The Oilers won’t have a strong group of rookie scorers this season, there’s a chance no one exceeds 1.00 points-60 at even strength. I have hopes for Josh Samanski, but if he’s strictly fourth line and doesn’t get a linemate who can push the river, the results will be pedestrian. Pretty sure. Please read this.
Let’s go back to the turn of the century and see how many rookies posted less than 1.50 points-60 at even strength and then emerged as productive offensive players in the NHL.
- Connor McDavid 3.00 2015-16
- Mike Comrie 2.52 2000-01
- Andrew Cogliano 2.37 2007-08
- Ales Hemsky 2.26 2002-03
- Shawn Horcoff 2.24 2000-01
- Nail Yakupov 2.18 2012-13
- Fernando Pisani 2.13 2002-23
- Jarret Stoll 2.00 (small sample) 2002-23
- Sam Gagner 1.97 2007-08
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 1.93 2011-12
- Jason Chimera 1.90 2002-03
- Taylor Hall 1.85 2010-11
- Jordan Eberle 1.81 2010-11
- Linus Omark 1.76 2010-11
- Matt Savoie 1.66 2025-26
- Josh Currie 1.65 2018-19
- Liam Reddox 1.56 2008-09
This is the group of rookies who were over 1.50 points-60 at even strength during rookie seasons. There are no real surprises, Connor McDavid at the top and quality marbled through the list. You could argue the last two names, and I’d join you, but those rookies had a run and this serves as proof for all time.
- Joe Gambardella 1.48 2018-19
- Jesse Puljujarvi 1.44 2016-17
- Magnus Paajarvi 1.39 2010-11
- Teemu Hartikainen 1.36 2011-12
- Anton Slepyshev 1.33 2016-17
- Ryan Stone 1.32 2009-10
- Ryan McLeod 1.25 2021-22
- Dom Pittis 1.24 2000-01
- Dylan Holloway 1.19 2022-23
- Brad Winchester 1.19 2006-07
- Marc Pouliot 1.17 2006-07
- Patrick Thoresen 1.15 2006-07
- Iiro Pakarinen 1.14 2015-16
- Ryan O’Marra 1.10 2010-11
- Drake Caggiula 1.10 2016-17
- Leon Draisaitl 1.05 2014-15
- Ike Howard 1.05 2025-26
- Chris VandeVelde 0.70 2010-11
- Josh Samanski 0.99 2025-26
- Brian Swanson 0.98 (small sample) 2001-02
- Mike Bishai 0.98 2003-04
- Tyler Benson 0.87 2019-20
- James Hamblin 0.75 2023-24
- Jujhar Khaira 0.66 2016-17
- Luke Gazdic 0.62 2013-14
- Tyler Pitlick 0.58 2014-15
- Zack Stortini 0.31 2006-07
- Kailer Yamamoto 0.30 2018-19
This list shows us a lot. When we take the outliers away (Leon Draisaitl had the worst scoring luck of his career as a rookie, Kailer Yamamoto was absolutely better than this list shows, Dylan Holloway spiked in St. Louis), we do get a list of men who flushed out of the league in their 20’s, along with some enforcers and a few who turned into ‘middle-six’ NHL players.
What does that tell us about Ike Howard and Josh Samanski? Well, Howard is on the wrong side of 1.50, and there’s a new coach in town focused on winning the Stanley Cup. I can’t tell you it would be wise to fade Howard on a team with exactly zero young alternatives for a scoring line, but flags fly forever. As for Samanski, my guess is he won’t exceed 1.50 this season and that too is a tell.
On the Lowdown today, Steve Lansky will be our feature guest and we’ll talk about Elliotte Friedman and his possible exit from HNIC. What does it mean for viewers? Plus a preview of the Labour Day classic and can the Jays do it? Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Projecting the 2026-27 Bakersfield Condors roster with Oilers camp on the horizon
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7561936/2026/09/04/oilers-projected-bakersfield-condors-roster-2026-27/
Without a doubt the market has changed this summer… but Ryan Johnson… like what…good grief!!!
There was mention of over-paying for his (Z. Buium) upside . . . other than the claim-to-fame of being the #12 1st rd pick and some meagre NHL stats, help me understand just what is his upside? Whatever it is he just got paid … 9.38m aav over 8 yrs!
