The Oilers best players were not their best players last night, but you won’t hear me rant and rave about it. Early days, Oilers had the best of the shots, corgis and high dangers, and the top line was beaten to the puck early and often. That won’t happen much this season.
There’s no point in spending time on the ill-advised jailbreak out of the zone before the puck is secure in preseason.
We should wait and spend our time on the ill-advised jailbreaks out of the zone in the Stanley Cup FInal.
The Oilers under Kris Knoblauch have made the Final two times in two seasons. If the coach could ever get his best players to lead over 200 feet of hockey ice, the Stanley Cups would arrive with consistency. It’s been a decade. I don’t think this version of the Oilers will ever play a complete season giving all-out effort in suppression.
How do you win the Stanley with a team that is super focused on offense? Well, Stan Bowman is almost there. The defense is strong, he has more speed and some responsible two-way wingers added recently, and there are talented players who will push from Bakersfield (Quinn Hutson, Atro Leppänen).
Last night’s game didn’t tell us much we didn’t already know. The Oilers five-on-five save percentage last season (.903) ranked No. 23 overall. Stuart Skinner’s .901 save percentage ranked No. 50 among the top 62 goalies in minutes played last season. Calvin Pickard (.908) was No. 34. Cam Talbot was .925 last season, finishing No. 9 overall. I remain on team Skinner, but Bowman will need to find a co-starter or better by the deadline. Pretty sure.
Last night I liked Hutson, Leppänen, Evan Bouchard, Andrew Mangiapane, Connor Clattenburg.
I don’t think the Oilers have any idea about what a responsible breakout looks like. Same as it ever was.
On the Lowdown today, Bagged Milk from Oilers Nation will join us as our feature guest. We’ll talk Oilers training camp and the season to come. Also on the show: Jays starting rotation for the postseason may include Trey Yesavage. Noon to 2pm on Sports 1440 and You Tube.
David Staples and many others clamouring for the Oilers to claim Connor Ingram on waivers.
https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/edmonton-oilers-connor-ingram-waiver-claim
Its an idea – could work out great.
I’m not sure the Oilers will either:
1) keep 3 goalies on the roster to start the season – if they put Hyman on LTIR, they will have room but I don’t think they do it.
2) waive Pickard in favor of Ingram. Its not like he is a locked in upgrade on anything – including value – he’s almost $2MM on the cap.
$2MM on the cap likely gets him to clear. A trade post-clear, at half retained would make sense.
Wow. So Ok. LT got Married. Congratulations old friend. I am so happy you found someone. We all deserve that.
Something is up it’s been way too quiet.
No news
Bowman is working on getting Walman signed and waiting on McDavid to let him know its time – that’s what’s up!
I don’t understand the McDavid reference.
When McDavid is ready to sign, they’ll get together and finalize the details in short order.
It is something else (to me) to read comments catastrophizing the season and McDavid’s future based off of veteran perforamcne on September 24 in game 4 of 8 exhibition games.
Not necessarily here but the Skinner haters are out in full force.
I put absolutely zero stock in to the performance of the 1st line (although would have hoped Frederic would be more impactful) or any of the other vets – including Skinner.
That was SCF level defence from the 1st line (that’s meant as a negative).
My personal takeway are that Regula looked healthy and I though he was fantastic moving the puck.
My comment (if it falls under the catastrophizing) was more about the performance of the coaching staff. If this is how they mean to go (resorting to McDrai as a line) then the weakness that sunk the team at the end of the playoffs last year is still in place.
Of course, I take no offense if it did (or did not) apply to me.
I, myself, am not overly pleased with the head coach on a few fronts – mostly on his refusal to even give young, NHL ready, high pedigree offensive players, even a sniff of opportunity in the top 6.
McDavid and Drai are going to play together alot, and they are going to play apart alot this season – its always going to be that way.
The last two seasons, they were apart early in the year and the team was terrible. May as well try the opposite this year.
Doesn’t mean it will be that way for game 2, 5, 10, 20 or even period 2 of game 1, right
Frederic has not been who we all expected him to be. Since becoming an Oiler, I cant recall him doing anything that any other bottom 6 player can do. I haven’t even seen the toughness. Everyone saying wait. While I agree, he is wearing on my patience for sure..
Yes, I don’t disagree but, at the same time, he could barely skate the entire time we had him last season…..
I would suggest that last night’s performance means zero with respect to the regular season. Frederic needs to play a banging, aggressive game to be as impactful as he can be – that’s simply not going to happen on Sept 24 in his first exhibition game and the 4th of 8 for the team.
