Last night’s trade by the Carolina Hurricanes is a clear indicator that a rematch of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final is out among the stars as a possible option. I don’t know if Stan Bowman is going to be as busy and brilliant as Kevin Lowe that spring, but we are at a point in the hockey season where trade talk is reaching a new tremor level.
What will the Oilers do? Daniel Nugent-Bowman at The Athletic had a long look at the current situation today and it’s well worth the read. I think a big trade, while unnecessary, is possible.
The Athletic article today is about Kris Knoblauch, the entire coaching staff, and a group of defensemen who have shown great utility in the last 15 months.
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 2-1-0)
- At home to: WAS, VAN, BUF, SEA, DET (Expected 3-2-0) (Actual 1-1-0)
- Overall expected results: 8-4-2, 18 points in 14 games
- January result: 8-3-0
- Oilers in 2024-25: 30-15-3, 63 points in 48 games
The Oilers could run the table, but I do have them losing one of the last three games this month. In my memory banks are games against Buffalo (today’s opponent) and the Ottawa Senators in post-Christmases past that were truly awful. I know this is a different team, and a different year, and it would be grand to have an 11-3-0 January, but I predicted there would be two losses in the final five and we’ll see. It’s a tough league, it should not be an expectation to win every game.
THE DEADLINE
I’m wondering if Stan Bowman’s plan is to work around the edges all season, and then make some moves in the summer. This roster doesn’t need an overhaul, but there are areas he may want to tweak.
Daniel’s article covers multiple possibilities and is thorough. There’s every chance the Oilers do not make a major move at this year’s deadline. It’s extremely unlikely the team will make anything close to the Hurricanes-Avalanche blockbuster from last night.
It’s important to remember this is a highly successful hockey team. If Edmonton wins this afternoon, without its captain, the team will have 65 points in 49 games. That’s 109-point pace. Even more impressive, the Oilers would be in first place in the Pacific Division by the time we all go out to eat dinner tonight at our favourite restaurant (or maybe you are barbecuing at home). That’s a pretty cool spot 60 percent of the way through the schedule.
For me, another defenseman is a need, but that might be John Klingberg. I’d also like to see Jeff Skinner getting more opportunities with skill centers before the deadline, but would not be angry at a scoring addition on left wing. Another center is always welcome. I don’t believe a goaltender is a need, but many of you do, and if the Oilers enter the postseason with Stuart Skinner and John Gibson as the stopper tandem I know many of the people I interact with each week would be happy.
A quick word about Matthew Savoie: He scored again last night, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees a quick look in the NHL before the deadline. I don’t believe he’ll get a Noah Philp level look (that appears to be a full audition leading up to the deadline) but two or three games could happen. The Condors are losing right now, and it’s easy to bury that team and coach, but they are badly outmanned most nights and Savoie (plus others) are giving maximum effort. They are a fun team to watch right now.
W: 45+ yr lions fan.
det Def 1st 12gm w/ injuries 4gm 0pass TD, 8gm 1TD. Qb had 73.3 rate best pass def in League. loss #1 OCB Davis & #5 Prush DI Mcniell end of season. 2.4 pass td/gm 109.9 rate. 25’ return: ED hutch, smith, Muhamad; DI Mcniel, Reader, LB Anzalone, Campbell, Rodrigo, #12 man OCB Amik R, Arnold, Rakestraw, need FA OCB, Branch, Joseph.
Allen’s gm vs Det, my 3D player situation xAvg (07/08 on lowetide) would be part of poor def (Comp) data set!
Nice to see off D men refered to as Rovers. (My 17yrbold rober theory!
Good to see you’re still with us, Mr. thebear
Here we go Lions here we go, Detroit.
Here we go Lions here we go, Detroit.
12 more hours from now and we’ll be on our way to our first Super Bowl.
2-0 Canucks. Still early in the second but the HH curse is working its magic so far. He should really learn to unleash his superpowers more carefully…
Just got back to Calgary after taking my son to the game today. Skinner definitely saved our bacon, and me the embarrassment of having to settle down the annoying drunken Buffalo Sabres fans the row behind.
We were definitely the better team in the first period and we could’ve had at least a couple of goals. The empty net shot from Nuge that was blocked and a couple of great chances from point blank range.
I was kind of surprised there was no scoreboard message for Ryan McLeod.
I took a picture when Leon was about to score the empty net goal so I have a freeze framed memory of another missed wide open cage… everyone needs some practice!
Cool moment after the game when they interviewed Skinner and announced that we were now leading the division
It’s been great to see Oilers sans McDavid for the last few games; to see how good they really are without him.
