Samu Perhonen at this point in time is probably the Oilers best hope of turning into their goaltender of the future. Perhonen's third round sixty first overall selection was the Oilers highest goaltending selection since current Oiler Devan Dubnyk was selected fourteenth overall back in 2004.
Like Dubnyk, Perhonen is a bigger goaltender (he stands at 6'4" tall), hopefully unlike Dubnyk he has a faster track to the NHL and a bigger impact. Ranked fifty first in Bob McKenzie's final draft rankings, the hope is that Perhonen proves to be a draft steal being picked ten picks later than McKenzie's prediction having been the first pick of the third round.
Obviously goal is a very important position, the last line of defense, and a confidence booster or killer to his teammates. With the Oilers yet to acquire an elite defenseman they will likely have to rely rather heavily on their goaltender down the road, especially come the postseason. This is how teams like Carolina and Pittsburgh hoisted the Cup without an elite defenseman, well top end goaltending and great center play to be more exact.
Ultimately Cup winning teams are well balanced and have a mixture of solid forwards, defensemen, and goaltending. While the forwards are usually the guys that get a lot of the glory unless you are an extremely stacked team (see Detroit's Cup winning teams) you need at least above average goaltending to make real noise in the postseason.
Whether it's Dubnyk, Roy, Bunz, Perhonen, or Tuohima the hope is that one of these guys can become a top end starter in the NHL. Here's to hoping that the somewhat highly touted Perhonen becomes one of the late round steals that becomes a core player in the Oilers quest to return to Stanley Cup glory.
4 comments:
But selected in the third round, is he really a late round pick? I was shocked to see the Oilers take a goaltender so soon, but hopeful for what he can bring to the table. Bunz is looking forward to the competition in some ways I think.
IMO anytime that someone becomes something of significance beyond the 2nd round that is a draft steal. Of course guys make it to the NHL that were drafted in rounds 3-7 (or not at all) every year, but if you can find anything better than a 4th line grinder, bottom pairing d-man, or back-up goalie drafting from the 3rd round on that's a very good thing, if the pick ends up being a top 9 forward, top 4 d-man, or a starting goalie then your scouting staff did a great job of drafting.
Considering that the Oilers are looking at building primarily through the draft at this point any pieces that can be filled via the draft is seen as one step closer to getting us to where we want to be.
As for Bunz Vs. Perhonen, here's to hoping that they push each other and prove to be better than the Dubnyk/Deslauriers combo.
Damn that's a long friggin' paragraph LOL!
Fair enough, I consider late being just slightly farther back than you, but that's just splitting hairs.
Bunz wasn't able to see Perhonen play much at the dev camp, but he and Roy have a healthy competition and friendship between the two of them. I agree and hope that Perhonen and Bunz can push eachother further.
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