Moon rise over Turtle Lake. Photo by Todd Kirkpatrick
The Edmonton Oilers played a strong game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and have a chance to improve the early season record (currently 3-4-1) with a late afternoon match against the Detroit Red Wings. The coaching staff is still tweaking, but the players are settling in and one hopes we see some roster consistency in the days to come. Today, I’d like to discuss things that I’ve noticed in the first eight games.
The Athletic article today is about the first recall from Bakersfield Condors. There are some interesting candidates, all of them over 22. Among the prospects, there are also some encouraging spikes. The article is here.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- At home to: WPG, CHI, CAL, PHI (Expected 3-1-0) (Actual 1-3-0)
- On the road to: NAS, DAL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 1-1-0)
- At home to: CAR, PIT (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 1-0-1)
- On the road to: DET, CBJ, NAS (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 7-4-0, 14 points in 11 games
- Actual October results: 3-4-1, seven points in eight games
- Oilers in 2024-25: 3-4-1, seven points in eight games
If the Oilers run the table from here, and that’s a tall order, they can finish the month within an eyelash of my pre-October prediction. That’s impressive, and shows you the power of this lineup when enough pistons are firing on time.
THINGS I’VE NOTICED
We’re just eight games in to the season, too early for strong conclusions. The cement isn’t set, so a random dog or bird wandering through is going to change the look of the final product.
I’ve been impressed by the new wingers (Jeff Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson, Vasily Podkolzin) at different times and for different reasons.
Skinner is a thinking man’s skill player and far from a one-trick pony. He has quickly become a favourite of mine, he’s so smart and has terrific puck shooting and passing ability.
Viktor Arvidsson took a little time to get going, but he’s a combination of skill, smarts and determination. I wonder what a Zach Hyman-Leon Draisaitl-Viktor Arvidsson line would look like?
Vasily Podkolzin has some Jason Chimera and or Kent Manderville to him, and by that I mean he’s maybe more brave than the average bear with the puck on his stick. We don’t know if it’s going to result in offense, and maybe he becomes a hometown hero (take ’em wide, Bucky!) whose sorties into the offensive zone are sure to fail every time but are fun all the same.
I like the incumbent wingers too (Hyman, Nuge, Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Corey Perry) and even one in the AHL (Matthew Savoie) and that is encouraging. Evander Kane is going to come back eventually, and that will give the club all manner of choices and depth for the top three lines while also saving (say) Janmark and Brown for the fourth line. That’s exceptional depth, the kind of depth championship teams possess.
A year ago, Edmonton’s eight wingers in the early portion of the season were (based on ice time five-on-five) Kane, Hyman, Connor Brown, Warren Foegele, Dylan Holloway, Mattias Janmark, Derek Ryan (who also played some center) and Adam Erne. I think this year’s group is better.
On defense early last season, the big issue was Mattias Ekholm (40 percent goal share through seven games at five-on-five) being less than 100 percent.
The goaltending is markedly better five-on-five this season. Calvin Pickard (who Bob has starting today via twitter) owns a .929 SP and Stuart Skinner sits .912 idling in the driveway. Last year, after a similar number of games, Skinner was .889 and Jack Campbell .884.
I think this team is building a workable structure and improving things like passing and positioning. I also think the ‘give a damn’ meter defensively has improved. Those are all good things. Now, the questions that will be asked are about injury, fatigue, effects of travel and individual struggles connected to or independent of those things. So, normal stuff. This should be a fun season and of course there will be a loud noise at the deadline.
New for The Athletic: Who will be the first Oilers recall from the AHL Bakersfield Condors?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5874409/2024/10/26/nhl-oilers-recall-ahl-bakersfield-condors/
Haven’t checked the comments yet but between Stu and Jean-Luc I feel the Oil can move forward with confidence in their goaltending. I like the regular rotations KK’s been throwing in and, should he stay the course, both goalies will be sharp and un-exhausted this spring. More than that, the selection of either goalie for any playoff game will be a non-event to the skaters in front of them. Anyways, the position looks covered.
