It’s been a slow week or so regarding the Oilers until recently. My DMs have been on fire the last couple of days with news about Milan Lucic, Mike Gillis, Ralph Krueger, etc. I’ve also been upping my draft research to boot. All the while recovering from surgery… If I’m gonna be laid up at home, I might as well make good use of the time.
MILAN LUCIC’S LEG
A good friend of mine sent me a private message asking if I’d heard the rumor about Milan Lucic this week and I hadn’t heard anything, so he sent me a pic from facebook and it had a little story attached to it.
Further to Lucic injury – Happened off ice after practice Friday in Calgary. Will remain in cast for 2 more weeks, and the injury won't affect his regular summer training schedule. Expected to be 100% for training camp.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) April 15, 2019
It said that Milan was out at an establishment in Calgary before that final game of the year and a bouncer, who was a Flames fan, got into it with Looch, they fell, and Lucic’s leg is in a cast now.
I’ve also heard this happened in Airdrie (a small sleeper community north of Calgary but very close to the airport) but I lived in Airdrie and who in their right mind would go there to party (no offense if you live there)?
*Edit*: So I totally forgot that the boys were out in Airdrie at a Boston Pizza before the final game of the year. Apologies to the Airdrie folk! I still love you!
https://twitter.com/Refmaksy/status/1114605307617890305
I asked folks around the Oilers organization about this injury and nothing was confirmed or denied. It was all very quiet. Short answered replies and nothing more…
This leads me to believe that there’s some truth to what happened, be that the story or that Lucic’s leg might actually be broken or sprained badly.
*EDIT*: Ryan Rishaug confirmed today that Milan Lucic’s leg is indeed in a cast now.
Milan Lucic suffered a lower body injury and is currently in a cast of some sort. Not sure on timeline at this point or how the injury happened.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) April 15, 2019
Now Mr. Lucic does have a history of fighting in clubs. Apparently, he had a dust-up in Boston during his time there and as well as in Vancouver back in 2013.
Anybody else hear anything about Lucic suffering a LBI before the last game in Calgary? pic.twitter.com/H8rIt2TyAm
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) April 13, 2019
What if that leg is badly damaged? Broken? Well, that’s 6-8 weeks for a minor fracture and 3-6 months if the injury is severe. If it’s only a high-ankle sprain, that’s six weeks to 3 months…
So There go all the plans for getting more on-ice workouts that Looch was talking about in his year-end media avail. And there go the plans the Oilers have for trading him. It might open up a spot on a flight to Ference Island though but I think it’d have to be a pretty bad injury for that scenario to occur.
I hope that Milan has a speedy recovery. Truly. As much as I feel that Lucic isn’t helping the team on the ice or that his contract is a major albatross, he’s still a human being with a family. So all I can wish is for the best going forward.
MIKE GILLIS COMING TO TOWN?
I’ve heard that Mr. Gillis will be arriving in Edmonton this week to conduct some interviews with Bob Nicholson. I’m sure this has the OBC and the local media absolutely running for their lives (not really).
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. Elliotte Friedman has been talking about it for a few weeks now during his spots on Oilers Now.
You might not like what he did in Vancouver, but what if hiring him meant that the Oilers got Laurence Gilman too. What if it meant a prior relationship with Ralph Krueger could be used to convince him to let bygones be bygones so that he’d come back?
Gillis’ teams were competitive and he thought outside the box quite a bit. Some of the more unfavorable moves he made were influenced by ownership as well. But with this push for investment into analytics and sports science, he’s a really good person to be talking to I feel.
I just think that if he can usher in an era of success, I don’t care if he’s a nice man. I don’t care if he gives a good interview. In fact, I would almost prefer if he was prickly to the Edmonton media. They’ve had a pretty easy ride for a really long time, perhaps it’s time to flip the script.
The fact of the matter is, any new GM could come in and move Nugent-Hopkins and Klefbom for example. And use them to upgrade the wings. The new management team could also come in and use Puljujarvi, Jones, and Yamamoto to do the same.
Difficult decisions are coming…
My issue with Gillis is his draft record or lack thereof. That’s where I’d need reassurances that he’d adopt the draft and develop philosophy currently being implemented. I’d need input on what kind of plans he would have for the current amateur scouting staff and any future plans for that department.
Whether Mike Gillis gets the job or not remains to be seen but the Oilers are going to spend quite a bit of time with him gleaning as much information as possible. Isn’t that a good thing?
