Tag Archives: Ryan O’Reilly

Armchair GM, Around the Oilogosphere, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

Around the Oilogosphere – May 4th Edition – Hurricanes’ #2 Overall Pick Available According to McKenzie, USA Downs Canada, Remenda on Oilers Fans, and Many NHL Rumors

Click the pic above to check out our merch!

I hope you had a chance to take in that Canada/USA game World Championships game. Boy, it was a beauty! Connor McDavid and Matt Barzal were smiling like butcher’s dogs with so much room out there and they were electrifying!

Sadly Team Canada didn’t get much support from its goaltending and defense.

Darcy Kuemper looked like an AHL goalie and Darnell Nurse got caught out a couple of times on a bad pinch that resulted in goals against.

Canada plays Korea next on Sunday… What?! Korea?

BYE BYE AUVITU

Yohann Auvitu is off to Europe and that’s a shame. I really liked his game once he got comfortable. He moved the puck the right way and was a Coffey-like threat on the rush.

Unfortunately, Todd McLellan didn’t feel the same way. He never put Auvitu in a position to succeed (*cough* THE POWERPLAY *cough) and in my opinion didn’t allow himself to gain the trust in this player.

I truly feel that if McLellan had given Auvitu some more leash that the Frenchman would’ve been able to replace Andrej Sekera…

Everybody says the Oilers lacked a puck moving defenseman last year. No, they didn’t. They had one right under their noses…

HURRICANES MAKE #2 OVERALL AVAILABLE

On this week’s Bobcast, Bob McKenzie told us that the rumor was that after the 3 finalists for the 1,2,3 spots in the draft were drawn (at the draft lottery) during the break Carolina was very much interested in letting the league know that if they won the 1st overall pick it would be available for the right price.

Now once the draft lottery was over and the order had been said, Tom Dundon made it known that the no.2 was very much up for grabs and that they were going to consider all of their options according to McKenzie.

The kicker to all of this is Rick Dudley being hired away from the Montreal Canadiens, to be their VP of hockey ops.

In a 5-year span, Rick Dudley traded the 1st overall pick THREE TIMES according to Bob McKenzie. Between 1999 and 2003 Dudley moved that pick thricely.

  • 1999: Tampa Bay had the #1 pick and traded it to Vancouver for the #4, #75, and #88. Was all part of the Sedinery as McKenzie calls it because Vancouver found a way to move it in order to be able to select both Sedin brothers. Atlanta ended up with the 1st overall and picked Patrik Stefan.
  • 2002: Florida had the #1 but didn’t want to take Rick Nash, they wanted Bouwmeester, so they flipped picks and the option to swap 1st rounders in 2003 (that wasn’t exercised) with Columbus if Florida wanted. Interesting side note here is that Dudley sent two more picks to Atlanta (a 3rd rounder in 2002 and a 4th rounder in 2003) in order for them NOT to draft Bouwmeester at no.2.
  • 2003: Florida had the #1 and traded it along with the #73 to Pittsburgh for #3, #55, and Mikael Samuelsson. FLA took Horton 3rd overall and PIT took MA Fleury 1st overall.

The Bobfather says that historically teams haven’t been willing to pay huge prices to move up because the teams further down the draft order aren’t willing to pay a massive premium to get up to no.2 because the player they take at no.2 isn’t all that different than the player they’ll get at 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th overall.

But is this year different? The Hurricanes are positioning themselves in way that hints to them moving that pick and as McKenzie tells us during the podcast, Rick Dudley was working very hard on the draft for the Canadiens before leaving for Carolina. So he’s going to have a deep knowledge of this year’s crop of players coming in. Moving down and pickup up more selections makes sense.

Now, how does this tie in with the Oilers?

Well, like it or not Oilers fans, Peter Chiarelli has been active at every draft he’s run for Edmonton. Be that talking about hockey trades or moving up in the draft, he’s had his nose in the thick of things every year and I don’t see this as any different.

IF Chiarelli wants to rid himself of some salary, he could do it here BUT it wouldn’t be a contract like Russell, Lucic, or Sekera. It’d be a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or a Leon Draisaitl in my opinion. I talked a bit about this yesterday (link).

I’m not saying I’d support a trade of that magnitude but the Hurricanes need a no.1 and I think that RNH or Leon would be that in the Eastern Conference. The Oilers could use to shed a few dollars and add depth on the wing. Svechnikov or Zadina will score 20 goals next year for sure. Would it be more on McDavid’s wing?

You can work out a trade proposal yourself but there are a few teams who are looking to shake their foundations, Carolina, Ottawa, and Buffalo. If the Oilers were smart, they’d be trying to fleece those guys.

Please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel! We’re on the hunt for 1000 amazing subscribers!

