Long-shot and crazy idea

Fans of the Edmonton Oilers long for a bonafide first pairing defenceman. Nurse may end up being the guy, ditto Klefbom. However, that player does not exist on the roster here and now. What makes the issue more complicated is that the player the Oilers need is a player that is rarely traded by NHL teams. At best (with heaps of luck) the team may be able to move a player like Nugent-Hopkins for a player like Seth Jones in the hopes that the young defenseman can evolve into the player the team needs. Since the team is already performing the same waiting game with Nurse and Klefbom, a transaction of this type doesn’t seem prudent.

The Oilers could always role the dice in free agency if a player like Byfuglien hits the market, but is there any guarantee a player like that will be any better long term than what the team already has? The same could be said of a trade for a player like Phanuef. In both cases each player may be able to provide a reasonable approximation of what the organization needs in the short term only to saddle GM Peter Chiarelli to a contract that he may not want in the long term.

There is no easy solution.

The best that the Oilers may be able to do is wait for Klefbom, Nurse, and others to develop and try and find some offense from the blue-line by thinking-outside-the-box. They could try and employ a power-play ace/easy-minutes defenseman to attempt to kick start the powerplay. One wonders what it would take to pry Ryan Ellis out of Nashville; it would certainly cost less than Seth Jones. A contemporary Marc-Andre Bergeron would not look so bad right now.

The Oilers could also look for options that wouldn’t cost anymore than a camp invite for next season. A name that comes to mind for me (as a guy who follows CIS hockey) is Samuel Labrecque of McGill University. You probably haven’t heard of Labrecque and neither had I until this season. The reason why he has come into view is that the 23 year old rearguard is leading the nation (CIS) in scoring while playing for the number-two ranked McGill.

Labrecque played one season for the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCJHL in 2010-11. From there he moved to Clarkson University of the ECAC (NCAA) where he played three seasons for the Golden Knights. His best season in the NCAA was his first where he scored 8 goals, 15 assists, and 23 points in 37 games. In 2014-15 he moved from the NCAA to the CIS when he signed on with McGill. He had a decent first season with 22 points in 26 games. This year he has exploded with 13 goals, 19 assists, and 32 points in 18 games and is leading the entire nation in scoring. As a comparison, forward Jordan Hickmott is leading the University of Alberta Golden Bears in scoring with 8 goals, 14 assists, 22 points in 16 games and is tied for 17th for scoring nationally.

To be clear, Labrecque would be a massive long-shot to make an NHL team. He is listed at 5.08 and 183 lbs. He appeared to be competitive, but not dominant at the NCAA level. He was good in his first season in the CIS, but again not dominant. It has only been this season where he has gone nuclear in terms of putting points on the board. No team should blindly offer a contract to a player based on one decent offensive season in a lower league (Anton Belov anyone?). However, he actually has a slapshot from the point and wouldn’t cost the team anymore than an invitation to camp next season.

(Labrecque scoring while with Clarkson in the NCAA)

Would Labrecque actually make the Oilers? Likely not, but the team should be on the look out for players like him to invite to camp. The development curve on defensemen is longer and Labrecque is only 23 years old. Long-shot? Big time. Worth an invite? Why not?

I have to admit bias here. I am a huge fan of CIS hockey and of the University of Alberta Golden Bears and I would love it if a player like Labrecque beat the odds and pulled a ‘Randy Gregg‘ (or a ‘Ian Herbers‘, or a ‘Cory Cross‘) and made the Oilers or any NHL team. Labrecque likely move on to a career in Europe or another tier 2 professional league. However, I believe that he is worth an invite as I am also a long suffering Oilers fan who can’t stomach another ill-timed wiffle-ball wrist shot from the point on the powerplay. As much as he killed our chances by landing on Roloson in 2006, I’d take a modern Marc-Andre Bergeron in a heart beat given the current state of the Oilers blueline.