The Edmonton Oilers are a difficult watch in the days after Christmas. My “rant” that’s online (its so famous my kids know about it, and that’s something believe me) came after a post-Christmas dud that involved a failed work ethic. I didn’t get the same feeling yesterday, or in the game against the Los Angeles Kings. I could point to curious decisions by the coaching staff, but suspect it’s fair to say the Oilers played four good periods, then ran out of gas. They could have walked away from California with four points but grabbed just one. Poor officiating was also a contributor. I can’t work up a good lather of rage about yesterday’s game. They ran out of gas.
The Athletic article today is about Vasily Podkolzin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jeff Skinner and the march of time. Article is here.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- On the road to: VEG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: CBJ, STL, TBAY (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 3-0-0)
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: VEG, FLA, BOS, SJS, OTT (Expected 4-1-0) (Actual 4-1-0)
- On the road to: LAK, ANA (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-1-1)
- At home to: UTA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 9-4-0, 18 points in 13 games
- December results: 8-3-1
- Oilers in 2024-25: 21-12-3, 45 points in 36 games
The prediction at the beginning of the month was top dead center no matter what happens against the Utah posse. This is a damned good hockey club. Full stop.
The Numbers
Calvin Pickard accidentally cleared the puck to the wrong team and paid for it with a GA. He was not sharp on the day, but was not alone. Pickard owns a .914 save percentage at five-on-five for the season.
The defense was not a strength for Edmonton on the weekend. Darnell Nurse had two games (1-5 on-ice goals five-on-five) to forget in Los Angeles. I felt the game against the Kings was a bit about bad luck, but he was ineffective against Anaheim yesterday. Troy Stecher is a player I like, but he isn’t so good that constant trips to the penalty box can be afforded. Lack of sharpness existed across the defensive depth chart, but this is a team that has been so strong (for so long) defensively I’m going to bet the the D-6 come back strong against the Utah Osmonds.
Up front, there was much to ponder. Four forwards had a HD scoring chance (via Natural Stat Trick) at five-on-five, none of those four could add to their first chance. Leon Draisaitl was the scoring star, he has 26 goals in 36 games. That’s a 59-goal pace, ladies and gentlemen. Connor McDavid picked up a “quiet” three points for the weekend and we can expect a return to superhero status against the Utah Youts.
I don’t have a major quarrel with the coaching staff, although the Henrique deployment against the Kings has to be mentioned. I remain convinced Jeff Skinner has more to give, but as long as the wins keep coming (weekend aside) it’s unlikely. I also think Noah Philp should be recalled and play 4C, meaning one of Derek Ryan or Corey Perry comes out of the lineup.
I am not concerned about the team. They lost a game they could have won, after losing a game in overtime they could have won. It happens.
We’re back with plenty to talk about. At noon today, Sports 1440, the Lowdown will talk Oilers, WJ’s, football and more. Guests include Rachel Doerrie from ESPN and Betalytics, Jason Gregor from Sports 1440 and Oilers Nation, plus Declan Krueger from no fixed address. It’s kind of a fun time of year, with nothing major happening but lots worth discussing. 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.
This thing with Jeff Skinner reminds me of how they tried to make Ryan Strome a 3rd line checker, then traded him for peanuts instead of playing him with talent.
I survived the Lowe+MacT years.
The current Oiler woes I do not worry about. It’s still 2024 and the playoffs don’t even start for 3+ months.
They still have several players trying to find their way into a Cup finalist level team.
Oilers should take the game to Utah tomorrow and beat them no matter the situation.
Utah plays tonight, in Seattle, and has to travel to Edmonton for tomorrow and losing an hour in the process. They are also playing Vejmelka tonight.
There is no excuse for not taking the game to Utah tomorrow, on the ice and the scoreboard.
Don’t let me down Oilers!
Regula is skating – rehab skates (not with the team) – will be a bit until he’s practicing with the team.