His upside is a first pairing PP quarterback.
The Athletic analysts, Goldman and Pronman gave the signing A and B grades respectively.
Alan Walsh’s league sources tell him the cap is likely to rise more than anticipated and extra revenue from 2 expansion teams with extra TV revenue that could certainly be the case.
After 4 seasons, this contract might look like peanuts.
I like Zeev Buium and think he will be a very good 2nd pairing with maybe top pairing upside but he was not good in Vancouver (tough to me but that’ not changing in the next bit) and 8 X $9.38MM is WILD. I know the market is exploding and I know the Canucks have no cap issues for the next bit but still…
He’s 20 years old with 76 NHL games under his belt.
Only 4 players from the 2024 draft have played more.
76 games of getting his teeth kicked in and leaking goals – both on the Wild and Canucks.
Beau Akey could have come in and gone – 33 in 76 games as well
Why didn’t he?
Too much time in the ECHL?
Current Oilers management develops prospects, doesn’t rush them to play top pairing when they should be developing on the 3rd pair.
ain MacIntyre
@imacSportsnet
If Zeev Buium’s contract was active, $9.38M AVV would rank 11th among NHL D.
GM Johnson: “If you asked 5 years ago if I would have considered this, no. But I didn’t want to get caught up in archaic thinking. I wanted to get aggressive…knowing where the landscape is going.”
That’s right. Someone farts, then I fart, then you fart.
Elite defense contracts show up early!!
Elite NHL D now make $20 million/season.
First Makar, Hughes next and then Werenski the following season.
Matthew Shaefer likely to top them all when his new contract is signed.
Try and keep up.
Ha, funny.
A tip o’ the hat to this comment.
The Canucks have cap space now. They got an eight year deal, not five. So they are defacto time shifting cap space from the present to the future by paying Buium now. It is worth the risk.
Schaeffer is probably going to be twenty million for five years next summer.
Shouldn’t the player have at least done something as opposed to getting their teeth kicked in?
Carolina pays their guys early, before they break out.
Once the performance is already baked into the numbers that everyone can see, it is impossible to get a value deal. Buium is less than 50% of Makar.for the next eight years.
The thing is if Buium busts, the Canucks rebuild will have failed…er…been set back, and cap space will never be an issue.
If he doesn’t bust, it will turn into a value contract if he is a top 2, or a market contract if he is a top 4.
There is a difference between “before breaking out” and “before doing anything but getting your teeth kicked in”. I like the way he plays and looks on the ice and think he has legit top pairing potential but he has had a disappointing start to his NHL career just leaking goals against on both good and bad teams.
Suddenly, the Nurse contract isn’t nearly as terrible.
RE These Royals uniforms tonight. Why KC? Why?
Was the design brief, design a baseball uniform like you’re a tween designing a video game character?
I’ve noticed a couple of ball clubs with especially colourful jerseys, this season.
I think that’s a Friday night thing MLB does, where the home team wears special unis with (sometimes) a local twist. That’s why you’ll see the Jays wear their sweet City Connect jerseys for Friday night home games.
NHL to Atlanta
@NHLtoAtlanta
BREAKING: In an email released to a nearby community, the development team behind The Gathering at South Forsyth revealed they have secured financing for an NHL team and submitted a final packet for approval.
So. Damn. Stupid.
Atlanta 1 = Calgary
Atlanta 2 = Winnipeg
Atlanta 3 = Quebec City
Book it!
That’s the ridiculous thing about this. How many hockey histories can one city lose?
I’d rather see the return of the Cleveland Barons or the Kansas City Scouts before they go back to Atlanta? Having Canadian snowbirds in Florida supporting those teams doesn’t mean hockey will work in Georgia.
Saskatoon Blues.
Ha, ha. I remember that, so close to happening.it would have been great
FTFY haha
It’s a big market Guaranteed good team out of the blocks. The players, agents and unemployed hockey men love this.
Mexico City has 20 million people…. so much potential
The NHL was missing 2 of the top 10 TV markets in the U.S.
If you guessed #8 Atlanta and #10 Houston, you win a prize.
