Cam Connor tells the story of the first time Edmonton played Pittsburgh, a 5-2 bloodbath win for the expansion Oilers January 19, 1980:
Cam Connor: “In the middle of the second period, Gretzky came over the Penguins blue line and walked defenseman Kim Clackson. I knew what Clackson was going to do, because he always slashed the oncoming forward on that play. Clackson whacked Gretzky on the side of the head, and Wayne went down. Dave Semenko, who could beat Clackson, went right after him. Pat Hughes and I ended up pairing off. Semenko told me he and Clackson fought five times during the melee. At the end of the fight, the linesman began splitting them up, and Semenko turned his head for an instant. In that moment, Clackson came over the top of the linesman and landed a punch on Semenko’s left eye.”
Dear Cam Connor: I don’t think ‘pairing off‘ represents your involvement in the evening’s festivities.
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, less than two coffees a month offer here.
- New Lowetide: As Oilers’ auditions of fringe forwards nears conclusion, it’s time for Condors’ top prospects to force the issue
- Lowetide: The key missing element to the Oilers’ brilliant top line
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘We called him ‘The Crane”: Teammates and coaches reveal their best Connor McDavid stories
- Jonathan Willis: Should the Oilers have outbid the Coyotes for Taylor Hall?
- Lowetide: Connor McDavid’s frustration and the impact it could have on the Edmonton Oilers
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Oilers need to figure out five-on-five woes quickly, starting with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl
- Lowetide: Who should be the next man up from the Bakersfield Condors?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A: 10 subscriber questions for Oilers rookie defenceman Ethan Bear
- Lowetide: Five loud noises Ken Holland could make to help the Oilers immediately
- Lowetide: Complete Oilers top 20 prospects list, winter 2019
- Lowetide: Oilers’ No. 5 prospect, Winter 2019 — Raphael Lavoie
- Lowetide: Oilers’ No. 4 prospect winter 2019: Tyler Benson
- Lowetide: Oilers No. 3 prospect winter 2019: Ethan Bear
- Lowetide: Oilers’ No. 2 prospect winter 2019: Philip Broberg
- Lowetide: Oilers’ No. 1 prospect winter 2019: Evan Bouchard
OILERS AFTER 38 GAMES
- Oilers in 2015: 15-20-3, 33 points; goal differential -21
- Oilers in 2016: 19-12-7, 45 points; goal differential +6
- Oilers in 2017: 17-18-3, 37 points; goal differential -7
- Oilers in 2018: 18-17-3, 39 points; goal differential -6
- Oilers in 2019: 19-14-4, 42 points; goal differential -2
Edmonton remains in third place in what is becoming the red hot Pacific Division (not in wins, but hot in terms of teams being close in standings points). The Flames are one point behind the Oilers and have gained eight points on their northern rival in the last 10 games. That can’t happen.
OILERS IN DECEMBER
- Oilers in December 2015: 6-3-1, 13 points; goal differential -4
- Oilers in December 2016: 5-2-3, 13 points; goal differential +1
- Oilers in December 2017: 7-3-0, 14 points; goal differential +10
- Oilers in December 2018: 6-3-1, 13 points; goal differential +6
- Oilers in December 2019: 3-5-1, 7 points; goal differential -8
The Oilers played two solid road games, winning one, and now have a chance to make some good things possible in the days before Christmas. It needs to start this weekend, though, Edmonton is burning daylight in December.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- On the road to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: OTT, LAK, BUF, CAR (Expected 2-1-1) (Actual 1-2-1)
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: TOR (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- On the road to: DAL, STL (Expected 0-2-0) (Actual 1-1-0)
- At home to: PIT, MTL (Expected 1-1-0)
- On the road to: VAN (Expected 0-0-1)
- At home to: CAL, NYR (Expected 1-1-0)
- Overall expected result: 6-6-2, 14 points in 14 games
- Current results: 3-5-1, 7 points in 9 games
I have the Oilers going 2-2-1 from here, ending the month 5-7-2, 12 points in 14 games. The team’s record would be 21-16-5, 47 points in 42 games. That represents a 92-point pace, in line with my 88-point prediction at the beginning of the year.
OILERS 2019-20
We’re almost to mid-season now, career years offensively in reach for McDavid, Draisaitl, Kassian, Klefbom, Koskinen. Seasons that could be described as disappointing include Nuge, Gagner, Khaira, Archibald, Larsson, Smith.
