All posts by Beer League Hero

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!
Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Connor McDavid is Two Games Away from Potentially Breaking One of Gretzky’s Cherished Records!

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!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Edmonton Sun

OILERS NOTES: McDavid never stops working on his game, even his skating
  • He’s the fastest skater with the puck, maybe ever. And face-offs aren’t always the end-all-and-be all. He was 44.9 per cent coming into the season and had the puck all time. But he’s at 52 right now, and proud of it.
  • The Edmonton Oilers captain, who has five straight muiti-point games to start the season, two off Wayne Gretzky’s record in 1983, refuses to stand still.
  • McDavid seems on a mission to shoot more this season — just as Wayne Gretzky did when people told him teams were taking away the pass to Jari Kurri. And he scored 92 goals.
  • Mikko Koskinen (83 saves in 88 shots) with three Ws already, will get the start against the Flyers, obviously, off his excellent work in the Oilers cage.
  • Brendan Perlini and Kyle Turris, who sat out in Vegas last Friday for Tyler Benson and Colton Sceviour, could be back on the fourth line with centre Devin Shore against the Flyers.

BLH’s Thoughts: It’s funny, this whole article seemingly stems from a video clip TSN’s Ryan Rishaug posted on Twitter that shows McDavid going through an edge/puck control drill with David Pelletier. What’s more interesting is that Jesse Puljujarvi did the same drill just as well as Connor did and Zack Kassian was next in line. Where’s the article praising Jesse and Zack’s ever expanding work ethic and obsession to improve their games?

As for that record of Gretzky’s (most multi-point games to start the season (7)), I think there’s a really good chance that Connor takes that record just from the simple POV that his team’s PP is about as unstoppable as one can get and if the Oilers score with the man advantage, McDavid’s getting on the scoresheet. 

So, there’s a chance that 97 doesn’t just beat it the record, he very well may obliterate it. 

Oilersnation

A Look at the Oilers’ Hot Start
  • If the Oilers only win 48.4% of their remaining games, like they did two seasons ago, that would be a disappointment.
  • If they go 40-32-5 they’d finish with 95 points, which equates to winning only 52% of their final 77 games.
  • They are allowing too many shots at 5×5. They are 29th in shots against per game at 5×5. They aren’t giving up loads of quality chances (more on that in a moment), but they do need to reduce the shots against.
  • Edmonton ranks 19th in shots allowed from the slot, eighth in inner shots and seventh overall in shots form the slot. They have done well limiting chances from the most dangerous areas on the ice.
  • Jesse Puljujarvi, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have the highest shots against/60 among forwards in the top three lines. That will come down.
  • Ken Hitchcock always felt the best time to be hard on players was when the team was winning. “They can handle constructive criticism better,” he said. “When you are losing you have to try and pump them up while mentioning weaknesses.”
  • As mentioned the team isn’t horrible defensively, with 15 skaters posting an xGF% of over 50%, but their 5×5 goals against and shots against need to drop as the season progresses.
  • They’ve allowed two goals against/game thus far. Of the 10 goals (5×5) they’ve allowed in their five games, four came against the Ducks.
  • Edmonton needs to be around 1.80 (goals against/game), or lower, to be considered a top-12 team defensively.
  • Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci have only started 8.5% of their shifts (static starts, not on fly) in the offensive zone… It is something to monitor, but I won’t be surprised if the Keith/Ceci pair continues to hover around 40% (d-zone starts).
  • …we could see two teammates with 130 points for the first time since 1996 when Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux did it.

BLH’s Thoughts: Bob Stauffer (630CHED) reckons this club is a 50-win team this year and right now, Edmonton, even with their apparent flaws, looks like a Cup contender. Those teams are usually 50 game winners season-to-season. 

