One of the things Oilers fans can look for this season is young players emerging as NHL-ready. I believe Raphael Lavoie is ready for recall, and James Hamblin has been in the NHL (10 games a year ago), but the key player is Xavier Bourgault. We’ve seen two AHL games. How is he doing?
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Can defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer help the Oilers?
- DNB: Connor McDavid’s injury only adds to gloom for Oilers
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers’ third line showing promise but not scoring yet
- DNB: Oilers, in early-season disarray, left searching for answers: ‘It’s just unacceptable’
- Lowetide: What we’ve learned about the Oilers in the NHL season’s first week
- Lowetide: How can Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft solve the team’s early issues?
- Lowetide: Why the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL team is set up for 2023-24 success
- DNB: Several Oilers defensive issues remain despite Mattias Ekholm’s return
- Lowetide: How the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor Brown contract could impact roster decisions
- DNB: Stanley Cup-aspiring Oilers have a long way to go after ‘big gut punch’ in season opener
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers’ opening-night roster is short two foundational pieces
- DNB: Why Raphael Lavoie didn’t make the Oilers and other roster questions ahead of regular-season opener
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Brady Stonehouse signing an important indicator for the future
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers’ veteran-laden AHL team offers better depth
BOURGAULT’S PROGRESS
In his first two AHL games of 2022-23, Xavier Bourgault scored no points, had three shots on goal and was minus one. This season, he has scored a goal, has five shots and is plus two. That’s progress. Based on what we are seeing in Edmonton currently, there’s a non-zero chance the top two lines are heading for a Ty Rattie solution.
Bourgault’s development could be key after Christmas, if the veteran wingers in Edmonton falter. His skill set lends itself to a two-way game, and the Oilers already have Connor Brown and Derek Ryan for those jobs. Zach Hyman remains the rock at RW, and we’ll see about Warren Foegele. For now, with Connor McDavid out, I think the Oilers might be wise to send Adam Erne down, recall Lane Pederson and run like this:
- Foegele-Draisaitl-Hyman
- Holloway-Nuge-Brown
- Kane-McLeod-Ryan
- Janmark-Pederson
Foegele and Draisaitl don’t run often together, but in 156 minutes together over the last two seasons, the club owns a 68 percent goal share. Nuge and Brown should be able to look after Holloway, and Kane can get his game together from the third line. That isn’t how this will go, and Bourgault needs to be ready when one of the expensive wingers falls off the cliff (and it could be right now, we don’t know yet) because someone has to step in. If the Oilers felt Raphael Lavoie was capable of filling that role, he would be in Edmonton by now. It’s Bourgault. He isn’t NHL-ready. It’s a spot of bother.
At noon today, Sports 1440, we hit the air and I’m going to be spewing. I’m going to talk about Ken Holland’s restrictive 21-man roster and about Jay Woodcroft’s move away from what has worked for him in the past. We will feature the Connor McDavid injury and its impact. Jason Gregor will join the show and I’m hopeful you’ll chime in. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
New for The Athletic: Edmonton Oilers’ slow start exacerbated by limited options, denial
https://theathletic.com/4986357/2023/10/23/oilers-standings-mcdavid-injury/
You are not wrong … See what Jay does over the next week or 2 (and beyond) ….
Limited options and denial. Hah. Well put.
It’s a new spin on, “we’ve tried nothing and we’re out of ideas.”
In 21-22 Draisaitl recorded a higher max speed than did McKinnon
I’ve been intrigued by Julien Brisebois bold trade acquisitions
He had mentioned re the Jeannot that he fit the model
The NHL Edge stats may give a clue as to a couple of categories that he was interested in acquiring
Jeannot in 21-22 (the season prior to the trade) had 96th percentile prolonged speed bursts of 18-20 mph and 94th of 20-22mph
2ndly
he was 96th percentile in High Danger goals
90th percentile in HD shots
I believe that puck battle wins is another stat that they look at and deflections
I thought it interesting that they picked up Glendening as a UFA this year
He had 88th % speed bursts of 18-20
and 90th of 20-22
not much for HD shots though
i think one reason they acquired him was PK
it would be nice if they would break down the shot stats by per 60
Not ranked: Edmonton Oilers — OK, so just how worried should we be?
