Category Archives: Beer League Hero

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

Edmonton Oilers Talk: The Oilers Might Lose Both Tippett AND Woodcroft After this Season…

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 point of today’s post is to prepare you for the loss of Jay Woodcroft to another organization. Now, I know some of you think that if you yell about Dave Tippett long enough, Woodcroft will be hired in Edmonton, but history is an excellent forecast for the future and Ken Holland likes to hire a coach once every decade and that’s a long, long time.
  • Holland’s first coach in Detroit was Scotty Bowman, who left after winning the 2002 Stanley Cup.
  • His next hire was Dave Lewis, who lasted just two seasons and won just a single playoff round.
  • Mike Babcock was more successful, he spent a decade in Motown and won a Stanley there.
  • Jeff Blashill was chosen by Holland in 2015, never won a round of playoffs and remains the coach for the winged wheel.
  • Any change in direction now will involve reassessing, retooling and a period of transition. This train is headed for glory.

BLH’s Thoughts: I think there should be some sort of caveat here. Holland kept guys around who’d been Cup champions previously or had been to the Cup Final. Bowman with a plethora of clubs and Babcock with the Ducks. Also, Jeff Blashill was an AHL champion for Detroit’s AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids in 2012. 

Dave Lewis took over from Bowman and so his fate was sealed the day he took the job. How often does it ever work when an assistant coach is awarded the head coach’s position let alone when it’s a hall-of-famer that’s being replaced. Lewis was the good cop and Bowman… I’ll let you finish that. 

If you look at the coaching histories of both the Adirondack Red Wings and the Grand Rapids Griffins when they were affiliates of Detroit under Holland’s guidance, their head coaches got between three and four seasons before moving on, but not a lot became head coaches. Jeff Blashill is one, Barry Melrose is one, and Bruce Cassidy did a one-off with Grand Rapids before another one-off with the Washington Capitals, so I’m not sure if he counts. 

What does it all mean? Nothing really. Jay Woodcroft could get hired in Edmonton in the same vein as Jeff Blashill or he could join a very exclusive group of AHL coaches under a Holland-led organization to become an NHL coach elsewhere.

Dave Tippett could stick around for another five years but his lack of post-season success is concerning if we’re making predictions according to the trends and the I’m just not getting the feeling that Tippett wants to coach beyond this year anyhow. 

There are two available coaching legends who’ve won before, would fit the description of a Ken Holland hire, and both have coached very successful NHL champion teams for long stretches. 

C’mon… Don’t tell me that the post-game media avails wouldn’t be appointment viewing if Torts was behind the bench in Edmonton.

Oilersnation

Monday Mailbag

Who has been the most pleasant surprise and why?

  • “Has to be Stuart Skinner, right? I don’t think anyone expected him to play this much or this well this season and it’s been a lot of fun to watch.” – Baggedmilk

Have any of Skinner, McLeod or Broberg played their last game in the AHL?

  • “I expect Broberg will need more time in the AHL. Really rare for a 20-year-old to stick after just 13 AHL games. Looks like a player, though.” – Brownlee

It was reported that Mike Smith may not be back until mid-December and I’m wondering what happens with Stuart Skinner considering he’s played very well over these last few weeks.

  • “He likely goes back to AHL for a stint. He doesn’t require waivers. Koskinen just played unreal in a big game against Vegas, and I see him as the starter more now than Skinner.” – Gregor

Broberg has been recalled at almost the exact point in his career as Nurse was, after about 20 games in their D+3 season. Given that virtually every writer in this site has for years lamented that the Oil management of the day rushed Nurse into the NHL and this hurt Nurse’s career development, what are their thoughts about bringing Broberg up at this time Should Holland quickly acquire a journeyman fringe NHL/AHL type guy to fill so that Broberg won’t be damaged?

  • “Very different situation, but if injuries do continue then Broberg will play 20+ min most likely. I don’t see it ruining him. He is on a much better team than Nurse was, so even if he has to play more minutes than he should for longer he will be okay.” – Gregor

BLH’s Thoughts: There will be a massive temptation from the organization to keep Broberg if he’s playing well, but I’d rather see him play out the year in Bakersfield and then return next season full-time I think. It’s a painless transaction for the club and if they really believe in him, they could put Koekkoek, who can’t see to stay healthy, on waivers and maybe he gets claimed or he becomes a well-needed veteran on the Condors blueline. 

Skinner and Broberg will see the AHL again this year, book it. 

