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

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Could Mike Babcock be the Oilers Next Coach?

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

The best trade Edmonton Oilers G.M. Ken Holland never made: 9 Things
  • It would be impossible not to be happy for Brendan Perlini… He’ll start as the opening night 4LW.
  • It has been since Devan Dubnyk in Edmonton that the Oilers have developed a home-grown goaltender. He’s headed to Bakersfield for now, but Stuart Skinner is on the precipice of breaking that 7-year drought.
  • Oilers General Manager Ken Holland attended the Golden Bears hockey game in Edmonton Friday night against Mike Babcock’s Saskatchewan Huskies.
  • …if the Oilers are a Top-8 team at the deadline, I can see the G.M. exploring moving that pick (probably in the 20’s somewhere) for help down the stretch…
  • I believe that the Oilers have offered Colton Sceviour a 2-way contract to become a member of organization. But I don’t think the veteran has made the big club yet and is probably weighing the offer against whatever might be available for him elsewhere.
  • I am confident in saying that both Ryan McLeod and Tyler Benson have made the club and will start the season in Edmonton. I expect the club thinks it would lose Benson on waivers and that they are not prepared to lose an asset they have spent this long developing on waivers for nothing.
  • In assessing Ken Holland’s success in taking this club forward to date, can we agree that Jesse Puljujarvi was the best trade he never made?

BLH’s Thoughts: It makes me chuckle that Peter Chiarelli (one Stanley Cup to his name), Ken Hitchcock (Future Hall-of-Fame Coach), and Todd McLellan (nearly 500 wins) couldn’t unlock Puljujarvi’s potential. All of that experience combined couldn’t come to an agreement as to what steps the team needed to take to get the best out of Pulju… 

Ah well… Ken Holland and Dave Tippett deserve all the credit for getting Jesse back into the fold with the Oilers. 

Speaking of Holland, do you think he was paying an old friend a visit as he watched his old coach behind the bench of a university team or are some seeds being sown? This is the last year of Tippett’s contract and Babcock is sure to be an NHL coach next season… Could it be in Edmonton? Don’t forget, it was down to him and McLellan in 2015.

Oilersnation

Off the Top of My Head
  • At 23, it’s no longer a question of whether Puljujarvi will be an NHL player. The question now, as Puljujarvi goes into a season where he’ll play first line with Leon Draisaitl or Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid, is how good he might become.

“His attitude has allowed him to make it work,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “He stayed positive. As tough as it is on a young player coming in, maybe even more so on a European player, it’s not easy to crack the NHL right away. There were frustrations. We weren’t a great team when he came in. He had to learn to take strides.”

  • After wrapping up pre-season with a 3-2 win in Vancouver last night, there’s decisions to be made about the final couple of spots if the Oilers keep 14 forwards, but it looks to me like Foegele, Ryan and Kassian have the inside track as far as the third line goes.
  • Foegele continues to impress. Ryan has looked at home playing between them and he’s caught Tippett’s eye.
  • Seeing Kassian motionless after he hit his head on the ice in his scrap with MacEwen was brutal, but it’s a scene we’ve witnessed (and one I was involved in as a lacrosse player) too many times. Short of banning fighting, I’m not sure there’s a reasonable way to avoid the potential for what we saw Thursday.
  • Tough news for Caleb Jones, who went to Chicago in the Keith trade. The Blackhawks announced Friday at Jones is expected to miss six weeks because of a strained left wrist.

BLH’s Thoughts: I suppose we’ll have to do the math on the Keith/Jones trade another year, eh?

As for Kassian’s injury, the refs are supposed to jump in as soon as a helmet has fallen off, no? So isn’t it on them if somebody gets hurt like Kass did?

I’ve got a pretty good idea as to how this Edmonton Oilers team is going to look within the Pacific Division, but I want to know how it will perform against Tampa, Colorado, Boston, or Florida. How will Edmonton’s depth stack up against proper Stanley Cup contenders?

