The Edmonton Oilers have selected from the QMJHL a total of 31 times in NHL drafts. The first (Kevin Lowe) selection is in the HHOF, and the most recent (Xavier Bourgault) is the top prospect in the organization. There is much talk today in Edmonton about loud noises, and that may come. I think the organization should be laser focused on building an NHL team that can compete every season for Stanley now through the end of the decade. How does one do that?
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: What are Oilers’ best NHL Draft bets for 2023 second-round pick?
- New DNB: Oilers’ offseason options: Comparing conservative and aggressive approaches
- Lowetide: What do the Oilers have in defence prospect Max Wanner?
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers targets early and late in NHL free agency.
- DNB: Edmonton Oilers AHL prospect stock watch: Is Raphael Lavoie NHL-ready?
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers position-by-position depth chart entering offseason
- DNB: Edmonton Oilers fan survey results: Belief remains in team’s Stanley Cup window
- Lowetide: Why Edmonton Oilers’ right wing overhaul is about to hit overdrive
- Lowetide: The Edmonton Oilers guide to saving an NHL Draft on just three picks
- DNB: Why the Oilers are preparing to hold on to Cody Ceci this offseason
- DNB: What I’m hearing about Oilers’ offseason plans: Trade candidates, Erik Karlsson interest, more
- Lowetide: How the Oilers may handle a change in management
- DNB: The Oilers missed a true Stanley Cup chance this year and the contention clock is ticking
- Lowetide: Can Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie make the team in 2023-24?
- DNB: Oilers offseason priorities: A 10-step plan for ensuring success next season
- Lowetide: 7 ways the Oilers can create cap room for 2023-24
- DNB: How the Oilers roster could soon look different
- DNB: Oilers GM Ken Holland focused on ‘unfinished business’ entering final year of his contract
- Lowetide: Identifying a 2023 NHL Draft sleeper prospect for the Oilers
- Lowetide: Stock up or down for every Oilers prospect in the system
THE QMJHL DRAFT LIST
- Kevin Lowe 1979 (1254 NHL games)
- Ales Hemsky 2001 (845 NHL games)
- Georges Laraque 1995 (695 NHL games)
- Matthew Lombardi 2000 (536 NHL games)
- Francois Leroux 1988 (249 NHL games)
- Marc Pouliot 2003 (192 NHL games)
- Jean-Francois Jacques 2003 (166 NHL games)
- Mathieu Roy 2003 (66 NHL games)
- Jeff Deslauriers 2002 (62 NHL games)
- Matthieu Descoteaux 1996 (5 NHL games)
- Philip Cornet 2008 (2 NHL games)
Seven of the 11 names here were drafted in 2000 or later, that’s a fascinating split. Edmonton has chosen 17 of the 31 players from the QMJHL since 2000, seven had landed and we’ll see about Xavier Bourgault, Raphael Lavoie and Olivier Rodrigue. Does that mean Edmonton is doing a better job covering the QMJHL, or is the league just better than it was in the 1980’s and 1990’s? My answer is some of each, you may have a different opinion.
QMJHL PLAYERS IN 2022-23
Goodness sakes Raphael Lavoie could solve a boatload of problems for the organization. His NHLE from last season was 82 games, 16-13-29, I don’t think he’ll play enough to post those numbers but given a chance to show off that release he could surprise.
Among AHL forwards born in 2000, Lavoie ranks No. 21 in points-per-game according to Quant Hockey. He is just ahead of Filip Hallander and Rasmus Kapari, just behind Sam Fagemo. Not a bad neighborhood.
By the way, among AHL players who were born in 2001, Dylan Holloway ranks No. 13 (tied with Philip Broberg, as it happens). Holloway is No. 12 among forwards, Broberg No. 2 among defensemen.
This young group now, the Holloway-Broberg-Lavoie-Bourgault express, have to deliver like Stuart Skinner. The Evan Bouchard-Ryan McLeod-Kailer Yamamoto-Jesse Puljujarvi express was a bit comme-ci comme ça. That should inform your expectations of the current band of prospects.
