Photo by Fawn Mitchell
You can hide ‘neath your covers and study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets
-Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road
The Edmonton Oilers have to make a difficult decision this fall, and it may not be popular. Management has given coach Kris Knoblauch some nice options, and it’s possible the coaching staff chooses to send Ike Howard to the minors while also running Matt Savoie on the third line (away from an elite center).
It would be easy enough to run Connor McDavid with Leon Draisaitl and Trent Frederic until Zach Hyman returns. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Andrew Mangiapane could line up with Vasily Podkolzin on a second line that wouldn’t score a lot but could land around 50 percent in five-on-five goal share. That would leave Matt Savoie for the third line with Adam Henrique and Kasperi Kapanen, and once Hyman returns the line could be even more substantial.
I think that would be a mistake.
The Oilers don’t have any offensive hammers on the wing (Draisaitl is a center). Zach Hyman isn’t certain to return a 30-goal season, because any injury around the hands can impact goal scoring (see Evander Kane). Andrew Mangiapane averages 20 goals per 82 games, Trent Frederic 13. Those numbers become important, because Hyman (29 per 82) and Nugent-Hopkins (23 per 82) aren’t available for work on the wings, and both are aging.
The coaching staff has moved Leon Draisaitl (41 goals per 82 games) to the top line with Connor McDavid (42 goals per 82 games). The top line’s outer marker is around 100 goals as currently populated. That’s fantastic! Last year’s top line (97, 93, Hyman) managed 73, with games missed, shots fired wide and erosion due to age all contributing.
Stan Bowman also found some interesting options in David Tomasek and Josh Samanski, and it’s possible veterans like Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark recover offensively.
All of that said, the next winger who can push the river offensively (not named Draisaitl, who is a center) is extremely likely to be Matt Savoie or Ike Howard. How these men get there is open to debate, and we can see Knoblauch’s five-on-five usage and guess Howard gets the first look on a skill line. Howard is averaging 14:39 per game at five-on-five, many of them with Nugent-Hopkins as his center. Savoie is averaging 12:13 per game at five-on-five, many of them with Henrique as center.
The RNH line is the second line, and we’re early days, but in the 29 minutes played by the Nuge at five-on-five, the Oilers are being outscored 0-2 despite a 50.4 percent expected goal share. I would predict around 50 percent goal share with a low goals-60 for the trio this season.
The Oilers away from RNH’s line have outscored opponents 15-4 with a 54.7 percent expected goal share. There’s a lot of noise in preseason numbers, but the top line (97, 29, Frederic) is 3-3 goals and 64 percent expected goals.
It could take most of the season, but I’ll predict today that all of Podkolzin, Savoie and Howard will emerge as strong options on the top three lines by the spring. I will further predict that the older veterans will fade offensively. This is not breaking news, it is the natural order of things. Here are my suggested lines for opening night:
Mangiapane-McDavid-Frederic
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie
Howard-Nuge-Kapanen
Henrique/Janmark-Philp-Lazar
On the Lowdown today, we have two feature guests: Kevin McCurdy at 1, Daniel Nugent-Bowman at The Athletic at 1:20. We’ll also have the dizzying talents of the roundtable, including Declan Krueger, Donovan Paulson, Josh Fenwick and Sam Wilness. They are absolute verbal terrors and I’m an aging mongoose just hanging on. I’ll need a nap by 2pm. We’re noon to 2pm on Sports 1440 and You Tube.
New for The Athletic: The Oilers’ second line will be key to 2025-26 success. Who will be on it?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6675322/2025/10/01/oilers-players-lines-second-2025/
“It’s a long way from October to April, and there are many untested options on this roster.”
This – the testing, the experiments (including perceived failures), is what I am most looking forward to in the preliminary 82.
Terrible pinch by Leppanen at the offensive blue and its a 2 on 1 the other way and the Kraken extend the lead.
THAT is something they will work with him in Bako.
Hutson having his toughest game of the exhibition – play dying on his stick every time. He’ll be a big part of the Condors.
Samanski is going to need some AHL time but I think this big kid plays in the NHL at some point….
Since they showed chemistry on the PP, coach has put Howard and Savoie together as a winger duo – a few shifts with RIco and now with Samanski – they are showing coach they play well with skill.
Stauff speculating a line of Savoie/Henrique/Philp in the regular season (with Pods/Nuge/Mangiapane)
Savoie is absolutely ferocious on the puck.
Now Regula draws a penalty activating in to the slot and getting hooked.
Frederic making ALOT more plays with the puck at center tonight.
Regula looking really good again, this time with Nurse against a fairly strong NHL lineup.
