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Jeremy Price Talk


Gnickers87

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I was reading about Blain quite a bit when he attended our camp. Oilers fans were really high on him, thought he was one of the steals of the draft in the fourth round (his point totals and +/- exploded after being drafted). 87 points and +54 his last 98 games in the QMJHL.

Sounds like a Bieksa-type player. Offensive minded and physical. 31 points in 47 games along with a +11 in the ECHL, not bad for a rookie pro campaign (even if it was the ECHL).

Didn't do too much in Chicago but he was probably playing bottom pairing minutes.

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I don't think he did get much for minutes, but he was noticeable on the ice when he did play. From the games I watched he was involved a lot in getting the puck out of the zone and advancing it up ice. Looked pretty good in that respect and I think we'll see a bit more from him this year.

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compared to the other guys that got let go this season, i thought price looked like a gem. at the end of the day, we have a couple new exciting younger D prospects that will get a shot. good luck wherever you end up, jeremy price.

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Actually, the suggestion is that Edmonton has more depth at the prospect level, but much less quality at the NHL level. that's why our defence is better than theirs.

But I'm a little surprised Price was let go. He wasn't the greatest prospect but appeared to have some potential so I thought they'd give him a full year of AHL play to decide if he was worthwhile or not.

I actually saw more of Blain playing though, and he did look pretty good, so I can understand if that was the decision with the limited contract space we have left.

This is exactly right. The Oilers have four really good European defense prospects under contract with 92-93 birth dates with as well as Dillon Simpson already in the system. The just ran out of room. It's no slight against Blain. Our good fortune really.

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This is exactly right. The Oilers have four really good European defense prospects under contract with 92-93 birth dates with as well as Dillon Simpson already in the system. The just ran out of room. It's no slight against Blain. Our good fortune really.

It's one of the downsides of having so many picks in a 4 year span. Chances are a few gems might slip through your fingers. Though I'm sure the Oilers aren't crying over this.

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First, Edmonton is endowed with a lot of high picks is because they're not progressing ( making wrong picks is one part of it ) and they fail to develop their picks. So they keep picking high in the draft...which doesn't look good. Secondly if Blain doesn't fit into the 50 player protection he is at very least the worse of the 51 if he was chosen to be released. Logic has to be part of the equation

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First, Edmonton is endowed with a lot of high picks is because they're not progressing ( making wrong picks is one part of it ) and they fail to develop their picks. So they keep picking high in the draft...which doesn't look good. Secondly if Blain doesn't fit into the 50 player protection he is at very least the worse of the 51 if he was chosen to be released. Logic has to be part of the equation

Your logic is flawed. Teams simply can't re-pick their 50-man reserve list at the beginning of each year. Players cannot be dropped from reserve lists at will. A team is can be stuck with a player who has an ELC for up to five years until the ELC expires or another team is willing to trade for that player. (Taylor Ellington was an example of this.)

Blain may or may not be a better prospect than some of the existing Oiler prospects or Colton Tuebert whom they decided not to resign. Only time will tell. Sometimes teams drop prospects who turn out to be serviceable depth players on other teams. The Canucks had the chance to see both Blain and Price play with the Wolves last year and must feel that Blain has the better potential to be an NHL player.

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I have to admit that I never really believed that the Canucks would let Price slip away on August 15th. I was convinced that they were just leaving things to the last minute (because of other more pressing business) but that they'd get something done at the 11th hour.

It also strikes me as odd that they seem to have given-up on a solid defenseman prospect, especially after they re-signed Sauve for another year. This isn't to say that Sauve's worse than Price (or vice versa). Personally, I still like the set of tools Sauve brings and I'm glad he's getting another year to prove himself. I just think that Price was deserving of a similar opportunity.

As far as the contract limit goes, even if the Canucks add two of Gaunce, Horvat, Shinkaruk (or McEneny) to the roster, they can still let the other two of those contracts slide this year, which means that at a minimum, they'd have 3 spots remaining open (on the 50 man limit). I just don't see how offering Price a contract would have hampered the team's ability to fill-out the NHL roster and add further depth players in Utica.

