This is the first edition of the Bakersfield Condors, playing in the team’s first ever AHL game. It’s a fantastic roster, but two of the names were called to the NHL soonafter. The Condors are in a struggle for the postseason in 2024-25, and play the last game on the regular schedule this evening. Tied for the final playoff spot in the Pacific, tonight is everything.
Adding to the adventure? This team is populated by a couple of fine prospects, several quality AHL veterans, and a truckload full of odd sizes, roll ends and guys they found at the bus depot just before they left for the Mexican leagues. You could write a book about the Condors this season. Call it ‘To hell with this noise, we’re doing t!”
SETTING THE SCENE
My ability to read the AHL standings is legendaryily poor, but tonight’s game against the Silver Knights (I assume the ECHL affiliate for Vegas is the Bronze Medallions) is vital to making the postseason. The Tuscon Roadrunners own the tie-breakers so Bakersfield needs some help from the first place Colorado Eagles. The last time the Eagles helped Bakersfield, one of their players (a former Oilers prospect) derailed Cooper Marody’s career so don’t count on it. Still, it’s a fun evening ahead for Bakersfield fans and they deserve it.
This Bakersfield team has been to hell and back in terms of roster changes. Recalls, injuries, time away for reasons we’ll never know, this was a mind boggling campaign for the Condors.
The roster has deployed three goaltenders (normal), 14 defensemen and 25 forwards this season! Holy hell, Batman!
There are some fine players here. Matthew Savoie will be the guy who has the best NHL career, and his rookie AHL totals (19-32-51 in 65 games) indicate real quality. James Hamblin and Drake Caggiula are outscoring at even strength in a big way, Noah Philp is a physically imposiing player at this level with real skill and a big brain. I really like this player. Cam Dineen, Connor Carrick and Phil Kemp have had good seasons on the defense, and Travis Dermott looks very good now that he’s made it to California. The goaltending has been running hot and cold but have generally played well when the team in front of them resembles an AHL calibre group.
This team is worth cheering for. The team was supposed to have many more top flight players but Lane Pederson’s injury was followed by many more and the recalls to Edmonton have been plentiful. I very much like the job Colin Chaulk and his staff did this year under trying circumstances. He’s in a tough spot, new general managers (Stan Bowman) have people they like and want to develop their players. I hope the Condors make the postseason. This group has earned it.
New for The Athletic: What to expect from Edmonton Oilers’ signings David Tomasek, Atro Leppänen and other recent free-agent signings.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6292182/2025/04/19/oilers-free-agents-quinn-hutson/
Geez. The Avs are a fast team. Dallas kinda kept it close, but it doesn’t help missing their 2 best players.
cody Ceci played top 4D minutes. He sure battles hard.
Oetinger is gonna have to play out of his mind for Dallas to win a game.
Alex Kannok-Leipert finishes off the Condors’ regular season with a very spirited tilt at the buzzer – his 9th of the season.
Philp and Griffith play catch off the rush and Philp one-times his hattrick goal home with 21 seconds to go.
Condors win 8-2.
Pitlick with the 2nd assist, his third of the night – he’s been very good since he joined the team.
Avalanche look unreal. Seems like an impossibly difficult task for this team to beat LA, VGK and Colorado all in a row to get back to the final. Argh.
Eh. Dallas is missing two of their best players.
It seems an impossible task for any given team when you break it down like that. Oil just gotta get 1 game in LA. That’s doable.
How was that 1-0 goal not called back? Certainly looked like a kicking motion to me. And intention is not part of the rule.
The “kick” was ruled not intentional by the linesmen, referees and the command centre.
Your default is pollyanna to a fault, isn’t it?
Maybe dial it back a bit, wouldn’t want to have too much uneccesary hope going into the playoffs, would we?
4-3 Tucson end of the 2nd. With the 4th best AHL record Colorado has dominated Tuscon this season, but there is context.
Of note, Colorado is playing goaltender Isak Posch a 2 yr NCAA goaltender in his first ever pro game.
On D Connor Kelley in his 2nd pro game, Hank Kempf in his 4th, 27 year old Byron Yoon in his 40th AHL game, and Connor Mayer in his 22nd AHL game.
The game is in Tuscon as well, so the deck is stacked against the Condors post season aspirations.
5-3 at the end of two.
