It takes a long time to rebuild, and I’m still holding out hope the Edmonton Oilers can avoid it. Selfishly, I don’t want another decade of darkness because all those draft picks take time to develop and I’m not guaranteed to be around for the good times when they mature. Please read this.
Based on numbers and the eye test, the players 25 and under who are (or I see becoming) good NHL players: Vasily Podkolzin, Matt Savoie (once healthy), Ike Howard, Josh Samanski, Colton Dach, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Devon Levi, Damien Carfagna, Samuel Jonsson, Maxim Berezkin if he ever signs.
The players under 25 I see playing a feature role for more than two seasons? Podkolzin, Savoie, Howard, Levi. I also think Jonsson and Carfagna have a chance to join that list, but historically my estimates have been generous.
I think we have to be honest about players like Quinn Hutson, Viljami Marjala and Beau Akey. I love Akey’s game, but the Oilers don’t seem to rate him, and that may mean he’s sent away at the deadline ala Mike Kesselring. By position, my favourite prospects are: G Jonsson, LD Carfagna, RD Akey, C Samanski, top winger Howard. There’s some speed and skill there. Godspeed, men.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll talk to Steve Lansky about the changing (or not changing) look of Saturday hockey broadcasts in Canada. We’ll chat Oilers and CFL, too. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
How can the Oilers tweak ice time for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7542712/2026/08/28/oilers-ice-time-connor-mcdavid-leon-draisaitl/
— when the GM says “we aren’t talking half the season” it’s probably reasonable to expect we are talking a half season.
— old goalies with injuries (and just by any measure terrible goalies over many seasons if you value sv% as a measure of proficiency)
— Hoping that Anderson is going to help this team is indeed hoping.
— he’d be out of the league except his legacy. He’d be out of the league except his amazing small sample playoff run last year.
— I suppose for 1mm you could squint enough and kid yourself that a 3-goalie solution is good.
— but he was going to miss a lot of games and more importantly he hasn’t been an even below average goalie for many years on teams that played better D than we do.
— it’s the baseline outcome for him. At least part 1. Which was miss a lot of games. Baseline part 2 will be : “yeah he isn’t a good goalie”
A great article on Donskov if you have the athletic
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2550387/2021/04/29/a-victim-of-his-own-talent-golden-knights-grateful-for-misha-donskovs-quiet-but-big-contributions/?source=emp_shared_article
Based on his resume Im guessing his role will be pre scouting other teams for strategy, analyzing video of our team and giving Babs ideas, on ice skills coach, and working as intermediary between Parkatti and Babcock. He is into the analytics apparently. A great hire, i think. Was HC at world championships so knows DJ and Bouch
Some quotes
The players were immediately drawn to Donskov. Not only his deep knowledge for the game, but his infectious enthusiasm. “He’s great,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “He’s an unreal coach, and what I love about Misha is how positive he is every day. He shows up with a smile, comes in with a fist bump. He’s an unreal guy.”
“Misha has found a real niche, for me, in working on the skill element of each individual guy and combining it with an analytics element. I think it’s the evolution of coaching staffs. They’re getting bigger and getting more position- and athlete-specific.” Kolesar
”He’s a very intellectual guy,” Kolesar said. “He watches every game, not just ours but around the league, so he’s obviously going to pick up on things that guys are doing to set them apart from others.”
Great song, by the way LT. Hadnt heard the Dolly Parton version until today when your title prompted me to listen to Neil Young’s version and I found it
if you like the harmonies of After the Goldrush as sung by Dolly, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, their Trio albums are amazing to listen to.
— this is a cool hire. Good get. Cheer for him
Spec interviewed Bowman (1) he expects Howard to be on the team and (2) Savoie will miss less time than Freddie and it probably won’t be a lot.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/stunning-rash-of-early-injuries-not-causing-oilers-gm-bowman-to-panic/
One quote:
That’s fine to do, OP. Please post a link! And for those who are reading it, please click on the link. I don’t want to cost any media clicks on articles less than 24 hours old.
This is all far and honest but that doesn’t mean there are not other prospects in the system that could impact in the Oilers lineup in due course – maybe one or more of the likes of: Barnett, Fischer, Sharp, Nicholl, Lafreriere, Berzkalns, Lewandawski, etc. make it?
No, of course, no superstars or stars there but for all we know Asher Barnett is a replacement 2nd pairing d-man in 3 years – we don’t know what we don’t know.
I don’t believe those prospects are going to be in camp. If Lafreniere is in camp, I’d be mos interested in him. I also believe Powell and Barnett have NHL chances based on intel from the smart people I talk to.