The Edmonton Oilers were the second best hockey team on Calgary’s ice last night, with the five-on-five play being the difference. I’ll give the McDavid line and Bouchard pairing good marks, and for me Connor Ingram played well and showed calm feet. After that? The Flames beat them in the alley, on the scoreboard and mocked them with their swagger. That’s the formula to beat these Oilers, and oh my does it work well.
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) 1-0-1
- On the road to: TML, Canadiens, Penguins (Expected 2-1-0) 2-1-0
- On the road to: Bruins, Wild (Expected 1-1-0) 1-1-0
- At home to: VEG, Flames (Expected 1-0-1) 2-0-0
- On the road to: Flames, Jets (Expected 1-0-1) 0-1-0
- At home to: Bruins (Expected 1-0-0)
- Expected Record: 9-3-3, 21 points in 15 games
- Actual Record: 8-4-1, 17 points in 13 games
- Season Record: 19-14-6, 44 points in 39 games
No matter what happens from here, December has been a success. Closing out with two wins is possible, and would match my predicted point total for the month. I don’t think people should use four posts for any morale victory, that was a game lost and an opportunity missed. However, if Alec Regula’s giveaway doesn’t happen, the Oilers grab a Bettman. I do think the team needs to acquire some players who can get to the play and be bothersome. That used to be Trent Frederic, perhaps it will be again. For now, I’d call up a miserable cuss. Shake up the third and fourth lines a little.
- Nuge-McDavid-Hyman 9:13, 10-5 shots, 63X, 4-3 HDSC
- Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Roslovic 5:07, 2-6 shots, 0-1 goals, 16X, 0-4 HDSC
- Draisiatl-McDavid-Hyman 4:46, 6-4 shots, 1-1 goals, 81X, 4-1 HDSC
- Jones-Frederic-Janmark 4:19, 0-3 shots, 0-1 goals, 0X, 0-0 HDSC
- Mangiapane-Henrique-Savoie 3:58, 0-2 shots, 52X, 1-1 HDSC
The top line rocked steady, and Leon Draisaitl had success with McDavid and Hyman. After that? Well, there were eight HDSC’s at five-on-five from both versions of McDavid lines above, and the team delivered 12 in total. Only two depth forwards, Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic, posted a high-danger chance.
Here are the things that the rest of the forwards did that hold value: Matt Savoie and Jack Roslovic drew penaltes; Mattias Janmark had a couple of blocked shots; Henrique went 10-3 in the dot; Henrique, Roslovic, Janmark, Podkolzin and Mangiapane all blocked shots. Those are good things, but not enough good things.
Oilers hit the post four times, but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Edmonton needed more from the second line. I thought Podkolzin and Roslovic were not sharp, and wondered if Savoie would get a look with Leon (he did). I wondered if Max Jones would get a shift with McDavid (he did).
There’s no reason to overreact to last night’s game, but you can see the wheels in motion on this roster. If I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, coach Kris Knoblauch abandoned his physical line (Max Jones-Trent Frederic-Mattias Janmark) in a very physical game. It’s a curious choice. I understand chasing the game, but Frederic’s foot speed is showing signs of recovery. The two recent games against the Flames are his second and third fastest of the season according to NHL Edge. His speed bursts over 32KPH are now above NHL average for forwards. I believe Frederic will impact the game more often when his speed returns fully. There are some encouraging signs. I do think Max Jones, a better skater, could eat Frederic’s lunch when the veteran evantually moves off centre.
- Ekholm-Bouchard 16:25, 12-15 shots, 1-1 goals, 53X, 7-3 HDSC
- Nurse-Regula 10:57, 4-3 shots, 0-1 goals, 57X, 2-1 HDSC
- Stastney-Emberson 8:52, 3-5 shots, 50X, 2-1 HDSC
- Nurse-Stastney 4:43, 3-3 shots, 21X, 0-2 HDSC
- Connor Ingram 29-32, .906SP
I don’t often talk about giveaways, they’re part of the sport and everyone does it. The game turned on a play by Alec Regula, who combined bad luck with slow reaction and ended up also in photo on a nothing play. It happens. However, the overall giveaway totals by Edmonton defensemen last night (13) is higher than Peter Tosh on the cover of Legalize It. I don’t need to smoke a marijuana to know 13 is way too high for giveaways.
I liked Bouchard, Ekholm, Nurse and Stastney in this game despite the turnovers. Emberson needs to move the puck more quickly or he’s going to get hurt, and Regula had a tough game. I’m not sure the Oilers will run both men in any playoff game this coming spring.
The top unit (Ike Howard, Josh Samanski, Quinn Hutson) continues to roll on down the highway. Both Howard and Hutson have appeared in NHL games this season, how long until we see Samanski? I’d also put in a good word for Jarventie and James Hamblin can absolutely play (but won’t move the needle offensively in the NHL). There are no other prospects clearly in the recall queue, in my opinion. Marjala has power-play skill but is bleeding at even strength and is not a prime scorer in the game state. My recall order would be Howard, Hutson, Samanski, Jarventie, with Jarventie maybe getting the early call to offer a rugged edge.