Correction, 5-3 end of 2 in Tuscon.
6-3 now.
7-4 final.
Seth Griffith with a drag to change the angle and rips one home for a 7-1 lead.
There must be automatic suspensions in the STL/WPG game, no? Coming across the ice to fight late in the game is what got Nurse suspended isn’t it?
Something about the last minute or two minutes of the game, no?
I will say this. If the refs would call penalties that are obvious penalties, this may not happen. But it’s like they just decide they are done for the night.
That trip on schen at the faceoff was the most obvious call ever
Special teams making a big difference in tonight’s games.
Will the Oilers playoff PK show up?
A great cross-ice pass from Pitlick to Philp who walks in and goes five-hole for his second in a row and a 6-0 lead.
Pitlick is good at this level.
Too bad Tuscon is up 3-0.
3-1 early in the 2nd.
3-2.
4-2 sigh.
Colorado is playing a goalie from St. Cloud in his first pro game…
I have a good feeling about the Oilers taking it in 4. We have done it 7, 6, and 5 so far against the Kings. Neutralize Kempe and I think a sweep is possible.
Ya, the Kings suck.
Summarizing!
Wakely scored his 6th of the playoffs and had a game-high 6 SOG as Barrie won in OT to take a 3-2 series lead.
Akey and Berry did not incur soup. Muskegon was victorious in Game 1 though.
MacKinnon is a pretty unreal player. A motor that does not quit.
Oilers drafted 1st OV in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
I’d trade all three of those players for the 2013 #1.
Yep. He is definitely in the McDavid/Drai tier IMO.
Philp drives down the left side, cuts in on the d-man with the ECHL effort and shelfs it for the 5-0 lead.
Tucson up 2-0 so it may all be for not.
Or naught…Tucson now up 3-0.
I can’t imagine the Colorado players are highly motivated since they have a first round bye in the playoffs.
Colorado has cored 2 goals in the second, so there’s still a chance.
Griffith centers, goes off the goalies stick and in.
His 20th goal and 70th points of the season – leads the league in assits and 4th in points.
Got his 300th point as a Condor earlier.
Amazing play by Copponi – bats down an outlet attempt at the blue line, barely keeps it in, works it down low, takes it behind the net, wraps it around but passes it across and Swetlikof buries the 3-0 on the back door.
https://x.com/condors/status/1913774567790952668?s=46
One thing to keep in mind is Fiala is essentially early season Jeff Skinner in the defensive zone
“The combination of Byfield between Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere has been one of the NHL’s best, with the Kings outscoring opponents 20-6 while they’re on the ice. Of the 79 line combos to play at least 200 minutes together in 2024-25, only Nathan MacKinnon between Martin Necas and Artturi Lehkonen had a higher goal percentage.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6281771/2025/04/17/nhl-playoffs-2025-kings-oilers/?source=athletic_weeklyemail&campaign=602288&userId=1415419
Ok, that was kinda funny. Well played.
That being said. McDavid is a new man. Goilers.
Dermott left the game injured due to Henderson infractions.
Griffith and Carick gone for 10 minute misconducts.
Dallas basically playing 4 D. And Ceci is one of them. That does not seem sustainable.
Nope.
they blew all of their futures on more forwards when they desperately needed two more top 4 D
Wild stuff going on in Henderson.
Holty not wrong when he says “this is prison rules” as Henderson players are taking runs all over the ice.
Griffth to Carrick in the slot an he buries it for the 1-0 lead.
Chaos ensures as 5 players on each team in a mele……
After about a 7 minute delay – Condors come out up a goal and with a 5 min PP.
Savoie to Mayhew and he buries it, 2-0 Condors.
Savoie did a great job to work the puck towards the slot and open up Mayhew high.
Really seems like everyone (fans here included) is counting this team out.
They went 7-2 with Draisaitl and no McDavid this season
They went 4-0 with McDavid and no Draisaitl over final 5 games
During this time, we had sparse Walman coverage, in addition to Ekholm being unavailable
We have nearly all of the forwards back, with both McDavid and Draisaitl ready to roll.
