Monthly Archives: March 2016

Edmonton Oilers, Zach Laing

Oilers vs Flyers – Maroon makes Oilers debut

EDMONTON, AB. NOVEMBER 3, 2015 - Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, charges the net chased by Brandon Manning of the Philadelphia Flyers at Rexall Place in Edmonton. Shaughn Butts/Edmonton Journal
Shaughn Butts/Edmonton Journal

TALE OF THE TAPE:

Game: Edmonton Oilers (23-34-7, 55 pts) vs Philadelphia Flyers (29-22-11, 69 points.

Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Time: 5:00 PM MT

Where to find it: TV: Sportsnet One – Radio: 630 CHED

Edmonton Oilers Preview:

Two in a row!

That’s right, the Oilers come into tonight’s matchup after winning two in a row. After defeating the New York Islanders 3-1 on home ice Sunday night, the Oilers Connor McDavid beat the Sabres 2-1 in OT.

The win in Buffalo was the Oilers first game on a brief four game road trip which will be the team’s longest road trip before the end of the season on April 9th.

Tonight, Patrick Maroon makes his Oilers on the third line with Mark Letestu and Lauri Korpikoski. I don’t think it would be out of the realm of possibility to see him play some minutes with McDavid and Eberle and McLellan mentioned that today.

“We just want him to feel comfortable,” McLellan said. “Will he move up? Will he move around? Of course he will, because we’re trying to adapt and adjust with a bunch of new players. Let’s let him get his feet wet, let’s let him feel comfortable and then we’ll figure out where he fits.”

Maroon has 79 points in 204 games played and has this season he has 13 points in 56 game played.

“I’m really excited, it’s going to be a great opportunity for me,” he said. “Anaheim was really good to me, but they had to make some moves and I was the guy to go. I’m excited to become an Edmonton Oiler. This team is going to be really good in a few years. Just to be part of this rebuild, and the new stadium, is really exciting for me.”

“I have pretty good hands for a big man,” Maroon said. “My job is to create space for my linemates, get to the net, create some havoc and hopefully we can get some goals.”

I really like the style of game that he plays, and I think he will be a good addition to this team. At only $1.5 million per for the next two years, he is on a very reasonable contract given the success he saw alongside Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in the past.

He seems to be coming into town with the right attitude and I am really happy with this move. To me, Maroon is one of those ‘love him if you have him, hate him if you don’t’ guys. Now that he’s in Edmonton, I love him.

Yak is back!

Predictions for tonight:

  1. Maroon is awesome, and gets time in the top six tonight.
  2. The Pardy Party continues and he follows up his debut with another strong performance.
  3. Connor McDavid avenges his injury suffered at the hands of the Flyers, and takes it to the next level. 2G, 1 A.

Flyers Preview: 

For Philadelphia, the Stanley Cup Playoffs already have started. “Right now every game is a playoff game for us,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere told the Flyers website Wednesday. “We need points in every game.” The Flyers have won three straight and are three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild card into the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. “We’re going to fight to get back into a playoff spot,” forward Claude Giroux said. “There’s no quitting in this team.” Steve Mason could start in goal Thursday. In three games against the Oilers with the Flyers, he’s 3-0-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. Michal Neuvirth has started the past four games, going 3-1-0 with a 2.53 GAA and .907 save percentage. He made 29 saves in a 5-3 win Monday against the Calgary Flames.

— NHL.com

Line Combos and Starting Goalies c/o Left Wing Lock:
Oilers (Cam Talbot):

Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Zack Kassian
Nail Yakupov – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Patrick Maroon – Mark Letestu – Lauri Korpikoski
Matt Hendricks – Anton Lander – Adam Cracknell

Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Adam Clendening – Darnell Nurse
Adam Pardy (Party) – Brandon Davidson

EDM Injuries: Oscar Klefbom (leg infection), Andrew Ference (hip), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (hand), Eric Gryba (knee), Benoit Pouliot (unknown, but likely shoulder separation).

