Holy hell Zack Kassian. I know the Oilers were still figuring out their lineup last night, but the Flames iced its opening night lineup. Kassian was fire.
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 Athletic, we are celebrating our 2-year anniversary this week. To mark the occasion, you can get 40% off subscriptions here.
- New Lowetide: Joakim Nygard and Gaetan Haas bid for final Oilers spots during a strange game in Calgary
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: An educated guess at the Oilers’ opening-night roster
- Lowetide: Jay Woodcroft’s Bakersfield Condors might be bound for glory
- Jonathan Willis: Ethan Bear, Tomas Jurco outshine the competition in second-to-last Oilers preseason game
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Joakim Nygard managing his anger as he eyes spot on Oilers.
- Jonathan Willis: Assessing the Oilers’ roster as the final positional battles are sorted out
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers cut Evan Bouchard and Shane Starrett. Is Ethan Bear on the cusp of making the team?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ bottom-six forwards, penalty kill shine in loss to Arizona Coyotes
- Lowetide: Injuries and prospects: A brief Oilers history of devastating derailments
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Connor McDavid’s nearing return and four other things we’ve learned from Oilers camp
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How five months in Kelowna changed Leon Draisaitl’s hockey career
- Lowetide: Matt Benning may be vulnerable to a trade as Ken Holland works to tweak Oilers roster
- Lowetide: Three players who helped their Oilers hopes and three who didn’t do enough to separate in Edmonton’s fourth preseason game
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Dreadful showing means several Oilers players are on the chopping block with cuts looming
- Jonathan Willis: How quickly must the Oilers’ top AHL prospects claim NHL jobs before they become suspect?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: McDavid and more: Five thoughts through the first week of Oilers camp
- Lowetide: Why Kailer Yamamoto’s delayed training camp may benefit his Oilers career
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A: Brandon Manning on how his contract is hurting him, proving his worth at camp and being a mentor
- Jonathan Willis: Four players who helped, three who hurt their Oilers hopes in Edmonton’s second preseason game
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How an offseason adding more pop in his stick and skates has James Neal primed for first Oilers season
- Lowetide: A big night for Oilers defencemen Joel Persson, William Lagesson and Evan Bouchard
- Lowetide: Handicapping Oilers prospect progress: The development of Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones and William Lagesson
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Eight key questions for the Oilers to solve at training camp
- Jonathan Willis: Predicting the winners of the Oilers’ top-six and top-nine forward jobs out of camp
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: In, out or on the bubble: Breaking down positional battles at Oilers camp
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Alex Chiasson prepares to return to scoring form for Edmonton Oilers
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers’ defensive hopes will rest on the new shutdown pair of Darnell Nurse and Adam Larsson
- Jonathan Willis: How much money will Darnell Nurse make on his next NHL contract?
- Corey Pronman: Oilers No. 9 farm system.
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects summer 2019.
LINE 1 Joakim Nygard-Leon Draisaitl-Alex Chiasson played 3:55 together (all numbers five-on-five), going 1-5 Corsi and 1-3 shots, 0-1 goals.
Joakim Nygard had a terrific game, using that speed to get involved. In a period of about 30 seconds, he sent fine passes to Gaetan Haas and Zack Kassian for Edmonton’s goals. I don’t know that he plays opening night, but suspect he makes the team. Leon Draisaitl was impressive but needed better linemates to make things hum. If healthy, I predict another big season. Alex Chiasson had one great look and played a physical game but didn’t look dangerous.
LINE 2 Tomas Jurco-Gaetan Haas-Sam Gagner played 5:16 together, going 5-1 Corsi and 1-0 shots, no goals. The line should have had more impact but couldn’t hit the damn net.
Tomas Jurco had three shots and one HDSC (high-danger scoring chance) plus at least one gorgeous pass (to Leon). I think he made the team before last night. Gaetan Haas impressed, he was fast, made plays, won battles, faceoffs and scored. Yeah. Sam Gagner didn’t impact the game much at all, but I think he’ll line up on a skill line Wednesday night.
LINE 3 Markus Granlund-Colby Cave-Zack Kassian were together for 4:01 and went 5-0 Corsi, 2-0 shots, no goals and 1-0 HDSC.
