This is the AHL boxscore for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins AHL debut. It comes from October 12, 2012. It is a ridiculous wall of talent made possible only because of the 2012 lockout, and many on the Oklahoma City Barons roster were mere months away from resuming their NHL careers. I thought you might like a look back at where the Nuge has been. Maybe the biggest surprise these years later? Todd Nelson doesn’t have a head coaching gig in the NHL yet. Someone should get on that pdq.
In the past three seasons (including this one), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid have played 1238 minutes together at five-on-five. Nuge has scored 15 goals and 27 assists in that time, posting a 2.04 points-60 and a 0.73 goals-60 player card. The goal share is (73-52) a fantastic 58 percent. These are impressive totals.
Away from McDavid, Nuge has played 1015 minutes, and scored 8 goals and 12 assists. His points-60 (1.18) and goals-60 (0.47) are basically half of what he manages with the captain. The goal share (44-54) is 45 percent.
I can understand why coach Kris Knoblauch would like to keep Nuge on the top line. It works. However, this season the Oilers have a full blown catastrophe on the third and fourth lines, and the coaching staff can’t fix it. Here’s a look at the lines, using centers as proxy.
- 97 and 29: 50 percent (14-14 in 240 mins)
- McDavid only: 51 percent (24-23 in 468 mins)
- Draisaitl only: 58 percent (25-18 in 446 mins)
- Henrique only: 32 percent (10-21 in 447 mins)
- Nuge only: 0-3 in 97 minutes
- The rest: 31 percent (9-20 in 388 minutes)
Every line here has a concern attached, but the bottom line is beyond the pale. You’re telling me that a 31 percent goal share (32 percent if you combine Henrique and the rest) can’t be addressed? I don’t get it. Is making sure Connor McDavid’s line runs at 50 percent really the key to this operation? This is not a logical conclusion based on the facts at hand.
Nuge was 42 percent goals at center one year ago (all numbers via Natural Stat Trick) and 48 percent two years ago. If he just delivered 42 percent of “the rest” minutes, Edmonton would improve by three goals.
While we’re at it, let’s talk about McDavid and 97-29. Over the past four seasons, McDavid solo has delivered the following goal shares five-on-five: 2022-23 (53 pct); 2023-24 (59 pct); 2024-25 (49 pct); 2025-26 (51 pct). McDavid plays versus elites much of the game, but the trend is clear.
Let’s do 97-29 together. This is the most heralded dynamic duo in the sport. 2022-23 (57 pct); 2023-24 (64 pct); 2024-25 (63 pct); 2025-26 (50 pct). Again, the trending is poor, with a gigantic drop this year.
Did you know this? Away from both Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid is at 39 percent five-on-five goal share this year. Amazing. Now, you can look at it two ways. First, the coach is correct to keep Nuge with McDavid, and might consider fading 97-29 tandem time completely.
On the other hand, if the team doesn’t have the money to bring in Alex Tuch, then there should be a concerted effort to find someone who can play No. 3 center or No. 1 left wing. If Nuge stays with McDavid, who is the No. 3 center? If Nuge moves down, who is at No. 1 left wing. Assuming that McDavid stays with Hyman and Draisaitl runs with Vasily Podkolzin, I think some combination of Jack Roslovic, Matt Savoie, Kasperi Kapanen and Ike Howard makes the most sense.
Using our knowledge of Kris Knoblauch’s tendencies, we get the following lines: Hyman-McDavid-Roslovic; Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Kapanen; Frederic-Nuge-Savoie. I don’t think that’s strong enough, it doesn’t balance the lines as much as necessary. I would go Howard-McDavid-Hyman; Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie; Kapanen-Nuge-Roslovic; Frederic-Henrique-Janmark. I think that’s a better lineup, play them for 20 games to make sure the kids get acclimated.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll talk about Oilers in free agency, the Flyers game, NFL weekend and playoffs, the WJ disappointment and more. Jason Gregor is our feature guest, we’re like at Sports 1440 and You Tube from noon to 2pm today.
Is the Edmonton Oilers’ approach to free agency delivering enough value?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6939430/2026/01/05/edmonton-oilers-contracts-salary-cap-signings/
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Looks like LT made your point for you.
I liked this.
I’ve liked your suggestion for Katz to send GM SB and family on vacation prior to July 1. I’ve liked what I understand as your draft/acquire cheap and develop approach. But the magical cookie jar of trade deadline and UFA “solutions” tempts all. Who has the patience to sit through a development season when we all want a Cup yesterday? I do. I may be alone.
ps. As much as I hope to see McD burn through the Canucks as he’s burned through December, when we go to the game on Jan 17 (my first time seeing him live — I’m excited!), I’d much rather he got his “Yzerman epiphany” this month and begin challenging McK, not for points, but for +/- AND points. Right now McK leads by 40+
Every year they beggar themselves w poor July decisions which might have left them free to improve the roster as needed in-season, OR which might otherwise allow sufficient time to elevate their homegrowns and discover they can leave well enough alone (as in the case of Bro n Holly). So frustrating. Meanwhile in-season acquisition Marchand pushes FLA over the top once again.
Much has been made of the absence of Hyman for the SCF, but just as deadly was the addition of Marchand. When the series was still just about even – maybe even tilting the Oilers’ way – Brad friggin killed them. And that’s exactly the kind of move EDM has rarely had the patience to leave until later when season in play has really come into focus.
Not suggesting Brad would ever have come here btw. Not a chance. Just sayin leave yourself room to make the move you need when you need to make it.
LT-isms become Oilers truisms:
Keep your powder dry.
Never kept a dollar past sunset.
This. We get out of ltir forever hell at beginnng of season then max out beyond ability to even carry a full roster again.
This year, for me, is particularly damning given cap roster playoff limitations. Like an opportunity surely sitting there to forward think and get ahead of curve as far as stanley cup true competitors.
Cap in hand at deadline actually real advantage.
Heading into season with a big maybe tandem given lack of tradable contract statuses -> handcuff if they decide to shuffle the deck in net and maybe suppliment forwards or defense a bit.
Results -> bleeding assets on waivers.already. surely going to have to pay somebody to offload magpie if they can to free up next to nothing aside from roster compliant level cash on hand.
Jones didn’t hurt either
This, IMO, is a storyline that doesn’t get near the attention it deserves.
If EDM spins up the coaching carousel again, Nelly and Gerard Gallant ought to be the top two candidates.
