Philip Broberg is a big man, despite also being a teenager. He’s still 18 by the way, turns 19 tomorrow (June 24). He played offside and a defensive role at the WJ’s, and his SHL time didn’t involve power-play minutes. Jim Matheson has the Oilers inviting him over for the July camp. He won’t play, but what if he did? What should we expect?
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, check it out here.
- New Lowetide: 10 things to look for at Oilers training camp and the 2020 playoffs
- New Lowetide: Oilers’ July 2015 orientation camp produced a watershed of NHL talent
- Lowetide: Do Oilers fans expect feature minutes from Tyler Ennis on top line?
- Lowetide: Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones and the Oilers’ need for veteran insurance
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Why the Oilers should protect these 8 skaters in the Seattle expansion draft
- Jonathan Willis: Why Carl Soderberg is an intriguing free agent possibility for the Oilers
- Lowetide: Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie’s possible impact in his first year pro
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: The good, bad and ugly of the Oilers’ last 15 years of free agent signings
- Lowetide: Why you should be worried about William Lagesson’s future in Edmonton
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Remembering the goal that made Fernando Pisani a cult hero in Edmonton
- Lowetide: The Oilers’ 2016 draft remains an enigma, with a glimmer of hope
- Jonathan Willis: The parallels from the fall of Alexander the Great and the 2006 Oilers
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: ‘Agape’: Why Oilers prospect Cooper Marody wrote a song about Colby Cave
- Jonathan Willis: Connor McDavid’s recovery is just one of 2020’s incredible Masterton stories
- Lowetide: Every prospect in the Oilers system and what’s next for each player
- Lowetide: Charting Theodor Lennstrom’s future with the Oilers
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Projecting the Oilers’ black aces and how much they’ll play
- Jonathan Willis: Projecting the Oilers’ lineup for their play-in series versus the Blackhawks
- Lowetide: Could the Oilers draft a defenceman in the first round?
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers should extend Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as soon as possible
- Lowetide: Oilers greatest areas of need for the 2020 draft
BROBERG 2019-20 SHL
Soderstrom was drafted three spots after Broberg, he’s a different player type and appears destined for a successful NHL career. The season above was his second in the SHL, compared to Broberg’s first. Soderstrom was 18-28 as an SHL rookie, and scored just four points (0.35 points per 60). Soderstrom is four months older than Broberg. The team GF-GA totals are without each player, so Soderstrom’s goal differential is impressive.
Broberg is unready for NHL action, and he’s incredibly young for a player who has been drafted and has already clocked in his draft +1 season. He is 20 months younger than Evan Bouchard. He is just seven months older than Kaiden Guhle, one of the top defensemen in this year’s draft.
I read a lot of worry about Broberg, and he’s raw compared to some of these other Swedish blue (who are well schooled) but I think the range of outcomes for Broberg are fairly exciting. He’s a rugged player with calm feet, and Red Line compared his style to John Carlson.
All I care is that everyone is healthy. I don’t know if these players can get from the current spot to the bubble, but the process is ratcheting up and that has benefits. If the playoffs go, music! If not, we’re closer to draft day.
PUNCH IMLACH AND YOUNG BLUE
HOCKEY IS A BATTLE: I moved in a lot of guys, especially on defence. I knew I was going to give Mike Pelyk a lot of work, Jim Dorey was a real tough egg from Tulsa and he was going to get a shot at it. Another tough guy was Pat Quinn, and a real surprise in camp was Rickey Ley, a junior from Niagra Falls with no pro experience. So we had all those guys, plus Tim Horton, Marcel Pronovost and Pierre Pilote.
I knew that with all these young guys there were going to be mistakes. They were going to cost us goals. But I was going to have a team that would try and would play entertaining hockey. I knew we would be life and death to make the playoffs.
Imlach made the playoffs with a young blue that season and several of those men would play a long time in pro hockey. Jim Dorey was a terror, Jim McKenny took a little time to establish himself but enjoyed a career. Mike Pelyk was highly touted, Rick Ley was one of the toughest small defensemen I’ve ever seen. Brad Selwood and Brian Glennie were kicking around somewhere.
Bringing it back to the Oilers, I think a fan of the Maple Leafs in 1969 would have bet on Jim Dorey and Mike Pelyk among the young group based on the 68-69 season.
