The Edmonton Oilers won last night’s game before switching to glide versus the Winnipeg Jets. There was a brief period where it looked like fans were going to see the home side score 10, but the Jets worked hard to keep the game below a blowout. Edmonton is coming on now, those poor numbers are beginning to turn. Finally. What a weird start to the season.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- At home to: Wild, Kraken, Jets (Expected 2-1-0) 2-1-0
- At home to: Sabres, Red Wings (Expected 1-0-1)
- On the road to: TML, Canadiens, Penguins (Expected 2-1-0)
- On the road to: Bruins, Wild (Expected 1-1-0)
- At home to: VEG, Flames (Expected 1-0-1)
- On the road to: Flames, Jets (Expected 1-0-1)
- At home to: Bruins (Expected 1-0-0)
- Expected Record: 9-3-3, 21 points in 15 games
- Actual Record: 2-1-0, four points in three games
- Season Record: 13-11-5, 31 points in 29 games
There are two more games on this home stand, then a Saturday night trip to play the Maple Leafs in the shadow of Johnny Bower. The Oilers could use a Bower, you know. His name, in this era, is Marc-Andre Fleury.
- Nuge-McDavid-Hyman 13:28, 8-1 shots, 1-1 goals, 82X, 7-1 HDSC
- Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie 11:48, 9-3 shots, 1-0 goals, 75X, 3-0 HDSC
- Frederic-Lazar-Tomasek 10:52, 4-5 shots, 1-0 goals, 66X, 2-1 HDSC
- Mangiapane-Henrique-Janmark 10:40, 0-4 shots, 0X, 0-1 HDSC
You knew the Oilers were up to something when the national anthem was Hell’s Bells, and my goodness the Jets looked like they were dining at the sad cafe. The Oilers were motoring, the Jets didn’t even have a chance to ask the price per flight. McDavid and Draisaitl each had two points, with the rest of the forwards getting one each, or so it seemed.
These were good goals, fun goals, by the time Frederic made a fine pass to Tomasek, it reached a level of farce that made one worry that something bad might happen. Like the end of Vertigo. Alas, it was merely a fantastic Saturday night HNIC, maybe the 10th since 1979. The Gretzky game with the mice in 1979, the goalie fight night against the Flames, and a few others. What an unreal game.
- Nurse-Regula 19:08, 11-6 shots, 70 X, 8-4 HDSC
- Ekholm-Bouchard 16:28, 4-7 shots, 1-2 goals, 43 X, 2-2 HDSC
- Kulak-Emberson 15:37, 2-4 shots, 1-0 goals, 50 X, 1-1 HDSC
The numbers for the blue look less impressive, due to weirdness that hockey provides. Alec Regula finally got a +1, but Evan Bouchard was on the ice with him. Bouchard had a pair of points on the night, Ekholm and Emberson also grabbing apples. Ekholm-Bouchard had at least one bad gaffe defensively on the night, but one bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch, girl. Stuart Skinner stopped 19 of 21, .905 save percentage.
TOP 20 PROSPECTS
I’ve been doing top-20 prospects for the Oilers for over 20 years now. I’ve never seen a winter ranking like this one, where the procurement was so aggressive it set the entire system on its ear. And the additions are close to NHL-ready or already here. Worth the read, it is here.
THE CENTER PROXY
As promised, I am tracking Oilers centers during December to see if the group can move the needle and find higher ground. When we last left the discussion, the McDavid-Draisaitl tandem was 50 percent goal share, Leon solo sat 64 percent, 97 solo just 43 percent and the rest of the group an astonishing 29 percent. Here’s the update.
- 97 & 29: 9-9 (50 percent)
- Draisaitl: 20-11 (65 percent) (2-1 last night)
- McDavid: 14-18 (44 percent) (1-1 last night)
- The rest: 16-34 (32 percent) (2-0 last night)
It was Leon and the fourth line last night, with McDavid killing the blues once again. He’ll get there, and it’s vital the captain be fantasic without the brown dirt cowboy by spring.
Edmonton Oilers top 20 prospects winter 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6860320/2025/12/07/edmonton-oilers-top-20-prospects-ranking-winter-2025/
Thanks. I’m hoping we get an NHL peak at #3 and #4 this season.
Podkolzin, all through the circus of the first couple months his dedication to being a sound 200ft player really seems to be taking off.
He’s arriving at the right times, never the one left on his ass and the points are starting to come with it.
With Hyman being a top 3 straight line forechecking forward in the league, Podkolzin has the perfect example setting the tone for him.
