Thursday, October 2, 2008

Will the Real Rob Schremp Please Stand Up?

I have been a fan of the kids for quite some time. I watched his game grow last year in Springfield and I have been touting his ability for some time. However he has yet to show his worth this preseason.

I did not see the 2nd scrimmage game on the 1st day of camp, so I cannot comment on it. But by the sounds of it, that was Schremp's brightest moment by far to this point. He was on the left wing with speedsters Andrew Cogliano and Erik Cole. The line sounded dominant based on accounts from Oilers faithful that caught the game. However with the head coach feeling that the team would be better off with Cogliano remaining on the kid line, and Cole providing a player that can keep up with Hemsky on the left side, that line seemed doomed from the start.

At this point Schremp has shown a few flashes including a nice feed to Dustin Penner in the slot for his lone point of the preseason. However I am still awaiting the guy that I saw last year in Springfield, a guy that when he's on his game creates a ton of scoring chances. A guy that looks like a duck in water on the PP, a guy that lets a howitzer of a cross ice one timer rip and finds the back of the net with it more often than not. A skilled puck carrier that makes wise decisions while carrying the puck.

That has been non existent. And while it can be said that "this is the NHL", well earlier in the preseason it was lesser competition, the kind of competition that Schremp ate for breakfast last year in Springfield.

With the Oilers decision to keep Schremp on the team in spite of the fact that he has far from played the way that he is capable of playing shows that they are also waiting for him to awaken from his slumber.

Schremp will never be confused with Ethan Moreau in the corners, but Ethan Moreau will never be confused with Schremp when it comes to skill, offensive ability, and often times creating plays seemingly out of mid air.

For those that are upset that he is getting this opportunity over hard working guys like Tyler Spurgeon and the recently released Guillaum Lefebvre, remember one thing, there's a reason that he is getting this opportunity. He flat out earned it in his last 20 games last year much like Robert Nilsson did so the season prior in Wilkes-Barre.

He's taking more time than anyone would like to get his game going. But if he can pull it together he will be a valuable asset on this team this season. Just don't ask me to predict when the real Rob Schremp steps back into his own skates and plays the way that he should be playing.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I thought Schremp showed good jump last night against Calgary. Seemed to be skating with more confidence. Didn't have a lot of chemistry with Brule and Pouliot. However, I believe that he makes the team. My lines as of today:

Penner/Nilsson - Gagner - Hemsky
Schremp - Cogliano - Cole
Nilsson/Penner - Horcoff - Pisani
Pouliot - Brodziak - MacIntyre
Stortini

Brule starts in Springfield. Hopefully back up after a couple of months.

Stortini goes on the trade block. No longer relevant with the addition of MacIntyre.

Moreau is put on waivers and sent to Springfield if unclaimed. Just hasn't shown enough, and has been an outright defensive liability. Given that we are a rebuilding club, declining veterans need to clearly show they can help the team over a prospect, and Moreau isn't close to that standard in my view.

Bryanbryoil said...

I watched the Calgary game (both of them) and I thought that he caught some undeserved flak. he still hasn't shown anything special, but he is working hard, trying to play physical, and still making some decent passes. He also had a nice rush up ice that was much more reminiscent of what I saw in Springfield last year. He's coming along, just not as quickly as I'd like/had hoped that he would. IMO Brule played a bit selfish at times, that could be a black mark on an otherwise decent camp.