The good thing about last night’s game is it left zero doubt. The Oilers aren’t close to the Minnesota Wild, in terms of speed, and skill marbled through the lineup. Historically, this is where the Oilers make roster mistakes (trading Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are examples) and one wonders if Stan Bowman is contemplating the future. I think the Oilers could still win Stanley this season, but would need someone to knock off the Wild. That team has the Oiler’s number.
This is an important moment in franchise history. The team is in possession of the best Kings and Aces in the deck, but need better sixes and sevens and nines. Will Bowman keep the kids and be patient? Or will he roll the tumbling dice at the deadline and next summer?
It was nice to see Tyler Pitlick back in the league and scoring. He was aformer second-round pick, you know. I wrote about what Stan Bowman might do with this year’s second-round selection at The Athletic today.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN JANUARY
- At home to: Flyers, Preds (Expected 1-0-1) 1-1-0
- On the road to: Jets (Expected 1-0-0) 1-0-0
- At home to: Kings (Expected 1-0-0) 0-0-1
- On the road to: Blackhawks, Preds (Expected 1-1-0) 1-0-1
- At home to: NYI (Expected 0-0-1) 0-1-0
- On the road to: Canucks (Expected 1-0-0) 1-0-0
- At home to: Blues, Devils, Penguins, Caps (Expected 2-1-1) 2-2-0
- At home to: Ducks, Sharks, Wild (Expected 1-1-1) 2-0-0
- Expected Record: 8-3-4, 20 points in 15 games
- Actual Record: 8-5-2, 18 points in 15 games
- Season Record: 28-20-8, 64 points in 56 games
The month of January came in close to predicted, the Oilers finished two points behind my trajectory. Edmonton did the same thing in December. Those four missed points could mean the division and home ice advantage against the Golden Knights. Things matter in a division with teams that are so close in quality.
- Samanski-Roslovic-Savoie 9:40, 7-0 shots, 1-0 goals, 95X, 3-0 HDSC
- Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman 6:46, 4-3 shots, 0-1 goals, 60X, 0-2 HDSC
- Podkolzin-Nuge-Kapanen 6:22, 6-1 shots, 43X, 2-1 HDSC
- Frederic-Lazar-Janmark 6:13, 3-3 shots, 34X, 1-5 HDSC
- Nuge-McDavid-Hyman 5:49, 5-8 shots, 1-1 goals, 32X, 3-6 HDSC
The second game in a row that Nuge-McDavid-Hyman were high event with many events going the wrong way. Kris Knoblauch checked down to his trusty Glimmer Twins with Zach Hyman trio and that line was a little unlucky not to cash. Leon Draisaitl falling down and then testing his hand was worrisome, that would be a cruel turn this close to the Olympics. I liked the Jack Roslovic line, would like to see them again. Trent Frederic’s average speed is now in the 60th percentile, while his bursts remain below average. Progress is being made. Zach Hyman had six HDSCs on the night, he leads the league by a long shot over the past three seasons.
- Ekholm-Bouchard 18:36, 21-11 shots, 2-2 goals, 64X, 13-7 HDSC
- Nurse-Walman 19:22, 11-9 shots, 1-1 goals, 39X, 5-9 HDSC
- Stastney-Emberson 11:10, 4-2 shots, 76X, 4-2 HDSC
- Tristan Jarry stopped 15 of 20, .750 SP
- Connor Ingram stopped 7 of 9, .778 SO
Can we just take a minute to admire the numbers for Ekholm-Bouchard? I know they lost, I saw Bouchard get beaten clean at the blue line, but my goodness I would take that line from the top pairing every damned night. Holy hell, Batman! I would argue luck a little, Bouchard struck iron before Brock Faber passed him like a house on the side of the road. However, the Nuge goal had some luck attached and the Wild are a better hockey team.
I didn’t think either goalie was especially sharp nor zoned in. I do believe Minnesota had the better goalie.
CONDORS
Connor Ungar had a great night, Matt Tomkins has been quality too in the last while. Bakersfield is a damn good team, they need to get those blue healthy though. There are like five forwards (Howard, Hutson, Samanski, Hamblin, Jarventie) who have earned an NHL look, I’ll throw recent games by Viljami Marjala as an example of another forward who is emerging as bona fide. Quite the season in Bakersfield.
An innovative way for the Edmonton Oilers to impact the 2026 NHL Draft
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7012201/2026/02/01/edmonton-oilers-2026-nhl-draft-picks-strategy/
Pickard clears!
Quite a night for Kucherov in the outdoor game in Tampa.
He scored 1G 3A in a 6-5 OT win over the Bruins.
He now is the league leader in PPG at 1.76 while McKinnon is at 1.72 and McDavid 1.70.
Kucherov now 13P in his last 5GP and 21P in his last 10.
This is an Oilers blog, sir. Maybe a Wendy’s. Definitely not a Kucherov blog though.
I assume you don’t want to know how the Panthers can add Artemi Panarin to their roster for another cup run.
https://puckpedia.com/news/why-sergei-bobrovsky-shared-agent-can-help-make-panarin-panther
Please feel free to skip this post.
Why do you post this stuff? Do you not understand it’s grating in the extreme to constantly see your antagonistic posts on an Oilers fan blog?
I think he does. That’s why.
Don’t feed the troll.
LOL they are 8 points out of a playoff spot tied with the Leafs and Sens. Let’s worry about making the playoffs before we troll about a cup run
You’re assuming that many of us don’t read the same websites. But more to the point, I don’t care if Florida acquires Panarin because I have strong doubts about the current group of Oilers even getting out of the first round.
Moreover, I don’t think building a team around specifically beating another team is a good strategy. Especially if that team is in the other conference.
If the Oilers were going to try to do something like that, and again, I don’t think they should, I would argue that their focus should be on Colorado or Minnesota. I don’t rate Dallas this year.
Summarizing!
Soup for both!
Wakely picked up two assists.
Lewandowski scored his 12th of the season, making it four straight with a goal.
Prospecting takes a break until Tiw’s Day.
I don’t know why people are so upset about the Minny game.
The Oilers strategy remains consistent throughout the McD era.
Put all eggs in the McDraiBouch basket and hope their greatest is good enough.
We are 11 years into McD era and the team still cannot figure out how to build a deploy a reasonable bottom six.
We had a very good bottom 6 last year.
Unfortunately we now have to pay Drai and Bouch.