As for Jesse, he’s had that work ethic since he was 14. Nothing has changed there. He’s had that and a massive heart and he’s just wanted to play the game and be part of a winning equation. You can’t fault the guy for sticking to his guns, but with that said, sometimes it takes an extra minute or two for things to fall into place and maybe everybody involved prior to Pulju coming back to Edmonton needed to take a step back and realize that. 

Spector’s Hockey

  • THE ATHLETIC: Pierre LeBrun recently looked at which of this season’s high-profile unrestricted free agents could sign contract extensions within the next month or two.
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Savoie and Petrov’s Dream Season Debuts and Are the Oilers a Cup Contender This Year?

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

Dare to dream? That challenge is being taken up big time with Edmonton Oilers

Top 10 reasons why the Oilers can win the Cup:

  • Connor McDavid is the game’s best player and is looking like he’s ready to own the NHL, to dominate two-way play.
  • Leon Draisaitl is the game’s second or third best player and can be a two-way monster in the playoffs.
  • Mike Smith had a great year in 2020-21. Mikko Koskinen had a good year in 2019-20. Between them, one of them is likely to step up and provide solid goaltending.
  • Darnell Nurse has stepped up as a true No. 1 d-man in the NHL, taking over where Sekera and Klefbom left off.
  • Edmonton will miss Larsson’s shut-down defence, but they have the best group of puck movers on the squad since 2005-06, with Tyson Barrie, Evan Bouchard and Duncan Keith all strong passers, Nurse a strong transporter of the puck, and Cody Ceci and Slater Koekkoek able to rip a decent pass.
  • The team has some experienced veteran leaders in Keith, Smith, Kris Russell, Derek Ryan, plus a large group of able-to-excellent vets in the prime of their careers, McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jesse Puljujarvi, Warren Foegele, Kailer Yamamoto, Ceci, Koekkoek.
  • The team should have strong secondary scoring from players like Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins, Barrie, Bouchard, Puljujarvi, Foegele and Yamamoto.
  • Edmonton’s best players aren’t just excellent, they’re big, fast and tough, starting with McDavid, Draisaitl and Nurse.
  • If Edmonton needs reinforcement this year, there are a few prospects who might step up and provide a boost by the end of the year, including Dylan Holloway, Raphael Lavoie, Philip Broberg, Stuart Skinner, Ilya Konovalov, and Filip Berglund.
  • Edmonton’s coaching staff of Dave Tippett, Jim Playfair and Glen Gulutzan is sharp and experienced. They don’t get everything right, but they get a lot right.

BLH’s Thoughts: That’s a fine list of pros for Edmonton’s Stanley Cup chances, but somehere down the line something is going to go wrong and that’s when you need a bit of luck. The question is, what’s most likely to go wrong?

Something Staples didn’t mention is that the Oilers are going to have an ELITE powerplay this year and I think their PK is going to be amongst the best in the league. You take both of those into the post-season with some above average goaltending and dominant 5v5 scoring and you’ve got yourselves a team that can do some damage.

What I’d truly like to know is if somebody could write ten reasons why the Oilers won’t win the Stanley Cup and how many of those reasons could you come up with if you weren’t allowed to use injuries in any of them? I say that because it comes up every year, of course any team would suffer if their best player got hurt.

