The trade deadline is less than two months away, and the Edmonton Oilers are reportedly casting a wide net in order to increase the possible pool of talent on defense. Stan Bowman and his staff are looking for a Lefty or a Righty, and we’ll see how this turns out.
Tonight’s opponents, the Chicago Blackhawks, have no strong trade options on display this evening. Alex Vlasic would be a perfect fit, but he’s young and part of the Chicago future. Last I checked, both Connor Murphy and Alec Martinez are injured, and they would be worthy of consideration if healthy.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN JANUARY
- At home to: ANA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA, BOS, PIT, CHI (Expected 2-1-1) (Actual 2-1-0)
- At home to: LAK (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: MIN, COL, VAN (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: WAS, VAN, BUF, SEA, DET (Expected 3-2-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected results: 8-4-2, 18 points in 14 games
- January result: 3-1-0
- Oilers in 2024-25: 25-13-3, 53 points in 41 games
This should be a victory based on available evidence, but this is the area of the schedule I worried about when projecting this road trip. Still, Chicago is 3-7-0 in the last 10 and own a minus-35 goal differential for the year, and Edmonton is 7-2-1 in the last 10, and stand at +21 over 2024-25. The first half was brilliant pretty much roster wide, and this team could land 110 standings points by season’s end.
EVANDER KANE
The news yesterday that Evander Kane added knee surgery to his resume after the abdominal procedure means we’re going to be close to his arriving in time for the playoffs. I mostly stay away from the comments section, mostly because the back and forth is so interesting that I don’t want to spoil it. However, I gleefully stayed away from yesterday’s Kane LTIR banter because it is confusing and it does appear the Oilers cost themselves through the actions taken.
My view on Kane: He is a unique player who, when playing his best, is disruptive as a checker and a bringer of raining blows on punishing checks. We don’t know if he’ll ever be completely the player originally acquired, but if he’s on Kane’s release is exceptional and he can beat goalies clean. If he’s healthy, Kane is one of the two best left-wingers on this team. Pretty sure.
I think it’s best to approach the Kane spring like this: Expect he’ll play the last two weeks of the season, thereby offering no deadline advantage, and expect he will not be the player who played smashmouth hockey brilliantly while scoring many goals during the peak of his career. Kane, like many power forwards, played a style that wore him down and did not adjust as he aged. At this point, you’re hoping for lightning in a bottle and a six-week Cher run (she can turn back time) for Evander Kane.
Here are the players on my radar the Oilers should be looking at, on top of the other names floatedout there:
Brian Dumoulin – big, skates well, LHD that has right side experience. I’ve read he may only cost a 4th rounder to acquire.
Ryan Pulock – RHD with lots of term left, but being tight to the cap and with several important FA’s to re-sign on the Island this summer, perhaps there is a potential deal here. This is the Ekholm-like move that is probably not currently available, but could be at the TDL.
Adam Larsson – who knows? Could he have a change of heart?
Pageau – RHC, does great PK work, good on the dot.
Alex Tuch – Big, fast, scoring ability and very good 2-way forward.
Garnett Hathaway – Size, speed 4RW, brings toughness, very low OZ starts, but good metrics vs non-elites. 60 more hits than Podz and he has 1 less point than Jeff Skinner and is a plus player on a team with only a few players with a positive +/-. Skinner is -10. He is pricey for his role, though.
Condors ALL OVER SJ – somehow don’t score and end up taking a goalie interference penalty. No worries, on the PK, great work by Caggiula/Hamblin to cause an odd-man rush with Kemp driving the net – no goal but they draw a call to even it up. Then Hamblin/Caggiula/Carrick/Dineen go to work on a 30 second cycle shift which culminates is Caggiula blast off a Carick pass to tie the game.
Thanks for all the updates OP. Much appreciated.
I logged in to say thank you for these updates. Much appreciated.
Carrick with the OT winner!
Savoie with a wonderful transition pass to Griffith to start the play (after some solid D by Carrick on the rush against) – had the puck for a split second before, bang, cross-ice to Griffith right in his stick with speed.
Philp hard in on the forecheck forces the rim, Attard with a great battle/keep at the line, spins out of it and nifty pass to Wright in the high slot who rips it home.
4-3 with lots of time left.
Petrov ROBBED by Dell 20 second later – wow!
Caggiula and Hamblin with some strong forecheck work in the last minute and a puck pops out to Carrick in the high slot who buries a late one to make it 4-2 as they head to the third period.
Rodrigue leaks one from the goal line by the board – yes, a snap shot from the corner that goes shelf.
Net was “coming off” and its being reviewed I think.
It counts.
40 second later a slap shot from the point beats Rodrigue – looks like it deflected off Dineen in the high slot.
and its NOT getting better for Oly who lets another in – not a weak one like the prior two but definitely saveable…..
Relentless work from the Petrov/Grubbe/Wright long on the offensive boards, in particular Grubbe who wills the puck battle, gets the puck to pop out to him in the very high slot and rips one under the bar to tie the game at 1.
Condors DOMINATED the first – 18 shots including a bunch of high quality – but were down 1-0 after a goal against the flow of play.
Per Spec:
———————
He’s not wrong. All good as along as he bounces back in his next couple because, if he’s poor next start, that’s 3 out of 4 poor starts and Rodrigue continues to play well…..
Savoie now with shimmy shakes on the rush/zone entry complete with putting the puck through the defenders legs and slipping around him…. wow!
Savoie with an absolutely incredible play – a puck gets deflected high in the defensive zone – I think he actually jumped to knock it down with his riased arm and in one swift motion, got it to his stick and fired a bullet stretch pass between defenders right on Caggiula’s stick for a clear breakaway (which he missed).
