The Edmonton Oilers posted a good game on the coast last night, with plenty of pleasing storylines. Matt Savoie is going to eat some lunches on the way to the top two lines next season, Calvin Pickard was impressive at five-on-five, Andrew Mangiapane and Trent Frederic showed some signs of being ready for the season, and the Glimmer Twins scored on the power play.
We’re left this morning with what we think could be the roster but there are questions about how it all could go down. Who will play in Edmonton opening night and who is going to Bakersfield?
Last Monday, I wrote an article at The Athletic titled “Could the Edmonton Oilers make a trade before the regular season begins?” and the team dealt for Connor Ingram two days later. Part of the article focused on defense being a strength this year, and if Jake Walman can make the opening night roster I love this group.
I wonder now if we see a defenseman traded by opening night? Hear me out. If the Oilers run Ekholm-Bouchard (who have played 52 minutes together at five-on-five, with a 56 percent expected goal share), Nurse-Walman (72 percent expected goal share in 15 minutes) and Kulak-Regula (69 percent expected goal share in 13 minutes) that’s a strong group.
Question: Who is the seventh defenseman in this scenario? My guess is Ty Emberson, and that leaves Troy Stecher as the odd man out. Stecher was second in five-on-five TOI (to partner Darnell Nurse) last night and I wonder if we’re looking at something close to a showcase. He only got 30 seconds on the PK, and the five-on-five minutes could be attributed to playing with Nurse, so this suggestion folds like a cheap suit using logic and reason.
Still, it’s a question worth asking, because it gets us to this question: What could the Oilers get for Stecher (or Emberson, or Regula) that could aid the cause later in the season? I worry about center, specifically Adam Henrique there. I think the Oilers will run McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, David Tomasek and Henrique, with Noah Philp or Curtis Lazar alongside on that fourth unit. Is there a way to improve that depth chart, stay under the cap, and keep the waiver eligibles on the roster? Don’t know. Anyway, here’s my prediction for opening night:
Draisaitl-McDavid-Frederic
Howard-RNH-Mangiapane
Podkozlin-Tomášek-Savoie
Kapanen-Henrique-Philp
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Kulak-Regula
Skinner (Pickard)
New for The Athletic: How the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL team has emerged as vitally important
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6679808/2025/10/04/edmonton-oilers-ahl-bakersfield-condors-2025/
First exhibition game today, right after the Jays game and, yes, I am excited.
5pm on FloHockey:
Griffith/Marjala/Hutson
Jarventie/Samanski/Rh. Pitlick
Re. Pitlick/Hamblin/Janicke
Clattenbrug/Copponi/Keppen
Milman/Brown
Krebs/Akey
Inamoto/Prokop
Jonsson
Day
A chain is only as strong as its weakest leak. Chaulk is on the critical path.
Chaulk has helped Holloway, Broberg and Kesselring on their way to the NHL.
He did not unlock Xavier Bourgault, who escaped Bakersfield one year ago and had the same season in Belleville. Same for Petrov and a pile of others but the failed prospects taken in the first three rounds of the draft since 2017 are Bourgault, Lavoie, Munzenberger, Olivier Rodrigue and Dmitri Samorukov.
Is there a spike in performance post-Condors you can point to? I’ll be honest, I thinkthe story of last year in Bakersfield was Rodrigue played well and then the organization started fiddling with the defensemen and it caved.
Bakersfield should be strong this year and the big club isn’t in urgent need of a call up. So we should get a good read on what Chaulk can do, wish him well.
Godspeed, friend of Jay. Time to show your quality.
They should be better than last year, which isn’t saying much.
Losing Savoie doesn’t help and everyone was hurt or called up last year. It was a skeleton crew.
Better on paper, don’t think they’ll be strong though.
Hurt, called up, personal leave or simply not reporting……..
Look at Bowman impressive work in Chicago he creates players from within and promotes them. You’ll see players like Samanski-Hutson-Clattenburg-Jarventie-Akey get NHL action whereas with Holland they end up like Lavoie who changed his game for the organization and watched his ship sail right on by.
Lavoie waived by Vegas and cleared this week.