Markus Granlund did some good work on the PK, had two shots and took a penalty. I don’t know that he has done enough to be in the opening night lineup. Colby Cave is a player I like but he’s too low event offensively to keep an NHL job. The crazy things is that he gets chances. Zack Kassian played an outstanding game, I was amazed by his speed and ability to get clean shots and good looks. Five shots, four hits, too takeaways. My goodness he was good.
LINE 4 Jujhar Khaira-Riley Sheahan-Josh Archibald went 0-6 Corsi in 5:58, 0-4 shots, no goals and no HDSC.
Jujhar Khaira impressed me again with his aggressiveness, on this night without the puck. Tippett’s style suits him. Riley Sheahan got killed on the dot (two of nine) but two takeaways and some strong PK work in 3:10. Josh Archibald was his usual self, great anticipation and a general pain in the ass to the opponent. I like this line.
PAIRING 1: Darnell Nurse-Adam Larsson went 10-7 Corsi in 13:58 together, 8-4 shots, 1-2 goals and 2-1 HDSC.
Darnell Nurse’s third period errant pass resulted immediately in the winning goal, so that’s not good. I thought Adam Larsson got picked on the first Rieder goal, you’d like to see someone jump into the breach there. I don’t know how long this experiment is going to last, but they can’t tromp around the west and go -2 every night if Edmonton is going to win hockey games.
PAIRING 2: William Lagesson-Ethan Bear were 9-9 Corsi in 8:25, with 2-6 shots, no goals and 2-2 HDSC.
William Lagesson defended well, but the veteran Flames had him chasing the puck a lot. This is to be expected, and Lagesson corrected and won a few pucks, too. Ethan Bear had a similar experience (his battle with Matt Tkachuk in the first period was fun) but his outlet passes saved the pairing and his assist was the only point by a defenseman on the night.
PAIRING 3: Brandon Manning-Matt Benning were 5-5 Corsi in 9:10, with 1-3 shots, no goals and 3-1 HDSC.
Brandon Manning had his best game, but he’s still behind the pack in my opinion. His decisions with the puck require one or two extra Mississippi’s, and that’s not going to work. Matt Benning was quality, he ruined Rittich’s mask late in the game. I like Benning.
Mikko Koskinen stopped 19 of 22, .864. He made five of seven HD stops, I thought his glove let him down on the Lucic goal (he stopped the shot from the point but couldn’t control the rebound). Less upset with the Rieder goals, on the first one the Oilers welcomed the shooter into a dangerous area, and on the second it was bang bang and I believe changed direction. He hasn’t imposed his will on jack diddly this fall, though.
DECISIONS
This is the point in the preseason where the coach and general manager review the 10am waiver wire (that should be fun this morning) and then make their moves. For Edmonton, the decisions are a little murky, but one suspects we’ll land on something like Nygard, Jurco and Manning for the final spots. I do think Lagesson has outplayed Manning by several miles.
Preseason caveat: We played mostly against B and C teams, so take any stats with a big grain of salt.
IMO: McDavid – Leon is coming back because running three centers is going to make goals harder to come by against NHL comp.
Man, those 91 and 92 teams made the 3rd round
If they could have kept that team together, and met up against the Pens in the finals……
As for the possibility of breaking that record, I do think injuries will be the deciding factor. Get a bunch of injuries like in 15-16, then its a good possibility. But if we are as healthy as the last 3 years, then I think its unlikely.
Great writing at the Athletic. I never comment there, but you and the Edmonton gang do a fabulous job there. At work, during a slow time, I can rattle off a bunch of articles.
New for The Athletic: The Oilers are poised to break a 25-year-old franchise record this season
https://theathletic.com/1219554/2019/09/30/the-oilers-are-poised-to-break-a-25-year-old-record-this-season/
Oh yes, absolutely. I was simply noting that we should temper our expectations in terms of points. If they come, wonderful. But we shouldn’t really expect them based on his past.
What’s amazing is the fact you’ve been prepared to shell out for so long.
Oilers under Lowe+MacT then Katz are masters of what the fraud squad call “The Long Game” whereby fraudsters(lol) continually bleed their victims over an extended period of time, as opposed to the more mundane and technically less deceitful practice of simply pulling a gun on their victims and forcing them to empty their wallets.