He’s on pace for a career season which imo will end up being his floor for the next 5-6 years.
Tough not to respect Podz and his game.
He got off to a slow start but he essentially missed all of the exhibition season after his dad died, travelled to Russia and back and, of course, likely dealing with significant grief, etc.
Summarizing!
Because the Blades were blanked by rival Regina, Lewandowski was not a resoupient.
He gets another chance when prospecting resumes on Tiw’s Day.
Looks like Sam O’Reily, in his draft plus 2 year, won’t make Team Canada.
I think he’s having a fine season but a bit of a run in place from last year – similar offence but, with London not being near as deep as last season, he’s not the dominant out-scorer he was last year but actually a net negative.
I was just checking this out earlier today. In D+2, O’Reilly’s at point-a-game and minus 8. London may be weaker this year, but they’re still 7th out of 20 OHL teams, a good bit above .500. (And D+1, he was outscored by a mile by a defenseman on his own team. That same guy is 22-1-1-2 in the NHL this year – not exactly lighting it up.)
Ike Howard is over PPG in the AHL. O’Reilly is barely at PPG in the OHL.
Some people thought we gave up too much for Ike Howard. I don’t. That was a good trade. Credit to Bowman.
Could be a rare case of the Oilers selling high on a player. I still overall think that SOR has the higher floor but lower ceiling, while Howard will be more of a boom-bust type. Couple years to go yet before we can call the trade a win imo, but this is looking like it could be a steal for us.
I don’t understand why SOR would have the higher floor.
Showing great 2-way acumen in junior is not the NHL 3C indicator many seem to think it is – at least in my opinion.
Remember Ryan O’Mara, acquired in the Ryan Smyth trade – 1st round pick, can’t miss, likely future captain, based on this 2-way acumen in junior.
I do think that SOR will play in the NHL and likely have a very solid to good to great career but his bust potential is no lower than Howard’s.
I agree that over time, we want to see significant correction in the 5 on 5 GF-GA.
That being said, looking at the McDavid line last night and thinking it was a 1-1 performance negates score effects in a big way. The fancies show the real story last night. That was utter domination by that line, so much so that the first period contribution was more than enough. They could have had 4 even strength goals, yes only got the one, but also drew the call that set up the back breaking goal on the PP that all 3 forwards on that line had a key contribution on (Hyman blocking the daylight and literally causing the opposing D to take out their goalie on the shot).
So ya, it was a 1-1 game for the line, but that really didn’t tell the story
Grok has been mixed reliability for finding data. Trying to track Ingram at the AHL level by game.
Ingram was a goalie I had liked here long before he popped in Arizona. Looks like a rough start to the season, but looking for progress.
Can we trust these numbers?
• Oct 18 vs. San Jose: 21 saves, .955 SV%
• Oct 24 at Tucson: 24 saves, .828 SV%
• Oct 28 at Colorado: 29 saves, .853 SV%
• Nov 2 at Calgary: 15 saves, .750 SV%
• Nov 14 at San Diego: 34 saves, .895 SV%
• Nov 18 vs. Calgary: 25 saves, .926 SV%
• Nov 21 at Ontario: 21 saves, .875 SV%
• Nov 29 vs. Henderson: 16 saves, .889 SV%
• Dec 5 at Henderson: 26 saves, .867
For me, the defense in Bakersfield has some chaos, so it’s unlikely we’ll get a true reading until he plays in the NHL. I’m pro-Ingram and would like to get a look before a trade is made to shore up the position.
We’ll need more larger sample for sure. We have Matt Thomkins as a comparison:
• Oct 11 vs. Henderson: 28 saves, .933 SV%
• Oct 12 vs. Henderson: 23 saves, .885 SV%
• Oct 19 vs. San Jose: 25 saves, .926 SV%
• Oct 25 at Tucson: 31 saves, .939 SV%
• Nov 1 at Calgary: 27 saves, .931 SV%
• Nov 15 at San Diego: 32 saves, .941 SV%
• Nov 16 vs. San Diego: 24 saves, .889 SV%
• Nov 23 at Ontario: 29 saves, .906 SV%
• Nov 30 vs. Henderson: 11 saves, 1.000 SV% (relief)
• Dec 3 vs. Coachella Valley: 33 saves, .917 SV%
• Dec 6 at Henderson: 31 saves, .969 SV%
• (Two additional starts: details not specified in reports, but contribute to his 13 GP and overall .898 SV%)
Agree on Ingram. Be nice to bring him up and play a few soon
Is he good enough to make a playoff appearance for the Edmonton Oilers in the Spring of 2026?