OILERS FIVE ON FIVE GOAL DIFFERENTIAL, ’19-20
Oilers at five on five have been a hot mess for much of the season, we see it clearly in the goal differential. The biggest item is the gap between Koskinen and Smith (all of these numbers are NST), and the lack of plus numbers (McDavid, Kassian, Russell are the only regulars) is thunderbolt and lightning very very frightening.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we kickstart the final weekend before Christmas with plenty of Oilers talk and a few other items. Steve Lansky from Big Mouth Sports will chat Oilers, Hall trade, Star Wars and recount a special television memory. Matt Iwanyk will pop in after 11 with his naughty and nice list and we’ll read your texts (you have been on fire lately) at 10-1260. @Lowetide twitter, happy holidays!
Sounds like HH doesn’t have much of a life.
London Jon,
London Joe: keep posting please… and have a blast at the games. Send updates on the BOB!
Take care!
HT Joe,
Thanks Joe. It doesn’t bug me much and I just skip over it, but I think it’s a shame for the board. It really annoys some people and it wastes space and bandwidth and it’s a shame to see good posters annoyed and wound up by it.
HH – maybe you can just be a bit more aware and respectful of a ‘room’ full of passionate oilers fans and not try and provoke as much reaction out of people?
I will go back to lurking and just reading all the comments every day!
On a way more exciting note I’m at the Vancouver game in a few days and can’t wait. Then I’m at the Flames game as well. Can’t tell you how excited I am for that one. I’ve probably seen 10 games live since I left Edmonton 22 years ago and never a Battle of Alberta…
Thanks a lot. I am really happy at work… and it really is progressive (I think the larger contractors have come a long way in the last 10-15 years, though I know not all places have caught up).
Have a great day!!
That’s awesome, I’m super happy to hear that.
You should like you’re very happy and satisfied in where you work, if that’s true I’m really happy for you.
Genjutsu,
I do work at a progressive construction company. It’s great.
And I don’t support throwing rocks at soldiers.
I’ve worked construction jobs before and there were certainly a lot of offside comments. Sexism was rampant, maybe you wotk in very progressive construction company.
I’d think deliberately antagonizing people is perhaps not a prudent way to live your life.
Whenever I see people throwing rocks at soldiers I never think to myself that’s a good idea.
Nice post. Definitely like trash talking buds when it’s appropriate, and I have zero issues with HH, but his schtick is tired and weak. He’s continually moving the goalposts with his arguments. The Gene Principe thing was not a very good look at all, and then a day later to criticize someone else for being inappropriate is not so good either. It’s weird to think he was once an Oil fan. The team deserves to lose its fan base after two decades of crap,but instead of moving on and forgetting the Oilers, he acts like some jilted boyfriend who was dumped by his sweetheart 10 years ago. Each to their own. Just think it’s weird.
Jar Jar gets way too much undeserved hate. As do the Prequels. Underappreciated.
He was handled very well in the Aftermath book trilogy, with both respect and almost Shakespearean ending.
London Jon,
Thanks for the post. I don’t agree with all of your post (and that’s okay obviously) but your post really does a good job of explaining how you (and likely most others) perceive HH. I really appreciate this!!
I live in a city and a culture (London, England) where there is a lot more friendly ribbing than in Canada. It took a while to get used to it, but I really enjoy it now. It’s a big part of friendships here (I say here…I’m in Whistler right now!)
It works and it’s fun when it’s a friend and when it isn’t nasty or being done to get people’s backs up or to upset them.
HH is not ‘a friend’ and is deliberately provocative when we are pissed off as a group. It’s clearly to get peoples backs up and to get a rise out of people and I just don’t get why some people enjoy doing it.
Yes his posts generally start out polite and are well worded, but the intention is the same. We could all go on a Flames blog and politely troll and wind everyone up, but it just gets a bit sad and annoying after a while…
When is Benning back? We miss him and Bear could do with a handful of games out to reset and to work on his game. He’s been scouted by the league now and he needs to close up those holes
It is not okay to belittle someone for their faith.
But sports? That’s similar to a group of Star Wars fans claiming that Star Wars is their religion, and how dare movie critics not give Star Wars films the best ratings all the time. It’s like saying people can’t make fun of Jar Jar Binks, because Star Wars is someone’s faith. Jar Jar Binks was a disaster, and should be mocked.
And a hockey team that misses the playoffs year-after-year-after-year should be mocked.
But more to the point, I don’t get the angst about HH. He doesn’t seem to resort to personal attacks (unlike many of his detractors), and when I’ve engaged him, he seems friendly and clever. He poo-poos the Oilers? The Oilers organization deserves to be poo-pooed.
I view his comments as (friendly) ribbing.
Question for the group: do people experience “friendly ribbing” at work nowadays, or is that a dying art?
