In a highway service station, over the month of June. Was a photograph of the earth, taken coming back from the moon. And you couldn’t see a city, on that marbled bowling ball. or a forest or a highway, or me here least of all. -Joni Mitchell
The Edmonton Oilers needed just one more win to enjoy home cooking for the first two rounds of the playoffs. The top of the roster could play on the moon and win four of seven, but for the group who enter battle with feet of clay, any edge will do. Please read this.
At the start of the season, we were talking about the rookie wingers (Matt Savoie, Ike Howard), the European signings (David Tomasek, Josh Samanski), where to play Andrew Mangiapane and of course the goaltending.
Now, we have the answer. Savoie made the grade, Howard is a next-year man. Tomasek found closing the gap too difficult, while Josh Samanski pushed from sunup to sundown. I like this team’s future far more than last year’s Oilers playoff side. I don’t think this year’s team will go as deep into the postseason. We’ll see.
BAKERSFIELD
These are the prospects of note who have spent extended time in Bakersfield this season. The offense is strong for pretty much everyone, but the wall hit by the college kids in the second half flattened a fantastic early goal share at even strength. I’ll do the splits with all of these cats when the season is over, but I do believe Stan Bowman added an NHL player or two here. Viljani Marjala’s goal share wobbles ensure he’ll be back with the Condors next year, but the others in this group could play subtstantial NHL hockey next year.
One never knows with defensemen, but I do believe these men are the main suspects from Bakersfield with a possible NHL future. Have a look at Damien Carfagna’s goal share! Holy crap! I think he’s an NHL player, folks. Beau Akey has had a weird year, hard nose the highway with injuries and I think he’s going to have to repeat another season in Bakersfield. Alec Regula isn’t popular with anyone but me based on recent conversations, but I like the big blue who can pass the puck and have an idea about how to move things in a good direction. This was his year after a year lost to injury, so I hope he gets a chance in the fall. Atro Leppanen remains my great current hope for a Finnish defenseman who will continue the grand tradition of all those beautiful knuckleheads from FInland who manned the blue for Edmonton over the years.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll talk Oilers, with Kevin McCurdy our feature guest at 1pm. Oilers playoff seeding will be the main topic. The team could finish anywhere from first in the Pacific to second wild card and everything in between. I remain convinced the decision to (at the last minute) switch lines in time for opening night cost this team. My kingdom for a coach, general manager and star player who start as they mean to go. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Why the Edmonton Oilers are still searching for a modern-day Esa Tikkanen
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7196078/2026/04/15/edmonton-oilers-forwards-stats-lines-dach-frederic/
Good write up. I am enjoying Bowman build a team more like a traditional Oilers team. High end talent and functional toughness. I am also enjoying he’s doing it so quickly. As said they may not go far this season, which isn’t surprising given the amount of hockey they have played, but I think the team is better balanced, faster, younger and definitely one that has plenty of pushback
Good write up Slushy.
Cheers
Connor Ungar recalled to Bakersfield so his ECHL numbers should be finalized at 0.923 over the three teams he suited up for this year.
Don’t expect he’ll get into the two remaining AHL games with Tomkins and Pickard ahead of him so his save percentage in the AHL should also be set at 0.926 for the season.
The prospect netminder with the highest save percentage across the ECHL and the AHL was Ungar but he was the one who got loaned out to other ECHL teams like an orphan child. The Oilers kept 6’5″ Samuel Jonsson and 6’3″ Nathaniel Day on their ECHL team and let 6′.0″ Ungar drift from team to team begging for minutes.
It feels like the team has a size bias instead of a “just stop the damn puck” bias in how they handled their prospect development. If there’s any logic in their process then it should be Jonsson and Ungar as the AHL tandem next season.
The Oilers post dynasty have been built on bias, fame of yesterday and preconceived notions. They are always the smartest people in the room.
It’s funny when Uncle Gary doesn’t even try to hide it sometimes. Vegas with 4 unanswered goals to win the Pacific crown and even more impressively take zero penalties while doing it!
Good,
Im in the camp that believes the UTA will skate the Knights into the ground,
At least that’s what I’m hoping for
It’s a joke. Game management is fixing the sport. I don’t care how much they can legitimize it in their heads. They’ve fecked the sport and history will reflect poorly on this.