Great tip by Savoie as Rico finds him on the back-door – not an easy tip.
Howard with a great play to gain zone entry, hold up and find Henrique in open ice.
Kraken with a 5 on 3 goal and then the Oilers get one of their own (had just become 5 on 4).
Some good puck movement and pressure – lots of puck touches between Howard and Nurse and a couple high slots from Howard ripped wide.
The goal is off a great puck retrieval by Henrique, back to the point and a blah one from Nurse sifted through traffic. Howard gets an apple on it as well.
At least Picks 5vs5 stats are solid!! Perhaps he hears Ingram’s footsteps…
Enjoy the game everyone, but please be respectful of current and former posters on this site. Thanks.
Like the bet on Ingram, hopefully it pans out. In the mean time, the Oilers seem to have too many pro goalies in the system and will have to juggle them to get everyone playing time. Admittedly, I didn’t watch any pre season games. How did Jonsson look?
Picks gives it away behind his own net on the PP for an easy SH goal…..
Picks beaten clean from the point on the PK – lots of traffic, wasn’t able to see around it, something that will always be an issue for Picks.
You had the Kraken player standing directly in front of Pickard uncontested. And then you had Regula uselessly standing in front of that player further screening Pickard.
Yes, as I said, lots of traffic and, as I said, he couldn’t see around it. Part of an NHL goalie’s job is fighting to see through traffic – of course, its not always possible and they aren’t always able but, at his size, this has always been a deficiency of his (at least as an Oiler). Didn’t say it was a bad goal or an easy screen to fight through.
The you I used didn’t literally mean you. Bad choice of words on my part. I meant the situation. Regula looked bad there.
Emberson steps up at the blue line with a solid shoulder to chest hit.
Hutson picks off a pass in the neutral zone, turns it in to a 3 on 1 – skilled move/pass but its broken up – should have shot, had a lane to the net.
Stecher beat to the next on a 2 on 2 and Picks with a solid stop net front on Schwartz.
Some changes to the prior posted lineup.
Howard in playing with Fred and Kap.
Regula playing up with Nurse.
I like the Ingram bet in this format. Basically zero risk to see if he can earn a roster spot. If he supplants someone he’s worth risking Pickard to waivers or trading Skinner. If not, he essentially cost nothing. An astute move.
I do also like how some are acknowledging that Ingram is in/entering prime goalie age, so we could see a pop if he responds well to the change of scenery.
As a point of reference, Skinner is 19 months younger.
From a cap and asset perspective this is a very cheap insurance policy. As long as he is in the minors, he doesn’t hit the NHL cap and until we find out what the future considerations are, it hasn’t cost them any players or draft picks. The Oilers still do have to pay $1.15 million of his salary for the year. And if brought up, his cap hit is $150,000 higher than Pickard’s.
One of the implications of bringing him in includes him almost certainly taking up a roster spot in Bakersfield, which will impact the development of other system goalies in the AHL (and down the the ECHL).
I assume because he cleared waivers for Utah, he can go up and down without waivers again for something like 10 NHL games or 30 days on the roster. If he gets to play and plays well in October and one of Skinner and/or Pickard struggle or get injured, they can probably call him up without having to waive another goalie or another roster player for a quick look to see how he does.
That assumes Hyman is on LTIR giving the team the cap space to maneuver. Once Hyman’s back, an Ingram call up would likely necessitate probably Pickard being waived to fit him in, which is a risk if Ingram is not the answer and if Pickard got claimed.
I assume Pickard, because no matter what anyone thinks of Stuart Skinner on here, a Calder finalist goalie from 3 seasons ago who has been the primary goalie on a team that went to the last 2 cup finals and also lost to the Cup winner in the division finals the other season, is only just turning 27 and is on a $2.6 million contract would absolutely not clear waivers. Some fans might hope he wouldn’t clear, but I am pretty sure the Oilers won’t think that way. If he was making $5 or $6 million and playing poorly he might clear, but that is not the case.
Per Gregor:
I see Matej Blumel has ended up in Boston on a value contract. Please refresh my mind and let me know how we lost this kid. I wonder why Dallas didn’t give him a legit opportunity and I do think he pops in Boston with the likes of Pasternik showing him the way.
He was not signed prior to being eligible for free agency (due to a quirk of being an international player, I forget the exact rule, but the Oilers dropped the ball essentially) he then signed with Dallas.
I think there was high hopes for him, but it looks like he has not materialized into the potential people saw in him. If he was released by Dallas, they are generally pretty good at pulling potential out of players, so I doubt Edmonton could have done better. Still, a fireable offense by someone for not even noticing his rights had to be retained prior to them expiring. (no one was fired unsurprisingly)
Whoa – this is not entirely factual, in particular the part about the Oilers dropping the ball.