Hypothetical question, and I’m not necessarily saying it should happen, but if the team decided to replace Knoblauch, who and why do you his replacement should be? Who’s available and qualified?
Scotty Bowman. He would have 2 years in him at most ….
I’ll take Glen Sather. He would get them
outscoring their defensive breakdowns.
DeBoer revenge tour.
Gerard Gallant
or
Todd Nelson
I would love Nelson. Crazy he hasn’t landed a head coaching job yet. His AHL record is insanely good and players seemed to love him.
Wouldn’t think the Pens would let him go mid-season.
I don’t think it’s ever been a goaltending problem in Edmonton. The Oilers two main issues is they only really play defense when their top players are on their A games. If their top players are at 70% power, they’re way too loose.
Their other problem is they’re at most a 2-line team, increasingly a 1.5 line team. Between those two issues there’s a lot of ways to beat the Oilers.
I still can’t believe that within his first 10 games, Jarry threw his own D under the bus.
It’s kind of jarr-ing.
After he was traded, Josh Yohe had a piece at The Athletic about how the media had never really warmed up to Jarry, but his teammates loved him.
But this doesn’t seem like a great start here.
On the other hand, I bet Stu Skinner is feeling awfully vindicated. How can our D be this bad?
It’s not just the D. When on-ice leadership is focussed on offence (& doing very well, thank you, generally) they don’t seem to care about what their goalies are having to deal with.
Last year McD got a little irritated when the press pressed him on the team’s defensive play, asserting that this team has shown it can play defensively sound hockey. This past fall Drai asserted his desire to be considered for Selke. Unfortunately, neither player is showing us their commitment to responsible play this season. I think we may have seen a glimmer between Nov 26-Dec 25.
As for Skinner, here’s what a Pittsburg sports writer had to say about Stu’s .750SV% performance last night: “It’s not often that a goalie who gives up five gets a B from us, but Skinner was very good. There was nary a soft goal in the five, and in fact, the Penguins left Skinner in the shooting gallery for the final 10 minutes. He must have felt like he was back in Edmonton.”
Jarry didn’t play well last night, there’s no doubt about that. Maybe it’s a good thing that a veteran goaltender, new to the team, has the confidence to call out the trash that the Oilers try to pass as playing defense. Skinner never did and it never got better. Mike Smith did, and it seemed to help. That being said, can’t have the goalie calling out the defense while allowing a couple softies every game either. Will be interesting to see how the team, and Jarry respond
Bang on. Might have been better if this had happened behind closed doors – but at least we know that the elephant in the room is being talked about.
Sometimes a little honesty can go a long way to help addressing what’s really going on because this team’s attention to defensive detail has been terrible this year. And while goaltending can be better, it’s a team game. If they want to get to where they want – it’s not going to happen the way they’re currently playing.
I will judge Jarry on his ability to get hot when it matters.
I was wandering all the time about this Jekyll and Hyde character of the team. One evening they are full effort trying to win the game and the other night they are quite tuned out. Yesterday it was a tuned out game. The best player on the team was on the ice for 5 GA. They didnt want to win.
But why are they doing this?
And then I remembered this interview with Podz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBVasu6zlv8&t=365s
Right there, at 365 seconds into the video, he is talking about 8 game segments and that they are supposed to win 5 games out of these 8 games. So 10 points out of the available 16 points. With this they reach the playoffs without wasting to much energy. Keep the powder dry. Do not show the other teams what is possible with these Oilers. Dont provide a book to solve these Oilers.
And yesterday it was game 56, the end of the 7th 8 games segment. And they have won 5 out of 8 of this segment. They didnt need to win this game. So a Hyde game…
But seeing Jarrys interview yesterday, I have the feeling, he didnt get the memo so far. Ok maybe he is just new to the team….
This team wouldn’t make the playoffs in the east. And they may not in the west if they keep this pace up. Or they may end up WC2 and face the central gauntlet. Doing the bare minimum is a bold strategy
But right now they are first in Pacific… Sure lock for the playoffs.
Vegas is first in the Pacific and the Oilers are barely hanging on to second.
WIN %
VGK – .593
EDM – .571
SEA – .565
LAK – .557
VGK – 64
EDM – 64
SEA – 61
ANA – 59
LA – 59
And the Oilers have the tie break with 21 regular wins, I think.
The rest is just unlaid eggs…
So when the Ducks and Golden Knights play tonight the result doesn’t matter?
How about tomorrow when the Sharks play Chicago?
Tomorrow is tomorrow. Tomorrow they turn it on, if they need it.
Poor Jarry. Out of the loop on the memo. Pretty much left out of the loop on the ice. But he’s carrying lots of blame in Oilerville, where, apparently, most of us didn’t get the memo either 🤷♂️
Very interesting.
It’s true that last year, this did not look like a team that was going deep in the playoffs. Even at the start of the playoffs, this team went down 2-0 to LA in Round 1, and trailed entering the 3rd period of G3 and G4. It took some Bouch heroics to even get us to the second round.
So there’s some plausibility to this theory.
But then why would you overplay McDrai?
Yeah, why overplaying McDrai?
I dont get it, too, why KK is overplaying McDrai. I would just roll the lines, keep them fresh, experiment with line combos, bring in some AHL players, look who is good on McDavids wing or on Drais wing, who is a good 3rd line center, ….
So many things to try with this 5/8 games and no risk of prolonging loosing streaks like Vegas has one right now.
My theory is, but I have no prove, that this is not on KK but on McDrai. They force the Koach to play them together, because they like to play with each other.
This statement contradicts KK’s TOI allotment
A Vegas sports writer makes the same literary reference in his piece on the Vegans. His opening paragraph also sounds warily familiar… “Vegas Golden Knights fans have noticed a particular trend this season. The team starts slow and finds itself in a hole early. Sometimes, they’ll dig themselves out of a hole and get the loser point. Even more rarely, do they win in overtime and even *gasp* the shootout.”
Maybe it’s a Pacific Division thing?
And they’ve done it again tonight against the Ducks.
Down 3-1 at the end of the second period.
Yup. Jekyll & Hyde virus keeping Vegans & Oilers neck in neck.
There have definitely been several mistakes with roster construction. But several seemed like reasonable bets at the time and haven’t worked out.
In some cases the coach has been vindicated (Skinner)
In several cases, however, the player in question has done better with a change of scenery (Arvy, Foegele year 1, Stecher, Kulak come to mind).
