Sunday, September 28, 2008

Taylor Chorney, Ahead of My Expectations

I must say that Taylor Chorney has impressed me and has taken much less time to adapt to the pro game than I expected. Outside of his size and strength, he is ready. If I were Ladislav Smid, I'd be looking over my shoulder. Between Peckham and Chorney, Smid has a guy that is far more physical and a far better puck mover. Luckily for Smid neither of these players have him beat in both categories or he'd certainly be starting the year in Springfield.

If Denis Grebeshkov decides to take off to the KHL after this season, at least now we have a guy that could fill his spot without skipping too much of a beat. Of course Chorney will need some AHL seasoning, but it's just a matter of time before he's an NHL player. Chorney should have a whale of a year in Springfield, and don't be one bit surprised if he becomes only the 2nd Oiler in the last 2 years to play in the AHL allstar game.

Chorney has already been better offensively than last years AHL points machine, Springfield blueliner TJ Kemp, and much better defensively to boot. One thing is for sure, the players in Springfield will be spoiled rotten with great puck movement from the blueline this season! The future on the blueline looks great, and between Chorney and Peckham, the future looks to be sooner rather than later.

2 comments:

oilerdiehard said...

I like Chorney a bunch too. Just thought I would throw that in case I had not mentioned it before? ;)

Good thought Bryan on the Grebs situation. I hope Grebs is around to stay. But it is comforting knowing if he left next off-season we will have someone to replace him and not even feel it. As you say both he and Peckham could make Smid trade bait next summer depending on how his season goes.

I will be extremely interested to see how he does in "Springie" as Gagner called it recently. But also it will be interesting to follow the progress of Peckham and Wild.

Have you heard any word yet on how long Hrabal will be out? I guess that injury could benefit someone like a Bisaillon or Bina from starting the year in Stockton. Put on a good show early and make it hard for the coaching staff Hrabal comes back.

Bryanbryoil said...

No idea on the Hrabal front.

I doubt that Bina leapfrogs Bisaillon on the depth chart. However Bisaillon's skating is understandably behind where it was at the start of last year. His shot wasn't anywhere near as impressive at camp either. Here's to hoping that he can fully recover from his horiffic injury last year.

I must say that between Chorney, Peckham, and Petry we have 3 stud d prospects, and I really like Wild's potential as well.

Springfield will be very interesting to watch this year, and as a matter of fact, my next blog post is about a few potential Falcons.