Chesapeake Energy Corporation has joined the Oklahoma City Barons hockey team as its first Founding Partner, Prodigal LLC owner Robert Funk Jr. announced today.

Chesapeake, the second largest producer of natural gas in the United States and the most active driller of new wells in the U.S., becomes the first major corporate partner for Oklahoma City’s newest hockey team.

“We are pleased to have Chesapeake Energy join our team as a founding partner,” said Funk Jr. “Aubrey McClendon and his organization are champions of community activities throughout the Oklahoma City area. We welcome the opportunity to partner with an exemplary corporate citizen like Chesapeake and we look forward to delivering a first class hockey experience to the citizens of Oklahoma City.”

The puck drops for the Barons October 9.

The Canadian Hockey League announced today Regina Pats forward and Edmonton Oilers’ prospect Jordan Eberle has been named the 2009-10 CHL Player of the Year.

via Edmonton Oilers – News.

With the gold medal game within reach, Oilers prospects Linus Omark and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson continued their impressive World Championship run in Germany Saturday.

The duo joined Team Sweden in a semifinal battle vs. the Czech Republic, but despite strong efforts during the game and a creative shootout goal from Omark after the allotted time, the Czechs progressed with a 3-2 win.

Read more at the Oilers Official site: Sweden drops Semis shootout, Czechs to play for gold – Oilers at the Worlds.

We’re a long way from fall, but here’s a quick first glance at the players Oklahoma City Barons fans might be cheering for in 2010-11. This isn’t an all-inclusive list, but many of the players not listed are either quality prospects who are waiver eligible–making them unlikely to play for the Barons–or they’re unsigned free agents. Examples of the former would be Devan Dubnyk, Jeff Deslauriers and Theo Peckham, and examples of the latter are people like Dean Arsene, Chris Minard and Charles Linglet. Some of those veteran AHL players will be signed, but we won’t know until later this summer.

Solid – Continue reading this Baron’s roster discussion at Lowetide: Oklahoma City Barons 10-11 Roster (First Glance)- Edmonton Oilers.

Over the course of a season an NHL franchise will call up and send down players to and from their minor league affiliate teams just as in any other sport.  In the NHL/AHL these movements are affected by the type of contract that the pllayer is under.  In general a professional hockey player at the NHL or AHL level is under what is called a 1-Way or a 2-Way deal.

The 2 Way Deal is simple and it is what most of the players on the Barons will be under.  It means that if the Oilers call up a player, and that player is under a 2-Way Agreement, that player can be sent back down at will (generally), no further action will take place.   1-Way Deals make a callup more tricky and can actually lead to a player moving to a different team.  More on that after the jump.

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Hockey Free Agency is different than other sports.  Much of the changes now present in the NHL is derived from the 2005 lockout and subsequent Collective Bargaining Agreement.  The Oilers and Barons organizations are in their offseason right now.  The NHL draft is coming up on June 24th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the Kings.  Most of the personnel taken in the draft are relegated back to their CHL (Canadian Major Junior) KHL (Russian, Kontinental Hockey League) teams or are assigned to AHL or East Coast Hockey League (ECHL, if the AHL is AAA, the ECHL is AA) teams.

The Oilers have the first pick in the 2010 NHL draft.  They are in that position because the posted the worst record in the NHL 2009-2010 season.  The choice of whom to pick comes down to Tyler Seguin of the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers or Taylor Hall of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. More after the jump.

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Here is the first Barons Wallpaper attempt:

The First Barons Wallpaper

Available in 1280×960 or 1280×800 (widescreen/laptop)

Via the Official Barons Facebook Page here are the 2010-2011 Baron’s Jerseys:

In the AHL the Home team wears white where in the NHL white is the road color.

Welcome to TheBaronsBlog.com.  Today is the first day of what I hope is an infinite future of Barons hockey in Oklahoma.  You’ve probably found your way here because of a note on the OKC Barons official Facebook page, you caught us on the #AHL hash on Twitter or you are a friend or coworker of mine and I spammed you until you came.

So why should you read us?  Well I am accomplished fan hockey blogger.  I have had my writing featured on Hockey Independent, !Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, Penguins Universe, and XM Radio’s NHL War Room.

To that end I and the others who will be a part of this know a little bit about the game.  This is not the CHL.  These are not the Blazers.  Expect a team full of prospects trying to make that last leap to the NHL to join the Edmonton Oilers.  This will be system hockey in Oklahoma City for the first time.

I am extremely excited about the new team and the opportunity for a new fan base to spread out here in Oklahoma.  You see I am originally from Pittsburgh Pa.  I’ve been a Penguins fan since I was about 4 years old (1981).  I’ve done my best to introduce people here to the NHL, and now I get to do it with our very own AHL team.  With that said the Edmonton Oilers are now my defacto favorite Western Conference hockey team in the NHL.

Are you interested in helping out?  Want to be a part of TBB?  Drop us a line at thebaronsblog@gmail.com

For those of you on the go, who may in the future like to read TheBaronsBlog on your mobile device we have good news.  There is a mobile optimized site running that will autodetect your mobile browser and present a mobile page.