When a new coach arrives in an NHL city, the players who are not yet established at the NHL level are placed in a difficult spot. The new coach isn’t familiar with any of the newer players and the window of opportunity in training camp is a sliver in time.
For young players like Matt Savoie, the 2025-26 season gave them a stretch of highway to show what they could do on the open road. For Ike Howard, the NHL resume is small (but has some impressive bits) and he’s pretty famous. Oilers general manager Stan Bowman acquired him at significant cost, so there will be an expectation that the coach gives him a long look. There are no guarantees. There just aren’t.
At the 2015 draft, new general manager Peter Chiarelli spent enormous assets in a trade for defenseman Griffin Reinhart. That fall, new coach Todd McLellan played him opening night but only 29 games in total. Brandon Davidson, among others, ate his lunch. The following year Chiarelli drafted Jesse Puljujarvi and said multiple times he was NHL-ready, but McLellan expressed doubt. JP didn’t spend 30 games in the NHL that season.
A new coach has so much going on in his first training camp. Players can slip through the cracks. Josh Samanski could be Rem Murray or he could be James Hamblin. We don’t know what we don’t know.
When we talk about Ike Howard as having enough talent for a regular role on a skill line in the NHL, I am in. If we’re talking about him being a lock for a new coach, in a new system, who has all kinds of decisions to make in a short span, I think it only reasonable to acknowledge the possibility of trade or another trip to Bakersfield for a time.
For all of the other Bakersfield Condors one year ago, a new coach being hired likely means building a resume in the minors again and then hoping for a recall. As a reminder, here are the numbers for the prospects in Bakersfield from 2025-26:
The truth is we should put every one of these players in the doubt pile. In fact you might want to put Beau Akey in the double doubt pile. I don’t think the organization believes in him at all. Suspect the Mammoth pick him up for a Coke machine. I would bet on Ike Howard. If the Oilers don’t trade him for Sebastian Cossa, he should make the team in a depth role. If the club runs Nuge as third-line center, and Howard gets left wing on that line, he could score a dozen at even strength. If they give him power-play time, maybe he gets to 20 goals. I’m extremely hopeful the new coach places him on a line with Leon eventually. That could be sweet soul music. There is a possibility Howard starts with the Condors.
As for the rest, I like Samanski, Damien Carfagna and Roby Jarventie most of all. We’ll see. New coach, like money, changes everything.
On the Lowdown today, Bagged Milk from Oilers Nation will join me to talk about the Oilers and the early days of the offseason. Things are moving slowly, but names like Sebastian Cossa and Simon Nemec may be in play and that’s worth discussing. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Locomotiv won the Gagarin Cup today – I am now on formal Berezkin signing watch!
You would think Bowman will be all over signing him as he fits Stan’s bottom of the roster profile.
He tried to sign him last off-season but the player wanted one more year at home to ensure he was NHL ready when he came over.
Don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t try and sign him now – its an ELC, easy contract – just got to decide some small performance bonus structure (and that is a standardized formula as well).
Is Ruzzia stilled banned from the Olympics?
He’s under contract until May 31st. Here’s hoping he signs June 1st!
The human eye sees what it wants….
On that note, I see some similarities between Hyman and McMann. Playing style, undrafted/5th round, finally marking their mark in their late 20s, knack around the net….
Hyman was one year younger than McMann is now, when he signed with the Oil.
Now I don’t think McMann would pot 50, but 30 seems realistic. He’s fast, hard forecheck and 6mil for that sounds about right when the cap is jumping.
Just listened to a very extensive interview with former Canucks GM Mike Gillis.
He opened up about his recent interview with the TML for their then vacant POHO job and revealed some of his “off the wall” thoughts on how to gain a competitive advantage.
One of his major ideas was the creation of a position in hockey operations where an individual who would be a full time analyst whose entire area of responsibility would be ongoing assessments of the weaknesses of the other 31 teams in the league and bring forward recommendations on how to exploit them…not from a tactics strategy but from roster construction point of view.
He suggested virtually all NHL teams are too focused on short term transactions rather than strategic decision making over multiple seasons.
He pointed to European soccer teams as leading the way in this realm as they strategize years ahead and often sign very young talent, buy and sell players for multi millions and scour the world for opportunities.
When asked if he would have accepted the Leafs position if offered, he firmly said no because the team was not prepared to be innovative in this area.
I call bullshit sounds like he’s spinning a yarn for any team to hire him. The shelf life of a G.M is 5 years with 2 coaching changes. Every time there’s a turnover players get bounced out of opportunities. Look at the Oilers not one of Hollands picks in 5 years are on the squad. No owner is going to allow G.M etc to suck for more than 5 years or less. It’s a dog eat dog league no owner is going to allow a G.M a decade with half empty arenas and no viewership.
And here we are. A dozen years of short term thinking, one of the wealthiest sports franchises in the world, fans (and local and provincial govts) willing to pay the price, all of it heading for a cliff. Unless another short term coach saves the day.
Magical thinking.
A thing about dogs: I take pride in raising and training dogs. What I see is, driven by owner rage/fear, they will indeed tear each other (and themselves) apart.
I submit, that’s what happens to a hockey team/fanbase when owner/fans/players are driven by a panic to “win now.”
When a dog owner feels confident and relaxed, dogs behave accordingly.
A possible corollary for Oilerville: less panic and more trust/confidence will net more joy, probably better performance all around, maybe even a Cup.
