Nation Radio – June 2, 2012

Mikhail Grigorenko at the NHL Draft Combine late last week.
Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

The NHL Draft is rapidly approaching, and with the top-prospects in Toronto for the Draft Combine last week, excitement about the event is beginning to crest (especially in Edmonton). Between the upcoming draft, the hiring of Bob Hartley in Calgary, and the Oilers continued search for a head-coach: there were plenty of topics to discuss. Also, there’s some meaningful hockey being played apparently, and something called "the Stanley Cup Final" gets a fair bit of air-time as well.

Joining Allan this week were Terry Jones, Jason Gregor, Jonathan Willis, Timo Seppa and Kent Wilson.

This is Nation Radio.

Our first guest is Hall of Fame hockey writer Terry Jones, who has been a busy man over the past few months covering the World Juniors, the World Championships and the Memorial Cup. Allan and Terry discuss the resurgence in the popularity of major junior hockey in the Edmonton sports market, Oilers head-coaching candidates and the possibility of Nail Yakupov bolting to the KHL (extremely slim).

Next up is Jason Gregor from OilersNation and the Jason Gregor Show. Allan and Jason discuss the Oilers offseason plans, including the draft and the search for a new coach. Sadly, they never get around to putting together a "ladies of the 70s and 80s" mock draft, despite repeatedly threatening to do so!

Timo Seppa of Bloomberg Sports and Hockey Prospectus checks in with a first hand report from the NHL combine. In particular, Allan and Timo shed some light on prospect interviews, and the psychological testing aspect of the combine.

Resident Grantlander Jonathan Willis stops by to break down the relative merits of various head-coaches the Oilers may look at hiring. Young Willis and Allan also talk about the Oilers options between the pipes, and discuss strategies to improve the Oilers anemic blue-line.   

Nations Overlord Kent Wilson joins Allan to talk about inertia, and the recent hire of Bob Hartley as head-coach of the Calgary Flames. Kent and Allan also chat about the Stanley Cup Final and what, if anything, Pete DeBoer can do to stem the bleeding.

Allan wraps up the broadcast with a final segment breaking down the upcoming NHL Draft.

Here’s the whole show.

Finally, we’d like to remind prospective sponsors and advertisers that we still have some limited ad spots available here at Nation Radio. For more info, contact Kent Wilson @ kent.wilson@gmail.com.