BLH Edmonton Oilers Weekly Recap Dec 27th-Jan 2nd

– photo by Andy Devlin / Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club

Tough week for the Edmonton Oilers as they finish 1-3-0, against Pacific Division rivals no less.

That’s a tough pill to swallow. They blew a two goal lead, twice, against Calgary. Goaltending sank the team against Los Angeles. Anaheim was just better.

The victory against Arizona ended a four game skid, which is good. It was an entertaining game yesterday and I thought the Oilers played well enough.

The upcoming week there are only two games on the dock, as they continue their six game homestead.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars.

3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Finally making an appearance on the three stars of the week, the second line has finally stopped sleep walking through games. Nugent-Hopkins looked like one of the best forwards in yesterday’s tilt against Arizona. This week, Nuge posted four points, all assists in four games. It’s a quiet, but solid showing from 93, who has been struggling this year.

2. Jordan Eberle: Like 93, he showed up this week. Eberle posted five points in four games, including three goals. Two of those goals were nifty ones against Arizona. Yesterday, he also registered his 300th point of his career. Eberle has taken a lot of flak these last couple weeks due to lack of production, but it’s good to see him starting to turn it around now.

1. Benoit Pouliot: To be fair, it was a toss up between Eberle and Pouliot as they posted the same box numbers and Eberle did reach a milestone yesterday. That said, I like Pouliot’s game. He plays aggressively on the forecheck, sometimes too aggressive as he did have two penalties in the offensive zone yesterday against Arizona. The goal that stands out for me was his second against Calgary: he losses his helmet, but that doesn’t faze him one bit as he goes to his spot in the slot and scores. He brings a grittier element to his line.

Edmonton Oilers News and Rumors

Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov both skated with the team on Friday. This is obviously great news: McDavid would be a tremendous boost to the team. Sure, he’s not playing Defence and can’t bring stability to the crease, but he’s such a special talent that I don’t think we can really grasp just how good he is. Based on some short clip (I know great sample size) he seems to be shooting, stick handle and pass the puck just fine. He keeps saying to the media that he’s feeling better. I think he plays before the All Star Break.

I wrote about an interesting part of Lowetide’s blog regarding a Mayor’s Manor tweet: The Oilers are interested in the services of Mike Richards. Some people will say that it’s to replace Nugent-Hopkins but that’s foolish: Richards is a shell of his former self and would be strictly a bottom six role. I think he would be more effective than Lander save for faceoffs.

Earlier this week, The Edmonton Oilers acquired Zack Kassian from the Montreal Canadiens for Ben Scrivens. Last night was Kassian’s debut in Bakersfield where he posted no points, a +1, four shots on goal and four minutes in penalties.

Around the League

Allan Walsh, agent for Jonathan Drouin, admits his client had asked for a trade

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 3, 2016

That’s some big news. I’ve been saying Free Drouin for awhile and I don’t think he’s getting a fair shake in Tampa Bay. I also don’t think the Oilers make sense as a fit either.

I wonder when he’ll get dealt.

Toronto Media can’t get over the McDavid lottery.