Of course, it's a numbers game and there are quite a few Ds in the system. However, I just didn't see Price as the type of prospect that you just waste. If contract space was an issue, I'd have rather they traded one or two of their C or D prospects away to another team for a 7th round pick, and then use the space to sign Price.

Even as things look to be over (in terms of a future between the Canucks and Price), I have heard some rumblings through various forums and blogs that the organization might still consider signing Price to a minor league deal or offering him a tryout. No good sources on this (basically not worse posting because they were either message boards posts or comments on blogs) and I'm certainly not suggesting we should expect it but I suppose there's still a chance the Canucks will maintain ties with Price under their organizational umbrella. They already have significant scouting time invested in him so they might want to continue to track his development and possibly keep him close by and available (for a future contract).

I'm not 100% on the rules from the new CBA, but one potential wrinkle that could also arise is that Price should be available for a one-year ELC as a draft rights expired UFA. While the Canucks held his rights, at his age he would have required a 2 year ELC contract. So it's potentially possible that the Canucks would prefer to offer Price a one-year ELC (as a draft rights expired UFA), similar to the contract they gave to Kellan Lain. Then, if he developed, they'd have RFA rights upon expiry after one year and they could negotiate a more cap-friendly contract for the NHL. If he didn't develop, they could clear him from the books for 2014-15 (the season that Gaunce and Shinkaruk--among others--start their AHL eligibility). I admit, this is just a whole bunch of speculation based on next to nothing, but I can see potential benefits to managing Price's contract in such a manner.

That all said, this is admittedly a player who's very far down the prospect depth chart and certainly not one of the most impressive or even one of the more intriguing young defensemen currently in the system. Even though he's a pretty solid prospect (albeit with limited upside), there are several guys ahead of him with better chances of making a contribution to the big club one day. Jeremy Price is very easily replaced (and he already has been) and there will be more new guys coming every year. Not a player worth losing any sleep over and most likely will only amount to a very minor footnote in this team's draft history and a future Canucks trivia question.

I suppose the most disappointing thing is that it's a wasted 4th round pick. It's not like Price wasn't developing or he'd topped out. He still has potential and he's only played 5 AHL games of professional hockey. There's just no way to get a handle on where his future tracks out with that small of a sample. That's the main reason for my personal disappointment: letting a prospect go (for zero return) with so much about him still undetermined. He probably won't amount to much of a loss but I'd feel much better about losing him if we'd seen him get more AHL action first.

Anyway, time to close the book on Jeremy Price (and least for now--and most likely forever).

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I have to admit that I never really believed that the Canucks would let Price slip away on August 15th. I was convinced that they were just leaving things to the last minute (because of other more pressing business) but that they'd get something done at the 11th hour.

It also strikes me as odd that they seem to have given-up on a solid defenseman prospect, especially after they re-signed Sauve for another year. This isn't to say that Sauve's worse than Price (or vice versa). Personally, I still like the set of tools Sauve brings and I'm glad he's getting another year to prove himself. I just think that Price was deserving of a similar opportunity.

...

That was my thought as well. What I'm wondering now is if they were looking at getting him on an AHL only contract and he wanted to try for something with a chance at the NHL. It doesn't mean he couldn't come back to our system, but it's probably not as likely that he will since he could get more opportunity even in the AHL on another team.

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  • 2 months later...

We still have room more one more contract I think...I think we could sign him but maybe Gillis just wants 1 extra spot incase of emergency but I think Price deserves to be signed. He is a RD and an offensive defensemen, could Utica even try to sign him? I think this kid as NHL potential.

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The Vancouver Canucks made the right choice on not offering him a professional contract with the team. Although he is considered an offensive defencemen, he will never see the light of day in the NHL. He is a career tier 2- tier 3 professional hockey player. His struggles in the ECHL pretty much proved that the Canucks did the right thing by not signing him. 2009 nhl ENTRY draft is looking very very bad for us right now.

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