ADAM SHERREN
I saved the final installment of Sherren’s view of the QMJHL draft eligibles because for me it’s the most important. It’s the 2004 born kids and I believe we might see one of two in Edmonton’s pipeline over the next year or so. Before we get to it, I want to show you what Adam has been passing along over the years. I wrote a piece on overagers in May of 2016 (it is here) and Adam wrote back:
You identify 1996 born Drummondville centre Michael Carcone. He is a great offensive player (87 points in 66 games). He is another Ontario product in his second year here. He’ll be among the league leaders next season. Playing in Drummondville, coming from Ontario with his offensive tools, Carcone reminds me a little of Mike Hoffman when he played in the Q. Another Saint John product is 1996 C Matthew Highmore. He was a high pick to the Q in his draft year but has struggled with injuries and was buried on a very good team. Highmore is smaller (5’11” 179 lb) and had a good offensive year (75 points in 65 games). He’s smart and well rounded and should be a big performer next year.
Sherren has been a gift to us, and recognition is long overdue. Here is his look at the 2004-born QMJHL players who are eligible for the draft.
Each year it seems more the case that there are a number of eligible draft plus 1 players who are particularly of interest. For me, I’m curious about guys who are scoring at least 0.75 points per game (as forwards) and who have a strong 5X5 goal differential.
Matyas Melovsky…59-6-52-58 with a 47.5% differential on a team with a score of 47.9%. I know you’ve already investigated him.
Jonathan Fauchon….53-25-40-65 with a 51.5% differential on a team with a score of 41.5%. Blainville was very bad this year but Fauchon was a bright spot, until his season ended with an injury.
Drummondville was another bad team but both of Luke Woodworth and Justin Cote had reasonably successful seasons….Woodworth was 68-16-46-64 with a 46.5% differential (team was 45%) and Cote was 31-15-11-26 following an injury in the first half of the season. His differential was 50%.
Yoan Loshing was a top scorer with Moncton, producing 57-33-30-63 and a differential score of 57.8% (team mark of 52.9%). Loshing is a similar prospect to Markus Vidicek, but didn’t receive the benefit of playing on as strong a team.
Rouyn-Noranda had a couple of impressive performances for 18 y/o players. Daniil Bourash was 66-41-29-70 with differential 59.8% (team was 53.5%). Louis-Philipe Fontaine was 63-28-28-56 with a 56.4% differential.
I know you have researched Isaac Menard of Shawinigan earlier…..65-12-36-48 with a 50.8% differential (vs. team mark of 46.6%). He’s been his team’s top scoring blueliner both last year at 17 and this year at 18.
Val-d’Or has been awful for a couple of years, but Czech blueliner Tomas Cibulka has shown talent this season, his second in North America. This year he was 68-7-30-37 with a 39.5% differential (team differential was 38.2%)
Pier-Olivier Roy in Victoriaville has had two impressive seasons from the blueline, with a real breakout this year at 18. He scored 68-6-62-68 and had a goal differential of 63.6% (team total was 57.5%). He’s one of those small guys who’s was bandied about last year but didn’t get picked and maybe the same thing happens this year. Perhaps he turns out like former QMJHL defenceman Miguel Tourigny. Tourigny was picked after his 19 y/o season by the Habs. Instead of using him in the AHL/ECHL or going back to major junior, Tourigny played in Slovakia for his 20 y/o season and I expect will sign an ELC this summer to play with Laval next year.
QMJHL players in the Lowetide Top 125 for 2023
- 29. LD Etienne Morin, Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL). Smart puck mover, impressive outscoring.
- 36. RW Ethan Gauthier, Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL). Skilled, not as dynamic as names ahead of him.
- 37. RW Mathieu Cataford, Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL). Substantial offense.
- 50. LC Andrei Loshko, Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL). Quick, creative, great passer.
- 64. LW Tyler Peddle, Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL). Great shot, big risk-reward potential.
- 68. RW Cam Squires, Cape Breton Eagles (QMJHL). Throwback forward with skill.
- 78. LC Markus Vidicek (QMJHL). Smart, skilled, undersized. Second-year eligible.
- 85. RD Dylan MacKinnon, Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL). Big, defensively sound prospect.
- 89. RW Daniil Bourish, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL). Pure skill, great shot. 19.
- 96. RC Matyas Melovsky, Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL). Ridiculous playmaker.