Any news on Jarventie? Do you have any idea what his injury is or the back story on it?
No news.
I have posted, in response to you, the “backstory” on the injury as per coach Chaulk – essentially, the player was not feeling right after that first game back but he didn’t tell any of the coaches or training staff and played through it the next night and, well, at least up an till the Christmas break, he hadn’t even skated again.
Coach never said what the injury is but I think we can presume its one if his knees.
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/jonathan-toews-36-hopes-to-work-toward-nhl-return-i-m-going-to-give-it-my-best-shot-1.2227289
https://www.gq.com/story/jonathan-toews-ayurveda-nhl-interview
Was just going to post this. Toews as a fourth line centre for the playoffs?
Disclaimer: My posts above were for informational purposes only.
67 Leafs…here we go.
Toews gets into the lineup – that’s great.
Evander Kane arrived here as a broken down player.
Where’s JP today?
He was forecasting Toews on the Oilers a few years ago.
He’s probably busy being stressed over ending up on waivers today.
Games through holiday time invite lots of analysis, none of which includes the effects of party liquids leaving the athletic body. The Utah Flying Mormons had better be ready for a flushed opponent.
Word this morning that Quinn Hughes is out “week to week”, Pettersson out “at least a week” and no imminent return for Hronek.
Given that Hughes drives that bus, it’s likely the Canucks will fall out of the playoff race unless Allvin can pull a couple of rabbits out of his hat.
That raises the question of which team will seize the final wildcard spot in the WC?
The contenders appear to be the Flames .569, the Utahs .543 and the Blues .500.
Utah is the hottest of the trio with a 6-2-2 record in the last 10, Flames 4-3-3 and Blues 4-4-2.
?
I bet the Canucks trade for Power or Byram.
Pretty sure Power would be untouchable and Byram apparently wants out of Buffalo because he wants to be #1LD.
That would never happen in Vancouver.
I think it’s Power for Bouchard.
Power is signed for 7 years at $8.35 million, a contract that expires when he is only 28.
Why would Buffalo trade that contract for a more expensive one and a player that is 3 years older?
I was one that was really optimistic about the Oilers forward depth after the summer additions. Now that Arvidsson is back, I am really surprised by the performance of the bottom six. Henrique, Brown, and Skinner have a solid history of playing top six minutes and doing relatively well considering the strength of the teams they have played for. The fact that the best they can do now is tread water against third line competition is concerning. Age and injury may have taken their toll on these guys.
Perry and Ryan will not be in the playoff line up. Both were healthy scratched multiple times during last years run and they aren’t getting better at this point. Both should see spot duty as specialists going forward. Call up Philp and Savoie to get them up to speed. If Kane is coming back, he and the two Condors can be the forward additions and use any cap space and assets to acquire an upgrade on defense to push Stecher to 7D
Puljujarvi on waivers.
I don’t really understand what’s happened with him in PIT. It seems he was playing well early in the season and producing a bit – the fans seems to really like him but he’s barely played and been healthied for the better part of a month now.
Kid just can’t keep traction in this league.
His hips might be starting to bother him again. It’s a vicious circle for him.
If you look at all the big mistakes the Oilers brass have made and it’s a laundry list, Hall trade, Reinhart trade, Campbell contract, Nurse contract, Yakupov pick, etc. a tenable argument can be made that picking Puljujarvi over Tkachuk is the biggest error of the lot.
Give the Oil a do-over on that one decision and they’re likely hoisting Lord Stanley last spring.
Even Tkachuk thought Edmonton was going to draft him.
They got mesmerized by the World Juniors Peter forgot to watch the Memorial Cup. Tkachuk had the goods and pedigree yet Peter went with the unknown. The Canucks passing up on him was bizarre as well.
I think Reinhart was worse. But yes, not drafting Tkachuk was brutal.
It’s hard to compare.