Quite the full stop on the Steve Yzerman era for Detroit tonight.
Summarizing!
Lewandowski scored his 4th of the playoffs — and 1st of the series — as S’toon put up more of a fight than they have all series, but PA won 5-3 to sweep the Blades out of the playoffs. The German finished his postseason with 4-5-9 in 11 GP, tying for the team lead in goals and points.
There’ll be another post tomorrow with a look ahead, but prospecting proper takes a break until September.
So barring a Darryl Sittler or Sam Gagner like performance from MacKinnon in his final game, McDavid has wrapped up another Art Ross.
Just to be safe though, 97 needs to have a 6G, 1A performance vs. VAN so he can pass MacKinnon for goals and Kucherov for assists. That would be fun.
Go kraken Go
Does anybody have Leppanen’s goal splits from after he turned the corner? I recall he started 2GF-13GA, or something horrific like that. Is he above 50% since then? Above 55%?
I want to believe that we have a player there, even if his power play skills will likely never be needed with the big club.
Late in the day – but have been meaning to write this for a while.
LOWETIDE: I joined your blog in 2017 .. You and your blog have brought me tremendous joy. I comment from time to time but read almost everyday.
Your consistency is commendable. Your knowledge is excellent. Your Engagement is top notch.
On game day I am just as excited to read your blog intro; followed by the comments, as I am for the game.
Just wanted to say Thank You for you effort, consistency and Love of the Game.
🙂
Ditto, not sure how I’d have gotten through Oiler Fandom over the past 15 years without LTs corner of the interweb. A must visit every day
So with Paul Fischer going back for his senior year I wonder if we will be able to sign him next spring? Hope so but free agency gets very tempting
Yeah, I wonder if it would have been worth signing him now. He gets pro money, even if he’s riding the buses. I presume he’s not getting NIL cash as a non-famous D-man.
Fischer was part of the deal for letting Broberg and Holloway go. Bowman has a lot invested in his success.
Bowman expressed at the time of acquisition that he had seen him play apx 100 times – he was a targeted add and I’m sure Bowman is doing everything he can to ensure they keep this player in the org.
He can’t sign an NHL contract while attending NCAA college.
Hope so – he’s an under-rated prospect in the org and I think he has real chance to be an every day NHL d-man in due course.
I take these lines as a hint that Leon is going to miss a game or two. If Leon’s return was imminent I would see them putting Samanski between his wingers so that Nuge can get some time with his wingers. What’s implied above then is that Leon would play between Frederic and Dach and I call bullshit on that. Leon’s spot when he’s back (of these options) will be between Podz and Roslovic. Nuge between Frederic and Dach.
So if Nuge isn’t playing between his expected linemates for game 1 tonight it tells me that the guys he is playing with tonight are who he’ll be playing with on game 1; at second line center.
Leon is just as likely to roll out as McDavids LW, there’s alot of options.
McD – Sav/Hym
Dra – Podz/Kap
Nuge – Dach/Fred
Sam – Ros/Rico
Is probably how Id approach it, with Knoblauch Im sure there will be a new combination every other shift.
They do have a long history of loading up McDavid/Drai when one of them is less than 100%.
If Draisaitl’s knee is a problem, and he lacks mobility, I could see him playing on McDavid’s wing.
I don’t think Kapanen will be on the second line. He started strong, but then did a very Kapanen thing and disappeared into the ether for the last fifteen or so games. I see Roslovic with Podkozlin and Draisaitl (if Draisaitl is 2nd line center).and Kapanen on the 4th line.
I think the lines are a sign that they are focused on winning tomorrow night’s game.
They’ve lost four of their last five. Think they want to have some of the positive vibes that only winning can bring going into the playoffs.
I posted, I believe, yesterday, that Kurt Leavins (who does have contracts in the know) is hearing the Oilers may start Saturday. Today Rishaug is saying the “scuttlebutt” is they may start Monday. Monday would be great for the team. For me, personally, lets go Sunday – I just don’t want to wait that long.
So a Saturday start is egregious, but Sunday is totally tits?
Got it.
I said “for me personally”.
Oh, and, yes, 2 full days off as opposed to one day off is a material difference.