Could be wrong, but isn’t it that only two Oilers’ head coaches have managed to get another head coaching gig after termination: Muckler & McLellan.
What does this say about the talent pool that has come through in the coaching position?
That’s an interesting fact if true. Haven’t looked into it.
There were a fair amount of established/solid coaches whose tenure with EDM coincided with the end of their coaching career (Sather, Quinn, Renney, Tippett, Hitchcock, etc), so that would skew your metric a bit. Some assistant/associate coaches continued on elsewhere, too.
MacT and Nelly were absolutely worth a second opinion as an NHL head coach.
With Hutson down, the Oilers are still just over $103K short of what they need to activate Kap…… unless I’m missing something
I presume Jarry goes on LTIR tomorrow.
He’s not far from reaching both the 10 game and 24 day required thresholds.
The fans will freak out even though it will mean nothing vis-a-vis a set-back,
The way they’ve missed on estimates of players coming back, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that Jarry will go on LTIR.
Kicks the can down the road on executing a trade.
Next key will be Wallman’s return – which Stauff said could be next Tuesday in Nashville. Gives them another week to do something.
Current timeline for Jarry has him back after he’d be eligible to come off LTIR so its a non-issue.
I don’t think they generally “miss on estimates” – I think the original timelines or “estimates” provided by coach generally have no basis in the reality as is known by the coach at the time he provides them.
In Walman’s case, it does seem like there was a misdiagnosis as they thought deep bruise when there turned out to be a fracture (additional imaging after the swelling went down).
“I do wonder why the coach didn’t shuffle more”
Hope it wasn’t to show management and fans that the callups might be interesting but they aren’t yet effective.
i fully agree with Allan, a lineup shuffle is needed.
Ok Im playing devils advocate here .There are 60 plus opinions on here about who should be top 6 .. My question is what skills does a top six on this SC contending team have to have if Dri And McDavid are the main scoring threats on those lines ..What other skills do the other four players have to bring to the table to be a responsible scoring difference making line .AND who best fits those profiles from the assets available to this team .
Ill start this off by saying I don think you load the top lines up with nothing but people that can put the puck in the net .. They will have to have above average quickness ,ability to think the game at McDavids and Dri’s level of intelligence . They need to be very good defensive talents as they are going against the leagues best . Oh and they have to have an above average passion and intensity for the game . I can think of 5 or 6 that definelty dont fit the job description but who does?
If I’m Bowman I lay the hammer down on K.K either you try Howard in the top 6 or you pack your bags it’s as simple as that. If we wanted a future project we would have kept O’Reilly who is looking good no matter what one poster keeps repeating. I’ll say O’Reilly will be playing in Tampa by this time next year if not sooner. As far as Howard goes if he’s not a fit here you pump and dump him while his Hobey Baker season is fresh in G.M’s minds.
What poster has said that SOR isn’t looking good?
I know I said, just today, he was a very good prospect on draft day and remains a very good prospect today.
Nice world juniors for SOR – increased his role as the tournament went on.
Notably, Issac Howard with 7 goals in 7 games (9 points) in his 19 year old season in that tournament
No-one with reasonable expectation believe a rookie pro is a project because they are given 15 AHL games before recall but, here we are.
You never know with timelines but reasonable expectation for NHL impact for SOR remains 2 years behind Issac Howard – that could change either way but that is where we are today.
One can predict SOR playing in the NHL 3 months in to his rookie pro season just as easily as one can predict 30 NHL goals from Issac Howard in his rookie season.
How many goals does Nuge-Savoie-Hyman get If they were relegated to 4th line energy player minutes . Howard will do no better If he’s not given top 1-6-9 minutes. Savoie may become the better all around player 5 years from now but we are waisting goals and wins by not employing our best option in the top 6. We already knew he was too good for the AHL sending him down did jackshit if you’re still not willing to give him an opportunity. If you can’t find a spot for him then trade him for a real bottom 6-12 player
You’ve beaten this horse so much that it’s not even a pulp at this point. More of a fine mist.
Howard is a decent prospect and should be a player, but he’s not there yet.
That’s your opinion and I disagree. What makes you think he’s not ready for a opportunity?
I think he’s ready for another opportunity in the NHL. I just have my doubts that he should be given nothing but rope in the top 6.
He has an opportunity to unseat any of the underperforming veterans. Let him do that first. Savoie did it early season and to use an LTism “hasn’t pissed a drop” with the big boys.
Podkolzin was a more finished product when he was an acquired, and he earned his spot beside Draisaitl, despite not scoring.
I get that you think Howard is a player. You’ve made that very very VERY clear.
I also think Howard has a good future ahead of him, but he’s hardly withering on the vine. He’s in the NHL and he has to make it impossible for the coach not to give him the minutes.
We spent over a decade watching management throwing kids into the deep end of the pool. They don’t need to do that with Howard. He isn’t the difference between the Oilers being a legit cup contender or not, do right by the player and elevate him when he’s ready to succeed.
If he’s a long term solution on the wing, and he should be, don’t throw that out on this iteration of the team. They just not that good relative to the other contenders.
The last 2 losses have been listless especially being rested and on home ice. We are in need of points and we let Boston and Philly walk into our barn without a whimper. This team needs a spark either it’’s Clattenburg or the Iceman. Leon line needs a shot in the arm look no further then Howard goal when Leon fed him earlier in the year. We can’t expect a 3-5 PP every evening just to scrape out a win we need 5 on 5 scoring.
Hutson officially loaned back to the Condors.
I said when they called them both up, one of them was going back down this week unless they were putting Jarry on LTIR (as Kap was more than ready based on accounts).
Here’s hoping Kap is a bit of a spark with his forechecking aggressive style
He will be really good for the first 5 games then he’ll disappear like Casper for a long spell. He’s definitely a 30-40 game player.
Right on cue undrafted Casper scores the lone goal to give Sweden a 1-0 end of 1st lead.
I also want to point out what I see as the major issue with the bottom 6 and this teams system. If I asked an Oiler fan to name a few on-ice plays or system things that are “quintissentially Oiler” you’d probably point to a couple;
But a 3rd might be our breakout which so often is a few guys coming low to skate the circles and Connor or Leon swooping behind the net. You guys call it “the stretch pass” but eveything is built off this. Either they take the puck directly and get a zone entry or the forechecker takes them away and then they get the puck late with a forechecker behind them and get the zone entry or they zip a puck past the forecheck to a stretching winger (or even D2 who often stands at center ice!) who then bumps it back to 97/29 in a really sangerous place.
