On an early power play, the Nashville Predators intercepted the puck and wheeled through the neutral zone with the makings of a two-on-one. Little did they know that Leon Draisaitl was tracking the puck like a lion tracks its prey. Turnover, puck the other way, crisis averted. Draisaitl went 2-1-3 and is 9-11-20 in the first nine games of the season. What a performance from the big man, who has somehow managed to find his own spotlight in a hockey world laser-focused on Connor McDavid (7-12-19 on the season).
This hockey version of call and answer is pure dynamite and sweet, sweet music. Bring on Tex’s Rangers.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Who is the Oilers’ top prospect now that Evan Bouchard has graduated?
- DNB: Oilers’ Tyson Barrie says what needs to be said as NHL faces reckoning
- Lowetide: Did Oilers general manager Ken Holland win the offseason?
- DNB: The Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci pair have helped to overcome a notable loss
- Jonathan Willis: Seven Oilers surprises so far in 2021-22
- Lowetide: Will Xavier Bourgault be the best Oilers’ QMJHL pick this century?
- Lowetide: What Evan Bouchard’s move up the depth chart means for the Oilers’ defensive pairings
- Lowetide: How hot streaks, shuffles and slumps will determine the fate of the Oilers’ second line in 2021-22
- Jonathan Willis: Evan Bouchard’s evolution, in context
- Lowetide: Zach Hyman’s buzzsaw style makes him an instant Oilers fan favourite
- DNB: Comparing the Oilers’ 5-0-0 start this season to their 5-0-0 start in 2019-20
- Lowetide: Oilers prospect Philip Broberg showing his potential
- Lowetide: Should Jesse Puljujarvi drive his own line for the Oilers in 2021-22?
- New DNB: He’s a one-shot scorer’: Oilers prospect Carter Savoie thriving at DU
- Lowetide: The Oilers finally have an effective third line — so how should they deploy it?
- Jonathan Willis: Success or failure for the Oilers could depend on their Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci tandem
- DNB: Evan Bouchard subscriber Q&A
- Lowetide: First impressions of 2021-22 Oilers — is this strong start sustainable?
- Lowetide: Which Oilers AHL players are most likely to be called up in 2021-22?
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- At home to: SEA, NAS, NYR (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- On the road to: DET, BOS, BUF, STL, WPG (Expected 3-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: WPG, CHI (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: DAL, ARI, VEG (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 8-5-0, 16 points in 13 games
- Actual November results: 2-0-0, four points in two games
- Oilers in 2021-22: 8-1-0, 16 points in nine games
There are eight road games this month and that will bring challenges, but there’s no doubt at all Edmonton took full advantage of the home stand at the beginning of 2021-22. You can never say it guaranteed a playoff spot, because it’s a hella-long season, but there’s a nice foundation nine games in.
GOALTENDER
Mikko Koskinen is playing fine hockey for the Oilers, even his glove hand came out to play last night. He stopped 30 of 32, .938 and owns a 6-1-0 record and a .934 save percentage. I’m starting to believe the Oilers may not need to make a deadline trade for a goalie, although you’d like to see Smith play well for a time and coach Dave Tippett show a consistent track record of using both men in a logical rotation.
DEFENSE
Darnell Nurse-Evan Bouchard played 17:19, going 10-6 shots and 1-0 goals. Nurse picked up an assist had four shots, two blocks and a giveaway. For the third game in a row he was in the high slot with a 50-50 puck and an opposition forward, but this time Nurse batted it away. Is that the other team scouting? Don’t know. JC Tremblay used to do that kind of tomfoolery when he was with the Habs, except he was trolling the goalie. Bouchard also had an assist, two shots and some fine passing. This pairing is 4-3 five on five goals and 64 percent expected goals. Nice.
Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci played 14:39, going 6-9 shots and 1-1 goals. The goal against came after a clearing pass by Ceci that hit the linesman, and turned into a two-on-one. A little bad luck there, I thought Ceci had a strong game overall and that included several interceptions or deflections of possibly dangerous passes. Keith had a giveaway, Ceci two, that needs to be cleaned up because it causes chasing. Ceci made a good pass to Nuge just before the Yamamoto goal. This pairing is 7-5 even strength goals and 51 percent expected goals.
Kris Russell-Tyson Barrie played 11:13, going 4-6 shots and 1-0 goals. Barrie didn’t get the assist on the Shore goal, but did send the puck down low, beginning the sequence. The duo gave up three HDSC’s. Russell-Barrie is 2-1 goals for the season in just 22 minutes, with 19 percent expected goals.
FORWARDS
Leon Draisaitl-Connor McDavid-Jesse Puljujarvi played 9:06, going 5-5 shots and 1-0 goals. Tippett shuffled Draisaitl up to the No. 1 line, replacing Hyman, and things clicked. Draisaitl was 2-1-3, McDavid 0-2-2 and Puljujarvi scored an EN goal. Through nine games, these three men have scored 19 goals. Draisiatl is 11-2 goals at five on five. His backchecking early was a small item but indicative of his game. His goals were first-shot scorers goals and his assist was an unselfish act. Leon is The Professional.
Zach Hyman-RNH-Kailer Yamamoto played 6:06, going 2-1 shots and 1-0 goals. Instant chem when Yamamoto scored, it seemed to spark both top lines and a good time was had by all. Hyman had an assist on the KY goal and six shots of his own, Nuge had a pair of assists (KY and Leon’s PP goals) and Yamamoto scored his second goal in two games and is now on track for 18 goals on the season.
Warren Foegele-Devin Shore-Zack Kassian played 5:58, going 4-3 shots and 1-0 goals. The third line finally got a tweak, if only for half a game. Foegele was aggressive everywhere, his assist a combination of moving people out of the way and a finesse pass. Had a takeaway and a shot on goal. Shore played well, scoring a third period goal and leading the team with three takeaways. He isn’t the answer at No. 3 center but had a good night. Kassian had a couple of hits, one of which could easily have been an elbowing penalty but the police didn’t catch him.
Brendan Perlini-Derek Ryan-Kyle Turris played 3:27, going 1-2 shots and no goals. Perlini was noticeable a few times, had a shot on goal, two takeaways and skated miles. Ryan struggled and was moved down to the fourth line, had a penalty and a takeaway. Took a brutal crosscheck in front of the Preds net late, no call. I expect he’ll eventually slide up the roster again, he’s a better player than Shore. Turris had a shot, ran into a guy, otherwise quiet.
JACK EICHEL TRADE
It won’t be immediate, and it may not impact the Oilers in the final standings this year, but Vegas Golden Knights got their franchise center in the trade with Buffalo. Great trade for VGK assuming a return to health, great trade for Eichel because he can get surgery. For Buffalo? They didn’t get enough for the franchise center but Tuch is a quality player and Krebs a legit prospect. The Golden Knights made another loud noise trade, but this time it’s for a much younger player. In a way, this trade was a must. I’m not sure how the cap works for them but the team leads the league in LTIR so there must be a solution.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
As luck would have it, we are well situated to discuss the big trade on the Lowdown, 10 this morning on TSN1260. Chris Johnston, TSN Insider and writer for the Toronto Star, will give us the latest on a blockbuster deal that will impact the Pacific Division for a decade or more. We’ll also have Andrew Peard pop by to talk Oil Kings and are tracking an NFL guest. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
Just finished watching. What a finish! Yelled myself hoarse all by myself. McJesus #skatesonwater.