Can we now PLEASE put the “he was mismanaged” story to bed?
No doubt if Lavoie was developed by the Bowman Hawks he has a Bickell like career. How many big wingers came through and had meaningful minutes in the Hawks system? Lots. You watched Lavoie do you not think there was a couple of 15 goal seasons in him with that big body and shot.
Oh, lots and lots of doubt – sometimes the players just isn’t that guy.
I watched alot of Lavoie – I did see him dominate the AHL for stretches – it took him a LONG time to be effective at all at the AHL level, a long time for any sort of consistency and he was never ever to move the needle with any NHL chance – in Edmonton or Vegas.
Not sure if those lines could be any more of a misfit. 97 and 29 need to be at C without Hyman.
Let’s get skill playing with Skill
No idea where this idea came from that frederic is a top 6 player. Never has been.
Nuge is not the 2nd best C on this team so why is he there?
Tomasek doesn’t have the boots to play 3C but put him with two vets and maybe it survives.
Philp is the ideal 4th line C for the next 3 years so let’s get that started now
Pod 29 Mgp
Nug 97 Sav
Hen 86 Fred
How 48 Kap
Summarizing!
Lafreniere scored his 2nd goal of the young season.
Park, Barnett and Berry were denied soup and shall have to subsist on rice cakes instead.
I think Tampa just became my 2nd favourite team.
Announcer: “unbelievable”…. “Tampa not even trying to mask the dirtiness”.
Know thyself, announcer.
Quite the slugfest in Florida as the Panthers smoke the Lightning 7-0
274 minutes in penalties.
Jeff Petry with 1G 2A.
Ekblad injured after playing only 41 seconds in the first and did not return.
B/R Open Ice
The Panthers’ 8th goal was taken off the board because a player who participated in the goal had been ejected earlier in the game and was illegally on the ice
Never seen anything like this before
Bush. League.
Glad Tampa gooned it up with them though.
I’d devote an entire regular season game to the same if I were Oilers’ coach.
It all started with the attack on Ekblad.
The Lightning called up a bunch of goons including 6’3″ 209 33 year old Scott Sabourin who has a total of 47 games and 19 seconds to his credit.
I suspect there will be plenty of supplemental discipline handed out.
@GinoHard_
Scott Sabourin RAN OVER Aaron Ekblad and then started throwing punches.
https://x.com/GinoHard_/status/1974615184271372762
(click for video)
Love it. Don’t worry. He will be back next week. His doctors will make certain of that.
Speaking of which, PEDs are known to decrease the tensile strength of tendons.
Of course that has no bearing whatsoever on the Barkov injury, which was a pure fluke.
if you think that’s where “it started” you don’t have a clue.
Watching some NHL highlights tonight. I really like that Scott Sabourin fella. Good player.
Hey, Florida brings that upon themselves. I hope every single game every team plays against them is played like that.
You know Florida won 7-0, right?
I do. Do you think they were happy with the night?
It’s called preseason for a reason. TB wasn’t gonna let things go unanswered.
Shootout:
SJB Shooter 1 – Save Day
Hutson – Shoots, stopped.
SJB Shooter 2 – shoots short side – scores
Pitlick – Slaloms back and forth across the o-zone 3 times, stickhandles 123 times and is stopped.
SJB Shooter 3 – same play as shooter 2, same result.
That was the most entertaining game I’ve watched this season, and I watched all Oilers games (kind of with the split squad games).
Appreciate all the updates/comments on the game!!
That may have been the most entertaining 3 on 3 period I’ve seen in years.
Marala splits the D to go in all alone – stopped.
Marjala takes the puck at the offensive blue, drives down the left side and is stopped
Marjala delays on a 1 on 2 to make it a 2 on 2 and quick releases on – stopped.
Nathanial Day with a 5-alarm save on a cross-crease pass.
Shootout.
After a very poor offensive zone offensive play late, Akey uses some body misdirection and takes off from center to drive the net 3 on 3 – almost a breakaway.
Nathanial Day with an exceptional third period to get the Condors to OT.