The Hockey Writers Rumors

  • Montreal Canadiens: While he believes the team is stronger than it has shown this season, Molson also confirmed that Gorton and the new GM will decide if a rebuild of the roster is necessary. He’ll be supportive of it if it made sense for the betterment of Montreal. Chris Johnston names Mathieu Darche as a candidate to replace Marc Bergevin as GM of the team. Darche is currently Director of Hockey Ops for the Lightning. Other names in the mix are Daniel Briere, Martin Madden Jr., Martin Brodeur, and Roberto Luongo.
  • Ottawa Senators: According to Shawn Simpson of TSN, the Senators have four players who are legit buyout candidates after the season — Matt Murray, Colin White, Nikita Zaitsev, and Michael Del Zotto. They have a combined $18 million cap hit. Simpson notes that during a rebuild, you can’t have that much bad money on the books.
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: “Samorukov/Niemelainen Are Ready! Somebody’s Getting Traded” Says Lowetide

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

Random Thoughts
  • Looking at the top-nine, we’ve got Nuge, Yamamoto, Foegele, Puljujarvi, and Hyman that are all struggling to score right now, and that makes me think I need to help by heading out into the streets to look for a sacrifice.
  • Skinner was always going to take a while before arriving to the NHL level if it ever happened at all, and to see the steps forward he’s taken so far has been a lot of fun to watch.
  • If the plan is for Smith to come back in mid-December, we’ll be about a third of the way through the season and all I can think about is how that’s not exactly the easiest time to play catchup in this league. How much will this extended absence matter when Smith comes back?
  • Listed at 6’2” with wheels for days, Ryan McLeod has all of the tools needed to develop into a middle-six centreman, and if he can figure out a way to make that happen, the Oilers will have a major to-do item crossed off their long term shopping list.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m very curious to see if Tippett lets this newly formed 3rd line play out for a period of time here. I think Kassian’s form will probably dictate how long the lines stay together though. 

The other day I was thinking about Leon Draisaitl and some other European power forwards like Peter Forsberg and Jaromir Jagr and the thought that came up was how much Jagr and Forsberg loved taking that puck right to the net from the outside. They didn’t give two shits who was going to try and stop them and I see Leon kinda half-ass crashing the net a bit, he likes to do that outside/in move for a quick shot to surprise the goalie, but if he went outside in and drove to the net; he might draw some penalties and/or score… He’s such a tank and so strong, why doesn’t he drive the paint more?

Lowetide.ca

  • Samorukov. He’s ready. So is Niemelainen. Someone is getting traded at the deadline.
  • One of the things we discussed Saturday morning surrounded winger Jesse Puljujarvi and what he might be able to do with some clean air against lesser competition. The ‘soft parade’ as I like to call it.
  • Puljujarvi scored a five-on-five goal, the game winner matter of fact, against a feature pairing (Nicolas Hague-Shea Theodore) and a depth line (Janmark-Howden, with Dadonov along for the ride).

BLH’s Thoughts: As long as Dima and Niemelainen are waiver-eligible, they probably won’t be full-time NHLers, in Edmonton at least. That might make them very valuable trade assets though. Reckon Montreal would have some interest in one of these guys? I’d be on the honker to whoever the new GM ends up being and asking about everybody from Brendan Gallagher to Carey Price to Jake Evans and Joel Armia… They’ve got some really nice players who’d compliment Edmonton’s drive to the post-season very well. 

The Hockey Writers Rumors

  • Senators captain Brady Tkachuk claimed that he was bitten, not once, but twice by Brendan Lemieux during Saturday’s contest against the Los Angeles Kings.
  • Matthew Tkachuk also was asked about his contract situation with the Flames and if he was likely to sign a long-term extension. He said, “Well, I absolutely love it here. It’s been — it’s home for me, my second home since I’ve been, for the last, what, six, I don’t know, I don’t even know what year it is now, but I’ve been here forever and have basically grown up here.”
  • Friedman reports there will be changes but there is no set timeline for the Canucks to make a decision on their head coach. Per his report, they considered Claude Julien as bench boss but decided against it. Friedman adds they also considered Scott Walker, but decided against that as well.
  • There are big changes coming to the Canadiens management team as the organization announced that Scott Mellanby resigned from his role as assistant general manager Saturday… Jeff Marek adds that no one from the Canadiens have called Patrick Roy or his camp.
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: “A more-established third-line centre is believed to be on the wish list.” Says Athletic Scribe

