Barons take shot at AHL playoffs.
Oklahoma City sits in seventh place
The Oklahoma City Barons are in the same situation in the American Hockey League as their parent team, the Edmonton Oilers, are in the NHL.
Both teams are scrambling for a post-season berth, although the Barons are actually nestled in the top eight teams in the Western Conference while the Oilers have their noses pressed up against the playoff glass.
The Barons, who have seven games left, are seventh with 80 points in 69 games.
If the playoffs started tomorrow, they’d be playing the No. 2 Toronto Marlies, the club that knocked them out in the Western final last spring.
The Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville Predators’ farm club) and Rockford IceHogs (Chicago Blackhawks’ affiliate) each have 79 points.
Oklahoma City is starting a four-game road trip on Wednesday night at Houston against the Aeros, the Minnesota Wild affiliate which is fifth with 82 points, then heads east to play the Rochester Americans (Buffalo Sabres), the Marlies, and the Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal Canadiens), the worst team in the Western Conference.
The Barons finish with two home games against the Abbotsford Heat (Calgary Flames) and one with Houston.
“We’d like to get five wins, which would be 40 on the season,” said Barons coach Todd Nelson, who has done a tidy job in the second half to be 11 games over .500.
Nelson lost Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Justin Schultz after the lockout ended, and then had Magnus Paajarvi stick with the Oilers and both Teemu Hartikainen and Anton Lander up for a long look.
The Barons have been getting yeoman work out of PTO (professional tryout offer) winger Jonathan Cheechoo, 32, who has scored 26 points in 29 games after a torrid start. Cheechoo is 10 pounds lighter than he played at before, a pro’s pro who unfortunately may not have the foot speed to play in the NHL any longer.
“His pace (points per game) has slowed, but he’s so strong in the corners. He’s like Hartikainen,” said Nelson.
The most eye-popping player in Oklahoma City has been little winger Toni Rajala.
For a couple of years, people were wondering why the Oilers signed him for three years because he was playing out of sight, out of mind in Finland and was no bigger than a minute.
But the five-foot-10, 163-pound Rajala has saved the Barons offensively. He has 33 points in 36 games on the No. 1 line with Mark Arcobello and Hartikainen.
“Toni’s a player who has surprised a lot of us. We didn’t realize he’d put up these numbers,” said Nelson.
“He’s been excellent, a very creative guy. He’s sneaky coming down the wing.
“One time, he’ll let a slapshot go, the next time he’ll try to step around a guy.
“He’s really sees the ice well.”
On the bench
Barons winger Ben Eager was in a no-contact jersey at practice Tuesday. He had tweaked his back.
Darcy Hordichuk is playing a regular shift, but there’s no takers for any fistic fury. He’s got seven penalty minutes in 16 games. “Hordy’s ragging the puck in the offensive zone, enjoying playing more than three minutes a night,” said Nelson.
The Oilers traded Oklahoma City winger Dane Byers for 33-year-old offensive defenceman Garrett Stafford (Hershey Bears, Washington Capitals’ farm club) because Nelson said, “We had three of the same thing.” Toughness with Eager, Hordichuk and Byers.
There is no clear-day roster in the AHL any longer, where teams had to have a list of players eligible for the playoffs. The Oilers can send whichever players they want to the Barons after the season without being on any AHL playoff list. Lander will certainly be back there. Paajarvi would be a possibility, too. Justin Schultz would be eligible as well (no waivers), but he’s played a lot of hockey as a rookie pro.
Defenceman Colten Teubert (ankle sprain) is back in the lineup, but continues to be a work in progress. Nelson definitely likes what Teubert does away from the puck, where he’s abrasive and in people’s faces, but he still has to improve his play with the puck under pressure.
Former second-round draft winger Curtis Hamilton, who has struggled mightily to put up numbers (nine points in 56 games), is coming around. “Lots of good things from Curtis. It’s finally clicked in,” said Nelson.
Tyler Pitlick (knee) has returned to the lineup after several months on the shelf.
Captain Josh Green, out two weeks with an injury, is skating again.
The Barons have 14 forwards and 11 defencemen, including the injured Nathan Deck, and two junior grads, Joey Leach (Kootenay Ice) and Kendall McFaull (Moose Jaw Warriors).
Nelson plans on riding goalie Yann Danis down the stretch, with six-foot-seven Finnish netminder Niko Hovinen as the backup.