Category Archives: Kris Hansen

Kris Hansen

BLH NHL Playoffs Weekly Recap May 1st-May 9th

McDavid Canada

Round Two is still underway, but we have one team eliminated from this round: The New York Islanders, who were eliminated in Five Games last night versus the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Pittsburgh Leads Washington 3-2, St Louis can clinch tonight with a win over Dallas as they lead 3-2, and the Sharks (boo) can win the series tonight against Nashville.

Meanwhile, we have a few Oilers who kicked off the World Championship, including Matt Hendricks and Patrick Maroon on Team USA, Leon Draisaitl for Germany, Andrej Sekera with Slovakia and finally Taylor Hall, Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot representing Canada.

The Edmonton Oilers

There’s not too much in news as it’s the off season and it’s slim. That said, the World Championships are under way.

Canada has looked dominant so far. I haven’t really watched too many games (you know 7 am start time and I’m at work by 7:30) but Canada has looked amazing. It’s to be expected however: Belarus was blown away 8-0 (Talbot had the shutout), Hungary lost 7-1 and the Americans who have a very youthful blue line, lost 5-1.

The Oiler Trio of Hall, McDavid and Talbot have all looked impressive. McDavid has no goals, but four assists in three games while Hall has three goals and an assist in the same span. Talbot is sporting a very nice .974 save percentage after two games. Talbot was not especially busy against Belarus today, only facing 13 shots in an easy game.

The other Oilers: Hendricks has no points while Maroon has a goal (scored the opener against Canada) and an assist in three games. Leon Draisaitl is the best player on Germany and he has an assist in two games played. Captain Sekera of Slovakia has two goals and an assist in three games played.

Connor McDavid’s NHL 17 Cover Vote continues, round two against Joe Pavelski wraps up tonight. McDavid has a lot of support via his Team Canada teammates. 

I really want to see this happen for very obvious reasons.

The NHL Playoffs

The Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated the New York Islanders last night.  I’m focusing on this series for both teams in particular.

First off, The Tampa Bay Lightning looked dominating this playoffs series and this is without Steven Stamkos or top pairing Anton Stralman. Instead, it’s the crazy amount of depth that the Lightning have that is getting the job done. The Triplets Line looks back to it’s former form after an okayish season, with Nikita Kucherov leading the way with an outstanding 9 goals in 10 games played. Not only that, but Jonathan Drouin is looking like a player this playoff season.

Maybe, just maybe, playing Drouin in the playoffs and keeping him could be very beneficial to the Lightning. Drouin currently is sporting one goal and nine points in 10 playoff games.

Or how about Victor Hedman in these playoffs? He is looking like one of the best NHL defenders at the moment. Hedman was absolutely a mammoth against the New York Islanders.

Meanwhile the New York Islanders are looking like a good team. John Tavares willed his way over the Florida Panthers during the playoffs first round series. However, there are some questions regarding the future of Kyle Okposo, Matt Martin and Frans Nielsen are all pending Free Agents.

Most importantly, it’s in regards to the future of Travis Hamonic who has requested a trade in November. Robin Brownlee of Oilers nation had a piece about the cost of Hamonic , although I have to disagree about trading Taylor Hall. I have been hitting the Eberle drum from the beginning of the trade request and I stand by that.

Around the NHL

Bruce Boudreau accepted a new job not with the Ottawa Senators but the Minnesota Wild.  I feel like this is a great hire for the Wild. Boudreau, even with his playoff record (dreadful in Game 7s), is a quality NHL coach.

The Ottawa Senators on the other hand hired Guy Boucher as their head coach.  Marc Crawford is also joining the coaching staff. 

See, I like the Ottawa Senators. They are my second favorite team. That said….for some reason I’m not thrilled with this hiring. Boucher worn out his welcome very quickly with the Tampa Bay Lightning and played a boring style of hockey. Marc Crawford has a reputation of being a complete hard ass.

I don’t know if this does much for the stability of coaching in Ottawa. They need it badly. I would have liked Boudreau instead.

