Game: Edmonton Oilers (18-23-5) at Florida Panthers (26-14-5)
Location: BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida
Time: 5:30 PM MT
Where to find it: TV: Sportsnet West – Radio: 630 CHED
Edmonton Oilers Preview:
After serving his three-game suspension for his illegal hit to Florida Panther Aaron Ekblad, Matt Hendricks returns to the lineup and looks to make an impact. He slides into the lineup on the fourth line, bumping Anton Lander to the press box – a move I could see coming for a while.
It’s not that Lander’s play has been horrible this year. He has fared well in the faceoff circle, as well as in his own zone, however he has only scored two points in 45 games played this year. Well off from the 20 points he scored in 38 games last year.
In his own right, Hendricks is well deserving of a chance to take more faceoffs. He currently leads all Oilers players with a 58% winning percentage in the dot.
Tonight appears like it will be a physical night, given that Hendricks is coming off of his suspension and that the Panthers are dressing tough-guy Shawn Thornton.
Driving home from Tampa. As expected Thornton in tonight to say hello to Mr Hendricks #ekbladrevenge
Luke Gazdic also draws into the lineup for the Oilers, and will flank Matt Hendricks’ left side on the fourth line. When together this season, Hendricks and Gazdic combine for a 57% Corsi For.
“We had a bit of a chippy one with Florida last time we played,” Gazdic said. “Some stuff happened in the previous game, and you’re never sure if there’s going to be a carry-over, but we’re just concerned about coming in and getting a win. If that stuff happens, we’re obviously ready for it. But we have a goal in mind, and that’s to come in and get two points.”
Rough Translation: “We’ll punch faces if we have to.”
Fresh off of signing the ink on a new, 3 year deal Cam Talbot gets the start. As I wrote about yesterday, I am a fan of this deal for him. It provides us with some stability in net moving forward, with the option in the third year of the deal to part way via a limited no trade clause should the team feel necessary.
The deal helps open things up for Edmonton moving forward as it will give us the ability to start to dip our toes more into the trade market now that we know where our cap is going into next year.
“I feel extremely confident,” Talbot said last night upon arrival in Florida. “I think it’s some of the best hockey I’ve played in my career. I’m starting to get really comfortable with what (Oilers Goalie Coach) Dustin (Schwartz) has been teaching all year.”
#Oilers 2014 – 2015 season through game 46: 11 – 26 – 9, 31 pts. #Oilers 2015 – 2016 season through game 46: 18 – 23 – 5, 41 pts.
Montoya is expected to make his 11th start of the season after Roberto Luongo played Sunday in a 3-1 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning. After a franchise-record 12 straight wins, the Panthers have lost three games in a row. “We needed to compete harder, put pucks on the net,” coach Gerard Gallant said. Despite the losing streak, Florida still leads the Atlantic Division with 57 points. Center Nick Bjugstad scored a goal in the third period against Tampa, his first since Nov. 21 against the New York Rangers. Florida plays its final four games before the All-Star break at BB&T Center. – nhl.com
Line Combos and Starting Goalies c/o Left Wing Lock:
Oilers (Cam Talbot):
Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Zack Kassian – Mark Letestu – Nail Yakupov
Luke Gazdic – Matt Hendricks – Iiro Pakarinen
Andrej Sekera – Mark Fayne
Darnell Nurse – Justin Schultz
Brandon Davidson – Eric Gryba
Florida Panthers (Al Montoya):
Jonathan Huberdeau – Aleksander Barkov – Jaromir Jagr
Jussi Jokinen – Vincent Trochek – Reilly Smith
Brandon Pirri – Nick Bjugstad – Logan Shaw
Corban Knight – Derek MacKenzie – Quinton Howden
Brian Campbell – Erik Gudbranson
Willie Mitchell – Dmity Kulikov
Steven Kampfer – Alex Petrovic
Any ideas on how to improve my game previews? Send me an email at zjlaing@gmail.com.
Hendy could be gone for a game or two from that hit on Ekblad but his actions get a thumbs-up from me.
WOW! Of all the games for the Oilers to have their balls drop it’s the one versus the Florida Panthers. I absolutely loved what I saw from Edmonton yesterday! It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a VERY long time but I’m disappointed that it took an aging Matt Hendricks to go out there and do something.
