Looking back to the summer of 2016, it’s difficult to believe all these years have passed with no Stanley. A series of bloodletting trades during the middle portion of the last decade thrust the Oilers into immediate contention while also robbing the future blind. If we’re honest, the Chiarelli unleashing of draft picks has continued unabated, with the added element of losing Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to offer sheets.
I thought the Oilers were loose defensively last night, with the offence and goalie Calvin Pickard mostly responsible for the win. Darnell Nurse was high event, with and without Evan Bouchard, and I do think we can discuss the idea of Walman-Bouchard, Nurse-Klingberg and Kulak-Emberson until Mattias Ekholm returns. Nurse and Klingberg are not shutdown blue, but the Oilers need that top pair to shine and borrowing Kulak from the third pairing (to play with Nurse) makes for an awkward third pair.
THE NUMBERS
I was pleased to see Trent Frederic, Zach Hyman, Darnell Nurse and the Nuge score, confidence is a thing and there were some fine goals by the group last night. All hands will be needed for the Vegas series, hopefully beyond.
Kris Knoblauch deserves some praise today, this team was in constant flux leading into and during the games versus Los Angeles. He used strengths (four lines, three pairings effectively), although it’s still uncertain what the pairings might look like in the Vegas clash.
The lines above were consistent as the series wore along, seemed all were getting the better chances and the Glimmer Twins line did not require heroic efforts every night.
The concern (imo) is about the defence. Goaltending has been solved until it springs a leak, but watching this team the Pickard Oilers are an effective caravan right now. Ride that nag until it drops. I have an article going up at The Athletic today, and it’s a look at Edmonton’s defence through the series and what may come against the Golden Knights. I think I would run Walman-Bouchard and then Kulak-Klingberg or Nurse-Klingberg as the second pair. Nurse is so high event, and Bouchard too, Vegas can’t have that kind of loose coverage or they’ll tear this team to shreds. This team needs the Viking.
Nurse, on ice for 4 GF and 9 GA ES. Same as it ever was.
Wow Jets getting killed in St Louis this series. Good thing they have home advantage. I still think they win game 7. Definitely a homers series so far.
Hellebuyck ain’t playin’ like Hellebuyck. Without his top game the Jets are lost.
I wonder if trying to best Binnington has gotten in his head. I am pulling out my hair on this one if I am a Jets fan.
Playoff Hellebuyck hasn’t been good for several years now.
But he’s Hellebuyck, unbeatable . . . nominated for the Hart trophy. Ha!
5-1
Jets have come unglued
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8BQq5gRM6Y
Screened by his own team. He’s so bad at handling screens.
Wow. I have the jets on, and it was 1-1. I went downstairs from the 3rd floor, to pay for pizza. By the time I came back upstairs, it’s 4-1 for the blues. My card didn’t tap on a couple tries, and I had to insert the card. Maybe chatted to the pizza guy for an extra 20 seconds? But geez Hellebyuck.
It’s amazing how he falls apart in the playoffs. Probably the reason the players don’t rate him as the best goalie in the league
You’d think maybe for once they would try not playing him 60 games in the regular season. Or see what Eric Comrie can do in the playoffs. Not trying anything different is crazy. Just ask the Kings.
3 quick goals for St Louis and they’re up 4-1 over WPG with 6 min left in the 2nd period
No update of course for the start of the 2nd round, but game 7 appears likely for Sunday
Holy smokes Blues score 4 on Hellybucks on 11 shots.
Sorry I was incorrect 5 goals on 21 shots.
The Jets with 11 shots through 2 periods. How did this team win the President’s Trophy again?
https://x.com/hockeystatcards/status/1918172051392917738?s=46&t=VKZ79-9hN-xwMNTBjohq7w
Jake Walman was the best defenseman in the series.
The worst player was Darnell Nurse. I know the team really likes him but if he doesn’t get the chaos out he may have to sit
Nurse played 25 minutes last game. Pretty sure KK is not going to bench him. I agree his play in this series has been chaotic to put it mildly. Not sure how many times I yelled at him during last nights game. That type of play won’t cut it against Vegas.
He’s not going to get benched. But he should at least get demoted to 3rd pair if he doesn’t clean things up
Sorry, I am not buying what hockeystatcard is selling in this case. Subscring to this nonsense would suggest the Oilers consider taking Nurse out and inserting Brown in his place. Fiala and Daunault outplayed Kempe?
Brown obviously played very tiny sample size so can safely ignore that one.
But yes I agree with the rest. While Kempe had very high end offensive impacts he also has a negative defensive impact and is wearing the green jacket in the playoffs so far at -8. But overall had the best individual offensive impact on his team. Pretty much what this shows
Jacob Trouba-ing Nurse could be Bowman’s finest move.
And could push the Oilers over the top.
I was hoping for the Wild but bring on Vegas I’m not expecting many penalty calls which is fine as I think if K.K rolls 4 lines and doesn’t burn out Connor and Leon early will take it in 6.
Scrolling through the comments and seeing lots of criticism on Nurse. Curious what folks thought of Walman’s game last night. I saw at least 3 or 4 brain farts by Walman in the second period, two on one shift alone. They didn’t get scored on so easy to forget those plays. I think there is a lot of confirmation bias going on with those who like to pile on Nurse. Hockey is a game of mistakes, he makes his fair share for sure, but he is a battler and is going to be a key to a deep run this year.
Ironically Walman leading the team in plus minus. I also thought he had numerous shaky moments and his rush defence is not great. Kings had a lot of chances. I actually thought Bouch played a very strong defensive game. Wow never thought I would say that!
Ironically the point of my post was exactly that with what your post is agreeing with, haha.
https://x.com/hockeystatcards/status/1918172549583679526?s=46&t=VKZ79-9hN-xwMNTBjohq7w
might want to take a look at this. Nurse had a very good Tony Deangelo impression.
Walman had the second best defensive performance after gulp. John Klingberg
I like Walman and my post wasn’t to complain about his game. Just encouraging folks to watch the game objectively. Thanks for sharing the pretty graphic
I found it interesting that 4 out 5 goals on Kuemper were blocker side someone scouted this.
That would be the job of Dustin Schwartz.
Give that man a raise and 10 year contract
Now that I think of it Arvidsson purposely aimed it to Kuemper blocker side on the Janmark goal.
It would be foolish for LA to roll out similar team next year. How demoralizing. Impossible to motivate truly.
But they have enough assets and talent to horse trade, and come up with a playoff roster.
