I have said several times recently, here and on the Lowdown, that I do not believe the Oilers will make the final this season. I’m also prepared to suggest that the McDavid-Draisaitl era may have peaked, with the Glimmer Twins playing at a high level but not supported by enough quality to win the day. It has happened before in NHL history.
The current Edmonton Oilers remind me of the Chicago Blackhawks of my youth. That team featured Bobby Hull, who was the Paul Bunyan of hockey before the current Paul Bunyan (Leon Draisiatl) arrived on the scene. Stan Mikita was a supreme center, a wizard with the puck who had great sustain at a high level. Tony Esposito was a brilliant goalie, Pat Stapleton an impressive puck mover, and Bill White probably the most underrated defenseman of the 1970’s. The top players played a lot, the depth players weren’t very good and didn’t play much.
The ‘Hawks won in 1961, when Hull and Mikita were kids, and then didn’t win a thing. These Oilers missed the early train to glory in the McDavid-Draisaitl era, and I think there’s a real chance Edmonton fans will be waiting another generation for a return visit from Stanley.
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) 0-0-1
- 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: 2-1-1, five points in four games
- Season Record: 13-11-6, 32 points in 30 games
Like the 1969 Blackhawks, the 2026 Oilers have some things that are baffling. In 1969, Chicago had great depth at the top of the lineup but inexplicably played Chico Make on the same line as Bobby Hull. Hull scored 58 goals, Maki 7.
The lack of depth on the team cost Chicago in a big way, although it was much improved by 1971. The ‘Hawks would lose to the Canadiens in seven games that spring. It was one of the best teams that didn’t win the Stanley in my lifetime. Chicago would lose in the final in 1971 and 1973, both times to Montreal.
- Nuge-McDavid-Hyman 10:28, 5-4 shots, 1-0 goals, 72X, 1-0 HD
- Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie 9:40, 5-2 shots, 73X, 1-0 HD
- Mangiapane-Henrique-Janmark 5:22, 1-3 shots, 0-1 goals, 50X, 1-1 HD
- Frederic-Lazar-Tomasek 3:22, 0-3 shots,0X, 0-1 HD
As was the case back in the sixties, the Mikita and Hull lines were money and carried the day, while the depth lines were flaccid all night long. There will be plenty of negativity about Trent Frederic today, but he’s not at his best. I think putting him in the pressbox for a week might lift that fourth line. Maybe recall Quinn Hutson for a look.
I’m also not sure Adam Henrique can be counted on as an every night option as the no. 3 center. Nuge probably goes back to that spot when Jack Roslovic gets back into the lineup. Edmonton doesn’t have a Chico Maki in the top six, but Matt Savoie is a rookie and there’s some experience lost on that second line.
- Ekholm-Bouchard 15:34, 12-4 shots, 1-1 goals, 52X, 2-3 HD
- Nurse-Regula 12:48, 4-7 shots, 32X, 1-0 HDSC
- Kulak-Emberson 9:16, 1-1 shots, 92X, 2-0 HDSC
Evan Bouchard had a tough game, that’s going to happen with such a high event player. I know the comments will be filled with anger about him, but he’s a key to the highway offensively. He’s the third most important player on this team. He does go controller unplugged and it has a cost. I believe that cost is worth the fantastic return as an outscorer. I also believe he’ll need to cut down on the mistakes if the Oilers are to win Stanley.
Your mileage may vary. Stuart Skinner was the victim of some glaring single moments last night, I did like his play during five-on-five time.
The next steps belong to Stan Bowman. In Chicago, Tommy Ivan did a fine job building that flawed team into a real contender and finished just short of the finish line. That’s what Ken Holland did in Edmonton. If Stan Bowman is to improve the Oilers chances, I think he needs to go bold. Soon.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll welcome Kevin McCurdy to break down last night’s game at 1pm. We’ll also talk Oilers at the deadline and I’m sure Evan Bouchard will get hammered senseless on the text line while I defend him. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Projecting the Edmonton Oilers’ trade deadline plans and ideal targets
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6874729/2025/12/10/edmonton-oilers-trades-targets-deadline-plans-2025/
I watched the red wings in Calgary tonight. I was really impressed with Gibson. Klapka took a wack at him after he froze the puck and Gibson went right after him. Then he went at Lomberg as well. I left after 2 periods to get my young one home but Gibson was sharp, stopping everything to that point. I can’t help but wonder what could of been.
Essentially the same based on save percentage. And probably a couple extra penalties.
What does a goalie beating up someone have to do with anything?
Nights with 4 goals on Ingram in the 2nd, 4-2 Knights and OP needs to sleep.
Make it 5.
Howard lead the Condors on a 3 on 1 – keeps the puck all the way from his own blue, across the opposition blue, down to the circles and snapping the 2-0 short side.
Discussions about McDavid, Peak/Decline and the dreaded age curve.
Take the sum total of points (regular season and playoffs) since Peak Regular Season McD in 22/23, so starting 23/24.
There are six players near McDavid in total scoring in those years – MacKinnon, Kucherov, Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Panarin and Rantanen.
1) McDavid still leads them all in total points, with 29 more than MacKinnon.
MacKinnon and Kucherov have scored more in the regular season. But move over to ppg and regular season it’s 1.60 McD, 1.61 (Mac) and 1.62 (Kuch). McD leads everyone in playoffs though carrying over 1.60 in 47 playoff games.
2) all of those players are older than McD.
He’s healthy now. Shot seems to have more zip.
I think he’s about to pop off. One of his Supernova runs.
Does 68-70 total points before we ring in the new year sound about right? He’s got 11 games left so this would be 2.18 – 2.32 ppg. 7 of those teams on the lower end of league average in GA. 8 if you count Winnipeg, they are falling fast with Helly out.
Will MacKinnon keep pace with that or does McDavid slowly reel him in? MacKinnon’s got 9 games left and McDavid has been running just a bit hotter in the last 30 days. Colorado plays some stingy teams but also some laughers.
Should be a fun race.
Colorado has been so dominant, that Bednar has been backing off Nate’s TOI when the Avalanche are running away with games.
In the last 10GP, Nate has one game at 18:19 and another at 14:49.
Bednar also sends out his 3rd and 4th lines on the PP when the Avs are well ahead in the 3rd period.
In any event…P/60
MacKinnon – 3.66
McDavid – 3.09
Kucherov – 2.90
Worth mentioning since PP time is variable….EVP
MacKinnon – 38
McDavid – 25
Kucherov – 27
I would also caution against ignoring the baby elephants in the room as both Celebrini and Bedard are in hot pursuit.
Bedard has a couple of points tonight to move to 42 points while Celebrini has 43, only 1 behind McDavid.