But can you picture a single other Oiler running this route behind the Oiler net? And if they do run it the speed and puck handling isn’t there to even beat F1 so the defense are left zipping pucks up to TINY wingers well covered by defense without even the speed of a blazing 97/29 to back defenders off.
I miss Ryan McLeod.
Could’ve had a Holloway-McLeod-Brown third line.
$2.3M + $5M + $3m
Instead of Frederic – $3.85M + Henrique – $3M + Mangiapane – $3.65M
Basically a wash,
Yeah the loss of the bottom 6 mcdavidesque breakout centerman is a self inflicted hole in head. I don’t hate savoie at all and barring terrible injury i’d put money he has a solid lengthy career just given windowvand team need it will never make sense why that happened. He literally just had completed his breakout year as an unsheltered journeyman 3rd line center that is positive impact by any measurement.
Without a lucky bonanza of 2nd assists like he got in buffalo there’s no way he would have cost 5 million either. More likely he would be skating at 3.5-4.0 milli9n on a multi year here qnd we’d be laughing.
You get near a major point here but don’t quite state it so allow me to. I’ll start with a theory.
I think all of the noise about Nathan MacKinnon running away with the scoring race has driven Connor McDavid to ramp up his offense in a way that only he can do. Note, I didn’t say “level of play” I said “offense”. But make no mistake, he’s cheating like crazy to do this. I’m not sure any other player is allowed to cheat as much as he is…maybe Kucherov.
His 37 5v5 goals against leads the NHL. Oh, and before you point to his goaltending he’s also worst in the NHL in xGA at 33. He’s choosing to be a complete sieve defensively.
And this matches the eye test for me completely. I’m actually watching him choose to allow scoring chances so he can read where the rebound or missed shot will go letting him create a chance the other way.
This is where Nuge is so valuable because he acts more like the centre on these plays. We know it’s never Hyman who has a bit of Ryan Jones in him; flying the zone. Obviously this is a team/line strategy as he’s the ultimate team guy.
This choice is also why Connor and Leon are a disaster this year because NEITHER will remain disciplined defensively through the end of an opposing teams possession. They get bored and will eventually come out of structure. McDavid even admitted as much when he talked about how “no one can defend for a full minute” which of course isn’t true. You CAN defend for a full minute but its annoying as hell and it guarantees you won’t have any offensive zone fun on that shift.
It’s also why I’m not sure Zone is ideal for some of these players as they aren’t wired to wait for the other team to make a mistake…they want the puck NOW.
Anyway, I’m not really mad about it but think it’s something we all should be aware of. It shows me that there’s a whole other gear these guys can get to when they need to. It’s akin to Zach Hyman having more hits in 15 playoff games than 80 regular season games. Defending (and hitting) comes at a cost and that cost is being able to win scoring races.
True. But Cups come with learning/being willing to not get scored on and still being able to produce. I’m not sure that can be turned on and off
Yeah I’m not saying I love that they are choosing this but I do give them the benefit of the doubt that they can turn it up.
I can’t say I personally see him cheating to the extent you describe but that does mean it isn’t 100% happening – I don’t have the ability to watch with that level of technical assessment – good job.
I have been saying for days now that Nuge’s benefit to McDavid is a reduction in GA, mores than any sort of positive impact to production (and there is some) and, in connection with my belief that current roster construction requires Nuge at 3C which will add a depth to to the lineup by helping create more usable/impact winger, McDavid and Hyman will need to reign in their defensive commitment and details.
There is no world where a prime-McDavid and near-prime-Hyman cannot lead a material outscoring line with a Roslovic or a Savoie or a Howard – McDavid should be able to drive that nightly. McDavid should maintain generational production status while playing solid defensive hockey.
Nailed it. Not sure I’ve seen a defender curl away from a scoring chance against like 97 does hoping that it doesn’t go in then the rebound can be quickly ripped up to him in full flight with opposition trapped deep.
Have also seen the random circling in D zone when he gets bored of defending.
I think he’s more of a winger if he’s not going to defend in the D zone properly.
There’s too many on this team that play like defending is not in their job description. They don’t have the goaltending to play like this so why do they? Selfishness? Coach telling some players it’s not their job to defend?
Can’t really compare anyone’s plus minus on Colarado to Edmonton due to strength of team and G, but I get your point. 97s minutes means he shares a big portion of the GA problem.
— this is a big month for the organization IMO
— they ought to be racking up points at a similar or better than December as this is their most favourable month in terms of all of travel opponents travel and rest etc.
— It was premature and faulty attribution to why they were not as good in early part of season. IMO.
— if it’s not a good month (ie .500 or heaven forbid worse) they have the Olympics to reload coaching IMO.
— Pretty confident they do well this month. The schedule matters most this season. The AVs for instance they will limp into playoffs as their last month is like the Oils first
— and Jarry gets a game or 2 max to test his rehab before getting another almost month to be back.
LFGOILERS!
I think it’s up to the best 4 players to lead the way, as it is with any team, everyone says this, the leaders lead and the others will follow. Those top 4 players to me are Connor Leon Bouch and Ekholm
When the leaders play an immature skill game, doing amazing things followed up by poor plays that end up in the net, the team has no pull toward playing winning hockey. By that I mean game in and out, mostly. Stay above the puck and manage that puck well, support the other players on the ice positionally. Hit your coverage. And make good line changes so you don’t strand the D. All it takes is discipline
Since the Christmas break they are 1-3. GF 9 GA 15
GF / HDCF% / HDGF at 5v5
Connor 3-4 / 69.23 / 2-2
Leon 2-7 / 36.00 / 1-3
Bouch 3-5 / 63.41 / 2-2
Ekholm 3-4 / 62.86 / 2-1
Frederic 0-1 / 100.00 / 0-0
If you’re not feeling it, at least don’t get scored on with solid play, and maybe the rest of the team will step up, which is what everyone wants. It starts at the top. The Duo get called the best and second or third best in the world, but are they this season?
MacKinnon 8-4 / 55.81 / 5-3 since the break
The Avs +72, players over 20 GP no one below GF% 50, no HDCF% under 52, no HDGF% under 52. MacKinnon is known to demand a lot from himself and the team, but you have to make sure your nose is clean for that to work in reality and get buy in
The AVs don’t even need to limp.
