February 15, 2020 /

2019/20 Edmonton Oilers GM58: Oilers @ Panthers – 3P2W – Kassian Suspension a Joke!

The Florida Panthers have won two out of six games so far in February and have been forced to dress defencemen as forwards recently. In addition to that, their $10M goalie is playing like the next coming of Hardy Astrom.

I know. This Oilers team is down some major talents at the moment and they’re going to be without those players for a good two weeks yet. But you’d be surprised where a strong will and razor-sharp focus can take you. The Oilers were sticking in there with Tampa last night were they not? Mike Smith was fantastic and if not for that shorty and some right alien-like goaltending from Vasilevskiy, Edmonton might’ve pulled off a win.

This is Dave Tippet’s bread and butter. Taking a team with so very little and squeezing every last bit of potential and talent out of it. I get that it’s hard to be optimistic right now, but it’s basically all we’ve got right now. That and the Oilers second line that appears to be the best in the NHL right now. Frankly, with the way that Florida is playing right now, I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if the Oilers won handily today.

There are some things that I’m going to need to see from this team though,

  • Hard, fast forechecking. We need Archibald, Khaira, Russell, Benson, and Haas really engaged in this manner.
  • A revamped PP zone entry. It’s obvious without Connor, the Oilers’ PP is going to have to alter its entries. The other teams are simply going to stack themselves along the blue line and hope that Leon or Nuge attempt to dangle around them.
  • Smart play with the puck. No throwing it around the boards in hopes that a winger will pick it up and carry it out. Against TB, the Oilers defenders were moving the puck up the middle and it was working very well.
  • Got shots on net and crash the M*ther F*cker. Make life difficult for FLA’s netminder and their defenders.

I think if they can do three out of those four things well, they’ll have a good game.

The Zack Kassian Suspension is a Joke

Seven games is a tad overkill in my opinion and if you think that he should’ve been gone for the season or 10+ games, you’re completely out of touch with how incidents like this are judged. Especially in comparison with something like Zdeno Chara’s crosscheck to Brendan Gallagher’s Adam’s apple.

In that instance, there was an actual intent to injure and George Parros and his buddies at Player Safety thought it was only worthy of a $5000 fine. Now, I’m not going to go all out and say that Chara tried to decapitate Gallagher, but I’m surprised that no real damage was done as I’m equally surprised that nothing has come up regarding Evander Kane’s elbow on Neal Pionk… A play that was far more dangerous that what Kassian did.

As for Kassian, we all know that from time to time his wires touch and he does something that is deemed questionable, but that’s part of why we love him. That said,  after watching the other angle of the kick, I maintain he was simply pushing a player off of him and his teammate because the bloody refs were preoccupied with something else apparently. There was ZERO intent to injure and his skate barely touched Cernak. Not that the fact excuses the action, mind you, but let’s calm down with the “attempted murder” and “his career should be over” tweets, okay? If that’s you saying that, get your head out of your ass and grow up while you’re at it.

Now, of course, you cannot use your skate blade in this manner, everybody knows this, and I’m not arguing if he should’ve been suspended or not. I’m saying the suspension was too long. This wasn’t the Skinner incident or the Chris Simon one. Not even close.

The fact of the matter is, the Department of Player Safety is sitting Kassian for seven games because he embarrassed them. He was just hauled in to get a rap on the knuckles for tuning Matthew Tkachuk in (after at least one suspendable hit to the head that wasn’t called) and the message didn’t sink in apparently. So they tacked on a couple more games onto something that really should’ve been no more than three games.

Three Players to Watch for the Panthers

  • #11 Jonathan Huberdeau – An absolute magician with the puck and one of the most underrated forwards in the NHL today. He doesn’t get enough credit for how good he really is in my opinion and anybody who tries as hard as he did in the All-Star Game deserves more attention.
  • #21 Vincent Trocheck – I love his speed and tenacity. The Oilers have always had interest in this player and it’s obvious why. He brings something to the table that no other Oiler has been able to until Kailer Yamamoto came to town.
  • #77 Frank Vatrano – This former Boston Bruin is having a helluva season on Florida’s 3rd line. He’s a great meat and potatoes kind of player with a ridiculous shot.

