Cal Nichols passed away Saturday at the age of 84. In a city that doesn’t throw around the phrase ‘beloved owner’ often, Nichols is a universally revered name in this city. He and the other owners who kept the team in Edmonton did hockey fans a massive favour. Perhaps the Oilers will pay homage to Nichols and the rest of that brave crew in the days to come.
The Oilers news cycle is in ‘mall walk’ mode currently, but it’s about to speed up in a major way. Please read this.
I think we’re going to see changes this fall, and by that I mean players heading out in exchange for arrivals who fit the Mike Babcock template.
Babcock has control of this team in a way we haven’t seen since Craig MacTavish was coach. MacT had the power to play or not play (ask Jason Chimera, Jani Rita and Rob Schremp) no matter the pedigree, and I do believe Babcock will find some of the players coming to camp wanting.
More urgent, Babcock is going to find out in a quick hurry he needs to do something at center. His choices are playing Connor McDavid on the top line and Leon Draisaitl on the second line OR putting in a requisition for a veteran two-way center who can outscore at five-on-five.
If Babcock checks down to a center depth chart of McDavid-Draisaitl-Dickinson-Samanski he should be set. However, he is a stubborn coach (that isn’t always bad) and the vision that has been planted in his brain, may remain.
I am also completely unsure of his Ike Howard evaluation. Babcock may find him wanting, and Howard hasn’t built up huge trade value since his arrival in Edmonton.
We will start saying goodbye to the internal depth chart we carry in our brains about this time next week. My guess is Babcock will love Colton Dach, Trent Frederic, Vasily Podkolzin, Connor Murphy and Josh Samanski. Among those who will see instruction, Ike Howard, Jake Walman, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (if he is the second-line center) will need to adjust.
The Oilers rookies play the Flames rookies at the Saddledome tonight. Howard, Dickinson, Quinn Hutson and Connor Clattenburg will be the most prominent names, and we’ll see how they shine. I’m looking forward to the game, hoping to remember my Oilers+ password.
On the Lowdown today our feature guest is Jason Gregor. We’ll talk about the Elks, Oilers, Cal Nichols, and the NFL weekend. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube. See you on the radio!
Can the Edmonton Oilers build trade value in the minor leagues this season?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7590324/2026/09/14/edmonton-oilers-prospects-ahl-trades-value/
Sounds like Batherson and the Sens are close to an 8 year extension ($10.5MM-11MM) – per SN.
Batherson was my dream deadline acquisition.
I’ll settle for DeBrincat.
Why not O’Reilly? He’d make the perfect 2nd line centre, no?
O’Reilly’s old, maybe if the cost is low and he’s a rental. Larkin would be awesome if they could swing it. Howard, Samanski, a 1st+.
Agreed, he would have been a fantastic add. I’m still holding out hope for Marchenko.
Outside the top line, Marjala has been very noticeable – dipsy doodle throughout the middle, passes of to Heger coming in off the point who snaps home the 5-1.
Yup #57 was the most noticeable forward on the Edmonton side.
Marjala with a nifty natural zone pass to Pitlick who buries the empty netter to make it 5-1.
Howard with a great high to low cross-ice pass and Tassy rings one off the cross bar.
Flames get one back on a rush goal against the bottom pairing.
Trying to get a “We Like Ike” chant going but Eisenhower references are lost on this crowd. Damn kids today.
Hutson up high on the PP, down to Hutson at the right circle, in front to a driving Howard and its 4-0.
Howard so very tenacious in the offensive zone, steals the puck net side, great cross-ice pass to set up Howard on the weak side and he’s robbed.
THAT is the play.
Barazkalns drives to the middle, goalie can’t handle the shot and Harvey bangs in the 3-0.
I’ve like what I’ve seen from Barzlakns
Jonsson with a big leg save on a rebound on a rush chance – great lower body strength.
Jonsson in for the 3rd.
Day was solid in the 1st, Vinni was VERY GOOD in the 2nd.
32 seconds of straight play before a whistle. A record for this 2nd period….
Vinni the Oilers best player in the 2nd.
They haven’t worked too much on the power play, hard to complain but it could be miles better.
Vinni with another point blank save on a point blank slot shot.
Nice work by Cameron along the wall. Three times in short order he contested the puck.