Its true the Oilers didn’t sign him and lost his rights but there is nothing official on why and its highly reasonable the player did not want to sign an ELC at that time with 100% certainty he’d be in the AHL, at an AHL salary riding AHL buses.
He signed with the Dallas organization but not until playing a full year at home.
After not signing with the Oilers, he was an NHL UFA but chose to sign back at home and not with an NHL organization until after a full season.
I’d also stop short of calling his contract a value deal – he’s a 25 year old, at this point, AHL player that signed for $100K over league min.
He is a VERY good AHL player, an elite AHL player but he’s 25 and has not been able to stick in the NHL. Maybe this is the year, probably, and it could be a value deal but he could be Cooper Marody as well.
The Oilers passed on him for a reason, but that reason has never been made public.
Its never been verified that the Oilers passed on him. He very well may have passed on the Oilers (and the entire league) given he played back in Europe instead of signing with any of the 32 teams after he became an NHL UFA.
Seth Griffith for the Condors scored the same number of points as Blumel in the AHL this past season. He is 32 now, but he also scored 77 points in the AHL back in 2016 when he was 23. He has scored more points in the AHL since 13/14 than any other player. Five different teams have given him some games in the NHL, but he has never stuck. He is an AHL scoring star who is just out of his depth for night in night out in the NHL.
Lots of guys do exceedingly well in the AHL on a points per game basis, but very few AHL veterans (not 20/21 year-olds who move up) produce at that rate when they get to the NHL. The pace, the timing everything is quicker and the opponents are way better. And even if they can produce at 30 points in the NHL like the NHLe says they should, that would only be good enough to stick around if they can play both ends well, or contribute something else too.
Blumel has not been signed to a Stanley Cup contender with the Bruins either. And being a non-playoff team with a bottom third prospects pool makes them a little more desperate to take some gambles.
It’s usually the same reasons. He’s a small player, and unless they can really produce, it’s hard to not lose a job to a typical sized player, like Stecher has over the years. Often it’s skating, small guys need plus boots. Sometimes it’s processing. There are a lot of talented players that just don’t have the tool kit for hockey’s best league
Marjala, Clattenburg and Hamblin recalled to play tonight.
I know that Tomasek and Philp are sick (among others it seems). Janmark and Jones I think are hurt.
I think they keeping McDavid (and some other higher end players) out as they are scheduled to play Friday.
It’s nice to see Clattenburg get a push. It won’t be long before he becomes a favourite for most Oilers fans.
Little doubt he’ll be a fan favorite where he’s playing.
Of note, Klim Kostin remains a fan favorite but he’s not an NHL level players…..
He’s the same height and weight as our ninth Captain Kelly Buchberger who almost played 1200 games in the NHL. I’m rooting for this born leader and when he does make make the team there isn’t a thing you can do about it.
OK.
I’m hoping he plays 1000 games as an Oiler as well.
I agree with LT and I truly think the Oilers have enough offensive skilled options at wing to not move Drai up to the McDavid’s wing. Its unfortunate to me that the coach isn’t willing to allow two high pedigree, high skill 21 year olds (one with a full year in the AHL with great success) at least the opportunity to fill those spots without having to earn it via puck battles won and good decisions made under pressure.
Among Savoie, Howard, Podz, Mangiapane, Frederic and Tomasek (who I’d rather see at 2RW over 3C), I think it can work and that has Nuge at 3C – add him to the list and go back to Henrique and Philp at 3/4C as well.
Coach disagrees – oh well.
Nuge had a good playoffs playing alot of 2C – here is hoping.
Coach has a season long plan he hasn’t shared with us outsiders. Presumably, McDrai are in on it and approve.
Now that it’s been a full year of Stan…so this is what competent GMing looks like. Who knew!?!
Stan has been partially bailed out by a rising cap.
Can’t imagine the surgery required to get Bouch under contract with a flat cap.
Schrödinger’s Cap…
Just think it’s too early to say SBGM is more competent. I’ve liked the moves so far but Kenny got them to relevancy with a flat cap and a top heavy roster that was derailed in its planning (along with Toronto) from a world changing event.
Far from perfect, but on the whole more successes than failures (Hyman, cup finals). The downbeat on the way out seems to stick in everyone’s craw rightfully so but Stan is the proud owner of the Seth Jones contract and the state of the Hawks for the last decade.
I hope he’s learned and I like the direction so far. Walman contract should be interesting.
Peter Chiarelli, when hired in June, 2015, inherited Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, Darnell Nurse, Oscar Klefbom, no meaningful cap issues and several high draft picks in 2015. The team had finished the prior season with 62 points and had missed the playoffs for 9 seasons in a row.
