In a normal year, we would see these waiver moves happen over several weeks as opposed to five or six days. There were 43 names yesterday, including former Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson. There are some great names on the list today.
THE ATHLETIC!
I’m proud to be writing for The Athletic, and pleased to be part of a great team with Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Jonathan Willis. Here is our recent work.
- New Lowetide: Will Ken Holland let it ride in goal for the Oilers this season?
- New Lowetide: Oilers rookies with a chance to stick after one week of training camp
- Lowetide: 9 bold predictions for the Oilers’ season
- Lowetide: Early roster rumblings as Oilers open training camp
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers training camp: Forecasting the big roster battles
- Lowetide: Dylan Holloway’s world juniors work offers clues about Oilers future
- Lowetide: The Bakersfield Condors will be competitive in the coming AHL season
- Athletic: How we’d run the Oilers: Maximize primes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl
- Eric Duhatschek: How a stint in Sweden prepared Oilers prospect Evan Bouchard for NHL camp
- Jonathan Willis: After a brilliant rookie Oilers season, how high is Ethan Bear’s ceiling?
- Lowetide: How secure is Zack Kassian’s role on Oilers’ top line?
- Lowetide: Why fans should expect an Oilers playoff berth in Canadian division
- Jonathan Willis: Dave Tippett has more options now thanks to versatile Oilers forwards
- Lowetide: 7 big questions facing the Oilers heading into next season
- Lowetide: What if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins doesn’t sign with the Oilers?
- Jonathan Willis: Left-side logjam will force the Oilers to make a choice, and perhaps a sacrifice
- Lowetide: Theodor Lennstrom is the Oilers’ latest European bet on defence
- Lowetide: Seattle Kraken expansion mock draft 5.0: Who could the Oilers lose?
- Lowetide: Why McDavid and Nuge together could be key to Oilers’ playoff success
WAIVERS
- LD Brandon Davidson is a fringe NHL player these days, but there was a time when he looked like he was going to be a difference maker.
- RW Gerald Mayhew is a fascinating player. Just 5.09, 166 and just turned 28, he posted 39 goals and 61 points in 49 games for the AHL Iowa Wild. Sometimes these guys turn into something, I really like his goal-scoring.
- RW Josh Ho-Sang is not a popular figure with Oilers fans and the team doesn’t need him now, but I hope he lands somewhere and gets 500 at-bats. Most of the negative things I’ve read about him have less to do with hockey playing than attitude. I don’t trust those framing stories anymore.
- RC Jordan Weal is an undersized skill center who is a little shy offensively, wins faceoffs and I’ve always thought would be a good Oilers player.
OILERS TODAY
Edmonton has to begin the work in order to get down to the 23-man roster today and more important need to make the $81.5 million cap before opening night.
Hart from PuckPedia tweeted that out when Bear signed, and then added “otherwise, need to send players down to be just below $81.5M, submit opening roster, then Klefbom LTIR & have pool =$4.167M-Cap Space. Could send Yamamoto, Neal & Chiasson down & Benson on Roster, $22K under Cap. Klefbom to LTIR gives LTIR Pool =$4.145M.”
What does that mean? Well, we could see any number of things today, including Kailer Yamamoto sent down (he is not waiver eligible), waivers on veterans like Alex Chiasson and James Neal, or even running with less than 23 men. Remember, getting Klefbom to LTIR is a paper move, everything can be thrown back onto the roster as soon as the team is compliant.
We’ve been arguing about the roster final final, changes today will impact. Based on the currently available talent, here’s how I see it.
OILERS PROJECTED OPENING NIGHT LINEUP
- Nuge-McDavid-Kassian
- Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
- Archibald-Turris-Puljujarvi
- Ennis-Khaira-Chiasson
- IR: Neal, Haas
- Extra forwards: Nygard, Shore
- Nurse-Bear
- Jones-Larsson
- Russell-Barrie
- Koekkoek
- Koskinen (M. Smith)
That would make the taxi squad Anton Forsberg, Evan Bouchard, William Lagesson if he clears, Patrick Russell, Alan Quine, Tyler Benson.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
A busy morning on the way to a crazy week, cannot wait! We kickstart things this morning at 10, TSN1260. At 10:20, Dom Cosentino from The Score pops in to talk about a brilliant weekend of NFL football and a few notes on tonight’s National Championship game. Jason Gregor from TSN1260 will discuss the Oilers getting under the cap in time for opening night and reasonable expectations for this year’s team. We’re also reaching out to another hockey guest, will confirm at 10. Reach me at 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. Anticipation is incredible!!
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Big day today – hoping that both Forsberg and Khaira clear.
Well, maybe I’m Ok subbing Khaira’s contract with Shore’s contract but I think we’ll miss the potential truculance of Khaira during this season.
With so many games played against the same teams (8 – 9 games against each), there are certainly going to be some (personal individual) battles, some on repeat. It’s likely to be an overly violent season, so some vindictive muscle will be required.
I think a lot of the McDavid/Draisaitl defensive issues are related to the following:
McDavid + Draisaitl- 37.5 SA/60
McDavid no Draisaitl 31.5
Draisaitl no McDavid 31.5
Both off ——-——-— 28.7
McDavid + Draisaitl- 3.90 GA/60
McDavid no Draisaitl 2.63
Draisaitl no McDavid 2.56
Both off —-——-—— 2.44
All samples >500 minutes.
If those results continue this season Dom‘s model will have McDavid and Draisaitl alone in the top tier.
Yup, the Oilers were a completely different team after splitting up 29/97 last season.
My feeling is that the Oilers have an easy path to improving. Get the third and fourth line goal shares to 50% against middle to lower comp. That shouldn’t be an issue this season.
The ticket is Turris he upgrades our bottom 6 big time. I’ve been bullish on him since he signed. He could have signed practically anywhere for the money Holland landed him for but you put 2 and 2 together and it comes out his old coach Dave Tippett was very influential in his decision to come to Edmonton
I’m not even sure they need to get up to 50%, just up materially from the mid-30s and somewhere in the vicinity of 50% (assuming the PK doesn’t crater completely and the PP remains near the top of the league – it will come down from 30% – but likely a higher rate of opportunities).
I’m not sure that would be the result.
If I am reading your stats correctly, the Oilers give up fewer shot and goals against when neither is on the ice.
Considering they were both in the red at 5V5 last season at -7 and -6 despite being 1st and 2nd in scoring, it might lead an unbiased observer to conclude they are power play specialists.
One would have to assume they could become better defensive players but there’s a decent chance that would affect their offence.
You might try and point the finger at the poor D or goaltending but I keep hearing Koskinen is great and, let’s remember the Leafs D was atrocious last season and their goaltender was average at best…however Matthews finished the season at +19
So you are saying that McDavid thought Draisaitl was playing centre in the defensive zone and Draisaitl thought McDavid was?
Based on those numbers they are PP specialists.
David Staples has been beating that drum for a long long time – that they would get mixed up with defensive zone assignments consistently.
I feel like it had to be mostly cheating for offense. Their shot and goal against rates have been getting worse over time (not sure how Dzone assignments could deteriorate by playing together more and more).
I didn’t know that. Makes some sense though looking at the numbers JP posted.
Sure looks like it!! 🙂
The one thing to consider is that originally with connor/Leon Leon typically played on the right with guys like lucic and Maroon, whereas more recently Leon was on the left with first Chiasson then Kassian on the right. Are Chiasson/Kassian less sound defensively, or the mix-ups worse with Leon on the left side?
Huh. Nice idea, I’d never thought about Draisaitl switching wings being a factor.