Jarventie did join the fun with a great shift with a minute left. A nice pass back to Akey at the point with a ton of time and space (and Akey, well, looked like his first AHL game), then Jarventie with a great power forward puck protection in the corner, quick edges both ways to separate and find Samanski high slot for a decent shot.
Day with a number of very solid stops in the 3rd – point blank shots, some including cross-crease movement.
Pitlick and Copponi with some great PK works and turn it in to a 2 on 1 – the Copponi one-timer stopped.
Still 2-2 in the third.
Condors can’t clear, Brown caught up at the blue line leaving Akey to battle two net-front – they score, Brown with a huge cheap shot to a net front player about 2 seconds after they score.
SJ defender simply whiffs on a net front clear, it gets past him and Hutson pokes it in for his second.
Krebs and Marjala with the helpers – they combined to get the puck to the net front but that was a d-man blunder.
Samanski with great speed and power, take the puck at his own blue line and bull rushes cross ice through the neutral zone and down the right wing – almost beats two defenders, draws them and drops to a teammate who gets a net front chance.
Now Samanski with a nice cross-ice pass to Marjala on a two on one – he led him a half a foot two much and the shot was stuffed.
Day coming in for Jonsson after 9 save on 10 shots half way through the game.
I think they are going opposite tomorrow in SJ (this one in Bako) – not sure why they don’t give each a full game – its not like they haven’t had rookie camp and main camp and aren’t up to speed……
Josh Brown with a massive hit to a forward with his head down in the offensive zone (and has to drop em’ but not much of a fight) – a massive hit, think it was clean too.
Samanski getting LOTS of PK time – used his speed there to only beat the opposition goalie to a loose puck on a clear – caused a scramble, chaos and a near SH chance.
Now that K.K has a secure job he needs to start the goaltender that’s playing better. Pickard should and deserves to start game 1 against the hated Flames.
Hutson and pass the puck as well – great vision to go full cross-seam on 3 on 3 to set up Griffith for a good chance.
Condors continue to dominate and then take penalties.
Josh Brown pulled out high on the PK, puck goes to the low man with all the time in the world to cut in front and rip one by Jonsson.
1-1.
Condors dominating at 5 on 5 – dominating zone possession.
Clattenburg tries to stick-handle between two attackers….. in the defensive zone – turned over.
No damage but he’ll need to cut that completely out.
Griffith, Marjala, Jarventie, Hutson and Akey on the PP (Lepannen and Dineen not playing).
Marjala with great pass to the slot from a nice rip by Griffith early – stopped.
Marjala wins the offensive zone draw and makes a deft 2-foot pass to Hutson who rips home the 1-0 goal in the first.
Majala tries a spin move on a one on one rush and Leppanen goes intentionally off his skate on a 2 on 2 rush – we’ve got some confident Euros in Bako – both moves almost worked.
That wasn’t Lep, he’s not playing, not sure who that was.
Samanski gets PK1 with Hamblin (and a great gap close, won battle and zone exit to start it).
Wow Jays bats explode and have a 10-1 lead bottom of the 8 th. For at least one game they have kept Yankees bats quiet. Go Jays!!
Go Condors!
Back to Back with the Jays.
Was at the game last night and here’s my guess on the early season roster deployment:
They have 7 forwards who are new to the team – 4 of whom are NHL rookies (including Tomasek). They have 2 more in KK and Fredric who weren’t here last Oct. That’s a lot of new faces.
Playing McDrai together while Hyman is out gives the rest of the forwards more ice time without the pressure of playing with the big dogs to settle in and let the coaches see what they can do. When 97&29 centre separate lines the bottom 3 Fs have a lot of 6/7 minute nights.
Putting Fredric with 97 & 29 will show the coaches how well he can play with skill (I’m doubtful – seems to have slow hands), and where he ends up slotting in.
Hyman comes back in 10-15 games and they can start settling where everyone fits. Can Fredric play on one of the top 2 lines or is he going to be part of a beefy 3rd line?
They’re playing to win in June not Oct. and with a weak Pacific they should be able to hang near the top of the division for a dozen games.
Maybe I’m out to lunch, but I’d argue it’s a defensible strategy to start the season.