Do we not know with certainty that vet performance in any exhibition game means absolutely zero – good or bad?
Why is there always an excuse for Skinner.
This game well its preseason. Game 5 will be well he’s working the rust off. Game 20 the defense is crappy. Game 40 there’s a flu bug going around. Game 60 he’s tired.
Preseason or not he’s on a very short leash on this team and it might behoove him to show very rapid improvement or he’s going to find himself in San Jose next month
I’ve never seen a Oiler Goalie garner so much rope it’s baffling.
The oilers have had 15 or 16 goalies since 2010. You’ve seen it many times. Ben Scrivens was one. Talbot when he let in something like 13-15 first shot goals. Many others you probably don’t even remember with the rotating door of chasing goalies.
63 Goalies have played at least part of 1 game since we came in the league. My 1st Oiler jersey was Dave Dryden there’s only 3 Goalies I for the the life of me can’t remember. Bob Dupuis 1 game 1980. Randy Exelby 1 game 1990. Steve Valiquette 1 game 2004. The remaining 60 Goalies I can remember from Jim Corsi-Fon Cutts-Eddie Mio etc Sather went through 10 goalies before finally hitting the jackpot with Moog before year 2 was even complete. If Bowman is settling on Skinner then we are done like chicken dinner.
— bet you don’t remember Wayne Crowley.
— he’s the owner of the bar at the corner of my office right beside the Hockey Hall of Fame called the Bottom Line.
— pretty good buddies. I didn’t know he played for the oilers one day he finds out I’m an oiler fan and the next time I come there he brings out a photo of him in oilers gear and he signs it.
— then for a bunch of times everytime I came he’d flip me one !
— He played 1 game as goalie for them I believe
0 games.
My bad one game in 1993-94 season.
You probably couldn’t find him originally since his name is Cowley, not Crowley. At least that’s what the NHL has in their database. Cowley played in 97 games for the Oilers farm team in Cape Breton between 91 and 94
Neat it’s interesting talking to ex NHLers and listening to the stories. I do remember his name in the organization as Mr.Crowley is my favourite OzzY song. Glenn Anderson used to be part owner of Eddy’s lounge in the West End it was one of the few places you could get a drink on Sundays of course you had to have 1 order of French Fries between everyone on the table and then you could drink like a fish.
I put absolutely zero stock in to the performance of any mid-career established NHL player in any exhibition game.
It means absolutely zero with respect to performance once the season starts.
Years of watching the NHL and exhibition tells us that.
established players absolutely
Players just barely hanging onto their jobs trying to get the trust of their coaches and GMs and trying to show that this year is gonna be different, and hoping it is different as playing well vs playing poorly will cost you 30 mil dollars or more while your GM is on the hot seat for already not bringing in your replacement. Yeah those matter
I think this is a fair comment as the results of exhibition games don’t often correlate to the regular season. Preseason tends to be a distant memory the further we get into the regular season.
With that said, I think the players are looking for the following during the exhibition season to make this time meaningful and even important: (1) to use the games to get to a point where they feel good and ready for the regular season, both individually and together as a team and (2) to accomplish that without getting injured. Skinner touched on that first point a couple times in last night’s interview.
Last night’s 3 GA pointed out a couple things to me for Skinner and the team. First, those uncontested, net-front chances need to be less frequent once the regular season begins and second, he knows he has to be more ready to stop those chances given they won’t disappear completely. The meaningful part of preseason happens when players are feeling better about their games as it is winding down. Then we should see the positive impact on regular season performance.
Probably because he’s played 1 game.
Still waiting to be proven wrong about Frederic. I will give him the first half of the season or so, but the signing was ridiculous and I don’t understand it at all. A top contending team doesn’t have to pay that much term or dollar for a player of this type. Hope I am incorrect, but don’t see any qualities to prove me wrong yet …. We wait…
I brought up at the time that McDavid seemed irritated and I wondered if it was because of terrible contracts like this that could prevent the team from competing. Ha.
Also, while I am here: when are we going to play Nurse at wing?
If the plan was to build a tough no nonsense third line around Frederic then I could understand. But having him as netfront winger with the other two centers is confusing. An I believe it stimulated comments about disconnect between coach and GM.
One thing about players who use ruggedness to make and stay in the NHL; they sign an 8 year contract and a lot of what got them there can go away. I certainly hope not, too early to tell anything.
