Great Idea

i thought i would like too see what people thought of the minor leauge depth

Fantastic, a lot of these guys are playing in Europe this year though, aren't they?

Not good lol

in a regular year this would be it

almost none of these guys will ever be nhl ready
good AHLers
but wont make the transistion

Better than the red wings

Would like to see McLeod take a bigger role on the farm team to prep him for his eventual slot on the bottom six.
Centering either a 3rd attack line or using that speed on a shutdown 4th.

Ditto with Rodrigue in net, Safin and Maksimov on the wings, and Samorukov on D.
Might have something there if we played them more instead of Forsberg, Nygard and Russel, and Lagesson who are pretty much known quantities at this point.

For the sake of argument, I'm going to make a critical assumption that all 7 Canadian AHL teams play north of the border this year and that there will be something resembling an AHL season. I think it's worth mentioning that I firmly believe that Haas and Nygard are on the 23-man NHL roster.

Quine and Griffith are not depth guys in the AHL: they belong at the top-end of the roster. Conversely, I don't believe Lavoie will be used in a premier role in his first professional season: it's an often-difficult transition to make from junior, and it's still a difficult transition to make from the Allsvenskan.

The writing on the wall for Marody is becoming increasingly more obvious: he needs a strong bounce-back season to regain some legitimacy to his title as a prospect. If he can find more of a scoring element and continue to work on his two-way acumen, there's a gig for him as a quality depth player in the NHL for years to come. Benson needs to find an upper echelon to his AHL scoring in order to shed his doubters. Given this information and the misplacement of Quine and Griffith in the bottom-six, I would establish Bakersfield's top six as such:

Benson - Marody - Griffith
Gambardella - Quine - Russell

Is this optimal for prospect development? It depends on who you ask: it's very much setting up Benson and Marody for more offensive production, but it denies big minutes from McLeod and Lavoie. I don't necessarily think this is a problem. That entire second line is effectively the call-up squad: productive AHL veterans that the Oilers can rely on in a pinch without upsetting the Condor's ability to produce. The trio of Benson, Marody, and Griffith should be expected to operate at around a point-per-game pace. If Benson is going to build on his skillset and become more of a producing, complimentary winger, this is how it's going to happen. Same goes for Marody: he'd be expected to be the two-way glue for this line.

I don't believe McLeod needs a ton of 5v5 minutes in the AHL in order to develop, but rather, I'd want to see him as the ultimate utility piece for the Condors: tons of PK time, some PP2 usage, extra man situations, and driving a line with more sheltered linemates. In a previous AGM I had Edmonton acquiring some LW depth for the AHL explicitly for McLeod to run-and-gun with. I also think this the more appropriate spot for Lavoie: his mission in the AHL is not to become a two-way player, but to adjust to the pace and style of professional hockey. I'd start him as the #3RW once the AHL assumes play, but graduate him up the lineup as he becomes more adapted. I'd love to see him claim the #1RW spot you've put him into, but in a 40ish game season, is he going to get there fast enough?

Safin is a project, and Maksimov is starting to fall into that category as well: I think they represent a duo where you want them seeing sheltered offensive minutes with a reliable pivot as they continue to grow other aspects of their game. I have Cracknell as the guy that should be pivoting these two: he knows his role by now, given his age. There's a chance for a call-up sure, but at this point in his career, Cracknell's biggest priority is to mentor those younger than him. I think this fourth line as a whole has more utility than I'm giving it credit for: I'd love to see Safin as a net-front presence on the powerplay. Bottom six is thus as such:

[] - McLeod - Lavoie
Safin - Cracknell - Maksimov

The blueline pairings are fine, but Broberg should be staying in Sweden for the entire year and I think you're missing out on capitalizing on a Lennstrom-Niemelainen pairing. I also like the idea of Samorukov pairing with Berglund: they're both two-way guys and I think the give-and-go between who's playing the puck, who's defending, who's pinching, etc will help both men grow both facets of their game. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lagesson make it to the AHL, and I love the idea of not bringing up Bouchard too early. They'd be a very, very strong top pair for the Condors and it gives Bouchard all the more time to refine his play behind the puck.

Lagesson - Bouchard
Samorukov - Berglund
Lennstrom - Neimelainen

Nothing much else to add in terms of the goaltenders. Very much agree that Rodrigue sees AHL icetime as opposed to ECHL minutes, and I agree that Wells is to be moved on from.

I'm not sold on the current organizational depth: most know I was critical of the Holloway pick, and I didn't mind what Edmonton did on the second day of the draft. The problem is thus: if there's to be a large-scale graduation of prospects next season (Benson, Bouchard, Broberg, Lagesson, maybe Lavoie, Marody, and McLeod all in some capacity), who's next to fill in so many roster spots? If Holloway, Kemp, Konovalov, and Rasanen are currently the only Oiler prospects currently outside the AHL looking to make the jump, is the club going to turn to UFA to fill out the Condors' depth like they did with the early Oil Barons? Does the organization lean harder on NCAA or CHL free agency next offseason?

There's already such a shallow amount of quality in Edmonton's farm system, and next year looks like a lot of it is going to migrate to the big club. There's very much a void and I don't know what the plan is to add quality to the organizational depth charts other than it's not going to happen overnight.