Beau Akey has been low event recently, while former partner Atro Leppanen is appearing in all the goals. You’d like to see at least a little offense from the rookie. Damien Carfagna is the other defenseman with a possible future, I’ve liked his game since some early-season wobble. Not sure I’d wager on either man playing more career games than Brandon Davidson, but we’ll see. Leppanen’s offensive instincts are impressive. The Condors don’t have enough defensemen who can thrive at this level.
Connor Ingram didn’t play well in Bakersfield, but as mentioned the team is down a defenseman or three. However, his performance in the NHL (.915 save percentage in three games) is an emerging story for the Oilers season.
New for The Athletic: Why didn’t the Edmonton Oilers’ David Tomasek experiment work out?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6921285/2025/12/28/edmonton-oilers-david-tomasek-waivers/
In the article, you related that Tomasek was given PP time in October but you didn’t mention how miscast he was on the PP. With Hyman out recovering from his wrist injury, Tomasek was given the role to screen the goalie and bash in pucks close to the net. DT was more of a playmaker and shooter and should have rotated with Nuge on the left half instead of being given a grinder role. It was a little unfair to ask a player to step into the hardest league in the world and ask him to excel in a play style that didn’t optimize his skills and abilities within only a month.
At 5 on 5, Tomasek needed to win a spot alongside McD or Drai to solidify his position but the coach was too busy with the blender rotating in all the “tryouts” and giving no one a chance to get comfortable or find chemistry. The October record reflected the coach’s self induced chaos brought on by a GM who actually provided too many “maybe” options. Roslovic was the only addition who gained enough traction and won the last open top 6 roster spot over all the other applicants in November.
Honestly, once Roslovic was signed, this decision on Tomasek was inevitable. When delaying decisions, the saying goes, “Shit or get off the pot”. It just took two unnecessary months for the Oilers to get off the pot.
He never had a chance as a coach you have to look at footage and all the numbers and see what makes a player tick. If someone is blocked at his age by more than 1 player it goes from depth to waste of a roster stop. What im trying to say is I agree that K.K never game this player a opportunity to succeed in what he’s programmed for.
The Oilers needed him to fill a role on an incredible power play. I can’t imagine a better opportunity for an unproven player. Nuge is the third best playmaker on the power play. That area is well served.
He is too slow .By that I mean his reaction time was not quick enough for the NHL .He was given time to improve that area of his game but could not . He came to try out to see if he could make the league. If didn’t work out .Im sure he is not upset at the oilers or he would have agreed to go else where in the league .The fact he didn’t says to me he realized that at 29 it was not going to work .. You dont turn the team upside down to fit a square peg in a round hole .This is the NHL and it is about winning .Simple as that. You don’t disrupt the leagues number one power play just because you want to give some guy a chance to play with McDavid et el
Makes you wonder why he chose the Oilers, he had options. And better personal opportunities on a team more thin at what he does
When Tomasek signed, none of Roslovic, Howard or Mangipane were in the org and Frederic was pending UFA.
Jarry still a couple of weeks but we’ll see him sometime in January… we anticipate.
Coach.
January 3rd would be ideal for Kap and Walman but it may be a bit longer.
Summarizing!
Lafreniere and Wakely were denied the gift of satisfying soup, despite the former recording a team-high 6 SOG.
Nicholl did not dress.
If there isn’t a 3C to be had, I think the next best solution is to call up Howard to play on McDavid’s wing and slot RNH at 3C. The problem is the team is still exposed at that position if there are any injuries in the top 9, but I think it deserves a shot soon to see if it could be one of the options going forward.
If they can get someone with salary retained at the deadline, it shouldn’t be a problem to sit Frederic or Mangiapane in the playoffs to get the playing roster to be cap compliant.
The other thing is this problem will still exist next year, so it’d be nice to get someone with a bit of term, which would make it more palatable to trade a first rounder for this player.
but how do they acquire that during the regular season?
This team may not have cap space to carry 20 skaters shortly.
Nicholl is NOT in today’s lineup. Next game for London is NYE.
Practice in Winnipeg per Stauff:
RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie
Frederic-Roslovic-Janmark/Jones
Mangiapane-Henrique-Lazar
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Stastney
Stillman-Emberson
Regula
Pickard
Ingram
Looks like Ingram gets the start and Regula may be healthied for Stilman (which I don’t like, despite Regula’s mistakes – Stilman is a tier below and also makes mistakes).
Henrique down to 4C with a non-centre, Roslovic, at 3C.
Pickard is getting the start. Not Ingram.
Yes, that was what I meant (but not what I typed).
Or, yes, what I typed was incorrect, not why didn’t you understand what I meant to type as a response?
