We are in a fun little window now, this morning. We have a good knowledge of this Oilers team now, and can guess most or all of the 23-man list. Inside that group, there are all kinds of battles, with the coaching staff and management sussing out who goes where. Here are some of the interesting battles.
- Mark Fayne versus Matt Benning. It sounds crazy, but Fayne does seem to be in some trouble on this roster. It sounds crazy, and the Oilers may just run Ference on the active roster for a few days while also sending down Mark Fayne and Matt Benning. Crazy days.
- Tyler Pitlick versus Anton Slepyshev. Both men could make it but chances are someone heads out. Pitlick and Slepyshev are applying for the same job, but Pitlick is 2.5 years older and his time is now. NOW.
GOALIES
- Cam Talbot, 29. A massive start for Talbot opening night this week, he was rock solid in Game 1 last season. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- Jonas Gustavsson, 31. Played very well in his final tune-up game on Thursday, looking at the schedule he may not get another start for some time. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
LEFT DEFENSE
- LD Oscar Klefbom, 23. I am thinking 20-22 minutes a night in game one, hopefully most of it at evens. The man can wheel. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- LD Andrej Sekera, 30. I think he has some real jump coming off the WCoH, looks terrific. I am less thrilled about handing him a partner who just started his training camp in the Vancouver game. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- LD Brandon Davidson, 24. Based on the current depth chart, he might start on the third pairing but that won’t last more than a period. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- LD Kris Russell, 29. He had some good moments, looks mobile. I think it is reasonable for him to sit out game one based on his lack of training camp. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- LD Darnell Nurse, 21. Had an uneven game on Saturday, I think he gets the start on Wednesday, third pair and probably with Brandon Davidson. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
RIGHT DEFENSE
- RD Adam Larsson, 23. He has played well so far, bet he gets a ton of playing time if the Oilers stay in the game against Calgary. That is a big damned game, getting off to a good start is vital. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- RD Mark Fayne, 29. He is in real danger now, at least long term. Chances of Making the Oilers: 80%.
- RD Matt Benning, 23. I sincerely believe he has a chance. Chances of Making the Oilers: 20%.
- RD Eric Gryba, 28. Waiting for the UFOs. Chances of Making the Oilers: nil.
CENTER
- C Connor McDavid, 19. Very high on my list of things to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. I am astounded by his speed and ability. A shocking player. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 23. The only worry is offense—his line has to deliver 55+ goals, and that is a very large number for an Oiler 2line. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- C-R Leon Draisaitl, 20. He had a strong late summer and fall, needs to be productive for the entire season. In many ways, the Oilers playoff chances ride on LD posting a strong year. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- C Mark Letestu, 31. Quietly scored well in preseason, I believe he is a solid 4C. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- C-L Drake Caggiula, 22. Impacted training camp in a big way, can he keep it going? Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- C Anton Lander, 25. Every day that passes without a center added increases Lander’s odds. Can he score enough to stay in the lineup? Chances of Making the Oilers: 70%.
LEFT WING
- L Milan Lucic, 28. Starting to come around, passes are quality and effective. People are still looking for him to be the shooter on the 1line, despite the fact Lucic has never been the sniper on any line, at any time. For such a famous player, he certainly is misunderstood. Averaged 1.53 shots per game last season—does that sound like a sniper to you? Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- L Benoit Pouliot, 29. Sublime forechecker, throwback winger, and he is more of a shooter (1.98 shots per game) and is also misunderstood by many fans. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- L Patrick Maroon, 28. I keep wondering what the devil Anaheim didn’t see in him, suspect we are seeing May 1995 Jeff Fassero. He sure has been in a groove for an extended period. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- R Tyler Pitlick, 24. Wins the Hendricks job. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- R Anton Slepyshev, 22. So close, my guess he is final cut. Chances of Making the Oilers: 70%.