First things first: Every year, there’s at least one so-called contender that looks awful through the first few weeks, dumb sportswriters overreact, and then they end up with 110 points and nobody even remembers the start. That’s probably what’s happening with the Oilers now.
https://theathletic.com/4987046/2023/10/23/nhl-weekend-rankings-oilers-red-wings/
Leafs last year. We loved to make fun of their slow start but they had themselves a pretty tidy regular season.
Edit: oh, that’s the example in the link.
Interesting that practice today almost all special teams – didn’t practice with lines at all apparently.
Chaulk’s weekly on Oilers Now:
1) Caggiula likely out until late November
2) Gagner practiced today and will play tomorrow
3) Bourgault has confidence and the weight he gained is noticeable. He did have 4-5 shots last game Chaulk thought he passed up some good opportunities to shoot
4) Lavoie is just looking to shoot and take the puck to the net all time.
Not sure if this question was asked earlier. With Connor out 1-2 weeks how does this affect our CAP situation? Probably doesn’t give us any relief I’m guessing.
Doesn’t effect it at all unless he ends up being out for 10 games AND 24 days and put on LTIR and then it would open up apx $12.2MM but only until he’s activated.
— Of course Edmonton is going to make the playoffs, but the biggest red flag is going to be seeding.
— Recall last year they won in LA them spent awhile before playing 2nd round them got blown out the first game home after being away for 2 weeks
— who knows what there seeding is but that scheduling last season “contributed” to their demise. – And they aren’t getting 2 home games now it would appear
On the topic of whether Woodcroft is optimally deploying his roster, yesterday I took a look at the correlation between toi/game and xGF%, both last season and over the start of this one.
Last season, the correlation between TOI/game and xGF% for the Oilers was +0.448 which is moderately positive (minimum 100 minutes played).
Last year, league wide, for players over 100 min played, the correlation between toi/game and XGF% was +0.13. The VGK were around+ 0.3.
Woodcroft was certainly well above league average in optimally deploying his players last season.
This season, through 5 games, it is -.201 which is weakly negative though it’s a small sample size.
I think looking at the correlation between XGF% and toi/game is interesting to look at.
Thoughts?
Well the guys with a xGF% less than 50% are:
Ekholm
Broberg
Ryan
McDavid
Erne
Kulak
Kane
Pretty confident Ekholm and McDavid are going to rebound in a big way.
Not sure how much that would affect the team numbers overall. I mean Kane might be done as an impact player due to his wrist injury, but he’s in Tyler Benson territory right now and should also bounce back to within spitting distance of 50%.
The other guys are getting the ice they deserve I would say.
Guys in the top ten that are somewhat surprising:
Desharnais
Holloway
Ceci
Janmark
Brown
You would think Brown would be dead last based on fan opinion of him so far.
Desharnais is actually second on the team. Move him to the top pair? 😛
For this season, sample size is certainly a problem.
I always think of Gmoney’s 200 minute sample size rule.
In terms of Denver boots, the big one this season, so far, has been Evander Kane.
McDavid has played a lot with him.
If I were better with Excel (cough cue JP) or if I do it manually, I guess you would look at this year’s TOI/game against last year’s xGF% accounting for few player changes (Kostin out, Brown in etc)…
Over this season and last with no TOI cutoff, the correlation is still 0.34 though it’s obviously heavily weighted by last season’s results do to minutes played.
Last season
I am informally testing the hypothesis that some of the analytic teams will be above average, notably the Devils, Canes, Leafs, Panthers, and Avalanche. Boston and Anaheim were includes as comparators as the best and worst teams in the league.
