The Edmonton Oilers played another strong game last night against the historically difficult Minnesota Wild. The win for the home side gives the team real momentum and at this point a playoff spot by January 1 seems possible. What an incredible run by a team that looked so disjointed not so long ago. Edmonton received great work from the best skaters and a brilliant late save from Stuart Skinner to secure the points. The chapters being written now are a joy to behold. What a strange and wonderful season.
THE ATHLETIC
- 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 2-0-0)
- 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: 2-0-0, 4 points in 2 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 11-12-1, 23 points in 24 games
Six wins in a row now, the club is finding its way into playoff contention. The lyric isn’t a strong December and there’s reason to believe, but if the Counting Crows don’t mind, I think that might be this month’s theme. After the gales of November, it’s a welcome change.
TONIGHT!
I hope you can join me tonight, bid on the hour as guest host and receive an autographed copy of my book. If you already own a copy and would like it signed, please pop in and say hello. I’d be happy to do it.
THE NUMBERS
Only five skaters had points last night, but the usual suspects are shining like diamonds every night these days. The Nuge had four assists and has found a home on that No. 1 line. It’s hot as a firecracker now, 11-1 goals in 66 minutes at five-on-five. I thought this trio could have scored three more in the first period alone. My goodness they’re exceptional.
The second line is struggling and I do believe Connor Brown needs to move down the depth chart. In 72 minutes together five-on-five, the Kane-LD-Brown unit are 1-2 goals and 44 percent expected goals. The GF-60 rate (0.83) is miniscule and Draisaitl is such an elite talent that cannot stand. Man. I don’t have an internal candidate beyond Warren Foegele, perhaps Kris Knoblauch will run Dylan Holloway with Ryan McLeod and Mattias Janmark or Brown on the third line. Safe to say Brown’s rehab continues in the NHL at this time.
I wrote about Evan Bouchard at The Athletic yesterday and he was fantastic last night and a key to victory. The Ekholm-Bouchard tandem have been together at five-on-five for 612 minutes over portions of two seasons. The goal share is 65 percent, expected goals 63 percent. What is most encourgaing (but remains a small sample) is the recent six-game run where the GA-60 is 1.9! The duo is 2.35 overall, but were 3.43 GA-60 this season before the recent run. Good times.
Stuart Skinner made a dazzling save at the end of the game and a couple of others that were key. You’d like him to wrap up the rebound on the first goal and he looked unready for the shot that counted for the second goal. He’s been a big part of this team’s recent success, and his five-on-five save percentage is .918 over his last six games. If Skinner can hold that number, and Ken Holland gets him some help, the Oilers have a chance.
BAKERSFIELD CONDORS
The AHL team is finding its way and it’s a mix of veterans and youth getting it done. Veteran Drake Caggiula (2-9-11 in nine games) and prospect Raphael Lavoie (7-3-10 in 11 games) are playing well enough for recall. Xavier Bourgault has scored a goal in the last two games and now owns 3-5-8 in 16 games. Not good enough for a recall, but he had several great chances last night and looks primed for a run. Jack Campbell is the likely next man up on the recall list. He has posted a .916 save percentage in his last five games. I remain impressed with Noel Hoefenmayer (12, 3-5-8), Lane Pederson (5-5-10 in 12 games) and Cameron Wright (5-2-7 in 10 games). Oilers better sign that guy. Tyler Tullio is 0-2-2 in two games. Condors play again tonight.
I think people are seriously Discounting Coach Knobloch’s contributions to this turnaround.
He’s seems to have fixed my two biggest strategic complaints about this squad:
1…..they were playing far too much along the boards, constantly chipping pucks up the wall and ringing the boards. This puts every puck up for contention hurts possession metrics…it appears this is being actively discouraged by the new coach. I wish I could use the new player tracking data to show the difference of avg player distance from the boards when team has possession or something along those lines.
2….Players deferring far too much to McD. That 2 on 1 last night where Hyman looked off 97 and fired the puck on net never would have happened without direct orders from the coach. Don’t forget this is KK’s 4th year coaching McD…he understands that it can be a detriment having such a good player if the other guys on the ice aren’t taking advantage of the space the star player creates.
Summarizing!
Day was torched for a touchdown plus a convert in a 7-1 loss.
The Vermonters were denied the gift of soup. They shall have to content themselves with boiled chalk instead.
Laffs also do the Oil a favour, defeating the Preds 4-0.
Been some useful results for Team Slick today.
Rodrigue gets the start tonight.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Pickard tomorrow afternoon but I’m pretty sure that’s not the plan. If he does get another game in, which isn’t likely, CHI looks like the best bet just from the pov of the spacing of the games. And then whoever the backup is on the 21st takes the first half of the B2B. But as I said, unlikely.
I suspect the actual plan is to run Skinner all four this week and then have Campbell play the first two games on the road (so including the game on the 21st) and then Skinner finishes out against the Rangers.
Or it could be the backup only plays in Jersey.
Given the time off prior to this home stand, and the gap between games at NYR and SJS, there is plenty of time to recover and practice.
Scary injury to Larkin
and then Perron goes apeshit
Wow, strange sequence.
Looks like an innocent shove on Larkin,
Perron’s reaction is 50x worse than anything Ottawa did here…blatant cross check to the head should be a multiple game suspension…just like Jacob Trouba’s slash to the head?
