Now that we’ve had a couple of days to digest some hockey, what have you thought so far? That Edmonton Oilers/Calgary Flames game was fantastic. It was intense but not out of hand and I know for myself, I was concerned that things could get overly violent given how the season series had gone throughout the season. The amount of violence I witnessed… 100% acceptable.

The broadcast was great! I didn’t notice the lack of fans in the crowd and the synthetic “crowd” noise was palpable. I mean, you kind of wish there were folks in the stands because they add so much more to the experience when goals are scored or big hits are laid out.

That Colby Cave tribute hit me like a tonne of bricks, how about you?

Let’s get the Philip Broberg stuff out of the way first, shall we?

Who makes a save like that in his first-ever NHL game? A bloody gamer, that’s who.

I thought he was fantastic given the circumstances. He started off quite tentative but as the game wore on he really settled in. Some of the pros I found in his game was that he wasn’t phased by Calgary’s attempts to intimidate him physically. Matt Tkachuk was on his ass hard from the get-go and the Swede looked like he hardly noticed him at each confrontation. Even Mikael Backlund gave him a cheap shot late in the game that had “Bro” wondering how the mosquitos got in the arena.

The skating that we’ve all been hearing about for a month, on full display. The way he moved around the ice, he looked like a seasoned vet. He was smooth and rarely caught out of position and the times he did get caught out, it was only momentarily. I’m of the belief that his skating is the reason he could be ahead of the curve a bit with regards to other prospects like Evan Bouchard and William Lagesson. The fact of the matter is, you could count on one hand the number of players, not just defenders, I mean everyone, on this Oilers team who can skate as good as or better than Broberg.

What I didn’t like about his game was that he seemed to be out of position in his own end from time to time and since he’s used to transporting the puck himself, he didn’t move the puck very quickly. That’ll all get worked out though. I think he could’ve been more physically assertive in his own end too, but then again, nobody ever complained about Nik Lidstrom’s lack of physicality.

I’ve read some folks criticizing how the young man pinches and rushes with the puck in addition to comparing him to Darnell Nurse. I don’t agree with those armchair scouting assessments though. While both Nurse and Broberg are fantastic skaters, it’s the Swede who has the higher offensive IQ and ceiling in general.

https://twitter.com/TheOilKnight/status/1287979654909956096

Nurse has never been an offensive defender. He can skate the puck up the ice when there’s room but he’s really lost in the other team’s zone. Most of the time he sends a blind pass into the slot, holds onto it, and goes around the net or gets checked. This season though he’s added the Eberle button hook to his arsenal, which is good. A lot of the points he gets at the NHL level are due to Klefbom being hurt so he gets time on the 1st PP unit and most of his TOI has been with McDavid.

I’ve said this in the past and I’ll say it again, Nurse is a hammer, not a scalpel. And that’s fine because the Oilers need a hammer or three on their blueline. On the other hand, Broberg has the smarts and the skills to be a scalpel.

Check out these highlights above, you didn’t see Nurse making those kinds of plays when he was that age and you don’t see him making them now. Yes, Broberg will most likely tone down the one-man rushes, but as he gets older and stronger and smarter, he’ll develop into a very dangerous “4th forward” option and that’s largely to do with how well of a skater he is. See, he has the ability to catch the opposing forwards on a backcheck because he skates so well should his play break down.

Some people say John Klingberg as a comparable, others say a more skilled Noah Hanifin. Would Jay Bouwmeester be off base? I reckon he’ll be more of a risk-taker in his early years, Karlsson-like, and then morph into a Bouwmeester-style of defender.

Jesse Puljujarvi

Recent reports out of Finland have him showing a much more mature side. “I’ve grown and I see things a bit differently.” is one of the things Pulju has said recently that have folks in Edmonton feeling optimistic that we could see the big Finn back in Edmonton as soon as next season.

What I’m lead to believe is that he could sign with the Oilers but start the year with Karpat and then come on over once the 20/21 NHL season gets going.

Now, in that scenario, if the roster goes unchanged, there’s possibly one spot on the roster open for him and that’s on the LW. With Zack Kassian, Kailer Yamamoto, Josh Archibald, Alex Chiasson, and Patrick Russell (most likely) occupying all of the spots on the RW, there’s nothing available for Jesse there.

As for the left-wing, only Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and James Neal have a spot locked up there. I’m skeptical of Tyler Ennis as well as Andreas Athanasiou. I’m not sure they’ll both be brought back for 20/21. If I had to guess, I’d think Ennis is much more likely to return than AA if the Greek Streak can’t get his mojo back for this playoff run.

I reckon Holland could get a decent draft pick in return for Athanasiou and since Edmonton only has to qualify Puljujarvi, re-signing him and Ennis could cost them under $2M. Then you’d have RNH, Ennis, Pulju (who’s much more suited for Edmonton’s 3rd line than Athanasiou in my opinion), Neal, and Nygard.

The Flames Game

My man, Patrick Russell with 2pts in 33 seconds (I think)! Too bad it wasn’t an official game as The Great Dane is still waiting for his first proper NHL goal. Hopefully, this is just the start of many more.

I thought the Oilers were dominant from the drop of the puck and really toyed with the Flames until the goalie switch. After that, I found the Flames started to pick up the pace and really hold Edmonton’s zone a lot longer. Luckily for the Oilers, both their goalies were on the ball, which is something that could be said for Calgary’s netminders.

What I hope they’ll try to do is stay out of the penalty box. Chicago, as inferior as they may look on paper, do have some players who can put the puck in the net at will. I also hope to see their intensity level increase.

Ethan Bear… Wow! Brian Lawton was saying yesterday on Oilers Now that he thinks out of Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg, and the young defender of Cree descent, that Bear would be the most likely to be a no.1 defenseman in the NHL. I felt that he was Edmonton’s best defender along with Adam Larsson, who now healthy, is an uncaged beast.

As for the forwards, Connor McDavid was obviously the best, but I thought near every other forward had at least one good highlight throughout the evening. Be that a hit, a scoring chance, or some nifty puckhandling, even Gaetan Haas… I hope his ankles are okay!

Puck Racism

The sales are starting to trickle in with this design and I’m going to spam the hell out of it on my website and the BLH Hockey Instagram because I feel passionate about it and I feel like Hockey is Diversity deserves the proceeds that I’ll be donating to them.

So, please. If you’ve got an extra $20 lying around and you want to do a good thing for good people, click the pic down below and grab a t-shirt, a mask, a onesie, a tank top, or some stickers.

Hockey is Diversity is a German group whose aim is to draw attention to the ethnic diversity in society, which goes beyond the sporting borders in order to sensitize people interculturally. The diversity that has long been regarded as an enrichment in sport as a melting pot of people of different ethnicities, cultures, and religions should also be transferred to society.