I Don’t Like Mondays…
On McDavid for Hart and Bouchard for Norris…
Connor McDavid made a decision this year to a) conserve energy (on defense) and b) try and win the Art Ross. And I’m totally fine with that decision as he’s the best player in the world and should be able to flip a switch and have something in the tank for the playoff run after three exhausting years.
But no, that choice takes away any right to win the leagues MvP. He was among the leagues worst defensive forwards as shown by his nearly 1 even strength goal against per game pace which was 3rd worst in the league. He barely outscored.
Outscoring at 5’s;
Mackinnon 100/42
Kucherov 86/47
McDavid 74/68
Before you say “look at the teams!” well a) this is one of the reasons an elite team like Edmonton was middling and b) Celebrini was 71/53, Suzuki 76/39 and Keller was 70/46. It would be a disservice to these great players who expended more energy on the defensive side of the puck to reward McDavid just on his reputation.
The irony is that this is the exact same argument being used against Bouchard whose goal differential at 5’s is much closer to the big guys and is well above guys like Quinn Hughes. Hutson is miles ahead but as I understand it, he doesn’t take on the toughs and that’s a pretty huge deal for defensemen. I don’t see that as much of a factor for forwards as almost all elites go PvP nowadays.
I love your unwavering commitment to the theory that McD intentionally decided to take it easy on D this year.
Look at McD’s PDO vs. MacKinnon.
How much control do you think McD has on sv%? s%?
I watched it with my own eyes and brought it up since the fall long before the numbers got away from him. I heard it in his own words (“no one can defend well if we’re hemmed in for a full minute” (or similar). It takes tremendous discipline, patience and most of all energy to play center in the D zone.
Think of the way Jason Dickinson or Josh Samanski plays. Always below the puck. Always coming from underneath.
It’s all a spectrum. Dickinson or say prime Phil Danault NEVER cheat for offense. But they also can’t score in part because of this. So every scoring center chests in some way as that one second head start makes all the difference.
I just feel that this year for Connor was pretty far right along that spectrum hoping a for a change in possession and therefore his GA took a hit.
But again I’m neither upset about it nor am I worried about it because he won’t do it when it matters. And I think he’s the best in the world. I just don’t think he’s the Hart trophy winner. That’s not an insane take is it?
McDavid – GF 52.4% / xGF 56%
Kucherov – GF 64.7% / xGF 56%
MacKinnon – GF 70.4% / xGF 58%
Exactly. How to explain the delta between GF and xGF (recognizing this is an imperfect measurement)
It’s the coaches. The other two have better
This theory is also predicated on the false premise that it is easier to collect points if one rests on D and/or that McD think he can score more if he rests on D.
It IS easier to collect points if you backchecking and commitment to D zone coverage is spotty because you’re flying the zone.
This guy hasn’t played a second of hockey in his life.
That is not true. If you are constantly flying the zone your team is going to struggle to outlet the puck and you are going to struggle to collect points.
Kucherov leads his team in scoring by a lot, and has earned some Hart stock over the past few years. His aging team has a marked improvement this year. I think he’d be a fair winner.
I think Werenski deserves the Norris. He leads him team in scoring by a mile. But Bouchard should be the runner-up. I doubt he will be.
Final 1/4 performance vs. “strength of schedule” (tiers developed at 21 games remaining) update:
“Toughest”: 3-3-1 (Ott, Car, Col, Dal, TB, Ana, Col)
Middle: 6-1-1 (Vegas, SJ, Utah, Veg, Sea, Veg, Utah, SJ)
“Easiest”: 2-2-1 (StL, Nas, Flor, Chi, LA) -Van left
Total: 11-6-3
I had suggested the middle tier is where they could make the most impact, and their play reflected that. What I hadn’t anticipated was the injuries that they pushed through, which makes the performance more impressive.
One could now argue that LA and SJ/Sea could be swapped, but Edmonton’s shellacking of SJx2 played a major role in their teams’ fates
Hyman skating as a regular at practice – with McDavid and Savoie.
Will be great for him to get a game in and shake off some rust and work on timing. Lets not forget how bad the team was to start last playoffs with multiple players being off until game 1.