Absolutely need a new coach. Not because he’s bad but he had a plan and it did not work and will not work next year.
So plan for Oilers decline. Gather youth. New coach, new system, reinvent the team. Change the identity a bit.
Will be fresh for veterans, opportunity for youth, fresh for the fans. Patience.
The Oilers just beat the Kings in 6 games without one of their top 2 defecemen.
Do you think the Kings have to consider that when planning for the Oilers decline?
Crap, sounds like I actually care about the Kings. Gack.
Their trade for PLD robbed them of some good talent, that’s when I knew Blake had lost the plot.
PLD is only 26 and is having a good year in Washington. I think you see him consistently put up 20-30 goals the next 6-7 years. It usually takes bigger Centres longer before they peak out (more complete) I definitely think that’s the case here
to keep up with the happy gilmore memes, off to the next round boys!
Anyone else caught off guard by how much they hated Foegle?? Can’t put my finger on why, but it was felt.
he’s a good player. good forecheck.
Foegle did an interview and he was asked how he felt about the Oilers, he said, “I hate them.”
Yes I noticed his constant chirping they must of got to him because he was whining big time by the end of the game.
Not really, I didn’t see that. Evaluation wise he’s an equal swap for Arvidson, give or take.
High energy and fast, touches the puck a lot. Arvidson smarter with puck, more skill.
Plus, okay, I kind of like it when it’s Foegele on the breakaway because, well, it’s Fiegele on a breakaway
I can probably go to the fridge.
Haha- that was fitting that Foegle had a breakaway and didn’t score. Still a toss up as to whether I would take his puck flubbing to Arvidson falling down all the time.
Foegele was a threat all series he led many odd man rushes it’s his hands that betray him.
I started “hating him” but only because he was playing so well in the first few games.
By the end, I was VERY happy that so many grade A chances were on his stick.
I was incorrect
I
I was shocked to hear Kurt Leavins name Darnell Nurse as his good thing last night on the Cult of Hockey podcast. And now really smart guys OP are singing his praises.
I thought he was completely out of control last night. An absolute mess.
Around all that he had the non-awareness to pass to a changing Podkolzin leading to a 4-2 goal against plus a rim-icing with no one within 15 feet of him and of course, his go-to play which is the chest high wrist shot into the glove of the goalie ending the cycles.
It’s just…all seems so fixable and either he won’t or he can’t and the coaches won’t demand it from him
100% agree
he had a very good regular season. I don’t know why his decision-making in the playoffs has been absurd.
Well he played 25 minutes, goal and an assist, 1 hit, 4 shots on net and even on the plus/minus. Yep he was high event when on the ice…..
Bouchard was lost in the supermarket on the first goal against, confusing all his teammates.
The mistake happened on Draisaitl’s dump in where McDavid skated past Laferriere on the wall because he thought Laferriere was going to dump it back to Edmundson in the corner. McDavid’s decision to anticipate a pass back and try to intercept it instead of directly attacking Laferriere (ie keeping himself between Laferriere and the Oilers net on the forecheck, left Bouchard vulnerable because Moore and Byfield were already skating in that direction creating an odd man rush with all of Leon, Perry and McDavid behind the Kings forwards. If McDavid had gone at Laferriere and engaged directly, there is no odd man breakout.
100% this is what I saw. McDavid did a fly by instead of checking his man. Nurse had a bad read but there was lots of blame to go around on that goal.
Lazy analysis could easily result in claiming Nurse played well.
He certainly didn’t. But thankfully it wasn’t all bad.
Agreed. I thought Nurse was a disaster for most of the game.
Podkolzin’s linemates, Arvidsson and Janmark were not looking like they were changing, and Nurse made the decision to pass to Podkolzin who was wide open on that side, when Podkolzin was 40 feet from the bench. Only after he let it go he immediately stopped with Podkolzin going straight to the bench instead of taking the pass. Even then the Oilers shouldn’t have been in trouble since both Janmark and Arvidsson were skating back at center ice and in good position. The Oilers had 4 players above all of the Kings, and Kane, who came on for Podkolzin was in a good spot too above the Kings defense.
Except both Janmark and Arvidsson, once LA was bringing the puck up across the blue line, decided to press forward towards the Kings, and not only missed the pass, but allowed three Kings to easily skate past them with speed. I can see Janmark pressing Moore, the puck carrier, but Arvidsson let both Spence and Fiala skate right by him and take the pass up from Moore.
Nurse’s play wasn’t high risk and should not have resulted in a 4 on 2 the other way. Arvidsson is the most culpable on that play followed by Janmark.
These assessments are all mostly right but they don’t absolve Nurse.
On goal 1 Connor took a weird route and Bouch stepped up without support. They deserve some blame but that doesn’t absolve Nurse from vacating the center lane. Horrifying read.
On goal 2 Picard should have had it but Nurse definitely should have “closed” on Clarke.
On goal 3 I fully agree Nurse got mostly unlucky passing to Podz. Janmark and Arvidsson took bad routes so Nurse isn’t the primary culprit.
There’s zero defense on the Moore breakaway. Worst Oilers play of the series.
So even if wasn’t solely to blame on each goal, being heavily involved in 3 goals against and one 5 alarm (off the top of my head) ALL due to decision making, is worrisome.
When does our series start if the Jets win? or lose?
Spec said Monday or Tuesday
My guess is Tuesday if they can play every second day, lines up with HNIC on Saturday?
Depends on if they want a double-header with the Leafs or to stagger them – i would think.
Any updates on Ekholm?
Yes, Jason Gregor has had a couple over the last 5-6 days. Originally said he has been responded well and, while won’t be available for the second round, there is a chance he could be available later if the Oilers continue to advance.
He updated yesterday after speaking with Ekholm in an elevator – nothing changes.
Coach said yesterday he is doubtful for the 2nd round.
Some of the connected individuals who post here have said something along the lines of “tore the groin right off the bone.” Don’t expect him back for a while.
There was one commentor who made this unverifiable claim, alleging that “their buddy, who is Ekholm’s neighbour, spoke with Ekholm’s wife, who told the buddy that the muscle tore right off the bone” less than 12 hours after the game against San Jose ended.
After saying this, this commentor said that they have a bridge for sale.
Where and for how much?
Well I am from Saskatchewan and can confirm that Edmonton is a city in Alberta so I think it is very possible that Ekholm has a neighbour
Alex Regula signed to a two-year, two-way contract.
Excellent stuff. A free player that has a legit chance to be an NHL player – claimed on waivers and stashed for the season with no cap implication and no need to risk him on waivers.
