Oilers fans have seen some great talent from Europe since 1979. Jari Kurri was smart and brilliant in every quadrant of the ice, Esa Tikkanen drove the league to distraction, Reijo Ruotsalainen was a fireball, Janne Niinimaa a passing delight, Ales Hemsky ridiculous and Oscar Klefbom is dreamy. Gaetan Haas took a little time to show us what he is, but now that he’s coming into view, his skill and utility is beginning to make a difference in Edmonton.
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, there is a Puck Drop Special offer here.
- New Lowetide: Oilers are closer to having an effective second line than a year ago, but few have noticed
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: The beauty of a good night’s sleep can be elusive for many NHL players
- New Jonathan Willis: Why the Oilers were wise to gamble on Tomas Jurco, even though it didn’t pan out
- Jonathan Willis: The unlikely goalie performances underpinning the Oilers’ hot start
- Lowetide: How far away is Evan Bouchard and what role will he play with the Oilers?
- Scott Wheeler: Analyzing Jesse Puljujarvi’s play in Finland to see what he could offer as an NHLer
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers right to wait until they’re sure before recalling Kailer Yamamoto, Tyler Benson
- Lowetide: Can Leon Draisaitl score more than 50 goals this season?
- Lowetide: Bakersfield Condors coaching staff continues to mold unheralded players into legit NHL prospects.
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Oilers Mailbag: Fixing the forward depth, slotting the big three, a Puljujarvi trade and more
- Minnia Feng: The 2019-20 Oilers fan guide to emotions and stressful circumstances
- Jonathan Willis: How much will the Oilers have to pay to keep pending free agent Zack Kassian?
- Lowetide: Sheahan hurt, Oilers in need of a two-way centre; some candidates emerging
- Jonathan Willis: Handicapping the chase for the Calder after the first month of the 2019-20 NHL season
- Jonathan Willis: Unproductive Oilers forwards are in danger of losing their jobs — and soon
- Lowetide: Analyzing the current state of the Edmonton Oilers goaltending.
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘I don’t think anyone’s feeling comfortable’: Oilers’ Holland pleased but cautious amid early improvements.
- Jonathan Willis: A rare success during Edmonton’s long rebuild, why Oscar Klefbom is the model for finishing Oilers’ blue line
- Jonathan Willis: Can the Oilers afford to pursue Taylor Hall in free agency?
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects summer 2019.
OILERS AFTER 18
- Oilers in 2015: 6-12-0, 12 points; goal differential -11
- Oilers in 2016: 9-8-1, 19 points; goal differential -1
- Oilers in 2017: 7-9-2, 16 points; goal differential -7
- Oilers in 2018: 9-8-1, 19 points; goal differential -4
- Oilers in 2019: 11-5-2, 24 points; goal differential +8
This looks good, gotta say. Oilers might not be good enough to play on Tabernac Saturday, but the fans can bask in the glow of 24 points in 18 games. Over a season, that’s a 109-point pace. This is fun!
OILERS IN NOVEMBER
- Oilers in November 2015: 2-2-0, four points; goal differential 0
- Oilers in November 2016: 2-1-1, five points; goal differential -2
- Oilers in November 2017: 2-2-0, four points; goal differential -1
- Oilers in November 2018: 2-2-0, four points; goal differential 0
- Oilers in November 2019: 2-1-1, five points; goal differential +3
A solid first nine days of November, the impressive thing about last night is the Oilers stopped a losing streak before it reached three. There’s a calmness about this team so far, the start of this season has been impressive.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- On the road to: PIT (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: ARI, STL, NJD (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 1-1-1)
- On the road to: ANA, SJS (Expected 1-0-1)
- At home to: COL, DAL (Expected 1-1-0)
- On the road to: SJS, LAK, VEG, ARI, COL (Expected 2-3-0)
- At home to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 7-6-1, 15 points in 14 games
- Current results: 2-1-1, 5 points after four games
Oilers are ahead of my prediction, again. I expected 2-2-0 and then a solid run through California. Anaheim and San Jose are different teams than they’ve been in the past, that’s going to be important ahead of that road trip to Colorado and Texas.