- 99. LD Xavier Daigle, Cape Breton Eagles (QMJHL). Steady shutdown blue.
- 100. LW Antonin Verreault, Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL). Playmaking winger. Great passer.
- 103. LD Luke Coughlin, Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL). Two-way D, solid outscoring, impressive playoff.
- 109. LC Justin Gill, Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL). Big, strong, scorer, he’s 20.
- 114. LD Isaac Menard, Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL). Skilled and effective, he’s 19.
- 122. LC Justin Cote, Drummondville (QMJHL). Under the radar, but he has skill. July 2004.
- 123. LC Cole Burbidge, St. John’s Sea Dogs (QMJHL). Slick center turned a corner.
Adam’s work is in those numbers, not just the 2004-born but across the QMJHL. I used to bemoan the fact the league was so under-served in terms of verbal and precision as it pertained to draft-eligible prospects. Sherren has delivered time and again over the years. I thank him and hope we can all bless his house with good wishes.
LOWETIDE AND JAMIESON
Huge sports weekend and we’ll cover it all today 10-2 on TSN 1260. Massive win at the Canadian Open for Nick Taylor, Elks can’t punch it in and lose another game at home, plus MLB, NHL draft and are the Oilers going big-game hunting again? 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
So pretty much the only thing I have read and liked for trade rumours was Brett Pesce. Just out of curiosity what would 1 year of him cost? Ceci for sure, a prospect like Bourgault and what kind of picks?
I asked Google Bard for their top forty picks for the 2023 draft. How did Bard do?
Here is my top 40 picks for the 2023 NHL draft:
This is just my opinion, and there are many other great prospects who could be drafted in the first round. I am excited to see how the draft shakes out and who the top players turn out to be
so from 24 on we’re allowed to take 2022 picks? That’s great, put me down for Jiricek that’s a steal in the late first. 😉
@GMillerTSN
In the last two years, teams owned by Stan Kroenke have won the Super Bowl (Rams 2022), Stanley Cup (Avalanche 2022), National Lacrosse League (Mammoth 2022) and NBA title (Nuggets 2023). Arsenal, his soccer team, finished second in the English Premier League this season.
This is a little random, but I was trying to look for good defensive forwards who might be available to the Oilers.
It was inspired in part by LT pushing Jesper Fast on us (hehe). But defensive forwards have been a regular part of the discussion, and it’s damned hard to identify them by number (Fast has a great GF% in his 3 seasons in Carolina, for instance, but his GF% is negative relative to team).
So, I looked at players who’ve gotten Selke Trophy votes as a way to validate their defensive play. I totaled up Selke votes for the past 4 years (18-19 through 21-22; available here https://www.hockey-reference.com/awards/voting-2022.html). Voting obviously isn’t a perfect reflection of reality, but it definitely gives a different look vs. just on ice numbers.
I included total number of voting points (weighted for 1st through 5th place votes) plus the actual number of votes that were cast for a player (ignoring whether the vote was 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).
First, Edmonton Oilers who got Selke votes. This is a sanity check of sorts, but also gives an idea of the value of one or two votes (probably not all that much).
Oilers (reminder, this is over 4 seasons of Selke voting)
Draisaitl – 18 points (4 votes)
Nuge —- 5 (1)
Hyman — 3 (1)
Puljujarvi 3 (1)
McDavid- 1 (1)
Ryan —- 1 (1)
Now UFAs who’d be of interest to the Oilers (this includes a couple who’d almost certainly be outside the Oilers price range), plus a couple of players who could be trade targets.