But as I’ve said so many times recently, I don’t put a lot of stock into the wins or the stats any of the teams are putting up right now. It’s way too early in the year and a guy could catch his skate in a rut, blow out his knee, and that would be that. I mean are the Blue Jackets a Cup contender right now? What about the Sharks or the Blues? Even Ottawa and Detroit are looking competitive… 

It’s fun to look at the metrics early on in the year because they’re usually outrageously leaning one way or another and we like to project things out (#OnPace) to give ourselves an idea of what to expect, but not whole lot sustains from game five to game 75. 

NHL Trade Talk

Can Rangers Do With Kravtsov What Oilers Did With Puljujarvi?

  • One of two things is bound to happen here. Either Kravtsov becomes another Lias Andersson situation and is eventually moved when the organization feels the time is right, or the Rangers can do what the Edmonton Oilers did and find a way to make the player more comfortable, eventually bringing him back with a fresh start and a renewed energy to succeed.

Blackhawks Should Trade Marc-Andre Fleury if They Won’t Compete

  • The veteran goaltender is in the final year of his $7 million contract. Before joining the Blackhawks, he considered retirement because he wasn’t keen on playing outside Vegas, where he had built a home, a life, and was hoping to retire. It took some time, but he took to the idea of moving to a new city and trying to make it go in Chicago. This is probably not what he signed up for.

NHL Reporter Claims Price Wanted to Leave Canadiens This Offseason

  • In Simmons’ recent Toronto Sun article, he slips a line in about Price’s standing with the Canadiens and noted that the player actually wanted to leave the Canadiens before the news was learned he was taking some time away.

“This may be completely unrelated to Carey Price’s current personal situation, but more than one hockey person was convinced this summer that Price wanted to be chosen in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken but remained in Montreal instead…”

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: McLeod, Lavoie, and Does Carter Savoie have a Shot at Team Canada (WJHC)?

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!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Lowetide.ca

THE GUESS WHO?

SKILLS THAT TRANSFER FROM AHL TO NHL

  • The forwards who succeeded over the years noted above are mostly bottom-six forwards. VandeVelde, Pitlick, Khaira, Gambardella, they’re all players who refined their games and made themselves into something close to mistake-free options.
  • The outliers from that job description, names like Slepyshev, Puljujarvi and Yamamoto, all possessed higher end skill. Some of the players who didn’t make it, like Hartikainen and Rajala, were also high skill but suffered due to a shuffling of management at inopportune times.
  • Marody is a bit of an odd duck, he’s in the “Colin McDonald” category where it’s obvious he has NHL skill but is in the wrong organization. McDonald played 148 NHL games, all but two after leaving the Oilers organization.
  • A player like McLeod, or Lavoie, has enough unique skills that can be useful in the NHL it’s hard to see either man missing out on at least the 102-game Slepyshev career opportunity.
  • Turnover of management and coaches.
  • Bottom line: The AHL forwards who succeed (Pakarinen was 1.15 pts-60 in 2015-16) bring at least some offence. So, when you look at a group of rookie forwards from a specific season, click on pts-game and chances are the cream will rise.

BLH’s Thoughts: Every year, the top ten or fifteen scorers in the AHL produce maybe one NHL player, sometimes two, sometimes three, but it’s rare when more than a couple make it out of that group. In the AHL, smaller skillers can thrive production-wise simply because their hands, feet, hockey IQ or a combination of all three make it so. Case in point, Cooper Marody. 

I’m sorry, I have to nitpick something here with LT’s post. In 2015-16, Iiro Pakarinen played FOUR GAMES for the Condors and scored three points. FOUR bloody games but he tore up the NHL with 13pts in 65 games that same year… I’m thinking that Iiro’s last campaign with the club in 2018-19 would’ve been a better example of where he brought offense because he played 18 games and score 13pts, not the four game heater from a couple of seasons prior. 

Sorry, I don’t know what it was that touched a nerve there. In my opinion, Pakarinen never really succeeded in Edmonton and by the time he was becoming a force in the AHL he was getting too old for that league and he still wasn’t good enough to play higher than the Oilers third line then… I suppose my definition of minor league success might be different than LT’s.