Skinner is out of chances, in my opinion. This is the period where the organization would be talking to him about a contract, but there’s no way Bowman is going to get into a conversation with his agent right now. Skinner is probably in the $5.5M range BEFORE the cap increase, but Bowman has to decide if the Oilers will make him an offer or trade him. Big season for Skinner, suspect management is mulling all options. The odds of Skinner starting Game 1 of the playoffs with Pickard as backup are not high imo, and I’m a fan of both goalies.
Sure but, at the same time, what he does prior to October 8 is meaningless. This is exhibition and we know what it means for established NHL players – absolutely nothing vis-a-vis regular season play.
Meaningless is a bit much. For McDavid and Draisaitl and other proven NHLers their stats in pre-season may not mean much. But their games being ready to go in preseason can lead to playing well in the beginning of regular season. See previous two starts in regular season. Starting the first game -3 ain’t cutting the mustard. That seems like they’re not ready.
Given Skinner’s history, showing up this year taking a summer off of candy and being 15 pounds lighter is one thing. Showing everyone in preseason that he can keep goals at two or less has meaning. This would mean a lot to Skinner and management and fans going into regular season. Or, coming back and continuing to let in one or two saveable goals has just as much meaning to all involved. Let’s see what happens next outing.
I’d even venture to say that Mangiapane scoring his first game gets him feeling good and has meaning. Fredric not scoring nor able to keep up with the stars has meaning.
Pre-season is meaningless?
in 2023/24, McDavid had 7 points in 4 exhibition games and went 7-0 goals at 5 on 5. He then proceeded to have a pedestrian 13 points in his first 13 games while going 7-9 goals at 5 on 5 while the team was awful.
I believe the performance of these players during exhibition season means absolutely nothing come the start of the regular season – both ways.
Calgary Vancouver and 2 against Seattle aren’t exactly great competition in 2023. McDavid got 4/7 points against Calgary’s farm team with Vladar in net, and one point in each of the other’s including Seattle testing out Yamamoto as a top 6 player. I’d agree, getting cookies against weak competition in preseason probably doesn’t translate to performing well in the regular season. However, if one analyzes those games further one could interpret that the Oilers were not performing as well as they should and were not properly prepared to start the regular season. The preseason games are informative and matter.
He’s only a small step above Janmark in the guaranteed jobs department and if Janmark shows poorly at camp no one is gonna give him a pass. Sure these games don’t mean much for standings but if skinner carries his sub 900 sp into the first few games of the season he’s gone. So these games mean a ton for Skinner.
If I was an eight year old having a nightmare and James Hetfield had barged in screaming “its only a dream”, I would’ve shit pants and jumped out the window.
this is good!
Congratulations LT on your marriage. Very happy for you
I’m late to the party as I’ve been trying to catch up to the blog as my wife and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary(September 19th, you picked a good time of year to get married) and 16 years together while travelling across Japan for three weeks.
Would also like to thank the fine folks of the blog here for all the camp/preseason updates and helping me keep up with the team while I’m reading in the middle of the night 15 hours ahead.
We’re headed to a Hanshin Tigers game tomorrow evening here in Osaka. Very excited to check out the Japanese baseball experience
Running Draisaitl and McDavid together in the preseason is malpractice and a strong case for dismissal.
Bruce Curlock does his thing on his Substack these days, he is putting up his take on players through exhibition for anyone interested
He’s pretty high on Leppanen and Savoie. It’s only been a few games of course, you can see Lepp is a heady player and makes a lot of good plays, and some risky ones. For me as it stands I’m not sure what his chances are with a team like the Oilers. They don’t have PP1 spot for him unless they change to a 2 D setup
My main issue is that he is not very fast. For me a bad thing for an undersized player, especially a D. His retrievals have been strong, but against weak comp. I think he’ll be sent down, and if he can sort out the NA game perhaps he can replace Kulak in a year. Curlock liked him with Regula who had a clean game. I think a partner with size is necessary for him in the NHL. I’m not sure Emberson is heavy enough but maybe
Tomasek Is the same. You can see he’s a smart player, but he’s not very quick. Curlock thinks he’ll have to be strong using his size to protect the puck, if he can and can be a shooter that scores, playing with guys that can get him the puck it might work out. He’s also not an assertive type, which also limits what he can bring with his size
Bowman did a great job getting two top scoring Euros to sign- as opposed to lesser players we’ve seen in the past – but I still wonder given both had suitors why they chose the Oilers. Seems like both don’t have a good fit on the roster given how the Oilers are built, for their skill sets. We’ll see, it’s early still and a lot of learning going on for them
I’m OK if Leppanen turns in to Adam Fox, as decscribed.