No, the team isn’t made up of power forwards or guys that will go out there and muck it up on a game-by-game basis but this is hockey not figure skating. Every player that laces up and heads out onto the ice has at one point or another been in an altercation in their hockey careers. Hell, we saw the softest player on the Panthers stick up for a teammate and go after Eric Gryba. Not the smartest of decisions but a decision nonetheless and his teammates respected him for it.
So if this is a “respect” issue does that mean there’s a lack of mutual respect amongst the Oilers? I mean how many of the team’s stars have to get manhandled for one of their teammates to stick up for them? Now, you’ll here coaches say that the game isn’t played that way anymore, meaning players don’t go after each other every time a big hit is laid out, but I disagree. Watch any other team in the NHL, especially the good ones. If one of their players is hit in a manner that is deemed unacceptable by a teammate, someone steps in and it’s not even a question. So with the Oilers, every time something like this comes up it’s usually taken care of by Matt Hendricks, who was given a standing ovation from his teammates when he left the penalty box after the fight with Petrovic by the way, and it’s almost sickening that a player on his last legs has to go out there and do that because nobody else has the nut sack big enough to do it.
Hall getting hit at center ice by Erik Gudbranson was a clean hit. Although it looked pretty bad it was clean. Was Hendricks’ hit clean? No. Not by a country mile. It was predatory and painfully obvious he was looking to even the score. If I were coach would I bench him? No. Would I pat him on the back? No. It’s something that is part of the game or at least it used to be…
Friend of the blog Ryan Robinson puts everything in perfect perspective in his latest vlog. Check it out below!
It’s time for the Oilers to lose some of these soft players (Pouliot, Purcell, Eberle, Schultz, Fayne) and bring in some players that will instil some team unity to this club. It can’t always be the team’s eldest statesman, the team’s youngest defender or a no.6/7 blue liner going out there and sticking up for their teammates. Apart from Hendricks, the bottom six is soft as baby shit even when Gazdic is in the lineup. Rob Klinkhammer gets 5 minutes a night, how is he supposed to contribute? Although I noticed their TOI peaked sharply last night in response to how the game was flowing.
Now we’re not going to see any major moves until the deadline I believe. So there’s no real advantage in crying over spilt milk but I fully expect GM Peter Chiarelli to go out and acquire 1-3 players between the deadline and the beginning of next season that will bring some toughness to the squad. I’m talking about players such as Travis Hamonic, Dustin Byfuglien, Kyle Okposo, Milan Lucic, David Backes, Andrew Ladd, or Troy Brouwer.
Now the purists would’ve hated that game last night and the analytics folks would say that all that rough stuff did nothing to help the Oilers’ cause. They should’ve concentrated on putting the puck in the net because that’s the real way to get back at the team that just destroyed your best player. This is the type of thinking that will turn professional hockey into a pussified melding of lunch time shinny and figure skating.
Do I like to see a nice end-to-end rush? Yes, I loved it when Paul Coffey did it back in the day. I loved it when Ovechkin did it the other night. My favourite player of all time is Mario Lemieux! I like skill but I respect those that go out there and put their bodies on the line for their teammates like a Wendal Clark or a Mark Messier would have.
I said it last night in a chat with The Oilers Rig’s Alex Thomas, I guarantee you that the majority of the fans leaving the game last night were absolutely jacked with the effort and response showed by the Oilers and less worried about the loss. Why? Because it’s respectable. You lose respect for the team when you see them get pushed around.
I do not and will not endorse a game where physicality isn’t encouraged. This is hockey, it’s physical, it’s emotional, it hits you hard and it hits you fast. Don’t like it? Go watch curling.
Walt’s post game shooting metrics are below. It looks like the Oilers did in fact have a really good game.
There are seventeen days between now and the official opening of the 2015/16 season. The young stars tournament held annually in Penticton to me are when things really start to get exciting. This is our first chance to see some of these budding young players in actual games with physical contact. More importantly this is the first time we will get to see Connor McDavid play against someone other than his own teammates in a non-contact game. While I am not discounting his 5 goal performance in the Billy Moores cup it was just a prospect game which obviously presents little in the way of a challenge for Connor.
Thinking about Penticton and all the excitement that will surround the bustling little city gets me to thinking of all the Oilers firsts that we are going to witness this coming season, both for young McJesus and the Oilers in general. The first goal of the season, the first multi-point and multi-goal games of the year. The first time we see hats rain from the sky in celebration. The first pugilistic event of the season, good or bad it’s going to happen soon enough people. The first time the boys bring home the clean sheet and how long into the season will we be forced to wait to see the boys in blue victorious? One final thought I just had, hopefully not the final one ever by the way, was will the Oilers be the first team in NHL history to have four 1st overall picks score for one team in one game? Wouldn’t that be something to see!
