By the end of this month, we’ll know which way the wind blows. Seasonal coverage will continue every morning here, but if the playoffs become a distant bell, we’ll drill down on the draft. Edmonton has a lot of picks this year, my early view of the consensus lists has about a dozen great defensemen and less than 10 great forwards. Considering the spot Edmonton is likely to draft, that means blue on blue. Not ideal based on Edmonton’s established needs.
THE ATHLETIC
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- New Lowetide: Should the Oilers trade their 2018 first-round pick?
- New Jonathan Willis: Rejuvenated Oilers set sights on post-season.
- New Corey Pronman: Team Canada WJ preview.
- Lowetide: Connor McDavid: The Athletic’s Person of the Year!
- Lowetide: Anton Slepyshev
- Lowetide: How much skill is bubbling under for the Oilers?
- Lowetide: Jesse
THE 2018 DRAFT, OILERS PICKS
- No. 5 overall
- No. 36 overall
- No. 67 overall
- No. 98 overall
- No. 129 overall
- No. 160 overall
- No. 191 overall
It’s a stretch to suggest the Oilers are going to pick fifth overall, but we’re approaching the halfway point of the season and another slump probably means draft talk. The value of a No. 5 overall pick to a team that already houses Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, Jesse Puljujarvi and Darnell Nurse is clearly enormous. The elite cluster could always use another knight. If this team drafts No. 5 overall, there will be changes.
THE 15 BEST PLAYERS IN THE 2018 DRAFT
- LD Rasmus Dahlin, Frolunda (SHL). The complete package, with size, speed and skill. Two-way acumen and he’s already playing well (26, 5-6-11) in a top flight pro league. Absolute franchise.
- R Andrei Svechnikov, Barrie Colts (OHL). Another complete talent, fleet winger (shoots left) who has a well rounded game. He brings size as well and is regarded as a plug and play right after the draft.
- RD Adam Boqvist, Brynas (SuperElite). Undersized puck moving defender who is very creative. Fast, brilliant, excellent in all areas with the puck on his stick.
- L Filip Zadina, Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL). Another fantastic skill winger, he brings size and shooting ability to the game. He’s in the upper tier of offensive prospects in this draft.
- RC Akil Thomas, Niagara Ice Dogs (OHL). Undersized center with all of the tools, plus his work ethic gets mentioned a lot. Speed and skill (RH), another player who is underrated based on current rankings I’m seeing.
- LD Ty Smith, Spokane Chiefs (WHL). Nice range of skills and impressive offense, he’s smooth and makes smart decisions with the puck. Underrated based on rankings I’ve seen.
- L Brady Tkachuk, Boston University (NCAA). Rugged power winger with two-way skills, he has soft hands and can post offense. He’s shy of his brother offensively but an excellent prospect.
- LD Quinn Hughes, Michigan (NCAA). Fast as lightning defender, smooth as silk and very creative with the puck. Small (5.09) and electric, prototype for the modern game.
- RD Jett Woo, Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL). Coolest name in the draft (Charlie Finley would have chosen him on that alone) he’s a fine two-way prospect and a rare righty. Offense seems to be underrated in draft lists I’ve seen, he might be available when Edmonton picks.
- RD Ryan Merkley, Guelph Storm (OHL). Another undersized puck mover, Merkley has holes defensively but is a ridiculous offensive package.
- LC Joe Veleno, Saint-John Sea Dogs (QMJHL). Good size and speed, creative center who has 25 assists in 31 games this season. Improved in a big way season over season.
- R Oliver Wahlstrom, U.S. National Development Program (USHL). Pure scorer with good size, he’s done well in international competitions. Plus shot.
- LC Ryan McLeod, Mississauga Steelheads (OHL). Late ’99 has size, speed and skill, plus the tools to flourish in all three disciplines.
- RC Rasmus Kupari, Karpat (Sm-Liiga). Skilled center who has rocketed up the Finnish hockey system in the last 18 months. His offense is the big selling point, continues to progress. Offense obscured by playing in a pro league.
- L Joel Farabee, U.S. National Development Program (USHL). Speedy winger with legit skill, he’s a little undersized. Smart player.
I think the Oilers, if they’re drafting around No. 15, are going to get some nice options. I think the top eight players will be gone, but one of Woo, Merkley and McLeod may be available. Miles to go, centers and blue are going to be the best options when Edmonton is on the clock. Pretty sure.
