Last Night’s Oilers Rookies Win, the Roster Impact of Yamamoto’s Signing, and the latest NHL Rumors!

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Edmonton Sun

Big night all around as Edmonton Oilers rookies storm back for win

Rybinski had the big night up front for the Oilers rookies, scoring the first two goals of the game for Edmonton, one in the first period and another in the second.
Kemp was lead dog on the blue line, tying it 3-3 midway through the second period and putting Edmonton ahead 4-3 early in the third.
Saturdays’ game is also the first live action in the Oilers organization for Bourgault, Edmonton’s first pick, 22nd overall, last summer… The night didn’t end that well, though, as he had to leave the game late in the third after being hit from behind by Calgary’s Ryan Francis.
In goal, Olivier Rodrigue went the distance for Edmonton. He got off to a rocky start with some rebound trouble, giving up two goals in the first five minutes and a third at 18:58, but settled in after that.

BLH’s Thoughts: That’s about as brief of a game summary you’re going to get from a member of the local sports media in Edmonton. Kinda disappointing if you ask me.

Not that they’ll be any better, but here are some of my observations:

Lavoie looks to be ready. The reports on him from Stauffer are bang on and last night he looked like a right proper pro. His skating has really improved and physically he appears to be on the cusp of becoming an NHLer sooner than later. He was very dangerous on the evening as he rung a couple of shots off the post/crossbar.

“Go-Go” Bourgault was a lot faster than I expected and worked quite well on the wall and in the muck until Ryan Francis (who’d be familiar with Bourgault from their time in the QMJHL) levelled him from behind late in the game.

Dmitri Samorukov’s game was a short one. Two big hits and that was that. Hopefully he hasn’t re-injured his shoulder or sustained a concussion.

Philip Broberg was solid but unspectacular. I noticed he has a tendency to put his body in a bad position from time to time and as a result, he’s the victim of a bone-crushing body check from the opposition. He got tagged a couple of times last night that had me worried. Maybe he had a tough game, but he doesn’t look ready for the NHL yet.

Markus Niemelainen was really decent. He had some nice rushes up the ice and he laid some really hard checks too. I know I used to say that William Lagesson reminded me of Mattias Ekholm, but the Finn also does. I think Niemelainen is a better skater and a better stick checker than Lagesson.

I know Phil Kemp scored a couple of goals, but to me, he was otherwise invisible. Jakob Pelletier almost beat him out wide, but aside from that and his goals, I didn’t notice a whole lot which may be a good thing mind you.

Olivier Rodrigue got hung out to dry on almost all of Calgary’s goals but surprised me with his quickness and athleticism for the rest of the game. He played quite well, but he may want to work on the rebound control.

Kesselring was out of his depth in my opinion. He seemed lost at times and it cost his team at least one goal against.

Filip Berglund, hardly noticed him to be honest.

Ostap Safin was very good on the PP down low and he had a lot of success winning puck battles in the muck. I liked his game.

Tyler Tullio was okay. He did his best Josh Archibald impression by smoking a couple of guys on the forecheck and he nearly beat Dustin Wolf with a late period clapper from the top of the circle. I didn’t mind his game at all.

Matvei Petrov was average but he had a few chances to unleash his shot. Unfortunately he didn’t cash in, but he looks to me to be a bit of a long-term project. Since he was drafted 1st overall in the CHL import draft, he’ll be playing in the OHL this season for North Bay I believe, so he’ll be getting acclimated to the NA ice ASAP.

The game on the whole was great! I thought that Calgary had it wrapped up when they made it 3-1 though. They were in full control dominating the game on a physical level and Edmonton couldn’t get their offense going. Ironic how it was their defensive defenseman, Phil Kemp, who’d basically win it for them with a brace, but good on the boys for sticking in the game and coming back to take it.

If I had to give three stars, I’d say Rybinksi, Safin, and Kemp but Safin and Niemelainen were really good too.

The Flames have a couple of good ones in Pelletier and Zary though. They played fantastic.

I will say I was disappointed that nobody took Ryan Francis’ head off after he obliterated Xavier Bourgault from behind late in the third. Maybe we’ll see some retribution on Monday.

The Athletic

How the Kailer Yamamoto signing sets up Edmonton for training camp

The last domino in the Oilers’ offseason to-do list fell Saturday as restricted free agent Kailer Yamamoto signed a one-year, $1.175 million deal.
…the contract is a short-term win for the Oilers because of the discounted salary for a young forward who has produced capably.
Yamamoto gains arbitration rights next summer after playing his 10th game. His next deal could be much costlier should he bounce back from a subpar eight-goal, 21-point campaign.
His ability to check well and perhaps play more on the penalty kill should help the team in other ways when he’s not scoring, too.
Add in Yamamoto and this forward group should be much better and deeper than the one that finished last season. Coach Dave Tippett has all sorts of flexibility.
There are a lot of penalty-killing options at associate coach Jim Playfair’s disposal: Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins, Yamamoto, Ryan, Foegele, Archibald, McLeod and perhaps Draisaitl and Benson.

BLH’s Thoughts: Anybody else a tad shocked that he signed for so cheap? Why didn’t he just sign that deal earlier in the off-season and avoid all the hullabaloo? He’s missed the Captain’s skates and Ol’ Connor won’t be forgetting that.

Now the pressure is on for Yamamoto. I suspect we’ll see him bounce back to some degree, but I don’t think he’ll ever get back to being nearly a point-per-game winger and I am very concerned as to his ability to stay healthy. I don’t know if it was as obvious to you last year as it was to me, but I’m of the belief that he was clearly dealing with some sort of injury that disallowed him to shoot at 100% or get in the muck to his full ability.

The coaching staff should stick him on the 3rd line with McLeod and Foegele and give him the green light. He could be a driver on that line I reckon.

The Daily Goal Horn

Matthew Tkachuk on Brady: “They’re not too close”

“He might be pulling a classic Tkachuk right now. Dad held out, Matthew held out, and Brady looks like he’s on his way right now,” he told Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek this week. “So hopefully it can get figured out here.”
Earlier in the week, TSN’s Gord Miller reported that Brady Tkachuk and the Sens were nearing a long-term deal.
Matthew basically refuted that report. “It’s just a lot of fake stuff out there regarding this,” he revealed. “They’re not too close. So hopefully it gets figured out, but who knows?”

Hertl on his contract

“We’ll see when I get there for camp and stuff, we’ll see if we get some talks. If not, I’m not worried,” Hertl told NHL.com. “For me, it doesn’t matter because I think I’ve proven I can be a good player, I’ve shown I can be a leader and I just want to do that and not think about my next deal.”

Canucks still working on Hughes and Pettersson

Hughes, 21, scored 41 points in 56 games last season. Pettersson, 22, registered 21 points in 26 games after an early slump where he scored only 2 points in his first 8 contests. Both players are the cornerstone pieces to the Canucks future but at this rate, could at least miss the start of camp.

Did the Sabres and Kings talk trade?

Elliotte Friedman reported that the Sabres spoke with one team about a trade recently, but nothing came of it. Could that team be the L.A. Kings?
“I checked with an NHL source familiar with NHL trade discussions involving Eichel and he basically laughed at it and had this to say: “That return [from the Kings] would be a lot more than we’ve discussed.”” – Jimmy Murphy, Boston Hockey Now