I’ve looked a fair bit at whether it could be because of Kassian since folks have often wondered about that (out loud even!). And I don’t think it’s him because McDavid has also seen an increase in shots/goals against when Kassian isn’t on the ice. And IIRC Chiasson suppressed GF and GA, so I don’t think it was him either.
It’s definitely possible Maroon and Lucic were helping more than we realize with the GA so that could be part of the equation. The Draisaitl RW/LW thing is something to think about as well for sure.
Scott Roblin (@CHATTVRoblin) Tweeted:
Spoke with @tigershockey HC/GM Willie Desjardins, WHL will be coming out with an update on the 24-game regular season plan on January 22. He says tentative plans include projected late-February puck drop on 2021 season. #WHL
https://twitter.com/CHATTVRoblin/status/1348753317858402305?s=20
So Haas did (does) indeed have Covid – diagnosed on December 28 and can’t practice with the team until January 13th. He was (is) symptomatic. I don’t imagine we see him in game action until close to February.
Any word on Neal?
I think Neal is this year’s ‘back spasms’ player by which I mean it seems like every year when a team is in cap trouble a vet comes down with an IR eligible problem that delays decisions until the HC knows what he wants to do for sure.
Ooh who would have ever have thought that might happen when it was written in stone by the wannabe GM’s that Neal was going to be put on waivers end of discussion.
Yeah, for the purpose of getting cap compliant either were options. I know there are those who claim IR placements require medical certification but it is amazing to me the number of guys who tweak their backs just as the team needs some roster flexibility.
I went with groin pull anyhow I said it last week and I’ll say it again there’s a huge difference between being Walmart ready or NHL ready. Give it a couple of games after the adrenaline calms down there’s going to be a slough of nagging injuries happening all over the league. I thought for sure the union would have wanted another week of training camp but cash beats all.
Agreed. And, yeah, the old groin pull is a favourite as well for the vets. Not too worried about the kids on the taxi squad not getting a chance to play. I think opportunity will knock for just about all of them at some point.
Who was claiming that Neal getting waived was “written in stone?”
You were saying the Oilers would have him fake his way onto LTIR to help with the cap rather than waive him – no chance of that happening unless he breaks something or tests positive tomorrow. The point being made was if the Oilers wanted to be below the cap $81.5 million without Klefbom still being on LTIR tomorrow, then subsequently get placed on IR on day 1 of the season to maximize effective use of LTIR, then waiving Neal would be the easiest and probably lowest risk way to do it with a 23 man roster or less. That they can maybe get close to the same outcome cap wise using IR (not LTIR) and leaving Klefbom on LTIR from camp to the start of season is legitimate. The only legitimate way Neal ends up on IR (But not LTIR) is if he had actually tested positive for Covid (unless the league is giving some special allowances due to quarantines not being caused by a personal positive test) not because of some phantom back spasms. If he did test positive like Haas did, he would be given extra time to recover from an illness. He has already been on the ice and based on his press conference on Saturday he said he had no injury and just needs to get up to game shape due to all the time in quarantine. Sudden back spasms on the last day of camp would look very suspicious.
Suspicious looks happen every TC around the league for a game or two.
We will find out soon enough how Oilers get cap complaint. All I was doing last week was spitballing not Captain Obvious outcomes knowing full well that Holland didn’t just fall of the turnip truck and he’s entering his first rodeo.
Competent management is still something new & unusual for Oiler fans. It is taking time to adapt & understand what it looks like. 😉
Holland knows full well with practically no training camp or exhibition games and with no bubble you need to be deep. It sure does help when your owner gives you blank cheques and says just win baby.
Agreed but it didn’t help Chiarelli. I didn’t like the start of the offseason with the AA & Benning offers or even the Markstrom play but I think he finished very strongly.
He paid 2 second round picks for AA he had to offer him something AA might surprise a few folks if he can turn it on again. Holland never makes that trade if he knew what was coming with the flat cap etc. Did Holland know he was in a bidding war with Calgary and decided to have some fun with it. I would say Markstrom probably owes Holland a prime rib dinner with all the fixings.
if he would have gotten Hamilton and kept Hall it’s a different ball game.
And not signed Lucic (which is sort of a domino of the Hamilton/Hall thing). Man.
Evander Kane files for bankruptcy.
https://theathletic.com/2316763/2021/01/11/sharks-evander-kane-bankruptcy/?source=user_shared_article
High roller either gambling are woman. I think a lot of folks were turned off of him when he posted a huge wad of hundreds like he was the king.
Sharks’ Evander Kane sued by Las Vegas casino over alleged …
Kane is being sued by The Cosmopolitan for a half-million-dollar gambling debt, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
.
Could you come to the point?
Not smart enough to work my keyboard properly, apparently…
NEW for The Athletic: Oilers risers and fallers and how they impact the opening night roster
https://theathletic.com/2316335/2021/01/11/lowetide-oilers-risers-and-fallers-and-how-they-impact-the-opening-night-roster/
Word this afternoon is that the Canucks are attempting to loan 3rd string goaltender Michael DiPietro to a Canadian based AHL team so he can get some game reps and still be available for a quicker recall.
Might make sense for the Oilers.
It is exceedling dumb that the Canucks, Flames, Oilers, and Jets didn’t get together and form a 4-team league in Western Canada, or even find spots in eastern Canada to play with the Canadian AHL teams there.
Especially if what you guys are saying above that there is no ice in Bakersfield.
Yep…but apparently the costs were too prohibitive.
The Canucks are sharing their Utica franchise with St. Louis so there will be enough farm hands.
It does make some sense to have your third string goaltender getting game action rather than sitting for potentially months on a taxi squad.
Teams could meet the requirement for the 3 goalies by having one of their lesser prospects on the taxi squad and calling up the more prominent player if injury or Covid strike.
Of the 4 Canadian AHL affiliates, when you look at their parent clubs’ total goalie compliments, maybe Winnipeg would be the only one who looks like they might have room to give up one of those AHL spots instead of using it themselves. All of Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa seem to have at least 5 goalies on their 50 man roster to fill their spots (2 with the club, 1 on the taxi-squad and 2 on the minor club). Winnipeg has 5 goalies , but Arvid Holm is still on loan playing in Sweden. Maybe Vancouver gets fortunate with this, and good for them if they manage it, but it seems likely that at most 1 team will get to do this. Never hurts to ask, but I would wonder what a team would have to offer to get another team to give up a spot like that.
How do you know they didn’t try? The hoops these guys have gone through just to get NHL games set have been tremendous. Yes it was for their pocket books (players and owners) but we should be satisfied we are getting to see hockey in any form. On top of convincing the Federal and Provincial governments that having access to the 30th player on their depth chart is in the public interest, they would also have to address their contracts with the AHL, the City of Bakersfield and other local interests if the AHL is going ahead down there and 4 teams are whisked away. I am guessing they looked at it and decided it was more trouble than it would be worth.
Pretty sure this is exactly how it happened. The Oilers, Canucks & Flames will have 3 + 6 extra players available.
If it is covid that wipes out more than that I expect games to be postponed. If it is injuries they have reserves & if the reserves are pressed into service they can put in the call to Bakersfield and start the process.
Goalie is really the only position I can see where they wouldn’t have time to bring in somebody and if that happens they are big trouble no matter where the goalie is located imo.
Much easier to recall a goalie from, say, Winnipeg, than it is from Bakersfield.
Yes, but if the Oilers are down Koskinen, Smith & Forsberg they may as well call me or you because I don’t think they have another guy in the system capable of winning at the NHL level. 😉
How’s your catching hand?
The idea would be to have Forsberg playing games with an AHL team in Canada….and filling that taxi squad spot with a grunt.
Otherwise you might have to call on Forsberg when he hasn’t played a game in months.
We’ve seen how the affiliate sharing program works before, with Hamilton and WBS.
