This is the 1974 draft, one that I tracked with something close to my adult brain. The Hockey News had miles of lists for this edition of the draft, partly because of the WHA and partly because underage players were being drafted for the first time. Would you believe an offer sheet?
I didn’t know it at the time, swearing as I did at Sam Pollock for having so many draft picks, but the best mousetrap in the 1974 draft belonged to the New York Islanders. Bill Torrey and his staff drafted Clark Gillies in the first round, Bryan Trottier in the second round, Dave Langevin in the seventh round, and Swedish defenseman Stefan Persson in the 14th round. The Islanders smashed every team that year, even Sam Pollock and his Montreal Canadiens.
The NHL was concerned about the gap in knowledge of amateur talent between the best and worst clubs. The Islanders quickly became a contender, while the California Seals missed on too many prime draft opportunities. So, the league invented Central Scouting in order to give teams at least a floor in terms of draft knowledge.
In modern times, the Central Scouting list is a guide for NHL teams. Many years ago, a now-retired scout told me the only impact Central’s list had on him was the first list published in the fall. If the list had a player in his area he hadn’t filed on, the scouting director would want to know why.
On this site, I’ve used math for years as a way to rank the annual talent pool. It isn’t perfect, but does highlight some players who may be under the radar on draft day due to various reasons.
So the Ottawa 67’s have a draft eligible forward named Jasper Kuhta who I noticed as having great offensive numbers while being ranked far below dozens of shy scorers. Why? Don’t know. He might be a terrible checker, or have the slow boots. His offense (32-31-63 in 62 games) are excellent, and the Elite Prospects scouting report says nice things. He is 6.02 and he is 19, so what’s up?
Brock Otten at OHL Prospects likes him, but worries about his skating. That’s a concern. However, there are examples from NHL history, including the very same California Seals drafting of Charlie Simmer in 1974, and the Ottawa Senators picking Mark Stone in 2010, of slow boots delivering electric results.
I don’t know jack doodley about Kuhta. Maybe he has bad table manners or daydreams all day. I do know that despite being 19 and having questions about his skating, the young man got caught in my math trap so I’m interested.
I hope NHL teams have some nerd chasing down these math outliers for the scouts. Not as an ‘aha!’ moment like Central, but as a ‘could this guy be a Simmering Stone?’ double check. I don’t think there’s anything ridiclous about that idea.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll have Eddie Steele to talk Elks at 12:40 and Kevin McCurdy to talk Oilers at 1pm. Noon to two, Sports 1440 and You Tube. See you on the radio!
Would you believe an offer sheet?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7308775/2026/05/27/edmonton-oilers-roster-trades-cap-space-connor-mcdavid/
I like your plan LT. Yes, yes, yes to offer sheets. Do what you need to do.
Plus:
Howard is showing us he is a player, needs experience
Samanski is a player
Dach is a player
These are not tweeners playing over their heads, these look like contributors.
I’ve not yet seen evidence Samanski can hold onto a role as an everyday NHL player. I consider him still a prospect. If building a roster to complete for Stanley next year, I do not write him in as my 4th line center at this time. I’m interested to learn how others feel.
He was 2-1 goals in the playoffs at 5 on 5 (40 minutes).
He was 11-9 goals in regular season at 5 on 5 (240 minutes).
I think he can help more on the PK as well.
I like Samanski. He could use to put on 5-10 lbs of muscle this summer. Woukd help him out in puck battles for sure. Offer sheets can work, just not sure we have capital and pucks to pull,off any higher end ones
I think borque is definitely highest target candidate to get offer sheeted.
I’m honestly cheering for grier to pick up some useful vet players to salt his lineup with off the most capstrapped teams still this offseason.
I think dallas is in the worst position of them all even though AVs appesr tightest squeezed. Robertson needs to get paid. The question is can you logically justify 25+ million spent on top line wingers between him and ratannen?
