HOLTY’S BLOG: SPRING’S UPON US

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There are five weekends left in the regular season. Every year it seems it takes forever to get underway and then the season flies by.

The only part of the season I like to fly by is when we go up the 99 and as I’ll remind you, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want.

Now for the blog…

– Are the playoffs still a thing? Going into the weekend, the Condors sit eight points behind Stockton with 13 games remaining in the regular season. That’s still doable. I think it’ll take 20 points over the final 13 games.

– Mentioned it last night, but EVERY other division has multiple teams you can definitively say will make the playoffs. The Pacific doesn’t have one such team. Sure, I think division-leading Tucson makes it, but they’re only six points up on FIFTH.

– To put that in perspective, only 13 points separate top to bottom in the Pacific. In the North, FOURTH place Utica is ahead of FIFTH place Laval by SIXTEEN points.

– Ty Rattie scored his 21st last night to secure a point for the Condors. That puts him fourth on the Condors AHL single-season goal scoring list behind Ford’s 27 two years ago and Lander (25) / Currie (22) last year.

– One player who had 20 last year, D/LW Joey LaLeggia scored his 11th last night. Can’t be easy to go back and forth from the blue line to forward so often throughout a season, but LaLeggia does whatever is asked of him. He’s five points off his high of 38 last year. His 22 assists are a career high.

– G Dylan Wells (5th round, 2016) and RW Ostap Safin (4th round, 2017) both will have their respective junior seasons end this weekend. Wells has played 54 games for a struggling Peterborough team and Safin has been the lone bright spot with a point-per-game on a Saint John team who will miss the playoffs. Wonder if one or both would end up in Condorstown after their seasons end this weekend for the remainder of the season?

– Other Oilers junior prospects still playing include Kailer Yamamoto (Spokane), Tyler Benson (Vancouver), Cameron Hebig (Regina), Stuart Skinner (Swift Current) and Kirill Maksimov (Niagara). There are others in college, but they can’t join on try-outs unless they’re fully turning professional.

– Yamamoto and Benson will both be on the lower-seeded teams in the first round which start next week. Skinner is on a very good team and Hebig’s team hosts the Memorial Cup so he’s guaranteed to play in May, but could have some time off if they’re eliminated early. Maksimov is having a tremendous season and his team will be a slight favorite in their first round matchup. Just something to keep an eye on here in the coming weeks.

– Of course, you can ask the person who knows far more than me about all of this tomorrow at 6 p.m. as Edmonton Oilers Senior VP of Hockey Ops. Craig MacTavish holds a Q&A session in the Bank Room for Condors365 Members Only. It’s one of the benefits of being a 365 Member, so take advantage.

Until next time Condorstown…

Ryan Holt aka Holty is in his 7th season as the Voice of the Condors. He only watched ONE entire college basketball game this season. But, he’s really confident in his bracket and has a Final Four of Virigina-UNC-Villanova-Michigan State. Follow him on Twitter @CondorsHolty for more nonsense or shoot him an e-mail to RHolt@bakersfieldcondors.com with questions, comments, or blog ideas.