It doesn’t have to take a decade.
For example Montreal missed the playoffs 3 straight seasons after a cup final appearance and are right back in the saddle.
All the while, a sold out arena and massive TV ratings.
What happens if the Habs don’t make the playoffs next year or the year after. Unless they win a Cup this year they’ll all be fired. Like I’ve mentioned a 100 times a new G.M has 5 years with 2 head coach firings. It’s like timeouts in basketball Stan didn’t want to burn his timeout so early. Now he’s down to 1 more Coach firing he better choose wisely.
You may want to examine the successful teams a little more closely.
Tampa, Colorado, Vegas and Dallas obviously don’t win a cup every season but they have stable management who tend to avoid making dumb decisions like we’ve seen in Vancouver, Calgary and others.
and each of those teams have had many season falling below expectations:
1) Tampa – four straight first round losses]
2) Colorado – I believe this is their 2nd time out past the 2nd round in the MacKinnon era
3) Dallas has lost in the WCF twice and now the first round
4) Vegas has fairly consiencly done OK in the playoffs but did have set-back year
One could argue the Oilers have had the most playoff success among them overall in the last 4 years – acknowledging two of them did win a cup in there and that Tru8ps all (but lots of failure outside the Cup – in particular Colorado).
List of cup winners this decade.
Tampa
Tampa
Colorado
Vegas
Florida
Florida
While Dallas has not gotten over the hump they did make the conference finals in 3 straight seasons and the cup finals once after winning a cup in 1999.
“When Jim Nill was named the Stars General Manager in 2013, he said it was his job to plan for “today, tomorrow, and 10 years from now.”
Since 2013, the Oilers have had SEVEN General Managers.
Tambellini – no playoff appearances
MacTavish – no playoff appearances
Chiarelli – 1 playoff appearance
Keith Gretzky (interim) – no playoff appearances
Holland – WC finals twice, cup final once.
Jeff Jackson (interim) – The Summer of Jeff is legendary
Bowman – Edmonton finished the season with a 41–30–11 record marking their lowest regular-season points percentage (.567) since the 2018–19 season. The team lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the opening round of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.
As mentioned by McDavid and Draisaitl in their post season interviews, the team is going the wrong way.
Do you disagree?
And all those teams have had down years after reaching the pinnacle, but of course in your mind it’s only the Oilers that are in trouble. Good grief.
Not sure where you get your Habs news from, but they are viewed, in Habsville, as being several years ahead of schedule. Hughes, Gorton, St.Louis, the team are five years in and earning lots of good faith from fans and owners. Listening to Hughes on a recent podcast, no sense of panic or “win now” driving decisions. More like, grateful for where they find themselves, have a longer term plan, enjoying it, hungry for more.
Oilers certainly seem to fit your model. But are there other clubs with years of success (ie. making the playoffs, making Conference finals) that focus on churn to drive their success?
The number of times you have been told that the hockey minds running the league are behind compared to other sports, only for you to go to bat for them and then sharing stuff like this is comical.
This is literally related to the article I posted about Arsenal yesterday – timing their roster to hit their prime as Liverpool and Man City fade.
Someone is going to catch on to this sooner or later.
Yep.
And it wouldn’t count against the cap.
Strategically offer sheeting up and coming teams, especially those in one’s division, just around point they have to start paying real dollar cap hits for players with a glut of young prospects and roster players aldo in 1st contracts after ELC’s would surely be a strategy suggested quite obviously.
Because even if it just breaks some teams shrewdly set “internal cap” it’s a win in longer run sense.
Stuff like that right?
Absolutely.
For example, both Anaheim and San Jose who are ascending quickly both have more than $40 million in cap space this offseason and are well positioned to take advantage of the cap woes of others.
Whether through offer sheets or extracting a price for taking on some short term bad money, they could make out like bandits.
Utah, Anaheim and San Jose seem to have got at least a part of the message.
Its difficult to see any panic moves in their management teams.
As with a lot of things, advanced stat analysis included, it is unlikely that no GMs have already thought of this.
really comes down to who your owner is- the patient ones willing to commit to a 5+ year plan are the ones who will likely succeed.
I’m sure some may have thought about it but Gillis thinks it important enough to devote some one on a full time basis to the task.
The reason they won’t sign Ingram is because we’re stuck with Jarry and they gonna bring in Cossa. They liked what Avs did and try to replicate it and failed and now the like what Wild did and will try to get a goaler with pedigree
https://youtu.be/BbA1Lh3cdnE?si=Uvc24IUsaV7-gwPl
This instantly came on brainFM when i read your statement.
Juat dance it out farmer of lead. Rlthis time is different! This time copy paste will be perfectly executed!!
Say the magic catchphrase “Luuuuucica dabra shazaaammm bottom 6 oil king drafted way out of ranking again!!!”
That hardly makes sense, they need someone they can be sure about. Let Jarry and a young guy (Cossa, Levi, Dipietro) fight for the backup spot in training camp, but they need to go into what is potentially McDavid’s last year with a dependable starter on the roster.
Around 1977 I was at the U of A in the HUB Mall record store. I purchased the current Be Bop Deluxe album which was pressed on a white vinyl. I still play the track Electrical Language on one of my playlists. When other people notice and hear it they are blown away by that song. Ah the memories it brings out. Thanks, Allan
Spent many an hour at that record store, the arcade, Lifeforce books, and Riffs burgers. Good times. Great tune.
