I mentioned yesterday that Dmitri Samorukov is a big part of the Oilers future. He’s big, mobile, rugged, and I think he has the potential to be a shutdown blue for years. A strong OHL campaign two years ago was followed by a tentative AHL campaign with the Bakersfield Condors.
As much natural talent as Samorukov possesses, there are still miles of development to go. The KHL could be a Godsend.
Yesterday in Moscow, he scored early, had four shots, 1-1 even strength goal differential and played 18:13 total time. He finished No. 3 in TOI among the CSKA blue. A good start.
THE ATHLETIC!
Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. I am proud to be part of The Athletic. Here are the most recent Oilers stories.
- New Lowetide: A bold draft strategy for the Oilers in 2020
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers third-line centre search should include other teams’ cap casualties
- Lowetide: Dealing a defenceman? Taking stock of Oilers’ blueline assets
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie has opted for Europe. Will others follow suit?
- Lowetide: Oilers return to traditional farming model with Bakersfield Condors
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A: Oilers GM Ken Holland on improving internally, the flat cap and goaltending
- Lowetide: How close are the Oilers to deploying two formidable scoring lines?
- Jonathan Willis: Can the Oilers find value picks among the 2020 NHL Draft’s impressive Russians?
- Lowetide: 10 free agent targets for the Oilers this offseason
- Lowetide: What if the Oilers went scorched earth in front of 2020 free agency?
- Lowetide: Oilers Top 20 Prospects, Summer 2020
- Jonathan Willis: Unqualified RFAs could be top offseason targets for the Oilers
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Who stays? Who goes? The most likely players to stay with and leave the Oilers
2020 DRAFT THOUGHTS
My 2020 list is here. I thought about re-ranking the list but that’s not the spirit of my list (I complete it on June 1). So on the Friday of the draft, you’ll see the list as it appears in the link, plus an additional “late entries” bracket of 10-25 names. Mostly Europeans but the USHL has a couple of players worth a mention.
Murray had a poor year, sometimes that’s a good time to buy. Over the last three seasons previous to 2019-20, Murray posted a save percentage of .916. Last season? It was .899 and Tristan Jarry kicked sand in his face and ate his lunch. He is RFA coming off a $3.75 million deal with arbitration rights. His difficult season will make the cap number more manageable on his next deal. He is 26. Penguins could use a veteran RHD. I do not believe Murray is the correct choice among reportedly available goalies.
KONOVALOV
Lokomotiv play today in the KHL, not certain Ilya Konovalov will play. He picked up an injury early in camp and there was mention of his possibly being ready but nothing concrete. This is a quality goalie at the KHL level, that’s a fine league. Konovalov’s only real downbeat is size (hockeydb has him 5.11, 196, KHL has him 5.09, 196). He is a free agent at the end of this season, I like him plenty as an NHL option based on his current resume.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we have a lot to discuss. Chris Meaney from the FTN Network will talk NFL 2020 and the season that starts in just a few days. Frank Seravalli from TSN drops in to discuss the trade board, the playoffs and this Matt Murray item. We’ll also chat NBA playoffs and MLB. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Broberg to start the game as 1LD today:
https://twitter.com/skelleftea_aik/status/1301884068016074752/photo/1
Wait, did i I just get personally attacked for my hair color dedication to fitness/nutrition and my apparently “dogmatic” opinions on hockey by a person that hasn’t watched a second of the NHL playoffs?
I’m going to say that Nurse’s receipt of an assistant captain role, his participation on the HDC and his role as Oilers NHLPA player rep are signs of some maturity over an end of season quote on a loaded question that wasn’t even a “bad quote”.
Nurse’s comments show that he’s basically clueless and hasn’t really matured enough yet to be considered any kind of a leader for the team. The silly contract his agent expects he’s getting offered might end up driving him out of town.
The ginger pontificator who pretends to have insight, who delights in providing us stories of his 7% body fat should go back to his office and return to work.