I think the answer is a clear no.
I would counter with ‘too soon to know’ and that’s why they should have a look.
That’s fair. If you have time, use it.
But barring a run of >.930 play between now and the Olympics, I’d wager his ceiling isn’t high enough to count on Ingram as a plausible starter on a Cup contender.
Like, if he was with another organization, would you advocate trading for his him?
My concern is that Toronto’s down to basically the shooter tutor right now, so they’re actively asking Santa for Cal to hit the waiver wire.
It’s only goalie depth when we have it.
It’s why i wanted to do it when oilers were so far down the well in last plave by sv%. No one would’ve tried pickard at those numbers and i’d say it was better than a coinflip ingram could at least deliver similar below replacement numbers or higher.
I wishee they would have ponied up for silov or stoled a young on cusp waiver goalie and took my chances on getting pickard through at season start. Like ingram for free at less than anything is great but an option with a few more years of team control with size and upside seemed like something you’d want to try to solve maybe.
Is Pickard objectively better than Tomkins or Ingram at this point? And Jonsson may be earning a call up to AHL, with too many potential backups in AHL if Pickard clears. Can’t have it both ways, you either see Pickard as a train wreck (he is this season) or you don’t, and if you do, let that be Toronto’s problem if they are desperate
That’s the awesome thing about empty slates, they aren’t full of losses and broken hearts and the sky is the limit.
And why is Tomkins not getting a look? Both are tending behind the same chaos, but you bring up the one who is objectively worse because “NHL experience”? It is not terrible reasoning (if the established ceiling is higher), but does not seem just, and Tomkins doesn’t have a long enough track record in the NHL to know he would fail. Further, Ingram is coming off a bad season prior to this one, and Frederic should be a cautionary tale in that regard.
Unless the team sees something in Tomkin’s game that they imagine would not translate to NHL success, he’s seemingly earned a look before Ingram.
I’m all for giving Ingram as much time as possible to see how he’s handling things off the ice and get him as confident as possible with his game. However, if he is in a good place mentally in comparison to how they are gauging Pickard’s confidence right now, they could consider a call up for next weekend for one of the B2B games (Leafs & Habs). I think having his first start on the road would be the least pressure for Ingram. This would also give Ingram time for another start with the Condors this week (Wed). and if Picks clears waivers he would arrive in time for the B2B’s the Condor’s have this weekend. However, if it doesn’t happen, then it’s likely not going to happen until after Christmas just looking at the schedules.
Truth be told, I’m not sure they would feel great about waiving Picks just before the holiday break – whether that should play a factor or not in the decision.
Ingram has been better than his save percentage would indicate recently but he does seem to leak some very meh goals here and there and then shut the door for long stretches.
I think they’d like to give him so more time but, at the same time, there is a real possibility that he would perform better in the NHL with the better structure, most predictability, etc.
Carter Hart and his terrible 3 AHL games vs. 2 good NHL game would provide fodder for that thought.
I definitely find i have to smack it a couple times like an old tube tv to get it to give me clear numbers. It takes a few passes before i get it on right track.
Tbe amount of times it has told me it can’t get some data for an average or whatever i want for a table entry saying it’s can’t then walk it through how to get it is pretty funny/bizarre.
Like that powerplay goals scored by time into powerplay table it was juat lost until i got it to give me a table of all sort of powerplay goal details for each powerplay goal. Then it just clicked and gave me that 30 second increment table after that eithout me even asking again. Like it realized oh shit i can fo that from previous qyery and just caught up without me asking for it again.
I dunno. Games 2-4 he got absolutely lit up.
Games 5-9 are still pretty weak. If you average the numbers, that’s .890. I suspect his quality start pct. is .200. Not good.
That’s why the Oilers are talking about Tristan Jarry.
Tristan Jarry at $2.8MM would be insanely good – that would be a great tandem with Skinner for the rest of this season (and we’ll see who the 2nd goalie for the next two years would be.
Its becoming clear the Jarry’s injury riddled crap season last year was a one-off, he’s recovered to well over .910 and had 5 years previous over .900, a few well over and all-star.
Finding someone to take half the contract, while moving out additional cap and acquisition cost for the money retained and Jarry, that’s a big ask.
Ingram has outplayed what his save percentage would indicate since the re-set and he’s likely “better” under NHL structure and predictability similar to Hart.