I do agree with him on McLeod and Lavoie though, at the moment they look like they’ve got the tools to make it as NHL player for a few seasons, but some refinement is still in order and they’d better improve what needs improving considering their GM is in “Win-Now” mode and they might be used as trade fodder. 

The Athletic

Oilers prospect Carter Savoie thriving at Denver with improved fitness and ‘bomb’ of a shot: ‘He’s a one-shot scorer’
  • Carter Savoie is off to a torrid start to his NCAA season with five goals and six assists in four games… As impressive as those gaudy numbers are, though, the Oilers are more pleased with the cause than the effect.
  • Savoie, 19, a sophomore forward at the University of Denver, trained under the watchful eye of Oilers strength and conditioning coach Chad Drummond during the offseason, cutting down his body fat thanks in part to a nutrition plan while adding strength to his 5-foot-10, 193-pound frame and quickness to his skating stride.
  • Wright felt the Oilers were fortunate to get Savoie in the fourth round, at pick No. 100, believing a poor showing by Savoie’s Team West at the World Junior A Challenge contributed to his draft slide.
  • (David) Carle has Savoie playing on the penalty kill at Denver and uses him in five-on-six situations to protect leads. The coach is trying to make the scorer better at other aspects of the game without sacrificing offence.
  • Another goal for Savoie is to get invited to the Canadian world junior camp in December and ultimately make the team. Savoie’s quick start has him on the right path after he wasn’t asked to Hockey Canada’s summer camp…
  • The Oilers have no plans to rush Savoie along or force him to sign before he’s ready. 
  • The Oilers have until Aug. 15, 2024 to sign Savoie before he becomes a free agent, so it would be ideal for the team if he doesn’t play his senior season.

BLH’s Thoughts: I do recall saying over the summer that Savoie could get a call from Hockey Canada considering how good of a scorer he is, plus, who doesn’t like a good brother act at the World Juniors if his brother Matthew makes the team?

I’m betting as we get closer to December that we’ll start to hear more rumblings on our version of Cole Caufield and what the Oilers plan to do with him. If I’m not mistaken, I think I remember Craig Button saying he’d have him signed at the end of this season because he really has nothing left to prove at the collegiate level. So keep an ear peeled for little hints from Bob Stauffer and Jason Gregor as we approach the end of the calendar year. 

The Athletic

The 2021-22 NHL prospects viewing guide: Where and who to watch in every league and country

AHL and ECHL: AHLTV and FloHockey

CHL: CHL TV

USHL and U.S. NTDP: HockeyTV

Tier II junior: HockeyTV

NCAA

Russian hockey (KHL, VHL, MHL): 

  • KHL: The KHL signed a new streaming rights deal with ESPN+ (the U.S. only) and Portable.tv (U.S. and Canada)  in August.
  • The second-tier VHL and junior-level MHL both broadcast games on their respective YouTubes

Swedish hockey (SHL, HockeyAllsvenskan, HockeyEttan, J20): 

Finnish hockey (Liiga, Mestis, U20): C More/Ruutu

Czech hockey (Tipsport Extraliga, U20): FanSeat

Slovak hockey (Tipos Extraliga, U20): YouTube

German hockey (DEL, DEL2, U20): Magenta Sport and SpradeTV

Swiss hockey (National League, Swiss League, U20): NL TV Pass

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: What’s Puljujarvi Worth on his Next Deal and is Hyman Really an Option for Team Canada?