They actually have a glutton of forwards to choose from now, and there will be strong players sitting out. The PK will influence decisions. Will the PK forwards remain RNH, Henrique, Brown, and Janmark? These were by far and away the minutes leaders this season. Logic would say not to mess with the PK (85.3% last 25 games, 80.6% last 35 games). However, Janmark is going to block a more skilled forward. Do they replace him by committee (e.g. Podkolzin, Frederic)?
I am mostly worried about Stu and D depth. They definitely have potential but the team just doesn’t seem as magical this season.
However, they often play very well with their backs against the wall.
The problem with replacing Janny on the PK is that Kap is already out and, with Podz doing the replacing on PK2 with Brown, there is noone left for PK3 (and moving up to the top 2 pairs when a PK forward is in the box). Of course, others like McDavid/Drai/Frederic/Hyman/Kane can fill in but they haven’t really during the season.
Its wild how much Stecher not being available is changing my confidence.
Having Brown or Dineen in the lineup is a really tough turn of events.
Not sure why Klingberg is being faded by the coach if he’s healthy – I know he hasn’t’ been good but I’d still take him over the other two.
LT,
Any chance we can get HH banned for the playoffs?
I am willing to make a sizeable donation to the blog/a charity. You can ban me too as collateral.
If you have the means and want to donate then do. Don’t put strings on it.
In case it was not clear, it was a joke.
Well I mean, I would like the joy suck banned for playoffs.
He’s so ridiculously irrelevant I’m not sure how he could affect anyone’s fun, other than feeling bad for him for being such a sad and unfulfilled human.
Have stopped reading his comments and responding. It encourages bad behavior.
I don’t consider myself a homer (Oilers aren’t the only team I follow) but his timing and tone was impacting my ability to follow a team that brings me joy. He’s very deliberate. Working in advertising for 40 years, I’ve had client that are like him and learned to filter things (what’s beneficial, what’s them being a jackass).
Ignoring him is the better play.
Your mileage may vary.
LT would have to figure out the half dozen or so names he uses here.
Let’s see, besides HH there’s DSF and The Great One (those two we hardly ever see anymore). Clarkenstein was pointed out not too long ago.
Anti-trust Issues and General McDavid more than likely.
Any others? If all were found and banned, Andie would just come back with more. He does the same thing on Sportsnet where he’s a flames fan. Haven’t been there since I found this blog but he got beat up quite a bit and kept coming back for more… punch drunk and OCD.
And I remember someone called him Arty here a few times. The CoH has an Arty in the comments. Oh, TSN had a comment section once and yup, the troll was there too.
Trolling is all he has in life.
Nah. Anti trust issues is not HH. (Or if it is, then I don’t mind that alter ego!)
General McDavid is far too different.
“Ban me as collateral”. A commited man!
Jets Hellybucyk rocking it as always in the playoffs – 3 goals on 10 shots. Jets need this guy to play better if they want any to go on a run.
Jets and Blues are both shot suppressing/denial teams. Both teams will probably finish the game with 25 shots plus/minus a couple. Save percentages will be horrible.
5 goals in the game, 3 PPGs.
All stats have to be looked at in context.
The context is a goalie on a shot suppression team has given up 3 goals on 15 shots (was 3 goals on 10 shots).
Thomas was in his Draisaitl spot on the PP with an eternity to shoot, delivered a perfect shot to the top corner. Sundqvist, point-blank from six feet in front of the net on a giveaway. Kyrou, an elite shooter, from distance through a screen hitting the top corner perfectly.
Ya so what? This post of your’s has nothing to do with your original post.
The goalie of your shot suppression team stopped 14 of 17 to rock a .824. Luckily for him and the shot suppression team, the other goalie gave up 4.
The regular season may be decided by the “means” of the distributions. The playoffs are decided in the tails of the distributions.
I don’t get the fascination with Hellybucyk and the Jets they play boring put you to sleep regular season games. Take a couple of runs at Schiefle get some traffic in front of Hellybucyk series over. The Dale Hawerchuk Jets that we always had a hard time beating were more a playoff team than the pussies the Jets have now.
50/50 folks.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6281771/2025/04/17/nhl-playoffs-2025-kings-oilers/?source=athletic_weeklyemail&campaign=602288&userId=1415419
Gregor – picking the Oilers to win:
The big question is will the Oilers PP that hasn’t played all together in quite awhile be firing on all cylinders?
