This is from a July 2019 article at Lowetide.ca about Tyler Benson as a training camp hopeful. He was coming off a terrific AHL debut season, the highest scoring season in the AHL by an Oilers forward prospect (age 20) this century. Please read this.
Benson was unable to parlay that season into an NHL career, and speed was a major issue. Also an issue? The coaching at the NHL level was fluid, from Todd McLellan to Ken Hitchcock to Dave Tippett by the fall of 2019. A new coach means starting over for a prospect, especially kids at 20 who are not burners. His AHL coach, Jay Woodcroft, found a way to unlock Benson’s offense despite the foot speed, but the NHL is a different animal.
The club was also changing general managers in 2018-19, going from Peter Chiarelli to Keith Gretzky and by the fall of 2019, Ken Holland. By the fall of 2019, Benson didn’t have an inside champion, plus the new GM and coach were focused on winning right away. Holland mentioned several times that he liked to overcook prospects, and that meant some time meandering for big talents like Evan Bouchard and Philip Broberg.
Benson wasn’t a factor, not really, for Dave Tippett in 2019-20. He would play in seven NHL games, but his AHL season was not impressive (Cooper Marody, his centre during the rookie run, was hurt in the 2019 AHL playoff against the Colorado Eagles and was never the same). Lost in the flood, as they say.
I mention this because we’re going to see a new coach in town this fall and that will have an impact. Stan Bowman is all-in on Ike Howard, and that will have some sway in terms of roster construction, but Mike Babcock’s opinion will weight heavy on all final decisions.
We think we know, but we simply do not know. I can guess that Matt Savoie will continue to be a positive player on a skill line, and I can guess that Ike Howard will have a solid season with the Oilers in 2026-27. I believe Josh Samanski will earn playing time this coming season, but his foot speed and lack of NHL experience will be a factor.
Ask yourself this: is it possible to populate the Oilers roster with an all veteran group? Meaning all of the kids land in Bakersfield? Is there a chance Max Jones impresses Babcock more than Howard? I think we need to allow for Howard, Samanski, Hutson and the others to be sent down and work for a recall.
Tyler Benson delivered the finest season by an AHL forward age 20 in the Oilers system in at least a quarter century. Didn’t mean one damn thing the next season.
On the Lowdown today, Steve Lansky will join us as feature guest and talk about changes in Sportsnet’s personnel (Kelly Hrudey no longer part of the broadcast) and what he would like to see this fall. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Edmonton Oilers training camp could see a shuffle at left defence
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7496789/2026/08/07/edmonton-oilers-training-camp-left-defence/
DJ Smith did confirm they will try some things out – at the very least they have to have some known options available to them for when injuries (or poor play) force changes.
With that said, I think we can be fairly certain that opening D will be:
Ekholm/Bouchard
Walman/Murphy
Shea/Emberson(Shakir M).
Emberson is a solid solid 3RD, love him there. Shakir WILL play.
Walman was absymal most of last season – of course, we saw that he could barely pivot and his reduced mobility cratered his season. When healthy, he is a legit 2LD, a good 3D in the NHL, very good. I expect to see that D-man early and hopefully he can limit his injuries this year and, when hurt, if limited, they need to let him sit out and heal up – limitation in his mobility completely craters his game.
Ryan Shea is a wildcard and could play a legit prominent role. His season last year, through an entire 82 games, was real and it was not a fluke – that should be solid cover for a Wlaman (or Ek) injury.
Stauff does see the following after about 20 games:
Shea/Bouchard
Ekholm/Murphy
Walman/Emberson (Shakir)
I think fairly certain is a stretch. Honestly.
I don’t.
I think it’s “highly like” or “fairly certain” subject to an injury. Not a lock, of course.
Stauff also suggested this opening deployment (but he thinks there will be a chance around 20 games in with Shea moving to play with Bouchard) and Ek playing with Murphy and what Stauff calls “a shutdown tandem”.
Ekholm is 36 now … he can still play at a high level … but I don’t think they should run him ragged playing him on the first pairing D-pair with Bouchard every game, all season. I’d prefer that they do some load management, and limit him to 70 games this season.
I can see all 7 D-men being used extensively this season. Big Mukh’s ability to play both sides will result in him getting into plenty of games, taking into account injuries to the other D-men, and giving Ekholm the odd game night off to rest and be ready for the most important playoff run of his career.
Ek is clearly ageing but he had another very strong top pairing season last year:
Now, we know that Bouchard floats all boats but that pairing remains top 5 in the league.
I do think they can fade his special team minutes. He should be PK2, not PK1 (with Shea as PK1 and Shakir if in the lineup) and he should be totally off the PP, even PP2 – they have Walman for that and don’t need 2-men.