Their position, age and previous AAV is also indicated, and they’re sorted by the total number of votes they got (in brackets):
R. O’Reilly — 2407 (469) (C 32 $7.5M) (has actually won a Selke)
J. Staal ——– 122 (37) (C 35 $6.0M)
J. Toews ——- 25 (11) (C 35 $10.5M)
N. Bonino —— 36 (6) (C 35 $2.0M)
N. Foligno —— 6 (6) (LW 35 $3.8M)
C. Brown —— 10 (4) (RW 29 $3.6M)
J. Fast ——— 13 (3) (RW 31 $2.0M)
L. Glendenning 3 (3) (C 34 $1.5M)
Z. Aston-Reese 4 (2) (L/R 29 $0.8M)
——-
N. Acciari ——- 7 (1) (C 31 $1.3M)
D. Kampf ——- 3 (1) (C 28 $1.5M)
J. Puljujarvi —- 3 (1) (RW 25 $3.0M)
T. Blueger —— 3 (1) (F 29 $2.2M)
E. Rodrigues — 1 (1) (R/C 30 $2.0M)
D. Ryan ——– 1 (1) (R/C 36 $1.3M)
Couple of trade possibilities:
M. Foligno —- 105 (31) (LW 31 $3.1M-1 year left)
R. Asplund —- 11 (3) (LW 25 $0.9M-RFA)
Fast does make the list (LT knew this I’m sure). Cool to see Connor Brown there as well (would be thrilled if he’s willing to sign with the Oilers for a low AAV plus bonuses).
O’Reilly and Staal will presumably be out of the Oilers price range.
And lots of old guys. Do Toews, Bonino or Foligno still have enough in the tank to help? I’d welcome them if the price is right.
YMMV on the players (Oilers and free agents) who’ve only ever received one vote. It might be fair not to nclude this group at all.
The Evolving Wild numbers had JP and KY as two of the best defensive forwards (who also play higher up the lineup).
I’m not sure how Evolving Wild calculates their defensive rating, but you and I had narrowed it down to mostly fenwick against/60 IIRC.
JP’s gone and KY could be next.
Kane and Hyman are not 2-way forwards. I think Nuge’s mostly living off his past reputation and isn’t great defensively either.
For defensive forwards, it’s good to pair it with PuckIQ. Guys like Ryan have some defensive acumen, but don’t really play top comp.
I’ll see if I have time to look at your list further.
Is it worth while to look at guys on your list based on FA/60 and Ctoi against elites?
Yeah I’d be comfortable throwing out everyone with only 1 vote (which would remove all the Oilers aside from Draisaitl, plus a bunch of the others).
I’m not sure if you assess this using on ice results. Team context, linemates and roles vary so much that I don’t think I’d trust any aganst/60 measure. You’re going to get a lot of ‘low event’ players who play against other low event players. That’s part of the equation (and maybe is useful for bottom 6 filler), but you’re not going to capture top 6 forwards who are good defensively that way.
Including TOI vs. elites would add info for sure.
LT did his homework with Fast. He plays against elites and has a low DFA/60.
For me the worry with Fast is that he mostly plays with Jordan Staal. I’d have to see how he looks without Staal who’s a defensive ability is well established.
We can look at DFA/60 against elites maybe. It’s a small sample and I’m not sure how those compare across teams yet. We can see if it passes the smell test.
Fast has a DFA/60 of 41.1 against elites, but that’s with Jordan Staal and Pesce and Skjei.
Yamamoto had a DFA/60 of 44.4 while still top 6 in ctoi against elites.
Maybe start with looking for players that are in the top 6 in ctoi against elites and looking at the DFA/60??
Yeah, all the ‘vs. elites’ on ice number vary so much between team, and within team across years… And the sample is always tiny. I don’t see it being useful, myself.
I’ll post a few more to see.
Evan Rodrigues. 4rth ctoi against elites. dfa/60= 48.9; FA/60= 38.1
Derek Ryan. bottom of list ctoi against elites. DFA/60= 57.8; FA/60 = 37.3
Ryan’s interesting. He’s a good example of a player type that you don’t really want to target if you’re looking to find a guy for the top six. While he’s good defensively, he’s obviously not a top six player.
While his FA/60 is good, he flags on ctoi% against elties and his DFA/60 against elites is a bit high.
I don’t know, how are you feeling about FA/60 and DFA/60?
Yamamoto seems to have led the team in DFA/60 vs elites while playing in the top 6.
That seems hard to do, but folks think he can’t compete with NHL players, and/or is poor defensively.
Then you’ve got small sample size, variability between teams variability year to year.
I’d think a DFA relative to team would have the most hope of being useful, but there’s no guarantees there either.
I don’t think people, or most people believe he can’t compete. Most people believe his contract makes him expendable.
Sure, it may not be a majority who believe that. There are absolutely multiple posters here who’ve said he can’t compete against NHL players and/or in the playoffs though.