Hopefully he’s fully healthy and able to hockey train this summer. He has a real chance and I look forward to seeing him at camp.
Awesome news.
I wonder if this could spell the end of Kemp’s time in the org.
I was hoping Regula would join Leppanen/Dineen on the Condors top pair next season.
Regula is probably in the Emberson camp. If he is healthy and starts off well he’ll push right away. He was one of the top two way D in the A before injury I’ve read, can skate and is big. Not a wallflower either. A better fit for Kulak IMO
Oh, I can’t imagine Kemp stays.
He’s a group 6 UFA due to not playing enough NHL games to stay an RFA. I can’t imagine why he’d re-sign with the organization unless he had no other options for an NHL contract.
Regula will need to clear waivers but would likely slide through with the masses in early October.
Everyone was pissing on Bowman all year as we were getting game by game updates how good Foegele-Holloway-McLeod-Broberg. Will have to reevaluate when the playoffs are over but what’s really impressed me are the little deals Bowman has done. From Jarventie-Perrault-Podkolzin-Regula-Klimgberg the 2 Euro signings all these players for a couple of assets going nowhere.
I’m surprised at the lack of a push for Kulak Bouchard as a pair. IMO, Kulak is the closest stylistic match to Ekholm. I’m not saying Kulak = Ekholm. But there are similarities in skating, awareness, defensive conscious, and two-way ability. Yesterday, the 4:52 Kulak played with Bouch was pretty pristine.
I think we all know Knoblauch is going to use ~7 different pairing in any given game, but I would absolutely double the amount of Kulak Bouchard time to about 9 minutes. Personally, my most used pairings would be Kulak/Bouchard and Nurse/Walman (obviously I’m only taking about while Ekholm is unavailable).
One thing the Oilers might have some trouble with is the Knits forecheck, that they can play a heavier game, they are a huge team mostly. Kulak can struggle with that, and Emberson might. I like Stecher’s game but I’m not sure he can cope with the size battling
The 3rd pair has to be able to handle it. They might shorten the D bench or look to balance size out. Hanafin is on their third pair according to DailyFaceoff, they balance the D pairs, one big guy one skill guy
It looks like they load up pairs at times (behind?) as Hanafin has the most 5v5 TOI, but their deployment is more even than the Oilers who have been mostly using 4 and then Klingberg
Not enough talking about where the kings go from here, Don’t have the guns to compete and prospect pool dried up. Clarke doesn’t appear to be the next Bobby Orr like some though he might. Does Kopitar wanna keep playing? Does Doughty want to spend the last couple years of his career not relevant
All depends on what happens with Rob Blake I think. If he does not get extended then Hiller is probably gone as coach and I imagine Kopitar and Doughty may wait and see what the new GM/coach have planned.
The age old dilemma when a team has the players the Oilers do. Good teams don’t get to go far if the Oilers can meet their ceiling, nothing they can do in the near or mid term
The 80’s Oilers meant many very good players/teams got skunked on winning a Cup. If Bowman can get some things done, I see another few years of futility for the west. I think we agree it should have already been like that, or something like
Man I can’t believe Bouchard kept that puck in against Byfield. Unreal.
I can’t believe how quickly the fans and media turned on Hiller in 4 games. And how I would not be surprised if his players soured on him, too.
Wonder how LA’s depth is feeling after being benched. Helenius got an assist with 7:50 of ice time and Hiller expressed zero regret in keeping him stapled to the bench.
He deserves the heat. Playing your energy line is like running the ball up the middle. Sure you might get lucky and come away with a score but you’re mostly doing it to wear out the defense
Saved their season. And that’s not an exaggeration.
Moncton Wildcats coach, Gardner MacDougall, does nothing but win. Undefeated season at UNB last year winning uSport national championship. u18 team Canada gold. Stepped in as interim Saint John SeaDogs head coach after they fired their head coach when they were eliminated early in playoffs. They hosted Memorial Cup that year and Gardner turned the team around and won that as well. Now a dominant season in the Q, should be World Junior coach this year!!
I wholeheartedly agree. He has been successful at every level he has coached at.
Knows the game and is very successful.
Thinking Skinner needs to start cause he’ll have huge self-doubts next year.
naaaa I couldn’t do it with a straight face. I hope Skinner has it in him to jump in and back up if needed, but the hot hand gets the net.
I was worried whether are not the Oilers could turn on the faucet especially with shaky goaltending. The Kings had us by the balls until the Kane goal. The threat of pain inflicted by Kane and now Frederic kept the dirty players of L.A in check. We win the Cup with a healthy Kane he’s as important as Bennett is for Florida. In saying that I still think Kane gets traded this offseason and if he continues to build on his strong play will fetch Bowman a nice return.
Kane is as important as Bennet. So naturally we should trade him? It stands to reason valuable players get valuable returns, but the whole goal is to get valuable players. Why would we trade him?
Why would you trade Kane just to go out try to find a similar play – which is a unicorn. I would keep Kane and treat him like our own rental next season if the Oilers are in a position to win the cup. Maybe he reups on a team-friendly deal. If not, thanks for the memories.
I’m not saying I want this to happen I just believe it happens for various reasons with the cap hit being the main one. Bowman knows the team needs to get younger for the 82 grind regular season. Podkolzin-Frederic-Savoie is a good start.
I love how Gavrikov got a stick in the mouth last night by Brown I think. I believe that was payback for the nasty take down and multiple cross checks he gave McDavid. Still don’t understand how stuff like that doesn’t get called.
It was Arvidson
I don’t think it was intentional, but karma is a bitch
Frankly, I feel it is much more likely we trade Arvidsson and Henrique – for reasons of Cap efficiency and to facilitate other salary needs like extending Bouchard, possibly Klingberg, and possibly Frederick at the end of the day…
No trade on Henrique and Arvidsson same with Hyman-Nuge-Nurse only trade chips we have are Kane-Bouchard-Ekholm I would say Skinner but it’s going to take a seeetner to get rid of him.
GM has already expressed at the Trade Deadline that he feels too much is made of NTC clauses – they give players a say in where they go, but they don’t preclude a trade nearly as much as most fans think, to paraphrase his own words…he said he was not concerned with NMC on players being discussed at the Trade Deadline, I submit he will be similarly unconcerned during the offseason. If a player knows a team is willing to trade them, they are usually OK with leaving but with the NMC they have a say on where they will be going, should a deal materialize.
