This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!
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Edmonton Sun
- The Ducks had the worst power play in the history of the NHL last season, or at least since they began keeping power-play statistics in 1977, converting on just 8.9% of their chances.
- After being swept out of the playoffs in the first round in 2018, the Ducks have missed the playoffs the past three years. They had a 17-30-9 record last year.
- The Ducks rebuild will be centred around forward Mason McTavish, who was selected third overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
- The Oilers have scored on three of their six opportunities in two games. Last season, the Oilers led the league with a 27.6% efficiency. The year before they led with a 29.5% rating.
- Mike Smith has started the first two games in goal for the Oilers and could get the call again against the Ducks… He has given up four goals in his first two games this year and has a .953 save percentage.
Anaheim’s Projected Lineup
Adam Henrique – Trevor Zegras – Rickard Rakell
Maxime Comtois – Ryan Getzlaf – Troy Terry
Mason McTavish – Isac Lundestrom – Jakob Silfverberg
Nicolas Deslauriers – Benoit-Olivier Groulx – Max Jones
Hampus Lindholm – Jamie Drysdale
Cam Fowler – Josh Mason
Josh Mahura – Kevin Shattenkirk
John Gibson
Anthony Stolarz
Edmonton’s Projected Lineup
Leon Draisaitl – Connor McDavid – Jesse Puljujarvi
Zach Hyman – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Kailer Yamamoto
Warren Foegele – Derek Ryan – Zack Kassian
Brendan Perlini – Devin Shore – Kyle Turris
Darnell Nurse – Tyson Barrie
Duncan Keith – Cody Ceci
Slater Koekkoek – Evan Bouchard
Mike Smith
Mikko Koskinen
Hampus Lindholm, Max Jones and Mason McTavish were all hurt last night for Anaheim.
— CapFriendly Depth Charts (@CF_DepthCharts) October 19, 2021
BLH’s Thoughts: So the big question tonight will be, can the Edmonton Oilers win a game that they’re expected to win handily? It’s been a problem for them for a while and teams who win Stanley Cups, they don’t lose games to teams they’re expected to beat on the regular. Anaheim is a beatable team right now I feel.
Oilersnation
- This is the Edmonton Oilers 42nd NHL season. They have only started a season 3-0 six times and tonight they will try to make it seven.
- Tonight is the first of 14 games where the Oilers will face a team on the second half of a back-to-back. Tonight is a game they should win. They are a more skilled team. They’ve had two days off between games and the Ducks played last night.
- It is interesting to note that while the McDavid line has outscored teams thus far, their possession numbers aren’t great, sitting at 43.8SF%, 42.98xGF% and 36.67SCF%.
- The Ducks are 2-1 so far and they’ve only allowed five goals in three games… They’ve had great goaltending thus far.
- We could see a lot of shots on goal tonight as the Oilers have allowed the second most shots against/game at 42.5 and the Ducks are third at 40/game.
- The bottom six has done a good job of drawing penalties thus far. Derek Ryan, Warren Foegele, Kyle Turris and Colton Sceviour have all drawn penalties.
BLH’s Thoughts: Until game 10 of the season, I’m not going to take many stats too seriously and considering the quality of competition that Edmonton is going to be facing until the 11th of next month when they play Boston, results should be taken with a slight grain of salt.
Now, I’m not saying every win is a fluke and every loss is BS because it’s so so important that the Oilers win as many games early on in the season so as to give them a little bit of cushion later in the year. I just feel like cherry-picking stats early in the year is meaningless for the most part.
BLH’s Three Players to Watch
I’m sad we might not be able to see McTavish, but the Ducks have plenty of young talent on display that should give the Oilers some trouble.
I suspect the regular suspects will be flying, your McDavids, Draisaitls, Rakells, Getzlafs, and so that’s why I like to suggest that you watch some of the more under the radar players. Although, I’m not sure how you can call some of these guys “under the radar” when they’re projected to be future all-stars, but it is what it is.
Anaheim
- #44 Maxime Comtois – After leading the team in scoring last year, Comtois has started strong again with 3pts to start the year. He’s a tenacious winger with fantastic hockey IQ.
- #46 Trevor Zegras – Elite skill and the player Edmonton Oilers fans love to throw out there when Philip Broberg’s name pipes up. Is it too far to say that Zegras could be a Steve Yzerman-type? Maybe that’s too much, but what about a Doug Weight comparable?
- #34 Jamie Drysdale – Remember when the Ducks had Scott Niedermayer and they were winning Cups? Drysdale is that guy. He’s so smart on the ice and his skating is flawless, to add to that, he’s already playing top-pair minutes with Hampus Lindholm… I don’t think he’s even 20 years old yet and tied with Cam Fowler and Kevin Shattenkirk for the team lead in defense scoring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5AYlq2FRd8
Edmonton
- #13 Jesse Puljujarvi – Can Pulju score for a third straight game? It’s something work keeping an eye out for…
- #75 Evan Bouchard – According to Daily Faceoff, Bouch only has three shots on net this season… I think the game is going to be a bit more open and that might lend itself to Evan’s more offensive instincts.
- #37 Warren Foegele – It’s time we saw a goal for McLovin’. You can’t say he hasn’t been working his ass off so far and I like his chances considering the opposition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRRErDEd7_Y