What? I said that I mis-typed – no need to be a Jerk.
It is his name.
So Roslovic has to trim his sideburns.
Frederic–Janmark (73 TOI)
Cushy gig for Roslo.
Disappointing last night to see Darnell being the only player taking a number and delivering hard, late hits targeted against the opposing antagonists. Hyman had his early ankle slash at the benches against Clapka, but there was no shortage of opportunity for the likes of Jones, Frederic, Podzilla, or even the Janitor to take out the trash and send a message.
A fleet of foot and ill tempered 3C is definitely one of this team’s biggest needs.
Of the list I posted the other week of potential targets, I still stand by prioritizing the likes of Boone Jenner or Charlie Coyle. Jenner, in particular, feels like he’d be a strong addition given his utility and leadership qualities.
Ideally an acquisition as such would allow RNH to stay as 1LW and bump someone in the bottom-6 down a bit further.
The more I think about it, the only way a Tuch acquisition works (setting aside AAV and acquisition cost for the moment) is if there’s a rugged winger who can also come in and compliment RNH as 3C. That’s also presuming Tuch gels with 97 or 29. Given the cap situation this has more of an off season feeling to it, should it ever come to pass.
With Buffalo winning 8 straight, Tuch may not be going anywhere.
That town is starved for playoff hockey.
Plenty of games to play before the TDL, and the end of the season for that matter.
Be interesting to see when the new-GM bounce levels off.
That said, eventually the curse will be broken, perhaps this is finally their year.
All that aside, as per my post, “Given the cap situation this has more of an off season feeling to it, should it ever come to pass.”
Tuch will be 30 in the offseason and looking for a long term contract.
It is not the new-GM bounce. It is will Josh Norris stay healthy. If Norris stays healthy, Buffalo is probably relatively for real. Not 8-0 real. But real enough.
Plenty of talent…the Sabres just needed some direction.
Leafs will probably claim Philp.
Calgary
Vancouver has first dibs and needs centres.
Adam Henrique would score twice as much but he’s playing in the DZ most of the time
Can Frederick go to LTIR and sit the playoffs for cap space? Doesn’t seem like many trades can be made this year at the deadline for a playoff run?
Leon is getting run at every game on more than 1 one occasion. Frederic tries to aid but he’s not very good at it. Clattenburg he’s a middle weight he could tune in from Bennett-Marchand to even a Olivier type. Anyhow Leon needs to get a couple game suspension with a elbow-shoulder what ever it takes to show the rest of the league he’s not eligible for open game hunting season. Time to call-up Poulin stick him with Leon between him and Podkolzin should give Leon open ice where he thrives.
That is what Messier did .They used to run him when he was young but one season he said enough is enough and he flattened a few guys with Gordie Howe type elbows which resulted in a few broke jaws and they all steered clear of him after that .
It’s too obvious for this organization. They always need to prove they’re smarter than everyone and do things the opposite way.
I know there’s not many here that agree with me, but how about getting some guys willing to do anything to play in the NHL. Instead of wasting contracts of 3.6, 3, 3.8, 1.2, million on useless passengers.
Look at Tampa Bay, that’s the model. Have some freaking pride for the sweater. Stand up for the guys that carry the team.
Colorado:
Arturri Lehkonen – 2LW – 2nd round pick, prospect – 4 X $4.5M
Val Nichushkin – 2RW- UFA – 2 X $2.5M (then extended)
Ross Colton – 3LW – 2nd round pick – 4 X $4M
Victor Olofsson – 3RW – UFA – 1 X $1.575M
Parker Kelly – 4C/LW – UFA – 4 X $1.7M
Joel Kirivanta – 4LW – UFA – 2 X $775K
Gavin Brindley – 4RW – UFA – 3 X $950K
Only Nichushkin signed to a long term deal and not one NMC in sight.
Every player providing value for money.
Their D with Toews, Manson, Burns, Girard and Malinski also features low acquisition costs as well as significant value.
yes we get it… might as well give them the Cup right now no ?
The team is passive and so is the culture. They had to call up a 20 year-old fricking kid to do there fighting for them. These guys don’t hate Calgary it’s one big love fest a few years back Holloway was wearing Calgary paraphernalia in the Oilers dressing room strutting around without a care in the world. Back in the day Lee Fogolin would of grabbed him by the neck and squeezed until he turned blue and then kicked him in the ass out of the dressing room.
Back in the day, we spoke of the Belanger triangle. Now we have the Rico triangle
December scoring at 5v5.