A guy like Glendenning is well down the list in ctoi against elites with a DFA/60 of 53.5. FA/60 = 41.
Connor Brown was the top of the pile in CTOI against elites. His DFA/60 was 52.3 and his FA/60 40.9
Jordan Staal. 3rd in ctoi against elites. DFA/60 of 41. FA/60 31.3
I’ll keep waving the Kampf (he reminds me of Danault, before he became prominent) flag, he is an extreme value and dream of him on a line with Toews and for shits a giggles adding Connor Brown or Hathaway on the RW.
If this team is going to go for it, they’d better be setting their sights high….
Yeah Kampf would probably be a nice add to the bottom 6. I’m not sure he will be extreme value on his next deal, but you could be right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOIIg0tcvSg&t=201s
ah, the tank days
What makes Vegas great…all in all the time.
Woodguy with a thread.
https://twitter.com/Woodguy55/status/1668381835955671040?s=20
He’s right, I’ve been saying the same for ages. Cap hell is for GMs with limited vision and trading abilities
Being loyal is great and I agree with treating people well, but if you don’t fit or you can’t do the job move on. The NHL doesn’t have a labour shortage. I wish
Holland should go out and replace weaknesses. He should stop handing out movement clauses like gift bags. Players can help move the dial forward but sometimes the ground changes and they no longer help as much as someone else can. We shouldn’t feel sorry for these fellows. The lowest paid guys take home salaries that dwarf normal people’s
I’d rather win. The players would as well despite niceties they say to media
Nill just said it’s easier to go back than forward and it’s true. If you can’t evaluate talent and attributes well enough. If a player doesn’t have an injury history and gets hurt that’s different. He’s being generous because Dallas has been astute in evaluating. We’ll see if he has had enough of or can deal his underperforming cap hits
FWIW, the Oilers have 7 players with some form of trade protection (5 NMC, 2 M-NTC), Vegas has 10 (3 NMC, 7 M-NTC).
Not to mention that the trade proaction to the likes of Nurse, Nuge, Campbell isn’t inhibiting anything management would contemplate doing this off-season – they are non-factor vis-a-vis this off-season.
If Holland has to stop giving out movement clauses does that apply to Kelly McCrimmon as well – recent non elite player signings with movement clauses: Kessell, Riley Smith, McNabb, etc.
That’s classic Woodguy. great post.
As I had mentioned yesterday,
Kolesar was acquired for a second round pick.
Brett Howden for a 4rth round pick.
Adin Hill acquired for a 4rth rounder.
Chandler Stephenson was acquired for a 5th round pick.
Amadio was a nice waiver claim for RW.
4 roster players and a goalie (On a Stanley Cup finalist team) all acquired in their prime for just a 2nd, two fourths, and a fifth round pick.
Every move impeccably designed to improve the team.
Need an elite D….sign the best one on the market.
Need an elite C…damn the torpedos
Need one of the best two way forwards in the game…acquire Mark Stone.
The only misstep was acquiring a goaltender with injury issues but it would appear it doesn’t matter all that much when you have also acquired a coach known for a system that prevents high danger chances in front of the net.
All this says to me is … don’t over-value magic beans.
Yep.
But many teams and their fans fall in love with their draft picks while the world passes them by.
Great post by WG.
I’ve been thinking about Campbell and comparisons to other leagues. I’m not a big baseball fan but the Alex Manoah demotion by the Blue Jays made me think – why can’t NHL teams do that? Campbell is trash – he should be out of the league to prove himself again. The Oilers should have had a more reliable backup or at least someone JW trusted. Instead, we get platitudes by Holland about how Campbell will rebound next year. Blech!
The VGK are pushing this narrative on the NHL and they are using draft picks to achieve their vision. Don’t get me wrong, I think the oilers have done a lot right over the last few years too. They were the only team to really push the Knights this year. They need to be ruthless to win the cup.
There are a pile of Elite goalies out there this offseason. Buyout Campbell if you have to and go get Hart.
i do wonder whatt the defense could look like with ceci out for a pick and john klingberg in on a 1 yr deal at say 2.75 or 3 mil to rebuild his value.
