News off the ice is going to start taking over the on-ice product now, the Oilers are not in the playoff race and the college signings, draft lottery and Euro rumors are going to ratchet up in the coming days. How much work is to be done before the new general manager arrives? Massive.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of the group. INSANE NEW OFFER IS HERE!
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Chipped teeth, playing DJ and lots of Game of Thrones: A week in the life of Darnell Nurse.
- New Lowetide: Kailer Yamamoto’s first pro season a cause for concern.
- Lowetide: The Edmonton Oilers and the giant talent pool that is the USHL.
- Lowetide: How the Oilers can shop for a big bang on a small budget
- Jonathan Willis: How the Oilers can turn their prospect depth into the blueline of a contender.
- Lowetide: What Mark Hunter’s draft record in Toronto means for his Oilers GM candidacy.
- Lowetide: Colby Cave and Joe Gambardella build late-season resumes with Edmonton.
- Lowetide: The Oilers made a rare move and shopped the QMJHL at the 2018 draft. It could happen again.
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: After a year of despair, Oilers prospect Cameron Hebig grateful for latest chapter with the Condors
- Jonathan Willis: Bob Nicholson’s misguided Tobias Rieder comments reveal deeper problems within Oilers management
- Jonathan Willis: Ken Hitchcock knows why Edmonton has trouble exiting its zone, but lacks the players to fix it.
- Lowetide: Trimming cap fat and adding speed and skill will shape Oilers’ offseason.
- Jonathan Willis: Former Canucks architects Mike Gillis and Laurence Gilman should be considered for any vacant NHL GM job
- Lowetide: The Edmonton Oilers draft early, the WHL is loaded and there’s a lot of history.
- Lowetide: The Edmonton Oilers and the OHL.
OILERS AFTER 79
- Oilers in 2015: 30-42-7, 67 points; goal differential -37
- Oilers in 2016: 44-26-9, 97 points; goal differential +30
- Oilers in 2017: 34-39-6, 74 points; goal differential -37
- Oilers in 2018: 34-35-9, 77 points; goal differential -27
I think this Oilers team is clearly the second best of the McDavid Oilers, but how maddening is that? Everyone keeps saying Mike Gillis is poison for the culture of the franchise, did anyone pause to think that might be a good idea?
OILERS IN APRIL
- Oilers in April 2016: 0-1-0, zero points; goal differential -5
- Oilers in April 2017: 1-0-0, two points; goal differential +1
- Oilers in April 2018: 0-1-0, zero points; goal differential -3
- Oilers in April 2019: 7-5-2, 16 points; goal differential -2
WHAT TO EXPECT IN APRIL
- On the road to: Vegas, Colorado (Expected 0-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: San Jose (Expected 0-0-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: Calgary (Expected: 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 1-2-1, three points in 4 games
- Current results: 0-0-0
TO DO LIST
Keith Gretzky has several items on his list of things to do pre-draft, and the organization has a giant log of things to do before the fall. Here are a few that come to mind:
- Sign or trade John Marino if he plans to turn pro. Marino is worth signing, his progression post draft has been strong. That said, Edmonton’s RHD depth chart may mean a parting of the ways. The team has already made the decision to pass on JD Dudek.
- Sign goalie Hayden Hawkey. His college career continues, Providence is off to the Frozen Four April 11 weekend. I think he’s earned a contract, no idea how they’ll find room.
- Sign or move on from defenseman Vincent Desharnais, also heading to the Frozen Four with Providence College. I don’t think it’s a lock either way, would lean toward passing but it’s been a good season.
- Sign Ryan McLeod. Although he was drafted just one year ago, McLeod turns 20 in September. The Oilers could send him back to junior in the fall, going full “ripen!” but one suspects he’ll be in Bakersfield in October.
- Make a decision on Ryan Mantha. He’ll have one more year on his entry deal, haven’t heard anything about a comeback.
- Sign Alex Chiasson, who might be the only pending UFA who’ll return.
- RFA’s Jesse Puljujarvi, Jujhar Khaira, Joe Gambardella, Ty Rattie, Tobias Rieder, Tyler Vesel, Colin Larkin, Robin Norell and Shane Starrett all need contracts (or to be walked). My guess is they’ll retain Khaira, Gambardella and Starrett, while passing on the rest and trading Puljujarvi.
- My current guess is that JP is packaged with a substantial defenseman in an effort to get a scoring forward who is established. What might that look like? Don’t know, but Caleb Jones is the most likely defenseman to step in this fall, so a LHD might be in play.