Depends players have children in school etc they may not want to disrupt their personal life. NMC also limit where and what the return is do you think Rantanan enjoyed getting bounced from Colorado to Carolina to Dallas. No way he agrees to that trade if he has a NMC.
So good beating the Kings after their ridiculous goal celebrations earlier in the series.
Also very good listening to Kings Talk podcast and hearing the disbelief coming from the fans.
Even Clarks celly last night was a bit much.
More nonsense with the award finalists.
Two Avs for the Ted Lindsey and they didn’t even finish first in their division.
Two Panthers for the Selke and their 8th overall in the NHL for team defense.
Re: the selke
I don’t think we should be using team defense to evaluate an individual award – and I don’t know what “8th overall for team defense” means, but Florida was ranked 4th in 5v5 goals against. If the implication is that Draisaitl should have been nominated because of Edmonton’s team defense (which, again, I don’t think is the most helpful metric), the Oilers were ranked 22nd in 5v5 GA…
I also don’t put much stock into awards voted on by the PHWA because they aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer anyways
Got to give HH props for his committment to pumping LA’s tires the whole year.
Without hearing for the whole season how:
-Clarke is a norris quality D who easily shouldered first line minutes when Doughty was out
-Kuzmenko magically transforming their PP into an unstoppable threat
-being a defensive juggernaut by having one of the lowest GA totals (in the regular season only it seems)
-never, ever losing at home (except for the times they did)
-having Kopitar who is basically Draisaitl but better
-having a Vezina candidate goalie in Kuemper
-one of the deepest teams in the league
-Selke Danault
-speedy top 6 power forward Foegele who the Oilers would regret losing
-Byfield has finally evolved and poised to take on the responsibility of #1 C
-Hiller creating an incredibly structured system for his disciplined team
The Oilers beating the Kings in 6 wouldn’t be as sweet.
I think my only big takeaway from the Kings this year is that Kempe is consistently a threat. I wonder what kind of damage he would do if he could go deeper in the playoffs instead of being eliminated over, and over, and over and over again by the Oilers.
Also wonder if the Kings are holding Byfield back.
Kempe is one of those players, like Johnny Hockey (RIP), who — with the puck on their stick and playing the Oilers — always caused me to clench up in fear.
(Also, hello everyone :-). It has been quite some time, I rarely tuned in to the regular season after Game 7 SCF and many other priorities and trials and tribulations in life. Back now for the show.)
Well…let’s have a look.
At no time did I suggest Clarke would win the Norris. That award should be renamed the Makar Cup.
Clarke performed very well in a limited role finishing the series at +1. He is 22 years old and has a very bright future.
Kuzmenko helped the Kings lead all first round teams with a a PP% of 40. (Oilers were second at 38.5)
Their home record for the season and first round stands at 33-7-4 losing ONE home game in the playoffs.
Kopitar and Draisaitl are very different players types and I have never said otherwise.
Kuemper IS a Vezina Trophy finalist.
The Kings are a deep team but after watching the series closely, I have come to the conclusion they need an additional top 6 sniper as Alex Ferierre does not seem up to the task.
The Kings may have that sniper in 2024 1st round pick Liam Greentree.
He is a 6’3″ 216 RW who scored 49 goals and 119 points in 64GP for the Windsor Spitfires. He followed that up with 14 goals and 24 points in 11 games in the OHL playoffs.
We have no idea how long his development will take but he certainly does not have the disadvantage of size working against him.
Danault has nothing to apologize for after going up against the Oilers best and finishing with 8 points and +2 despite the Kings being outscored in the series.
Foegele is NOT a top 6 forward. He played on the 3rd line with Danault and Trevor Moore and acquitted himself well with 3 points +1 in 6 games.
Byfield continues to evolve and has cemented the 2C spot at the ripe old age of 22 after missing a year and a half of development to Covid and illness. He’s fine.
The Kings head into the offseason with more than $23 million in cap space with only Kuzmenko and Gavrikov as significant UFAs.
That should leave them with the ability to sign an impact forward
(Mitch Marner come on down!)
Podkolzin outscored Foegele lol
Kings got their castle pillaged again.
And they still lost.
How could they sign Marner?
They have $23 million in cap space, but only 13 contracts.
12 million for Marner, 6 million for Gavrikov, 5 million for the other 8 players?
Something isn’t adding up…
This is one of the flaws in HH’s thought process. Another is he also talks about how much cap space teams like LA have to sign players like Marner.
But then forgets he also hyped up how much cap space teams like Calgary have to sign players like Marner.
And Anaheim/San Jose before Calgary..
All bidding against eachother when there’s only 1 Marner to go around.
And year after year, GMs demonstrated they love spending all the cap they have so when teams like Calgary blow most of their cap on players like Huberdeau, that leaves teams like LA blowing their cap on players like PLD.
We saw how that went for both teams.
But this year will be “different”!
Edification:
LAK $23.2M
CAL $34.2M
ANA $38.56M
SJS $43.9M
Current Calgary management did NOT blow anything on Huberdeau.
PLD was a mistake that was quickly corrected and was moved for a Vezina Trophy candidate with zero retention.
A reminder that the Oilers will be paying millions in cap hit for Jack Campbell for the next 3 seasons.
“A reminder that the Oilers will be paying millions in cap hit for Jack Campbell for the next 3 seasons.”
And yet, they can use their remaining cap space to make it past the 1st round of the playoffs consistently.
How far did LA’s Vezina candidate goalie take them?
How many points does Huberdeau have in the playoffs since Calgary signed him?
$10.5MM for a 52-62 point player that is large negative goal share player? How can one argue that is not a poor use of cap space.
and now we know that Liam Greentree will max out as a tweener….
Never know, he could win a Norris or a Jennings in the future.
Odd that you keep pumping 5’9″ 179 Matt Savoie as a sure fire top 6 NHL forward.
His best season in the WHL was 38 goals and 95 points compared to 49 goals and 119 points.
Considering the huge difference in size and performance, which one would you bet on to have a better NHL career?
Your “analysis” is even more terrible than usual.
The Kings *4th straight playoff series loss* to the Oilers must have you distracted, and sad 🙁
For their CHL careers:
Greentree over 204 games has scored 1.37 ppg.
Savoie over 209 games scored 1.54 pgg.
Granted the OHL is probably a tougher league than the WHL & Savoie has his age 19-20 season included.
But Savoie also lost playing time due to COVID (which you always point out as a debilitating factor regarding Byfield)
So the “huge difference in performance” favours Savoie 🙂
Woopsie
You don’t seem to understand the basis of the comment….