3 cheers for Coffey screwing Bouchards head back on. Hooray! Hooray! It’s a holi-holiday.
After what we have seen I have little doubt KK will get to playing players where they slot, without demoralizing anyone. Assuming he’s free to do so
During the losing streak, I was mostly optimistic that they’d rebound and have a chance at the playoffs although the point at which they turned around was about the end of that outlook.
Somehow, now that they’re winning, it doesn’t do much to dissuade me from thinking the roster still has critical deficiencies. Trades are possible if you look at Vancouver and I don’t want to galled by inactivity down the line if/when it’s exposed during a cup window.
* Has there ever been a team that can play this well that has so many holes? * It’s strange, and strange might not be a reliable recipe.
The reason is Connor. Not only is he a cheat code players like him float all boats
With a few upgrades they would be completely unstoppable if they chose to be
The central division is turning out to be a bunch of paper tigers with some glaring holes in their rosters
3 best teams in the conference look like are all pacific division
Ebb and flow of a season.
You would not have said this 10 days ago and most likely won’t 10 days from now.
LAK .761
VGK .732
COL .654
VCR .648
WPG .640
DAL .635
NSH .538
ARZ .538
STL .519
The rest of the conference is all below .500 and 6 of the teams above are in the Central Division.
LA and Vegas seem poised to run away with things, but a stretch of poor play or injury can change things in a hurry for any team.
I’ve never seen so many goal posts before, this man is living in fear lol
dont see many roster holes in the pacific teams though
Dallas needs a top 4 D
Colorado needs a 2C
Wpg needs more depth especially on d
Nashville needs high end forwards
Arizona needs time
I guess we need a top 6 winger and backup G but don’t otherwise looks like everyone in top 4 pacific has a solid roster
In reality, only Vegas looks complete.
The Kings may need a better backup but they play defense so well it may not matter much.
Vancouver still needs a 2RD and could use another top 6 forward.
The Oilers do need a top 6 forward and Skinner is, at best, an average goaltender while there really is no Plan B.
In a mostly goalie league, Dallas, Colorado, Winnipeg and Nashville all have superior option.
Nobody is in the driver’s seat this season
The legacy perennials are getting older. They aren’t as rock solid. That includes Vegas who barely beat the Oilers with shit goaltending and a deer in the headlights coach. Kings are looking good. But are running hot. Can they keep it up? Wide open for 6 teams or so as I see it
The Oilers have Connor. The others don’t
The Oilers have had Connor for a long time.
Its not enough when he gets extra attention in the playoffs.
Replay the Vegas series 100 times and the Oilers win 45 % of the time.
I think more than 45% (and Kevin Bieksa agrees). But yeah.
And their coach is on the record saying that was their toughest series of the playoffs.
Shocking to me that you would bet against this man. He will get his.
https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask/connor-mcdavid-playoff-stats
What a tingus dingus you are.
I mean calling it a mostly goalie league is a fun thing to say, but is this true anymore? Seems to me its becoming a bit more of a goal scoring league then it used to be.
Are you suggesting the highest scoring team will win the cup?
That would be Vancouver.
Deal with extremes much?
Is it still a mostly goalie league? Maybe when Benn win the scoring title with 87 pts. I’m not so sure now.
By goal diff which is predictive of final standings the west is on the rise
Some interesting splits.
97 in his last 6 games. 18 pts on a 3.0 pts/game pace
97 in his previous 16 games. 16 pts at a mere 1.0 pts/game.
Oil in last 6 games. 12 points.
Oil in previous 18 games. 11 points.
Yes. 97 and team BOTH have more points in last 6 than in all of the prior games. Not a coincidence.
Before the streak they were done like turkey dinner at US Thanksgiving.
WC Bettman .500 after the top 6 (7 teams average differential 6.1).
+10 Blues
+7 Kraken
-1 Ducks
-1 Coyotes
-2 Flames
-2 Predators
-3 Wild
-7 Oilers
With the streak and the Kraken and Blues losses we’re down to only 3 teams outside the top 6 ahead of the Oil (averaging 3.0 pts).
WC Bettman .500 after the top 6 (3 average differential 3.0).
+3 Coyotes
+2 Predators
+1 Blues
-1 Oilers
Suddenly that’s wild card chase manageable without burning out the dilithium crystals.
+3 point differential to WC #2 (Preds).
+4 point differential to WC #1 (Yotes).
Oh yeah and at turkey time HH’s real team had a +14 differential over the Oil, but now:
+9 point differential to Pac #3 (Dys)
Sometimes its the boots. Sometimes it’s the footsteps.
But either way those 97 league boots are in pursuit of a Pacific playoff spot.
Haven’t seen your handle ’round these parts… you should post more often.
This team is making me happy. Suddenly, like a phoenix rising from the ashes Oilers are starting to make their inexorable climb up the standings. Teams like Calgary understand that they’re going to be passed and passed very soon by this fleetest of skating hockey team.
Seeing the new defence style – one that actually gets the job done and in different situations. Watching the insanely great power play – where the players; led by Draisaitl’s example have learned to nonchalantly/aggressively hurl the puck around to each other; while McGenius has morphed himself this season into an assist monster.
McDavid seems to each and every season come out firing in different ways – as if he doesn’t want to get bored cutting through defenders like he used to do. Now he lays low if that’s even possible – looking to pass the puck to Oiler players who receive perfectly soft passes right in front of the most stressful part of the ice – that being the opposition goal.