By 1973, McKenny and Pelyk were in Toronto, with Glennie, recent draft picks Ian Turnbull and Bob Neely, and a Swedish import named Borje Salming.
We have in our minds how things will go. Broberg continues to develop, eventually replacing Klefbom or Nurse who are dealt away for need. Broberg and Jones remain, along with the expensive veteran (one of Klefbom or Nurse).
Plans change. Wait for the kids to establish themselves at the highest level, and don’t move a muscle to replace Klefbom or Nurse until one of the kids has passed them.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we have a helluva show for you. Bruce McCurdy from the Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal will talk HHOF and Kevin Lowe’s resume for the honour. Joe Osborne from OddsShark gets us ready for the coming MLB season at 11. Steve Dryden, Sr. Managing Editor of Hockey for TSN, will also talk about the Hall and a unique summer that may see some overdue honours. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
In the span of less than a year, he acquired Pronger, Peca, Spachec, Samsanov, Roloson and Tarnstrom and created the team that was a period away from the Stanley Cup.
The equivalent of a “4th line player” – the Kelly Buchburger of the defence.
Point was amount of cups shouldn’t be a primary factor if the player was middling – a 4th line equivalent, as per the post I was responding to.
That bad start gave only a fraction of herd immunity, but that fraction helps reduce R below 1 in conjunction with distancing
A few less teams in the league back then.
The thing with Lowe is, if he played on about 15 other teams would he have won even one cup?
He was an excellent second pairing dmAn like Jason Smith or Robin Regehr but I don’t think either of those two will ever be in the hall. Excellent support player in the right place at the right time.
Personally I always thought Huddy was just as good
Jean-Guy Talbot won 7 cups with Les Canadiens in the 50’s and 60’s but didn’t make it to the HHOF.
You’re inferring a premise that’s impossible. There are no 4th line Dmen. And MacT didn’t win 6 cups. Was Lowe the only person not in the hall with 6 cups? Quite possibly.
His management techniques will be mocked forever but as a player Lowe was, without having anything particularly outstanding in his game an outstanding player.
One outstanding thing about Lowe was how he played the game like he was always in a bad mood lol
Treatments have definitely improved some already. Cases (in America at least) certainly aren’t following the same trend though. It will be interesting to see how it all looks in the post-mortem.
Yeah, it’s impressive how well they’ve recovered after having a relatively tough start.
Yes. It’s not reasonable to apply current positional imperatives to ignore the actual contributions in a different era, As noted the last stay home D HOF was decades ago. He’s last of that era now.
I was in my 30’s and a pretty serious Oiler fan during their cup runs. From my saw him good eyes, I truly do believe that Klowe deserves this honor. He was a stalwart on those teams, congratulations well deserved..
The summer talk was overdone. Helping further north where summer takes socialization outdoors, but the US South has move onto their indoor weather. Sure hope bio-engineered antibodies at scale makes a difference for most vulnerable in the Fall. If I had to guess treatment for serious cases is already about 1/3 better overall from 3 months ago.
~ Yeah. And Gretzky would get no ice time. I’ve seen him in oldtimer games ~
Yes I did. What set me straight on Cook wasn’t the per capita total cases which was bad but the per capita recent cases (last 7 days) which was very good. On external Covid alone Chicago is a better choice. Finally we found the stat where decency bias is useful. 😉
While I’m not convinced Lowe deserved induction over a few of the others (i.e. Mogilny, Fleury), I vehemently disagree with the above premise. Kevin Lowe was not a “4th liner”
Kevin Lowe made Team Canada for a couple Canada Cups – he was a very good player for a number of years.
If that premise is solid, lets start talking about MacT – he’s got a bunch of cups, not 6 but a bunch.
Hah. Key thing is test positivity. Alberta has a current positive test rate around 1%, Pennsylvania around 4%, Nevada 9.8%. Texas over 10%.
These rates clue you into missed cases. AB will not get half the cases if they halve the tests. But when positivity is high increased testing will increase cases a lot. WHO considers positivity rate above 5% as a sign of undertesting.
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid19-pennsylvania-test-positive-new-jersey-hopkins-20200624.html
Is anybody else conflicted by Iginla going to the HHOF? There is zero doubt that he belongs. He is the only player from “that team” that I would admit to liking. I have enormous respect for his hockey skills and for him as a person. But he played for “that team” and I really f—ing despise “that team”.