There are lots of things to worry about with this team. But for me the PP is not one of them because of peak McDavid and Draisaitl and because of the the way that they elevate during the playoffs.
They will favor Leon side Connor needs to go right down the pipe and take wrist shot after wrist shot this will open up Leon’s lane to shoot.
The Oilers paid Emberson more than they offered Broberg.
Suggesting they’ve learned their lesson?
RH defensemen are more rare, that probably figured into it.
Who do you suggest were the realistic comps for Broberg prior to the off season?
The Oilers are gonna be pretty fresh going into the series (except for the walking wounded)
hope these guys are getting lots of hard practices in cause they have a history of playing like crap when rested
Can they immediately turn on the faucet. I think they’ll try low event lock down hockey get Skinner some confidence. It’s already been scripted we get the first 2 ticky tack penalties.
They have not committed to the 6D yet and also have not determined if they will spread it a bit and give the 3rd pairing more to make it more useable.
Stecher update: skated today. He’s feeling good but is not with us. Likely to be ready during round 1 but likely not game 1.
Klingberg is healthy and available.
Frederik all smiles post-skate today. Says ankle feels great. Been on the ice a lot recently. When asked his chances to play game 1 he said, along the lines of “I’d like to think I have a good chance”. Mentioned they practice tomorrow and they’ll go from there”.
Coach says all players expected to be back in the first round – many for game 1. Ekholm aside, all are doing well.
Here is hoping Stech is included in that.
Lots of talk on Frederik, very confident he’ll be playing, maybe game 1 – not sure.
Kane is not cleared yet but is very close. “Very close for game 1”.
When asked about switching the recent first line, Knob went off on a tangent about matchups and the Kings having last change.
I presume coach knows about Skinner’s team leading goal share near 70% since Jan 1 – that’s a big sample.
I don’t get why the coach clearly still does not have trust in this player. We’ve seen him battle, we’ve seen him concentrate on being on the right side of pucks and making right plays.
I listened to Knoblauch. In what way was he going off on a tangent?
No offence OP but cracked crab on a cracker! Spell the guy’s name right.
Frederic.
The Kings rolled the following out at practice:
This lineup is no better than prior years. That fourth line is meh and, if the Oilers have eitehr Kane or Frederik, let alone both, in the lineup, their bottom six is much better.
Does Edmundson/Clarke scare anyone as a 2nd pair?
Kuemper is clearly better than Skinner, or has been heading in to the playoffs but, as I said earlier, he is prone to getting off his game if things start to turn. I have full confidence the Oilers can get to him during this series.
This Kings team is “more of the same”
I know, I know, Byfield popped this season – all the way to 54 points (one less than he had last season) and 23 goals. Ya, ya, he’s playing center and is “good defensively” – good for him.
Goaltending will be huge in this series
The Oilers chased Kuemper out of the net during the first game of the 2022 playoffs. And he was never reinserted. And if it wasn’t for Pavel Francouz, the McDavid Oilers might have already won a Cup…
Its good that we have some history with Rittich, too.
So I’m cautiously optimistic.
Forest/Trees
Kuzmenko has transformed the Kings PP from tepid to good….has 13 points in his last 10 games.
Byfield, at the age of 22, is now coming on strong. 10 points in his last 10 games.
3rd line:
Foegele – 20G 41P – GF 69.70%
Danault – 8G 43P – GF 57.60%
Moore – 18G – 40P – GF 61.40%
Edmundson +25 – GF 58.20% / Clarke +13 GF 58.20%
This is actually the Kings 3rd pair.
Gavrikov – Spence are the 2nd pair but TOI has been affected by the Doughty injury.
Gavrikov – +26 – GF 54.90% / Spence +23 GF 63.00%
Their D is very good and very deep with Moverare normally the #7
Suggesting this is more of the same is nonsense.
Players who did not play significant/any roles in last year’s playoffs:
Kuzmenko
Lafferiere
Foegele
Turcotte
Mallot
Helenius
Clarke
Edmundson
Kuemper
Moverare
Thomas
That’s 11 players who did not play in last season’s series….so almost half the roster…but, yeah…exactly the same 🙂
If they have one glaring weakness it could be David Rittich who had a GAA of 2.84 and .887%
But, of course, those numbers are not all that much worse than Skinner at 2.81 and .896
I got lost at Kuzmenko and “transformed” in the same sentence
Apparently you were lost in your original post on the issue.