Players who are underperforming this season alone comprise a lengthy list: Mangiapane, Walman, Nurse, Savoie, Janmark.
I absolutely believe this team has underperformed relative to its potential based on what the GM has made available to the coach.
I know last night was an outlier, but how many teams can say that they have a top unit that almost always outchances and outscores its opposition in ~15 min of 5v5 time per game? That team should win way more than it loses.
This is not a rumor, I think we all know that Connor has a significant influence on decision-making within this organization. His meetings with leadership before re-signing further support this. If he is protecting KK from the scrutiny he deserves, or even worse, tuning him out, then he has made his own bed, and the message that the organization has failed him may be partly inaccurate. We will likely never know, unless KK is axed.
I hope this team gets its shit together. Because right now, I see a team that has the horses needed to perform better on a more consistent basis, but has no means of helping its other players succeed. You don’t have to win all the central division games, but you have to at least have a chance
Coaches in the 97 era:
McLellan – 266 games
Hitchcock – 62
Tippett- 171
Woodcroft – 133
Knoblauch – 162+
Seems like the previous two coaches lasted roughly two seasons. Knoblauch is two seasons in and despite the extension, the knives seem to be out for him too.
Do coaches suddenly turn stupid after two years coaching this team, or do 97 & Co. tune them out which leads to their exit?
I don’t know who the next coach will be, but he will have a two-year shelf life.
Well, McLellan seemed like a good choice at the time and unsurprisingly he lasted the longest. He is also the only coach that was re-hired by an NHL team in the head coach position, if I recall.
Serious question: If KK was fired, would any other NHL team pick him up as a head coach?
I do know, however, that Woodcroft and Knoblauch had way deeper teams, so comparing the expectations for their tenure compared to McLellan’s is apples and oranges.
Also, I don’t know the answer to why they are underperforming. But in both scenarios you mention, the coach is involved, whether it is his fault or not. A coach can have a smart plan, but everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face, and this team has take more hits than Jake Paul would have been against professional boxers (in their prime)
My knife is out because of the importance of the McDavid 2 year extension and the unspoken ultimatum that came with it, the clear underperformance of the team as a whole, and the need to try something different that doesn’t involve blaming every player and sending him out for ten cents on the dollar (save for Mangiapane and Henrique). Maybe it doesn’t need to be a wholesale coaching change, but some analysis needs to be done
I think the top two lines will certainly play playoff style defense when the time comes.
Having a third and fourth line that can play better defensive hockey as well as provide secondary offence will make the coach and defence and goaltender magically better.
The fourth line is starting to be reliable and Savoie is certainly a capable third line winger. A few tweaks hopefully leads to a more complete game more often.
Samanski line 7-0 shots
Lazar line 3-3 shots
Nuge line 6-1 shots
Looks to me like the 3rd, 4th, and quasi 2nd line own shot share.
Or am I missing something?
The low bar for this team is very high.
There’s also a cycle for their coaches, because they keep hiring the wrong type.
At first, the coach benefits from the team’s attacking style.
Then, because they aren’t attacking coaches or adaptable coaches, they think they can shift away from that style and have success. The attack will just keep finding a way even with a defensive or cautious approach.
It of course will not. Not consistently anyway.
This team has performed near its low bar for multiple seasons in a row now. No division titles. No Cups.
And yes, I’m saying that the last two years and conference titles were near the minimum that should have been expected from that roster. The coach didn’t add anything. He just stopped the harm Woodcroft had started doing. Just as Woodcroft initially stopped the idiocy Tippett had been trying.
The big mistake of course was sticking with Todd – who showed early that he was never going to win in the playoffs.
Hire an attacking coach that either has fire himself, or surrounds himself with fiery assistants. This team leads a loud, swaggering bench, because its stars don’t have that personality. It is a necessary component to a winning team.
Find the hockey version of Curt Cignetti’s attitude.
Players who are underperforming this season alone comprise a lengthy list: Mangiapane, Walman, Nurse, Savoie, Janmark.
Lumping a guy with 61 NHL games on his resume into a list of underperforming veterans (8+ seasons) seems a tad unfair…
Given his draft pedigree and age, Savoie is underperforming.
Buffalo drafted 3 centres the first round in 2022.
Matt Savoie at #8
Noah Ostlund at #16
Jiri Kulich at #28.
The latter two have better numbers
right, because you are an expert on predicting how young players will develop / turn out…
Pickard on waivers should signal the Jarventie call up.
Knob probably asks for Hamblin but this should be Jarventie (and not Hutson or Howard or Jones or Marjala).
Does it may sense to call anyone up considering only two games before the freeze?
During the Olympics, there are restrictions on teams making player transactions. The Olympic Roster freeze goes from February 4 at 3pm ET to February 22 at 11:59 ET.
During the freeze:
No Trades are permitted
Players can be sent down if they are waiver exempt, except for players that played in 16 of the team’s 20 NHL games prior to the freeze, or have been on the NHL roster for 80 league days prior to Jan 21
Players can be placed on waivers during the freeze, but if the player was waived after their NHL team’s final game before the freeze, they do not have to report to their new team until February 17.
There are no restrictions on sending players down prior to the freeze.
I hope Pickard gets picked up. Great guy
This would not restrict them from sending Jarventie down after playing the next two games.
Who does Jarventie replace on the roster? Janmark?
I just don’t see the point playing him in a fourth line role where he is not in a position to succeed.
In my view the fourth line has had a few chances to score every game. I think it may be a good spot to play 8-10 safe minutes a game. Hopefully jav brings more offence than what Janmark brings.
Janmark who has nearly triple the offense of Frederic.
The fourth line has actually been playing some good hockey. Why not just let it be?
I agree that line has been good. I was just commenting that in my opinion it wouldn’t be a bad spot for him to be on that fourth line. Unlike at the first half of the year where the fourth line was unplayable.
He replaces Cal Pickard on the roster and Mattias Janmark in the lineup for Tuesday.
Could they have something else in mind?
Of course they could – I’m just speculating (and hoping).
They very well could do nothing and maybe they just think now is the best time to perhaps slide him through waivers. They don’t have to re-assign him even if he clears (they would have 30 days or 10 games played).
“if the player was waived after their NHL team’s final game before the freeze, they do not have to report to their new team until February 17.”
Seems to me he could only play one game.
What does that have to do with anything?
Jarventie can be sent down on Wed without waivers.
Calling up a player for one game seems nonsensical.