Anderson-Dolan
Lias Andresson
Madden
Kaliyev
Akil Thomas
Turcotte
Fagemo
Greentree
Tyler Benson
Cooper Marody
Raphael Lavoie
Kailer Yamamoto
Xavier Bourgault
ETC.
Would you be shocked to learn that the Oilers don’t have even one player in their lineup that was drafted after Evan Bouchard in 2018?
In that same time frame LA has the following:
Alex Turcotte
Jordan Spence
Alex Laferriere
Quinton Byfield
Brandt Clarke
It would seem their draft and develop model has had a bit of success.
That info about Bouchard is neither shocking nor informative, everyone knows this.
Turcotte & Spence both were healthy scratched this series.
And the Kings still lost. 🙂
Back in the day, I wanted it named teh Coffey Cup…. I can imagine the trophy now…
Ha! Well played sir.
Speaking of Ekholm, isn’t the scuttlebug a torn groin? Ie. a sports hernia? Isn’t this one of Kane’s injuries that required surgery?
Great to get the win and close out the series. I found it a nerve-wracking game; I agree with LT that the defensive game was too loose.
6 goals scored and none from the big 2!
Crazy to think that Klingberg is the straw that stirs the drink on the back-end.
I would prefer Brown-Henrique-Frederic on the ice while protecting a one goal lead. Why he continuely goes with McDavid and Leon is beyond me. Give other players more responsibility it’s obvious that Leon and Connor are not good with the open net.
I mean I’m pretty okay with putting Draisaitl out to defend a 1 goal lead when he has been our best defensive C all year and put together a Selke-caliber season. And McDavid’s ability to get to loose pucks, close gaps, pressure the puck carrier, etc. is valuable. It’s not dumfounding to put your best players out there to defend a 1 goal lead.
And the line you put out there shouldn’t be “the best at scoring an EN goal” but the one you trust the most to get the puck back and/or keep it out of your net.
Imagine what happens if the Kings score a goal to tie it up with your two best players sitting on the bench….
I prefer the coach that keeps winning series does what he believes is the best course of action.
It’s not a crime to think there may be a better option with a 1 goal lead. It’s very rare that a penalty is called so I want forwards that play on the edge like Kane does who is also a stone cold assassin with a empty net. I want Brown-Janmark-Podkolzin-Frederic players willing to block a shot with their face that’s who I want protecting a 1 goal lead in the dying minute.
It’s not a crime but we think you’re just wrong lol
Just like L.A was going to thump the Oilers. You were laughing at the Oilers after 2 games. Just like the Refs dished out more penalties by a large margin to the Oilers because they deserved ticky tack calls because L.A was a better regular season team. We all know Arvidsson intentionally ran Kuemper who needed no concussion protocol because he waved them off. Whereby Clarke running over of Pickard is just old time hockey. Same goes with Janmark penalty he could of really hurt the L.A player when he flopped as for Kane getting ran over in the crease again this is old time hockey.
Since Knoblauch’s arrival, the Oilers are the best team in the league at defending a lead once their goalie is pulled. They have only allowed 4 goals against with the other team’s goalie pulled late in games the last 2 regular seasons, and on 2 of those occasions the Oilers were also on the PK. In the Playoffs the past two seasons, the Kings have scored twice (May 1 both years), but the Oilers had a 2 goal cushion both times. Vancouver scored with the goalie pulled to tie it, but then the Oilers scored before the end of regulation to win.
Thank’s that is very interesting information no wonder he keeps going back to them.
That was a great way to end the series. Daddy daughter night at Chateau Crazycoach ended well.
Is Janmark the new Glenn Anderson? Production lacking in the regular season, but the switch turns on in the playoffs and it is a completely different player?
Hiller got outcoached plain and simple. As Coach Garlic ran is four lines all season and all series, we were treated to some less than memorable moments, but as the tide has turned, the trust shown has lead to more confidence and results. 97 & 29 had one point between them, but the other lines showed up. There’s a time to shorten the bench, but maybe the last 5-10 minutes of the game, not halfway through a game. Coach Garlic made this mistake in Game 1, when he kept his top line in the last minute trying to win the game and the winning goal was scored because the forwards were too gassed to back check and the D were too gassed to close gap quicker than they did.
I would love nothing more than to see the Oilers give their best game against Vegas and see where it leads. I think that series two seasons ago was lost in two 90 second segments and that this is a wiser Oilers squad. Keep the gas pedal pinned!
When did Glenn Anderson lack production during the regular season?
Anderson’s points-per-game average remained consistent between the regular season and playoffs, his impact was more pronounced during the postseason. He ranks fourth all-time in playoff goals (93) and points (214), and fifth in game-winning goals (17) . His five playoff overtime goals place him third in NHL history.
Anderson was money in the playoffs.
As Anderson aged he saved his going to the net hard for the playoffs. The man was a beast in the playoffs and is very underrated with his quirky personality overshadowing his play often. He was my favourite Oiler.
I loved Andy as a player. He played at full speed and people often thought he was out of control, but he’d always tell people he knew what he was doing.
One of you posters made up a pretty funny fictional dialogue recently, where Bouchard wanted to play the Kings but McDavid and Draisaitl said that they wanted to spot the Kings 2 games first. I would add that we spotted them that we would play our “backup” goalie for the rest of the series.
As alluded to in various posts today, it is indeed amazing that Pickard reeled off 4 straight wins against Kuemper’s Kings, with all of their incredible defensive and home ice stats.
Skinner was the sacrificial lamb. If Picks didn’t win four straight, Skinner would have made his return just like last year against the Canucks.
You keep slagging a goalie that saved our season. Why do you want him to flop? Do you not listen to the player interviews and how much they enjoy playing for The Back-Up Pickard.
Not at all. I’m very happy for Pickard. Things have worked out well for him, I wish him continued success. Skinner had a difficult time in the first two games but as a whole so did the rest of the team they weren’t yet up to standard and needed to get organized.
I think faith in Skinner has gradually eroded
Correct me if I’m wrong Skinner has been pulled 7 times in 37 career playoff games. Pickard is 5W-1L and has yet received the yank. As a player which goalie do prefer to play for?
You are correct Skinner has 37 playoff games and Pickard has 6. What can be concluded by that?