It was pretty delusional in claiming “more of the same” when the exact opposite is the truth.
And I didn’t even mention new coaches and systems.
These are NOT your grand dad’s Kings.
I get your point, lots of turnover for sure. However I also get OP’s. All that turnover and they managed to score 6 less goals than last year. They also cut down on goals against by 9. A net increase in +3 of goal differential.
There’s an argument to be made that’s very much “more of the same,” even if the nameplates are different.
I think the reduced enthusiasm for this year’s chances (for the Oilers) is more related to our lack of finish this year. Hard to know! We have had lots of injuries and it’s hard to know exactly what team we’re going to ice on any given day, including game 1 of this series.
It’s funny, everyone is going bananas about Byfield “popping” but Nuge in a super down year only has a few less points and goals in less games played.
Two players headed in opposite directions (aging curves)
Expanding the sample to the last 20 games played by each player:
Nuge – 4G 8A 12P +1
Byfield – 11g 8A 19P + 10
It’s easy to forget that Byfield just turned 22 and is centring his own line for the first time in the NHL.
Byfield is accelerating while Nuge is slowing down.
Did I say otherwise captain obvious? The point was that Byfield popping seems to be a pretty low bar considering his pedigree.
Also, if you want to put a spin on it, it’s possible that the grizzled vet likely played at less than 100٪ for part of his season and also might have been saving himself for the playoffs while your superhero young buck was playing balls out.
Byfield. Just. Turned. 22.
He has 273 games to his credit and is just getting started.
Byfield is going to get punked by Kane and Frederic he’ll be a none factor.
I wish them well.
He is 6’5 225
He’s injury prone give him a little of the business he’ll be heading down the tunnel by mid-game
Injury prone?
He played 81 games this season and 80 last season?
He was very ill with a viral infection the year before.
Will Kane and Frederic be attacking him with syringes?
Just take the bet HH. You are so confident, it should be easy.
Kings win, you name your price.
Oilers win, you stop posting here in any capacity.
Did I ever mention the resident troll once posted on Sportsnet that he was “a Kings fan living in LA, three houses down from Kopitar”?
By the same age, RNH had played 313 games to Byfield’s 273. Both had to deal with a shortened season and injury.
In RNH’s first 273 games, he had 70G 130A for 200P, whereas your bonafide Byfield has 52G 98A for 150P, precisely 25% fewer points over the same initial span of their careers. Byfield playing on much better teams, mind.
Going off the same rubric, by age 22, Baby Nuge was already accustomed to centring his team’s first line… having been an NHL centre full time since game one of his career.
So, what’s your point? If it’s RNH was a far superior player at over the same arc of their early career, I’ve got to hand it to you. Because you’d be right.
Comparing a dreadful Oiler team with a competitive Kings squad that has a HOF centre playing 1C is not all that useful but in his 22 year old season, Nuge played 80 games for the first time.
He scored 19 goals and 56 points.
Byfield just scored 23 goals and 54 points.
Far superior?
You realize that, by not taking the bet, it is clear that you lack the courage of your convictions, and that your word is meaningless.
HH doesn’t pay his bets. Last time he made a bet on this blog he lost and did not pay.
So, you’re saying RNH did more with less.
Got it.
Wake me up when Byfield hits 100 points in a season alongside his HOF centre (who’s never put up 100 points, either).
That David Musil pick was hot effing garbage from day one.
I was really hoping for Boone Jenner in that draft.
Wouldn’t have been disappointed with Brandon Saad either, but wanted the RHC with some grit.
Or, you know… and one of:
Scott Mayfield
John Gibson
Viktor Rask
Joel Edmunson
William Karlsson
or even that bum TBL picked, Nikita Kucherov.
Or any of a dozen other guys who played hundreds of games and scored some (like Brett Ritchie, Markus Granlund, Matt Nieto, etc) as role players.
Why is LA’s home record so much better than their road record? Are they utterly dependent on line matching? Or is it just a statical anomaly? My money is on anomaly
Will Ferrell just cheers that hard.
I have to wonder if the quality of ice is a factor there.
It may be.
It’ s an insanely busy arena.
Favouritism by the refs they don’t want to disappoint the movie stars.