As for what oilers need…My wishlist:
1. Ingram or cheap and younger potential higher ceiling
2. Waiver claim best 3rd goalie they can grab and run 3 on roster (20 actual skaters and 3 goalies is deeper roster than they’ve started season with in forever before anyone gets horseblinded by the technicality).
3. Like seriously get 2 viable candidates thst are cheap to 1A/1B with or without jarry if he either can’t regain form or as insurance due to fairly high likelyhood jarry could go down to injury again. #1 WITH A BULLET THIS OFFSEASON TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EXCESS YOUNG GOALIES TO EXTREME BY GETTING TWO OPTIONS IN HOUSE THAT HAVE PEDIGREE AND DEVELOPMENT IS PROGRESSING BEHIND JARRY. INVEST in best possible chance of answering key question of “oilers starting goalie for next 3-5 seasons on a value contract might be?”
Because if you get the goalie who can steal you some games in playoffs you are a lot closer to being seen as staying a serious contending team a lot longer than any other reasonably doable acquisition this season.
4. Spend bulk of the money they have remaining for luxury on defense upgrades/depth. Connor murphy on a 3 year for 4-4.5 million. I have time for. Also would have time for klingberg to pair with walman ideally on a 1 year. If i could sign them both -> i would. Or If i was considering offer sheet using 2nd round pick -> i’d be targetting rfa defensemen in that 4-4.8 million range and broberg soneone else.
5. RHC vet for bottom 6 who can win faceoffs, effectively pk who is not going to likely make as much as dickinsons last contract even. Scissons, acciari, lazar.
Oilers have enough offensive potential output without expensive top 6 additions.
Oilers have enough elite game breakers
Goalie, defense depth/composition, bottom 6 pk talent and defensive centers who can win draws.
Fix the goals against and probability of full team being capable of shutting down opposition.
To be honest. I’d like to see mcdavid play wing. It frees him from being overrelied on defensively, rightly makes his fast breaks more threatening and less risky. Like the counter puncher winger him playing a mark stone or kempe type role makes way more sense to me. The whole windup from own blue line with opposition prepared for his attack wirh his wingers often standing fkat footed at offensive blueline waiting for him to dismantle whole team is a waste of asset amd massively higher risk of injuries ocer a full season.
Mcdavid rnh hyman him as the counter punch? Likely 10+ more penalty shots and almost guaranteed a richard trophy by seasons end.
Like i don’t understand why he has to play center and in same sentence require a winger who can be defensive concious in order to be an outscoring line with him….like isn’t the solution 3x the breakways from center ice free of quasi hybrid center defensice responsibilities better than he needs to play more structured defense as a center and not do so many 1vs 3’s?
I would love to see McDavid on the wing to start the year. His speed is his weapon and playing centre has cost him goals. Gretzky used to goal suck a lot to begin his career this is when centre ice was still a 2 line pass. Gretzky had deceptive speed unlike a McDavid or a Bure yet he would get 1 or 2 breakaways a game. Turn McDavid lose make the game fun for him just as they fed Leon for 50 let Connor do his thing which is speed and watch him score 70 plus.
If Nurse moves, Zellweger is another great option for a $4.8M contract. Ducks have lots of young D and he seems to be destined for 3rd pair if they re-sign any of their UFAs.
Korchinski could be interesting low cost option to trade/offer sheet to fill a 3LD in the same scenario.
At this point, I would believe anything from this organization, given how it fumbled the 2024 offer sheets, the “goalie issue that wasn’t,” and the leak of two-timing the coach.
Two things that I’m curious about:
– This team was coming into some semblance of itself in the fabled final eleven games, without Draisaitl, albeit against lesser opponents. That minor (major, given the disappointing and uneven season) accomplishment was lost to the injury addled first series. To my mind, that 11-game stretch is what the org builds on. But perhaps everything of value is lost with the coaching fire? So it’s starting from scratch when talking about who gets re-signed, whats needed, etc? I would be looking at what worked and why? Among potential re-signs, was Dick a significant part of what worked? Ingram? Roslovic? Etc.