Sam the Record Man.
If the Oilers are willing to take the political heat, both Michael McLeod and Dillon Dube and probably Alex Formenton are only 27 and available. Two had pretty good seasons in Europe, and the other had a pretty good season in the AHL. Cal Foote is playing for Carolina’s AHL team, probably on an AHL deal.
True, they all will probably select a US market. The Blues probably have first mover advantage on Dube since he was on an AHL deal on their farm team.
Vegas has cleared their paths for their way back with Hart this year.
Even if the Oilers persuaded Hart I don’t think he and the others have any inkling of resurrecting their careers in a Canadian market.
This…there are very few American hockey fans who would be cognizant of the issues surrounding these players.
Neither Formenton nor Dubé are NHL calibre players at this point. McLeod may be, but reasonable expectations are as a 4C.
Unlike Hart the juice ain’t worth the squeeze.
Dube has speed his mitts are average. There’s always room for above average speed in this league. You have to remember he was playing under a black cloud in Canada. I can easily see 20 goals on the right team and usage.
Stauff thinks the one UFA they need to bring back is Connor Murphy.
I think most agree with that but I just note he was singled out and not grouped with Dickinson.
I think it’s trending towards them not bringing Dickinson back which I’m fine with given he’s likely $4MM plus for term and defensive specialism doesn’t get there for me.
I won’t be upset if they don’t bring back Dickinson. Running McDavid – Draisaitl – Nugent-Hopkins – Samanski down the middle will allow them to bring in a big winger like McMann. Bowman will (rightly) want to make some changes to the forward corps and Dickinson represents ~$4M or so in semi-redundant cap that can be applied elsewhere.
Don’t disagree although worry about the Bobby M. contract as he will likely get term and he’d older than you think……
Yes, I want to make it clear that I’m not sold on McMann, I’m just thinking that changes are coming and he was the first name that came to mind. Maybe Bowman can make room for Tuch? One can dream.
From accounts, Tuch wants the Adrian Kempe contract and I want no piece of that.
Agree. I’d rather have Podkolzin than tuch. Find another Podkolzin. Maybe that’s dach. Maybe that’s Samanski.
Bowman seems to be able to shop in the Podkolzin aisle.
Berezkin.
I’m not sure Jason Dickinson sees anywhere near that number. He’s scored single-digit goals and under 20 points each of the past two seasons.
Defensive centre who can PK is a 4th line player on a good team. Market value should reach Boyd Gordon-level ($3M x 3) at its peak.
Other UFA options in this category include Kevin Stenlund and Teddy Bluger, each of whom were making about two sheets.
Nic Dowd 3M x 2 (he is 35) is a similar player
I hard ball Dickinson if I can. Still a role for that player. Then again I’m fine with them reallocating cap and pushing youth where warranted
Agree, Dickinson at $4MM is mindboggling to me. According to NST his 5v5 GF% has only been above 50% three times in 10 seasons of his career. Two of those came with Dallas in back to back to seasons 2018-2020. The other was with Chicago in 23-24 when he scored 22, arguably playing 2nd line minutes on a depleted Hawks team. He’s also had two seasons in the 30s GF%. Both of which have come in the past 4 seasons.
Based on watching him play 10 or so games this season you could tell he’s decent defensively but I wouldn’t go as far as calling him a specialist that would garner such a salary. Your choice of the word ‘specialism’ is more accurate in my opinion.
Dickinson is an offensive blackhole, he only scored double digit goals once in 10 years. Four of his 10 seasons with less than 20 pts and only two seasons with 30+ pts.
The Oilers need to find a way to build a third line that can outscore at 5v5. Dickinson at whatever salary has a very low probably of achieving that.
Mason McTavish has become surplus to the needs of the Anaheim Ducks and is apparently on the trade block.
He has 5 years remaining at $7 million but investing in a 23 year old 6’1″ 220 C as a third line C with huge upside could be worth it as the cap keeps rising.
I see Calgary making this deal do you?
They should.
He promised to be a steal as the seasons pass.
The way to look at Dickinson is that he’s good at what he does but might not be the best fit for the cap. If the Oilers really want McD/Drai on the first line and RNH as 3C, they need a 2C that can score and check. Charlie Coyle would have fit that bill but he re-signed in Columbus. If they think they can get a Malkin/Giroux, then maybe Dickinson does make less sense but there is a lot of noise on Boone Jenner (who is not my preference) and the Oilers have never been the “bird in hand” types.
Team him up with Nurse which will allow Darnell to be a driver offensively.
Last night, Stauff strong in his wording that “I would not overpay to bring back Connor Ingram!”.
He acknowledges that he outplayed Jarry but thinks there were more starts available for Jarry and thinks that Ingram benefited from the relationship with Knoblauch.
Yep just as I suspected and mentioned before the cool kids seen it. The K.K handling of Jarry-Frederic-Howard are the big 3 why he’s on the outside looking in.
Not sure how you connect this comment to handling of Howard and a Knob firing – wild stuff.
Big picture it’s all connected.
No, I don’t suspect Issac Howard was part of the discussions re: letting Knob go.
K.K just signed a 3 year-deal there has to be reasons for his firing besides getting bounced by Anaheim.
The entire season as a whole, no?
The fact the entire team, and many individuals, underperformed exceptions. He couldn’t get his team to commit to structure, he couldn’t get his team go play hard on a nightly basis.
Decisions of his were questioned daily.