Trade Deadline Pickups:
Marc Andre Fleury as 1G
Ryan Getzlaf as 3C
Mark Giordano as 3LD
That would be as deep a team to win the West.
Fleury is 36 @ 7 million.
Getzlaf is 36 @ 3 million.
Gio is 38 @ 6.75 million.
The Oilers could get sponsored by Ensure!
Also, how would the Oilers free up almost 17 million in cap space?
That would also be about $14 of cap coming in….
Thankfully, the one needed the most is only $3M.
Jordan Eberle with a hat trick…Kraken lead Buffalo 4-2 in the 3rd and are outshooting them 35-17
dam shame phlegms gets another LOSER point
Dallas missed the playoffs last year.
Dallas plays in the west.
Calgary was at home.
Dallas was playing its 1B.
Do the flames get points deducted for this one?
It’s almost more enjoyable when they lose in OT especially hearing the goof Hrudey crying about the Refs.
Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
Gets BUF to floor
Quote Tweet
New York Islanders
@NYIslanders
Transaction: The New York Islanders have traded the rights to Johnny Boychuk to the Buffalo Sabres for future considerations.
That would be a 3rd period goal for Petrov who adds a bit of extra insurance as the Battalion are up 6-3.
He definitely knows where to go…
https://twitter.com/OHLBattalion/status/1456433196996993027
– I’ve posted for years about the general ineptness of NHL management (most recently re: Blackhawks). The Eichel trade is just a further indiciation of just how terrible NHL hockey exectuives are (for different reason)
– Trading Eichel now is so sub-optimal in terms of asset management. Vegas took a lot of uneccessary risk, and Buffalo doesn’t get it:
1) A trade in the off-season would have had far more bidders
2) A trade after the operation would have had far more bidders
3) A trade closer to trade deadline, when operation done and more certainly would have far more bidders
– This was totally sub-optimal: risk management is all about seprating noise from actual data. An in season trade, where you are requiring a team to give up real players, and wait many months for the replacement to come. Vegas would have been way better off waiting many months, and giving up “more” for certainty (and not playing for months with a lesser roster).
– Buffalo didn’t understand the value of their free-option. They give up all the upside and time, simply to have “closure” and “settle things”, and all the old-schooly dumb hickey mentality.
– The smart PhD quant guys running the Baseball teams these days, some who have Wall Street backgrounds in modellling and trading: man they would eat the lunch of NHL guys compelting with executives who look up “NHL Guide and Record Books” . Its just so much “gut check, and getting winners, change of scenery” stuff. I guess I’m not surpised that the main stream media doens’t pick up on this stuff, and just goes with “needed a change of scenery, taking risk, Vegas didn’t give up that much, blah balh”
So both sides played their hands poorly… isn’t that a match?
Also, there’s the sneaky issue of timeline – VGK have played this for a cap-free Eichel return in the playoffs; that’s what’s created the urgency IMO
Sabres probably feels the surgery to replace the disc is too high a risk and won’t bring Eichel back to where he needs to be to play again safely. Probably why they traded him for the best offer.
I’d be very curious what Eichels surgery would do to his contract insurance. Wonder if it would void the policy. All of a sudden 50 mil for a guy that doesn’t want to play for you and doesn’t want to listen to your doctors and is worth nothing is a hard pill to swallow if you are paying his bills.
My understanding is that was exactly the case.
Also the Sabres tried peddling him in the past off-season to no avail, which wipes another point off Kinger’s list. The urgency now was the Eichel camp was allegedly threatening a PA grievance.
– This is PA is one example of the “noise” I refer to. Buffalo didn’t appreciate the position they were in, and how much more a “healthy” Eichel is worth, or how much more teams closer to trade deadline would pay. All parties went the old-school unsophisticated methodologies followed by a century of Hockey convention, all using the same narratives. Smarter management groups, in different sports, who assign value using proper measures would not have done this. But dumb HOckey guys doing dumb hockey stuff.
I wouldn’t confuse the media narrative with the actual conversations in either head office or between head offices. We certainly don’t get the full story in baseball either.
What to expect in November……
“Actual November results: 2-0-0, two points in one game.”
I guess two points in one game is a correct statement.
Okay, I believe I have managed to debug the issue.
Please test and provide feedback.
“provide feedback”
Do you at least have a microphone I could borrow?
Funny that you mention that.
There’s a new audio feature available, but I am guessing LT would hate it.
https://gvectors.com/product/wpdiscuz-voice-commenting/
Wow. Now I will spend the rest of the day imagining what kind of voice messages Lowetidians would leave.
I can now sort by ‘oldest’ and ‘newest’ comments
Thanks for the effort Ryan, it’s greatly appreciated
YES!
Great work.
Thank you.
You gotta be Cruella to be mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0l3QWUXVho
It looks like you have the bug solved now.
I am one of those full stack wordpress developer types you were asking for in an earlier comment. Ping me if you still want to talk through this or any other issue.
Awesome, FP.
I’ll contact you when any future problems arise.
Thanks for stepping forward.
Ordering is working good for me, but it was working for me before the fix.
“Show more” is working fine right now too. Everything seems tickety-boo, well done!
We’ve been trading in a position of weakness for 23-29 years. We’ve lost so many trades out of desperation. What if there is a team looking for a starting goaltender are is sick of their goaltender. What if Holland can trade Mikko while he’s hot, he’ll be happier than shit if the team signs him to a contract extension. In return we get a starting Goaltender for the next 5 years are we get some sort of collateral for a trade for a Goaltender.Things could change but I just don’t see Holland resigning Mikko after this year.
Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
·
2h
ARIZ claims Wedgewood
@Sportsnet
·
1h
“I just can’t wait to be a hockey player again.”
@jackeichel
spoke to @FriedgeHNIC
about his excitement to undergo his disc replacement surgery and lace up for his new team, the @GoldenKnights
.(click to see interview with Elliotte Friedman)
Tom Gazzola
@TomGazzola
·
39m
Dave Tippett had a lengthy chat with Mike Smith after practice. Says the goalie is close, mentioned Smith was a little hesitant at practice today & they don’t want to rush him. Also mentioned he may want to get Skinner into a game.
Both solid points. I dunno, what is setting a franchise record for a 9-1 start worth? If I’m thinking about the chance to set a record, I start Koskinen, if I’m thinking about the long-term stability of the goalie position I start Skinner.
Heard a comment on (IIRC) the cult of hockey the other day about how McDavid’s defensive numbers are not good, or he’s leaking chances against, or something like that. It got me thinking about how the refs habitually ignore penalties committed against Conner. If you’re getting tripped, hacked, slashed, and interfered with literally every shift, it’s going to cause a lot of turnovers, and you’re going to have a hard time getting back because you’ve got some plug pinning you down for an extra second or two to make sure you can’t get back.
Wondering what the LT forum thinks of this – are Conner’s defensive “woes” for real, or is it a by-product of the NHL’s longstanding commitment to the integrity of the game?
Upvote for “Conner’s fault”
Downvote for “Ref’s fault”
This hypothesis is confirmed by my eye-test…
That last trip on McPrecious before the EN had me fuming. It was a very bold trip. To the point that they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.
