Every year since forever, I quietly (that’s a lie, I don’t do anything quietly) make a list of players who I believe will take advantage of an opportunity made available. Sometimes it works out horribly, and sometimes things land perfectly. This year is…interesting.
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: Why are some Oilers fans hesitant to give Darnell Nurse his due?
- Jonathan Willis: Can Oilers improve enough to beat TML it in May?
- Lowetide: Top trade targets for the Oilers at the 2021 deadline
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers 2021 trade value rankings
- Lowetide: February report cards for the Oilers
- Lowetide: Difficult season for trio of Oilers prospects playing in the AHL
- Lowetide: Jesse Puljujarvi must be on the Oilers expansion protected list after breakout
- Jonathan Willis: The Oilers’ 2020 trade deadline splash: What we learned, a year later
- Lowetide: Revisiting our preseason predictions for the Oilers after 20 games
- Lowetide: Oilers begin to separate from prairie teams in Scotia North
- Lowetide: If Dylan Holloway turns pro this spring, will it be with the Oilers?
- Jonathan Willis: Could an Ethan Bear trade improve the Oilers?
- Lowetide: Is Oilers centre Kyle Turris playing himself out of the NHL?
- Lowetide: Tinkering with the Oilers’ top six — what are the best line combinations?
- Lowetide: Philip Broberg and the Oilers’ Leftorium
- Lowetide: Jujhar Khaira, a waiver reset and the Oilers’ future at No. 3 centre
- Lowetide: Is this peak Connor McDavid?
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Jesse Puljujarvi was an easy pick to make the roster, but guessing the production was difficult. He’s on track to score 14-7-21 in 55 games, I had him a little behind that pace. Kailer Yamamoto’s trajectory has him posting 11 goals and 24 points in 56 games, my prediction was more dynamic, but not gaudy. I had Caleb Jones GP totals projected well but expected more offense (he’s on pace for 43 games, 0-4-4).
I had Evan Bouchard getting 17 games (1-4-5), he is now on pace for 4-11-15 in 43 games. Always bet the pedigree. William Lagesson (39, 0-10-10) doubled my projections pretty much across the board.
Who did I project to play who has been left behind? I had Theodor Lennstrom at 8 games, but other than that the men who have emerged were in sight before training camp. The levels of performance were less predictable.
DARRYL SUTTER
Flames hired him last night after a blowout win. Saturday is going to be nuts. Sutter is the author of one of my favourite quotes:
“The big thing in today’s game is you have to be able forecheck and backcheck, and you have to have the puck. You can’t give the puck up. We don’t play in our zone, so there’s not much defending. I’ve coached in three decades now and this stuff where they said Marian had to play in Jacques’s system is a bunch of bull-crap. The game’s changed. They think there’s defending in today’s game. Nah, it’s how much you have the puck. Teams that play around in their own zone think they’re defending but they’re generally getting scored on or taking face-offs and they need a goalie to stand on his head if that’s the way they play.”
WARD FIRED
Flames fired Geoff Ward to make room for Sutter. You may recall Ward was head coach for Edmonton’s AHL farm team (Toronto Roadrunners (2003-04) and the Edmonton Roadrunners (2004-05) after serving as Julien’s assistant coach in Hamilton) around the turn of the century. I gave him credit for being key to the development of Kyle Brodziak, Brad Winchester and Jeff Woywitka during his time with the organization.
THE 2016 DRAFT IS BRANDON DAVIDSON
Do you remember how I always say wait five years after a draft? To make good and sure everyone has a full hearing? Sometimes, as in the case of Brandon Davidson, reality conspires against the five-year rule. Davidson emerged as a regular in year six after his draft.
I think the entire 2016 draft may need a Brandon Davidson kicker year. The five-year rule will close all opinions this spring. However, Puljujarvi is just establishing himself as an NHL regular, Tyler Benson has had just a cup of coffee, and Markus Niemelainen is just getting started (impressively) in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors. Filip Berglund comes over this fall and Matthew Cairns has shown signs of life. Yes. We’re going to have to use the Brandon Davidson option on the 2016 draft.
MCDAVID’S WINGERS TONIGHT
Assuming Nuge is running with Draisaitl and Yamamoto, the top option for RW is Jesse Puljujarvi. At five on five, the duo are 9-11 in on-ice goal differential, but 54 percent shots and 60 percent expected goals.
