Tag Archives: Erik Karlsson

Around the Oilogosphere, Bakersfield Condors, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors

Around the Oilogosphere – April 3rd Edition – Oilers Prospect Reports, Staying the Course, Top-10 Free Agents, Karlsson/Trouba Rumors, and More!

Click the pic above to check out our merch!

Two more games until the end of this disastrous 2017/18 Oilers season that has been derailed by slumps, injuries (disclosed and not), bad coaching, and questionable GM-ing.

That special portion of the Oilers fanbase is looking for their sacrificial lamb. Some yearning for Todd McLellan to be fired or for Peter Chiarelli to get his pink slip but this is what I don’t understand.

Peter Chiarelli’s job was to get the Oilers into the playoffs ASAP when he was hired, right? Why in Sam’s Hell are you all concerned with how he does it?

We’ve got “smart” people complaining that he’s built this team around heavy hockey, well, has he?

He signed Milan Lucic and traded for Adam Larsson (who is +31 since joining the team). He got rid of a jaded goalie for Zack Kassian (nobody was complaining about that deal until this year) but you can’t even say Kassian plays a heavy hockey game if you take the time to watch him. Maroon was brought in and if you’re going to complain about his contributions to the team, then I suggest you head down the QE2 and shack up with the Shames because you’re just complaining to hear your own voice.

Are you going to shit on JJ Khaira’s performance this season? He plays a heavy game but I bet you’d take the time to criticize Chiarelli if he dealt JJ. Does Leon Draisaitl fall into this category as well?

So what I’m getting here is that special portion of the fanbase is so mad that Chiarelli traded their boys in Hall and Eberle (no mention of Yak ever which is unsurprising) for specifically targetted pieces that the team needed that they are blinded to the good things that Chiarelli has done for the team.

My advice: Be careful what you wish for.

The Gagner-Hall years were filled with skill. So much skill in that teams just bullied them into submission. Well, I’ll tell you this much, the bullying hasn’t stopped with those teams and yes, they’re still heavy teams. Those are veteran-laden teams who get the call more often than not.

So we go back to getting to the playoffs and not caring how Chiarelli builds the team to get there. To get out of the division and into the playoffs in the Pacific division, every team has to go through California and to do that they have to outmuscle Getzlaf, Perry, Burns, Thornton, Doughty, Lindholm, Carter, etc.

Many will point to Vegas and say, “SEE!” without taking the time to look at their roster closely. Yup, they’re a fast team and forecheck hard. You can’t deny they’ve also had above average goaltending and the coach has done a wonderful job but have you counted the number of expiring contracts on that team? We all know players playing on the last year of their deal play better (for the most part) and that’s exactly what the Golden Knights are doing and good on them for taking advantage. What will they look like next season?

I think you can look at an Oilers supporter on Twitter and immediately deduce if they are pro-Chiarelli or anti-Chiarelli quite easily and that’s what all of this is boiling down to.

Personally, whoever gets traded or loses their job this summer has it coming. I’m not so far up my own ass that I can’t say Chiarelli made some massive bets on his roster and they backfired. I supported Todd McLellan at the beginning of the year but have found myself frustrated as hell with his staff’s performances 80 games later.

I see the holes on the roster and it’d be nice to see upgrades.

This tweet kind of sums it up for me:

https://twitter.com/Mr_JJT/status/981345249564901376

Speaking of Twitter, I’m going to start blocking people more liberally because it’s getting tiresome going around in circles for the sake of satiating another’s ego or my own for that matter. I’m not looking for people to always agree with my comments but I’m not looking for harassment either. It’s a drain.

OILERS NEWS

Sportsnet – Takeaways: Wild simply too much for nosediving Oilers to handle – It says here that the coaching staff is the least of this club’s problems right now, but tell me how you defend a staff whose special teams are this pathetic?

Sportsnet – Oilers Prospect Report: Kailer Yamamoto Offers Promise Up Front – Of the top four prospects in the Edmonton Oilers organization, none were drafted first overall. In fact, one is a deep first-rounder, another from Round 2, and then a fourth- and fifth-rounder — a sign the Oilers are perhaps figuring out how to find players below the No. 1 spot in the NHL Draft.

The Oil Knight – OHL Playoffs Round 2 – Niagara vs. Hamilton – Despite the success in the Regular Season vs. the Bulldogs, Niagara is going to be in tough in this matchup.