Over his tenure the team made the playoffs once in his 2nd year, but missed in the 1st, 3rd and 4th. The final season that he turned over to Holland the team had 79 points, a cap problem, a Lucic problem, a Puljujarvi problem and a defenseman health problem (Klefbom, Sekera – for which Chiarelli can’t be blamed).
The only Roster players that Holland inherited that were still with the team when he left are McDavid, Draisaitl, Hopkins, Nurse and Bouchard (who played 7 games in 18/19). Drafted future NHL players already in the system that made it to the end of Holland’s run are Ryan MacLeod and Stuart Skinner.
Holland then took a team that had missed 12 of the last 13 seasons and made the playoffs with it 5 consecutive seasons, his entire tenure with the team. The team arguably improved over each of the 5 seasons, either in the regular season or in the playoffs, culminating in a 7 game 1 goal loss in the Stanley Cup finals.
Holland didn’t obtain the ultimate prize and wasn’t perfect by any means. He made a number of good and poor decisions over the 5 seasons as pretty much all GM’s do, but the result on the ice indicates he had a pretty good record. Not great, but suggesting he was incompetent is not at all supportable in a results driven business.
Stan Bowman’s team, though he had to deal with Jeff Jackson’s work, has been slightly further short of the goal than Holland so far (only made it to game 6 and looked awful in the final 2 games).
I don’t think Peter was prepared for how intense Oilers were and panicked. Holland brought stability and he did sign Connor to the max contract when Connor could of just as easily asked for a trade. Holland lost our 2 best D through no fault of his own for nothing that in itself probably cost us 1 or 2 Cups. I do think if MacTavish would of not hurried the rebuild he wins multiple Cups as he did draft Leon-Bouchard. I’m liking Stan he seems to have a good eye for talent he’s risking a lot in Frederic and placing our hopes in the unknown Tomasek-Howard-Savoie. If we are to return to the Cup we need 3 of these 4 to pan out and exceed expectations.
It was Chiarelli who extended both Draisaitl (with what turned out to be a bargain deal and was good the day it was signed) and McDavid. Two of the best things Peter did. Getting Talbot, Maroon and Sekera also helped get the team to the second round in his second season were also good transactions.
And how did MacTavish hurry the rebuild? It was Chiarelli who traded the draft picks for Reinhart, sent Hall packing in year two, signed Lucic to a huge deal at the wrong point of his career and over reacted when shipping Eberle out.
Good the day it was signed, after a fashion. Willis documented how Drai’s contract was at the time above market and precedent-setting, and therefore a (small) contributor to the thousand cap cuts to have boxed in McDavid’s tenure w the team.
You can say it was nothing much, but that attitude replayed 20-30-50 times is the primary reason, imo, the McDavid Oilers haven’t been a straight beast, or champions twice over. Coulda woulda shoulda.
Contract negotiations are *about* public knowledge and *demonstrable* worth. Drai didn’t have much to point to besides a single strong playoff performance. League watchers at the time called Drai’s contract a game changer for second contracts – the first or second ever of its kind, pulling the whole market up. That means that, strictly speaking, going that high was unnecessary. Anything else is hindsight, no matter how great Drai went on to become. People have a very hard time grasping that.
On the day Drai signed, he was at the very very top of the market for his direct comparables and, yup a slight overpay with some risk on the date of signing was a very reasonable position, and common.
The fact that he blew it out of the water and it became one of the best contracts of the generation does not change the signing date facts.
Bouchard was drafted by Chiarelli.
The first GM that had leeway was Holland. Chiarelli had the BoB and who knows with fingers in pie. The org was unprofessional still. I think Pete was used to a difficult management situation with the Bruins, but given his increasingly weird behaviour as an Oiler I think it got to him
Holland coming in ended that, which I see as his main contribution
Also Frederic is a low risk contract. The buyout is peanuts and he’s got a few good years left at least at his age. As Bowman said he is a rare player so you do it
I think attributing specific things like how many games the team won in a final to the GM is not accurate. Holland did 3 solid things, he brought professional stability, he signed Hyman, he acquired Ekholm
The deals for the latter were full pop and then some. That’s ok in the short term for quality players, but he bled out assets constantly and depleted the org. The Campbell signing was bad, and he didn’t get away with that one, as he did with Hyman. Zach was not a sure thing and no one knew he would do as well as he has at the time. He was overpayed and over-termed for his age
Now Bowman has to restore things so Connor has confidence, in short order. Referring to their playoff record, it coincides with the core players, none of which Holland drafted, hitting prime and getting experience. Chiarelli’s team was loaded with young hotshot players that weren’t mature enough in their games to win
Holland kept adding established players which improved upon marginal NHLers, but made an old group that couldn’t quite do it. Not a well balanced group. He always had trouble with the cap, talked about it. When Staois left he said the opposite, Bowman as well, caps not a problem
Of the years they made playoffs, they got bounced twice when they should have won. Couldn’t handle the Avs or Knights, and only got to game seven with amazing effort from core, and a lot of luck having gone down 3-0
For many people if you come in and have the best player and another world class player hitting prime, and a player like Bouch who was close, the rest is supposed to be the easy part right?
