The Oilers sent down Philip Broberg yesterday and recalled Ben Gleason. It makes a world of sense, as Broberg needs to play and Gleason was the most impressive AHL defender in camp just a couple of months ago. Ken Holland gave some clarification yesterday (he did not give permission to the agent for shopping purposes) and now the Oilers position makes more sense than it did 48 hours ago. Keep Broberg until you know what he is. That’s the golden rule.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Oilers’ Evan Bouchard has the points. But is his recent defensive uptick legit?
- Lowetide: Oilers organizational depth chart reveal elite centres, real needs
- DNB: Oilers’ Philip Broberg seeking trade, per source: Why he could be on the move
- DNB: The Oilers penalty kill has finally found its groove. What’s changed?
- Lowetide: What do the Edmonton Oilers still need to be a Stanley Cup contender?
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers top 20 prospects ranking, winter 2023
- Lowetide: Oilers begin rise from the depths during a stunning November
- DNB: Is it time the Edmonton Oilers expected more from Ryan McLeod?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Darnell Nurse impressive in all areas after coaching change
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Philip Broberg reaches crossroads as NHL defenceman
- DNB: Four reasons why the Oilers are very much in the Western Conference playoff race
- Lowetide: How is the Edmonton Oilers top 20 prospects list shaping up?
- Lowetide: Can the Oilers find roster solutions on the NHL fringes?
- DNB: Oilers must address goaltending situation before it’s too late
- Lowetide: Why the Oilers making a productive goalie trade is an expensive proposition
- DNB: Who is new Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch? These 3 traits define his approach
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- At home to: CAR, MIN, NJD, CHI, TBAY, FLA (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: NYI, NJD, NYR, SJS, LAK, ANA (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 6-6-0, 12 points in 12 games
- Actual December results: 0-0-0, 0 points in 0 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 9-12-1, 19 points in 22 games
I see lots of brave predictions now and that’s good. Edmonton sure played well against the Carolina Hurricanes, that’s for sure. The Minnesota Wild were on a four-game streak of wins before the Vancouver game. Edmonton is at five wins in a row, so something has to give. If Connor McDavid continues his fantastic run (he is 6.05 pts-60 at five-on-five in the last seven games), the Oilers have a big chance to win the game. It helps Minnesota played last night, too.
BEN GLEASON
The Oilers recalled the most impressive AHL defenseman from training camp. Gleason’s numbers in the AHL a solid to excellent. He doesn’t get cherry power-play time but his offense (all at even strength) leads the Condors (2-7-9) and he has 23 shots in 14 games. He is among the team’s top 20 prospects and owns an even-strength goal share of 6-5. This is the kind of procurement Ken Holland needed to do more of when trading so many draft picks over recent seasons. Craig MacTavish, a far less experienced general manager, was astute at bringing in undrafted players.
This is the 50-man list heading into training camp 2015. Craig MacTavish is no longer general manager but has signed several men to contracts outside the draft. Brad Hunt signed July 2013, Jordan Oesterle signed March 2014, Iiro Pakarinen June, 2014. That might not seem like much, but it added to the prospect pool.
I don’t know if Ben Gleason will play during his NHL stay, but do know he’s a legit prospect. That’s the point. Signing Gleason and Noel Hoefenmayer, and adding Cam Dineen in the deadline deal that cost Mike Kesselring, shows the team is aware of the dire lack of depth.
PHILIP BROBERG
This brings me to Philip Broberg. I wouldn’t deal him unless something of great value (I’ve named Arthur Kaliyev) is coming back as the return. Why bother dealing him if you don’t address a need with a good young player who is under control and in possession of a value deal?
Philip Broberg is unproven, he is not a failed prospect. I was encouraged by Ken Holland’s words yesterday in terms of how the story broke and what was broken about the story. I think it’s clear that the communication between team and agent was “convenient” for one side and “unfortunate” for the other but there’s zero reason for Holland to give two hoots and an nanny about it.
Play Broberg in Bakersfield, for the rest of the season if that’s the best solution. Bring him to camp next fall with the third pairng LH side option available. That won’t be Holland’s decision. That will make complete sense to the new general manager.