Or, when the team needs a goal in a hurry he just does that – score a fast goal in a hurry. Astonishing.
I understand the latest up and coming meme around here is going to be Draisaitl/McDavid leaving but honest to goodness where else are these giants going to find a better situation? Money will no longer be a factor, since both are already making an absolute fortune in salary. You can’t eat gold, as they say.
Therefore expect both will stick around, probably on far less than maximum contracts; this giving them power to chart their careers according to circumstance.
And finally – who drafted Bouchard? A genius draft choice. Bouchard’s the latest Oiler to give us the chance to watch him develop almost every game into a superstar. I’m giving Paul Coffey credit not for Bouchard’s talent but for giving Bouchard the confidence to apply what talents he has in the very best direction.
Right now their record is 11 – 12 – 1
I’ll predict they can get 85 points to the end of the season. My math skills are not very good, but that would give them a total of 108 points.
The Bruins fulfilled their purpose in life by defeating the Yotes this morning. Good work, Beantown.
The Stars remain a disappointment to us all, trailing the Kniggits at home in the 2nd.
Devs have tied it up in Huckleberry City. Hopefully they’re leaving it all out on the ice and playing like there’s no tomorrow…
After deliberating longer than the OJ jury, Devs have been awarded the go-ahead goal. 2-1 and on the powerplay after the failed challenge.
Connor Brown has been Selke level in his ability to shut Draisaitl down the last two games.
Winner of the month post!!!!
year. Haha.
Ohtani signs a 10 year $700 million contract with the Dodgers.
https://theathletic.com/live-blogs/ohtani-news-rumors-predictions-live-updates/OT60PVYWQfod/Shohei Ohtani signing with Dodgers: Live updates, news, analysis and reaction to $700 million deal
What single good reason would he have to ever leave SoCal? He just used the Jays extreme interest as MASSIVE leverage. And it worked like a charm….
Hope they enjoy their $70M/year DH.
And Jays fans will be much less insufferable than they would have been otherwise.
Depending on the structure of the deal, he could make as much in one season as an entire NHL roster.
More than the entire CFL
I for one am glad he did not sign in TO. I believe it would have affected the next TV contract with the NHL and CDN team’s sponsorship.
Every Jays fan should be glad he didn’t sign. Can you imagine the organizational excuses about money that would come 1 or 2 years in?
The owners, broadcasters and advertisers will be disappointed, but fans would’ve been in a weird kind of purgatory the next 10 years.
He would only be a DH for 70 mil. He was not going to pitch next season. 2nd Tommy John often carries more risk than the 1st one.
NHL_Sid with 4 options for Broberg.
https://oilersnation.com/news/the-four-options-the-oilers-have-with-philip-broberg
I’m bemused by the contortions on Broberg.
Kulak is -7 at evens with the best zone starts on the team playing on the third pair. After a six game winning streak, his goal share is still shy of 40% (39; it has actually gone up recently). Yes his PDO is low.
Broberg cannot win a job if Kulak can never lose. We are 24 games into the season. Kulak is gone no matter what next season due to price. I’m quite shocked that he has as much traction and support as he does.
Q: What was Broberg’s goal differential in the playoffs last year?
A: 4-1. 80%, highest goal share amongst D on the team (SSS).
Q: What was Broberg’s goal share last (regular) season?
A: 52%.
Q: Where did that rank among defenders?
A: 5/9 (excluding Ryan Murray and Demers; they didn’t play much).
Q: How many defenders ahead of him played as much or more?
A: Only Bouchard.
Let’s reflect on this. The only Oiler D who played as much or more than Broberg last season at evens and outdid him GF% wise is a current/future Norris contender. One of the other guys (fewer minutes) is a legit first pair type (Ekholm). The other two (fewer minutes) are depth guys who played well in limited minutes (Desharnais, Niemelainen).
The same crowd that so vociferously slammed Bouchard’s game has a blind spot the size of Jupiter for the problem that is EDM’s third pair. They have a similarly sized blind spot for what Broberg has actually done.
Of course, I’ll trust the words of Ekholm over any writer or talking head, who said (paraphrasing), “the kid has to play.”
But he’s soft (and he’s timid and but, but,but….)
He stuck like glue to Eichel battling him along the wall from above the faceoffs circle all the way around the back of the net last year in the playoffs.
Eichel skated circles around the rest of the Oilers defense.
My apologies for my sarcasm, I have the same viewpoint on Broberg as you do.
Playoffs, need 46 defensemen plus.
Get a deal done for Tanev that includes Kulak going the other way. CGY has zero LHD signed next year if they trade Hanafin so Kulak would help. Would need to sort out the extra cap Tanev takes up – and CGY might not want to do it – but we are blowing by them like a barn at the side of the highway. So any delusions of competitiveness they have are shrinking fast.
Nurse Ceci
Ek Bouch
Bro Tanev
The handling of Campbell will be a huge tell about the Jackson regime.
To quote a wise man, it will reveal whether they “make decisions based on things other than winning”.
I get that they’re trying to salvage the asset/mitigate trade cost, but if Campbell doesn’t give you the best chance to win an NHL game on any given night (vs. Pickard, or even Rodrigue), then you don’t give him the net. Simple as that.
Personally, I found it immensely encouraging that they chose not to call Campbell up after his last couple of bed-pooping performances.