Every time I see your name and pic, I try to think of an “It’s a trap!” joke, and what I come up with always sounds like something Gene Principe would say. Just by existing, you rub my nose in how funny I’m not! *shakes fist*
But yeah. Don’t know how Conner does it. Especially when you look at the buttery soft penalties they call on him. I would have ALL the angry media scrums. SCENE – Keeper McDavid is talking to the media after a normal game. “Let me tell you wrist-licking *bleep*ers something about the *bleep*show of a league I play in and the gravel-*bleep*ing, heartless bunch of money-grubbing shart garglers who own the cross-eyed, fumble-fingered *bleep*ing refs-”
(urgent voice from off-screen) “Why didn’t you bleep “shart?” Also, go to commerc-“
Overheard a Nashville fan bitchin about their loss….
On right wing they have one big mother f*cker, one fast little f*cker, one crazy ass f*cker, and then our old centerman. shit.
That’s a pretty astute analysis.
I wanted to resent Nashville getting a team instead of Hamilton or Quebec, and for diluting the talent pool even further, but I can’t help but like their fanbase a lot. *magnanimously* After the revolution, the Predators will still exist!
Vegas obviously believes in windows.
Does Holland?
i would think Holland has shown both window and future in an appropriate manner! I do not think that you have adversely risk the future to have success! Holland has managed to fill the holes without mortgaging the future. We may have to move from an offence first team to a defence first but the pieces are in place. The team has drafted well and for the first time in over a decade I see a planned approach. This starts wih
Holland’s top priority is re-signing McDavid and Draisaitl. It means winning now. Winning in the medium term. And winning in the long term. Signing McDavid and Draisailt again (along with Nurse, Nugent-Hopkins, and the bubbling young three musketeers at D) gives an decade long window.
One cup is not enough. Aiming for one cup means losing McDavid and Draisaitl when their contracts are done.
I disagree with this line of thinking in the strongest way. ONE Stanley Cup is a stunning success in this NHL. Expected multiple Stanley wins is just setting up for disappointment.
McDavid and Draisaitl will stay for as long as it’s building, but winning one Stanley and not winning another doesn’t mean failure, and it shouldn’t mean losing 97 and 29.
The more I see Draisaitl and McDavid play together and talk about chemistry they have with eachother, the more I doubt that they would ever intentionally leave eachother.
I really can’t imagine McDavid and Draisaitl leaving the team unless the GM REALLY sewers the team.
As much as fans like to dig into player data and team analytics and like to conclude what teams are likely to win the cup, most players and coaches and GMs seem to subscribe to the “anything can happen once you get into the playoffs” belief. I think as long as the Oilers keep making the playoffs and the team is building, like you said, they are not going to head for the exit. Especially since the Oilers have Draisaitl and McDavid shouldering the weight of responsibility and they have seem to have fully bought into it. We’ve already heard rumblings of how McDavid may have some sway in who he wants to play with (Barrie, Foegele) and Holland mentioned in the player exit interview that the players wanted more veteran leadership on the team which made him consider Keith as an acquisition, so it’s not like Holland is souring the relationship. Hard to argue that Keith wouldn’t be the definition of veteran leadership given his pedigree and ability to play still as much as us fans disliked the trade.
The Maple Leafs are also doing us a favour I think by being so mediocre in their performance with all of the talent Dubas has been surrounding Matthews with. Winning is hard no matter how skilled your team is.
And really, if you are McDavid, what team would you see being able to afford you AND have a player of Draisaitl’s caliber playing with you?
Likewise with Draisaitl.
They compliment eachother very well, and both bring unique strengths the other does not have. They have a really good thing playing with eachother. That would be very hard to give up.
Winning a cup in the salary cap era is like catching lightning in a bottle. The players know this.
Long live McDraisaitl in Oilers silks!
Matthews contract expires one year before Draisaitl’s. Tavares and Marner’s expire at the same time.
Toronto’s expiring contracts are aligned to target Draisaitl first, and McDavid the following summer.
I very much doubt Toronto is going to plan their future around the off chance of signing Draisaitl and then also hopefully luring McDavid.
And if they do, that’s going to be a shit ton in cap for Draisaitl/McDavid/Matthews. Is the cap going to go up that much where they will have quality players to compliment the 3 of them?
And why would Draisaitl go to Toronto if he wants a chance at the cup if Toronto has been a bigger disappointment than Edmonton?
Are you somehow under the impression that the the true test of success is to be successful in Toronto? If so I feel very sorry for you!
No, I expect that many teams in their long term planning have contract expirations of the elite players in the league noted, especially the ones on bad teams.
Toronto’s contingency planning is just the most obviously visible.
Please recall that The Leafs org tried to sign both Matthews and Marner to longer deals but both player camps refused. Leafs mgmt was heavily criticized for this failure.
To believe in your invented narrative we’d have to think their own agents are the ones who planned for the Leafs to be free of encumbrances when 20 and 97 are looking for new deals.
QED.
Connor and Leon have their best friends here in Nuge, Jesse, Hyman and Nurse. Say hello to life long Oilers
If Matthews doesn’t resign, I really doubt Toronto is holding onto that extra cap space for a year, in the hopes that Drai maybe hopefully signs with them instead.
In order for McDavid and Draisaitl to re-sign, Holland will have to have delivered in the short term (i.e. contending in the next two years), having a contending team when the contracts expire, and have a profile for contending in the future years to induce them to re-sign.
If Holland is selling out for a three-year window and not a decade long window, it would be a massive mistake.
If the team is not positioned to serious CONTINUE contending when they need to re-sign, McDavid and Draisaitl will not re-sign here. LeBron and Brady have demonstrated you pick the spot where you can win.
Rodgers and Wilson are planning to do the same in the NFL. It is routine for superstars in the NBA now.
Holland HAS to contend now AND he CANNOT mortgage the future irreparably doing it.
The problem with picking a spot where you want to win in the NHL is the salary cap.
Doesn’t the NFL have a lot of wonky bonus structures allowing creative cap navigation? And when you are a QB, you are responsible for and dictate almost ALL of the offfense.
In the NBA – the game favours the stars and the game revolves around them. With only 15 players on a roster, it’s easier for them to pick and choose the destination and dictate who they want to play with. Can’t really do that in the NHL.
How many teams will even be able to afford Draisaitl or McDavid if they want to test the market? And if they want to be traded out of Edmonton, what will teams be able to fit them under the cap structure where they don’t mortgage their present and the future so Draisaitl or McDavid actually have someone to play with, and their chances of winning a cup are higher than if they stayed in Edmonton?
Vegas just acquired a broken necked Eichel and they are in cap hell so far. And Vegas doesn’t even know if he will be able to return to form even.
Matthews contract expires one year before Draisaitl’s. Tavares and Marner’s expire at the same time.
Toronto’s expiring contracts are aligned to target Draisaitl first, and McDavid the following summer.
That’s not the same thing as saying he MUST win two or more Stanley Cups. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl signed contracts in good faith and will deliver on them. Winning a Stanley will help keep them here but I’m also certain that they’ll take a good long look at options after the contracts expire and that may force Edmonton to trade them for value before the contracts are over. Ken Holland’s job is to protect the franchise and that means maximizing all players, what ever form that takes.
The McDavid-Draisaitl legacy in Edmonton may be only they dragged the team from hopelessness. That’s still a lot. Hope they stay, realistic about how this could turn out. Stanley or not, there are forces for each man that they will be able to control in only one summer. I can only imagine the scramble to sign them among the 32 teams.
You have a very myopic view!
Actually the exact opposite. I want to contend for a decade and win three cups. Other people seem to think that one and done, expending whatever is necessary from the future to do it is fine.
I don’t but it happens.
Holland has said it’s go time, he probably does.