The Cult of Hockey – Fans should be wary about buying “stay the course” narrative from Edmonton Oilers – Heading into the season, most folks predicted the Oilers would be one of the top teams in the NHL. On paper, this looked like a good-to-great team. There is a serious gap between these expectations and how things turned out. I see a number of possible courses of action…

Oilersnation – Monday Mailbag – UFAs, trading the first round pick, and Al Montoya

Oilersnation – Let’s find some positives from this season

The Hockey Writers – Oilers Six Thoughts: Benson, Maksimov, Skinner; and Others – Here’s a quick recap of what’s transpired during the CHL’s first-round action, and how the Oiler prospects are doing.

NHL RUMORS

Dreger and Friedman ponder cap space usage for Canucks

Friedman | Surprise team could pursue Karlsson trade

Ranking the Top-10 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents at Season’s End

McKenzie | Trouba probably looking to drive real hard bargain

Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel! We’re on the hunt for 1000 amazing subscribers! You’ll find comedy, tragedy, optimism, pessimism, interviews, highlights, and top 10 lists.

CHECK UPSTAIRS w/ Color! Click the pic to see this design and more!
CHECK UPSTAIRS! Click the pic to grab one for yourself or a loved one!
Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.
Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Podcast, Rumors, Trades

Oilers Live Podcast, Davidson Trade Part Deux, and Today’s Latest Trade Speculation

A few nights ago I was on the Oilers Live Podcast with Sean from theoilknight.ca and we talked about a plethora of things including:

  • the Oilers to date and why they are where they are and who’s to blame.
  • Their developmental system (or lack thereof)
  • Erik Karlsson and where he might end up
  • Pat Maroon and the recent rumors on his destination including one city nobody has thought of yet.
  • All the latest Oilers trade speculation.

You should head over to Mike’s website and also subscribe to his podcast as every week he’s got either a handful of Oilers die hard fans being interviewed or bloggers/journalists who cover other NHL teams. His latest before the one I was on was with former Edmonton Oiler Jason Strudwick and it was a beauty!

BRANDON DAVIDSON TRADED AGAIN!

So far Brandon Davidson has been an excellent source of “income” for Peter Chiarelli. Last year at the trade deadline Davidson was dealt for David Desharnais, who in turn provided the team with some excellent veteran leadership and a critical OT goal in the playoffs vs. San Jose and Now Chiarelli has acquired a 2019 3rd round pick for the defenseman from the New York Islanders.

I think it’s an awesome trade. Anytime you can turn a waiver wire acquisition into a 3rd round draft pick, you’re doing something right.

Would I have preferred to keep him? Hell yes! I really have enjoyed Davidson’s effort and impact on the team since being selected off of the waiver wire but I do understand that he’s a dman with value, he’ll never be anything more than a bottom pairing defender in the NHL, and that by dealing him Chiarelli opened up another roster spot on the 50-man list.

How do you think everyone else reacted to the deal?

https://twitter.com/OilersWizard/status/967533897129984000

https://twitter.com/Oceanstormprint/status/967532434840469504

Those are the AGAINSTs. The way I see it, unless Davidson would’ve brought back a 1st rounder or a top pairing right-handed powerplay specialist, the trade was going to be a fail in their eyes anyhow.

Here are some FORs:

https://twitter.com/puckmarks/status/967487954103906304

Let’s look at some of the analytics bloggers Twitter opinions on the trade.

https://twitter.com/dellowhockey/status/967495873616891904

Lordy that is a lot of tweets. So, I think, as usual, the fanbase is divided on the deal.

Look, the Isles get a nice depth dman and the Oilers get another asset to which they could use, and Chiarelli said he would prefer to do this, to try and obtain a near-NHL ready prospect at the draft. Another thing he could do is use it to try and move up in the draft this year.

One more positive, the Oilers are 1-0 in the post-Davidson era 🙂

LATEST ON THE TRADE FRONT

I suspect now that Rick Nash is a Boston Bruin that Pat Maroon will be going to Tampa Bay. I mean I guess the Bruins could pick Maroon up to if they wanted to really go for it.