It’s Friday and that means fun on the Lowdown, noon to 2pm on Sports 1440. Two of my favourite people and guests will appear, Steve Lansky and Tyler Yaremchuk. Declan Krueger will have “Declanations” and that’s always a highlight. We’re building a fun show at Sports 1440, I hope you tune in today. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
Watched later, a couple observations of a fantastic game.
Kaprizov should have to go from #97 to #79 after that egregious open net miss in the third. It maybe seemed even worse alongside a sublime game from McDavid. The oilers were unlucky not to be up big but he had a chance to tie it.
Kane likely gets suspended but he found a way to impact the game. He’s the guy you love on your team but hate on the opponent. I think it’s being understated how well he’s played this year. While they didn’t hit the scoresheet that was a big play that impacts the game.
Jack and Louie with a great call again. How does Sportsnet not let these guys do national (or Jack at least) is baffling. I guess that’s why they are getting out of the NHL to get into Shohei Ohtani exclusively!
Is Gaudreau playing hockey anymore? Asking for a friend
He’s only doing weddings these days.
Freddie lost to the Oil last night… it’s a Gaudreau tradition!
Video evidence of Münzenberger’s goal as he wires a wrister through a crowd to get off the mother of all schneids. (First highlight of this video.)
Very impressive win. That game had bad mojo all over it – only leading 1-0 after the first with complete domination and then down 2-1 one minute into the second.
Some real positives in the games toi numbers. Only 4 oilers were over 20 min all situations and that was the top 4 defense. Heck at 5v5 Connor didn’t even hit 16 min. Keep in mind this was not a blow out where coaches can rest the stars. If this keeps up then fatigue is less of an issue for our skaters as the season goes along.
Whoever is in charge needs to find a RW that moves Brown into the bottom six. Mission impossible.
Great team win, Skinner needs a partner.
It may seem that way but Brown is going according to plan. 8 months recovery then up to a year to get back to where he was. Should be the Brown we want by playoff time.
I liked Brown’s game today. I think by February/March Brown’s will be a significant upgrade to what Yamo was. That being said I would never say no to another top 6 RW.
Minnesota had no business being in that game. That’s six straight ass kickings, not just wins, ass kickings. Devils play in CowTown tomorrow night and are porous defensively with craptacular goaltending (sound familiar?). The Sunday tilt has ass kicking written all over it if they want it.
The only thing I’m upset about tonight 😉 is McHymNuge botching THREE 2v1’s in the 3rd! gotta drop that hammer.
Stu didn’t let in the “next one.”
Anyone still waffling on Bouchard needs to give their head a shake. Lots of room on the bandwagon, but you’re being obtuse if you downplay what’s happening. His spirit animal is Scott Neidermayer. Gonna be fun watching him reel in Makar and the other pipsqueak in the next few weeks.
Oilers have five guys in the hunt for 100 points. McDavid needs 116 more points for 1,000.
Whoops, bad math. Nuge still lagging a bit, but now back near ppg.
McDavid, Drai, Hyman and Bouchard all near 100.
Hyman could have had another hat-trick tonight.
Nuge also missed the net three times from less than twenty feet, all three occuring before both the Bouchard goals. But he had four assists, so you know, pretty good game, the misses are easy to take. But yes. McDavid needs to shoot on at least one of those.
Cameron Wright is coming in waves – just all over the scoring chances on this shift, finally buries his second of the game off a drop pass from Drake in the slot.
Second straight two goal game and 5 goals in 3 games.
Ok 5 points back with 2 games in hand. Not great but I feel alot better now.
The hole was pretty deep.
It really does show how close the teams are. A few issues and the 2 best players can’t even save the day.
They’ll be in a position to catch Vegas starting the first week of February. By March 1 they should be very firmly in control of the 1st or 2nd spot in the Pacific. Dallas, LA and Avs will start to fade hard in late March.
I sure hope so. The bad side is our destiny is not solely in our hands any more. We require other teams to fade
A beautiful cross-ice from Kemp to Noel H. for an absolute bomb of a one-timer.
4-3 Condors!
I sure hope Harpers Hair has been watching tonight’s game. After all, what do I know about hockey?