League average was +0.135
Coincidence that Mehta, Dellow, and Spriggins’ teams lead the metric? Maybe.
Odd that Carolina has a negative moderate correlation, however, their entire team is above 55% expected goals.
Edmonton showing up in the group with the smart kids, coincidence?
Need to include Dallas.
Large analytics team.
Dallas is +0.33.
If it is not too early in the season to have a seizure about the win column, I guess it’s not too early to have a gander at the team’s fancy stats 5v5.
Corsi %- 2nd NHL
Fenwick%-4th
Shots for%-16th
Goals for%-26th
Expected goals for %-7th
Scoring Chances%- 5th
High Danger chances%-2nd
High danger shooting %- 25th
High danger save %- 32nd
PDO-28th
Now the Oilers are doing mostly great at the things that correlate with winning hockey games, and are mostly god awful at the things that have more random variance.
I mean we aren’t expecting Hasek in goal so the Oilers won’t end up leading the league in high danger save %, but right now they are sitting at 66%. The worst team in that area last season had a 79%.
They have to much talent to remain 25th in high danger shooting as well. They are at 12%. Worst team last year was at 14%. The Oilers are for the most part doing a lot of things right, heck they had two breakaways last game they didn’t convert and have been controlling the play. Some bad mental mistakes happening back to back to back that will get cleaned up.
They haven’t scored any fluky goals, but have let in a handful. I think people are overreacting to a small sample size like everyone does at the start of every regular season. Debrincat isn’t going to win the Art Ross. Oilers should be a very good club once lady luck evens out a bit.
Connor Brown also leads the forwards in SF% (60%) and is 53% in xGF, 58% in SCF and 53% in HDCF. FWIW.
but yet he should be waived in favour of…….Malone? Lavoie? Pederson?
Variance is a function of the size of the sample, not the stat.
Within season correlations to PTS% (2009-10 to 2019-20):
GF% 0.81
PDO 0.67
CF% 0.50
All of the numbers that you cite will have variance, which diminishes based on the sample size. CF% will have a moderately higher size of sample this time of year than PDO. But all of these numbers are based on comparatively small samples and all will regress.
The low PDO matters, it’s not just chance. Having a relatively elevated PDO over the course of a season is desirable.
Maybe this is interesting to you. EDM lost to 2 games to 4 to VGK in round 2. Currently they have a 1-3-1 record. The pattern of shots and shot attempts to PDO in the 5 games this season is similar to those 6 playoff games. Why? Because Sh% + SV% is highly correlated with winning.
vs VGK 5v5
GP 6
GF60 2.01
GA60 3.35
SF60 27.72
SA60 30.18
SF% 52.12
Sh% 6.67
SV% 87.90
Sh% + SV% .946
2023-2024
GP 5
GF60 1.82
GA60 2.87
SF60 29.72
SA60 28.42
SF% 51.12
Sh% 6.14
SV% 89.91
Sh% + SV% .960
The entire training camp and part of the Summer was about acquiring a cheap decent 4-C Holland put his bet on Sutter and Pederson time to see what he has.
When Holland signed Caggiula and Pederson, he said straight up they were for AHL depth and expressed they were still looking for an NHL center.
As he tried to fill that hole and the summer went on, the cost on McLeod and Bouch rose to higher than anticipated and took away the extra cap Holland was hoping to have for that 12F.
The two player I mention above currently have zero impact on the cap and Sutter was brought in as a PTO late for a try when cap space for that 12F was realized to be under $1MM.
All we heard all training camp was Sutter this Sutter that and how he’s the perfect fit. After Sutter crashed and burned then Pederson was given a push when he failed next up was Hollands retread from Detroit. I mentioned this time and time again that Leon and Mcdavid aren’t 22 years-old. You can’t double shift them 82 games plus playoffs you have to be thick in the head not to think injuries don’t happen when players are tired.
That’s a post, one that has nothing to do with my post you are responding to.