I agree drafting Reinhart was far worse. The Oilers management team, being paid collectively millions of dollars per year, didn’t know what the average fans all did. That was atrocious. Literally everyone knew that Reinhart couldn’t skate, had stalled out in the AHL, and the Oilers paid a premium for him in one of the deepest drafts of all- time.
IIRC, I wrote when we drafted Puljujarvi that I had Paajarvi vibes—a big guy who could skate, but lacked offense.
People passed on Tkachuk because he literally can’t skate, look at his NHL data last year, except for the time he picked McDavid’s pocket between the legs on the back check.
Selecting JP over Tkachuk was a huge miss.
My recollection is that the Oilers were going to draft Sergachev (and were looking to perhaps trade back).
That would have been a great pick as well
5 teams passed on tkachuk.
The Puljujarvi pick was baffling if you consider the Finish national team GM passed on JP & if rumours are true the Oilers then dropped the pick Sergachev, then again, the Oilers management team at the time then passed on Alex DeBrinkat later that same draft. A retrospective look back at the rebuild would be a terrific story.
Baffling?
The thing is, though, that all the mistakes resulted in the Oilers winning the McDavid draft.
Technically the 28th team in the standings won that draft.
Remove even one of the screwups and the Oil finish a little better and some other team, say the Leafs win that draft.
And for all the folks that wanted to sink right to the 30th spot for the highest odds it just shows Lady Luck is very fickle.
It’s a team sport and in my opinion it’s hard for certain types of individuals say loners to fit in unless they are above the norm. I do think a team will pick him of waivers or if he clears maybe a trade of some kind as he’s still a serviceable journeyman player.
Along the lines of Drouin and MacKinnon, it might make sense for Montreal to take a chance on JP and see if he can rediscover his magic with Laine.
Yes I do think Montreal would be a perfect fit.
I may be wrong but my recollection regarding Puljujarvi and his time in Edmonton was much more focused on how terribly managed he was. Not a lot of “draft error” – at least not in the last2-3 years anyway. More about not given the minutes, not given the linemates, not given enough social/language support. I agree it is hard to defend passing on Tkachuk but the last few years – at least on this site has really focused on blaming management for “another example of management screwing up a prospect”. For whatever this is worth, anyway.
And that’s why it’s dumb to draft foreign players who aren’t bright enough to manage their own affairs.
North American players arrive speaking the lingo, understanding hockey culture as it’s done in NA, etc. JP turns out to be another version of Niinnimma lol
I believe when people could not communicate well with Jesse they took in his large size, big smile, and seemingly endearing attitude and felt he was a ‘great guy’ and all would fit into place.
The advantage that GM Jarmo had was that he could actually speak to Jesse and understand what he was actually saying. look past the big smile. Understand his background, and the challenges before him. He could judge his maturity.
I’ve been suggesting that the Oilers would try and get Emberson signed early in the new year (maybe a 2 X $1.65MM type deal). Mostly just good business but, also, takes away any offer sheet risk but also Group 6 UFA status risk if he gets hurt and doesn’t get 50 games.
Friedman suggests this is likely the case in January (i.e. getting Emberson re-signed).
Will Kane make a difference?
He could and he should but:
Last year I said they had a #1Left Winger in reserve but then he arrived at less than full health. Unfortunate.
many players coming back from substantial injury change their game to protect themselves. McDavid had to slow his top speed and aggressive drive to net. Hall dial back recklessness. We seen Kassian and other physical role players back away from the game that got them there.
Still, Kane can skate, shoot, and intimidate without always taking the fight or heavy hit.
Let’s hope we do get #1 left winger back. Healthy and ready. Huge boost.
Even if he can boost the bottom six, it’s OK. He’s going to have to start somewhere and go from there.
Kane plays the game hard. Last season he wasn’t fully healthy.
But when he’s in the lineup Oilers have a potential game changer.