I think Oilers had a first class game versus a quality if not elite opponent.
Check Out:
Calgary Puck it’s never been saltier LOL
Summarizing!
Where were you when Münzenberger finally scored his first NCAA goal?!?
The House of Stone had a helper.
Copponi, Määttä and Mazura were held soupless.
Munzenberger cheese on Mazura sauce-covered Maatta balls, cooked in a Stonehouse, and served on a bed of Copponi… Mama mia, that’s delicisio.
The only mistakes they made in that game were a lack of execution in the first, and slowing down on the checking side in the third. They weren’t attacking the puck carrier as hard at the end.
Other than that, 3 perfect top corner shots and a McDavid move to get the job done.
Oilers hop over the Kraken!!
2 points behind Calgary with a game in hand.
bwahahahahahahahahahaha
Two games in hand
Math was never a strong point.
Lanes punishing hit was a turning point.
Excellent fun game with Oilers digging deep for the win.
How is it some folks can watch that and still find a way to criticize their favourite whipping boys?
Decades of practice?
Welcome to the Internetz.
Beating a team that has a record against us of 9-1 in the last 10 games is great any day in my book.
Funny thing about the Wild is I have watched them play some other teams and those games are never as bad as the smothering shit fights that they bring to the Oilers.
Oh sorry! All hail Skinner!!! Greatest goalkeeper ever…..better! Rainbows and Sunshine and participation ribbons for everyone😉
Your earlier post referenced irony…. now you’re talking about participation ribbons after writing an entire post crying about LT daring to challenge your opinion on Skinner. That’s a rough look tbh.
You are correct. The one point your are missing is I didn’t say anyone was wrong for having an opinion contrary to mine and calling them stupid. Go back and read Lowetide article about skinner and his thoughts on the comments and his thoughts and opinions about other people’s thoughts about Skinner. He right were wrong ! Talk about irony.
Would you like me to paste and copy his comments?
?
No response. Rough look I guess.
You seem upset. Again. This is my point. His article upset you to the point that you had to write that response. Using words like disrespectful to describe it is insanely inflammatory and over the top.
There will still be holes in the roster, bad games and poor plays. It’s a give and take thing. Take moment to enjoy. It’s been quite a ride, with lots more to come.
I agree,I thought they played very well tonight and the past few games. We do haves holes on our roster and our game. I find our style that knoblauck is implementing suits the roster better. We’re a better team when we are moving are feet,the pressure that we are playing with now is more reminiscent of last year with I think a better neutral ice structure the last few games.
Eat shit Minni! Bunch of plugs!!
Oil played a lot of 1-2-2 the last half of the 3rd. Woody used to use it from time-to-time too, especially in tight games, but I think Nobby might have gone to it a little too early and he had it playing really deep.
That’s a d**k team that should be in the box 2x the other team game in, game out.
Boosh now the only Oiler defenseman other than Coffey to have a ten game point streak.
Always hilarious to remember Coffey had 3 straight years of 120+ points.
Wat
Ya man. When Badger Bob was coach of the Flames there’s a famous interview of him discussing what the Flames needed to do to stop the Oilers and it was basically a plan on how to stop Coffey. His rushes were so dangerous and no one could skate with him, so they went to what became known as the left wing lock to force him to the boards and trap him. Easier said than done shall we say.
One playoffs he probably should’ve won the Conn Smyth over Gretz. He went 12-25-37, breaking the prior record for defensemen scoring by 12 points.
I remember when Coffey was seriously being compared to Gretzky in terms of talent.
Kane and Hyman sure are brilliant GM additions. Bouchard’s now a star defenceman, Skinner is now officially an Edmonton Oiler goalie; Foegele is an up and coming good player, Leon Draisaitl is coveted by Minnesota fans.
They gutted that one out. Nice.
On 630 ched radio, “a grant fuhr type performance”…
Whoever downvoted this probably didn’t understand it.
Fuhr had timing for his superpower. Then again if you think about the style of oiler teams then and now. Goalies were always seeing lots of high danger shots with the boys being more comfortable in a track meet.
Probably hairball and two of his burner accounts.