OILERS 2019-20
The top line remains a stunning trio (now 26 goals in 18 games) and I do believe the second line is being badly underrated by many who are worried about Nuge’s five-on-five goal total. I would encourage you to seek out the “outscoring goal total” for each line. That’s what we’re looking for. I don’t care if the defenseman scores the goal. Seriously. All numbers five-on-five via NST.
LINE 1 Leon Draisaitl-Connor McDavid-Zack Kassian played 13:21, going 16-16 Corsi (solid), 8-8 shots, no goals and 3-3 HDSC.
Leon Draisaitl scored a gorgeous goal, never take it for granted. That’s a giant skill player. Holy crap. Two HDSC’s and around the puck all night. What a player. Just 7 PK seconds. Connor McDavid had a PP assist (I thought he had two, but just one in the summary) plus 2 HDSC, he has so much going on but lately they don’t cash as much. Crazy to even mention, but I expect he’s going on a tear soon. Zack Kassian is a terrific linemate for these two, had a nice look in the first period (Nuge with the pass iirc), a takeaway (and a GV), plus went after PK Subban who was in 97’s face.
LINE 2 James Neal-Nuge-Alex Chiasson played 10:22, going 9-7 Corsi, 5-3 shots, 1-0 goals and 2-0 HDSC.
James Neal scored a goal, had a couple of chances and blocked a shot that kept him off the ice for a time. Good player. Nuge had a helluva game, two assists (one on the PP) and so many intelligent plays. His pass to Leon was true. On pace for 50 points. Alex Chiasson scored a power-play goal and had a five-on-five assist plus three shots. Did Sami Vatanen wrong. Good game by all three.
LINE 3 Jujhar Khaira-Riley Sheahan-Josh Archibald played 10:09, going 7-8 Corsi, 4-3 shots, no goals and 0-1 HDSC. Faced the Hall line for 5:07, going 3-2 Corsi. I’m sort of wondering if Tippett wants this line out against the other team’s best. He seems to get a Sheahan-Hall type matchup more often than a rando happening would imply. Sheahan and Archibald played over 3 minutes on the PK.
Jujhar Khaira had a couple of promising sorties, but pushed the puck deep and chased. The most promising trip through the neutral zone saw Khaira pass to Matt Benning, who sent a harmless shot to the New Jersey net for a whistle. Solid PK. Riley Sheahan drew a penalty, had a takeaway and two giveaways, but his line held Hall at bay for five minutes and that’s a solid chore completed. Josh Archibald had a shot, and could have had a dandy chance but didn’t see the puck squirting into his location in the slot. I hope they keep this line together, call it the redemption trio.
LINE 4 Markus Granlund-Gaetan Haas-Patrick Russell played 7:19, going 11-6 Corsi, 6-3 shots, 1-0 goals and 2-0 HDSC.
Markus Granlund moved the puck better than we’ve seen him recently, seemed to have a little more speed. Less than 2 PK minutes, not certain he’s long for this team. Gaetan Haas had another solid game, this guy is damn useful. Scored, 71 percent in the circle, worked hard at both ends of the ice and had several promising moments with and around the puck. Patrick Russell had a HDSC, a takeaway and was effective in about 2 PK minutes.
BLUE VERSUS HALL
- Nurse-Bear: 5-9 Corsi in 6:39
- Klefbom-Persson: 0-7 Corsi in 4:42
- Russell-Benning: 1-2 Corsi in 3:40
PAIRING ONE: Darnell Nurse and Ethan Bear played 15:18, going 17-22 Corsi, 9-9 shots, no goals and 1-3 dangers. Pairing had 2 offensive zone and 7 defensive zone faceoffs, spent 7:46 (8-12 Corsi) with 97.