It’s preseason, so you know McDrai would have it in neutral. Still, I find their defensive game is weaker when they are together, and I just don’t understand why you would take away such strength up the middle and overplay them all year. As Leon said, it will change but I don’t even like it as a plan, build up the middle and use the depth at wing.
yes. All great teams come with at least 3 great centers.
I would say 3 effective lines. You have to maximize what you have and are able to get. Lundell Panther rises bigly playoffs. Adding Marchand could not have hurt, but like many Panthers his reg season is pretty mediocre
Predicting that Leon and McDavid would just be mucking around last night was easy.
And losing battles to hyper energized kids playing against the best in the league – this was also easy to predict.
When you know you are good, you look for the skill plays, and systems are not as important as creating. Offense. Leon has stated many times, his job is to score. He gets paid to score.
When you know you are not quite as good you must battle, battle, battle, and the system helps you because your next move is somewhat predictable and identified to all. Unison.
What we need from Oilers is about 40-60 split. The 60% must be absolute battlers, puck retrievers, solid defenders, physical. . But they get confused, they think they are all to be creators, high skill play makers.
Off topic, but I’m still confused as to why it appeared that they didn’t want to win for 2-3 games in the final. I know the Panthers were really strong, Hyman was out, etc., but the story was that they were possessed after the previous year’s loss. It seemed to show as they advanced to the final last year even with an older, flawed lineup. In the final, they spent one game losing their S and just running around, and one or two games with what appeared to be no spirit, or lack of effort. I get losing to better team. I don’t get lack of effort.
Sorry to throw it back to last year, but I haven’t heard this spoken about too much. Is my take wrong? If not, why hasn’t this been spoken about more? The conversation always resorts to how good the Panthers were, and that’s it. Maybe I missed it.
For two years straight they have been utterly terrible in at least 2 finals games.
Looked both times like a squad without a plan at all.
5 and 6 specifically this year were damn embarrassing. They had them completely on the ropes in game 2, let em up. Then you come back and set yourself up to win it all with that game 4 effort….then you stink the joint out for 120 minutes.
Massive underperformance.
Sure. But nothing in my experience matches the last two games of 2024-25. Nothing in the entire history of the Oilers looks anything like it, and it was utterly depressing to witness.
I do not blame the Oilers, I give credit to the Panthers.
Panthers developed a system to beat the Oilers or any high skill team they would face. Oilers did not seem to be ready. When under pressure or being prevented from offence, they struggled.
In my opinion, game came down to battles, not skill.
As GODOT stated earlier, a system is the solution when faced with high pressure Panthers team.
I’ll grant the Panthers had the systems and coaching and that can set you on your heels, but you can still give a semblance of caring. You can try to win even if the other team is better. The way I saw it, they were barely putting in a portion of the effort of the series prior.
If it came down to battles (although, like you said I think it was also largely coaching), then that’s my point: where was their battle?
I think it’s possible that the Panthers’ systems not only beat them at hockey, but beat them in the mind. And if that’s the case, it’s seriously something they should verbalize and get ahead of for the future.
Third goal against last night, Skinner is literally pointing at the guy who needs to be covered in the slot, Bouchard shoulder checks, McDavid also in photo as pass arrives for the one-timer. How many different coaches and systems do these guys need to play for/with before we realize that the inmates are running the asylum? Yes, I know it’s preseason, but start as you mean to go.
Maybe the missing ingredient has always been a little verbal paint thinner à la Mike Smith. Enough nice guy good in the room. Time for accountability.
Too much lollygagging. Too many dont give a f… moments. lack of intensity. Too many times over too many seasons… Not sure if they will ever be competive day in and day out. Yes the season is long. But not competing is not forgivable, and we have seen the inconsistency from this core too many times. At what point is this who they are?
With the roster as it has been constructed for the last two seasons, not winning a regular season division title is kind of embarrassing. (yes injuries etc) It is the inconsistency in compete level IMO.
This is who they choose to be. It’s tiring watching them fail to protect their own net and have to try to come back. Especially after losing two finals for it
The horny puppy can’t help myself thing is a lack of game maturity. Hyman is also bad for looking up ice before the job at home is done. It’s why he got hurt, who gets a broken wrist from an open ice hit? He said as much, wasn’t careful enough. They keep ending up too injured to be effective enough to win when it counts
What job at home wasn’t done when Hyman was injured? And then how did that job not getting done lead to his injury?