The Athletic

Lowetide: Oilers prospects thrive as junior, college and European seasons begin
  • In his first OHL game, playing for the North Bay Battalion, Petrov scored three goals on eight shots in a dominant performance. He scored again the following night and now has four goals in two games for the season.
  • 2020 fourth-round pick Carter Savoie unleashed an impressive debut for the Denver Pioneers (NCHC) as college hockey ratchets up to full impact this weekend. Savoie delivered the first goal of the season for Denver and added two assists later in the game.
  • Maxim Berezkin is the most promising of the young men playing in Europe this season… The MHL is the top Russian junior league, so his early numbers (2gp 2g 1a 3pts) shouldn’t be a surprise considering the big winger has played 11 KHL games. Berezkin has zero points and just six shots on goal and is averaging just under seven minutes a night. 
  • Jeremias Lindewall (5gp 2g 2a 4pts) has four games in the Allsvenskan… Though he hasn’t delivered any points, Lindewall won’t turn 20 until January and has shown offensive ability at lower levels.
  • Maxim Denezhkin (11gp 2g 6a 8pts) plays in the VHL, sometimes known as the Supreme Hockey League… Denezhkin scored 22 points in 34 games in the VHL a year ago and is on a higher trajectory this season.
  • Patrik Siikanen (10gp 3g 2a 5pts) is something of an afterthought on the Oilers’ prospect list, mostly because his offence was nonexistent at the higher levels until this season.

BLH’s Thoughts: Edmonton sure has some dangerous offensive players coming through their system eh? To say it’s been a while is a slight understatement, moreover, I’m intrigued by the amount of Russians in the pipeline. That’s a narrative I’d like to see changed in the coming years. 

Lindewall and Siikanen are coming out of left-field a bit. Another couple of names to keep an eye out for are Tomas Mizura who’s playing in the NCAA this year for Providence as well as Filip Engaras, a RW also plying his trade in the NCAA for New Hampshire. 

https://twitter.com/CZprospects/status/1447086650073432067

The Daily Goal Horn

  • The Calgary Flames reportedly went after (Jack) Eichel hard during the summer, but like all other teams eventually backed off. Could they be the under the radar team that gets this deal done?
  • On a recent appearance on The Jeff Marek Show, Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Calgary Flames tried hard to acquire Eichel in the offseason. He also added that Eichel never said he wouldn’t want to play there.
  • According to Andy Strickland of the Cam and Strick Podcast: “In a nutshell here it is, the Tkachuk’s want a bridge deal and Ottawa does not want to sign (Brady) Tkachuk to a bridge deal. They want to do a 7 or 8 year deal and Brady Tkachuk doesn’t want to.”
  • TSN’s Insider Darren Dreger said on a radio spot for TSN1050 that this stalemate has Sens ownership in a predicament. If they give Brady a 3 year bridge deal, they may as well go 4 years and send him to UFA status, which they don’t want to do. He then said trade speculation is about to begin.
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Final Roster Scenarios, Egg on the Edmonton Media’s Face and More 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!

The Athletic

With Zack Kassian’s injury, will Colton Sceviour be signed? How the Oilers’ season-opening roster might shake out
  •  …you never know with head injuries, and with the season right around the corner, Kassian’s status could force or entice management to head down a few different paths.

Option 1: Put Kassian on IR and sign Sceviour

  • For this to work, the Oilers would have to be prepared to put goaltender Alex Stalock (myocarditis) on LTIR.
  • Assuming Sceviour would be signed for a league-minimum $750,000 salary, the Oilers could have Kassian and Josh Archibald (also myocarditis) on IR and waive Kyle Turris and William Lagesson to set their season-opening roster of 13 forwards, eight defencemen and two goalies. 
  • To get even closer to maximizing their pool, they could waive Sceviour — or another league-minimum player like Brendan Perlini or Tyler Benson — and replace him with someone on an entry-level deal with a slightly higher cap hit.

Option 2: Put Kassian on IR and don’t sign Sceviour

  • Everything from the first option applies here except in Sceviour’s place is someone making equal or less money.
  • Lagesson makes $725,000, less than the 2021-22 league minimum. Keeping him on the season-opening roster in place of another, more expensive player would be creating a smaller LTIR pool.

Option 3: Don’t put Kassian on IR and sign Sceviour

  • Keeping Kassian on the active roster likely means Stalock’s season-opening placement is on IR rather than LTIR, too. The Oilers would want to exceed the $81.5 million salary cap by as close to $4.167 million (Klefbom’s cap hit) as possible.
  • Lagesson would be on waivers, and so would at least one forward. 
  • But another forward must be dropped from the roster under this scenario. As with the previous examples, that player would logically be Turris.