The Pacific Division …
Now has a clear top- and bottom-half that will likely remain separate from one another for the rest of the season.
I envision the Oilers finishing second, maybe third, and drawing the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Rd 1, mercifully saving us from a fifth consecutive thumping of the LA Kings.
It occurred to me yesterday how logical it is for an elite team to sleepwalk their way through the first half of this season, revving it up after the Olympic break to peak in the spring.
It is the antithesis of a team like Carolina who tends to play excellent regular season hockey and who lack the extra gear come playoff time, and perhaps explains why Presidents Trophy winners are rarely Stanley Cup winners.
Cue DSF to tell me why it’ll be different this year with the Colorado Nordiques.
In the 2020/21 NHL season, Colorado won the Western Conference title with 119 points and a goal differential of +78.
They would go on to win the Stanley Cup 4-2 over the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
I guess they didn’t need to “rev it up”
It would seem “sleepwalking” your way to a cup is nothing more than wishful thinking for those fans whose team is much more likely “sleepwalking” to disappointment.
As for Carolina…their issue has always been a lack of an elite goal scorer/point producer which is why they were so eager to acquire Mikko Rantanen.
Considering their top scorer this season only has 26 points while MacKinnon has 49, it appears that Nik Ehlers with his 19 points was not the answer.
Or the 2018 St Louis Blues who were DFL to start the New Year and revved it up for Gloria.
You may fawn over the Avs because your perverted algorithm thinks it makes you sound intelligent, but at 4-1 Cup odds they’re still unlikely to win in the spring.
Oh wait, what’s the trophy they award for best record in October / November? The Jack Sh!t medal
The exception does not prove the rule.
If the regular season champion always won the cup, there would be no need for playoffs but it is always better to be good than mediocre and needing to “find another gear” in the post season.
It is entirely possible that the Avalanche will be a team that hammers the throttle in the playoffs.
Imagine that.
Kadri laid a dirty hit on Binnington, taking him out of the series, which enabled Colorado to win the series against the Blues. The Blues had them nearly down and out. The Blues still had the core of their Stanley Cup winning team, and Binnington was playoff Binnington.
Great point. The league could have made Kadri pay but ya know
Binnington sure amps his game when it matters they would of beat the unbeatable Av’s if not for injury and were one second away from knocking of the Jets. He also turned it on in the 4 Nations Cup which was a huge deal for Canada at the time.
I would suggest this is not so cut in dry.
His history shows that he amps it up sometimes and other times he’s shit.
Skinner also amps it up sometimes in the playoffs, for example, other times he doesn’t.
Binnington has been one of the worst goalies in the league this season and was not good last season – I don’t take his contract for free.
System
I assume you’re talking about 2022. Tampa won in 2021, not Colorado.
Not sure why you’re proclaiming the Pacific Division is already settled before most teams have even played 30 games.
Moneypuck which uses advance statistical modelling projects otherwise.
As of this morning their points projections:
VGK 102.8
LAK 97.5
ANA 96.6
EDM 90.3
SEA 86.7
SJS 79.9
CAL 79.6
VCR 79.5
COL 115.6
DAL 106.8
MIN 96.5
UTA 89.9
CHI 88.1
WPG 87.7
STL 81.9
If this scenario plays out, the Oilers would face the Knights in the first round while LA and Anaheim would be involved in a freeway series in Southern California with no travel days perhaps being an advantage.
Of course, there is still a long way to go and such things as injuries, trades and open cap space at the deadline can have major impacts.
There are lies, damn lies, and statistics
Per somebody famous
Talking Fleury out of retirement would be the move…it’s one thing to have the Bower, but who’s the Terry Sawchuk? They need that guy.
James Reimer. I know this is asking probably to much from a Oiler goalie but if he gave us above.900 save percentage we’re probably first in our division. We are definitely first If he gave us his career .910 while playing on some shaky teams over the years.
Kyle Dubas says ‘no you don’t!’
Apparently Dubas won’t retain and doesn’t want Skinner back in a deal.
Oilers are still in talks. If they take Jarry at full cap, they haven’t learned much.
Bbbbbbut what about that podcast?
Yeah, there were rumors from 2Mutts that a deal had happened on Friday with Pittsburg retaining 50%. I guess that’s why Friedman has been quoted in multiple sources.
It’s not Dubas’s first rodeo.
It would appear it will have to be money in & money out. That means Dubas has a specific target he wants in any deal he makes with Edmonton for Jarry.