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 Athletic

What I think and what I know about the Oilers through their first 20 games
  • What I think: Philip Broberg is an NHL defenceman.
    • His minutes have increased every game to the point where he was trusted enough to lead the team in ice time (23:34) in Las Vegas… Broberg hasn’t even skated for 74 minutes at five-on-five, but the early returns have been solid. He leads the Oilers with a 58.2 Corsi for percentage in that capacity… 
  • What I know: Philip Broberg has the potential to cause even more headaches for management.
  • What I think: Ryan McLeod isn’t going back to the minors anytime soon.
    • Chipping in offensively is one thing. Being a more complete player is another. McLeod is doing that right now.
  • What I know: Even if McLeod is an Oiler and a top-nine forward right now, that doesn’t mean upgrades won’t be sought out before the trade deadline.
    • McLeod has played more than 10 minutes in six straight games and seven of the past eight. Yet, his average ice time is up to only 9:48. A more-established third-line centre is believed to be on the wish list.
  • What I think: Leon Draisaitl has a real shot at scoring 50 goals in 50 games.
    • Between his prowess on the power play, where he has 10 goals, and his ability to centre his own line and star with McDavid, there’s reason to think he just could do what no one’s done in three decades.
  • What I know: It’ll come down to the wire. It always does unless you’re Wayne Gretzky.
  • What I think: The Oilers have good enough regular-season goaltending, with or without Mike Smith.
    •  Mikko Koskinen has been far from perfect, but he’s saved some of his best performances — Oct. 30 at Vancouver, Nov. 14 at St. Louis and Saturday in Vegas — for when the Oilers really needed them. Same goes for Stuart Skinner, particularly against the Jets last week.
  • What I know: That’s not a good enough recipe for the playoffs.
    • Not ever, but especially not this year. The Oilers are trying to do everything they can to win. Reinforcing the crease remains an area of focus before the deadline.

BLH’s Thoughts: Okay, let’s pump the brakes on some of this for a minute

  • If the Oilers have Smith, Skinner, and Koskinen healthy going into the trade deadline and considering which teams are already on the outside looking in, who are they going to trade for and why?
  • Vancouver isn’t moving Thatcher Demko, NJ Isn’t trading MacKenzie Blackwood, the Flyers aren’t trading Carter Hart, and do you really want a goalie out of Long Island, Buffalo, or Arizona?
  • Maybe they consider bringing in Fleury out of Chicago, but they’re flying right now and there’s no guarantee the Blackhawks will be trading Flower. Same goes with Dallas and their four-headed dragon (Bishop, Holtby, Khudobin, Oettinger). 
  • I do see the team bringing in another right-shot center if possible, but not to replace Ryan McLeod. More than likely it’ll be someone who can play wing and act as cover for Derek Ryan primarily given he’s already running into health problems.
    • How much would it cost to bring in JT Miller from Vancouver?
  • Re: Broberg – Peaks and valleys and small sample sizes folks. Evan Bouchard was running the top-pairing for a time earlier in the year and now he’s struggling to get off of the third pair. 
  • The swift skating Swede doesn’t require waivers to be sent down to Bakersfield and I would imagine the Oilers will take advantage of that when Nurse and Koekkoek return seeing how it’s a lot easier to send him back to the AHL as opposed to trading one of Russell, Koekkoek, or Lagesson. 

Edmonton Sun

Edmonton Oilers putting killer instinct to good use
  • The No.1 rule in Vegas is to quit while you are ahead, but cashing in their points and going home in the middle of Saturday’s game was not an option for the Edmonton Oilers.
  • When things get tight, and momentum is swinging the other way, the Oilers don’t get rattled like they used to. Instead of waiting for something bad to happen, they defend well and push back.
  • They’ve outscored their opponents 29-21 in the third period this season, their best ratio of any period, and seem quite at home when the stress levels are in the red.
  • It’s four games now that the Oilers have been without Darnell Nurse and Slater Koekkoek, and two games without Duncan Keith, and they are surprising 3-1.
  • Philip Broberg is playing a big part in that, taking on the kind of ice time and responsibilities that you should never expect from a 20-year-old defenceman who has been in the NHL for only a week. But he logged more time than any other Oiler in Edmonton’s win in Vegas.
  • Tippett has Jesse Puljujarvi on the third line with Ryan McLeod, not as a demotion but rather an opportunity for a pair of big, fast and skilled young players to forge something good.