Per Tony B:
Optional skate for the Oilers in San Jose.
Players on the ice:
F: Podkolzin, Frederic, Kapanen, Janmark, Ryan, Jones
D: Kulak, Emberson, Klingberg, Dineen, Walman, Brown
G: Pickard
No Stecher – can’t imagine he plays game 1. A very poor outcome.
Come on John!
Walman on ice after a full work day yesterday is ideal!
Elliotte Friedman suggesting on his podcast that Ken Holland may show up as POHO for the Rangers.
Enberson resigned. 2 X $1.3MM
This is a good news story
That’s a great signing!
Nicely done.
That has to give the kid a little pep in his step knowing he’s a N.H.Ler for the next 2 years. Next up Frederic what do you think he comes in at for years and salary?
If they want physicality from Josh Brown, could they play him on the wing? Likewise with Dineen who is more skilled with the puck could he play on the wing. For me it just might prove beneficial to have both these players playing situationally in a forward/defenseman role if they should go with an 11/7 alignment. But I guess that’s just me being innovative.
Why do you think a Dman who isn’t a great skater can play wing? More successful than double shifting the 3 actual NHL wingers in the line-up?
It’s obviously a worst-case scenario. At least it would give the coach plenty of options.
Are you looking to get fired by first coffee on day one.
I think the most important story line for the Oilers is the one the fans are most kept in the dark about: how hurt are the Oilers?
My guess is the first because for a lot of the players you can’t point to one BIG instance they got obviously hurt. And for some of the others (Kane, Frederic) they have had more than the standard recovery time for their injuries
I understand losing Ekholm is a kick in the nuts, but I’m perplexed by all pundits saying he’s the biggest loss on the backend the team could have.
In my opinion, Nurse has rebounded well this season, and is clearly our number one defenseman. Eats up a ton of minutes and always seems hungry for more.
If someone was picking Toronto over Boston last year because ‘it’s their best shot’, would you believe them?
The point of a team being ‘deeper’ means many lines and pairings can beat or not lose to the opponent.
The old adage in the playoffs is that the top lines saw off and the bottom lines decide the series.
That’s not the case in Edmonton. Like Dallas last year, the top lines did not saw off and see depth win the day because the Oil top lines were better than their opponents.
It’s 100% possible LA wins through health, and, I fear, with the reduced PP’s league-wide LA’s excellent 5v5 play will cause this series to drag on to LA’s benefit. I think the sexy pick is LA because it’s different.
Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
TB head coach Jon Cooper said this morning Oliver Bjorkstrand will not play Round 1 vs FLA
Miro Heiskanen skated this morning for Dallas…head coach Peter DeBoer called him day-to-day, but he will not play tonight. Massive development
Rangers sack Peter Laviolette as head coach.
He’ll do well in Anaheim
Given that the playoffs are an entirely different animal . . .
The Kings can’t tighten up much more on defence, they are good and we can expect more of the same. The Oilers CAN tighten up on defence . . . a lot. Forwards will shift into playoff mode at both ends of the ice. Oilers will close the defensive gap between the two teams.
Relative advantage: Oilers
Can the Kings elevate their scoring against an Oiler team with a “playoff commitment” to defence? Maybe a bit, but not much. Can the Oilers shift into a higher offensive gear? Always.
Relative advantage: Oilers
I don’t know if the Oilers will win the cup this year, but one thing I believe:
The L.A. Kings are going to be on the recieving end of the Game 7 Finals loss from last year, as well as a year of Connor McDavid percolating that Amazon Prime video from last year. It’ll be like getting hit by an ice-cream truck.
To summarize:
Players are getting healthy, and the motivated Oilers can play A LOT better. L.A. is good, but I don’t see where they can step up their game.
Oilers in 4, possibly 5 if Skinner has a stinker.
I was at the Oilers’ last game in San Jose with Buddy’s Little Girl, and in talking to Mrs. Buddy about the game we realized there was one pretty funny bit that didn’t get shown on the broadcast. When McDavid led the Oilers over to shake hands with Logan Couture after the game, each player was shown with Couture on the jumbotron.
The very last Oiler (this is what didn’t get shown) was Corey Perry. Fans started booing right away, but Perry took by far the longest of any Oiler to talk with Couture. Gave him a hug. The longer it went on, the louder the booing got. And this was after Perry already had gotten booed after his empty net goal. As I say, it was pretty funny.