Option 4: Don’t put Kassian on IR and don’t sign Sceviour

  • Everything from Option 3 applies except some players who would have been on the outs can stay on the roster.
  • Only one of Lagesson, Perlini, Benson and McLeod would need to be waived or demoted. Lagesson would make the most sense because of the surplus of defencemen and because keeping him on the roster decreases the LTIR pool by $25,000 compared with losing Perlini or Benson.
  • Turris would still have to be waived. Again, he’d be in line for a call-up once Broberg is demoted. Stalock and Archibald could go on LTIR then, too.

Option 5: Avoid waiving Turris

  • One way is to keep Kassian on the active roster, not sign Sceviour, waive one of Benson or Perlini (or even Shore) and Lagesson and temporarily demote McLeod. However, doing this would give the Oilers a 22-man roster and leave them more than $467,000 short of maximizing their LTIR pool.
  • Regardless of how you cut it, that’s a lot of money not to be able to access. Waiving Turris — and seeing whether they can recall him later — appears to be the best course of action for the Oilers unless another player is acquired.

BLH’s Thoughts: “unless another player is acquired.”… Key phrase to keep in mind considering Bob Stauffer’s Brett Connolly (CHI) trade scenario he threw out this week. 

The most likely scenario is the 3rd one where Kassian stays off of the IR and sceviour is signed I believe. Kyle Turris started camp off like a bat out of Hell, but it tailed off a bit as the preseason games wore on and the quality of competition got better.

Oilersnation

How much of Jesse Puljujarvi’s emergence is a surprise?
  • On Oilers Now (during the October 6 show with insider John Shannon, at the 2:43 timestamp), when discussing how Puljujarvi is beginning to look like an impact player, host Bob Stauffer asked John Shannon if he saw this coming or not. Shannon responded with, “If anybody does, they’re lying.”
  • Even dating back to the 2017-18 season, Puljujarvi excelled when he was given a chance to play beside McDavid. With Puljujarvi and McDavid on the ice together, the Oilers controlled 63% of the goals, 59% of the expected goals, and 61% of the high danger chances.
  • His numbers were obviously superior when alongside McDavid as opposed to without him. But the impressive thing to note here is that it also went the other way around; McDavid’s numbers improved when Puljujarvi was on the ice.
  • One of the primary reasons McDavid performs so well with him is due to how Puljujarvi has always been an intelligent defensive player and excels in disrupting plays.
  • McDavid benefits quite a lot from Puljujarvi helping to cover up his defensive mistakes, alongside his tenacious forechecking and constant engagement in puck battles.
  • Their chemistry was not only evident in their on-ice stats, but also production-wise. Puljujarvi scored at a rate of 1.17 5v5 goals per hour with McDavid that season.
  • In 2021, Puljujarvi’s goals per hour with McDavid was 1.09 (compared to 1.17 in 17-18), and the duo had a 55% goal share and a 55% expected goal share (compared to 62 GF% and 59 xGF% in 17-18).
  • It was always premature to consider him a “bust” or give up on him, especially considering how young he was, the hip injuries that impacted his play in 18-19, and how he was consistently misplayed… That’s never going to be a comfortable environment for a young, developing player like him. 
  • Probably the biggest blemish from Todd McLellan during his tenure in Edmonton was his deployment of Puljujarvi. The chemistry and potential with McDavid were always there.

BLH’s Thoughts: None of his emergence is a surprise, but the local media is “happy to be wrong” these days after lambasting Puljujarvi once he decided to head back to Finland to play in the “beer leagues” over there. They should all be lining up, saying sorry, and shaking his hand when the media is allowed back in the dressing room, but instead they’ll end up asking him some shitty question about the fans hating on him and or something related to Jari Kurri or Esa Tikkanen. 