I’m guessing the performance bar would not be high for Campbell to get another shot because of the reasons mentioned, but he can’t even reach the elementary school monkey bars right now
It’ll cost the future to move him, if they do it properly they buy him out this summer. UNLESS a motivated team is ready to move on from an underperforming big ticket player, like Laine, for example and need Soup’s contract added to the deal…
As the wins and resilient play add up, it’s clearer that the prior coaching was the problem with the poor start to the season. We’re unlikely to know what the full dynamic was there but this team is playing even better now than at any time (regular season) under Manwood.
In other words, there’s more than regression going on here. Nice to see, hope it keeps building.
Woody really overthought himself out of a job.
Yep, the house didn’t need to be torn down entirely, just buttressed in certain areas, after all.
Agreed and he was also a solid member of the McLelland tree which is conservative
They played to the boards and offensive corners, with the best player since Wayne and Mario
Knobby might seem quiet but he is a balls out coach, believes in his way and that’s what he does. Like a guy that ran the team when it was a juggernaut
I said they needed a stronger personality than Woody. Knobby didn’t seem like that. But so far Knobby is showing the ability to lead the stars that I was getting at
I like Kris he’s straightforward keep it simple. This is a veteran team they know what they need to do. Woody was scrambling with the reverse engineering deployment and strategy. The boys never bought into it. Woody should of been fired earlier but it sure didn’t take long for that Coffey fellow to regain all-star Bouchard confidence.
The boys never bought into it.
I think Woody knew what they needed to do, to be successful in the very different game of playoff hockey. The boys didn’t want to do it. When the Oilers lose in the second round again, Woody will know that he was right.
This is interesting … however KK has them playing locked down.
Sather was smarter than the game Woody not so much. Like door knob Eakins Woody might get one more chance but I doubt it.
I’d bet money that Woody will get another head coaching job.
He’s in the fraternity now and there’s always teams looking for a Coach to tank for a few years.
I believe he will be successful in his next position. We will wait and see.
In repeatedly saying that the Oilers have no plan for their prospects, I have overlooked a glaring example:
Connor Brown.
Of course, he is not a prospect. He did not play any competitive hockey for a full year. The Oilers have stuck with him in a top 6 role pretty much all season.
Why?
Does it not stand to reason that the player could have been started on the 4th line, 5-10 minutes a game, or even on a conditioning assignment in the AHL? He is scuffling whilst on a line with a premier power forward LW and one of the best centres in the world. Why?
I’ll tell you, because there was never any plan, never any consideration given to Brown not being the player he was pre-injury.
Holloway has been similarly though slightly less disappointing from a counting numbers perspective. Subjectively, however, their games are worlds apart. Holloway has been skating and creating.
We still need to get to that stage with Brown before (hopefully) the production comes.
I think we need to start paying more attention to the agents for each of these players. Who has a common agent, who are they looking to trade for and is there a player on the team with the same agent? Has to be verbal agreements to get guys to sign i.e. top 6 minutes and playing with the Ferraris. If you break enough of these verbal agreements then these agents won’t be inclined to push their other clients to Edmonton.
Despite the 97 draw, Edmonton still needs to sweeten the pot for most guys to commit IMO.
Agents have way more power than what is known and should have
That sentence stuck with me, LT. The NHL is not a development league, but it is a rehabilitation league. Hmm.
The question with both Broberg and Brown is “if we invest playing time now and accept a lesser outcome along the way, will it pay off later?”
Interesting that fans and the team seemingly have exact opposite opinions with these two. No idea what this means, just a musing.
I have to ask….
Have you ever taken a midnight train going anywhere?
ha ha!
remember how we changed that song for samwise!
I haven’t posted much in the last year. Found myself too emotionally invested in something that should be pleasurable. When you think everyone else is the problem, then it’s you.
Al, one of these days I’ll make the drive to one of your events. Threat or promise, I don’t know which.
This team got a coach fired for no good reason. Even Byslma won a cup with Crosby. Good to see them absolutely feed teams to the dogs. Bad at defense? Then make sure your game means you don’t have to…
That coach got fired because he forgot what made the team successful and had no ability to in-game adjust. Poster boy for insanity.
successful *in regular season hockey*
FTFY
The PK humming is nice to see but shouldn’t be a surprise.
From Mar 1 to end of season the PK ran at an 82% pace, just ever so slightly higher than the 12th spot in the league at 81.9%. Subsets within that though show some real pace – the last 15 games it ran at a 88.4% pace and during the nine games win streak to close out it ran 95.7%.
Like all things we see now, Woody and Manson found a similar magic for stretches. This is a damn good hockey team.
In the playoffs where we all remember the PK was a primary culprit in our losing it ran 75.6% but a rather ok 86.4% against Vegas (timing is a bugger). We lost our PK Witch Janmark and Nuge just wasn’t right.
As per usual though when healthy it’s very clear this roster is the best in the NHL.
I would say it is amongst the best. Areas to improve IMO arewould 3rd pair, 2 & 3 RW, 4th line and Goalie #2.
If any of these are see an upgrade, I think they would contend for top team.
I do think Drai can drive a line. That said, adding Boone Jenner would be fun
91-97-29
93-jenner-18
that might keep up with Vegas. Just need Halak or comparable for Skinner insurance.
Why would you take Hyman away from McDavid?