This might be good for the Oilers. If Dubas does not retain I don’t see how a deal is possible. Henrique likely won’t waive.
The Pens have a ton of cap space, but you’re right the Oilers really only have Henrique and Kulak on expiring deals that could work cap wise. The Oilers don’t have internal replacements for either.
Worherspoon was mentioned in rumors at one point, so that would add a Kulak replacement and save the Oilers cap.
The Pens probably could take Mangiapane back in a deal, though obviously they’d prefer not to.
No clue on what assets would be required and assuming Dubas want to get out if the Jarry contract knowing it caries a lot of risk, like if Jarry’s play craters, the contract is unmoveable, you could almost make the cap work with Mangiapane and Janmark going back.
Dubas probably wants Nuge. That’s my speculation.
Nuge isn’t going anywhere.
Especially not for Jarry.
I genuinely think Dubas is still upset about Hyman. When we wanted to sign him to add the 8th year to keep the AAV down a little, if I recall correctly, Dubas wanted a 2nd round pick. The going rate at the time for comparable trades was a 6th.
He seems to hold a grudge and appears to still have the Oilers on his only-if-they’re-willing-to-blatantly-overpay list.
Absolutely, Dubas is a bit funny. He does have a that aspect to him. I think he also is a pragmatist and looks at player contracts like stocks.
Jarry is like that one stock we all have in our portfolio. The one that drops down for a long period of time, then finally rebounds. You feel like it might have some more room to go, but knowing the risk you just want to sell.
6 of Jarry’s last 7 seasons have been league average or better.
Our season is in danger of being sunk from goalies the team doesn’t believe in. Why would we not want Jarry?
We should thank our lucky stars that the Penguins are willing to trade a .913 goaltender because it’s getting in the way of their tank job. That’s the perfect time to trade for a goaltender. (And if they’re going into a tank job, then they can definitely take on cap space. Just wait out Dubas on this one.)
It’s like when Minnesota grabbed Devan Dubnyk from Arizona because Dubnyk’s .916 was preventing Arizona’s attempted tank job for McDavid. (It was poetic justice that, instead, they ended up with 28 games of Dylan Strome.)
Goalie contracts, particularly those for non-elite goalies, over age 30 carry an inordinate amount of risk.
We’re still paying Campbell $2.6 million dollars this season and have four more years of buyout cap penalty to go.
Goalie performance is highly volatile, The smart teams know this and tend to take steps to mitigate exposure on goalie contracts. Colorado is one I’ve long lauded for being pretty smart at avoiding cap killing goalie contracts.
Colorado and Vegas are absolutely ruthless with their goalies. The Avs paid a first for Kuemper, then walked after they one a cup with him. Most teams wouldn’t have discipline to do that.
Vegas gave Fleury away for free.
For non-elite goalies. We know they decline over 30 and some more rapidly than others. They also suffer more injuries.
For goalies, I weigh their recent performance the most —current season and last year.
Jarry played in the American hilocjey last year. It’s hard to forecast his performance for this year and the next two. He could be a huge upgrade or he could turn into a pumpkin. If he turns into a pumpkin, we won’t have the cap flexibility to find another improvement next year.
Jarry’s best season was age 26. That tracks. Ideally, you want a Jarry at 26-28, not 30 plus.
He also put up an .893 last year before (or after?) Pittsburgh sent him down. That’s basically what Skinner put up last year. Pittsburgh apparently had two goalies better than a guy who was in range of our starter. I’m not too inclined to penalize Jarry for that.
Goalies are voodoo, so throw something at the wall and see if it sticks. Presumably Jarry doesn’t have an NMC, and it’s only one year to buy out if he suddenly goes south.
Jarry has a .913 this year. If we could get .913 in the regular season and playoffs….we might have multiple Cups by now.
My bet is the owners won’t let him lol.
Dubas traded a Blues draft pick back to the Blues to enable the Armstrong double offersheet.
Yep that was all because of Hyman and the game within a game.
Ryan Nugent Hopkins – welcome back and have yourself a season.
Accounts and projections about his regression were clearly too early.
Lets not forget, he had a great playoff, best player on the team in the Dallas series (driving a 2nd line at center) – too bad he broke his hand or we may have Stanley (Nuge and Hyman hurt killed the team).
Now, he’s 22 points in 20 games, playing great two way – his return has solidified the lines and really helped the PK and put the PP in to historic production mode.
He is right in the peak of his prime – this is 104 point season Nuge.
Poweplay witch!
