Pitlick (C)

The Oilers also assigned Martin Marincin (D) to Prince George (WHL) and Kirill Tulupov (D) will report to Oklahoma City.

Edmonton’s roster now sits at 35 players.

*Note - this started as a response to this post by Derek, and when I was done, it screamed "POST ME".  I am but a slave to my creations...*

Regardless of whether the Oilers get the first or second overall, there needs to be a clear decision on how close those players you mention are.  If there is little difference in the current value of any of them to the Oilers (they could all fill needs if they meet their potential) I think that they need to consider making a move at the draft.

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Editor's Note:  This is the first entry in our drunken Nikolai Khabibulin FanPost contest.

There has been a lot of talk about the Edmonton goaltending situation for a long time now.  Basically since the team sent away Tommy Salo for Tom Gilbert, the Oilers have been looking for a new "better-than-average" to "great" goalie.  You can claim that Roloson was the guy and we let him get away, but I'd say that's hindsight, and that I don't remember seeing much (if any) talk about keeping him on for more than another year - it was believed that his time with the org was in the past.  That of course lead to a long long debate here in the sphere about where to go from there.  Which of course was all thrown out the window when Stevey-T signed the Bulin Wall last summer.

Which was of course followed up with this awesome (and somewhat prophetic) picture and post by PunjabiOil.

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