Tag Archives: NHL Draft Lottery

Oilers/Ducks G3 Review Plus: I Know Who’s Getting Moved This Summer

Edmonton Crowd Sings U.S. National Anthem as Mic Fails

Chills… So proud of the folks back in the YEG.

First things first, apparently Oilers prospect William Lagesson is on his way to the SHL in Sweden. At least according to the tweet below. It’s only rumored right now and nobody from the Oilers has announced it, so I suppose we’ll play the waiting game on this one but would it surprise you at all with all of the depth on the left side in the organization already?

Klefbom-Sekera-Nurse-Oesterle-Reinhart-Jones etc. I’m sure I’m missing someone but just off of the top of my head, Lagesson is behind all of them.

The draft lottery was something eh? Taylor Hall, man that guy has ZERO luck with the NHL teams he plays on aside from their sweet lottery wins.

The question I have is, will the Devils go the old Oilers route and take the skilled winger OR will they take the stud center who’s been compared to Sean Monohan and Mark Scheifele but has major injury concerns.

My advice, trade down Ray! Trade down!!

Philly and Dallas must’ve had horseshoes up their butts. Wow! Did they ever luck out! Philly, in theory, should get that dynamic winger in Hischier they’ve been looking for for quite some time and Dallas’ options are WIDE open. Maybe they go for the sharp-shooting Owen Tippett?

Burning the Midnight Oil

The start to last night’s game was horrendous, to say the least, but with that said, the comeback was glorious! I think I could hear the roar of the crowd all of the way over here in Taipei after Connor scored that beauty.

Another player who was on his game was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Wow, he was firing on all cylinders from the get-go and I wondered aloud if Todd McLellan might be tempted to get him out there a bit more often. I haven’t checked the TOI in the 3rd but I know McDavid and his dash three didn’t play all that much once the game was out of hand. So maybe RNH did, in fact, get more ice-time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcJXIkO6i9E

The Wagner goal was unfortunate though and Darnell Nurse is struggling. I think Nurse really wants to make a difference but he’s not quite there yet and he’s hurting the team a bit.

Is it time to take him out for a game? Just a break to watch the game from the box and get his head squared away. Could Eric Gryba fill in for a game?

Can somebody answer me this? Why do I keep seeing Benning and Nurse out at the same time as Connor is on the ice? You’d think you’d want your best pairing w/97 out there. Maybe that is Nurse/Benning though… Either way, it’s seems off and I expect to see Klefbom and Larsson. Just thinking out lout here.

Here’s the thing though the Oilers kept the pedal to the medal and had their chances to score after that 4th goal by the Ducks but John Gibson stood on his head and Anaheim got a few more bounces their way.

The Oilers are still up 2-1 in the series. Let’s keep that in mind.

To address the title of my post, I’d like to start with a tweet from Mark Spector.

https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/858884974774112256

I’m right with ya there Spec! And I really think that Edmonton will do their damnedest to move Eberle and his $6M deal out of Edmonton and it’ll be another deal you don’t like on the surface but the difference between this year and the Hall trade from last year is that you trust Chiarelli’s judgment now.

I did hear that the Oilers were looking at the Sabres before the season ended and before Tim Murray and Dan Bylsma were axed. Maybe there’s a fit in Buffalo for Ebs but in my opinion, their offense isn’t the no.1 problem.

Can’t really say as to what the Oilers would want back for the button-hook assassin. Where do you think the Oilers need to address?

Let us know in the comments below!

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Auston 3:16 Says…

The day of reckoning has come and tonight is going to be a beauty. Will the Edmonton Oilers “get lucky” and win the lottery and stay within the top three or will they “lose” the lottery and be forced down to the 4th or 5th spot?

I have to be honest, I could care less at this point. The team doesn’t really need to add another impact teenager to its ranks and we’ve done enough speculating to date that I’m numb to it all now. So what are we going to do? Well speculate some more of course. This isn’t going to take long. Is what I used to tell all my girlfriends back in the day.

If the Oilers Get the 1st Overall Pick…

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!! Then breathe… Then HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!… Then check to see if Toronto has burned to the ground. Then HAHAHAHAHAHA…

Auston Matthews all day long baby. You don’t think that Arizona, or any other team for that matter, will come knocking every year to see if they can shake Matthews loose? Would you trade him for Erik Karlsson?

If the Oilers Get the 2nd Overall Pick…

They take the Finnish Bazooka Patrik Laine! From watching him live and the clips online, it’d be hard not to take him. In the past he’s had issues with authority but he’s seemingly moved on from that. Put him on the wing, move Maroon down or to the right side and watch the fireworks!

If the Oilers Get the 3rd Overall Pick..

Jesse Puljujarvi and his vowel-happy name will be an Edmonton Oiler. Is it just me or is Laine-Puljujarvi the 2nd coming of Ovechkin-Malkin? Take a minute to think about that. Another thing to consider. Finns seem to do okay in Edmonton. Some better than others…

If the Oilers Get the 4th Overall Pick…

Matty Tkachuk is their man. I think a lot of people will argue that Dubois might be a better pick here but Tkachuk’s bloodlines and hockey IQ will set him apart here.

If the Oilers Get the 5th Overall Pick…

Olli Juolevi/Mikhail Sergachev/Jakob Chychrun. You flip the three-sided coin on this one. Sergachev just won the OHL defender of the year award but I’m not that impressed. The last Russian to do that in the OHL was former Oiler Alexei Semenov and he sure turned out. I mean Ryan Ellis won it TWICE!