I would suggest its non nonsensical to the player, or his pocketbook.
Not to mention, the Oilers have two games, not one, but details and facts aren’t really your things, we know.
Read the rule again/
I would like to see some third pairing big bodied dmen….men like Logan Stanley or Tyler Myers who can clear the crease, PK and defend the net. The two guys we have now, while good skaters, are too small for that work. We acquire two big able bodied veteran dmen and watch the goalies improve.
Not sure Myers or Stanley are even replacement level players. But they are big
Winnipeg chose Stanley over Nate Schmidt, and that was a poor choice. Logan’s player card from JFresh looks like Desharnais
Goaltending will not improve because they add a 3rd pairing d-man.
It’s poor defensive play as a team that’s at issue. They don’t manage the puck well in their zone and make a simple pass, they don’t get their head on a swivel and allow guys to get behind them. This team plays like the modern version of the Maginot Line. All guns are pointed in the same direction.
I don’t know if it’s them ignoring the coaching or the coaches not holding anyone accountable.
Pickard on waivers
https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/2018035873410138361
The first casualty of the Ungar Games.
What happens if he clears?
It’s anyones guess? Three goalies in Bako?
It would not surprise me if someone grabs Picks on waivers.
But even if not, I would hoep they don’t move Ungar. He’s the future.
Interesting timing after a tough game. Could be the organization trying to give a confidence boost for Jarry/Ingram, and also confirm to the rest of the team they are the new tandem, even if Picks is well liked in the room.
If he clears, they do not have to re-assign him to the AHL immediately.
If they don’t he won’t play any games for weeks.
Yes, I was forgetting about the roster freeze starting the 4th.
They can still trade him.
Another interesting aspect of the timing and perhaps the message – today was the Oilers Skills competition. I don’t see Picks listed on the website as being part of that.
Still early, but it is looking like much of the available data that we had on Jarry and Skinner was correct. They are very close, I think the edge was slightly to Skinner analytically as well as way more experience in big games. It was certainly not a clear upgrade according to anyone. Yet we took on ~3M in cap for another year and gave up 2 assets.
Bowman gives flashes of brilliance (Podz, Emberson, Stastney, Ingram, all the euro signings) but still prone to head scratching moves (Freddi, Jarry). Listen to your analytics team, Stan! By the way, apparently Stauffer was saying that Parkatti was a big part of signing Ungar. Pretty interesting.
One thing that did factor in was both Skinner & Kulak being in contract years. Not sure how they were viewing Kulak in terms of extending him, but I think they made the decision to move on from both Stu & Picks in the off-season anyway. Jarry’s cap hit of $5.375m for the next 2 seasons vs what they would need to sign another starter for is attractive so they can just focus on an offer to a second goalie, whether that be Ingram or someone else.
My guess is Skinner will get $6-8M+ after this season with the Penguins. Probably $4-5Mish if he’d stayed with Oilers.
To my eye, GM SB is playing a longer game than “win now, at any cost.” I’m curious about what his roster budget breakdown looks like. How much for goaltending? How much for D group? For F group?
Looking back, the Perry signing was GM KH genius: cheap reclamation w tons of “winner/attitude” talent (& good hands). I think if this team misses anything it’s that cheap veteran winner/instigator talent.
Do not overspend on goalies.
Terry Jones
@byterryjones
Oilers GM Stan Bowman should spend the Olympic break studying Edmonton record vs top three Central Division teams. Lost 9-1 to Colorado, 8-3 and 4-3 SO to Dallas and 1-0, 5-2 and now 7-3 to Minnesota. They not only lost them all, they’ve been outscored 34-12.
He will study them with DeBoer in Italy.
@SportsnetSpec
Hot take: Oilers should trade for Wallstedt.
Oilers have no assets now to help Minnesota now.
Wallstedt has benefited greatly from Minnesota’s system, and his play has been in decline after a rookie confidence boost.
In his last 10 games (he’s only played 20, so half his career) he ranks 59th in goals saved above expected/60 at -0.588. Leaking goals. To go with a .884 save percentage.
No thanks for me. You don’t trade for a player because he has played well against you twice…
They want to flip him for a center. So only way it makes sense is rags trade him for Trocheck and then flip him to us
It’s hard to say this team shouldn’t go all in during Mcdavids prime but I think this team should just stay the course. We don’t have the players to compete with the top teams and we’re not one player away.
They have no choice but to go all in. They have to give it their best shot. Wouldn’t you be dissappointed if they didn’t? I know I would.
With Jarry’s salary on the books, and the need to sign Ingram or another backup, say at $2.5 million, the Oilers will go into the offseason with only $10 million in cap space for next season.
Roslovic, Kapanen, Lazar and Statsney or replacements all need to be accommodated so even at league minimum for all, there is very little room to move.
Sending out Mangiapane could help but that is unlikely to be free.
Tick tock.
Agree.
It was never a goalie problem. It is not a one-player problem.
This team can -and does- play well. The Nov 26-Dec 25 period showed some consistency. Youth now having an impact. A tremendous amount of transition occurring in real time, in front of our eyes. Not always pretty. But..
“Keep the powder dry.”
With respect ‘all in’ isn’t a thing in pro sports really. It’s a narrative at least around the Oilers to find some rationale for sub standard management
Every NHL team is all in all of the time. The only reason to play is to win, and win a Cup
The only teams that should think about the future in terms of not aggressively and smartly trying to get better every day are ones that messed up a lot and have no choice or choose to go for elite talent by tanking
Boston lost their two top centres and keep rolling. Bowman is aggressive enough but can’t do what needs to be done because of movement clauses
The team as currently built has more than enough good players to do what they want to. But when your best player, captain and leader won’t buckle down there isn’t enough leadership from the top players. Compare his and Nate’s +/-
I have said many times I don’t think Knobby has the the personality to lead a group with this many elite players. Being a good coach is the low bar, Connor needs more, obviously. He’s playing well below what he can, below championship hockey, points be damned
Kucherov gets to do what he does because he’s a winger. Connor need someone to play C in the D zone, which includes back tracking. I don’t know if there’s a better coach available, maybe De Boer or Lav, or that there’s enough time left to make a change. But Knobby has to go at some point Cup or not. Wrong fit
Nurse and Walman have the same deficiencies: poor zone entry defense, poor Ricky box awareness, poor PK.
They should not be paired together, and probably should not be on the same team
Walman needs reps and probably not a Nurse pairing to return to form, he’s much better then what he’s been rolling out since his return.