– Lansky, who is fast and loose when shooting from the lip, said something the org might ponder when he opined that this group is “uncoachable.” I’d love to hear him expand on this. And, if he’s anywhere close to the truth, given the turnstile approach to coaching here, maybe the Cup-winning move is an adjustment to the roster that makes it more amenable to being coached?
I like Lansky. I listen to his hit on the Lowedown every week. But his “uncoachable” take has about as much credibility as a guy in row 12 who “knows for a fact.”
His trolling he knows Oiler fans will bite. The uncoachable talk is nonsense he’s trying to stir the pot. A lot of folks from down east want to see McDavid in Toronto after Matthew flys the coop.
Trolling, I agree. Nonsense? Not so sure. Lots of evidence that it’s not (10 coaches in 15 years? Baby Nuge aka “coach killer?” Or is it the water? Or the owner?)
It’s Tobias Rieder
Love it!
I believe Flat top did make a comment many moons ago to the effect that that team just refused to plsy defense.
Trap hockey is not Oiler hockey it’s not in the organization or fans DNA.
There is a huge difference between playing proper defensive hockey and playing the trap.
Not one person has suggested that McDrai should play the trap.
Let’s knock off the hyperbole and drama.
This refusal to play D is all bunk the Oilers were fighting for a playoff spot and used McDavid way too much to end the year. Leon probably came back early from injury throw in McDavid injury add a stale PP with average goaltending is the reason we lost. K.K is a defence 1st coach this worked if we scored the opening goal. The team just looked like they were having no fun under K.K this year. Oilers need to get back some mojo under a new coach hopefully the new coach thinks possession and offence will out due a few mistakes. Turning McDavid-Leon into a Bob Gainey-Guy Carbonneau is not going to happen no matter who the coach is. Why would any Oiler fan want this? We need other players to fill this role.
Does “refusal to play defence” mean “trap hockey” to you? It doesn’t to me.
When I watched Draisaitl turn on his inner Selke in 2024-25, that was “playing defence,” to me, for that player.
When I watch young Samanski, that to me is “playing defence.”
When the Oilers only let in 2.18 GAA (v 3.36 GFA) in the final 11 games of the season, or 2.54 GAA (v 4.08GFA) in 13 games Nov 26-Dec 25, that’s reasonable defensive play, to my eye, for this club.
When the Oilers won over Vegas and Dallas in 2025, that was a team that prided itself, as per the Capt’s words, in playing defence.
None of it characterized by anything I imagine as “trap hockey.”
Knoblauch’s Oilers showed they knew how to suppress shots and goals, and out score. This season, not so much. And to my ears, no one was expecting them to play the trap. Just to support the D and the G. Will we ever know the why of it? I doubt it.
Patrice Bergeron is a dream centre played 20 years on some stacked teams-coaches in Boston. Bergeron won 1 Cup. If the Oilers had the Bruins level goaltending we have 2-3 Cups. The Oilers will win Cups by scoring more goals than the opposition.
In a recent episode of Kyper and Bourne, they agreed that McDavid and Draisaitl got Knoblauch fired with their year end comments.
I would rather McDavid-Leon handle thinks in-house. In saying that it didn’t take a brain surgeon to see the shine of K.K defence hockey had wore off. K.K did a good job and he’ll be compensated for it. K.K was at the right place at the right time. There were times the team needed more protection from the outside world. K.K seemed very passive with the media. They say teams develop the personality of the coach. I do hope we get a spitfire coach someone like a Tocchet who has managed to get the most of at best average teams in Vancouver and Philly.
I’m with you on the “handle things in house.” (Not able or willing to do this is a symptom of “uncoachable,” as per Lansky.)
The 2024 fumble ,the goalie issue and the coaching mess sure sounds like an owner that cant keep his hands of the wheel. If that is true will we ever be able to overcome those kinds of what seems to be emotional interferences.
