The Edmonton Oilers had a see-saw road trip that landed a 1-1-1 record. The highest highs and the lowest lows were there, all the notes good and bad, too. Charming ladies and men attended the party, along with the most boorish and ill-mannered bunch imaginable. The dogs were barking, the band was out of tune, the neighbours called the cops. By morning, the place was wrecked but from those moments great and small, Vasily Podkolzin may have emerged as the next Patrick Maroon. Helluva party, I’m so sorry for putting out my cigarette on the carpet.
The Athletic article today is about Edmonton’s difficulty in scoring goals through the first 20 games. It’s a thing. Article is here.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- On the road to: CAL (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: NJD, VEG (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-2-0)
- On the road to: VAN (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: NYI, NAS (Expected 2-0-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- On the road to: TOR, MTL, OTT (Expected 1-2-0) (Actual 1-1-1)
- At home to: MIN, NYR (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: UTA, COL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 8-5-0, 16 points in 13 games
- November results: 5-3-1, 11 points in 9 games
- Oilers in 2024-25: 10-8-2, 22 points in 20 games
The November results are coming into view, and I do think my predicted record (8-5-0, 16 points in 11 games) is within reach. A 2-1-1 finish to the month gets it done. Edmonton’s five-on-five save percentage since October 15th is .917 and that ranks No. 12 overall. The team owns a 54 percent goal share at five-on-five in that time, and Edmonton’s record (10-5-2) is the seventh best via winning percentage in that time frame.
THE NUMBERS
There were so many exceptional moments, but Evan Bouchard’s opening goal will be remembered a long time. He followed it up with defensive mistakes, but as is always the case if the goal doesn’t go in the Edmonton net those things are glossed over in the mind’s eye.
Stuart Skinner had a good night, stood tall and helped his team win a game made more important because of the first two outings on this road trip. I write a note below about a possible landslide he may be part of, suspect it depends on the pressures felt by the front office in the days to come.
I like Ty Emberson’s game very much, hope the team finds a way to play him enough to change his status from UFA to RFA but we should be aware that he plays a game that might land him on the injured list.
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard were brilliant and a joy to watch in this game. So fortunate to have them playing on the same team.
I was pleased for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who finally found the net in a season he is struggling in on several levels. His line was outshot 7-16 at five-on-five, but his expected goal share is over 50 percent now. Adam Henrique is coming in around that number, too, that’s another good sign.
LANDSLIDE
I wrote about this in the article at The Athletic today, but I do think there’s a finality to this season. Call it the Holland coda, but Stan Bowman is going to tweak this roster at the deadline and in summer. Expect change. The song Landslide contains a marvelous lyric that is stunning in its beauty and honesty. Stevie Nicks wrote it at a crossroads in her life, due to relationships ending and career frustration (she was a cleaning lady/waitress/odd jobs as a young person, the kind of jobs you do when you’re young and the world doesn’t notice you) at the time.
The lines of the song roll across your mind and land hard when you’re in a certain mood. The sense of loss, the self awareness of aging and towns left without opportunity uncovered, have a devastating impact.
I think Landslide applies to the Oilers now, today. In the last several days, fans have expressed disappointment in this team’s inability to play a consistent and repeatable game. I find myself fascinated by the coach and the procurement (I don’t know why anyone is disappointed in Sam O’Reilly but there are those who are worrying over him) but do wonder if it matters.
Bowman’s assessment of this team may well involve bringing in a goaltending upgrade, several defensemen who are reliable without the creativity on the ice now. Bowman may feel that dull is better than brilliant, and may send away Bouchard, Skinner, O’Reilly and Matt Savoie in exchange for better goaltending and a quality defender.
It’ll be a shame. The Oilers today, as in the 1980’s, are a glorious and unlikely experiment. All of the cannons are pointed on offense, and those shooters kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight.
Stan Bowman’s role may well be to end the fun, make the roster grow up in a quick hurry, and deploy players who understand and obey structure. It will be the end of a wonderful dream.
Time makes you bolder, even children grow older, and the Oilers are gettting older, too. These Oilers could be an historically brilliant Stanley Cup winner, this team could be the hockey equivalent of Robert Fripp’s guitar on “Heroes” instead of the number one hit “Silly Love Songs.”
I believe this organization has reached a crossroads. I expect a landslide.