Id think drai and hyman can rotate whenever. The key is getting a 2nd hard min line not who is with who
I watched Columbus play the islanders this week. Jenner is an absolute beast. He’s the best player on that team in my opinion. I can’t even imagine what it would take to get him. He’s so strong defensively! Breaks cycles with ease. Dream player for the Oil.
And to think, he was available for the Oilers to draft instead of… *checks notes, ah yes, David “Frank’s Boy” Musil at 31st overall.
2011 really had a monster of a second round:
The Oilers literally could have drafted better in that second round with a dart board. Six players in drafted a row went on to reasonable or legit careers.
Blue Jackets announced today that Jenner is out 6 weeks with a broken jaw. His Oiler debut will have to wait.
Jack Campbell has now played exactly the same number of minutes in the AHL this season as Pickard and Rodrigue combined. Perfect for comparison!
Campbell
481 mins
27 GA
212 saves
Pickard
236 mins
8 GA
124 saves
Rodrigue
245 mins
9 GA
132 saves
Pickard + Rodrigue combined
481 mins
17 GA
256 saves
This obviously doesn’t account for shot quality, but Campbell has allowed 10 more goals while facing 34 less shots in exactly the same number of minutes.
Soup is our clear #4. Last night was another pair of softies. He just doesn’t track the puck. I don’t see it even as positioning but he just can’t squeeze (squeeze? Sorry I am not a goalie) for the save and things find their way quite literally through him. Just throw it on nest all night you’ll get a couple it doesn’t matter anymore if it’s NHL, AHL, or even I think some of these pucks are Junior B. Floaters.
Mike McKenna has been discussing this for awhile.
Campbell’s fundamentals are poor.
https://oilersnation.com/news/nhl-notebook-mike-mckenna-digs-into-jack-campbells-struggles-jakob-chychrun-nearing-return-from-injury-and-more
This makes sense and is also something Stu has issues with on lateral passes.
Look at the 2nd last night. He’s set awkwardly on Boldy, and when he does push over to Ek its weak, he doesn’t get all the way across and he’s low as he comes across. He misses it on a mid-low shot but fully the top half of the net is still wide open.
Its happened frequently with him this year and its worse when he’s twitchy. Last night he was very twitchy. I counted four times when he went to play the puck where he felt the need to either stickhandle or hold it, instead of moving it quickly. When he doesn’t get shots Stu looks for ways to get himself into the game and I’m half convinced it actually takes away from the his goal stopping ability. Might be a habit picked up from Smith I dunno but he has to learn to keep his focus. Young man, it happens, no biggie, but something to work on.
it appearsthat Brown is playing higher than he should be; 3rd line or lower is IMO where he belongs
Nice win for the Bake last night.
Campbell makes saves on 20 of 24 shots.
I’m looking forward to Cal Pickard in goal against Chicago as I suspect we’ll need him to make 8-10 starts through February.
Will Kane get a call from the league?
Didnt seem too bad but the league is trying to get these hits out of the game
Reports are no.
If the league wants those hits out of the game, they need to punish the back-turners.
Wouldn’t happen if Brodin played as players used to be taught and is proper – that you should always be either turned sideways or facing the play. Never with the logo pointing at the boards.
Lowetide that opening pic looks soooooo cold. Brings back memories of childhood which were seemingly spent in the snow as much as in the woods.
Was Campbell good last night? He was terrible the game before.
Great win last night by the Oil. I agree that Brown is not helping the 2nd line at all. Be so nice if we had a RWer that can actually score to play with Drai.
The team definitely needs to figure out the B goalie thing. Skinner cannot play all 6 on this home stand . Maybe Picard gets Chicago? Or will they bring Campbell up for that one.
someone said Greer was at the game. Are we looking at Blackwood?
6 straight is great. NJ is going to be a great test as they can fly. Be nice to get to 500 tom afternoon
From what I saw, he was not good. At least 3 bad goals IMO.
Tks
The Oilers have to feel that Pickard is #2 on the organization’s depth chart atm, right?
I don’t think it’s even debatable.
How could they consider disrupting the momentum of this win streak with Campbell flopping around in the crease. Yeesh.
Michael Russo reporting there will not be any supplemental discipline for Kane.
Was there any discipline at all?
Nope. No penalty called.
Guess it was thr wrong use of the word supplemental.
From a lawyer no less!
When the tide turns the tide turns.
Last night Kulak played under 12 TOI, 1 hit no points. Pretty much like the last 5 games. Tell me again why our 8th OV is in the AHL and rather expensive Kulak plays just 5 shifts a period???
Kulak is reliable, amazing skater (see the breakaway he snuffed out yesterday), usually plays well with limited ice time and right now is better than Broberg.
IMO Broberg should be getting tons of ice time in the minors and get his shot when an inevitable injury occurs. No need to bench a player who is a better player than him at the moment.
We’re half way there folks… go ahead get your groove on…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZI5t7w2U5g
I know Drai gets short end of the stick when it comes to linemates but at some point we have to start to realize that he can’t drive a line.
I never liked Drai and Mcdavid on the pk. Who would have thought that taking them off would fix it.
MacT voiced what we have been saying for some time – McD has historically been saddled with substandard wingers but could still create plays. Drais is now pulling dead weight and cannot.
He needs a dynamic winger to complement Kane’s bulldog. Brown does not belong anywhere near that line.
Draisaitl can’t drive a line?!?
I wonder if folks in Pittsburgh say that about Malkin?