For me the bow on top was Holland bringing Ceci in to LA. Widely panned and most think LA took an immediate step back. Ceci had been looked at extensively after poor playoffs and it was easy to see an upgrade was needed; that cost them among other things not improved
This is why we are where we are with Connor. 11 years in having the most talent and can’t get the right mix. I do think Bowman has the best skill set to do it we’ve had. Bob has been asking a few people if this is the best management in the Connor era and all have said it is. Still hard to win a cup though
Knoblauch gave a reason for doing it. He said essentially many players find their game better with other regular players. Also they get more TOI when the duo are together using up 20-25 minutes instead of 40 plus. We’ll see
I know what he said and, as I said in my post “the coach disagrees” and I think his reasoning it a bunch of hooey.
Not finding enough ice for the bottom six is also on the coach for cutting his bench early and how he deploys when they are on seperate lines.
Rishaug asked about the potential for a Howard or Savoie to play in the AHL if needed. Bowman talked about the role of the coach and teaching, etc. He also said that it’s ok if they don’t play every night if it comes to that and also that part of it is learning the recourse of the NHL.
Sounds like Howard will be on the roster and given rope to work through struggles. I think the GM wants both these guys on the NHL but I hope he doesn’t force it if it gets to that.
Bowman didn’t make the trade to bury Howard in the viscious AHL. Howard is a Hobey Baker winner he’s 21.5 as a skilled forward he better make the team with Hyman out. This is a big reason why the trade happened. He needs to produce immediately either he’s the goods or he’s a another Hobey Baker bust. No matter how hard you say he’s not up to pace has no bearing on what the boss thinks when it comes to our opening day roster. For all we know they prefer Howard’s threat to score over Savoie safe playing.
You can’t be reasoned with on Howard.
Bowman thankfully runs a different ship then Holland. No more throwing away his picks for Greens and having burnt out Erne&Gagner getting playing time over the likes of the Clattenburgs of the world. No more marinating prospects and burying them until they give-up like Lavoie-Marody-Benson did who changed their game to suit Holland only to get bent over in the end.
Bowman acknowledges new issues with the playoff cap and how it works. Talked about accruing and adding a player but it creating issues for the playoff roster cap.
So ridiculous how the parties agreed to change how a players cap charge to a team is calculated for the playoffs.
Everyone was complaining about the Blackhawks, Lightning , and Panthers subverting the cap. The Oilers arguably were impacted twice.
There is no fix to playoff cap subversion without impacting inseason cap accrural as it applies to the playoffs.
Sure.
I fully disagree with this – there are definitely other ways they could have dealt with this.
Go on.
The players voted to close the loophole.
Very much an Office Space scenario ‘we fixed the glitch so the problem will just go away.’
Does anyone ever follow up on what “future considerations” actually result? Does Bowman buy the Utah brass a steak dinner next time the Oilers are in SLC?
A 4-pack of Joey Moss Man Crush from Sea Change Brewing Co. and maybe an Oodle Noodle gift card?
This is a hill someone will die on, myself or otherwise, but the correct term is ‘future consideration’. I don’t know why hockey media has such a hard time with this. Nothing against you OP.
Pursuant to contract law, a contract is not enforceable unless there is “consideration” both ways. There can’t be a contract without some sort of benefit flowing both ways. Trading for “future consideration” is a nonsense way to ensure compliance with contract law.
While we’re picking nits, it’s proper to use double quotations, which are more correct in this instance than a single quotation mark which is typically reserved for a quote within a quote (or a quote in a headline). Furthermore, placing the punctuation (a period in your case) outside the quotation marks is incorrect.
But hey, editing for style is generally frowned upon, so you do you.
I guess we know who is dying on a hill tonight.
I’m a fan of the Ingram pickup. He’s only 28 years old, so his best puckstopping is likely still ahead of him.
That said, I don’t think the Oilers have any goaltenders that are top-25 in the league (probably 3 in the 25-50 range). It’s not a position that requires depth, rather it needs brilliance at the top.