After 41 games, they have racked up 69 points.
If they do no better than Bettman nonsense…say go 15W – 15L – 11OTL… they would finish with 110 points which is likely enough to finish first in the WC.
Given they have 11 home and 6 road games between now and the end of February, and have yet to lose at home in regulation this season, they could easily hit 100 before the gales of March.
The Av’s aren’t scared to show tough love. I’m glad they face Dallas or Minnesota before us.
If the defense and goalies can do the job, it’s a centre or winger Stan says if they can do anything. Lundell anchored the panthers 3rd line at 23, they were key to them winning
It doesn’t have to be a vet or big name to do that job, just a good player that can play some hockey and do it responsibly. Drury on the Avs wasn’t fully established previously but works hard, and seems to be doing the job for them. If that’s possible to do on the Oilers, which seems questionable at the moment, tactics or is it just the players?
I think that they can figure out a 4th line, just need to upgrade so it’s not having two 4th lines
Prior to two games ago coach say they need Roslovic to drive the third line.
Prior to last game he said Roslovic needs to be in the top 6 – that’s where he’s best and he can help others in that top six. No more third line.
Now, coach says he’s best suited playing right wing either on the 2nd or 3rd line. Best suited playing right wing and centre as a fill-in. With Kap coming in now Roslovic has to be on the third line as there are more scoring options.
I wonder what he’ll think of Roslovic after the Nashville game.
Also, Kap can add some scoring but he’s not a “scoring option” ahead of Roslovic…..
Kap is a speed energy forechecking guy full stop, and imo should appear in the top six sparingly – only long enough to spark something. On the hand, were you to build an out-scoring third line featuring Kap…
He’ll almost never bury the biscuit but who knows his hustle maybe could unlock something with the right linemates.
Agreed but the coach’s prior usage, current planned deployment and verbal are evidence he disagrees.
I give Issac Howard the top 6 reps and allow Kap to help the bottom six but, I don’t get consulted.
Coach’s pre-game media verbally confirms what his deployment has shown us that, he misacts (at least in my opinion), Kap as a top 6 player talking about there being no reason he can’t score 15 goals a season, etc.
The player has skill, no doubt, but he scored 15 or more once – 6 years ago and then has regressed yearly since.
Kap can help by focussing on using his speed and size to disrupt, create energy and turnovers while making simple plays – use the skill when its there but the focus should be a third line type player – he may score tomorrow but I think he’s miscast as Drai’s RW.
I’ve only recently come on board as seeing Kap as above replacement level. No way should he be a fixture in the top lines.
He was replacement level during the regular season last year – he was healthy scratched on merit and that included a long run of sitting in the playoffs. He was the leakiest forward on the team last year.
He had a good run in the playoffs – his game did fall back a bit but he used his size and speed to cause chaos and turnovers and create energy and was more responsible with the puck making safe plays.
He started this season similar, kind of transitioning in to a big bodied pest and I think his current skill-set is best suited for that type of role.
I agree he should not be in top 6.
Agreed. Kap can be a top 6 winger at his best.
That’s exactly a type of player I want in the bottom 6. When he’s on he can change the momentum of a game. None of the bottom 6 currently can change momentum.
So I am trying to work this out in my head and it seems to me with the new rules for playoff cap limits (hard cap and no retention counted)
If we can say that none of henrique, mangiapane or Frederick will play, everyone is healthy the current 20 man roster is 9.6 million under cap.
So whatever retention tricks used to get them in this regular season is Bowmans job. But I think that’s enough wiggle room to significantly change this team come playoffs.
What do you mean “no retention counted”.
If the Oilers acquire a $4MM player with $2MM retained, that player costs $2MM on the playoff cap (but only $500K during the regular season, apx).
If I’m reading this right I don’t think this is true. You seem to be implying that they can just make the call that none of those three will suit up for playoffs and therefore they will be at the playoff Cap (and that might be true) but that still doesn’t help them hit the regular season Cap. They can’t just healthy scratch those guys in the regular season and aquire an expensive player to make up the cap savings as there are none.
I think a major piece of context is that, almost exclusively, when Nuge has been center, its been 2C behind a loaded up McDavid/Drai (or with one of them injured/suspended).
Its been very rare that he’s played 3C behind McDavid and Drai led top lines.
This team has “skilled wingers” currently – some of them just breaking in to their pro and NHL careers (Hutson, Howard, Savoie) and need the help of an established skilled center to produce.
A Nuge at 3C increases the impact ability of the “current lower end top 9 wingers”. Maybe the likes of Hutson and Savoie can’t impact playing with Henrique or Janmark but I do think they become more impactful players playing with Nuge (or the 29/97, of course).
I do think Nuge at 3C is the way going forward.
Nuge’s impact on the top line this season has been more about reduce GA than helping produce GF (although he has helped both), however, at the end of the day of a McDavid/Hyman combo cannot drive a material outscoring line, if they “need” Nugent-Hopkins as a defensive conscious, that is a major problem.
Janmark not on the ice two days in a row –
No-one in the media asked coach about it yesterday.
Kap and Howard both look to be in. I’m not positive Hutson down down is not enough cap room to activate Kap – are they going to waive Janmark?
Either that or Jarry LTIR to activate Kap.
I can’t imagine this coach would be on-board with losing Janmark.
Gregor says Janmark was on the ice today.
If lines hold – both Frederic and Mangiapane will be healthy scratches? And Hutson down?
https://x.com/JasonGregor/status/2008240373492314601
Check that – Janmark was on the ice today.
Hutson down is the logical move based on everything we’ve seen but I’m still not positive its quite enough to activate Kapanen.
My thoughts on Team Canada are that they had some similarities with the Oilers. They had plenty of talent. Yet they were losing puck battles over and over. Simply getting out worked or out battled.
Their defence wanted to handle the puck, but were reluctant to engage the enemy. Stick check, stand close, but they did not actually engage and defend the man.
Goaltending was second best.
Would adding the top end NHL talent like Celebrini help? Of course. But ultimately there has to be balance and this includes the high intensity, relentless players in the recipe.
Is this the magic ingredient that springs the talent loose to do their thing?
Well, it seems Team Canada Olympics thinks so as they did not choose a roster based on talent alone. You cannot apply puck talent if you dont have the puck. Thus we will see how that formula works very soon.