Spoiler alert, it never goes well for the new guys.
Different situation.
The AHL rosters will be gutted with so many of the top players on NHL taxi squads leading to more opportunity in the minors.
The shared rosters will likely have a huge competitive advantage since they will be able to use the best remaining players from two teams.
But not necessarily gutted for goalies. As noted earlier, all of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa have enough goalies to fill their roster, their taxi-squad and their affiliate. Only Winnipeg doesn’t seem to have the necessary amount.
That might make sense if you’re talking each team missing their top d-pair and top line to the parent club’s taxi squads. Except we’re talking goalies in this situation.
Only one netminder (typically) plays per game.
Further, Tippett has already expressed that he’s excited to have the #3 tender in town to take part in practices instead of having to always run both goalies. He specifically mentioned being able to rest the goalie who just played the night prior as an advantage compared to normal seasons.
Ah. I don’t know. The AHL isn’t planning to play that many games so how many of those would they be willing to give to another team’s goalie?
I’m hearing a 28 game schedule might be happening for many AHL teams.
I don’t know. You can spin this a number of ways. I just think that by the time the Oilers are down to their 3rd goalie they are already in trouble since most here think they are in trouble if they are down to their 2nd goalie.
That’s an excellent point.
Thing is, goalies (and their coaches) tend to hang out together so, by definition, are close contacts if a test comes back positive.
Heard Ray Ferraro this afternoon saying if he was running things he would ensure his goaltenders were as far apart as possible during the season to avoid as much as possible the chance that both would be deemed “unfit to play” at the same time and, of course, that might also apply to #3G.
Would still be a minimum 7 days i believe.
Depends on the jurisdiction.
Travis Hamonic arrived in Vancouver 4 days ago and was practising with the team this afternoon.
https://media.nhl.com/site/asset/public/ext/2020-21/2020-21COVID19Protocol.pdf
NHL QUARANTINE A. PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO CANADIAN CLUBS Under this Protocol, even if not imposed by the local or federal health authorities, if individuals report to the Club’s home city from outside of the province (regardless of method of travel), they are required to serve a 7-day self-quarantine period with a PCR testing (Health Canada or FDA authorized) regimen on days 1, 3, 5 and 7, with results available on day 8.
If, however, Clubs can demonstrate that the Player’s travel has been under five (5) hours, in an individual’s own vehicle with no stops other than to refuel, Clubs may seek an exception to the above stated mandatory quarantine by seeking approval from the NHL Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Willem Meeuwisse , who will consult with the NHLPA. Consideration shall be given to whether the individual may separately meet the standard for a High-Risk Environment Quarantine.
Would a private jet count? I suppose only if you flew your own plane since they might still worry about the pilots. Could Vancouver send their team jet to Winnipeg to pick a player up to avoid the 7 days.
From the wording of the protocol, seems pretty clear the answer is no.
So, it appears Hamonic drove to Vancouver although it’s much longer than 5 hours from Manitoba to Vancouver.
Perhaps he wasn’t starting from Manitoba?
Edmonton’s 3rd goalie (Forsberg) will be in Edmonton with the team, so he is available immediately. So now the question is if Forsberg actually has to go into a game as opposed to just dressing to be on the bench, because one of either Smith or Koskinen is injured for more than a few games, would Forsberg be more prepared having practised with the Oilers for the preceding time period, or being the 2nd string goalie playing behind an AHL team potentially playing a completely different system. Probably playing once a week or so in Winnipeg, would be somewhat better, but that would also mean one of the goaltenders the Oilers want being developed is sitting on the taxi-squad in Edmonton and not getting game action. If Dipietro is the
Canucks 3rd choice, I can see why at 21 they’d want him getting some game action to continue his development while still keeping him close if they can swing it, but Forsberg is at 28 year old veteran.
The western Canadian teams looked into it and deemed moving their AHL franchises to be cost prohibitive.
@AmalieBenjamin
The Bruins are trying to keep Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak apart as much as possible, even sometimes having meetings twice to limit any potential COVID issue that could affect both top goalies, which is fascinating.
Good plan. Goalie is the most dangerous for teams.
Article today in the Journal by Jones discussing all the extra protocols the Oilers are setting up for their own team designed by Dr. Naidu who was in charge of the Bubble in Edmonton for the playoffs which had no positive tests. He is even talking on how best to hold power play meetings so that your top 3 forwards and best offensive defenseman don’t all infect each other and be unavailable at the same time. I am sure he will be on top of the goalie issue as well. He referenced the Denver Broncos problem of not having an available QB as something to try and avoid. He’s not promising no positive tests given all the travel plus the players get to go home when not on the road, but even there players are being recommended not to share apartments like single players often do.
The goalies can likely be kept apart to never be in close contact – other side of the ice and don’t have to be on the bench at the same time but aren’t all the skaters in a game going to be close contacts of each other given the bench?
The league has a 213-page document for behavioral protocols by teams:
Meanwhile, Bettman reiterated that the league’s 213-page document covering protocols for proper behavior by teams isn’t a guide but a document to be followed to the letter and that the league will “vigorously enforce” those protocols.
https://theathletic.com/2316980/2021/01/11/nhl-commissioner-gary-bettman-revenue/
The point of the article was the Oilers protocols go beyond what the league has mandated. Things like goalies sitting on opposites side of the dressing room and sitting apart at dinner. For everyone, use 9 ft social distancing instead of 6. The team will use 3 busses instead of one to shuttle in road cities. I am guessing they will probably strategically assign players to busses. They probably have many more and maybe most teams may come up with many of these, but the Oilers have a first hand successful expert working for them. Maybe the leafs will to.
That’s really sad, what Klefbom is going through.
He should retire, for the sake of his own sanity.
Obviously he is a competitive guy. But there is a lot more to life.
He is financially secure and can easily find work in the game in some other capacity.
Hell, he could go back to school and do something completely different.
It may very well come to that but I don’t think he is quite ready to make that decision after listening to his media availability.
That said Klef is a smart & reflective kind of guy imo and it may just be that his heart isn’t ready to agree with what his head is telling him.
There’s something weirdly slow about this whole process and maybe this is it, what you said. He’s actually been told there are no good options and best bet is to retire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkJiSmyksyU
Who told him there were no good options and he best retire? The first several doctors talking to McDavid said he should have knee surgery right away, there would be a potential long term risk and at a minimum he would miss a huge chunk of the 2019/2020 season. Along comes a doctor with a fairly new concept and gives him an option that gets him back on the ice by September with a better long term outcome. With the kind of money they make, and the money at stake, they get to explore all possible avenues. Clearly based on the talk today, he believes here are options that might let him play again and also meet his other long term health needs. I think guys like Klefbom and McDavid are going to have more favorable memories of how the Oilers let them manage their health issues than Sheldon Souray, Ray Whitney and a few others.
I agree that management is handling this properly. It is just that the whole verbal seems to lack urgency or certainty of outcome or even surgical procedure.
Arthritis is not something that has a clear path to ever improving either. I don’t know. I think Klef has some decisions to make and he still has a few things to check out before he is ready to make a final call.
According to the interview today he has had this problem pre-NHL.
Back-up goalies in Canadian division
Mike Smith – middle of the back up pack
38 years old – 7/7 (Smith is the oldest)
$1,500,000 AAV – 3/7 most expensive (Allen $4,350,000)
39 games LY – 2/7 most games (Riitich 48 games)
19 Wins LY – 2/7 most wins (Riitich had 24 wins)
.902 SV% – 6/7 SV% (Allen had .927%)
Remember when people were defending the re-signing of Mike Smith…..cuz it is crazy hard to find a back up goalie.
25 year old Eric Comrie on waivers.
Is he a starter? No idea.