Who might the Lightning give up for the Big Rig? Who knows to be honest but here are a few names to let percolate in your head bone:

  • Vladimir Namestnikov
  • Anthony Cirelli
  • Matthew Peca

If I recall correctly, Winnipeg is in on Letestu and Maroon and you can add Mike Cammalleri to that list. Putting up 10 pts in the last 10 games tends to put you on the radar of other teams this time of year and if Davidson can bring a 3rd rounder, Plekanec can get the Habs some solid prospects, and Nash can bring in 4 pieces for the Rags, surely Maroon, Letestu, and Cammalleri will net the Oilers 1, if not two, acceptable young players who will have a chance to show what their worth down the stretch.

I’m hoping that Chiarelli clears some roster room up at this deadline too.

Winnipeg is in “win-now” mode more than ever right now. The iron is hot and they NEED to strike. But you know what? St.Louis is awfully quiet right now… The pundits are tossing Jake Allen’s name out there… Do the Oilers and Blues get together on a deal? It’d have to be a money in, money out type of deal though. St.Louis is right up against the cap at the moment.

You know what’s going to happen right? All three of those guys will head to teams that we never even thought of.. lol.

I was having a conversation with a buddy of mine at hockey last night and he suggested Josh Ho-Sang in return for that draft pick Davidson got the Oilers…

What do you think?

Click on 16-bit Ebs (Isles) and button hook your way to buying this sweet tee!
Click on 16-bit Mat Barzal to check out this sweet design!
Click the image above and get your shirt today!
Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.

 

 

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

The Latest Oilers Trade Rumblings and Compliance Buyouts Are Coming According to John Shannon

First off I want to say that I’m very proud of the Women’s Canadian Hockey team. That was such a good hockey game and they worked their asses off. That move the American shooter made to win it was outstanding though. Seriously…

A silver medal is nothing to scoff at no matter how much Lias Andersson tries to convince you it is. And those ladies join another elite hockey team to lose a very important hockey game at the Olympics in Asia via the shootout…

99 on the bench after losing to the Czechs in ’98 at Nagano, Japan.

On yesterday’s Oilers Now, Bob Stauffer asked John Shannon a very interesting question,

Do you think that it’s an automatic that there are two non-compliance options options (going to be in the new CBA), like there have been in past CBAs?

John Shannon’s reply was, “Guaranteed!”

I’m a little confused at this point as to which kind of compliance buyouts Stauffer and Shannon are talking about. I reckon Stauffer is talking about compliance buy outs NOT non-compliance ones though.

But just to relieve any confusion, let’s go over their definitions:

  • Non-Compliance Buyout – Consider this the “regular” buyout like the one Chiarelli used on Pouliot last summer. NHL teams can choose to buy out and terminate any player’s standard player contract. It isn’t quite as easy as just cutting a player though, because any bought-out player is still due a portion of the money owed to him; either one-third or two-thirds of his remaining salary (depending on the terms of the original deal) to be paid out over twice the remaining years of the terminated contract.
  • Compliance Buyout – This is the “Get Out of Jail Free” buyout. Basically, teams can buy out any contract on their roster and it won’t count against their cap but it has to be a contract signed.

Now with those compliance (or amnesty) buyouts, in the past, there’s been a 2-week window right after the Stanley Cup final’s conclusion where the teams could do their business if you will. Also, the last time compliance buyouts were eligible to be utilized, only players who’d signed contracts on or before Sept.12 of 2012 were given the O.K. to be bought out and this was for the 2013 and 2014 seasons…

2021/22 is when the current CBA expires and conversely, the new Seattle franchise is expected to join the league the season previous. I don’t think that it would be in the league’s best interest to expand, have the new team play a year and then have a lockout. Both the NHL (Sept.1) or the NHLPA (Sept.19) can opt out next summer (2019/20) but that’s unlikely according to Shannon.

I know when I write on these kinds of things I feel like I’ve glossed something over, so please feel free to let me know if I’ve gotten something wrong in my interpretation either in the comments below or on Twitter (@beerleagueheroe). Thx!

HOW MIGHT THIS AFFECT THE OILERS?

If I’m right in interpreting the verbiage from past compliance buyout windows, it might allow them to buy out Milan Lucic IF he’s still with the club. I was thinking possibly Sekera and/or Russell but their contracts will have expired by the time a window opens and there’s no guarantee they’d be on the club at that point either. I’m thinking one of them will be in Seattle and the other playing in a different city.