That’s a lot of season highlights and they could all happen within the first two to three weeks of the season if things break right finally for these boys. With all the excitement that this train of thought is giving to Oilers fans the world over it is time to make some predictions. I want to hear from as many of you as possible too. Let’s all make our best guesses o all the topics above. The prize will be nothing more than bragging rights but you will get to hold your head high knowing that you somehow pulled a guess out of your ass that actually turned out to be true. I know if I am right I plan to laud it over everyone for as long as I possibly can and if not then I will erase all trace of this conversation having taken place and vehemently deny any and all predictions.
With that being said let’s get down to business and start with the guessing.
First goal of the season/ first goal for Connor McDavid
The first goal of the season will come in St. Louis on October 8th. I think everyone knows that by now. If you don’t then what the hell man? You really need to straighten out your priorities! As you can see I added in McDavid’s first goal as well because 95% of the excitement this off-season is directly related to this amazing young man. And now for the official proclamation, (drumroll please) the player that will score the first goal of the 2015/16 season for the Edmonton Oilers will be…..
The crowd won’t obviously go wild and bras won’t rain from the sky for our very own baby Nuge when he lights the lamp midway through the first period in the Scottrade center. That will unfortunately have to wait a week until the very same Blues will visit Rexall to open the final season of the old barn. Young Connor will light the lamp for his first goal of the season in his second game as a pro. He will score a highlight reel beauty streaking off the wing to beat Rinne. Yeah I know that is a pretty detailed prediction but this is the big leagues folks and if you wanna play with the big boys its time to put on your big boy undies, yeah the ones your mom laid out will be fine, and get to guessing!
The first multi-point and multi-goal games of the season/ McDavid as well.
There is an immense amount of talent in the Oilers top six, hell there was a lot before we added Connor. The phenom just pushed us even higher. Obviously with that amount of firepower it will be a little harder to accurately predict who will be the first to register a two or more point game and a two or more goal performance. Since there is a fairly decent chance that these both don’t occur on the same night we will make separate guesstimates for both. The first player to record a multi-point game will be…
Again the award goes the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The first multi-point game of the season will in fact be the season opener in St. Louis. Nugey will contribute a goal in the first period as we already determined but he will add an assist on a Jordan Eberle third period goal as well to take the honors. Connor will have his first two point night against Dallas in the 3rd game of the season.
The first player to score more than one goal is something altogether different and I really don’t see this one going to RNH. Nuge is more of a playmaker than a sniper and because of that he will prefer to pass the puck more often than not. The winner of the award for first multi-goal game goes to….
Hallsy is still our best offensive weapon for the coming season and adding McDavid as his center is only going to take the speedster to new heights. It won’t take very long for Hall to bulge the twine on more than one occasion in a game. I’m guessing that he completes the task in Dallas against the Stars on the 13th of October. Dallas bled goals last season and with relatively the same D-corps and same starting netminder could see the trend continue this year. Dallas’ saving grace is that for as badly as they give up goals they are also able to find the back of the net more often than nearly any team in the league. Hall will score twice that night and both will be off of passes from Connor McDavid. Goals are obviously a tad bit harder to come by than assists in the NHL so it will be a little longer before Connor is able to see the red light go on twice or more in a game. Although I don’t think that he will have to wait that long and will manage to accomplish the feat in the Battle of Alberta game on the 17th of October.
First Hattrick of the season
The first time that the heavens will open up and hats will pour from the sky will be a truly glorious event to behold for the thousands in attendance and the hundreds of thousands if not millions watching on television at home. Should it occur on home ice you can guarantee a delay in the game while all the errant hats are rounded up and removed from the ice. Even on the road most other teams fans realize how special a three goal performance is and will generally litter the ice with more than a few sun blockers. How long will we be forced to wait to see this wonderous occurrence? Well if my guess is right it shouldn’t take that long at all! The first player to record a three goal game will be…
The first time that we will see hats raining from the sky will in fact by off of the stick of our young saviour Connor McDavid. Not only will the future of the franchise be the first to score a hattrick this season, which is wonderful news in itself, but he will do so in his first multi-goal game of the season too! That’s right folks. I predict that the first time we see the threepeat will be on the 17th of October live on CBC Hockey Night in Canada against the hated Flames. Calgary has been our most hated rival for virtually the entire time that the Oilers have been in the league and it usually means that the players are even more amped up to play than normal. Connor in a normal game will be a formidable player to watch but when he elevates his game to compete in the BOA he will be virtually unstoppable. Good news for Edmonton fans, not so good for Dougie Hamilton and Mark Giordano.
