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Observations:

April 2015 – Bachman has steadily seen more action as the Oilers tumultuous season runs down. After being recalled in February after Viktor Fasth was put on the injured reserve, Bachman appeared in only four games after a months time. Bachman was then thrust into the spotlight after recording a 29 save shutout against his former team, the Dallas Stars, on March 27. He followed the performance with a 29 save effort against the Avalanche on the 30th for back to back wins. It is an extremely welcome sign for the Oilers and it will be interesting to see if he can push for a backup role next season. He should be on deep keeper/dynasty league watch lists and could be a sneaky pickup for any head-to-head leagues in their final week. Tyler Thomson

February 2015 – Bachman is having a season to remember with Oklahoma City this year. The sixth year professional was named the AHL player of the week on January 12th after posting two shut-outs in three games. His .925 save percentage and 2.16 goals against average has been the backbone of the Barons season when he has been healthy. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Bachman get a call-up at some point in the second half of the season and he his first in line if either Viktor Fasth or Ben Scrivens suffer an injury. Tyler Thomson

August 2013 – With the experience of already playing 32 NHL games, the 26 year old will jump into a high pressure and competitive battle for an ability to win a job and possibly lead the Edmonton Oiler franchise to future glory. Step one will be earning a job on the team, but he will be on the back foot against Deven Dubnyk and Jason Labarbera, and likely fall into a depth role in Oklahoma City and be ready when needed. He is undersized, but plays large, has a very solid base of skills, but needs to work on putting out consistently strong performances to stick in the NHL. He is your prototypical ‘tweener’ too good for the AHL, but yet to secure an NHL lifestyle. The Oilers are a well-documented team needing a star goalie to get over the hump to a legitimate championship contender, they may need to move long-term current starter Dubnyk as part of a package to get one, that series of events could open the door to the use of a younger backup and longer term option and a very good job to Rich Bachman. He performed strongly for Dallas when he was needed in a pinch with a string of games, but struggled playing sparsely, which is not surprising, as for many years of development, he has been ‘the man’ rarely taking a back seat to anyone. He was once the NCAA player of the year as a rookie, also earning rookie of the year honors with a 1.85 GAA and .931 SV%. He shouldn’t be drafted in fantasy leagues, but should he earn a job, he could be worth plucking from the waiver wire.

Fantasy Outlook: C+

In his second year with the Oilers Bachman has still only been in three NHL games. If he continues his consistent performance with Oklahoma City he could win a backup job next season. His ceiling projects to be a reliable NHL backup.

Footage:

Making his best sequence of saves in the NHL so far on Joe Pavelski.

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AHL Profile:

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Buy the latest Fantasy Prospects Report here.

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