They’re a certain playoff team and a pretty good looking one;
That goalie gets no love from the fans but he’s certainly good enough to win 1 cup.
Don’t know y’all caught Friedge during the intermission but apparently both Carolina and Buffalo were in talks with the Nyuk-nyuks for Elias Petterson yesterday, a deal which could still happen. He’s in the line-up for the Dys tonight though. Not being held out so who knows how serious the talks got, or if Van was simply trying to compare the markets for their two disgruntled stars.
I’d prefer they trade JT, Petterson don’t impress me much. They should keep him 😉
Elliotte also stated max offer to Rantanen was believed to be 11.75. The ask was 14M so they were miles apart. COL’s point was that it was too much moolah for a winger, and their offer would still make him the highest paid winger in the league.
Both Marner and Kaprizov will both get over 13 million soon. Why would Rantanen take less?
Any team that can collapse this quick is almost no one’s nightmare.
Canucks merely being Canucks.
Now that we are first in the division, hope they set their sights on catching the Jets for top seed and a date with the Flames in round 1. Would be nice to have an easy opponent to start
…said the 2006 Detroit Red Wings.
These days every team needs to be taken seriously.
Flames suck
Flames may catch the Kings for 3rd in the Pacific…..
Kings tie it up late but lose to Jackets in OT. Flames win and close gap on Kings.
I’ll give the Flames credit… they tried to lose at the end but managed to stave off defeat.
If given a choice between playing LA, CGY, COL, or MIN, in the first round i take CGY 10 times out of 10.
Summarizing!
Day stopped 25 of 28 in a 5-3 win.
Clattenburg, Wakely, Fischer and Määttä each had a helper.
Akey, Lachance, Copponi, Münzenberger and Berry were not resoupients.
It’s time to end the Philp experiment and acquire a right-shot center that can win faceoffs, react to the play at least as fast as Bouchard and provide some energy with a few hits.
That would seem to be premature no?
Would not surprise if they do at the trade deadline.
Until then, he’s played 6 games in his 2nd stint, he’s adjusting to the speed of the game, and it’s worth experimenting as it will pay off down the road. These are valuable minutes for the future.
With the team winning, the Oilers can afford to do it for now.
Yeh good call; let’s complain about not giving young guys a chance and then dump them after 6 games, during which he is a respectable +1
He’s getting 20 games minimum; that means another 14 to go.
Deal with it.
Bold prediction. The Oilers use Kane’s LTIR to load up at the deadline, then Mark Stone Evander Kane, and ultimately win the cup…
Bettman permanently closes the Mark Stone LTIR loophole following a GM meeting this upcoming summer
as long as the oilers win lol
And stipulates EDM must forfeit a third round pick to CGY.
The Klingberg signing with the cap hit it comes with makes me believe, we a high level of confidence, that Kane won’t be activated during the regular season. They have essentially used up all normal course cap space (and are actually in LTIR by apx $90K now I believe).
If Kane was to be activated they’d need to send someone down, let alone add anything.
As far as closing the loophole, this has been discussed at many GM meetings (from accounts) and changes will need to be collectively bargained (and those will come after next year).
I want Crosby.
Like Bryan Trottier going to the Penguins.
Giving them a superstar bottom six player. Like having Lionel Messi playing sweeper. And since I’m dreaming, 50% retained salary.
The exact horrible style game I was afraid of. Sabres were allowed to skate and skate while Oilers eventually won, but only just.
Ah, the ups and downs of a contending hockey team.
Sabres D was sending stretch passes up the ice all game, which started to back up the Oilers, and opened up space for their forwards.
I was really impressed by Dahlin. Power and Samuelson also caught my eye.
That’s Buffalo’s problem.
Playing like private entities, instead of a team.
Oldest and easiest problem to fix in sports management.
“.786” lol
Nuge played great in this game. He and his line played more minutes against Buffalo’s top line and defensive pair than any other Oiler forwards, kicked that lines butt and every other lines butt as well.
He’s been good all season, and has never been less than value for money.
Ever.
#1 in the division with the best player in the world coming back from a nice little break and a burr in his saddle.
What a lovely night.
So getting that 97 guy back on the ice should be good, right????
Any Oiler and an empty netter goal, name a worse duo. Even Drai apparently, but we can laugh about it now!
.951 ain’t too shabby. #PlayLaBambaBaby
Hey love the fact we got two points but holy crap gave up 41 shots to Buffalo!!!! Skinner won this game. Would give him an A, Nuge an A and everyone else C+.