It’s easy to open windows with superstar players.
VGK did well to try and keep pace with the Oilers.
Should be fun.
+ for keeping the glitchy system that allows sorting, but has problems with the “load more” loop. Then wait and see if I can fix the load more comments problem.– for switch to pagination option which allows you to see all of the old comments, but you lose the ability to sort posts by oldest first3rd option. If you’re a full stack WordPress developer and want to debug the issue, just chime in with a comment. We’re hiring… volunteers.Edit: Option 4. problem is fixed
Adopt a reddit like system that puts the downvoted posts at the bottom so we don’t have to even skim by HH’s crap.
^this
Reddit, while useful at times, sucks.
A main strength of this place is the diversity of opinions, not the hive mind that permeates so many other corners of the ol’ Al Gore.
This comment plug-in already has that feature and is available in the same drop-down menu as “Newest” and “Oldest”.
I’m not sure why the two users above your comment are not using it, maybe they never checked it out?
It only filters by first post. in order to keep the comment threads intact, but if you click on it right now, HH’s initial posts go to the bottom along with Keeper’s poll where a minus was a vote for the ref’s fault.
This doesn’t affect the “Recent Comments” widget so one can still stay up-to-date despite ordering by votes.
I notice that OP is hammering again on unnamed Oiler twitterites who are critical of Holland.
To everyone else, I’d like to point out that one of these is Romulus Apotheosis, who is one of the best posters this site has ever had and who, sadly, no longer posts here.
Since we are no longer graced by his presence, here is a link to his twitter profile. He is a learned and wise man, with a depth of knowledge that is rare. You should all read his piece on anti-natalism.
Anyway, we are all made better by his presence.
https://twitter.com/RomulusNotNuma
Pretty obvious OP was referring to Romulus without attribution.
And agree completely on Rom’s significance.
We all wish would could have Rom back posting daily Oiler related comments.
Worth Noting…
The Avs, Kings, Nucks, Kraken, and Knights are all out of the playoffs currently lol.
Also worth noting that all of those teams are within 2 points of a playoff position.
10 games into the season tells you very little.
Are they in playoff position?
Worth Noting…
They are not.
There are only 8 if these segments. 1 down. 7 to go.
Looks like HH is going to have to pick another 7 favorite teams. lol
shouldn’t be a problem at all for him ;)…
Is he the equivalent of Hughes as a D. Your giving credence to anyone or anything brings nothing but questions to anyone who spends time on this blog. Your credibility is below zero if that is even possible!
Worth noting, it wasn’t obvious to me.
Good replay in his twitter thread. This was a really scary play. Definitely should be at least a fine.
https://twitter.com/AntiMacro/status/1456097209666064387
He made the call to draft Draisatl too when most were clamouring for Bennett.
I don’t recall most clamoring for Bennett. Guy couldn’t even do a pull-up 🙂
I can’t comment on his insight and contributions, but when he criticizes Holland for losing Marino, is he being fair and balanced?
Yeah he also implies Holland “lost” Larsson. But I thought Larsson made it very clear he left Edmonton because of his Dad’s passing.
Simple answer is no! We as fans don’t know what we don’t know!
Rom is always worth a read. One of my favourite hockey twitters.
I would go to Twitter but I find there are way to many bird brains!
Is anybody still taking Twitter serious? A bunch of people yelling at each other, multi-nationals monitoring for key words and jumping into conversations to change the tone from some where else in the world, paid for followers, people paid to make your twits …. where did all the old crusty editors go?
Could Eichel be for Vegas this year what Kucherov was for Tampa last year: A playoff addition with no cap hit? While the timeline for recovery is apparently 3-4 months, that would put him ready around March 2. The season ends April 29 (or ~15 days sooner in the unlikely event they decide not to go to the Olympics). Can Vegas attempt to string out his re-hab so he is miraculously ready one day after the season ends? They’ll have to make a call on that prior the March 22 trade deadline to offload some hefty salary to fit Eichel on the roster. How would that look, 2 years in a row where a team finds a way to game the system and enter the playoffs with a salary structure 10%+ over the cap limit because of a loophole?
I don’t think Vegas has the horses to stay in the race that long.
Worth noting…
You predicted Vegas would run away with the Division. Lol.
Worth noting…if the Oilers were missing their 5 best forwards…McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge, Hyman and Jesse, they would absolutely be in the tank.
Top 5 forwards? To which team are you referring?
But he wasn’t talking Oilers. You stated unequivocally that Vegas was the class of the division. Your curse is incredible and frankly comedic!
I think your wife is calling you!😉
That poor lady…..
Oh man I hope not because that could be a threat to the Oil but maybe that could help close that loophole.
Vegas just has to actually make the playoffs first.
It would be a tough sled to get up to speed for anyone given his time away from competitive hockey! Not saying impossible but you have to add in new team mates and systems!
This is EXACTLY how I see this playing out. It’s really greasy IMO, but why wouldn’t you do it? It worked for TB. It’s probably not all that often an opportunity like that lands in a team’s lap, and Vegas are aggressive. I’d actually be more surprised if he returns before the regular season ends. They’re like $10M over the cap.
Agreed – this is the way.
VGK should be OK to hustle into the playoffs once they get Stone and Paccioretty back and Pietrangelo smartens up.
There will be lots of ‘we’re not quite there yet, we’re not taking any chances, we’re focussed on making the playoffs’ talk of Eichel in March while he looks fantastic in private practices at an undisclosed desert location. Then, Kucherov pt 2.
It’s a ridiculous loophole.
He will be exactly one cross check to out of the league. My curiosity is who is willing to insure him!
Every player is one cross check away from out of the league – I’m not sure anyone on here have the medical expertise, and specialization to posit if Eichel will be any more susceptible to a future career-ending consequence.
Somehow, I agree with both of you. Players in the NHL end up in situations where they could get hurt dozens, if not hundreds, of times per year. Obviously they are very skilled, strong and tough, but flesh and bone have limits, and we all get unlucky sometimes. The NHL has gotten less pointlessly violent, but it is still violent, the refs are what they are, and the playoffs are played according to whatever the hell you think the rules will be at any given moment. No NHL player has tried this before. Doesn’t mean it won’t work, just means that there has not yet been an opportunity to gather evidence about it. For me, Eichel is quite brave and optimistic, much in the same fashion I think Conner was. I really hope it works out for him. I am very happy that my team is not the one gambling that it will or won’t.
Have we lost the ability to have the oldest posts appear first? That would be highly disappointing (at least for me).
Sometimes I have an old post (and its replies) on top of new ones, like was happening last spring.
Yeah, it appears by fixing one problem (fixing the scrolling issue by replacing with pagination), it removed the ability to sort posts.
I’m just one vote but I really hope this can be reversed.
For me, its MUCH more user friendly with the oldest posts first.
Well, right now we can have the oldest posts first sorting option, but it comes with the glitchy “load more post issue.”
Or if we have it sort by pages, we lose that option, but at least people can retrieve old comments.
It’s either or as I can’t fix the “load more posts” issue.
Thank you for everything
everything is fixed.
It’s awesome to see the team play with great tempo these days.
If the team is playing at 100% tempo, Keith is at 150%.
M goodness does he move the puck quickly and mostly accurately. I hope the younger D are taking notes.
His play leading to Yamamoto’s goal was pretty darn good. Held the line, didn’t panic, fired the puck across to his partner, and the rest was set. I really appreciated that play.
