Blame it on Larry Mavety. I believe he was in the hockey preview magazines every fall, as an NHL hopeful for one team or another. In modern times, you’d get quite a bit of information on a depth defenseman like Mavety (“prospect-stats.com has him No. 5 in the AHL in even-strength points and No. 2 in power-play points among blue”) but back then it was something like “Larry Mavety is also available” and that’s all she wrote.
I love watching prospects find their way to the NHL, especially the opening night roster. Evan Bouchard, Kailer Yamamoto and Ethan Bear will all sail far beyond Larry Mavety (who didn’t make the NHL but emerged as a solid player in the WHA) and their journey begins now. It’s hockey’s annual renewal, young men arriving and finding their place. It is a wonderful circle of life.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton is going to bring it all season long. Proud to be part of a lineup that is ready to cover the coming year. Outstanding coverage from a large group, including Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Jonathan Willis, Lowetide, Minnia Feng and Pat McLean. If you haven’t subscribed yet, now’s your chance. Special offer is here, less than $4 a month!
- New Lowetide: Is this the year an Edmonton Oilers player wins the Calder Trophy?
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Evan Bouchard enlists former figure skater to help improve a weakness in his game.
- New Jonathan Willis: Mikko Koskinen temporarily triumphs over Al Montoya, but the real battle for the backup role has just started
- New Eric Duhatschek: Milan Lucic has made changes to try and get his swagger, and scoring touch, back.
- Jonathan Willis: What does the preseason performance of Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto mean for the Oilers?
- Lowetide: Impressive Cooper Marody preseason could lead to NHL recall.
- Lowetide: Oilers farm system beginning to resemble the real thing
- New Lowetide: RE 18-19: Cam Talbot is key to Oilers success in 2018-19
- Lowetide: RE 18-19: A case for the defence.
- Lowetide: RE 18-19: Ryan Strome and the Oilers long journey to competent third and fourth lines
- Lowetide: RE 18-19: Leon Draisaitl and the pursuit of a second outscoring line in ’18-19
- Lowetide: RE 18-19: Can the McDavid line lead the 2018-19 Oilers to the playoffs?
STILL OILERS
The roster is mostly set but there are some questions entering the final North American game of preseason (this afternoon’s contest). Jakub Jerabek was on the Certain list, partly because of his contract, but he hasn’t been good enough and that may mean Jason Garrison gets a contract. It’s also possible the team carries eight blue, and that Kailer Yamamoto heads to Bakersfield. Don’t forget about waivers. One thing I believe we can put into the 99.9% sure category:
"If we were to decide the team today, he would make the team for his 9-game test period." Chiarelli on Bouchard #Oilers
— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) September 28, 2018
I think that gives Bouchard the edge over Bear, and that makes sense because the 9-game run for Bouchard would give Bear a chance to gain a little more experience in the AHL. I have been surprised by Bear’s solid defensive play (the offense is assumed) and there’s a sliver of a chance they keep both, but in this moment it’s important to remember seasons past when we weren’t having this conversation due to lack of depth. These are better days.
WAIVERS
- G Zane McIntyre, Boston Bruins. I doubt it happens, but Chiarelli drafted him for the Bruins in 2010. Posted a .914 save percentage in the AHL last season, he was 2, 2.38 .894 during preseason.
- L Nicolas Kerdiles, Anaheim Ducks. Has 22 goals in his last 76 games (over two seasons) and his scouting report contains some power forward elements.
- L Dennis Everberg, Winnipeg Jets. Big winger who has decent speed (and like Kerdiles) some power-forward bullet points. Don’t know if he can score but he fits the Chiarelli template.
- LC Brendan Gaunce, Vancouver Canucks. Former first-round selection, has size and two-way ability. Skating is an issue.
- LC Peter Holland, New York Rangers. He’s found a way to hang around the NHL since 2011-12, and one suspects he’ll spend time in the league again this season. Has a nice range of skills, Edmonton could use him I believe as an extra forward.
CURRENT CONDORS
- Rookie pro players to watch are Tyler Benson, Cooper Marody, William Lagesson, Stuart Skinner. That’s your future in terms of new arrivals.
- Recall options include Caleb Jones, Kevin Gravel, Keegan Lowe, Al Montoya, Josh Currie, Brad Malone, Joe Gambardella and Patrick Russell.
https://twitter.com/SteveBurtch/status/1045890640532299776
This is a player I would love to see Edmonton acquire in the coming days. Inexpensive contract, solid offensive ability, plug and play. I imagine Toronto will find a way to keep him, they always do, but Leivo is a good hockey player who needs 500 at-bats. Edmonton has the opportunity.