Pretty much what the coach said tonight at Bob’s event.
If you trade Stecher, what’s the return?
Some chatter that 97 signs on Monday based on a reservation of the Oilers HoF room. Seems like viable chatter. 3 years like Knobby? LT was discussing it on the radio.
P.S. I mentioned before, but LT the contact section no longer works. Might have been broken by the Bluehost fixes. They upgraded some things to make the site more secure.
I know there’s a lot of hype around the notion, but Lukas Reichel seems like a decent target (demographic) at the very least. A young player worth liberating from a team mired in the basement who happen to be looking for some veteran presence.
The Oilers would simply be turning around and waiving Reichel though.
Perhaps I should have phrased it more like godot10 likes to; modulo stuff.
Someone in Reichel’s demographic — a young player who may break out with a change of scenery and different deployment. Someone who fills a need in regards to player type, age, and contract status.
Would be nice to get another win like Petey managed while trading Gernat and a 4th for Maroon.
Allman Brothers, such a great band!!!! Jessica is an awesome song!!!
It’s one of my favourites. Whenever I think of it, I play it. Thousands of times. If there was an old folks home where I could put my speakers outside and play the Allmans every afternoon, I’d move in today.
Vladdy with a home run for Jays one run lead!!!
Now Kirk with a homer for 2-0 lead!!
That dp by Vladdy was one of the best in recent memory
Personally, I am not worried that the Oilers will predominantly run McD and Drai as a first line pair. Training camp is training camp, not regular season. Up and comers will almost always look better playing with one of them, but it doesn’t give you as much info as to whether they can hold their own away from McDrai. I think it is better to do what they did during camp, to see the up and comers AWAY from the Glimmer Twins to ensure they can perform at an acceptable level at the NHL level in general.Then armed with the better info, they will form line combos around those who have proven they are develped to the appropriate level to allow Mc D and Drai to each center their own lines more often. Sure, the nuclear option will appear when needed situationally from game to game, but ideally I think the braintrust understands if they get both of MCDrai on thier own lines and humming, other teams have to worry about shutting down TWO lines and that is a more winning stratregy in general. Keep calm, and trust the process!
If the Oilers want to keep Stecher but have to waive him, why not sign him now to a two year one way extension at $1.3, similar to Emberson, then waive him. Perhaps the contract liability may help reduce the chance he’s picked up?
but then the Oilers have the contract liability starting next season…….
I thought of that. $0 would remain on the cap this year if waived, $150,000 would remain on the cap next year if he is waived and $5,000 would remain if waived the following year. Given the current cushion of $226,000, and while all the small overages add up, $150,000 and $5,000 per year may not be significant to the Oilers to manage compared to another team taking a chance to keep him on their NHL roster.
This is all contingent on the Oilers really wanting to keep Stecher for depth this year. If not, then just waive him and see what happens. He’s comparable in skill, but older and smaller than Emberson and Regula.
Nobody on the Oilers on waivers today.
If I’m not mistaken, initial roster submissions are Monday so final day for waivers for re-assignment prior to roster submission is tomorrow……..
Will be an interesting day.
For those who have a keen interest in prospects, the debut of Gavin McKenna with Penn State will be streamed tonight on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/nhl
The debut was streamed last night on Youtube.
Ah…thanks.
It seems another game will be streamed tonight.
Ready, fire, aim…..
I give 5 games max before 29-97 are split.
that’s as weak of a 2nd line as you’re going to see in the NHL.
People aren’t talking about how little goal scoring there is on the wings. PP1 guys will score but is there anyone else that is a sure thing for 15?
Umm….am I missing something? Hyman scored 54 two years ago. Drai averages 54 per 82 over the last 7 seasons. Mangiapane had 14 last year in a down year. I’d be surprised if Savoie didn’t score 15.
If Nuge is on the wing, he might even get to 50 points this year.
Or are you referring to Bako? (In which case, I imagine Jarventie should easily surpass that.)
The Oilers always over think their roster.
Roll the lines … stack the TV time out and key ozone face offs and speciality teams. For 2-4 minutes of key moments in the game, when 97, 29, 2 have full charge.