  • Milan Lucic is signed for $6M/yr until 2022/23

But there’s the fact that Lucic’s deal is so laden with signing bonuses, would it even be worth it to the team to buy out the last year of his deal?

So I guess the only players who might be considered in the compliance buyout category at this point in time are Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid… Unlikely targets but you never know… Maybe the Oilers go on to sign John Carlson to a mega-deal this summer and he shits the bed for them… Or maybe they trade for Erik Karlsson and he slows right the F down in those later years and becomes a liability. I guess at that point, a compliance buyout might be an option for the Oilers.

The other thing Edmonton could do is acquire heavy contracts in exchange for tasty draft picks or prospects and then buy them out in the windows. Similar to what the Vegas or Arizona have done in the past.

I mean other teams could simply do that themselves but what if there’s a team that is desperate to get a contract off of the books, in theory, my notion above would be applicable, no? I guess the follow up to that would be, how much cap room will the Oilers have by then and if they have enough cap room to make such a move, why is that?

What do you think? Have I got it all wrong here?

LATEST ON THE OILERS TRADE FRONT

Erik Karlsson…

No, I don’t believe that the Oilers and Sens are talking Karlsson and Bobby Ryan because Eklund tweeted that out. But I do believe it’s worth a discussion IF the Sens would take Lucic back.

I love Lucic, I really do, and I want him to succeed but it’s really hard to watch him this year. He tries to engage in the games but nobody will fight him, nobody will even hit him. So the things that got him fired up in the past aren’t available anymore and he’s struggling to get out of this slump. He’s squeezing his stick way to tightly, he’s doing fly bys at the net when he should be stopping.

He looks tired.

I’d feel bad for him if he got dealt this early into his deal but it would be what it would be if it happened. I’d accept it and move on. I’d much rather him see success as part of the Oilers than another team obviously.

I don’t want to get into the details of a proper proposal but I do want to offer an idea to you…

What if the Oilers went ahead and traded for Karlsson and then traded him at the deadline next year? What kind of haul do you think the Oilers could get IF Doughty and OEL were on the market too? Not only that but what if the Oilers also won the lottery and drafted Dahlin?

Bob Stauffer also said yesterday that the Maple Leafs have watched the Oilers five of the last 7 games… They’re not looking at Maroon and I can only assume they’re not looking at Cammalleri…. Is there a Josh Leivo/Mark Letestu deal in the works with Toronto?

Toronto has a few names that jump out to me like RH’d Connor Carrick (RFA), plus their UFAs Bozak, Komarov, and Van Riemsdyk. Not to mention a whole whack of guys on their AHL team like Andreas Johnsson, Jeremy Bracco, Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen, Calvin Pickard and Garrett Sparks.

I think the thing with Toronto is that they’ll want more bodies moving out than coming in but the potential for a huge deal is there.

Speaking of Letestu, Jim Matheson wrote recently that in addition to Toronto, Columbus and Pittsburgh are interested in his services.

if the Penguins can’t bring back Matt Cullen from Minnesota, Letestu is their second choice.

One would think that Letestu would be the first choice due to age but Cullen would definitely know the Pens system a lot better.

Matheson also says that the Oilers are looking for a first rounder in exchange for Maroon but I’m thinking they’ll have to settle for a 2nd or 3rd and a prospect. Jakub Zboril’s name has come up from Boston and so has Zach Senyshyn’s but earlier this week Joe Haggerty said he couldn’t see Senyshyn getting moved.

Stauffer talked a bit about Anders Bjork yesterday and the report on Bjork is that he can move out there. A very fast player who has 12pts in 30 games this season for the Bruins and 4pts in 9 games for their AHL affiliate.

Bjork has the speed, offensive smarts and playmaking ability to potentially be a strong player in the NHL. If all goes well, he could be a second-liner. – Dobber’s Prospects

I would say that Bjork is really the epitome of modern day NHL player. He can play both ways, relies heavily on his speed, and has “creative” hands. – Chowder and Champions

Click the image above and get your shirt today!
Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.
Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Podcast, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

How About Some Coffey with Your Pizza Party? Plus a Ridiculous Oilers/Sens/Golden Knights “Rumor”

3 Comments

Lordy lordy, what a return from the bye week it has been! The Oilers were on fire last night and had a great showing on Hockey Day in Canada! I’ll be honest, I was a bit worried that they’d come out of that week off with more rust than my first car! Luckily Connor was there to reassure me that the Oilers had shaken off that rust.

