There is a story behind this photo. Nimbus, the black cat, had knocked over the cat treats moments before, leading to a four-animal frenzy of eating that took place before my arrival on the scene. What you see in this picture is a classic “also in photo” event, two ridiculous dogs pretending they weren’t in there eating cat treats like Dick Pound hammering at a drug convention. Like the photo above, there is evidence of poor execution and the concern level has reached a point where the coach is in fact fading the culprits.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN OCTOBER
- At home to: Calgary, Vancouver (Expected 2-0) Actual 1-0-1
- Road: Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Detroit, Ottawa (Expected 2-2-1) Actual 2-3-0
- At home to: Montreal (1-0) Actual 1-0
- On the road to: Seattle, Vancouver (1-1) Actual 0-1
- At home to: Mammaoth, Rangers (1-0-1)
- Expected Record: 7-3-2, 16 points in 12 games
- Actual Record: 4-4-1, nine points in nine games
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie played 7:15, 7-4 shots, 2-2 HDSC and a 69 percent expected goal share. I know there will be calls to push both wingers down the depth chart, but am hopeful the coach keeps them alongside the big man. You can’t tell doodly from one game (Savoie) and Podkolzin provably has chem with the big man. The numbers were good last night, didn’t cash but their goalie was very good.
Frederic-Philp-Tomasek played 6:46, 3-0 shots and a 47 percent expected goal share. For me, you can defend this as the fourth line, nothing bad happened and there was minimal high danger (1-1) here. I’d like to see them again.
Henrique-Nuge-Roslovic posted strong numbers in 6:31 five-on-five. Shots were 5-3, HDSC 3-0 and the expected goals were 92 percent. That’s impressive. I’d run this back again, and would note that Roslovic had his best game in my opinion. We know he can score and he’s getting chances.
Mangiapane-McDavid-Roslovic played 5:27, 1-1 shots and 90 percent expected goals. The HDSC were 2-0, line couldn’t cash. McDavid was 2-9 in the faceoff circle at five-on-five last night, he’s 35-40 for the season in that game state. Oilers need that quick chance off the faceoff win.
Howard-McDavid-Mangiapane played 5:18, 0-1 goals, 1-5 shots, 22 percent expected goals. I think Howard would be better suited to the 29 unit, although Savoie set up there last night. The line that scored was Draisaitl-McDavid-Roslovic and we may see that trio tonight.
Nurse-Walman were 16:04, 8-5 shots, 3-1 HDSC and 65 percent expected goals. With the de facto top pair struggling, these two men are taking on more of the load. Nurse scored five-on-five. Edmonton needs him to be a major contributor.
Ekholm-Bouchard were a pair for 13:27, 9-6 shots, 0-3 goals and 50 percent expected goals. The duo was 0-2 HDSC and for the season are 1-8 goals in 133 minutes together. I’m a fan of the tandem, but they need a breather with another defensive partner. I can argue bad luck, but only for so long. Oilers are 9-6 in five-on-five goals with both off the ice.
Kulak-Emberson did good work in 11:25. They went 8-2 shots, 5-0 HDSC and 88 percent expected goals. None went in and that’s going to happen when the goalie is hot and the coaching staff is auditioning several wingers at the start of the year. Kulak-Emberson are 6-3 goals and 55 percent expected goals five-on-five, and are a developing story.
Stuart Skinner posted an .870 save percentage, I thought the first one should have been stopped. He was .897 SP a year ago, .903 so far this season. I don’t believe he’ll start Game 1 of the playoffs for the Oilers next spring.
CONDORS
Young Rhett Pitlick was doing good things last night, he picked up a goal and an assist. Daniel D’Amato also scored, and you can see how much the AHL-only (D’Amato, Rem Pitlick, Matt Copponi) are helping. I like this team, wrote about Roby Jarventie this morning at The Athletic. Stay healthy young man!
Luke Prokop is going well, he’s another of the AHL-only contracts. You can see by the number of even-strength goals he’s on the ice for that Prokop is playing a large role. Damien Carfagn is also high event in early showings. I think the Condors defense needs some help, honestly. They’re vanilla.
Both goaltenders have played in front of an addled defense once, and it kind of creamed their save percentages. Suspect both will be in the 900’s soon enough. I’m not sure when Ingram might get the call, although Calvin Pickard has had some wobble in Edmonton this season.
Roby Jarventie is NHL-ready but do the Edmonton Oilers have room?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6749507/2025/10/26/roby-jarventie-oilers-ahl-prospect/
Yea we have so many high scoring wingers, who could we possibly take out?? (hee hee!)
A very early morning and the 3-1 goal put me to bed before the third period comeback. Happy to wake up to a point and some talk of improved play, but woof.
What a joyless start to the season .
I’ll just drop this right here.
https://x.com/stonyoil/status/1982537476574253232?s=46
*not my X account btw.