The First Fight/ Will McDavid fight?
The first fight of the season isn’t included as an important seasonal milestone as the rest we are discussing but this is still a contact sport and sooner or later tempers will flair and fists will fly. The only question is how many games it is going to take before we have a couple willing combatants? My guess for the player to drop the gloves and earn a 5 minute trip to the sin bin is going to be…
Matt Hendricks. We all know and love the guy for what he brings to this team and he seems to be a very well-respected vet by the younger guys on the team. Hendy is never going to be a dynamic offensive dynamo but what he does bring is a willingness to do all the little things and the work ethic to handle the tougher zone starts. Another great thing about Hendricks is his willingness to stand up for his teammates. He will definitely be the first guy to come to the defense of his team and I think we will see him drop his mitts if not against the Flames then on the very next night against the loathsome Vancouver Canucks. Will McDavid fight this coming season? I really doubt it, I m fairly certain he will be under fairly strict instructions to keep his gloves on and let others handle the physical violence when it is needed.
First shut-out of the season?
We have a new starting goalie this year in all likelihood. Cam Talbot is basically being gifted the job barring a horrendous camp from him or an absolutely amazing one from either Scrivens or Nillson. Smart money is that we will be seeing the ghostbuster mask belonging to Talbot in between the pipes far more often than the other two goalies combined. Even then just because you are getting the majority of the starts doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be the first to record a perfect game. The first goalie to record a shut-out this season will be…
Just kidding! There is pretty much no possible way that the first shut-out isn’t going to Cam. He is hopefully the future in goal for the Oilers and will want to establish himself as a bona fide starter sooner rather than later. My prediction is that his first one will come against the Detroit Red Wings on October 21st. Seeing as it will be only the second home game of the season after five out of the first six games are on the road should make for a very raucous crowd and a great time for Cam to show what he has to the Oilers faithful.
First win of the season?
Last season the Oilers played and lost the first five games of the season. They could only manage to earn one point out of the possible ten. A rough start to be sure but after the first five game skid the Oil managed to put together a fairly successful little streak winning the next four straight to nearly end the month of October. Edmonton only managed a 4-5-0-1 record in October last season and didn’t earn a win against a Western conference team until December 7th against Todd McLellan and his former team the San Jose Sharks. Not exactly awe-inspiring now is it. For the Oilers to show that they are a much improved team and that they will not again be the basement dwelling team that was nearly unable to beat any teams in their own conference they will need to set the tone early and what better way to do that then to walk into Scottrade Center in St. Louis on opening night and leave with their first two points of the season? That is right peeps, I am predicting that Edmonton, on the strength of the aforementioned RNH two point game, will slay the dragon right out of the gates and not only win their first game but do so against one of the big baddies from the West that they had so much trouble with in seasons past. Edmonton wins the game 3 to 1.
Will all four first overall picks score in one game?
I am not 100% positive but I am reasonably certain this would be an accomplishment that has never occurred in the NHL before. How cool would it be to see all four of these young stars light the lamp in one game? If it happened at home the roof would come off of Rexall in a quick hurry I can guarantee you that! The odds of something like this happening have to be fairly long. I can’t imagine a lot of people contacting Vegas to lay money down on a long shot like this. I completely agree that there is a better than good chance that this doesn’t happen. Not only this year but ever, but what kind of predictions would these be if I didn’t at least make a guess on the subject. My guess is that the Oilers will light up the Maple Leafs on November 30th in Toronto and show Leafs Nation exactly what they are missing by not having Connor. Couldn’t happen to a better group of fans! Leafs fans have always considered themselves the center of the hockey universe so what better place to make history than right there in the ACC.
I want to see your predictions now people. Who will score the first goal of the season? When Will Connor score his first? First multi-point and multi-goal games? For Connor? First fight, first shut-out and first win for the team? Let me know what you think in the comments. Hit me up on twitter, @cooke_rob, and send me your answers. I want to hear from you!
