Edmonton to Provide Secondary Affiliation in 2006-07

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. The Edmonton Oilers will serve as a secondary NHL affiliate to the Grand Rapids Griffins during the 2006-07 season, per an agreement announced by both teams on Friday.

The Griffins, who are entering their fifth season as the primary affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings, will receive up to four players this season from the 2006 Stanley Cup runners-up. A relationship between the two organizations took root in 2005-06, when Edmonton assigned right wing Nate DiCasmirro now with the Boston Bruins to the Griffins. That arrangement proved fruitful, as DiCasmirro posted 52 points (16-3652) in 72 games and tied for third in the AHL with a plus-27 rating.

The Oilers will have four other partial AHL affiliates this season, including Hamilton, Iowa, Milwaukee and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Edmonton last had a full affiliate during the lockout season of 2004-05, when the Edmonton Road Runners took to the ice at Rexall Place.

Edmonton has offered us a player or two who can help our team and round-out our roster, said Bob McNamara, Griffins general manager. They had a good experience with DiCasmirro being here last year, they are somewhat familiar with (head coach) Greg Ireland based on his stint as an assistant in Hamilton during the 2003 playoffs, and they have a high level of comfort working with us. We think Edmontons players will fit in well with the 16 or so Red Wings prospects on our roster.

Player ties between the Griffins and Oilers date back to the 1996-97 campaign, when Pokey Reddick, a member of Edmontons 1990 Stanley Cup champion squad, tended goal for Grand Rapids during its inaugural season. Other Oilers such as Curtis Joseph, Marty McSorley, Francois Leroux, David Oliver, David Roberts and Craig Millar later played at Van Andel Arena, while Griffins all-time leading scorer Michel Picard signed with Edmonton during the 1999-00 season, skating in two NHL contests.