Great opportunity on a good team with a strong partner and opportunity to perhaps add stanley cup winner to his resume before cashing in when the cap rises dramatically next summer.
holland likes this player…and has had interest in him the past. if you look at the 3 yrs before last he is a clear upgrade on ceci and his play in minny after the trade showed signifigant bounce back from the tire fire that was his time in annaheim.
he ticks a lot of kens boxes.
big. he is 6 ft 3
mobile.
can make a great first pass
swedish.
in my POV nurse could really use a mobile partner who can transition the puck quickly to allow nurse to do what he does best.
godot has been suggesting broberg as a solution because of his speed, mobility, size, and passing. Klingberg has these same qualities but he is a veteran which kenny seems to value massively.
He hasn’t been a plus producer at 5 on 5 since 2017/18 and I’m not sure this makes the team better. I’d rather go in to camp with a healthy Cody Ceci.
Klingberg has actually been quite poor for 4 straight seasons now. You need to go back to 18-19 to find a season with a GF% over 47%. And his numbers in Minnesota appeared to show a rebound (63%GF) but it was due to a PDO heater (SF% and xGF% were 43-44%).
Holland did reportedly have interest last summer, but that dampened in-season when Klingberg continued to struggle in Anaheim (I think it was DNB who reported the Oilers were not considering him as a deadline acquisition).
Klingberg’s last 3 seasons in Dallas:
17:57 TOI/game at 5v5
49% SF (Dallas was 51%)
45% GF (Dallas was 50%)
52% xGF (Dallas was 52%)
0.92 P/60
Ceci’s last 2 seasons with the Oilers:
17:02 TOI/game at 5v5
50% SF (Oilers were 51%)
48% GF (Oilers were 52%)
52% xGF (Oilers were 53%)
0.74 P/60
Pretty similar results, though Ceci also played (IIRC) the 7th most minutes vs. elites in the entire NHL the last 2 seasons.
Klingberg was getting considerable minutes vs. elites in Dallas too, but Ceci has played among the very most difficult minutes in the NHL in his time as an Oiler.
All that to say, Klingberg is unlikely to be an upgrade (his most recent season was even worse than the Dallas ones – negative results even relative to team in Anaheim).
my opinion is that nurse struggles because he is carrying ceci who cannot move the puck efficiently at all. When both players on a pairing struggle to make a exit pass it leads to loss of posession and more in zone defending. We see that when nurse plays with an effective puck mover such as bouchard and bear to a lesser extent that his shot shares and expected goal shares improve dramatically.
It’s possible you’re right.
My opinion is that Nurse-Ceci struggled last season largely due to facing some of the most difficult comp in the league, and did that with Ceci injured for most/all of the season.
Here is Nurse with his main partners over the past 4 seasons:
Nurse-Bear —– 1410min 49.7%SF 47.9%GF 51.0%xGF
Nurse-Barrie — 1146min 50.6%SF 55.2%GF 50.2%xGF
Nurse-Bouchard 688min 56.2%SF 47.5%GF 58.5%xGF
Nurse-Ceci —– 1584min 50.1%SF 50.4%GF 51.6%xGF
You could parse that in a number of ways.
I think a healthy Ceci, plus Ekholm-Bouchard taking more of the difficult load, will make a big difference.
LT, any thoughts on the big news out of The Athletic today? Will local coverage be affected?
Only that it’s a tough business and this is a difficult day. Local coverage will not be impacted.
— It was a likely occurrence after purchase by NYT: who has a different cost structure, capital requirements and business model.
— LT is quite the innovator if you look back: created great content here, became a local sports go to presence and has created a terrific franchise.
— It’s a really tough gig: the amount of people seeking in depth analysis or just general great writing and content vs the mere disposable consumption of content and on to the next thing is small and a lot smaller.
— I feel for these writers who lose their vocation. Some poignant tweets from some of the recent redundancies.
Good to hear the frustration with the Elks on the radio program this morning LT. Longest home losing streak in league history. Chris Jones has zero credibility at this point and this franchise can’t preach patience ad infinitum. The product is unimaginitive, error prone and undisciplined and has been for the entirety of Jones’ return
Bringing back Cornelius and Mcadoo when there was zero evidence that either were worth this stubborness is the epitome of hubris and smartest man in the room ego.
Cornelius is NOT a viable starter in this league and Jones is failing to learn this lesson 3 years running! He literally hit a wide open reciever in the ass.