White face, black shirt White socks, black shoes Black hair, white strat Bled white, died black
Yesterday, the Edmonton Oilers made a flurry of moves and there may be one more today. Let’s review all of them before we get to the new 50-man list:
- Greg Chase traded to the Florida Panthers for future considerations
- Mark Fayne loaned to Springfield of the AHL
- Oscar Klefbom placed on IR
- Anton Slepyshev recalled
- Nathan Walker waived
Greg Chase has real talent, although it didn’t shine in the minors during 2+ seasons in the Edmonton system. I ranked him No. 51 in his draft year, he was chosen No. 188. It didn’t work out in Edmonton, hope it does for him in Florida. Mark Fayne gets to play the final stretch of his contract out east, wonder if he sees the NHL again. I think he can still play.
Oscar Klefbom going on IR feels like it could have happened at any time and is a damned good idea. Let the young man heal, get him back in a week and see if he continues his climb toward Top Oscar. Anton Slepyshev is among the 12 best forwards on this team, don’t think Todd McLellan thinks so, though. Sail on, Nathan Walker, we hardly knew you.
WHO COMES OUT OF THE LINEUP?
Once Andrej Sekera is activated (right soon!) and Klefbom returns, who comes out of the lineup? My guess is injuries and slumps will dictate, but we would be wise to remember Sekera may not be Sekera right away.
50-MAN LIST
This assumes Nathan Walker is plucked off waivers, Bob mentioned yesterday several teams put in a claim at the same time as the Oilers. The biggest in-season addition (for the franchise) is clearly Jesse Puljujarvi, I think, but Mike Cammalleri and Brandon Davidson have helped, too. Mark Fayne remains on the 50-man.
BRIAN FERLIN
Several of you have asked me about Brian Ferlin. He hasn’t played since December 3, and this is a good story waiting to happen. Is he hurt? We’ll find out this morning from Ryan Holt. Photo by Mark Williams, who is a worthy follow.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
A busy morning on the show, beginning at 10, TSN1260.
- Darcy McLeod, Because Oilers. Was Todd McLellan stubborn with Jesse Puljujarvi?
- Eric Fawcett, Press Basketball. Great Christmas day schedule, what’s going on with my 76ers?
- Ryan Holt, Bakersfield PBP. Ferlin, Bear, and your questions.
10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Oh my word….how did I forget those guys lol…Prime Rib on the brain.
New draft rule…Best Moosehead Available.
Tried one back in the Fall…well….that didn’t work out too well.
Will do..thx for the feedback!
I would think the logical candidate is Gryba.
Auvitu’s results have been better and the coach has already played him at F for a bit this year.
Having a player who can play D or F as your 23rd player on the roster is probably pretty attractive for McLellan.
They are clearly cognizant of the one game left until he loses his waiver exemption.
With that said, I don’t think they plan on sending him down again – when Klef comes off IR we pretty much have to re-assign a d-man (Gryba/Auvitu – subject to waivers) – I can’t imagine them keeping 9D on the roster.
The grief about Russell is amount and term vis a vis where he slots on the roster.
In more than a few games the coach plays Russell the least among Dmen, including last game.
I consider him a 4/5 and his biggest boosters like Stauffer and Spector think fancystats guys are way off base and consider him a 4/5. 🙂
You don’t pay your 4/5 $4MM x 4 years and give him a NMC, especially with 97 and 29 getting paid.
Another 1 year contract would have been ideal, 2 max. Doesn’t bring enough for term.
Russell wasn’t enough cover for the current roster though.
Assuming full health at the beginning of they year everyone’s establish NHL ability was:
77-6
4-x
25-83
81 was a flier on an interesting player and 62 is a 7/8
Now 25 is far exceeds expectations and that’s great.
Even with that you still needed cover if one of 77,6,4 goes down or 25 doesn’t exceed expectations.
Giant hole at 2RD that was never addressed and still isnt’ imo.
Coaches playing 83 on 2nd pair despite him getting his head kicked in all year speaks to this.
I think Peter might deal a LHD for a RHD in his signature summer move.
I would be surprised if Slep draws in. i feel management wants to have control over him and maybe send him down to Bakersfield if they don’t get what they want in a trade for him.
I mentioned this on one of LT’s Athletic posts, so I thought I’d mention it here in light of Friedman’s article:
I fully expect a RFA clearout at the deadline, to avoid getting stuck with contracts this summer, or relinquishing rights without getting something in return.
60 games or so should painting a good picture for Chiarelli as to who the RFA keepers are and who aren’t.
I suspect Both Slepyshev and Caggiula to be out shortly after or part of our winger trade, and Davidson has made Benning more expendable too. So far only Nurse is a sure thing, with Strome on the bubble, and playing better as a wing with Leon.
I wonder if Cammy or Slep draw in for Walker today?
I’d like to see them both in and Drake out but Drake “was tenacious” last game and McLellan loves that tenacity.