PROJECTED 50-MAN
There is so much work to do, and (as we’ve discussed) one summer isn’t going to turn this rig around. Two things that are positives: Edmonton’s drafting over the past two summers procured several impressive talents outside the first round (Samorukov, Skinner, Safin, Maksimov, McLeod, Rodrigue) worthy of signing. The other positive? The general manager has enough blue line depth to trade from an area of strength.
A FEW THOUGHTS
I think Oilers fans can assume Keith Gretzky will handle all business through draft day, and possibly into free agency. If Bob Nicholson’s plan is to interview everyone, the new GM might be at the draft but won’t have a helluva lot of roster knowledge. The longer this process goes past April 15, the more likely Gretzky handles summer.
The Calgary Flames are champions of the west! I don’t expect Oilers fans to jump on the bandwagon, but the organization can serve as a model for the Oilers moving forwards. Astute drafts, wise trades, and patience have all been factors, and yes they have a thriving analytics department. The most famous fellow in the team’s stats department ruined my life when his site went down. It was so convenient!
The Arizona Coyotes are driving toward a spot but may finish just shy. The number of injuries endured over the season makes the group a major story. Edmonton’s management could learn some things from that organization, too.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
I’ll be on the roundtable this morning with Dusty, Eric and Tom Gazzola, meaning I’ll have the fourth best hairdo in the room and will also trail badly in the smarts department. No matter, I’m loud! At 10, TSN 1260, the Lowdown hits the air. Scheduled to appear:
- Catherine Silverman, The Athletic. We’ll chat about Mikko Koskinen and what the future may bring.
- Andrew Peard, Oil Kings PBP. Oil Kings win the series against the Medicine Hat Tigers and are moving on.
- Jason Gregor, TSN1260. Oilers season winds down, GM candidates and who will return?
10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. Talk soon!
This thread took a sinister turn!
Shit, I assumed they didn’t play again until Thursday – didn’t realize they had a game tonight. There is a slight chance I’m a little disapointed they play tonight.
HA!
I thought that was what G stood for?
Last night I watched Klefbom make 2 bad decisions inside a few minutes of the middle of the game. As I rarely see him do anything remarkable either way it started me thinking.
Seeing how NONE of the defencemen sans Nurse(who also can’t make a good pass only knows how to skate out with the puck and needs a lot of improvement) can even lug the puck up the ice to make a half decent pass to anyone – I started wondering whether or not Klef, Larsson, Sekera were like too many of the same thing, and Oilers are desperate for some puck moving defencemen, meanwhile…hyped to have all kinds of great up and comers but other than Bouchard I dont like to believe the hype.
Bring out the Gimp
The ball gag strap broke
I just fell off my chair.
Oilers playing 3X more before Saturday feels like Christmas.
Hunter, what’s the update on the guess the total points for the season thingy.
I should be pretty close, think I had 82 or 84 something like that.
Hey bud, welcome back to this great place.
Nice of you to finally unlock the cellar. 😉
G Money,
Welcome back, G! I don’t believe we have met – I’m relatively new here – but I’ve heard all about you and looking forward to your take on all things Oilers.
Hi G
Rest of Season predictions by Hunter1909:
Oilers lose vs both the Avs and Sharks, causing the Flames to purposely throw the last game of the season in order to try to ruin Oilers lottery hopes, but this is followed by Flames who then fall flat in playoffs for being so bloody stupid.
OriginalPouzar,
Strome’s crafty goal to assist Oilers draft lottery position. Sam Pollock style GMing by Oilers giving opposition decent players who bolster their own playoff chances while Oilers tank during the last 10 games LOL
Jesus Drake:
https://twitter.com/cms_74_/status/1112913550853455872?s=12
Yup, a legit 2RD that can move the puck would make all the difference. Add Petry to this team and it makes a massive difference.
Thankfully, Jones, Persson, Bouchard, Persson, Samorukov – all plus puck movers.
Just need a couple more years of development time.
As signing Stralman is a pipedream, I’m somewhat on board with renting J. Faulk for 1 year, however, given organizational make-up, I have no desire to re-sign Faulk to his UFA contract (not to mention expansion draft protection decisions) so it would be a one-year rental and wouldn’t pay too much in acquisition cost – so, not going to happen.
Why would we wait a week?
Nah, don’t see it happening – good I hope it doesn’t happen.
I think this is his last 3 games he’ll be moved this off season in a mutual agreement that works best for both parties he looks totally depressed playing it’s sad to see. When your serving the bench minor penalties it’s over. I think that he’ll rebound back to better numbers 15-20 for a couple of years at least wiith his new team.