Scratched: Iiro Pakarinen, Luke Gazdic, Nikita Nikitin

Philadelphia Flyers (Michal Neuvirth): 

Brayden Schenn – Claude Giroux – Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl – Sean Couturier – Sam Gagner
Scott Laughton – Nick Cousins – Matt Read
Chris Vandevelde – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Ryan White

Andrew MacDonald – Shayne Gotisbehere
Nick Schultz – Mark Streit
Evgeni Medvedev – Radko Gudas

Any ideas on how to improve my game previews? Send me an email at zjlaing@gmail.com.

 

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, International, NHL

No Taylor Hall for Team Canada… I’m Not Surprised

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Hall Day Long Baby! Bow to the King, Chewbacca!
Most likely I’ve going to draw ire from all of the Hall-ogists out there, especially after I laid into him previously for showing us his impression of a ladder during last night’s game versus the Sabres. This is just how I feel. I think Hall is a great talent but he’s not my cup of tea and I don’t think when Team Canada is in a tournament of great importance that Hall is their preference either.

But before we get into why I think Hall will be left off the roster, let’s check out the initial 16 players picked.

G Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
G Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
G Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

D Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
D Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks
D Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose Sharks
D Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

F Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars
F Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
F Jeff Carter, Los Angeles Kings
F Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
F Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
F Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
F Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
F John Tavares, New York Islanders
F Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

Something to note is the amount of natural centres on this preliminary list. I count at least 8. You could debate whether Carter and Stamkos are centres but I’ve said this before. Mike Babcock is going to win, not impress the fans with the flash and dash, and his roster will reflect that.

I refer you to this quote from Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong:

“Mike (Babcock) likes predictability. He likes players he can play in all situations,”

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Hall does not fit the description of a player Mike Babcock would take to win a tournament in the manner that he won the gold medal at the most recent Olympics in Socchi and everyone will refer to Hall’s play during the World Championships last year whilst playing on a line with Sidney Crosby and Jordan Eberle. To that I say, poppycock!

The World Championships is a tournament that doesn’t pit the best vs. the best. It’s quality, sure, but it’s not the Olympics, it’s not the World Cup, it’s not a tournament that Hockey Canada takes as serious. This World Cup in Toronto is huge for them. It’s been twelve years since they last held the event and they’ve got no intention of losing on home ice.

Hall is not a player that plays in all situations. He’s an elite offensive talent but if that’s all he’s bringing to the table, he’s not going to make it. Every one of those players named today play PK minutes. Do you know how many minutes Taylor Hall has played on the penalty kill? THREE!! THREE MINUTES!! Does that sound like a player that can play in all situations? I didn’t think so.

Let’s look at the other forwards named today and see how many PK minutes they’ve accrued.

F Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars (103:09 min)
F Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins (137:33 min)
F Jeff Carter, Los Angeles Kings (97:58 min)
F Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (28:51 min)
F Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks (63:29 min)
F Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars (1:14 min)**
F Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (37:31 min)
F John Tavares, New York Islanders (3:13 min)**
F Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks (95:41 min)

We can see here that John Tavares and Tyler Seguin are also players that don’t get much TOI on the PK. But if I have to spell out to you why you take Seguin and Tavares over Hall, you might need to take off the rose-coloured glasses. Seriously. Seguin and Tavares are 7th and 8th in the NHL for face-off% respectivly and Seguin is challenging for the scoring title while sitting 3rd in the league in goals scored (32). Hall just hit 20…

Well you might say to me that it’s early days and the full roster hasn’t been decided on but I think you really fear Hall being left off because you might feel it’s some sort of travesty towards him as a player and the Oilers as a team. Old news. If he was dominating the NHL like he’s being expected to, he’d definitely be more of a consideration but his production has fallen off of a cliff… Well maybe not that bad but it’s nowhere near what it was at the beginning of the season.