A coaching sitting his stars when the game is out of reach? Especially when your schedule thus far has been the dregs of dregs. Shocking I tells ya.
For fun run the digits on McDavid’s TOI averages the last three weeks. Lemme know what you find.
Also run P/60 over the last month and lemme know what you find.
Rising vs running in place.
Bedard and Celebrini are fine players to be sure. The Grind will catch up to them as the depth begins to wear and tear.
We’ll see, it’s early, but McD might take another run at 150 this year. Have to see how the next month shakes out.
Seth Griffith cross-ice to Millman as he enters the zone and snaps home one from the top o the left circle – weak goal from distance, we’ll take it.
Summarizing!
Wakely was denied the gift of nutritious soup, but did go 11-of-19 (57.9%) on draws.
Prospecting takes a break until Freya’s Day.
Dineen and Carfagna still out (no updates on Carfagna but I don’t think Dineen is close).
Rhett Pitlick gets the bump to the second line with Marjala and Jarventie.
Petrov back to being scratched.
Ingram starts.
Bench him. Tear a strip off him. Kick his ass. Coaching from the couch is a piece of cake.
Excuses.
LT may be right in his analysis of how the team will do, but I don’t think the culprit is depth. This D is basically the same D that won 14 playoff games last year, and better than the one that won 15 playoff games the year before.
Ekholm and Bouchard, when playing well, are both Top 30 if not Top 15 D-men. Those are #1s play 1-2. Jake Walman was playing first-pairing minutes in San Jose and is our #4. Our #5, Brett Kulak, was easily a second-pairing guy in the crucible of the playoffs. Emberson/Regula seem fine for #6 – maybe not Klingberg level, but that position can be upgraded at the trade deadline.
We did lose some depth at F, but at full strength could still feature Hopkins and Roslovic on the third line. Henrique, Frederic and Mangiapane are all underperforming but come with pedigree, and the latter two are still fairly young. Howard could make a difference soon.
I don’t think skater talent is the problem.
Kulak is not the same player he was a year ago. I think he might be dealt by the deadline, with Walman moving over to LH side.
and Josh Brown as 7D?
One would hope another dman is acquired so Brown stays in the AHL.
Seemed like mcleod was being used pretty regular in all game stats to a noticahbe degree.
Made me pull through naturalstattrick and found it interesting.
He’s up to around 18 min/gm this year.
Was around 14 min/gm last 2 years in edm. Up to ~16.5 min/gm last year buffalo.
Changes
1. 5×5
A. TOI: 11 min/gm to 12 min/gm 5×5 last 2 years EDM & now 13 min/gm since going to BUF
B. OffZS: 56%/46%/46%/47%
C. FACE OFFS
->2022 EDM 470 draws 49.1%
->2023 EDM 706 draws 51.1%
->2024 BUF 863 draws 53.0%
->2025 BUF 298 draws 49% projects over 800 draws again
D. CF/CA/CF%/CF% rel
->2022 623/532/53.9%/2.53
->2023 1049/800/56.7%/2.23
->2024 965/1011/48.8%/-1.02
->2025 399/388/50.7%/0.80
E. GF/GA/GF%/GF% rel
->2022 2.51/2.42/50.9%/-1.32
->2023 2.41/1.85/56.5%/1.09
->2024 3.15/2.86/52.4%/3.02
->2025 3.73/4.04/48.0%/2.65
F. Onice SH%/SV%/PDO
->2022 8.33/91.4/0.998
->2023 7.2/92.3/0.995
->2024 12.0/90.0/1.02
->2025 12.1/87.3/0.994
G. G/60 A/60 P/60
-> 2022 0.84/1.02/1.86
->2023 0.68/0.93/1.6
->2024 0.70/1.52**/2.22**
->2025 0.47/0.93/1.4
*insanely high increase in second assists registered. So likely gaining zone entry variety pass off to open player who actually connects with shooter at an impressively more frequent than sustainable freuqency for 5×5.
When you look at these numbers all game states for past for year second assists rates are 0.22/0.16/0.68/0.44. Difference in this year compared to last though is way more PP time so number makes sense compared to edmonton. Last year seems out of whack as far as sustainable for his 5×5 offence
That’s about enough.
2.PK
A. TOI & Pts/60 (G,A)
->2022 1:36 & 1.96/60 (2,1)
->2023 1:17 & 1.2/60 (0,2)
->2024″2:22 & 1.97/60 (3,3)
->2025 2:38 & 1.52/60 (2,0)
These are solid numbers clearly not a big part of scoring rates but 6 SH points is tied for 6th in league last year. Coincidentally, adam henrique was tied for 5th the year before with 2G,3A in ANH before the trade…he went from playing 2 1/2 minutes per gake last 2 years in ANH and this year is 1:41 with 1 goal as far as points. Because yeah…like ardvisson…like so many of them edmonton can’t seem to stop themselves from acquiring these guys like 3+ years after they seemed available to acquire and i thought were good idea seriously…it’s becoming uncanny in a bad way. Like i want them to drink the milk just before it starts turning and they just keep waiting until past expiry date to start chugging it hard. I’m not going to be suprised if kuzmenko is next wiyh low and behold you end up wishing they did it 3 years earlier. Like they are good players and not rotten but you should not be paying going rate on it at the market and expecting it to be as good other fresher options for any extended perio of time…. Anyway
2 Added 1 minute of pp/gm (appears just this year to now be ~pp2 minutes an actual regular)
Summary for last time on lamenting why they mismanaged the best 3rd line they have had since maybe the late 90’s early odds…losing players they literally still had under team control for some insane reason…like replace bear/ceci, don’t run top players ragged just to qualify and upgrade your 1B goalie with maybe a strategic cap manipulation magically giving you the ability to add top shelf D or 2nd goalie or top 6 wing at deadline. All you had to do last year surely….ugh.
So his final year here gloves were taken off. Not getting babied with offensive zone starts and winning the battle as far as outchancing and outscoring. Literally his coming out party as a bonified journeyman worth the money 3rd line center. The thing edmonton fans in the know have spent tbe vast majority of the past 25 years praying they might add this type of player in the “before the wheels fell off due to age” variety… literally he just solidly established himself as exactly that.
Unfortunately, buffalo managed to still screw up and “oiler’d” his new contract.
Paid full freight for outlier season possibly. He likely is up a level in quality of competition he is facing and a solid bet to be just as effective for entire length of that contract. Just probably a 3.5-4 million dollar guy if they would have just kept him. I don’t have anythimlng against Rico. Like i’ve always honestly been a fan. But you start looking at drafted forwards development curves who pan out and compare that to where savoie was when they made that trade…draft +2 year complete in junior instead of college route guy or AHL and basically running in place in his draft+1 overage year -> you just do not find a lot of guys manifesting into viable top 6 forwards. I was pulling through drafts 2022 and was going to work back.