Player GP TOI Goals/60 1st Ast/60 Points/60
———————————————————————-
Connor McDavid 13 207.7 1.73 1.16 3.47
Leon Draisaitl 13 204.8 0.29 2.05 2.64
Quinn Hutson 3 22.7 2.64 0.00 2.64
Zach Hyman 13 192.3 1.56 0.31 2.18
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 13 166.1 0.72 0.72 2.17
Vasily Podkolzin 13 177.6 1.69 0.00 2.03
David Tomasek 4 35.4 1.70 0.00 1.70
Max Jones 6 45.1 0.00 1.33 1.33
Mattias Janmark 13 143.4 0.42 0.42 1.26
Matt Savoie 13 158.0 0.76 0.00 1.14
Curtis Lazar 9 69.8 0.86 0.00 0.86
Andrew Mangiapane 13 144.4 0.42 0.42 0.83
Trent Frederic 12 115.5 0.00 0.52 0.52
Adam Henrique 13 143.0 0.00 0.00 0.00
Jack Roslovic 3 38.7 0.00 0.00 0.00
Connor Clattenburg 2 10.5 0.00 0.00 0.00
The Oilers have an Adam Henrique problem.
Here is November,
Player GP TOI Goals/60 1st Ast/60 Points/60
——————————————————————-
Connor McDavid 14 245.7 1.22 0.73 2.69
Jack Roslovic 13 199.5 1.50 0.60 2.41
Connor Clattenburg 3 25.0 2.40 0.00 2.40
Leon Draisaitl 14 237.7 0.76 1.01 2.27
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 5 66.0 0.00 1.82 1.82
Andrew Mangiapane 14 179.4 0.33 0.67 1.67
Zach Hyman 7 114.6 0.00 1.05 1.57
Vasily Podkolzin 14 200.5 0.90 0.60 1.50
Mattias Janmark 10 105.6 0.00 0.00 1.14
Matt Savoie 14 168.7 0.36 0.00 1.07
David Tomasek 7 61.1 0.98 0.00 0.98
Trent Frederic 14 153.7 0.39 0.00 0.39
Adam Henrique 14 166.2 0.00 0.36 0.36
Curtis Lazar 8 67.4 0.00 0.00 0.00
Noah Philp 9 73.5 0.00 0.00 0.00
Isaac Howard 6 48.1 0.00 0.00 0.00
Rico has one point at 5v5 in his last 27 games. A 1st assist.
Since November:
Adam Henrique — 5v5 (27 games)
Usage
Scoring
Shooting & chance generation
Philp on waivers when he was ready to be activated was all but inevitable.
Lazar has the trust of the coaching staff over him and the Oilers have less than zero cap room.
Remember when the Oilers were going to need to cut a Janmark or a Kap or someone like that at the beginning of the year to get cap compliant – well, that “went away” when Hyman went on LTIR and then the Oilers have had a material contract on LTIR (or two) the entire time just kicking these roster decisions down the road.
Since then they also added Roslovic.
I haven’t crunched the numbers exactly but they may need to get down to a 19 skater roster in order to activate both Kap and Walman and Ingram being over $100K more than Pickard MAY be a factor (sure hope not).
Yes, now we have “bad contracts” in Fred, Mang and Rico that we’d like to send down but the only available is Mang and its not going to happen any time soon.
Clatt will also go down when activated and Stilman will go down when Walman is ready but there will be much more needed to be done to get both Walman and Kap activated.
Coaching staff seems to love Janny and Kap, both are “over-capped” but they will be here I’m sure.
Kapanen 1.36% of the teams cap space.
Janmark 1.65%
Henrique 3.41%
Mangiapane 3.77%
Frederic 4.03%
Imo Kap and Jan are both in line where they should be cap wise.
LTIR someone.
Stastney 0.94%
Regula 0.81%
Emberson 1.36%
Regula makes some mistakes, he needs at bats to iron those out. With a team looking for dollars does Emberson survive?
Hope he gets claimed and has a better opportunity elsewhere . Kid is a good player that this coach never gave a good opportunity in my opinion.
There’s no way they are comfortable running a 19 man roster
Does he mean 19 skaters plus two goalies? 12 forwards & 7 defensemen & 2 goalies?
There’s no way they try to put Regula on waivers. If he gets claimed team has absolutely no depth if one of top 6 gets injured.
19 skater not 19 player (21 player) and, I agree, that would be far less than ideal but it may be the case unless they are willing to waive Mang or Kap or Janmark and want to keep Ingram over Pick.
I haven’t crunched the numbers.
The only one of those three that might have trade value is Mang and with him you may need to throw in an another piece . Frederick is abad contract out and bad contract tin type of trade
There is no positive trade value with any of them and I would include Mang in that – not team would pay a positive asset for that contract, he’d clear waivers I’m sure.
Then waive MangyP. Enough of this awarding ice time by contract status.
Give some hungrier players an opportunity. Get the attention of the underperformers
Not against that at all, just not sure the org will do it in the near term.
With that said, Friedman speaks about the Oilers moving on from Mang in his 32 Thoughts that dropped this morning. I have not listened to it yet but will shortly.
— all the posts reminds me of when I was playing my highest level of hockey I had this interaction with our goalie after the puck hit the post on a breakaway during the most important tourney were playing in upper state NY. Everyone was really tense as it was a big time event.
