Potter has shown the ability to play stretches where he looks like a NHL player.
Who knows maybe hes ready to take the next step. If he is a 7/8 dman and can play like he started the season, it wont be too bad.
He had one good stretch and it was at the start of the season when the whole team was playing great defensively. From November on he was the worst defender on the team. Absolutely horrible. I'd take Barker over him.
He is a 29 year old career AHLer. He isn't going to improve at this point in his career. It's going to be bad as long as he is in the lineup.
He had one good stretch and it was at the start of the season when the whole team was playing great defensively. From November on he was the worst defender on the team. Absolutely horrible. I'd take Barker over him.
He is a 29 year old career AHLer. He isn't going to improve at this point in his career. It's going to be bad as long as he is in the lineup.
I disagree. If Potter is our #7, and plays half a season in the bottom pairing, we'll be ok. It's when he moves into the top 4 we're in trouble
I don't know if I'd go as far as to say he was worse than Barker, but I agree that he's had about a month of good hockey and that's about it. Potter is not an NHL defenseman and I never understood why he was signed to that deal. Hopefully they send him to the minors, though I doubt that happens with the shortened off-season and Sutton's injury.
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If you are offended by this post, it's probably because you're ugly.
Cory Cross, Scott Ferguson and Bryan Young come to mind.
Cory Cross was a useful player for most of his time with the Oilers. Young was a trainwreck.
As for Ferguson, my favorite memory was when he was put at LW on a line with Jani Rita in one of his very rare (and possibly final if I recall) call-ups to the NHL despite being a fan favorite and quality minor leaguer.
Too much was asked of Potter, it's a simple as that. If Peckham or Teubert were given the minutes and opposition Potter was last year, it would have been the same or worse. At $800K, I expect a defenseman who plays about 13-15 minutes a game for 50 games in a season, or so. Instead he was playing over 60 games and almost 20 minutes per game. He got thrust in to a role he was totally unprepared for, and too much was asked of him.
It's reasonable to hope that if his role is scaled back this year, he'll be closer to the player he was at the start of the season rather than the guy he was at the end of it.
I might be wrong, but vilifying him because he happened to be the guy that Hall crashed into when he fell during warm up is just pathetic.
I don't know if I'd go as far as to say he was worse than Barker, but I agree that he's had about a month of good hockey and that's about it. Potter is not an NHL defenseman and I never understood why he was signed to that deal. Hopefully they send him to the minors, though I doubt that happens with the shortened off-season and Sutton's injury.
I think he was signed because they knew at that time what most fans are just figuring out watching the AHL this year... Teubert isn't ready, and Peckham needs someone to keep him honest. If Sutton were healthy I'd be fairly certain they'd send Potter to start the year in the AHL, but the current reality is he is the 7th best healthy defenseman they have to start the year. Plus, it's better to let Potter sit and watch NHL games than Teubert. If Potter doesn't play a single game this year and Peckham plays them all, I'm just as happy as anyone else (the implication being that Peckham is back to his old self, not playing like he did last year).
Cory Cross was a useless player for most of his time with the Oilers. Young was a trainwreck.
As for Ferguson, my favorite memory was when he was put at LW on a line with Jani Rita in one of his very rare (and possibly final if I recall) call-ups to the NHL despite being a fan favorite and quality minor leaguer.
I disagree. If Potter is our #7, and plays half a season in the bottom pairing, we'll be ok. It's when he moves into the top 4 we're in trouble
Yeah this is how i see it. This is a guy who is first pairing material in the AHL so IMO a good coach should be able to protect him enough to get some servicable minutes from him. His coverage on odd man breaks was the only true issue i saw consistently from him. The other issue is just consistency, and that's the biggest thing holding alot of bottom of the roster players back. I think a guy like Potter as 7/8 on the depth chart is perfect, worst case scenario he's a important piece to the Barons. NHL defenseman are tough to find so even the guys who can play good for stretches, like Potter has shown he can do, are servicable enough that a team ought to have a couple avaliable on the bottom of the NHL roster/top of the AHL roster. It's not uncommon for an NHL team to use 10 defenders in a year. A guy like Potter is just depth, it's not like he's keeping Tambo from getting a better defenseman.
Actually i'll have to disagree. From what i recall Cross was certainly a problem in his final year but when he first came to the team he was suprisingly effective on the third pairing. He was certainly a fringe guy during his time, but he was still an NHLer IMO. In fact as i recall the Red Wings ended up picking him up, and that's considered a pretty good org.
Corey Potter was thrown to the wolfs last year, instead of being brought along slowly. At best he's a 6/7 D and should be played that way. He's been playing in Vienna, so he should be in game shape. Is he a option for the Oillers, no, but you make due until the Oilers can find a gritty RHS Dman, which they need.
the only time cross was effective was when he was playing with gator or ulanov, because they are puck magnets and tough as nails, it made up for crosses slow plodding boring useless game
Too much was asked of Potter, it's a simple as that. If Peckham or Teubert were given the minutes and opposition Potter was last year, it would have been the same or worse. At $800K, I expect a defenseman who plays about 13-15 minutes a game for 50 games in a season, or so. Instead he was playing over 60 games and almost 20 minutes per game. He got thrust in to a role he was totally unprepared for, and too much was asked of him.
It's reasonable to hope that if his role is scaled back this year, he'll be closer to the player he was at the start of the season rather than the guy he was at the end of it.
I might be wrong, but vilifying him because he happened to be the guy that Hall crashed into when he fell during warm up is just pathetic.
Right, I think he needs to grow into a higher role.
yeah and iirc i remember reading the Sabres are going to need to shed some salary, so not exactly a position of strength i would imagine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TehDoak
Buffalo has a blueline looking like:
Myers-Sekera
Ehrhoff-Suzler (great chemistry last year)
Regehr
With Weber/Leopold/Pardy/Brennan all fighting for the last spot. I could certainly see Leopold being made available for low pick rather than lose a young d-man on waivers for nothing.
Leopold definitely provides depth and would be cheap to acquire.
Leopold definitely provides depth and would be cheap to acquire.
The Oilers need to add some grit and Jordan Leopold is a LHS, the last thing the Oilers need. Rather the Oilers give some of their prospects a shot at the 7th D.
I'm actually not that worried about the defense especially if Whitney's health has improved greatly with the extra time off (and it sounds like it has).
Smid-Petry were outstanding last year and a quality top pairing. I'm a little hesitant to say they're proven as Petry is still a little inexperienced by NHL defenseman standards, but I have little reason to expect they'll be complete duds (though a slow start for Petry wouldn't be a big surprise).
Schultz x 2 seems like a match made in heaven. Nick is as steady as they come and a perfect compliment (in theory at least) to Justin's puck moving ways. Speaking of Schultz the younger, he's clearly torn up the AHL so it's reasonable to think he could transition to the NHL fairly well, but if he struggles, you couldn't ask for a better safety net in Nick.
If Whitney's healthy, then you've got a letgitimate top 4 guy and possibly the Oilers' best all-round defenseman on your 3rd pair. And if that's the case, then it really doesn't matter who the other guy on the pairing is. I don't really like the idea of any of Teubert/Peckham/Potter as everyday defenders, but I'm a lot more comfortable with the idea if Whitney is on the ice with them at all times.