At practice:
Savoie – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – RNH – Roslovic
Dach – Samanski – Frederic
Lazar – Henrique – Kapanen
Howard – Draisaitl – Michaels
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Murphy
Walman – Emberson
Stastney
Line 5 is obviously just for rehab/practice, but I’m hoping the two young anpprentices are learning, hard, with the meister as the centre of their efforts.
Jack Michaels?
Owen Michaels, who the Oilers signed on April 2.
Yep. (Jack Michaels).
In an unrelated note both goalies have suffered clavicle injuries at today’s practice.
Smart lineup. Obviously getting ready for playoffs and to slot Drai onto line2 and RNH likely to slot down to line 3.
Where does Sammy fit?
I say he plays 4C and Lazar takes a seat but, really, any of Dach, Samanski or Lazar are at risk of the healthy – Kap should be in the conversation based on recent play as well.
I’ve heard a lot about that up and coming Draisaitl. Sure hope he plays soon
Down the stretch, with the season on the line, Zack Werenski posted boxcars of 11, 1-3-4 with a -5 rating.
In his last 10 games – he still has 1 more to play – Bouchard posted 10, 2-11-13 and +7. The Oilers went 6-2-2 down the stretch while the Jackets went 2-8-1 and fell from 2nd in the Metro to 3 spots below the wild card cutoff.
If Bouchard is going to get punished by Norris voters for having a poor month at the beginning of the season, Werenski should get eviscerated for having a poor month at the end of the season.
Thank you for the breakdown on Werenski collapsing when it matters most.
Bieksa going on the other night about how great Makar is and that he should win the Norris. He said that 74 games was enough to qualify and that he was the only dman to play 2 minutes on the PK. Well, that is not true as the only top-10 scoring dmen to play over 2 minutes are #9 (Heiskanen) and #10 (McAvoy). Bieksa tried to downplay scoring totals and added that defensive play should also count – that is true and Bouchard plays a significant percentage against elites.
Games / TOI / PK TOI / Pts per 60 (all game states)
The Norris should go to Bouchard!
Bouchard has way too many egregious mistakes leading to goals against for Norris this year. Hopefully next year he can fix those errors and win the Norris
Werenski is just as bad – look at his games over the last week – egregious plays leading to goals against, just as bad as anything Bouchard does.
You know it’s because of people like you that the narrative is that right? It happens to Hughes, Makar and Werenski basically just as much.
Unfortunately the only thing that matters is the narrative surrounding a player, and for some reason, the narrative surrounding Bouchard is that his play is not good enough to put him in contention to win the Norris, ignoring all of the stats that indicate that he is one of the best defensemen in the NHL.
This isn’t a new phenomenon. In 1983-1984, Rod Langway won the Norris over Paul Coffey.
Langway’s stats were:
Coffey’s stats were:
How on Earth does a guy who got outscored by 31 goals and 93 points while having a significantly worse plus-minus get voted the best defenseman in the league?
Rod Langway turned the Washington Capitals from a joke franchise to a perennial playoff franchise. He was a franchise altering player.
That Washington team had plenty of good players on it, like Scott Stevens, Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner, and Larry Murphy.
Even if you think Rod Langway turned around the fortunes of the Washington Capitals, that doesn’t mean he should’ve won the Norris trophy and finished 2nd in Hart trophy voting in 1983-1984.
I mean, Coffey had more goals than Langway had points. The fact that a voter gave Langway a 1st place vote for the Hart trophy is insane, considering that Gretzky finished the season with 87 goals and 205 points with a plus/minus of +78.
Some reason?
Maybe edmonton media crapping all
over him for the first two months of the year every single year plays a role?
when all eastern talking heads see and hear is Rishaug and Spector yelling for Bouchard to be pressboxed every October why would anyone give him the light of day?
Everyone of those guys repeatedly said “well he’s played his way off Team Canada,” early in the season and are now stunned he’s not getting any love.
Not to take anything away from Coffey, but Langway’s headman passes didn’t go to Gretzky, Kurri, Messier, or Anderson.
And there was a sense that a defenseman can’t be the best defenseman by outscoring his defensive mistakes.
The reason Bouch won’t win is similar to Werenski though- the oilers frankly were a middling team this year. McDavid should win the Hart too but he probably won’t. As good as these players are, their teams weren’t great and as much as this is an individual award, the team results matter. If you give the top forward and top defenseman to Edmonton, what dos that say about the results? The team with the best forward and best defence man should be a top team, right?