Who would I recommend on LW for that line? For me, it’s Joakim Nygard. Since he arrived with the Oilers, Nygard with 97 at five on five have 57 percent shots and 55 percent expected goals. It’s just 58 minutes, but those are good numbers.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
A busy morning on the Lowdown as we careen to the weekend and a batbleep crazy Battle of Alberta. At 10:20, Steve Lansky from Inside the Truck podcast will talk Walter Gretzky, Darryl Sutter and the importance of a win against Calgary after the week against Toronto. At 10:40, Ryan Pike from Flames Nation and The Sporting News will talk about the big change late last night in Calgary. At 11, Matthew Iwaynk joins me and answers the question “is it okay for adults to be confused by the Edmonton Oilers?” 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. It’s Friday, bastages!
On Sutter and the Flames.
https://theathletic.com/2429146/2021/03/05/the-darryl-sutter-shakeup-can-the-flames-new-coach-right-the-ship/?source=user_shared_article
On Kevin Lowe and the Order of Canada:
https://www.nhl.com/news/kevin-lowe-named-to-order-of-hockey-in-canada/c-321850262
#4 should have been hoisted into the rafters with him in it.
The cause of the Decade of Darkness.
He is an idiot.
I’m delighted that you can recognize other members of your own kind now.
I just wanted to say Bear’s concussion may have slowed him down; and in a regular season he would have or should have a conditioning stint in the minors. It might be a lost season for him ; and he is not last years player and might take a few seasons to get back to where he was.
1) Pursuant to Section 13.8 of the CBA, the player needs to consent to being sent to the AHL for a conditioning loan
2) While on a conditioning stint, the player takes up a spot on the active roster and his cap counts (which would have created even more issues for the Oilers – Bouchard likely would have had to be sent to the taxi squad)
3) The loan can be for a max of 14 days and the Condors had a game postponed and have played like once in two weeks so the timing wouldn’t have worked well
4) He would have to quarantine for 2 weeks on his way back and then need another week or so to get back in game shape after not doing anything outside his house for those two weeks.
Norm_Klassen wrote:
Chicago flying under the radar this season.
Patrick Kane should be the favourite for MVP…producing at prodigious levels while the Hawks are without their two best centres.
Alex DeBrincat on a 45 goal pace pro-rated over 82 games.
Adam Boqvist is a stud.
And another one.
DeBrincat from Kane against the TBL.
NHL stats.
http://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters
Bill even stopped by to give me a -, why didn’t he say hi?
Blah Blah Blah
Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) Tweeted:
Six goals in his last nine games for Dominik Kubalik.
https://twitter.com/MarkLazerus/status/1368035700403273736?s=20
Stone Cold Killer.
Do you ever tire out giving 29 teams hand jobs. That’s like 900 men fella, slow down.
No…and it’s 30.
I preferred you as Bill Clinternet, trying to convince us you’re reasonable, lol.
Hawks beat the Bolts in a shootout.
Both Kane and DeBrincat finish with 2 points.
Kane should of been a Oiler but Mactavish had to much pride.
How so?
We lose against the Flames in the last game of the year we end up with the Chicago pick that turned out to be Number 1 and Kane.
We lose the last game and our lottery odds change – of course, there is a highly complex system with 5-number codes that is involved and we wouldn’t just get Chicago’s pick. This is a fallacy.
At least all the required viewing is staggered nicely tomorrow:
Wisconsin at 12:30
Condors at 4 (Sunday same time)
Oilers at 8
Any time for the wife?
We’ll take the dog to the park after the morning workout and before the hockey festivities……
Please post a selfie.
OPs daily routine is roughly as interesting to me as how a 22 year old Canucks 6th rounder is doing in college.
Aidan McDounaugh is killing it at Northeastern.
OP not so much.
In OP’s defense, he was asked… and he provided an honest answer.
Absolutely. My post wasn’t really meant to be at all about OP.
Grow the fuck up – for fuck sakes.
Rage
Why respond? HH is going off the deep end. Isn’t that what most want.
A few people should take this advice.
The bad: Holloway was held off the scoresheet in a Wisconsin 4-0 win.
