You never know with cats. I only ever had one cat (tom cat named Tom, my family wasn’t creative in the 1970’s), so new arrivals to my home (Luna, in photo, and Nimbus, the black one) are new discoveries for the old man. Unlike dogs, who you can buy affection from for a slice of ham, cats don’t give one damn about you or your silly food choices. Oh, they’ll eat your food, but you need to place it in front of them and then leave the premises before they’ll acknowledge said food. Baffling. Please read this.
I think Luna is the kinder of the two, but if the treats in the morning don’t arrive within five minutes of me leaving the bed, there’s hell to pay. Nimbus? She treats everyone like the help. Last night, Karen and I watched an episode of Sanford and Son (don’t judge me, it’s hilarious) and Nimbus sat in front of the television the entire time. You can move her, but she’ll move right back. She knows exactly the spot to sit, so that the channel changer doesn’t work and I can’t adjust the volume. Then she leisurely cleans herself, while I try to figure out what Fred said to Esther.
You never know with people. I can tell you no one knew Glen Sather was a hockey genius when he emerged as the architect of the Edmonton Oilers in the late 1970’s. He was a utility forward and changed teams every couple of years. That’s what I knew. However, as it turned out, Sather was the successor to Sam Pollock as the greatest general manager of his day. You cannot credibly argue against it, despite Slats incredible luck in landing on a team with Wayne Gretzky.
The Oilers hired Misha Donskov last week. His resume is fascinating. He was (among other things) one of the masterminds behind the quick emergence of Vegas Golden Knights. Online reports have him being capable of breaking down massive amounts of game tape and data, while finding the key facts in both. That’s a stunning asset to acquire. As an advance scout he could impact the Oilers in a big way.
He was born in Montreal, on April 24, 1977. Sam Pollock, also born in Montreal, was watching his Canadiens win the Stanley Cup that spring. Habs beat the Islanders in the semifinals the night before Donskov was born. Montreal would sweep the Bruins to win the Final in mid-May.
All of this to say I think the Oilers might have done a really good thing. Now, Donskov might bolt for Florida like every other jack ‘o lantern in Christendom someday, but this appears to be an astute hire.
Oilers have been doing plenty of that in recent years. Michael Parkatti might be the smartest guy I know, and this Donskov fellow might be even smarter. It tells us that Daryl Katz isn’t concerned about having people smarter than he is guiding the team. Now, if he can just stop calling and let these men cook, I think Stanley might come for a visit. Enjoy your day.
Is the Edmonton Oilers’ current approach at the NHL Draft a sound strategy?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7548320/2026/08/30/nhl-draft-edmonton-oilers-strategy/
My fingers are crossed that the Howard and Dach trades reap the skills rewards that recent drafting can’t deliver 🤞
Dach-Murphy-Dickinson almost to the dollar combined make as much as Nurse. This trade was Sather like getting Dach a power forward that has a Joe Murphy glow to it. Connor Murphy a rock in our own end he has more of a bite than Nurse. In Nurse gonzo are the own goals as well as back door goals that we all witnessed year after year times thirteen. Jason Dickinson-Joseph-Savoie will combine for 10 shorties with the D.J penalty kill. SH goals are daggers teams win 72% of the time when they score a Shortie.
In apx 1100 of PK minutes in his career, Jason Dickinson has 1G and 1A……
Joseph has 7 career shotires, never more than 2 in a season.
I mean, Joseph may create 10 SH breakaways but likely not score often – I think his MO is chance creation and stone hands.
I think these guys will all be very valuable and impactful on the PK but DJ Smith isn’t turning the PK in to the 80s Oilers.
Old Russian proverb: We hoped for the best but it turned out like always.
New Oilers proverb: We hoped for the best but it turned out like oilways.
But hey – next year it will either work out or not. 50 – 50.
I still find myself on the half-full side more often than not, but whatever the outcome it’s rarely boring in Oilerville.
I know many love to posit “great draft” or “terrible draft’ or “great pick” or “horrible pick” in real time on draft day and shortly thereafter but, for me, when we are talking about any picks after the first round, I think its a feeble task.