The Lowdown arrives at noon today, Sports 1440 Edmonton. Bruce McCurdy from the Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal will walk us through a road trip that resembled the swamps in The Hound of the Baskervilles. We’ll also talk about the NBA, NFL and spend some time on some of the rumours out there in regard to a left shooter who can play right defense possibly on the way to Edmonton. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio; Radioplayer Canada, we tweet out the show after it’s done and you can catch us on Apple and Spotify.
Why have the Edmonton Oilers been failing offensively? – The Athletic
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5932516/2024/11/20/edmonton-oilers-stats-scoring-2024/
6.74% – 5 on 5 shooting percentage – 3rd lowest in the league.
8.32% – overall shooting percentage – 2nd lowest in the league.
Last year they were 8.81% (15th in the league) and 10.56% (10th in the league).
Yes. Regression is mentioned a couple of times. Also mentioned: Aging.
I don’t see a landslide. However, we most likely see some younger legs with added speed. It’s already happening with the waiver claim Kasperi Kapanen.
Bowman’s assessment of the roster may include adding late 20’s replacements for some of the older players. That might mean Nuge is moved to 3C with Henrique and (say) Brown, with Savoie moving into a feature role.
It’s also possible the organization evaluates the goaltending differently. And two Ekholms might appeal to Bowman more than Ekholm-Bouchard.
These aren’t outrageous ideas, should Bowman being having them.
Absolutely they could use another younger Ekholm type for Nurse. They already may have that in Kulak, therefore adding another LHD for the 3rd pair is much more palatable. But there’s no way Bouchard is on the trade block, for he would be impossible to replace. And there is no doubt in my mind that Stu Skinner is a very good backup goaltender that needs to be used in that role. It’s just making the money work, as usual patience is key.
The first Ekholm didn’t cost a Bouchard though. In fact, it cost hardly anything at all. We need a second Ekholm to add to Bouchard, Nurse, and Ekholm.
But yeah, I share your concern about Bowman. If we do something like Hall for Larsson again that’s the height of stupidity.
To me the question is can they afford Bouch? It seems they can because the cap is going up more than expected
The best approach is either trade Bouch for Dobson, can’t see that happening, or find/develop two RD that can pair with Nurse or Ek and defend well. Use Bouch when you need his thing, fade him when you need better defense
You can’t replace that type of talent without a highly balanced very good top 4 D, and that is hard to build outside of the draft. Also, they need his youth as Ek ages out
To me Bowman gets how this team is. His Hawks were similar in a lot of ways, and they had a pretty wide mix of player types. The D weren’t always just big for example. They had shut down, lighter more skill types, a psycho 5’10 D. Bruiser forwards, two way guys, high skill forwards. Not always (or ever) a league top goalie either
With Brown being sent down, that means at least one of Arvidsson and Hyman (or I guess Nurse) is playing tomorrow.
Brown re-assigned to AHL.
They are back out of operating in LTIR and accruing.
Not much though as they are carrying 13 forwards.
Once (if) they get healthy, they’ll likely send a forward down (waive Kapanen or Ryan).
I thought Brown played well.
We have so many funny camps in Oiler fandom:
Man I love this team and our fans. Whenever I need to step off the ledge, I watch pre-game5 and 6 HNIC SCF opening montages. Those are some of the most brilliant ones I’ve seen (but of course I’m biased). We watched our team come back from 3-love to force a game 7 and then lost by a goal. That’s as close as it gets. Last year was a success by any reasonable metric. If any of us require this team to win 4-0 in the SCF at 6-0 every game, I have news for you: the other teams don’t want to allow that just as badly as we want it. Sometimes you have to credit your adversary with what it took to win. Everyone is hyped to play the Oilers this year. They’re a measuring stick. How many records were broken last year? It’s going to be a harder regular season.
I still hate Tkachuk.
Is Logan Thompson the surprise clubhouse leader for Team Canada goalie at this point?
Seems to be rolling along for the Caps while others are faltering big time.
My position was that Broberg derisked Bouchard’s fat left tail, and would seemlessly replace Ekholm in the medium term. I thought, Nurse, Broberg, Bouchard for the next decade…I would have been a happy camper. I wasn’t so concerned about Bouchard’s AAV and duration anymore. The odds of good Evan trumping bad Evan would shift strongly in the Oilers favor.
Jackson and Bowman effed that up.
Agreed.
That’s the offseason loss that hurt the most. I like Holloway but probably tops out as a 3rd line winger due to finishing issues.
the forward losses individually weren’t huge, just collectively that was a lot of speed between Holloway McLeod Foggy.