The good: He went 10-of-14 (71.4%) on the dot.
He is now 196-for-336 on faceoffs this year, which makes for a Yanic Perreault-esque 58.3% success rate. Makes one wonder how well faceoff ability translates from junior / college / minor pro to the NHL.
Fun Fact: Yanic Perreault owns 2 of the top 4–and 5 of the top 12–best single-season faceoff percentages in NHL history (min. 100 FO’s).
More Fun Fact: The best single-season FO% in league history is happening right now.
Can’t wait to see Holloway in the blue and orange. Scoring with grit is what this team is in need of.
He will be our magic pill for the playoffs and anyone who thinks otherwise hasn’t been paying attention.
Seems unlikely that either Holland or Tippett will be looking at using a 19 year old with no professional hockey games in the playoffs but, you never know.
I anticipate he’ll be playing for the Condors in 2021.
Excellent info…..
No way to know for sure….but it sure looks like he is destined to play C.
I’m glad Tippett is going with Mike no way I trust Kosh in what will be a pressure packed game. Here comes Sutter who played against Tippett so there’s that added rivalry. I’m getting fired up for this game Calgary players will be auditioning for their new coach . Oilers better wake the eff up and play like they can.
Sutter is not going to be behind the Flames’ bench until Tuesday
I would wager he has been analyzing the team for weeks and has been in touch with the assistants.
Right on the Sutters are gamers they don’t stand by and allow passengers to cash a easy paycheque.
Matt Duchene is already 30……his contract keeps going for another 5 years.
( 8 million per year)
3 goals so far this year for Matt. 7th in team scoring. Tied with Dman
Dante Fabro.
Winnipeg targeting some of the carcass remains of Nashville -allegedly.
You mean the extreme speed of Nygard playing with McDavid…..?
Yes, I think many would like to see that for a few games.
Poll: If Tippett misses the playoffs, is he the head coach next year?
“+” yes
“-” no
Yes.
Holland has preached continuity and stability.
I don’t see him changing course so abruptly.
If you can’t make the playoffs with Leon and Connor your fired and deservedly so.
Last I checked, the Oilers were one of the hottest teams in the league.
Last I checked, the Oilers were in a playoff position.
Last I checked, there is plenty of season yet to play.
Sometimes it feels like I’m one of a few who root for the team to win as opposed to get sucked into the old “here we go again” mentality.
If it’s and buts were candies and nuts ooh what a wonderful world it would be. Results matter I don’t have 50 years of watching uninspired hockey before they win a cup. How’s this when Holland took over do you think if you were running the show we would be further ahead. Remember Holland makes 5 million dollars and he has all kinds of connections and goodwill with other GM’s.
Is that a shot at any Toronto fan that might be reading because if so subtle but well done?
Woosh.
I thought about it…
Not sure about a firing after this year, I think he has a bit of a longer leash, no playoffs next year and he could be done…..who knows….long road to hoe ’til then..
Kenny should be able to construct a heck of a “potential” roster next year with more key youth and some other key adds……as long as we do not extend Barrie..please. Tip should be here for that opportunity.
If the Flames beat us then were basically even and going in opposite directions . How much leash does Tippett have can he afford a 5-6 game slide with a hungry Ottawa team coming up. This is almost a must win against the Flames if we get embarrassed by the Flames look out.
Calgary blew out Ottawa last night.
Of course, in 2 of their last 3 games, they lost 5-1 and 6-1 to Ottawa.
Calgary is going nowhere – not even with the dead cat bounce.
You have no idea how the Flames will respond to a new head coach.
And Markstrom is back from injury. If he gets hot, Calgary could go on a real run.
This is great to read as you constant standings change predictions that negatively effect the Oilers are consistently wrong, wrong, wrong.
The flames have shown who they are over the course of almost half the season and I’m not concerned about a dead cat bounce.
The Flames won the division two seasons ago and are a better team than they were then.
I predicted the Leafs would run away with the division…they are.
I had Calgary second and Montreal third…all are still plausible but the Jets acquisition of Dubois tilted the scales to a huge degree and I said so at the time. The Jets will finish second.
I also predicted the Oilers would be betrayed by their goaltending and D and that is playing out in real time.
The rest of the season comes down to three teams playing for two spots.