Lots of vitriol towards the Barzlakns pick based off of lack of offence but no-one knows how that may develop in the next 3-5 years. From accounts, this giant man has pretty much every other attribute one would want in a forward and the org things there is offence he can develop. If it does, he could be a star. We just have no idea.
What I do know is that, one year out, almost every 2025 pick is arrows up and trending above their draft position and exceeding expectations.
This is kind of it. It’s virtually impossible to accurately rate a draft “in the now” so to speak. The 2016 draft 10 years down the road, has a whole 46 players that have passed 200 NHL games played with 25 of them over 400 games played. How many of them were “great picks” or “terrible picks” in the moment. There are tons of articles doing re-drafts but virtually nobody (aside from LT) actually grades the draft analysts success rate.
For sure.
There have been opinions of massive failure because they didn’t draft Brek Liske over Barzkalns.
I mean, no-one has any idea which player will have a better career from here on out.
This isn’t going off the board in the top 5 and selecting Barrett Hayton 5th out of nowhere….
Windsor’s preseason began today with a 3-2 loss.
Robinson scored one of the Windsor goals and had a game-high 5 SOG.
Max Scherzer is good at the baseballing.
Today he was, tomorrow who knows. When you’re old you have good days and bad days, right LT?
Yes indeed. Coughs.
Passes the great Gaylord Perry for 9th on all time strikeouts. Not that I ever heard of Perry before today, all fault on that is mine (this is a time where I miss Bruce M chiming in with the arcana on Perry).
He was one hell of a pitcher and cheater with his spitball and using K-Y-Jerry. I don’t think will ever see a 300 Win season by a pitcher in today’s game unless they can Tommy John a Justin Verlander at 43 years old but it looks like he’s retiring. Verlander will be inducted first ballet even though he’s short of 300 career wins.
Today’s performance was something else.
I’m a full time hardcore Jays fan – pretty much watch every game (I mean, there are 162 so I don’t plan my schedule around them like the Oilers but they are always on and, come July, I’m taping games).
I’ve been hoping that Max can give them 5-6 innings and keep them in the game – I never imagined a performance like today was still in him.
For sure a highlight of the year to this point – this entire weekend was.
Big series against the team they’re chasing In Cleveland starting Tuesday. I’ll be happy with 2 out 3 Cease who pitches game 2 is in the Cy Young zone it’s too bad he doesn’t have 12-13 wins to go along with that ERA and the K’s. If he can get to 14 wins while dragging us in the playoffs he’ll get a lot of votes.
What a glorious Sunday morning read! You may say you hate Sam with the youthful hatred of one who saw a former Bruins’ property come to the Gardens to stone your beloved 1971 team. But the way you marble him through your writing and ruminations – it makes this 70s Hab fan happy!
Today he is the spiritual father of GMGS, and somehow implicated in baby Misha’s arrival.
Surely, being born in Montreal under the sign of yet another Cup bodes well for the man. And by extension, the Oilers. Hurrah for the ghost of Sam, somehow still pulling strings in the NHL!
I’m a bit intrigued that there is very little talk of Babcock & Donskov having worked together previously. I’m torn between the “media didn’t know” and “it’s a better story to not know”.
This hire is great and really seems much more “Donskov offered some availability due to his familiarity with Babcock” than it is “Gotta replace Babcock already” and I would suggest that Babcock was part of the conversation because adding a SUPER part-time coach with VERY limited ability does not sound like “getting a guy, just in case” as much as it does “this guy is really, really good and can help”.
Where did Babcock and Donskov work together? I only know the DJ Smith connection
The World Cup of Hockey in 2016. Donskov was an assistant coach https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/canada-fills-out-roster-for-2016-world-cup
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I believe there is good reason to believe that the owner “called down” on the Babcock hire and, at least as far as hockey goes, he’s known to be one of the smartest guys out there as well.
