I’ve been meaning to write more about the Oilers camp cuts recently but each time I go to write some bloody tragedy takes place. I mean things are getting a tad ridiculous aren’t they? But I do want to touch on what happened in Edmonton just a little bit. I’ll leave it to the end of the blog though.

CUTS

Puljujarvi has been sent down to “The Bake” and I’m sad to see him go because I think there’s a player there but I could see he was still over his head a bit. He’s going to light up the AHL folks, mark my words. The tools are there and he’s always been dominant amongst his talent group. What will he be at the NHL level though? That is the burning question and I think we can look no further than his fellow Finns in Alexander Barkov and Mikko Rantanen. Both took a bit of time to get sorted but they’re well on their way now, right?

Fayne to the minors isn’t a shock to me. Him lasting this long is though… I still have a hard time trying to figure out why there are folks out there who still believe this guy is still a NHL-level player. He simply doesn’t have the wheels to play.

OPENING NIGHT ROSTER?

You can clearly see that Kailer Yamamoto has made the squad and good on the kid! He does what he says and he says what he does. Gotta love a player who backs it up and I’m sure he’ll be with the Oilers for the 9 game max that he’s allowed before burning up a year of his contract because the first 2 weeks of the season the Oilers play 4 games. Boring for us fans but good for Yamamoto!

Some question marks still remain for me though…

• I wasn’t convinced by the defense during training camp. They all, apart from Kris Russell, looked a step behind.
  • Klefbom – is he sick or hurt again?
  • Larsson – he’ll need to put that axe away this year.
  • Nurse – gotta smarten up kid. Brainfarts might cost you a season in the top 4.
  • Gryba – woof! Not the same Grillin’ king we saw last year.
  • Benning – does the sophomore slump usually start in pre-season?
  • Auvitu – didn’t like him alongside Larsson but I wonder if he’d look better beside Russell? He’s a roamer…
• Stanton should go to IR as it sounds like he’s got a cracked foot but when he returns will he get fast-tracked into the lineup because it sure sounded like Todd McLellan wanted to see some more of him.
• The RW is going to be an issue and we knew that after Eberle was dealt. How big of an issue remains to be seen. Who will rise to the occasion when called upon?
  • Caggiula? Not a great camp by any stretch
  • Slepyshev? Has taken significant steps each season with the club… But missed all of TC…
  • Kassian? We know what Kass brings to the table but will he be needed higher up?
  • Yamamoto? I think the 19-year-old is dynamite but the NHL regular season is a grind folks. How many fresh-faced teenagers not drafted in the top 5 have made a real impact in the NHL?
• Will Chris Kelly be signed?
  • Didn’t look poor but he didn’t look game-breaking either. That said, I’ve always been a proponent of having older players on the team and Chris Kelly has a prior relationship with Chiarelli.

The rest of the roster looks great to me. That LW depth and having McDavid-Draisaitl-Nuge down the middle seems like cheating.

JAGR AND IGINLA

“Bosco” says the Oilers have re-opened talks with the legendary Jarome Iginla and all the real insiders are reporting that Jagr is all but a Calgary Flame.

The way I see it is, what better way at getting back at the Flames for stealing Hamonic, Hamilton, and Jagr from us than signing their all-time franchise player and watching putting him in the starting lineup for game 1 of the 2017/18 NHL season.

I’ll get in touch with my own sources and see what they say about all of this.

Scroll down past the video and t-shirts to read my thoughts on the incident in Edmonton if you’re interested.

 

EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY!

I’m relieved to hear that the victims are doing better and feel fortunate that my friends and family back home in Edmonton have such great Emergency response teams in place. Kudos to all that had a hand in stopping things before they really got out of control.

Now, we don’t really know why this Somalian man decided to do what he did but it’s unfortunate for everybody involved and a shame that it took place. Usually, people of similar ethnicities will keep to themselves and I’m not saying they’re hermits or anything but you’ll usually find their support group quite strong and in numbers. This is of course because Canada isn’t their home and they rely on folks they trust to show them the ropes and help them acclimate to their new home.  It’s the same over here in Taiwan and I’m sure in other countries as well. The ethnic groups tend to police themselves because they don’t want attention drawn to them from the local authorities, it’s not good for “business” and the Police know who to look out for and who not to. Whether they tell the public that or not is something completely different.

Why am I telling you this? Well, because it won’t just be the man who committed the crime who’ll be punished, his family and friends (if he has any in Edmonton) will undoubtedly be punished by Edmonton’s Somalian community if not the other communities within Edmonton as well. So they don’t need the locals to pile on.

When you see somebody who might have a different cultural ethnicity today, smile, say hello and let them feel the sort of love they were looking for when they left their homes to come to the one they live in now.

“Everybody Love Everybody” – Jackie Moon

Be good to each other folks. Life is too short to fill it with hate and fear.