Nice backtrack by Marjala, intercepted puck in the high Edmonton slot off the rush. Horcoff used todo that for fun.
Vinni with a point-blank stop on Castagna – yes Castagna and Booman in the game.
Vinni in to start the second period.
2-0 Oiler after one.
Top line noticeable in the offensive zone almost every shift but they did get caved in in the last minute for 30 seconds – no chances though.
Michaels with a nice net front sauce pass off the rush which Tassy deflects wide. Puck worked back to Bookman and a floater finds its way in – as bad a goal as you’ll see on a tender.
Bookman scores on a seeing-eye single after a nice play (up the rush) by Tassy 2-0
He just completed his collegiate career at Western Michigan, so familiar with Michaels and Sharp.
All while working a full time job as a detective recovering overdue library books.
“Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. Y’know that little stamp, the one that says ‘New York Public Library’? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I’ve seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene,…”
Classic.
I don’t know Wahlroos from Adam, but he corralled a difficult outlet in the neutral zone and got the puck in. Nice play.
He’s apparently a recent import draft selection by the Oil Kings.
Ike Howard has turned pucks over at the Calgary blue line a couple of times. That said, he’s a transporting demon in the first.
Westin Cameron gets beat up in a fight.
Phillips has 3 inches and 45 pounds on him and like three times as many PIMs last season. That went about how you would expect that matchup to go
D-men aggressively stepping up in the neutral zone when available – getting body on attacker quick.
I have one day of my extremely discounted oilers+ left so im watching on oilers+, but they are just playing the flames feed which is free on the flames site. Why not just make the preseason games free to watch for everyone?
It is free…and on the Oilers’ website.
Hutson given way too much space on the PP – comes off the wall down low and snaps one shelf short side from the bottom of the circles.
1-0.
That was an impressive shot.
It was!
Hutson can score on the PP.
Hutson on PK1
Samanski and Howard as PK2
Safe play by Howard, at the end of a PK shift – had a lane to maybe spring Samanski but went for the full ice clear and change.
Day with a couple big saves as the 2nd line gives up a rush and then runs around a bit.
Oilers do not get set up on their first power play.
Hutson hobbles off after a 30-second shift….
Edit: He’s out for the PP.
Day with the start.
Love a one-anthem game!
Off to the game shortly with the wife and kids. So excited for hockey to be back, looking forward to seeing a few of these kids in person.
Howard/Samaski/Hutson
Potluck/Marjala/Lewendawski
Nicholl/Michaels/Tassy
Cameron/Barzlakns/Harvey
Wahlroos
Carfagna-Akey
Robinson/Cibukla
Choline/Bookman
Hefer
Day
Vinni
Jonsson
As anticipated, no Clatt as he’s not healthy after hurting his ankle in development camp.
Here is hoping he can participate in, at least, Condors’ camp and start the season on time.
Hand still bandaged as well.
Still rocking a bandage on his hand too, so not sure if that’s in addition or what.
He did break his hand (shocker) shortly after being re-assigned to Bako. Had surgery and did come back to play at season’s end before being scratched and not getting in the lineup for the playoffs (thought to be a “coach’s decision”).
I’m most interested in Nicholl who l pick as my sleeper choice in the 2nd half of his season in Bakersfield.
In honour of Cal, I’ll ride shotgun on this bandwagon.
Cheers.
Our franchise was as good as gone if not for Cal and the Community including Lyoldminister. It was heartbreaking reading in the Sun or Journal or listening to 1260 everyday whether or not the Oilers were toast just like the Whalers-Jets-Nordiques.
Choline Potluck
This fits with both OP’s health regimen and his awesome typo’s.
Is the game televised without charge…ie Sportsnet-plus ???
You can watch it free of charge on the Flames web site.
Oilers+ is also free right now.
Bob Stauffer
@Bob_Stauffer
·
1h
WOO-HOO
I actually think the d pairing are a bigger issue than centre if you load up McDrai.
Bouch is so good at creating offence because he is great at outletting.
If you run Bouch and Ek, two of the better passers, all the time with McDrai, then your depth lines have more difficulty transitioning and scoring.
To state the obvious, when you load up all your best players together, everyone else’s quality of teammate drops. Quality of teammate is one of the biggest drivers of production. Superstars have an outsized impact on depth players production (look at Savoie numbers or Kap). I just don’t think the Oilers depth players have enough offence for this trade off to make sense.