Ran out of query attempts in grok sifting savoie’d draft and the 2021 i didn’t find any in 2021 that weren’t already up and running by D+3.
Howard’s route is different with the college thing and injury. So there is that and worth the gamble of maybe ready sooner and as good or better a chance than oreily so fair gamble given percieved winow….
Savoie though at point of purchase D+1 no real bump, D+2 production bump you’d hope to see a year earlier as he should already be cutting his teeth in AHL….given window? Can you really logically justify sending your just established journeyman solid 3C out in hopes undersized forward quickly fills top 6 wing intime…knowing if he pans out amazing you might have enough money to find a suitable 3C over the next 2 to 3 years.
Sorry for rambling. Done lamenting another papercut in my way of seeing.
Glad savoie solidly hit AHL pitches a year later than most can’t misses.
Glad he’s of the martin st louis not yamamoto build variety of “smaller” nhl players and he just might suprise because of that fact.
Glad we didn’t sign mcleod to that contract but hapoy he got it.
End, sorry LT.
This team needs an intervention.
I bring in Messier, Pronger, McTavish, Buchburger, and Gator and let this team know what it takes to win. Lock them in a room and they don’t come out until they commit to 60 minutes. And if they don’t play 60 every night, you sit for two games.
How about Broadway Donny Murdoch.
Yes to the idea. No to #s 14 and 16.
Coffey and Kurri.
Keep Wayne in reserve for the finals.
Interesting draft prospect update from Pronman over at the athletic: he has McKenna at #4 now, presumably due to a rough go in the NCAA (still the kid’s best move), and is judging this a rather weak draft class overall.
Keep tanking Flames and Dy’s!
Flames goaltending will force Conroy to stay competitive for a playoff spot as its wide open in the west. We would have 2 Cups if we had the Flames goaltending for half the price we’re paying Skinner&Pickard
Some interesting, impactful games on the schedule tonight.
The Flames are close to 50-50 to beat Detroit with Cooley starting.
Meanwhile Florida is in Utah and are favourites to beat the Mammoth.
If the Flames win and Utah loses, the Flames would be 1 point out of a wildcard spot.
Goaltending can make any G.M and Coach look like Stan Pollock. Everyone and their dog&cat knew this was going to be our problem yet it’s game 31 and Stan is content with the 2nd worst save percentage in the league. He even went on national TV asking the fanbase to be nice to Skinner.
McKenna is tied for 4th in freshman scoring with 18 points (4 G) in 16 GP, so it’s not like he’s having that bad a season. I think a lot of people were expecting him to blow the doors off the NCAA like he did in the Dub, and he’s not having that impact like Kariya or Eichel did when they were draft-eligible freshmen.
What’s interesting to me is that Pronman has a couple Baltic players on his list:
#5 Alberts Smits, a strapping Latvian d-man who plays in Finland. He has a chance to be the highest-drafted Latvian ever. (Zemgus Girgensons went 14th overall in 2012.)
#23 Simas Ignativicius, a 6’3″ Lithuanian winger who plays in Switzerland. If he does go in round 1, he’d be the first Lithuanian to do so since Dainius Zubrus in 1996.
“Latvian names often end in “-s” for males due to ancient Proto-Indo- European grammatical rules preserved in the language, specifically the masculine nominative singular ending, marking them as nouns in the “subject” case (like “Arturs” instead of just “Artur”).
While feminine names typically end in “-a” or “-e,” the “-s” in masculine names (e.g., Aigars, Jānis, Artūrs) signifies gender and grammatical function, reflecting deep linguistic roots, even for foreign names adapted into Latvian.
In case you were wondering about the proliferation of the letter “S”
Oilers aren’t winning anything with Nurse – Bouchard – Skinner and the bottom 6 as a whole.
To much money for poor performances and a flawed Elite Defenceman.
Oilers need a very good 2nd line RHC
A very good 2nd line LW
2 top four Defencemen.
The Oilers need a GM like a Zito or McCrimmon who wouldn’t hesitate to move out a Nurse & Bouchard for the betterment of the team.
Bowman asked Nurse to waive, they walked it back but I think he did, along with others
It would have to be Seth Jones type of trade. I think Nurse would actually thrive and be a good mentor in say Columbus. Nurse skating and durability will keep him in the league until late 30’s.
I also believe this to be true, but no one has confirmed.
Umm…last I checked, the Oilers have a 2nd line center who was the leading skater in Hart trophy voting last year. Would have been his second Hart.
I think we’re OK at 2C. Like, probably more OK at 2C than any team ever in NHL history.
Huge, longtime Oilers fan here.
Watching Evan BooHard play or pretend defence(?) is not entertaining. It’s brutal.
I would really like to know which coach(es) or leader(s) on the team have told him that he doesn’t need to block shots, not take the man, backcheck, etc. If no one, then I would like to see him benched, spend a night(s) in the press box or lose his cookie time (power play) to Jake Walman or Ekholm.
What do you mean? He’s 126th in plus minus
Where does he rank league-wide though?
I was very entertained by Bouchard during his 5 week stint as the 2nd best d-man in the NHL, including taking in to account out-scoring at 5 on 5 and the preventing goal aspect of that.
It sucks he’s had a bad 4 periods.
Bouchard has more blocked shots than Kula and only 11 less than Ekholm.
If we are looking at last night, he has more blocks than Power or Dahlin.
Blocked shots by Oilers D:
Nurse – 69
Ekholm -51
Emberson – 42
Bouchard – 38
Kulak – 35
Walman – 31 (in only 17 GP.)
Considering Bouchard’s elevated TOI compared to Kulak and Walman’s lack of opportunity, it is likely fair to rank Bouchard 6th among Oiler D in blocks/60
And if my grandma had wheels she’d be a bicycle.
I love seeing Bouch succeed in Edmonton. For me, it’s about what you’ve done in the last game—not what you did a month or two ago. You never know if a player will still have it in the next playoff series; you can’t live in the past. I truly feel Evan has a B+ offensive-zone hockey IQ, but an F in the defensive zone. I’m not changing my mind on this. He’s past the 200-game mark, where consistency should be established, and we need to accept the kind of NHL player he is. Without question, other teams know that puck retrieval under pressure is not his strong suit, and he will cough up the puck.
“ I think he needs to go bold. Soon.”
Not sure what this means, but piqued my interest.
Grab a Goalie?
Sell the farm?
???????
“Just now hearing Oilers have traded the Bakersfield Condors for Goalie Gibson. The deal is one for one.”