The Habs game was about as competitive as King Kong Bundy vs Special Delivery Jones.
Dammit MTL…don’t let these clowns get by you…
Carolina now 11W – 1L in the playoffs.
Dominant and built to stay that way.
Just like the Avalanche….
Also LA, Vancouver, and if Car or VGK should falter, Stl and SJ are ready to step in, but only if the two aforementioned teams finish with less than 100 points.
It’s easy to always being able to back the winner when you have a rotating pool of ten teams.
Avalanche goaltending sucked. Loss of Makar was huge and when he came back he was still hurt and not effective. He makes that team tick and not Mackinon
As much as l hate the Canes I’m enjoying them laying the boots to the Habs. The chest beating of the Habs fans and how superior they are compared to the Oilers will be but distant memory in 5 periods. No way were the Habs beating Vegas but the Canes will.
Jay Woodcroft interviewing with the Leafs this week after an interview with Kings.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-maple-leafs-to-interview-jay-woodcroft-for-head-coach/
I’ve been predicting he’ll be the head coach of the Leafs for a bit now.
He would be a great fit.
Frank Seravalli
@frank_seravalli
Leafs coaching search update, per sources:
Jay Woodcroft scheduled to interview this week. Interviewed with LAKings last week.
Handicapped as “one of the front runners” for the Toronto job. Either spot, solid bet to be an NHL HC again next season.
– Wide swath of as many as 20 interviewees with varying experience.
– Most interviews this stage are via Zoom.
– Leafs brass expected to regroup and focus on Draft Combine next week in Buffalo.
– Process expected to continue the following week with in-person interviews for a small handful of finalists.
Let’s start a Gerard Gallant rumour. If he has anything left in the tank I would love to see him coach the Oilers. I’ve always respected him as a player and a coach. He had a sneaky good shot and would never back down from a fight. Hire Gallant let’s bring in a few more Dach and get this party going. Gallant won’t allow no more nobodies taking runs at Leon-Connor-Bouchard without getting it back 3-fold.
As resident conductor, I’d like to extend a welcome for you to come aboard… plenty of room aboard the GG train.
I’ve been stumping for Gallant forever, in my eyes he’d be a perfect fit in tandem with Todd Nelson as the associate coach in waiting.
And just think — there isn’t a coach alive with more of a desire to stick it to two of our least favourite three teams, in FLA and VGK. Both organizations did him dirty.
Let’s make it happen Hockey Gods. That would sure be justice for Gallant if he could lead us past Vegas and Florida next playoff.
It’s been just over 4 months (mid Jan/26) since he had to resign from the KHL team he was coaching and return home for health reasons (reported as high blood pressure and an undisclosed illness he was hospitalized for in Russia). He’s only 63. I haven’t heard anything recently, but the stress of coaching might not be in his future anymore.
Interview him anyhow let’s troll Vegas a little in return. Maybe we can get some dirt on this heartless organization in sin city.
Vegas couldn’t care less.
Okay J.R Ewing.
Heard Gallant has health issues
Toronto has lined up 20 interviewees for their vacant coaching position. Edmonton……1?
Full disclosure, I am not a hockey expert or coach procuring expert. I’m a little surprised they are considering so many coaches, though. I would expect leadership has a plan and knows the direction they would want to take the team so are there really 20 coaches out there they think could help them go in that direction?
Or, are they interviewing 20 coaches in hopes that one of them “wow’s” them in which case, they have a risk of bringing in a coach that interviewed well but may not be the best fit for their short or longterm plans.
On one hand, it looks impressive that they are “leaving no stone unturned” in their search for a candidate, on the other hand you can view it as “why do you need to turn over each stone? Isn’t your job to know what you need and where to get it?”
They aren’t in the position anymore to take a flyer on an unknown. What 20 known coaches worth interviewing are there? Let’s not forget who is operating in the information vacuum: it’s not them
When’s the last time the Leafs won the Cup? With them winning the McKeena sweepstakes they can be a lot more selective with a coaching hire and overall team strategy moving forward.