Yeah, I haven’t bothered with Skinner because the team in front of him rarely shows any sustained commitment until they are on the ropes in the playoffs.
That said, I’ve never seen a goalie look so awkward so often and get as much rope as he does.
FWIW, I believe that is the second GA where they said Skinner caught an edge in the crease.
Nice play by Podkolzin on the Roslovic goal.
Leon poking Myers in the back after they scored to tie was classic Sassy Leon.
Watched it live and other than 1 boorish drunk Canuck fan everyone was proud but fair. Crowd around 5050, for yesterdays montreal game it was much more red.
As my father said, Nurse was useless. Leon was rude in a good way, and Bouch gave more than he gave up but god is it glaring when he’s weak.
Ekholm looks like he’s aged, or Sherwood is better than advertised.
Picks was the 2nd best goalie but not by much ie. wasnt his fault they lost.
97 looks….bored? He carved the Nucks a few times but you could tell he wasn’t full throttle. He really does see the game that fast, it never gets old.
Mangiapane was noticeable. I was disappointed Kane behaved himself and didnt sewer his team again.
Well, all Oilers XGF were >50% tonight.
Moral victory, but maybe something they can build off of.
Lazar, Frederic, and Tomasek seemed to be a steady line. Not sure Philp should be coming back in while this team remains very fragile and is still working with 3 other rookies
All Philp does is transition that puck well and score from time to time?
Oilers dug themselves a hole against a Canucks team without Hughes and with only 1 centre.
This team always seems to make things difficult for themselves.
Damn. Well, at least they got a point?
also, Who is this Sherwood guy? Apparently that’s his 6th goal and I’ve honestly never heard of him.
its who we thought we had with Fredric
A guy that never stops moving his feet and drives the net fearlessly.
Could use a few of those
His personality has been likened to the chuckys and marchands. Hockey circles call it ‘drags people into the fight’. Id trade for him in a heartbeat.
Where do we rank purely as a goaltending tandem?
Gritty comeback regardless of the result, they had some looks in OT.
4-4-2 in the first 10. Not ideal but also not a disaster either. The team misses Hyman – looking forward to his return.
As ugly as it has been, I can live with 4-4-2 thru 10 games
Lots of room for improvement
Lots
Best news is that the room for improvement mostly occupies the top of the order. I have been catastrophizing McDavids early game this season but if the big boys can get back to just a semblance of what they are capable of this team can compete again.
Frederic had been much better this game
The Germanator is back.
Seems to get his skating legs when away from McDavid..
Leon is the best.
That was a beautiful goal.
McDavid has been great in the second half of this game.
Drai has been great with Roslovic as well.
That’s the McDrai I know
Good on Mangiapane for drawing 2 PP tonight
Beautiful
2 seems to have better legs this period.
Maybe KK finally came unglued after the 2nd
Taking hits for no reason is stupid. Roll off them like most players do when you know it’s coming. This team does everything the hardest way possible
Quite a bit easier to talk about what should be done from your basement than to actually do what only the elite of elite can do……
Wow
Strung together some shifts by doing simple things that just involve hard work and sacrifice – physical fore check, driving the net without the puck, winning puck battles on the wall, putting pucks on net
And a few big saves!
Garland making Ekholm look, well like current level Ekholm….
That was a nice set, all Ros. Bouch roofs it and it’s a goal. I hope Ros doesn’t lose his way and conform
What? An Oiler gets a clean lane makes a fake and puts it top shelf and scores?
Hey, a top half of the net shot and goal
Followed up by a net drive! Who are these guys
Roslovic was reading OP’s post: “Rosovic keeps “looking dangerous” and accomplishing nothing – bah.”
Very happy he accomplished something tangible.
I think I have become numb to mediocre goaltending, to the point that
a) I am satisfied with a GSAA of +1.6 for Skinner (sitting 29/68 of all goalies)
b) I do not expect any Oilers goalie to win a game on any given night
Pickard GSAA -2.0 going into tonight and I suspect that will be lower still by tonight’s end.
Good chance at some point in the next few months we see Picks on waivers (sad because of the emotions with such a decision)
The emotions would be a lot less if they would just put the A team in Hockey Mad Edmonton. A change in commute only. Enough MM
Hey, a middle of the roster play actually produces – a goal scorer’s snipe at 5 on 5.
Skinner would be eviscerated for letting that one in.
Not if he had a GSAA of +7.1 going into tonight, and had made some great saves prior to help his team to a 3-1 lead.
I am not a Skinner hater, nor do I condone piling on a goalie, but its not fair to suggest that the fans and team have been impatient or unrealistic with expectations.
Roslovic making strong case for top 6 winger duty.
Hyman, Roslovic, Mangiapane, Savoie, Podkolzin, gives some hope. If RNH is elevated to top 6 winger then that in theory should give 6 good options to compete for those top 4 spots
Red lamp Roslovic!