A smart owner doesn’t interfere with the work of the manager. There’s zero way to argue it. Katz doesn’t let hockey ops do hockey ops things full throttle. I don’t blame him on things like Holland not protecting against an offer sheet (should have traded Broberg miles before it came to an offer sheet) but imo there’s plenty of evidence Katz is involved at a level that impacts the team. Scotty Bowman said the key to success in Montreal was the Molson’s not interfering. Mr. Katz could learn from the Molson family.
The Oilers owner is certainly among the most meddlesome and the Jeff Jackson hire is evidence IMO.
The Aquilinis in Vancouver, Pegula in Buffalo, Melnyk in Ottawa and, of course. Harold Ballard in Toronto was notorious.
Tom Dundon in Carolina is also reportedly very hands on but I seems he is focused on value for money as opposed to pocket decisions.
I don’t have too much to say about the hiring except that it’s always good to get smart hockey people in to the org. Don’t know what his immediate effect/role will really be or potential future plans within the org.
I do not think this is in connection with anything gone bad on Babcock or any sort of insurance in that regard. Babcock had a very positive quote on it and I don’t think he’s in the business of floating out organizational talking points in particular if he’s not in agreement.
13:20 here explains it https://youtu.be/2VXgr5kIY1w
”surround yourself with people smarter than you…it takes confidence to do that, but to me Thats how you have success.”
I recommend watching that whole video – it’s a coaching talk Babcock gave 7 years ago – it’s excellent
What do we actually know about the hire of Donskov?
Splitting his time with Hockey Canada, thus he will only be with the team part time.
Advanced pro scouting, watching games and mining data to unearth gems and trends.
Based on player testimony, he’s well regarded for breaking down trends and data from a skills perspective to players and able to tailor the information to the individual.
It’s an interesting hire, but the part time label and maintaining his Hockey Canada affiliation is odd to me. Kind of like Jackson not being in Edmonton full time. I get that you want to accommodate talent and bring them on board, but what is HC offering that the Oilers won’t/cannot?
Given how many organizations he’s worked with…Columbus, Atlanta, Vegas, Dallas, Western. London and HC I think it’s fair to wonder why he is such a gadabout.
Hockey is a gadabout business.
Thats also over 25 years… and he followed Deboer from Vegas to Dallas and then DeBoer got fired.
The very good ones tend to have significant longevity.
Joel Quenville:
STL – 8 seasons
COL – 3 seasons
CHI – 11 seasons
FLA – 3 seasons (resigned)
ANA – about to start second season.
21 playoff appearances – 3 Stanley Cups
Q is an outlier. NHL average is about three years, last time I looked. Oilers, 2+.
I don’t know how this rate of churn helps build organizational stability. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.
I do think Q’s time in Chicago speaks to the value, from a Cup-winning perspective, of letting coach and team go through the inevitable ups and downs without threat of firing. But that requires organizational (and, especially, owner) patience. And especially in hockey-mad/obsessive/fanatic markets.
I imagine the tenure of MB will be short, here in Oilerville. Regardless of any Cup success. More churn.
I’m very curious to watch MSL and the Habs over the next few years.
I expect MSL will have a long run…the Habs are really just getting started.
If not for the Aldrich scandal its very likely Q is still head coach in Florida and would have another couple of cups to his credit.
But Maurice is no slouch either with 956 wins to his credit and at age 59 he will soon join Scotty Bowman and Quennville as the only 1000+ game winners in NHL history.
Babcock is well down the list at 700 wins despite being 63.
What I’m curious about is how MSL fares if/when Habs falter. The rebuild/contender trajectory has been faster than anticipated. That leads to expectations. I too believe the Habs are “just getting started.” But things (eg. injuries) happen. Geoff Molson sounds like an owner with patience. What of the Habs (rabid, impatient, like Oilers) fanbase?
In the meantime, I’ll enjoy what Hugo, MLS are building.