I can’t say how much I love this deal. If NYCOIL were still around here, he probably say it’s like the Oilers bought a cheap call option on a volatile asset (goalie contracts are a risky asset class).
Ingram isn’t in the upper echelon of goalie tiers, but he has played a starter’s workload above league average—that’s no joke.
The smart managed teams accept that you can’t just go out and acquire a Hellybuyck or a Shesterkin, the key is not to kneecap yourself with a Jack Campbell contract. Dead cap at the goalie position is an absolute killer if you have to carry the dead weight on your roster.
If you keep the contract risk and cap hit low, you can spend the money on other parts of your roster.
Ingram is the peak goalie age—28, and has very low mileage in terms of games played.
— yeah miss his perspectives NYCOIL. Then he was gentlemen backpacker. Did a pivot into photography moved to Japan where he had spent some time and haven’t heard from him
— he had neat insights with his trading hat perspective: I think guest wrote for Oilers Journal and just a wonderful presence.
— Hope he’s well : interesting how we can get attached to “posters”!
This position is pretty intuitive. And yet I think it may actually be (mostly) wrong.
Granted, if you have a Top 5 goalie, someone who is in the Top 10 every single year, then sure, those guys are good as gold. Hellebuyck, Shesterkin, maybe Ullmark or Sorokin or Vasilevsky.
But outside those guys, there is a *ton* of variance. You’re almost better riding the guy with the hot hand, the guy who is putting up sv % that’s .030 higher than his normal average.
If that guy is an .870 goalie, then that won’t help you much. But if you have three .900 goalies (hey!), maybe it’s better than you think.
The main thing for me is Bow Man has a full quiver and is making good bets at good costs. Sure lots probably don’t turn out but most have enough tools to. Been a while since we’ve seen it. More work in a short while that took years before
0.900 goaltending will not beat Bobrovsky goaltending in the playoffs
Last playoffs maybe not the year before it would have bettered him
But .930 goaltending will! That’s my point.
Prior to last season where he was dealing with personal issues and his game fell off, per Woodley for the prior two seasons in Arizona, Ingram’s adjusted numbers were 9th in the NHL.
Woodley says that, when his head is right, he’s “an exceptional goalie”.
That’s encouraging and he’s not ancient
Love the Ingram pickup especially given that he will start in the minors. Specifically, it seems to indicate that Pickard is not automatically our third-stringer.
I hope that all of Skinner, Pickard, and Ingram get real chances to audition for the two available slots.
I also like the fact it pushes Tomkins down a rung – I wasn’t feeling very confident with him in the 3 hole in case of injury
I think this is a very shrewd move by Bowman. My first thought was how are goalies going to react. I think this is a move that will affect Skinner more than Pickard. I think his leash just got shorter. I’m hoping that it will have a positive effect for Skinner as competition usually brings out the best in highly trained athletes. I also think it sends a message to the team that we are not going to stand pat with the status quo if they see an area of concern. Great move!
Wouldn’t it be a little more accurate to use recent seasons? Over the last seven seasons, Leon is 51 goals per 82 games. (Let’s stop for a moment to appreciate how incredible that is. Are there more than 10 players in NHL history who have done that?)
5v5 numbers?
Leon is 41 per 82 over his entire career, so I assume those were the numbers used.
— buried in one of our hosts comments a few days ago was something to the effect “whatever goalie EDM acquires in the next few days”
— I always pay attention to what our host writes. He’s never going to l give anything away that he might have heard as like any good resource silence is golden. But sometimes he does steer us in the right direction
— it’s a good move. First instinct was thinking of Soup. Not sure how much due diligence could have been done prior to signing that life changing contract but that one set us back …
— Seems like a measured 2nd opinion
Is a 50% 5v5 goal share for a second line good enough for a Cup contender?
I don’t believe it is. You still have to have production from your second and third lines.
I think that line is meant for the time period where Hyman is out of the line up. Upon his return it is possible to build a stronger 2nd and 3rd pair. And if Leon and Connor go on a run toether in October, they have the potential to outscore their opponent by enough of a margin that the team can still get a lot of wins if the other 3 lines can break even or be really close to it. Especially if the team can win the special teams battles more often than not, which they should be capable of.
I could see
Hyman mcdavid Mangiapane
Podkolzin Drai Fredrick
Rico Nuge Savoie
4th line
I like Stan’s body of work. I think Ingram can bounce back to a solid season.