— After the whistle I skated up to him :
Kinger :” man that was lucky”!
Richard (the goalie): “that’s all I gave him”
— We both laughed so hard. It was a perfect delivery and relieved our tensions. It became our inside joke every time a puck hit the post I’d come over and tap his pads and we’d have some variation of that : “that’s all he could see” and on and on. Good times…
Not sure if it was fuhr or Ranford who replied to the press who commented on a goalpost with “you want me to save the misses too?”
Your post reminded me of that.
I know I mentioned this last game but once again the bottom 6 got buried in zone starts. The Oil were chasing so it makes a bit of sense and yes power plays make a difference but there were only 3 and only 2 pk’s.
Offensive zone starts by player
Mcdavid 68.8%
Draisaitl 55.6%
Hyman 68.8%
Bouchard 62.5%
Nuge 53.3%
Jones 50%
Ekholm 36.4%
Regula 44.4%
Roslovic 33.3%
Nurse 31.3%
Henrique 25%
Janmark 25%
Frederic 25%
Mangiapane 20%
Stastney 12.5%
Podkolzin 10%
Emberson 10%
Savoie 9.1%
IMO, you can not start Henrique, Janmark, Frederic, Mangiapane, Podkolzin and Savoie (less that 10%) all 25% or less in the offensive zone and then be shocked when they don’t put up HDSC or points.
That seems illogical. At that point they are just trying to not get scored on because they are digging themselves out of a hole the majority of the time they are on the ice.
If it were easier to see how many face offs were taken on the PP and PK I could work it out for 5v5, I assume there is but I am not sure where to look without digging into it at the moment.
If anyone does know, please let me know below, hockey reference doesn’t break it down game by game just by the season.
I would guess the majority of the bottom 6 six shifts were on the fly and the own zone starts were likely against Calgary’s 3/4 lines.
It’s actually a lot more complicated than it would seem. Most websites calculate ozone start percentage as a ratio of offensive zone starts over (ozone +d zone starts.)
In other words, they don’t include neutral zone starts or on-the-fly starts. Coaches actually shift weaker players more on-the-fly to control who they’re on the ice against.
The actual number of ozone and dzone starts are actually quite small relative to neutral zone and on-the-fly starts as you can see.
This is from Natural Stat Trick.
| Player | OZS/60 | NZS/60 | DZS/60 | OTFS/60 |
|———————|——–|——–|——–|———|
| Connor Clattenburg | 1.69 | 15.22 | 0.00 | 65.95 |
| Kasperi Kapanen | 5.06 | 20.25 | 5.06 | 41.34 |
| Noah Philp | 5.97 | 14.50 | 10.23 | 48.60 |
| Curtis Lazar | 6.39 | 12.41 | 11.66 | 55.65 |
| Mattias Janmark | 6.51 | 14.94 | 8.68 | 47.00 |
| Zach Hyman | 7.62 | 13.49 | 4.50 | 43.40 |
| Vasily Podkolzin | 7.92 | 15.72 | 6.49 | 42.77 |
| Adam Henrique | 8.06 | 13.17 | 11.83 | 41.93 |
| Jack Roslovic | 8.12 | 13.79 | 8.73 | 38.15 |
| Connor McDavid | 8.47 | 11.66 | 4.64 | 39.70 |
| Trent Frederic | 9.08 | 13.69 | 6.63 | 47.84 |
| Leon Draisaitl | 9.13 | 13.46 | 7.06 | 39.16 |
| David Tomasek | 9.21 | 14.42 | 6.14 | 50.64 |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 9.23 | 14.00 | 6.92 | 42.62 |
| Isaac Howard | 9.06 | 10.64 | 5.91 | 54.78 |
| Andrew Mangiapane | 10.10 | 13.06 | 6.28 | 46.32 |
| Matt Savoie | 10.04 | 14.35 | 6.78 | 44.48 |
| Max Jones | 13.31 | 21.29 | 5.32 | 47.91 |
| Quinn Hutson | 15.86 | 10.57 | 2.64 | 68.72 |
Hockey reference also uses the very old and original method for calculating offensive zone start percentage.
This method was noted to be problematic over ten years ago. It isn’t corrected by shift data. For example, every time you are on the ice and someone ices the puck, you essentially earn a defensive zone draw rather than being intentionally put on the ice for one.
Philp on waivers
He hasn’t played in such a long time. Hope he doesn’t get claimed. Could they not just send him on a conditioning stint?
1) he would have to agree to the conditioning stint (he may want to see if another org claims him).
2) CBA is clear that a conditioning stint cannot be used as a ploy to avoid waivers and the Oilers would be needing to do this soon anyways to get Walman and Kap activated (well, they don’t HAVE to, but they would as they’ve chosen Lazar over him and are not going to waive any of Janmark or Kap or Mang, as much as some of us would like that).
