Tag Archives: Jack Eichel

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

(11/24/2020) BLH Rumors and NHL Speculation

Speculating from an Edmonton Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Jack Eichel, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and more!

Is the All-Canadian division a bad idea for Canadian teams? Read about that here.

What are the pundits in Edmonton saying about their new signing? Check that out here.

Do you know the story about the man who saved the Edmonton Oilers? Watch it here!

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!
  • Lance Lysowski (Buffalo News): Jack Eichel is happy (for now) with the moves the Sabres have made this off-season as he had this to say on the topic,
    • “We added Eric Staal. Obviously, he’s won a Cup, he’s been around the league for a while. A guy like Cody Eakin, a guy like Hallsy. These are guys, established guys in the league that are older, veteran guys. I think they bring a lot on the ice. Taylor Hall, MVP a few years ago. He’s going to bring a lot to the game, but I think they bring a lot to the locker room and just overall the culture of your group. … It’s so hard to win when you’re young… I think it’s so important to have that veteran presence in the room and on the ice, so I think it was good for us to add that this offseason. We’ll see what happens.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m with Eichel 100%. I’ve always thought that the Oilers never brought in enough high-end veterans during the “days of darkness” to help support their all-star teenagers they were throwing to the lions. 

I love the addition of Eric Staal to the Sabres, but I do feel like they would do well to add similar kinds of players on defence and in net. If Ryan Miller were to play one more season, it would be quite the story if he ended his career where it started, no? 

  • Tom Gulitti (NHL.com): Minnesota Wild GM on his plans for defenceman Matt Dumba,
    • “I’m prepared to start the season with him, and we really like that.” Guerin said. “He’s a good young player. He’s got good energy. I love his competitiveness. Our defensive corps, I’ll out them up against anybody’s.”

BLH’s Thoughts: This is a very intriguing scenario that is developing in Minnesota. Matt Dumba is a fantastic defender and a team like Toronto, who really needs a right-shot d-man like Dumba could come in and offer someone like William Nylander for the former Red Deer Rebel and a draft pick or prospect. 

Nylander and Kaprizov working their magic could very well bring that franchise back to life.

  • Steve Simmons (Toronto Sun): Do you think that Simmons is insinuating that the Toronto Maple Leafs might want to acquire a proper center for their 3rd line in the quote below?
    • “The Leafs have Joe Thornton and Alex Kerfoot, but they still don’t really have a typical third-line centre. Thornton can’t play 200-foot hockey anymore and can’t be counted on to play in the defensive zone. Kerfoot is a better winger than he is a centre.”

BLH’s Thoughts: They’ve defintely got enough assets to make a deal for a proper 3rd line center OR they could just move some of their higher-end forwards down and spread the TOI out amongst their top-9 a bit more evenly… I mean, you know at some point Matthews, Thornton, and Tavares will be deployed. 

  • Joe Haggerty (Boston Hockey NOW): A quote coming from AZcoyotesinsider.com courtsey of ‘Yotes defender Oliver Ekman-Larsson is fanning the OEL-to-Bruins speculation flames once again,
    • “I knew Boston had some interest in me before I signed my contract here. That was one of the teams I felt wanted me and showed interest in me, and I spent a lot of time in Boston when I played in Portland, Maine in the lockout year (2012-13), so I was familiar with the city and I liked it when I was there.”

BLH’s Thoughts: The Bruins are going to need help throughout their roster this season with all the injuries and departures by key players. My feeling is that if they do manage to trade for OEL, the price will send shockwaves due to how cheap it ends up being to get him. The reason for that, the Swedes contract could be construed as bulbous. 

Personally, I don’t mind the player. By the time his deal becomes problematic, the salary cap will be rising again. If the price is right, I’d love to see Edmonton go for him. Sending Nurse or Klefbom to Arizona is well within my range of risk. 

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Edmonton Oilers, International, Michael Sifeldeen, NHL

McJesus and the World Cup Promised Land

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(I’ve got a copy of The Hockey News’ World Cup preview magazine in front of me as I write this, so if you’ve got a problem with any of the stats I’m quoting, take it up with them.) Ok, perfect. While the hockey world tries to figure out if they give a shit or not about the World Cup of Hockey, I’m sitting here looking at the rosters and immediately coming to the conclusion that Team North America is the team to beat, and then also seeing quickly after that no one who matters agrees with me. So, now, I’m going to go over a few key World Cup facts and figures here, and inject a healthy dose of bias and starry-eyed opinionated commentary to try and pull you firmly onto the Team NA bandwagon with me. Many of our more naysaying readers may be saying nay right now to Team North America’s chances of winning this tournament, and I’m going tell them, in as many words, why they’re dead wrong. Ready? Let’s do it.