Only disagreements is the Fredrick contract and the unfortunate offer sheets which he deserves just a small amount of the total blame. But could really use that Holloway guy
If they see Frederic as the guy to step into Hyman’s role as he ages out of it, I think it’s a good idea to have him locked up long term. He is going to have McDrai inflated numbers and those can lead to inflated contracts. It’s a bit of a bet that he’ll have a career because anything can happen any game and our bodies get fragile at high speeds, but I believe that if he’s healthy, we’ll be looking back in a few years and talking about the shrewd decision to lock him up at a reasonable number and how bargains like Frederic help keep the window open.
Holloway would be too expensive for the Oilers. His next one will be 6M+
They have the cap space next year
I’m travelling so won’t do a PuckPedia, but I believe they will stay pretty tight to the cap as they retain younger players like Walman. When Hyman and Nuge come up again these rookies will eat up space. Bouch is shorter and probably Connor. Leon if he can keep producing will be a great contract again long term
It also isn’t certain that the cap will keep jumping so much after the announced raises, but maybe. Cap raises get used up bcs salaries go up. Relief is short term
At his price if Fredric can go all Patty Maroon, that would be solid
Looking at the teams Ingram played behind in Arizona, it’s hard to not be very encouraged by what’s possible playing on the Oilers.
Coyotes D, 22-23
-Ghost (traded)
-Chychrun (traded)
Moser, Valimaki, Stecher.
And four players non-NHL players: Patrick Nemeth, Josh Brown, Victor Soderstrom, Connor Mackey
Coyotes D, 23-24
Durzi, Moser, Valimaki, Kesselring (rookie), Stecher, Dumba, Josh Brown, Dermott.
I think this is very relevant when comparing the numbers against Skinners and Pickard. Just for clarity I am a fan of Pickard and recognize that Skinner is still young enough to improve. I still have my reservations with his game.
Skinner should be far more concerned with Ingram coming to town then Pickard.
A weak October for Skinner may kickstart his Dubnyk road trip portion of his career.
I do hope K.K starts the better Goalie last year and thus far in training camp to start the season. With Skinner mentioning his Olympic aspirations this sounds like a man that’s been gifted the no 1 spot in Edmonton. With the Ingam acquisition at least Bowman isn’t forced into a trade if either Skinner or Pickard are not playing well.
He may of been given a nod as 1A, but the coach is not hesitant to pull him when he’s a flopping fish out of water and run with Pickard.
If Ingram gets a chance to audition if Skinner begins to fish again, Ingram may win the derby.
Ingram may go fishing as well leaving the GM with no choice but to head on down to the market.
I’m not sure I’d enjoy a scenario where two years from now Skinner gets nominated for a Vézina while playing for a team not named the Oilers.
Do really believe that to be a realistic scenario?
I was responding to the commenters reference to Skinner starting the “Dubnyk road trip portion of his career”, as Dubnyk was a Vézina nominee the year after the Oilers sent him away for not much at all.
No idea where Skinner will be in two years, he could find the consistency he needs and become a decent starter, or he could end up where Matt Murray is now.
He left during the 13/14 campaign, brief crash in Nashville then onto Hamilton, said Hello to Arizona and ended up in Minnesota while emerging as a Vezina candidate during the 15/16 season.
Hopefully Skinner recovers his game after a couple of stops in different towns and resurrects his career while the Oilers have a cup or 2 added to the trophy case.
So you’re cheering against Skinner and the Oilers this year?
Pointing out a possible pathway is not cheering against the Oilers.
Skinner was not a Bowman draft pick, Skinner is in a contract year.
If Skinner doesn’t knock it out of the park and remove the fish out of water from his game then Bowman will walk.
Skinner is gone either way.
I’m not certain that is the case, if Skinner has a strong season and doesn’t demand top level money Bowman may resign him to a team friendly deal.
Any other scenario I do see Skinner leaving town as well.
Did anyone suggest a week ago that the Oilers could not claim Ingram at $2MM but a trade with retained salary after he cleared so he could start in Bako would make sense?
Amazing work by Bowman!
And Bill Armstrong thanks him for the additional cap space in Utah.
Do they get cap relief? What is difference between Ingram in Utah minors vs $800K retention? A contract slot?
If a player has a Cap Hit greater than the Buried Threshold, if they are sent to AHL the team’s Cap Hit is the player Cap Hit – Buried Threshold. The Buried Threshold is as follows:
2025-26: $775,000 + $375,000 = $1,150,000
The Oilers are now carrying an $800K cap hit with Ingram in the AHL while Utah is carrying the $800K retention.
Ingram’s cap hit is the same as the threshold, why isn’t it fully buried?
This is complexly wrong.
Utah has a dead cap hit of $800K and the Oilers have zero cap hit while he’s in the AHL – they acquired him at the amount that can be fully buried.
Do better.
Good Grief.
300k in cap savings; wow what a win!