But Broberg may very well become a #2 D
Hopefully Hyman is alright. Didn’t see yesterday’s hit, but the picture of Xhekaj leaping up and into Hyman in the Canadiens game, shown at the top of this linked article tells you everything you need to know about what the NHL and the NHLpa think about head shots. That is text book charging in the NHL rule book.
The brain trust who run the NHL, if they believe Xhekaj is only airborne because of contact with Hyman, have no clue about physics or body mechanics (or just want to ignore it).
I fail to understand why the NHLPA cares more about what happens to the player who is up for suspension than they do about the one got their head smashed.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/nhl/news-arber-xhekaj-s-massive-open-ice-hit-zach-hyman-divides-nhl-fans-definition-interference-okay-beautiful-hit
“brain trust” is doing a lot of heavy lifting
Take this for what it’s worth and it’s hardly news, but I was in Ottawa last night on business, and talked to a fan checking out of the same hotel today. He claimed to be Hyman’s cousin, said he was at the game
last night and Hyman has a concussion.
Bouchard is the king of LT’s aphorism that big moments cloud the mind.
Does he make major gaffes? Sure as shit he does.
I haven’t checked this year (too soon), but last year I believe Bouchard was our best d-man at DZ prevention, standing up the opponent at the blueline, and DZ exit under control.
Which are all things that makes a good defenceman. I don’t like this narrative that Bouchard “sucks” at defence and his only value is in the OZ.
I’m not on twitter anymore but I’m sure some of the stats wizards out there can show us some numbers.
I don’t have time to pull the numbers, IIRC, over the last three years nearly every Oilers performs better with Bouchard on the ice.
I do not think people realize how dominant Bouchard is at driving play 5v5. I actually think his PP is the area he could improve the most.
I keep hearing from media that fans want to trade Bouch but I’ve still never seen any fan actually say it.
Blowing up a team, or creating a landslide, would undoubtedly be a mistake.
This team resembles NJD last season, the goaltending was holding them back but in our case seems to be slowly turning, with the improved PK percentage over past 5 games as an example. Regression too, as you pointed out. I refuse to believe a competent adult GM will not see these things, but it’s fair that we have seen many incompetent ones over the years and perhaps the PTSD to show for it
Darnell Nurse has a GA/60 of 1.91 this season.
I know he’s struggled on the PK this season but at 5 on 5, as far as preventing goals again, he’s had a good season and the vitriol and criticism regarding his defensive play seems quite over-stated.
The GA/60 is better than the likes of Fox, Tanev, MacAvoy, Dobson, Oleksia, DeMelo, Harley, Mayfield, Schenn, Q. Hughes, etc.
I know that GA/60 is not the be all and end all, its not an individual stat and lacks much context (Nurse is apx 32% TOI vs. elites) but Nurse is playing strong 2nd pairing minutes this season.
Very happy that Podz put some points up last night (hard not to when you are flying with the Glimmer Twins). I think he has been the most consistently hard working forward this year. You could see it coming. He causes turnovers from a determined forecheck and board battles, and he is strong backchecking and in his own end. He is physical and tough. He has not cashed as much as one would like and I am not sure how long he will get these opportunities but this is how a player can compliment other line mates. Good!
Emberson is playing okay. I think his biggest area for improvement is 1-1 battles in his corner and boards. He seems to lose most of those. If he can sort that out he will be a solid 3RD with some opportunities to move up when needed.
I am not liking the apparent efforts from Hyman. He seems very tentative and is not pressuring in his own end. Too passive. I think he should play down the lines for a few games to motivate more effort.
I think he is injured
Are Lavoie and his agent still overjoyed that Raphael is putting up the worst totals of his career on the Silver Knights while Edmonton has some banged up forwards and are making waiver claims?
You’re blaming Lavoie for getting claimed?
Or his agent?
Did Lavoie say he was happy to get plucked off the waiver wire only to get dumped into the AHL again?
I must’ve missed that.
This is the third coach that has consistently gone to;
McDavid and Leon on one line,
The same five guys getting all the PP,
McDavid and Leon first shift after the PK,
McDavid and Leon getting the Empty net time.
This time allocation helps McDavid and Leon pile up incredible stats, but it comes at a cost to the other 10 forwards.
Agreed.
4 of 5 minutes on a 5-minute major… getting nothing done but taking a 4 minute shift?
Too bad there isn’t a PP2 unit on the team.