From NHL Sid:
But Nuge hasn’t cracked 60 pts in a season yet…
I have Nuge at .71 points-game this season. Would love to see him deliver at current levels, but it’s a big ask. He doesn’t post big five-on-five numbers and the PP totals, while outstanding, do most of the heavy lifting offensively.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6549033/2025/08/13/edmonton-oilers-reasonable-expectations-2025/
This is all true but, at the same time, I would bet we were having the same conversation December 2022 and Nuge finished that season with 37G/104P (with 16G and 39P at 5 on 5).
Regula was excellent last night – leading the team in 5 on 5 TOI and 7 seconds behind Nurse for the overall TOI lead. That pair, Nurse/Regula were very good.
Funnily enough, it was the Ek/Bouchard pair that struggled the most in the garbage time, Bouchard was brilliant for two periods.
He must’ve lost interest after a big lead.
Bouchard under 21 minutes,
McDavid under 19 minutes.
Drai barely over 16 minutes.
They also didn’t play a ton the prior game.
This is good – big leads are good.
Getting out to a lead also helps. The team doesn’t chase the game and the coach keeps 29 & 97 on separate lines instead of over-playing them.
Jonsson returned to the crease in Fort Wayne last night.
He stopped 29, but let in 5.
The Komets had a 3-1 lead early, but afterwards, the visitors scored 4 PPG’s, including the game winner in OT.
The ECHL goaltending ranks feature 3 gardiens.
Samuel Jonsson 5-1-1 0.908 2.11
Nathaniel Day 6-3-1 0.898 2.50
Conor Ungar 4-1-1 0.945 1.43
Ungar is now listed on the roster of Orlando, TB’s affiliate and a team like Greensboro, whose goaltenders were also not very good.
If he keeps up the excellent results, I wonder if Ungar sees AHL action. This would seem to be the best course of action, IMO.
I made this point earlier in the week. Though lowetide indicated they’re committed to who they have now with Ingram and Tomkins. Ungar is actually 8-2-2 in the ECHL. 2-1-1 in Greensboro, 2-0 in Fort Wayne and 4-1-1 in Orlando.
I’ve been keeping very close tabs on Ungar since the beginning of the season, as I do with all prospects. He actually hasn’t played for Orlando yet, he only just arrived there this weekend. That is an error on the EliteProspects site.
That Orlando stat is this season’s ECHL total. He’s only played in 6 games this season.
Ah I see. Thanks for the correction!
Day stops 24 of 25 in a 4-1 win today.
Coach said Clattenburg will be out for a bit, his famous “at least a week” which isn’t as good as his “about a week”.
I missed that game due to sitting in a plane with a delayed takeoff. 😡
What happened to Clattenburg?
Took a high stick from Montour.
Kraken player whacked him in the face with his stick. Zero stick lift or follow through involved. BS play.
He took a nasty high stick above the eye & got stitched up. No damage to the eye, which must have been a worry.
Let’s hope his eye will be ok. It’s hard to predict recovery for eye injuries, and they’ll need to be cautious.
Can’t say for sure but I don’t think there is damage to the eye – sounds like its above the eye but, of course, could be swelling/bruising and what not keeping him out.
I think they’re keeping him out for his own good as I don’t think he would think more than twice in dropping the gloves even with his Rocky 1 cut me Mickey eye.
Wotta game what a stretch. Let’s keep it goin! LFG…! Ha. excitement.
Thanks LT for referencing one of my absolute, all-time favourites.
Girl I knew. We’re not in touch anymore except for every couple years maybe one of us will drop the other a line from Midnight Rider and the other will pick it up, a little back and forth on that ensues and then we’re done. Just a way of saying Hey I remember you; it’s nice to know you’re still out there.
..
The Oil are 3-0 with this season’s 3rd jersey iteration.
They have 4 games left where they will don it. Dec 23 vs Calgary & Jan 31 vs Wild at home and on the road in b2b games vs Chicago & Nashville, 12/13 Jan.
Reverse the colors and keep the logo!
Two epic wins.
But.
6GA over the two games.
Depending on volatile offense for the wins won’t bring a cup home.
The attack is not volatile when they execute even close to the last two games.
They could’ve scored 25 between the two games if they’d wished.
Scoring wins championships. Even the lock down Devils knew that.
That game was like an early 2010s Oiler game. The other team had already won the heart of the game and the result was decided. The other team let off the gas and HOPE got token points.
TOI numbers reflect that.
The 2GA last night were in complete garbage time – the Oilers gave up all but nothing through two periods.