If the team had locked up the Pacific 5 games ago and was sitting with 105 points I think the conversation would be different.
Team results dont matter, otherwise Werenski wouldnt be in the conversation with his flatlined team. Karlsson got 100 points and was given it while the team around him lost everything.
EK actually got MORE credit for his season because the team around him was so bad.
Josi got 96 points and was not given a Norris despite a stronger team, losing to Makar.
The writers who vote on this should be nowhere near a ballot. Seravalli has lobbied Werenski all year and wants to be right. The Jackets aren’t even close to the playoffs.
If you go Makar, not a bad choice. But if you pick Makar because easy choice you should have to give MVP to Mcdavid. Best player. Why do i get the feeling thats not what’s going to happen.
Agreed.
How many Norris voters cast their votes before Rick Bowness’s season-ending tirade against his own players? That one might shift a few votes away from Werenski, if it’s not already too late.
and there were highly egregious turnovers and coverage lapses by Werenski that led to big goals against – as bad as anything that Bouchard does (and he does).
Werenski led his team in scoring, he drove that team – I’m not against him winning the Norris on merit but the main reason Bouchard is discounted, when he is, is based on the turnovers and poor defensive plays and he is no worse that Werenski in those areas – that’s the frustrating part for me.
They’ll use the argument that Mcdavid zoomed him, then make the argument that 97 played powerplay with 29 and 2.
Because the guys who vote for this weren’t awake for the games and have to listen to Struddy and Rishaug call him garbage. In Struds case, he’d know a thing or two about that so maybe we’re too rose coloured here.
It will be a big step for Bouchard to be just amongst the 3 nominees for the Norris. Then, next year, if he really wants it, he could win it (with usual caveats)
Perception
Reality
Bias
All skewed here, not by the Armchair or any poster, but by the talking heads and others who claim to be hockey experts making these decisions. Excellent posts
Bouchard gets no respect. He does giveth and taketh, but so did Coffey. He should definitely have been on Team Canada. Shame on Doug Armstrong. Are you kidding me, Doughty gets the call. Talk about skewed perception, reality and bias, right!? Doughty is a shell of his former self. Shocking, really
Reality: Bouchard needs to be a finalist along with Werenski but that would mean those who vote on such things would need to examine the above three things, and I predict they won’t
Is it just me or is this the year of the Betman point?
In the west, you have five teams currently separated by by just three points.
In the East, the top two teams will decide who takes the conference down to the last game played.
Exactly what Gary wanted. Relevance to the end, quality be damned.
It’s very good for business to keep the fan bases engaged until the end of the season.
Just one factor in the spiking cap.
It’s also good for fan morale, and exciting playoff races.
some fans. Some.
No other major league doing strictly wins/losses has an issue.
Loser points shouldn’t win you a division title.
The Bettman point is the extra point given out for a “win” in the altered game state (be it 3 on 3 or a shootout), a game state that is not played in the playoffs, after two teams are awarded a point for battling to a hard earned tie.
At least that’s how I see it.
Call them what you want. And i would somewhat agree with you.
But really the point is that many of these teams play for a tie, not because they know they will get 1 point, but because they know they will get AT LEAST 1 point. There is a difference. So the tie point does sort of become somewhat of a loser point in that sense. on the other hand, with teams that arent just playing to get at least 1 point, it sort of makes the extra point the bettman point.
HOWEVER, in both cases it’s lame. How can some games be worth 2 points and others be worth 3. I always used to love when the late Bruce McCurdy would rant about this on twitter. I was always in complete agreement.
The Capitals are 7th in the league in regulation wins – the best proxy for playoff competitiveness. Yet they had so few Bettman points that they sold off John Carlson at the trade deadline.
Samanski needs to play center, not wing.
I’ll just never agree with Knoblauch on his roster decisions, I understand that now.
The good thing is he can play both.
He will next year. It’s crunch time, Lazar, Rico, they’re the vets.
If your career was on the line, you’d probably do what he’s doing.