RIGHT WING
- R Jordan Eberle, 26. If he scores 40, Oilers probably make the playoffs. Edmonton doesn’t have a winger on the roster who can score that many, no matter the center. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- R Zack Kassian, 25. Strictly 4line imo, the trade of Yakupov and injury to Versteeg may mean he moves up the depth chart temporarily. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- R Kris Versteeg, 30. The only thing left is the contract. Chances of Making the Oilers: 100%.
- R Jesse Puljujarvi, 18. He gets better with each game, and actually plays a pretty good two-way game. I think the Oilers are probably in good shape either way, but he is not a substantial offensive option at this time, which speaks to lack of roster strength. Chances of Making the Oilers: 50%.
INJURED
- L Matt Hendricks, 35. Tough break for the veteran winger, sounds like weeks instead of days. Chances of Making the Oilers: nil.
- R Iiro Pakarinen, 24. Injury did not look good, out for some time. Chances of Making the Oilers: nil.
- LD Andrew Ference, 37. Only question now is in regard to IR vs. LTIR. Chances of Making the Oilers: nil.
Father of Nail Yakupov told @Sport_BO Blackhawks, Ducks and Stars were the frontrunners for his son, Blues came up just before the trade
— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) October 10, 2016
I had a conversation about Nail with a buddy on Saturday, the general thrust being Edmonton should have received more for a former No. 1 overall. Folks, by the time Yak was traded, he was no longer a No. 1 overall prospect, he was a gifted but flawed offensive winger who may not be in the NHL two years from now. You may hate Peter Chiarelli, but arguing that a third (possibly second) round pick is poor value forgets the resume. If you are angry at the return, please turn your fire hose on Edmonton Oilers management and coaching staff 2012-15. Nail was a very flawed player the day Chiarelli and McLellan arrived. If you want my opinion, I will give it to you. I would have kept him on the roster, knowing that the pick is unlikely to ever amount to anything. Nail on this roster gives Edmonton more of a chance to find satisfactory offense on RW this summer. The organization went in another direction, I cannot be overly critical about it. I am surprised people are placing this deal in the same category as the Hall trade, and that is what I am hearing from some portions of the fan base. Wildly over the top, folks. Time to step back and review the resume.
WAIVERS
NHL teams have to place players on waivers today if they wish to get them off the roster by opening night, and that may or may not impact the Oilers. Mark Fayne could be placed on waivers (if Matt Benning wins the job, I put that at 20 percent), but other than that probably crickets.
As for waiver claims, well I could see it but this is going to be close. Let’s look one more time at the 50-man list:
When they sign Versteeg (which seems likely), Edmonton will be at 48 names. That means a waiver claim is less likely than a trade, and despite a lack of balance the Oilers under Peter Chiarelli appear ready to once again leave the station without balance.
JORDAN WEAL
While I do not expect the Edmonton Oilers to claim him, young Jordan Weal is a pretty good offensive forward with an excellent junior and minor league resume:
- Age 17—72, 35-67-102 (WHL) (NHLE: 31.3)
- Age 18—72, 43-53-96 (WHL) (NHLE: 29.5)
- Age 19—70, 41-75-116 (WHL) (NHLE: 36.7)
- Age 20—63, 15-18-33 (AHL) (NHLE: 20.2)
- Age 21—76, 23-47-70 (AHL) (NHLE: 35.5)
- Age 22—73, 20-49-69 (AHL) (NHLE: 36.4)
Weal is a smaller player, a right-handed center who spent the year (but did not play much) in the NHL last season. I think he would be a very interesting addition to the team—another 3C option who might be able to help on RW—but the Oilers do not have a lot of room.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I hope you enjoy today (I will, turkey tonight!) and will update the blog if a waiver claim or trade occurs—and of course will have something if Fayne hits the waiver wire at 10. Enjoy the day, Lowdown is back tomorrow at 10. PS, the Stars are about to sign Lauri Korpikoski.
Any intent to injure McD, Lucic needs to set the tone early in the season big time and send a message to the whole league. Worth the suspension in my opinion, if he goes down in any significant time, Oil is bottom feeder again.