Wrong. The ill-advised jailbreak in the preseason almost certainly increased the probability of an ill-advised jailbreak in the Stanley Cup final. The world is Bayesian, not random.
This is the problem starting with McDavid and Draisaitl and Bouchard together. They do not believe they have to play the system. One should actually play McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, and Ekholm all apart in the preseason, so they focus on the importance of playing the system. So the system becomes 2nd nature.
The system must be a super tight rhythm section. And only then can the real jazz happen in the Stanley Cup finals.
Cheating the system in the first preseason game is a bad omen that they have learned nothing.
The system is what saves you when the Panthers press you.
I always thought my sense of humour was universal. 🙂
I thought it was pretty damn funny.
I am always the exception that proves the rule.
Early in the morning, an aspie is going to aspie.
The McDavid cheat codes do not work against Florida reliably. He can run away if he wants (and he well may) but he cannot hide.
“One should actually play McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, and Ekholm all apart in the preseason, so they focus on the importance of playing the system. So the system becomes 2nd nature.”
That would be interesting!
Like.
The system, like Strongbad once said, is down. The SYSTEM IS DOWN! THE SYSTEM IS DOWN!
If “start as you mean to go” has any value at all, I sure hope they learn from last season.
LT, I saw your comments on your radio show re: Knoblauch telegraphing he is not on board with Bowman’s moves this summer.
I will admit this has me more than a lot concerned about how the team comes out of the gate in October and how this impacts 97s re-signing.
Personally, I hope that Bowman has a very short leash for Knoblauch, and that if there is any hint that he is refusing to ice the best lineup because he won’t adapt, then he looks at other coaches who will. I cannot imagine seeing the talent possibilities of some of the new players brought in, and thinking that it is best to run 29-97 on a line, with Henrique or Frederic as 3C. Mangipane and Savoie give real winger options, while Nuge, Philp and Lazar make the centre depth a strength. Frittering that away bc the coach won’t try things in preseason and to start the campaign is a firing offense, imo.
I think the decision to put 97-29 together has four possible reasons:
1 Knoblauch doesn’t love Bowman’s summer
2 Zach Hyman’s injury is going to impact his entire regular season and could be a career-altering moment.
3 McDavid wants to play with Draisaitl and the organization wants McDavid happy.
4 Knoblauch believes Mangiapane-Nuge can form an outscoring second line.
I’m no expert but those are my thoughts.
Knoblauch said that one reason was that it gets the other players more involved in games. When the Duo run separate line there is about 20 min of TOI left for the rest. He mentioned they felt left out
He said that it also allows the ‘regular’ players to play more to their identity. They defer to the stars, and playing with guys like them isn’t easy for a lot of players. For me it’s best to get all of the lines functioning well
Leon said he thinks they will still be used like always, sometimes together sometimes not. I prefer that the HC stops using the blender. Every player I have heard talk about it prefers consistent linemates. Now that there is a competent GM, if the players aren’t good enough he will get different ones. Changing lines a lot may get some results in specific games, but it comes at the cost of stability and familiarity, which regular players need to play their best
Having seen how Bowman works I’d be surprised if Knoblauch wasn’t consulted about signings. Knob also doesn’t seem like the outright mutiny type anyway. Everything I’ve heard or read suggests it’s a collaborative management style
Blender hate.
I get it. Makes all kinds of sense. But…
The first real blender hater I knew was my dad. He’d rail away at the coach, telling me & everyone within miles that the coach was an idiot for not “sticking with the lines.”
Who was the coach? Scotty Bowman.
What team was he blenderizing so badly? The 1970s Habs.
The result? Best win-loss record (ever? That team dominated.) Fives times Stanley in six years.
Again: I get the theory about why the blender is bad. Since the mid-70s, however, I’m trusting the coach on this, over the theory.
It might for Knoblauch have to do with depth and players not playing well enough last season. He’s not Scotty and no team is as deep as the Habs were back then
It’s chicken or egg. Maximize now or let players work out of it and build for later
Thanks.
I’m still curious about coach’s thinking – well, not really: I’m actually interested in his results, not his thinking.
Back to back SCFs means something. (Scotty said recently that Knoblauch and he are members of a select group of two: coaches w back to back SCF losses.)