Jesse Puljujarvi folks! I think he was probably the last player I figured would dominate that game but boy was he a beast out there! I was on the Oilers Live Podcast after the game and we were talking about how the Oilers might fill the hole on McDavid’s left wing after they trade Pat Maroon (nice 2 goals by the way) and my thoughts were if that 2nd line of Lucic, Draisaitl, and Puljujarvi could dominate like that on a nightly basis, I’d have ZERO qualms with McLellan putting Nuge on Connor’s wing, as RNH seems to be a MUCH BETTER shooter than playmaker. I think the 3rd line is really starting to find itself and what I mean by that is Khaira and Strome are finding chemistry as I’ve been impressed with their performances recently.

Darnell Nurse on the PP was really a breath of fresh air. I’ve gotten a bit sick of seeing Klefbom and Benning out there, to be honest. The thing with Darnell is that I’m not sure we’ll find his maximum effectiveness coming from his shot. I think it’ll come from his skating and rushing. Sean from theoilknight.ca was also on the podcast with me had mentioned he’d watched a lot of Nurse in the OHL when Nurse played for Sault Ste. Marie and that the dman had one helluva one-timer. I think last night wasn’t enough for me to make a definitive judgement on Nurse as the PP QB but I like what I saw enough that I HAVE to see more!

Can we get some Slepyshev in the next game please? Mike Cammalleri had a shocking game vs. Vancouver last night. That 5-bell special he gifted Brock Boeser in the 1st period was mad! As if that’s the guy you want barreling down on Talbot. He had some other poor plays later in the game too. It simply wasn’t his night.

Please subscribe to our YouTube channel! We’re on the hunt for 1000 subscribers (currently at 639) and we could really use your help!

Let’s move on to the Paul Coffey hiring.

I don’t feel like this is a bad hire and I’m all for having more smart guys in the room whether they’re part of the old boys club or not. Look, I get that there’s a faction of the fanbase who get really pissed off when the Oilers hire someone from their glory days but there aren’t a lot of players in the history of the NHL that can speak to the kind of ups and downs that young players deal with like the OBC. If they can offer something that isn’t being offered within the team now, how is it going to hurt?

He doesn’t have the professional resume! Is what the naysayers will shout from their huts. And they’re not wrong either but it doesn’t matter. He’ll be with the team until they see fit to give him an ambassador tag. I mean MacTavish’s contract has run out but he’s still with the organization. What’s Messier doing these days? I just reckon these boys are on the year-to-year deals until someone says they’re not.

I do feel like the hire wasn’t Chiarelli’s doing though. It was Gretzky’s move and that says to me that there’s a disconnect between the brass up top and the GM. Which you can add to the disconnect between the GM and the coach and lastly, the special teams coaches and the players.

It tells me that perhaps Mr.Coffey is joining to find out what the hell the issue is and report back to Gretzky and Bob Nicholson.

You might be asking yourself why that is and I’m of the belief that the men above wanted Chiarelli to let one of the assistant coaches go and when Chiarelli took that request to McLellan, the head coach refused to sign off on it.

So in the end, loyalty, not a poor performance on the coaches’ or GM’s part, might see them out on their butts this summer. I mean we know that Chiarelli will stick with his head coach through thick and thin as he did with Claude Julien in Boston. And I’m not opposed to that. This organization has been through WAY too much turnover in the last 10 years, right?

If you look at Winnipeg and how their ownership has stuck with their GM and coach through all of these lean years, it’s paid off. As opposed to Buffalo for example, where they cleaned house AGAIN this past summer and it’s not paying off for them at all. What do you do?

Hire Paul Coffey in a skills coach role, right?

How different is this title to that of say, Ryan Smyth’s?

We’re being told that Coffey will help the young dmen throughout the Oilers organization, be that players that are in junior still, the AHL, or the NHL.

Lowetide is going to have something up later on detailing Coffey’s addition over at the Athletic.