Apparently you’re supposed to cut them first.
Hope to see the boys put in the same effort they have the last 6 games and come away with a couple of points in the standings.
Can’t wait to see Reggie back in the lineup – hopefully he can have a calming effect on Benning on that third pairing and can help the PK.
VOR,
2014? A strong draft that quite a few people slept on.
Pouzar,
You forgot a few of my favs 🙂
Nathan MacKinnon: Colorado Avalanche. …
Jonathan Drouin: Montreal Canadiens. …
Marty Frk: Detroit Red Wings. …
Nik Ehlers: Winnipeg Jets. …
Jakub Voracek: Philadelphia Flyers. …
Nico Hischier: New Jersey Devils. …
Timo Meier: San Jose Sharks. …
JP has only played 45 NHL games and doesn’t yet have any man strength yet.
he is going to be an absolute monster in this league…not the pierre Macguire (spits) kind of monster, the man-bear-pig Sasquatch kind of monster. JP is a going to be a 250 lb finnish beast, pizza sauce on his face, flying down Connor’s wing and plowing through board battles….
Speaking of Pierre Macguire (spits) I guess having Drew Remenda as colour commentator isn’t the worst possible scenario.
~ Strome, LB, Rattle.~
bendelson,
This was my immediate guess also. That said the Oilers gotta get in the dance to have a chance. If they get in they could be a Nashville. I fully see that. But they have got to go on a streak soon to reel in the pack.
Let’s go streaking!
VOR,
2011
TB
EDM
3 core players each?
Edit: 4 core players from Edm (if you include Stome)
Also interesting: Picks 1-10 – all solid players (if you include Strome)
Also of note: All four of Edm’s players picked before any of TB’s…
Thinking about the Draft – Part Four – The Greatest Draft of All Time.
There are obvious ways to rank drafts. Tomorrow I am going to list them. I have spent years developing ways of projecting forward and looking backward. And tomorrow I am going to talk about those tools.
For now I just want to say that as a result of the all that research I concluded that their is a strong contender for the greatest draft of all time. One with no asterisks. One passing through the NHL right now.
There were no prophets who foretold their coming. There are still no experts confirming my analysis. The math as you will see tomorrow says this group of young men are something incredibly unique. But at the time of draft the best anyone could say is they were blah and meh.
If my math is right this spring two teams with core players from the draft in question are going to meet in the Stanley Cup final and then people are going to notice. If I am right one of those teams will be the Edmonton Oilers.
Yeah, not buying it. Sorry.
Phlegms damn it. Huge win for them. And they controlled the Blues’ attack. No time to be celebrating back to back wins. Gotta make it 3 before you can make it 4.
Tried cooking a sirloin tip steak tonight, and I can only describe my efforts as being chew-tile.
Those things need the ‘lowe and slow’ method.
If we are going to use a different measure, say, who you play for and how many people around the world know who you are…ie. your legacy, then the greatest drummer of all time is
The Little Drummer Boy
p.s. yeah I saw him live. He played Jingu Stadium in Tokyo during a reunion tour in 1984.
I thought it was a tribute to the founding of le Club de hockey Canadien.
All you Phil Rudd haters can go piss up a rope!
Incredible range of topics today: Hockey Draft, Music Drummers and How to Sear A Prime Rib.
Came across this quote:
Sports, is at once the most sublime and the most trivial of human pursuits.
It works in the minutest crannies and open out to the widest vistas.
It bakes no bread, and yet it can inspire our souls.
Abridged from W. James
Just a wild guess that 1909 was your birth year….I’m probably wrong.
Beethoven hasn’t got many fans left who remember him live either.
hunter1909,
Did you see him live?
Gotta be:
John Bonham
Keith Moon
Neil Peart
Dave Grohl
Levon Helm(best vocals/percussion)
Good read:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/david-perron-vegas-golden-knights/
Greatest drummer of all time?
The one and only Chick Webb.
Well, DYLAN Strome just got reassigned to AHL, so RYAN is certainly the better bet. Dylan has done all of sweet nothing at the NHL level – if I was Coyotes management I’d be getting pretty nervous right about now.
Woodguy v2.0,
My question for you is: How would Chiarelli fair in the wood business?
Bingo. A long, long time ago, I was told it was Christmas sensimilla.
Figured out later that Christmas = snow.
True dat, although with a roast where you’re feeding a few people, you might want some variance to suit different preferences.
Is it like a baculum
US beat Belarus 14-0 in an exhibition game.
Yamamoto and Kemp each had a goal but not sure about their complete lines.
I thought he looked really good at the oilers camp.
The oilers seem to have a knack for drafting dmen late.
Woodguy v2.0,
I don’t understand this.