The Walman contract was a huge blunder. I would try to trade him before the no move kicks in. Bowman got suckered by a guy playing hard looking for a payday.
Mike Grier won the Walman trade with Detroit, and then parlayed it into another winning Walman trade with the Oilers.
Seems like revisionist history and recency biased. Everyone was loving the trade last season. Everyone.
Not everyone.
Plus there are two stages to this. The trade, forced by the mistake of not matching the offer sheet, and then offering the contract extension.
A cascading sequence of bad moves, each bad move forced by the preceding one.
I still love the Walman trade, he’s a good defender that needs to get back up to game speed.
Walman coming back from 2 injuries and you want to trade him at his low point because he is underperforming? How about get a better effin coach?
I worry Bowman might like offensive players too much. I don’t think offense is the issue, it’s system and the right players for a system that defends and attacks aggressively
I agree – I think that’s a lot of the problem. Or he just gets guys that hopefully will play in the top 6 but if they can’t there isn’t much of a plan/role for them. They need good role players in the bottom 6. And part of that is Stan working with Knoblauch to figure out which players he would actually play. I think Knoblauch needs help with that part as well – which is why a veteran assistant would be good.
Yes. There’s only so many goals to go around. Need the proper support players which is why Podz looks so good even though he shy on points for a second line Draisaitl winger.
Also why I’m not sure Ros is a good fit with this roster even though I love his game for the most part.
Paying Walman and Nurse $16.25 million until 2030 seems like poor cap management to me; throw in the Frederic contract and the Campbell buyout, and that number balloons to ~$22 million. Brutal.
In my opinion, Edmonton has too many inefficient contracts to be able to contend for a cup. Teams need some guys on value contracts. That’s what makes Edmonton not winning the last two seasons so brutal, because Bouchard and Draisaitl were both severely underpaid relative to what they were contributing to the team. Bowman needs to hit a couple of home runs in terms of finding players who severely outperform their contracts for Edmonton to have a chance at continuing to contend for a cup.
The Oilers can and will play better with maybe a few tweaks. However tweaks cannot be Henrique coming back to be 3c or 4c or winger. Or mangipaine being in the lineup.
Either the manger has to take those options off the table or the coach has to avoid those.
I believe Bowman will.
It’s getting closer to the time of year that Henrique steps up and he’ll be rested to boot.
He’ll be UFA next season.
Henrique has never had a problem with effort. I think his fall off has been consistent.
When he first was traded for he was good. I doubt he’s getting back to that level. I don’t think the team can afford to find out.
If he can’t replace lazar where does he fit?
Possibly on the wing. He did well there last year. Maybe time to move Nuge to 3c and try Henrique there.
He could replace Janmark, possibly and he’s better at faceoffs. Having him along with Lazar on the fourth line to take draws on their strong sides might be good. Henrique is still solid defensively & on the PK.
So based on OP’s excellent Bakersfield updates and comments from our esteemed host it would seem we have 5 pretty talented young forwards (Savoie, Howard, Samanski, Hutson and Jarventi) How many make the big club next year? I think Savoie has claimed his spot (offence a bit shy but pk work making up for it) I also see Samanski as the heir to Rico’s centre slot. Howard oozing offence but needs results at the top level and to improved D. Jarventi pretty interesting as he has talent, speed and can play with an edge? Pretty sure one or two of these guys get packaged in a trade. My guess is Hutson most likely to go? Thoughts??
Hutson has a better two-way game than Howard. For me it’s Howard that’s most likely to go. We’ll be able to see if he oozes offense at the NHL level somewhere else..I kind of wish they had kept O’Reilly instead.
With Howard I don’t think he is a bottom 6 player and that O’Reilly is. If Oilers don’t think Howard can crack top 6 he may well be one of the guys traded. Depending on what the return might be, hanging on to O’Reilly might have been the right play.
Even top six guys need to be responsible defensively. Just ask Connor or Leon.
Howard showed a lot of nhl tools last call up, in a less than ideal lineup spot.
I think it’s more likely we would regret trading away Howard than trading away Oreilly. I hope next year he forces his way to the top 6. Time will tell.
It’d be nice to also have Oreilly.
LOL He’d be ok on the Leafs with that tool kit.
Maybe I could have been more specific.
His last set of games I saw Howard taking much better routes to pucks often getting puck touches and making good plays with those touches. Involved in several offensive chances per game.
Also he was in good spots defensively and tracked back well.
His first set of games earlier in the season he rarely created any offence and was poor on the back track and in dzone.
Howard will have to provide offence to be an NHL player I think it was much closer last time although likely a next year thing
All five should be on the Oilers. Why are we trying to fill the bottom half of the roster with overpaid over the hill players?
This is not meant to be critical, only pointing out a quirk in stats. Goaltending is the lightning rod position, especially for those who lean to being critical and have not played the position.
In the trade comparison the one game each last night, ergo meaningless stats:
Jarry 15 saves on 20 shots 750 S%
Skinner 15 saves on 20 shots 750 S%
In spite of the closeness (identical) of the stats Skinner crushed Jarry by adding an assist.
And anyone who watched both games from start to finish would know they were 2 very different performances! Stats are funny like that. Wins are the ultimate stat.
“Wins are the ultimate stat.”
Skinner was the third-fastest goalie to 100 wins in Oiler history. He also had the second best WIN% in team history. And, his WIN% in high stakes games (Games 4-7, playoffs) is .783.
I don’t know if we can comment on Jarry as an Oiler goalie until he’s been through the fire of a long season, followed by a deep playoff run. Winning is the only stat that really matters, and it takes time /games played for that to be revealed. All the other stats are, in good part, in the hands of the skaters. And on this team, on ice leadership doesn’t seem to be that interested, at least not at this point in the season. Tough on whoever is in net.
I would have loved to see them a little more competitive but I also don’t think the scor fully reflected the game. Jarry lets in there so so goals in the second and Wallsted made the saves. Difference in the game.
i also think the wild play a more straightforward game. Are the oilers adverse to rebound goals? They prefer to throw it to a covered man in front than putting a shot on goal and creating a rebound chance. These guys are good for sure and sometimes it works out, but sometimes you might need to play some different strategies to score. Or at least mix it up a little. The opposing team knows to just tie up sticks and the puck sails through the slot.