I used to have this ancient uncle who used to go and watch the Montreal Canadiens dynasty in the 1950’s…he’d pay 5 bucks for a ticket but he told me one night as he was sitting there he happened to look around and saw a bunch of old women wearing threadbare coats(this is Montreal which gets horrible winters) essentially spending what he thought must have been welfare cheques to go and watch a bloody hockey game…he said he walked out of the Forum there and then and never returned. From that point on he referred to the Canadiens as “gangsters”…of course this was another era when men went to work to support families instead of today which promotes the incredible ideal which offers everyone the chance to be a “rock star”.
Nervous tennis for the past two sets, but she finally settles down in the 2nd game of the third set, and cruises through the third 6-1, with the help of some key unforced errors from Sasnovich. Served better too. So mentally strong, that girl.
BiBi now 15-3 in three-setters on the season. Stunning win percentage.
Bianca goes from ragged to crap. Goes down two games again. Battles back to even again. DFs 6 times in the set, faces 12 break points too and cannot come back. Hits all of five winners.
6-2, 2-6
Bianca goes down 0-2 to start the set, but despite plenty of ragged play wins the next six straight, including a love service break in the final game to take the first set.
Also I never said Chiasson is the better player, but geez you have to be really, really good defensively to be a better player scoring zero goals.
Stockton defeat Bakersfield Condors 7 – 5
Iacobellis (2), Starrett, Safin, and Bouchard scored for Bakersfield.
Last goal was an Empty Net Goal.
Rieder has avg 11.8 goals per 82 and Chiasson has avg. 14.6 per 82. Of course you can argue that those numbers are scewed by last season. Legit. But Rieder has to navigate his way through a lineup with many, many more legit wingers. Plus it’s hard to come back from 0 goals. I’m willing to put my wallet where my mouth is. I’ll bet a donation to something that Reider doesn’t score 10 goals this year. I’m not betting he will outscore Chiasson because I’ve acknowledged that Chiasson could crap the bed this year. Actually, my original argument was that if Rieder scores more than Chiasson it’s because something has went terribly wrong in Calgary. I’ll gladly lose the bet if that’s the case. Money well spent.
You just said Reider is a better player ( which means currently)
than one of 12RW with 13 evg and 8 ppg
And
RW with 26 th highest goals 22.
Last yr.
Reider has been
10,12, 13,10, 0 evg last 5 yr.
Last yr: one of our better pk fwds
#135 of 186 fwd 8.1 pkga/60; PKU3 on teams
Holland wants double digit evg players.
It is his call.
I think you are on the wrong teams blog and you would be better served on a flames site but of course thats coming from an Oiler fan and armchair quarterback.
Last year is part of his history. Just like Neal, hence the cautious optimism.
Haas is a right hand centre which the team lacks. It would appear he will fit quite well in a structured defensive role.
Rieder is a better player and historically they score at similar rates
I have no idea why you responded to it. That’s something you have to sort out with yourself. I was going to explain why I think you’re confused, but meh.
pts2pndr,
I don’t disagree, but I’ve John Malkoviched Tippett’s head and that is what it says on the chalkboard.
This is actually quite brilliant.
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully Holland can get the ship turned and back to sunnier skies and calmer seas for us all.
Yes, you’re right, my Alzheimer’s thanks you. Thank Gord it wasn’t In Living Color or I would’ve been really upset at forgetting.
Peters is the reason the Lucic Neal trade happened Peters couldn’t stand Neal and I’m sure it was Mutual between Smith vs Talbot Neal vs Lucic Reider vs Chase Tippet vs Peters and Holland vs Treliving the battle of Alberta has finally got a bit of spice to it.
This and won’t answer JimmyV. Convincing argument lol.
Munny,
Jurco and Neal seem to have nice chemistry ( small sample size ), but they would seem to make a ideal second line winger pairing. They have the size, offensive chops and Jurco improves the lines speed. I think they would work wether the centre was Nuge or Drai. Chaison or Gagne on the wing with Neal make it a slow train IMO.