Ingram’s high-floor / low-ceiling makes him something of an ideal #2 as opposed to a 1B. He might get Alex Lyon money at under $2M x 2.
Ingram played well for us down the stretch but I think the plan should be to have a goalie who can help win you a playoff series as opposed to one who can offer cover in the event that Jarry goes full Jack Campbell.
I am wondering if Ingram will be looking for higher than $2m though, coming off $1.95m AAV.
Why anyone in Oilers MSM thinks Ingram is going to sign for anything under 3 million eludes me … there are very few useful goalies on the UFA market, and lots of teams looking for a 1B-type + lots of teams with extra cap space.
Low supply … high demand. Ingram may have said all the right things at the end of the season, but his agent wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t get he biggest, longest deal that he can for his client in this historically weak UFA class.
Ingram is a average back-up. If his agent gets too picky there might be no chair left after the music stops.
Ingra finished the season with a save percentage over league average on a team that was awful structurally – that’s better than “average back up”.
I’m ok with a cheap #2 and a young potential #1 like Cossa or Levi should they not be able to move on from Jarry but it isn’t ideal. You’re right that Ingram is the goalie you want if you’ve got a good #1 already and young guys pushing to play. Ingram is good at what he does and I like him but he’s the new Pickard. Good enough that you can win some games but probably not good enough to win a cup.
Thats a bizarre comment by Stauff. More starts for Jarry?
Jarry was unplayable for the vast majority of his time in Edmonton. If anything, he should have gotten less starts and I was surprised KK played him even as much as he did.
Ingram “benefitted” from KK cause he outplayed Jarry. Full stop.
Perhaps Stauff was alluding to another start in the playoffs after his one solid performance…..
Pretty sure they are going to make a run at Cossa. Just me but I think for a 2 nd rounder It is a no brainer. The 2nd rounder won’t play for 3 years if ever realistically, and Cossa has been very good and could come in and hopefully push Jarry. He would be cheaper than bringing back Ingram as well. Yes it is a gamble but there really are not a lot of options facing the Oilers right now for goalies .
I would not be surprised to see Holland take a run at him either.
Howard is tricky one IMO.
Does he seem likely to have be one of the hobey baker winners who will survive the coin flip (since 1990 literally 50% of winners have managed to play 200 games 16/32).
But clearly that has been changing recently as highest end top prospect types are emerging with regular frequency…
Given that the winners for the two seasons previous to howard were fantilli and then celebrini -> likely makes howard’s win of this award more significant indicator of quality than longer based historic odds account for….anyways.
Of those 32 players who won hobey baker:
-> 19/32 “under 6ft” (which makes sense as up until recently this was clear logical best route for high skilled more dimmunitive players to not only develop but also get the randy gregg backup free expensive education and play a far less intensive achedule than junior would have them playing with surely more guys with the nhl size and speed who were longshot nhl’ers already hoping maybe to catch a shot by ratchetting up their hitting and fighting to get noticed (clattenburg says hello and so so many before him).
Of the 16 that have made 200+ games:
->11/16 are over 6ft tall.
->celebrini and fantilli will soon enough join successfully qualifying
-> adam gaudette and will butcher (just barely under the cut who qualify for 200+ basivally are exactly at 6ft….so more like 13/16 in actuality add cele/fanti = 15/18
-> one “smaller” guy still in running is scott perunovich 5’10” 175lb LHD…bouncing up and down and killed it last season all in AHL likely high end tweener who likely can have a great 7th D man type journeyman career uf he stays healthy….so generously 15/19 over 6ft of successful.
So, not shockingly howard’s route to full time NHL is a longer route given his size. But in fairness as pouzar keeps pointing out the guy works hard on developing his game. You can see that in his stats from draft year on he isn’t running in place he’s improving his game or even increasingly succeeding as the level of competition increases.
I don’t think it’s a stretch this guy, barring injury derailing opportunities will at very least achieve a solid journeyman level career NHL GP total (5 seasonsish work is my “line in sand for anything but gosalies so like 400 GP).
Will that career be in edmonton though?
I think that is where pouzar and i somewhat diverge.
To me he’s a skill guy that can succeed in the right opportunity for a team that is more top 9 deep than 2 line top heavy. The teams that are more power play by committee using 2 full units regularly. This is a guy with a plus plus shot and offensive tool kit that surely could make hay starting on a team where pp2 unit with enough minutes.
Now maybe with a new coach who does some sort of line matching over just excessive offensive zone ice tilting tactics he could be deadly LW threat on a more strategically sheltered mcdavid hyman line. Maybe. If they actually build a second PP unit and give it minutes fibally -> he could have quite the impressive seasons IMO.
But we have never really seen this yet. This team hasn’t been remotely given any consistent plan regarding usage of secondary scoring being given consistent enough opportunity and mcdavid aa a whole has underutilized one of his two wingers becoming far too used to horse blinded offensive one man gang tactics encouraged by RNH more integral to defensive end baby sitting reducing Goals against enough for mcdavid line to stay successfully outscoring.
If a player like howard over savoie is going to succeed there his linemates need to improve their 200ft accountability.
And there’s no reason they shouldn’t it’s just not been done yet. And again, like always, this is not a mcdavid problem this is an unfortunate achilles heel in his development likely his whole life of at every level just so uniquely and extraordinarily gifted coaches more rode him bareback like a wild horse just along for the incredible ride than properly broke him in a bit better to be more effective as part of a calvary type unit riding in formations.