Darnell Nurse had two shots and several other chances where he sent rocket passes to teammates. Nurse often doesn’t have touch on his passes, they’re bullets. He made a poor pass at five-on-five to Bear that ended up being NJD’s best scoring chance sequence of the game. Ethan Bear is the opposite, all of his passes seem to be perfectly timed and with the exact amount of torque required. Bear had three shots and drew a penalty. He also battled the Devils forwards physically, something Nurse helped him with at times. This pairing has enjoyed some fine games.
PAIRING TWO Oscar Klefbom and Joel Persson played 14:42, going 10-16 Corsi, 4-8 shots, 2-0 goals and 4-1 HDSC. Had four offensive and four defensive zone faceoffs, and played 4:55 (6-3 Corsi) with McDavid.
Oscar Klefbom moved the puck efficiently, defended well and played a coverage (defensive) game. Blocked a couple shots. Joel Persson had easily his best game so far, grabbing two assists and playing a sound positional game. What a recovery from his effort against the Coyotes.
PAIRING THREE Kris Russell and Matt Benning played 14:04, going 11-7 Corsi, 7-4 shots, 1-0 goals and 1-3 HDSC. Four/four offensive/defensive zone faceoffs. Played 3:10 (3-4 Corsi) with McDavid.
Kris Russell had an assist, two shots and 1-2 takeaway/giveaways. I think Tippett is very comfortable using this pairing in multiple situations. Matt Benning had an assist and a shot on goal, I thought he played very well on the evening.
GOALIE Mikko Koskinen stopped all 26 shots, 22 at five-on-five and including four HDSC’s. He was calm, athletic and played angles well. I think he’s Edmonton’s best goalie.
CONDORS 2019-20
The Condors lost last night, gave up a lead on a SH goal and then couldn’t score in over 20 minutes to get the tie against a struggling group of San Diego Gulls.
I said yesterday that Caleb Jones is the only player who has earned a recall, and nothing about last night changed the script. Cooper Marody got hurt, that’s going to impact the offence. Team is also missing Joe Gambardella.
Jones had five shots, Kirill Maksimov two assists, Colby Cave six shots and a goal. Condors play San Jose Barracuda tonight, Jay Woodcroft will have to alter the lineup if Marody can’t play.
GAETAN HAAS
Smart player, has speed, aggressive in puck pursuit and he’s putting it all together. Signing free-agent Europeans is like a box of Forrest Gump’s chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. We still don’t really know about Haas, Persson and Nygard, but they are contributing and are a part of an 11-5-2 NHL team. I don’t know how many of these men will play 200+ games in the world’s best league, but Haas impresses me with his intelligence, range of skills and adaptability. That counts for something.
I am godot10, not god10.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
rickithebear,
Mr. Bear it is possible for your information to be correct but incomplete. Quality of Competition, for example, and game state, both affect the numbers. You know this. Contributing to GF is important, not just GA. You may know this but you manage to ignore it.
Your ranking is correct based on your arithmetic but your arithmetic is incomplete. When your premise is incomplete your conclusion will be flawed.
Repeating the same wrong things more emphatically is like speaking more loudly to a foreigner hoping that he will now understand your language.
Thanks man
I mean that often we pine for some average or less player feeling they would have made all of the difference.
Sure 5 better players would do it. But given cap the sure fire options probably don’t fit and the non sure fire often don’t fair well in Oiler silks up to this point
This is factually incorrect. They don’t play much but they do play and, pretty much every time over recent weeks, its been Bear and Nurse on PP2.
The problem is term. Ryan has 2 more years left after this one. We just got rid of Lucic, why are you suggesting we take on Ryan??
No, it’s just that I’m looking at results and you aren’t.
Does anyone think that Bobby Ryan at 50% + a 2nd (Ottawa has several) retained for Chiasson & Manning to play with Nuge & Neal would be worthwhile? Play him with Drai and CMD once in awhile to give him a boost…..
I figure he is superior to Gagner and Chiasson. What’s going on with him anyway?