In the numbers I posted yesterday Boston was in the list for scoring. Boston, the team everyone picks every season to fall off a cliff. Systems matter. The Bruins keep rolling bcs the players even though less talented can do it. I think the reason so many Oilers struggle is related to the system
Kurri played C in the D zone, not Gretzky. Connor puck watches too much to not screw up. Find someone to take that role in the D zone. Connor being higher in the D zone might be a good thing. Less players to go through
Bowman takes heat, but he is constricted by existing NMCs. His signings haven’t worked out yet as well. Centres drive line offence usually. They need a better 3C, if they won’t use Nuge that’s the main get. And they need somebody to take 4C and play well most games
After that a better back up, and a defensive RD better than Regula and Emberson. The coaches finding a way to get more out of the players they have would alleviate some of these issues, I don’t expect that to happen unfortunately. I’m seeing meat and potatoes coaching, probably trying to be innovative but not hitting it, while some competitors are beating The Iron Chef
3rd and 4th, especially 3rd line needs to have a helping hand, hopefully with health that can happen, maybe some more youthful energy in the lineup as well.
They played 1 period last night, thats it. They play with the same intensity for 3 they win easily.
For sure
curtis lazar has been a very servicable 4c. I would swap rico and nuge.
Nuge is a better skater and will bring more offense to the 3rd line.
optimally.
Rico-97-Hyman
Podz-Drat-Savoie
Howard-Nuge-Roslovic
Freddi-Lazar-Kapanen
Ek-bouche
Nurse-Regula
Walman-Emberson
and then you trade kulak+ for jarry.
hate trading kulak for his playoffs play.
Rico to the pressbox
Ros up to the top line
Kap up to 3rd line
Samanski or Philp to the 4th line
Hiutson will likely deserve a shot as well but he will need to be higher than the 4th line. We gotta get some youth/energy/want
Clatt is also hanging around, so maybe him on the 4th line.
I would like Jarry here but not for the price of kulak or what Dubas will also try to steal and rob
Jarventie is bursting at the seams why trade and them keep him in the minors. He’s a proven NHLer in my opinion it’s always been about health with him, Bowman and K.K are letting the prisoners run the show i’s game 31 Coach and GM need to do a prick move or 2 and wake up this sleeping giant.
How in the world is he a proven NHLer?
I am as big a Jarventie fan as anyone but that statement is just factually and objectively incorrect.
He’s played in the NHL with Ottawa I’m sure you already know this and from all accounts it’s been the constant injuries that got him traded. We need to find out if he can stick in the NHL maybe have a Janmark career. Anyhow what exactly are they waiting for?
With Walman brittle Kulak is an insurance policy you can’t afford to trade.
Walman is going to end up one of the more wealthier guest at Kelfbom glass factory and emporium.
The Oilers first call-up option is Josh Brown. Cam Dineen is not only hurt but is not near the level he was last year. The Oilers don’t have the depth to trade away Kulak, as much as I’d like a Jarry/Pickard tandem.
LT, your article here is bang on. The depth just aren’t good enough at this point. We may come around when full health returns but the engagement of the entire team last night from the get go was piss poor, aside from 97 imo.
Even though the depth is not up to snuff you can still be engaged in the game and not have play like the first two periods. Bouchard’s giveaway is a perfect example. OHHH yes he does these and is an amazing player, its true but get in the game, get engaged, stop looking at the daisies.
The sad part of this is we have seen them play well and at a level, depth be damned, we know they can do it, that is why it is infuriating to watch the effort in the first 2 periods
I don’t really follow the Panthers or their injuries etc, but working off Daily Faceoff for lines, let’s take a look.
EDMONTON OILERS – DEPTH FORWARDS
|||||||
|Player|Age|Cap Hit ($M)|
|||||||
|Mattias Janmark|33|1.45|
|Adam Henrique|35|3.00|
|Andrew Mangiapane|29|3.60|
|Curtis Lazar|30|0.775|
|Dominik Tomášek|29|1.20|
|Trent Frederic|27|3.85|
|||||||
|TOTAL||13.88|
|AVG AGE|30.5||
FLORIDA PANTHERS – DEPTH FORWARDS
|||||||
|Player|Age|Cap Hit ($M)|
|||||||
|Jesper Boqvist|27|1.50|
|A.J. Greer|28|0.85|
|Jack Studnicka|26|0.75|
|Noah Gregor|27|0.75|
|Mackie Samoskevich|23|0.775|
|Evan Rodrigues|32|3.00|
|||||||
|TOTAL||7.63|
|AVG AGE|27.2||
Samoskevich, was drafted after Bourgeault.
Florida also has Cole Shwindt (24), $825k, Thomas Nosek $775k (33).
Also Gadjovich $775k (27), all on IR.
It’s galling to see, right?
Florida has targeted players for their functional peak based upon age and has loaded up on a lot of depth for way less than the Oilers spend.
Florida is targeting players 24-28. The Oilers, not so much.
It’s almost comical. Florida is deliberately targeting depth forwards in the 24–28 functional-peak window and stockpiling them cheaply. The Oilers haven’t even found this aisle.
DEPTH FORWARDS (ACTIVE + IR) — SHARE METRICS
|||||||
|Team|CF% (range)|xGF% (range)|GF% (range)|
|||||||
|Florida Panthers|51–56|50–57|50–60|
|Edmonton Oilers|41–49|36–49|30–45|
DEPTH COMMITMENT CONTEXT
|||||||
|Team|Players|Avg Age|Total Cap ($M)|
|||||||
|Florida Panthers|9|~27–28|~10.0|
|Edmonton Oilers|6|~30–31|~13.9|
Forensic analysis complete. Send me a cheque via Lowetide.
Conclusion? Fire the mall.
This is exactly correct in my opinion. It’s better to find players that have potential upside as opposed to a potential cliff.
Pods had and still has upside. Fredrick maybe? The biggest risk is taking no risk at all. Acquiring safe players has risk.
Well, it highlights the massive philosophical blunder in cap allocation.
Bowman paid a huge premium for bottom six wingers. In one case, he paid for grit. In the other a guy he thought could drive offense from the third line and move up if needed. He was wrong on both accounts.
The Oilers have also missed the memo on aging curves.
Younger players contribute well on other teams. Bowman needs to figure out what is messing his team up. You can carry an old guy or two, D are usually a bit older than F
It seems that he is trying to get younger and faster. I hope he has a couple of beauty moves he pulls off. Man those trade clauses
How so?
Looking at the buyout calculator, if we buy out Frederic we’d have an approx $2 mill cap hit per year until 2034, then it drops to $821,429 until 2040.
He needs to be benched for a while, or put on IR if the ankle is still screwed. He’s not offering anything at the moment and frankly we’d be better running any of the AHL forwards than him.