I wonder if Keith Gretzky’s job is at risk as well?
Injuries and call-ups aside, something seems amiss with the number of veteran players that were permitted to be gone for personal reasons for so long, or not join at all.
Dermott literally played his first games since being claimed on waivers and assigned in February. Josh Brown was also gone for over a month on personal leave. These were both child birth related but I don’t believe there were “issues” related thereto, just paternity leave, for an extended time.
Gretzky is getting fired because 2 families births you are speculating on took longer and Derek Ryan decided to be unhelpful?
GM putting in his own guys is one thing, this take is much different.
Being facetious but are we firing Bowman cause Skinner isn’t family planning outside the season?
I didn’t say he was getting fired but wondered if his job is as safe as it has been – similar to the coaching staff, Gretzky is now Bowman’s guy, or Jackson’s guy.
I will ask you, do you think its a common occurrence for a player to be away from the team for 6-8 weeks when they have a child?
Of course, there could have been complications and extraneous circumstances but there isn’t any indication.
Its interesting that 3 vets assigned to the team are either not showing up or taking very very long personal leaves.
When i hear hoofbeats I think horses not zebras.
Given how opaque the Oil have been on injuries it doesn’t surprise me they’ve been mum quoting ‘personal reasons’. That could mean rehab for all we know (that excuse has been used before, not suggesting it’s the case here).
I would guess if there were complications, the team wouldn’t air that out. That’s a level of info I don’t want as a fan. YMMV.
Conflating personal circumstances with Keith Gretzky not being able to get veterans to play for his team and his job being at risk at leask partially due to those reasons is a bridge too far in my opinion.
For the record I’m not a fan of DR not reporting. He knew that could happen when they signed him and chose an easy way out by available info. In the grand scheme it means nothing and the org is fine with it but I wasn’t a fan.
Making the playoffs is a big deal for the Condors. This ragtag shorthanded team is pouring there guts out trying to make it.
Frank Seravalli
@frank_seravalli
#NHLDucks have fired coach Greg Cronin after two seasons on the job.
The players wanted him gone last year – Verbeek has no idea what he’s doing.
Dallas Eakins then Cronin.
The bar has been set low in Orange County.
Per Friedman, the big pain was he wanted the kids to earn their icetime. He challenged them to belong in the league and not get gifted opportunities at the highest level.
I don’t think he could be there for the good times, but I have a feeling some of those kids will come to appreciate how hard he made them work to belong. You definitely don’t recognize it in the moment.
Coach doesn’t always have to be your best friend but help you grow and it looks like the Ducks absolutely did that this year. Had our number at least.
I agree with this sentiment, but Dostal was the difference when we played ANA to my eye.
The Oilers had a worse roster in 2022, and they beat the Flames in 5. A Flames team that is better constructed compared to present day LA Kings and was favored to win by all pundits. They made Markstrom look silly.
I agree that the D depth is poor right now. If Ekholm is able to come back for subsequent rounds, that’s obviously a game changer. But also, the 6 D with Stecher healthy are similar to that of last year. Dallas rode 5D last year to the WCF.
our biggest questions remain the goaltending and special teams, but there are answers available
He’s in a tough spot, new general managers (Stan Bowman) have people they like and want to develop their players. I hope the Condors make the postseason. This group has earned it.
I wonder if Keith Gretzky’s job is at risk as well?
Injuries and call-ups aside, something seems amiss with the number of veteran players that were permitted to be gone for personal reasons for so long, or not join at all.
Dermott literally played his first games since being claimed on waivers and assigned in February. Josh Brown was also gone for over a month on personal leave. These were both child birth related but I don’t believe there were “issues” related thereto, just paternity leave, for an extended time.
Another goal for Berezkin in a 3-2 loss.
How would you compare this player to Anton Slepyshev?
Maxim appears to be the superior offensive player finishing his 23 yo season.
I’m probably not best suited to answer this question as I haven’t seen him play enough. I’ve watched MANY highlights and read and listened to most info out there but I haven’t watched full games.
I would suggest that he’s an inferior skater to Slep but a much more physical player, in particular in puck battle – better with the puck on his stick (puck protection is a primary attribute), etc.
How’s his shot?