Skinner was pulled every 5th game Pickard has yet to be pulled in 6 games. So far it doesn’t take a neurosurgeon to see Pickard gives the team more quality starts. It’s been like this all year if you were paying attention. Skinner was not very good he got his numbers up a bit in garbage time in the last couple of games. Pickard meanwhile got thrown to the wolves in the 5-0 loss to L.A when we dressed a AHL squad.? It was all about babying Skinner to end the year and yet here we are with our hopes riding on a career back-up to the back-up.
Talking hockey heads had this series predictions so wrong, SN and the Athletic Podcast were so excited about the new and improved LAK.
Doughty, Kopitar, Danault, Kuemper and Edmundson (?) looked like they should drop down in the batting order.
The coming out party for Byfield, Kuzmenko, Spence and Clark is delayed another year.
Helenius , Malott, Turcotte might not be on an NHL roster next year.
Why was their so much love for this group?
2nd lowest goals against in the league, one of the best goal differentials in the league, pretty big improvement from last year. Not the first time a team lacking depth over-performed their true talent level in the regular season, and then had flaws exposed in the post-season. Also, winning 4 straight series against one team doesn’t happen frequently.
Also a lot of it wasn’t that LA was so great, but that Edmonton (struggling down the stretch, injuries, Stu’s struggles etc.) was vulnerable
Another example is Vancouver last year. Happens all the time. Another one this year will be the TML (A1) getting run over by FLA (A3).
And in the Pacific, P3 will be victorious vs P1.
Amazing performance by the third line last night. Playing against Kopitar’s line, they held them to an expected goals percentage of 4 PERCENT!! If they can keep playing well, that’s huge for the team.
Cal Pickard sweeps the Kings.
Cal Pickard is their #1. As he was before the series. Whether they realize it or not.
Your not allowed to say this as it hurts people’s feelings. You need to remember Pickard does not have any feeling because he’s a career back-up at best.
Bring on Vegas baby!
Lots of talk and discussion wrt Oilers goalies. Looking at the numbers, the Oilers are not going to get ‘goalied’ against the VGK.
2024 – 2025 Regular Season
2025 Playoffs
I thought Pickard played well as a goalie your 1st couple of shots you would like from outside distance as a feeling out process. Byfield being in all alone was tough I don’t care what anyone says the Clarke shot just like Kempe goal earlier in the series on Pickard was a nice snipe. He settled down after that even though the Oilers D never did. That is 4 in a row only 12 more to go for the back-up netminder.
It’s a long road with lots of twists & turns. He’ll need plenty of help along the way.
How many wins in a row would it take for you to start Pickard the following game after a loss? I bet it’s double figures
Nurse is not going to play on the third pair. Full stop. The coaches clearly trust him.
Despite his gaffes and being outscored 2-3 at even strength, he still logged the most icetime of all D and 21:18 at even strength (tops on the team).
I think most people suggesting he should are making PRESCRIPTIVE statements about what should happen, not making PREDICTIVE statements about what they think will happen
And you can’t get an “ought” from an “is” – just because something happens doesn’t mean it should happen …
Settle down Mr. Hume.
No you
Jokes aside. My post was meant to express confusion with the coaching staff. For whatever reason, they think running Nurse for big minutes is the best way to win.
They don’t run Nurse with Bouchard all the time. They seem to have six or seven different combo’s that they run throughout the game.
That’s because they won’t play Emberson a regular shift 5 on 5.
Kempe can’t win with those cats. He needs to join us.
Put pen to paper next summer, buddy.
Henrique and Arvidsson are both UFA summer ’26 and have a combined $7M. Kempe will be UFA same time and is currently $5.5m. Might be doable.
I think they are both traded this summer, actually. Henrique and Arvidsson. Need room to extend Bouchard, and possibly to re-sign Frederick and Klingberg?
Many downplayed the Oilers secondary scoring, or described this forward group as being without depth.
What I loved about last night, and through the series in fact, is how emphatically this team refuted that malarky.
The Oilers forwards are a prestigious group. Every forward in the lineup save for Janmark has either scored 20 plus goals in a season or was a first round draft pick.
As the President of the Janmark fanclub, Playoff Janmark is a first round pick in my heart.
Playoff Janitor is certainly something special. Excellent series from him.
I love the Podz-Janitor-Arvi line.
Janator cleans up the mess.
I wonder, are they still old and slow?
Yes, they are still old. However, playoffs can be about grinding, toughness and hockey sense. This team has all that along with some speed. C.Brown last night!
I’m willing to bet that Ekholm has been living in a hyperbaric chamber trying to grow back whatever’s injured
For what it’s worth, I saw Dr. Elliot Tolliver leaving the Oilers training facility.
I have heard that he may not be in country getting treatment.
Ek was in the high five lineup post game with the other players not in the lineup.
Was clearly jacked for/by Pickard!
Does anyone else think the delay of game penalty for an unsuccessful challenge is kind of stupid? Obviously it benefitted Edmonton in G3, but as a matter of principle I think it’s asinine.
It acts like a punitive measure to deter teams from questioning the calls of the officials. And with how goaltender interference and other penalties are called (or not called), it’s not like there are these clear-cut instances of a penalty/not a penalty getting unnecessarily challenged by teams that slow down the game. If the purpose of a coaches challenge is to get the call right – so why penalize a team for trying to use video review to do just that?
In no other sport does challenging and getting it wrong result in a penalty. Imagine if it was: You challenge whether your receiver got two feet down in bounds for a first down and lose – too bad, we tack on a 15 yard penalty and now you’re out of field goal range. You challenge an out call at first base and get it wrong – too bad, we assess an extra out to you as a penalty and the inning is over. You challenge a possession arrow call in a basketball game during a crucial last minute possession – you lose, and the other team now gets free throws to put the game out of reach.
This seems dumb as hell
In principle I actually like the fact that there’s a deterrent, otherwise teams could just challenge everything and the game grinds to a halt. This way, there’s incentive to make sure there is a valid reason to challenge. In other words, it’s not for trying to overturn a 50/50 call, but something like an 80/20 call where the ref missed a clear infraction.
I mean you can fix this by saying “you get one challenge unless you win the challenge, then you keep it”. If you challenge something that’s not worth challenging, you lose your challenge. The other professional sports leagues have fixed this problem without resorting to punitive penalties
No need to assess a minor penalty
NHL and MLB Challenges are not without consequence. In the NFL, the coach only gets 2 challenges per game, and a 3rd only if he gets the first 2 right. As well, for any challenge that the team gets wrong, they lose a time out, which is very valuable in the NFL. In MLB, they only get one challenge per game in the regular season, and 2 in the playoffs. If they get their first challenge right, they get an extra time one. If it is wrong, they to not get the second one. In both leagues, you don’t want to waste a challenge on a call you will probably lose.