OILERS NEWS

Oilers at the Worlds: McDavid watching shootout from sin bin encapsulates a mixed bag on Day One

Should Oilers Go for Justin Faulk?

Drew Remenda talks Oilers coaches, fans hating him, and broadcasting notes from Sportsnet

Woodcroft discusses his first Head Coaching job

Yet a third Euro leaves Edmonton Oilers as Yohann Auvitu heads back (towards) home

NHL RUMORS

NHL Rumors: Blues and Sharks … Evander Kane’s Pending Free Agency

NHL Rumors: 2018 Draft Picks In Play and Players Who Could Be Moved This Offseason

NHL Rumors: Coyotes, Hurricanes and Senators

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

Is Connor McDavid getting fatigued because of too much ice time?

Connor McDavid, Age, and Fatigue

I made this comment in my OilersNerdAlert EDM-DET post-game yesterday:

McDavid isn’t really McDaviding very much. … Prior to this game, McDavid had the fourth highest ice time in the league for a forward. All the players ahead of him are veterans. Maybe the idea of playing the crap out of him is not a successful long term strategy, especially for a 19-year-old player who was a featured high ice-time player in the World Cup before the season started.

Da Fax

Let’s look at some facts in that regard:

  • McDavid is averaging 21.4 minutes of all situations ice time (ATOI) per game this season. He’s still fourth in the league after last night’s game. (All data sourced from corsica.hockey)
  • The next nearest Oiler forward is Jordan Eberle at 18.5 minutes, nearly three minutes per game less than McDavid.  That’s a very reasonable 55th in the league for forward ice time.
  • There are three forwards ahead of McDavid in ATOI.  They are: Ryan O’Reilly (25 yo, 22.4 mins), Patrick Kane (27 yo, 22.2 mins), and Anze Kopitar (29 yo, 21.8 mins). The #1 ATOI forward in the league is 6 years older and plays just one minute more per game.
  • Of the top 10 forwards for icetime, not including McDavid, the average age is 28 years.  The youngest are 23 years old (Scheifele and Trocheck).
  • A quick scan of the top 50 ATOI forwards shows only a handful of young players (Gaudreau, MacKinnon, Forsberg, Barkov). McDavid is the only teenager on the list. (note: can’t guarantee that as this is eyeballed)

The Immortals

Now, we all know that McDavid is an extraordinary player, and I don’t doubt he can tolerate more icetime for his age than ordinary mortals. And the team is generally not very good without McDavid on the ice, so the temptation to play him every minute you can must be overwhelming.

But let’s not forget, he’s just 19 years old – still a growing boy. (And given he’s three years from his likely peak, his age is something that should absolutely terrify the rest of the league)

So this kind of icetime load has me worried, especially since it looks to my eyes like McDavid hasn’t been able to easily shed the hooking and holding the way he did early in the season.

Overtraining or Ubertraining?

In my day they called long-term fatigue from too much training volume ‘overtraining’ – do they still use that term? While this could just be an ebb in the regular pattern of ebb and flow, it might not be. The end result of overtraining is often injury, and that’s something the Oilers must protect McDavid from at all costs!

Not sure if this is anything real, but I believe it is something that should be given attention. I hope TMc and the Oilers training staff are watching closely.

Edmonton Oilers, Lindsay Ryall, NHL

Game 3: Oilers vs Sabres Post Gamer – Eichel-Less Sabres Outgoal, Outwork Oilers

1 Comment

Coming off a successful back to back spanking of our hated rivals to the south, most pundits were somewhat bullish about a game against the Buffalo Sabres.  Missing the 2014 draft’s bridesmaid, there was a belief the Oiler’s forwards would do some feasting.

And those fans who projected a lopsided affair were right, however, the tilt was far from being in the Oilers favour.  Instead, Sabres Goalie Robert Lehner stood tall in the nets, stifling the Oilers’ attack while Cam Talbot clearly had an off night, letting in all 6 Sabre goals, including a floater from behind the blueline, finishing the night with a .67 save percentage on 24 shots.

Now Before Anybody Gets Too Excited . . .

Clearly, Talbot had a bad night but we’re some distance from having a goalie controversy, even with the Dubnyk-like wiff.  My understanding is he had some pressing family issues and that was a distraction.  I have heard some whispers of concern regarding his first two games, but I would see that as an unwarranted concern at this point.  Talbot had a bad game, that’s that.  Now, if he lets anymore grounders from mid-field, then we can start to worry.

Oilers outshoot the Sabres, still lose?