He brought Pederson in as plan B to be 4-C in case the Sutter experiment failed. As you know Woody fibs and so does Holland. How many Malone,Griffith, Gagner and Cagguila do you need on the farm. We have no farm system (pipeline) Sri Holland has gutted it he’s even strapped 3 million of cap on to the next G.M.
This is just not right. Pederson was signed on July 1 and Sutter’s PTO was signed in mid-August.
I’m pretty sure Holland knows how to chew gum and walk at the same time.
I’d like to see them bring up both Pederson and Lavoie and send Desharnais down. Run something like this with the youngsters getting a big opportunity. Give them enough skill to play their game with and enough experience to give them some mentorship and cushion. Give McLeod some vets with speed and checking.
Hyman / Draisaitl / Lavoie
Holloway / Nugent-Hopkins / Kane
Brown / McLeod / Foegele
Janmark / Pederson / Ryan
Nurse / Ceci
Ekholm / Bouchard
Broberg / Kulak
Campbell
Skinner
It won’t happen, but I’d like to see it.
If they can find a way to win with McDavid out, it will be a huge boost and is exactly the kind of early-season adversity that makes Cup winners.
If losing Desharnais is a worry, I’d be tempted to send Broberg down for a bit and get him some big minutes in Bakersfield. I’d definitely go back to 12 & 6 with McDavid out. No double shifting forwards at this stage.
Sure. Throw Lavoie on the top line to play against the best players in the NHL. What could go wrong?
I don’t see any indication that Erne has been placed on waivers – seems like Pederson in for Erne makes so much sense but, well, Erne does have a moustache……
Woody and Holland both like what Erne brings.
We’re probably more likely to see Erne given a bump to the second line than we are to see him waived.
Glad McEverything appears to be not too hurt but we don’t trust them on such things do we?
For me this eventuality came to roost. Almost all players get injured yes. I still cannot agree with Jay McLellancroft wanting Connor to engage physically. Yes there are times, playoffs more, but you want Connor using his noggin speed and elite puck skills before needless contact. Also not inviting payback hits
Nobody asked Lidstrom to do it and he didn’t need to. Like Nik Connor is tall and lanky just breaking 190, Connor a little heavier. That isn’t a build you become a power forward with and not get banged up. Connor isn’t a tank like the Coal Harbour guys or a monster like Matthews or Ovi
Enough of this pointlessness. It’s so old school and the team needs to do the exact opposite, set the new pace, as they did decades before
Yes a few players upgrades needed but that’s always the game right?
McDavid got hurt when he hit someone?
Morrisey contact was the final straw. I wish Morrisey would have stayed a lead singer
They just played it again. Connor has no idea how to engage physically. Morrisey threw Connor down hard because Connor walked into it. Pathetic. Elbow into ice
Connor should set the tone of his play not anyone else. Woody is boring
To opine that McDavid doesn’t know how to engage physically seems like wild proposition to me.
I’ve seen him initiate physical contact in physical battle with regularity over the last few years and it consistently leads to his advantage in getting the puck.
Where is the evidence the coach has asked Connor to engage physically? I haven’t seen or heard this before, but maybe I missed something. Given his competitiveness, I think it’s far more likely Connor is doing it of his own volition. Also, like Shane says, not sure he got hurt trying to hit anyone (maybe incidental contact).
Lots of press last season. I of course like all of us go by what is said publicly and what we see on ice
Rishaug reporting that Kane is working with PP1 in the bumper spot.
To be honest, I hope they run the PP through Nuge taking over the McDavid role in zone.
Kane has good history on the PP. Maybe this will put a spark in him and he starts putting up some points leading to some wins.
one can only hope…
Kane is streaky hopefully he still has the fast hands and can mirror Neal and Chaisson who both had some real success down low:
McDavid is a student of the game. I can see him going upstairs and watching and learning his next move. This is a good thing
Maybe Bouch should do the same.