This is my favorite Joni Mitchell album
Blue comes in a close 2nd, but Hejira is best – Jaco really makes the album
I don’t want the WC2 spot – nobody does – but I’m fine wherever the Oilers finish. They can beat anybody in the Pacific with a patient game and reasonable goaltending
After that, Godspeed men
Apparently she was physically afraid of Jaco. But he was the only bassist who could really understand her chords and harmony, so she still wanted him to play for her.
“There was a time when Jaco and I first worked together when there was nobody I’d rather hang with than him. There was an appreciation, a joie de vivre, a spontaneity.” – Joni Mitchell 1987 tribute article “The Life and Death of Jaco Pastorius”
For me it was always Mingus as a favourite with Jaco.
Per The Athletic:
McMann would have been a nice pickup.
need someone like him next season for line 3
Yes, but without the reported $5M+ pricetag he’ll come with this summer.
LA is 30th in the NHL in regulation wins – the best proxy for playoff success. They are a very bad team.
And yet….this will be Kopitar’s swan song. On a team with four years of playoff anger built up against us, a team that had us on the ropes last year.
Don’t ever underestimate the power of motivation.
The only opponent I’m actually confident against is Anaheim.
I commented the same below but LA will have the bettman game management officials to rely on too.
LA and Vegas are two teams that make me feel sick thinking about having to watch them.
If LA gets goaltending which it seems they are atm that style plus the officiating is a very annoying style to play against
The Kings will be dangerous for sure. Like you said, they will be extremely motivated and the officials will be helping them along the way as usual. On top of that, games involving the Kings are awful to watch. No entertainment value at all. Hope we play the Ducks or Mammoth
Agreed. It’s like Jacques Lemaire is coaching the Kings. His Wild teams were about as entertaining as putting hot needles in my eyes. Same with the Kings
So, let me get this right, one can look at a schedule for a team competing with the Oilers (actually, multiple teams), squint and stretch to posit running the table on an anti-Oiler narrative and those teams simply do not perform?
Time and time again?
Weird.
The Oilers still have work to do – if they don’t do their job tomorrow night, they could still end up in WC2 if these other teams do their jobs (which is clearly far from a given) but the Oilers control their own destiny with respect to home ice in round 1 (potentially the division – unlikely but we’ll know at 1040 if that’s an option).
Do you mean the team that has a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games (best in the WC), has secured a playoff spot, coming from well back and can finish anywhere from second in the Pacific to the second wildcard spot?
While they did not run the table, they came damn close.
Didn’t they also lose to the Canucks in OT??
Oilers better not take the canucks lightly.
The Canucks have now won 3 straight and are playing loose and sassy.
While I don’t expect Vancouver to win, the Oilers better show up.
Love me a loose and sassy Fibonaccy post
Thanks for guaranteeing an Oilers loss.
Must be fun to cheer for 31 other teams. Can simply pick and choose whoever is hot at the right time and pontificate on their success, in this here humble Oilers-fan forum.
Sorry to hear about the Blues missing the playoffs though, I was also told they would be a dangerous out as well.
At the 2026 NHL trade deadline, the St. Louis Blues acted as sellers, prioritizing future assets by moving veterans while restructuring the roster for a retooling phase.
Key 2026 Trade Deadline Moves:
Brayden Schenn (F): Traded to the New York Islanders for a 2026 first-round pick, 2026 third-round pick, forward Jonathan Drouin, and goaltender Marcus Gidlof.
Justin Faulk (D): Traded to the Detroit Red Wings for defenseman Robert Holl and 2026 draft picks.
Matt Luff (F): Traded to the New York Islanders for Julien Gauthier.
Deadline Strategy:Retooling:
The moves were aimed at acquiring draft capital and shedding veteran contracts rather than a total rebuild.
The Blues now have THREE first round picks and a total of TWELVE picks in the upcoming draft.
In addition they cleared significant cap space (now $23 million) allowing enhanced flexibility in the offseason
P.S.
I don’t cheer for any team although there are a few I like to watch mainly because I admire their roster construction.
Then start an NHL blog. Oh, right…
“I don’t cheer for any team although there are a few I like to watch mainly because I admire their roster construction.”
We know you cheer for any team that is not the Oilers, regardless of their roster construction. Don’t play dumb and do your math homework.
So then why are you on a discussion board for the Edmonton Oilers? Just to pie and piss people off?
I will never, ever, understand why LT permits you to post here.