Of note:
Utah now has $7.8 million in free cap space.
With the $800K cap hit for Ingram, the Oilers are now down to $226K.
The Oilers with the $880K Ingram hit, $2.3 million for Jack Campbell’s buyout, Skinner at $2.6 million and Packard at $1 million, are now spending almost $7 million on goaltending.
All those meagre cap savings add up.
Oilers had $226K cap space before the trade. When they call Ingram up, that will require a move – I believe (Janmark?).
$7M is still very little on goaltending, but yes Campbell money is horrendous. They preferred him to Kuemper in FA.
Utah is now spending $7.05 million to have two goalies on the roster. In a scenario where the Oilers have three goalies on their roster, the Oilers are also spending $7.05 million on goalies.
Indeed, “meager” cap savings do add up.
Of note: this post is completely wrong on the Oilers – they have a cap hit of $0 with Ingram in the AHL.
You’ve been corrected and you ignore.
If you cannot man up and admit you were wrong, at least stop posting wrong information.
So would Utah not have $800K above the $1.15MM if they kept Ingram? And they retained $800K? Is it not a wash? You know better than I do
I believe they get a couple hundred thousand relief. Maybe it was wanting a he contract gone as they were at 47. Also to give him a new opportunity as they were not going to use him
Fibbin’ again….
Different screen name, same HH.
In fact, same DSF.
that is neither here nor there for the Oilers but also completely wrong.
They retained $800K which was their dead cap hit. Still a dead cap hit and now they have retained salary slot tied up for the year. .
I look forward to you manning up and noting how wrong you are on this.
I like the small moves Bowman does. From Jarventie trade to the Regula waiver pick-up to getting some insurance for injury or continued bad play by either Pickard-Skinner
I had Connor Ingram as a buy low candidate that I had talked about here before he spiked in the NHL. He battled injuries last season. I’m excited to see how this plays out. Surprised we got him for free with salary retained—quite a good deal.
He’s a bigger body version of Pickard, I like the next to no cost addition.
PuckPedia
@PuckPedia
The NJ Devils signed 22 y/o RFA D Luke Hughes to a 7 year $9M Cap Hit contract
Yr 1 – 2: $8M Salary, $1M Signing Bonus
Yr 3 – 7: $9M Salary
10 Team NTC in year 6 & 7
Makes it more likely that the Hughes bros. will not be joining Quinn in Vancouver, but rather Quinn joining them in New Jersey. Much better for us.
Elliotte Friedman is reporting Connor Ingram has been traded to our Oilers, with 800K retained by the Mammoths.
Well done Mr. Bowman.
For future considerations.
Well done indeed, SBGM.
Healthy competition is good.
Exactly as suggested. This is fantastic work.
If you look up the Wikipedia article for Imperial, Saskatchewan, you will see two people listed as notable people:
Connor Ingram and Kris Knoblauch.
This is interesting.
I’d add my mother too, but Wikipedia and I have disagreed on fundamental facts before.
Skinner vs Ingram, Goals Saved Above Expected/60 – EDIT: 5v5
2024-25
Skinner: -0.031
Ingram: -0.575
2023-24
Skinner: +0.036
Ingram: +0.178
2022-23
Skinner: +0.141
Ingram: +0.140
Ingram took 2 months leave in the player assistance program after his mother passed in December of last year (he re-entered program in March). I like the bet. Nothing wrong with some time in Bakersfield to find his game.
Playing the glimmer twins together 5 x 5 is a mistake, except post PK and at the end of the period. “If you want to be strong, you need to be strong down the middle.”
My line suggestions closely resemble yours Lowetide but we didn’t see them in the preseason. Maybe the coach knows something we don’t or maybe the preseason was wasted?
I would just like to say, I love today’s photograph. Also a huge Springsteen fan, so thank-you.
Hey ho rock & roll, deliver me from nowhere.
oilers trade for ingram. Money retained. he starts in AHL
Oilers have acquired Connor Ingram from the Utah Mammoth for future considerations.
The Mammoth will retain $800K of Ingram’s $1.95M salary, allowing him to be sent straight to the AHL.
IMO, I prefer a more mature Tomasek RHC/W making the opening night lineup, who has more utility & experience than the younger Howard. Kapanen with Nuge & Tomasek. Howard could benefit from some seasoning with the Condors, however short-lived that may be.
So if I’m reading the tea leaves correctly today LT you’re saying that Draisaitl is a center in the NHL?
Indubitably
It’s been hinted that 29 might wanted to be recognized with a Selke. We’ve seen his evolution on the defensive side of the puck and agree that he is underrated. That said, he won’t win the Selke as a winger.