Exactly. No disrespect to Brown, but he’s a day late offensively.
He’s certainly not a dollar short however.
Crosby always let Malkin have the better wingers.
Huh funny enough I seem to remember the last few seasons, Drai would get the wingers that are struggling going then pass them off to 97 and rebuild whatever wingers McDavid has burnt out. They’ve always been swapping wingers back and forth, I think Brown is just severely miscasted.
Eberle is a ufa at seasons end, I don’t expect him to be a 2 way world beater but he’s still much better offensively then any RW not named Hyman on the squad. Wonder what it would cost for the Oilers to have a quick seasons end fling with the fella.
Trade with Columbus for Elvis and Laine.He would score 50 goals with Drai feeding him.However……how to fit in his 7million?
Laine is a terrible fit. He makes Kane look like Gainey in the defensive zone.
Raphael Lavoie never got a chance basically because his skill set isn’t suited for the 4th line and that’s probably fair. But now with no real alternative for a wingman for Draisaitl this to me seems like the obvious opportunity to see what he has. There will never be a better time to give him a shot with that line struggling anyway. That said I know it likely doesn’t happen because they’ve decided no youth gets a shot this year.
I said that n September; didn’t get a lot of love
I imagine, after too much caffeine, that the play is Brown on the trade block once Lavoie is ready for a definitive callup later this season. And that Campbell will NOT be called up (if at all) until the team is more comfortably positioned in the standings.Campbell will not be reasonable to trade at his cap hit and will be bought out this summer of course, If Broberg progresses enough in th AHL by trade deadline, we might move on from Kulak to get him on the roster at LD full time.
If Brown is traded does the cap hit next year go with him?
No – the cap hit hits the team he was on when the bonus vested.
Its also not technically a cap hit for next year.
The bonus will get added to the Oilers year end cap calculation when the season is over and the amount of overage it causes will be a penalty towards next year’s cap.
So if the Oilers can accrue some space it will lessen the penalty for next year.
Can someone please sell me the vision on fully operational Conner Brown. In the first period when he had hands of stone in the offensive zone I was thinking Lennart Petrell. In the third period when he and Draisaitl were making a meal of exiting their own zone I was thinking I miss Lennart Petrell.
I had Connor Brown in my keeper league for 3 years so have watched him a bit more closely than I might of a player that was always in the other conference. Helped that he played in Canada & was on the tube every Saturday night.
Operational Connor Brown is all over the puck in all 3 zones & an opportunistic scorer. As in, create lots of opportunities & maybe one will go in. He’s an excellent penalty killer who once led the NHL in shorthanded goals.
He’s a good enough scorer to do 2 things his more famous namesake hasn’t: lead the OHL in scoring, & lead the IIHF World Championship in scoring. He’s hardly devoid of talent.
But he sure is on a shit streak right now, & it’s clearly weighing on him.
I also keep getting double flashbacks of Andrej Sekera pre- & post-ACL tear. He was never the same after that Getzlaf hit. Too soon to yet say that about Brown, but it’s a worry.
If I recall, Sekera’s skating was never the same again, and that was his main issue.
I don’t see skating to be an issue for Brown – speed, lateral or edges.
Far from an expert on skating or this player mind you.
Thanks Bruce, I hope he can return to form and the spark is not gone. When some players are struggling I can see a point where when they get the monkey off their back are going to score in bunches. Browns has not yet inspired that especially with the quality Centre he is being given.
Sounds like a Foegele light, only more expensive.
>I also keep getting double flashbacks of Andrej Sekera pre- & post-ACL tear. He was never the same
I have had the same thoughts. It’s Ryan Whitney all over again
Oilers caught a break in this one. That hit by Kane was nasty. He should have at least got 2 minutes for boarding. But too often it’s the Oil that are on the wrong side of that sort of business. So that’s nice for a change. It’s those darn referees again.
Why you think that was boarding?
that was a good heavy hit.
I like Kane in the offensive zone but man he’s doesn’t even try in the defensive zone
Because it was boarding?
There’s been a lot of talk about Paul Coffey lately and through the discussions on here it has become evident that the younger portion of the fanbase doesn’t know a lot about him. He was the first of the Boys on the Bus to disembark, so perhaps that’s to be expected.
At one point in time, pundits were wondering if he was the best player in the NHL after Gretzky. Lemieux was not yet at the height of his powers.
Here’s a video of his Oiler highlights. Sadly most of the first two minutes are a series of slapshots, but if you’re patient you will get to see some rushes and his sublime skating. Speedskating coaches even used to use video of him to teach their sport! Now maybe some of that was his fame and appeal to youth at the time, but it’s a hell of an endorsement regardless.
Gretzky used to say he was the only skater he knew who could gain speed while gliding. and that was part of our amazement. How damn effortless Coffey made speed look. And his edges were ungodly, second only to Gretz. A snake wishes it could wind its way through obstacles the way Coffey could.
But, much like Boosh, he was also absolutely lethal with his shot, had great vision, and could stickhandle, which was not exactly a skill you’d see from a Dman back in the day.
Coffey was the best dman we ever had
Coffey was a tough sonofabitch too.
Sublime skill, silky mitts, and brass knuckles.
If I remember correctly he also skated barefoot and wore skates 3 sizes smaller than what he should wear. He liked them tight.
Blades were duller than Toronto in February. Helped him glide vs cutting into the ice and slowing him down.