Oh my, epic..
All the best to you, thanks for sharing.. am still in awe..
Both families are Mormon!
Not bears!
Morman riding steers!
Which is diffrent than
Hutterites riding steers!
I can see those two getting hemmed in the zone when playing against big forwards.
Once they get the puck, both are good at advancing it quickly.
Fastest player on either team, by a bunch. We were sitting right behind the Giant’s bench and and we were watching the trainer heart rate monitor (iPad with all the players heart rates) Benson’s heart rate is barely moving when he is on the ice. He is playing in all situations and a leading the players on the bench.
Well, by the look of things we have won the pre-season. 13 spots in 1 week, from 27 to 14 on the espn power rankings: http://www.espn.com/nhl/powerrankings
#dejavu
Yeah, I’m a little fearful of what Russell may do to Sekera’s results.
Racist!
Oil win 4-3. 1G 2A for McD. Nuge with the GWG.
Bears riding steers?
Bears with heavy ammunition?
Only in Alberta.
Hide the China.
5 rfa years @ 6.5m
1 ufa year @ 8m
Glad I can help you move your bowels when you’re in the woods Mr. TheBear
rickithebear,
You’re going to have to ask GMoney about the database.
Not sure if he’s breaking down goals from which side of the ice they happen from.
That would be interesting.
Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie 1m1 minute ago
Gaudreau’s AAV is $6.75M.
FUck
What is the over/under on Wednesday’s game against the (spits) Flames?
Wow…Flames won.
Elliotte Friedman @FriedgeHNIC 16s16 seconds ago
Elliotte Friedman Retweeted Johnny Gaudreau
Gaudreau re-signs. Hearing this will be six years at a $6.75M AAV.
(Edited) Katz does not seem to me to be a person one wisely challenges. Also, don’t forget his brain trust built the team opposite to conventional wisdom. And then along came Connor.
My theory is Katz saw Yak as another superstar and based around his love for the 80s Oilers, wanted a high powered offensive team. I guess he trusted MacT a lot more than Tambo and that’s why he never seemed to push for Yak to play more as much as he pushed to draft him.
Don’t get me wrong, it all seemed very weird to me at the time and that’s the most sense I can make out of it.
Updates would be appreciated!
I’m particularly interested to hear how is skating looks. He’s dealt with serious lower body issues for awhile and you have to wonder…
Just settled into my seats to watch Benson take on the Hitman.
Alpine,
That’s the story, but have any of those scouts spoken out about it? Makes no sense how Katz would push for Yakupov in the draft and not push to put him higher in the lineup in his sophomore season.
I read an article in the Sun yesterday at work where Jones briefly mentioned how the story is typically taken as gospel my most of us despite no evidence. It’s got me wondering. You’d think something like that would have gotten more attention than it did.
Good thing they sold high on Reinhart when they did. Otherwise they would have had two top 5 picks in 3 years that did not pan out as top line players.
None of that is on Yak. Few things are worse organizationally than when a clueless owner overrides his expert, paid staff on a call like this. Regardless of them being sub par on a lot of their calls, they were proven right on this call. So be the look of things Yak was doomed from the start. Poor bugger.
(Edited for grammar)
gogliano,
That, along with…
Hall for Larsson, Lucic, Caggiula, Benning, and Versteeg.
Yakupov for Pachiro, a conditional third round pick, and Russell.
Jim Matheson @NHLbyMatty 2m2 minutes ago
Looks like last year’s part-time Oiler D Adam Clendening has made the Rangers as rightie puck-mover after good camp
They probably just liked Murray a lot because he was the consensus best D, and maybe having watched Yak a lot in juniors thought he was one-dimensional. They also probably discounted Yak as he was a smallish scoring winger which they already had a couple of.
Murray also played out West and they probably watched him closely for years.The plan was always to draft him at 2OV, and I guess winning the lottery didn’t change that until Katz did. Team need played a big role in them liking Murray.