Like a calvary soldier on a half tamed wild arabian stallion racehorse just miles ahead if the rest charging at enemy lines with such blinding speed sonetimes singlehandedly all shots miss him fron defending enemy and just against all odds single handely manages to overwhelm a dug in position before rest of his unit really arrive to exploit chaotic disorganized mess left in his incredible wake or bail him out from being completely overwhelmed by sheer outnumbered and too well dug in defense…yet again.
That’s how i see him anyway. Howard has the speed. Has the plus plus shot but can he find the space the way mcdavid needs him to find it? In time mcdavid needs him to find it? The way that works best for mcdavid without adjusting overly to linemates has come to expect? Can he cover on defense the may mcdavid has become used to when he’s gassed after extended shift and line changes off when other team has controlled possession out of defensiveend like RNH can and has? Can he defer to being the reset escape hatch pass in offensive zone on left side when mcdavid needs it -> again as he’s used to nuge providing him which requires that LW to quite often more be focused deferring to mcdavid attacking coming off right side through middle and either attempting to cut in or shoot when he appears healthy enough to properly put torque on shots or look for cross crease pass the right direction and if all these options are passed try to skate with it around net again….by and large only passing nuge or ekholm left direction when critical resistance met that is close to losing it or stopping his skating dead in his tracks?
Can mcdavid use a sniper properly who is far less dimensioned variety than all tools drai playing that part when opportunity arises.
That is my question for howard usage on that line. Because that is a player type that i personally ak not confident works for him unless his mentality in game changes a fair bit.
Because up to now it’s either a 200ft type player to mitigate gosls against with surely higher hockey IQ that is more focused on giving mcdavid a pass option to maintain posession than it is focused on being the biggest offensive threat playing a scoring winger role in a more traditional sense.
And my problem with this is if that isn’t changing. Then howard likely better upside with draisaitl. In that scenario either podkolzin checks down to highest end 3rd line 200 ft wing or up with mcdavid into a role that dimimishes his growth and real upside offensive benefit as he inevitably adapts similar mindset to fit in and takes far too much ownership of that lines defensive concious.
Howard seems wrong fit for what top 6 needs unless the mentality of top line is adjusted not catered to.
Which no coach has really managed to do yet. To perfect a drug to just keep takimg deep hits off same pipe.
Because yeah….he single handedly is good enough to win more games above replacement level by such a huge margin over any other player i’ve ever seen play… or at least technically score enough in offensive end to do it.
But if no real team game tactic and mindset is changed -> i would prefer they trsded him for cossa if they could over kerp him hoping howard outpercorms cap hit in top 6 enough over improving chances of getting a goslie who can steal some wins….
Because even if cossa isn’t that -> the odds he might be given lineup we have in a proper risk assessment would surely cone out as a higher probability of more significantly more critical positive impact.
In short:
Unless scouting has some angle that doesn’t seem obvious as far as why redwinfgs are choosing to force an issue they really don’t technically have to this season -> IF HOWARD GETS ME COSSA THAT DEAL IS DONE YESTERDAY.
This is where stats fall apart. It isn’t really a 50/50 that Howard plays 200 games.
Of the 35 winners post 1990, 15 of them have yet to play 200 games (this includes Macklin Celebrini, and Isaac Howard). Of the remaining 13, 8 of them were never drafted. Of the 10 undrafted Hobey Baker winners, we have only 2 that have passed 200 games since 1990. Jason Krog (202) and Matt Gilroy (225).
There is no Hobey Baker winner drafted in the first round other than Howard and Celbrini who hasn’t played 200+ games. Celebrini, Fantilli, Caufield and Howard are the only four first rounders that have yet to pass 400 games and it seems pretty likely all three will.
The last drafted player to not make 200 games was Blake Geoffrion (drafted #56-2006) and before him was Brian Bonin (drafted #211-1992).
I think it’s quite likely that Howard will hit 400+ games as well. He can skate, pass and score. He’ll play somewhere, it’s just a question of where.
When was the last time a Hobey Baker smaller skilled 21-22 year-old with a cannon of a shot relegated to 4th line garbage minutes and then sent to the minors for the year? Either Howard is a dud or the organization handled him wrong? Take a look at all of the teammates U.S.A development program that Howard bested that are same age or younger that had success in the N.H.L last few years. I do think it was a case of K.K coddling Mangiapane-Tomasek etc over ruffling the feathers of vets.
Cole Caufield is 5’8″, won the Hobey Baker and played in the AHL. Johnny Gaudreau was 5’9″. Howard is 5’10”. 5’10” Matt Savoie spent a year in the AHL, scored 54 points and then spent the next year in the NHL scoring 18 goals and 37 points. Howard scored at a better rate than Savoie did in the AHL.
Just because the Oilers won’t play him, doesn’t make him bad. The Oilers play the same 5 guys for 2 mins on every PP. That doesn’t mean Howard can’t score on the PP.
Howard getting the Savoie treatment doesn’t mean he’s been mishandled or that he isn’t good.
I think it comes down to opportunity and being put in a position to succeed. I do think other G.M’s see Howard as a fit on the PP and top 6 whereas Oilers P.P is set in stone. I do hope the new coach values offence instead of this nonsense of trying to turn this team into a trap team.
Knob (1) did not try and turn Howard in to a 4th line grinder (evidence provided) and (2) did not try and turn the Oilers in to a trap team.
You are making stuff up.