Rumors are saying Oilers have interviewed Berube and Lavio, with Cassidy a obvious want to talk to.
So the number is at least 3.
I hadn’t heard about them talking with Laviolette, positive
I’m sure the Oilers are talking to more candidates than the two we’ve been told about.
Really hoping for a Bourque offer sheet.
With Dickinson probably commanding 5 mil plus in free agency I think the oil should move on from him. (One of the most baffling trades in recent memory)
Montreal is not where they are without Danault. Someone has to do the dirty work
Sather always knew the importance of the 3-C from Weir-Linesman-Hughes-Krushelnyski-MacTavish. With the right coach Samanski could be transformed into a beauty 3-C. I would also give this player a bone have him out there when the opposition pulls their goalie. If he improves on the dot I would have him take many important face-offs. If he can take the next step and he’s showing all the signs internationally he may even become a cost effective 2-C down the road.
Can I ask why? I don’t know much about the player but from a cursory look he appears to be an undersized complimentary winger with average speed (quick but not fast) and a nice release. His on-ice numbers were good but he also played a lot with Robertson which definitely helped. Could you elaborate?
I very much agree with this.
I thought Dickinson performance in the playoffs showed he can be a 4th line Center on a championship team. Do you feel differently?
Absolutely he can. But can you pay a 4th line center 5 mil a year?
Not all contributions are goals. If you can play top players you’re not a 4 C and JD does. 3 lines that do that means coach doesn’t have to overplay the Duo, and he is a top PK player. Last season made most Oilers look bad
LT, is a point per game that good for a 19 year old in the OHL?
It also looks like it was his first year in the CHL after coming off over from Europe. I think that is also a factor if I remember correctly. It takes them time to adjust so numbers might be understated. Lewandowski is a recent example.
No it is not.
Especially in this day and age when the talent in the OHL is more watered down due to more of the top end talent defecting to the NCAA.
He is at 1.016 pts-game, Sam O’Reilly is at 1.268 but was 1.00 when he was in London. Both were 19 (Kuhta seven months older). Considering Kuhta was second in team scoring on a team that finished No. 2 in total goals this season, I think it’s fair to suggest he was an offensive contributor. He scored 10-13-23 on the PP, 3-1-4 on the PK and 19-17-36 at evens. He owned a 52 percent faceoff percentage (over 100 faceoffs) and had 175 shots.
Jackson and Bowman have taken this team into no man’s land. Ad hockery is their modus operandi.
Never fear… I’m sure they’ll do a bang-up job hiring the new coach. /S
This line of reasoning, well it’s really more emotional than reasoned, and you are not the only one there, has met it’s truth test with the Avs getting swept. If it’s true and Oiler’s managers have no idea what they’re doing and just make panic decisions and are morons who don’t get the NHL, then by that by logic it has to be true for the Avs as well per the evidence
I’m not sure the Avs prove this. Any qualitative or quantitative evaluation of the Oilers over the last two years (since Bowman started) shows an obvious decline. The Avs were certainly better this year than last, even if they didn’t live up to the expectations that their regular-season performance set for them.
I should also clarify that I don’t think Bowman is stupid or doesn’t have a plan. I just think that the majority of his major decisions have turned out poorly. And each error (all of which are his responsibility whether or not they’re his fault) makes the path narrower, the resources and options more limited, resulting in subsequent decisions looking more like panic. This becomes even more apparent when spending additional assets to clean up the messes made by prior decisions.
Adapting Tolstoy, all disappointing teams (Oil and Avs) fail in their own particular way.
The crux is who and what caused the decline. Many get hyperbolic about something they are obsessing on. It’s never one thing and nobody does perfect work. Which is why I used this year’s sweethearts as the foil
I’ll cop to this – I regularly ruminate over the offer sheet decision. For me, that’s the moment when two paths diverged. We took the wrong path.