I didn’t like the Frederic trade when it happened. His best season was on an a team having an all time heater season. He was already regressing before the trade, he had a serious injury that a regular guest on the Lowdown stated that it was something he would take a very long time, or maybe never fully recover from, and the Oil gave decent assets to acquire the guy on a Stanley Cup competing year, knowing he there was a chance he would not contribute, and he did not contribute. Getting a player who could have helped that playoff run may have made a difference in the final. Then they double down and sign him to that contract, that is justified by it not being so bad with the cap rising. He also brings nothing physically now. I hope he rebounds but it’s already so bad that I don’t think he covers the bet the Oilers made.
Bouchard made some mistakes last night, which he wasn’t alone in.
He’s been a top 5 defender in the league the last few weeks, everyone knows he’s been simply one of the best in a long long time in the playoffs the last few seasons.
I’ll be refraining from jumping aboard the bury the best players bus.
Perhaps the Oilers could ice 3 or 4 lines instead of two, and even if they did.. Buffalo has always been a team the Oilers refuse to bank 2 points against.
The sky isn’t falling, Nuge will return to 3C, Roslovic will return, Walman will return, there’s some actual legit call ups in the farm. If Stan nails it on the next goaltender, glory awaits imo.
The mistakes shouldn’t be near as bad, and shouldn’t come from a lack of effort and/or attention.
I’m more fine with mistakes from the best when trying to push the river. The mistake on the second goal was not that, and imo was unacceptable.
I similarly didn’t see anything wrong with Skinner’s play last night.
Most glaring was Bouchard’s play. But the Oilers were just way too loose, looking like they thought they could win the game with 10 minutes of play.
They say all the trite things you expect to hear, but I don’t think it’s really sunk in to the team as a whole, the general level of play they need to bring to an “average” or day-to-day game.
The oilers need a third or fourth line that can make a difference in games like last night.
What’s the best 19/13/88 can contribute? Penalty kill? Maybe the odd short handed goal? Draw the odd penalty? All are legit nhl players but the best they have to offer is mistake free hockey.
Have to be able to change momentum of games like last night other than 97/29/2
Kapenen has the ability to although rarely. Frederick has been able to in the past. Both are likely to at some point again.
Sure but, at the same time, the 3rd/4th lines scored, I belive 3 (at least) 5 on 5 goals in the prior 2 game. Could have used a goal from them last night but its also not reaosnable to expect a 5 on 5 bottom six goal nightly – does any team in the league get 82 5 on 5 goals from their depth lines?
When they chase, and coach goes McDavid/Drai load-up, there becomes no fourth line and the 3rd line is an after-thought.
Coach admitted he didn’t tear a strip off of Bouchard … adding he knew he made a mistake and what good would it have done? This very revealing, we have a coach that is tolerating bad play by his star d-man… and btw Bouch didn’t make just one mistake leading to a goal, in OT he was useless, watching the puck.
This d-man NEEDS to be kicked in the ass, he seemingly isn’t truly aware of his blunders, or surely he would have corrected and raised his awareness of the mistake-riddled game he is playing. Of course we love his offensive talents but his carelessness with the puck is costing us victories. The head coach is partially to blame.
After 30 games we are 31st in the league with a .876 it appears that all is happy with that mark. If we had Calgary’s team .904 where would we be in the standings? Does Calgary have a better D core? Better system? Are is it we have a back-up goalie as our starter and a career AHLer as our back-up. I guess the plan is to wait for the project Ingram to find his game while passing on at least 2-3 goalies that already have their game in order they’re just waiting for a opportunity. I’m really starting to wonder about Bowman his unwillingness to apparently upset the apple cart and try someone new in-between the pipes is depressing. Has Bowman lost his gumption? His vision? How can he allow us diehards the pain of watching the leaky 2nd worst goaltending tandem? Do something if your not going to try Ingram then find someone else and let’s get this party going again with some hopefully middle of the pack SV %
Skinner was left one on one with shooters 6 feet in front of him on three goals because of glaring errors by the players in front of him..I dont see how you can blame him
The team has been abysmal at playing any kind of defence so they, as group, have earned that .876.
They just don’t seem to care from top to bottom.
We are so desensitized with below average goaltending. Ask any outsider of the Oilers who views a game and I guarantee while laughing they’ll say your goaltending is not only weak but it sucks.
Less than 50% of shootout attempts are succesful.
Yes, Calgary plays better defensively. I think the best goalie stat is save % above expected and Skinner is doing better than average which is all this team should need to be dominant. Devin Cooley has been very good for Calgary but Dustin Wolf has a negative save % above expected. Instead of just guessing that goalies on other teams must be better I recommend checking out money puck and look at stats like save % above expected.
His GSAA/60 is 17/27 of goalies with 16 or more games. He’s a below average starter making that kind of money. Same as it was 2 years ago, but last year he wasn’t value because he was at the bottom of the heap.
Even if they improved possession towards prior years, it’s not good enough to win Stanley to have a mediocre starter. My guess is winning teams have very good to great possession and top 10 goalies, or some variation of that.
They need to spend more money at goalie and get value. especially because 4 million is tied up in Frederic for eternity and McDavids contract is going up or with another team.
I’m with LT. Something bold and fast because something has to give. That includes making hard decisions in the now that might upset McDavid, like firing his OHL coach or sending his backup goalie friend to the AHL and parking Frederic in the press box 9 games out of 10
So you would resign him? How much would you pay for your money puck that can be skewered to make him look better. A 8 year-old child from Nepal can see with his eyeballs that skinner is below average and his stats keep going down the toilet every year since the league figured him out ( lateral movement ) after his rookie season stats.
I mean I would love and upgrade to play along side Skinner but last night was not a tender loss. Skinner was fine, the OT goal mayyybe? but not really.
I shut the game off 2nd intermission. It was an awful effort on home ice by most of the club,
The stats LT has above kind of surprised me, though 97 was flying.
It is sad to watch an effort of that kind last night. They were sleepwalking and awful the first 2 periods.
I’ll give Skinner credit when credit is due. For example Skinner leads the entire league in not allowing any rebounds.
On a plus note the game was a regional telecast so out here on the Wet Coast (and boy is it wet lately) my daughter and I didn’t feel compelled to watch it. If we had we would have stuck around for the whole thing complaining bitterly through the first two
I was never a natural athlete, I wasn’t terrible but I had to work harder and smarter to be average. When I was in my early teens, my buddies and I decided to all take up tennis, it was an even playing field since none of us had ever played before. I quickly realized that they all wanted to stay back like they saw on TV, but because we all sucked I decided that it would be beneficial to move up, closer to the net and just do little lobs over it and they were so far back they didn’t have a chance to get back to the ball. I think I ended up winning like 20+ games in a row until another kid picked up on what I was doing, and then another etc, etc… from then on I was lucky to win another set.