So Crosby is out with another concussion. His third one they say. What is the protocol for retirement? How many concussions can one endure? I don’t want to see him retire. Is there a guideline for this?….
Michael Grosso
@RumorBreak
Hearing the Islander’s are looking to part ways with Michael Dal Colle, not too pleased with his progress since he was drafted.
Trending says
Larsson RHD
top 20 hsca d
facing 1 st comp
tough zs
Puck transition / box anchor
Role
Davidson LHD
1 st 2nd comp
Top 30 hsca d
Top 30 pk ga d
Klefbom LHD
1st comp
Top 30 transition d
Top 60 hsca d
2nd comp
Top 40 box anchor d
Fayne RHD
2 nd comp
Top 80 hsca d
Top 40 SA d
Box anchor d
Needs
Sekera LHD
2nd comp
Top 20 hsca d
Top 80 Sa d
Top 60 transition D
Needs a 2 nd comp box d
Russell LHD
1st/2nd/3rd comp d
Needs top 120 hsca d
Top 60 transition d with box anchors d
Can partner with larger top 80 transition d.
Cannot anchor with bottom 60 hsca d.
If they claim PA Parenteau and he plays well, I’m revising the trade in my head to Reinhardt for two picks, plus a conditional we’ll throw in PA Parenteau via the waiver wire if the two picks out compete Parenteau for a roster spot in 2016.
Solely for mental sanity.
Not saying this to be a smart ass, I am sincerely curious, is there any evidence of the claims that 10 out of the 11 scouts didn’t want him? Aside from the hearsay by Mark Spector.
And what did they see in him that the rest of the hockey world missed? Seriously, weren’t these the same Oilers scouts who couldn’t draft outside of the first round? He was the unanimous #1 pick, the greatest Russian prospect since Malkin and Ovechkin or something like that.
Goalies are not voodoo.
It is about Hsca save%. Even and ST.
Dmen are voodoo
You can look at a dman partnering
By
1. Hsca rank
2. Comp
3. Puck mover/ box anchor
4. Side.
You can see a favoured trending
100 % Successful with bottom 60 or better hsca d facing 2nd/3rd comp.
Pair him with one and can still be total shite…….
Voodoo!
Sounds like they signed Versteeg….
Good question on the pre-draft numbers. It’s too bad that ExtraSkater got hired by the Leafs. We don’t have any advanced stats for Juniors as far back as Yakupov. I would be curious to see if he was buoyed by 2nd assists or massive TOI, softer comp… something!
Of course, maybe not. Maybe he just hasn’t translated his game to the NHL.
I think it was Friedman who talked about the two RH shots. It’s a good point. I actually added that Ineffective Math graph that showed him doing well with Gagner and Hemsky after I read that. It’s also interesting that it means he did best on the left side, since Hemmer is a right winger. I’ll keep an eye out to see if that comes up again.
He also played well with Perron, who is a right-shot left winger. I wonder if Yak would have done well with Eberle?
wheatnoil,
Good read/summary on Yak thus far. It was a little more eye-opening on his NHL rookie season than I was expecting. I recall his shooting percentage being through the roof, but I think it was the 6 of 17 goals being scored in the final few games that really inflated his Shooting%/PDO.
Did you see the thought process (I think Strickland mentioned it?) that STL was looking at putting Yak with two RH shots because that was where he had the most success in the past? Other than Hemsky/Gagner not sure when else this occurred, but it was an interesting thought in any case.
What I’d love to know is why his pre-draft numbers were so strong, yet he couldn’t translate them to the NHL. I know draft busts happen, but what was it that made 80% of Oilers scouts vote for Murray instead of Yakupov? I think this is something the numbers won’t uncover, but feel that’s the key to unlocking the mystery of a 1st overall draft bust.
wheatnoil,
Looking forward to the rest of this, thanks for putting in the time and effort into an in depth look at his time here!
