Q: How is the progress of former first-round draft choice Riley Nash, who is at Cornell University, coming? What's his prognosis for becoming an Oiler?
A: In 2007, the Oilers had three first-round picks, taking Sam Gagner, then Alex Plante and Nash, who was playing junior A at Salmon Arm (B. C. junior league) at No. 21. He had a scholarship to Cornell [bah...why do they always make this mistake?], and was anxious to go there because his defenceman-brother Brendon was also there. Frankly, the Oilers wish he'd gone to a higher-echelon hockey school that plays more games against better-calibre teams, like a North Dakota or Denver or Boston U. The 20-year-old forward only plays a 36-game schedule. He was a point-a-game guy his first two years, good but not great. He's a smallish forward, about 175 pounds. This year, he has a very pedestrian 14 points in 18 games. He's a long way from being an NHL player. He needs at least a full year in the American Hockey League, but he's only a junior at Cornell. If he decides to stay in school, we won't be seeing him for awhile. He's down on the Oilers' list of prospects, certainly behind Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, Jeff Petry, Anton Lander and Linus Omark.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
More Riley Nash Bashing
The Edmonton Journal hockey beat writer fields three questions, and one of them is about Nash...
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It kills me how some of these clowns talk about Cornell hockey as if it's Potsdam State. If he's good enough (and I think the jury's still out on this), he'll be a fine NHL player. Does anyone think Jerry D'Amico won't be excellent at the NHL level because he goes to RPI instead of Michigan?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's an anti-Cornell bias as much as an anti-ECAC bias. (Although I winced at the "higher-echelon hockey school" comment.) The lighter schedule and weaker competition are pretty legitimate points; Nash isn't playing against a lot of future NHL-ers on Brown and Colgate. As Oilers fans, they don't care at all about Nash getting a college degree, so their only concern is his hockey development.
ReplyDeleteAs for Michigan, they seem to have acquired a reputation as a place where prospects go to die. Remember that UM gets a ton of U-18ers because they train out there, and I've read a lot of posts about how these guys don't develop much playing at Michigan.
I'm not the biggest fan of Brendon Nash's play on the ice, but we have him to thank for Riley's coming to Cornell. Otherwise, I have to assume he'd be headed to North Dakota.