This Oilers team feels like that.
The achilles heel of the Oilers will forever be their lack of effort and consistency. I agree, the glimmer twins are most likely on the decline, but who knows? History tells us there will be a couple of good spikes/seasons. The Cup window is shut due to inability to draft or trade for a top 10 goalie. Unless Ingram can figure out his mental game, there isn’t a team willing to gift the Oilers a goalie that can bail out the Bouchards on this team.
Even with this team underperforming, I still think they might get another shot at the cup this year. The pacific division is not a challenging path to the WCF. The Central teams beat up on one another to get their representative. Once you get there anything can happen, I do believe there is some luck involved to win the cup.
Lots of people down on this team and rightfully so, but the path to the SCF to me is still clear.
The dumping of McLeod was a lot like the dumping of Eberle, although the return was better. Savoie may make up for the loss sometime in the future when McDavid is gone.
I did not and do not care that McLeod was and is as soft as butter.
McLeod is perfect for Buffalo, a team that doesn’t play in the postseason.
This team is missing Mr. Clattenburg laugh all you want or say how many mistakes most of them are minor or made up that the 20 year-old kid makes. I will tell you what he would laid half-dozen hits while dragging his line into battle mode for the listless first 2 periods. Also bring up Howard what is he exactly matriculating for? The Iceman is not 18 he’s almost 22 coming off a Hobey Baker winning season playing against some real men. You go back and look at comparables to Ike or even present day him not playing is a mistake that’s costing us goals and goals lead to wins.
Dont you think we have enough players up here that are good at offence but don’t have a grasp of how to play defence
They need some young hungry players with emotion it’s long season bottom 6 needs to bring it. If their not chipping in on the scoreboard they have to make it hard for the opposition physical wise.
The guy that’s always all over the 20 year-old wide eyed 5th rounder longshot must be on holidays. I’ll say it once expecting a 5th rounder energy player to not make a few small errors is not being a fair.
I am in Peru but, as always, a dick move with a complete misrepresentation of my expressed thoughts on Clatternburg.
I’ve 100% praised everything done this year and provided kudos to the kid to extending his call-up on merit. I will also be honest when he makes mistakes which, of course, are expected and, of course, are also the type that are often ironed out in the AHL.
When did I ever expect him not to make mistakes? In fact, I was very detailed examples of his overall game and the type of mistakes he was making at the AHL level.
I’m sorry I don’t agree with you that Clattenburg is the key to the cup this year.
Never been to Peru hope you enjoy Sacsay Hauman-Machu Picchu. l’m fascinated with what technology they used to cut these stones so precise. Anyhow I just think it’s a amazing story that Clattenburg even been able to play and then get his 1st goal faster than 90% of rookies. I would like to speak honestly and respectfully about this but I’m sure if do I’ll get banned from this site that I enjoy. After watching the Oilers for over 50 years this is good place to talk and basically let out frustration when we lose. I thought the pendulum was swinging back towards my kind but apparently not in these woods.
One day these Oilers will realize they need to show up for more than 10 minutes a night. Or maybe we need to wait for the next iteration; a less talented, but hard-working group.
I fear LT is correct and we have seen the peak of 97/29. You can’t win the cup with two good lines and two lines of misfit toys. Utter fail by management to find bottom six players that can get the job done. No draft picks left to speak of, bottom tier goaltending and few prospects. Yikes!!!!
— there has been less and less push back to the premise that McDrai is entering peak/decline
— it’s just math and age…
— just a thought experiment: let’s say next year at this point the new batch of signings as a whole underwhelm (again) and team is where it is like now. they would have to explore trading a below market McD for just a ton and reset around Drai while he’s still elite
— Still think come playoff this is a Cup Contender but let’s see : can’t think of a team (St-Louis doesn’t count) that have lost 2 Cups them come back for a third. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen …
When McDavid signed a few months ago I viewed it as 2 more years with McDavid (not 3)
If the Oilers haven’t won the Cup this year or next, the org has to seriously consider moving him with the final year remaining on the contract. And quite frankly, if they don’t win this year or next, McDavid may ask them to move him regardless of what the organization thinks
This was always a “reset” year – I’ll be really surprised if they go deep this year
Obvious to me that this was McDavid’s strategy all along.
Two last kicks at the can before trying to land on a team that is a true cup contender.
Doesn’t making it to back-to-back SCFs mean you’re a true Cup contender? What is the criteria to being a true Cup contender otherwise?
Additionally, haven’t the Oilers played in the second most playoff games since the 2020-2021 playoffs?
The contract extension was looking forward not backward.
Anyone can see the Oilers are aging out (Nuge, Hyman, Ekholm, Nurse, Walman, Kulak and Janmark are all past their best before dates and there is some indication Draisaitl may be dropping off too.
There are no blue chip prospects to replace them.
It’s fashionable here to tout Savoie as a savant and, while he does show SOME promise, he’s currently 14th in rookie scoring despite often playing top 6 minutes.
Most of those ahead of him on the rookie scoring list are considerably younger.
MacKinnon is older than McDavid and Draisaitl. Crosby and Ovie producing strong at close to age 40. These are generational talents who can drive a team. Stop with this bullshit, it is childish and beneath even your bullshit.
Nurse/Walman very much in prime D years
Hyman and Nuge are on very team friendly deals (but go on and tell us all how Holloway is worth 8 million a season…) and are again part of a strong possession line. Hyman is coming off a major injury, 31 other teams would love to have him. Ditto for RNH.
Kulak and Janmark are complementary players and are cast as such.
Ekholm and Bouch still tilt the ice in the right direction.
You really are stupid. Like, intellectually deficient range IQ stupid.
The majority of NHL players disagree with you.
What a tool, right?
I think you could view this year as a reset year, but it’s too bad the GM made moves to suggest going all-in. If only Bowman had held off signing Mangiapane (who will still be with the Oilers next year), the Oilers would have had some legitimate cap space to try to bring in someone who shakes loose at the deadline to beef up the 2026-2027 team.
— I think the “reset” is simply a narrative sold and spun that people are buying into
— if the signings and the youth as a whole were demonstrably better (not to mention the shocking choice to bring the goalie tandem back) the Oil would have accumulated a few more points and be comfortably in playoff position
— it’s too easy to let the organization off the hook and steer its a reset year because the moves made and not made haven’t improved the roster.
— Gianni’s wants out of Milwaukee as he sees no path to another championship. While McD hasn’t brought us a Cup no one would blame him if by next year same time same unexceptional roster construction puts them in same position
— let’s see how the rest of these home games go though before burying them. They have another stretch in mid Jan that is also favourable
— the same goalie tandem though is a fireable offense though : so sure was I they management wouldn’t run it back again
McDavid and Draisaitl are still elite. The issue is the rest of the team is well, garbage.