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You might tell me to name another left winger that is better than Hall. And to that I’ll say that Mike Babcock doesn’t care about positions as much as he does about players who fit his system and are willing to “buy in”. You’d think that a player who’s had 7 NHL coaches in his career would be used to buying in and being a team player by now and as much as he appears more mature and is saying the right things in the post game interviews, he’s still playing the same game.

Consider the options that Hockey Canada has instead of Taylor Hall and make an argument against them. Rick Nash, Corey Perry, Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Toffoli, Mark Stone, Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp, or maybe even Mike Hoffman.

Let me present to you three I think are MUCH better than choices than Hall at this point.

  • Joe Thornton –  You might say he’s too old at 36 years of age but he’s 9th in the league in scoring, an even better playmaker, a bigger player, and a centre. Also, was perviously the captain of the San Jose Sharks and is a Team Canada vet.
  • Claude Giroux – Similar point production to Hall but adds a very competitive and shit disturbing element to the roster. Work ethic can never be questioned and he’s a captain.
  • Brad Marchand – 5th in league scoring and the league’s penultimate scoring pest. Is having a helluva season and if a player is on a high you take him while he’s riding it.

Those are three players right there that are statistically (fancy) in line or better than Hall. Check out the CA60 (shot suppression) and CD60 (useful possession) on all three. It’s a telling story.

I’ve heard notable names (Lowetide, McCurdy, Craig Simpson) in the media questioning Hall’s inclusion on the team. They have said he should be in the conversation but by no means a lock. Bob Stauffer said he’d be stunned if he was on the initial roster but he believes Hall will eventually be on the roster.

And let’s not forget that Tom Renney, Hall’s former coach, is president and CEO of Hockey Canada and surely his opinion of Hall could weigh in on whether the Kingston Cannonball will be part of Team Canada this summer or whether he’ll be watching from his home cheering on teammates Andrej Sekera, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid or possibly Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

I’m just saying be prepared if he’s not on the team at all. If he makes it though, great! Good for him, good for the Oilers and I’d get to eat some crow. Everybody wins.

Let me know how you feel about Taylor Hall being included or excluded on Team Canada for this summer’s World Cup of Hockey in the comments below!

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Edmonton Oilers, Kosmic Burrito, NHL

Kosmic’s World Cup of Hockey Team North America Roster Prediction

March 1st 2016
Post Deadline

Well….here I am…I must have done something right, because I’m back to trip with the BLH Universe again! How’d you like Chia Pete’s first go as an Oiler at the ol’ deadline? Do you think that the Oilers made out alright? Me, I don’t really have any complaints, plus, that’s not what my post is about, haha…

As promised, this is my 2016 World Cup of Hockey Team McDavid, errr, I mean Team North America roster predictions/report. Let’s face it folks, this team belongs to the McWizard!

But first, I have to get something of my chest. I don’t even like the inclusion of the 23 and under North American and European teams. Do you really think that Mcdavid wants to be the one who scores the goal that eliminates Team Canada (hypothetically speaking)? Of course he doesn’t!! He wants to score the huge goals for Canada, and party with the big boys!! But….here we are, and that train has left the station.

Too be honest though, as an Oilers fan this team does possess a lot of Edmonton connections. First off, the GM is Peter Chiarelli, and the Head Coach is Todd Mclellan. Plus some key members of the team I might add.

So, just like my last report, we’ll start with the Goaltenders. Speaking of which, I think this is going to be the team’s weakest position. Only due to the lack of experienced ’tenders. There is USA’s John Gibson, who has won both gold and bronze at the World Juniors. Also, Jets prospect Connor Hellebuyck won bronze at the World Championships. So there is some experience there, that can’t be discounted. I do honestly believe that Gibson is on the verge of breaking out huge, and what a scene that would be if he could do it on the world stage.

Potential Goalies: John Gibson, Connor Hellebuyck, Malcolm Subban, Matt Murray, and Zach Fucale

Again, this is just my personal opinion, but you can’t ignore Gibson and Hellebuyck’s international resumes. So I see Chiarelli going with (in this order):

John Gibson – Connor Hellebuyck – Malcolm Subban

The defence is a different story….this is seriously a stacked backend ladies and gentlemen! We’re talking about names like Ekblad, Reilly, Jones, and Hanifin. That’s heavy duty. Baby’s got back! I didn’t realize just how stacked they are until I started to research this story. So let’s get on with it.