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So there you have it. Those are my thoughts. I don’t think they will trade it outright. Trading down to get Jake Bean or Dante Fabbro might be in their plans. Or if the elusive “Lindros” offer is out there, they might do that.

Let’s talk about that “Lindros” offer. According to Elliotte Friedman, the last major offer for the first overall pick was in Aaron Ekblad’s draft year of 2014. The Tampa Bay Lightning offered Jonathan Drouin (#3 in 2013) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (#19 in 2012) and were obviously turned down.

The one deal I’d consider is the one Bob Stauffer’s been mentioning on Oilers Now with the Coyotes. Dylan Strome, both of the Coyotes first rounders this year and one of their second rounders for the 1st overall pick. I went into detail on that offer here. I think this is the closest one might ever see to a “Lindros” offer in the cap-era.

Another thing that has been talked about on Lowetide’s morning show is how this draft will affect who the Oilers protect in the next expansion draft. If they trade any pick away for an NHL-ready dman this summer, that could drastically affect how they go forward in the expansion draft. So perhaps they are better off using the pick and saving themselves a little headache in a year’s time.

So that’s ‘er folks. Enjoy the playoff games today and enjoy the draft lottery. I’m thinking of doing a Blab for the lottery. Don’t know what a Blab is? Basically like Google Hangouts but using Twitter instead of Gmail. Check out this link and if you’re on Twitter you can join me and we’ll chat hawkey before and after the lottery!!

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BLH Edmonton Oilers Weekly Recap: March 13th-March 19th

This week, the Oilers continue their new changed pace with a 2-1-0 record against Western opponents this week. I think the best game was easily the 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues despite blowing a 5-2 lead. They won 2-0 against Vancouver, in a slower place game, and despite Vancouver having 40 shots on Cam Talbot, I didn’t think they were high quality extremely dangerous shots. They lost a let down game against the Predators where they would quickly get scored on after scoring a goal.

A note about the Canucks: Boy, have they ever fallen. I know our Power Play has been putrid as of late, but holy. Vancouver keeps insisting Linden Vey is the key to the power play rather than playing Radim Vrbata. They are not a good team: their defense is hurting with no less than four NHL rookies playing on the back end. That’s even worse than the Oilers, who had Reinhart, Oesterle and Nurse all playing (although you could count Adam Clendening who only has 45 games played, but is no longer an official “rookie”. The Canucks do not look like they have a plan and are stuck spinning the wheels. The trades they have made or could have made, has not looked good on Jim Benning. They have some nice pieces in Horvat, Baertschi, McCann and Demko in the minors, it’s going to be hurting for the Canucks.

Anyways, onto the Oilers.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

3. Mark Letestu. Mark Letestu makes his appearance on the Three Stars of the Week for his best game as an Edmonton Oiler against St Louis where he posted 2 goals and an assist in the win. Letestu has been a let down this season, which is too bad, because I know I was expecting him to be a higher producer at a cheaper cap hit than Boyd Gordon. His inclusion on the power play frustrates many, including your author. I still like Letestu and I was happy he had a great game against St. Louis. He needed it.

2. Cam Talbot. Alright, letting 4 goals and sporting an ugly 0.857 save percentage against St Louis is an ugly way to get a win, but Talbot was stellar against Vancouver, having a 40 save shutout against a hated rival. Last time I checked, Talbot had a 0.919 save percentage, good for 16th in the league. The league average is 0.916, which is above average. Can’t help but wonder what Talbot’s numbers would be if he didn’t have that slump earlier in the season. I hope that his slow starts aren’t a trend; I have read on Social Media that it is. It’ll be something to watch out for next season.

1. Connor McDavid. McDavid had four points in three games, including two assists against St Louis. While he had no goals, McDavid is just a superb play maker. The main highlight that stands out for me is the Leon Draisaitl goal that he was the primary assist for. He now has 39 points in 37 games and is a point away from Dylan Larkin for fourth in Rookie Scoring. As I said last week, McDavid should win the Calder Trophy based on the criteria that he is the best rookie in the NHL. A long shot theory is that I hope Eastern Media Members will vote for the Newmarket kid and be biased for Ontario but I have no basis for this.

Edmonton Oilers News

In case you missed it, our very own Walter writes about how Taylor Hall is an elite player.

At the Oilers Rig, I wrote about the 2015 draft and how the early returns are good, albeit a bit early to judge completely.

National Post talks about McDavid making a late run for the Calder Trophy (rightfully so!)

Over at Oilersnation, Lowetide talked about Bakersfield development turning some good results. 

Jordan Oesterle and Griffin Reinhart looked sound. Reinhart had his best game as an Oiler against Vancouver.

The Final Game at Rexall Place has been bumped up to a 5pm start time. 

Non-Oilers news, but the Edmonton  Oil Kings will be playing the Medicine Hat Tigers in a one game tie break for a playoff spot on Tuesday.

Around the League

Kevin Spacey attended the Panthers Red Wings game. Seriously love the Spacey in Space trend in Florida.

Senators embarrassed The Canadiens last night with 3 Short Handed Goals

Circle your calendars for April 30th: The NHL Draft Lottery is taking place on the date. 

The league is getting closer to expansion. A list of what a team can protect was released. 

Highlights

Oilers vs Canucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb0p_WwmF-Y

 

Top Moments

 

Kevin Spacey!

 

The Week Ahead

The Oilers play host to the Avalanche tonight but then embark on a three game road trip along the Pacific: Tuesday at Arizona, Thursday at San Jose and Saturday in LA.

That’s the week that was, feel free to follow me on Twitter!