The Seattle game was not a great defensive game but they tightened that up last night until they were up by 5.
Anyone with thoughts on the Marchand “hand pass” from yesterday – was that not a handpass? How can they call Hagel’s from the day before, where it just sort of hit his hand as he tries to get his hands up in front of his body, a handpass, but then when the nose clearly reaches up for the puck, touches it, and then a teammate gets possession, NOT a handpass but a deflection??? Game management at its finest?
It’s a dumb rule but the idea is they get an advantage from the play. They deemed one did the other didn’t. Crazy how when it rains it pours and we get 2 nearly identical plays with 2 different results.
I’m with you it all looks the same to me then you add in it’s Florida makes it worse.
I wonder if Evason was coaching the final and saw what Chucky was getting away with and Kane wasn’t if he would’ve popped his top.
“the brown dirt cowboy”, who and why?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Fantastic_and_the_Brown_Dirt_Cowboy
The early struggles. The success that follows. Love it.
Watched the highlights of Savoie, after being called a perimeter player by Paul ‘Turned sexism into a career’ Bissonnette, get to the inside of both legend (past his powers) Toews and ‘Greatest 3rd liner ever’ Adam Lowry.
2 known for their defensive reputations.
Savoie never was a perimeter guy, that was always part of the worry given his stature.
What is most exciting to me is that Leon has 2 wingers that work with him. That line is buzzing. Hope they keep it together and put Roslivic down on 3rd line when he returns. and slide Janmark to 4th line.
Mangiapane. Henrique. Roslovic should out score many opponents. Or at least be a two way responsible third line that has 3 25 goal scoring talents. Which we have not had in this era of Oilers hockey.
I agree mainly because Roslo’s long term place with the team is more in question. Maybe Oilers make the postseason and maybe Roslo is lights out. Can Oil keep him? Maybe Oil miss the dance or Roslo’s play in the second season is flat or a liability. Do Oil offer to re-sign? I appreciate the guy but he might be here for a good time not a long time.
Unless this is just me with lingering, reflex pessimism from the Oilers Ownership Group days…?
Before putting Roso on 3rd line, I’m trying him with McDavid and Hyman with Nuge as 3C.
It will certainly make things interesting when Roslovic & Walman return to the line up.
Another boost to the line up.
Could be Nuge on that line instead of Roslovic (or maybe Savoie). I agree that the top 6 looks good as currently set up but Nuge at 3C would add so much depth to the lineup – we’ll see where we are at in 3 weeks when Jack is back (or 3 months…..).
Not sure there is a “right answer” but there are a few reasonable paths, in my opinion.
It will somewhat depend on how Savoie does over the next few weeks in his spot – if he stumbles or is kind of meh, its easy to slot Jack in and move Savoie to the 3rd line. At the same time, I think Savoie is up to 8 points in his last 10 games and if he continues that, it behooves the org to continue playing him in that spot as a likely member of the top 6 for years.
I have ALOT of time for Nuge at 3C and I lean towards that but, again, if that top line is killing it, and McDavid looks to be starting supernova mode for a switch, well, sorry,
Jack, you get to drive a 3rd line and, given his long history of 5 on 5 production, maybe he can help that 3rd line create offence.
Of course, but the time Jack is back (be it right after Christmas or in the new year), what are the chances other injuries haven’t popped up?
I have a theory that will probably never be confirmed, but I feel like KK and crew set out to add a wrinkle to their systems play that they can pull out against hard fore-checking teams like Florida, and wanted to implement it early so that the team was familiar with it during playoffs, etc. Unfortunately I think they underestimated how bad it would be against many other systems and, since it coincided with an insane road trip and zero time to practice or otherwise change things up, they were stuck playing it for the first stretch of the season.
I feel like now that they’ve finally had a rest and a chance to practice and work on systems play, they’ve gone back to their usual style and are finally playing like the oilers team we all expected. It might just be a cope on my end, but it’s the only thing that explains to me how drastically the team has turned things around in such a short amount of time. I know the road stretch was brutal, but I don’t think you can explain all of this with fresh legs and regression.
I think the Oilers had a disconnect between the offense and the defense. The gaps and the breakouts were a mess, and the coaches stubbornly stuck to it. SO MUCH so they ended up being predictable, which is difficult on a team that houses so much creativity.