Walman, when healthy, is the 2nd best passer on the back end. Shea is apparently really solid at exits, at least for his contract.
I agree on the forward depth that they should only be loaded up for advantageous scenarios (eg. after a penalty kill).
I think Babs will do more strategic deployment than KK did. I don’t think anyone here minds spot shifts for the 2 big guns.
I think Bouchard could use some quality coaching.
If he could remove some of his outlets that are too aggressive, he would become a top 3 dman in the league. A few small tweaks. I imagine playing a more structured game and tighter together would help.
He was a top 3 d-man in the league last year, in my opinion.
I don’t want him to change his outlets nor his work at the opposition blue line – I’ll take a few turnovers in that regard – those are skills that make him special.
I look for DJ to coach him with respect to net-front defending more than anything.
Frederic and Dach seem more interested in hitting people than being hard-on-the-puck and tracking back hard.
Toughness for Babcock means being hard-on-the-puck. His teams have never been particularly physical. They are smothering.
They were a splendid combo last regular season. Tandem looked great.
I don’t get how they’re smothering but not physical?
I’ll try! Um. maybe think Nuge in puck hawk mode?
I have not seen Dach and Frederic be smothering or hard-on-the-puck. They like to run around and hit people. That historically has not been Babcock’s style.
Sometimes I wonder if people have ever watched Babcock coached teams. So many are expecting business as usual.
Babcock wants to force the opposition to turn over the puck at the far blue line, not pound them behind their own net, which often leads to easy exits and odd man rushes the other way. Babcock wants them to skate into a swamp exiting the D-zone.
This is exactly right.
Losing positioning to make a hit will not fly.
Babcock’s teams were the kings of running interference that the refs dont call.
That will be the single best thing he can bring to this team.
Maybe that was what they were being asked to do under Knoblauch, run around and hit people. But under Babcock they might have a different role, like be smothering and hard on the puck, as you say. I doubt Babcock wouldn’t want them to be physical at the same time. I still don’t see how they can force the opposition to turn over the puck without being physical.
Pressure-pressure being hard on the puck causes turnovers but it’s hard work. Everyone needs to buy in the Connor-Leon-Hyman-Nuge shifts will be shorter.
That’s the key point, it’s hard work. Their conditioning needs to be at peak levels to play that style. Carolina is relentless at that game.
In 40 minutes, small sample admittedly, the Dach-Samanski-Frederic line was 3-1 goals and 63 percent expected goals five-on-five.
Dach and Frederic, in 30 minutes together, were 1-2 goals but had an 81 percent expected goal share five-on-five.
You may not have seen them good, but they were good together.
K.K benched Frederic in the playoffs this made no sense.
Frederic was buttery soft along the boards and did not get the puck out. Babcock will bench him for that too, and Frederic would never see RW after that.
He should have sat him earlier, replace him with any number of players willing to battle.
KK was fired I believe for benching Frederic and Jarry which was the straw that broke the back on his firing. You undermine the G.M and don’t win you get fired.
If you watch the Red Wings old footage it’s all about pressure-pressure-pressure. The players will buy in we will finish first. Whether or not this style can beat the Dallas or Panthers is another story.
Good thing Babcock is here to coach, in particular with a young guy like Colton Dach.
Being coached in this area will be great for Dach and his career as I worry injuries will continue to be a thing with him if he continues with his recent style of play
I did not see Frederic neither hit, nor run around, nor act tough.
McDavid in praise of Jon Cooper stated “everybody knows where to be and what to do” insinuating that Oilers do not. Particularly true of Frederic or Dach. So they do what they think they need to do to get noticed. Dach looked to hit. Frederic looked to be in position and right side of his man. Last coach was along for the ride.
He was second among regular forwards in hits/60 behind Dach so, really, first.
He also fought Olivier, Bahl, Nick Roy and Logan Stanley – all massive fights to take (after fighting the massive Nick Hague in the playoffs the year before).
Not sure what you were watching…. was it the Oilers games?
Tomorrow at midnight is the last time teams can offer 8 year contracts.
Should the Oilers try to lock up Savoie as many teams are doing with their young stars?