These Oilers aren’t perfect for sure. A lot of folks are down on Jackson and Bowman. However they have revolutionized the organization in a short time, and the owner has his wallet open. I like that they have brought in a lot of people that have a positive outgoing personality, which apparently Donskov has. I think the energy is going to be better around the team and hopefully in the locker room
The amount of quality, depth and range of work now being done is what has been talked about around here for decades. It’s finally arrived and that is a good thing. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it helps get a lot of variables more under control, and eliminating as much uncertainty and luck as you can makes the path an easier one in any sport, but particularly hockey
Thank you for pointing this out. This is what the Oilers can do with the owner’s large cash backing and strong fan base. They have obviously looked around, seen what is working elsewhere and decided to make that apply there. The way the team can set itself up for success in the next decade and more using this approach.
Agreed. People shouldn’t underestimate the importance of hiring people who can mine the important things from a mountain of data. I was thrilled when they hired Parkatti, and I did think Holland the younger was a smart fellow. Need more, but the days of Archie Henderson for Archie Henderson’s sake appear to be gone.
Yet Jeff Jackson is looking up on the internet how many games Freddie Andersen has played in the last three seasons in the middle of a meeting when they are deciding whether they should sign him, and Bill Scott improvising on the fly what they Oilers should offer him in terms of money. The decision makers are still flying by the seat of their pants. And advance analytic metrics like the ability to skate to Red Deer and back.
The signing is Bowman hedging the decision to hire Babcock before we even get to day 1 of training camp. And demonstrating that he has no confidence in the potential of his AHL coach.
You don’t know that Jackson was looking it up on the internet or on their internal scouting data report. Andersen was an unexpected UFA who called the Oilers asking for a deal. Bowman told his agent off the hop “we can’t do 4”. Which means that they knew already the range they were willing to go. It would be a giant waste of time to work out dollar options for hundreds of UFAs without even knowing their ask.
Writing the story with less than half the facts plays to your bias, not to the truth. The truth is you don’t actually know the process and they don’t want to tell you.
Donskov previously worked with Babcock. This isn’t “bring in some rando, just in case”. This is Babcock adding a guy who helped win the World Cup of Hockey with him onboard because he recognizes his value. Your bias invented the hedging idea, not the facts. DJ Smith is an experienced NHL head coach and he’s been on the team for quite some time. Donskov is not a hedge.
Right, the only discussion on Andersen was the clips we saw.
Do you really think did no work leading in to drat day. Do you not think they had done their work on Andersen ahead of time? Do you not think that Parkatti’s team had all th numbers runs before and discussions were had with respect thereto? You know, the numbers relating to his defensive environment being the worst in the NHL last year and him materially outperforming his .862 expected save percentage?
Of course there is an element of flying by the seat of their pants on July 1 – everything is fluid and based on ever changing information and facts.
Good Grief.
Colin Chaulk is not currently employed in hope of being promoted in the near term to head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He’s developing himself in Bako and has done a great job in that regard.
I’m not down on Bowman.
I do however wonder about what exactly Jeff Jackson’s role is in all of this?
I was a Bowman/ Jackson hater but have been converted based on the work this summer and the promotions/hirings theyve made. Seeing how they value analytics and old school hockey folks, I trust this group to make good decisions for the most part. Still a Jackson hater though – won’t ever forgive the offer sheet saga
Jackson flying from the seat of his pants. Figured he was some kind of hockey genius.
Gone is the talk he will be the force that keeps McDavid in Edmonton.
You don’t think they knew the cameras were on them. Not everyone is as good of an actor as Brad Pitt in Moneyball. What you see Jackson-Bowman is partly staged and partly bad acting.
Only a bad actor would know.
It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
Advanced scouting appears to be undervalued in hockey.
Teams should have like 10 pro scouts hired to bounce around from rink to rink all year watching opponents and providing reports on their tendencies. Each pro scout would be experts on their assigned 3 or 4 teams.
I know the Oilers have about 5 pro scouts, but they appear to be mostly assigned to watch indivdial players in assigned regions for possible future acquisitions – not provide advanced scouting on teams
Football and Baseball are way ahead on this
The Oilers have about 14 amateur scouts plus their head/chief plus a director of NA scouting and a direct for European scouting.