Could he be a better back up than ancient Mike Smith? Quite Likely
Is he cheaper? Yes
I’m going to have to disagree here Normie.
If the bar to clear in WPG is Brossoit then clearly Comrie isn’t an upgrade over Smith.
Quite Likely? Over 4 season, Winnipeg and Detroit tested him in 8 games, and he came away with a .868 sv% and 4.23 GAA. Yes he has done well in the minors, but not the guy you can count on as the guaranteed back up. Maybe he’d be insurance for Smith, but Forsberg is probably a safer bet to be that guy.
He’s played games in the NHL in four seasons and the only time he’s been over .880 was when he was .897.
How is it quite likely he could be better than Smith? He’s barely competent at the AHL level.
Bouwmeester retires after 17 seasons
3 hours ago
Jay Bouwmeester is calling it a career, he confirmed to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun on Monday.The longtime NHL defenseman played 17 NHL seasons and won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.
Gregor asked about minutes deployment and it was great to hear Tip talk about how he believes the team has better depth and we should expect to have the minutes spread around a little more.
Music!
For all the talk about Connor and Leon’s poor defense, my opinion is that the lapses were in large part due to them being overworked and therefore lacking attention to detail defensively.
Im sure we’ll see a better overall game from 29 and 97 by scaling their usage down to 20 mins / night.
I have expressed the exact same position as well.
Physical fatigue and mental fatigue from playing so many minutes and additional mental fatigue with the knowledge that they had to score ALL the goals.
Having a bottom-six that can contribute offensively will be massive – minutes reduced for the top 6 (even when trailing) and also likely less “cheating” or “offensive pressure play” leading to defensive mistakes.
On McLeod/Khaira and 4C, just listening to Tip’s media avail and he was highly non-commital.
Asked about McLeod winning at top 12 spot and he immediately said they haven’t annoited him anything – he did then go on to praise McLeod, indicating that he’s close and they are seeing improvement in the areas of the game they need from him to be a 3C/4C which is where they see him.
Gregor asked if Khaira would be 4C if he wasn’t claimed and, again, Tip was non-commital but indicated they definitely don’t want to lose him and right now they are doing a bunch of business tinkering and cap management type stuff. They’ll have a better idea tomorrow.
I’m surprised. I like Jack Michaels’ call a lot. Brings an energy and entertainment value to the broadcast that I thought lacked with Quinn.
Like this will be the best Oilers broadcast team since Ferraro was on it.
when you’ve been outside of Edmonton for awhile, you miss the passion of play by play that he brings – still listened to him on the way home from work through the Oilers app. My father in law used to watch home games, in the arena, with 630 in the background! Also loved the time he called a save hellacious!
Actual goalie expert Kevin Woodley on with Jason Gregor talking about Koskinen right now.
JG – “When you look at his overall numbers, his numbers were actually fine, his numbers were quite good — top 15 in the league.”
KW – “Preaching to the choir. Remember we talked about it, try top-7 in the league — adjusted — last year.”
JG – “Why do you think there’s so much non-belief in Koskinen?”
KW – “Weren’t Markstrom’s raw numbers right around Koskinen? And we were talking about him as a Vezina candidate here (in Vancouver) and Mikko didn’t get any of that buzz.”
KW – “When he was in there he was exceptional.”
KW – “I am a guy that would agree with you. I think he tends to get overlooked. If I was questioning their tandem it would just be on some of the ups and downs Mike Smith has gone through. … His numbers get over looked, but also I don’t think anybody sees him — because of the job share there — that he’s that sort of unquestioned, bona fide number one. I’m not sure that’s fair but that’s how perception rolls sometimes.”
Woodly on Monday’s is a must-listen.
No more Remenda!!! Party at Kevin Quinn’s zoom call.. Wait.. FUCK!
Kevin is just a victim of extraordinary circumstances, Remenitis. Sad to see a quality side character sacrificed.
Debrusk is going to be dishing out plenty of elbows to his new friend Jack when his radio in him is getting a little too bees in the booth.
I’m hopeful that Michael’s will be less eccentric when he’s announcing for a TV audience instead of radio. As I said in my initial post on the subject, his style, for me, suits radio much more than TV. Hopefully he can adapt. Hopefully he and Louie can get some chemistry.
Sportsnet PR
Long-time radio voice Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) joins #NHLonSN team as @EdmontonOilers
PxP announcer https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f399.svg
Analyst @LouDeBrusk
& host @GenePrincipe
return for the 20/21 season w/ intermission contributions from @Bob_Stauffer
———–
So Jack Michaels and Bob Stauffer are coming to TV.
Frankly, I don’t like this – I feel Jack is better suited for radio. Not sure if this means Stauff is doing the full color on SN or not.
Wonder who will be doing the games on Ched?
Woah, as per SN: Quinn and Remenda out, replaced by Jack on play by play. Gene and Louie remain thankfully, w/ Bob pitching in for intermissions.
Leavins has been hinting at this for some time now.
Remember Jack, more play by play, less anecdotes.
That has been my one complaint about Jack listening on the radio, him interjecting anecdotes and player facts in the middle of the play, when the listener wants to know what is actually happening on the ice. We’ll see how that goes on TV, but since I can see the action myself, his diversions if he keeps them up may be less annoying.
It’s ludicrous that this is such a closed shop that an utterly awful radio caller gets promoted to TV rather than sent to indy wrestling where his style would fit. At least with Quinn I didn’t need to mute.
Very sad that so many #97 highlights are stuck for all time with a yelling crazy person rather than a strong sports voice.
I can sure do with less Remenda.
Cam Moon taking over the radio play by play with Stauff staying on color.
Sounds like Louie will be doing full time color for the regional SN games but its not clear.
Jack goes back to radio for national games and the playoffs.
https://www.nhl.com/oilers/news/release-oilers-announce-changes-to-broadcast-lineup/c-320189648?tid=277567784
————
For me, if Louie is doing the color full time regionally, that’s a huge win. I like his presentation and insight.
Frankly, I think Jack may be a bit too eccentric for TV – seems like his presentation is built for radio. We’ll see how it goes but I liked Quinn and would have been cool with Quinn/DeBrusk
It’s a great day the reverse engineer is sent packing don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out anti Oiler Remenda. I hope Louie feels a little more comfortable and lobbies for the Oilers the way the Posse of Burke,Buttons,Hrudey and of course the ring leader Cassie does for the Flamers.
Well, that’s unfortunate. I’ve never really enjoyed Jack’s play by play. Much prefer Quinn’s delivery. As for Remenda, I didn’t actually mind him in the intermission panel discussions as opposed to the colour commentary he did previously. Not that Sportsnet cares, but it might be hard for those two to find new employment in the current economic climate.
Pretty much nailed my take on the moves.
Hopefully Jack dials down the WWE commentary style and presents a more refined style with the calls. You’re right, Quinn’s delivery is very good.
Only thing about Quinn is he had a habit of mixing up players and some clunky phrases he relied on too often, “thecaptain” comes to mind.
Does this mean no more “Leon Draisaitl…Overtiiiiime Winner!!”?
With history as our guide, it’ll be more like, “AND LEON DRAISAITL POTS THE WINNER IN OVERRRRRRTTIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
Le sigh.
Remenda should be able to do promo work for the Sharks!
Good thing Louie is a former enforcer.
If he flexes enough times, Jack might let him speak.
????
TV with the sound down now mandatory. I hope the new radio guy is decent. I could not bear the radio broadcasts with Michaels. He is simply awful.
Man, think of all the games Quinn and Remenda had to endure during the last few years….and just when the Oilers are starting to look respectable – gone!
Life is not fair.
That is one of the first things I taught my kids along with the your mother is the boss in this house!
