Edmonton Oilers Call Up Brad Malone in a Smart Move For the Franchise

In a wise move by the Edmonton Oilers, the team has left the young prospects in the minors and called up journeyman Brad Malone.

The Edmonton Oilers have called up Bakersfield Condors forward Brad Malone. This move was made to fill out the 13 forward portions of the roster for the Oilers, who recently sent both Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan Spooner to the minors.

In 41 games for the Condors this season, Malone has a respectable seven goals and 17 assists for a total of 24 points. At 29, Malone is a journeyman pro player who has jumped in and out of the NHL but has spent the majority of his career in the minors. His $650,000 cap hit won’t be a massive burden on the Oilers, so this makes sense.

This was an interesting move because it was the first chance for new Oilers management to make good on Bob Nicholson’s promise not to call up Oilers prospects too early. Calling up Yamamoto in this instance and have him play under 10 minutes or sit in the press box would make zero sense.

Malone has mostly maxed out his potential, and have him center the fourth line at ten minutes or under, or not play, makes way more sense. Malone can center the fourth line just about as well as anyone on the roster right now.

Malone played in 7 games for the Oil last year, and although he did not record a point, I liked what I saw. He was physical and showed a little flair to his game. He does not need to produce a ton to be effective in his role (although it would be a nice bonus if he did).

The Edmonton Oilers should keep young players such as Yamo, Benson, Marody, etc. in the minors for as long as possible. The Oilers finally have a relatively deep prospect pool, and there is no point in calling them up earlier than need be.

Hockey is a sport where development is not forced to be slow and gradual. If a team wants, they can place a player in the NHL too early and throw a player in the fire. The NHL is not a development league.

In a sport like tennis, there are two tours below the main pro tour (ATP Tour), for players to develop their game and get their ranking up. Outside of the occasional wild card entry, players need to get their ranking up on the futures and challenger tour to make the jump to the bigs.

It would be like a tennis player being entered into grand slams such as Wimbledon at 18 or 19 years old, and getting crushed first round every time. It would kill the confidence of the player, and they would never play because they are always losing.

The Edmonton Oilers need to slow down the development of players, and calling up Malone instead of a young player is an excellent first step. I am excited to see what Malone brings to the table in another chance with the big club.