NHL Highlights

Lightning and Islanders Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL7lTV7eunE

Sharks take the series lead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kteoTPItef8

Washington Stays Alive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20GFBJxF64g

The Week Ahead

The week ahead you might have the conference finals starting. If I were a betting man (which is horrible because my bracket is ruined) I’m taking San Jose vs St Louis and Washington vs Tampa Bay. I have the Capitals and Blues in the finals. That’s the week that was, follow me on Twitter and have a wonderful week.

Kris Hansen

BLH NHL Playoffs Weekly Recap Apr 24th-May 3rd

 

Ah round two of the NHL Playoffs have begun and we have some good series. I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched as much of the playoffs this year as I did last year. I think it’s because of it being crunch time at work (teaching gig!) and some weird times for some games. Still you have some really good match ups with the Blues vs the Stars (tied 1-1), Islanders and Lightning (tied 1-1) Sharks vs Predators (Sharks up 2-0, boo San Jose boo) and Penguins vs Capitals (Penguins up 2-1).

My Playoffs bracket has taken a severe beating: My Stanley Cup pick (The Ducks) are out. Only 4 teams I chose (The Stars, Lightning, Penguins and Capitals) advanced. Not winning any brackets this year, that’s for sure.

The Edmonton Oilers News

Like last week, all is quiet on the Oilers news front. There’s not too much going on.

Saturday, we had the draft lottery where I did a live blog during the lottery that saw the Maple Leafs win the first overall selection (which by the way, total shameless plug, but the Oilers Rig has a new look. It’s great. Check it out.)

The Oilers ended up finishing outside the top three, finishing fourth overall, moving two spots down. I strongly believe that the Oilers will be trading the 4th overall pick.  While it’s important to replenish the farm team (no real elite talent now that McDavid, Nurse and Draisaitl have graduated), it’s time to move towards a win-sooner-than-later model. It’s an attractive asset.

If they did keep it, I’d love for them to draft Pierre Luc Dubois. He was ranked 9th on our top ten prospect rankings here at BLH.

World Championships start soon. Connor McDavid, Taylor Hall and Cam Talbot represent Team Canada this go around. Of course, McDavid will be the biggest name worth following but Hall did play very well last year with Sidney Crosby and Jordan Eberle.

Also speaking of Connor McDavid: He’s in the second round of the NHL 17 Cover Vote!  You can vote as many times as you wish.

For obvious reasons, I’d love to have McDavid on the cover. The Sharks had a player on the Cover back on NHL 2001 with Owen Nolan. Tarasenko is a great player but the Blues had Pronger in 2000. Benn would be the first Star representative to grace the cover. No Edmonton Oiler (other than some Midnight release signings) has graced the cover. So vote away.

The NHL Playoffs News

The biggest stories coming out of the playoffs are the firing of two head coaches this week.

In Anaheim after their colossal let down of a first round, fired head coach Bruce Boudreau. Feel bad for Boudreau here: he was the scape goat and did get them to a conference final the year prior. The big guns like Perry and Getzlaf underachieved on an epic level. General Manager Bob Murray promises that there will be changes.

My likely guesses? Sami Vatanen is gone (I’m really interested in seeing the Oilers snag him. He’s a good second pairing option and a Power play Quarterback.) and possibly Frederik Andersen (an RFA, have Gibson behind him). Where will Boudreau go? I was thinking Ottawa but….

The Calgary Flames fired Bob Hartley. Hartley definitely had his detractors from Flames fans: the Flames were a poor possession team with Bob Hartley under the helm. It was a rough four years for Hartley there besides last season’s Jack Adams Victory and a playoff appearance.

I’d be scared if Calgary snagged Boudreau. That would be a very wise move.

Brooks Orpik was handed a three game suspension. It was a nasty, nasty hit. Clear, late hit, interference. Very easy decision.

He wasn’t the only player suspended. Kris Letang was given a one game suspension. 

Videos

NHL Draft Lottery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peZEcmo3CsU

Top Moments

Capitals and Penguins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtPOttzvVDA

Backes scores OT winner to tie the series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqt8M1DU51w

Sharks go up 2-0….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKvkpMdge84

 

A Special Message

While this is a hockey blog and I just do a weekly recap, I cannot express my sincerest wishes to all those effected by the Fort McMurray fire that is taking place right now.

I don’t have anything for what’s coming up or some follow me on Twitter thing. There’s just far more important things going on.