Three Players to Watch for the Oilers

  • #82 Caleb Jones – Had a glorious outing against the Lightning the other night and scored a really nice goal. It’s good to see Jones and Bear finding their feet at the NHL level. They bring a much need element to Edmonton’s blue line.
  • #56 Kailer Yamamoto – Has been an absolute buzzsaw since his recall. It wouldn’t shock me one bit if he carried on this heater for some time. He reminds me of a cross between Tyler Johnson and Brendan Gallagher. What about you?
  • #49 Tyler Benson – I’m not 100% sure he’ll be in the lineup but if he is, you’d have to think that he’ll get some time win the top-6. He’s gritty, smart, and very skilled but those boots… The speed of the game will cause him to struggle and so I’ll be looking for him to use his smarts to overcome that.

No lines posted by the team yet. Markus Granlund was recalled and Connor McDavid was put on the IR but I’m not sure if that will mean Benson is in the lineup or if Granlund will be. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say Granlund. Then again, he’s on a bit of a wonky ankle so you never know. Even the starting goalie is a mystery. I wanna say Koskinen today and Smith tomorrow, but it might be the other way around. All I know is that the team is going to be in tough to beat the Panthers tonight.

The Next Ten Games (51-60)

  • vs. St. Louis Blues (31-12-8) – I’m not 100% sold that the Oilers will be focused on this game seeing as they play Calgary the next night. They have played well against the league’s best this season at times though. Can McDavid and Draisaitl beat the Blues in this one as they did at the All-Star game? (WIN) WIN
  • @ Calgary Flames (27-19-6) – If you thought last night’s game was fun with all the fights and cheap shots, this game is going to be bonkers. It always seems to be in Calgary. Losing three times to the Flames and that post-game celly by Rittich will be eating away at the Oilers. They’ll be doing their damnedest to bring home the two points. (WIN) WIN
  • @ Arizona Coyotes (26-21-5) – The Oilers put up a touchdown on the Coyotes right before their bye-week and I don’t imagine that sat well with Taylor Hall and co. That said, they’re on a bit of a slump in their last ten (4-5-1) and Edmonton is flying high as of today (6-2-2). On the other hand, just when the opportunity presents itself to the Oilers they usually take the night off. (LOSS) LOSS
  • vs. San Jose Sharks (22-26-4) – Man, this Sharks team is bad. With Vlasic, Karlsson, and Burns on the back-end no less… Can you believe the Golden Knights fired Gerard Gallant to hire San Jose’s old coach? I think this will be a scheduled win for McDavid’s boys. Watch out for shenanigans from Evander Kane and Timo Meier. (WIN) LOSS
  • vs. Nashville Predators (23-19-7) – Since the Preds hired NJ’s old coach, they haven’t been scoring much and that’s not a good sign when you go into Edmonton. Couple that with Pekka Rinne’s game falling right off of a cliff and the Oilers should be able to walk away with two points. (WIN) WIN
  • vs. Chicago Blackhawks (24-21-6) – The Hawks are coming on as of late and I think they could pull this one off in Edmonton. Maybe Drake Caggiula does the ex-Oiler thing and scores. (LOSS) WIN
  • @ Tampa Bay Lightning (30-15-5) – This will be a fine test for the Oilers. Tampa has found their stride at the right time and are looking very dominant. Might we see another ex-Oiler in Pat Maroon score or drop the flippers? I expect McDavid to be flying in this one. (LOSS) LOSS
  • @ Florida Panthers (28-16-5) – This match-up is going to be a fun one. The Panthers have some really fun players to watch like Huberdeau, Barkov, and the very underrated Vincent Trochek. Which Sergei Bobrovsky might we see if he gets the call though? (WIN)
  • @ Carolina Hurricanes (29-18-3) – It’s hard not to like what they’ve built in Carolina. Andrei Svechnikov is already a scoring phenom at 19-years-old and it’s hard to overlook the wonder Finns (Aho/Teravainen), right? How will this team be sans Dougie Hamilton though? Can the Oilers sweep back-to-backs again? (WIN)
  • vs. Boston Bruins (29-10-12) – Edmonton goes from one team who doesn’t lose in OT to a team that seemingly only loses in OT. The Oilers gave the Bs a pretty sound beating last time they played and we’re close to the trade deadline here so I’m not sure what the rosters will look like. I like Boston for this one though. (LOSS)

(Standings as of January 20th, 2020)

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CategoriesBeer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL

TagsEdmonton Oilers Florida Panthers NHL Zack Kassian

Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!