If this is true, I’m not convinced it’s an acceptable “reason” for losing to the Ducks. Both teams had a Christmas lay-off, both teams played the day before with the same start time and neither team had to travel. None of that screams that the Oilers should have been more tired than the Ducks.
To make it worse, Lukas Dostal played the night before.
Gibson was ill. I was expecting them to showcase John Gibson to Edmonton.
Can you make a case for Gibson actually being a good fit on the team?
It might have been interesting to see Pickard vs Gibson in a battle of the backups.
So… no.
Not sure why folks keep pumping a Gibson trade.
That would be a fireable offence.
Too bad they didn’t, Oilers coulda used the 2 points. 😉
I’m not so sure the outcome would have been any different.
To keep Ryan in again and sit Skinner again after yesterday’s performance would be, in my opinion, somewhat egregious:
Its obviously not going to happen, but I’d consider running the following on Tuesday night:
Skinner/McDavid/Hyman
Podz/Drai/Arvidsson
Nuge/Henrique/Kapanen
Janmark/Philp/Brown
Call up Philp without waiving Ryan – they can take their accrual down for a couple of days and have conversations with/about Ryan if they need to.
I’d like to see this as well. Love Nuge but the top line needs a change and Henrique needs support. If we ran out of gas it’s because the glimmer twins played too much the day before, so the goal of this season should be to find 3-4 lines to roll and save McDrai for emergencies only. Even post tv timeout and post PK I’d limit in the regular season.
Nuge has played 270 5 on 5 minutes with McDavid and, overall, has 7 points at 5 on 5.
I do note that McDavid is getting killed on goal share without Nuge and doing OK with Nuge (controlling for no Leon) but if we are going to talk about Podz not producing playing with Leon, well, Nuge isn’t producing playing with Connor.
I know, I know, Skinner has not been great 2-way this year, I get that, but I think this healthy scratch could/should be used as a full re-set for him and for the coach. Lets reintroduce the player in a position where he has a real chance to succeed, in a position, one that he has had periods of elite play over a successful career.
Maybe a re-set down the lineup for Nuge makes sense as well, right?
It should happen
The Oilers now have a decent accumulation of NHL talent. Put together 4 lines and roll them.
Lots of options. Kane coming in later.
I like Janmark-Henrique-Brown best together.
What about RNH-Philp-Kapanen?
I would suggest that would be the third line (and the Henrique the 4th line) – I’m not against it.
At the end of the day, for me, for the immediate (i.e. next game), I get Philp and Skinner in.
From practice today, I’m dead wrong.
Zero chance that RNH winds up on the fourth line..
They don’t want Jeff Skinner to get injured before trading him. There must be a trade in the works.
Or…. The healthy scratches give him time to think and ponder about waiving his no movement clause.
Given he’s never made playoffs, I can only see him accepting a trade to another contender. I don’t see a match so I’d give him another shot with McDavid.
I think its time for Noah Philp to be called up and inserted in to the lineup.
Derek Ryan is currently ineffective and leaking goals against.
The Oilers could do this without waiving Ryan and just adding Philp to the roster.
That would take their accrual down to a nominal amount but I think its do-able for a short term if they feel they need to have conversations about putting Ryan on waivers.
—————-
I’d add Philp and Skinner and sit Perry and Ryan for next game.
Hard to go wrong adding speed and skill.
I would just waive Ryan; no one is going to pick up a 38 year old forward who is likely playing his last season in the NHL.
If (as you say) Derek Ryan is ineffective and leaking goals, it’s hard to imagine him not clearing waivers.
I’m not sure I call it an accident – I mean he did what he meant to do and, for me, it was a bad decision. He had other options and was not under duress. Nurse was right there. A poor mental play by Pickard.
I fault Pickard for 3 goals against last night.
Not a great night for him despite some fine saves.
That happens – he’s the back-up goalie who had 8 wins in his last 10 games (and his team was shutout in both losses) who was 6th in the league in GAA coming in.