Tip (smith/koski)
20-21: 0.908 (15th), 79.5% (20th)
*EVGdiff -1
Tip/Woody (smith/koski)
21-22: 0.905 (18th), 79.4% (17th),
*EVGdiff +8
Woody (campbell/skinner)
2022-23: 0.900 (17th), 77% (20th),
*EVGdiff +23
**skinz 50 gp 0.914, camp 34 gp 0.888
Woody/knoblauch (skinner/campbell/pickard)
2023-24: 0.898 (24th), 79.6%(15th),
*EVGdiff +40
Knoblauch (skinner/pickard)
2024-25: 0.906 (16th), 80.5% (11th),
*EVGdiff -3
Knoblauch (mixed bag)
2025-26: 0.893 (29th), 76.2% (26th),
*EVGdiff -14
Bednar over same time frame
——
20-21 0.918 (6th) with grubauer vezina finalist, 83.9% pk (8th),
*EVGdiff +60
21-22 0.912 (10th) keumper backed stanley cup, 79.3% pk (16th),
*EVGdiff +56
22-23 0.912 (11th) georgiev, 79% pk (17th),
*EVGdiff +21
23-24 0.897 (25th) georgiev fell apart under huge increase in high danger chances, 79.7% (12th),
*EVGdiff +33
24-25 0.913 (9th) blackwood, 79.8% pk (12th),
*EVGdiff +23
25-26 0.928 (1st) blackwood/wedgewood, 84.6% pk (1st),
*EVGdiff +62
Won’t bother with rest of stats just
Grubauer since 188 gp, 0.893 sv%
Keumper since 190 gp, 0.905 sv%
Georgiev since 33 gp, 0.875 sv%
I’d argue benard’s team has solidly outscored opponents in 5v5 play. His goalies by and large all look way better when they are playing in his systems.
Woody w/ gutz&coffey were building a team that was serious threat to contend right way. Under knoblauch that has quite quickly disintegrated. Nothing he has really adjusted has been as effective since he first took over. Seemed far too focused past 2 seasons on maximizing/overrelying mcdavid than developing any comsistent bottom 6 deployment or tactics that whole team can succeed with.
Like not going through it again but the defensive zone giveaways being as bad as it was like bottom of the league lotto team and the continuance of that into playoffs being far and away the worst -> is a lot more indicative of a coaching failure in knoblauch’s case over bednard’s season.
In both cases though over relying on top of lineup caused same problem when injuries inevitably hit as they will if team manages to go the distance…this has been a reoccurring theme every run for edmonton for awhile.
So the obvious solution seems to optimizing those players minutes instead of overusing them to reduce injury risk.
A team that can manage to keep all minutes under 20 a game especially in regular season quite likely doesn’t lose that much of their impact on positive goal differential as much as they gain in entire lineup being more effective and positive impact/competent/comfortable cone post season.
Investment of icetime to build a time less obe dimensional. Lose some battles to win the greater war.
The coaches played a part, but to me the Oilers’ progression is directly related to the Duo and Bouch hitting it. The Duo matured slowly in play relatively. Is what it is. Last season was KK hitting his rookie slump/inexperience and too much hockey colliding
Another thing is the leadership groups of the two teams. Landeskog (who has always been around so stayed captain) and MacKinnon are different than duo. Mac is uber demanding even down to nutrition. At times maybe even too much. Our guys are as wired but not in the same way
If I were building a scouting rubric for pro or amateur, it would look something like this:
Domains: 1.Skating; 2. Skill; 3. Smarts 4. Size/Aggressiveness
Scoring: -2 to +2 with +1 being great and +2 being elite. -1 below average and -2 for poor.