BLH’s Thoughts: It is kind of interesting to see Connor McDavid saddled with two high-end grinders while Puljujarvi heads up a very impressive third line. 

I do have to say that I love when Jesse gets the freedom to play his way and he swoops into the Oilers zone to collect a pass from the defensemen and rips through the neutral zone full speed ahead. He’s such a graceful skater when he’s in the zone. 

Can you imagine how exciting playoff games will be if the Oilers carry on this habit of outscoring their opponents in the third period? Jack Michaels would be in my thoughts… 

Spector’s Hockey

  • NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks reports of “credible chatter” claiming an Eastern Conference team could be interested in acquiring Evander Kane from the San Jose Sharks after the 30-year-old winger’s 21-game suspension for violating NHL COVID protocols ends on Nov. 30.
  • SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Sheng Peng speculated over which Eastern club would be interested in taking Kane off the Sharks’ hands.
    • One could be the Carolina Hurricanes given their offseason signing of Tony DeAngelo despite his recent history of disciplinary issues. It could be a “culture-strong” franchise like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals or Pittsburgh Penguins with veteran leadership that Kane would immediately respect. Peng also wondered if the Florida Panthers might be interested given Joe Thornton’s close relationship with Kane when Thornton was still with the Sharks.
  • SPORTSNET: Jeff Marek reports several teams have contacted the Dallas Stars inquiring about John Klingberg. One team interested in the 27-year-old defenseman is the Carolina Hurricanes.
  • Harman Dayal recently indicated his belief the Canucks aren’t actively shopping forward J.T. Miller, especially if the club remains in “win-now” mode. His versatility and physical style provides them with some much-needed flexibility and bite.
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: “I feel that Edmonton should consider moving Tyson Barrie…” Suggests Analytics Proponent

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!

Cult of Hockey

What time is it when Leon Draisaitl shoots the puck?
  • So far this year Draisaitl has taken 67 shots on net and scored 20 goals, a 29.9 per cent shooting percentage.
  • Fifty of those blasts have been Grade A shots — hard or difficult shots on net from the slot, including outside one-timers where the goalie isn’t set. Draisaitl has scored on 20 of those Grade As, 40 per cent of them.
  • Of his 50 Grade A shots, 23 of them have been one-timer blasts. He’s scored on 10 of his Executioner’s Shots, a 44 per cent conversion rate.

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t have too much to say on Draisaitl’s goal-scoring this year aside from it’s other-worldly. I was lucky to grow up watching the NHL during its highest scoring era. 3rd liners were scoring 40 or 50 goals and 2nd pair defensemen were producing 60pts a year. Not to mention goalies were tough as nails considering they hardly wore any equipment and loved fighting. 

We’re not at the point to where the dmen are scoring like that and the goalies are scrapping it up, but for some reason, the offensive has arrived in droves this year and I don’t know if it’s going to let up. If that’s the case, and you grew up watching hockey in a later era than myself, you’re in for a treat. 

Oilersnation

How should Edmonton’s defensive pairs look at full-strength?
  • The duo of Keith – Ceci had an extremely strong start to the season, with a 60% goal differential and a 62% expected goal differential in their first 4 games. However, the pair have begun their decline, posting a 45% goal share and 47% expected goal share ever since. The 2nd pair requires a change in some way or the other, and perhaps Broberg could be the solution to that issue. 
  • Edmonton should continue to deploy Broberg on the 2nd pair for the time being, at least until/if Broberg struggles and can’t sustain his play over a broad sample in a top 4 role.
  • In terms of scoring chance share, both the pairs of Russell – Barrie, and Koekkoek – Barrie have placed in the bottom 20 in the league for defensive pairs with at least 30 minutes played.
  • …perhaps the best decision is to keep Barrie on the top pair, where he can hide his defensive shortcomings behind Connor McDavid’s play. Meanwhile, Evan Bouchard on the third pair helps the bottom six. 
  • I feel that Edmonton should consider moving Tyson Barrie… Barrie is just not a great fit for a team that already has defensive struggles, especially when you already have a younger, and more well-rounded RD in Bouchard.
  • A potential idea is to add some other pieces alongside Barrie, and acquire several pieces the other way, including a defensively stable 3RD as his replacement.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m all for switching and swapping in an attempt to find the right combinations, but Barrie just signed a three year deal and GMs rarely trade players they’ve just signed like that. Plus it’s just bad form, ask the guys in Vegas about Brad McCrimmon… 

So suggesting to consider the trade is all fine and dandy, but it’s a wasted thought experiment, in my opinion. That said, next year and the year after are open game.