As mentioned to you before, Howard’s most common line mates were Nugent Hopkins and Jack Roslovic who you thought was trending towards the US Olympic team.
This BS you spew about “4th line garbage minutes” is garbage in itself.
How did that workout for K.K?
It worked out fine – it showed the org that Howard needed some AHL development time to take his NHL game to the next level – he got it.
Of course, your response makes no sense in the context of the conversation and your statements about Howard being treated as a 4th line grinder.
Good Grief.
Not overly central to driving logic. I agree givrn his AHL season scoring rates nothing iloverly points againat him clearing 400 games.
Just unless dynamics change in how this team has been played/setup -> pretty certain he’s more valuable as a trade asset than key piece added to improve teams chances
It was lazy shorthand thsn redoing all the sub 6ft drafted US college forwards.
That definitely clearly shows something quite notable regarding how rare offense like his along same curve his developmemt is at really translates overly well in NHL careers.
Not a whole lot of competent lomg term top 6 in those bins
Low-cost depth options at RW:
Puljujarvi
Yamamoto
Neither
Both
discuss …
Neither. I doubt either would be interested in coming back to Edmonton. I like Yamo but he is too small for this team. I don’t think JP player in the NHL last year.
For $1M or less, I’d take both with the understanding that they’re competing for a job and will more than likely end up in the minors out of camp.
Yamamoto was on a league minimum deal in Utah.
I expect he would sign for a similar contract.
Yam scored 13G in only 59 games last year and was +11. Had 5 points in 6 playoff games too.
He seems to have recovered his health after his concussions as an Oiler. He’ll be getting an NHL deal.
If he’s still go that checking motor I think he’s a buy-low candidate for a bottom-6 role.
He played well it’s hard to believe he’s only 27.
I suspect Yamamoto will be as well, I’m just saying that I don’t think for the Oilers he’s ideal for what they need. The open forward spots seem to be 2/3/4C, and bottom 6 winger that can PK. He’s an NHL player but I think better suited to a team that needs a 2RW that plays PP2.
Jesse was not interested in competing for a job when he came into the league; nor was he interested in fighting to stay in the league when he moved on to Carolina, Pittsburg or Florida.
He is not an NHL player … he does well in short international tournaments, but his body can not withstand the rigours of a full NHL season.
Neither
Cossa for the 2nd, as speculated, is an absolute no-brainer. If that is available to this team, I can’t imagine it not happening.
If Cossa is still waiver eligible I would like to see a Cossa trade and then re-sign Ingram. If Cossa is NHL ready then trade one of Ingram or Jarry.
Cossa has one more year of being waivers exempt. Now is the best time to trade for him.
No. Cossa must clear waivers in September, which is why he is on the market. Postava and Augustine are not.
https://puckpedia.com/waivers-tracker/sebastian-cossa
That says he has one more year of waivers exemption…..
Yes, and it was 25/26. Puckpedia has not moved onto the 26/27 season yet.
Fair enough – thank you.
Oh, you are right. I read season 4 of 5 and thought he had one more but it’s pretty clearly 2026-27 that he’s no longer exempt.
I was wondering why everyone is so high on Cossa. Reading a bit it seems he’s having some issues and isn’t someone it would be smart to have as a back up especially with Jarry being streaky
Is he better than the guys in Bako, warranting bumping someone down?
I think there is all about zero chance that Isaac Howard ends up in Bako. I can’t speak to how any coach would use him, we don’t even know the coach, but I can’t see him reassigned.
He could be traded, sure, but I would suggest his value to this team on his ELC for two years vastly outweighs his trade value and I presume Bowman agrees.
Bowman has spoken about expecting him to be an impact player on next year’s team.
I think his offensive skill set is undeniable and he’s developed offensively as a pro. It’s hard to imagine him not being a great fit with Leon Draisaitl and likely to outpace Savoie’s rookie production. Howard was a more substantial producer in the AHL at the same age (he did have more help).
Let’s also remember the development at the AHL level where this very coachable kid worked his ass off in the areas the org asked him too. Commitment to the back-track, acknowledging risk and the time to take it, puck hounding, etc.
Ike Howard is legit and arriving developed right on time in an ELC – use it!
I think his ELC gets him the best opportunity to make the team. But there’s a real chance that Cassidy or another coach may believe that 20 games in the AHL to master something they specifically need from him to be trusted in the top 6 is better than trying to learn than skill in the NHL
Perhaps but I think it is likely impossible to find 13 forwards at camp that can help the NHL team more than him…..
So if Howard is a great fit with Leon, does Podzy move to RW? I wouldn’t be in a rush to take Podz off Dari’s wing
McDavid gets Podz, and RNH goes to the third line.
McDavid is paird with Hyman.
Draisaitl is paid with Podz.
Then you add around them.
I don’t think that Podz needs to be paired with Drai – we know they work and they can always go to that but I think Podz can also be used to strengthen (and drive) a third line (and can also play with McDavid.
Podz can fit well anywhere in the lineup.
Podz can play any wing in the top 9, in my opinion.
I didn’t realize this before but Cossa hasn’t played in a single AHL playoff game (Postava has played all 7 with a .919). That’s a tell on the organization (Connor Ungar didn’t play an AHL playoff game either). I suspect both team and player don’t see his future with Detroit and it’s just a question of maximizing a bigger name (Cossa) over what they feel are better bets (Postava, Garlander, Augustine). Hopefully, the Oilers don’t trade Howard for him as I really can’t see them actually needing to.