The Oilers have the best two players, two shaky goaltenders and a bunch of meh.
Montreal has forward depth, a decent D core and, potentially, good goaltending if Price comes around but their centre depth relies on a couple of youngsters.
Calgary also has forward depth, their D is above average and they have the best goaltender in the division. If Sutter gets them playing consistently they will surge.
What were your predictions?
I predicted the Minnesota Wild would be a powerhouse….wait that was you. blah blah blah
A few had Winnipeg rated higher….:*)
Blah Blah Blah.
We better bounce back and beat Calgary I’ve never seen Leon and Connor so listless Toronto out coached us badly. Tippett better find a way to motivate the troops Oiler fans will not tolerate gutless efforts.
Any team can beat any other team on any given night but the Leafs and flames are in such vastly different tiers, what happened with the Oilers vs. the Leafs means almost nothing vis-a-vis the flames.
The flames getting pounded back to back by the Oilers and getting blow out twice by the Sens. We know who they are. They could win but they are a lower tier team.
Just the same as what happened between the Sens and Flames means almost nothing
I’m an idiot. Scheduled a massage right when the Wisconsin game starts. Should be able to catch the back half.
Go Badgers and Holloway!
Just a heads up…
It’s not on the Big10 network, only Big Ten Plus, so I can’t access the feed.
I have access to it.
There has been a lot of talk about SN and HNIC and the announcers and play-by-play guys (and studio personnel) and, for me, I don’t really comment on that stuff as it doesn’t really matter.
I don’t know who is doing the play-by-play and color for the Wisconsin game but sound like a couple of 9-12 year old kids – literal 10 plus second pauses as the game is on and the odd “a chance”, “a save”, “a penalty is coming, wait maybe not”…….
I’ve generally like the play by play for the Wisconsin and Denver games.
Its super weird.
No comment.
Just turn the volume down.
You mean you don’t care about the ins-and-outs of his daily life?
Only when he posts topless selfies from a tropical beach to show off his 32 pack.
They’re so delicious.?
I hope your not auditioning for the Jenny Jones show it could turn nasty.
Easy to cancel
He cares enough to make a comment……..
I wonder if anyone cares what he drinks, or recipes he enjoys or whatever the fuck he does on the Island that he posts about.
I know I sure don’t, which is why I never comment on such stuff.
You just did.
Lavoie’s second of the night. Kristianstad RWer over-skates the puck and Lavoie takes the gift and is off to the races… and once again we see that patented wrister, through a screen this time.
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These gifs are awesome. I am appreciating your work.
EDIT: One might say you have a “gif” for video editing.
Thank you, kind sir.
This is awesome – thanks
I’m liking my Oilers players that wear number 13 these days.
Lavoie’s first goal today… very reminiscent of Forsberg to Sakic and wrister in.
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Thanks Munny. Both goals looked good. Hard to believe he fell all the way to #38. Can’t wait to see what the kid can do in the AHL and then the NHL. He certainly is big enough, the question will be is he tough enough and willing to fight for ice. His experience is in the Q and 2nd tier Sweden – not exactly known for toughness.
It helps in evaluating him that we have Pujo as a recent comp, IMO.
I agree in that I really wish he was playing in a more physical league.
There is a chance that Vasby can play themselves out of last/second last in the league and avoid playing relegation games which would get him (and Kemp) to Bakersfield sooner – here is hoping.
I would be okay with that. Although I do wish Bako was in Texas…
Is Lavoie going to come back to play in the AHL this season?
Yes, that is the stated plan (Kemp as well).
Guy Flaming
@TPS_Guy
·
1h
Bell Media wipes out TSN 1290 (and a lot of great sports people), flips it into Funny 1290. 2 weeks later Funny 1290 becomes the new home for WHL games?
Meanwhile in Edmonton, Bell keeps TSN 1260 as sports but drops the Oil Kings games and cuts broadcaster @CoreyGraham
Bizarre. Sounds like Bell Entertainment management doesn’t even talk to each other.
Making it up as they go along I suspect.
Having hockey play by play on a comedy station is in fact hilarious.
Anyone else here, when seeing the title of today’s blog post, expecting / hoping to see Jennifer Connelly?
I suggest that gif as a placeholder until Sir LT is finally able to post the legendary Balance Photo. Connelly demonstrates some fine balance of her own there!