I would hate to see him claimed by another organization, but OTOH he’s good enough to play and is not getting that chance here.
I hope he gets claimed. Nice kid and this coach is not a big fan obviously. I would luv to see him get an opportunity to play full time
If this is true i can’t find it anywhere?
NHL Waiver Wire | Puckpedia
I see Ethan Bear is also on there. He was signed by the Isles in the off-season but hasn’t played a game due to some sort of injury. I’m assuming they activated him from LTIR and are trying to get him assigned to their AHL team.
Bear had an upper body injury from what I recall… either a re-injury of his shoulder or another concussion. Unless the Maple Leafs want another ex-Oiler, highly likely he clears and helps the Bridgeport Isles as a veteran mentor.
Found it. Tomasek & Philp on waivers today
Everyone see Marchand kick Raddysh when he went for a hit last night?
No penalty and because it’s him and the Panthers I’m sure zero additional punishment.
Players need to stop messing around and take all of this into their own hands. The league and the PA refuse to protect them.
They’re too busy protecting rats to bother with the rest of the players.
Bennett not only ran a guy from behind, he lifted his knee to try to get him in the back of the head.
No more dropping the gloves with these guys. Time for sticks and to actually pay the price for the crap they’ve been doing for years.
The Lightning are the the only ones to man-up to the Panthers. It comes from the top
Lightning are run by hard-nosed individual. Bowman always had a Ben Eager type and more with the Hawks. With the additions of Jones-Poulin-Frederic we are getting there slowly.
Wish every single team would play the Panthers like this. Would make for a very hard season for the Panthers.
Forget Ben Eagers.
I want Kirill Tulupovs.
They should have made Tuli a winger. It’s not like Big George was that much of a hockey player. They just couldn’t get the puck back if he got it in the corner
The Hawks top players were filthy. Keith was a lumberjack in the playoffs. Toews was also sneaky dirty.
“Nighty night Backes” is all you need to know about Duncan Keith and being dirty.
Prospectocosm!
Tommy Lafreniere went off for 2 + 3 last night in a 1st-star performance. Does he have another in him tonight? We wait.
Wakely returns to action from the post-Xmas break.
And since the return of Nicholl from off-season shoulder surgery is nigh, we are officially on Nicholl Watch.
UMass-Lowell (Wakely) @ 1:30 p.m.
London (Nicholl) @ 5 p.m.
Kamloops (Lafreniere) @ 5 p.m.
Both times, as usual, are La Glace time.
Hi Tarkus – thanks for taking the time to fill us in. Much appreciated. Also want to say hello from snowy LaGlace. Thanks for making us famous.
Is Nicholl playing?
I believe you mentioned last week he was getting close but I didn’t know his return was officially imminent.
I would love that.
Nicholl not playing.
A Walman return pushes Regula to 7D and vastly improves the on-ice product.
Of course, that presumes Walman stays healthy and the rest of the group stays healthy.
If they aren’t able to trust Regula to step in during the playoffs then I think a depth d-man is likely the add – there is nothing coming from Bako for the defence this year except MAYBE Paul Fischer? Could he possibly be ready when his NCAA season is done.
The Oilers do need a 3C or some other addition to help the bottom six. Unlike the defence, the Oilers have 4 legit forwards banging down the door for NHL minutes. Hutson, Samanski, Howard and Jarventie have all earned a shot and are all cheap on the cap (well, Howard is $1.5MM while the Oilers are in LTIR, down below $1MM if they aren’t).
Are any of those guys going to provide the crash and bang in the bottom six, no, but they might be able to impact the talent, potential to score and increase the energy. There is also the argument that any of them could play in the top 6 allowing a Nuge or a Podz to help in bottom.
There will be cap room for 1 call-up when Tomasek is moved off the books. Of course, activating Walman (and Kap) will require major surgery to the roster and there isn’t room for anyone unless player(s) are moved out.
Sure, Jared McCann would be awesome but I don’t know where the “money out” comes from to make that trade without a waive of a clause.
Mang can be waived and assigned but that saves $1.15MM, not his full cap.
Its getting to be time to work one or more of the real prospects in to the middle of this roster and see if there is a “cheap add” that can impact.
Walman is starting to frustrate me between him Frederic-Mangiapane that’s 12 million that could be replaced for half the cost. Do we even see Walman in 250 games as a Oiler under his new deal? The man has missed a lot of games in his 20’s when he was young now the injuries are piling up and Bowman signs him forever. Unlike Nurse Walman seems to play a style that induces injuries small and major.
Bouchard in the Ovi spot waiting to unload on the PP?
Why yes and more please!
After 10 years still serving Connor and Leon too the Wolves. People laughed when I mentioned in the Summer that the Clattenburg train couldn’t arrive soon enough. After watching Lomberg whose teaching klapka all the dirty tricks mock and bully us is embarrassing. I hope this kid is alright and this is all precautionary and not a Brett Calighen soon to be ending of a career at age 20. I guess the one saving grace for him is that it happened where at least he’s getting paid his NHL wages.