I think the Canadian kids played with passion and heart. The other team is trying to win too and Czechia has a good team this year. Found the game highly entertaining and hopefully the boys can get it done today against Finland
Certainly they did. But I also watched players cough up the puck under threat of a hard check into the boards. I watched players stick check cause its easier, and I watched Canadians give up shots and rebounds because they would not take out their man. Similar to Oilers.
Czechs played great, full marks to them. Canadians lost composure in their own zone that’s for sure but that’s credit to the pressure the Czechs gave. Executed a gameplan extremely efficiently in spite of being outskilled (on paper).
That said, Hage is kicking himself this morning cause he hit 3 posts and was tripped on a wide open shootout attempt (wish he had a 2nd move tho).
Big moments for us, blip on the radar of long careers for most of these kids. When Misa took his penalty I was just like yup, I’ve made boneheaded obvious decisions before too.
I’d much rather watch this team than last year’s team, although some players in the NHL (Brunicke especially) shocked me with their coverage. Aitcheson seems to have mirrored his game off of Nurse swimming in the dzone. Parekh’s apathy at the end of the game is excellent for the Oil.
Ivankovic stopped it from being a 10-4 game and I’ll give him credit for that.
This is why Wilson made the Olympic team you need some sandpaper to balance the line-up. A team full of dipsy doodlers usually gets beat by a hard working board battlers. Canada was out worked by blue-collared players and the visible crying of team Canada players was rather 12 year-oldish
Celebrini, Scheafer, Sennecke, Kindel (plus a few others).
The best Canadian junior team would slaughter through the tournament.
Do any of the other countries have any eligible players that didn’t go because they were in the NHL?
Last year both Celebrini and Bedard were age-eligible.
But we see this is often not the case, and the point I make here OP. In many years past I have often argued that a Team Canada with 12 Gretzky’s could not win. A team needs all types of talent to do all types of roles.
Perhaps they win with better top end players, but “Canada did not have its best players” is not the post here.
My point is that I think we should recognize the best teams have the greatest collection of skills, which when combined, add up to the best team.
I understand the point but my point is that it would make zero difference in most years if Canada had its full eligible players available.
Add Bedard and Celebrini to last year’s team (I don’t know who else).
Adding Celebrini to this year’s team is adding a current top 10 player in the world let along the other guys that are eligible.
Canada remains a powerhouse with separation at the U20 level, they are just too good at the top end that their top 4-5 players (probably even more) are not available to play.
My thoughts are that we’ve lost our advantage over the European teams in terms of hard checking, rough hockey. Most of those European kids are playing in Major Junior, so they know what to expect and are not at all intimidated.
I’m glad that there are legitmately 6 or so teams that are in contention to win gold. To me a major failing of womens’ hockey on the international stage is that realistically 2 teams are competitive.
Finally, I don’t think anything needs to be done to determine how we get back on top of the podium. Let the boys do their thing. It amazes me how much angst we have about how a group of 18-19 year old boys/young men does.
Agreed. I saw them play Cechia exactly like the Oilers play in a bad game. Forchecking all over them causing long stretch passes either not connecting and often intercepted -infuriating! Panic without forward support. Totally different game from the Slovakia one.
Did we ever figure out what changed on the Oilers that led from their initial poor play up to the stronger play that emerged late November and December?
Culprits discussed were:
Was anything fixed, or did some players simply pick up their game and deliver more. Is it that simple, or are several of these concerns still present and were just masked by a good run of games?
The stretch-pass time seemed to be solved… until the last couple of games, where it seemingly re-appeared. Why this coach thinks sending everybody, while a lone d-man is left behind the net desperately looking for someone to pass to… it’s stupid.
I cannot understand the constant stretch passes, with seemingly no other ideas.
It seems to be a reflexive response to exhaustion and chasing a game. Solution to chasing the game is self-evident, and they managed that consistently in December. Exhaustion? I’ve opined here and elsewhere that, with the beautiful clusterf*k of family & illness etc that is Xmas, the team is sick. It’s the only reason I can see for the brain fog on ice. Other teams must have this too. Certainly in the Pacific Division where (somehow) a stumbling team is tops.
That’s an interesting take. The stretch pass certainly gives me the impression they are looking for ‘cheap’ offence, so maybe there is something to the exhaustion.
My question would be: is this approach being coached, or are the players making this choice? Either way could be argued comes down to coaching.
I thought the biggest changes were personnel – Nuge n Zach back coinciding w McDavid’s heater. The D seemed to smarten up for a bit but I’m not smart enough to say how.
Im thinking several players, led by McDavid, simply played better and had better puck bounces. Because no real solution was found; or if no real change drove better results then we can expect similar ups and downs based simply on player performance.
I know we are sitting in a decent position in standings but I would still like to see:
but primarily we see little difference in coaching and thus get less than ideal results.
If your coach keeps allowing mistake after mistake, game after game, then find a coach who will correct the mistakes and stop them.
Who was Roslovic playing with while on his heater prior to being injured?
Roslovic hasn’t looked the same at all since coming back from injury.
He had bounced around a bit in terms of lines. He was with Draisaitl, then McDavid had stolen him for a bit.
Howard and Savoie should of been in the top 6 for preseason and all through October. The coach refused logic then, there’s zero chance imo it happens at any point this season unless! A new coach is brought in, then anything is possible.
Frederic/McDavid/Hyman.. Frederic does not deserve top line, but I’m doing it with the hopes that Hyman’s top of the league forecheck rubs off on the struggling forward and a new dawn arrives. McDavid has decided to score goals again, let the banging wingers create the space and chaos for the captain to go circus mode. Frederic does not deserve but they got to see if the situation can be salvaged.
Podkolzin/Draisaitl/Kapanen.. I enjoy the Podkolzin/Kapanen wing set, they work good together and allow the bottom 6 to have more skill. Thick line.
Howard/Nuge/Roslovic.. 1 legit shooter and 1 probably legit shooter with the sublime one. Soft minutes, on the fly heavy influenced shifts, wingers catching the tailends of McDavid/Draisaitl shifts.. Shooters get to sneak in and rifle. .
Janmark/Lazar/Savoie.. Henrique gets the Derek Ryan treatment, Lazar is the 4th best center. The RW after Hyman, interchangeable, whoever is going. Savoie is still getting heavy PK work, Beautymark and Lazar can drag the kid into the grease and show him the way.