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It was made official by the NHL that there was two official bids for expansion franchises filed yesterday. All paperwork along with a 10 million dollar deposit had to be received by the head office at the end of business yesterday. According to the official NHL press release this morning there was significant interest with 16 applications being given out be league. However, only two potential ownership groups managed to meet all the criteria in the short time allotted. This is the official release from the league this morning.
Is it just me or does this come across as kind of arrogant and condescending? Imagine that, people can’t pull magical arena deals out of their hats. Two weeks in my opinion was a farce to begin with. Had the time frame been doubled or more I think we would have seen more bids submitted. Seattle seemed to depend on an arena deal that couldn’t materialize in time so it didn’t happen. In case you didn’t read the press release or are still unsure after doing so, the two bids were submitted by Quebecor and Bill Foley. So that obviously means the return of the Quebec Nordiques and an as of yet to be named to team in Las Vegas. Both cities are well on their way to having their arenas built with Las Vegas already starting a season ticket drive to gauge interest. That drive was going exceptionally well with well over 10000 seats sold the last time that I had checked.
That is all well and good to know that there will be two more NHL franchises in the league hopefully for the 2017-18 season, but what does it mean for the Oilers? Well for starters it will require another league realignment. I can’t see the NHL adding Quebec to the eastern conference without a team coming to the west in addition to the Las Vegas franchise. It doesn’t make sense to have a 32-team league divided unevenly. Jonathon Willis wrote an interesting piece yesterday regarding realignment and he suggested 8 divisions with 4 teams in each. Here is a link to the full article. For our purposes here is what his potential realignment would look like.
WESTERN TEAMS
NORTH PACIFIC: Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg CANADA EAST: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City SOUTH CENTRAL: Arizona, St. Louis, Colorado, and Dallas SOUTH PACIFIC: Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim, and Las Vegas
EASTERN TEAMS
NORTH CENTRAL: Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, and Columbus NORTH ATLANTIC: Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington UNITED STATES EAST: Boston, New Jersey, Islanders, and Rangers SOUTH ATLANTIC: Tampa Bay, Carolina, Florida, and Nashville
While I really like the idea I don’t see the league moving to this format. Instead opting to go with four 8 team divisions. That would likely mean that the Las Vegas team would join the Pacific and Columbus would join the Central in the west. Quebec would possible join the Atlantic but that would mean that another team would be forced to move to the Metro division with Boston being the most likely in my opinion. So if that is the realignment that the league chooses it does add two more teams to the west, evening out the conferences and making the west just a little more competitive with the addition of the Blue Jackets.
The other way that the Edmonton franchise will be affected by the expansion process is through the inevitable expansion draft. Teams will only be allowed to protect a certain amount of players on their roster at the time and the rest will be up for the taking by either Quebec or Las Vegas. The NHL hasn’t set the rules for how many players at each position they will be able to protect so for my purposes I will go off of the rules that were used in the 2000 expansion.
There were two possibilities for how many players a team can protect. The first version allows a team to protect 1 goalie, 5 defensemen, and 9 forwards. The second would see a team select 2 goalies, 3 defenders, and 7 forwards. Under the requirements set out in the 2000 expansion draft there was no eligibility requirements for a team opting to protect only one masked man. If a team chose to protect two however, then said team had to ensure that each protected goalie had player in 10 games the previous season, with 31 minutes of ice time being needed to e considered a game played. If ten games were not played in the previous season the other eligibility criteria is 25 games over the two previous seasons. Next rule is that every team has to have one defenseman unprotected that played a minimum of 40 games the previous year or 70 total over the past two seasons. There is also the same eligibility requirements for the forwards with at least two needing to meet the same criteria as the defenseman.
If you area asking yourself why the game limits set on players that are being unprotected it is to ensure that any expansion franchise will have the opportunity to receive players that will have some semblance of NHL experience. Now I am not saying that Edmonton is going to leave Jordan Eberle unprotected just because he will meet the 40-game eligibility requirement. That is just ridiculous and all of Edmonton management would likely be strung up outside the new arena if that ever happens. People need to be rational, calm, and logical when trying to come up with a list of players to protect on the team. There was a discussion of the writers last night about this same thing and we all agreed that analytics will play a huge role for the two teams that will potentially be joining the league.