Overall even though it was a bad loss, they need to get hot after the Olympic break. I don’t want to say it doesn’t matter right now, but tha sprint to the finish after the break is going to define who wins the Pacific, who does well in the playoffs. Two more games, get a split at a minimum and try to get both games, and then get some rest and prepare for the real season to begin in the NHL.
SB is under pressure to win Stanley now. I don’t see him waiting for the yutes.
If that is the case, then the Savoie and Howard trades were mistakes. I know he didn’t make the Savoie trade, but Bowman should deal both if the Oilers don’t plan some runway for their transition to the NHL.
The Savoie deal may have had cap implications. However, I do believe the jury is still out on the O’Reilly for Howard deal. I do kinda miss Ryan MacLeod smiley face.
They made the wrong choice. They chose Henrique, entering his declining years, over McLeod, entering his prime years.
I tend to agree. Rico will be gone soon and they still need a 3C, which Savoie isn’t equipped to be.
The Howard trade was about hitting fast forward. But I can still see SB flipping some youth for experience before deadline as you are suggesting is the temptation.
They thought that Howard could be fast tracked to the NHL.
This could be splitting hairs but if they thought he could have been fast tracked, he wouldn’t have spent so much time on the 4th line and then farmed out.
I do think they realized that given the reluctance of KK to give ANY kid top 6 time, it was going to be difficult finding time for Howard to show something this season – and it’s now become a 2026-27 and beyond thing for him.
When was the last time any Oilers HC gave a young forward, not a 1st overall pick, a long leash?
If it was just the yutes underperforming I’d agree, imo Bowman does a coaching change before shipping out players he views as talented.
Some of the yutes are likely better than some of the employed and playing veterans.
On the D, from what I’ve heard/read:
1) Lepanen and Stilman may both be back for Tuesday
2) Akey could be back next weekend
3) Dineen isn’t close
Marjala and Jarventie were the offence last night and scored two great goals in the 3rd period to win the game – Jarventie with 2 wonderful power forward goals in back to back games.
Javentie was the most NHL ready coming in to the season and he’s been consistently solid all season long. He should be playing over Janmark right now who is struggling on the PK and, if he’s struggling on the PK, well, what positive impact is he really having?
Bouchard looked terrible on that Faber goal but let not forget (a) it was right after he made some dangles in the offensive zone, walking around one of the top defensive forwards in the league and rang one off the bard and (b) zero chance he steps up like that if the Oilers aren’t down 3 late in the game.
That is the type of lowlight that will get shown across the league and social media as an example of Bouchard being terrible defensively and why he “can’t be trusted” on the Olympic team and it lack so much context and the narrative around it will be so completely misguided.
Bouchard got turned inside out three times in the SC finals last year by the Panthers for goals.
I don’t think that’s actually true but, what is true is that McDavid was directly responsible for 4-5 goals again – what does this have to do with anything I posted?
Josh Samanski is 3-1 goals and 60% expected goals in 27 minutes at 5 on 5.
I believe the goal against was one of the 3 early against the Sharks – I think it was the Emberson mis-handle/Walman bad change so no culpability.
Sure, massively sheltered zone starts plus many on the fly starts but, still, great start.
He has been noticeable for a lot of the right reasons. There was a jam play last night that they were unlucky to not score. One of the few lines to get inside slot pressure against Minny last night.
You are correct re: the goal against. Samanski is playing on the right side of the puck, winning faceoffs and has had some good moments in the offensive zone. He’s going to be a good one.
There is going to be lots of talk about Connor Ungar and calls for his call-up and, yup, he was brilliant last night (and has been generally) but Matt Tomkins has been just as brilliant in January and with a larger sample size as he remains the clear #1 down there (and I am told that goaltending is the one area where the Oilers direct the AHL club – not necessarily on who starts game to game but general split).
No-one is getting called up of course but, of there did happen to be a call-up, I’m confident it would be Tomkins.
With that said, Ungar is an RFA so we re-sign that guy and he goes in to camp as 3G in the org and 1A in Bako (at least for me.).
I would hardly call Tomkins the clear number one. Since being called up Unger has started 8 games and Tomkins 9, looks like an even split. Ungar is 7-1 with a .950sv%. Tomkins has been good but clearly not as good. Only advantage he has is he is a big goalie which is preferred.
Recently Tomkins has been the clear #1.
Ungar got a run of 3 straight games earlier but Tomkins has started 2 out of 3 for each of the last 3 weeks.
The Oilers #1 target at the deadline should be a legite #4 R handed Defenceman. If they are playing Nurse in the 2nd pair he needs that D man. Walman cannot play the R side effectively. He needs to be on his left side to get the best play out of him. Who can they get? The best option as a UFA is probably Connor Murphy. But is he a legite #4 D man still? I don’t know. He is only avg just over 16 min in Chicago this year. Is there anyone Bowman has as a R hander with term on his radar? No clue, but that has to be his #1 priority.
Jarry was terrible last night. The D was in our zone as well. The goalie position looks like it could be an issue again moving forward. It will be interesting to see if Knoblauch starts giving the hotter goalie more starts. Whoever that is.
Anyone else sick of the over passing and not shooting on this team? It has to stop. Shoot and go for the rebounds for God’s sake.
On a really bright spot ( Compared to that stinker last night) That Unger kid is a stud. What a game last night stopping over 50 shots in a 3-2 win. 7-1, 1.74/.949. Good on the kid. Watching his high lites he is very athletic .
Brandon Carlo is said the be available as the Leafs retool but the Oilers likely don’t have the assets to acquire him.
The Oilers should not trade for Carlo. He isn’t Boston Carlo.
Laughs would have to attach a 1st round pick to unload that contract on us which they dont have.
Carlo is horrible.
He has been shitty for the Leafs
Samanski, Hutson, and a 1st for Justin Faulk (50% retained).
If a first plus Samanski is on the table I’d prefer to use that on a player on the rise not an aging Dman.
You can’t be serious
I was just giving a possible answer to the question:
Honestly, bringing back Paul Coffey is the only move I see that could push this team forward in the playoffs.
How about an astute trade or two by the GM?
based on past trades records, I have zero confidence in mgmt to make even one astute trade
Podkolzin, Ingram, Walman, Stastney
I just don’t think things are as bad as a lot of you like to think it is. Especially you LOL.
I would agree with you. This team is chaotic and disorganized without him.
Yeah bring back to old boys club!!
seriously, bring it back. MacT and Coffey.