Savoie is young, long road ahead of him, he isn’t a Bowman addition. I do wonder with all the big bodies being acquired in the AHL and the fanbase being hard on smaller guys when they get trucked in the playoffs, is Savoie going to end up as trade bait.
A Nuge/Roslovic 3rd line is the key for me, 3 scoring lines is the way to go with a blue collar 4th line.
Samanski/Clatt/Poulin/Jarventie I’d have time for any of them to replace 4th liners. Haven’t mentioned Hutson it’s a bit crowded for his role, which leads me to again wonder how long Savoie ends up being around.
It’s a mess, it all leads back to the preseason, what the hell was going on in the coaches room?
After looking at the Kid Line,they are too small to compete as a group.They need to be with bigger players on separate lines,or be traded for larger types.If I were in charge,I would be talking to Pittsburg ,and getting Skinner back.They want younger players in their rebuild.Jarry and Stu. Would be a good tandem.Get Kulak back if possible.
If I were in charge for a day, I would find out why the Oilers defence refuse to physically engage the opposition? Why are they so weak? Why can’t they defend the front of the net.
And if they all look over towards a coach, that coach is on his way out.
This type of play has been repeating for years now, with new defenseman seemingly forgetting how to pick up their man and deferring to the Oilers baby soft play. What is going on?
None of Slats or KLowe or Huddy or Mac T is down on the ice to ride their ass during practice.
I too think all those kids on one forward line is a poor mix. Two kids on the wings however…
Evander Kane has come on of late in Vancouver and is now posting .5 ppg on a team bereft of Center talent.
If the Oilers jettison Magpie, I see Kane as a guy who can play 1LW or 4LW, yo-yo’ing with Howard between lines 1 and 3. Canucks retain salary of course.
Kane is one of the few wingers that has had sustained success alongside 97. Moreover, the Oilers are one of the only teams that could accommodate his personality.
It also pushes Frederic out of the lineup or sets a bonfire under his ass.
What are the Oilers sending the Canucks to get retention?
Savoie.
The market for Evander Kane will be very limited.
Vancouver will have to eat half of Kane’s salary if they want to fetch anything for him. The return will be less that Mason Marchment who returned a 2nd and 4th.
I could see the Oilers paying a 3rd and a B- prospect like Poulin because the Canucks lack size.
Agree the market will be limited but it will not be just one team.
There are several contending teams both with abundant cap space and draft/propsect capital that can absorb the full freight without blinking an eye.
Kane’s contract was front loaded so he’s only getting $4 million in real dollars this season which will be a relative pittance at the deadline.
LA (for example) will have $28 million in deadline cap spac and possesses 2 second round picks.
The Kings second round pick in 2025 was Vojtech Cihar who is leading the WJHC for the Czechs.
If I’m Vancouver, I try and fleece Holland for him
The Kane/Hyman forecheck last post season, give me more!!!
Kane has a big ego, and while I think it grates on people, it works in our favour. He marches to his own drum. Oilers need players who will not defer everything to McDavid or Draisaitl.
He will add grit, and he will take penalties. He can still be a top six winger if hes motivated. How long of contract did he get?
Expiring.
A thought: Rather than hoping Kane can be resurrected to a version already at least two seasons old (he was not a help in SCF 2025, was hurting and ineffective before SCF 2024), let’s stick with today’s “draft/acquire cheap & develop” for longer term success. Clattenburg may not be ready today to fill Kane-sized boots. But he is more likely to give this team that certain something in seasons to come. Leave an aging Kane at home in Vancouver. Nourish the new sprout of antagonism that is already in-house and flourishing.
ps. Resurrecting Kane is, to my mind, the kind of magical thinking that brought in Lucic (&, possibly, Frederic, though his first shift as an Oiler was a thing of beauty – until it wasn’t. Fingers crossed that by March or April we see more of that from him.)
I too pass on Kane. His ego was great when he was a confirmed danger to score. When he is not that his play can turn selfish or lazy in ways that hurt the team.
If the point is snarl, then yes. Kane at his worst is still far and above a greater offensive threat than Clattenburg could ever hope to be.
The correct answer is Kiefer Sherwood who has plenty of snarl, a non-stop motor and 17 goals at the halfway point of the season all at a cap hit of $1.5M.
The Oilers should be making that trade yesterday.
At some point, we’d sure want to have a look at that for sure.
The Avs are pretty well-run organization, but even MacKinnon had to drag Jonathan Drouin around for a couple seasons. He wasn’t a raw rookie like Howard, but I agree you need to have some flexibility here.
MacKinnon and Drouin were line mates on the Halifax Mooseheads team that won the Memorial Cup in 2013.
I expect this was a factor in the acquisition of Drouin while the AVs were re-loading.
Long live the Nuge!
A little (ok a lot) off topic… as we mourn the WJ gold medal aspirations for Canada. Anyone else notice how much Hunter put O’Reilly out for big game moments in this tournament? The coach knows this player very well from the Knights and if was very evident (to me) he used him on crucial defensive draws, PK etc.
What’s done is done, but godspeed Ike Howard, your time is now. Better start kicking out the jams.
I still think this trade is a win so far. Howard’s scoring rate in the AHL is elite and should be a top 6 forward with McDavid/Drai next year if given the opportunity. He should get some PP time at some point with his shot too. I think O’Reilly probably tops out as a low offence 3C.
The one that stings right now for me is McLeod for Savoie
Hear Hear
Another bad move,like SAVOIE for the last good third line center!
SOR was a solid draft pick and was a very good prospect when the Oilers drafted him.
SOR remains a very good prospect.
At the same time, lets not equate great at face-offs and strong defensively at the junior level with “can’t miss” or “low floor”.
Many a great 2-way junior player has busted out. Everything that is written about SOR now was written about Ryan O’Mara who was locked in as the Oilers’ next captain when he was acquired.
I am not saying that SOR is going to bust out, I think he will have a very solid NHL career and, of course, he very well could have a great NHL career but we don’t know. Tampa Bay is a great org for developing prospects and I will be interested to see how he does in Syraquse next season,
Issac Howard is no more of a bust potential than SOR and his development curve is in tact as he tore up the AHL in a 15 game development stint as a 21 year old rookie pro.
He may bust (seems unlikely given his start to pro hockey), he may star or, more likely, he lands somewhere in between, just like SOR.
Lets not forget Issac Howard lighting up the same tournament at the same age.
GM Bowman said at the beginning of the year that with all the changes to start the year it would be February or March before we saw the finished product.