TV will be a thing of the past Mr. Amazon, try and keep up.
Building off my last post, this is how I would like to see the lines deployed if everyone is healthy. I think this maximizes McDavid and Drai’s utility to the roster boosting players who would benefit the most playing with them. You have a 3rd line with your two best play driving wingers and a 4th line that should be able to saw off the other team.
I’d roll 4 lines and have the odd double shift of McDavid/Drai/xxx
Howard-McDavid-Savoie
Dach/Jones-Drai-Kapanen
Podz-RNH-Hyman
Samanski-Dickenson-Fred
Jones/Joseph
Jones: 35 NHL & 39 AHL goals over 8 seasons
Dach: 7 NHL & 23 AHL goals over 3 seasons
Kapanen: 35 NHL goals over 4 seasons
Draisaitl: 35 goals last season during a down year.
Why do you hate Leo?
Take Podkolzin away from Leon and demote Hyman to the 3rd line? It’s an attempt to build an outscoring line I guess but you’re reducing the mins significantly for some material contributors.
At this stage, I think RNH is miscast as a C driver. He’s a complimentary W who backchecks, an important discipline when Connor cheats for offense.
Your lineup underrates Dickinson imo. He’s perfectly cast as a rangy two way 3C.
Leon should always have Ws with excellent hands. Best passer in the league.
I really think the Oilers shouldn’t be overthinking Howard….
He is a great one shot scorer who can find the soft ice. Put him with one of the top 3C in the league and put in a lot of time in coaching him how to succeed with McDavid, Drai, or both.
It’s a classic case of seeing who would “benefit most” by playing with these guys. Howard is at or near the top of the list where he may become replacement level or worse if placed with players who can’t get him the puck
Is a he a one shot scorer in the NHL where both defensemen and goaltenders are far superior to the AHL or NCAA?
In 29 NHL games last season he scored only 2 goals on 36 shots with a shooting percentage of 5.6%
By way of comparison, Jimmy Snuggerud, who was drafted in the same class as Howard, scored 21 goals last season.
Both players are graduates of the Big-10 in the NCAA.
If you look at his stats playing with McDavid and Drai, it’s a 40+ goal rate.
Your point is helpful in showing the difference in outputs depending on quality of teammate.
Feel free to take a look at the AHL games post NCAA that gold-medal holders Brock Nelson, Tage Thomson, Jake Guentzel and Kyle Connor played…….. 40 plus for all (more for most).
Howard should have been in the AHL, not the bottom six in the NHL – just like those mentioned above.
The player coming to camp in 2026 will have no resemblance of the player that came to camp in 2025.
Has he dyed his hair?
In a very small sample, Howard and Drai scored well together – its fairly meaningless, as is his effect during his NHL games last year prior to the development time.
He killed his development last year committing to improve (1) on the back track, (2) defensive zone positioning and coming down low to help, (3) on the defensive boards and getting the puck off and out (often with control), (4) in puck retrievals, becoming increasingly tenacious and (5) in assessing risk with the puck.
He did that while being a highly dynamic producer in the league.
We don’t know how this all will translate to the NHL but he’s earned the opportunity to show it and it behooves the team to provide that opportunity.
If it doesn’t work for a stretch, pivot.
Samanski was 3.04 P/60 in the playoffs – all primary. I know, 5 game sample size but it was playoffs…..
In any event, I’ve been saying of eons that there IS more offence to come from Samanski – no I don’t think he’s going to score 20 goals or get 35 points but he has an offensive game in him – he’s smart, he makes good plays and he has a sneaky good shot. If he can center a 4th line at 10-12 minute per night with wingers like Dach and an engaged Frederic, pressuring D, etc. he will be a 1.5 P/G guy – or can be, at least for me.
I think he can score enough in a complementary role, but not drive his own line. Reasonable considering his pedigree. However, that makes him vulnerable if he goes a month without scoring. Anton Lander and others have had the same issues. Plus of course a fourth lne player is easier to replace. I like him plenty, suspect Babcock will too, but he has to score a little.
I think the phrase “drive a line” has become very over-used. Since when do 4th lines have “drivers” or need to have “drivers” in the way we seem to use it.