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!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

The Hockey Writers

Oilers’ Zach Hyman Making Case for Selection to Team Canada
  • In 2014, Pittsburgh Penguins’ players Crosby and Chris Kunitz were selected to Team Canada, amidst some controversy around Kunitz’ selection. Many questioned whether Kunitz was the right pick for the team, with the belief that he was picked solely due to playing on Crosby’s line in the NHL, as both players had familiarity with one another.
    • While the Penguins players only combined for four points in the tournament, Kunitz scored a goal in the gold-medal game against Sweden and both players were pivotal in Canada winning the gold.
  • Additionally, in 2010, Team Canada selected a trio of San Jose Sharks to play on the same line — Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley. They showed instant chemistry from having played together in the NHL and it was known as “the Shark Line.” They averaged a goal and an assist per game, while helping Canada win gold on home soil.
  • Not only can Hyman line-up with McDavid at even strength, but he could also serve on Team Canada’s power play and penalty kill units.
  • Team Canada always has an abundance of skilled players to choose from to build their roster. When selecting a team; however, it can’t solely be filled with All Star players… Hyman has the potential this year to join the likes of Rob Zamuner (1998), Ryan Smyth (2002), Kris Draper (2006) and Brendan Morrow (2010) — to be the skilled grinder and add sandpaper to the team.
  • Having chemistry between players in a short tournament like the Olympics is extremely important. With such few games played, coaches don’t have the luxury to just “see” if players click. Just because players are both highly skilled, does not always equal instant chemistry.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m not convinced that just because Hyman’s stick is impossible to lift on the PP, that he’d be better than Mark Stone on Connor McDavid’s wing fo Team Canada. I mean, Brad Marchand, Steven Stamkos, Ryan O’Reilly, and Jonathan Huberdeau are four others one might consider for that role as well. 

Do you remember the U23 North American team that took the World Cup by storm in 2016? Can you name some of the grinders and elite two-way wingers on that team or was it primarily composed of electrifying point producing all-stars?

At the end of the day, this is one huge advertisement and business opportunity for a cash starved NHL in China. Why else would they go with all the global concerns and frosty relationships between the governments of some of the more prominent countries involved? 

Oil on Whyte

Jesse Puljujarvi shows the value of patience
  • If he’d gotten the opportunity, former Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli would have traded Jesse Puljujärvi for a bag of pucks and a discount coupon for a hotel breakfast buffet. That’s a fact…
  • …it seemed a season and a half ago, that the best-case scenario would be moving him for something approaching to his original value following a season or two in Finland.
  • There was a point when Puljujärvi was seen as a likely candidate for trade, or exposure in the Expansion Draft, betting that the Seattle Kraken wouldn’t want to risk their pick on such a potential project.
  • There also seemed to be some sort of unspoken agreement with Puljujärvi’s agent to push him toward the NHL right from day one. In his rookie season, despite clear struggles on the ice, and rumored similar ones off-ice, he remained with the Oilers for 28 games, toiling away in a fourth-line role, instead of leading a team in minutes and production in the minors.
  • Puljujärvi is clearly part of the future here and should be extended, in a deal valuing somewhere between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ and Zack Hyman’s so that he’s guaranteed to be a long time Oiler.

BLH’s Thoughts: First of all, it’s not a fact that Chiarelli would’ve traded Pulju for pennies on the dollar, that’s an assumption and he DID have plenty of chances to move him for a shit return. It was PC that kept Jesse up with the Oilers when he should’ve been in Bakersfield and McLellan who refused to play him in more optimal scenarios to rebuild his confidence. 

Pulju was Chia’s boy. There was no way Petey was giving up on him after Columbus decided to pass on JP and take Dubois. 

That being said, IF the Oilers were going to trade him, what the club wanted was value because they’d already gone through the Nail Yakupov debacle and Jess was ripping up the Finnish league, so they were happy to keep him as an asset as he played in Finland. It was believed that he could go home, rekindle his love for the game, rehab from double hip surgery, and it would also give both parties some time to cool down emotionally.

Besides, would you have accepted Alexander Volkov (TB) and a pick, Julien Gauthier (CAR at the time, NYR now) or Henrik Borgstrom (FLA at the time, CHI now) for Puljujarvi? The teams interested in acquiring my boy were trying to fleece Ken Holland and a less experienced GM (Keith Gretzky?) might’ve made the deal to get the situation out of his hair. 