I know that many (most) think that loading up McDavid and Drai is not the way forward (except situationally during games).
I don’t disagree and am generally of a similar mindset.
At the same time, I do think that the full time load up can make sense for a game here or there. Last night seemed to be one of those time. The team had a couple tough games and a shake up made sense and the Sens don’t have a shutdown forward line nor pairing that would really be able to handle the duo.
Last night they were set up to succeed together.
What I’m not sure we’ve ever seen is a coach break up the duo coming off a dominant performance by then but I think this is the time for it heading in to matchups against two elite and deep teams.
Hyman’s status factors in I’m sure (and Arvidsson) but I hope to see Connor and Leon center separate lines tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll see it.
As someone who has followed this team for over 50 years, I would love to see a consistent and repeatable game from the Oilers. We seem to be stuck in a “1 years experience, 5 times” world. Having said that, I think that trading Bouchard would be a very risky move.
You see their repeatable game over and over.
Play well, get the lead, sit back and enjoy the lead, make enough mistakes to lose the game.
That’s the recipe.
The ‘Rocket’ is one trophy that Leon has not won. He is well positioned this year to do it. Leon has 14 so far, with only the injured Ovi ahead of him. He is on pace for 57 with a long track record of being near the top of the NHL scoring race.
Predictions:
Sam Reinhart may have something to say about this.
And, as Colorado gets its injured players back, Rantanen might too.
I also wouldn’t sleep on Martin Necas…he’s been on fire after being moved up the lineup.
He’s sitting at 11 goals but has 3 games in hand and has scored 4 goals in his last 5 games.
Career wise, I believe you are referring to Martin ‘.285 goals / game’ Necas? I’ll take Leon at .488 g / game thank you very much.
For much of his career in Carolina Necas was buried on the third line which is why he demanded a trade in the offseason.
He is now playing the third most forward minutes and is on PP1 and crushing it.
He is second in the league in PP points, 1 behind MacKinnon but has 2 games in hand with games against Philadelphia and Columbus up next.
Draisaitl, one of the best PP goals scores in NHL history, has barely scored on the PP – I wonder which player is likely to improve their rate of goal scoring on the PP in the last 3/4 of the season?
$100 says Draisaitl finishes with more goals than Necas
Watched some Kapanen highlight packs.
I like that he shoots forehand and high.
Scores a lot from the same places as Hyman.
At least 1 SH goal in there.
Could be interesting on this squad as you’re going to get chances playing with the forward group. He also looks very calm with the puck.
Kapanen is an enigma. High implied upside volatility, but a career of low realized vol and high realized downside volatility.
The high implied upside has never been realized so far.
If Kapanen was a stock, the only way to make money on him so far is selling calls. Bowman bought a 6 month call option on Kapanen basically for free. It was basically free because the high implied upside has never been realized so far.
i.e. At this point, Kapanen is a living breathing example of a lottery ticket you picked up off the street.
Kapanen has to realize that this is his last and best opportunity to succeed. Hopefully that drives the results.
Last Chance Texaco may be in the cards for him and Podz.
Kapanen is a 1st round draft pick on his 4th team (including three good teams). Podkolzin is a 1st round draft pick on his 2nd team. He has shown better defensive reliability than Kapanen ever has. Worst case scenario for him is a Janmark type of career. Kapanen has offensive skill that teases but has never delivered so far. Podkolzin just doesn’t have particularly good hands. The consistent work effort is there, unlike with Kapanen.
“i.e. At this point, Kapanen is a living breathing example of a lottery ticket you picked up off the street.”
This sir, is gold.
1% chance it is gold. 99%, it is tin and yellow paint.
It was a worthwhile zero cost speculation.
I like this post!
Kapanen was drafted 22nd overall in 2014. He is 24th overall in scoring for 2014 picks and 28th in ppg. Pretty close to what you’d expect given his draft number even with a bad last season and a half. He was very much on target offensively with the Leafs and Pens for periods of time and when he first got to St Louis.
Maybe he re discovers his offensive mojo with another chance here. Hard to assess his defense without watching him just looking at on ice data as a winger but he always seemed to start well with each team then get faded as time went on.
Most Oilers observers don’t see the value in the way the 80s Oilers would have played the 3rd period last night.
This team took their foot off the gas, generally handled business, and got out of dodge.
The 80s Oilers would have kept pushing and scored the 9 or 10 that were there for the taking.