Team NA is not significantly smaller or lighter than the other teams

Here are the average heights and weights of all the teams competing in this tournament:

Canada: 6’2″, 207lbs
Sweden: 6’1″, 200lbs
Finland: 6’1″, 199lbs
USA: 6’2″, 210lbs (Jesus Christ, get out of here, Byfuglien, you’re screwing up the metrics)
Russia: 6’1″, 200lbs
Czech Republic: 6’1″, 205lbs
Europe: 6’1″, 204lbs

And finally, Team North America coming in at a very respectable average height and weight of 6’2″, 200lbs. The NA boys have an inch on 5/8 teams, and weigh the same as or more than three others. This is a non-issue at these averages.

Team NA is significantly younger than any other team

The average ages of the World Cup teams:

Canada: 28.7
Sweden: 28.7
Finland: 25.9
USA: 29.0
Russia: 27.0
Europe: 29.9
Czech Republic: 27.3

And again, we have Team North America coming in at a young, but respectable, 21.7 years old on average. This is an age range where most of the players have about two-to-three years in the NHL under their belts, so they’re not green rookies, and they are at the age where their speed and reflexes will almost certainly be at or near their career high.

Team NA is Faster Than Any Other Team, and It’s Not Close

McDavid, Eichel, Larkin, Gaudreau, Droin, MacKinnon… this team is obscenely fast. Tell me how the defensive monsters on the Canadian squad like Doughty and Weber, or the Americans’
Johnson or Byfuglien are supposed to exert their power over these kids if they’re too big and slow to even keep up with them? Which leads me to the next point…

Defensive Size and Grit Won’t Matter*

It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t a typical NHL playoff series grind, and won’t even really be reminiscent of regular season games. This is a short tournament. There won’t be significant contact, certainly no dirty plays with an NHL season about to start and a KHL season already underway, and fighting is out of the question. So where exactly do the big, intimidating bodies of the other national teams have a significant advantage over the quickness and skill of the North Americans?

*(09/10 Post-pre-tourney CAN vs USA games update: … *Except* for the CAN/USA games, apparently. Jesus.)

Plus, the Team NA Defensive Lineup is Amazing in Its Own Right

Ekblad, Ghost Bear, Jones, Murray, Parayko, Rielly, and Trouba? Are you kidding me? You’re looking at the future of NHL defence right now, and these guys haven’t even entered the prime of their careers yet. They’re dynamic and intelligent, and they can eat minutes along with the best of ’em. I’m not even kind of worried about this aspect of the team.

Don’t Worry about Team NA’s Goaltending

I laugh really, really hard and obnoxiously every time someone says the goaltending of Team North America is going to be their achilles heel. Yes, I too am super concerned about rookie-playoff-record-15-game-winning-Stanley-Cup-champion Matt Murray and All-Star Game player and Ducks’ 23-year-old bona fide starter John Gibson.

Puh-lease. These guys are killer. Obviously they’re not a Carey Price or a Henrik Lundqvist yet (I spelled The King’s name right the first time, just so you know), but what does that matter in a tiny preseason tournament? We aren’t testing these guys over the course of a 60-start season.

That’s the root of the problem with most criticism levied at this squad: it presumes the need for a bigger sample size than is necessary or warranted for the format and length of the tournament. Is anyone arguing that, historically, experience and grit wins championships? Of course not. But for the glorified preseason exhibition series the World Cup is poised to be, traditional evaluative factors don’t apply. Team North America is going to skate circles around the competition. They’re going to score ridiculous goals and come up with whacky, inventive shit that will wins them games because they’re young and fast and skilled, and that’s what’s going to matter.

In Conclusion

I wrote the bulk of this piece before the first pre-tournament games had taken place, so let me just acknowledge how wrong I was about the whole “no dirty plays, etc” bit. Clearly I underestimated the classlessness of some of the American squad (*cough*Kesler you still suck*cough*). So let me amend part of my statements to say that, for the majority of the teams, this isn’t going to be an all-out war of who can play the most boneheaded and outmoded brand of hockey.

I stand by my overall assessment that the North Americans are going to win it all based on their skill and speed, because they’re never going to have to play the Americans, because the Canadians will dispatch them before the group final round.