The way I see it, Remenda was already lucky because they kept bringing him back for whatever reason.
I’m sure OOOVEERTIIIIIIIIIIIIIME they will be ok.
I think Mooner will quickly win you over. Worked with him early in my radio career, such a great guy, and very good at what he does! Was hoping Cam moving to the Oilers meant they were firing Michaels into the sun, but I guess we can’t be that lucky… Man loves the sound of his own voice about as much as I loathe it.
Pretty sure Remenda will clear waivers, not sure about Quinn
Shannon on Oilers Now saying there is no ice in Bakersfield and won’t be until at least the 23rd or 24th.
Not suprising
We have a stay at home order in effect. Gyms and indoor athletic activities are supposed to be closed. The cooling bill would be tough to swallow
After Konovalov gets a rare start and back-stops Yaroslav to a win, Pasquale gets the net back and gives up 4 in a 4-3 loss (38 shots though). Here is hoping that Konovalov gets the next one!
Sad to say it for these reasons, but that’s good news.
No contract. No play. Russian contract negotiation.
Given there are only two practices, I don’t think they are just messing around and this is very intriguing. Per Rishaug:
Oilers working on 3 on 3 right now. Draisaitl starts with Yamamoto and Barrie, McDavid, RNH Bouchard 2nd unit.
I think that’s good.
IIRC Oilers lost a lot of overtimes because Drai/McD were exhausted playing the majority of the 5 minutes.
That is mainly on the players though for refusing to change when they have the opportunity. In OT, its imperative that, after 30 seconds (give or take), if there is an opportunity to change, it’s taken.
Mike Milbury not being brought back
In favour of Mike Babcock. O_O
Who’s next, Bill Peters?
So, McLeod centering Ennis and Chiasson at practice today.
Not Khaira. Not Shore.
All I’ve got to say is – Wow!
I guess there’s no such thing as a shore thing!
Pithy. 😉
For someone that presumably doesn’t get much face to face contact and lives off lichen and frozen squirrels most of the year, you are rather sharp Yeti sir. Please don’t eat me
I approve of this choice
normally I’d leave him in AHL for the season but McLeods future is in the bottom 6 and not top 6 and his speed gives that line a completely different feel
Wow other than a few slow net front types that is a fast lineup
Speed on all 4 lines.
it’s almost as if Holland and Tippett know what they are doing
Some of the young guys like McLeod might have a bit of a leg up on the vets because they have been playing in Europe. Maybe he gets a game or 2 look before being sent to bakersfield for Feb.
If this is something we see on opening night, I will have to admit that I was flat out wrong as I’ve been firm in my opinion that McLeod should be a top 6 center in Bakersfield this season and kill those minutes.
Well, that’s not true, I may not be flat wrong – we’d have to see how he does in the regular season to say that I was wrong. I’ve also been firm on my position that big and fast skill players (McLeod, Broberg, etc.) will always shine in a camp and that does not mean they are NHL ready. Obviously McLeod is having a good camp – If he’s in the lineup, I will cheer huge for his success but will remain a bit guarded given this is based off of camp performance.
Agreed it is going to be interesting to see how it plays out.
I was just listening to Shannon on Oilers Now – an unusual thing for me – as he was explaining that with no ice in Bakersfield and only 32 games scheduled subject to so many unknowns that a lot of teams are choosing to keep their prospects on the taxi squad rather than send them to their AHL affiliate & that, of course, the international border quarantine making that an even more attractive decision for Edmonton.
I’ve been saying for weeks now that guys like Benson and Bouchard need to stay either on the active 23 or the taxi squad. The team doesn’t have timely access to players assigned to the AHL so their top NHL-fill-ins, which include Benson and Bouchard, must be with the team so they have access to them.
The only team that I know of yet, that has designated their taxi squad is Pittsburgh and they have 2 goalies on the taxi squad. I wonder if this is something most teams will do. Does Edmonton still have 4 goalies?
Why would the Oilers do that? It would decrease the skaters available to the team to 4 and without timely access to anyone from the farm.
They need their top fill-on skaters available – as many as possible.
I don’t know! I’m not saying they should, or would. But I am wondering why Pittsburgh is doing it. If your #1 & #2 goalie go down with Covid, and you only have 1 on the taxi squad is your team hooped? Will they lose games because of it? I don’t know. That’s why I asked the question.
Pittsburg is about a 4 hour and 20 minute drive from Wilkes Barre where their AHL affiliate is (per good maps) which puts them under the 5 hour threshold and creates much simpler quarantine type protocols.
The Penguins will have more timely access to players playing on their AHL affiliates and can hold less skaters on the taxi squad/active roster as they can re-fill more practically.
For the Oilers, they have no timely access to players on the Condors – practically two weeks (give or take) so the Oilers (flames and canucks) need to ensure their taxi squad is full of the players they may insert in to the NHL lineup – they’ll be needed.
Players coming up from an AHL team will still have to quarantine for 7 days even if they’re not crossing a border as per NHL protocol. That’s 8 days if it takes them a day to get into quarantine. (14 days for EDM, VAN, CGY). That’s still not fast enough to not miss a bunch of games (8 days is 4 or 5 games missed).
Yes, I know, I posted the protocol earlier.
I’m one that is repeating how important it is to have the top players on the taxi squad because the team won’t have timely access to the players on the Condors.
With respect to above, that’s the minimum as well – as of now, there is still the mandated government 14-day quarantine in addition (an exception was only provided for training camp so far) – there is also the YYC pilot project but there are hoops there as well including staying in Alberta (not good for road trips).
In Canada, I believe the NHL has specified that the 7 days is for reporting from out of Province. For Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg, their farm teams are in their same province if not city.
Hmmm… maybe but I know Dallas GM just said in an interview that to call up players from the Texas Stars (same state), they have to quarantine for 7 days as per protocol. I don’t think it’s a provincial or federal government thing, but an NHL thing. They’re not in the same bubble, therefore must quarantine for 7 days.
It is possible the in-province waiver only applied for players reporting to training camp and not for the regular season.
I am not sure we can really give the job to McLeod yet – but I have been pimping for this for some time.
But, we have to remember what are we talking about with the 4C slot – 12 mins/ game, probably less for a rookie.
And he would be mostly facing 4th line comp.
There will be rookie warts / learning but I think McLeod is far superior to both Sheahan and JJ.
It’s okay to be wrong once in awhile except HH he is never wrong. Just ask him!?
Oilers cannot paper transaction Yamamoto to taxi squad (or AHL) in order to get cap compliant and then call him of for the game on Wed. The roster submitted tomorrow by end of day is mandated to be the active roster for game 1.
I don’t think they will have Yamamoto missing game 1 for cap management purposes.
They’ll likely build a 23 man roster, plus Haas and Neal, get as close to $85.5M as possible and then LTIR Klefbom
Looks like they’re going to use the off-season LTIR.
Shame.
Are you sure? Wouldn’t waiving Khaira and Nygard save approx. $2M on cap effectively clearing them from the cap issue?
I guess if they plan to sign Shore, that will negate it though.
It works out fine given they can put Haas and Neal on regular IR so use their cap hits plus an active 23 man roster and get right up close to $85.5M and get themselves close to $4M in LTIR reserves.
As the guys come off regular IR, and a corresponding roster assignment is made, they get below their overage cushion cap and have some room.
On day 1, they are essentially maxed out but that was always going to be the case – they would never be able to have multiple players on IR and still have cap room.
Wait… don’t players on IR still count against the cap until two weeks have elapsed, when they can then be retroactively assigned to LTIR?
Players on both IR and LTIR always count against the cap. Of course, LTIR provides LTIR reserves allowing the team to exceed the cap.