Getting a second rounder (or later) defenseman to about 164 NHL games (two full NHL seasons) takes about five seasons of player development – 2 ish years in the AHL and 3ish in the NHL.
At the same time we see lapses for the team when have 2-3 vs 1-2 under 164 NHL defenseman in the line-up.
I can’t see a way to get –
Jones, Bear, Bouchard, Lagesson, Broberg, Samorukov past 164 NHL games all at the same time with only 1-2 roster spots to deploy these 6 players.
We need a winger and goalie – Kenny should choose wisely as he uses these assets.
Light on the right side but could see one of the LD prospects (other than Broberg) being dealt either in season or before the Kraken draft.
Lavoie has two goals. Vasby up 3-2.
Nurse’s on-ice stats are really down there when he’s not on the ice with McDavid. Shot share numbers in the mid 40s, and chance numbers in the low 40s. His GF% is around 50 which is quite good but there’s some luck involved in there. It’s troubling but it’s also somewhat of an aberration for him, since normally his shot rates don’t drop off too much away from 97.
From 2017-2020 Nurse and McDavid had a 49.6 CF%, 55.6 GF%, and 50.5 xGF% together. McDavid w/o Nurse was 50.9 CF%, 51 GF%, and 51 xGF%.
Nurse w/o 97 was 48 CF%, 44 GF%, and 48 xGF%. Largely okay, it we consider that he would have still seen some hard minutes in that three year sample size and the Oilers have had probably the worst 4-12 forward group in the league since 2017. I’d say the GF going down is directly related to that.
I think Nurse has received almost too much praise this season prior to the Leafs series. His success was driven by shooting three or four times his career average, which put him in Norris conversations that lazily revolve around points scored by defensemen.
I think he probably hasn’t received enough praise for his prior seasons. He still makes the same mistakes but the frequency of those mistakes I think has been over-exaggerated in previous seasons. People just think he’s cleaned up his game because of the team winning and him scoring more goals. In reality his game has always been fine, and the team being terrible took the shine off him.
On-ice stats aren’t perfect but they’re always good as a reference to see what actually happened. No, Nurse didn’t flip a switch this season, and no he wasn’t struggling to be a top four defenseman before this season. I think he had value as a trade chip before Klef went down but I was always happy to keep both.
When looking at Nurse’s5v5 minutes this year away from 29 and 97, it should be broken up into two distinct segments. With and without Turris in the lineup.
Jan 13 – Feb 17: CF%=36.53 / FF%=34.59 / GF%=30.77 / xGF%=26.34 / PDO=0.988
Feb 19 – Mar 3: CF%=48.57 / FF%=45.28 / GF%=33.33 / xGF%=43.35 / PDO=0.940
All Nurses’ numbers increased in spite of some back luck (see PDO comparison). Now this is not all on Turris, but it may appear that he did influenced these numbers significantly.
Nurse is good to very good each and every night.
Wow, very interesting. I’d still like to see that xG creep up a bit more but I also don’t see very much ability from our bottom six to increase the ‘for’.
CSKA laying a beatdown on Spartak 5-1 and now there’s some extended rough stuff in that game too. Sadly Maksi is not dressed.
Lol, “line brawl” between Lokomotiv and Jokerit
Dammit Loko up five-zip but Pasquale is in net.
Per Stauffer:
RNH-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Kahun-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Shore-Khaira-Archibald
Neal-Haas-Chiasson
Ennis/Nygard-Turris-P. Russell
Nurse-Barrie
Lagesson-Larsson
Russell-Bouchard
Jones-Bear
Smith
Koskinen
————-
No surprise that Jones and Bear look to be out for Lagesson and Bouchard. Great to see Willie ready to go. I’m sure many will scream for Jones over Russell.
Nuge back with Drai lasted one game and one goal. I don’t think McDavid was particularly enthused with playing with essentially every other winger on the team.
Shore over Ennis is “blah” for me.
Mike Smith is Tippett’s starter for the year.
I wonder if Ennis is banged up. He has been great this year.
A break for Bear isn’t the worst thing. He clearly isn’t 100% yet.
What did Ennis do? He seemed to be one of the few making plays in the offensive zone the last few games
Nurse-Bouchard
Barrie-Larson
Lagesson-Bear
That’s what I want to see.