I agree he’s not a “driver” but he doen’t need to be or need a “diver” beside him to chip in 7G/18P from a 4th line.
Samanski scored 1.00 pts-60 at five-on-five last season. If he averages 10 minutes a game, that’s one point every six games. A scoring forward with that kind of average could go a month without scoring. Babcock doesn’t know him. Defensively, the guy can play. I worry about his offense We’ll see.
Sure but that was last year in his first 20 or so games in the league where he cheated for defence, etc, etc.
Do we expect Howard to score 2 goals in 29 games? No, we expect development and progress. Why would we not expect the same from Samanski? He’s scored in every other league he’s played in (and in the playoffs)
I think Howard will score well enough this season to establish himself as an NHL player. If you can guarantee me that Samanski will play with capable linemates who can put the puck in the net, then I’ll agree he will make progress offensively.
Let’s say he is fourth line center this winter. Who are his wingers? Hyman, Savoie, Podkolzin, Howard, Kapanen and Frederic are not available. So, that’s Dach and Joseph for Samanski.
Who is the best offensive player on a Dach-Samanski-Joseph line?
Savoie-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Howard
Nuge-Dickinson-Frederic
Dach-Samanski-Joseph
I don’t see a way for the young man to score much. The Dach-Samanski-Frederic unit did score well, but in a small sample. We’ll see. I’m pulling for him.
I’m not positive that Frederic won’t be available to Samanski (although may start 3rd line).
Colton Dach scored 2 goals in 8 games playing with Frederic and Samanski or Dickinson……. If the fourth line is effective and play some minutes in the offensive zone, I think Samanski has a good shot and the ability to help chip in. I don’t think 8G/20P is out of the question.
“….but it was playoffs”
It was also 5 games where he only generated 2 SOG and 1 of them went in for a 50% shooting percentage.
Had that shot been stopped he would have a 0% and his P/60 would have been 1.50
In the larger 24 regular season game sample, he generated only 9 SOG and needed a 22.2% to claim 2 goals and his P/60 was only .99.
Which scenario do you think is closer to the real Samanski?
Must have been a heck of a shot.
It was actually a beauty.
https://www.nhl.com/video/ana-edm-samanski-scores-goal-against-lukas-dostal-6393690481112
It was a beautiful shot.
How about neither? Or do you think that rookies don’t progress nor grow with more games played.
Considering he turns 25 in a few months, it would be prudent to think his growth is close to complete as aging curves generally indicate forwards peak at that age.
To be considered a rookie, a player must not have played in more than 25 NHL games in any preceding seasons, nor in six or more NHL games in each of any two preceding seasons. So he is considered a Calder candidate by way of only playing 24 NHL games.
Pretty sure being more familiar with the league, team and systems could benefit his production but thus far that is a very low bar.
I know what I think is the “Real Samanski” and I based that analysis after watching every game he played last season, including all his AHL games (and most of his Olympic games or parts thereof and some WC games).
I wonder if watching helps over looking at numbers to try and find some negatives.
I watched all 29 games he played in the NHL.
3 goals and 6 points did not blow me away.
That projects to about 8 goals and 17 points over a full season.
What did you think of his 1.75 GA/60?
He cheated for defence as he got comfortable in the NHL and, given, he scored in Germany, he scored for the Condors (their highest 5 on 5 producer at the time of Gallup), he scored at the Olympics, he scored in the NHL playoffs and he scored at the World Championship, I think he will be able to develop a bit of production in an NHL bottom six
By “watch” we also know that you mean, view the game to try and find anything negative to point out regarding the Oilers.
1.5 points per game? Hes a good player but I don’t see him getting 120 points from the 4th line
Why do you hate Josh Samanski?
To Revs – take a look at Matthews TOI/G under Babock – it was 4-5 minutes less per game than McDavid has been playing.
Thanks. I was looking at a very small sample from last Oct, 5v5, for McD. The Matthews TOI you gave, is that all states?
I will concede that we have MB’s historical record to draw on, and on which you’re basing your projections. And that, as you argue, strongly suggests different on ice practices and results, even though the words sound familiar, to me.