Cutting a few minutes off his nightly workload is not the same thing as giving him a whole game off to rest and recuperate.
Load manage him with a game off now and then. If he plays 60 games with no noticeable injuries then Bob’s our Uncle.
Is this the “general consensus” you so often refer to?
Yes – when there are oodles of honest conversation/discussion on a topic and the majority agree on a position, I would call that the general consensus.
Of course, you don’t know anything about honest discussion when it comes to the Oilers.
Oodles eh?
Argumentum ad populum, otherwise know as the General Consensus Fallacy, occurs when an argument claims a statement is true simply because a large number of people or a general group believes it.
Popularity does not equal truth.
Bandwagon Fallacy: Assuming an idea is good or correct because “everyone is doing it” or thinking it.
Consensus Gentium: The ancient philosophical idea that if all humans agree on a fundamental point, it must be valid.
False Consensus Effect: A related psychological cognitive bias where individuals incorrectly assume that everyone else shares their exact personal beliefs and outlooks.
For example, I remember clearly when you repeatedly, over an extended period of time, told your audience here that all Tyler Benson needed to be a successful NHL player, was to be deployed on a skill line.
Of course, that is a dishonest misconception of my opinion on Benson – I said that he never got an opportunity on a skill line, not even a single line rush in any camp practice, let alone exhibition games – 100% of his reps were with amateurs, AHL vets and other tweeners.
Never said he was any sort of lock to make anything – simply provided an analysis of his opportunity/deployment.
The rest of your post is AI garbage and, like most of your drivel, irrelevant and to be ignored.
What the eff does any of the above have to do with any thing in my substantive posts – you are a dishonest poster and should be treated with the equivalent level of respect that you treat the community and its members with.
I mean no offence at the risk of rendering unsolicited advice, but the “to be ignored” part of your post is a really great strategy. Baiting someone gets boring when there’s no reaction. The posters interested in talking about the Oilers know the value you provide.
and what did YOU exactly tell us about Bouchard and Draisaitl ???
All things said, there sure are some intriguing pieces to the puzzle.
I’d be pretty surprised to see Bob’s suggestion, but you never know
I think Shea will quietly do his job and if this happens with Babcock trusting him. I could see Shea getting vital minutes. Bowman went after this 1.5 year hit wonder that popped late. Ryan has very low milage this signing has to be a analytics driven. Somebody stuck-out their neck on this signing. If you don’t notice Shea it means he’s doing job. I’m excited to see a collective D that challenges the opposition and the blue line we should be able to capitalize on the turnovers. This collection of D may be the best we’ve had in 20 years. If Walman regains that San Jose look we never notice Shea and Murphy stopping the cycle and lowering the boom on players with their head down.
Shea Bouchard
Ekholm Emberson
Walman Murphy
In due course, we could see Emberson and Murphy swap leverage, and I do think that Ty has the potential to be a decent 2RD – I don’t see that happening this season.
if Emberson could do that, Oilers would have a helluva set of defenisve pairs.
They already have a heck of a set of defensive pairs.
I’ve long enjoyed reading GODOT thoughts and observations and appreciate his manner.
Ty Emberson=Craig Muni. I think we see a heavier bulked up man strength Ty. I think he enjoys levelling players with clean body checks.
The cannibalistic dog days of summer?
Holy crap it’s getting pretty bickery in here. Go outside gentlemen. It’s summer. It will be gone soon and hockey will be back on.
Bowman is on with Stauff at the top of the show today. I presume we won’t get anything new (of substance) but we’ll see.
Nothing overly earth-shattering:
Thank you for these updates OP. Much appreciated by all. ( well at least most)
Regardless of how its played out for Benson its still wild they couldn’t give him a single game with top 6 minutes.
I hardly get to any games, but happened to be in the building for what I believe was his only NHL goal.
He crashed the net and banged a loose puck into the net. The Oilers were getting clobbered that game, so he never really celebrated. Just skated over to an opposing player and punched him in the face on the way by.
I’ll admit I quite enjoyed that. Sad it didn’t work out here for him.
Game? They didn’t get him a single line rush at camp, let alone a shift in an exhibition game, with a no amateur, tweener or AHL vet.
I know, I was constantly posting my wants to see Benson just get a single shift with 29 or 97.
There’s no need for the Oilers to galaxy brain the staring roster.
McDavid and Drai on separate lines. Give Howard a real audition with Draisaitl. Don’t even consider Josh Brown.
It should be basic.
Brown is 10D, behind both Regula and Stastney – Stauff knows it and went back and qualified his statement on Brown having a chance to make the team by saying if a couple d-men were hurt or moved..
Some would say “galaxy braining” would be not just putting your two best players together, right?