Though the Oilers’ season has been a gong show so far, I take some comfort in that if they win their next game, they’ll have the same record as the Flames after 6 games. No, it’s not a tall bar to compare with the Flames but I’ll take what I can get at this point.
I also wonder if Yamamoto and Kostin ever wonder quietly, “Gee, I was the straw that stirred the Oilers’ drink!”
Klim “Healthy Scratch” Kostin?
I would not underestimate what Kostin brought to the team last year.
Oh, I’m aware. I watched the games.
I just find it ironic that after pricing himself off the team, he can’t even crack the lineup in DET, and is instead wasting away playing video games in a Super 8.
What is Yzerman thinking?!?
The Heritage Classic game, an NHL prime event, played in Edmonton, against the godless Flames, will likely not have McDavid in it.
What kind of terrible Hex has someone put on these Oilers…
Maybe it’s Murphy and that law of his…
Yeah, it’s a shame McDavid won’t be playing in this marquee event. He’s probably feeling bad that he’s going to miss it.
I’ll be really curious to see how Connor Brown’s season looks 6 months from now.
I suspect we’ll look back on the all the calls to waive him (5 games into his return from major surgery) as more than a little short sighted and impatient.
Only time will tell for sure though.
“Shortsighted” is the Magic Word round Oiler fandom these days.
There’s Oiler Fan Panic and then there is whatever’s transpired over the last 36hrs.
Part of me thinks its click-bait for an early season with sparse games and not much to cheer about.
Another part of me thinks its not and that people are serious. Should’ve taken them at their word in the summer when the froth was coming from digital mouths I guess.
The contract is a big part of it.
The bonuses are awfully generous. If they were score 20G or play 70 games, fine, but it’s play 10 games. Brown could conceivably be 9th to 12th on the depth chart and carry a massive cap hit next year. Not worth the risk given where his game currently is.
Would anyone claim him on waivers? I highly doubt it.
For sure the bonuses are generous. There’s a reason.
You said in your other post “He is not a first line caliber player“. But he was tied for #75 in 5v5 forward scoring over his 3 seasons in Ottawa. Tied for #78 in goals. That’s without any McDavid or Draisaitl push. 1st line forwards get paid $5.7M+ in 23-24 (ie – $5.7M is the #96 NHL forward salary this season).
And it’s highly unlikely Brown finds himself in the 9-12 range on the depth chart. I think it’s 80-90% likely he gets back to the player he was before his injury (that is, a top 80 5v5 scorer in the NHL).
So I guess I do think he’d very likely get claimed on waivers, given that upside and his salary structure.
Beyond that, it’s not like there’s anyone in Bakersfield who can reasonably be projected into the top 6 as a replacement.
Brown scored 0.61, 0.63 and 0.61 points/game his last 3 healthy NHL seasons.
Lavoie scored 0.53, 0.46 and 0.74 AHL points/game his last 3 AHL seasons.
That last one is 0.35 points/game NHLE but “I am increasingly convinced that Lavoie’s floor is also higher.“. Really?
I don’t what the problem is. If he needs to work on his game, why not in Bakersfield. He can play his 10 NHL games at any time this season.
There is noone in Bakersfield that he can be replaced with that will make the team better, even as Brown works to find his game – not Lavoie, not Bourgault, not Pederson, not Malone, not Griffith, not Gagner, right?
They don’t need to be better, just not worse. The goal would be allowing Brown to work on his game and not burn bonus optionality.
There is no chance he is not playing 10 NHL games unless he suffers a massive injury.
“Not burning bonus optionality” is not something the organization is thinking about, of that I’m quite confidant.
Okay nerds…the NHL has officially announced Edge as an addition to its stats page.
With sensors embedded in pucks and player jerseys, a myriad new stats are available to the general public.
An explanation here:
https://theathletic.com/4983970/2023/10/23/nhl-edge-stat-tracking/?source=user_shared_article
I cannot remember who it was but I’d like to thank that individual for mentioning a podcast called “Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History” on this site maybe about a year ago. I have become a fan and if they had Hardcore History (or podcasts :)) back in 1985 when I was a student at Illinois State University I probably would have become a history teacher. Anyway – thanks so much whoever it was.
