Do you ever wonder how many prospects, currently in Bakersfield, will develop into NHL players? Fewer will play in Edmonton this decade, due to draft picks traded and young prospects dealt, but the first decade of Oilers history generated some exceptional talent. Was there quality talent from 2009-10 through 2018-19?
THE ATHLETIC!
- Lowetide: Are the Edmonton Oilers able to make a strong trade this season?
- Lowetide: 3 young Edmonton Oilers prospects looking for full-time duty
- DNB: Calvin Pickard’s play and improved defending give Oilers time to make a goalie trade
- Lowetide: The Oilers’ 4 most famous midseason demotions in franchise history
- 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
- 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 4-0-0)
- 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: 4-0-0, 8 points in 4 games
- Oilers in 2023-24: 13-12-1, 27 points in 26 games
The Tampa Bay Lightning are 4-6-0 in the last 10 games, and are currently out of a playoff spot. Edmonton is 8-2-0 in the last 10 games and owns the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It’s a very strange world we live in, master Jack.
THE 2010’S AND MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS
- 2009-10 Springfield Falcons: Devan Dubnyk, Colin McDonald, Taylor Chorney
- 2010-11 Oklahoma City Barons: Jeff Petry, Chris VandeVelde
- 2011-12 Oklahoma City Barons:
- 2012-13 Oklahoma City Barons: Mark Arcobello
- 2013-14 Oklahoma City Barons: Oscar Klefbom, Martin Marincin, Taylor Fedun, Brad Hunt
- 2014-15 Oklahoma City Barons: Brandon Davidson, Iiro Pakarinen
- 2015-16 Bakersfield Condors: Tyler Pitlick, Jujhar Khaira, Anton Slepyshev
- 2016-17 Bakersfield Condors: Jesse Puljujarvi, Jordan Oesterle, Laurent Brossoit
- 2017-18 Bakersfield Condors: Ethan Bear
- 2018-19 Bakersfield Condors: Caleb Jones, Kailer Yamamoto
Is there a Huddy, Moog, Tikkanen, Smith level of quality here? I think Dubnyk, Petry, Klefbom are strong but you probably want more from a rebuilding decade.
Since this decade ended, names like Evan Bouchard, Ryan McLeod, Stuart Skinner, Philip Broberg, Vincent Desharnais, Markus Niemelainen, James Hamblin, Mike Kesselring, Olivier Rodrigue, Raphael Lavoie, Xavier Bourgault and Dylan Holloway have emerged. Is this decade destined to deliver very little, or will some of these men blossom?
Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440, we’ll preview the Lightning-Oilers game with Bagged Milk and take your texts, too. NFL action tonight and more. You can reach me in the comments section, @Lowetide on twitter, or text us 1.833.401.1440 directly.
Incredibly entertaining, completely dominated 2x cup champs throughout, just got goalied. Time to start a new winning streak.
Also, the least effective forward wears #28. He is a broken hockey player. It’s been over 20 games now, it might be time to consider him the 13th forward and get Erne some time to earn in-game cardio.
I thought Brown had a really nice game even though he didn’t score.
If he were an Oilers draft pick LT would say ‘he’s coming on now’
He lost his mark on one goal against.
Interesting Thought: Paul Coffey emerging as some kind of coaching savant; then turns the entire Oilers team into the incarnation of his own speed of light warp speed style of hockey.
For those under the age of 21 – who won’t remember Paul Coffey’s style – he was faster than a speeding bullet while gliding like an eagle. It was argued at one point that Coffey was as talented as the still prime Wayne Gretzky – who for those under the age of 21 played like his hockey stick was pulled out from a giant rock.
I think it’s more like under the age of 33, and I don’t remember anyone arguing that Coffey was as talented as Gretzky. Coffey’s game took a downturn and injuries cost him a lot after the 1995-96 season, and even those years were not prime Coffey. 1990-91 was a good season, but true prime Coffey would have been 1983-1986 and you’d have to be at least 43 to remember those years. I would have been about 14 at Peak-Coffey. I feel old. He was almost always on a team with some of the best offensive forwards ever. He went from Gretzky, Messier, Kurri et al, to Lemieux, Stevens, Jagr, Murphy et al, to Gretzky, Kurri, Robitaille, Blake, a stop in Hartford when his game started to drop off and he never got close to a point/gp pace again. Then to Lindros, Brind’Amour, Leclair, and finally finishing off his career with stops in Chicago, Carolina, and Boston. He had some high-octane scoring to play with in his career.
Tampa Bay are the current 2X most recent recent cup champions, with plenty of life still in them, and yet Oilers were literally beating the shite out of them on the ice for long stretches of the game; only for the uber experienced and wily Clearwater Beach veterans to cleverly eke out a win that deep down they will know that they didn’t deserve.
