Like fathers, like sons — at least for the Oil Kings
When the Edmonton Oil Kings traded for David Musil, they were looking at shoring up their blue-line, but also respecting their bloodlines.
The defending Western Hockey League champions now have the teenage sons of three one-time NHL defencemen on their roster — all at the same time. And all of them are defencemen. What are the odds of that? “Yeah, that’s something, isn’t it?” laughed Edmonton Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini.
Musil’s dad, Frank, who lives in Vancouver, seriously injured his neck in an Oilers practice mishap at Rexall Place during the late 1990s and is now a scout with the NHL club.
Keegan Lowe’s father, Kevin, first hired Frank as a European bird-dog when he was the Oilers GM before he became the club’s president of hockey operations.
Griffin Reinhart’s dad, Paul, played for the Calgary Flames and finished up with the Vancouver Canucks. He played against Lowe and Musil.
And you can’t forget Oil Kings winger Henrik Samuelsson, whose dad, Ulf, was another NHL defenceman.
Now the sons of the fathers are all together. Small world.
“You look at the pedigrees of these kids ... it’s pretty special,” said Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal.
Musil, the Oilers’ third pick in the 2011 NHL entry draft after top pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and defenceman Oscar Klefbom, is a huge addition for the Oil Kings. The former Vancouver Giants assistant captain is in his fourth WHL season and might be the best shutdown defenceman in the entire league.
Meanwhile, the Giants and the Kootenay Ice sit near the bottom of the WHL points ladder, while the Oil Kings (9-3-1-2) have yet to shift into high gear.
“This is a great opportunity for me ... I’m looking forward to a long playoff run,” said Musil, who left Rexall Place last Sunday after a 5-1 Giants’ loss to the Oil Kings, then had one more game in Lethbridge (a shootout victory over the Hurricanes), and left the Vancouver team in Medicine Hat.
Musil’s going from one road trip to another because the Oil Kings headed out on a six-game trek on Thursday. They’re taking the bus to Prince Albert, Sask., before making their way to Swift Current. They then get a break in Banff before departing for Kamloops, B.C., and then Kelowna.
“I didn’t pack enough (clothes). I thought I was only going to be away from Vancouver for a week, but my parents are flying to Calgary for an under-16 tournament my brother (Adam, Red Deer Rebels’ draft pick) is in. They’ll ship me some clothes (to Edmonton),” said Musil.
Laxdal already knows who Musil will be partnered with on the blue-line.
“I’m going to have David and Keegan together. They’ll be our shutdown pair,” said Laxdal.
He will play his captain Reinhart with Cody Corbett until Oilers draft pick Martin Gernat (shoulder surgery) returns, maybe in January, and Gernat takes a top-four spot.
“When I was living in Edmonton and was about six years old, Keegan and I hung out quite a bit,” said Musil, who is represented by agent Ritch Winter and spent this past summer with a family in Sherwood Park.
“I know seven or eight of the Oil Kings guys already because I trained here with (Oilers fitness consultant) Simon Bennett,” said Musil. “Five years ago, I also spent a couple of months going to school at Vimy Ridge and saw some of the (current) players there. And (Travis) Ewanyk and (Mitch) Moroz were, of course, drafted by the Oilers, just like me.”
Laxdal said the Oil Kings wanted to jump on Musil now rather than wait until the Jan. 10, 2013, WHL trade deadline.
“You wait until then and the price goes up for players like David. We gave up a really good player in Mason Geertsen.”