I think it was two sizes. I can remember commentators being shocked with it at the time but my coach always advocated playing with smaller skates (and that’s going back to the 70s). That coach also advised learning to skate with no laces done up.
(And neither pieces of advice did me any good lol)
Coffey wore size 9 shoes & size 6 3/4 skates.
Now if Coffey could just teach Desharnais to skate like him, then Bob’s your Uncle.
Get Me Through December.
https://youtu.be/EB5mHI4WXn8?si=O7IUfipS68LmdFjr
Love Alison Krause! Is that really you posting HH?????
It’s his yang before he starts drinking and the yin starts.
Wow. Thanks for this HH.
Enjoy.
She is sublime.
My opinion has changed from “no way in hell is Leon going to resign here” to “he will sign a one or two year contract to see if he and 97 can get the job done”.
He’s not signing a two year contract. He will sign max length. Why would he not. Risk career ending injury on a two year contract? No way.
great point. See John Klingberg. His downfall wasn’t strictly injury related, more so just performance and now injury.
But the point was “apparently” he had an offer for $50 mil long term from Dallas and wanted more. So he didn’t sign, bet on himself in Anaheim. Had a horrendous year. Had to bet on himself again and now hurt.
If he doesn’t get a long term deal, which is unlikely now – he will have left $35 – $40 million on the table.
So to your point, no way Leon is going to sign say a 2 yr – $25 mil dollar when he can get a long term deal closer to $100 Million.
He has already made a fortune. he has no need to worry about extracting every possible penny out of the situation. His team right now might or might not turn out to be a cup winner – leaving him a nice option were everything to go pear shaped after say, 3 years more on the team.
not exactly how it works
Not in Edmonton.
The “I would not trade Rafferty for Bouchard” is ageing like Leon Draisaitl is Joe Colborne wine.
Even a broken clock is really really wrong multiple times a day.
But seriously, Bouchard is making me second guess my LD jersey. What a beauty.
I bet that Draisaitl jersey looks amazing on your wall, displayed proudly beside this year’s centrepiece: a Grand Rapid Griffins jersey sporting your famous nephew’s #25.
I cannot believe the officiating last night. The NHL should be embarrassed, and the non-stop gambling comments, odds changing throughout the game and the commercials. So bad.
The NHL had the ability to be embarrassed surgically removed. Draisaitl getting DDT’d, Pietrangelo last year and Nurse gets a game.
The only good thing is that I spaz out about it less now. Getting off Twitter helped too.
I have been off twitter since 2017. Complete junk then and worse now. I actually know a guy who put $100MM into the take private with elon and that is worth no more than $10MM right now and getting worse. Not a happy camper.
How was he smart enough to have $100M and not foresee the struggles Musk was going to face? That’s on him.
Lol rich = smart Lol
How many people with an IQ of 80 do you know that have made a surplus $100M? Notice too… I didn’t say “smart.” I said “smart enough.” Nothing against you personally, but there’s only one thing getting exposed when one posts vacuous, word-twisting rhetoric…
Waaaay late back to this but anyway how about starting with the Royals. That family is a few corgis short of a pack. Inherited wealth represents 80-90% of all wealth, per Piketty. So as a general rule intelligence is not correlated at all to wealth. So I’m not twisting anything, I just would take every opportunity to dispel any myth of the brilliant self-made millionaire/billionaire. And if you look at the richest man on the planet, I don’t know about IQ80 but whatever he lacks he sure makes up for with stupidity.
Actually I regret my original snarky post, which is what it was, to be clear. I am actively trying to keep it to hockey but its two steps forward one back. I just really hate the influx of gambling into this sport, and I also hate Elon Musk. So this was a really tough one for me. This is me now below trying to at least come back with some numbers to back up the snark.
This thread is pretty good though and contains people disagreeing but not spilling over the edge: I think it is possible on this blog to have this kind of discourse but it would be great if it could also remain relevant to hockey, NHL gambling, etc.
Well he has a few billion so 100 million is not existential. He is also married to a very attractive Canadian girl.
What is the price of at least a small probability of uncensored and free speech? The LLM models will not be trustworthy if the input is censored. Since Facebook, Microsoft, and Google comply with government censorship, Musk is building an edge in AI.
“What is the
pricecost of at least a small probability of uncensored and free speech?”Fixed that for you. Big believer in free speech. No time for spewing hatred.
Musk has complied with government censorship before. Don’t pretend he hasn’t or doesn’t. Musk is far from a “free speech” advocate.
Yet he is about to reinstate Alex Jones. Just pathetic. Hate speech is never acceptable.
The only speech that requires protection is the truth, and objectionable and offensive speech. Unoffensive speech and censored speech don’t require protection.
The only bar against speech should be a clear and present danger test.
A free society is only free if it allows a lot of really horrible expression and speech.
So society has Alex Jones. That’s a pretty shitty society. I think we can do better.
The government lies all the time. As the former unelected head of the EU said, “When things get serious, you have to lie.” And throughout the Covid crisis and the economic crisis which resulted, government have demonstrated an exceptional ability to lie.
Why can’t individuals have the same right to lie as the government, as long as the speech does not present a clear and present danger.
I can protect myself better if the crazy people self-identify through their speech.
Reminder, Musk said this last year about Jones:
““My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame,” Musk tweeted on November 20, 2022.”
Which, as an aside, Elon lied about this because Justine Musk said she was the one holding the child when it died.