I remember teaching a pal how to play chess when we were teenagers and this dude would one day go on to win at a famous tournament location while I am at best a slightly above average player. I immediately saw him improve every time we played until it got to the point where I knew he was better than I was yet I was still able to take advantage of his inexperience. Dude hated losing to me then, because he also knew he was getting better than me.
Oilers are rising up like a freaking hockey colossus right before our eyes. They’re using the regular season suddenly brilliantly. Despite the(eventual) loss tonight, they still have a 10-3(amortised to 126 points over an 82 game season) record under the new coaches.
@BruceMcCurdy
Final shot count was adjusted by +3, meaning Oilers set a new franchise record with 57 shots on goal tonight. 19-10 in the third period, in which they got outscored 1-5.
This one really stings, even as the Oilers were truly dominant for long stretches of it.
Not really.
You can’t win them all, and that ex Flame can be made to pay, like a sacrificial goat in the next game.
Can’t be that mad about getting beat by the best goalie in the world when they play like like the best goalie in the world. Imagine how many opposing fan bases say that when Connor does it. The difference here is Connor can’t play the full 60mins. Plus 50+ shots against any team is extremely hard, let alone Tampa.
Some real good moments in this game too. The 4th line with Kulak and Des in the 2nd period where they somehow completely bodied their 1st line. That one stood out. Even coming back from 2 after the 1st was not something we’ve seen this year.
Vasilevskiy .926% on 55 shots
S7inner .773% on 22 shots
WOOF.
He knows it, said as much after the game.
Crap happens but he’s had more than a few of these ones so far. Something to work on staying mentally tight. Can’t give up those butter soft go aheads.
in his last game against Tampa Stu went
5/23 for a 0.783.
Fugly totals. They’re in his head.
Expected goals 6.36 vs 2.1 😂😂😂
Bad game from Skinner but I’ll look at the positives.
The Oilers absolutely dominated Tampa 95% of the time. I thought they deferred shooting too much (prob cause Vasi was in their heads a bit) but also Tampa did a good job disrupting the attack. Tampa bumped a lot of passes, just bided their time and Skinner gave them an opening.
If the team keeps playing like that, they will win games. But goaltending remains an issue. What does Saros cost? I think JC might go in a seperate deal. This is the major issue for this team to solve by the TD.
Interesting. I thought Tampa was horrific defensively. Multiple giveaways in the dzone, multiple odd man rushes. They truly deserved to lose.
Was unable to watch the game but sad to see comments in the thread. Sounds like Skinner didn’t have a great game and Vasi did. It happens. Skinner has been playing great. This happens every once and a while. Why are we fans so quick to get the pitchforks out??
Looks like team deserved better- let’s remember that and move on. Did we think the team was going to win out rest of season?
The Oilers were loosey goosey in front of Skinner.
And what about Tampa that gave up multiple 2 on 1s? 3 on 1? passed the puck into the slot for Oilers forwards?
Quality scoring chances were probably 20 to 5 for the Oilers.
Multiple giveaways in their own zone. Tampa was flat out awful.
Scoring chances at 5v5 were 9-6 Lightning in the 3rd. Oilers were playing with fire.
The Oil do love to play with fire. I guess that is the nature of oil. You know you can light it on fire at any moment, so the temptation is real. We love to play a little more loose, less urgency, give a bit more space, and invite more opportunities to make it harder on ourselves than we should. It’s basically an Oiler mantra at this point.
Your defense of the indefensible is chuckle worthy.
The man himself knows he botched it. Look he even says so right here lol
https://youtu.be/nRmCtbt5wqA?si=P5gGiliYRGqCY6t2
No Hedman.
And that’s why called mostly goalie.
Why didn’t the Oilers challenge the second goal for goalie interference. Sure looked like skinner got bumped on the first shot, resulting in the big rebound.
I thought maybe because it went in well after that, skinner had time to move over and didn’t make the save. It’s a leaky rebound.
Exactly so.
It was on the rebound of the first save – if Skinner would have been square to the first one, I doubt the rebound is that leaky – but he’s bumped enough out of square that he has to use his pad and the rebound kicks out to a bad spot.
The whole ‘incidental contact’ rule on goalies is pretty inconsistent.
Well, that is disappointing and unacceptable. Maybe they beat the Panthers
However if they are for real can’t use playing good teams as an excuse, especially up after the 2nd, if fails happen from players that have stability issues that lose games
Gorton/Hughes don’t sit on thumbs addressing holes, so to speak. Or Vegas. Holland’s hammock at a Michigan lake may have cost the season. Sad
Not positive enough? We’re past morale victories. We’re at starting and closing games now. Against anyone. The issues causing problems were known before the season start
There are no moral victories for this team that time is long past.
Can you win the cup with this team as it is right now?
To me the glaring issue is goal tending.
But what to do?
Ceci is playing too high in the roster to win a cup, unless the Oilers get really lucky.