1C McDavid
2C RNH
3C Tomasek
4C Henrique
is honestly bottom half of the league –
1C McDavid
2C Driasaitl
3C RNH
4C Philp
is the best in the league.
53-93-88 is a really good third line but ….
I think there is one obvious way to improve on that center depth chart….. play Leon Draisaitl at center…….
This may “require” giving Savoie or Howard some reps with McDavid or Drai – god forbid they do that without them having made enough tough plays on the wall first.
Yakupov scored 9 points in 10 games on McDavid’s wing, until the linesman took him down.
Yeah that was the icing on the DoD cake. One last little treat.
i watched last nights game and my impression is that they are not reqfy to
start the season a group
savoie is and he makes the team
Tomasek is close but needs the game to slow down for him a bit
and I think Howard could use some AHL time
about the D
Stetcher is good. And he can move around
Idk how you trade him. I’d prefer him over the other two
If I had to put one D on waivers, I think it would be Emberson.
Stecher is a known quantity to several teams. He showed good in the SCF, when the whole league was watching.
Regula is a known quantity to Boston, who would probably take him back out of spite. And he’s young.
Emberson isn’t known to anybody but San Jose. And here is the Sharks’ RD depth chart: Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, Timothy Liljegren, Sam Dickinson, Vincent Desharnais. That’s surprisingly good. Do they really have room for Emberson?
This line of thinking presumes that 31 other NHL teams don’t employ pro scouts to identify buy low opportunities. Or, that 31 other NHL teams have identified that Emberson isn’t worth a waiver wire bid.
Every team overrates its own players. I like Emberson, but he was a healthy scratch in the playoffs.
There are a lot of notable names on waivers.
Keep in mind, once you make a claim, you go to the bottom of the waiver priority list. Right now San Jose is at the top. If they claim Emberson, then they go to the bottom. So not only do they have to be willing to play Emberson, they also have to think that he’s better than any other player that will be waived this season.
After playing 76 games in his first full NHL season.
Of note, the year prior the likes of Connor Brown, Cory Perry and Mattias Janmark were healthy scratches in the playoffs. This past season, Kapanen has a healthy scratch in the playoffs.
Regula hasn’t played in 15 months and was an AHL player when he last played – he and Regula are essentially the same age.
There might be 75 players on waivers tomorrow
This is not right. The waiver order does not change until November 1 – it goes by inverse order of last year’s standings and then, come November, goes by current standings.
A successful claim never changes waivers order in the NHL.
I hate to risk Emberson but that’s probably who I risk. Unless I believe his play will ultimately eclipse Stecher’s. Bit of a futures game. Near and mid.
I think it would be wise to get Regula as many regular season reps as possible, he’s much better suited to handle a physical playoff round then Stetcher.
Of the 3 RHD, Stecher is the only one who we know what he is. He is a solid 7-8 dman. Emberson & Regula have a lot more ceiling.
We don’t know what they are yet. Emberson has only played 106 games and Regula 22.
Stecher is a small, 31 year old dman who is with his 6th NHL team in 6 seasons and he’s been traded 3 times in this time span. He can be replaced a lot easier than the others..
Good GM’s with limited organizational defensive depth don’t trade promising younger defensemen or let them go for free. Especially RHD.
Stecher’s been around the block. He is the least likely of the 3 to be claimed, but if claimed, the long-term damage would be minimal.
Agreed on Stetcher, Emberson is six years younger and, although I love Stetcher’s compete level, he’s the one that can be moved out.
Well put. This is how I see it too.
Presuming Regula is bona fide, to me the question is who can we get for Stetcher if there’s a real risk of waiver claim.
Stecher performed ably in 2nd pairing minutes with Nurse during the Stanley Cup final. Against the dirtiest, nastiest, most physical team in the NHL.
At this point in Oilers fandom, I evaluate players based on how they play playoff hockey. Playoff hockey is a different game.
Yes, he performed ably but, if we are talking playoff hockey, he comes in last among the 3 d-men in the type of skill-set they would want in the playoffs. Of course, we don’t know if Regula or Emberson would get to the needed level but each are 25 years old.