Neal and Haas can be placed on regular IR and there can be 23 roster players in addition – they can probably get darn close to $85.5M and create almost the full $4M in LTIR reserves (an artificial cap of $85.5M while Klef is on LTIR – all season).
They will be capped out on day 1 but, when a player comes off IR they will need to assign someone off the roster so the cap will reduce.
They could retroactively change the IR to LTIR but it doesn’t really do anything or help because the LTIR reserves created disappear when the player is activated.
I’m probably being dense, but that doesn’t make sense if the plan is to be cap compliant for day one then move Klefbom to LTIR because they’re already over the cap by something like $2.7M without having signed Shore.
So you’re talking about EDM likely using off-season LTIR, yes?
Yes, off-season LTIR, however, if they are, essentially, right at $4M over the cap when they do it, the effect is essentially the same (and they can use, effectively, a 25-player roster by having Neal and Haas on IR and an active 23).
Okay, thank you.
The main difference being the lack of ability to accrue daily cap space for the trade deadline?
Nope – that’s not the main difference as there will no be accrual of cap space daily in either case.
If a team is using LTIR reserves they will, by definition, by over their Adjusted Cap Accrual Threshold and won’t be accumulating any space on a daily basis.
The Oilers will have minimal, if any, cap space for in-season acquisitions.
If the have $4M of LTIR reserves (allowing them to have a cap of $85.5M) and have a team cap of, say, $84M at the trade deadline, they can acquire a $1.5M player (yearly cap hit) as they will have banked no cap space through the year.
Thanks again.
The title Waive Babies is bringing up some music association for me. Edmonton’s own Sorsari is a key player in a new-ish electronic music style known as “Wave”. So give this track a listen in celebration of today’s post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx4dDDNPKi0
I was wondering if it was a reference to “War Babies” the Todd Rundgren produced Hall & Oates album…
Sadly, it refers instead to a generic and mediocre Canadian leather band called “Honeymoon Suite” outta the Niagaras.
I like your answer a lot better.
Lets not forget, placing a player on waivers now doesn’t mean that the player has to be assigned (if not claimed) and they can still be on the active roster when submitted tomorrow.
For example, if Khaira clears, he can stay on the active roster and it gives them flexibility to assign him to the taxi squad when Haas is activated from IR, for example. I can’t remember how long waivers clearance lasts but it might be apx 30 days (or certain amount of games played).
St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced today the Blues have signed forward Mike Hoffman to a one-year contract worth $4 million.
https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/hoffman-signs-one-year-deal-with-blues/c-320182392
What a bargain. I might’ve preferred Hoffman at a similar price to Barrie, and put confidence in Bouchard to carry the 3D and pp role.
Depth on D is nice to have though. Plus I can’t think of too many better puck moving mentors than Barrie for young guys like Bear and Bouchard and Jones. Also, RD is getting a bit crowded now at the NHL level, which shifts leverage to Holland when it comes time to negotiate extensions.
What makes me wary of Hoffman is that he’s largely framed as a perimeter player who is a bit of a defensive liability.
Next year we should be able to do some serious shopping to add firepower in the top-6.
Hoffman is way more than “a little” defensive liability. He’s exactly the opposite of what the Oilers actually need, which is more two-way forwards.
Yeah what we really don’t need is the Drai or Mcdavid line to give up more goals which is what Hoffman would do
Completely disagree. The top pp unit is fine without Hoffman and that is where his value is. He is a complete liability defensively 5 on 5.
Is it that much of a bargain when more goals get scored against when the player is on the ice?
I mentioned this earlier as well – to me, Hoffman would be a terrible fit for McDavid’s wing. Oh, they would score a ton of goals but, as we know, the issue with McDavid’s line recently has been leaking goals against and Hoffman would help make that worse.
Think it’a safe to say that Hall read the contract tea leaves better…
Ahh yes,
But it also appears he glanced over the team logo on the contract he signed.
“Whatta mean I’m goin ta Buffalo?”
Is that where the connection is to Boston?
Fucking agent!
It looks like Lagesson has made the team and that Shore will get signed. The players left who don’t require waivers:
Yamamoto (I’d be shocked if he wasn’t in the opening night line up)
Benson
McLeod
Lennstrom
Bouchard
And I wonder if one or both of Neal and Haas will start on IR and what the cap implications are.
For the taxi squad, I’m not sure who’s on it out of Benson, McLeod, Lennstrom and Bouchard and the players waived today (Khaira, Russell, Nygard, Quine). We know Forsberg will be on it, so that leaves 5 of these 8 players, possibly 6 if Haas is out long-term.
Players on IR count against the cap.
LTIR can be retroactively applied 14-days later (I think) for cap relief.
Can a team like with cap space claim multiple players from waivers at one time, pump up their value and then trade them for picks at the deadline? Or is there a limit to how many free valuable players these teams can pick up on one day?
Limited by cap, roster and contract space. If the team can fit them in they can claim them. Only thing is they have to have them on the NHL roster, because if they get waived the original team can take them back.
That happened to us a couple years ago with the pint-sized Aussie we claimed from WSH.
Ennis-Shore-Chiasson feels more right to me…
Almost looks like a 3A/3B setup..
Though maybe Khaira is back in if/when he clears? It’s strange for Tippett to have kept him with those linemates and in the PK rotation if he’s not in the plans for opening night.
My guess is they are hopeful that Khaira does not get claimed and that this was mainly cap/roster structuring. I agree that it would be odd to have him as 4C and PK all camp long and then not be looking to use him opening night.
With Corey Crawford’s retirement, if the Devils claim Forsberg who will be the Oilers 3rd goalie? Skinner? That makes for a scary proposition considering you have Koskinen who has never proven to handle a heavy workload. And Smith who can’t really handle any work.
I’d see it more likely NJD claims a guy like James Reimer before Forsberg.
hmm I would pick Reimer over our 2 or 3 although definitely not as big of a fan as OP
It’s a bit of a head scratcher, you’d think Holland would have known JR was available. Maybe it was a salary thing, though I’d think CAR would have retained some to consummate a deal.
That’s what I was proposing in the off-season – a retained salary transaction for Reimer.
I have concern over Forsberg being claimed.
I’m not in love with Reimer but I did think that a trade could be worked out there in the off-season that would make sense for the Oilers and he would be an upgrade over Smith for sure.
I could definitely see Fosberg claimed over Reimer give his $3.4M cap hit.
If Fosberg is claimed, it may “force” Holland in to making a deal for Dell or Hill – both the Leafs and Yotes will have three goalies on their starting active roster.
Well the infatuation with Khaira has come to it’s end. Nygard is a useful player, but they have upped the depth this year. Nothing to be upset over.
https://theathletic.com/2311395/2021/01/11/nhl-player-tiers-mcdavid-mackinnon-matthews/
Craig Custance and Dom Luszczyszyn look at analytics and then have their results vetted by actual NHL staff to create tiers of the top 100 players in the league.
The Athletic and the quest to get Matthews accepted into the top tier to make leaf fans happy
I think Dom has made that his personal mission in life!
To me, I can’t think of a valid argument against Matthews being in the top tier.
As far as the current “best pure goal scorer in the game” – well, the fact that Ovechkin is still scoring goals at an elite pace at his age is incomprehensible to me – he is, in my opinion, the best goal scorer of all time.
I can’t put Matthews ahead of him right now but, of course, in the next few years, Ovechkin will no longer be in that conversation and Matthews certainly will.
Character is a valid argument against Matthews…er…Captain Underpants…since that is the only team he will ever be captain of.
The project was produced with the input of more than 20 NHL coaches, executives and analysts.
As the article states clearly…not one of those individuals thought Matthews did not belong in the top tier.
Also clearly stated is that Matthews is the best pure goal scorer in the league and also has a well developed two way game.