Getting knocked over is Pettersson’s thing. Hughes is pretty stout and sturdy for a guy his size.
Ya. That’s a totally non starter. What would the reaction be if he said he thought they did play with intensity. An older more savvy vet might have answered it better, but Nurse’s reaction means zero, zilch, nada.
Make that 16 games.
Postgame.Hughes mentioned “he feels better now”.
An Oiler specialty for years.
Okay, we can cancel the wellness check.
The Canucks win and Harper’s Hair hasn’t checked in to gloat?
Should we be sending out a wellness check?
Allegedly.
He’s been hit hard twice in 11 games.
OriginalPouzar,
SF% goes (best to worst)
Nurse
Benning
Russell
Larsson
Klefbom
(shots with Bear were down near the bottom too in less than 14 minutes)
The goals went in with Benning and Larsson, I can’t argue that.
The majority of Jones’ time as RHD was with Russell while the majority as LHD was with Larsson (good Larsson from 2020) so that might be affecting the eye test.
Two elite players in Pettersson and Hughes a couple very good complimentary players in Horvat and Miller
Other than Hughes that defense is terribad
It’s all on their goalies shoulders
For a guy who’s allegedly getting knocked on his ass all the time, Quinn Hughes is pretty damn good at the hockeying.
The Canucks are interesting. They are clearly the weaker team, against the Knights and Blues, but they have a couple elite players who are just better than anyone else. And they can finish their chances. Kinda like the Oilers, but with infinitely better goaltending.
There’s goalering and then there’s whatever Demko is doing
Holy running into a hot goalie batman
Canucks motto.
“Who needs D when you’ve got Demko!”
Does he have a nickname?
Demkolition Man.
Terri Thatcher. His play is real and spectacular!
Congrats to Sherwood Park’s own Carter Hart. 49 saves tonight in a 2OT Game 6 thriller.
Take that Bob Nystrom!
Of course, it is true – the eye test sure showed it (played his best hockey on the left side as Klef’s replacement).
Numbers bear it out as well – his GF% was best with, in order, Benning, Bear, Larsson – CF% very similar as well.
The eye test says he’s better on the left side. The numbers show he’s better on the left side.
It doesn’t have to be true.
It just has to fit the narrative.
Well, then he wouldn’t want Greiss – the opposite of Smith in that regard off the ice.
It’s not like we haven’t seen a goalie that can stop almost everything but let in a “pylon” shot a game
It also weeds out the shots a pylon could make.
As a head coach, Tippett has had Marty Turco and Mike Smith as his goaltenders, alpha dogs, and roamers.
I think Koskinen’s “zen” stay-at-home goaltending is frustrating for him.
I’ve never had an issue with Koskinen.
Just that his contract was an unnecessary risk.
I cant wait to see how quickly you backpedal when you see Koskinen was 10th in the league by that metric ahead of such notables as Vasilevsky Hellebyuck Lehner and Kuemper
There is no way you trade Pesce for an unproven and frequently concussed G
You could probably get Kuemper for Pesce
It is difficult to find intensity when the team is chasing the game because the forwards were not committed to the backcheck and the coach was doing roster deployment experiments in the playoffs.
The only thing it is good for is showing that the Jets and Canucks are even worse defensively than even I suspected
Helley and Markstom had 8.8 and 8.7 HD shots against per game
That is leaning on your goalie heavily
Mike smith had 7.2 and koskinen 8.4 which is interesting
Koskinen had +9 GSAA and Smith had -9
Koskinen had a very respectable season. Looks like Tippett left some points on the table by playiing Smith as much as he did
I shouldn’t be giving Benning ideas: Demko for Pesce.
I’m waiting for the Lowetide blockchain.
and I would make that trade in a hearbeat.