My curiosity is how history meets the present, and especially the present as McDrai. I think you will agree with me that Matthews is not McD, nor was any Leaf duo the equivalent of McDrai. It seems no coach is untouched by the “nuclear option.” Especially when chasing games and seasons.
My original point was how GMSB’s rationale for McDrai on one line is the same as last year’s coach. Only October will tell us if outcomes are different.
It’s been a few weeks since I looked but, yes, all game states, overall TOI. Babcock played Matthews generally between 17:30 and 18:30 per game (season average).
No, he’s not McDavid but, for a few years, he was only 1 tier down, right?
Also, lets not forget Babcock expressly criticizing the Oilers after a loss to the Leafs for one playing McDavid and Dari…..
Yes. But I’m very interested how the historical MB responds to having the “nuclear option” at his disposal. Maybe he has the discipline that other (all?) have lacked. That will be good to watch.
Oh, he’s going to use that option and more than most want – he’s pretty told us that expressly but I think he will use them much more strategically, to take advantage of match-ups and situations.
Knob would simply load them up when down after the 30 minute mark, run them out every 2nd or 3rd shit, mix the third line in every once in a while and sit the bottom 2/3.
Babcock likely rolls 4 lines with them with the odd extra shift for match-ups, etc.
It won’t bare resemblance to what Knob did – at least that’s what I anticipate.
October will tell us the tale.
It’s a small sample size obvs but the Jays sent out P Gausman and CF Varsho at the deadline, and got younger and arguably better with P Soriano and CF Bateman both playing well.
C’mon Stan. Why should Jays fans have all the fun? How about making (and winning) a good old fashioned hockey trade for something different?
Who’s your Gausman? Your Varsho?
If I look at a trade like Tkachuk for Huberdeau, the player on the Oilers roster that most resembles Huberdeau at this stage is Nugent-Hopkins. RNH will never have more trade value than he has right now.
The Oilers won’t make that trade for cultural reasons and because they hand them out like free popcorn, he probably has an NMC as well.
They have a lot of goalies as well. In a perfect world, they’ll all play well early on, freeing up one to be expendable in a trade.
Nuge and Jarry. Those are Stan’s biggest potential trade chips imo.
Yes if you can parlay Jarry-Levi you do it. A healthy Jarry will get his form back plus Andersen might not only mentor Levi but also Jarry. Andersen took a lot of abuse when getting knocked out by Boston-Rask on numerous occasions. Jarry still has time-opportunity to win 2 Cups with the Oilers.
I’m hoping things go well for Jarry this season, but he’s not a Gausman level trade piece to my eyes.
re your constant effusion for Jarry: My concern with him is with his hide: is it thick enough for what this team dishes out?
There’s plenty of promises from team leaders that “we’ll be better this season, honest.” In the meantime, Jarry was shocked by how poorly the team played in front of him last season (conversely, Skinner was pleasantly surprised at how much support he got from Pens skaters). He got slapped down for speaking what everyone knew: there was very poor defensive support in the d-zone. Not a way to build confidence. His play, subsequently, whether due to injury or attitude (his, and skaters’?), was poor. Plus, he hasn’t been a clutch performer. I’m hoping Levi has the chops and the hide to take the crease, and that Jarry becomes a good-enough backup.
I’ve only been following the Blue Jays since last summer and fall made me a fair weather ball fan. I’m not familiar with Gausman’s history or part of that culture. Is RNH an equivalent? If do, that Gausman/Bateman trade was a monster. Jarry is nowhere near that important to this club. Hyman, maybe? Ekholm? I don’t see either happening.
Gausman is a very good pitcher but his best years are behind him. Apples/oranges between sports but he’s a reasonable comp for Nuge. Varsho was a pricey vet who fielded well but disappointed offensively so not a bad comp for Jarry. Jarry is more of a reclamation project but Varsho will also need a rebound season next year.
Thanks. I liked Varsho big time last year. If Jarry can be last year’s Varsho for these year’s Oilers, that’s a win for me.
Nuge Walman?
Thinking about this another way.
Could mukadumalin be Bateman.
Let us pray 🙏
The Moog for Geoff Courtnall-Billy Ranford deal hurt at the time because everyone loved Moog yet we all knew Sather usually won hockey trades.
A great trade for Slats and not bad for Boston either. Moog took them to the Finals.