We have the top two lines that are SC ready. Now we need the bottom two which are a work in progress .
I think it will be a combination of existing players, some from the AHL, the returning injured ones and maybe a trade two. Maybe even a piece coming back from the Magiapane trade .
Thank you for the reminder!
It’s good to be reminded that there is a vision and a plan here, not just the magical thinking of fans & pundits!
We hope.
Sure but lets not forget, the Oilers do not even have cap space currently to activate their two players off LTIR – to do so without a material cap move out, they would need to gut down to a 19-skater roster.
They’ve already used their primary “cap dump” in Kulak in the Jarry trade.
They will move on from Mang but the cap savings will essentially go to activate Walman and Kap.
There will simply not be much cap space to add externally unless they can dump Henrique (or have a material contract go on LTIR for the rest of the season).
The level of angst for a team sitting first in its division is busting upwards.
Vegas lost to a Bedardless Hawks last night and have punted 5 straight. Ducks fading hard, L.A. about where they should be and every one else is full of holes you could drive a cement truck through. And they don’t have McDraiBouchNugHymEk to lean on.
Can’t say I’m the least bit worried about a Predators, Kings, Blues or Kraken matchup in the first round.
Are you worried about two lines that own 30 percent goal shares at five-on-five? Because that’s a worry.
Sure yes, but being worried is a far cry from firing Knoblauch or suggesting he’s out of ideas. You sir are tough but fair, my comments are to the general tone whenever a minor skid sets in.
Especially when they just showed that they can run the table on pretty much anyone when they feel like it.
It’s almost impossible for them to miss the playoffs sans major injuries. And I really like their chances against any of the Bubble teams or those in the Pacific any day of the week.
Moving forward I think there’s enough roster talent to build an awesome 2nd and a true outperforming 4th line.
Unless they move on from Henrique, who’s contract and finishing skills are pulling down $5-8 million in cap, or find another River pusher after Roslovic (who will help move mountains on the 2nd line) I don’t see how you fix the 3rd line without creating holes in others.
A worry or a work in progress? As per BCoil, GM SB did warn us we’d not see a finished product until Feb or March. Progress is rarely linear. In hockey or tango or life.
While the standings are important, it isn’t the full picture.
The angst is related to the team playing very poorly at times, lacking energy, questionable lineup decisions, and a general sense that the GM lineage in Edmonton has blind spots that are obvious to the casual fan i.e. should be extremely visible to the GM!
I am happy the rest of the division sucks. But that is a secondary conversation.
This team should be 15 points up and laughing all the way to a division title.
And instead, here they are.
Again.
Precisely
The Oilers are actually 4th in the Pathetic Division by points percentage.
How pathetic is it is?
Every Pathetic Division team has a negative goal differential.
VGK -2
EDM -4
LAK -4
ANA -7
CAL -10
SEA -12
SJS – 19
VCR -26
With Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota pretty much locked in at the top of the Central, and with the other Central teams pretty much dead in the water, the remaining 5 playoff spots should all be Pathetic teams.
The margins will be very slim.
Moneypuck point projections:
VGK 93.9
EDM 92.6
LAK 91.9
ANA 89.5
SEA 89.4
CAL 85.7
SJS 82
VCR 80.5
Are you saying that your goal for this team is to win the first round of the playoffs?
The first team I mentioned was Vegas and that was intentional.
Two of the Avs, Wild and Dallas won’t make the 3rd round.
Don’t want to jinx it of course but I dont think we have to squint hard to see a pathway to the WCF.
The regular season is whatever and there’s no real angst with the postseason basically assured. Angst is what you feel when you realistically project this team into seven game series with any of the real contenders around the league. This squad may not be finished product but I’ll be anxious until it is. if it is.
Who’s the contender to school us? All those teams that didn’t make it to the SCF two years running?
Do we have to faun over Carolina each year? Another season of drooling about Dallas’ depth? Do we keep thinking that MacKinnon and Makar wont tire themselves out chasing Regular Season trophies like they keep doing?
Why do they get the benefit of the doubt?
We watched McDavid catch up to MacKinnon in 2.5 weeks after spotting umm a 15 point lead with one of the most dominant Decembers ever. Ditto with everyone else in the Pacific who we spotted a few games and then reeled them back in, earlier than usual I may add.
We’re the Good Team now. Everyone else has to go through us. And the last few years they tried they all got waxed. I don’t like their chances this year either.
If you watch Cale Makar play hockey, you’ll see alot of mistakes mixed with the brilliance. When Evan Bouchard makes a mistake, Mike in Iqaluit can hear the cries.
There is no benefit of the doubt or other hockey teams that make mistakes.
So Mike stops watching hockey when May comes around? That’s when you get the best Bouch.
Does he only watch highlights or is there a nuanced opinion regarding the on/off splits with Makar and MacKinnon? Something you don’t really see with Bouch, regular season or playoffs.
when it came to it the last couple years the Oil had depth to fill 3-4 competitive lines. This team as-is would give too much back no matter how hot McDrai might be running. It’s simply too much to overcome barring one of the goaleurs standing on his head.
The 3rd and 4th lines ran this exact sort of cold in 2024.
McLeod, Feogele, Kane, Brown, Janmark, and Nuge all ran >15 game goal-less draughts January through March. It’s why we went after Henrique and partly why McLeod and Foegele got ran out of town.
A few nuances here.
The Oilers do have the league’s worst save percentage at 5v5. 88.76%
He has played 183 minutes with Andrew Mangiapane. He has a 40% goal share and 3.92 ga/60 with Mangiapane and a 54.6% without (2.86 ga/60). Many of those minutes were when Zach Hyman was injured.
McDavid has struggled without Hyman for the past three years. Prior to this season, McDavid actually has from 2022-2025, a 62.7% goal share with Zach Hyman and 43.8% without.
I like this.
Now add an internal “Selke competition” for F-lines and D-pairings. All of a sudden some things stop being intractable problems.
ps. What goalie recently said this about the team playing in front of him?
“It was incredible. I’m not too sure of the number of blocked shots (13), but I would imagine it was high. I mean, anytime you [only] get 12 shots in a game against a really good team like that. I mean, that’s very impressive by the guys that played in front of me,” said xxx. “It tells you how well we played defensively. We didn’t give them anything all night. So, yeah, it made my night really easy.”
