Oilers Make Typo - Send Out Wrong Ryan

Seriously. Pick one player to cut based on last year's AHL numbers:

62 GP: 1-9-10, 49 PIMs, no NHL callup

70 GP: 38-24-62, 48 PIMs, 8 NHL games

According to TSN the Oilers have shipped three more players to Springfield assuming they all clear waivers: Dean Arsene, Chris Minard and Ryan Potulny. Ryan O'Marra lives on. Crazy. Now, it's quite possible that there are more guys that are going to be cut and TSN only reported the guys who were put on waivers but if not, each of these guys is feeling awful.

For Arsene, getting shipped out before Taylor Chorney, Theo Peckham, Jake Taylor, Alex Plante and Bryan Young must sting. Arsene probably realized that he didn't have much chance to make the team out of camp but if this cut is an indication of the call-up depth chart he's a long way down the list.

Chris Minard and Ryan Potulny both played some at the NHL level last year and each had an outside shot at a roster spot in this camp. I mentioned that both didn't do much last night and indeed both were cut today. Being cut this early has to be bitterly disappointing, especially for Potulny who got his NHL time with the Oilers. The one potential bright spot is that there's enough time before the season that another team might make a waiver claim to take a look. Ryan Potulny scored 38 goals in the AHL last year. Chris Minard is 6'1'' and scored over a point per game in the AHL last year. That's not nothing. Someone may want to take a look and decide in a week if they're worth keeping. If it happens, I wish them luck.

Dean Arsene a Falcon

Looking around the net this evening I noticed that capgeek.com has the Oilers signing defender Dean Arsene. Arsene is a veteran of seven AHL seasons and is surely pencilled in to the Falcons blueline for this season. He provides very little offence (in his best AHL season he managed 15 points) but a whole lot of toughness (he's had more PIMs than games played in each of his seven seasons). He was a +8 last season and played in all 22 playoff games for the Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears. In his best season Arsene accumulated 15 points, 187 PIMs and was a +23. Further, Guy Flaming seems to have known which way the wind was blowing when he mentioned Arsene in a column earlier this week, mentioning his leadership as a strength. All of these things lead me to believe that Arsene is more than a goon, that he takes a regular shift and should be able to provide some stability in Springfield along with Jake Taylor. If this is accurate, this is a good signing by the Oilers.

Interestingly, this means that the AHL club has now added yet another defender to the mix. In addition to Arsene and Taylor, the Falcons will have Peckham, Chorney, Wild, Motin, Plante, Young (and Nickerson) all trying to earn regular time. I suppose they might end up in some sort of rotation but until injuries hit at least two of these players are going to either be in the press box or in Stockton.