I’m lucky. My dad and brother have worked up north multiple times. I may not be in the trades, but both of them are Ironworkers. They’ve gone up there months at a time. I can only imagine the families of loved ones who are trapped up there or without any place to go.

Or the ones who live there on a full time basis. People who are about to or have already, lost everything.

I am providing a Red Cross Link for donations. Keep them in your thoughts.

 

Kris Hansen

BLH Playoffs Weekly Recap April 17th-April 23rd

 

The playoffs are the best and the worst times depending on what team you cheer for.

If you’re an Oilers fan, where our team has not made the playoffs in ten years, the playoffs stink for news. It’s understandable. The off season has begun but with games being played and June 24th so far away, the moves aren’t going to happen. It’s a long wait with plenty of speculation, off season targeting, mock drafts and reviewing players.

It’s totally fine. There’s a lot of great stuff out there (which I will be linking). That said, there will be more of a focus on the playoffs since the Oilers season is done.

Around the Oilers

Jason Gregor of Oilersnation raised the issue where Ryan Nugent-Hopkins might not be so great defensively and could be a trade target.

The Oilers Rig’s Supernova had a great post analyzing right handed trade options for the Oilers. There’s a good list to choose from.

Oil on Whyte looked at Bob Stauffer throwing out Dylan Strome’s name in trade talks.

If you like advance stats, you should look at Woodguy’s latest blog about defencemen.

Coppernblue hits it hard by revealing that a team that hadn’t made the playoffs in ten years is actually a bad team.

Lowetide ponders if Peter Chiarelli could go big game hunting.

The Playoffs

This week we had our first three teams get eliminated: The Detroit Red Wings loss in five games to the depleted Tampa Bay Lightning, The Los Angeles Kings fell in Five games to the San Jose Sharks and the New York Rangers were dumped in five against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.  We also have the St Louis Blues doing what they know best: disappointing in the first round.

Couture Bites LA

Logan Couture had some harsh words for the Kings

“Throughout the last couple of years things have been said by players on that team that to me I take it as disrespectful. It’s nice to stick it back to them and beat them in this series,” Couture said. “Even in this series someone said on the team they had us right where they wanted us.Wonder if they have us where they want us right now.”

My take: To be fair, the Kings had the Sharks recently in the playoffs, especially after the epic collapse of 2014 where the Kings pulled the reverse sweep on route to the Stanley Cup. The Kings are my third team and I have a friend who is a big Sharks fan, so I have a personal rivalry there.

That said, the better team won. The Sharks completely outplayed and man handled the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings did not play good hockey at all this series. While I had the Kings winning the series, Couture is in the right here. They showed the Kings they can finish. San Jose could be scary in the playoffs. Those are some heavy demons that are now gone.

Does Detroit need to Change?

The Red Wings, while contuining their impressive playoff streak, were bounced from the first round yet again and this time, are losing Pavel Datsyuk as he is leaving back to Russia. Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press suggests The Red Wings need to re model their philosophy. 

I tend to agree with Sharp. The Wings, while being a playoff team, are not a Cup Contender. They are aging and are simply not good enough. Dylan Larkin definitely stood out but so did Andreas Athanasiou. Sharp suggests the Wings missing playoffs and focusing more on developing of talent. They have some nice pieces there.

The Fall of the Rangers

Blueshirtnation has a biting review of the New York Rangers.  Like Detroit, their window for contention has seemingly closed after being handled any what way by the Penguins this playoffs. While the Red Wings have some good prospects, the Rangers were in win now mode for the last few years, striving for playoffs success. However, in doing so, the Rangers have sold the farm to achieve this. The main example in this piece is the Keith Yandle trade that sent a second rounder, John Moore, Anthony Duclair and a 2016 first round pick, for a defenceman that will be leaving this off season.

The Rangers could be hurting in the very near future with the burden of overrated and bad contracts in Rick Nash, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi.

That’s Why They Call It the Blues

The Blues had a 3-1 series lead. The Blues had a 3-1 lead after the first period. The Blues continue to do what they do best: blowing it when it matters the most.

The series against the Blackhawks is tied 3-3 after a 6-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks last night.