As I’m told today, JP was never going to be left unprotected for Seattle, btw.

If Ken Holland can get Jesse to sign on the dotted line for $6M long-term, that would be considered a good deal.

NHLRumors.com

  • Jay Zawaski: ESPN’s Emility Kaplan on the Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton: “I’ve talked to a lot of people around the BH organization. They feel like they haven’t deviated from their (rebuild) plan… it’s not a situation if they lose two of the next three, that Jeremy Colliton would be on the way out.”
  • Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: The New York Rangers have had very preliminary talks with pending RFA defenseman Adam Fox’s agent Matt Keator… Fox will likely be looking for a deal at over $9 million.
  • Sources say that New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald and Jack Hughes agent Pat Brisson have held preliminary talks about a contract extension… Recent contracts of Nick Suzuki (eight years at $7.875 million per) and Brady Tkachuk (seven years at $8.2 million) will come up in talks.
  • Charlie Roumeliotis: Scouts listed to attend last night’s Chicago Blackhawks – Vancouver Canucks game include the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Seattle Kraken, Tampa Bay Lightning (2) and Winnipeg Jets.
  • Adam Kimelman: Scouts listed to attend last night’s Philadelphia Flyers-Boston Bruins game include the Chicago Blackhawks (2), Tampa Bay Lightning (2), Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken and the St. Louis Blues.

BLH’s Thoughts: Sorry, some of these snippets are from last week. I wouldn’t read too much into Edmonton scouting that Flyers/Bruins game as they face the Flyers later this week. That said, something’s up or else why would there be so many scouts attending that game?

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Five Games in and We’re Talking about “Statement Games”…

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!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Oilersnation

Off the Top of My Head
  • Five games into an 82-game season is way too early to suggest the Edmonton Oilers have the Vegas Golden Knights right where they want them, but it’s not too soon to characterize a 5-3 win in Sin City on Friday as a statement game. It damn sure was.
  • How is Zach Hyman, who has five goals and can score them any which way you want, working for you? How about the third line of Warren Foegele, Derek Ryan and Matt Kassian? Anybody check the numbers on Mikko Koskinen, who beat Arizona 5-1 to open the two-game swing and made 36 saves in Vegas?
  • There’s little debate Wayne Gretzky is the greatest player ever to lace his skates in the NHL… As a studio hockey analyst with Turner Sports? Not so much, according to Mike Milbury, among those unimpressed with Gretzky so far. To hear Mad Mike tell it, Gretzky is boring.
  • … the Great One had plenty to say to Sportsnet host Gene Principe about the Oilers’ red-hot power play… Gretzky compared it more than favorably to the units Glen Sather used to be able to throw over the boards in the 1980’s.

BLH’s Thoughts: Statement games? Really? Why? Vegas was without FOUR of their main cogs. How on Earth was that an statement game? What was the statement, “Hey, as long as your best players on on the IR, we can beat you!”?

For what it’s worth, I would also take this roster’s PP vs. the one from any of the Stanley Cup winning teams. But for fun, if you could put together an all-time Oilers PP unit, who would be on it?