Yup. Skinner stole that one. At times, they did a poor job managing the puck and the lines were out of synch. They got just enough to move into 1st in the Pacific.
That’s for sure, and there were some real beauty’s… I don’t know the high-danger shot stats, but I’d bet there were at least a dozen against Stu.
Quite a bit of negative chatter wrt S.Skinner lately. Well 0.951 should calm the waters some.
I like Skinner. It’s not his fault the team has a tendency to play “fire wagon” hockey.
Numbers by almost every model do not have the Oilers playing that style of hockey – the Oilers have good metrics as far as shots allowed, high danger shots, slot attempts, etc.
Impressionist art was always my forte.
With a basis in the Old Masters.
The Dutch school mainly.
Just like one weak game doesn’t define, neither does one good one game
It’s about consistency, as much as can be. So far it hasn’t been there based on being in the bottom half or third in stats, for both goalers
Glad he saved their bacon this afternoon
I wouldn’t say Stu “stole” the game but he certainly was a difference maker tonight. Oilers solo 1st in the division!
Well he certainly covered the asses of every player in front of him… so I think he stole this one. Huge props to Stu.
Drai has too much self respect for open net point farming.
Rob Rae on the MSG broadcast.
I don’t know if Skinner fully stole that game but hot damn did Buffalo not control the last half and Stu made a number of really good saves when they were tied and up one. You know what, I consider this a goalie steal.
Skinner could have been stronger early, especially on the Tuch goal. But credit where due, he stuck with it and gave the team every chance to win the game in regulation.
He’s very Grant Fuhr-like. Will leak some goals but can also bear down and shut the door.
whew….it’s in the books as a W
2 wins and 1 loss to Washington and all around good play.
I am so pleasantly surprised by Nurse’s renaissance. He must have been pretty banged up last year.
I think his injury status the last couple seasons is an under acknowledged factor in oil country.
Makes me wonder about Connor and Nuge, for instance.
Kulich knew. You could see Zucker was having a chuckle about it on the bench knowing it was coming back
This ain’t soccer get that crap outta here
No goal.
Well the refs got one right tonight.
2 also on wrong side of his man
Goaltender interference. Plain as day.
Call.
That.
Back.
Plus the distinct kicking motion.
Oh, he kicks that 100%.
Well that is a kick, but this IS the NHL
Sad but true. Fortunately the right outcome this time.
Kicked in?????????
I mentioned earlier Nurse’s deft little passes in to the slot for grade A shots that he’s been making recently…….
Funny but there was a play in the third where Nurse took the puck from behind the goal then lazily iced it – thus having the Sabres another shot at scoring late in the game unstead of carrying the puck out of the Oilers zone,
So your expectation is perfection?
What made it lazy? Missing his intended target on a pass means it was lazy?
Stetcher hasn’t impressed me … the play dies on his stick a lot as he loses a lot of battles and his skating is pretty average
I disagree that the play dies on his stick a lot – I find he’s very good at keeping the play alive/keeping the puck in the o-zone, and good breaking out of his own end.
Don’t disagree on the final two points though. Probably best suited to a 3rd pairing/7th D role but honestly he’s done a pretty good job in his role this year
Likely going to lose his spot to Klingberg. Love his compete level but he has his struggles.
Yes – he battles hard but just doesn’t have enough size to win battles consistently.
I would not have predicted 13-93-28 would have had much success but they have had a great game. Running that as the 3rd line once 97 is back might be an idea. Maybe 19 moves up to 1LW, or 53 gets another chance?
My main observation is that 53 is at his best as the primary puck handler on a line, with linemates who can retrieve pucks and cash chances he can create for them. Not a great fit in theory with 97 or 29, but he has been better w/o the puck in the offensive zone the past few games.
11pts in 12 games so far in 2025 for the Wizard.
In his 14th season in the league, the Nuge has unlocked shooting top shelf.
Wow Darnell. Not too hot, not too soft. That’s some touch!
Now let’s stop farting around and get this thing over the finish line
Great pass! Nuge slammed it home.
Nuge is expanding his wizardry.
Nuge on a 5 on 5 HEATER!!!!!
The Nuge is huge.
Nuge with his 2 nd even strength goal of the game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nuge is money!!
What a pass. What a finish
Rangers aren’t flipping Borgen – $4.1MM X 5.
That’s a lot of money and term for Will Borgen.
Refs are reffing, but the boys gotta tighten things up here. We’re chasing and our passes are not crisp.
Skinner is keeping them in this game. The Oilers have been asleep this period.