Oil Patch

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by Lisa McRitchie on 01/30/12 at 10:15 PM ET
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While twitter can be an excellent way to quickly get information out, it must always be read carefully and fully. One tweet in particular caused a bit of a stir:

Ales Hemsky-Andy Sutton to Det.for Tomas Jurco and 1st round pick. Hemsky and pick to Nash.for Jonathan Blum and 1st round pick #justrumors

That came from Gene Principe, and there were at least a few of us who didn’t get to the hashtag part before reacting. The Hemsky trade part is nothing new, but should a trade for the winger go through this season it will still come as a shock.

The question that the other half of the tweet raised was of course, just what is the story with this Jurco kid?

Tomas Jurco was selected by the Detroit Red Wings 35th overall in the 2011 NHL entry draft. Jurco is a Slovakian right winger currently playing in the QMJHL for the St. John Sea Dogs.

At the World Juniors this year in Calgary, Jurco was one of the more skilled players for Slovakia and one of the reasons the team finished 6th. Although Jurco only scored one goal, he had 7 assists and a +4 rating on a team that scored only 18 goals in 6 games.

Jurco has unbelievable puck handling skills:

The Detroit Red Wings have no reason to have soured on young Jurco, and should the Red Wings look to move him, it would have to be because that it was it would take. Jurco does struggle with consistency from time to time, like many other young players. But in 36 games, Jurco has 25 goals and 29 assists.

Sometimes seeing is believing and Jurco is a youtube magician:

Of course this still doesn’t answer all of the questions, but you will have to take the word of the scouting reports out there, and Jurco’s ranking at the draft to know that this is one talented young up and coming hockey player with a bright future ahead of him. For a more in depth compilation of what the scouts have had to say about Jurco, George Malik did an excellent job compiling information following Jurco’s selection.

The only issue would be trading Hemsky would remove and NHLer or NHL ready player from the lineup and replace him with a player that is still a couple of years away from the NHL, even with the Oilers. There is still plenty of time to speculate about trades before the trade deadline February 27th, but the Oilers will most certainly be sellers that day.

Filed in: Edmonton Oilers, Ales Hemsky | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

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