I’ll never know why Tippett strayed from a winning formula Bear and Jones both deserve to sit. We need a win badly and you know Calgary is going to get a bounce-cat with Sutter and they’ll be coming hard need to ice the best chance to win.
Got to love Tippet.
If the Oilers do not win Saturday night where is the accountability within this organization?
I was hoping for Lagesson with Bouchard, I think they’ve played together in the A and make sense as a pair, though are both rookies. Maybe if Jones comes in for Russell we’ll see it.
I was hoping for a longer DRY but this is what I expected.
Could be two very angry teams facing each other Saturday night… Tabernac!
Apparently Smith in the starters net at practice.
Man, Mikko is done in the eyes of this coach…
If nothing else.
We will win the goalie fight when a line brawl breaks out.
“Something something Smith plays well against Calgary something.”
Two very good examples – three year Sutter contracts and no semblance of following the data on goalies. Never forget that hockey teams are not run by the most knowledgeable people out there. Maybe not even the mostly knowledgeable…
Holland as well hopefully Ken can offload him with Bear or Jones as bait.
I wonder if we’re going to have to apply this option to all the draft classes impacted by Covid? Really throws a spanner into the works, probably no more so than for this year’s draft.
I don’t think we can claim Covid for 2016’s draft. Or for nations not named Trudeauland.
I’m sorry, but just because one country’s Juniors aren’t playing (yet) doesn’t mean an entire draft class gets a waiver. Obviously your mileage varies.
Well clearly covid has impacted the ability of 2016 drafted players to make their respective marks by their D+5 season.
Ergo, we may want to factor that in as a consideration going forward for a spell when evaluating a number of draft cohorts.
I would say Covid and the accompanying cap crunch, worked to the advantage of every player on the margin of entering the League.
For those more mid-development—part of the hockey diaspora lol—for some being in a different environment will have enhanced their development, for others it may have dampened development. It will depend on the individual and the individual situations they were in.
And then for others—like Konovalov—any lack of development this year can come from issues completely separate from Covid… in his case, team politics.
So yeah, I’m not throwing a blanket excuse, or worse, modifier, over anything just because Covid happened. The magnitude of the effects weren’t the same for every player, and for many, the effects are not even in the same direction. And we’d have to separate out players who were affected by unrelated things, but because it’s not Covid… don’t get the waiver.
Valid point but, even with the leagues playing outside of Canada, there has been the inability to scout those games in person, right?
Oh I think selection process will be affected for sure, but the discussion wasn’t about that.
This Sutter hiring feels almost exactly the same as when Chiarelli hired Hitchcock. Have feeling it’s going to turn the same to.
Love Sutter as a coach but this is a huge tell into where the Flames are at as an organization.
Owners wanted Sutter has a GM in the modern era gone through as many coaches as Treliving.
Yup.
With a 3 year contract.
Treliving just hired his replacement.
Wow, Darryl was able to extract three years from them?
Frickin horse traders.
That’s what you get when try to dicker with a farmer! The farmer wins every time.
IIRC, the Oilers got a ‘Merry Hitchmas’ bounce of about 6-1-2, so I can see their losing streak continuing
I want to see 13-97-75. I know it won’t happen.
Yes I know I’m crazy. I miss the time when this sort of thing would be tried just to see if it would work.
The skills match up.
82-97-13
Fixed that for you.
Nah – I want to see Bouchard firing the puck into the net after McDavid drives everyone back to the goal line and feeds him in the slot.
I bet he’s got some Wendel Clark to his game.
I bet nether would be successful
Davidson is a defenseman and we know that defensemen can take longer. He’s not the only example of this.
So I have no problem with Cairns, Niemelainen, Berglund getting a one year mulligan to see what comes f it, expecially if there are up arrows.
But I see no reason why it should apply to Benson just because he was drafted in the same year. There’s nothing mathy, fair, or even-handed about that at all. Sorry, Tyler, but you’re flat-lining.