This is the consequence of too many bad decisions made by management.
Holland made a litany of bad moves. His best moves were signing Hyman and trading for Ekholm. We’ve been pretty lucky both have aged as well as they have thus far, especially Ekholm. His other best move was probably the one-year Kane contract.
This season, when Draisaitl and McDavid are on the bench, The Oilers have a 31% goal share—the worst ever.
We have 2/3 of a third line now comprised of guys who were on our game 7 4rth line, and they have aged further out of their prime since then.
For a GM, the Oilers needed a Kyle Dubas, a guy who could string together a bottom six from spare parts of the cheap and on the fly that doesn’t bleed goals.
— yeah I’ve kind of come to terms with why so far this year they haven’t been great because scheduling mostly.
— every year though it seems they haven’t to go on massive runs to get ready for playoffs
— can’t complain about being in 2 Cups during peak McDrai : I just wish we were better season to season with a roster that had more.
— roster construction has been mostly meh…
— I can’t think of value signings or trades that added value : sure paying full freight on a Hyman and trade and sign for Ek: but the organization has just not impressed during McDrai with difference maker stuff …
Or a Pat Verbeek.
What he has accomplished in Anaheim is stunning.
1) Chris Kreider- Leo Carlsson – Troy Terry
2) Cutter Gauthier – Mason McTavish – Bennett Sennecke
3) Ross Johnston (6’5″ 235 policeman) – Ryan Poehling – Mikael Granlund
4) Frank Vatrano – Ryan Strome – Alex Killorn
Natural centre depth:
Carlsson
McTavish
Poehling
Granlund
Strome
Gauthier
That 4th line is ridiculous.
It helps of course that his AGM/Director of Amateur Scouting Martin Madden hits hasn’t missed on a first round pick since 2027 and has also found gems later ion the draft.
Verbeek doesn’t get credit for him because he’s been with the Ducks for a long time but it seems he recognized his brilliance.
Their young, talented D still need some seasoning but Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas were brought in to provide support.
Topping that is the Ducks have been mentioned as a prime destination for Quinn Hughes and their certainly have the assets and cap space to accomplish that.
Then hiring one of the best coaches in NHL history to run the bench was a coup.
Should read 2017.
So should you.
Holland was good. But signing Campbell over Kuemper and passing on Wallstedt turned out to be crippling moves.
I think Kuemper passed on the Oilers, didn’t he?
Not saying Holland wouldn’t have gone with Jack anyways but I don’t think he ended up being able to choose between the two.
MacKinnon is getting more productive. Kuch’s 144 pt season was at age 30.
I reject age as a reason.
Math, a bit harder to reject. But really only this year (Even strength P/60, GF-GA), and that can change in a hurry. He is essentially 1.5 pts/game as he was last year in regular season and playoffs, FWIW
Daily reader here. I echo the other posters in that this version of the Oilers is exceedingly frustrating to watch. That said, Savoie and Howard are maturing in real time and when fully matriculated, will hopefully offer something lacking in the group – puck transport and possession when CMD and Leon aren’t on the ice.
Last night’s game reminded me of what McLeod used to bring – the effortless zone exit and entry when CMD wasn’t on the ice. And yes, I know why we moved him, but man, we’d kill for that low event puck transport right about now. We wanted it to be Holloway or even Broberg, then Philp. Hopefully he’s on the roster, or coming soon.
I know its 30 games in but we still don’t know what this team will be. Go Oilers!
A Ryan McLeod in the middle six is exactly what this forward group is missing.
71 was notably out there for the Sabres in OT.
To my eyes it looked like nobody was out there for OT on the Oilers side. The team played a hell of a last few minutes of the third, then … Kudos to McLeod & co. for not giving up, despite losing a 3-0 lead.
“The next steps belong to Stan Bowman.”
Yuck.
Bowman did a fine job shoring up the blueline for playoffs earlier this year, and Roslovic was a good end-of-summer signing, but I’m not a fan of his other major moves so far…
I don’t trust Bowman one bit to get the job done, but he’s at least 2 coach firings away from getting turfed. I’ll cheer like hell for McDavid and Drai and Nuge to keep elevating their games and maybe they get it done. I’ll cheer like hell for the Oilers as always. But I don’t have to cheer for a GM that a lot of people didn’t want in the first place, and who isn’t knocking anyone’s socks off with amazing work.
Amen, brother.
Giving Knoblauch an extension is questionable as well. He’s being exposed this season with out any experienced or strong voices around him. I also think his personality is all wrong for this team, he never shows any urgency and neither does his team.
I don’t keep track of who the Oilers professional scout are, but there have been too many misses over the years.
Hyman was a guy who wasn’t a revelation, he was in the ‘obviously good player’ bucket. You could have watched the Oilers play the Leafs twice and known he was really good.
Earlier Kane too (pre-Oilers). Ekholm was in that sort of ‘obviously good player’ bucket as well.
Where the Oilers struggle is in the other categories.
Athanasiou. He was in the ‘obvious can’t play defense’ bucket. He had a terrible WAR rating.
Campbell was a guy, Leaf’s bloggers had identified had a hot start to his last year there, then struggled the rest of try season. He also had a poor HDSV%.
Mangiapane and Frederic contracts represent a continuation of poor professional scouting, wasting limited cap space, and adding poor contracts.
Not just scouting, but also analytics.
If anything, Mangiapane would have been a huge analytics signing, no? I mean he has been positive across the board in all possession, goal share and play driving metrics every year in the league.
Its not like Arvidsson last year who was negative most years prior to Edmonton.
Last night’s game is the type of game that infuriates the hell out of me. It was all about lack of effort. The team had NO BUSINESS losing to the Sabres. They hadn’t won a road game in 8 months and were on the second half of a back-to-back.
How many times do the Oilers have to fail to learn this lesson? This wasn’t an off night. It was a lack of effort, full-stop. They didn’t even attempt to play hard until the 3rd period.
I don’t want to hear about Bouchard’s mistakes (and yes, he was poor) or goaltending. This was all about lack of interest in competing. It is a reflection on the leadership group that this kind of crap keeps happening over and over. It’s been the same story for years. The Sabres are a bad hockey team, and the Oilers should blow the doors off of them. Their goalie didn’t “steal” a win and they didn’t get lucky bounces. The Oilers just flat out did not start playing hard until the 3rd period.
An embarrassing effort that frankly, I’m tired of seeing time and again from this team. I would bag-skate the hell out of them today. F^&%king Oilers
The other issue is, even if they do try, the bottom 6 cannot piss a drop. McDrai won’t score points every game.