Savoie’s PK game is really coming along…..
Holt confirms that it is a shoulder that is keeping Pederson out of the lineup and that is the shoulder that kept him out for a long stretch ealier this season – that doesn’t sound great (Pederson has been great for Savoie).
Summarizing!
The last NAmateur skater to score this season finally did so as Fischer tallied his first goal of the year.
O’Reilly and Nicholl assisted on the GWG for London.
Stonehouse also had a helper for his first point as a Pete.
Lachance picked up an assist too.
Day had another rough outing, getting shelled for six goals on 22 SOG. His night ended after the second frame.
Berry, Määttä, Münzenberger, Copponi, Akey, and Wakely were denied soup.
As mentioned earlier, Clattenburg has been suspended pending review of his match penalty yesternight.
Credit where it’s due, after I was harsh on him earlier Pickard was solid in the 3rd to close it out.
And woah boy was the non call on the surefire Janmark empty netter sure something.
Followed by the call on Rico that made it worse!
That call was certainly Poor to Rico
Haha Bedard
Hes in on the tank
A win is a win is a win.
And they beat the refs
NHL officiating at it’s finest…….
Not having the big dogs out at the end is lunacy.
It isn’t the middle of the game, you’re not saving anyone from or for anything.
I never understood the ‘coach rewarding’ idea. Winning the game is the reason you’re there. Nothing else matters.
Its almost like they believe rewarding them will make them more productive in future games.
Well, Pickard certainly made some saves to preserve the victory.
Guess that makes 6-1-0 in his last 7 starts.
They aren’t all Picasso’s but doing what they need to do for the most part.
I don’t think Picasso’s are what the Oilers want to be mimicking.
More of a “Picks-casso”
Picks earned his paycheque in the last minute
Good job Picard at the end there
If they don’t trust D. Ryan for that right side defensive zone PK faceoff, he has zero role, right?
He got the next faceoff and scrambled it!
You can’t lose that last faceoff that cleanly not gonna please the coach.
That was not a smart play by Henrique but refs should have called about 3 or 4 penalties against Chi prior.
Garbage from the stripes.
Utter bullsh*t.
HAHAHHAH. What a ucking joke.
What a total joke!
The NHL is such a joke. Maroon tackles RNH in the corner. No call. Maroon knows he will never get called there.
Smart player.
Leon 2nd in pts, 2nd in +/-, 1st in goals.
If this was Matthews, he’d already be anointed Hart and Selke winner.
Leon should legit be up for 5 (hopefully 6) awards.
I think there is only one trophy he wants.
I have little doubt the one he cares about the most is the Stanley Cup and he will take one of those over any quantity of individual awards but I would suggest, yes, he would very much like the Hart and the Rocket and the Selke and the Conn Smyth as well.
I would also suggest that him playing in the conversation (and even leader) for those trophies connects to the main one he wants.
Only one other player has won both Hart and Selke the same year. Another player has won both but not the same year. I think.
Drai even taking Ryan’s shifts on the 4th line now….
Yeah, that’s notable.
It would normally suggest injury, but could also mean Knoblauch agrees with much of the fanbase that Ryan is ‘done’.
Yeah, replay confirms that was a very surprising non-call on McDavid.
Lmao one of the most egregious non-calls on McDavid. Two players literally pull him down from behind and no call.
Replay shows only one player with a stick wrapped around McD. Maybe if it was two it would have been a penalty.
Can guarantee that if an Oiler player would have done same thing to a Hawk it would have been called. Game management to a tee.
Corey Perry first forward back! It is a weird game
Brown was benched, deservingly, for a large part of the 2nd. Credit him (and the 4th line) for drawing that PP.
Drai played that well, not their usual thing everyone expects. Nice finish by Zach getting it over the pad
Or around
Hyman doing Hyman things.
Hey man! 🚨
Leon is carrying the team this game and this year.
Smart play by Drai…..
Thumbs up.
Leon should be extra attacker 1.
There – I said it.
There is no doubt he’s driving the team right now.
Fourth line drawing a PP is a good thing.
Hawks do have solid PK – around 86% I think I read up top.
Drai could have fired that one – he does have 31 goals on the season….
He’s been trying to pass through multiple players and it’s not going
A little less fancy wouldn’t be a bad thing
If you don’t shoot when you can and have a good lane it makes it easier to anticipate the pass, Connor especially
Drai shoots a lot of course but not as often when it’s not a one timer set up
Off-setting minors on the scoresheet (Arvy for slashing and the Hawk for crosschecking).
https://x.com/OilersNation/status/1878242573069988243?s=19
lol
Yup, he’s 5-1 in his last 6 but he’s now been very poor in 2 of his last 3 (loss to ANA and tonight with a solid 2 GA against SEA in between).
It’s such a huge benefit to have that level of goaltending from your backup
That’s gotta be a cross-checking penalty, no? His head/neck suffered a violent whip lash as a result.
He’s only got one point but I feel like Drai simply drug (dragged) the team back in to this one – pretty much on his own.
Noticed that after a rough 1st, they moved Kulak off the pairing w/Nurse. Not sure if it’s Chicago’s cycle or what, but he was really struggling in the 1st period.
Brown benched after the giveaway on the 3rd GA.
Perry has nothing but space as a result of Kapanen using his big body and puck sense with the excellent dish taking two Blackhawks out of coverage.
The seas part for Scorey Perry. Wtf were the hawks doing on that one, haha.
I hope Arvi and Nuge are ok.
I am not confident that Picks won’t leak another Grade B/C or two.
I am confident the Oilers can score a few more to counter.
Ya, proceeds to give away the puck right after the third goal😬