The most perplexing: There seems to be trouble brewing between Vladimir Tarasenko and Ken Hitchcock. 

Tarasenko played only around sixteen minutes last night. That’s absurd. He is one of the game’s most dangerous snipers and he somehow managed to play only around 6 minutes after his spat with Hitchcock. That’s a dumb move that can cost someone their job.

Still there’s one game left in the series. St Louis can take off a gorilla off their backs with a win.

Highlight Videos

The Hitchcock Tarasenko Spat

Donksoi scores on Quick

Datsyuk’s Farewell

Connor McDavid answered some questions from some kids!

The Week Ahead

Right now, the Flyers and Capitals are playing in Game Six. Washington, like San Jose and St Louis, need to have a deep playoff run to get rid of the chokers label. Capitals are leading 3-2 in the series.

Later today, the Wild are making a series against the Stars forcing a game six by winning two straight games. The Stars are leading the series, 3-2.

The Florida Panthers are down 3-2 to the Islanders and play at 5 PM MDT, while the Ducks can finish off the Predators at 6 PM MDT, as they too lead 3-2.

Thanks for reading today as always. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter! Enjoy the Playoffs.

 

Edmonton Oilers, Kris Hansen, NHL

BLH Edmonton Oilers Weekly Recap March 24-April 2nd

The Week that Was

Hahahaha, no. This week was terrible for the Edmonton Oilers. I mean the game against Anaheim wasn’t awful, still lost 2-1. Then came the giant stinker from last night: a 5-0 loss to the dreaded Calgary Flames.

Why are people upset? It’s game 80, Oilers aren’t making the playoffs for a tenth straight year. Well, that stinker was the last Battle of Alberta game at Rexall Place and the Edmonton Oilers failed to show up to the damn game.

Edmonton Oilers Stars of the Week

After that effort, there is not going to be any stars given this week except for one: Todd McLellan. Boy has this guy gone through a lot this season and it’s recapped by this awesome press conference from last night’s post game.

Look at that fire in his eyes. This is a guy that freaking. hates. losing. He’s not accepting this sad show effort that was given last night. He even swore in the press conference! McLellan does not beat around the bushes to how bad the Oilers were last night. I think he has his own list of players he would love to keep and players he would jet into the sun. It was a horrible team effort and McLellan attacks the issue with the attitude in the room. Did he mention specific players? No. He still doesn’t throw specific players under the bus (well, now that Justin Schultz is gone).

I loved the comment about how they will work on Monday. You can bet your life that they will be bagged skated. Oilers fans are in a very sour mood today and I can’t blame them (personally I’m going to avoid social media today because of that).

It’s a tough loss for sure but remember, it’s a crappy loss for a crappy team. They happen. I know everyone wants to blow up the team but I don’t think that’s quite right. There will be changes, there will be old faces gone replaced by new faces. Yet, dismantling an entire team? When has that ever worked out?

Edmonton Oilers News and Notes

April 30th is the Draft Lottery. I think everyone has that circled in their calendars.

Lowetide continues to bring a level headed approach concerning the Oilers. 

Who is Alex Lyon and why are the Oilers after him?

At the Oilers Rig I’m looking at Chiarelli’s moves One Year In. Latest addition were the summer trades. 

Connor McDavid was named rookie of the month for March.  This was McDavid’s third rookie of the month award and is the only rookie this season to win multiple ones.

Nail Yakupov requested a trade out of Edmonton. 

Around the League

Toronto Media is getting prepared for when Edmonton wins the draft lottery 

Duncan Keith somehow only got 6 games for using his stick as a weapon 

Three players were fined for diving, including Nail Yakupov 

Former NHL Referee Don Wicks passed away at 76. 

The NHL had emails leaked and boy, do they make the NHL look horrible. You can search for them at this article 

Highlights

Dustin Byfuglien destroyed Mark Stone

Wilson destroyed Zadorov too

Maroon is a beauty.

The Week Ahead

The Edmonton Oilers wrap up their season with a back to back games against the Vancouver Canucks including Wednesday for their final game at Rexall Place and Saturday at Roger’s Arena.

That’s the week that was, have yourselves a good week and follow me on Twitter. 