Gretzky-Draisaitl-McDavid
Coffey-Kurri

Oil on Whyte

State of the franchise address – very early season edition
  • The Edmonton Oilers are in a very good position right now. It may be early in the season right now, but this is an encouraging sign for the future, sample size notwithstanding. They’re the juggernaut that just won’t stop.
  • Things have a way of balancing themselves out in the NHL, so Calgary and San Jose will both come crashing down to earth eventually while Vegas and LA will get their act together as well.
  • Jesse Puljujarvi has been a pleasant surprise… He currently sits in sixth place in the league in scoring right now…
  • Zach Hyman, another guy who this season has fit with the Oilers like chips and salsa. Thanks to three PP goals, he currently sports 5-1-6 in five games for the team.
  • Nuge is the other guy of note. He has seven assists in five games. A bit snake-bitten in the goals department to be sure, but helping a teammate score in many ways is just as good as scoring yourself.
  • In case you’re counting, that’s five Oilers in the top 20 in league scoring.
  • (Derek) Ryan has taken the second most faceoffs of any Oilers and is so far at 59.1%? Talk about a guy who can take some heat off of Draisaitl.
  • …we can finally say we have four centers that are all capable in the faceoff circle. McDavid, for whom this has long been one of the few weak spots in his game, is up to 52%, while Dr. Drai is rolling along at 64.5%, while Devin Shore is at 68.8% (that’s bound to come down a bit at some point).
  • The only top-six forward who has been a disappointment so far is Kailer Yamamoto, who has put up no offence in the first five games.
  • As you would expect, the Oilers once again have the #1 PP in the league at a whopping 47.1%.
  • The PK isn’t quite as impressive, but it’s still ninth in the league at 88.2%.
  • …the Oilers have two legitimate PP and PK units that Tippett can roll out one after the other if he wants to.
  • Darnell Nurse is doing this thing, putting up three assists in five games.
  • Bouchard has 1-2-3 in five games in the early going, with a +5 to boot, pretty good for a guy getting his first taste of tough competition.
  • Well as you would expect there’s a bit of a feeling-out process for both of them as they get used to playing with each other, so they won’t be as impressive a pairing in the early going as they’re slated to be.
  • Mike Smith has taken the majority of the starts in the early going, but Koskinen in his couple of starts has done well, as he’s 12th in the league in sv% with .943 and 18th in GAA with 2.03.
  • The fourth line has also been a bit of a disappointment… They’re all playing around 10 minutes a game right now, and find themselves stapled to the bench for most of, if not all, of the third period in games so far.
  • It’s very early in the season but I could see the Oilers winning the division if things keep going as they are, with no worse than second unless they completely implode.

BLH’s Thoughts: This is indeed a far-too-early address of the team and why do things have a way of evening things out only for the other teams and not the Oilers? Is it not just as feasible that Edmonton could drop the next five games as it is for San Jose or Calgary to pick up eight of ten points in their next five? 

I think it’s fine to point out some of the metrics that the Oilers are putting up right now, but aside from McDavid and Draisaitl, there’s probably not one player on the team who has the same ability to continue their heaters as the writer does go on to say in so many words (click the link above to check that out). 

Here’s the thing, we know that Mike Smith has already been knicked up and Mikko Koskinen showed signs of discomfort on multiple occasions vs. Vegas. So with that information, how do you feel about the team going forward now? How high are you on Stuart Skinner and would it shock you to know that there are some rumblings that Holland has been talking to other GMs about a goaltender…. 

Spector’s Hockey

SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports Jack Eichel could consider filing a grievance through the NHL Players Association to force a resolution to his standoff with the Buffalo Sabres. He speculates that could happen within the next couple of weeks if he’s not traded before then.

Jeff Marek reports New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury seeks a top prospect in exchange for unhappy winger Vitali Kravtsov, who recently returned home to Russia awaiting a trade. Marek said Drury isn’t budging from that asking price right now.

GOPHNX.COM: Craig Morgan recently took note of the Arizona Coyotes using Phil Kessel on their top power-play unit instead of defenseman Jakob Chychrun… Morgan also observed 15 scouts who attended the Coyotes’ recent game against the St. Louis Blues.

SPORTSNET: Jeff Marek reports Coyotes center Barrett Hayton also came up in trade speculation this week… Hayton’s agent Pat Morris shot down rumors his client asked for a trade. Marek said it looks like he’ll be staying with the Coyotes as head coach Andre Tourigny thinks highly of him. Tourigny made Hayton the captain of Team Canada at the 2020 World Juniors.

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: What has been the Best Surprise of the Year for the Oilers So Far?