KOSKINEN NMC
Jason Gregor broke news on his show yesterday, Peter Chiarelli telling him Mikko Koskinen has a no movement along with $2.5 million on his one-year deal. I don’t really care about a NMC on a one-year deal, and the money is dear but the general manager was in search of a potential replacement for Cam Talbot beginning 2019-20 (Talbot may price himself out of Edmonton’s market, much like Curtis Joseph 20 years ago).
As an idea, I have no quarrel, but do wonder about the ability of this team to assess talent at the pro level. Is Mikko Koskinen (.937 save percentage last season) a better NHL goalie than Anders Nilsson (.936 in the same league the year before he played for Edmonton)?
I think offering a $2.5 million, one-year, no movement contract to a future No. 1 goalie is a fine idea, but the Oilers own past makes me wonder if they made the right choice. They got it right 2006 deadline with Dwayne Roloson, Mathieu Garon had a solid year, Nikolai Khabibulin couldn’t stay healthy. Ben Scrivens had his moments, Anders Nilsson okay, Jonas Gistavsson a misstep, Al Montoya not good enough.
The problem is you develop a past. We owe Mikko Koskinen his 500 at-bats and we are about to see about him.
Nuge and Rattie drug him down quite a bit probably.
That was no guess. I used a highly elaborate mathematical system to calculate that points total.
hunter1909,
Hi Hunter,
Put me down for 105 points and 27 Yak Attacks
Thank you my friend!
No. I was scared of being right about it.
Either way early days, but he’s been better w/o the puck in the DZ than I thought he’d be by next season’s camp, let alone this one.
He played that 2-on-1 better than half our NHL roster did on any last season, all season.
Have you seen him play? Any change in his play?
I’m going to guess we’ll have a pretty slow couple of days with Oilers news.
I think they took everyone left in camp to Europe – damn injuries complicating things.
Can’t wait until Wed – I think I’m going to “work from home” and get ready for the game at 8am and the roster finalizing by 3pm.
Sorry, got to note that Yakupov plays for CKA Saint Petersburg, wearing #65:
https://www.khl.ru/stat/players/671/all/ska/
https://www.khl.ru/players/16391/
I like St. Pete the city, but as a ЦСКА Moscow fan, can’t stand CKA St. Pete the hockey club, even with Yakupov. The good news is that Anton Slepyshev is playing for ЦСКА Moscow, but only 3 points in 11 games so far:
https://www.khl.ru/players/17504/
which separate somewhat explosively.
Haha, well Caggiula was only a drag on McDavid one of the two years.
Also, McDavid has played just over 200 min with Caggiula, more than 850 with Lucic.
#CaggiulaEffects are negligible, despite what some say.
It’s the Motos and Bears I’m worried about. Exotic scalps for the Gothen collectors.
On second thought, maybe that last sentence should read “Wait …”
Also, Lucic had a much higher WTF? last year than he did the previous year and it was already fairly high in 2016-17. That’s what makes me wonder. Fortunately we have better options on the wing this year so if Looch struggles early, a coach who isn’t thoroughly mediocre would use the option to move him down in the batting order. We wait.
Hunter,
Put me down for 95 points.
Will roll the dice on 16 Yak goals.
#CaggiulaEffects
I mean, people should have checked his most recent KHL stats then, instead of going by “ah, well, it’s a low scoring league and he sucks”. He’s also now on a better team than he was on during the lockout season.
10 goals in 22 games.
It’s for both … we cut the car right down the middle.
I’ll pay for Hunter if someone else picks up the tab for the blow.
On a related not, can I rent the cheer squad for a party?
Lucic had a positive CF% last year without McDavid (just barely).
McDavid also had a better CF%, FF%, GF%, SCF% and HDCF% with Lucic than without Lucic in both 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Makes you wonder.
With a flight right away, the Oilers would take zero risk with their Players today., so uncertainty is for wusses. Looks like 26 Players caught the flight. Interesting to see what happens then.
He sure as hell would never have gotten the 8X8.5M deal.
MacT would drop Leon from the team, to challenge him.
Is that a bad thing?
Can the Germans sink the Lucictania?
They don’t have to declare the roster until October 23 at 3pm.
Until then, they could have brought the entire training camp with them.
At that point in time, they need to be down to 23 – anyone not on that 23 will need to be re-assigned (and those that require waivers will need to be put on waivers the day before).
With the uncertainty around Russell, Rattie and Larsson (his back thing just happened), the are likely being cautious bringing over a larger group than they originally anticipated.