I’m not positive that’s the case though as the premise for a Parayko trade would be the cap space for AP, no? Taking Klef back only clears up less than $2M
Yeah you need the whole sample size. Saving the difficult shots but flubbing the easies doesn’t make you a good goalie
Even quality starts is important as two goalies with same GSAA could have very different quality starts as a coach can leave you hanging for 7 goals instead of pulling you after 3 when it’s clearly not your night
Domi is a good hockey player – he’d be great to have on the ice but I wonder about this (a) attitude – just going off some the apparent issues he’s had in both ARI and MTL and his “request” to play certain positions, etc. and (b) somewhat connected to (a), i think he’s looking to get paid – like close to $6M.
I could be way off base but its the sense I have/get.
If Parayko is coming to Edmonton, Klefbom is heading to St. Louis in the package.
It also reduces the sample size tragically.
Nurse was asked a specific question about being fully engaged or finding the needed intensity level and admitted that, as a team, they weren’t able to for whatever reason and their most engaged/intense play was against the flames.
It was a loaded question and he answered honestly – he never said it was acceptable, just they they didn’t have it.
To have the comment “turn someone off NHL hockey) seems a little odd…. to me.
When assessing goaltenders, it’s best to look at High Danger Scoring Chances Saved Above Average.
It changes things dramatically.
Don’t think Oilers have great goalie coaches. If they bring in a goalie like Murray they’re going to make him better.
Few things are more tedious than talking about another city’s team, but I see that Oskar Lindblom has come back from cancer, and I am sure we are united in our disdain for that particular malady:
https://www.tsn.ca/philadelphia-flyers-forward-oskar-lindblom-returns-to-lineup-after-recovery-from-cancer-1.1518994
As Pynchon once noted, “it is not often Death is told so clearly to fuck off.”
Good for you, Oskar.
Todd Macallan,
Thank you sir!
Bringing Smith back is the worst option and would be indefensible
He is done
Yup, Parayko could be the casualty but I would anticipate they’d try and see if they could divest of the likes of Steen, Bozak, etc. before Colton.
Personally, I would rather keep Parayko and his current contract than pay the premium for Pieteragelo.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always though of AP as elite and under-rated but given the contract (cap hit and term) for his 30s……. I’m all about avoiding signing guys big money for regression year.
————
As an aside, if someone like Parayko is acquired, it 100% forces a trade of one of Klef, Bear, Nurse, Jones within the next year – maybe even two.
This is true but there is no Ivy League to play in this year – its been cancelled.
Its his senior year so I anticipate his college hockey career is over.
At the same time, he may very well want to finish his degree and, rich family or not, keep his college scholarship for that.
He’s got all the tools that elite d-men have – moreso than Bouchard (skating/urgency) for example.
– Good size
– Very good defender (he’s a defence first guy)
– Good on the boards and in battles
– Good skater
– Good passer via transition
– Good hockey sense and offensive IQ
– Good shot
– Etc.
He’s got all the skills to be that guy.
That doesn’t mean that they are all going to come together at the NHL level – maybe he won’t be a plus puck transitioner at the NHL level due to speed of the game – we don’t know – but he is at the level he’s played so far.
Chances are all those don’t translate to the NHL level but he’s got the skill-set.
and, by Juroc, I mean Jurco.
Don’t forget about Juroc.
Murray’s save percentage says he is an over pay, and a bigger risk than taking Smith back.
Ryan,
Looks pretty slick. You’d want to make sure to find one that can produce a nice comments section, of course 🙂
It looks like the widget in the right sidebar is also broken!
The good news is that newer themes have built in tools so that anyone can customize theme without coding and updates won’t cause the theme to lose their design elements.
This is a popular theme on theme forest.
https://demo.tagdiv.com/newspaper_black_pro/
It would probably do the job. I’d offer to buy it or something similar and help with setup if LT would have any interest.
I don’t imagine setup would take long since LT’s site wouldn’t require much other than putting in the ad slots / adsense codes, and a few widgets in the sidebar, customize the colors and see if the Logo fits on the new theme.
Obviously, he’s not going to hand over admin access to some random dude who opines about hockey on his blog, nor would I expect him to.
Maybe we could figure something out.