Fans have opinions. No-blender is one. Yes-blender, another. Obviously KK and SB share a preference for the blender, despite the No-blender camp. That being his preference, and as I have zero impact on his decisions, I remain curious about results.
Good post.
1 if it’s this, then maybe the coach needs to be replaced.
2 if it’s this, I’m not sure why it is influencing McDrai.
3 if McDavid is driving who plays with who then he should sign an extension.
4 this one is a hard sell.
5 if it’s icetime for other players then the coach can instead dial back the icetime of lines 1 and 2 to give more to lines 3 and 4.
— tactically McDrai has always meant that good teams shut them down when it matters
— once a good team limits McDrai the Oil lose.
— who knows but not really “feeling it” this year
— at some level this is why CmD isn’t rushing to sign IMO
— what would oilers look like with 3 new 5mm players and Drai as big dog: asking for a friend.
I see them as very predictable and reverting to known tactics when under pressure. It works reg season and against teams that don’t challenge their preferred style, but not against the Panthers etc
That they can’t play reliably in big games makes it worse. MacT said they are the most impatient team offensively he’s seen, I agree. It’s the root of their problems. LT mentioned breakouts. I see them getting disconnected as a group and drifting to solo hero efforts and setting up Leon’s one timer
Connor and Leon are super stubborn. The 80’s guys only took a couple of playoffs to realize what they had to do differently to win a Cup. Having an innovative coach that could direct and lead the thoroughbreds helped a ton as well
”Connor and Leon are super stubborn. “
That may be the best reason I’ve heard so far for letting them play together.
Ps. I’m seeing a lot of “taking this very seriously” here. It was an exhibition game. It was so low event there were only four shots on goal in the first 20.
That said, it was the new guys time to shine. The only one who stood out for me was Lepanen. Anyone else see anything worth commenting on (besides the regulars coasting)?
3 – 5 million dollar players is not the only option.
A while back I posted a hypothetical trade with the Mammoth.
2C – Logan Cooley – $950K
2RD – Sean Durzi – $6 million
LW – Tij Iginla – ELC
1st round pick
With McDavid at 1C, Utah is better and has recent #4 overall pick Caleb Desnoyer on track to take over at 2C/3C soon as well as Barrett Hayton just hitting his prime.
The Mammoth also have two blue chip defensive prospects in Maverick Lamoureux and Dimitri Simaschev to replace Durzi.
The Oilers get a former #3 overall pick in Cooley to play 2C and Durzi at 2RD which allows them to deploy Jake Walman on his natural side.
Depending the outcome of the Mattias Ekholm situation, this could make Darnell Nurse expendable and the Oilers could retain to help make him go away. (the Leafs might bite)
Iginla, a recent 6th overall pick, becomes the Oilers top prospect and a strong candidate to play 1LW with Draisaitl and a replacement for the aging Zack Hyman.
The 1st round pick helps restore the Oilers depleted prospect pool and should the Oilers need more, the Mammoth also have 3 second round picks in the 2026 draft as currency.
Cooley will need an extension in 2026/27 but his next deal and Durzi’s $6 million cap hit should come in under a McDavid extension.
It would be a trade that makes both teams better now and would certainly make the Oilers younger and much more sustainable in the future.
Cooley – 21
Durzi – 25
Iginla – 19
Just one example.
Don’t hate it!
But you wonder why Connor would want to play in Utah. Are they better set to contend soon? Better standard of living than Edmonton? More anonymity. If he would want to, then why gut their system if you can sign there July 1 & have Iginla on his wing?
As I explained…Utah would NOT be gutted.
Losing Cooley is not an issue since he would be replaced by McDavid and they have Barrett Hayton as 2C just hitting his prime with 4th overall pick Desnoyer warming up in the bullpen as well as highly rated 2024 1st round pick Cole Beaudoin just starting his ELC.
McDavid – 1st round pick
Hayton – 1st round pick
Beaudoin – 1st round pick
Desnoyer 1st round pick
Losing Durzi would be a temporary step back at worst.
Maverick Lamoureux is a 21 year old 2022 1st round pick (6’7″ 215) who played 15 games in Utah last season posting a GF% of 56.20 and CF% of 57.5.
Dimitri Simashev is a 2023 1st round pick (6’5″ 203) who just signed after two seasons in the KHL.
