Friday, March 9, 2012

Theodore Peckham

So after an unjust lengthy stay in the press box, Renney is reminded that we have a young, big, aggressive defencemen that NEEDS ice time to deveolpe. Tom turns a says, oh and who is that?. Theo Peckham, the informer answers. And with that Pecks gets back into the line up.

Now after sitting for so long, I totally expected an "off" night even by a young D's standards. It would seem that quite a few Oilers fans expected him to have made gains in his game and developement, and subseqently shit all over him on twitter lastnight. This was unfair to Theo. He was simply trying to tread water as I'm sure things were happening really, really fast for a guy that hasn't played in a month.

Is Andy Sutton a better option right now....Yes, absolutely. It would seem that fans would prefer to play Sutton over Peckham, but then I ask....How exactly is Theo going to get better? Minors is not an option. He has to pass through waivers and there would be a long line to pluck him off the wire if he ended up there. The ONLY way Peckham gets better is by playing and making mistakes. It's how defencemen learn in the NHL.

Pecks is exactly what this team needs, he's big, strong, and aggresive. If he gets the ice time, he will be ready in a couple years. Which is about the time we need him to be ready, to challenge for the Cup. He has alooong way to go but in my humble opinion it is much too soon to give up on him. We will be kicking ourselves in 2-3 years if we do. Just look west at Mr. Matt Greene, wouldn't he be nice right now.

12 comments:

  1. Here is my take. Is he willing to sign a 2 way deal? He's not good enough to play a full season in the NHL but can't be sent down to get more playing time to increase development. If he is willing to sign a high price two way deal then I'm all for it but with the current guys signed to contracts carrying Peckham with a one way contract and not playing him isn't doing anyone any favors.

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    1. Im not sure when his current deal expires but that would be the best scenario.

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  2. While I agree that he needs more playing time, it has to be at the AHL level. Yes that means putting him on waivers but if, and I stress if, a team claims him I don't see that as a bad thing for the Oilers. He was mediocre at best last year and has actually gotten worse in the games he's played for us this year. As a struggling team, particularly on defense, we need consistency from our defencemen (same reason Barker isn't playing). Assuming the Oilers aren't able to draft Yakupov they will likely draft Murray or Dumba (Murray being the best choice in my opinion). Simply put, players like Peckham and Barker are expendable due to the play of guys like Jeff Petry.

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    1. Barker is expendable for one reason. He sucks. Petry's developement made Gilbert expendable as they are clones of each other. Peckham brings nothing that Petry does and vice versa. They're not comparables. Like I said above, we gave up too soon on Greene. Lets learn from history instead of repeating it. Teams will line up to take Peckham off our hands. It took Smid a good while to figure it out and now look at him. Hell it took Chris freaking Pronger 3-4 years to figure it out, not that Im saying Pecks is that good. In reality, the Oilers still have plenty of time to play him. We are not challenging for the cup for at least 2 years and thats IF there are ZERO set backs or regressions.

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    2. Yes but again if the Oilers can draft a superior defensive player, like Murray or Dumba or even Rienhart that would make Peckham expendable.

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  3. While I may disagree with the comment above that Murray or Dumba are drafted above Grigorenko I do agree that Peckham can not improve if he does not play right now. Sitting does him no good. Sutton is better option right now, but winning doesn't happen much now anyway so let's give him opportunity to learn while he keeps playing. Maybe he will play his way through this. Worst case scenario? We lose and get a better place in the lottery as well Sutton loses some playing time. He was signed for next year for depth anyway and is a pro who has lots of experience and does not mind sitting in the press box if needed. I like the idea, but highly doubt this coaching staff takes the same approach. Instead they continue to play Barker and place the 4th line on the ice after a PK? I know, I am being sarcastic, but it's a long season of frustration again and little appease for us....lol

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    1. The only reason I see the Oilers drafting Grigorenko is if they have given up on Gagner which I don't see happening anytime soon which is why I see them choosing Murray or Dumba

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    2. When you're drafting near the top, take the best talent. A defencemen that is ready to play an important roll can be had by trading said talent. For the record, IF the Oil do draft a d-man, I think Griffen Rienhart fits the needs more then any other d prospect. He seems to be a Pronger type.

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    3. I disagree, you draft what you need not necessarily what the best talent is available. Murray has been compared to Nik Lidstrom, who I think is way better than Pronger.

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  4. Long story short with Theo, this has been his season. Bad PIM's and terrible turnovers. I'd upgrade him.

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  5. While I understand why people believe the Oilers should draft a defencemen, as stats and time has proven, the amount of time it takes for their development, it would be hard to pass up a better talent just to wait 2-3 years for potential development of a d-man. IMO people are over estimating the talent level and development of Ryan Murray. I don't believe from what he has shown so far, he is a higher talent then what Ryan Whitney is.

    His plus/minus is rather low for a guy who is consdiered by some to be top level talent. His scoring is good but not great. Truth is IMO Ryan is a very good defencemen who will fill a 2-4 role for many years on a team. He won't amaze you but won't disapoint you either. The comparisions to Lidstrom is in the positioning and the skating, but he does not have the same hockey sense on the ice as Lidstrom. Really Reinhart would give us more the big 2-3 d-man for shutdown and a big shot on the point, and Morgan Rielly would give you that 2-3 offensive stud and puck mover in the style of Duncan Keith.

    Even better yet, I would love to take Yakupov, Grigorenko and or Galchenyuk with our first pick and then find a way to trade off something for another earlier pick to get either Reinhart if he falls some or Cody Ceci around the 10-12 mark.

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