He seems to fetishize players. Talks about certain physiques. It’s weird. Being good at football maybe is second to that? I’ve always wondered how a pro QB who has trouble executing accurate throws is magically going to get good at it. Seems a bit late to be learning that skill to me.
This all day. When a player is inconsistent with the fundamentals and the most basic play execution, how can you ever expect top flight performance?
When Yakupov reached the point where he simply couldn’t hit the net with any regularity, you knew he was done in the league. Cornelius has struggled with consistency and accuracy since he entered this league. He’s a wannabe pro that’s only effective if he’s having a good day. His baseline performance is putrid. It’s only an arrogant HC that thinks he can fix these yips.
It reminds me of my father-in-law when we golf together. Every 4th or 5th tee, I’ll crank a 300+ yard drive down the middle and he says, “Now just do that every time.” Of course I can’t do that with consistency. That’s kind of the friggin’ point! If it was that easy to be consistent like the pros, everyone would do it.
But Cornelius is 6’5″ and 230!
Remember when home games were a dirt-cheap borderline guaranteed win night for a team that regarded anything below a division title and a championship as a failure?
How the mighty have fallen. And largely at their own hand.
Not to mention routine squads that had either 2 or 3 of the best QBs in the league (or QBs to come) in any given year.
I haven’t truly cared about one of their games in a very very long time.
I’ve been pretty ambivalent about them for some time as well. The product is pretty poor. I’m much more interested in the Jays these days. The Elks have been shooting themselves in the hooves for years. Tough to get enthusiastic about a team that’s this poorly run on the Ops side.
It’s the contrast that’s so stark.
They were the Yankees.
Now they’re some weird combination of the A’s, Tigers and Rockies…UGH
The Riders bandwagon welcomes you all.
The choice is obvious. We are waiting for you with open arms and watermelon helmets. First 100 people get a coupon for the Ukrainian Coop in Regina.
They got screwed when Milanovich left them at the altar and they had to check down to Jones, a retread who’d already washed out of the league once.
Somewhere along the way they stopped being an org that the top brass candidates wanted to work for. Hard to be the best when you can’t hire the best.
That and CFL scouting budgets have dried up while the competition from new leagues has increased. The talent pool is much thinner now and picked over. Warren Moon was a Rose Bowl winner ffs. The days of getting players like that are long dead. The CFL is a 3rd or 4th option at best now for American players.
There is more Elks lack of professional behaviour.
https://footballscoop.com/news/cfl-team-accused-of-egregious-lack-of-professionalism-awareness-of-player-safety-in-recent-open-tryout-player-speaks-out
That story definitely reinforces the reality that they’re running scouting depts on a shoestring now.
CFL teams expects their GMs to be the chief scout as well now. That’s not major league. It’s bush league.
Do you have some sort of algorithm that seeks out ANY news that could shine a negative light on ANY Edmonton franchise? I really wish I had the time and resources that you do, sir. When you’re actually sober, it’s almost interesting. I honestly wonder how a flip flop, absolute wet noodle could have such a grudge against this city. It’s fascinating.
I had to vote for this. Hooves. My favourite post on the innertubes today. 😀 Well done sir.
Rasmus Kupari has played 130 games in the NHL.
And scored 9 goals in those games. Is that a good result for a former 1st rounder by the end of their draft +5?
Not particularly, but roster decisions and usage are important context.
LA has a ton of centres.
Being a first round pick out of Juniors doesn’t automatically mean a prospect is going to succeed when they arrive in the NHL. Having a deep group of prospects doesn’t guarantee that they will all graduate to the NHL in a manner that coalesces into contender (as Oilers fans are painfully aware from the DoD).
LA’s top 5 players are long-time franchise stalwarts Kopitar and Doughty, Fiala (received in a trade that sent some magic beans out), Danault (UFA), and Kempe (late 1st round pick who didn’t really pop until age 25). Honourable mention to Arvidsson (in a for magic beans).
Brandt Clarke may or may not be anything more than Justin Schultz when his development peaks. Byfield may or may not improve enough to allow LA fans to forget that they passed on Tim Stützle (who had almost 3x as many points last season, as Byfield has in his career to date).