Why are we giving him grief about not signing enough depth to cover for klefbom and Larsson, but on the other side giving him grief for signing Russell?
Most of the dmen moved this summer have issues, whether it be contract, ability, age, whatever.
So why complain about signing Russell when we need depth.
Are Ruutta or Franson really that much better than gryba or auvitu? Or fayne for that matter? These guys are third pairing specialists for the most part, with there own warts.
Shame averted.
Gerta Rauss,
The experience was accidental – as in never accept a joint from someone you don’t know. They might be messing with you. No, it’s not golf.
First viewing of Safin.
Very impressed with his wheels for a big guy. Don’t think he has ever crossed the D zone hashmarks this game. Will be interested to see that is a natural cherry picker bent, game plan or just trying to do too much offensively given that his team is so overmatched.
I am telling you, cook it low and slow and then use the reverse sear methodology, you will never cook it any other way, Kenji Lopez is a mad food scientist and is an awesome source for all things cooking. This is how every top end steak house cooks their Prime Rib and it is an awesome technique….Lopez goes into the science behind the technique….you will not regret trying this!!
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/12/step-by-step-food-lab-reverse-sear-prime-rib.html
RINGO
When the Beatles were asked “Is Ringo the best drummer in the world?”
One of them responded: “No, he isn’t even the best drummer in our band.”
🙂
GREATEST HITS OF THE GREATEST DRUMMER OF ALL TIME
The drum of drummers, the McDavid of Drumming, the one drummer that Conan O’Brien and Bruce Springsteen trusted with their live show. Not many drummers can keep a straight beat in their own life and pilot their own helicopter to a safe landing. This guy could.
I rarely object to any comments here but I must take a stand.
Now ask yourself seriously, can any drummer anyone listed in Lowetide (above or below this post) keep the precise of perfect rhythm that he displays in this greatest hits video. Doubt it.
Don’t take my word for bible truth… just watch this short clip and analyze “My Hometown” in slo mo (again again and be amazed)? You will never say that the best is subjective – sometimes you have to agree the high hat cream rises to the top.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fTs5o9UjMI
#1-900-DRUM-BOY
PS. Lowetide, Woodguy and Kinger – glad you enjoyed my Stones story. And glad my question to Lowetide turned into list of greatest drummers. Gonna check out those links all posted.
https://lowetide.ca/2017/12/19/gonna-walk-before-they-make-me-run/comment-page-1/#comment-698678
Damn Seth Jones is so good. Wish that trade had gone down. Would have cemented the D for sure. Lock up 1RHD for a decade.
And I say that having always loved Nuge.
Speaking from experience, it’s not golf
OriginalPouzar,
Safin looks big and mobile also playing RW. Can’t tell what line he’s on. The Czech’s have some big forwards.
Wish we had Ferraro instead of Remenda.
Seen Kemp good at the (I think it was) U-18’s. Seemed to get around the ice well and was on the right side of the puck mostly. Hope he develops and is a 7th round steal.
stephen sheps,
Thanks Stephen. I’m going to try that, although I’m not sure if I have 48 hours worth of patience;-)
Speaking of which…The other nifty piece of cookery equipment that’s often overlooked is the pressure cooker. My mom used to pull out her old GE electric every week. Made great food. I’d almost forgotten about it.
I’m going with the Breville Fast Slow.
Lots of talk about the Oilers heading overseas next year.
China because they are a league focus and McDavid.
Also potentially Germany as Drai is a huge draw.
It would be kind of cool but I wish they wouldn’t go. Extra travel, messes with camp, etc. I remember how bad it messes with the Canuck camp this year.
Tough to really get a read on Safin as the Canadian team is so much better the Czechs are just chasing.
Yamamoto is in the US top 6 tonight playing with Logan Brown and Brady Tkachuk.
Phil Kemp also draws in on D.
Melvis,
just as good if not better. the reality is that using the sous vide, you’re still cooking the meat in its own juices. You still finish the roast by searing it (I like cast iron, but others swear by the broiler and others still prefer the BBQ) but the one real advantage is completely even temp throughout. The trouble with conventional roasting techniques, especially with the 4-boner style Pouzar described above (hehehe boner… hehehe) is that it’s harder to cook it evenly. You’ll get a section that’s either closer to medium or closer to rare than you might actually want. Sous vide solves that problem, if you consider such things to be an issue.
I was adamantly against the sous vide coming out of the restaurant world, until having some convos with some other chefs who are far better than I am (and still in the biz) about whether they’d consider using them. At first it was like a secret shame, but now it’s more like a club we’re all very happy to be a part of.
The Anova is real cheap and totally worth picking up.