If you haven’t subscribed to the Athletic yet, you should! It includes a free 7-day trial so you can try The Athletic on for size free and see if they enjoy the in-depth, ad-free coverage on the site. If you don’t feel it’s worth the $4.49/month, cancel anytime during trial before getting charged. Go here and I’ll get a little kickback for referring you in the form of a handy $10 Amazon gift card 🙂

If it were me, I’d have axed those asst. coaches long ago, contacted Darryl Sutter and Dan Bylsma to see if they’d be interested in forming a sort of MEGA-Coaching personnel for the rest of the year and re-evaluated this summer.

I have heard Dean Lombardi’s name out there in connection to the Oilers too though… So we’ll see.

THE RUMOR

First off, I’ll tell you that I get all sorts of messages in my DMs from people claiming to be on the inside. Some are outright ridiculous and some are thought-provoking but I wanted to share this one with you to let you pick it apart.

Apparently, Vegas wants Erik Karlsson and Karlsson wants Vegas but Ottawa wants a player out of Edmonton that the Oilers won’t include in a deal to get Hoffman and the Sens don’t want to take a whole lot of money back in ANY deal. So Vegas is offering William Karlsson (yeah, the 20 goal guy) and Nate Schmidt to Edmonton for “that player” so they can package him with some other assets to acquire Karlsson from Ottawa. 

Where it falls apart for me is Vegas dealing its no.1 centre and a LH’d dman to Edmonton… Regardless if Karlsson is a UFA, he’s the teams best pivot and why in the hell would Edmonton want another leftie on D?

You gotta wonder sometimes…

What do you think? Leave your comments below!

Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shop to grab some sweet BLH merch.
Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

G8: Oilers vs. Senators – Eight Would Be Great!

 

The Oilers are back home for a game before heading out on their first real road trip of the year where they’ll face some pretty tough Eastern Conference opponents like the reigning Stanley Cup champs, a surprise Detroit Red Wings team, and both New York teams. Oh! And who can forget the first installment of Connor Vs. Auston?!

But tonight’s opposition is the Ottawa Senators who have just come off of a 5-2 thumping at the hands of the Calgary Flames. The Sens are 4-3-0 this season and one would think they’d have a much better record given the quality of players they employ. Alas, it’s early in the season and they could pull off five or six wins in the next 10 days and then we won’t be talking about how slow they’ve come out of the gate.

Tonight, I’ll be keeping my eye on two players for the Senators; Erik Karlsson (because you can’t help but notice him) and Mark Stone (as always when the Oilers play the Sens). I love the way Stone plays the game and to me, he’s one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL. Watch how good he is at taking the puck away from other players. He’s a genius at it and last year was first in the NHL with 128. That was 51 more takeaways than the next guy… From an Oilers perspective, Taylor Hall lead the team with 61.

I’m not sure if Craig Anderson will be in net or not given that he has just rejoined the team after receiving some very unfortunate news about his wife and her recent Cancer diagnosis but I hope that the Oilers fans do the right thing and give him a very large ovation.

As for the Oilers, I’ll be keeping a watchful eye on their star rookie, Jesse Puljujarvi. I feel like the manchild is getting better and more confident with each game that he plays. Last time out he nearly scored on a 2-on-1 and you could actually see the frustration on his face after it. He’s engaging physically and he’s already been quite a good two-way player so far this season and his CF% of 51.5 on the year (source) tells us he’s been doing alright in the fancies. I should ask G Money where the WoodMoney stats have him sitting.

I think that it is safe to say we’ll all be watching Cam Talbot closely to see if he continues his hot run because it is of the utmost importance to this team to have and keeping having the goaltending it has been getting.

Darnell Nurse has been the topic du jour lately and for once he’s not getting shit on by the oilogosphere and local media alike. The former Sault St. Marie Greyhound is really coming into his own alongside Eric Gryba and that’s stellar for this defence, no? He’s tied for the lead in team scoring (1g 2a 3pts) for defensemen and owns a very respectable CF% of 49.1. Come next year, when I suspect the Oilers will be looking to add another top-end defenseman via free agency or trade, Darnell Nurse could very well make that an extremely difficult decision for Peter Chiarelli if he continues to progress in the manner his is.

My prediction for tonight? An Oilers win to go 8-1-0. My belief is that this Sens team is hoping for an off night for the McDavid line but I can’t see that happening. I want to say that Leon Draisaitl is going to have a good game tonight though and I wonder if we’ll see Max McCormick/Darnell Nurse part 2? Probably not… Enjoy the game!

Click the pic! Get this kick-ass shirt!