I do think this team is still hunting for a forward upgrade.
Im excited for the announcement of Mcdavid Walman Ekholm extensions on Tuesday
The Oilers big boys, except for Draisaitl, have been late to the start line three seasons in a row.
Will the Oilers have to wait for November again for Bouchard and McDavid to make an appearance?
Hey it’s not like there’s some huge decision hanging over the team this year I’m sure it’ll be fine.
But I’ve been told it’s not a distraction and that if it is, they are in the wrong business
Bouch ususally starts in November, last year he didn’t start until like March……
Bouchard was fine in exhibition – much better than McDavid and Ekholm.
It’s a good roster! I like the depth up front, but I honestly can’t get a handle on how I’d deploy the forwards. I’m not a fan of loading up 97 and 29, but I get the logic. I don’t mind Frederic getting the first crack there either. It’s going to look even better when Hyman gets back.
I agree totally with the D. I wonder if you could flip Emberson, Janmark and a pick for Reichel in Chicago.
Anybody in favour of putting together a new “Kid Line” with Howard-Tomasek-Savoie on the third line (at least at home)? All the necessary elements are there. Give them the keys and let them go!
Why would the Oilers give up that much for a player that would be hard pressed to stay in the lineup?
Emberson and Janmark might realistically be on waivers tomorrow. I don’t think their entire salaries can be buried in the minors either. Chicago needs defence. The trade is basically Emberson for Reichel, and a pick as a sweetener to take Janmark’s contract.
That’s assuming Janmark doesn’t have CHI on his 10-team no trade list.
The Oilers won’t waive Emberson – he remains young with considerable time to continue to develop.
Janmark could have been waived if he wasn’t hurt, noone would claim him, he’s got negative value.
Riechel wouldn’t make this team and I would 100% not trade Emberson for him. When Walman was Emberson’s age, he was a bit player for STL.
Michael Russo
@RussoHockey
Hearing the Wild have agreed to terms on a five-year, $34 million contract extension with Filip Gustavsson ($6.8M AAV)
He would have been a great target.
$6 million AAV now seems like the floor for an accomplished starter.
Few teams under that bar.
Goaltenders are NFL running backs. Don’t commit!
While there is some truth to that, the overwhelming majority of cup winners have elite, highly paid goaltenders.
Bobrovsky, Vasilevsky, Hill, Binnington, M.A. Fleury, Darcy Kuemper come to mind.
Colorado was a brief exception but they too have committed long term to MacKenzie Blackwood.
Adin Hill who played half the games to the cup run, was making 2.1M when they won the cup. Was left off Canadas roster for being a bad teammate. Elite? Hmmm.
Binnington was making league minimum when they won.
Fleury didnt play any finals games in the 2 years they won and lost the net to Murray being payed little twice who sucked hind banana the moment he got paid. (ie. dont commit)
Bobs save percentage was lower than Stu’s in the first year. I don’t think he’s elite but he’s better than our guy.
Not to mention the survivorship bias (no teams that lost had elite goalies? Tell that to our friends in Winnipeg).
Half-baked and mostly banal, per usual.
Hill ($2.175MM) and Binnington ($650k) were not elite nor were they highly paid when they won the Cup. Kuemper (very good, but not elite) was making a very reasonable starter wage $4.5MM when he won. TBY won their first of back to back Cups with Vasilevskiy making $3.5MM before his jump to $9.5MM.
The difference is that none of those guys (except for Vasy) are truly elite (although Bob has had his moments).
That’s a pretty interesting comparison, actually. You pay plenty to an elite guy like Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley, but you don’t pay anybody else much at all.
As much as we complain about our goaltenders….we are getting great contract value out of them.
I don’t think he was ever available though, given how MAF was mentoring him the past 3 seasons for the starter’s role, which he pretty much assumed last season. Probably similar to what the Oilers envisioned with Campbell-Skinner.
Oh agreed. He would have been a dandy pickup though.
I’m wondering what this means for Wallstedt moving forward?
Unproven at the NHL level, but has a pedigree and a track record up to this point. I still think the Oilers should have taken him.