22 year old C Noah Ostend who was also drafted by the Sabres in the first round of the 2022 draft just signed an 8 year X $6.6 million deal with Buffalo.
The 5’11” 180 Swede has a total of 68 NHL GP with 11 goals and 27 points.
Yes. If they can lock up Savoie for less than 7M they should do it.
I’ve said from the beginning of the summer, if they can get him under $7MM, I’d go as long a term as they can get. I think it likely comes in between $7MM and $8MM for term.
Why should these young stars commit to an eight year deal when in a few years they might sign a contract for double what they committed to? Even Darnell Nurse understood that.
Security is paramount for many young NHL players.
Nurse could/should have been signed earlier for less but the Oilers bungled it and didn’t have the cap space to sign him long term and, as we saw, paid the price later.
I believe the verbal was that Nurse was betting on himself.
$8MM X 7 for $56MM in the bank and due for free agency at 30……. Sounds pretty good.
I bet ya John Klingberg wishes he would have taken the big deal on the table fro the Stars.
I suspect his agent got greedy.
His agent didn’t make the decision, the player did.
The Noah Ostlund deal today 8 X $6.6MM would be absolutely amazing if they can get something similar to that done. I suspect a 7-8 year term would be $7MM plus.
Yes. 8 x 7.5 max and pat yourself on the back you got a top 6 through his prime. Worse case scenario he’s an all round 3rd liner PK, 2 way support.
If durability is the issue, trade him right now because the value will only fade with age.
He showed enough at the end of the year that you lock him up now because he won’t be value at $10M when he scores 30 goals portside 97 in the new NHL cap era.
It won’t be all that long before third line players are making that much…some already are.
Pierre LeBrun
@PierreVLeBrun
Hearing the Blue Jackets will be signing UFA veteran goalie Cam Talbot, 39, to a one-year deal ($950k) later today. Colleague @Aportzline speculated in his piece today that this might possibly happen.
Absolutely not.
This fad is going to be looked back on…and not glowingly.
Players are not bricks in a wall. Flexibility is better than security in a cap-limited league.
Franchise players only on long deals.
The counter onion is that locking up young layers now will pay dividends later as the cap keeps spiking.
Of course, it’s possible to make mistakes in evaluation but management is paid big bucks to get that right.
I’d rather they force me to pay them more money later on – primarily because I don’t believe their performance is contract-agnostic.
I’m happy if a $6M player becomes a $15M one. And I don’t agree that getting that player locked in for $9M is going to lead to the same sequence of events. Further – I’ll let that $15M go if I can out-produce him with 2 $6M guys at that point.
I suspect the only thing that we can know for sure about long term contracts, locking talent up etc is that you will find the Oilers suck at it – all of it for every player, every time. Whatever Anaheim, Carolina, Montreal, San Jose, Buffalo (otherwise know as the “new crushes”) and Dallas, Colorado, Minnesota, Los Angeles (the “old crushes”) do will be perfect, correct, accurate and will inevitably lead to perfect outcomes.
Babcock is looking for a few good men.
Howard became very tenacious in pick retrieval in the back half of last season and has talked about working on getting quicker and heavier to propagate that skill set.
He is full effort out there and committed to working on all zones.
We don’t know what we don’t know. It Babcock could very well love the kid and what he will bring.
Will be fascinating to find out.
There’s a couple great quotes from Howard in this new athletic article by Janson Duench. I think it’s free for all. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7591332/2026/09/14/edmonton-oilers-isaac-howard-rookie-camp-offseason/?unlocked_article_code=1.BFE.Jtaq.MZ8F5SdvCtBZ&source=emp_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share
Thanks – Howard was on with Stauff last week and did a media on Sunday from rookie camp – lots of good content from Ike on what he thought of last season and what he’s working on.
You know he’s going to have to walk the talk.
Of course – everyone has to actually take advantage of the opportunity once they are provided with it. In this case, the opportunity is fully earned, not gifted, and we’ll see what happens next.
I think we’ll see plenty of the center depth chart with the duo split in the road and plenty of the opppsite at home.
Nuge/Hyman away from McDavid and Drai are 50% goal share over the last three seasons at 52% expected. Add Podz there and that line could be very good, at least for stretches.
