Oilers at Canucks, G46 2024-25

The Edmonton Oilers, in my opinion, reached a new plateau during the last several weeks. I have no idea if the club can sustain it, but it’s clear as day this group believes in themselves in a way we haven’t seen in many years. The bitter loss in G7 last spring SCF has produced the kind of team Chris Pronger agitated his teammates to become back in 2006. A determined, skilled, smart, diligent, aggressive unit. It is something to behold.

Kris Knoblauch appears to be cooking up one of his more effective lineup tweaks. No surprise Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is the key to the ploy. Here’s the story.

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 3-1-0)
• At home to: LAK (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
• On the road to: MIN, COL, VAN (Expected 1-1-1) (Actual 2-0-0)
• 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: 7-1-0
• Oilers in 2024-25: 29-13-3, 61 points in 45 games

This month has been a dream for Oilers fans. It’s possible the club is running in to a hornet’s nest tonight, the Canucks are not a happy crew, but there are times when desperation wins the day. It’s also possible this Oilers team sends the Canucks to the moon tonight. Rick Tocchet has had a mittful of misery at the hands of the Oilers over his career, this could be an interesting night.

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

A helluva lot of Oilers fans are jumping to conclusions on the John Klingberg signing. Here’s what we know. The Oilers had to pay a little more than hoped (one assumes there were competitive offers beyond Edmonton’s) and that’s an interesting wrinkle. Stan Bowman has carefully worked around the edges of the roster previous to this move; I thought this would be the same. The impact on the cap isn’t massive, but it is dear if the deadline means a big trade.

We also know that Klingberg has not performed well in recent years, and peak Johnny was several years ago. Injuries can derail a career, and I believe it’s safe to say Klingberg hasn’t been right for a long time. He may never be right again. However, we don’t know what we don’t know. Bowman acquired a player who he is uncertain of, and that’s no sin because Klingberg isn’t certain either. We know this because of the price of the contract. He’s looking for a chance to show what he can do, and that could be a little or a lot. There’s time before the deadline to take him for a test drive, and this is mountains better than giving up real assets for a long-term Rasmus Ristolainen.

I think some folks are jumping to conclusions here. Not every move the Oilers make is worth hitting the panic button, and when you get outraged at everything the impact of your opinion is reduced when something horrawful does come along.

Bottom line: This could be a home run. It could also be another Anton Burdasov and that’s a fact. We would know it to be true if we could just remember Anton Burdasov! Getting all het up over this signing is not worth your time. See how it plays out.

A STORY

Let me tell you a story. Many years ago, when I was maybe 8 and my brother 12, the two of us collected bottles that had been thrown out of cars along the roads by our house. This is 17 miles north of Maidstone on the way to Turtleford. We had a pile of them, and my Dad said we could take them to the bottle depot in Lloyd on the Saturday he went grocery shopping. So we loaded up the back of the red GMC three-quarter ton truck with our boxes of bottles and his the road (Mom was there, probably trying to get Ira to refrain from chewing tobacco during the trip).

We arrived at the bottle depot, and knew to the absolute penny how much they were worth. However, for some reason, Pop Shoppe bottles were worth less and I don’t think they counted right. The amount of cash delivered to Dad’s hand was far short of the amount expected. Who knows, maybe we counted wrong (we didn’t count wrong). We walk back to the truck, and I’m crying, my brother is upset and Mom was probably trying to hide the Copenhagen container. So, there we were, sad and miserable.

Except. Except my Dad asked my brother how much it was supposed to be, reached into his wallet and made it right. My Dad was NOT the kind of man to feel sorry for you, he grew up in humble Saskatchewan and was 18 years old when the dirty 30’s hit. He had a tough life, he didn’t throw money around and we weren’t rich. On that day, he did help his boys because he knew something wasn’t right, and decided to correct it. I loved my Dad, and I love that day all the way to this one. He gave me hockey, baseball and a life experience with a foundation of love and kindness. That’s everything.

VIKTOR ARVIDSSON

I damn well knew something was up re: Arvidsson the other night. Buddy doesn’t play the last few shifts, nothing after the game and then quiet word that it isn’t deemed serious. You do you, but for me the Oilers verbal about injuries isn’t really worth much. Due respect to the organization, these day-to-day injuries have become week-to-week or more too often for me to believe them. I get it. Why tell the opposition how badly hurt an individual is, and why make the fan base fret? However, the remnant of this behaviour is a lack of trust. I don’t trust that Arvidsson is okay, even if he is fine and will play tonight. Now, the Oilers don’t (rightly) care what I think of their practices, but for me this is worth calling out. Don’t trust the Oilers when they talk about injuries folks. What is said may or may not be true. Get well, Mr. Arvidsson, you are a helluva player.