For the life of me, I don’t understand why the Oilers handled Philip Broberg in the way things rolled out. The Ken Holland word cloud leading up to the draft screamed Broberg in 50 font, moving from times new roman to franklin gothic to make his point.
He then proceeded to acquire Brett Kulak and later Mattias Ekholm to roadblock the youngster. When Broberg requested a trade, Holland ignored it and I believe the die was cast for an offer sheet by Christmas 2023.
Holland further made the Oilers vulnerable by also slow-playing a Dylan Holloway extension. Speeds has talked about dual offer sheets since Christ was a kid, but Holland did not see the danger.
If I’m Daryl Katz I’m still livid about how it all went down. These young players had exceptional value, and the extension cap hit would have been manageable before July 1.
Instead, it was left to Stan Bowman to make the call. As is always the case, the incoming manager has an easy time in sending away the previous administration’s assets.
Less than one year after the fact, no manager in the organization then or now can claim the decision making was a success. In a recent article I wrote “it’s not a good look for the organization. The Oilers were blindsided, caught unaware by an innovative and progressive organization.” That’s obvious now, in the clear light of day.
Broberg will play tonight for the Blues, suspect there will be boos and some cheers. There’s very little cheer for this Oilers organization as it pertains to Broberg and Holloway.
Management let ownership down, and failed the fans. Let the visits by these two men over the next 10-15 years serve as a reminder that the Edmonton Oilers are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. In truth, this organization hasn’t been the gold standard in hockey ops since Adam Graves arrived in the city November 1989.
If the Oilers wish to win Stanley, then the process needs to change. From pulling the chute on finishing second in the Pacific the other afternoon against Anaheim, to the vague news offered about the injured players and their possible return, this organization turns many things into a net negative for no good reason.
Stan Bowman badly needs someone to show him where the icebergs are, and Bowman himself needs to take heed when that person speaks. If Holland had simply done that much, the Oilers would be dressing Broberg for the home side this evening.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN APRIL
- On the road to: VEG, SJS, LAK, ANA (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 2-2-0)
- At home to: STL, SJS (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: WPG (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: LAK (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: SJS (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected results: 5-3-1, 11 points in 9 games
- April result: 2-2-0
- Current record: 44-28-5, 93 points in 77 games
It’s a special day on the Lowdown, noon to 2pm on Sports 1440. Kevin McCurdy will join us as the new feature guest Wednesdays at 1pm. Kevin has been on the show previously, offering unique takes on all things Oilers. He backs up his opinions with proof and we’ll chat about the team as it stands heading in to tonight’s game.
We’ll also talk Jays, NFL draft and a curious NBA firing. 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, it’s available post-show on apple and spotify, and we tweet it out on X.
McDavid looked as fresh as a daisy out there the best he’s been in ages.
Exactly how long was he out from the team? He’s going to be flying in the playoffs.
He had missed . . . 🎼 8 games a week 🎶 . . .
Add Petrov to the hurt Condors – left with an LBI, did not return.
On that note, Chaulk said yesterday, Caggiula done for the regular season and Griffith MAYBE a chance.
Yikes. How many players in the Oilers organization are injured or have been injured this season? How the Condors can even field a team right now is downright amazing.
Since nobody is going to give kudos to Pickard for making some big saves I will say he’s been our Rodney Dangerfield and probably deserves game 1
No probably about it.
#neverindoubt
97 with 3 assists, not all primary, ok. 2 penalties in the last 2.5 minutes of 2 periods back to back and only +1 on the night, that’s a meh game at best. 2 points, that’s good.
He was a +3 and full value for it. He was in on every goal, by drawing the delayed penalty call that led to a goal. I’d say he had a very good night, but can agree it wasn’t his best game
7 points in 4 games are needed for McDavid to keep his 100 pt season streak alive
I’m going to guess he’s not flying to San Jose for game 82.
Fair. I think this team hopefully gets players back in the mix and has time to work on chemistry in the regular season. This isn’t like prior seasons where he was in 75+ games and getting some well deserved rest at the end
Chelios with high praise for Darnell Nurse tonight on the TNT post-game show. Not just this game, but this season.
Nurse has found his groove. Maybe he turned off social media and just went out in played? I dunno but this is the mature physical beast we all hoped he would become. He making smart plays and great reads, both offensively and defensively, every game. And when he makes mistakes he has the physical gifts to correct them. He’s gonna bring it in the postseason!
He also seems healthy, but his quick decision making has been very good, way less unforced errors, so something between the ears as well
I don’t think he’d been fully healthy until this season (since playing through that torn hip flexor a few years back).
I think Darnell was not fully healthy last year. Also, Coffee finally got rid of that drop down on your belly thing in front of the net that was put into his game in the Tippett years. That was the worst change that stuck to his game for years.
LOL to whoever told me to be careful what I wish for when I mused about the prospect of playing an upstart St. Louis team in the second round. I stand wholeheartedly behind my initial statement, the best Edmonton can hope for is St. Louis upsetting Vegas in round 1.
Especially with Kaprizov and Erikssen Ek coming back, Minnesota would be a much tougher out, should they upset Vegas.
Meanwhile, the Oilers finished a season sweep of the Blues with 5 D, no Walman, RNH, Draisaitl, Frederic, Kane, or Ekholm. It took a 12 game winning streak to get them ahead of the Calgary Flames. I have literally negative fear of the Blues.