My issue with strict cut offs is that it does not account for where the team is on the win curve and how much opportunity there is.
Holloway broke in on a very good Oilers team. Hemsky and others, not so much.
I expect Howard to be quite productive.
Samanski could have a very good career if his defence is truly as lockdown as reported, and how it looked by eye in his brief stint. Almost like how the elite defensive CFs and shortstops don’t have to hit very well to be extremely valuable players. Devon White comes to mind.
For sure, and a guy like Hemsky was a teenager so there’s that, too. I think Howard’s time on ice would be an argument for him, but I also think he was no productive away from 97 and 29. If Babcock puts him on a depth line, can he score against the soft parade? I don’t know if he will. I like him, though, hope he makes it.
The Issac Howard we will see in September 2026 will not resemble the player we saw in October 2025 or January 2026. This will be a much more mature all around player and he should be deployed in a position to succeed with skilled offensive drivers.
This player will be able to help win and Babcock will see that.
Let’s not forget, he has a good motor and is very hard working and highly coachable.
Maybe.
Whenever I read the name Liam Reddox, all I see is MacT’s angry stare.
With Savoie’s injury, are we overthinking the lineup?
Veteran coaches like veteran players. I wonder if Babcock, instilling a disciplined system and spreading out the minutes while allowing each 5v5 line gain an identity, runs it this way
2 lines that outscore
1 traditional checking line
1 kid line with a defensive conscience
Nuge-McDavid-Hyman
Podz-Draisatl-Kapanen
Joseph-Dickason-Frederic
Howard-Samanski-Dach
That 4th line would have a shot at some offense and with Samanski it gives them a two way center to mind their own zone, Dach crashes and bangs and Howard outscores the opposition. May be the best set up and a lineup I expect a veteran coach will embrace to start
Except we’re promised the McDrai line to start.
Everything that’s talked about in Oilerville is guessing, What will coach MB do? Everything, except this.
If it’s McDrai-? as one of your scoring lines, whats next? That’s the only realistic guesswork to be done.
Everything else is dreaming (until coach MB “comes to his senses,” or proves us wrong).
We were not promised it to start but promised that we’ll see it quite a bit.
With that said, I do think they start it at home in game 1 – if it was on the road, probably not.
I’d have Howard in Kapanen’s spot and Kapanen in Joseph’s spot. I like sticking with Nuge McD Hyman and Podz Drai though
I think its unlikely that Howard is put on his off-wing by Babcock to start.
“WE” may think we are over-thinking but we also KNOW that McDavid and Drai are going to play together a material amount at 5 on 5.
I also switch up those LWs big time to:
Howard
Podz
Nuge
Dach (Joseph can play 3RW/4RW).
Like.
But again, what does the lineup look like when we do see McDrai “playing together a material amount at 5 on 5?” This seems to me the interesting problem.
Howard-McD -Drai
Podz-Nuge-Hyman
Kap-Dick-Fred
Dach-Sam-Joseph
?
I am fine to give that 2nd line a long look.
We are not far removed from Kane/Nuge/Hyman crushing the Stars in the playoffs……
If the Hellebuyck speculation that he would in fact come to Edmonton is true, you find a way. They’d have at least 2 SCs already. He doesn’t have to be what he has had to for that Winnipeg team. One outduelling of Bob and there would have been a banner. Light work.
And the price won’t be crazy. Listening to Spector on this yesterday was embarrassing. Showed exactly how little he understands about trades involving NMCs.
IIRC though Hellebuyck has been poor in the playoffs compared to his Vezina winning regular seasons. Is is worth the gamble and assets? I’m not sold. I think with the goaltending that we currently have is all we need with a strong 200 foot game lines one through four and making sure we deploy better puck management. This is what I’m hoping that Babcock can instill on the team.
He would’ve been just fine with the Oilers in front of him.
You had me at, “with a strong 200 foot game lines one through four…”
When that happens, this team wins. Goalies have not been the problem.
He’s not been good in the playoffs in the last 3-4 years but he had 4 very good player seasons before that, 3 of them outstanding (including stealing 4 games versus the Oilers) and he recently stole a goal medal,
I’m not concerned about his ability to play in the playoffs.