Where North America will win.

Because McJeez/Johnny Hockey/Eich is the most ridiculous first line I’ve ever heard of in my life and I refuse to stop fanboying. Goodnight, and may god have mercy on the rest of the world’s souls.

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Kris Hansen

BLH Weekly Recap Feb 29-March 6th

 

Another Week in the books saw the Edmonton Oilers go 3-1-0, where the Oilers had a nice three game winning streak, but had a very Oiler loss on Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.  Tonight they face the Winnipeg Jets, another struggling Canadian team.

It wasn’t a bad week for the Oilers and their wins against Buffalo and Philadelphia were one sided wins.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

3. Patrick Maroon. Acquired on Monday for a 4th round draft pick and prospect Martin Gernat, Maroon has made quite the impression right off the get go, having a goal and two assists in the two games that he has played with the Edmonton Oilers. Maroon is a 6’3 230 mammoth of a man and it was on display against Philadelphia in his debut where he would be constantly be facing two players at once. He also scored against the team who drafted him, which was also his Oilers debut. Maroon adds an element that is lacking from the Oilers ala Zack Kassian: Grit, Size and Nastiness.

2. Taylor Hall. Hall had two goals and an assist in the four games played this week and he was looking like his usual self. His goal against the Flyers was a great play and while he went hard into the boards, it was a great, impressive effort from number four. He scored against Columbus and played some minutes with Connor McDavid, where he did not look out of place. Hall is a natural talent and while his production has stalled, he is one of the best point producers in the game. For a team that struggles at times to score goals, suggesting trading one of the guys who produces at the rate he does, is foolish.

1. Connor McDavid. McDavid returns to the number one spot after a very impressive week. McDavid had six points in four games and I’ll be damned if it’s too soon to say this, but he’s one of the best players in the NHL at age 19. Sure, sample size blah blah, but number 97 is the most exciting player in the game. He’s the reason why people will tune into Oilers games, and there’s no shame in saying that. In the first McEichel bowl, he came away victorious with two goals, the first 22 seconds into the game and the second being the overtime winner (which was gracefully fed off a miss shot by Jack Eichel). He’s something else and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see him throughout the full year.

Edmonton Oilers News 

The Oilers were busy on a dull Trade Deadline day by opening up with claiming Adam Pardy and Adam Cracknell off waivers. 

The Oilers finished the day with acquiring the already mentioned, Patrick Maroon. 

I did a nifty little grade for all of the Trade Deadline moves made by the Oilers (including the ones leading up to the Deadline)

Connor McDavid should win the Calder. Seriously he should. 

The Edmonton Oilers are about to play the Jets in a Heritage Classic this upcoming fall.  It should be officially announced today.

Around the League

William Nylander scored his first Career NHL Goal against the Ottawa Senators, in Dion Phaneuf’s return to Toronto since being traded to Ottawa

Zac Rinaldo is an idiot and was suspended yet again.  

Max Domi had his first career suspension after instigating a fight with less than five minutes left against Anaheim. 

Jaromir Jagr tied Gordie Howe for career points. 

In that same link above, Nikolai Ehelers suffered a scary eye injury.

The NHL is talking about moving the draft age to 19. 

Highlights

Oilers vs Flyers

https://www.youtube.com/user/NHLVideo/videos

Oilers vs Sabres

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4BdZG21mrc

Here are some top moments from NHL.com

And Finally, it’s that time of the year: The All Hockey Hair Team 2016.

 

The Week Ahead

Tonight. Jets. Oilers. 5 PM Mountain time.

Hosting San Jose on Tuesday.

Visiting Minnesota on Thursday

Finally hosting the Coyotes on Saturday.

That’s the week that was! Hopefully the Oilers continue their better play as of late. Follow me on Twitter and have yourselves a great week.

Edmonton Oilers, Kosmic Burrito, NHL

Kosmic’s World Cup of Hockey Team North America Roster Prediction

March 1st 2016
Post Deadline

Well….here I am…I must have done something right, because I’m back to trip with the BLH Universe again! How’d you like Chia Pete’s first go as an Oiler at the ol’ deadline? Do you think that the Oilers made out alright? Me, I don’t really have any complaints, plus, that’s not what my post is about, haha…

As promised, this is my 2016 World Cup of Hockey Team McDavid, errr, I mean Team North America roster predictions/report. Let’s face it folks, this team belongs to the McWizard!