That was a bullet across the blueline too – after a bobble.
I knew Andersen would light it up for whichever team he landed with once he left the Toronto heavy pressure market. I wonder if Holland made a push at all to get him. He’s the type of Goalie that can make it to the finish line along with Gibson in Anaheim.
Gibson hasn’t made it to any sort of finish line in years.
The I should be retired finish line!?
Finished line!😂
Probably fair to take this opportunity to point out that most established hockey minds have a very poor track record of assessing the actual talent of individual goalies. Often seems to me that hockey observers worship results and blindly assume that they can project those results into the future, without much conversation about the context that created those results. JMO
LT said “although you’d like to see Smith play well for a time and coach Dave Tippett show a consistent track record of using both men in a logical rotation”
History suggests that this is just not going to happen. No better time than last night to play young Skinner and Tippett is still deploying goalies like it late March not early November.
I believe your rationale had merit but given the results I’m not so sure that’s a horse you want to ride!
This team is playing for one another evidenced by Leon passing it to Jesse. I do believe the signings of Nurse, Nuge and Hyman brought this group (core) even more together. I know Mikko’s playing great and Smith seems to light it up every time he returns from injury but sooner or latter Holland is going to have to pull the trigger on a Goaltender that can get them through 4 rounds of Hockey.
Vasilevskiy isn’t available. Everyone else is a crap shoot.
JMO, I really don’t think goaltending was our problem last year. I also don’t think playoff performance is a good way to assess the talent of teams, as it’s pretty obvious that the NHL has even less respect for the integrity of their game in the playoffs than they do in the regular season.
Only the Almighty has the answer to that! Easy to pontificate but not sure there is even a reasonable answer to who that might be. The reality is best case moving forward for the team in the future is Koskinen and Smith!
Oilers are 8-1 but they’ve had an easy schedule and Bear has good advanced numbers – fire Holland.
Is there any player on Carolina who does not have good fancies?
I don’t know what’s so easy about it, they have had to play against the opponent and the refs everytime.
No reply/
Sarcasm was the word I was looking for! You like Connor are working on your game! Well done!
Walked my way through the Vegas salary structure, based on a Cap of $82.5 million:
IF Vegas lets Smith, McNabb, and Janmark walk, and replaces each of them them with $850,000 scrubs
THEN Vegas is still some $575,000 over the Cap
Which means they could play one player short on the roster next year and be Cap compliant. They would be a top-heavy team but they would be Cap compliant.
Not an ideal set-up so I expect, pending performance this year, they will try to trade Dadonov in the off-season.
Their best bet is to, believe it or not, suck donkey balls this year and get that top-10 draft pick (Cale Makar!).
That way they can trade Smith, Janmark, McNabb, and possibly Dadonov, at the deadline and get draft picks and prospects back.
Which then feeds into their 2022-2023.
Dadonov has an extra year at 5 million and a MNTC. 20 points last season and 3 so far, they might have to pay to get rid of him. Giving Fleury away for free and trading for him is one of their biggest blunders imo.
They better hope that someone like Roy or Hague doesn’t pop as they’ll be prime offer sheet targets.
Leo looks committed to developing “playoff style habits” early in the season.
Can he drag his teammates along with him?
Hm, it’s buggy. I didn’t develop the plugin.
I might have found a work around.
Try it and let me know.
Yeah that’s a bit clunkier, but it seems to work.
The ‘load more comments’ glitch only started (I think) after the switch to the new host. And it’s also not every time – but seems to happen more often on longer threads.
“Thanks” would have sufficed. 🙂
Feel free to bring the issue up at the WpDiscuz support forum.
https://wpdiscuz.com/community/
Thanks for what you do! I’m not smart enough to critique but smart enough to appreciate what you do! Cheers!
Sorry, was just trying to say the work around isn’t quite as nice as the original functioning.
The work you’ve put into the site is very much appreciated and I didn’t mean to come off as curt or entitled.
It could be a caching issue.
The new hosting is setup for autopilot which means less work and no crashing, but I don’t have granular control of the caching setup, unfortunately. I tried turning off all caching and it was still not working though.
Dammit
Just when it looked like the Knights were fading they open the window back up again.
But Tuch was a big playoff performer for them. Oilers can outfire Vegas’ top-6 and with an addition or two to the 4th line we can pound their bottom-6.
I think OP mentioned that 3C should now be a priority for Ken Holland
3LD will be Holland’s priority is my guess, and won’t cost him much to fix as it only needs a short term solution.
3C/4C are being held by placeholders till McLeod and Holloway. Also very short term need, but likely will cost more to fix.
No way is Holland giving up expensive assets for short term fixes.
And Derek Ryan has had one bad game. And Shore has picked up his game. Early early days of a team that has yet to start hitting on all eight cylinders.
We will know more closer to the deadline, especially about our potential internal solutions.
Three left D is Samorukov! Give it until January to see where the team needs to add! Holland talks to and believes in his people! I would guess that a right shot forward or centre will be priority come trade deadline!
I don’t think the raft of exclamation points are convincing me, lol.
We don’t know on Dima yet. I also doubt Holland will rely on a three month NHLer to carry that spot through a playoff tournament. He might, depending on how things go. But I think it is unlikely. (See Bouchard, 2020-21.) A lot of things have to go right.
If Samorukov gets the opportunity and success for a solid stretch during the regular season, if Tip/Playfair are comfortable, management could run with it. It would allow for those assets to be used for other acquisitions.
Bouchard isn’t a great comparable – Bouch has (1) Barrie leading the league in scoring, (2) Larsson being, well, Larsson and (3) Bear, the prior season’s 1RD and everyone’s darling, ahead of him.
Samorukov has a fast aging Russell and a serviceable Koekkoek to beat out for a spot.
I’ve already stated the “if” bit, glad to see you agree that it’s conditional.
Bouchard isn’t a comparable, he’s an example of how Holland and Tippett view rookies, young players… and vets. There are many other examples if that one doesn’t work for you. We should expect slow playing hands and conservative outlooks.
It sounds more like you prefer we should allow for these assets to be used for other fan acquisitions/wishes
I think Holland will be patient and not make any prognostications about the trade deadline today but will wait and see how things roll out.
Your mileage obviously varies on that point.
100% I don’t think Holland does anything material any time soon and he’ll evaluate through the year and as we approach the deadline.
If Samorukov gets the opportunity and meshes well with Barrie on the 3rd pairing and the team has other more glaring holes, he may very well continue to rely on Samorukov, despite him being a 3-month veteran, and use the finite assets elsewhere.
You throw out Bouchard last year as an example and one can counter with Bear in 2019/20 and Yamamoto in 2019/20 as examples of where Tippett and Holland have relied on young players (and in more material roles than 3LD).
I don’t prefer anything right now but, if a hole is filled internally, its filled internally.
I’m not sure about any of this.
IF Eichel returns to previous levels they are set up very, very well at centre.
Jack Eichel $10 million
William Karlsson $5.9 million
Chandler Stephenson $2.75 million
Nolan Patrick $1.2 million
Brett Howden $832K
Nicolas Roy $750K
Worth noting Eichel’s agent Pat Brisson is the father of Knight’s top prospect centre Brendan Brisson who is the leading scorer (11P in 8GP) for the University of Michigan Wolverines which is saying something considering how stacked that team is.