Speaking of Tikk,

Reckon Tik’s tune has changed since he said that?…

One of Bob Stauffer’s favorite saying is, “Everybody has a democratic right to be wrong” or something to that effect. Well, the Edmonton media are enjoying that right to its full extent now and I’m guessing they will be for a long time… 

Say what you will about Ken Holland, but none of this is possible without him and I’m very thankful he didn’t trade Jesse for pennies on the dollar. 

With all that in mind, selfishly I would like to get a Puljujarvi Oilers jersey and I’m concerned about doing that because he’s going to have a helluva season here and there’s a good chance he’s going to get a very healthy raise. My hopes is that we don’t have to go down that uncomfortable path again… 

Spector’s Hockey

THE ATHLETIC: In his latest mailbag segment, Eric Stephens was asked about the chances of the Anaheim Ducks trading John Gibson in the near future.

  • At one time, Stephens said he was certain Gibson would be with the Ducks to start the 2022-23 season. “I’m not nearly as sure now.”

NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks reports Alexandar Georgiev hopes to put last season’s disappointing performance behind him. The 25-year-old Ranger goalie was the subject of offseason trade speculation but he denied rumors claiming he asked to be traded.

THE ATHLETIC: Scott Powers expects the Chicago Blackhawks will place forward Alex Nylander on waivers. He cites a league source saying he’s heard the Arizona Coyotes might put in a claim if Nylander hits the waiver wire.

SPORTSNET: Eric Engels recently speculated the Montreal Canadiens could turn to waivers or trade to bolster their injury-depleted blueline.

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

What the Pundits are Saying about Edmonton’s Final Preseason Win over Vancouver

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

GDB -8.0 Wrap Up: Oilers wrap up their pre-season with a 3-2 win that came down to the wire
  • It’s Brendan Perlini’s world and we’re all just living in it. Final Score: 3-2 Oilers
  • Evan Bouchard opened the scoring with a clapper from the point and as I was watching the replay, all I could think about was how I hope he shoots the puck 2000 times this year.
  • Mikko Koskinen played the first half of the game and I was just hoping for him to be steady between the pipes and make the stops you’d want him to make. And as hoped, the giant Finn delivered with some big saves, some lucky saves, and handled everything the Canucks threw his way before making way for Stuart Skinner.
  • For the first time in a while, it feels like we’ve got some hope between the pipes and I’m very much hoping Skinner will be a big part of that.
  • We heard a lot about Hyman’s work ethic before we got here and there are already all kinds of examples you can pull that seem to back that up.
  • Tyler Benson coughed up the puck on the Canucks’ first goal with a pretty tough giveaway and I wonder if that will be the dagger that sends him to Bakersfield for a while.
  • Cody Ceci is new here and I’m absolutely going to give him some time to settle in, but the guy makes me nervous.

BLH’s Thoughts: I remember thinking at one point that this game was going terrible for both teams. There were long stretches where each club couldn’t get any sustained momentum started in either zone and it was just a slough of broken plays going back and forth. 

I hope Brendan Perlini’s Lamborghini didn’t use up all of its fuel in the preseason… 

I was stoked to see Killer get a shortie. I’ve been saying for some time now that he’s got the chops to be an elite penalty killer and that Gino shows just how dangerous he is. Hopefully the ketchup starts to flow now. 

With every viewing of Ceci and Keith, I feel more comfortable. CC doesn’t move the puck as fast as his d-partner and that leads him to get caught out by a more aggressive forecheck. That said, I’m hoping that Keith learns this and chooses not to put his teammate in tough situations as we go forward.

