|
Ales Hemsky: Not Dead Yet |
|
|
|
|
|
Ales Hemsky scored a power Play goal today for the Czech National team, reminding people that he is not dead yet. The longtime Oiler has been speculated to move in probably the last 5 Trade Deadlines but his value across the league has diminished greatly over that time as injury and role have changed his ability to produce offensively.
For many years Hemsky was the only Oiler player capable of scoring on any given shift. He was close to a point per game player in his peak years and a true virtuoso with the puck on his stick. He can still dangle, make no mistake. To see him fly in the Offensive Zone is still a thrill he can provide, but his numbers have been dropping and the future of the club likely doesn’t include him. Certainly Yakupov and Eberle are slated to take the bulk of the prime minutes on the right side.
Hemmer is a fearless player who has always skated through pain or into it. That has contributed greatly to his injury history. The shoulders have been battered and bruised after years of being pasted to the boards (damn that Regehr) and last year he played a month on a broken foot because for a fleeting moment the Oilers had a shot at the playoffs. If he was born is Saskatchewan the Sheepdogs would be writing songs about his toughness, but despite all the evidence to the contrary some still call him soft.
The thing with 83 is that he has been given a role on this club where scoring is secondary. He plays on what amounts to a shutdown line. For a player who made his living playing on the 1st line and on the PP this could have been a deal-breaker but he’s a solid pro and Eakins has praised him at every opportunity to do so for embracing what the staff has been preaching.
Hemsky gets a heap of Defensive Zone Starts playing with Gordon on the 3rd line (34.9%) and sees the 3rd best Quality of Competition behind only Hall and Nuge. He’s still playing against power, but with linemates in Gordon and Hendricks who are there to shut the big guns down, not score on them. Despite that change in role and those linemates, he has the 3rd best Corsi% on the team.
Someone is going to get Hemsky at the deadline for less than he’s worth and the Oilers will probably retain salary to make it happen. And when he suits up with a solid club he’s going to be able to showcase his elite skating and puck-handling abilities much better than he can on the 3rd line in Edmonton. He’s going to skate like the wind, make those sublime passes, and have a shot in the Playoffs to show exactly what kind of a game-breaker he can be.
And I’m going to miss the days when he did those things in Orange and Blue.
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»