Given their top 3 centres come in at $18.65 million and the Oilers top 3 come in at $22.25, the Knights can spend more on wingers and I would suggest Stephenson is a big step up from Derek Ryan at 3C
With the Oilers currently running Yamamoto and Jesse in the top 6 they have some cheap labour but that won’t last forever especially with Jesse scoring at a PPG rate.
Obviously, Vegas is going to have to move some money but Reilly Smith’s $5 million comes off the cap next season so it will be interesting to see how they do that but I doubt that pounding their bottom 6 is a likely outcome.
is Brisson less or more of a prospect than Carter Savoie?
If youre going to compare Stephenson to Derek Ryan why dont you also compare Eichel to McDavid and Draisatl to Karlsson? You dont because it wont fit your argument for Vegas being so well set up at center. As hockey fans and decent human beings we hope Eichel and Patrick get past their medical issues but those are still concerns which arent addressed at all yet.
They might want to spend some of that money on a backup for Lehner whos currently rocking a 0.906.
They are at 92 million right now, if the cap goes to 83 million they have to turf 9 million to fit.
That means no other upgrades and no other raises. Also means McNaab needs to be replaced with a league min player and negotiating new contracts for 7 RFAs currently on league min and 1 UFA.
At this point I would suggest Brisson and Savoie are pretty comparable but of course one is a centre which is what my post referred to.
Yes, the Oilers do indeed have the two best centres but their depth at the position is very, very poor and, of course with the premium the Oilers are paying them there is less money available for upgrades in other areas.
YKOil mentioned above (and I agree) that the best strategy for the remainder of this season is likely is to let the chips fall where they may and trade Dadanov, Smith, Janmark and McNabb for picks at the deadline.
And it’s quite likely Vegas won’t have a choice but to tank since they are missing so many key pieces.
Going in to next season they will have a formidable centre corp, two premium wingers and an enviable top 4 on D with Nic Hague replacing McNabb while on a likely cheap contract.
That’s not a bad place to be.
Starting next season its very possible the Oilers have Holloway at 3C. If not there will likely have brought in someone else and Ryan will be 4C.
Agreed Vegas is best to just tank this season. I dont know that any team will give up assets for Dadanov, the rest are all decent though. As you know Hague is RFA so hes getting at least a bridge at McNaabs price level and that means a league min to replace Hague on the bottom six.
Patches – Eichel – Stone
Marchingsalt – Karlsson – ???
Kolesar – Stephenson – ???
Howden – Patrick – ???
That means other than Stone all RWs are league min. Unless some late round picks from their first 2 drafts are hitting they will be waiting for internal reinforcements if Brisson/Dean make it.
Martinez – Piets
Hague – Theodore
??? – Whitecloud
Lehner
Brossoit
Stone, Patches, Lehner, Pietrangelo, Matinez, Marchessault all on the wrong side of 30 next season with Karlsson knocking at the door.
Carrier $1.4 million
Nic Roy $750K
Amadio $750K
All are currently on the roster although RFAs.
The only significant hole I see is #2 RW as bottom 6 wingers are both plentiful and cheap.
The same generally applies to 3LD where a player like Ben Hutton at league minimum is already on the roster.
Thing is…if Eichel can return to elite status, Patches and Stone will think they’ve died and gone to heaven and, of course Eichel has never played with wingers of the calibre.
You picked a good day to refer to the age of Vegas since James Mirtle published his annual age/height/weight/etc. article at the Athletic this morning.
As it turns out…Vegas is among the top 12 youngest teams in average age at 27.0 while the Oilers are among the 5 oldest at 28.8
https://theathletic.com/2930108/2021/11/04/sizing-up-the-nhl-2021-22-nhl-teams-by-age-height-weight-and-nationality/
Do Nic Roy or Amadio get raises above league minimum?
The only player in the Oilers core 30 or older next year will be Hyman. Their average age is heavily swayed by Ryan (35), Keith (38) and Smith (39) who will all be in the last year of their contract next season and in lesser roles 4C, 3LD, 1B/Backup. Its a lot different than when your #1D and 3 of your 5 top 6 players are getting gray in the beard.
Bouchard will be 23, Pulju and Yamamoto 24, McDavid 25, Drai 26, Nurse 27. Lots of miles left for the important players. But sure Vegas is a “younger team” because they have a young fourth line lol.
Seriously, you don’t get to bring down the average age of a team in two years by selectively removing the oldest players…it is what it is.
You also don’t know what the Vegas lineup will look like 2 years down the road since their management is not shy about making huge deals.
Harper’s Hair is in a bucket of ice water (0 degrees C) up to his waist and is bent over with his top half in scalding hot water (>60 degrees C). On average the temperature is a nice comfortable 32 degrees, so he thinks he is just fine.
You are either clearly not understanding the significance of why an older team would be an impact on future capabilities or you are (as usual) arguing in bad faith.
If the scraps around the edge of the team are old it doesnt mean shit. If your replacement level player is 25 or 40 doesnt make a difference because they are replacement level. When your stars are 25 you have a long career ahead of them, when your stars are 35 theyre most likely no longer stars.
Honestly I dont mind replying to these joke posts. I just feel bad for you. You have to pretend to be stupid to get your jollies off. How sad of an existence to constantly waste your time. I hope you get the help and support you need my friend, were here for you.
That’s your read but your record shows you really don’t know shit!
Worth Noting…
Holloway and Savoie are both better prospects over Brisson.
On a one to ten scale who cares? You need a different audience! You really need to get a life! How are your Canucks and Avs doing?
Nurse is playing well, but there were a few “1 year’s experience times X years” moments last night.
I think he needs to, cliche alert, keep his head on a swivel. He seems fine when he identifies threat, but he seems to just see what’s in front of him. Point in case: Taking Hyman’s lane and not creating the “triangle of death”(TM). A quick look up, he would have seen Hyman, gone to his left to get ready for the east-west, goalie moving, pass for the slapper.
Instead, he did a California lane change and Hyman ended up skating into the back of him because he didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Apparently Nurse likes to go over the video, so hopefully he will and adapt.
Hyman, with the right shot, would have had a better shooting position than Nurse on that play, too. Nurse was excited I guess.
I am a bit concerned about Nurse’s regression in defensive zone structure/coverage this year – at least to my civillian eye.
Last year he took a massive step in (a) defensive zone recognition (i.e. recognizing the back door play and (b) coverage matters – not going walkabout and puck chasing while leaving the high danger area uncovered.
This season, from the beginning, I’ve found he’s regressed with respect to (b) above.
I think its likely a combo of (a) trying to do too much due to his big deal (that isn’t even in effect yet) and (b) firstly, covering for a struggling Barrie and, recently, playing with a rookie and learning to trust.
I think he’ll get back to last year’s defensive zone play.
Have Flames fans collectively slit their wrists yet this morning?
Nah. They still have Jockey Hockey and Looooch!
No, Flames Nation seems fine. The rumored haul from the Flames was pretty ridiculous.
Plus they can pay $9M per year for Turtle, so that should make them very happy….
You only get so many whack’s at a number one Centre that’s only 25 at the start of the year I thought it would be a package with Johnny going to Buffalo now it looks like Johnny might stick around since he seems to be happy playing Sutter hockey. The player that looks like he’s doing time is Tkachuk he’s playing with zero emotion they would be wise to trade him while they can get a half-ass return before he bails from Calgary.
Dirty at the end of the game on the open net goal play. I understand wanting to be competitive, but that was way over the line. A savage challenge by a player who had been beat cleanly.