I have always cheered for McDavid but after 10 years in the league has he learned to check his man in OT – apparently Not!!!
Feast or famine oilers are a frustrating watch this year. Completely listless for 40 mins, turn it on for the last 20 and then immediately forget how to play man defense in OT. Yuck.
Prospecterious!
In a rare midweek game, Dalyn Wakely gets the spotlight to himself.
He has 12 points (5 G) in 16 GP this season. That doesn’t exactly leap off the page, but he leads his team in scoring and no one else on the River Hawks has double digits.
UMass-Lowell’s offense is 52nd among the 63 Div-1 teams, scoring only 2.31 goals/game. (Top-scoring Michigan is more than twice as potent with 4.80. Worst is Mercyhurst at 1.38.)
Puck drops @ 5 p.m. Kapasiwin time.
It’s funny how we remember things compared to how the stats show things to be. Watching the Bouchard debacle last night, I thought to myself people compare him to some of the best defensemen in the league. I think he’s closer to Tyson Barrie. So I proceed to compare just their boxcars and quickly find out Barrie is not in the same stratosphere as Bouchard both in points and plus minus over their careers. Bouchard is a substantial player even if he drives me completely crazy with some of his boneheaded plays.
BTW, I like Tyson Barrie as a player
Barrie truly was a PP merchant on the Oilers. Bouchard produces (creates) a ton at 5 on 5 as well.
Bouchard also does not give up a ton of goals against its just (a) he goes through defensive streaks where he has games last like night and (b) his mistakes are highly visible doozies. Bouch also goes through long stretches where he’s very good defensively and not many goals go in.
Canadian teams make up roughly 1/4 of the league and haven’t won a Cup since 1993. We may be waiting longer than a generation for another Cup here.
I think the Oilers have been pretty much figured out and, as noted, don’t have the depth of the Bolts or Panthers.
This team has no swagger, no identity, is soft as a marshmallow, and only puts the pressure on when it’s literally the 11th hour (or the 59th minute).
Panthers are in a rough spot this year. Too much hockey over the past 3 seasons is showing the wear and tear.
The Panthers can point to injuries to Barkov, Tkachuk, etc. for their suckitude.
What’s Edmonton’s excuse?
It might be tougher to make it to the SCF & Lose than it is to win.
Yup. You get all the physical breakdown, lack of off season but no sense of completion to offset it.
Where do we begin? 🙂
It starts at the top, and the ownership felt (a) Jackson could wheel and deal without a GM during a critical beginning of offseason in 2024, and (b) Bowman was the guy. Everything else flows from there…
Bad signings this last 2 offseasons , mediocre to poor goaltending , slow non physical bottom 6 with not much offense, poor breakout system with a D core that can’t skate it out period making a good play or have issues passing it out, A non physical D in our own end and in front of the net, A lack of compete in a lot of games ( 2 periods last night) where they hardly ever give a full 60 let alone 40. Poor coaching a lot of the time ( this year) where they do not adjust to the style being played against them during the game. Probably more than that lol
I’d argue that a number of factors afflicting the Oilers this season are akin to having major injuries to key players:
Sure, but they can cry themselves to sleep in their Stanley Cup Winners PJs
The odd thing is the Panthers are only 6 points out of first place in the Atlantic Division and have multiple games in hand on the leaders.
A small winning streak could easily see them grab a spot.
Tkachuk is also expected back shortly.
They sure showed some swagger last night in that third period comeback. Too bad it didn’t carry over to the OT. That was the worst OT I have ever witnessed . It was as if they had no interest whatsoever and were solely content with the single point. Here Buffalo you can have this one you probably deserve it.
Good idea!
Think we can flip Trent Frederic to the Isles for Pierre Engvall (LTIR)? Doubt Freddy is opposed to a change of scenery.
Need some money to shop for depth scoring.
Frederic is nowhere near the player he was in Boston prior to his injury. He doesn’t even hit anymore . In Boston he used to lay some huge hits. Magpie is nowhere near the player he was in his Calgary days either. Need his chippy play and that seems to have completely left his bag of tricks. If Both those guys were playing like we all thought they would, this would be a much better team.
I just don’t want to ever see the Oilers bring in another player from Boston.
Frederic and Mangiapane do not fit the system the Oilers are playing. Who is one supposed to blame for that?
Who’s to blame Fredric showing zero heart out there and just cashing cheques?
Nobody will take that contract on. Every team has 3-5 guys in the minors that will bring more than 10 is bringing.
As soon as that contract was offered it was a fireable offense. Can’t believe the msm isn’t roasting Bowman daily on this
The MSM hasn’t been given permission to run him out of town yet
In all honesty they were lucky to escape with a point. The 1st 2 periods they were completely pushed to the outside perimeter. On the pp they weren’t shooting enough. When the 3rd came they started shooting and Lo and behold they banged in rebounds.
Bouchard stunk, it was his typical care free play you get from him every couple of games out of 10. He Definitely caused 2 goals. His lack of battle in OT when he lost that puck was a joke.
But Bouchard aside , the rest of the team was not good at all in the 1st 2. McDavid was definitely flying, but the rest seemed to mail it in on one of those nights where they thought they would just show up ( like the 1st matchup in Buffalo) and they would win.
It is too bad they came out that flat.
The bottom 6 needs some more speed and they do need a D man that is mean in front.
Lets hope we see a much better effort on Thursday.
Speaking of entertainment: last night, four NHL games were tied in the final 15 seconds of regulation.
Yeah, what is up with that? Teams are not holding leads late like they used to in general. I’d be interested if there is easily accessible data on that.
Not a good thing.
I’m glad I went to bed after the 2nd to change the fortunes of the team in the 3rd. But boy, that was not a well played game.
I need someone to explain to me why the Oilers now turn back in their own zone every time they get possession and do not see a 50 ft stretch pass available. I shake my fist at the TV every time it happens. Buffalo figured out that a pressure forecheck breaks that down quickly, and gave them a lot of possession time in the offensive zone from the mid first onward.
I would also pry Lyon loose from Buffalo as our new backup G. So much better and more reliable than Pickard.
Yes really noticed the turning back thing last night. If the plan is to get it back to the D to stretch pass it out or have a C man carry it out from sweeping behind the net, I am not sure this really works that good with our D and When McD or Drai are not the C men on the ice
Too often in my mind, it lets the other team get set, identify the breakout forwards & to push the D back behind the net. The Oilers retain the puck, but have to retreat and either line change, have the forwards swing behind the net or lose the puck in a board battle. Last night it seemed like “the losing board battle” was the norm. Buffalo was all over them in the neutral zone too.
I’m not sure they do it EVERY time. But sometimes it’s waiting for fresh players coming on the ice.