“I would go Howard-McDavid-Hyman; Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie; Kapanen-Nuge-Roslovic; Frederic-Henrique-Kapanen”
Couldn’t agree more LT. Finding balance is the Oilers only chance to make an impact in the playoffs.
And yes, I would discontinue the McDrai minutes. They can play together on the PP.
If I were coach for the day, I would go up to McDavid, Drai, RNH, Bouchard, and Ekholm and say “I have a challenge for you. You’re going to need to lead your own line or defence pairing and I need you to win your match up”. Then distribute the rest of the talent up evenly:
Howard-McDavid-Hyman
Podz-Drai-Hutson
Roslovic-RNH-Kapanen
Henrique-Lazar-Savoie
Nurse-Bouchard
Ekholm-Emberson
Stastny-Regula
Yes, play those kids on Lines 1 and 2
I would not run those d pairings
Genuinely curious what would be your optimal pairings?
Yes. See note on “internal Selke” competition (above, in @Ryan)
It’s pretty simple. The Oilers need a legite 3rd line C man NOW. Whether you liked him or not Ryan Macleod was probably that guy? He was fast, great pk guy , and probably going to get you 15 -20 goals a year. So we had one now we don’t. It is obvious that Knobby knows his top line is producing and even the Drai line hasn’t after Xmas hasn’t and let alone the bottom 6 has been a joke. So does he think if he breaks up McD’s line his scoring will dry up completely? McDavid can make any player look great and is going to drive a line with scoring as long as he has a steady guy that reads his play and knows what to do. To me Hyman is more of that guy than Nuge is. I do believe Nuge could drive a 3 rd line a lot better than MacLeod could have and maybe that was the GM’s idea when he traded MacLeod and brought in Skinner for the top 6 and secondly Arvidson and got a young Savoie who was a huge offensive force In Junior. It didn’t work and instead of having a Skinner ( let’s say) ride McD’s wing and putting 20 ish goals it flopped . Bowman banked on a Skinner and possibly a Savoie or Arvy being split around McD and Drai. Thus leaving Nuge to Drive that 3rd. ( I think )
This year I think Bowman tried it Again with Magpie, and Roslovic. Magpie has been a dud but Roslovic has worked , but more so on Drai’s line. Albeit his injury threw a wrench into that for a month. Ever since Nuge moved up to the #1 line this coach does not want to break it up it seems.
The bottom 6 is an absolute tire fire and I think Knobby is losing it a bit. His lines at practise yesterday were a bit odd. Looks like he is panicking a bit. Henrique is nowhere near a 3rd line c man period. He is barely a 4th line one as well now.
So I guess we see what happens tom. Draisaitl has been in a funk since Xmas and if he gets it going that will help. I imagine it is hard to get a C man at this point of the season, so Knobby is left to try out his Maytag and tumble everything except that 1st line, where to me the 3rd line C ( for now ) is playing .
? For Lowtide and you all to chime in on .
Do you think Bownan is getting sick of coach Knoblauch’ s use of players and line combo’s?
Especially when he brings up players and they don’t get much ice or put in a spot to succeed ? If you put Howard and Hutson on each of McD’s and Drai’s wings and dropped Pods and Nuge to the 3rd line and made this line
Pods/ Nuge/Kappy
Would that not be a very good 3rd line to try ? By putting those 2 kids with unreal driving and playmaking C men they may succeed.
What do you think
I think as a GM, Bowman is focused on providing the players and then stepping back to allow Knoblauch & his staff use the players as they see fit. He would be bringing players up as requested by the coach, not bringing them up on his own and saying, “here, try this guy”. I’m sure they have conversations about the roster, but once the GM starts to step into the coaching realm then it’s probably not a good sign for either of them.
As a fan, I’d like to see some consistency though. Like pick lines and stick with them for a couple practices and a few games at least to see what you have, barring injuries of course. I do think Drai is the victim of a lot of inconsistency and he’s indicated in the press he really likes to play with Pods so I would try to keep them together.
Mcdavid did not make magpie look great
The top line is 1GF and 1GA in the four games since Christmas.
Fixing the top line is less an issue than fixing the third. I think we can agree on that. Experimenting with a kid on 97’s wing (my vote is Hutson as a low rent version of Nuge) and running Nuge with Roslovic & Savoie/Howard makes much more sense. I saw Kevin McCurdy post about the way Roslovic hampers 29, and I think we need to keep them separate, especially after the Philly game.
I like the Alex Tuch for McDavid’s wing, but am not huge on the acquisition cost for a pending UFA.
Dropping Lawson Crouse in there as an alternative.
Reports were that Tuch, Dahlin and a couple of other Sabres might want out of Buffalo because the team wasn’t competitive.
Now, with 9 wins in the last 10 games, there may be a change of heart as the Sabres are in a playoff spot (by points percentage)
It’s plausible that with almost $9 million in deadline cap space, Buffalo becomes a buyer rather than a seller.
But surely they wouldn’t sign a player to a big extension who will be 30 years old by the time next season starts!
*scoffs*.
These are professionals, Skippy.
They don’t have to sign him at all.
Merely use him as an own playoff rental and worry about an extension later.
Well we do have a mangipaine and a Henrique we could sell them…. If they really insist we could maybe find a way to sell them a Fredrick
Linus Omark could also use a second opinion.
”but am not huge on the acquisition cost for a pending UFA”
This! GM SB – keep thy mitts away from the magical cookie jar!
“I would go Howard-McDavid-Hyman; Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie; Kapanen-Nuge-Roslovic; Frederic-Henrique-Kapanen”
@lowetideedm It would be great if they can clone Kapanen, but I’ll assume that’s a typo 😉
I get where you’re going with these lines: 3rd line is pretty strong with Kapanen and Roslovic on them. Problem (from Knobber’s perspective) is that so far this season the puck just dies on Howard’s and Savoie’s sticks. Savoie is less bad, but still not great. The top six hums when everyone is strong with puck possession. And if we add “play without the puck” to the list, we can see the logic behind Knobber’s hesitation on running the kids in the top six. Being capped out, low on assets, and in NMC hell, it would take a miracle to find 2 strong two-way forwards at the deadline. Even squinting really really hard it’s difficult to see how this team is a Stanley Cup contender as-is. But, you have already mentioned that before repeatedly. Le sigh.
Yes. Janmark is the second Kapanen.
If J had K’s hands. If K had J’s defensive conscience. Then maybe.