Don’t disagree but do want to note that the Condors only had 2 playoff games to play.
They played 3 games and in game 3 Tompkins gave up 4 goals in the second period. That after giving up 5 goals in game 2. If you aren’t playing Ungar after being down 4-0, you have no plans to play him.
Was it 3? I thought they got swept but I guess I’m misremembering.
I do remember wondering if they were going to give Ungar a start on the back to backs.
Bouchard with a gorgeous pass off the rush to set up the OT winner – his 3rd assist of the game.
I loved Be Bop Deluxe!
Their classic albums — Futurama, Sunburst Finish, Modern Music — were produced in little over a year. What an astonishing outburst of creativity from Bill Nelson.
Samanski in particular I think might have a little bit more runway than some of the other prospects. Him being of the German Olympic team and all that.
Hutson, Marjala, Akey and Carfagna will have a lot less time to impress. On the plus side it’s a coach change and not a GM change, the GM change is where prospects get lost in the shuffle.
Side note, the Clattenburg EV GF-GA made me chuckle. 46186 GF, let’s get him on McDavid’s line immediately!
I don’t think anyone mentioned has a realistic shot anyways. Hutson is the closest, but where does he fit? An undersized not aggressive not fast RW for the bottom 6? Carfagna may be able to bounce Stastney
I never count out D-Men this young. Jordan Oesterle never looked like an all-star prospect but he ended up playing 400 NHL games. Carfagna has had a similar career to this point and could do the same or could fall off.
I think Carfagna will probably carve out a career. For me at that size he would have to have some exceptional thing he can do for it to make sense as something that helps the Oilers be a better team
Hutson I like, but I get that realistically he’s behind Savoie and Howard in the young skill wingers that have a shot at top 6 time. He wouldn’t be effective as a 4th liner, maybe he pushes for 3rd line work?
I should probably view him as more of a tradeable asset rather than a team solution. Maybe you offer him in a package to a team that’s rebuilding and looking for value contracts for guys that can play a bit and use that to offload an undesirable vet contract.
Still, I hope he does well. I enjoyed following him in Bake last year.
I’m with you on Carfagna though, he looks like he could develop and to use an OPism – be a real and material player.
Depends what approach mgt takes. While I assume they will take the typical approach of making the best roster they can during the off-season, I’d prefer an approach of leaving 3F & 1D spot on the roster for kids to trial them during the first 2/3 of the year. Serves 3 purposes: 1) this will be optimal development for some so you legitimately see what you have in them; 2) if they play well but aren’t a stylistic fit for the playoff run, you’ve ideally built up more value in them to trade; and 3) you build up cap space so Dickinson costs a 2nd and not a 1st at the deadline
They will do something along those lines. Bowman has said they need to bcs cap
If the old over the hill guys on the roster are Hyman Nuge Ekholm next year the team is in good shape.
Elholm was still a top pair d this year. Hyman was still a very capable first line winger.
Nuge is certainly better than an aging Henrique.
Ekholm looked a bit more up and down and slower this past season but, at the same time, he:
1) played 82 games
2) had 41 points
3) was 12th in the NHL in 5 on 5 points
4) played 36% TOI vs. elites
5) had 56% goal share and 56% expected goal share
Now, Evan Bouchard floats all boats and can cover for Ek’s regression but, yes, Ekholm was 100% a first pairing d-man – at his age, that is spectacular.
Hyman had 31 goals in 56 games and, for a 2-3 month stretch, led the NHL in goals. I imagine he’s likely to get banged up/injured yearly but he can still play.
I know it’s been discussed to death, but I had a stray thought about the Bruce Cassidy stuff.
If everyone knows that he is Edmonton’s preference, and we know that they want better alignment between management and coaching with respect to roster construction… Is it also possible Vegas is trying to compress and throw off Edmonton’s off season plans by delaying?
We know the long playoff runs of previous years have meant shorter off seasons and less time to invest in making moves for the next season. I wonder if Vegas is trying to deny Edmonton the head start they would’ve gotten with their early exit this year by (presumably) waiting til the Knights playoff run is over to grant permission.
How many roster decisions are waiting on a coaching hire?
Bowman and Cassidy are apparently friends. Nothing stopping them from hanging out and talking about players
Isn’t that tampering?
If they start each sentence with “Hypothetically speaking…” they’ll avoid the tampering allegations 🙂
It is, but that sort of thing happens all of the time regarding different things apparently
Actually talking about players may not be tampering. Talking about a job would be
Talking about acquiring players on another team is technically tampering. Cassidy could talk about the Oilers but theoretically not players still under an NHL contract, even ones that expire July 1st. Not that that stops anybody.
It is but how is the NHL gonna stop them? We’ve seen contracts signed for over $100M five minutes into free agency and everyone just pretends there was no prior discussion.
If Cassidy is “the one true coaching candidate” and I suspect that the Vegas BS makes the Oilers more likely to want him, then they’ll just talk to him any time they want.
— it’s the tree falling in the forest analogy IMO
— It only matters if someone who cares “hears”
If both agents like fishing on a private lake who’s going to say or do anything about it.
I’d be very surprised if NV employment law prevented Cassidy from terminating his contract if he chose to (with likely some notice or non-disclosure provisions).