Thoughts? Insights?
OriginalPouzar,
No one sees the Oiler PP2 repeatedly, much less one of the three defenseman it’s employed.
Call out all nhl teams for for letting the godless fLames always tie the frickin game when their down late in their games!!!!
I would like to score more than I currently do
All of our bottom 6 please.
Benson starts scoring after I call him out on Lowetide. (i.e. zero goals doesn’t get you to the show) Who do I call out next?
Yamamoto actually redirected that Jurco pass perfectly with his skates; slowed it right down and put it in the gliding path of Cave. Extremely Kailer play.
https://streamable.com/qgh8w
7 of 8 final 4 are top GA teams.
Not
7 of 8 final 4 teams are poor GA teams
You win almost all the games you give up 2 GA
You lose almost All the games you give up 4 GA
Historically You are worse than sub 50% win % in games you give up 3 GA
Your position is
A sub 1.10 evga/60 dman are bad for your team.
2.67+ evga/60 dmen are good for your team.
With usually 48 min of even play.
You want dpairs that will give up greater than 2.25 evg over 48 minutes for the season.
Rather than Dpairs that give up .88 evg over 48 minutes for the season.
Leaves a real small margin for winning success.
Needing 3 to 4 GF to win a game.
My bull shit meter was screaming after your post!
The Q has that reputation, but in this case not so much.
Mario scored 282 points leading the league by more than 100. 2nd place (Jacques Goyette, who was apparently Mario’s linemate and seems never to have played pro hockey) had 170.
2 guys in the WHL (Ray Ferraro with 192 and Dan Hodgson with 181) scored more than 2nd place in the Q.
10th place scorer in the WHL had 122 points. 10th in the Q had 120 points.
I didn’t try to figure out actual goals per game, but there doesn’t seem much of a gap in scoring between the leagues in 1984.
Tidbit: Dan Hodgson followed up his 181 point season with 182 the next year. Then spent the next 4 seasons bouncing between the NHL and AHL/IHL. He could never stick full time and went to Europe after that, playing for many years in Switzerland. He scored 74 points in 114 NHL games, but it wasn’t enough for him to keep an NHL job. Huh.
Condors (unlike the Blues, in regulation) able to close it out. They’ve had a few collapses this year so good to see.
Benson and Malone with 4 points each.
I wonder if that Malone kid is the next man up? 😛
I shouldn’t joke. He is having quite a year though.
Great to see Benson with 3 goals on the night. Hopefully he can keep pushing and earn the call in the next few months.
Don’t cry for me Argentina..!
Perron with the OT winner
Benson hits the empty net for the Hatty!
Merde! Flames tie it up.
Efffing flames and their late game comebacks – geezus Binnington.
Oh dear
unfuckingbelievable.
Yeah, they’ve got ’em right where they want ’em LOL
Of course, I don’t know for sure what they are going to do, however, I do see Bear and Nurse coming over the board repeatedly on PP2 and not Persson so, I am confident that, for now. the coaching staff have Persson behind the Nurse and Bear as far as the PP goes.
Five to go in Calgary, This is when they start playing.
tileguy</a
Side,
Fry up your left over belly with shredded cabbage and ladel over a thinner pancake batter. Japanese pizza…. Google Okonomyaki. A true treat.
OriginalPouzar,
I’m probably just picking nits here but neither of us have seen the coach’s depth chart, and I don’t think anyone can speak with much certainty about which personnel will be used the next time it makes an appearance… at any position.
And I’m probably thinking you’re saying something more unequivocally than you intend, but you typically intend things unequivocally. 😉
Yamamoto forces a turnover – Jurco (who had an assist taken away and given to Malone) gets his now 2nd assist of the game on a wonderful play to Cave for the goal. Kailer with an apple.
Lots of possible injuries piling up tonight does Jesse’s value increase. There’s less than a month left for a GM to pick up a raw talented former 4th overall puck for cheap.