Two points:
1) When Perry fought the Oilers were trailing and the shots were 10-1 or 10-2 Detroit. From then to the end of the game, the Oilers were clearly the better team. I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the extent that a fight can change the complexion of a game, but Perry today and Stecher a few games ago are proving me wrong.
2) The other key to today’s win was Gene Principe singing happy birthday to Leon in German. 😄
Pickard solid veteran. Steady game.
Podkolzin looked like a guy playing his first NHL game, always looking for a pass
Team is good at cycling the puck but really needs more speed
Kudo’s to Picks for a strong first period to not let the deficit get larger than one – that was key.
.500 in October???
These are heady times.
Most satisfactory!!
What a fake by Eks to set up Drai for the easy birthday gift
Made it look easy – that puck was in the air, wonderful tap in by Drai.
Ekholm is still playing at such a high level at age 34.
Nurse at 29 on the other hand has seen his game completely fall off a cliff. He could really use a change of scenery … I don’t think he’s as bad as he’s playing right now, but he just hasn’t recaptured his mojo playing second pairing minutes since the Ekholm trade.
Nurse played well. Some excellent passes tonight. Jumping up in the play.
Last game he did as well, also establishing his physical presence.
Nurse directly responsible for 2 goals against and tackled a guy for a penalty. The game is passing him by unfortunately
Agree – he’s not being asked to be a catalyst for the offense. He’s being tasked with taking care of his own end. Hard to give him a passing grade tonight.
He’s been also in photo on too many goals for a while now. Gets caught staring at the puck and leaving too much gap to his checks much too often for a 2nd pair D.
Narratives here for sure.
First goal was 93% on Kulak – given the puck with time and space so Nurse activates/releases for the impending break out. Sure, maybe Nurse was a little bit slow recognizing where to go when Kulak go in trouble but he was likely dumfounded that Kulak got in to trouble.
On the 2nd, Podz failed to get the puck deed near center ice and let the opposition gain possession and flip it in behind Darnell. Nurse recovered and was with the man going to the net – that was an unreal tip on a rush – there was little opportunity for Nurse to defend that in any legal way.
Nurse has been a fine player for this team over the last 5-6 games – playing with a revolving trio of Dermott, Stecher and Kulak (including splitting his partner in game).
Too bad it can’t be Leons birthday every game!!!!
Sick pass by Ekholm.
Great pass.
Wow, great pass by Ekholm.
Heavy/strong on the stick by Drai!
FANTASTIC game by Drai…. all game.
Point milked.
Deserved after the first period.
The PP is just awful.
Every player is holding on to the puck too long on the PP
That’s part of it too. Oilers telegraphing the play down low to Drai from the goaline and teams are staying deeper to take it away.
They need to move Leon up to the top of the circle to open space down low. I really don’t think they need RNH as the bumper anymore, if Leon isn’t going to shoot from anywhere else but his ‘office.’
I suspect ANY tug or reach by an Oiler in the last few minutes will be called….
Good on Janny to draw the PP.
Detroit getting more experience with icing than a pastry chef.
Everyone on the team needs to drop their stick flex by 5-10 to get the puck a little higher.
Lots of good chances that are going straight at the goalie.
I like Podz’s game – can play him up and down the lineup.
I’d love it if 53-93-33 developed enough chemistry that loading up wasn’t so top heavy.
Potential nickname for this line: “Sexy 3-way”
Barrage a Trois
Thank goodness Drai is dominant right now.
Contributed to 12 high danger chances last game (per the Cult) and was the one forward going in the first period tonight and, by far, the dominant forward so far.
Good thing as McDavid is a tier 3 player currently – looking forward to THAT changing.
More McDavid like on that shift/rush.
McDavid just stays on the perimeter … looks like he’s trying to avoid contact.