I’m curious, is this team lucky to have such a good record despite the analytics or are the fancies wrong?

Lastly, the team is 15-5-0… We should be grateful for what we do have and not grumble for what we don’t. I mean, everybody has their wish lists, but I have to say, just when I think this team is due for a loss, they scrape one out. This current group of Oilers is a good hockey team and it’s winning games despite dealing with injuries to its no.1 goalie and top three left-shot defenders. I might just have to sit back and watch this monster grow… 

Spector’s Hockey

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

Edmonton Oilers Talk: The Power of an Unpredictable Powerplay, What’s Keeping Benson in the Lineup, and NHL Rumors!

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

TYLER BENSON
  • The young winger seems to be pushing ahead of Brendan Perlini, but will need to show some offense in these games to come. If he can, even a little, Benson should be able to survive his rookie year and then push for more playing time.
  • Tyler Benson is an orphan but is in the lineup and trying to make his way. There are Oilers fans who want Benson to play on a skill line, and if Zach Hyman moves to right wing it’s possible. I expect Benson will need to deliver some offense from the fourth line to make it happen. Tough row to hoe.

BLH’s Thoughts: Oddly enough, Tyler Benson is the only guy on the entire roster trying to stir shit up when he’s on the ice. Not Zack Kassian, Warren Foegele, Zach Hyman, Kailer Yamamoto, William Lagesson, or even Darnell Nurse… It’s the guy fighting for his Oilers career and that says to me that there might be too many comfortable hockey players on this team. 

Now, if you’re into the fancies, you’ll look at the local lad’s metrics and they’ll probably make you want to vomit. However, I might add that his .933 PDO might be factoring in.

As for his scoring, maybe it’ll come, maybe it won’t, but one of my favorite 4th line Oilers in recent years, Patrick Russell, couldn’t find a way to bury the biscuit and Tippett still played him. 

You’d like Benny to get one, but he’s doing a lot off of the puck too, hence why he continues to stay in the lineup… 

Sportsnet

Analyzing what makes the Oilers’ power play dangerous and if its sustainable
  • …the objectives of a power-play breakout are: bringing the puck into the offensive zone, maintaining possession, and quickly getting in formation… That’s something this Oilers team has thrived at.
  • They lead the league in face-off percentage in the offensive zone while on the man-advantage.
  • Edmonton, who leads the lead in percentage of power play time spent in the offensive zone, is also a top-five team in percentage of face-offs won leading to a shot-on net (and seventh in a shot attempt from the slot).
  • …they don’t need to attempt to regroup as often as other teams.
  • When they do attempt to cross the blue line, though, they’re quite efficient with a 67 per cent success rate (8th in the league).
  • …a team has to connect that play with another sequence to get their unit in formation and start firing shots… The Oilers also do this really well; they’re third in breakout success rate that leads to offensive zone possession.
  • Edmonton’s created the third-highest rate of slot shots per 60 in the league, which is where 60.8 per cent of their shots come from.
  • …what makes them so tough to defend; there are multiple shooting options who all can drive to the quality parts of the ice.
  • The fact that any of these players can pass or shoot makes them all the more dynamic. With so many options, and capable passers, the Oilers’ power play isn’t always predictable despite developing some tendencies.

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t know if there’s much point in doing a deep dive into Edmonton’s PP when they’ve got two MVPs on it, the league’s reigning scoring champion from the blueline, one of the NHL’s leading assistmen, and an elite net-front presence causing havoc in the blue paint. I say that because how many teams will be able to replicate that combination of skaters on one PP in the NHL now or ever again?

The simple fact is, as pointed out above, the Oilers have five different options on the ice at one time and that makes things very unpredictable for the PK unit trying to defend them. Unpredictability is one of the best skills a player or a team can have at its disposal in hockey and Edmonton has it in spades. 

Daily Goal Horn

  • Matt Murray is going on waivers… In his brief time with the Sens he is 10-18-1 with a GAA of 3.35 and SV% of just .892 in 33 appearances. Murray is also winless this season for Ottawa (0-5-0)… One team that may opt to take a chance are the Ottawa Senators.
  • …according to The Athletic’s Harman Dayal he has not heard that (JT) Miller is actually being shopped.

“I do not believe the Canucks are actively shopping Miller,” he writes. “Vancouver’s still focused on trying to find answers to salvage this season and it’s hard to see how a solution to that would involve the team trading its best point producer.”

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