On the other side of the rink, Robert Lehner stood big in the net and was economical, letting the puck hit him.  With the exception of a nice Glove save on Draisaitl, he relied on a sound positional game.  When things got tricky his defense was there for support.  Lehner is definitely beginning to the fulfill the promise he showed when the Ottawa Senators drafted him 46th overall in the 2009 draft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EEQkIcI7vk

Mclellan tries some line stacking in the third

From what I could tell, Draisaitl was a permanent fixture on McDavid’s wing in the third and not surprisingly there was some magic.  If Dr, Drai was more of a sniper than passer he probably could have potted a couple.  However, he ended up having some issues roofing it over Lehner’s big pads in a tight space.  Nonetheless, it may be a combination the coach goes to when  he needs that offensive push.  Eberle for his part didn’t look lost without McDavid and may have been the Oilers best forward.

Still lots of work to do . . .

 

Looking at a team like Buffalo, which personnel wise has a comparable D-corps to Edmonton, its clear there are more than a few things off with the defense.  Larsson has been billed as a top pairing defenceman but in my mind, he’s no better than a top four.  I’m a big Klefbom fan but he can’t do it alone and Kris Russell shouldn’t be one of your best d-men night in night out.  Coaching should bear some of the responsibility when you see Buffalo’s blueline play so well, but it looks like Peter Chiarelli needs to do more shopping at some point.

How did you feel about the game tonight? Let us know in the comments below!

If you’re a fan of Lowetide, you need this shirt! Click the pic and get yours today!
Beer League Hero, NHL

Beer League Heroes 15 -16 Season Primers: The Buffalo Sabres

If you’ve been following the Buffalo Sabres for the past few seasons you’re probably aware that they are just right down terrible. But that also means you know they’re going to be absolutely amazing and in a fraction of the time it took the Edmonton Oilers to do it. A Rebuild done the proper way.

Last season saw the team end the year in 30th place our of 30 teams but lose the first overall pick via the draft lottery to the ever-so-lucky Edmonton Oilers. Remember the way Sabres GM Tim Murray’s face looked after? Like a ripe tomato. God he was pissed and he took a bit of flack in the media for it. What a cry baby…

So at the draft, without thanking anybody which is customary, Murray stepped up to the mic and with the urgency of a toddler needing to go pee, spat out, “The Buffalo Sabres select Jack Eichel.” Worst consolation prize ever… SMH.

Key Additions: F Jack Eichel, F Ryan O’Reilly, F David Legwand, F Jamie McGinn, F Evander Kane, D Carlo Colaiacovo, G Robin Lehner

Key Departures: F Cody Hodgson, F Mikhail Grigorenko, D Nikita Zadorov, D Andrej Meszaros, G Anders Lindback

Roster Contenders: F Sam Reinhart, D Jake McCabe, G Andrey Makarov

Projected Lineup

Evander Kane – Ryan O’Reilly – Tyler Ennis
Matt Moulson – Jack Eichel – Zemgus Girgensons
Marcus Foligno – Johan Larsson – Brian Gionta
Nicolas Deslauriers – David Legwand – Jamie McGinn

Josh Gorges – Rasmus Ristolainen
Mark Pysyk – Zach Bogosian
Mike Weber – Carlo Colaiacovo

Robin Lehner
Chad Johnson

Jack Eichel will help turn this franchise into a Stanley Cup contender but it was well on its way anyhow given the additions of Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, and Zach Bogosian, the emergences of Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Ristolainen, and using draft picks on Sam Reinhart, JT Compher, and Nick Baptiste.

In 2015/16 I believe the Sabres will be in the race for a wildcard spot in the playoffs. Of course that could be contingent on Ryan O’Reilly’s impeding court date for impaired driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Doubtful anything comes of it on apart from some community service. But as for the rest of the team, the offense is there with Kane, Eichel, Moulson, and Ennis leading the way.

It’s the defense and goaltending that could let them down. We don’t know if Robin Lehner is ready to take on the role of starting netminder and a top pairing of Josh Gorges and 3rd year defender Rasmus Ristolainen would be 2nd pairing dmen on another team if not 3rd pairing on a Cup contender.

Sam Reinhart is one player I’ll be keen to watch this season. I remember his stint in the NHL last year and he was getting his ass handed to him everytime he touched the puck. He’s a competitive player and I think he’ll make his mark as a top two-way center in the league ala Patrice Bergeron no doubt but should he spend a season or two in the AHL?

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

Thanks for reading! I hope you’re enjoying our Season Primers series and let us know in the comments below if you agree with our assessments.

Buffalo can be a pretty nippy place in the winter, so why not head on over to the Beer League Heroes Merch Shop and pick up a nice sweater, hoodie or long sleeve shirt with a 16-bit Jack Eichel on it?

Don’t forget to follow us on all the major social media platforms!

Take Care!

BLH