Playoffs 2025 is a year in the past and Kane/Nuge/Hyman killed a final four team with Nuge leading the charge – best skater on the series. Swap Podz for Kane and let’s roll. It may be Howard, not Podz, that’s a different look but that is a legit talented player – let’s go!
That’s a great find on Nuge and Hyman without McDavid. If they get Podz i could see it working especially against softer comp. Concerning that they were running Podz with McDrai in the early skates, hopefully it’s nothing.
In the last two seasons, Nuge-Hyman away from BOTH 97 and 29:
219 minutes, 47pct goal share, 48 expected all at five-on-five. I expect the quality of competition was lower as well.
I did three seasons where they were 50%.
In the playoffs last season, Nuge and Hyman away from both were 2-1 goals and 6-3 goals over the last three seasons.
Suffice to say there has been plenty of 50% plus for these two on a second line in leverage over the last while.
Who plays with Connor & Leon?
I would like Howard, it looks like Podz may be in pole position, for all we know its Colton Dach.
Yeah Podz might get the nod. I just think that leaves the second line a little on the weak side. Which if they’re looking for consistency and balance in all four lines might not be a great idea.
For sure – I’d prefer Podz there as I think Podz/Nuge/Hyman could make a strong 2nd line – Nuge/Hyman have had periods of very good success.
I am intrigued to see Howard with those two – that could click as well and Nuge/Hyman (without McDavid/Drai) has never been caved as some suggest that line will be.
LOL, I’d be intrigued to see Tralmaks with Nuge & Hyman.
Because he’s a man.
Sure – I’ll take the 22 year old dynamic kid who is much faster and tenacious in puck retrieval for now.
I am way too excited to watch this rookie game tonight.
I presume the flames have quite a few good prospects I don’t know about but Samanski and Howard (along with Hutson and Marjala and Carfagna) should have overt impact performances.
Hope to see Jonsson and Vinni split.
Hope Clatt plays, he’s still not 100% from hurting his ankle at development camp.
Looking forward to it as well. May be the only game I can take the kids to all year!
Enjoy the game with the kids!
I do think RNH has a chance to pop in the same vein as everyone talking about McDavid. It wouldn’t shock me to see Nuge have the best two-way season of his career. His results have eroded the last two seasons but his skills really haven’t and I think Babcock may be able to empower him (light a fire under him) this year
Maybe he’ll finally put up 50 points
After checking RNH’s stats, I feel I’m missing some sarcasm here.
It’s an ongoing joke here. I don’t recall how or when it started lol
Lol, I figured I had to be missing something! Thanks. 🙂
The name-cycling town troll made a comment about RNH not hitting 50 points in his career (after he had already done so).
And RNH later followed it with a 104P season *chef’s kiss*
Haha it’s an inside joke around here. I think Hrudey said on HNIC that Nuge hadnt hit 50 points after he had like two or three times
Hrudey called him a 3C. Troll called the 50pts I believe.
ah i got my oilers trolls mixed up. That sounds right. Didnt Fib also say recently Eberle hadnt had a 60 point season?
It was the Flame loving Hrudrey who made these comments in-between periods on a Saturday Night national broadcast.
I fell for the same thing hook line & sinker a couple years ago.
Giving him defined responsibility against lower comp could see his points improve. Or, having him do heavy lifting to assist a tough match third line could see the third line outscore. I definitely prefer the latter, but again, we are throwing darts on how Babcock is going to do roster construction.
I agree and think he could have a big bounce-back year at 5 on 5 – I do hope they can fade some of his PK minutes when they get healthy.
I believe injury has been a large part of his issues recently. He was fantastic in the 2025 playoffs until he broke that hand (and was still one of the better forwards in the SCF).
He had a very poor 2nd half last year, very poor but he was very good to start the season and his game cratered right at his 1000th game and I heard rumblings of an appendage issue at the time.
In any event, I do see lots of 2nd line with Hyman and I think those two can lead an outscoring line. I’m sure he’ll see some 1LW time as well and he remains a massive part of PP1.
Maybe he is in full decline but I think there is some game left there.
I hope Nuge is a full time 3c with plenty of solid work on both special teams.
The latter very likely comes true but the former almost assuredly not as we know he will be 2C as there will be load up times and I presume there will be some 1LW and maybe some 3LW.
Bring on the season!!