Very nice scoreboard tonight…Vegas and Arizona go down in regulation…don’t f^ck it up St. Louis.
I never said anything about long term – I said the he’s behind both Bear and Nurse on the PP depth chart and I’m not sure how that is arguable given the fact the he’s rolled those two out on PP2 (together) consistently for quite a while now.
Absolutely I said that and, yes, clearly I was wrong but I remain of the opinion that Kass is a different player, a more developed and smarter player, than he was even a year ago. I was wrong – I didn’t think he could become this type of player at this stage of his career.
Mr. Bear, each of us is equipped with a “Something I believe sincerely is incorrect or incomplete” detector.
You need to allow yours to function. Maybe give it a knock-knock.
Your numbers may be correct but your conclusions do not work properly on the ice. The best D-men for NHL hockey are not at the top of your list.
Nice to see sleazeball Gio get burned for taking a hacking penalty.
The difference in Koskinens performance this year and last.
Open HD shot save% baseline established by the defence under Tippett.
Chaisson was signed ( July 1) before the Neal trade. ( July 19)
Neal is getting Chaissons PPU1 role.
Is the other winger on the Neal -RNH line
2 Nd line min is with Granlund Haas
If we sign Connally evg; 1.71 evg/M, top min with Hoffman, Trochek.
Oilers he gets PPU2
Other winger on RNH line
With Connaly signed, do we sign.
Haas .925M 2evg; 2.16 evg/M ( July 1)
Archibald 1M 2.52 PKGA/60 ( July 16); 36.00% off ZS
Sheahan .9M 6.64 PKGA/60 ( sept 5); 19.44% off ZS
Sub 40% FO off ZS facing 1st comp are expected to have -26 to -30 or greater goal diff seasons.
Facing sub 20 is kind of Sheahan s thing last 2 yr.
No real data group to establish an expected goal diff season rate.
Well since we are all bearing our souls, I was wrong about Omark.
Benson walks in from the point to the top of the circles on the 4 on 3 PP and puts one off the cross-bar and in for this 2nd of the game (3rd point).
Benson is just driving right now.
Jones and Jurco each pick up their 2nd PP assists of the period.
I deleted a post because I thought I screwed up the season’s data.
But I didn’t.
I screwed up thinking I had screwed up.
Enough squinting for tonight.
GMB3,
With a primary assist to cap space.
Currie sends Yamamoto in for a quick break, Yama almost scores but does draw his second PP of the game and (14th of the year) – wild how many PPs this kid is drawing.
Blues go ahead 2-0 against the flames – 6 minutes left in the 2nd
Is Samorukov Hurt ?
Moi aussi. I mean ya takoszh.
jk i hate you woodcroft read my posts
Well that’s interesting… Although I’m guessing the Marody injury is playing a role.
Jurco with a nice pass to Malone for the Condors’ second PP goal – Jones with the 2nd assist.
Condors finally take the well deserved lead.
So he has been used. “Isn’t” is incorrect.
PP2 has been a mirage wrapped in a figment of our imagination that appears only when announced by its harbinger the cicada antarcticus which only appears every second or third Ice Age… or so.
The point being we haven’t seen enough of PP2 to “know” what Tippett’s long term philosophy is with regards to personnel and position.
Persson has spent material time injured, and that includes a couple of games after his returns from injury. He was not an option during those times and that likely is a contributing factor to his PPTOI.
Also Tippett has been slow-playing the New Euros, allowing them time to adjust, so it’s difficult to say what his long term plans are for any of them and those plans likely are affected by their ability to successfully make adjustments.
PP2 appears to be, in its limited appearances, somewhat of a reward powerplay… or going with whoever-is-hot powerplay. But I’m speculating (and willing to admit it) because we see so little of it. Because of his offensive contributions last game, maybe Persson’s next up. Who’s to say?
We can surmise or speculate that Bear is ahead of Persson for PP2 long term this season, based on the limited evidence we have to this date, but “know” is far too strong a word here.