Munny,
I’ve lowered my expectations every year for the last 5 or so, and the Oilers continue to crawl under the bar
I’m not purchasing the NHL package this year for the first time in 13 or 14 years, I just don’t care as much as I used to
Your comment is is largely irrelevant .
Why would I respond to it?
Your comment has nothing to do with the statement I responded to.
That sketch was from MadTV.
Why would an NHL coach pimp a 4th line player?
Peters is pimping his tires that’s what coaches do grasshopper.
Gerta Rauss,
I was think I was somewhere around a 100. Maybe in the 90s, can’t remember. I won’t be going that high this year. How did they say it on SNL?
Lowered Expec-taaations…
Hopefully they keep doing the opposite of whatever I do.
Munny,
I think I was 89 last year, with the thinking at the time that it would take 95 (ish) points to get in
I didn’t expect the Pacific to be as bad as it was last year
Probably shoveling the snow off the sidewalk outside his 19th floor condo
Righteous. Yes totally the point I was making earlier when I totally mentioned Chiasson and was like totally talking about how great he is especially in comparison to Reider!
Flames got a good one in Mangiapane though… Hope he sticks in the line up… good good player. didn’t do much last year but he was all over the place in our games with them.
Gerta Rauss,
What did you take last year, Gerta? I’m thinking of flipping the glass over so it’s all the way empty…
Right?!
hunter1909,
83 points
14 goals for Jesse
Note to self…….. trades with the flames are looking good. They’re in a ‘buying’ mood.
Hmm. Maybe they’d be interested in our elite defensemen, manning for example… or our elite goaltender Koskinen.
This does make me feel better about Peters assessment of Neal last season.
Okay.
I submit.
Chiasson is 3 times the player that Rider is based on cap hit.
Phhhhhttttt.
Wait. They are through the second already and Maximov has 2 apples? Where’s OP with the up to the minute play by play?
Dr. Taboggan,
I suppose it can happen ( player passed/waived by a couple clubs.. finally finds their game in 3rd or 4th club)… … and that’s how it’s looking with Kassian.
I don’t know what to think of our penalty kill last year, and I never played past pee wee… but it seems you have to pressure the passer, anticipate and maybe get stick on pass… don’t overcommit leaving an easy free guy in the danger zone ( if you can) … but… if a guy has a shot from long range that the goalie sees, you expect them to stop it , don’t you? Like, don’t you ‘give’ that shot to the opposition, because highest percentage says an NHL goalie stops a shot from long range that he sees. Our PK, nobody, nobody, trusted the goalie to stop that open long range shot, and that’s where it broke down. That’s my theory anyways.
Rieder has good wheels and can be a good pressure guy. He got into trouble because he was expected to score. He may well find a home as a ‘good’ penalty killer, and maybe that can be his specialty. But he’s not a scorer. He’ll get more than zero, but less than 12.
on that note, Lucic, he may even score 12 on the power play because they drop at his stick with the goalie out of position. But, I don’t think he can actually see the puck very well. I don’t think his eyes are right. Heard Bob suggest this on the radio… once and only once… then I wondered if he got his wrist slapped for saying that as kind of ‘inside’ injury news.
Yeah this is very true. Also, Reider is in elite condition, elite!
Thank you for the props. Hyperbole to state one of the worst trades in zoilers history, but, at the time, certainly one of the stupidest. Just imagine having Strome on the team now. Literally ups the playoffs chances significantly in my mind. Well, notwithstanding the goal tending (oh, and the Koskinen signing is sueable worthy for seasons tickets holders for sure).
Oh well shit I guess he is an elite penalty killer! I mean “the coaches raved”! I am sold!
If only we had a player like that last season on our awful penalty kill. . . . oh wait. . . .
One of 31 NHL coaches thinks he is.
One of millions of arm chair quarterbacks think he isn’t.
Golly…what to think?
That would be amazing – but I doubt it’s possible.
We’ll, you made the claim, so burden of proof is on you.
The Oilers had a once again brutal PK last season, WITH an supposedly elite penalty killer. Go figure. Maybe it wasn’t just him….
I’m going to go with that he isn’t that good without limited minutes and only PKing.
Good deal! The more hapless the Flames farm team the better. Quite a thumping they took Friday night, lol.