At this rate, more likely for Minnesota to end up in our Pacific bracket and give VGK a bigger challenge than the Blues
Amazing what having a Superstar in the lineup does! CONNOR MCDAVID is BACK!!! And I don’t mean the guy from this season, either! He’s back to Elite!!!
Hold onto something, fans! We’re ramping it up!!!
And the best part? We got Another Superstar waiting in the wings!!!
#neverindoubt
Depth scoring!!!! Wins the game.
Downtown Brown.
Man that’s some bad defending and assignments missed in the final 25 sec.
Unprepared and battles lost. Literally nobody did their job except for Pickard
Better when Pickard does his job, instead of the team playing well and a bad goalie.
Well sure, but I saw a well prepared 6 skaters vs 5 pylons. Does Knobhob even say anything on the bench?
When they saw the empty net off the faceoff, the plan should have been deny clean entry and get ready for retrieving a dump in, and I agree, poor execution. Hopefully having 2 more top 4 D and RNH and Draisaitl back in the lineup will help that out a bit
Suck it Blues!
Uh oh. Why are the refs looking devastated and shaking their heads? They honestly seem quite disappointed that Edmonton scored.
They were foiled on their assignment.
👊🏼🚨🖕🏼!!!
On HELL of a game by the team, in partcular the defenisve group – Nurse, Kulak and Bouchard were excellent.
McDavid is back
Drai, Ekholm, Nuge, Walman, Frederick, Kane – join us!
If it weren’t for the Blues’ first line, Nurse would have had my 3rd star
Brown from downtown!
Sweet Baby Jesus!!!! What a play by Nurse prior to the goal. 3 pt night by 97!
All is right in the world. We can go to sleep knowing the Stripes lost.
BOOM!!! Connor to Connor!!!
what a hockey game!!!
Wow – Connor squared!
Of course. Why wouldn’t they call a penalty on McDavid? They can’t have Edmonton being given too much of an advantage.
I wonder how often McDavid gets interfered to that extent per game?
Thomas said something before the whistle; a plan of sorts
Condors kill a late PK and then Hamblin buries an empty netter.
Get er done PP!
Flames blow the 3-1 3rd period lead and lose in OT.
Wow. Ducks scored twice in 8 seconds to tie it before winning in OT.
That pass was sick. No cap
My son just said that. Think it means “pretty good”.,,
That would have been a nice goal.
These two misses by McDavid and Skinner sort of sum up the Oilers’ season this year, I feel.
In that they should have won by more? Or that they have kept our collective sphincters way tighter than they should be?
The defending a 3rd period lead record and one goal game record would suggest that despite the scares, they’ve generally executed enough. Just not enough to put games out of reach when they should be
Ethan DeJong buries the rebound off a Brady shot to take a 3-2 lead with 8 to go.
Flames and Ducks going to OT
Just an unfortunate slide by Pickard. If he hadn’t moved his leg at all, he’d have had the third attempt as well.
Emberson needed to be more physical on that goal.
Yep! Didn’t like that goal.
Good.
Not good.
Paybacks a bitch, Jordan…shake it off, buttercup..,
Jones with a great drive to the net!
Geez that should have been a penalty on the Blues.
Indeed, but where was the holding penalty on Tucker?
Arvidsson really is starting to be impactful on almost a nightly basis….
I agree, he’s found a groove. Great to see and perfect timing.
He shoots! He Scarvidssons!
This pun is so tortured that it’s been banned by the Geneva Convention.
I love it.
My writers’ room is playing one man short. 🙂
BOOM!!! Kulak with a smart play and Arvi buries!!! Great on Kulak to recognize the overloaded net front!
Simple formula. Get puck through. Man at net puts rebound in.
Oilers? Scoring with an extra attacker? Unheard of in these contemporary times.
Wow, great response.
Great job by Bouch to change and get a fresh Kulak out there.
Arvy stays hot!!!!
Shut up Jack! Where was support there?!?!
I seem to dislike Jack a little more every game. Pretty close to turning the sound off the tv……
Nurse with puck control, turns it over, backs out of coverage, and his man scores.
Terrible.
Not to mention Hyman dogging it on the backcheck.
Haven’t posted a comment in a couple of years. Still read every day.
Just wanted a live perspective of Philp as I live in Abby so watch the Condors each time they come to town. To my eye, he was/is the most NHL ready of any player on the team. Some other players like Savoie have good hands, but don’t see nearly as much of the action that Philp does. He has good awareness and always seems to be in the mix.
Thought some folks might like a “seen him good” perspective.
Cheers.
Thanks! Post more.
Philp in perfect position and picks up the puck after it’s chipped past Nurse. Not a big play but hella smart. He’s got a lil bit of Derek Ryan in him. Subtle smart.
Better period but just a continuation of the first with a better result.
Skinner really showing his puck skills and offensive hockey IQ. Sure hope the coaches are watching the game the same way and recognize the skill matchup with Connor.
Philp looks like a keeper.
He’s gotta chance to be a “Derek Ryan type” but with the physical gifts that Ryan never had. We watch his development and try not to get to far ahead of ourselves, eh? But so far, so good.
Pickard has earned the right to start in the playoffs.
if you agree press Thumbs Up
if you disagree, press thumbs down
He will definitly get some starts.
He is their best goalie even after Skinner returns.
Should be the #1 until he falters – if he does.
I like their game – skating well as a team – good structure.
That McDavid guy sure makes a difference.
Nurse crushing it from the back end – so good.
Condors update?
A great screen by Petrov and and Corcoran shot gets through to tie the game at 2. Dineen extends the most productive season by a d-man in Condors history.
Thanks!