In the NHL, the coaches have no limits on the number of times they can challenge, so there has to be a consequence for making the challenge otherwise they could ask for one every 5 minutes. And given that the average penalty kill rate is 80%, the penalty is a 1/5 chance you’ll get scored on.
Hiller and the Kings fully deserved that penalty for challenging for goalie interference when everyone else on the planet knew there was nothing close to an interference call that would overturn the call of a goal on the ice (after they saw on the replay that Kane kicked it to his stick, then in as opposed to kicking into the net.
I know what the challenge rules are in other sports – why do you think I brought these other sports up? To fix this issue, why not do what all the other sports do and limit the challenges NHL coaches get, rather than penalizing them? Take away their timeout as well if you want. That seems fair and not dumb.
Why assess a punitive minor penalty to give the other team a powerplay for a coach trying to make sure the refs got the call right? That seems unfair and quite dumb.
Again, try to think of it at a principled level (if I’m designing a system that every team/game has to use, what would I choose), not just at an outcome-oriented level (what system would I choose based on how the current system played out for my favorite team this series)
It’s a Delay of Game because it literally delays the game. The challenge is meant to be used when the officials have clearly missed something.
When it was first introduced it was limited to one challenge that would be lost if it failed. It wasn’t any kind of deterrent against coaches making bad challenges. Two thirds of challenges under that rule failed.
The failure rate immediately went down to less then 50% in the 2018 season when the penalty was introduced, and is now down around 30%.
The system works, whether fans like it or not.
I don’t think its a good idea to determine what should be a delay of game penalty by asking “does X literally delay the game”. The NFL has a delay of game penalty, so why aren’t unsuccessful challenges there be delay of game penalties? Should they be? I don’t think so.
I don’t think taking a few minutes to look at a call or two is so horrible they need to resort to a punitive penalty to deter challenges.
I don’t know why we’re using “failure rate” of challenges to evaluate whether the system works, what matters is getting calls right not making sure coaches don’t misuse their challenges.
I also think teams have come a long way the past few years in developing internal processes for determining what to challenge, so it can’t all just be chalked up to the penalties.
Again, what is the harm we’re trying to avoid by imposing a delay of game penalty on an unsuccessful challenge? If its slowing down the game, then give the situation room a ticking clock and say “if you can’t find evidence to confirm/overturn within X minutes, the call on the ice stands”. Problem solved, without resorting to a penalty.
The system could work better, whether you like it or not
Prior to 2019, there was no penalty, and the timeout was lost but there was still no limit to the number of challenges (though what could be challenged has expanded since then). Timeouts are not nearly as valuable to an NHL team as they are to an NFL team. Challenges were frequent between 2016 and 2019 and slowing the game down a lot with many calls not being over turned.
The NHL (including the GMs and NHLPA) still generally believe that the refs do a good job on these calls and that the team challenging should only challenge if they have a high degree of confidence that they are right that a call was made incorrectly. ie. weigh the probability there is enough video evidence to prove the call wrong vs. the probability the other team could score on a pp if we get it wrong.
How would anyone feel if their team lost a challenge in period 1 on goalie interference then lost the game on a play in the 3rd period which was 2 feet offside but they couldn’t challenge it.
The speed, rules and nature of the sports are different enough that how they get officiated can be quite different.
I am not saying the system is perfect and can’t be tweaked, but I stand by my view that Hiller and the Kings deserved what they got on that play. And KK probably would have challenged the Foegele goal without risk of a penalty. He didn’t challenge because their view was they were likely to not win, since the video evidence would not prove that Foegele was not attempting to play a loose puck in the crease (it was against Pickard’s pad, but not covered).
Yeah I just don’t think hockey is so different that we need to be giving a team a powerplay because the other team’s coach, in good faith, wants to make sure the call on the ice was correct. The penalty seems disproportionate to the “harm” we’re trying to avoid (a unsuccessful challenge slowing down the game), and there are other, less punitive means of addressing this “harm”.
again, I don’t think we should be evaluating a system with reference to how it played out in specific scenarios our favorite team was involved in, and whether the challenging coach/team “deserved” what happened …
Therein lies the problem. History shows coashes aren’t esactly famous for only calling challenges in good faith prior to the deterrent penalty on failed challenges was implemented. It was often abused, just like shooting the puck over the glass was abused back in the day…
Dumb as hell and in keeping with the NHL’s approach. It is a big ole boys club, full of people who are used to getting their way and not being questioned. That is the culture established in the NHL in many capacities. It should be that you lose the challenge if wrong. However this is a slippery slope. IMHO they should get rid of the offside challenge altogether. Almost all are within a hair and have little to no impact on the actual goal scored anyway.
I’m fine with the offside challenges. Same rationale for getting this right applies to other situations in other sports.
A wide receiver has to get both feet down in bounds – if one toe is on the white line, that has little to no impact on his ability to make the catch, and its not like he’s gaining some huge advantage by having one toe out of bounds. But it’s not a catch. Why should offside be any different? Why have lines demarcating the boundaries of the playing surface if we aren’t going to use/adhere to them?
Same reason why we should call the rulebook, instead of only calling slashing, crosschecking, etc. when the refs feel like it – should it only be slashing when it has a big impact on the play? I don’t think so. If you McSorely a guy 50 feet away from the play while the puck is cleared, that should still be a penalty
Imagine the inverse: what if there was no deterrent to challenging every play?
Prior to 2019 the penalty was losing your timeout. After the switch in the 2019-2020 season, challenges initially dropped (per scoutingtherefs.com), but success rates jumped. By the most recent season there were more overturned calls than in the timeout era.
For 2018-19, there were 279 challenges, with 107 overturned (38% success rate).
For 2024-25, there were 170 challenges, with 121 overturned (71% success rate).
(the seasons in between are similar)
So I’d argue that using a penalty as the deterrent is working exactly as intended, as it forces coaches to better choose their challenges and reduce the number of failed challenges that, well, delay the game.
I just don’t think that the “harm” of the delay caused by an extra ~100 challenges a year across ~2600 regular season games is worth awarding a team a game-changing opportunity to score a goal in 50 games a year.
I see this as the disease being worse than the cure. Particularly when you can cut down on delays caused by reviews with other, less game-changing means (e.g., capping reviews in the situation room at a certain length of time, if they don’t have conclusive evidence after 2 minutes, 3 minutes, etc. uphold the call) which I don’t even think are necessary.