Not trying to question the numbers really, but I was just browsing US state numbers (the 3 month slow burn in California is terrifying). It’s interesting that PA has the 4th lowest rate of tests per capita in the country. Could be a factor in their sterling case numbers (taking the President’s words to heart).
Glovjuice,
Bryan Trottier is the one other to accomplish the feat. Larry Robinson is the only other to win 6 cups with ANY coming after 1980. Rarefied air indeed.
Agreed, these are the most relevant numbers. And Canada (even Toronto) fares really well compared to all of these locales (well, TO is in range of PA but a shade lower, ~15).
Didn’t you start out saying Vegas is a lock when you look at cases in LA and Chicago though?
– Yup
– Alfredsson, WAYYYY better than Lowe. Except Cups. And a winner, and connected old boy
– Lowe was a Steve Staois type guy: loved him on your team,: spirit character, winner, tries hard
– They win all those Cups without Lowe, replaced by any number of D. But good for him. Like Glov said. 6 Cups matters most.
– Mike Lodish played in 6 Superbowls. Horry has won 7 NBA championships, Cosetti was on 8 World Series teams won with DiMaggio. Paul O’Neil in more recent times won 5 World series.
– None of these guys were special. Nor was Lowe But they were all on special teams. I’m with Lead: right place, right time
– Then NHL has to most bogus HoF selection criteria anways: and the members a strange bunch:
1) https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/welcome-to-the-confounding-covid-hall-of-fame-class-of-2020
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_Hall_of_Fame#:~:text=Committee%20members%20are%20appointed%20by,chairman%20John%20Davidson%2C%20James%20M.
How many NHL players have won six cups 1980 or after (half a bloody century practically)? My guess is Lowe, Messier, and Anderson ? That’s a Hall of Famer even if you were a fourth line winger. Drops mike.
Right place at the right time,
Probably wouldn’t be higher than a depth defenseman in today’s game
It absolutely may not be a good idea. I kind of agree with OP though that Vegas has the will and the infrastructure make it work Covid/bubble-wise (maybe it’s more accurate to say I see the appeal).
The ice I think is the least of the issues (was it a problem during their cup run?). Pretty sure it’s actually an advantage to normally have to deal with the heat like they do there. Average high in September (during training camp every year) is 34C for instance.
Wow indeed!
Amazing.
– Yeah I totally get all that. Cups matter most. He was given a curcumstance: playing with one of the greatest teams assembled. He played his role. As a result of being a player on Cup teams, he was afforeded a lot oppoturinites: “Hey there Cup winner, how ’bout managment for you. You know about winning, you’ve got to bei involved in Hockey Canada and Olympics as well”
– I mean good for him: he won a lot cups, and was afforded a lot of opportunites.
– Had he played on another team, no cups, and he’s just another D who had a long career.
– That’s the Hockey culture: win: well there’s a winner…
– Anderson was a deadly winger, really elite. Lowe knew his role, and did it well. Smooth Operator
– Bleeds Oil
– Hall of Famer
Holland recounted the story of how Jim Devellano offered him a timely scouting job with the Red Wings just two days after signing on to become an Electrolux vacuum salesman like his mother suggested.
==================
You’ve got to be standing in the right place when the ‘good luck’ gene is being handed out.
Fairly or unfairly, Cups matter. Six cups, three without Coffey, two without Gretzky. Was on a historic dynasty, and won the Cup on a team breaking a historic drought. He had a set of useful traits and abilities that made him an extremely valuable player in the fifteen or so seasons he played, and especially in the playoffs.
The 1990 Cup is the Cup that put Anderson and Lowe into the Hall.
– “I never saw myself as a Hall of Famer,” Lowe admitted.
– Me neither…I mean congrats: he knew a thing or two about winning, now he’s HoF. He has had a storied career. Happy for him of course, a great achievment. I just don’t get it, but OBC = hockey
With the bid coming from MGM it may very well reduce the cost of keeping any individual person in the bubble and, given the bubble will be high end resort like complexes, it may very well convince more staff, etc. to commit to staying in the bubble.
I’m just speculating but I can definitely see less people in and out of the bubble in Vegas.
Another great Vegas magic act. The inescapable Vegas bubble. Can’t wait for Act 2.
Let me guess the Vegas Boxing Commission will audit everything
Thomas Drance
@ThomasDrance
Strong sense of pessimism from both Canucks and NHL sources on the status of the Vancouver bid this afternoon.