I saw McDavid’s knee buckle, but haven’t heard anything of it so I’m assuming he’s ok. Thankfully.
Yeah that the worst example. The league needs to fire all its leadership into the sun for many reasons but the NHL is seemingly fine with continuing to be bush league.
I think every chance to highlight the problem is worthwhile. It’s easy for that play to get dusted under the rug since it’s the end of the game and the victim’s team wins. But it’s not ok. The league should protect all it’s players and I’m sure no one wants to see a player like McDavid (who sells tickets in every arena) watching from the press box for 6 months with a bad knee injury.
So we can do our part here. I would hope that the team would send a tape to the league admin for review. A message needs to be sent to prevent players from making those kinds of dangerous plays.
That will change when their fans realize they are not just fans, but are also customers.
It was as bush league as Gio taking out McDavid’s legs in a meaningless last game of the season those couple years back. Garbage like that where the league risks losing huge revenue generators is hilariously poor business sense.
I really want the NHL to go bankrupt so that it can be replaced by a hockey league.
I may be in the minority but I saw zero intent on that play and didn’t think there was anything dirty or bush league about it. Just one of countless plays that happen on the ice during a game.
Krebs and Cozens are back together.
That was definitely a big motivation on the Buffalo end
Krebs and Tuch off to the eastern conference is great news for the Oilers.
Probably not worth continuing to complain about something that won’t change, but man it’s getting tired seeing McDavid held and taken down without consequence.
McDavid did draw a penalty last night, & a second one was coming but was cancelled by the empty net goal.
As an aside, I don’t suppose Koskinen had time to make it to the bench but in theory such a play could result in a 6v6 situation. I wonder if a goal has ever been scored with BOTH nets empty?
This needs to be answered!!!
If we stop bitching, they win (edit: unless we just stop watching and paying). The NHL’s culture of gaslighting and victim blaming is, to me, completely disgusting.
Thought Ryan was a great acquisition, age was the concern. I don’t know, he may have hit the wall.
Same here. His numbers last year suggested if he bounces back a good 3rd liner, if not a good 4th liner at least. Having a dominant 3c would push Ryan to the 4th making the bottom six legitimate.
No idea on targets but if the first or other assets goes for a 3c with an amazing contract that could do a lot to help this team.
I don’t know if the fanbase would accept a first round pick out for a 3rd liner very well..
8-1 with only a month of the season in the rearview mirror and Oiler fans are trading valuable assets. And supposedly we’re one of the brighter fanbases…
No need to be an ass about it just because you dont agree.
No one in this post is clamoring that they need to trade anything. There was a discussion that 3C spot may be vacant by the end of season if Ryan cant handle it. He is 34 years old and Calgary didnt play him much last season. Also the only way to get something of value is to give something of value (unless your name is Peter).
I did say a dominant 3c with an amazing contract not just some average 3rd liner. The Oilers also cant trade their 2nd or 3rd this year so could be a 3C and a pick back.
If a player and contract combo exists sure but thats a different question. Recently 1st round picks have been traded in comination for players such as Dvorak, Reinhart, Keumper, Garland,
I have just the player. Big, fast, great on the dot and defensively, puts up offense at 5v5 and has a cheap contract. Likely to be available at the deadline too. The cost is a 1st…
… the 2020 1st.
I would love Holloway to come up at the deadline as a “free” acquisition. I think he can do it but we also dont know what he even looks like at the AHL level yet especially after this nasty wrist injury.
Its nice to have multiple plans.
Ryan is 50% in shots, 50% scoring chances, 53% HD chances.
Hopefully the 3-7 goals is more bad puck luck than anything else.
Shore at 2GF-2GA but under 40% in all the other stuff is the flip side.
You are confusing “bad puck luck” with Zack Kassian.
How strange then that Zack Kassian has a positive PDO for his Oilers career.
You apparently don’t understand my answer. The question was, what is the problem with Ryan. I answered that it wasn’t bad luck.
LT: ‘Ryan struggled and was moved down to the fourth line’
dustrock: ‘I thought Ryan was a good add, but it’s possible he’s done’
jp: ‘his underlying numbers look good, hopefully his GF/GA is just bad luck’
godot10: ‘it’s not bad luck, it’s Kassian’
jp: ‘that’s odd, Kassian has never caused bad luck (low PDO) before this’
Did I miss anything?
Trade for Tomas Hertl at the deadline.
Run three lines of destruction.
I have been posting about “managing his load” given his age (and his TOI/game was quite low last season, apx 11 minutes I think) since the off-season. One counter I received was that, while he’s approaching 35, he doesn’t have alot of hard miles on him. I didn’t agree with that.
The other thing that I have been posting about Ryan is that he is likely best suited to a 4C and the hope was that McLeod could be 3C ready to start the year or develop through the year in to that player.
McLeod not progressing from the end of last year (and, arguably, regressing) thrust Ryan in to that 3C role. He’s been serviceable but it is clear that if there was a legit 3C bumping Ryan to 4C – well, that’s championship level depth.
I don’t think McLeod will be 3C ready this season (he may never be – time will tell).
Holloway is such a wild-card for this season – maybe he does tear the AHL on fire when he finally gets to play – of course, he has zero pro games, shit, zero pro training camp sessions (even rookie camps) and will be coming up on a year without games by the time he starts to play.
The 2015 draft didn’t turn out very well for Buffalo, to say the least.
Were we one ping pong ball away from being Buffalo?
#WillyWonkaGoldenTicket
GM being a jackass about losing the lottery was a critical blunder. Instead of “hey, we got Jack Eichel!” Is was “@#$%^& we’re stuck with Eichel”. Epic asshattery.
I agree. Jack is a very good prize and would be number 1 any other year. They never appreciated what they had with him.
Makes you wonder how much inspiration Eichel draws from this; Is he stoked about the opportunity to go head to head against Conner for the division/conference title?
I certainly hope so. It’s only going to produce some amazing hockey for everyone. A little extra rivalry never hurt anyone.
I suspect Flames fans would have liked to see him go up against McDavid in Calgary.
Bruce, I totally agree.
Tim Murray’s reaction was especially stupid considering that the worst team had a 20% chance at #1 and an 80% chance at #2. No matter how close Erie is to Buffalo, you weren’t tanking for McDavid, you were tanking for Eichel.
Speaking of tanking, it is poetic justice that the two teams that blatantly tanked that year (Buffalo and Arizona), ended up with Krebs/Tuch (from Eichel) and Nick Schmaltz (from Dylan Strome).
The worst team in the league that year that wasn’t tanking? The Edmonton Oilers.
I will defend to the end that we deserved McDavid.
(We were also the worst team in the league the years we got Hall and Nuge. The only #1OV we didn’t earn was the one that ended up as….Yakupov.) So we’ve basically gotten the draft picks we’ve deserved. And so has Buffalo.
And he was crying, too!!
A couple of huge parts of the eichel deal.
better to go scorched earth. how many 1st’s do they have this year? 3 or 4? Talk about restocking the prospect pile.
Add a goalie and some mid level UFAs and you have an Ottawa type team next year, who will be scrappy and in every game ad if one of the kids pops they are a fringe playoff team in 2 years.
The first is top-10 protected.
Ok. I didn’t know that at the time when I wrote my response. It’s still an asset that could produce something very tangible either as a prospect or something that could be traded.