Waves
I’ve always done that, you just started making a big deal of it lately.
Welcome back, G. Good to see you.
You nailed it. We suck everywhere. How we got here would be mind boggling if we weren’t so damned used to it.
I also think Lucic’s give-a-shit metre is at about -100. The nice thing is that if we can somehow trade him, he’ll probably play a lot better.
JimmyV1965,
It strikes me that this is a little like the parable of the blind men and the elephant.
In assessing Our Glorious Oilers(tm), if one is inclined to blame poor goaltending, one need only look and one will find.
Similarly, if one is inclined to blame the shoddy defense, evidence for it abounds.
If one suspects the shallower-than-flat depth of the forwards, again, you won’t be searching for long.
Let us all contemplate the kind of management skills it takes to achieve building that kind of team around Connor McDeity, because damn, such skills are not the purview of mere mortals.
In fact, I think every dman on our team could play for virtually any team in the league. I think we have at least six forwards who could not play on any other team in the league.
Interesting how people can view the same game differently. While I think our defence is not great, our forward group is putrid. In fact, I would rather have our group of dmen than the Knights. Outside the big three, our forwards are incapable of generating anything in the ozone. They forecheck like shit. They can’t finish passes in the ozone. They certainly can’t shoot. It would help the defence tremendously if our forwards could actually sustain some ozone pressure for more than 15 seconds. Our inability to apply any pressure in the ozone means we are constantly playing defence. If the Knights defence was facing the same kind of pressure they wouldn’t look nearly as good.
Well you know WG.
If he can’t say anything nice, he would say nothing at all.
It’s quiet in here tonight.
BONE207,
Ah, it finally makes sense as to why WG keeps referring to everyone as “a bunch of hoes”!
Like button?
We have liquor, food recipes & a wide variety of garden implements
BONE207,
Where is the “like” button?
hunter1909,
Ha ha, yes, ’tis I, the Fairest Fair Weathery of the Fair Weathery Fan Clan!
Gerta Rauss,
Greetings!
G MONEY…
He lives. God, this place is a mess. Excuse us. LT walks around with a drink in each hand & puts them down anywhere. Sit…stay awhile.
G Money,
Hola
As soon as the team starts doing well, the fair weather fans return.
Old Timer,
Agree
The defence is terrible. I can’t think of any of them capable of passing the puck to a forward from their own zone. It’s pathetic.
“Nurse is going to get paid” lmao typical of a losing team to care about uninspiring players.
I STILL REMEMBER MY PASSWORD!
Woodguy said I should drop by and say hello as it’s been such a long while. I took it as a personal challenge to try and remember my password.
So hello, good people of Lowetide!
After watching Oilers tonight, it has become apparent that the age old problem is still present – they have lousy defensemen.
Time after time after time they fail to make a simple pass to a forward or they are too late with a pass or they are outmuscled for the puck. When you combine this with a bunch of feeble bodies and low hockey IQ’s, disaster is written all over the page. Nurse and Russell are lousy passers, both have low hockey IQs and Russell is outmuscled every shift. Klefbom is a good skater, a decent puck handler and is physically competitive but not dominant. Larsson is physically strong but is not a top tier skate or puck mover or passer.
Nurse, Klefbom and Larsson also take dumb shots from the point. They take shots on net when there is nobody screening the goalie or anywhere near the net. Their shots are simply turnovers because our centres are not dominant at face offs.
Can you imagine how dynamic McDavid, Draisaitl and RNH would be if they ever received passes on the tape from their D men as they left their zone? My God it would be beautiful.
Please revamp the Oilers D Corps. The forwards are a second priority.
Im hoping Katz does the secret handshake with Bettman again.
Great!
Damn you Hunter…
I hate it when you make sense!!!
On the sunny side of life at least our lottery odds are increasing. In a week from now we’ll be cheering for the flames to lose.God help us and the new GM if the flames win the cup.
OIlers on track to pick 8/9 (pre lottery)…maybe as high as 6 if they come up lame in the last 3 games-and thats quite possible given the opponents
LOTTERY TANK-A-THON NEWS!!
I just did the tank lottery and they rose up 5 spots to take 3rd!! That’s right!! Another JP is on his way!!
Unless I’m mistaken these Oilers have been battling right up until tonight to reach the same playoffs.
How many points are we talking about then? 3? 4?
OP would be proud of you
Fricking Kos on that last goal we would of been better off with nobody in net.