Cairns isn’t a prospect, he’s like the D equivalent of Keven Bouchard as a pro prospect. As Dman he just basically “gets in the way” but he has no other discernable skills that I’ve been able to see. I don’t know how players like this even get drafted, although he seemed to have had a great year producing points in 2016. When I watched him play he struggled to complete simple short passes, how does this even happen
But kudos to him to even make it to the NCAA level, I won’t speculate on how he did this, but hopefully he takes advantage of his scholarship and turns it into rewarding career.
Marchessault’s PPG dropped to 0.72 in his 3rd AHL season. Yanni Gourde was around 0.7 in his 3rd and 4th AHL season and those were career years at that point.
Verhaeghe didn’t get close to Benson’s AHL production until after he turned 22. And he spent time in the ECHL. Benson’s 23 in two weeks and lost over half a season to a pandemic.
Our own Josh Archibald didn’t make the NHL until 25, and was not a scorer in the AHL at all.
Zach Hyman was 0.63 PPG in his one AHL season. In Benson’s worst full AHL season he had 0.76 PPG.
How is the book even close to being closed on this player?
Bet they take a ‘Kraken’ on this guy in Seattle. 3LW in the NHL all day long.
I think only LT can answer where he got his 5 year rule from.
I believe he does acknowledge there are outliers, but they are just that… outliers not the rule.
A look at the Sutter hiring in Calgary.
https://theathletic.com/2429439/2021/03/05/duhatschek-darryl-sutters-assignment-is-clear-light-a-fire-under-the-middling-flames/?source=user_shared_article
A major philip to the Oilers this coming off season would be hiring a skills coach to work with Puljujarvi on taking faceoffs.
He is big, strong like Ox and has good hand eye coordination. Having a Right hander that can take draws on Mcdavid’s line would be a result.
Further more it opens up the 3C search from someone who can win a Right handed draw to someone who can play hockey at the request level.
Tabernac Saturday is shaping up to be interesting times;
Calgary having a new (very old) coach bounce
Edmonton having chapped ass from the T.O. beat down
And Mcdavid being held pointless in three.
I might have to restock the beer fridge and exorcise the demons in the liquor cabinet
This years version of the Oilers do not know what a chapped ass is…even if they did, they don’t have the fistycuffs to do anything about it…after Khaira there is nothing….unless you want your best dman in the box. I haven’t seen any anger from this team at all…I’ve watched the goalies get run over at least once per game (sometime 3 or 4 times in one game) and the Oilers don’t even throw a cross check at the offender. This version of the Oilers is skill…there is no fight in this dog.
I can’t see or hear “Interesting Times” without thinking of Terry Pratchett. That was my favorite Discworld novel for the longest time.
Had posted this in the previous comments just before today’s post came up, so apologies if this isn’t the right place for it.
Excellent story by Scott Wheeler about one of my favourite late round picks in the last several years, Ty Tullio:
https://theathletic.com/2419898/2021/03/05/edmonton-oilers-prospect-tullio-path/
Brilliant quote from Darryl Sutter , it’s so true . I wonder if Tippet has ever heard it ? The Oilers spend way too much time in their own zone thinking they are defending but generally they are getting scored on or taking faceoffs . To no surprise they need a goalie to stand on his head every night . Enough said .
To reiterate:
To no surprise they need a goalie to stand on his head most nights. Enough said .
They need D that make zone entries Hell and the ability to pass the puck…we have guys that can do 1 or the other but not really both..Kleff is the closest but ya
Lagesson is adept at defending the gap.
On the horizon, Dimitri Samorukov is an aggressive defender of the blueline and the zone entry – too aggressive at times. He’s the anti-Kris Russell in that regard.
Brent Seabrook retires.
https://www.nhl.com/news/brent-seabrook-ending-playing-career-due-to-injury/c-322134770
Should read: Brent Seabrook ending playing career due to injury to the cap
Seabrook’s last years did not reflect the dominance Seabrook had over his junior cohort, nor the quiet strong skills, great shot, passing and generally lack of fuss to his professional game. Great player on a great Chicago team. Allowed fancier players to shine. Young Bouchard reminds me of a very young Seabrook.
I would guess that Sutter would not like the ‘up-and-out’ technique of KRusty and Larsson so much. Oiler D is getting more passers into the lineup all the time. With the emergence and growth of Bear, Jones and Bouchard, the Oilers can play the passing game against the Flames and really infuriate Sutter.