Edmonton Oilers, Kris Hansen, NHL

BLH Edmonton Oilers Weekly Recap: March 13th-March 19th

This week, the Oilers continue their new changed pace with a 2-1-0 record against Western opponents this week. I think the best game was easily the 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues despite blowing a 5-2 lead. They won 2-0 against Vancouver, in a slower place game, and despite Vancouver having 40 shots on Cam Talbot, I didn’t think they were high quality extremely dangerous shots. They lost a let down game against the Predators where they would quickly get scored on after scoring a goal.

A note about the Canucks: Boy, have they ever fallen. I know our Power Play has been putrid as of late, but holy. Vancouver keeps insisting Linden Vey is the key to the power play rather than playing Radim Vrbata. They are not a good team: their defense is hurting with no less than four NHL rookies playing on the back end. That’s even worse than the Oilers, who had Reinhart, Oesterle and Nurse all playing (although you could count Adam Clendening who only has 45 games played, but is no longer an official “rookie”. The Canucks do not look like they have a plan and are stuck spinning the wheels. The trades they have made or could have made, has not looked good on Jim Benning. They have some nice pieces in Horvat, Baertschi, McCann and Demko in the minors, it’s going to be hurting for the Canucks.

Anyways, onto the Oilers.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

3. Mark Letestu. Mark Letestu makes his appearance on the Three Stars of the Week for his best game as an Edmonton Oiler against St Louis where he posted 2 goals and an assist in the win. Letestu has been a let down this season, which is too bad, because I know I was expecting him to be a higher producer at a cheaper cap hit than Boyd Gordon. His inclusion on the power play frustrates many, including your author. I still like Letestu and I was happy he had a great game against St. Louis. He needed it.

2. Cam Talbot. Alright, letting 4 goals and sporting an ugly 0.857 save percentage against St Louis is an ugly way to get a win, but Talbot was stellar against Vancouver, having a 40 save shutout against a hated rival. Last time I checked, Talbot had a 0.919 save percentage, good for 16th in the league. The league average is 0.916, which is above average. Can’t help but wonder what Talbot’s numbers would be if he didn’t have that slump earlier in the season. I hope that his slow starts aren’t a trend; I have read on Social Media that it is. It’ll be something to watch out for next season.

1. Connor McDavid. McDavid had four points in three games, including two assists against St Louis. While he had no goals, McDavid is just a superb play maker. The main highlight that stands out for me is the Leon Draisaitl goal that he was the primary assist for. He now has 39 points in 37 games and is a point away from Dylan Larkin for fourth in Rookie Scoring. As I said last week, McDavid should win the Calder Trophy based on the criteria that he is the best rookie in the NHL. A long shot theory is that I hope Eastern Media Members will vote for the Newmarket kid and be biased for Ontario but I have no basis for this.

Edmonton Oilers News

In case you missed it, our very own Walter writes about how Taylor Hall is an elite player.

At the Oilers Rig, I wrote about the 2015 draft and how the early returns are good, albeit a bit early to judge completely.

National Post talks about McDavid making a late run for the Calder Trophy (rightfully so!)

Over at Oilersnation, Lowetide talked about Bakersfield development turning some good results. 

Jordan Oesterle and Griffin Reinhart looked sound. Reinhart had his best game as an Oiler against Vancouver.

The Final Game at Rexall Place has been bumped up to a 5pm start time. 

Non-Oilers news, but the Edmonton  Oil Kings will be playing the Medicine Hat Tigers in a one game tie break for a playoff spot on Tuesday.

Around the League

Kevin Spacey attended the Panthers Red Wings game. Seriously love the Spacey in Space trend in Florida.

Senators embarrassed The Canadiens last night with 3 Short Handed Goals

Circle your calendars for April 30th: The NHL Draft Lottery is taking place on the date. 

The league is getting closer to expansion. A list of what a team can protect was released. 

Highlights

Oilers vs Canucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb0p_WwmF-Y

 

Top Moments

 

Kevin Spacey!

 

The Week Ahead

The Oilers play host to the Avalanche tonight but then embark on a three game road trip along the Pacific: Tuesday at Arizona, Thursday at San Jose and Saturday in LA.

That’s the week that was, feel free to follow me on Twitter!