And now Musk is going back on his word, because he wants to keep trying give the impression he cares about free speech (he does not).
That is why I said small probability. Musk will at least fight the good battle against government and big tech censorship. I didn’t claim he would win, or was perfect on the issue.
Musk caved to Erdogan by censoring Erdogan’s rival during their election period, according to reports. And then Erdogan rewarded him by allowing him to build a Tesla factory in Turkey.
Musk isn’t fighting any noble fight. He only does what’s best for himself and he has shown countless times he will use whatever power he has to get what he wants, or try to get out of what he doesn’t want.
Musk also gets a vast of his wealth from government subsidies and contracts so I don’t expect him to put up any significant fight against any kind government. Unless that is, he strikes a deal with one government to go against an opposing government.
That’s still not an argument against free speech, or the necessity for self-policing. Really, it amounts to nothing more than an ad hominem attack against someone who has at least resisted the efforts of the Censorship Industrial Complex. And if anything, it actually makes Godot’s original point.
Why are you focused on the personalities involved? It’s the ideas here that are important.
Because Musk calls himself a “free speech absolutist” but has demonstrated that he has not. He has a long, storied history of lying about everything and anything from all aspects of his life. For some reason though, people seem to think he really cares about free speech, just because he says he cares about it, while they ignore all of the lying and examples of him not being about free speech.
There are people who talk about free speech and what that means and it’s importance, and then there is Musk.
Also, the censorship industrial complex? I hope you don’t mean advertisers who are exercising their ability to participate in a free market by leaving the cesspool that is twitter.
So? Why do you care about what Elon says? That kind of whataboutism doesn’t push the conversation forward, and I feel like you actually do want to. But if we’re going to talk about the hypocrisy of billionaires instead of free speech, we’ll be here till Xmas sharing stories.
By the Censorship Industrial Complex, I’m referring to the alliance between tech billionaires and the government to illegally censor and control the conversations on social media that was recently uncovered starting about six months ago with new information weekly.
By the way, looks like Twitter has become the safest of the social media since Musk took it over. There’s massive pressure on Disney right now to divest its advertising portfolio with FB and IG after the pedophilic content discovered on those platforms.
Who knows if they will? Who cares? They’re likely hypocrites too. Because again, why do you keep taking the conversation in this direction rather than engaging with the ideas?
Isn’t free speech a little more important than hypocrisy of billionaires or their companies? I mean without free speech you can’t discuss that hypocrisy. In fact, he CIC was focused on protecting the profits of BigPharma and the decisions of BigGov, not on stopping hate speech.
Do you see how hate speech is thus used as a straw-man wedge issue to obtain public acceptance for something completely different?
Truthfully, I don’t feel like writing many paragraphs in response, and asking you for credible sources which call Twitter some kind of safe haven in comparison to other social media accounts. And then have to review the sources and see how credible they are, and then possibly provide sources of my own. Especially when LT is out, and if I do, there will likely be more back and forth which LT will likely delete later anyway.
All I will say is, Elon is a known grifter and a liar with a lot of power. If people are putting their hopes in him having a platform that supports “free speech”, who will fight these “censorship industrial complexes” in a way that will improve social media and society in general, then they will be sorely disappointed. Hopefully they don’t get grifted out of money along the way.
No that is not what he means. What he means is the governments and their agencies in the US and Western countries, including Canada, working hand in glove with the big tech companies, Apple, Google/Alphabet, Meta/Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter before Musk to permission only certain narratives and people, and censor other narratives and people, mostly without regard to science or the actual facts.
Musk is sort of a nation state unto himself, and his statements and actions come from the realist school of foreign policy. The globalists rely on him because through his EV grift, he makes their delusion of a so-called green transition seem slightly plausible. The neocons rely on him because his rocket grift is increasingly the only way they can get to space. He realized he needed a media grift to defend himself against being cancelled, so he bought Twitter. Being a realist and a grifter, his values are somewhat flexible. Just like the US hegemon and it rules-base-order for everyone else, rules which the US hegemon itself does not have to follow.
So like the US, Musk has a set of rules and projects that he views as aspirational for a better world, that he does not necessarily apply those rules to himself. Like the US, he views himself outside of Plato’s cave handling the projector.
If you thought this was bad
the vegas@ blues game the other night far worse
constant parade to the box on garbage calls
ruined the game
Not sure what is worse, call nothing or call garbage. NHL sucks. We should just bring on some rugby officials, give them the rule book and teach them to skate…..
Prospectaly!
Believe me or not*, only a trio of NA amateurs toil tonight, two-thirds of whom play for Woodcroft the Elder.
Münzenberger scored his first goal in almost two calendar years yesternight, while Joel has to practise mind over Määttä to find the back of the net again. He has tallied but once in 11 games this season.
Day completes the troika, having won three of his last four starts.
Flint (Day) @ 5 p.m.
Vermont (Münzenberger, Määttä) @ 5 p.m.
Both times are the same time and are also Yeoford time.
*This was one of the many amusing turns of phrase proffered by a former prof of mine, a genial Bangladeshi who earned the nickname “Dr. Death” for having allegedly flunked his own son.
Woodcroft the Elder was fired in July for “inappropriate text messages” with a student.
Ah, I had forgotten. Thank you for your intrepid reportage.
Always a pleasure to beat the Wild, have a couple of extra pops and then wake up Saturday morning.