If you disagree, and think that the extra delay caused by these ~100 challenges we’re avoiding is so harmful that we need to avoid it you’re free to feel that way, I just haven’t heard any compelling argument that it’s this great evil/harm to the game we need to avoid.
And to be clear I’m not saying “using a penalty as the deterrent” isn’t working; what I’m saying is that I don’t think the deterrent needs to be as game-changing as awarding the other team a powerplay, because I don’t think the “harm” we’re trying to deter is that harmful
Your just mad the L.A challenge rightfully bit them in the ass. Every team will challenge every goal to stop the momentum. Have you not played sports momentum is a thing and the delay of game penalty keeps the checks and balances.
— Oil had to score 7 7 5 4 5 goals in the 5 high scoring games to won. That’s a lot of mistakes.
—- They won two games where they needed to score 5 goals. (The 6-4 and 7-4 wins)
— Won an OT and had one beat down
—. They can’t “need” 5 goals min in half the games in a series to win cup can they ?
They scored that against the 2nd best defensive squad in the league, they’re built to roll lines and score.
I say they stick to their DNA.
Agreed, I don’t think the team has ever really had 4 lines that could carry their own weight defensively, AND score. Not in McDavids time anyway. They need to play to their strengths but also forecheck AND backcheck to support their D and goalie. When they do this well, we get the 3-1 game in LA. That requires a full team commitment. They are capable of it now, if they stay out of the box.
No you’re right, but I think its encouraging that the team can generate this kind of offense (including needing 4 point nights from 97 and 29 to do it).
This roster is a possession monster that can generate high danger scoring chances like few other teams when they’re on their game. But they don’t need to give up 10+ odd man rushes the other way to score enough goals to win.
Some tightening up is in order, but not to the degree it fundamentally changes the identity/game the Oilers play.
without* not including lol
Interestingly they really only tightened up against LA in game 5 which was a pivotal game in LA. I suspect that is how they play every game against the Knights.
The Oilers are not a “normal” team.
I mean Calvin Pickard is currently the starting goalie.
I say, let the team win how they want. Let’s not limit them.
If they keep doing what they’re doing, they absolutely could.
It is when they try to dial it down that they get into trouble and become marginal rather than exceptional.
They will be ready for game one against the VGK.
All they need is half the looks they had at Kuemper to get to hill. Even though Hill plays well against them they have more of a read on him this time.
The whole series was river pond hockey except the anomaly of game five. Vegas will tighten things up need at least a split. Maybe it’s gamesmanship that Ekholm won’t be back for the Vegas Series because we sure could use him.
I would be ecstatic if he was back by game 3 this round, but I know that is not likely…
27-24 Total Goals EDM
15-14 5v5 Goals EDM
3-1 6v5 Goals EDM
1-0 4v4 Goals LAK
4-0 EN Goals EDM
8-5 PP Goals LAK
22-13 PP Opportunities LAK
Both teams dressed 20 skaters during the series.
EDM 13 different goal scorers, LAK 11.
EDM 18 players earned at least a point (No points for Emberson and JBrown). LAK 16.
(IMO) the three pairs should be Kulak-Bouchard, Walman-Klingberg and either Nurse-Emberson or Nurse-Stecher. For what it’s worth.
I imagine they run the same winning lineup, but if the D falters, I do like the Nurse-Stecher pairing with Emberson coming out, although the latter has been good on the PK.
KK played Emberson an average of 8:35 5V5 and 2:10 PK (10:45 total) in the last 6 games. Emberson was on the ice for 3 goals against in a total of 13:00 of PK time. 13.8 GA/60 is not a ‘strong’ PK number, even knowing that some of the GA are ‘not his fault’.
Play Stecher and see what he can bring – because we know what the coach thinks Emberson can bring.
Yeah this is sort of where the old school eye test bias needs to learn from the math. “He’s big/physical/blocks shots” versus “does the puck stay out of the net more or less often when he’s on the ice”
The experience Emberson gained in the first round will greatly benefit him. Afterall this is his first NHL playoffs.
So based on LA’s past decisions, I take it after losing to the Oilers again, they will:
-Fire Hiller and hire Woodcroft
-trade Brandt Clarke for a 2nd round pick
-go all in on another PLD type
And call it a day.
You forgot “fully commit to the Adrian Kempe experiment”. Dark horse Norris candidate for sure
Trading PLD for Kuemper, in the end, got them one more playoff win against Edmonton and thats it.
Woodcroft will be a Duck.
Or possibly a King? It would be an interesting matchup in next year’s playoffs for him to face off against the coach that replaced him…
Screw it. Gimme Vegas, Colorado, Florida revenge tour. It has never happened before where a team has beaten more than 1 champion within the last 5 years. Show me 3.
It all starts with 1. Vegas is very strong, but not as good as 2023 run imo. We beat the best or 2nd best team in the 2nd half of the season (Blues?) and a defensive ‘juggernaut’ with 27 in 6 (4.5 per game). And for most of it the Oil were kinda bad.
Whatever you think is gonna happen in the series, park it and buckle your seatbelts cause the circus is just getting started.
Enjoy the ride, and mix in some cardio to prep the heart.
I was thinking the same thing about these potential opponents. Just like Lennox Lewis, going back and avenging the losses.
Great blast from the past reference there. I loved Lennox Lewis.
I was always a Sean OSullivan fan after seeing him in an electric bout in the Commonwealth Games. I love the speed of the lighter weight classes, vs the heavier bouts in the heavier weight classes… that said, we had quite a run of boxers for a while way back when (including Scotty Olson)…
And I doubt any of these teams will come in with the same personal motivation to just beat the Oilers, as the Kings had. Not that it mattered hahaha.
#RedemptionTour
#NeverInDoubt
The D with the Viking would be the best we have had in years,
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Kulak-Klingberg
Skating and puck movers everywhere.
it would be impressive. One can only hope.
Breaking up the Walman/Klingberg pairing is sacrilege.
Odds & sods from the junior ranks:
McKenna is going to be a load in the NHL, eh?
Only a matter of time before the USHL gets rolled into the CHL and send their top team to the Memorial Cup too.
Moncton Wildcats coach, Gardner MacDougall, does nothing but win. Undefeated season at UNB last year winning uSport national championship. u18 team Canada gold. Stepped in as interim Saint John SeaDogs head coach after they fired their head coach when they were eliminated early in playoffs. They hosted Memorial Cup that year and Gardner turned the team around and won that as well. Now a dominant season in the Q, should be World Junior coach this year!!