For Size/Aggressiveness: you get max +/- 1 point for size and max +1/-1 point for aggressiveness
Rules:
Reasoning:
I’ve had a similar but only including
Skating passing and shot for forwards
Skating passing and defensive awareness for D
Size is bonus points
That’s good but I think somehow some personal factors should be a part. Campbell Mangi and Frederic all have issues in the way of performing as they have. Lucic did too
I don’t think Bednar gets fired even having coached his team to yet another year of falling short of expectations. If he does, of course, the team should talk to him, if they can, but what makes him such an elite coaching candidate?
It’s an honest question as I know very little about his attributes as a coach. I’ve learned a ton about Cassidy over the last 3 weeks but don’t have that knowledge on Bednar.
All I really know about Bednar is that, except for a single season, his team has fallen short of expectations in the playoffs every single season.
Also, one forward that has played almost as much as McDavid – Nathan MacKinnon – Bednar has “overplayed” him just as much as Oiler coaches and McDavid.
Yeah, he has fallen into same trap of 1 powerplay unit getting 80% of icetime and a pretend pp2 who is handcuffed by pp ending and guy leaving box soon.
Coincidentally:
Colorado was 1 of the only teams with more short handes goals scored against them than edmonton. 13 GA vs 11 GA….the effectiveness of their powerplay (gf-ga/pp attempts that lasted long enough) is just as awful as oilers was. Like i calculated it out for oilers pp1 to be 8/172 for 4.5 ish% after first minute (5 short handed goals i could attribute partly against 1st unit…3 of them shifting off for change when possession lost and pk unit with it in neutral zone)…colorado suffered same ugly effect.
Like both these “1 unit to rule them all” did a bang up job putting an exclamation point example of why this strategically logically foolish mode of operandi is definitively clearly a bad idea.
Any loss of zone or faceoff past 1 minute. Change unit. Also 1st unit be aggressively attacking goalie trying to get dirty goal or force goalie to freeze it after like 45 seconds in power play over casually cycling puck around hoping for perfect scoring chance because losing the zone past a minute and changing off is part of the problem.
It seems there is more patience in COL. This series was obviously about injuries. Only a foolish GM /owner would put that on the coach, especially after their dominant season.
I like your comment on “overplaying.” I wonder how many elite talents in the league aren’t getting this treatment?
Related: We saw, in the Olympics, how quick and often Cooper (a coach most here -and at least one elite talent- appreciate) went to his “nuclear option.”
Cooper is well known for the blender in Tampa (to my knowledge), a fact rarely brought up when he’s discussed as a Hall of Fame coach.
So was Bowman the Elder in the 70s. My father would rail about it, constantly.
The Avs looked a fair bit like last year’s Oilers. Too much reliance on the top dogs and too many old timers that ran out of gas/ hit injury. IMO teams really need youth mixed in with vets for energy and enthusiasm, and at least some of that youth needs to be in your key positions (eg. Podzy and Savoie this year for Edm).
While may be true, their biggest failure all season long was their power play.
Considering the talent available, a power play near the bottom of the league is confounding.
I imagine that will get considerable attention in the offseason.
Maybe they should have stopped giving so many reps to their 3rd and 4th PP units:
“Fibonacci
⊘
Reply to mirnovsvodka
December 10, 2025 9:05 pm
Colorado has been so dominant, that Bednar has been backing off Nate’s TOI when the Avalanche are running away with games.
In the last 10GP, Nate has one game at 18:19 and another at 14:49.
Bednar also sends out his 3rd and 4th lines on the PP when the Avs are well ahead in the 3rd period.
In any event…P/60
MacKinnon – 3.66
McDavid – 3.09
Kucherov – 2.90
Worth mentioning since PP time is variable….EVP
MacKinnon – 38
McDavid – 25
Kucherov – 27
I would also caution against ignoring the baby elephants in the room as both Celebrini and Bedard are in hot pursuit.
Bedard has a couple of points tonight to move to 42 points while Celebrini has 43, only 1 behind McDavid.”
We saw Makar and MacKinnon be ineffective at the Olympics on the PP (although I think MacKinnon was hurt/sick).