For sure, many teams were obviously looking to pick off and punish the outlet pass and the team failed to adapt until now. What set this theory off in my head was that one of the teams they didn’t look terrible against (as per my recollection) was Florida. So I wondered if maybe that was a case of the system finally working as intended. Hockey is also a chaotic sport so who knows, maybe the defense and forwards just connected a bit better that game or we got lucky.
Even though Coffey-Stuart worked together last couple of years you still have Stuart adding his own wrinkle to the system. The stretch pass might of sounded good in theory but it was a fail just as Woody’s zone coverage and Eakins swarm. Why not continue to do what works against every team but a few (Florida) the chances of meeting Florida in the final are so slim that to overhaul your D is silly in my opinion. Sometimes I do think teams are over coached I think Coffey had players in a spot to succeed and told them to go with there instincts more than a deadpan certain system.
This – plus never hitting their elite rushers in stride and too little shooting.
All correctable, but should have been caught after 2 bad games and fixed- not 20.
Why is this important – because in the finals you have 1 period to catch this stuff and pivot. Or less.
It has cost them two banners hanging in their rafters.
I have that same theory. That wrinkle was very effective in their win against Florida last month. However, the Panthers seem to be struggling against everyone so far this year, so who knows.
I’ve wondered about this myself.
For song references, I got the Kings and the Eagles.
Is the word “the” part of either band’s name?
No, but people call them that in general conversation. Album covers always give away the the btw.
‘The the’ is another great band, albeit from the modern 80’s
The Cure or Cure? The Rolling Stones? The Beatles? The Proclaimers?
So many…
Almond brothers and Jackson 5 as well.
The Almond bros were always too nutty for me.
It’s ‘Ice District’ not ‘The Ice District’.
I think with the shortened schedule there’s going to be a lot of rested home team versus dog tired road team story line.
The Jets are showing how much of hockeying is goalering. Helle goes down and they look like crap
If only we had a better then average at best goaltending. The Campbell swing and miss cost us 2 Cups. I myself liked Campbell but why 5 years if that was the going rate I would of passed 2>3 years at most.
— objectively it’s pretty clear that a better than average goalying would have made the difference (being charitable with “average goaltending”) The freedom they would have had knowing they had someone to make stops is a really hypothetical X factor.
I didn’t want Campbell – I wanted Kuemper.
Since those contracts were signed, Kuemper has 29GSAA and is an outside chance for the Olympics. Campbell had -22GSAA until he was mercifully pulled from the rink.
Update: According to The Athletic, Kuemper is a lock for the Olympics.
If we had just made the obvious choices, we could have had a tandem of Kuemper and Wallstedt. Arrgghhhhh!!
And he’s the kicker at the same money for the next couple of years as we’re paying Skinner-Pickard-Campbell buyout.
— yeah : attribution of results. Winnipeg on B2B 3 in 4.
— Oilers are in a stretch of relative ease vs their opponents (have another stretch same January).
— That’s how I’m looking at it. The more confidence or systems changes team defense etc. It’s mostly the schedule and relative rest that is the biggest variable. The biggest improvement has been a result of their schedule Mush of the analysis doesn’t assign the correct amount of output.
— Their demise and doom and gloom was exaggerated greatly as the schedule and relative wasn’t. Suspect they will be contenders for the Cup this year at the end of the day again. It’s a parity league. Oil get parity + McDrai.
— Would be easy this year to make money betting on teams based on their relative freshness on any game
You are so correct on the condensed schedule. I for one was fretting just 4 games ago that we might not make the playoffs if the vanilla play continued. These last 2 games it’s like they said Ok enough bullshit time to switch gears. We are lucky to have Connor-Leon and I do get it’s a long year and the playoffs are all that matters but I did think we might be taking a step back this year. These last 2-4 games has me back on the wagon front and centre.
Very true, and very good they are winning these games, they have to
I’ve wondered about this: if your team is built around an excellent goalie, can you have any consistent (ie Cup-winning) success? The Jets example suggests no. Canucks (Demko), same.
Better to build a team on the assumption of “average” or “good” goaltending, with consistent defensive and offensive habits/talent in D and F?
Bob wasn’t in the Vezina conversation the two years FLA won the Cup. Skinner/Pickard were not in that conversation either, yet they were far closer than last year’s Vezina candidates (or their teams – Kings, Vegas, Jets).
IMO too much focus on goalies, too little on the players and play in front of them. My hero, Ken Dryden, may have been a great goalie. Maybe. What is inarguable is that he had a defensively tight team in front of him. I always thought Tony Esposito was probably a better goalie. But the Hawks weren’t the Habs.