If the entire group of OBC had Connor-Leon-Bouchard we would have 8 Cups.
So a coaching change, I agree.
MacT might be a good coach for this team. But I doubt he would want it and Coffey doesn’t want to coach anymore, although I’m sure they’re both available as consultants to Knoblauch and his coaching staff for donuts & coffee at Tim’s.
I’m a big fan of MacT as a smart analyst (and clear overt Oilers fan) but not sure I can agree with his post game comments that Nurse is playing the best hockey of his career.
Nurse is the boat anchor keeping the Oilers in cap hell. I wish they could offload his contract. He’s a cerebral player said no one ever.
Nurse is all over the ice and makes so many good aggressive plays that shut down rushes against. He covers so much ice. But he’s just so chaotic and impossible to read. He has moments of Vapor lock where after a good play he zones out.
Walman is certainly not the right partner.
I’d build a second pair around Walman on the left side.
Let nurse do crazy on a third pair.
A stronger coaching staff would do exactly that. Build strength throughout the line up. When St Louis won Berube moved Petro to the second pair and he nailed it. A demotion that drove a Cup win. I doubt he has any hard feelings
There are options but Knobby is slotting players like Puckpedia GM mode. Maybe that’s the problem…
Rarely a game where I don’t smh at Nurse. Every once in a while that’s an insignificant blip on an otherwise strong night, but very very seldom these days.
We are 100% at the point where Jarventie should be in the Oilers lineup over Janmark.
Why? So the coach can play him six minutes a night?
If the Oilers continue to limp their way through the regular season, the Knobber will become more conservative in his roster deployment. He is clearly not interested in integrating the high achieving AHL reinforcements. He is going full Tippet.
Ya, he really has an issue with that a lot of nights
They’re in good position to be a playoff team. I would suggest there are plenty of teams below Edmonton in the standings that you could consider to be limping their way thruogh the regular season but not Edmonton. As long as the coachs & GM have the team primed for the playoffs that’s all that matters.
After the SJ win I took a gander at the standings. Recent wins have been kinda important. Remaining games matter too, though if Oil can continue to win 3 outta five-ish they’re fine. Barring moves by Stan or a revelation by Knob they probably run 2.5 lines a game to do that, and the team doesn’t grow (much. quality shows eventually) and the horses don’t finish fresh.
Since when do horses finish fresh?
Janmark is terrible. His pk play is even going downhill. Not sure any team with really good scouts would take him in a trade
Janmark is suffering a Henrique fall off. He’s been an effective 4 liner/pk guy but has recently become replaceable.
Knob has been trusting that fourth line more and Fredric has been better along with lazar who is consistently a good 4c.
Javarntie may be a perfect upgrade. Time to find out!
Frederic is like night and day the last bit. way faster , hitting a bit more, going to the front of the net and getting more shots toward the net. A couple of close of good shots. Hope he keeps it up . He and Lazar seem to mesh . Be nice to get rid of both Henrique and Janmark and get a big , fast hard hitter that is an agitator for the bottom 6 ,
I can certainly agree that Janmark is treading on thin ice, whether it’s Jarventie or not, I don’t know. It seems to me that the player that replaces Janmark on the roster needs to be defensively responsible and a strong penalty killer among other strong atributes. I’m not sure Jarventie is that player. Henrique will be back after the Olimpic break and there may even be a trade of some kind in the works. There’s 26 games remaining it’s getting down to crunch time, they really need to be looking for experienced playoff performers.
So let’s play what if (not that I thing the org brings him up). Who takes on those PK minutes?
Clearly Mcdavid and Draisaitl
Podz, Kap, Samanski
You watch the AHL – did not realize Samanski killed penalties.
Works for me. The only other option is Rico when he’s back.
He’s been on the PK since day 1 of the regular season.
I don’t expect that Knob/Stuart would use him though, at least not right away – the other two named would likely get increased PK minutes.
Certainly did not love Jarry’s post game avail.
Asked how he performed and he said “it’s tough” and went on about so many Grade A’s. Used those words 3-4 times.
He’s not wrong but there were multiple saveable pucks that went in and a few outright poor goals.
He’s allowed to have a poor game, and the defence was bad, but there should be some responsibility taken.
Is he wrong? The Oilers are fully disinterested in checking / defense.
Minny gave up plenty of Grade A’s as well, but their goalie made saves not excuses. Jarry is an average goalie at best.
I literally typed the words “he’s not wrong”……..
Feel free to read the post again.
He’s going to have to expect unusual shots against. He wasn’t ready at all for the faceoff goal or Quinn’s.
Also true that no way the oilers can survive giving up so many grade A s.
They know how to play dzone and rush defense better. They chose not to last night.
Do you think Jarry had no chance on any of those goals?
I think the score was flattering for the Wild bunch, they certainly had the better goaltending.
In last night’s game. YES, he was wrong. He completely sh*t the bed on his team and put them in a huge hole when they were the better team at that point in the game.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. His message about the team defence is valid, and I’m glad he spoke about it, but I think it would have been wise on his part to take responsibility for one of those bad goals. He did say about his return from injury “you want some better games here and there” so I think he did acknowledge he has to be better in general but wasn’t biting further than that.
Jarry needs to own this one. Oil have had many games they didn’t start on time and then had to chase the game making them play more run and gun. Last night the team came out strong. They were dominating the play and the Wild goalie was making some big saves. Jarry wiffed on not one but three poor goals in a row to kill his team. He was the PLAYER last night that wasn’t ready to play. He needed to own that game and take responsibility and not blame his team in this case.
Stu never threw the team under the bus like Tristan did last night, even though every word Tristan said was the unvarnished truth. Stu took the heat for the team.
And I think the team needs to hear it. Some truths are harder than others, but the team needs to be called out and if it’s not the coach (or if the message from the coach is not being received), then the players need to be able to hold each other accountable. Works both ways.
Stu was definitely a good interview too bad he shit the bed 3 times at crunch time.
Apparently Jarry isn’t a good interview.
The team is unbelievably inconsistent in their defensive awareness. So bad at times, that if I hadn’t watched every game they play, I’d think those things were one offs or just bad luck. I actually think the bottom two lines are starting to come a bit so if they can somehow prevent the defensive lapses, stay in games longer so the coach does bench everyone except his favourite 7 players, they might be able to gain some traction. Still would like the team to go for it this year. With the weak division, there is a path to at least the conference finals, then who knows? Only two McDavid years guaranteed after this one so I’m not sure how you can punt on the season
Bouch is chaos you embrace.