THE DRAFT
I’ve been chatting to scout after scout the last few days, asking them about the kids from the USNTDP, Peyton Krebs, Vasili Podkolzin, etc. I have a burning desire to know what the Oilers are getting themselves into here drafting 8th overall.
I don’t know how you have the top 8 panning out but I have a feeling it’s going to go something like this:
NJ: Jack Hughes (C) – 5’10″/160lbs – USNTDP
NYR: Kaapo Kakko (RW) – 6’2″/194lbs – TPS (SM-Liiga)
CHI: Kirby Dach (C) – 6’4″/185lbs – Saskatoon (WHL)
COL: Dylan Cozens (C) – 6’3″/181lbs – Lethbridge (WHL)
LA: Bowen Byram (D) – 6’1″/191lbs – Vancouver (WHL)
DET: Vasili Podkolzin (RW) – 6’1″/185lbs – SKA (Russia)
BUF: Alex Turcotte (C) – 5’11″/194lbs – USNTDP
EDM: Matthew Boldy (LW) – 6’2″/185lbs – USNTDP
This leaves Trevor Zegras (USNTDP), Peyton Krebs (Kootenay), Cole Caufield (USNTDP), Ryan Suzuki (Barrie), Artur Kaliyev (Hamilton), Victor Soderstrom (Brynas), etc. all on the board. These players display skills that the Oilers organization could desperately use. In Zegras, Suzuki, and Krebs, these are extremely gifted playmakers, Caufield and Kaliyev are elite finishers, and Soderstrom is this year’s Adam Boqvist; a highly offensive right-shot dman.
What I’m wondering is if there’s a team ahead of Edmonton that might go off the board a bit and throw a wrench into everything. Sort of what happened last year when Barrett Hayton was selected by the Coyotes leaving the Oilers to choose from Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson, and Oliver Wahlstrom.
My worst-case (best-case) scenario is if the Oilers have to choose between Podkolzin, Turcotte, and one of Dach or Cozens. But that would mean a couple of teams would be taking players in spots unexpected.
I love what Turcotte and Podkolzin bring. I’ve been told the Russian could be the kind of player you build a team around and with the way the Russian hockey federation is pushing him, I think there’s an outstanding player there, think the dynamic play of Pavel Datsyuk and the PP threat of Alexander Ovechkin.,. If he’s available at 8th overall, I think you sprint to the podium to take him.
There might be some that are afraid that he’s committed to playing for SKA (Yakupov and Datsyuk’s team) for the next couple of seasons and to that I say, no worries. It’s probably a blessing in disguise given how Edmonton treats its 1st rounders anyhow.
Keep him in Russia, bring him over as a 19-year-old like Vancouver did with Pettersson even leave him there until he’s 20 and then sign him and reap the benefits of having a physically mature game-breaker line-up alongside one of Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
Read this if you want a complete picture of Vasili Podkolzin.
With Turcotte, I find he’s got everything you want in a player. He’s tenacious, he’s fast, his edgework is outstanding, he’s got a killer shot, he’s a creative playmaker. Add to that, he’s fearless and his 200ft game is polished.
The one concern with him is injuries… He’s had a tough time staying healthy this year. Why is that? Is it his style of play, or because he’s not strong enough or is it genetic? A major question there.
My wildcard right now is Matthew Boldy. The left-wing seems like the most realistic possibility for the Oilers right now. I like his size (6’2″ 180lbs) first off. He should be able to handle the rigors of the NHL when he decides to join.
When I watch him, I see a bit of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the way he moves on the ice, but he’s a much better playmaker. When he passes, he rarely misses the mark. No matter how contorted his body is or how compromised the play, the puck gets to the intended destination.
But last night, as I talked to a scout out of the Northeast, he told me that his shot might be his best attribute. He said that his shot might only be bested by Kaapo Kakko and Cole Caufield in this draft class. That his release is so quick that goalies have a tough time reading where it’s going to go.
Do you know who else has this kind of attribute?
Actually, after watching Vegas dismantle San Jose, Boldy might be more comparative to Max Pacioretty and if the Oilers can come out of the draft with a sniper of that quality, they’re gold.
What do you think? Is Lucic’s leg busted? Should the Oilers hire Mike Gillis? And who’s your pick at 8th overall for the Oilers?
Leave your comments below.