I know that there is risk with burning bridges and developing a reputation of not being “player friendly.”
However in the coming days/weeks I believe the Oilers should seriously entertain putting Brown on waivers to ensure that his bonuses (counted towards the cap next year) do not vest. I would do it.
1) He is not a first line caliber player.
2) His recovery from injury will take time — not unreasonable, it is major surgery.
3) Once he is back, he will be competing for a role with the likes of Foegele/Lavoie.
Purely a business decision. Brown will eat up a ton of cap (next year), most of the increase as per an LT Athletic article from awhile back.
I’m personally more interested in seeing what Lavoie has to offer. I think we can all agree that Lavoie’s upside is higher. I am increasingly convinced that Lavoie’s floor is also higher.
This is a business. You can try to make it up in different ways, but ultimately this is a business. Wonder what Vegas would do?
Exactly. Connor and Connor played together in junior? Great. Well now Connor Brown is in Bakersfield. Under no circumstances would Vegas allow that 10th game to be played.
Brown’s early season struggles were 100% expected.
The GM expressed its going to take some time, the coach expressed its going to take some take, the leadership group (i.e. Leon) expressed that its going to take some time. The fans acknowledged that it was going to take some time.
Its going to take a couple of months, not a couple of games, for Brown to get full trust in the knee and his top game back.
I don’t agree with the argument that he should do so in the AHL as, there is no player in the AHL that will replace Connor Brown and make the team better even as Brown struggles to get his game up to speed.
There is zero chance, subject to injury, that he’s not playing 10 games.
They are NOT going to waive and demote him prior to the 10 game mark in order to try and avoid the performance bonus – its not going to happen. The NHLPA would be very very very loud if a legit NHL player was demoted for essentially an entire season to avoid a bonus.
Not to mention good luck getting any player to sign in Edmonton without a NMC if they did this.
Don’t get me wrong, I have been very vocal against the contract and the bonus structure since the moment it was signed.
my 2 cents worth; keep Kane and brown on the third
Looks like the Gagner AHL contract is now official (per Gregor).
We knew this was happening and the delay was his work visa issues.
Condors ran 11/7 on Saturday night with Tulio and Caggiula hurt.
I don’t know the Tulio timeline but I don’t think Caggiula is returning any time soon which will mean they won’t run in to any “max vet” issues.
Ready Maverick on cat 5!
Like others, I hope to see Woody rely more on a larger group of forwards to pick up the slack. But I fear he may play Leon 27 minutes and Nuge 22 minutes a night, burning them out in the process.
OP stole my exact sentence I was going to use…
Ironically, I feel the McDavid injury will *force* Woody’s hand in deploying our C’s in their god given and natural positions.
Drai
RNH
McLeod
You can easily make 3 fairly balanced lines here.
Tell the team to bring their lunch pails and go to work here. Prove to the NHL the team can not just survive but – excel- without McDavid.
Insert coaches motivational speech here.
‘coaches motivational speech’
this seems better, in my directorial mind, with Joel Quenneville in the role!
Ha – I can only picture Iron Mike Keenan….!!
Not seeing enough from McLeod to project balanced lines.
5 GP, 14:46 ATOI
0-0-0, -2
3 shots, 3 hits, 2 blocks, 1 individual HDCF
0 takeaways, 6 giveaways
26/65=40% on faceoffs
To my eye he’s been a ghost to this early point.
Very fair….he and others have to step up their game.
No question
thank you Bruce. I was thinking the same thing. Transporting the puck is one thing, but to win the Cup, Edm needs some offense from McLeod …
he is not generating anything ….
Memories of MPS.
Woody was asked today what he needs to see more from McLeod and I think you could tell he’s been disappointed in his play – mentioned that he needs to be better on faceoffs, stronger in front of the net, etc. – same old.