Potential Defencemen: Aaron Ekblad, Noah Hanifin, Matt Dumba, Morgan Reilly, Colton Parayko, Seth Jones, Dougie Hamilton, Connor Murphy, Jacob Trouba, Cody Ceci, Colin Miller, and Ryan Murray

Making my prediction for the defence was actually tougher than originally thought, but if I was GM, the defence would like something like this:

Seth Jones – Aaron Ekblad
Morgan Reilly – Jacob Trouba
Ryan Murray – Dougie Hamilton
Extra Skater: Matt Dumba

Ah yes, now the Mcdavid’s, I mean the McJesus’, Errg…Now for the forwards. You thought that the defence was stellar? Shit dude, you haven’t seen anything yet! We’re talking about names like 2 time Cup winner Brendan Saad, Johnny Hockey himself, and that other fellow, what”s his name, oh yeah…CONNOR MCDAVID! Honestly, this team should not be taken lightly at all. There is A LOT of potential firepower on this squad. So let’s get cracking at it.

Potential Forwards: Connor McDavid, Brendan Saad, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nathan McKinnon, Curtis Lazar, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Sean Couturier, Ryan Strome, Sean Monahan, Alex Galchenyuk, Jonathon Huberdeau, Mark Scheifele, Jonathon Drouin, Sam Reinhart, Max Domi, Dylan Larkin, Boone Jenner, Sam Bennett, Robby Fabbri, Anthony Duclair, and Bo Horvat

See, I told you that they’re doing pretty well for themselves….so take this with a grain of salt, but here are my line predictions:

Johnny Gaudreau – Connor McDavid – Nathan McKinnon
Brandon Saad – Sean Monahan – Jack Eichel
Alex Galchenyuk – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Ryan Strome
Max Domi – Sean Couturier – Curtis Lazar
Extra Skater: Auston Matthews

As awesome as it will be for all of these kids to play together, you can’t tell me that they wouldn’t have preferred to play for their respected countries? So hopefully the next inception of the World Cup only includes countries. But regardless, the North American team is an incredibly talented squad and they’re my sleeper pick to win it all. They definitely shouldn’t be underestimated just due to their age, they have a lot of international hardware between them, plus…..McDavid.

Well folks, once again, thanks for tripping with me!! Stay tuned for my next article……an introduction to the future, the man known as Laurent Brossoit….

Follow me on the Twitter @kosmicburrito

Edmonton Oilers, Micah Kowalchuk

Looking at the NHL Playoffs in the West post-deadline

As an Oilers blogger, it’s rare you write about the NHL playoffs, so in the vein of something different, here’s a summary of what the major contenders did to their roster out here. We know Chicago, Los Angeles, Colorado, Anaheim, Dallas and San Jose were active, whereas Nashville and St. Louis were not.

So, for those of us Oilers fans killing time until we see our own team in the playoffs, here’s your scorecard for the teams who changed their roster:

Chicago: They picked up Andrew Ladd as a top-6 winger, and Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise as bottom-6 improvements, making their forward core very deep. There were rumors they were looking for more defensemen, but they settled for adding Christian Erhoff. They did add Tim Jackman as an AHL depth piece who may be a call-up for the playoffs as well. Overall, a solid few deadline days for Chicago, and we know their top-4 on D can eat minutes.

Los Angeles: They picked up Rob Scuderi in the Erhoff deal, who’s a better fit and knows their system, consider him the new 7th defenseman here. To bolster their forward corps, other than the previous Vincent Lecavlier deal, LA also added Kris Versteeg, As well, in the Lecavlier trade, they also picked up Luke Schenn. Overall, a bit more defensive improvement than Chicago, with a bit less offensive boost.