But first, I have to get something of my chest. I don’t even like the inclusion of the 23 and under North American and European teams. Do you really think that Mcdavid wants to be the one who scores the goal that eliminates Team Canada (hypothetically speaking)? Of course he doesn’t!! He wants to score the huge goals for Canada, and party with the big boys!! But….here we are, and that train has left the station.

Too be honest though, as an Oilers fan this team does possess a lot of Edmonton connections. First off, the GM is Peter Chiarelli, and the Head Coach is Todd Mclellan. Plus some key members of the team I might add.

So, just like my last report, we’ll start with the Goaltenders. Speaking of which, I think this is going to be the team’s weakest position. Only due to the lack of experienced ’tenders. There is USA’s John Gibson, who has won both gold and bronze at the World Juniors. Also, Jets prospect Connor Hellebuyck won bronze at the World Championships. So there is some experience there, that can’t be discounted. I do honestly believe that Gibson is on the verge of breaking out huge, and what a scene that would be if he could do it on the world stage.

Potential Goalies: John Gibson, Connor Hellebuyck, Malcolm Subban, Matt Murray, and Zach Fucale

Again, this is just my personal opinion, but you can’t ignore Gibson and Hellebuyck’s international resumes. So I see Chiarelli going with (in this order):

John Gibson – Connor Hellebuyck – Malcolm Subban

The defence is a different story….this is seriously a stacked backend ladies and gentlemen! We’re talking about names like Ekblad, Reilly, Jones, and Hanifin. That’s heavy duty. Baby’s got back! I didn’t realize just how stacked they are until I started to research this story. So let’s get on with it.

Potential Defencemen: Aaron Ekblad, Noah Hanifin, Matt Dumba, Morgan Reilly, Colton Parayko, Seth Jones, Dougie Hamilton, Connor Murphy, Jacob Trouba, Cody Ceci, Colin Miller, and Ryan Murray

Making my prediction for the defence was actually tougher than originally thought, but if I was GM, the defence would like something like this:

Seth Jones – Aaron Ekblad
Morgan Reilly – Jacob Trouba
Ryan Murray – Dougie Hamilton
Extra Skater: Matt Dumba

Ah yes, now the Mcdavid’s, I mean the McJesus’, Errg…Now for the forwards. You thought that the defence was stellar? Shit dude, you haven’t seen anything yet! We’re talking about names like 2 time Cup winner Brendan Saad, Johnny Hockey himself, and that other fellow, what”s his name, oh yeah…CONNOR MCDAVID! Honestly, this team should not be taken lightly at all. There is A LOT of potential firepower on this squad. So let’s get cracking at it.

Potential Forwards: Connor McDavid, Brendan Saad, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nathan McKinnon, Curtis Lazar, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Sean Couturier, Ryan Strome, Sean Monahan, Alex Galchenyuk, Jonathon Huberdeau, Mark Scheifele, Jonathon Drouin, Sam Reinhart, Max Domi, Dylan Larkin, Boone Jenner, Sam Bennett, Robby Fabbri, Anthony Duclair, and Bo Horvat

See, I told you that they’re doing pretty well for themselves….so take this with a grain of salt, but here are my line predictions:

Johnny Gaudreau – Connor McDavid – Nathan McKinnon
Brandon Saad – Sean Monahan – Jack Eichel
Alex Galchenyuk – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Ryan Strome
Max Domi – Sean Couturier – Curtis Lazar
Extra Skater: Auston Matthews

As awesome as it will be for all of these kids to play together, you can’t tell me that they wouldn’t have preferred to play for their respected countries? So hopefully the next inception of the World Cup only includes countries. But regardless, the North American team is an incredibly talented squad and they’re my sleeper pick to win it all. They definitely shouldn’t be underestimated just due to their age, they have a lot of international hardware between them, plus…..McDavid.

Well folks, once again, thanks for tripping with me!! Stay tuned for my next article……an introduction to the future, the man known as Laurent Brossoit….

Follow me on the Twitter @kosmicburrito

Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oilers Post Game Report, NHL, Three Points Dave

BLH G65 Oilers/Sabres Post Gamer: McMagic in McOvertime!

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Three Points Dave is back with another Edmonton Oilers post gamer. He’s a tad under the weather in this one and forgets one point but we can forgive him because he’s the Ryan Smyth of Oilers vloggers! All heart all day long baby!

*UPDATE* Dave did in fact make three points and apparently I’m drunk… 

Check out his review of the game last night and don’t forget to subscribe to our channel so you can get these vids as soon as their released!