He’s usually perimeter. But so far he’s farther away from the centre of things than a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt.
I propose we go with “share”….
I tend to lean pro-owner / strong salary cap versus the sports like baseball with such a huge financial divide. But I will say, Bettman and his cronies have affected the sport with their unwillingness to be a little more flexible with the cap in an effort to repay the escrow as quickly as possible. Twenty one man rosters cost the PA jobs so I expect this contract will be the last time this little wrinkle is allowed.
But it also affects the integrity of the sport. Some sort of resolution needed to be created to allow teams to have full rosters but the owners and PA can’t get out of their own way.
I get the inclination…but managers need to fill out a roster with whatever the cap is.
Its a management choice to spend too much. Running with less than full complements of players is a consequence of poor management, imo.
Except management makes these choices based on the predicted cap trajectory. And nobody would have predicted what was about to happen to the world in September of 2019. Edmonton got screwed more than most as they had a bunch of stars going into their prime years just when Covid hit, so what should have been a situation where Edmonton found themselves with plenty of cap room as Draisaitl & McDavid progressed toward the end of their contracts and their percentage of the cap went down, instead it remained stagnant thus keeping the star cap hit percentages roughly the same for 5 years.
The previous 7 years before the pandemic hit, the cap went up an average of 4.5% per year. If we use that, this would have been the Cap:
19-20 $81.50M – the Dynamic Duo was 25.76% of the cap. They only had $60.5M to spend on the rest of the team and it stayed this way for 3 seasons, followed by minimal bumps in seasons 4 and 5.
20-21 $85.16M
21-22 $89.00M
22-23 $93.00M
23-24 $97.20M – imagine of they had an extra $13.7M to spend this season.
24-25 $101.56M – Draisaitl’s last year he would have been only 8.4% of the cap. The duo would have only been 20.68% of the cap. They would have $80.56M to spend on the rest of the team.
25-26 $106.13M – McDavid’s last year he would have been only 11.78% of the cap.
26-27 $110.91M – It would be a lot easier to re-sign them with this much space.
Outspoken player agent Allan Walsh has been advocating for changes for a long time.
https://x.com/walsha/status/1449753057013682178?s=61
If integrity of the sport was a priority, the league wouldn’t have a points system that rewards both teams for playing for overtime
Do you mean the cronies that paid the players their full salaries for a shortened 56 games season, the vast majority of which was played with empty stands?
From accounts the owners were willing to move off their agreement that the cap raises are maxed at $1MM until the escrow debt was paid off but the players flat out to refused to even discuss an increase in escrow this season over the 6% (which is historically low).
Hey folks,
Been a while since I’ve been in here, and I have seen maybe two actual periods and listened to about 60% of the games on radio on my way to and from the rink. The coach is back actually coaching and if you think Woodcroft is having issues with a 11-7 formation, he should try a U-13 girls team where 1/3rd of your lineup have never played hockey before. The 1/3rd includes my daughter, so in addition to playing and coaching, we are at public skating working on getting those wheels going. I’m a big believer in skating being the base of all things hockey, so I’ve been working extra with my daughter on her skating. It has been a lot of fun. I, like her, starting playing hockey at a later age ( 9 years old), so in order to catch up, we have to work twice as hard.
I have also joined a different oldtimers league where my games are now Saturday and Tuesday nights which means I will rarely see HNIC.
Just reading the box scores, stats, and social media these days and this does not sound good. 5 games does not a season make, but it can put you into a hole where you have to work twice as hard just to catch up. Just based on numbers along, the goaltending and defense seem to be in disarray. I’m hoping they can sort it out soon.
But time for work, so have a great day everyone, and like I tell my girls (via Badger Bob Johnson), it’s a great day for hockey.
That is so awesome. I started at 35 that was 25 years ago and i’m still entry level at best. Wouldn’t trade it for anything. Post more, please.