Positive test protocol snag was encountered Tuesday afternoon. Disagreement is in the details, but this is complex stuff and could be insurmountable.
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Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
·
27m
Canucks are still working away on the issues with the league. But clearly time is of the essence. We’ll see what the next few days bring and whether the Vancouver ship has sailed or not
From accounts, the bubble that Vegas will be able to create will be the “tightest” of them all.
I anticipate that Vegas’ bid includes the least amount of people leaving the bubble nightly and coming back in.
They sure like their wallpaper
Both the NBA and the NHL both want to play inside the eye of the Covid hurricane. Money makes people crazy.
T-Mobil is known form some of the best ice in the league and they anticipate the outdoor air temperature to be a complete non-issue.
Empty arena in a place that is quite well known for being able to keep things cool indoors.
Or, of course, I’m an Oilers fan that likes to talk about Oilers-related matters on an Oiler-community forum.
Without fans? Without cohort quarantine? Why?
https://www.ottawamatters.com/around-ontario/without-hub-city-approach-blue-jays-face-challenge-to-play-in-toronto-2512870
Now if they’d like to host the bubble MLB playoffs that will likely follow the 60 game season….
Oh, Broberg is going to need some time but, if there is any manager that will provide that time, Kenny Holland is the one and, of course, Kenny has the NHL and prospect defensive depth in the org to give the player the time – zero need to rush him.
I’ll add one coach to your list above – Dave Manson – he may be the most under-rated person in the org.
Berglund as well – he’s a legit NHL prospect – likely was ready, or darn close, this year if he didn’t want one more year in Sweden.
Kemp has a chance as well – a bit old school, shut-down guy, but a damn good one at Yale.
Kesserling is a very intriguing guy – years away though.
Lennstrom too I guess – I didn’t think much of the signing at the time but he may have some NHL games in him.
Congrats to Matt Benning who is now a father to a baby boy, Miles, born on Monday.
Will be tough for Matt to commit to leave for who knows how long (hopefully a few months) but he intends to do so (at least as per his verbal a few weeks ago).
I love google translate. 😉
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/jesse-puljujarven-sm-liigajatkosta-levisi-villi-vaite-todellisuus-on-aivan-toinen/7853432#gs.98zqw4
The 3rd paragraph is interesting and amenable to several interpretations. 😉
================================
The situation of Jesse Puljujärvi, who returned to Finland last season, is on the wallpaper again. The Edmonton Journal has already hinted that Puljujärvi will continue in the ranks of the Oulu Flies. The reality, however, is that Puljujärvi and Kärpät have not negotiated an agreement.
Puljujärvi, 22, was by far the most watched figure of the previous Finnish Championship league season. Returning from Edmonton to Oulu, Puljujärvi cannoned the powers 24 + 29 = 53 for 56 regular season matches. In addition to this, he played six EHT matches at 1 + 4.
Puljujärvi has announced that it will return to the NHL. However, the situation is complicated.
It is currently unclear when the next NHL season will begin. The wallpaper is also whether the NHL will be able to continue its ongoing 2019-2020 season. In recent days, there have been worrying corona news behind the crab, which have only increased the number of question marks.
Ken Holland getting the call from Lanny:
https://www.tsn.ca/video/i-m-incredibly-humbled-this-is-a-call-i-ll-never-forget-holland-receives-hhof-phone-call~1983716
Jays asking the feds for permission to play regular season games in Toronto.
Expecting an answer shortly and, if it’s a yes, they will hold camp in Toronto – if not, Dunedin.
Nice to see Kevin make it he was a true warrior and definitely deserves to have his number hanging from the rafters. I would have to say Mcdavid and Leon will be the next 2 oiler jerseys that are retired.
~ Which went in as builder? ~
Reports note that Lowe “is the first pure defensive defenceman elected since Rod Langway in 2002”.
Also the last! Looks like he’s eligible now to have the number he shared retired.as soon as Krusty is moved.
So Kris Russell will be the last guy to wear #4 as an Oiler. And another banner will go up sometime in the future when fans are allowed in the stands.
Lowe deserves it as a player.
Wow, Lowe and Holland both inducted, big day for the team!
A charter is being arranged to bring players back from Sweden as well.
Welcome home Adam, Oscar, Markus, Joakim and, maybe, Gaetan!