Record chasing has a value – it pushes you to do things you thought you weren’t capable of and keeps everyone on their toes. Between those games and the most competitive practices anywhere, regulars became stars, and the team wins 4 Cups in 5 years.
It also means in games where you get behind, you always believe you can catch up and win. You can stay relaxed and just execute that way. You’ve been there so many times before.
This team gets down and flatlines until the last 2 minutes. That doesn’t win championships.
I’ve said it for years, EDM lacks a killer instinct.
The 80s Oilers would have also given up 4 or 5 goals in the third….
And not cared at all – because it doesn’t matter.
Hey, I’m the OG Victoria Oil. Did you copy my handle? 😀
Oops didn’t realize it was taken. I can change it up
Thanks mate. I think the problem arose because my login name is Westchester Oil, which I kept when I changed my Lowetide handle to Victoria Oil when I moved back to Canada. Although, I guess I could have changed it to Oak Bay Oil or Cadboro Bay Oil (as of two months ago) but not many people would know what I’m talking about.
The team went through worse last year, kept the powder dry, canned a coach and turned the ship around.
This year is significantly better and now we’re trading Bouch again?
Ride it out, the team has good underlyings with goalie and coverage inconsistency in November.
They’ll figure it out until the deadline add and will peak at the right time. They’ve done it before, always the hard way because Oilers.
All things I agree with, and if the Oilers win Stanley the tide will change. However, if this team gets punted in the earlier rounds and defensive play/goaltending is an issue, Bowman’s first big move is probably in those areas.
You’re the only one talking about trading Bouchard, LT.
We lose any trade involving Bouchard. I’ve watched some of the “gaffs”. Yes a couple of them were bad, bad more are the other team pressuring him and his partner or center not recognizing he needs support. The other team is waiting for it.
But seriously, what’s a decent return for Bouchard and Skinner. Who is out there? It’ll amount to a mini rebuild, with the others that have left. Would have been better to lose the prospects to protect Broberg and Holloway.
Bouch is a top-15 dman in the league. You have to live with the some sloppy zone play/turnovers because the guy always has the puck.
Folks were not clamouring to trade/bench Brady after he would throw a pick. Certainty not after a deep playoff run.
Bouchard drives play at 5v5 as much as CMD.
100% agree except he’s closer to a top 5 d-man when he’s at the top of his game, in my opinion.
Any news on Hyman? I give kudos to Brown that bout had more action than the entire Tyson fight. What’s our record when we engage in a scrap?
6-0 apparently!
I noticed in his previous fight (when he totally tuned the guy) that his head was up and where he grabbed the guys shirt didn’t allow him to sufficiently eliminate the overhand right. Then last night he did the same. He throws bombs but i think he’s going to get rocked with and overhand right. Macewan was trying. If I saw that all the other fighters did too, you can guarantee that.
Macewan was the guy who put a sharp decline slope on Kassian’s career (anticipating a snide comment about Kassian).
Browns last AHL fight – the one in which he tuned the guy – I think the OTHER guy got an instigator.
I was at one of the Condors games in Calgary. 6’8” Adam Klapka hit someone from behind and later stapled someone into the boards from behind. Brown immediately dropped the gloves and fed him like 8 upper cuts. Klapka never dropped his gloves. Held them in front of his face. You could say he turtled.
We couldn’t believe it when Brown didn’t get an instigator.
Btw if I was GM and I had any decent prospects in the AHL I would always have a protectorate down there. One good at his job. I find there are more cheap shots down there than in the NHL and many don’t get supplemental discipline.
Klapka 2 hits from behind. Would there have been a third if Brown provide give him with a reason not to? I don’t know but what I do know is there wasn’t a third.
You wouldn’t be lying if you said Kale Kessy ruined Cooper Marody’s career.
A few years ago Carrick, while with the Gulls, cross checked one of our prospects head into the post. I forget who it was.
Just to name a few
I believe that was Marody and he was never the same again.
I saw him good as well tonight but he got absolutely shredded by the numbers, to a tune of less than 20% expected goals. I wonder if 3rd periods score effects were prominent there?
The potential Group 6 UFA if he doesn’t get to 50 games this season is a talking point but I think management will try and get him re-signed in-season. Even if it does happen after the season, I suspect the player would want to stay given the opportunity provided and continuing opportunity going forward.
I also worry about injury – I said last night, loving his physical game but wish he had another 15 pounds on him.
Fingers’ crossed.