Cult of Hockey

Player grades: Even without their their big guns, Edmonton Oilers find a way to edge Canucks
  • #2 Duncan Keith, 6. Played 25:06 including 4:45 on the penalty kill, both team highs. More good than bad to my eyes.
  • #5 Cody Ceci, 6. He played 24:59, just 7 seconds fewer than Keith, as the two were joined at the hip for all but 2 of those minutes in all situations… He showed some veteran smarts at times and was solid on the PK. Made one very nice move deep in the o-zone to set up RNH at the lip of the crease.
  • #16 Tyler Benson, 5. Had a very tough sequence on the first Vancouver goal, when he first made a bad decision to try a cute play through the defensive slot rather than up the boards and out, then executed it poorly, then was unable to cut out a subsequent pass through his area.
  • #42 Brendan Perlini, 7. His aggressive forecheck of Luke Schenn led to a Vancouver turnover, then he went to net to finish off a pretty 3-way passing play. 
  • #56 Kailer Yamamoto, 7. After drawing the penalty that led to the opening powerplay goal, he broke a long personal drought, finishing Ryan’s fine pass with a drop-dead-gorgeous deke and roof job on the penalty kill.
  • #71 Ryan McLeod, 6. His best showing in what has been a quiet preseason, skating well, moving the disc sharply and providing good puck support.
  • #84 William Lagesson, 5. A much better outing than his previous appearance, when he was chasing the puck too high in the defensive zone. On this night he stuck closer to home and won his share of battles. Drew a penalty.
  • #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. A rare turn at 1C in his old stomping grounds, and a fairly creditable showing… Had a pair of excellent steals on the backtrack in the third period.

BLH’s Thoughts: Benson had two plays that stood out for me, the giveaway that lead to Vancouver’s first goal and he absolutely thumped somebody on the near boards in the third. Aside from that, he doesn’t look like an NHLer right now and I’m not even sure he’ll get claimed if he goes on waivers now since every GM in the league has seen him. 

I was really impressed by Stu Skinner.. Again! The kid is really coming around. Maybe, just maybe we might be able to put the annual goaltending rumors to rest going forward. “Time will tell on that front.” as they say in Edmonton… 

I did not mind William Lagesson’s performance. He was solid and he’s looked better and better with each game this preseason. That said, I’m not sure he’s brought enough to keep him on the roster. 

Sportsnet

Oilers notebook: Sceviour, Perlini bolster stocks vs. Canucks
  • The Edmonton Oilers closed out a 6-1-1 preseason with a 3-2 win at Vancouver, icing a team without their best two players and their top defensive pairing, yet still managing to win comfortably, building a 3-0 lead that lasted until the final minutes.
  • While Perlini scored a goal, it was the pass from Sceviour that really stood out. He drew the checkers to him, then threw a puck back into the high slot to a wide open Perlini, who buried his sixth goal in six pre-season games.
  • The Oilers are light on right wing, with Josh Archibald (myocarditis) out long term, and Zack Kassian in concussion protocol. That should open the door for Sceviour to get a contract.
  • Perlini is a fourth-line left winger all day long on this team, behind Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Warren Foegele. But you’ve got to admit, he did outscore every one of those guys in the pre-season, potting his sixth in six pre-season games off a lovely pass from Colton Sceviour in the second period.
  • Stuart Skinner played the final 40 minutes between the pipes and looked very much like a goalie who could come up from Bakersfield and back up capably, if need be.
  • Bouchard scored on a slapper from the point. He just has one of those heavy shots, like Sheldon Souray.
  • Yamamoto scored his first goal of the pre-season, a lovely roof job off a shorthanded pass from Derek Ryan.
  • Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci enjoyed their best preseason outing… They killed nearly five minutes in penalties. “They’ll be a real solid pair for us,” said Tippett.

BLH’s Thoughts: Evan Bouchard’s skating has really come along. He’s a very smooth operator and with that shot? Good Lord… What a shot! People compare it to Sheldon Souray’s but that’s got Al MacInnis written all over it. Just wait until he’s 25 and has beefed up… He’s might just end some careers with it. 

Colton Sceviour is going to get himself a two-way contract at the very least after what he’s shown and considering the spots that have opened up on Edmonton’s RW due to the absences of Zack Kassian and Josh Archibald. 