I will stop short of saying he would have won us two cups. Maybe but take $5MM out off the skaters (the delta between the cap hit of Skinner and Helly) and where would those rosters have been vis-a-vis the Cup.
I don’t believe that he’d be willing to waive for Edmonton until I read something “more official”.
Tough to see the Jets doing a trade without a young and established 2C going back.
Howard Berger
@Berger_BYTES
BREAKING: I’m hearing, repeatedly, that Elliotte Friedman is all-but gone from Sportsnet. That Prime has offered money Ed the Conqueror will not match.
Amazon wants Elliotte for its season-long package of Wednesday night games. Maybe THAT becomes the new Hockey Night In Canada, instead of Saturday.
Friedman’s acquisition would be one of the biggest-ever sports media stories in our land.
Solid move by Friedman if it happens.
Prime has been a slow burn in comparison to platforms like Netflix and Apple, but Bezos has built it properly including the considerable investment in live sports.
In the next 3 years, Prime will be about as institutional as it gets in this fractured media landscape.
With Amazon’s move to be the local streaming partner for Carolina, Dallas, Anaheim, Columbus, Minnesota and St. Louis and the Canadian deal, they are making major inroads.
I would imagine Amazon will also become a major player when the U.S. national broadcast deal with ESPN and TNT expires after the 2027/28 season.
And just yesterday, Rogers hived off French language broadcasting rights to Quebecor.
“Starting with the 2026-27 season, Quebecor will hold the French broadcasting rights for up to 350 regular season NHL games per season, including 32 Montréal Canadiens regular-season games and all Montréal Canadiens games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This includes 10 more regular-season Montréal games than under the previous agreement; six of the eight First Round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs; three of the four Second Round series; the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final; and all NHL tentpole events.”
https://www.nhl.com/news/rogers-quebecor-agree-to-12-year-sublicensing-deal-for-nhl-games-in-french
The NFL is the anchor tenant for Prime. The other majors will always want to be where the big boys are
I do worry about what all this fracturing will eventually do for the casual sports fan, but this was always inevitable with an entire generation “cutting the cable.”
The sad thing is we’re losing these monoculture moments where an entire fanbase participates in a communal experience. Combine that with modern sports arenas where fan experiences are segregated on the basis of wealth/class/access and these are not your Dad’s pro sports experiences.
Elitism has replaced egalitarianism, from youth hockey right to the owner’s suite.
Ugh. I love watching the Habs en francaise. I understand very little, which means I get the fan noise energy, without the mind-numbing verbiage from play-by-play and colour.
Where have you gone Nail Yakupov? A nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you.
And Jesse Puljujarvi for that matter.
There is only one word to describe such draft results, Bonsignorian.
I’ll never forgive Eakins or that damn linesman.
Watching him in that first training camp could show anyone the joy of the game. It was stolen from him.
Not to mention #97’s scoring winger that they’re still looking for.
I honestly don’t know what the scouts were thinking. He had one dominant skill, a plus shot, and he came into the draft rocking an unsustainable shooting percentage.
The Oilers made the same mistake with Nail and Jesse imo. Both were freelancers with poor hockey sense and lacking positional discipline. In short, they were going to need a LOT of coaching to be consistent pros. And good coaching requires good communication.
This is where the team AND players fell short imo, because the language barriers and cultural assimilation issues eventually became insurmountable for both Nail and Jesse
The lessons from these players are threefold. 1) Don’t take a project pick in a lottery slot, 2) Emphasize hockey sense as an essential elite trait, and 3) Ensure the player is coachable and you have the right resources to coach them properly.
Smart orgs never make the same mistake twice. With Yakupov and Puljujarvi, the Oilers did exactly that.
The thing is, they aren’t expecting Samanski to score a lot as a fourth line center.
But Howard is going to have to score, especially if that’s the only way he can contribute.
He wears that #53 just like another guy we used to know.
You’re on your game early today.
I can count on you for a response. I was beginning to worry.
Never fear!
Not sure why one wouldn’t expect Howard to be able to score given his pedigree and his AHL scoring – he was a more substantial offensive player as a rookie pro in the AHL than Savoie was the year before (at near the same age).