I don’t disagree, necessarily – The flames were the more desperate team and it was their 100% effort and commitment that got them two points. The Oilers were OK but were not as sharp as they had been but the clear talent discrepancy between these two teams were evident as the Oilers could easily have won. They didn’t because:
1) 4 posts and a number of other missed opportunities (missed 2 on 1s, McDavid missed breakaway); and
2) well, Oilers gifted the goals with mistakes (Regula on one, Ekholm/McDavid on another).
Hopefully the Oilers are back to being sharp in Winnipeg tomorrow.
It certainly would have added insult to injury if Edmonton had won in OT, as no doubt they could have even after Calgary played their absolute best game of the season. The game last night meant more to Calgary than it did to Edmonton, though there was no lack of effort on behalf of the visiting team.
There were 5 posts. The tv crew missed one very audible “ting’, and no replay…
I thought I heard 6. And saw Wolf kissing his posts. Obviously a very important part of his equipment.
I think last nights game is proof the Oil need to call up one more skilled guy. Nights when Roslovic and/or Savoie don’t have it there are zero options. Rico is the only C in the bottom 6 so he can’t move up and none of 88/10/46/13 can be anywhere near the top 6.
Bring up Hutson, Jarventie, Howard or
Samanski even if they start on line 3 and that way you have some internal in-game competition if Rosi or Podz is struggling.
They need miserable cusses.
Kiefer Sherwood is a very miserable cuss.
He would provide some spark for sure.
Are you Sherwood’s agent? Jesus we get it. He is a UFA riding a PDO heater to the moon. Hard pass.
Maybe they should consider calling up the top line in Bakersfeild (Howard-Samanski-Hutson) to play as a third line unit in Edmonton to provide a spark.
Nuge-McDavid-Hyman
Podz-Leon-Roslovic
Howard-Samanski-Hutson
Janmark-Henrique-Freddy/Jones
Were’s Savoie you ask? Well lets see him tear it up in the AHL for a while.
I would be very interested in that 3rd line.
I didn’t see it mentioned in the thread but before Savoie was promoted to replace Roslovic, the coach promoted Mangiapane who was playing perhaps his worst game of the year. This coach can’t help but look past youth to 88/10 who have proven over and over that they don’t belong in the top 6.
You did say Savoie was promoted to replace Roslovic. Didn’t you?
Janmark was one of the few skaters that was beating Flames to the puck last night, awful loss.
Need to waive Mangiapane. He’s playing below replacement level right now. Or try to find him a new home
Didn’t watch the game as on a visiting road trip, but one thing that stands out to me in the numbers is Connor’s HDSC with Nuge lag the SC usually by a bit. I see this speaking to not enough focus on defensive risk reduction. Yes he has been on a heater, it we know, and he must know, that such play won’t get him all the way
There is too much tack now proving that. These sorts of games as you said LT are their weak spot, has been for ages, and they (the players and Bowman) have to find the cure. It’s always been how lesser teams beat better ones, and the skill teams that win Cups get past it, many won more than one as their skill overcame with the right set up
The xGF lapping actual production is also a flag. I think and have said many times they need to focus more on finishing in any way, take what they are given, because there is always something given. If it’s mud and blood get the work boots on, if they let the Oilers flow, do their thing. But they need to be able to function in both environments
The team that should be their inspiration, which is the same team they play for, showed the road map. 5 times. The top players are similar to the 80s wagon’s foundation. The tape is in house, the architect lives 3-4 hours away a lot of the time. Scotty might also have a thought or two if no one has asked
Connor’s goal last night was exactly this in practice.
Stan said to Bob in an interview this season that he does talk with his old man about what he sees going on around the league, and with the Oilers.
Would I like to be a bug on those convos- fly on wall or phone
Really like the way Ingram smothers the puck into his body and doesn’t give up a lot of rebounds in front.
Regula is terrible. He makes at least A couple colossal mistakes per game and last night that was absolutely brutal his assist on Lomberg’s short break and goal. Walman can’t get back soon enough.
The bottom 6 is not good at all. Yes there are 3-4 guys that can help you make up a good bottom six with probably 3 of those 4 on the 4th line. , but the lack of a really good 3rd line Cman is really showing. I like Savoie but Roslovic needs to be in the top 6 until at least they pick up a legite 3rd line C man that can actually drive a line and make some plays.
Bowman has his work cut out to find one.
On to Winnipeg and hopefully a much better showing overall.
I thought Regula was doing pretty well until the injury. Could also be now that play is up to full thrusters around the league he’s not ready, or doesn’t have the level in him
It looked like the Flamers were running Regula, Emberson & Stastney primarily to try to create turnovers and of course Bouchard as well.