I currently work in construction, and if you want to succeed, you have to be prepared for friendly ribbing. This is NOT ribbing related to race / gender / religion / etc., and it rarely gets personal – it’s actually friendly ribbing. I also experienced a lot of ribbing when I used to work in a restaurant – and both industries seemed like friendly fun places with good camaraderie.
I also spent a decade of my life in academia / research. There was very little ribbing, and it seemed like hurt feelings reports were common. Lots of drama, where there seemingly didn’t have to be any. I had a co-worker once burst into tears when I said they had to clean up after making a mess in my laboratory (but they were in a rush to get home, and how unfair that I should expect them to clean up their mess).
Why do HH’s comments get so far under some people’s skin?
HT Joe,
I’m not saying that it is, in any way at all even close to the same.
I’m just saying that society is progressing at light speed and what was acceptable a few years ago is not today.
Hockey is religion for some. Is it ok to belittle someone for their faith?
Wait, what?? No… racism and sexism (e.g., homophobia) are examples of hate speech / hate thought / much much worse, and have resulted in some of humanity’s greatest failings and ongoing shortfalls. Poking fun at someone’s hockey team is not in the same planet.
This is fair.
Yeah I agree with this. I wonder in few years if this kind of behaviour will be treated the wsy racism and homophobia are currently.
I wasn’t referring to you.
Matty put $4×4 out on twitter.
Thanks OP
Hard pass. Not a driver.
St. Ralph sent him to the AHL as well.
Hi Georgexs,
Nice that they let you out again.
I was referring to posters looking at raw box cars to evaluate players while I usually show the players’ effect on their team mate’s GF% in larger samples. You seem to have taken this in a different direction.
While you’re here, may I ask you a couple of questions?
Please describe the relationship that xGF% has with GF% and why its weak.
Please also let me know what you would use instead and why its better.
Remember, I was using a 2 game sample.
Your answers must be in regards to what I actually wrote and not what you think I wrote.
This counts 50% toward your final mark.
Regards,
Kindergarten
Georgexs,
Why didn’t you post the data?
It’s embarrassing but Smith will hit his games played bonus because our GM painted himself into a corner.
Signing an over 35 goalie to a bonus laden contract tied to games played then not leaving enough cap space to utilize another goalie in the org looks like a little unfortunate for an experienced GM.
I bet Smith’s agent saw this from a mile away.
This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
We are Pakleds.
Yeah, no.
thx
I’m not worried, no. I think this is going to be a major season moment though. Edmonton could slide out of contention, lose the playoff race, and then play well. But right now they’re in it and not good enough to win consistently. It could be a disappointing “Standing on the shoreline” post on Jan 1. I still think 88 points is reasonable though.
Part of the Woodguy’s multitasking might include smoking something.
Mucking, mucking, mucking around in the past, one might find John Muckler.
are you worried about the rest of the season? I know u had them at 88. But that may be a long shot considering their game since the 7 – 1 start. I had them @ 86 pts.
I’d like to have another look at the no goal called on Connor. His position did block the goalie, but goalie was out of the crease to challenge a shot.. connor was outside, or just on, the crease.. .. is that goalie interference, or a fair rebound?
the kind of call that I like when it’s for us and I hate when it’s against us… but I saw that as an earned goal we really could have used.
Mr. Bear.. .. ah, .. um.. these mistakes causing goals are starting to accumulate. Please go back to the rookie of the year conversation bear of a month ago.
Klefbom at -18? How is that even possible. That’s Yakupov territory. Is it because he plays all the time and is trying to cover for rookie mistakes? Do to much? or is he a poor defender? Watching the plays I always get the impression he is a really good defender, but the -18 is kind of shocking. There has to be something to it.
Folks, we now have two people in timeout. A reminder, be respectful. Please and thanks.
well I dont understand yourr science? science to me is numbers? you are more philosoohy based.
Do you have any forward looking theories / solutions?
ya, I think that’s where I’m at. Give him a few games, and see. We’re at the tipp-ing point for needing to chance it.
Sierra:
Thanks for pointing brutal Rover bear.
Allowed a free path open shot to occur.
Nice open/closed shot analytics.
JT black:
Corsi affect?
Really!
You think closed Corsi that have Zero 0% chance have an affect!
Do you here yourself!
Open Corsi are the only Corsi that have an affect.
Not blocks
Not misses
Not hit goalie. ( closed shots)
Statements based on none open/ closed differentiation are poor analytics ( science)
How much of that was due to their own poor play and how much was due to really weak goaltending?
Also hard to give much credence to your post when one of those minuses was the breakaway goal from Bear’s fumble.
Context is important.
G1: attack to net on either side leads to 1 open sh save and one closed sh.