Because no one would visit HH’s blog when he had one so instead he posts here where he has a captive audience and a patient, generous blog owner.
That clown had a blog? Bahahaha!
LT reminds me a lot of Ted Lasso. Generous and forgiving to a fault 🙂
who on earth is robert holl?
In my humble opinion, if Hyman is ready to go full tilt in the 1st round the Oilers should win the series no matter who they face. My greatest fear is Knoblauch’s roster and in game decisions. Should they get both Drai and Dickinson back to begin the 2nd round or earlier, the team is going to surprise the naysayers and send the usual trolls slinking back from whence they came.
Drai being projected for only the second round now? Missed that
I see how you can interpret that from the post but, no, he is expected back in the first round and, from accounts (and video) he looked strong and powerful at skate today……
I mostly stopped reading the comments because of the extremely annoying Troll vs Lawyer war of a few years ago.
I’ve come back to the comments in anticipation of the playoffs and am sad to see the trolling continues
I would suggest that the eye test on Carfagna lines up with that goal share – he’s been very very good this season – smart in all areas of the game and a very good puck transition guy. Size/stature is the only issue but we see that is no longer prohibitive.
I think Regula has outperformed that goal share. He’s been a bit inconsistent but has had some absolute dominant games – he’s a star in the AHL. For me, if any RD gets hurt, I play him over Stastney (with Walman or other moved over). He has NHL skills.
For sure Stastney & Regula are both #7 D’s one LHD and one RHD. Let’s hope their services aren’t required but if called on may the sun shine on them.
“The team could finish anywhere from first in the Pacific to second wild card and everything in between.”
Nobody get upset at me for this but they have a very good chance at playing LA in the first round again.
Please no – I’m so over LA
No need to feel sorry for Wil Farrel any more
Agreed. But that said, I feel we win that series 8 out of 10 times. Despite playing well recently, LA is not a great team
I agree with this, we should win that series going away IF healthy, if not healthy don’t be surprised if it is very close and called the same way the last LA 1-0 win was. (97 getting mugged with no calls then a call against him when he finally gets frustrated)
LA traps a team to death and relies on the school of bettman game management officiating that happens in the NHL to keep them in it.
I beleive we win that also – just so over them
Much like Dallas in the late 90’s
Rather see something new
Hear that, agree.
I am just not a fan of the divisional seeding system even if it put the oil in danger of missing the playoffs.
A team like LA should not be in the playoffs if it was 1-8 conference.
Not sure what you mean by this. The Kings are 8th in the conference. You’d have to go to a full league playoffs before teams like the Wings might beat out the Kings. But no one is calling for that as travel would be stupid.
yes, thanks. They are, lol I think I just reaallly don’t want to watch them again. I must of been looking at the league, I was flipping through. The travel would be terrible for sure but matchups are intriguing. I would still want to see the 1-8 conference at least though, oil would get minny as of now ummmm no.
If they do it will add weight to the argument to go 1v8
Prospectfinale?
Indeed, Lewandowski and the Blades find themselves in another elimination game. This time though, they’re in a 3-0 hole and facing a PA squad that has owned their last five meetings by a combined 21-1 score.
Will the Blades send the series back to PA for Game 5, or will tonight mark the end of another prospecting season? The answer to this and other questions shall be known when the puck drops at 7 p.m. Uranium City (SK) time.
Having been born in Uranium City, I appreciate the shout out!
The kraken will be must watch tonight go kracken go. Beat those Knights so the oilers have a chance tomarrow. Amen
I’d rather play the Ducks and finish 2. On the other hand the Mammoth might be a physically easier series, no Trouba no Gudas. Let them beat up the Knights
It’s all up to fate now. All they have to do is beat the Knuckleheads and see where they land.
In isolation, I’d “rather play” the Ducks or Kings over Utah but, at the same time, it sure would be nice to win the division and I don’t fear anyone in the Pacific bracket, including the Mammoth!
My biggest concern is a hot Carter Hart as that team has struggled mainly due to tending – Oilers can, and should, still beat them but he Hart has high game steal potential
18 days ago Play Alberta gave me 8.5 to 1 for Oilers to win the Pacific regular season. Root hard everybody.
I got 3.5 2 days ago and put 150 down and hope like heck they win