So, if he wants to coach next year, then the main risk to him would be getting paid less than the $4.5M Vegas owes him for next season. Other teams are will have their coach budget, so they’ll know what his # is and it’s then a case of will they pay it, or do they have to convince him to take less than $4.5M. With the number of coaching vacancies, it does seem like if Cassidy really wants to coach next year waiting for Vegas to terminate his contract seems like unnecessary positioning by him.
You shouldn’t be surprised and that likely very much is the case.
He can terminated and give up his compensation (likely) but he can’t terminate his way out of the non-compete type clause if its enforceable in the first instance (and accounts are this one is.
The non-compete clause (if you want to call it that) is there for a reason – the employee has legit confidential information and proprietary information that can be used against them by a direct competitor.
With bowman bringing in his preferred coach, the roster construction will likely be a big part of the conversations.
With Howard , Samanski, Savoie all extremely likely to be on the roster (barring trade) plus possibly Dach all at low cap hits it gives the GM flexibility.
As LT notes deployment will be up to coach. Bowman will be giving him the roster with hopefully no mangipaine/ Janmark/ Henrique blockers and with prior roster construction agreements.
I’m excited to see an Oiler team with the core of seasoned, driven, elite vets in their prime and a push from youthful energy. Balance that has been missing.
Not far from here to there but they’re not there yet. Fingers crossed
Here is hoping Bowman gets his preferred coach – I do still think Cassidy will end up here.
I remain VERY exited about what Cassidy can do with the existing group even without big changes. From what I’ve learned about him, his strengths line up with exactly what this group needs.
Couple that with the group having a full 5 plus months to relax, recharge, re-set, train properly and come to camp motivated and focussed and the superstars with an understanding that they weren’t “good enough” last season in their overall game (both acknowledged that).
I truly think this team, without major changes, can be back to a legit contender.
I think Howard pretty much has to make the opening night roster due to his low cap hit. Assuming of course that he’s still in the organization at that point.
Man our cap is ugly!!
A lot depends on what Bowman does this summer. They might need Howard because others are gone
I don’t suspect that many will be gone – Roslovic and Dickinson and Rico from the forwards (can see Kap and even Lazar back).
He will be great value on his ELC for two more seasons.
I think he “has to make it” because he’s good at hockey and will make the team better.
Training camp has been shortened. It will impact the ability of emerging players to get any traction. And vets to pace themselves.
Same for every team. Hopefully new coach knows how to run a camp properly, not KK’s strength
And the number of exhibition games has been reduced to a maximum of 4 per team.
This shortened exhibition schedule—reduced from the previous six to eight games—was agreed upon in the league’s collective bargaining agreement to accommodate an expanded 84-game regular season.
Additionally, veterans with over 100 career games will be limited to a maximum of two pre-season appearances.
Not just training camp but exhibition games – 4 games max and only 2 games for vets.
It will be very interesting to see how they run it.
— If I was McDrai I’d run a “training camp” in the off season in Muskoka and invite some of the wingers to practice and get chem :
— we read about the superstars training together: leadership would be taking teammates under their wing. I always found it curious the never really have.
Nah, they’ve been doing those early preseason captain skates for years and it’s been just as useful as Kyle Turris bench pressing cars in the street was.
— those are the ones a few days before training camp that are kaka. Agree.
— I always thought it was odd you never read about McDrai skating with Pool or Yak or Kailer taking them under their wings etc …
— the superstars from different teams skate together in Muskoka in off season
That would be a leadership move, for sure.
Now would be a good time to develop that trait, something that seems to have been missing from Oilers culture in the McD Era.
ps. Who talks to this leadership group about how to be better as leaders? Who are the mentors? I see Draisaitl doing it for some guys. But who’s mentoring him? So crazy that men in their 20s are expected, magically, to be leaders, without support.
I think they missed the shit disturber Corey Perry. You need a few Hathaway-Marchment especially our team which is way to passive for my liking.
I agree they missed Perry. But he was much more than a shit disturber for the team. To my eye he was the guy with experience, humour, grit. À winner and a hard worker, but not weighted with “win now” Cup expectations/panic. Given what we saw of this past year’s leadership group, Perry may have been the most important and regrettable roster loss. I would have given him an A, if not à C, on his jersey.
Problem is, if McDrai run a training camp together, they already have the winger they want before inviting anyone else.
I’d be happy if they all show up to camp with the best cardio they have ever had and a few of the skinny ones like Connor are 5 lbs heavier
Taylor Hall is having his best play ever in playoffs and mentioned to Gregor he’s heavier than when he played in Edmonton. Strength matters
I’m also heavier than when he played in Edmonton.
Lol likewise
The time off for Mcdavid ect to recover will make a huge difference come next year. Along with other players able to focus on training rather than injury rehab.
— I’ve been side to side with both Hall and McD and was remarkable to me how “slight” they are.
— yes wiry fit with leg calves and wider butts
— Basically just fit versions of a prime gretz: but not imposing at all.
— that’s obviously by design.
— I’ve been beside Tiger a few times in the last 25 years as well and his physical transformation was significant (not that it has helped him)
What’s your Handicap and be honest about it lol?
I once was able to take my son into the Canucks dressing room and the autograph signing after. I was quite surprised at how slim some guys were, and of course shorter than listed. Except Horvath, he looks like a line backer
Alex Edler was in shorts no shoes. He is listed at 6’4 210. Not a chance on either. For me unless you are good at avoiding contact being stronger is a good thing. Connor doesn’t enough, and he is starting to get nagging injuries