Cologne is in the middle of Oktoberfest. And then on to the blonde sights of Gothenburg.
One could miss the flight back by a few days, just sayin
Was at the game today, I think the idea to give Bouchard a 9 game trial is the right play. Looked fine today against a decent Flames linuep. Moved the puck well and i didn’t notice him defensively (in a good way) like you would early in Nurses career.
I think JJ has improved and Drai was fine today. People will complain about his corsi but the overall game looked good. He broke up a lot of plays, was physical and moved his feet better.
Wait, would a Pinto be for the winner or for last place? It’s not clear…
Do guys like Bear, Yamamoto and Bouchard even need to be on the roster?
Can you keep guys that don’t need to clear waivers around the team and “recall” them when needed?
I believe you can waiver players and not assign them and they don’t count towards the active roster. Wonder if you can do something similar with players that aren’t waiver eligible.
A guy like Garrison could be kept around the team indefinitely I imagine. He doesn’t have a contract. He’s just a guy hanging out. hah.
He’s lucky if he’s ambulatory. Frankfurt has good massagists, the American legacy.
Tour the cathedral in Cologne, a few bier at the stube and he’ll be right as rain.
Jethro Tull,
Straight up murder right here.
HIYOOH!!
From various pictures on social media, I think they took everyone to Europe – Bouchard, Yamamoto, Bear and Chiasson were all seen on or getting on the plane.
No official airing of Jarabek or Garrison but I don’t imagine Jarabek was left behind.
I think the banged up players have added some roster uncertainty.
They don’t need to declare their roster until 3pm on Wed.
I wonder if they have to pay extra for Lucic as baggage?
Nothing like a 9 hour flight to help loosen up the ol back muscles
ffs
Samorukov held off the scoresheet in a 6-5 Guelph win (-1).
Rodrigue stop 19 of 22 but that 22nd shot turned out to be the winner.
After watching today’s game, Yamamoto should make the team and play as a bottom 6 players to start. He PK well and can be the puck carrier on either line. He has the speed to make up for the lack of speed from Brodziak or Strome. Why are we trying to make him the shooter? Much better at being the puck carrier. JMHO
Ha. Fun to look back
15-16. I had the Oilers down for 83 points. Actual 70.
16-17. I had 95. Actual 103.
17-18. I had 96. Actual 78. Cost me a bottle of bunnahabhain 25.
Conclusion: I suck. Don’t trade for Faulk.
Currently at 2G/1A in 11 games.
I wonder if the coach doesn’t like his sideburns or if CSKA Moscow has an issue with Russians…….
Maksimov finishes with a goal and an assist in a 6-1 win.
Yeti won last year with a guess of 69 points
The prize is a Kia Sorento*
https://oilersdeathmarch.com/season-201718/
*or Hunter brings a box of wine to your home and spends the weekend on your sofa
I’m afraid to ask. Who won last year? What was the prize?
~ it’s only a tie breaker.
everyone who picked them to miss the playoffs knows they’ll make them out of spite. everyone who picked them to make the playoffs knows they’ll miss them out of spite. so everyone knows they’ll be wrong.
tiebreakers will not arise. qed. besides hunter’s probably going to make the award a pinto and rear end it after taking the oiler’s zamboni on a joy ride ~
……..When the rest of us placed our bets there was only a few of us that had yak in the high teens to low 20s.Now all of them are…..
=====
1. Hunter, thank you so much for doing this.
2. I don’t get the comment above about Yaks goals to date. Everyone knew they had until the puck drops in Europe to vote.
3. My doom and gloom entry – 84 points. 18 Yakgoals.
– Talbot OK, back up goal tending a big ?
– PP not OK. PK OK.
– Lucic not OK.
– RW looking very OK.
– 2RD, D Depth, not looking good. Hopefully an LTIR contract.
– Impact of new coaches hmmm.
hunter1909,
Put me down for 94 points + 22 goals for Yak. Thanks!
LOL
Oilers will have home rink advantage throughout the playoffs. Slepyshev has a better year than Yak.
Change your picks.
I’ll go 16 goals for Yak.
94 for the Oilers.
or a Ford Pinto.
OriginalPouzar,
I am willing to concede that I based my Yamamoto-Lucic working well together comment based on ‘seen them good’ last year in the NHL.
The basic conflict in our views is that you are not willing to give Rieder the benefit of the doubt as a top 6 player and I am not willing to give Lucic the benefit of the doubt as a top 6 player. Sadly we may both be correct.
Anyway, my track record at Hunter’s contest is deplorable. However, I can rest assured knowing that first prize is not a Cadillac Eldorado.