Terrific screen by Hyman
I like that Arvidsson doesn’t mind circling back to maintain possession.
There it is.
Deserved goal.
Drai has been unreal good again today.
Even the fourth line is hemming these guys in – something has to leak in at some point if it continues this way.
Great kill.
Fantastic offensive zone possession shift but they weren’t able to create anything super dangerous.
Come on Connor, be, well, Connor – hero this shit.
On the graphic for EDM’s PK rank, it didn’t even list the ordinal number for it. Just said, “rank”.
Savage.
I don’t think McD or Drai have recovered from the game 7 loss yet.
Draisaitl is getting his offensive game in gear, but it feels like the commitment to defense is intermittent.
same as it ever was?
I love when Drai goes beast mode as a complete player, but he rolls that out only so often. Typically when he’s pissed, but not the variety of pissed that makes him disregard defensive play to look for cheap opportunities at payback.
Never sure which gorilla he’ll unleash.
Oilers tilted the ice in their favor in the 2nd almost as much as Detroit had tilted it in the first.
Got to get the game tied up in the 3rd.
Sloppy game. Oilers are lucky to still be in it.
The second line giveth the second line taketh away.
I can’t believe how snake bit the Oilers are this season.
The shakey D and mid goaltending was to be expected. Barely averaging 2 goals a game is quite shocking.
Yes especially since we have the best group of forwards in the league! Guys just not clicking yet even though it looked a lot better against the Penguins.
94.5% PDO (last in the league) suggests they’ll recover eventually.
Awful two periods of hockey by Connor McDavid.
That “big hit by Seider” is also known as “interference”
Hyman may never score again…….
Oh, Corey…..
What a play by those two – Drai has been fantastic all game, even in the first.
Oh, I thought McDavid got a stick on that – a bit lucky but still great play by Drai.
Nurse 3-7 GF/GA on the season. Playoff Nurse remains in full effect.
After a rough first couple of games Nurse has been pretty good this year. I don’t see him as a liability out there.
3-8 on the season.
There are a lot of players I’d swap out. Nurse isn’t one of them.
Second period started much better.
How often do the Oilers dominate but let teams “hand around” and it comes back to bite them?
Picks did his job in the first.
Time for the team to change the flow of play!
I wasn’t the biggest supporter of bringing Perry back but obviously management realized he brings some things lacking on this team. Not nearly enough sandpaper and pushback. Perry willing to stand up for a team mate. Hoping to see some emotion in the 2 nd period. That was a very poor first period by our guys.
I do like his GaF. Doesn’t ever seem to leave it in the dressing room.
The good news about that period? Pickard. It’s over.
Awful period by the top line – fly bye after fly bye – not a single battle except for Hyman on the back-track – unacceptable.
Not a very good period – obviously – the last 7-8 were better but still not great.
Here is hoping Knob and Coffey are able to make system adjustments and not adjust via line blending – the lines didn’t go from great to shit in two days – they can work – figure out what Detroit is doing to hem the Oilers in and how to break the puck out more efficiently.
That would have been an under-rated goal of the year candidate if Drai buried that.
Hyman has made two very nice back-track plays but, other than that, the first line has been awful – full of fly byes in all zones – no battles, no nothing.
Despite the dash 1, Drai has, by far, been the best Oiler forward to this point.
A goal against the flow of play to square the game going in to the intermission would be nice (demoralizing/deflating to the opposition, presumably).
Off the TV timeout, coach deploys the fourth line – probably telling on his happy he is with his top 9 (although 2nd line has been fine, even though they got scored on).
In between answering prayers from desparate hockey fans, and smiting teams that tempt fate, it seems the hockey gods have created their own running joke turning a blind eye to attempts on Derek Ryan’s life.
This is true! Hard to believe how often he is run at.
Perry steps up!! Maybe that will wake team up because they are sleep walking through this one so far.