Once again casting aspersions on the motives of one of the authors is specious.
False.
See: Ovechkin, Alexander.
https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-north-division-2020-21-season-storylines/c-320154738
You will confuse poor HH with facts. Have fun with that! He probably fits with the world is flat crowd. It is only truth if he believes it so and or 20 other people not associated with or fans of the Oilers state it so!
True,
League & League history. Period.
The difference is marginal.
Since Matthews entered the league he has scored .560 G/GP.
Ovechkin is at .578 over the same time frame.
Let’s bear in mind that one of these players is 23 and the other is 35.
One still has upside while the other has plateaued, albeit at a very high level.
If you were to select one of these players as an elite player on your team, you would take Matthews in a heartbeat and the collaborators in the article were unanimous in that opinion.
That’s the point, isn’t it?
Greybeard Ovi scores more than Matthews who’s entering his “prime.”
In reality, Matthews peaked in his first game.
Also, the “since 2016-17” aspect is clearly selected to fit the narrative. In the past 2 years Ovechkin and Pastrnak are both ahead of Matthews while Draisaitl is tied with him in G/GP. In total goals it goes Ovechkin, Draisaitl, Pastrnak and then Matthews. Of course, “pure goal scorer” refers to a guy with a great shot who sucks at passing, so that’s not exactly a feature. I’d rather have the better overall offensive talent in Draisaitl.
From the way I parsed the article, the 2016/17 season cut off date was selected to account for the amount of time Matthews and McDavid have both been in the league.
Otherwise, totally agree. Matthews is an outstanding player, but he’s not (yet) in the top tier of elite players. Draisaitl is.
The period was selected to coincide with Matthews four seasons in the league.
Following that by slicing and dicing sample sizes does nothing for your argument and if you actually read the piece you will find Draisaitl is ranked lower because he is one of the worst defensive players in the league.
Baloney.
Draisaitl had one bad month in December when the goaltending cratered behind him and he was playing more minutes most nights than guys like Josi and Doughty.
I think it would be closer to say that Draisaitl has one of the worst goals against records – haven’t seen the article but I am assuming that is what it is based upon from remarks here.
Those two things are different as highlighted by the discussion on Koskinen yesterday when his 6th best Sv% had him ranked 27th by a panel. So he is ranked by sight vs numbers while Draisaitl is ranked by numbers vs sight?
That’s how it looks to me anyway. When I watch Oilers games I have a very difficult time thinking of Draisaitl as “one of the worst defensive players in the league”.
That isn’t even close to reality.
Drai’s GA/60 after he switched to center last year (i used team’s last 27 games) was 2.12.
Yup. But I assume the narrative on him is driven by numbers over a much longer period of time.
Is McDavid on there?
Nice to see Draisaitl in the 1B tier behind Austin Mathews (1A).
Last 2 seasons
GP – G / A / P / PPG
Draisaitl: 153 – 93 / 122 / 215 / 1.40
Mathews: 138 – 84 / 69 / 153 / 1.10
Why does Dom hate Draisaitl so much?
I think part of his perspective on the putative defensive deficiencies of 29 and 97 are a complex product related to TOI/G, shift length, usage, general lack of team depth, poor team goaltending, and blue line issues.
To put it in other terms, would anyone be talking about 29’s lack of defensive acumen if he played for Colorado or Boston?
I like Dom’s work, but his views on 29 annoy me.
As I’ve mentioned before, 29’s average toi/g (number one in the league last season), doesn’t even capture the extent of the TOI issue since Tippett varies his usage by game score. He plays more than most #1 d in many games.
Pastrnak always gets a pass for defensive ability even though he plays wing (3:38 less per game than 29) stapled to Marchand and Bergeron (on a team with solid goaltending and blue line).
They mention specifically McDavid would be in his very own tier but for his defensive problems, as their model suggests, and Drai would be in Tier 1A if he was even average defensively.
The knock against 97 & 29 for both Dom’s analytics and the discussions with the actual team employees is that their 5v5 defence is poor. Drai has one of the worst expected goals against in the entire league.
Do they cherry pick?
Are the D poor at transitioning?
Were the goalies suspect at times?
Probably a combination of many factors, but I think we should try to figure out why they look so bad defensively compared to their peers.
Draisaitl sure collected a lot of hardware. It would seem the majority of those in the know thought he was top tier. Maybe the 20 or so that rated him behind Mathews aren’t quite the experts that HH thinks. It is more likely that they agree with him.
Dom’s model is GIGO (Garbage in, garbage out).
Last year I wrote at length at why his model was flawed in its construction and flawed in its output.
Athletic… sure, I am a huge supporter there but I’ve stopped reading anything that has Dom’s name on it. Sad really.
What surprised me in Dom’s model is having
Caleb Jones ranked 0.7
Nurse 0.4
Bear 0 (replacement level)
Jones being a better player than bear and nurse at the end of last season is just objectively wrong.
Reminds me of another model that had Benning as the best oiler defenseman
I believe that they are rated that way due to expected usage? Bear and Nurse are expected to play the toughest mins so their numbers will be worse. At least that’s what I believe has been said about the model.
Either way, not a fan of Dom’s Model…
Jason Gregor
“The shoulder is getting better. We are looking into options and hopefully I can get some sort of shoulder surgery done so I can feel better in life, and then get back to playing hockey.” Klefbom #Oilers
So, if they decide for surgery as it sounds. Oscar will not be available for training camp in the fall. Possibly a mid season start.
If he decides to keep playing at all..
Did they say that? Or your speculation/question?
That is my speculation based on what we’ve heard of the injury and me being an Oilers fan my whole life and seeing how these shoulder things turn out. Chronic arthritis rarely gets solved with surgery.
Ive been trying to temper OPs enthusiasm on this as he was hoping Klef would be back this year(until confirmed he won’t be) and then that he’d be back for training camp in fall.
So, if they’re saying ‘some sort of surgery’ now. I would say do not expect him for camp. Possibly not till mid season and, I hate to say it, but possibly never again.
Furthermore, if Klefbom does return, barring some miracle outcome from surgery, he will never be the same player again.(pre arthritis)
Also, I hate to parse words from a hockey player at a media avail but ‘so I can feel better in life’ is a tell for me. This is more about quality of life than hockey right now.
Agreed.
Arthritis can be just awful. I would not be surprised if Sexy Klef has played his last NHL game.
It is a real shame that he has suffered so many injuries. A very underrated player when healthy. Wishing him the best.
Thanks. I’ll listen to the avail when I have time.
And I do agree there’s very real concern he may never recover/return.
I think though that the recovery from arthritis related surgery should be considerably shorter than the ‘normal’ shoulder reconstruction. I could be wrong on that but pretty sure someone here with more knowledge than me has said that.
So IF the surgery is successful he should have lots of time to recover for next season.
Reid Wilkens of CHED offered this summary on Twitter: Oscar Klefbom says,
“The shoulder is getting better.” Says he’s still looking at options and surgery so he can feel better overall. Klefbom says he doesn’t want to be on pain meds 24/7 and have pain that affects his life away from hockey. Adds he misses playing hockey, says surgery, shoulder replacement could be options to fix the problem. Klefbom emphasizing pain has been really affecting his private life, including trouble sleeping. Says, “The main focus is getting back playing hockey again.” Klefbom says he’ll have a good discussions with the Oilers medical team to find a solution. He says ideally he’d like to see a doctor in Cleveland to get some answers. Says it’s a big decision to get the surgery done. Klefbom says his shoulder is better since he hasn’t been playing, but “this is not the life I want. I want to be back in North American playing hockey. I’m not in that shape right now.” Klefbom on when he needs to have surgery to be ready for Sept: “I don’t really see it that way right now with everything that’s going on. I would like to get the surgery done as soon as possible, but with travelling and going into different countries and all that and obviously getting surgery in the end, it’s tough to find a pretty good solution with COVID and everything.” Adds, “I don’t really put pressure on myself to get the surgery done. I still want to want to get it done in the end, but the way it looks right now in the world, I just see it from a different perspective, I guess.”