Yeah, that’s a valid point. I think Versteeg allows Puljujarvi to be sent down. I just think Parenteau is a better bet than Caggiula and Drake doesn’t need waivers. For the record, I think Parenteau is also a better bet than Yakupov for next season.
Besides, how healthy is Versteeg? I’m glad they have him, but there’s certainly question marks there.
Just wanted to wish LT and everyone here a happy turkey day!
https://youtu.be/lf3mgmEdfwg
Bakersfield CondorsVerified account
@Condors
The Condors have released six from PTO’s and assigned Frankie Simonelli to the @NorfolkAdmirals. >> http://bit.ly/2dSn96H
wheatnoil,
I agree send Pulju down but I think Cagguila has earned a spot by merit.
Cagguila is not some 18 year old yute either, he is an older and more developed prospect. His time is now IMO.
He also had a fantastic camp. Many good arrows.
My youngest son and daughter play with kids who have single dads.
Both have older brothers in the top 10 in u 18 steer riding. Alberta and cfr.
Both are at alberta finals in red deer.
So i have 9 instead of 3 kids in our house.
They break something every time.
1. Driver side trailer pkg mirror
2. Light switch on hawk missle nose cone with all the internals made into a reading lamp.
One of 2 Know to be privately owned.
Did your wife make you do more interior decorating in the bear cave or something? You’re definitely more grizzly than black bear today my furry friend! 🙂
The Oilers have been so burned by injuries that I’m surprised they don’t sign or pick up as many depth NHL players with 1 year contracts as possible.
Figuring at least one of Caggiula and Puljujarvi is probable to be sent to Bakerfield, at least one spot will open up at RW, either from Puljujarvi going down or Draisaitl having to move back to C to cover for Caggiula being sent down. This would leave only Eberle, Kassian as surefire NHL RWs, so there’s going to be a hole to be filled before we even start thinking about injuries.
One of Versteeg/Parenteau is a must pickup/sign.
Ruining a failed prospect… is that a good thing?
Anyone else remember the last time the Oilers sent a Russian player to a US team? Niki had to wait weeks for a visa.
Is there a difference with Yak, or had the Oilers sorted all of that out in advance?
WG:
Ps: I still use you as a first reference paired with corsica combo/pairings to see what i have to further look at.
To get the real answer.
Cause you are often correct from trusting a Dbase with a 2 nd reference point of view.
I nice purge
Like fiber 95 % of the time.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
Also, I would be fine with Pulkinnen but would prefer Parenteau, even with a Versteeg signing.
I’d send Caggiula and Puljujarvi down. Depending on how much Versteeg signs for, that would actually be a cap savings since you’d save on the ELC bonus money you’d have to pay them. I think both rookies will end up spending the majority of the year in the NHL due to injuries anyways. Assuming a one year deal for Versteeg, neither he nor Parenteau would be blocking a spot long-term for the rookies.
Lucic – McDavid – Parenteau
Pouliot – RNH – Eberle
Maroon – Drai – Versteeg
Hendricks – Letestu – Kassian
Pray for the defence… but damn that’s a solid forward group with legitimate depth in the minors for injury call-up.
They’re ruining him.
****SPAM****
My spam is not as cool as Woodguy’s spam, but I thought I’d share regardless. I’m working on a retrospective of Nail Yakupov’s Edmonton career. Some things can become clearer in hindsight.
Part 1 is his time before Edmonton. http://www.theoilersrig.com/2016/10/just-nail-yakupov-part-1/
Part 2 is his rookie season under Ralph Krueger. http://www.theoilersrig.com/2016/10/just-who-was-nail-yakupov-part-2/
Part 3 will be his years under Dallas Eakins and Todd Nelson, which I’m working on now. It is long and unwieldy though, so I’m trying to strike a balance between thorough and being readable.
Part 4 will be this last year under McLellan.
****END SPAM****
Sounds like she needs her anal glands squeezed.. I would recommend hiring someone to do it. 🙂