With the acquisition of JJ Peterka this offseason, the top 6 wingers on the team are:
Peterka – 27 goals 698 points
Dylan Guenther – 1st round pick 2021 – 27 goals 60 points
Clayton Keller – 1st round pick 2016 – 30 goals 90 points
Nick Schmaltz – 1st round pick 2014 – 20 goals 63 points
That embarrassment of riches has recently been increased with 2023 1st round pick Daniel But (6’6″ 215) signing his ELC after two seasons in the KHL.
Worth noting that Utah currently has almost $8 million in free cap space at the moment ($35.8 million at the deadline) and $38.6 million next offseason to upgrade any position as well as 3rd goaltender Connor Ingram and his $1.95 million cap hit on the books who will likely be moved.
But you’re right…why would McDavid want to play there is the poignant question.
Well McDavid would certainly be attracted to the franchise’s long and illustrious NHL history. If not for the giant asterisk of a season that was 19/20, the franchise would be tied with Buffalo for both the longest current and all time record for missing consecutive post seasons at 13. Since entering the NHL in 79/80, they have been in the playoffs a total of 20 times, 11 of those while in Winnipeg, and 9 in Arizona. In those 20 trips over 46 years, the team has grand total of 5 playoff series wins.
Maybe Utah finally has some potential, but a lot of teams have had potential and just kept spinning their wheels. If (and still a very big and unlikely if IMO) McDavid is going to leave to save someone, its probably more likely to be to the Leafs for their 58 years finals/cup drought than heading to Salt Lake City.
What happened in Arizona is totally irrelevant.
Poor ownership, fan support and interminable other issues did not follow the franchise to Utah.
Totally irrelevant you say? The GM, the Head Coach and several of the core are still with the team. They are the culture of the team. Not many players on that team that have meaningful experience yet of what it takes to actually get into the playoffs, let alone succeed in them.
The core is Cooley, Guenther, Peterka, Sergachev, Durzi, and Marino.
None have a long history with Arizona and neither does the management team or head coach.
And there’s a new sheriff in town and he has plenty of cash.
Both the head coach and GM have been there 4 seasons all of them out of the playoffs. Keller is the Captain, the team leader and top point getter with 9 seasons on the team. Nick Schmaltz was 3rd in points, 2nd in TOI among forwards, is the assistant Captain and has been 7 years with the team. Crouse, with 9 seasons, is also an assistant Captain. Barret Hayton, a number 5 overall pick back in 2018, has been with the team 6 seasons and 6th is scoring.
Neither 21 year old Cooley nor 22 year old Guenther is running the dressing room any time soon. Peterka is certainly isn’t showing up with any winning experience from Buffalo. And neither Durzi or Marino have any successful playoff experience to draw on either. My point is still valid.
Oh and how did that New Sheriff in town (Ryan Smith) do with the Utah Jazz he bought in 2020? He took control of a team that had been in the playoffs the 3 prior years. The team had a good start finishing first in the conference, but lost in the 2nd round. Not that he can take much credit for that season having bought them October 28 after the season had started and the roster largely set.
The team followed up finishing 5th in the west, but lost in the first round of the playoffs. In the 3 seasons since, his team has finished 12th in the Conference twice and this past year set a franchise record for the most losses in a single season and finished dead last in the NBA. Sure not looking like his cash is spent wisely by the Jazz. The longer he owns them, the worse they get.
Ingram on waivers today, says Frunk.
No surprise there.
Don’t think he gets claimed,
On the plus side about feeling it, I wasn’t feeling it last year at all and we went all the way to the SCF again.
Once McDavid puts pen to paper we’ll go back to feeling good me thinks.
— what % chance do you assign to him not resigning?
— every day he doesn’t sign increases the likelihood he isn’t returning IMO
— v-gar here in Toronto it just became a pissing match because he wanted 500m and all the organization had to do was stroke the check for that amount.
— He was pretty clear that he wanted to be a jay for life and his team did a good job of playing the media to get fans to make ownership realize that’s the price they had to pay
— this is a different situation. McD is a different personality but his ties to Edmonton as expressed seem measured and rehearsed.
— V-gar wore his heart on sleeve. Just wanted to get paid and be here forever.
Not sure I love Coach K’s comments yesterday on McDavid and Drai anchoring the 1st line.
A stable of remaining centres consisting of RNH, Henrique, Lazar/Philips isn’t scaring anyone.
And what happened to the offseason verbiage of Fredric being a centre? Is there even a whisper of this now?
Is Clattenburg the player we want Fredric to become? Wait a minute…
Lines will change.
I’m sure Frederic will have plenty of reps as bottom 6 center.
I don’t see these new salary cap rules to last more than a season but the Oilers need to make some tough decisions and take advantage this year.