Most of Emberson’s issues in shots and x-goals came when he was on the ice with Nuge’s line and against Stutlze’s trio. He played 7:21 against Stutzle, that’s a lot of minutes against a fine player. Just one HDSC allowed, though.
Good added context – thank you.
Thanks for that, LT, as I was going to make the same comment as OP.
I agree with all of this.
Here is one of the things on Bouch – of course, we hear alot about the goal but it often comes with a “but he almost gave that back by getting walked” (or similar).
That is absolutely fair enough.
What I think is missing is all the good to great stuff Bouch did in between.
I mean, he finished the night 4-0 in goals (3-0 at 5 on 5), he was 60%-65% across the possession metrics with an expected goals of 61%.
Bouch was MUCH more than a beautiful goal that he almost gave back if Skinner didn’t bail him out.
Skinner just stopped the puck as he should. He doesn’t need to be spectacular he just needs to stop the puck.
When’s the last time a Oilers D went coast to coast not named Coffey who happens to be his Coach. That toe dangle is straight out of Bobby Orr playbook. It’s regular season I can guarantee Coffey is telling Bouchard to ignore the haters and to use his skill and offensive chops to create.
It would also help if the forwards wouldn’t fly the zone constantly. They are so used to Bouchard ripping beautiful passes to them that they forget he sometimes needs support. It happened that first shift after his beauty last night. They all flew the zone and Bouchard was under pressure from two forecheckers, so he attempted to use his patience with the puck(which can sometimes get him in trouble) and they poked it loose leading to a chance(that Skinner actually saved, which often hasn’t been the case this season).
Bouchard will ALWAYS make some mistakes because he’s willing to use his patience and vision to create. He creates way more offence than he gives up on defense by EVERY MEASURABLE Statistic. Sometime passes won’t connect and that’s just the game of hockey.
I did NOT like him stopping skating on the goal the other night and that’s the type of play that he needs to eliminate. Reading the play in regards to risk/reward situationally could use improvement too (whipping it up the middle in the 3rd period with a 2 goal lead against the leafs wasn’t ideal, but again Skinner could stop the puck once in a while)
Trading him would set the franchise back YEARS and everyone would be clamoring for a puck-mover that likely will never be as good at it as him.
This team is rounding into form and will be fine once Nuge, Hyman, Skinner and Arvidsson improve a bit. The Oilers dont really need to swing for the fences. They have the 2 best players in the league (debatable 29 is 2). They need a Josh Manson and the analytics dept to find a Lehkonen type. Maybe a vet goalie. Last year they had to move a first to get Henrique. They shouldnt that this year since they will have the cap space.
May have the cap space – the short term injuries create issues in that regard.
When McDavid was out they called players up and were operating in LTIR for a bit and not accruing.
Right now, with Brown up and Kapanen added, the are no longer accruing and are operating in LTIR.
Having guys banged up and out short term like McDavid, then Arvidsson, then Nurse and, now, potentially, Hyman, will reduce deadline cap space.
The only reason Bowman trades Bouchard is if he can’t afford him. As for Skinner I can’t see Bowman keeping him once his affordable contract ages out.
I liked Podz with Connor & Leon. They may have stumbled on to something there.
Agree, but I continue to believe that playing Connor with Leon is a waste of talent. Two of the best centres in the league should each be playing centre. Our 2nd line needs to be producing, like it was with Leon @ centre.
The rest of the players are not good enough to have McDavid and Drai on the same line.
So much has “gone wrong” to this point in the season.
So many players underperforming historical norms and expectations (Bouchard, Nuge, Henrique, Skinner, Arvidsson, Hyman, Skinner (Stuart).
The PK being historically bad for 14 games. The power play being fully meh.
McDavid misses four games hurt. Nurse playing his best hockey since 2021 and he’s out for the last 2.5 games.
With all that, the team is 6-3-1 in its last 10 and 10-5-2 in its last 17, in a wild card spot and 2 points out of the division lead (more games played though).
They have a better record through 20 games than either of the last two seasons.
My point is really that, with so much having gone wrong, somehow the team is in a good spot. Not all individuals and areas will recover to historical norms but some will – this team is bound to be better in the last 60 games.
This team, if it gets firing close to on all cylinders looks to be a wagon – it has to be given their standing with so much having gone wrong.
Well put OP
They have enough if healthy as it is, given players settling in more, growth and regression. There is a bit too much chaos in the back end though, a bit small as well, ideal improvements aren’t always available though
Exactly, no need for a landslide, but some rocks may fall. Nothing earth shattering.