Finally someone shows a pulse.
Bob said that Hyman has 5 plates in his wrist. I’m not holding out hope that he’s going to be the answer to what ails this team.
The plate is internal, and it was placed at time of surgery.
It’s pretty standard for a wrist fracture, and they often never remove a plate (unless it is causing issues). 5 plates seems a little excessive, not sure how you can even get 5 in that location. Maybe he mixed up number of plates and screws?
It is always fair to wonder how the wrist will be. He has has a lot of time for recovery. There are many things he can do for the club without the need for a fully supple wrist. Despite the jokes about all the banked goals, he also did have some nice breakaway goals, etc. so it could affect the finishing. McDavid has shot <4% this season with non-fractured wrists, so there’s that…
I mean knowing Hyman, he’ll deflect 20 goals off his butt.
Skinner’s swimming all over the ice, Pickard looks deflated. Ladies and men, we are in serious trouble. Can Stan bring his Dad in for a coaching symposium? I kid, mostly.
This is one of the results of holding a six week training camp while the rest of the teams run a three week camp. No chemistry, no cohesion, no identify. What the hell were the new coaches doing over the summer, clearly they weren’t watching video and formulating a system that works to the teams strengths. What a gong show.
Agreed
97,29, & 93 got schooled on the 3rd goal. They lose the draw and not one of them decides to drop back. Canucks with all three forwards flying the zone for an easy breakout. Poor defensive awareness in the last minute. How often have we said that over the years with this team…
Why are the Oilers afraid of shooting high and driving the crease?
Appears the forwards all think their role is puck control and shots from the outside. Unknown why the coaches haven’t made the net front a priority for at least some players.
The shooting accuracy has been piss poor so far. Unknown why they think they can score on a goalie like Demko without getting it higher than the pads
They keep changing coaches, but that’s not the problem. It’s the coaches they hire. Old known dusty failing farts or rookies. Barf, again 🤮
A top coach would be on this crap. In a motivational way. Tired or sick doesn’t mean brain dead
14 with a comical stick wave and beat by a pee wee toe drag.
Oilers need to play against a team with equally poor D to get the mojo going
Love the Viking, his mid section is done. He can’t pivot. Glad for the contract, and especially the trade protection 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻
a couple of years back he started the season recovering from injury and then returned to form.
Scoring seems to be following the same script as yesterday… not a good omen. Come on McD, take the game back!
Ekholm got undressed. This team is awful.
Kiefer Sherwood is going to win the Art Ross. And every goalie we play the Vezina
Sherwood breaks Ekholm’s ankles.
Ekholm get walked by Kiefer effing Sherwood…..
And… I’m out. Watching British Bake-off will make me feel better.
A forehand, and on the breakaway? Who is this Leon?
What a pass by Bouch.!
What a pass and, finally, a finish.
Sonambulistic coach, as I feared when hired, has put this team to sleep. Calm is great, in a lucid state isn’t. Calm is great when under pressure (when all about you lose their heads) but now is time to get them going. The best teams play with passion and fire, without being stupid
GM is creating comp, coach is making impossible situations for individuals and singing them lullabies. So not 80’s style
I’ll finish with barf 🤮
And I’ll put this on record right now, if they win the Cup it will despite the HC. Unless he does a miracle change in MO
Great move Connor. Keep attacking the net.
Beautiful rush my McDavid (been a while) but can’t finish.
Demko has stopped Nuge, Howard and McDavid in all alone.
So the coaches sat in their meeting room and came to the determination that maybe 1 or 2 additional short handed goals over the course of the season is somehow worth it over being able to load up 5×5 after a successful kill..
This idea should of been erased from white board and never left the room.
McDavid and Drai are 2nd and 3rd on PK TOI and have been on the ice for ZERO goals against. Perhaps its about killing the penalty.
Perhaps missing the big picture
This is true. It is also true that they should be able to have depth in a forward group to be able to kill these penalties without relying on these 2. Throw in RNH and their main 3 offensive weapons are playing in all 3 game states
They can’t be running these guys 24mins a game, they have 11 other forwards.
Only 4 forwards see PP time. 2 of them are McDavid and Draisaitl.
Other guys need roles and ice time, it’s ridiculous. Podkolzin, Henrique, Lazar, Frederic, Savoie, Mangiapane need to be eating those PK minutes up.
Philp, Kapanen, Janmark, Nuge if need be.. McDavid and Draisaitl are the offense, get them off of the PK.
Video coach is the best defender tonight
Oilers seems to be spotting their opponents a couple goals quite often this year. Playing from behind all the time can’t be good for team cohesion and systems play.
Jeezuz what was 2 doing there? recognize how many black jerseys are on the rush.
His decision making is juat bizzare now.
Call a damn timeout KK. Looks like your players have quit
Oilers dodged one there.
I cant watch this crap anymore tonight. Wow.