Nurse is chaos you gotta face.
Ek stolid but has lost a step.
Walman still recalibrating.
Stastney showing wobble.
Regula still rough unproven.
Emberson solid on the third pair.
Anyone got a Stecher?
a Staios? Gator? Greene?
I’d take a Smid.
This morning in Leavins 9 things article he mentions that KK was able to choose his own staff after the departure of Coffey and Gulleckson. The new hires are competent hockey men but the coaching staff is now pretty vanilla which kind of matchs how the team is playing. I think the coaching staff missing those strong personalities???
That was a great article, especially when he wrote about his mentor telling him he “hired a bunch of Kurt”. I laughed at that.
I didn’t understand the coaching staff changes in the summer and they look even more strange now. They lost so much experience with Coffey and Gulutzan out, but only brought in MacFarland who is not overly experienced either.
so they came into this year essentially short staffed on the bench, and with less experienced coaches. Just crazy to me and I don’t know the actual effect of it admittedly but it sure doesn’t look good right now.
Ungar is Logan Thompson 2.0 with even better stats. Bakersfield is getting badly outplayed and outshot of late, but the goaltending is shining bright. Here in Oil Country the tendies are getting outplayed by the opposition. I’m not a fan of Jarry (the goalie, not the person) and wonder if the Oilers would be a little or significantly better if Coffey was still behind the bench. Ungar is proving he’s a darn good goalie no matter what league or team he plays for. I think Bowman has done a fantastic job securing good prospects, do you think Ungar gets the call up at any point? I agree, I don’t think the Oilers have a chance against the Wild or Avs who also have the Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks.
Our current net minding is a slight upgrade over Skinner and Picard but still no where near the top ten this team needs to win it all. Maybe the answer is in Bakersfield??
It does not matter who is in goal. If you are going to continue to be completely indifferent to defensive hockey, highly skilled teams (Col, Min, Dal) will make the Oilers pay for it. Period.
You can argue Minny has our number (and they do), but we don’t help ourselves.
Hear hear! There never was, and is not now, a “goalie problem.”
There was, and remains, a problem with the team not playing responsibly. Some nights they are so offensively brilliant they score their way to wins.
There used to be nights -stretches, even!- of responsible, winning hockey. Ironically, the 0-1 loss to the Wild was a sign of life for that kind of play, and I had belief. Evidence even, that this club could skate with a tough Central Division club.
It’s in this team, somewhere. But it hasn’t been seen recently. Last night was ugly (except for those first few minutes, where the “first goal, Oilers win” notion had purchase on my imagination). Still, floor-ceiling stuff. A club going through change before our eyes. Some not so pretty (loved the Samanski line!). Goalies have bad nights. Don’t mistake them for “the problem” (btw, since mid-December the top three goalies in the NHL, according to the goalie whisperers and their numbers at InGoal Magazine, are Sorokin, Shesterkin, and Stuart Skinner. A few days ago you excused this by suggesting Skinner’s numbers reflect playing behind a better structured team. The InGoal folks say it’s not so. Skinner is playing great behind a team that their numbers show as even worse, defensively, than the Oilers).
I guess we’ll find out next year.
The Oilers always get killed by Minny. I really would not read too much into last night’s game.
Death, taxes, and Minny trouncing the Oilers. Facts of life.
That said, I really hope Stan does not spend assets at the deadline. This years Oilers are not going anywhere in the playoffs.
9-1 Colorado 8-3 Dallas 6-2 Pittsburg 6-2 Boston 7-3 Minnesota these are all blowouts on home ice, this trend isn’t Minnesota has the Oilers number.
Ya the problem is there is too many wright off games. Maybe 2-3 a year you can just throw away the tape. But at some point you have to make adjustments.
Darn home ice disadvantage! Grrr
I don’t think anyone in the organization has given up. They’re going to do whatever needs to be done to win the cup.
I think in a series the Oilers would win it. Minny is chaotic as well. The Avs are the ones that are a big problem as they also are very good and the last western monkey on their back having the sweep in their Cup year. I’m sure the core remembers getting handled
Colorado is much stronger than it was then.
Brock Nelson is a revelation at 2C, Necas a more than adequate replacement for Rantenen and thy will soon have their captain back and Toews after the Olympics.
And, of course their goaltending tandem is top drawer.
This team looks like a first round loser at this point in time.
No way they go very far playing this way in the d-zone.
I hope Drai is alright..
Edmonton is playing with fire IMO. 1 injury to one of the top guys or a 4 game losing streak and they could be on the outside looking in.
Will they get in? Most likely, but far from a gurantee.
Prospectandem!
It’s the best of times for David Lewandowski, the lone Euro amongst the NAmateurs. He was named 2nd star last night as his Blades blanked CHL-leading PA. He had 1 + 1, making it his third straight game lighting the lamp. Another date with the Raiders beckons this afternoon.
It’s the blurst of times for Dalyn Wakely, the lone Canadian NAmateur playing stateside. On November 29, he went off for a hat trick with 6 SOG. In the 11 games since, he has but an assist and only 19 SOG. (To be fair, UML’s offence ranks 51st among the 63 teams in Div-1.) He’s been listed mainly at 3C for UML.
UMass-Lowell (Wakely) @ 1:30 p.m.
Saskatoon (Lewandowski) @ 3 p.m.
Both times, as usual, are Athabasca time.
Good to see numbers that back up the eye test last night. 81-22-28 were a strong line all night, and more game like that could cement 81s place in the line up. OTOH, 25-96 were not good & were in each other’s way often. Maybe time to move Emberson back beside Nurse & see Stastney with Walman.
Too bad we have to wait until after the break to see 88 moved on, as it would be nice to have space for either Jarventie or Howard back in as options.
OP has also mentioned it may be time to let Janmark have a seat or trade him so KK is not relying on him so much. His play is starting to be less effective & maybe he needs to play every third game if the team does not want trade him.
Surely there is another penalty-killing forward available somewhere that is also good for more than 2 goals a season.
Amen! Savoie is eating Janmark’s lunch in that area.
Really like the way Savoie’s game is progressing. I believe the offence will come. Our PK has been bleeding lately but not the fault of Savoie. Looking at you Janitor….
Yep. Savoie has become a consistent reliable player. Very valuable middle 6 cheap 200 ft winger.
There are classic score effects in those numbers