I look forward to Picks being solid again on Saturday night against Seattle.
Woodley refers to Goals Saved Above Expected. I think GA and xGA also are helpful, from Moneypuck no GP filter
Skinner 24GP
GSAE -5.8 75th
GSAE/60 -.246 59th
GA 68
xGA 62.22
Pickard 13GP
GSAE -1.9 59th
GSAE/60 -1.54 50th
GA 31
xGA 29.09
Donstal 22GP
GSAE 16.1 2nd
GSAE/60 .739 9th
GA 60
xGA 76.08
Gibson 12GP
GSAE 8.6 12th
GSAE/60 .765 8th
GA 33
xGA 41.61
Kuemper 17GP
GSAE .1 40th
GSAE/60 .006 40th
GA 41
xGA 41.09
Rittich 20GP
GSAE -2.8 66th
GSAE/60 -.159 51st
GA 45
xGA 42.22
If the Ducks’ goalies can play like that behind that team, there is clearly room for improvement in the Oiler nets, especially given they are usually one of the top defensive teams
The salaries don’t matter. The two that make more than Stu are older and well established, Donstal the youngest and the least paid of them all here
Oilers should go after Donstal.
With what?
right… it’s not like the Oilers have draft pick(s) and / or player(s)… seriously, are you for real ???
For me, I’m not sure I really agree with this.
I will always hesitate to question “effort”, but I will question urgency, commitment to battle and decision making.
They seemed to try to do just enough to win yesterday and more committed and energetic team made them pay for it.
Maybe I don’t remember the first few weeks of October but that was their worst performance of the season that I remember and it was right after a game against the Kings where they weren’t particularly sharp.
I expect this team to put on a plus performance against Utah tomorrow night.
The Oilers definitely looked like a slow team. When the Oilers were beating the world before Christmas, they were a team playing with pace.
Both teams were absolutely stunning last night.
This was reminiscent of a team of kids saying, “Mom, look at me! Look at me, Mom!”
It looks as though Jackson moved to quickly on Jeff Skinner. Maybe not enough research, maybe didn’t talk to coach. Wasted 3m with of cap and we know where that could have went.
It also appears that Knoblauch was not on board with this player. Took a reasonable assert and turned it into worthless.
If Oilers would just play consistent hard hockey, and not rely on Connor-Leon every game, there is no reason Skinner could not be in there contributing.
seriously Knoblauch, know your team. You should be beating Anaheim with your depth and giving them the ice time to shine. If your depth can’t keep up or are tired from playing 6 minutes a night, better speak to Jackson about getting some help.
The knock-on Skinner is that he doesn’t play consistent hard hockey, and he lost his spot
in the top six to a player that does. I have to say I was excited when Jackson signed him.
But it’s more on the player than it is on the coach, is how I see it.
Second time in recent years the Oilers moved quickly on a diminishing player who had been bought out the day before & literally *just* come on the market. Maybe the Oil had done their homework on the guy already, or maybe they saw a familiar name & jumped in.
The other? Kyle Turris.
I could also include Kane & Perry as 2 other guys who suddenly became available & were snapped ip by the Oil, though they were midseason contract terminations rather than buyouts. But the Oilers sure do like those big names on the rebound.
This is the fourth coach that deploys his players the same way.
Which is a core group put on the ice as often as their body will allow. TV time outs, and natural breaks in the game, have made this more possible, body monitors allow the staff a peak into impact of better training and assist with pushing athletes capabilities.
I am not convinced you can win a 100 game season without the bottom 8 contributoring more minutes through out the season. Player in the west travel more and this will impact an athlete as the season move along. Real recovery is a huge thing in elite sports.
Fifth coach in the McDavid era. All of McLellan, Hitchcock, Tippett, Woodcroft & Knoblauch have had similar deployment in terms of TOI.
What depth centres are available?
I think we see Stan nab a centre and dman for the playoffs.