Glad he is back as his pressers are legend. The ‘stopping at Walmart for new glasses’ was a classic from the LA days. All we need now is for ‘filthy’ Bruce to get the Kraken job to complete the comeback.
Rod Smith (@RodSmithTSN) Tweeted:
I’m devastated to learn that our friend Chris Schultz died of a heart attack yesterday.
He was 61.
Schultzy was larger than life in so many ways…
CFL and NFL.
He played in both.
He covered both.
He loved both.
His life was a football life.
One I’ll never forget.
RIP Big Man https://t.co/CJmggtdBCt
https://twitter.com/RodSmithTSN/status/1367831666367070218?s=20
That is sad news. He was excellent on TSN. Gone too soon.
A huge supporter of the CFL.
The game will miss him.
“[Wayne] started skating before he was three years old; there are films of him on the ice, taken by his father, when he was two and a half. Walter built a rink in the backyard. He couldn’t flood it with a hose; a hose might have made it too lumpy. He got out his lawn sprinkler, and laid on coat after coat. Every night, when he got home from his job as a technician with the telephone company, he would turn on the sprinkler and lay down another smooth coat. One year, the sprinkler broke, and Walter asked Phyllis to get him another one. When she got home from the store, she told him that was the last time for that. The clerks had thought she was crazy, buying a lawn sprinkler in February.
Walter had played Junior B himself, but he had been too small, they said, to make it to the pros. He was determined to give his children every chance. Wayne’s first skates were single-bladed, not the bobskates so many kids wasted time on. When Walter couldn’t find a hockey stick small enough for Wayne, he bought the lightest he could find, then shaved it down with a plane.”
‘Walter had a lot of ideas. He got some tin cans, and Wayne would skate patterns through them. He’d set sticks down on the ice and Wayne would hop over them while Walter sent him passes. There were balance drills and target shooting. Walter would put targets up on the net he had bought for the backyard rink, and Wayne would fire at them for hours, going in for supper and coming back out again under the lights Walter strung, and practising again until bedtime. Walter put a picnic table on edge so that it blocked all but the outer edges of the net. Wayne would shoot for the corners. “When the Russians came over here in 1972 and ’73,” Wayne once said, “people said, ‘Wow, this is something incredible.’ Not to me it wasn’t. I’d been doing those drills since I was three years old. My dad was very smart.”’
‘The tournament was in Kingston, Ontario, and, as was nearly always the case, the local paper had run a story about the prodigious young Brantford player who would be its major attraction. Wayne was reading the story and nodding his approval. And Walter, who fixes teletype machines for the Bell Telephone Company and is quiet to the point of taciturnity, spoke to him firmly about the future he was then almost certainly facing. “You’re a very special person,” Walter told his son. “Wherever you go, probably all your life, people are going to make a fuss over you. You’ve got to remember that, and you’ve got to behave right. They’re going to be watching for every mistake. Remember that. You’re very special and you’re on display.”’
-Peter Gzowski, The Game of Our Lives
It’s the greatest hockey book ever written, and you can find it here:
https://www.amazon.ca/Game-Our-Lives-Peter-Gzowski/dp/1894384598/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+game+of+our+lives&qid=1614959700&sr=8-1
Thanks for this… the whole family is class. My favourite memories of Walter will be sitting with him at the rink watching one of my buddies play in the upper viewing area and chatting. Wayne came up in the conversation often, especially later in his life. He was just the most humble man you could ever know and will be truly missed by many in the community for all he (and the family) did.
Posted this last night… ICYMI:
You work here’s finally done. Go be with Gord.
How long until Zack is back? I think he has a broken bone in his hand? I wonder if it is all the same to him he could come back as a left winger?
The Oilers record has been a lot better since he’s been gone.
“Since he’s been gone, I can breathe for the first time.” to paraphrase Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne.
Glad you’ve been breathing in Kassian’s absence.
Phlegms are going through coaches like we use to. 4 coaches in 5 yrs. Yahoo. triliving must be feeling the heat
3 in 16 months…he just played his last card
I’ve coached minor hockey for about 10 years, and I hate to admit it, but I have used that quote from Sutter about a million times with my teams. I always give him the credit too. Kids that have no clue who he is have been getting his theory hammered into their brains for their entire hockey experience. And I really don’t see a reason to change the message.