What we don’t know is if that rumored deal Bob Stauffer threw out there earlier this week (Brett Connolly @50% retained for Turris or Archibald) will go down.

There’s some chatter that tomorrow will be very busy on the waiver wire and it’s possible that the Oilers could claim a couple of bodies and lose a couple of them. 

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

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Oilers Struggling to Attract Fans to Opening Night?

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

PACIFIC HEIGHTS

WAIVERS

  • RD Ryan Murphy, Detroit. Undersized defender with skill chosen No. 12 in the 2011 draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, he was in the KHL one year ago and then the AHL last season. His NHL career can’t be over at 28, can it?
  • LW AJ Greer, New Jersey. Greer is a player I’ve followed since his draft, he has a Patrick Maroon type career going so far. Big, strong, you’d call him a power forward if the offense was more dynamic. Greer posted .656 per game last season in the AHL (age 23), Maroon was just shy of a point per game at the same age.
  • RD Steve Santini, St. Louis. A big shutdown defender who has been spending the last several seasons on the fringes of the NHL. I think a team might take a chance on him, he has played 119 NHL games and is 26.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Oilers have enough internal depth that is better than what Mr. Lowetide is suggesting here with this trio of candidates. All these guys are on their 2nd or 3rd team by now too, no?

Edmonton Sun

JONES: Attendance a question as Oilers set to play in front of fans again
  • Will the team that sold out 551 consecutive games during the decade of darkness have a single sellout scene to celebrate the occasion?
  • There’s every reason to believe that this team, coming off a 35-19-2 season in the coronavirus pandemic shortened 56-game schedule, is about to begin a new era of 100-point seasons and significantly expand their collection of banners that hang from the rafters during the decade.
  • You may be about to watch the greatest power play this league has seen since the Montreal Canadiens inspired the rule change that resulted in the penalized player leaving the sin bin when a power play goal is scored instead of residing there the full two minutes.
  • Yes there are still questions. This team won one playoff game in the last two no-fans-in-the-stands Stanley Cup tournaments. The goaltending isn’t exactly set for any long stretch of success.
  • …in the city where the Oilers sold out those 551 consecutive games during the worst of times, as a result of the continuing coronavirus pandemic, you can forget about 41 consecutive sellouts to begin the expected and projected return to the best of times.
  •  18,347 fans will be allowed back in the building. But you have to wonder at how many games they’ll be able to announce 18,347 to deliver the entire scene this ‘Here We Go Oilers, Here We Go’ run of seasons would normally guarantee from the git-go.

“The way back to full arenas in the NHL looks like it will take a while,”

  • 2,000 tickets remain available for the opener and the first Battle of Alberta of the season and more than 3,000 for the Anaheim Ducks visit to follow.

“Much like other NHL markets, Oilers fans that have made the decision to remain on the sidelines at this point have generally fallen into two groups — those that have been impacted financially over the last 18 months and those waiting until later in the season when COVID and fan protocols are less dramatic.”

BLH’s Thoughts: If the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club and its parent company OEG want a full house for opening night, they could have one. The questions are, do they really want one and would they be willing to go to the extent to ensure a sellout? 

The Daily Goal Horn

  • There’s finally forward movement on the Jack Eichel trade front. TSN Insider Darren Dreger recently reported that a there’s some hope. “Sources say the Eichel saga may be shifting,” he tweeted.
  • “Teams that have circled back to Kevyn Adams and Adams has circled back to teams. What has happened in those discussions, I’m told, is that teams are saying we have to have a conditional component to any potential trade,”  Pierre LeBrun said on the latest Insider Trading.
  • “They have talked all off-season long about an extension and have not been able to get one done yet but here is the wrinkle,” LeBrun explained. “I’m told that agent Kurt Overhardt and Ekholm have told general manager David Poile and the Predators that if he is not signed by the start of the season we want to shelve talks. We don’t want to negotiate during the year.”
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