Personally, I think the Oilers prospects on this team is a storyline when it comes to this series given their contributions at the AHL level and in the first round series. Also, with regard to the fact that the WBS team will be without these players next season.

IMO, Nilsson is the only one of the 3 that could be considered a castoff, and yes, Nilsson wasn’t fitting in with the Isles.

FWIW, I was never a big fan of Schremp and agree his claims to fame to date have not been anything Edmonton can be excited about; I was disappointed in some of his actions on the ice the last time I saw WBS play the Bears, as well. IIRC, I thought he dropped in the 04 draft with the questions about attitude, etc., but I was still surprised when I heard his name called at the time it was in the RBC.

Edmonton has some hits and misses with its drafting (sounds familiar )

One can point to trading the pick to NJ (used to select Parise; Getzlaf was still available as well as a group of Caps fans like to remind everyone) and then picking Pouliot and Jacques with the 2 picks.

and since I forgot,

Let’s Go Bears Woooooo!

However, I disagree with a number of points in this piece.

First, I disagree with this comment: “all high-profile castoffs from other organizations”

Call this team the baby pens/baby oilers because the Oilers this season assigned their prospects to a number of organizations, but primarily to WBS. Sidenote, next season, the Oilers will have their own affiliate after a few seasons without one.

Pouliot played more than half the season with Edmonton and he is not the only one that saw playing time with the parent team. FWIW, Schremp missed the first round, reportedly a knee injury.

Along with the Pens prospects and some AHL contract players, there are a number of Edmonton prospects on the playoff roster and most were Edmonton draft picks: Schremp, Pouliot, Brodziak, Deslauriers, JF Jacques, Spurgeon and Young, IIRC. Nilsson (came to the Oilers as part of the Smyth deal) and Gilbert were acquired by Edmonton via trade.

Also, I agree with your point about the graduations to the Pens (Whitney, Fleury, Talbot, Christensen), but Armstrong did not play for the Baby Pens last year in the playoffs. One other notable change (thankfully, IMO) from last season will be the absence of Carcillo, who was traded by the Pens, as was Noah Welch.

And the line-ups were more complete for the last game, but the other games down the stretch, both teams had some players up with the NHL clubs. Some may recall that Edmonton had a number of injuries to finish the season, especially on D, and I believe Jacques, Gilbert, Young and Pouilot were with Edmonton.

Back to the series, some interesting story lines with the Hershey WBS rivalry; Schaefer in net for WBS; the scoring from the D for WBS in the first round; the late season comeback win agianst the Bears in the final minutes of the 3rd by the Pens (led by James and Nilsson and Scheafer was not in goal) followed by 2 solid wins by the Bears; the return of players that were playing in the NHL; a number of players with history from juniors, etc.; and the Bears sweep of WBS last playoff season.

Here’s hoping Arsene and Fehr are healthy enough to return for what should be a fun and competitive series!