I want them apart, and think we’ll see that the vast majority of the time on the road. At home, well, there are going to be lots of upset fans – we should not be surprised if they line up for the opening faceoff together on Sept 29 at home.
I would hope that the coach and GM are very much in conversation regarding opening night roster (and, have been throughout the off-season with respect to organizational procurement of players).
Given everything he did last season, his material development in Bakersfield while impacting the game offensively as the top rookie and his effort level and commitment to improve, its tough for Bowman not to ensure Howard is on the team – he is Bowman’s acquisition and he is developing in real time and banged the door down from Bako.
Absolutely, 100% it is. We know that, subject to an addition or IR injury, there are 5 players vying for the 11F-13F spots – Jones/Janmark/Joseph/Howard/Samanski.
There is every chance that the last two are simply assigned to Bako. I would be surprised if they do that with Howard but I almost expect it with Samanski.
I think either (or) reassignment would be a mistake.
With Howard, I’ve gone in to detail over the off-season on my opinion on how he’s 100% earned the opportunity with his development and impact in Bako. Its hard for me to see any justification for a Jones over Howard but, of course, other could feel different including the decision makers.
I think Samanski has earned a continued spot in the NHL – solid regular season, very nice Olympics, good playoffs and great World Championships. This coaching staff IS going to play McDavid and Drai together at home, more than most would like – centers are important and Samanski is an NHL center, Cotlon Dach is an NHL winger. Samanski has more offence available to him at the NHL level, he has 3C upside.
I have to say I’m a fan of this lineup.
Savoie-McDavid-Hyman
Podz-Leon-Kapanen
Nuge-Dickinson-Joseph
Jones-Dach-Freddy
Janmark
The bottom six might not score a lot of goals but they won’t allow many against and will grind the hell out of the opposition. Come to think of it, I don’t expect the goaltenders will be very busy and the Nurse less defence will spend less time defending and more time attacking. Just my synopsis nothing concrete.
I’m a bigger fan of the following:
Howard/McDavid/Hyman
Podz/Leon/Savoie
Nuge/Dickinson/Kap
Frederic/Dach/Samanski
Joseph
To each their own.
Why not just go with Dach-Samanski-Frederic??
I mixed up center/wing in my post: Frederic/Samanski/Dach
I think this team can be better with Howard on it than without him – of course, he needs to provide that impact play but I think the team’s ceiling is higher with him.
Like the looks of this a lot, with the ability to move Nuge, Howard and Savoie around a bit based on who’s going and chemistry.
Hi, nice to see you.
Janmark seems like an easy waive or trade if there is any market what so ever (I doubt it). I’d also like to keep both Samanski and Howard up all year. Need to keep the youth moving into the lineup. I’ve also got a feeling about Jones and don’t want to lose him. Maybe Samanski to Bako short-term until and injury hits.
Also happy to keep accruing cap space and take on big expiring contract in return for a nice draft pick from an east coast team (not FLA).Whether the guy plays in the playoffs or not is immaterial to me. Getting a first rounder back would be very nice on this kind of cap dump. Too bad the obvious target for this kind of move would be Vegas and Pietrangelo.
One would assume Bowman hired a coach who agrees with what his vision is. It seems KK didn’t. But I doubt that the GM will interfere with who the coaches decide to use. That won’t work, especially with a head coach with a lot of experience and status, and SB doesn’t strike me as a meddler or stupid
Unless the GM was forced to hire the coach by ownership…..?
Not saying that is the case here but I’m also not so sure that Bowman was the one identifying Babcock as THE candidate.
I thought it was the GM’s idea right from the start.
I’m not sure I’ve heard that but have heard, expressly, that the decision was driven by ownership – that’s not to say that Bowman wasn’t 100% on board, of course.
Cooper Marody still toiling away in the AHL.
He spent 1 game in Austria back in 2020/21 and 1 game with the Oilers the following season but has since played for Philadelphia and Seattle affiliates in the AHL.
Tyler Benson is the star attraction for the Kassel Huskies of the DEL-2 league in Germany.
31 games in the Swedish league with zero points last year. ZERO.
Was he forced to play without a stick? Not actually dressed to play but making sure the bench stayed clean tidy? YIKES.
Remember when everyone on here was clutching their pearls about Benson getting taken by Seattle in the expansion draft?
Was that a “general consensus “?
Touché.
ah but your track record is spotless right ?
A hilarious X squabble last night between Evander Kane and Mark Spector.
A sample:
Evander Kane
@evanderkane
Imagine, Mark Spector with a idiotic take. The drama of it all.
I would say more but you might start crying like you did when I gave you a talking to outside the locker room. Don’t tell me you forgot.
https://x.com/evanderkane/status/2085618696278429870?s=20
I miss the days when OP posted shirtless pics. It was must more enjoyable than DSF pasting his twitter feed in the comments.