I’ve been thinking that as well. Henrique can have good games, but he needs the right wingers (speedy with some game) and I’m not sure he can do it game in and out anymore
I’d rather he was 4C or a winger really
Yep. You want to give the coach maximum flexibility for the playoffs.
I did a brief scan of bottom feeders and there is not much available. Brock Nelson is bigly. I don’t know if he is good anymore.
I would switch Nuge and Henrique for 5 games before you go trading assets.
Better ask Connor.
Also, they have a viable asset in Noah Philp on the farm they need to have a look at before they do something hasty.
I agree. But realistically, Knobber ain’t going to play RNH consistently on the third line.
Pickard was not sharp?
When Skinner lets those in he had no chance or it was the defense or forwards fault. Strange.
I think Pickard is having a fine season. Saying he wasn’t sharp is the mildest form of criticism. He has outplayed Skinner on the season, and absolutely played more than I thought he would so far in 2024-25.
Fair enough
I’m not so sure you can say Pickard has outplayed Skinner. Their stats are close, and Skinner has played the bulk of games. I can’t imagine Picard as the starter. Pickard had a stinker last night. Some may think I’m out of line. But they need a backup that will give Skinner more of a push.
36 games in, Pickard has 12 startts including exactly 1 in every 3-game set 1-3, 4-6 etc.. Skinner invariably gets the toughest opponent in each set, & often the second toughest as well.
As was the case last season, Pickard mostly gets winnable games & does a pretty darn good job winning them. Yesterday ended a string of 10 straight games in which he allowed 3 GA or fewer. He won 8 of the 10 & got literally zero goal support in the 2 losses.
i graded him a 4 yesterday & it was a real tough call. So much chaos in front of him, but he was chaotic in his own right. Some legit good saves, & some that looked more spectacular than they needed to be. But i saw major errors on 3 GA & in a 1-goal loss that’s hard to overlook.
in reply to the original poster, if Skinner had played that exact game yesterday I can assure you his critics would have been out in force. They are relentless.
Well, it was Pickard’s 13th game of the season. So that may have had something to do with it.
12th start. He came on in relief in Game 1, which remains the only time all season Oilers have yanked the starter.
if you are referring to superstition, Skinner won his 13th game handily & played well,
Skinner would have won that game.
He’s not a bad back up for sure, but they need more a 1B I think. I find the Captain gets a bit scrambly at times and being smaller (and some games playing smaller) it’s not ideal. Old school behind a starter like Helly who plays a lot and is durable for sure. I think Stu needs a viable challenger for the net, might help him keep his level up more. His numbers I posted are less than ideal for this team
I know they both make big saves at times, but they also make a lot of games harder to win letting in goals that are marginal. For a team like the Oilers it’s not ideal
MoneyPuck for last playoffs GSAE and GSAE/60
Bob 7 / .296
Stu 1.9 / .083
They still would have won if a bit healthier I think, but that’s an uphill battle
22/23 Playoffs last series
Hill 7.7 / .506
Stu -6.2 / -.601
I am grateful for last years disaster start because I no longer worry about this team.
Oilers are miles ahead of last season. They have cap space (especially once Skinner is traded) to added a couple pieces. Things are looking good.
I don’t get the Skinner benching the only minutes he’s receiving are for energy players. Kris needs to make this work that what good coaches do. If he’s beyond repairable he needs to sit until Bowman can find a Eastern team in need of goals maybe the Rangers they seem desperate.
They ran their big guns against the Kings and then out of gas against the Ducks. They cannot play their big guns this much especially back to back nights.
Agree. The fact that they had to against a team the calibre of the Ducks should shame the rest of the forward group. Need more competition for ice time with the forwards. Right now it seems the only guys that need to worry about that are Skinner and Ryan.
Time to call up Philp and Savoie
Bingo. Use all this depth we paid for this summer. Looking at you, Mr. Knoblach Sir.