What a hard game to close out. What a hard battle the last two periods were.A well-earned hard-working victory despite a few egregious errors. They should feel pretty good about themselves after that one. Wild took them to their limits.
Kudos to the Oilers for shutting down Minnesota at the end of the game.
Skinner was great.
Can they find an enforcer to dress next time against that squad?
What a bullshit ending.
There were some purposeful, obvious slashes on Skinner there
I can’t believe the refs didn’t call that cross check
How about the karate chop on Ekholm by Hartman? Who is also too much of a loser to simply fight Kane, and costs his team the game?
I would pay good money to see a Steve MacIntyre style rampage right then.
That was a gritty win.
I didn’t love the last 10 minutes – lots of slop from the Oilers – lots of good looks given up.
Will need to re-set a bit for Sunday afternoon.
I’ll be at some Mayan Ruins in Guatemala!
Tikal?
Ya – off to Belize tomorrow morning – just for 6 days though.
Are you bringing a projector and a large white sheet to drape on some ruin walls so you can catch the game?
Damn, Wild finish!!!
What a save.
Skinner hangs tough to the final buzzer.
Damn Nurse. You almost cost us
Nurse made a game saving defensive play actually.
That he did.
Nurse wasn’t mentally into this game.
Skinner. well done.
Cannot give chances up like that one that hit the iron though
Connor Brown is really having trouble picking up pucks off the boards.
Really odd to watch.
He should just do what Minnesota does and pick it up and throw it down the ice.
free uppercuts
Campbell beaten from the high slot over the glove on a one on two shorthanded – not a good goal to give up. Tie game in the 2nd.
I hate to say this but I don’t mi d Campbell having continued troubles in the AHL. He obviously needs to force the hands of our GM to not give him yet another undeserved opportunity. I don’t want Campbell anywhere near the crease of our NHL team. Holland is reaching to give him another chance he has NOT earned.
Exactly. I was getting worried when he strung a few decent minor league games together. Surely he can’t come back from this. Right?
Fluery has played a heck of a game to keep his team in it.
Nasty sucker punch there. Should be a game but won’t be.
Sure was. Upper cut brought from down low.
Switch goalies tonight and it’s 9-1 Oilers.
Mr. Deathmarch man, Nurse just saved the game
What a Boldy attempt to get away with that move…
You’re alive!
OK lets put this one away!
Is Kane out?
Nevermind, that was him who just got walked
The PK has been one very obvious difference.
The fascinating thing to me is that they gave it to Stuart, who was present and accounted for when Woody was still here.
The PK with Woody had never been fantastic. So was Stuart sitting there like Nathan Fillion trying to get a word in edgewise and was pushed out?
Life is strange, man.
I think one big difference all the way around was that Knoblauch has preached and followed up with keeping lines and pairings consistent to breed familiarity. I think this has made a huge difference for dmen and the pk.
Oh Nuge!!!!!!
As I watch the Oilers under Knoblauch they remind of the golden bears under Billy moored and Rob Daum. Pressure every where and breaking out up the middle of the ice. Awesome!!!!! Big fan of the style change!!!
One of the only teams since the early 90s that can play the Daum/Thurston system I learned at the UofA. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.
Amazing fast paced pressure based philosophy. Golden Bears perfected it. Years ahead in their thinking.
So what was stopping Herbers from instilling that style when he was here (honest question)?
Oilers played man press a la the Bears for most of Woodcroft’s era too. Might even have started back with Herbers, can’t remember. Obviously they went away from it for the fist two weeks of the season when Woody tried zone cover but other than that short stretch it’s been a primary feature of Oiler play.
The main style change has been using the middle of the ice on outlets and through the neutral zone. I’m happy to see that ladder dump-in play along the boards a lot less often. But even last night, with the Wild adjusting and clogging the middle, the Oilers reverted to using the outside lanes more.
Bouchard now ahead of Marner and Matthews in scoring.
Bouchard is no Ty Smith though.
I’d rather have Bouch…
the amount of amazing chances Hyman gets and misses, is amazing.
Not a good o-zone blueline play by Kane.
Geez some good chances to score in the third. Hymen shoots high.