To me selecting the players that Edmonton will protect shouldn’t be overly difficult because we have our clear-cut core players and those that aren’t. If you are not a core player at this point you will likely be expendable in the upcoming expansion draft. I realize that the draft won’t happen for at least a year but more likely two, with it occurring sometime between the Stanley Cup finals and the 2017 entry draft, but for our purposes here today we will base our picks off of the current roster as it sits. So let’s get right to it and expel some reasonably useful NHL players and a whole lot of players that are not.
First off, if the draft were to happen today I would have a very hard time not selecting option A. That would be 1 goalie, 5 defenders, and 9 forwards, There is just too much talent on the team to opt for a second goalie, there by giving up two defenders and two forwards. If I had to make the selections for the team my list would look like this:
Goaltender(1): Cam Talbot
Defensemen(5): Andrej Sekera, Mark Fayne, Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, and Griffin Reinhart.
Forwards(9): Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot, Nail Yakupov, Leon Draisaitl, Anton Lander, Bogdan Yakimov, Greg Chase, and Matt Hendricks.
From my list you can tell the players that I value above all else. Thankfully there is no minimum amount of games played to allow for a player to be protected. Also with the players left there are more than a couple of options for filling the league requirements of games played. On defense with Nikita Nikitin and Andrew Ference we have two players that played in excess of forty games last year. No one said they had to play well, just that they had to play. In the forwards group we have Teddy Purcell that has been a consistent player over his career and would be a good addition to a new franchise. Along with the Teddy Bear we have Lauri Korpikoski, Mark Letestu, and Rob Klinkhammer also unprotected that would fit under one of the two eligibility criteria.
We must not forget that just because certain players are unprotected doesn’t necessarily mean that the player will even be selected. I doubt there is much of a market for Nikitin and his outrageous salary. There would likely be about the same amount of interest or even a little less in an aging Andrew Ference with two years left and a full no-movement clause to boot. The forwards would garner more interest as all the players left available are either actual NHL players or are a reasonable facsimile thereof. Of the nine forwards that I chose to protect the only two that I can see a case being made for someone else on are Bogdan Yakimov and Greg Chase. The others are all key players on the roster, including Matt Hendricks. Hendy might not be a star player, a la Taylor Hall or Connor McDavid,but he plays an integral part of this team and his leadership skills can’t be discounted. Players like Draisaitl, Nurse, and Reinhart are big parts of the future of this franchise and they deserve to be treated as such. Some may say that they would rather keep Davidson or Schultz but to me Reinhart will be the better player in the long-term.
Anyone have any issues with the players I have selected? Have a completely different list? Let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree. Hit me up on Twitter too, @cooke_rob and we can talk some puck. Thanks for reading and remember to check out the as always excellent Beer League Heroes T-shirt Shop for all your T-shirt needs. The shirt shop is here, if you are interested in checking out the great designs that are currently offered by the website. Stay tuned for the launch of the official Cooke’s Shirt Shack in the very near future as well! It will be the bee’s knees, the cat’s pajamas, like the coolest of the cool! Like , fer sure! Thanks for coming out Beer Leaguers!!!
AMENDMENT: I apologize to all the readers but I was mistaken in the rules the expansion draft. I missed the rules regarding younger players. First and second year professional players will not require protection as they are exempt from being selected. By this rule it would take McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Reinhart, Yakimov, and Chase would be exempt from being selected.
With these stipulations I would obviously change my selections. No need to protect players that are exempt from being selected in the first place. Again I apologize for my error and appreciate those that pointed it out to me. Below are my new selections based on this new information.
Goalies(2): Cam Talbot and Ben Scrivens
Defense(3): Andrej Sekera, Mark Fayne, and Oscar Klefbom
Forwards(7): Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, Benoit Pouliot, Matt Hendricks, Anton Lander
I only chose to protect Scrivens because I didn’t feel there was 5 defensemen or 9 forwards that I would want to protect. I would have opted to keep Brossoit instead of Scrivens but he doesn’t meet the games played eligibility to be protected. Thanks again for reading and again I apologize for my error.
This is the slow time of year from now until training camp for the vast majority of NHL teams. Prospect camps are wrapping up around the league and the players re heading home to start their off-season training programs in hopes of earning a roster slot in the fall. There is not a whole lot to look forward to over the next eight to nine weeks. One of the things that get’s me through the long summer month’s is reading the various Oilers blogs for any tidbits of news that will fill insatiable lust for all things Oilers.