Thanks.
Hmm, I see Oscar isn’t considering My quality of life as an Oilers fan.
all kidding aside, I hope whatever decision he makes helps him go forward without chronic pain.
That’s no way to live
We are in mid January now. I really don’t understand why he has not had surgery.
He seems to want it.
We are approaching half a year since his last NHL game.
At some point, you have to actually make a decision on *actually* getting surgery done.
I can’t help but feel there are other things going on here.
Yes, this is speculation on my part.
From reports the surgery isn’t a 100% solution and they were exploring all other options.
From the beginning of the media avail (which I’m listening to now), he is in North America – there are experts in the US (Cleveland) he wants to see. Obviously, with Covid, doing that hasn’t been as easy over the last few months.
Rishuag expressly asked him if he’s contemplated retirement and he mentioned his focus has always been trying to do what’s best to get back to playing hockey.
Thank you.
Spector asked him specifically & he is in Karlstad, Sweden but wants to go to Cleveland.
Ya, I heard that later in the interview. I thought at the beginning he said “that’s why I’m hear, to get it taken care of” in response to the first question (or words to that effect).
There would be a lengthy family separation involved along with other possible problems in this day and age of COVID. Add to this the testing etc and lack of visitors etc I can understand his reluctance.
Maybe I’m just being bitchy, but I have thought this for months now:
With such a big off-season, what wasn’t the surgery undertaken towards the end of last summer?
He’s been looking at other options for close to ten months now while taking no action (other than, presumably, physiotherapy).
Because even if the surgery goes perfectly, word is the chances of successful complete recovery is less than 100%.
Or at least, that’s the info I’ve come across.
That’s not good news, but it still doesn’t advise as to why surgery wasn’t undertaken earlier. He’s not playing as it is, and never was for a large chunk of this season.
Chances of recovery don’t improve by waiting.
He hasn’t been able to travel to see the specialists that he wants/needs to – something about a virus.
He hasn’t been able to travel to see the specialists that he wants/needs to (in the states) – for obvious reasons.
Yeah it’s a bit of an odd one. I figured he’d get the surgery as early as possible too. But there’s probably a lot going on behind the scenes that we’re not privy to impacting the decision making process.
Just conjecture here, but I think that suggests there’s more at stake than coming back in game shape to play in the NHL again.
Or maybe there’s a strong enough belief in non-invasive procedures to hold off until doing so becomes the last resort option.
He’s has been waiting so he can see the experts that he needs/wants down south – something that hasn’t logistically been possible yet.
Yeah, the specialist in Cincinnati.
Quine, Nygard, P. Russell, Forsberg and Khaira on waivers.
Khaira is interesting – I would think that signals a Shore signing. He may not clear.
Lagesson will be on the active 23.
This essentially signals two extra D (Lagesson and Koekkoek) and one extra forward (Shore) on active roster.
If Khaira doesn’t get claimed, and Neal and Haas are on IR, I think the taxi squad is:
Fosberg
Nygard, Khaira, Benson, McLeod
Bouchard
Assuming Khaira/Nygard clear this would give the team free access to all the taxi squad members (without needing to clear waivers again) for the first month of the season.
Lots of flexibility, as long as they don’t lose a player (s).
Yes sir!
I’d be shocked if Khaira didn’t clear waivers. Probably good for both the team and player if he was picked up by another team
Khaira on waivers.
Edmonton Oilers
@EdmontonOilers
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3m
The #Oilers have placed the following players on waivers: ・Jujhar Khaira ・Patrick Russell ・Joakim Nygard ・Anton Forsberg ・Alan Quine
Nygard is the only somewhat surprising/concerning one there for me, I think he hs by far the most untapped potential of those waived. Still suspect he makes it through but will be disappointed if not.
Wow.
Because of the implication (non-boat implications, that is).
I have to say that I’m a little shocked that JJ was chosen as the player the Oilers felt they could risk losing. Vindicated yes, because of what I’ve said about his play in 2020, but still surprised.
Hopefully JJ hears his GM’s message loud and clear. Coz that one was as subtle as the guy who sneaks up behind you and then lets’er rip with a megaphone.
Sounds like the league has a problem with some of the paper rosters. Any changes made Wednesday will count as if originally submitted by Tuesday.
So the NHL gives a CBA and cap that allows teams to strategically use LTIR relief and then has a problem when teams actually figure that out?
God this is a bush league.
Reference?
Every team has their own “Lagesson” with Slater we have two “Lagessons”. I see the risk small and replaceable if he gets picked up.
Concern is with Lagesson and the waiver wire. Tippet’s error last season playing Manning (of all people) 9 games instead of Lagesson (who only got into 8 games) has resulted in not really having a clear picture on this player. That being said, every team has a #8 dman that they think is good and ready to play so it may work out. Hope so as he will probably be needed this season.
I said it at the time and have repeated it many times since fall 2019 – playing Manning for 8 straight games while Lagesson sat in the press-box was, in my opinion, the most mind-boggling coaching staff decision last year.
Not only was there every chance that Lagesson could not only be as good but better than Manning, its robbed the org of a chance to gain more important information on the player.
I highly doubt the organization is lacking information on the player.
You are talking about us. Those who crave the sample that is sized.
Pretty sure the org is pretty sure about what they had in Laggy Oct 2019.
With respect, I don’t agree at all.
They don’t know what they have with him as far as being an NHL d-man and an extra 8 games last year, a stretch of games, would have provided some valuable information and created two cups of coffee as opposed to just one (and, as we saw with Benson, a second cup of coffee, a short time after, can prove to be beneficial).
The organization likes the player enough to, no only re-sign him, but to keep him on the active roster for the beginning of the season.
A doubling of his NHL games would have provided additional important information.
The most mind-boggling decision coaching staff decision was taking Nugent-Hopkins of the Draisaitl line for the play-in.
Not for me – there is a clear rational explanation for that. One may not agree with the explanation but there is a rational one.
I see no rational explanation for Manning/Lagesson decision.
Mind boggling, or showcasing for a potential trade?
I think it’s more likely they were trying to pump Manning’s tires before burying him in BAK (before he subsequently buried himself).
Could be but I don’t think that was it – that player was never tradeable and he was regressing, game over game, during those 8 games. The tires had holes and were expensive – they were deflating by the game as well.
I think Tip/Playfair thought it gave the team the best chance to win games – mind-boggling.
Klefbom will be speaking at 10 this morning.
He bought some flexseal and put his shoulder back together?
That shit only works if you live in the desert
Big day today as its the last day to waive players as final rosters need to be set tomorrow for opening night on Wed.
We may have an idea today of what Holland’s plan for cap compliance is and maybe a window in to the final roster/taxi squad – but that might have to wait for tomorrow as waivers apply equally for both taxi squad and AHL assignments.
Will be interesting if Lagesson is put on waivers and if Shore is signed (if he’s not signed today and they do plan on signing him, I think he’ll be on the opening night roster).
Will be interesting to see if any of the veterans are waived in order to give the ability for paper transactions and cap compliance (if they go that route).
Suspect we might see 8D until Groundhog Day.
My guess is LT has it right.
LT seems to get it all correct but one. I hope they keep Lagesson and start with 8 D. I don’t see the team deep enough at D to risk losing Lagesson.
?
Definitely looks that way – neither Koekkoek or Lagesson were waived so they will both be on the active roster.