Yes, only if goalies save what they should
(Rod Roddy Voice) Calvin Picard COME ON DOWN!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlUjryOP3LE
Worst display by an Oilers goaltender since Koski let in 4 shots in a row…less than 2 years ago?
Uhhh Jack Campbell has played plenty since Koski.
I don’t recall JC giving up 3 goals that bad in a row…jack’s usually good for 1 or 2 bad ones a game.
Skinner was one of the better players for Tampa.
Oilers get goalied in multiple ways.
Out goalied by the best goalie in the world.
I’m noticing a bit of a double-team strategy when Connor attacks the (almost always) collapsed box. Teams seem to be playing him to his (anyone’s really) preferred side (the forehand) but the next guy is already stepping into the space he is going to.
On the RHS rotation, the high W is prepared to step into his space in the high slot when he gets around the D tracking him, and on the LHS the low D is prepared to step into his space in the low slot when he gets around W tracking him.
This is why he and Drai need to stop always forcing things and start using misdirection when they see that sort of thing
For a while that will work, but then any adjustments will open them up more
I don’t think Andrew V. let in a bad goal. But we let in a few and that’s the game. Tampa had no business winning this game….
Wonder what it’s like to have a dominant G for 8 years
That is what you call a complete collapse.
Give up 5 in third? That’s Calgary level garbage.
Thought the team played well. Skinner was badly outplayed by the stud at the other end.
From speed and finesse tonight to bully boy hockey tomorrow.
I’m giving all three stars to the tender
Good effort. Can’t win them all.
Poor game by Stu and an unbelievable game by AV.
Tampa looks terrible. While besides their goalie obviously.
No Hedman.
Well, not a great game from Skinner but just like early in the season the skaters were making some mindboggling stupid plays that we have not seen for nine games. Team game and there’s plenty of blame all around. Back to basics.
Bro, we dominated. 50 shots on Vassy… really?
Largely because of one and a half periods. Scoresheet shows 7-4 after entering the 3rd with the lead. Quite obviously puck management is an issue. Should not be putting pressure on your goalie when you have the lead and there’s no need. tonight he couldn’t bail them ut especially against the best shooter in the League. That’s what happens when you roll that dice. That was what was not happening when they didn’t roll that dice for nine games.
Skinner has been shaky for the last three. Tis why KK sat him against the Canes.
Should have hooked him after that rebound on the 2nd. Another soft one on the 3rd and then he falls apart. Stamkos shot from 40ft out is a warm up shot not an NHL goal.
He needs to learn to cool it when things go south. When the dam breaks he goes all in. None of those 3rd period goals were good, none of them.
Team gave up nothing really and he handed them a Loss.
Onto the next one.
Really? Cause two of those three goals came on odd man breaks and the other by an unattended legit killer at the side of the net.
If you think all the blame should rests on one person, I’m sorry I can’t help you. There was at least three errors, including by Skinner, on all three of those goals.
.773
Sometimes goalies have bad games. Stu had a bad one tonight but it had been coming for a bit.
Just needs to reset and learn not to go full dam breach when it’s a slog. He’ll figure it out.
i think the team played very well. We kept another quality team under 25 shots. With average goaltending we we win this game. Still a positive game other then the loss and inferior goaltending.
Fire Skinner to the moon.
that’s too bad
a goal by Vaselevski there would have been the cherry on top
That was a very weak play by Draisaitl on that board battle with Cirelli.
Truly gross effort by Skinner tonight. Man salty after that. He did that last time against Tampa too, hellbent on giving a win away.
Oh well, onto the next one.
Good game.
Can’t fault Skinner on that 6th goal.
Probably see Pickard next game, FLA is gonna be a tough out.
Oilers deserved a better out come but you aren’t going to win many games when your tender gives up a 5 spot. Hopefully this is a one of for Skinner. He has been very solid throughout the win streak. Also shows you how valuable a star goalie can be.
zut alors
Nice by Bouch not quite enough
Damn unfortunate finish but what a game!
At least they still have their heads here pushing. Looking for decent plays
BOOM!!! Nuge makes it interesting!!!
Ha, vas still almost saved that.
There’s one back. Nuge has been snake bit this game but finally got one
Game on!!!
Whoomp, there it is.
Still some time for some old fashioned Oiler magic, thanks to Nuge.
NUUUUUUUUGE !!
OK- that’s 1
On the wrong side of the goalie battle tonight…..
One of those games where two players beat a better team.
That’s been the Oilers modus operandi for a while, I’d rather have this current balanced version. Not many nights 50 shots and 20 HDSC’s results in a L.
Maybe the Oil can sign Stamkos next year for cheap LOL
If we had Vas we wouldn’t lose
Play Pickard next game
Oilers lose due to having the inferior goalie performance. What a waste by Skinner.
Some gaps in Stu’s game. There are in house options not called JC. Hopefully no devastating deals in the works
Given how wobbly Stu remains he’s a 1C
Running out of runway tonight, but a quick pp goal and it’s game on again….