Draws Smith low in net.
Puck to point
Smith comes partially out.
Ideal Open point shot under arm, wide of body, above pads.
You know it is hard to squeeze if you study open sh targeting.
G2:
Rover fails to cover man out of box.
Free path to net cause of poor rover play.
Open shot.
Remember how I tell you a free path for puck and open shots are a real bad thing.
Science wins again!
We know this. For over a month Edmonton has been regularily falling behind early and chasing games So corsi and stats have huge game effects.
Edm won in Dal. The other 4 games they trailed after
4 mins
19 mins
4 mins
28 mins
thats just the last 5. they are 3-8-1 in their last 12. So prob similiar if you go back
Smith should get one start on the road trip then start making calls to replace him. No reason to pay any of his GP bonuses.
OP:
Shots must be open to have a chance.
In hockey open shots are grade A chances.
Closed shots are not.
I guarantee that your 7 grade A chances are not all chances ( greater than 0%)
Do you see how non open/ closed differentiated stats are stupid.
Who did our worst rovers Klefbom, Bear do?
But what can he do?
His opportunity was in AUG / SEP. He played his hand.
His nxxt opportunity will be selling at the deadline.
This team isnt 1 player away, nor are they in a position to give up assets.
His only option is a real hockey trade and that prob wont happen. What other teams wasnt Russell, Neal, Gagner, Chiasson? nobody
JimmyV1965,
If Holland does nothing all year to help this team and they miss the playoffs by a few points. Fans and players will be pissed. Tough position for Holland to be in right now. He was probably hoping for 0 and 7 start.
I watched Benson a lot in junior. He has skill. Hos Good AHL yesr last yr proved that. But if you cant get to the play,,its tough to contribute. Theres as reason hes not tearing up the AHL; his boots.
I honeslty think Yamamoto has a better shot a seamlessly fitting on the NHL roster due to his skating. Neither is prob ready, but I dont sè Benson coming up and making an impact.
Its desperste times so, so maybe he gets 10 games and we find out.
IMO, Holland got a free pass from most this year. He did inherit a mess.
The 7-1 start by the team quickly changed some expectations. But alas, Smith has fallen off; Neal cooled off and the team is cracking due to no depth.
Holland didnt have to sign Chiasson,, thats on him
Smith as a backup? I am guessing Tipett pushed for that, but its still on Holland.
Sheanan? Holland.
Ken did have enough flexiibilty to sign a midnrange forward ($4 Mil) & he didnt. He scooured europe and signed chiasson.
I think the Neal trade was good. Washed up player on a long term contract OUT for a washed up player with more skill and slightly less onerous contract IN.
But overall Holland hasnt done anything to move the needle.
Fans wont be so patience by next fall. He will havebto execute some buyouts, sign at least 1 quality UFA forward and navigate the Nurse and Kassian situations.
WE WAIT
Passes in tight, vision, creativity, and size. You are correct on the speed.
Ya, and then he goes and looks like Bobby Orr for a couple of games and you think holy shit, this guy walks on water and we can’t trade him. .. .. but I think that’s his athleticism. He’s an elite, elite athlete, but the passing is so important. If you’re not hitting open guys in transition.. then there is no offense in todays game. Trade him. high value. You’ve got Paul Coffey waiting in Bake, with Ray Bourque playing in Europe.
No offense but I see a quite a few bring up Benson posts to replace our slow wingers. Benson is not a good skater. That was his question mark on draft day and it hasnt changed.
So I am not sure how bringing up a rookie who skates below average by NHL standards will solve 2 LW?
I like Benson and hope he can one day be an NHL player, but lets be realistic too. Hes having a pedestrian AHL season and has slow boots.
He does have skill. But so do Neal and Gagner.
hmm….. Haas is a guy who has not found his place. He’s also shown some defensive awareness lately.. I’d like to see that. he can create….. ‘misdirection’ ?!!!! (like a football play) which might open up things for Connor.
Nyggard and Haas, and the distant Jurco, those were his moves.. veteran pros (Europe) to hopefully buy time while the kids matured.
It’s close but not enough. I’m not sure what he’s gonna do with those guys. Both of those guys buzz around and create ‘stuff’… lots of ‘stuff’ happening.. but not goals.
Hmm, maybe it’s even time to give Jurco another look, before bringing up benson?
I don’t think Holland evaluates Yamo or Marody to ever make the oilers, or they would have been up. He’s going to use them to trade. I do think McLeod and Maksimov are perhaps the real prospects.
drglen,
I’d like to see Haas replace Nuge
Nuge replace Gagner.
Gagner centre 3rd line.