He’s under team control for at least 3 more seasons.
Considering he’s only 22, he and the team are in a pretty good spot.
Wallstedt’s AHL season in 2024-25 has to be a little alarming for all involved. I’m not questioning his ability, many felt he was a supreme talent on his draft day. However, last year, despite being an outlier on his resume, was a glass of cold water to the face.
His recent track record was a terrible regression season in the AHL where he became the 1B to Samuel Hlavaj and undrafted now 24 year old (about 1.5 years older than Wallstedt) who played more games with better numbers.
He’s starting the season on the Wild roster but not really on merit.
Prospectice!
The NAmateur pool this season is deep on collegiates, and they dominate today’s sched.
Michigan entered the season at #12 in Div-1. Park (G) and Barnett (A) each found the scoresheet in a romp yesternight. Park was listed as 4LW while Barnett was 3LD.
The other ranked team featuring a NAmateur is #19 St. Thomas, whose blueline is bolstered by Bauer Berry, making his NCAA debut like the aforementioned Michiganders did. Will he show more offense in college than he did in the USHL? We wait.
Lafreniere rounds out the sched–he has 1+1 in his three games since returning to junior.
Michigan (Park, Barnett) @ 5 p.m.
St. Thomas (Berry) @ 5 p.m.
Kamloops (Lafreniere) @ 7 p.m.
All times are two times and are also Sandy Lake time.
If coach insists on loading up to start the season and isn’t willing to give Savoie or Howard a look, I have some time for Tomasek getting a chance riding shot fun (Frederic shifting to center) or Mangiapane with his motor (looked good in a bit of time there last night).
I won’t “give up” on Fred there based on exhibition – veteran play in exhibition means nothing (and McDavid was just as ineffective) but the rope shouldn’t be long.
Mangiapane looked great on that one shift there, they almost scored. I was disappointed they didn’t go with that for a couple shifts. Shows how stubborn nhl coaches are.
In don’t buy that exhibition mean nothing to Fredric. This is a golden opportunity for him, he’s not holding out to show he can keep up with drai and mcd in the regular season. He’s trying his best now and showing he can’t.
He’s not busting his ass 100% to get bangs in and playing that aggressive style though and that will also hinder his performance.
I’m not sold on him, or him up there, but can still only put so much stock in to anything over the last few weeks for vets. Likely not easy to play with a 3/4-assing it McDavid.
Once McDrai eventually get split up…
Mangiapane-McDavid-Hyman
Podz-Drai-Savoie
Howard-Nuge-Frederic
Henrique-Philp-Tomasek/Kapanen
Not so bad. You’ve got at least two real scorers on each of the top three lines, plus a grittier guy.
For now, Freddy plays in place of Hyman, and Tomasek/Kapanen move up.
I’d still like a little more grit in this group, after the loss of Kane/Perry/Brown, but I guess you pick that up at the trade deadline.
One could presumably nab a substantial (if lesser) roster player for Ekholm.
Boy, I hate to think about this. He has been exactly what this team needed. That trade is one of the biggest turning points for this team in the last few years.
But if (and that’s an if) he can’t turn the corner from what we’ve seen since his injury….might be time to sell high, before any other team realizes it.
This is a big leap but the emergence of Regula climbing the ladder to hopefully top 4 by seasons end could not only open up Cap room but also garner assets in a trade of Kulak or Ekholm.
it makes a lot of sense for a team on the rise but not something contending teams do.
Not something this contending team has done. Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be the right move (doesn’t mean it would be). All contingent I guess on Ek’s play this season and the nature of the return – where/how it strengthens the roster.
That depends.
Does he bring someone who can score 30 from the wing?
As we’ve discussed as a possibility for months, Ekholm may never fully recover near his top game from (a) his injury, (b) due to age regression or (c) a combo of all three.
At the same time, his performance in exhibition should be discounted like it should be for all other vets. He’s coming back from injury, yes, but he’s also doing what he needs to be to get his body and timing ready like all the other vets.
We will start to learn what Ekholm we may get Wednesday.
There are three types of people, those that can do math and those that can’t