That’s the formula to play against the Oilers – pressure them all over the ice and hope they do not up their tempo. When they don’t make quick passes or have decent support down low, it works every time.
It looked like they were using those stretch passes more last night.
This highlights my concern about coaching. There is an element of not protecting team mates in terms of play. Hung the goalies out to dry to start the season. They also don’t protect the D by delaying the fore check even a little to give extra time to retrieve
Other teams do it, hockey 101. Then they often don’t support the breakout. Their line changes an among the worst, they shouldn’t be noticeable but they are. Then the canned answer- stretch passes
There is no reason they can’t play a more stable style. It would draw more players into the game. Stretch passes should be done when they are there, not as a main tactic. Do the basics well and add to that. It’s like they have panthers PTSD and don’t think that they can do normal things and succeed
Plus, he’s a young D (sub 200 games) prone to uneven performance.
Clattenburg would be the perfect miserable cuss. I went back and watched the injury replay, and there was no blood that I could see. I think the 6 or 7 stitches is yet another Knoblauch injury lie. The fact that he’s now on LTIR both angers me greatly and tells me that the stick did get him in the eye. The conspiracy theorist in me tells me there was nothing unintentional about that spear, especially after the fight in the prior meeting. How Oilers would that be to lose their perfect homegrown agitator/enforcer after five games because of a payback play like that. Ryan Jones was never the same after his eye injury.
Nothing conspiratorial – that was 100% an intentional whack to the face with the stick.
If only NHL players had a piece of equipment that if worn properly could guard against that type of cheap shot to such a vulnerable and important part of the body.
Clattenburg would be a better player if he spent the entire season in Bakersfield. Having said that this team is in such desperate need of a physical player like him you almost have to play him with the big club. Frederic was supposed to be this player and clearly is not getting it done so far. Our only response to being bullied is scoring on the PP. None of our rookies in waiting are overly physical and there doesn’t appear to be any D ready and none of those are physical guys. A clear need is a rugged winger and a nasty D.
I’ll also take the 3C that can still see the net
Clattenberg is the only miserable cuss in Bakersfield. Which is the only reason he was called up. And he didn’t last very long.
The initial report of a few stitches was not a lie, but as reported by Gregor, in the days that followed Clattenburg started experiencing vision issues caused by internal eye swelling. This can be caused by a blow near the eye. His physical activity is limited until the eye swelling and increased eye pressure returns to normal. These things are not always evident right after an injury.
Thanks for the clarification
He’s hot the perfect homegrown agitator/enforcer yet as he can’t play a regular shift at the NHL level. He did a fantastic job earning the call-up and earning more games based on some tough-ass attributes that he does bring but he needs to get back down and playing nightly in Bako and NOT fighting every night but getting ice time to improve in the areas needed to be able to be that guy in the NHL in a year or 18 months or 2 years.
I agree and I wasn’t suggesting he have a spot for the rest of the year, but one or two games against the Flames and Panthers? There’s a couple other teams he’d be useful against. I would venture to guess he’s already as effective a player as Scott Sabourin.
Hard to get too upset with Regula. He’s playing in a position he has no business begin in. Hope Walman has a speedy recovery
I watched most of the game, you are privy to the same things I saw. I wonder if the bottom 6 will ever score again this season? It needs to be revamped or Connor and Leon will be gassed come playoff time. Ingram is what this team has needed for the past few years, calm feet and plays his angles well. Fantastic down low and doesn’t offer up the holes that the previous goalies do. Short sample size, but encouraging. I wonder if Hutson would be a better option on Leon’s (skill) line, he’s too good for the AHL.
I would doubt Hutson is better than Roslovic or Savoie at this point.
I don’t know if I buy that Oilers were second best. They hit 5 posts. This could been a blow out. They didn’t dominate the flow of play but they definitely could have blown this one wide open.
Love Ingram.
Love Podkolzin. There was one sequence I remember where he stole the puck at the bottom of the tv screen, Oilers lose it almost immediately, then, there he is stealing the puck at the TOP of the tv screen. We need more Podkolzins on this team.
This is a team that thrives on confidence, and if they had scored a couple of those posts earlier, maybe the Flames don’t stick with their game plan. However, the Oilers were second to most pucks, could not make two passes in a row for long periods and let the physicality of 4th line talent get them off their game.
Fully deserved loss imo.
Fair enough.
Without doubt the Flames were allowed to run around. The Oilers strategy was to grin & bare it, then capitalize on the PP. Flames were oportunistic with their goals and simply out worked the Oil. I was expecting Edmonton to tie it up, head into OT and win.
None of this Bettman point stuff LT was mentioning.
How many seasons is this now? Turkey hangover and a scheduled post Xmas loss? Yes, as others have said, Oilers skill was evident. Yes goal posts count as bad luck. But to my eye the team had defaulted to Oct-Nov mode. I was disappointed. But not significantly. Hoping they’ve got *that* out of their system and are fully awake for Jets, Bruins, etc.