I prefer the workout regimen 😉
…followed by the travel itinerary 🤭
They say there’s nothing wrong with pitching for the other team.
It’s just posted so I’ll link here https://oilerhockey.com/article/40090
Sail on Noah Philp. We hardly knew ye.
I was rooting for him, especially after watching this feature last year: Noah Philp’s comeback story of resilience, determination and family support
I guess when you retire twice in 3 years it’s just not what you are looking for. I hope all the best for him, especially for his mental health.
Retired from hockey again. There seems to be a pattern forming here.
You hitched your wagon on the wrong horse.
Benson. (sigh)
How about the Oilers choose Debrincat and now McDavid has someone he is familiar and comfortable with, someone he can pal around with while they develop and grow their game?
But no, says Peter Chiarelli, I have a way better idea! Let’s draft this local hero who can’t skate fast enough instead of drafting McDavid’s linemate.
Then (the following season) let’s trade The Drake (one of McDavid’s closest friends on the team) for Brandon Manning.
Yes, that Brandon Manning. Single-handedly responsible for breaking McDavid’s collarbone and torching his rookie season.
“The following year McDavid stated that Manning jawed at him during a first-period scrum and admitted that the previous year’s collarbone-breaking injury was intentional.” -ESPN
But yeah, let’s bring that guy into the Oilers locker room.
It’s like Chiarelli was trolling McDavid… the Oilers (and their clueless own-er) should thank Gord every day that McDavid didn’t Patrick Roy-style demand a trade to any other team, hell even a team in an entirely different sport than this absolute joke of a franchise.
For me, that’s the Nadir’s Raiders point of the McDavid era.
Man, there are a lot of low-lights in the Oilers past.
If my timeline is off and these events didn’t happen in the order that I recall, it’s due to having blocked out so many painful memories.
I don’t enjoy these looks back.
Not at all.
“The computer” or your average group of 3 blog-reading fans would have made better picks more than 50% of the time. Probably closer to 85%.
Higher for the computer.
“It’s like Chiarelli was trolling McDavid…”
It’s hard to completely dismiss the idea that Chia was a counter-agent forced onto the Oilers by the NHL, to squeeze McDavid into demanding a trade to an American team.
Chiarelli was a abject incompetent.
Two others have followed him, sadly.
But Chiarelli was the worst.
And worst of all the Oilers kept paying him.
Ference, Chiarelli, Lucic, Frederic … the Oilers really need to stop shopping in the Bruins aisle.
You missed my recent(ish) favourite, Ryan Spooner.
Frederic may provide more than value for this contract – he’s got a long ways up to get there but $3.85MM is well within his range of abilities.
What have you done for me lately?
This is definitely going to impact the decision making of the coaching staff when it comes to roster construction.
The utes are at risk compared to the veterans, same as it ever was. However, the guys who can find the right spots on the ice and be strong without the puck will also have an edge on the high-risk high-reward style players who will be prone to visible mistakes. At least, that’s my read on veteran coaches who tend to be risk averse.
To my mind, that sees Samanski get a bit of a push over the likes of Jones, but Janmark’s recovery will have a say. Hutson could surprise but he’s starting from fairly far back in the grid (which, new coach, could be an advantage if there actually is a clean slate).
Many have high hopes for Hutson, but he’s a smaller guy who doesn’t skate above average which is necessary for smaller guys to stick in the bigs to me. And he’s not an aggressive type, and his coach said he’s soft in the D zone. He might get some games but he’s a classic tweener, smart player who has a scoring touch but there are plenty of those, and also plenty of players with as much skill and more NHL traits. I see Europe for him
That’s probably accurate, but he’s the long shot I’ve got my eye on based on limited viewings at the NHL. And I did say he’s starting from fairly far back, acknowledging he’s in tough and a long shot if at all.
For all I know it’ll be Owen Michaels or Eduards Tralmaks who come up and stick for one reason or another. Team need and timing play a big role in who gets to make the most of their opportunity.
My line of thinking with Hutson is he’s had his two cups of coffee, and had a full season in the AHL to learn what the organization needs from him. If he’s got that chip on his shoulder and has a big summer, he could be the one to surprise.
Agree on Hutson and have been suggesting exactly that since signing (although I learned in-season last year that he a much more skilled player than I originally thought).
The recent statement of note, as you allude to, is Chaulk last week talking about Hutson needing to battle harder and noted that “he can do it” and they know that because he does it when there is an offensive chance – they need him to do it at both ends of the ice.
He needs to understand that, at the next level, if he’s every going to make it, its likely as a full effort energy 4th liner that defends well and has some skill to chip in – he’s not Savoie or Howard as far as offensive impact, he’s just not.