There are so many fantastic writers out there that I can’t possibly name all of them. The one that has always stood out for me and I read his posts twice a day is Mr. Allen Mitchell, known in the blogosphere as Lowetide. I thoroughly enjoy his work even though I occasionally agree with his ideas. I will say however that out of all the Oilers related writers, both mainstream and otherwise, I would likely say that my ideas most closely align with Lowetide.
Now I know you are asking me where the hell I am going with this as it is getting border line creepy, so let’s get right down to the task at hand. This morning I seen on lowetide.ca that he has posted his official precursor to his annual RE series. I know that most Oilers fans have likely already read the article but for those that haven’t you can find it here. I highly recommend reading the entire series as his unique question and answer series that he does for each player is truly excellent! He is goes into a lot of depth with each player and covers things like line-mates, ice time, and of course the ever popular point projections.
For my purposes I am not going to go into anywhere as much detail as Mr. Mitchell. I am going to separate the series into six articles in total. One to cover each player position and a final one to cover the new coach. Today we are going to start with the left wingers. This is the easiest position for me to start with because the depth of actual NHL players on the left side makes it easy to figure out who will actually be on the opening night roster. In my estimation the four left wingers that will put on the white, orange, and blue on October 8th in St. Louis will be Taylor Hall, Benoit Pouliot, Lauri Korpikoski, and Matt Hendricks. There really isn’t anyone that will be able to challenge any of these players for the spot coming into camp this year. So lets dive right in and see what is what.
Taylor Hall
Since his draft in 2010 Taylor Hall has been a force to be reckoned with when flying down the ice with the puck on his stick. He has the ability and skill to embarrass a lot of defencemen and puts fear into goalies as he is barreling down on them. Right now before McDavid has played an official NHL game Taylor is without a doubt in my mind the best player the Oilers have. Obviously adding a generational talent like Connor changes that dynamic but he is still one of if not the best left-wing in the entire league.
Now before I will get into my best guess as to where he will end up point wise it is best if we take a look at his history and who it is likely we will see him playing with. His history for the most part is fantastic. In two of the last three seasons Hall has averaged just over a point per game. The exception being last season where he only played 53 games and was only able to chip in 38 points with 14 goals. His goal total was a little lower than his usual due to a lower than average shooting percentage and playing through various injuries throughout the season. Hall when healthy and raring to go is good for about a point per and that trend should continue next season regardless of who he plays with.
Thus far in his career Hallsy has spent the majority of his time on Ice with fellow young stars Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins but with his injuries last season and Ebs, Nuge, and Pouliot forming an excellent line with great chemistry he was moved to different spots in the line up and that affected his totals as well. This coming season I think we will see Taylor play the vast majority of his minutes with McDavid and an interchanging right-wing. In my opinion they are going to want to start the season with a veteran presence on the line with good two-way skill. The most likely candidate to fill the spot is Teddy Purcell. He may not be the fastest skater but he also wouldn’t be a liability in the offensive zone and he could lighten the defensive responsibility on McDavid.
With those two playing with Hall that allows Coach McLellan to keep the top line that finished last season together to handle the toughest competition. Obviously playing with a rookie center would mean a plethora of offensive zone starts for Hall and company and with all that talent it is hard to not expect amazing results.
My prediction for Taylor Hall is that his shooting percentage will return slightly above average with such a gifted player passing the puck to him. As far as point totals go I see Hall playing 75 games and eclipsing his best year to date by hitting the 30 goal mark for the first time and will add 50 assists. It will be hard not to hit those totals when you are sending and receiving passes with Connor McDavid.
Benoit Pouliot
Last season was a break out year for Benoit Pouliot. He was given the opportunity to play first line minutes for an extended period of time and he excelled at it. Despite missing a big chunk of games due to a broken foot Pouliot still set a career high in goals, bulging the twine 19 times in only 58 games. His previous best was 16 with the Bruins a few years back but that was in 16 more games than last season. Along with the 19 goals he added 15 apples which puts him only two points off his career best in 22 fewer outings. Any way you look at it that is just great news. To be fair Pouliot did have a much higher than average shooting percentage but given an 80 game performance he still wold have broken his personal highs in both goals and assist.
A large portion of his playing time, at least after he returned from injury, was spent alongside numbers 93 and 14. Definitely two terrific players entering the prime of their careers and Pouliot didn’t look a bit out of place. I see McLellan trying this trio out together in the pre-season and excluding a complete loss of the chemistry they showed last season will hopefully be the starting line on opening night.