I took a look at the Kings TOI from Saturday and compared it to the Oilers since both teams were playing back to back.
Oilers:
McDavid 23:27
RNH 22:24
Hyman 21:36
Draisaitl 21:03
Kings:
Fiala 21:53
Kempe 21:32
Byfield 20:43
Kopitar 20:30
In the game agains the Ducks:
McDavid 21:20
RNH 17:23
Hyman 17:53
Draisaitl 21:32
It would seem KK dialed back McDavid’s minutes along with Hyman and Nuge.
Kings against Flyers
Kempe 23:36
Fiala 20:30
Kopitar 21:17
Byfield 20:37
Other than situational usage, it seems the Kings minutes remain about the same even on the second game of a B2B and they did not appear to “out of gas”.
Worth noting, Nathan MacKinnon averages 22:57 every game and Colorado has him, Rantanen (22:16) and Lehkonen (21:47) all playing more minutes than either McDavid (21:44) or Draisaitl (21:19)
Saying Avs have no depth isn’t saying much
MacKinnon has played between 21 and 22 minutes/game for the last 7 seasons and managed to win a cup without being “out of gas”.
Leon played less than his season average vs. the Kings.
Troy Stecher has been a better player than I ever gave him credit for (Oilers bias?), and I’ll give him an B+ for his effort with the Oilers, but he just isn’t good enough to be a regular on a playoff team, let alone a Stanley Cup contender. If he was 6’2″ 200 lbs, he’d probably be a great fit.
It’s time to give Kemp a try. I know the rhetoric around whose guy he is and Bowman doesn’t know him or owe him. I know he’s untested at the NHL level, and the Oilers already have a raw D in Emberson, but how is giving Kemp a try going to be worse than Stecher at this point?
From what I have read, Stecher is a better skater than Kemp. This matters a great deal at the NHL level given the need to retreat, recover the puck, and turn up ice in a heart beat.
But I do agree that Stecher is a little undersized for the game he plays. Makes good, quick turns to the puck, but then often gets knocked off possession. And struggles with breaking the cycle with physicality.
I think we are back to ‘shopping for 2RHD’!!!!
It may be true that Stecher is a better skater than Kemp, and I agree that it does matter, but I’d certainly give Kemp a chance since he is plenty big enough to do the things that Stecher can’t and supposedly is a good passer (the article is a little bit outdated at this point, but not by much https://oilersnation.com/news/the-edmonton-oilers-prospect-report-phil-kemps-2022-23-season-review/), which can help make up for below average to average skating.
I know the cap is an issue, but it’s time to demote Ryan who can work with Philp. Even though Philp coming up likely means the end of Derek Ryan as an NHL player, perhaps the conversation can/should be had that Ryan can likely get a job as a coach in the organization for when his career is over. Then, Kemp can be recalled and Knoblauch can run either Kemp or Stecher depending on the opponent… Kemp for bigger, hard forechecking teams and Stecher for faster, more skilled teams (but what to do about the bigger, more skilled hard forechecking teams?). Again, I don’t think it can hurt to try Kemp since Stecher really is just a placeholder for someone better.
I would like to see Kemp.
But also, Bowman (or Jackson) does have “his” guy in play. They invested in Josh Brown and I would bet they want to get some value out of him.
We are way earlier than last year, but some of these mid season games, trip around California is where it would be nice to get an assessment.
I would think another d man is coming in March but even if they do so, one injury puts Stetcher back in the playoff line up.
Could Jackson have been soooo wrong on Josh Brown signing him for 3 years? Do they already know this? Then what evaluation went wrong? Or is there still vested interest to play the man?
If Josh Brown is the answer, you’re asking the wrong question.
If Kemp is your guy than you’re also asking the wrong question.
Where did I make such a suggestion?
Kemp deserves a second opinion at this point.
LOL I’d rather see Josh Brown than Philip Kemp.