Lavoie may or may not be much more than JF Jacques (who also scored 9 goals in his 166 game career).
Best not to over-rate the magic beans – if you’re going nowhere, then its best to move out what you can and collect as many as possible. If you’re a contender, then its best to move them out for proven commodities that make the most efficient use of cap space (which has far more value in a capped out league).
If Kupari became available I would grab him in a heartbeat.
Big, right shot center with plus wheels. He has looked good in limited minutes against the Oilers.
Posters who are arguing that Lavoie is as good or better definitely have their Oilers colored glasses on.
Given that he, by TOI, was playing 4C his production is acceptable and he managed a 54.6% face off percentage.
Kopitar, Danault, Lizzotte as 1, 2, 3 at C is tough to crack.
There is some chatter that LA may move Lizzotte for cap reasons so that may open up a better opportunity for Kupari but he is not the Kings only option.
Lavoie is ahead of Rasmus Kapari – the former first rounder and part of the deepest elite prospect list in NHL history, as we’ve been told?
Atta boy Ralph!
LT – I really appreciate your concept of ‘clusters’ and how important it is to draft and develop critical pieces. Had one of Pulj or Yamo filled our RW needs, we would be at a completely different place as an organization.
It is incredible how narrow the margins are sometimes…
They are, it’s a big leap to the NHL. For me looking back that neither RW is succeeding isn’t surprising. Jesse’s skating style does not suit the NHL. It suits Europe’s big ice not NHL stops and starts. I doubt the Oilers scouted him much expecting him to be gone judging by how Sneaky Pete reacted. Definitely a red flag when a fellow Finn passed on him
Yama doesn’t have the right skill set for being so small. He isn’t an explosive skater so has way too much contact. The smaller NHL players have 20-30 pounds on him. So he’s already in trouble with health. He also has a very pedestrian shot and with the skating can’t really dangle. He’s smart, but it’s not enough to me
What evidence do you have about Jarmo’s assessment of Jesse other than he chose Dubois instead of Jesse? How about any evidence that the Oilers didn’t do any scouting of Jesse in the season leading up to the draft?
It’s an opinion. Based on Chiarelli’s reaction and total surprise at getting to draft him. You may remember many were surprised Kerk passed on JP. It is a reasonable take given what we know now that Kerk didn’t think JP was as going to be as good in the NHL as his draft ranking and junior exploits.
Is Kerk short for Kekalainen? If it is, I have never seen anything where he provided his take on Jesse. If you have a link to one, you can provide it.
Were you aware that in the last hours leading up to the draft, Treliving was apparently trying to trade up to get Puljujarvi? Didn’t work because Jarmo believed Ottawa would take Dubois before Calgary’s pick.
https://flamesnation.ca/news/amp/the-3-way-blockbuster-that-almost-was
Based on this article, teams already suspected Jarmo wasn’t going to pick Jesse in the hours before the draft started. The Columbus pick at the podium confirmed it as a) they still could have taken him or b) possibly traded down a few and another team could have jumped to 3 and taken Jesse.
And as for the Oilers not scouting Jesse, up until April 30 before the draft lottery, the Oilers could have finished anywhere from 1st to 4th in the draft so at a minimum they would have scouted all the top candidates up to that date. Most of them probably had no actual games to scout after that date.
Ok, uncle. Pretty heavy duty need for absolute evidence that doesn’t exist for the public, for an opinion that doesn’t really matter in the greater scheme of things, on a sports blog
Not absolute evidence, just any. Otherwise it just your super acute 20/20 hindsight.
I don’t think opinion means what you think it means. Opinions are formed in many ways. I find my hockey opinions are often born out. Not always. You are coming across like HH. Or Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. I hope you feel better soon, I didn’t mean to get your hackles so up
So I point out info that doesn’t necessarily agree with the opinion you posted on a sports site intended to discuss opinions and you respond with ad hominem attacks and say I have my hackles up.
He doesn’t play to his strengths are more likely the league has figured him out. Time to end the Yama experiment and I’ll even pay for his one way bus ticket to Philadelphia.
Craig Button top 100 draft
https://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-plenty-of-intrigue-surrounding-matvei-michkov-ahead-of-nhl-draft-1.1972205
He has Reinbacher tragically low