That team clearly needed Bouchard (not replacing Makar in the lineup, of course) – for various reasons, PP and other.
Last year’s top heavy, old, slow Oilers got to Game 5 SCF before it was all too much. This was always going to be a transition season. The wonder is that most of us in Oilerville were surprised/disappointed. LT called it mid-season, but I didn’t want to hear it.
Piqued by LT’s recent comments viz Oilers 2015 v Habs 2022, I’ve been listening and reading about what some might call a “miracle rebuild.” Three things stand out:
-owner Geoff Molson told Hughes/Gorton he wasn’t in a hurry, wanted the rebuild “done right”
-HuGo are building an age cohort around team leaders Suzuki and Caufield; still drafting for the future, but trading for young and emerging talent to fit this cohort, w only the occasional older player (Danault, to fit a need for skill niche and wisdom/experience)
-Habsville (the community of fans, pundits, team, mgt, etc) were made aware of the rebuild and, critically, “bought in.” Low expectations, underlined by underwhelming performances by high draft picks (Slafkovsky, Dach) met the sleeper pick in Lane Hutson, and Habsville is on fire.
How does this, in your view, differ from our experience in Oilerville?
And, do we have the patience to go through the transition that started after Game 7, 2024?
Looking to find another William Nicholl or two in this year’s draft. That kid can skate and has a motor and some skill. I think he’s going to play in this league and very much look forward to watching him develop as a pro in Bako to start next season.
I concur. Great pick and he’s fast plus smart.
It’s too bad about the injury that burned a year of development.
Yup, but he did get over 30 junior games in this past season and then 8 as a Condor (3 in the playoffs).
To me LT that is exactly what a state dept is for regarding amateur players. Everyone already knows who the obvious guys are, and that is not where you find gold. There have to be outliers every year that guys don’t notice or don’t have time to
Same with pros. Everyone already knows who Stone is; where is the 24 YO version that the Knights got?
with the avs now bounced out of the playoffs and in a dire position cap wise i wonder who shakes loose.
Lehknonen-Mackinnon-Landeskog
Kadri-Nelson-Necas
Colton-Roy-Nichushkin
Kelly- (DRURY)-OConnor
Toews-Makar
(X) – Malinski
Manson-(Burns)
leaves them with 2.129 million to sign Drury, Burns, and a 2LD.
Assuming Drury makes 2.85 and burns 1mil again, and they bring up sean behrens as the 7th d they would need to clear at least 4 mil of cap.
I wonder if nichushkin is the odd man out, he has had a few seasons with some drama and injury issues but is still a v productive player with 49points last season.
Would avs be interested in Stastney as an upgrade on keaton middleton and perhaps a beau akey or an ike howard. dont know what more it would take.
a forward core of the below looks pretty solid.
Savoie-McD-Hyman
Podz-Drat-Nichushkin
Berezkin-Nuge-Kapanen
Dach-Samanski-Freddi
Ekholm-Bouche
Walman-Murphy
Nurse-Emberson
Regula
Jarry-Ingram
Colorado is very unlikely to sign Drury…they have many other options already on the roster including Zachar Bardakov on an ELC.
Even if they go that route, they’d still be $2M over
Yeah…they will have to make another move.
Hopefully the Oiler scouts find a simmering stone or two
Who’s this Jack Doodley kid I keep hearing about? 🙂
We should be heartened by the 2025 draft as pretty much every pick is trending ahead of their draft slot (to my knowledge from what I’ve ready/heard/learned – I’m not an expert on the prospects until they turn pro – and still not an expert but watch them consistently).
With the title of your blog this morning, I feel like you’re baiting us into a different discussion. I thought politics was not allowed?😂
My morning laugh, thank-you SVR 🙂
Haha. No, it was a response to the guy who texted yesterday into the Lowdown to say Tracy Chapman had only one good song! 🙂
The version with Eric Clapton is absolutely amazing, infinitely better than the original, which is great as well.