While Pouliot doesn’t have Hall’s offensive gifts he is more responsible defensively and isn’t afraid to go into the dirty areas with the big boys of the western conference. Should Benny play a full healthy season and spend a lot of time with the same players as last season I think we will see even higher offensive totals. Like I said his shooting percentage was dramatically higher than his career average but some of that can be attributed to playing with better players then he has before.
Next season my prediction for Pouliot is 78 games played, all in a top six role. His point totals will also go up accordingly with his bigger role from the very start of the season. I see Benoit netting 22 goals and 20 assists for 42 points. While not a huge total it is still more than respectable for a guy that has never hit 40 in his career.
Lauri Korpikoski
Next on the list is one of the newer Oilers and a player that I fully admit I have not seen play a ton of hockey. For a look at what his career has looked like point wise and a brief overview of the player in general I went to Elite prospects and what they had to say is here if you are interested to look.
His point totals have never been outstanding but he is a very fast skater that will see time in the top six at some point this year. Korpikoski is four years removed from his best season, a year in which he was able to light the lamp 19 times and chip in with 21 assists for a total of 40 for anyone that can’t figure that out for themselves. Not great totals but he is an effective two-way player that will see plenty of time on the PK units and provides a veteran player to help lighten the defensive load for his likely center, Anton Lander, not that he has shown that he isn’t capable of handling his own in the defensive zone.
The player that is most likely to benefit from having Lauri on his line will be the right-wing. In my estimation that is likely to be Nail Yakupov to start the season although I think that will switch by Christmas with Yak moving up to take Purcell’s slot on the McDavid line.
With his best year far in the rear-view mirror there is little if any reason to expect a bounce back year from the Finn I think a reasonable expectation for Korpikoski is that his offensive output will remain roughly the same as the last two years. My prediction is that we will see him come close to double digits in goals with 9 and right near his career high in assists with 20. 29 points in the Pisani role is a decent amount and won’t be all that he brings to the table.
Matt Hendricks
This guy was one half of the best defensive zone duos the Edmonton Oilers have had in a very long time. Along with Boyd Gordon they faced the worst zone starts and the toughest competition on a nightly basis. The fact that they did it and not only survived but managed to pot 8 goals along with 8 assists is awfully impressive!
Hendy is never going to be an offensive juggernaut but that isn’t what he is paid for. He is here to take the worst the other team can throw at him and to still come out smiling on the other side. In his two years as an Oiler he has filled this role admirably and although Gordon has been traded to bring in the “Pisani” role, General Manager Peter Chiarelli has filled his vacant slot with veteran center Mark Letestu through free agency.
The biggest concern for me going forward is that McLellan has never used a defensive shutdown line like Edmonton did under Eakins and Nelson. He may prefer to roll his lines and have the potential for offense from all four lines. The reason I am thinking that is a possibility is Gordon being sent out in favor of Letestu who while not being quite the demon on the dot is more capable offensively.
The other member of this trio will totally depend on usage. Unfortunately some of the time will be used to ice Luke Gazdic, while he seems likes a nice guy is not much of an actual hockey player. Offensive rushes tend to die on the sticks of players of his ilk. The majority of his time will be played with either Rob Klinkhammer, if in a defensive shut down role, or rookie Leon Draisaitl if they are looking to add more offense to the line. I personally don’t see Leon being on the opening night roster but that will have more to do with salary cap ramifications than actual ability.
With all that being said it is time to lay my pride on the line for the fourth time tonight and make my hypothesis known. Hendy has only broken the 20 point mark once in his career and that was pre-lockout before the offense dried up. Other than that anomaly his career high was 16 points, just like last season. Not great but still adequate given his usage in years past. I think Hendricks is just too damn tough and too hard-working for him to not put up similar totals next year. My best guess would be 6 goals and 7 assists for a whopping total of 13. Solid totals for one of the biggest leaders on the team. Not to mention one of my favorite Oilers.
Now that we have covered the four most likely players to play down the left side I want to know what all you Beer Leaguers think? Hit me up in the comments or on twitter, @cooke_rob, and share your best guesses with me. I love the chance to talk hockey so as long as you keep it respectful we can talk anytime! Whether your totals are way different from mine or not I think we can all agree that the team shouldn’t be hurting for offense from the left side any time this season.
Thanks for reading and come back again when we will look at the production coming from down the middle. If you like our site head over to the t-shirt shop and pick up one of the fancy shirts we have designed. Beauty shirts at a great price! You can’t go wrong!!!