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!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Edmonton Sun

OILERS NOTES: Ken Holland joins exclusive general managers’ club
  • With Ken Holland now at 1,002 wins as a NHL general manager, it’s rarefied air… Only five GMs have done that, with Nashville’s David Poile leading the way at 1,441, Lou Lamoriello (1,327), Glen Sather (1,319) and Harry Sinden (1,170).

“I like to think I’ve learned the art of team building, what it takes to have a team that you think can win. But it’s hard. It’s a respect for the 32 organizations. We’re all trying to be marginally better and along the way you need good things to happen and some luck because it’s the greatest hockey league in the world. I don’t fool myself into thinking I’m way, way smarter than anybody else.” – Holland

  • The Warren Foegele for Ethan Bear trade is working out for both teams. Bear is partnering Jaccob Slavin in Carolina, getting some PK work, and is averaging 19 minutes a game in their top 4 defence group. This is the way trades should be: both sides happy.

BLH’s Thoughts: Reckon Holland can stick in the NHL for another four years to pass Sather? Not sure if he’d be able to catch Poile and Lamoriello though as those two don’t look like they’re heading into retirement anytime soon.

Good for Ethan. He’s having continued luck with the Hurricanes! I’ve watched some of his games so far and he’s looked quite good. The Carolina forwards are definitely benefiting from his insane passing ability. 

Lowetide.ca

  • Mikko Koskinen stopped 36 of 39, .923 and owns a .943SP and I’m happy for him.
  • Darnell Nurse-Evan Bouchard went 18:06, 10-6 shots and 1-0 goals. A fine performance by both men, with three shots by Nurse and one good look by Bouchard… This could be a tandem for a decade if the coach will let it be.
  • Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci played 15:58, going 7-14 and 1-2 goals. There was lots of chaos.
  • Kris Russell-Tyson Barrie played 10:57, going 4-11 shots and 1-1 goals. Wow. That’s a lot of real estate to be giving up in 11 five on five minutes.
  • Zach Hyman-Connor McDavid-Jesse Puljujarvi played 13:22, going 6-9 shots and 1-1 goals. Hyman is the best free-agent signing in Oilers history…
  • Nuge-Leon Draisaitl-Kailer Yamamoto played 12:04, going 7-8 shots and 1-0 goals… Yamamoto had a great night, DNB mentioned it was probably his best game of the year (or the first game). KY had one HDSC and drew a penalty.
  • Warren Foegele-Derek Ryan-Zack Kassian played 10:22, going 5-7 shots and 1-2 goals… Great line. The No. 3 trio has been the best surprise of the early season…
  • Tyler Benson-Devin Shore-Colton Sceviour played 7:34, going 3-6 shots and no goals… 

BLH’s Thoughts: Those stats are 5v5 btw but ugly nonetheless. What would’ve happened if the Pete DeBoer’s team had one, two, or all of Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Alex Tuch, and Alex Martinez in the lineup?

Vegas ate Edmonton’s lunch fancy stats-wise but the Oilers simply had the soldiers to come back and capitalize on their opportunities. Alex Pietrangelo and Jonathan Marchessault couldn’t do it all for the Golden Knights. Plus, that powerplay of Edmonton’s is going to break some records I think. It’ll take the best NHL teams to stop it or an off-night for the big boys I reckon and even then the odds are in the Oilers’ favor. 

The Hockey Writers Rumors

  • Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that the early results on Doughty after taking a knee-on-knee hit are positive and that the defenseman might have narrowly avoided a serious injury after an unfortunate incident in Friday’s game between the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings.
  • As has been reported by Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic, Canada named six goalies instead of the maximum five for its long list of Olympic goaltenders. A special exemption was made for Canadiens goalie Carey Price as he remains in the NHLPA’s player assistance program. The other names include Marc-Andre Fleury, Darcy Kuemper, Jordan Binnington, Carter Hart and Mackenzie Blackwood.
  • Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun writes that Senators GM Pierre Dorion indicated on Bob McCown’s podcast the reports of the team wanting to add a top-nine center are not accurate. He said, “Right now, we don’t feel we have a need.”
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