Anaheim: The Ducks had earlier acquired David Perron as a top-6 addition, and then added Ryan Garbutt as a bottom-6 player. In an effort to add further scoring, the Ducks landed Brandon Pirri at a low price, hoping he could re-discover his scoring chance, and added Jamie McGinn as a Middle-6 winger. This led to the Oilers being able to obtain Patrick Maroon, as Anaheim needed room to slot in Pirri and McGinn. Neither of them are elite scorers, but both are able to put up 20 goals in the league and are valuable depth players. No change to the defense here, which may lack an elite player, but has solid depth all the way through.

Nashville: They picked up Corey Potter, the guy who used to be a defenseman for the Oilers. That was about the extent of their big moves.

Minnesota: In a bid to get back in the playoffs, Minnesota went big and picked up David Jones from Calgary, also shedding Backstrom’s contract in the process. About it here also.

San Jose: They did some earlier shopping, adding a bottom-pairing defenseman in Roman Polak and a bottom-6 forward in Nick Spaling, and then added some insurance in net by landing James Reimer. Nothing too extravagant for the most part.

St. Louis: They picked up our AHL goaltender as a backup in case their backup needed a backup. So, basically, they did nothing today.

Dallas: They really needed help on the back end, and gave up far too much to land Kris Russell, who is either a solid top-4 defenseman, or barely a bottom-6 guy, depending on how much you believe in advanced stats. Either way, it was a drastic overpayment, hope for their sake it pans out.

Colorado: Naturally, for a team everyone feels needs defense desperately, Patrick Roy went the other way, picking up Shawn Matthias as a bottom-6 depth piece, Mikkel Boedker in a deal to replace Alex Tanguay in the top-6, and then finally picking up a bottom-pairing defenseman for a cheap price in Eric Gelinas.

So, where does this leave things? Chicago and LA still look like the most dangerous teams in the West, with Anaheim picking up some unheralded pieces who might help address their scoring. Colorado improved on offense while ignoring defense (it’s like they’re managed by MacT), Dallas overpaid badly to get something resembling a defenseman, San Jose did a few reasonable additions (at a higher price also), and St. Louis and Minnesota spun in circles while repeating “We’re good teams, honest”.

If you want to place your bets on the Big-3 of Anaheim (always a bridesmaid), LA or Chicago, go ahead. The rest, nothing to see here folks, the big-3 continue their unholy reign.

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, G Money, Kosmic Burrito, Micah Kowalchuk, Three Points Dave, Zach Laing

Beer League Hereos sign free agent bloggers

As the Editor of the site, I recently sat back with BLH and there was one thing we both realized: There are a lot of people out there with great opinions, but little to no means to express them.

With that in mind, Beer League Heroes has decided to bring on Johnny Potts (Kosmic Burrito), Micah Kowalchuk and Three Points Dave, who some of you may know from calling in on the 630 CHED Overtime Open Line.

While 3PDave is handling vlogging for the site, KB and Micah are working on some great blogs in their own right. These guys already have got some posts and vlog’s up recently, so I would recommend checking some of it out.

On top of that, we made the move to bring over Oilers Nerd Alert, who some of you may know as G Money from the comments of Lowetide’s blog. ONA is going to be doing some analytics driven posts and has some stuff coming up that is seriously going to blow your mind. While he already had a mean to express his information through his analytic driven posts on his wordpress blog, he has graciously agreed to contribute on this website as well.

Serious, it’s really freakin cool.

BLH and I are really happy with the guys we have brought on board, so make sure to stick around and read some of their upcoming work.

If you aren’t already, you can follow the BLH team on twitter here.

We are still looking for new writers to join the website. If you are interested in contributing on the website, you can send BLH an email (beerleagueheroes@gmail.com), or me an email (zjlaing@gmail.com).

We can also be reached via DM on twitter. Mine are always open to anyone wanting to chat.

Click the pic and get your Better Call Hall shirt!!
Grab a sweet “Beat His Ass” tee from the merch shop! Click the pic!