I’d rather see the guy who has been pretty effective in a defensive role in the AHL and that we don’t know at the NHL level. They’re all placeholders anyway, so might as well see what Kemp can do.
Phil Kemp is a superior AHL player to Josh Brown right now.
You can have your opinion but to include a condescending “LOL” when you don’t watch the games these guys play in……
It wasn’t my intention to appear condescending. That’s my opinion and I find it amusing because it obviously gets you worked up. LOL.
Phil Kemp?
The organization has forgot that he exists.
100% I would bring him up over Josh Brown but this org seems to have zero thought on doing that.
Nurse/Emberson
Kulak/Kemp
I would definitely give it a shot but there is next to zero chance it happens.
We’ve entered the make Skinner so unhappy that he waives his NMC part of the season. If you’re not gonna put him on the top pp then you can’t play him
That seems to be the plan. Thankfully (hopefully?), he has still produced enough to retain some appeal to a team on the playoff bubble or in need of scoring to shelter youth, that he can help. I am still pulling for him to figure it out in Edmonton, but I think the writing is on the wall.
He has his uses. But 4th line with limited pp time is definitely not it.
Skinner should have appeal to teams needing scorers, shooters in their top 6.
So, the Edmonton Oilers?
Haha. What a novel idea, too bad the coaches don’t think of it.
LT has put up the balance photo, and the team is balanced in that it now houses a full compliment of NHL players
But it isn’t a balanced group quite yet. As you say Skinner is not helpful as anything but a scorer in the top 6
Back in the day Sather in a game like that would be running his bottom 6 to juice the team up. They need some fast crash and bang players with size (that can play well enough) to go out and shake a game up, Brackenbury style
At the end of the day you have to contribute something, and on a team with these aspirations, almost every game. A team can carry one maybe two ‘nice’ players that are smaller, smart, not high offense, complimentary types. Get too many that also aren’t physical and the team gets too one dimensional and easy to play against. We see this, many games if Connor amd Leon don’t win it there isn’t much else going on
Also having too many older guys that don’t have boots anymore or never did, adds to it. Older players often don’t play with drive, they more analyze the game. But it brings the energy level of the team down. They could use more guys that can go and and drive hard every game like Pod. A better mix of the elite skill, less soft complimentary types, more youthful energy and some players that take the body and make it hard on the other guys all of the time. On D as well
Yup,
Same as the analysis on game 1 or 2024. The roster needs some balance.
Still a great team and winning and when or if we say “I’m not worried” is that about the team being good? Because that’s not a worry.
Is it about the team finishing high, even early to confirm a playoff spot? That’s not a worry.
Or running up against several rough and intense playoff teams that play a specific difficult style for the Oilers? Yes, that’s a bit of a worry.
Yes same here, the long game is my focus. Playoffs and everything reg season, they are past that now. It’s about giving themselves the best chance for the Cup, some things could be better
If it wasn’t for the trade clauses the more aggressive GMs would make bigger moves with this roster I think. Stan may still
The team is looking stale the last few games it’s to bad Clattenburg is only 19 maybe they can give him some speedster chicken powder and we see him in a month crashing and banging the Bennett’s of the league. Screw it bring up for a couple of games give him a paycheck inject done live in the dog days of winter. This is something Sather would do our team is a veteran team they’re just biding their time until the real season begins.
“Biding their time till the real season arrives “ is a very accurate comment.
Absolutely. Even understandable.
And the vets will ramp it up, no question.
Until then, somebody still has to go into the corner. Somebody take net front. And there should be some focus on “next man up “ keeping replacement players sharp for when an injury occurs.
Maybe they should inquire about Ross Johnston of the Ducks.
They’re familiar with Nuge on the top PP unit. And not so familiar with Jinner. So, I guess they can’t play him. Sorry Jeff, we can’t find a role for you to play on this team.
I don’t agree with the second sentance at all as Skinner has historically been a high end 5 on 5 producer and not reliant on the PP for points at all.