Do you want to win the cup or make some players happy.
Rico should be a prime candidate as needing to sit in the playoffs to allow for acquisition of a better player. If you can get a real difference maker then you make Nurse sit.
I don’t think the playoff cap is going anywhere but, hopefully, they smarten up and agree to revise as to NOTt change how each player’s cap hit is calculated in the playoffs – If the player was on the team for 2/5 of the season and they weren’t in LTIR then the cap hit in the palyoffs should be 2/5, just like the regular season
Perhaps, but this depends on how he is playing.
For all we know he’s a 20G/50P top of the rotation PK guy.
There may need to be day to day lineup decisions depending on cap, that’s true.
— been away for awhile : How’s married life treating you!
— there was a lovely post from someone who talked about his dad losing his first wife then getting married again that resonated
— My grandmother: she lost her first husband with three kids who were late teenagers early 20s
— My grandmother remarried a Man who lost his wife who had 4 young adult children. Tragically he died suddenly not 18 months after they remarried
— The gift though was that all of them became very close and to this day we have our xmas Easter thanksgiving with all the generations
— My grandmother did get married again to an another widowed man: and they had a wonderful 15 years together before he passed away. At one point they had a “60th anniversary “ calculating all the years they had been married with their spouses : a fond memory!
— Good luck with it and the unintentional gift of the extended family that you now have with both your sets of children as they spend time together now
I’m enjoying it very much. Karen arrived in my life at a perfect time, so these last months have been a gift. There was a lot to get through, Jo-Anne died suddenly so there was tremendous loss, instant grief, trauma at facing life alone after 40 years, and guilt (why did she die instead of me?) plus a few other things like watching my children go through exactly the same thing. Jo-Anne would have been able to help them more.
Into a confused life walked a woman who helped me enormously. Pardon my French, but I was fucked up by everything. Karen didn’t heal me, but she listened and cared, offering empathy and someone to lean on.
I learned many things. Speaking things out loud allows me to hear them and my brain accepts them easier. I know that sounds completely wild, but I believe it to be true. Time heals, distance too, but speaking things out loud into truth is a powerful thing.
PS, the additional kids have been a gift. You are right as rain about that one.
I am, as I’ve said before, very happy for you. I’m also grateful that you’re telling us about the hard times.
I’ve been blessed with people who’ve listened to me, help me talk through my confusion and hurt in hard times. It’s one of the hardest things, to see so many men aching, alone. Silent.
When you tell us your story you’re sharing your happiness; you’re also helping other men by showing a path through the pain. I count that as a huge gift to us here reading this blog.
Thank you, LT.
🙏
You don’t know me, but I’ve read and listened for years. I didn’t know you’d remarried. I’m chuffed to hear things are going for you.
Wow. I didn’t watch the game but caught the recap. Those goals against, woof (tying my comment to the photo of the day). Those were some softies. LT, I appreciate your loyalty to Skinner however count me amongst the growing calls for a new direction between the pipes. Due to just watching the low lights and not being able to see the entire play unfold it’s hard to see where the fault truly lies, but those to me looked like shots and NHL starting goaltender should stop. It’s only preseason but my confidence that Skinner can figure it out is extremely low right now.
As mentioned above, I do believe Bowman needs to get a goalie. Skinner may or may not be part of the trade, and Pickard also has value. Edmonton needs a great goalie to win. They just do.
Agreed 100% It’s unfortunate as Slushy mentions, he is a likeable guy from an outsiders perspective. I don’t know how to resolve the acquisition of a 1A or bonafide #1 goalie but the current situation is unsustainable. Rock, meet hard place.
I don’t think that goalies are voodoo. Once they have played long enough their pattern emerges
There are only a handful of goalies that are consistent season to season. All are vulnerable to inconsistent defending, because it delays their reads, and in the NHL any delay means GA. Helleybuyck’s problems show this, in a series as opposed to one off reg season games, teams break down the Jets and get to him
Stu is a likeable guy, and he is a bottom half starter based on reuslts, has some technique issues that are magnified playing for the Oilers. He’s not consistent, but can rise up for a stretch of games, like most goalies. He can make big saves, but they all do. It’s the ability to deliver in most games that divides the decent from the best, and to not let in weak goals very often
Some insurance that is better than a decent but also flawed Pick is absolutely a good idea for a contending team. We have seen teams like Carolina get sunk repeatedly over the years because of substandard goaltending for whatever reason