Boy, that was some Battle of Alberta last night. How many of you thought at the end of the first period when the Oilers were being outshot 21-10 that it was going to be another one of “those nights”? How many of you were right pissed when you noticed the Vancouver Canucks had beat the supposedly unbeatable Toronto Maple Leafs two games in a row and the second being a comeback victory?
I’ll get back to the game against Calgary in a moment but I’d like to just comment on how ridiculous all those hockey pundits I heard on Edmonton sports radio over the previous week sounded saying that this edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs is the best since the 60s… Are you kidding me? I can’t speak for any of the rosters before 1990 really but the teams lead by Doug Gilmour, Felix Potvin, and Wendel Clark in the 90s and then the teams with Curtis Joseph, Alexander Mogilny, and Mats Sundin later on would have Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in their back pockets. Reckon William Nylander and Morgan Rielly would have any free time with the puck if Darcy Tucker and Tie Domi were running around out there?
Anyway, in the COVID era, the highs are going to be high and the lows will be low… I’ll keep saying it until things become predictable again. I maintain that this Oilers team will be a playoff club and I’m still confident that they can win the division.
Let’s talk about the Flames game from last night for a moment and then discuss the latest from my sources.
On my list of fights I thought would happen, the Nurse/Lucic and Neal/Tkachuk bouts weren’t on it but damn am I happy they did. I’ll have to give Milan the slight edge over Darnell in their fight but James Neal gets the KO against Eric Francis’ boy. That said, I don’t think either coach would approve of having their star in the penalty box for 5-minutes let alone risking the season.
In Edmonton’s case, someone had to do something as Calgary was running around hitting everyone whether they had the puck or not. I can’t say I approve of Yamamoto’s slewfoot on Andersson in front of the Flames’ net or Draisaitl’s stickwork on Gaudreau, but that’s big boy hockey and these are two teams who do not like each other.
What was Andrew Mangiapane on? He was barking up some awfully big trees and playing with fire all night long. I don’t mind it if it’s not dirty, but I reckon he’s a lucky little man that Zack Kassian and Josh Archibald weren’t in the lineup.
It was hard to see Turris get filled in at the blue line by Chris Tanev but I was glad to see him uninjured on the play. Morbidly, I’m kind of hoping it knocked something loose and he’ll play better from now on.
How do you feel about Tippett putting McDavid on Draisaitl’s line and moving RNH to center Kahun and Puljujarvi?
I don’t know if we’ll see it against Ottawa, but I do wonder if he does it against Toronto at the end of the month. In fact, if I were the coach, I’d experiment with the three center system against the Sens. All the big boys on their own lines just to see what kind of hockey is played as a result.
Haas-McDavid-Puljujarvi (extreme putting Haas there, I know)
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Archibald-RNH-Kassian (Kassian has got to be back soon, right?)
Neal-Khaira-Chiasson
Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear were marginally better Saturday night, I feel. Bear is still working through some challenges I’m noticing though. Jason Gregor (TSN1260) recently noted on his radio show that he came into camp a little heavy. Now, I can’t tell you if that’s muscle-heavy or fat-heavy, but the boots are indeed… heavy. He’s not moving as quick as he needs to be and he’s going to have to correct that before he has management thinking his rookie year was an outlier. Plus, he’s got Evan Bouchard right on his ass. Bearsy has to get going tout suite.
I harp on the Oilers ability to shut down the other club’s offense often and last night was looking to be quite the shit show after the first, but from the second period on Tippett’s club really didn’t give the Flames a whole lot. They limited Calgary to 15 shots in the last two frames of the game and that, my friends, is the kind of two-way hockey I’d prefer the team to play. Could that’ve been because Edmonton was chasing the game? Maybe, but the Flames had 12 scoring chances themselves and they started the 3rd with a goal early on.
Honestly, at the end of night when it was all said and done, I believe Calgary Flamed out…
Thank you very much! I’ll be hear until the end of the week. Please tip your servers as you leave.
Hey cancel culture…time to start looking at Cassie Campbell
— JB McHockey (@JackieBee_16) March 7, 2021
An Uneventful Trade Deadline
I got me some ridiculously long DMs from a few of my sources. I guess some of them finally found a moment or two to deal with my incessant inquiries and to that, I’m grateful. So let’s take a gander at what I was passed along.
Remember, things could always change and in professional hockey, they often do.
- Still radio silence on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ contract talks. The club and player have agreed to park things until the end of the season and then get back to business.
Man, how far would a nice playoff run go towards re-signing RNH? Conversely, if Nuge is asking for $7.5M/yr for 6 years and Taylor Hall is willing to take $6M/yr on the same term… That is quite a conundrum…
- Mike Smith has been much more vocal in the room this season over last year. He’s become a real leader in that room. The players really love him so don’t be surprised if they DO bring him back.
Look, if Smith is going to play like he has been this year, bring him back. He’s been nothing short of fantastic when deployed properly. If he’s happy to sign a deal with big incentives and he’s a positive impact on the team, why not? So many times in the past, the team has had these kinds of players only to lose them to trade or an expiring contract. It’s about time we kept this sort of character on the team.
That said, a lot of the traits that Mike Smith exhibits are found in the recently claimed Alex Stalock.
- Nothing is going to happen on the goalie front. Ken, Tipp and Co are happy with Smith and Koski. Stalock will get a look see but he’s going to be taxi squad most likely unless he outplays someone.
Makes sense on a level. The prices for starting netminders are sky high and the Oilers could have to find a taker for Mikko Koskinen. How many teams have an extra starting goalie and cap room to absorb another $4.5M? Edmonton doesn’t want to trade anymore draft picks than they have to and I’d have to think that 1st rounder is off-limits.
- The Oilers are looking for a 3C because Turris has been a disappointment. He’s a shadow of what he used to be but at the same time, they didn’t bring him in to provide offense. His new role is foreign to him. He’s in a defensive role with the team.
If this is indeed the case, Holland has shot himself in the foot with this signing and wasted precious funds and a roster spot. Sure, Turris is a good guy and I’ve got nothing against him as a player or a person, but signing him with the notion of turning him into a defensive stalwart is a bad idea. It doesn’t work that way. Turris has never been that kind of player.
- They might look at bringing in a 3C. It’s been confirmed tonight that Ken spoke with Benning about Brandon Sutter. A pick, More like a 3rd or 4th, maybe a 5th rounder was mentioned to go back to Van along with a depth guy. The depth guy wasn’t named and Van would retain what’s left of Sutter’s remaining cap hit.
Just as I’ve been saying recently. The rub is that Edmonton needs help on it’s PK badly and someone like Sutter at 50% of what he’s making could work for the Oilers. We have to also consider the fact that he’s playing for a contract next season and that could be a massive challenge for some bottom-six players in the COVID/Flat Cap era.
If the club is going to make any deals that involve players on the current roster and ones coming in, I would expect them to do it on the weekend prior to the deadline 4/12/21. From the 10th to the 25th (I believe), they only have 5 games slated. Before that they’re going every other day with a few back-to-backs thrown in.
So there you have it. That’s something to chew on for the next little bit.
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