That’s awesome that you still play and tried it as an adult. It really is the best game to play.
I’ll never stop playing. I always say, we don’t quit playing because we grow old, but rather, we grow old because we quit playing.
Great to hear from you, Ben. Sounds like you have your priorities in a good place.
Enjoy your time on the ice & behind the bench!
Years ago a colleague had a young son (4 years old) and asked me which hockey program he should sign him up to as I had had sons play at very high levels here in the Northeast. I said forget hockey, get him into skating lessons and once he is a strong skater, then hockey. The number one advantage for young hockey players is the ability to skate.
He looked at me like I had three heads. Did not take my advice!
I keep hearing people talk about the Kane quip to Scott Oake in the intermission on Saturday night and I think its being massively over-blown.
There is no realistic way that Evander Kane has a major issue with his ice time at that point as it would have been due to one single period.
Coming in to Saturday night’s game, through four games, Kane had the second higher ice time at 5 on 5 among the forwards – averaging over 30 seconds more per game at 5 on 5 than McDavid.
Overall he was the 4th most used forward coming in to that game.
It was just a sarcastic quip and its been given more power than it should get by many (i.e Friedman/Marek making a big deal of it on 32 Thoughts this morning).
I don’t get the sudden negativity on Kane. He’s been great for the Oil. The injuries have definitely changed things but he isn’t in Lucic/Neal territory. The guy has skills, give him a chance to get sorted, it will be huge if he can return to form.
They always downplay Calgary struggles and love twisting the knife on the Oilers.
Totally overblown by Friedman and his lapdog Marek.
If it was Bobby Honkington making that statement there’s no issue, but because it’s Evander Kane….
It will be interesting to see how they fare w/o Connor. I like moving Holloway up in the lineup. I have no clue what this coaches issue is with him and why he does not move him into that top 6. Now is the perfect time.
I would put Kane back up in that top 6. He had a lot better game on Sat. I would put Foegle on the 3rd. I would run;
Kane/Drai/Hyman
Holloway/Nuge/Brown
Foegle/McLeod/Ryan
Janmark/Pederson
The Oilers are so handcuffed with no $$$$$$. It really is the Shits.
Big huge test for the gang w/o the Captain and especially being 1-3-1
They need to string some wins together .
I look forward to Woody being forced to use his entire lineup and, hopefully, learn to trust some of the younger players.
Leon will be Hart Trophy beast mode, we know that, and hopefully this gets Kane and Brown going and hopefully Holloway and McLeod can take advantage of increases responsibility.
If nothing else, we should see the 18 skaters fully engaged shift in and shift out and they remember how good they can be when they commit consistently.
He’ll just pound the veterans with more ice time his job is hanging in the balance. He doesn’t trust a 1/4 of his team. If there was ever a time for Campbell to go on a heater it needs to start in Minnesota with a W which will keep the wolves at bay.
Literally was typing the exact same 10 words of your first sentence here….
Hopefully Ryan has some gas in the tank for a 6 game stretch like he had last year. Woody needs to pull up his big boy pants and actually Coach instead of wasting everyones time with the his secret society line-up card.
I would like to see Holloway get an opportunity. Put him on a line with Nuge. If Nuge gets tossed out of the faceoff Holloway can come in.
I think many (most) wanted to see this even before McDavid was to miss time but, alas, we got the Janmark push instead.
Erne down for Pederson seems Like the logical first move, right?
I don’t imagine they will assign Broberg to carry 12 and 6, right?
Logical move was not to sign Erne in the first place…..
Well, yes, we are in full agreement there but, given we are where we are……
Remove McDavid from the Oilers lineup and it doesn’t exactly look like murderer’s row ….
Wow.
Gonna be an interesting week or two for the team. I expect (Hope) they respond well. We still have plenty of good players ….. It’s go time
It could work out, and has in the past. Oilers have depth and will now have to get down to the grindstone and play like most teams that don’t have the 97 cheat mode.