Do we know yet if that pick ends up top 10, which may be possible given the injuries in Vegas including the yr without Eichel, does it become unprotected in the next draft?
per Capfriendly:
Conditions: If the pick is in the top 10, Vegas will instead transfer their 2023 1st round pick to Buffalo
The 2nd round pick is also conditional
Conditions: If Vegas’ 1st round pick in the 2022 draft is a top 10 pick, then Vegas will transfer their 2024 2nd round pick instead.
1 who can play right now. Tuch is out injured;)
Another thing to point out, Buffalo just lifted 10 million of Eichel’s pay off of their cap (don’t know what Tuch and Krebs get paid) and now have amassed three 1st rounders in this years deep draft.
Buffalo was the Edmonton East sans fans with brown bag over their heads. Are they getting more magic beans in exchange for their falling bean stalk? Or are they about to weaponize their Cap and lift themselves from their flunk? Stay tuned!
There’s only one Weaponized Cap Space team, and they don’t share power.
and Owen Power and Casey Mittelstadt
Yeah those first rounders are exactly what they need to stop the perennial losing cycle….
Kris Russell seemed to have lost a step last season and, to my eye, a larger step this season – he is almost 35.
For me, based on the eye, he’s close to unplayable now – the one thing he was elite at, defending, is something he seems to be struggling with.
Maybe I’m over-reacting as its just one goal as per above (although I haven’t checked if he was on for any goals against when paired with Bouch).
Koekkoek is serviceable at best.
Samorukov will own that 3LD spot later in the year – that has to be the hope and the plan.
I am starting to wonder if Niemelainen gets an at bat (in order to give Sammy a bit more time in the AHL)? Lagesson in the conversation of course.
IMO, the Eichel trade was unwinnable from the Buffalo perspective. Anytime you trade a number 1 centre who is the franchise player, you’ll never win that trade. BUT, the return of Tuch, Krebs, 1st and a 3rd, is setting Buffalo up nicely in my opinion. Say what you will about Adams but he’s slowly built up a cache of prospects and immediate talent that is going to set up Buffalo for a long time. And that 1st is guaranteed to be a good one this year given where Vegas is heading at the moment. The days of signing the Okposo’s and Leino’s of this world are over for the Sabres and I think Adams won’t make the mistakes of his predecessors.
As far as I can tell the risk is all on Vegas. Eichel will get his surgery and will come back guns a’ blazin’ next year but who will he be playing with? Many of you have already noted that they’re in cap hell and people will need to be dumped. And with an injury like Eichel’s, there is nothing to say that it can’t be re-aggravated. Not to mention the fact that the NHL officials seem to be blind when it comes to calling penalties on the star players with the consistency required. See Connor McDavid on that one.
When (not if) Eichel comes back and lights things up, the NHL is going to do everything they can to stop him, just like they did with Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux and now McDavid. He doesn’t have the speed to avoid them like McDavid does so he’s going to take his fair share of pounding in the future.
Don’t get me wrong, I hope Eichel comes back and does really well. The west will be wild and competitive and it will be good to see the rivalry of McDavid and Eichel in the same conference. I just don’t think Buffalo got the fleecing many will want to point out. Only time will tell on things.
Eric Lindros to Philidelphia.
Will Eichel be like Lindros coming over the blue line with his head down?
I bear no player any ill will, but I would rather Tkachuk do this. 😉
Forsberg in the end is the better player I feel.
I wonder what it’s like to be a Sabres fan. I imagine it’s a lot of drinking and falling through tables, but not for celebratory reasons like their Bills counterparts.
In order for me to be a Sabres fan, I’d have to collect swords.
Probably more or less exactly like being an Oilers fan was during the DoD. You’ll never hear me express anything but sympathy for the Buffalo fanbase.
Nice to see “The Nuge line” do well (small sample size alert). But having a productive 2nd line with the Nuclear Option is invoked is very important to this deployment.
Sooooo…. Yay Tippett ! ???
Never doubted him.
IMO he’s a damn good coach. I think I could have managed the goalie tandem better, but I can’t argue with the results.
That line was good last night.
On the season, apx 33 minutes, they are only 1-2 goals but over 58% expected goals.
For whatever that is worth.
I lik the Hyman.
was he salty?
#FamilyFriendlyResponse
#DadJoke
Last night my Crystal Balls indicated a Conn Smythe for Leon in the next 4 years.
Crystal Balls?…It’s November man …. put some pants on!
LT: “Leon is The Professional”… awesome, our host is just magic with words…
Mathilda : Leon, what exactly do you do for a living?
Léon : Cleaner.
Mathilda : Do you “clean” anyone?
Léon : No women, no kids, that’s the rules.
EDM Goal Share after 9 games (8-1-0)
Even strength(5v5,4v4,3v3)
97 w/o 29(2-4) 33%
29 w/o 97(4-0) 100%
97&29 On(7-2) 78%
93 w/o either(2-2) 50%
Ryan (3-7) 30%
Other(2-2) 50%
Net EV +3
Special Teams:14-3
Net ST +11
Empty Net:4-3
Net EN +1
SO/PS 1-0
Net SO/PS +1
Goal Diff +16
Leo is a Pisscutter.
AND pushes the river with that giant paddle.
Leon is like Chuck Norris. He is the river.
Or Stan Wier, who can actually float upstream.
Opponents have pulled their goalie in 5 games & Oilers scored an empty netter in 4 of them.
On the downside, they have allowed 2 goals 5v6, 1 more than all of last season. Both came in the dying seconds to cut a 2-goal lead to 1, but proved survivable.
Even if the cap is at $83m next season, the Knights letting all UFAs leave and filling out the remaingin 5/14 F positions and 3/7 D positions with players under $1m in cap, they are still at $85m in salary. So either Dadonov or Marchessault need to be traded or Patches needs to be bought out. Great top 6 and top pairing D, AHL bottom 6. They are one injury away from out of the playoffs next season.
It is a great deal for them, they stole Jack from the Sabres, the only problem is that their roster wasn’t structured to be able to take on a $10m salary regardless of who it is. McCrimmon has his work cut out next summer.
Maple Leafs West?
Patches bought out? Hes a ppg player almost
Not saying he should, however there are few options beyond that which get them cap compliant to start next season.
Leon Draisaitl: he blows back your hair and caves in your face.
To hell with tomorrow; Let’s live for today!
Today is a known. Tomorrow not so much! Live for today! Plan for tomorrow!😉
As unworldly as Drai is on the ice, he is also just a damn beauty in the post-game pressers!
Leadership.
I would add the word class! Leadership with class! In today’s world this is rare! As Oilers fans we are very lucky!
otherworldly (not unworldy)
Unworldly works just as well, it just isn’t the conventional thing to say and I support unconventional use of language.
Unworldly: not seeming to belong to this planet; strange.
Otherworldly: relating to an imaginary or spiritual world.
Well that’s unwordly. 🙂
So you would assert it’s McDavid that is otherworldly #McDeity.
Agreed… his unselfish pass to JP when he clearly could have had the hat-trick, and both Nuge and Leon’s post-game further cements my comment from yesterday. Forget the accolades and personal achievements, this “team” is on a mission.
He’s hitting the right notes for me, “we haven’t accomplished anything yet” he said last night. Love it.
While not attractive to the eye and not all that sweet, I’ve heard a Russell Barrie can actually be quite nutritious. 🙂
They are too small for my tastes, too close to their expiration date. 😀
I don’t know. I’m always picking bits of cow hide from between my teeth.
Well….. stop biting cows.
Are you sure that’s cowhide?😉