I came away from yesterday’s Oilers news and videos with two impressions: First, the lines and pairings are what Mike Babcock envisioned before yesterday. Second, how quickly he recognizes the names on the outside (specifically Josh Samanski) and adjusts, the better the chances this team (la-dee-da) dances in September when the regular season starts. Please read this.
OILERS LINES AND PAIRINGS (YESTERDAY)
- McDavid-Draisaitl-Podkolzin
- Howard-RNH-Hyman
- Frederic-Dickinson-Kapanen
- Formenton-Dach-Joseph
- Shea-Bouchard
- Walman-Murphy
- Ekholm-Mukhamadullin
- Stastney-Emberson
- Tristan Jarry, Devon Levi
- Injured: Matt Savoie, Frederik Andersen, Mattias Janmark
This is the group Babcock and the coaching staff believed (on paper) represented Oilers true north during the summer conversations. I suspect the top line will waltz out on opening night as populated here, and the second line will too, unless Matt Savoie is ready and that seems unlikely. Third and fourth line could see a shuffle, and don’t be surprised if Josh Samanski replaces Alex Formenton. Moving Colton Dach to center is a Craig MacTavish move, and it probably lasts as long as Chad Kilger played center in Edmonton 25 year ago.
I don’t hate it, but the main concerns I have are Nugent-Hopkins driving the second line and the coach not realizing Josh Samanski may pass Jason Dickinson as a checking center if he’s used in that role and given opportunity.
CONDORS LINES AND PAIRINGS (YESTERDAY)
- Jones-Samanski-Hutson
- Stonehouse-Marjala-Raty
- Pitlick-Michaels-Griffith
- Tralmaks-Nicholl-Tassy
- Leppanen-Cibulka
- Stillman-Brown
- Carfagna-Akey
- Sjolund
- Tomkins, Ungar
I don’t think there is much we can read into the specific lines and pairings for the Condors, but we do know Connor Clattenburg and James Stefan, along with Samuel Jonsson, Nathan Day and Eemil Vinni are also hanging around (injured or included out). Miles to go and Colin Chaulk will figure it out starting Monday.
Things will go quickly now, because they have to in order for the club to be ready for opening night later this month. Suspect we will see some players assigned as soon as today, and by Tuesday morning Babcock will be more confident in his evaluations. Players who are on the upswing? I’ll list Vasily Podkolzin, Ryan Shea, Shakir Mukhamadullin and I hope Ike Howard. The downbeat? Josh Samanski.
On the Lowdown today, Steve Lansky will be my feature guest and we will talk Oilers, Elks, NFL Week 2 and more. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and You Tube. Matt Fenwick, the inventor of Fenwick and inspiration for Dangerous Fenwick, also joins us at 1:20.
Five burning Edmonton Oilers questions now that training camp is underway
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7604181/2026/09/18/oilers-training-camp-questions-2026/
As I was talking about Power Wins, I was curious as to who was most dominant last season. The Hurricanes were first in Power Wins and Regulation Win %, with the top teams in fewest Clear Losses
thx
The more I think about it, the more I think Ike Howard is the most important player this season. If he can become a legit threat on second line without Drai or McD, this team will be cooking.
I.e, if he becomes a player other teams have to game plan for, Oilers will be in great shape.
Babcock’s early impression on Bouchard.
“Well he’s good, that’s what I know so far. He’s too good for me to evaluate here. So until I see him. There are some things I saw when I watched coming in that we are going to talk about. The great thing about Bouch is he’s open, honest, straight forward and easy to talk to. He’s not one of those guys that you talk to and then he’s worried about his game.”.
Babcock builds him up but not too much.
Babcock:
“You get a break. Savoie gets hurt and Howard gets a break. But, also, Howie went away and he got to work. He can flat out skate. He’s been way more competitive. He’s still got to learn to play without the puck a lot more. In the NHL you need get the puck. If you don’t work to get it, you don’t get it it. He goes to work to get the puck”.
Howard needs to run with this straight out of the gate or he may get faded
It seems Howard has pressure to perform in a short wing like no player before him – he essentially has 2 weeks to show he’s a legit top 6 forward or that’s it for him.
I’m not saying I want this I’m saying I’ve seen it happen.
Nurse was a fast skater but you know who is a top 10 defenceman in regard to skating speed?
Jake Walman
Bouchard has a heck of a shot but you know who has a harder shot?
Jake Walman
We really need to see Jake excel this season.
Healthy JW is a beauty, that’s why they wanted him. Also a tank
When healthy, he tends to excel.
From Janson:
Does this imply he wasn’t going to scrimmage even before whateer happened today?
I’ll have to listen when its posted – the content probably matters here.
It warms the cockles of my heart, and no one should have cold cockles, to no longer see Darnell Nurse’s name pencilled into the second pairing.
Sail on Soo Starfish.
For me it’s him getting fooled on the back door play over and over every few games for the last decade. The own goals ranks 2nd on my list. I do think Darnell has a hell of a year working the PP and as a team leader for the upstart Sharks.
I think it’ll be the opposite. His complete lack of hockey sense will sink the Sharks season, and he’ll be in the pressbox permanently by March.
Shame of it is, Darnell will play much better in a structured game plan such as the new game plan we are now hearing about from Babcock. The creative, free-wheeling Oilers style did not suit him.
Agreed. He was also miscast as a shutdown D. He will look much better with regular PP time.
Pietrangelo I think most of us were hoping Nurse would be this type of player. What shocked me most is how few penalty minutes Alex had compared to Nurse ( over 3x less PM per game) . Alex had way more nasty in his game yet he played within the rule book. Nurse always seemed the be on the wrong side of the man and get brain dead hooking and holding penalties because of it.
Agreed. The hockey IQ just wasn’t there for a read/react, be creative style.
I will not miss him backing into row 1 on every zone entry.
Will also be better off without the bone head penalties
Never liked him playing goal on the pk either. Didn’t align well enough in shooting or passing lanes
I’m sure he’ll get a new team bounce and put up some points playing with the SJ forward talent
Nurse was miscast as a Dman would have been a great power forward
Need a plus shot for that job imo. Nurse’s shot was a bit of a muffin.
I think Babcock was pandering to Bowman with the initial roster yesterday. It is likely the last day he will do so.
Bowman’s was pushing his guys and his own genius all summer, and Babcock gave him a bone yesterday.
With every successive day, Babcock becomes the boss.
Bowman’s team sucks. Babcock will refashion it into something better than what Bowman envisages.
— “sucks” might be strong. They certainly aren’t on paper as currently constructed a strong Cup favourite
— I place less faith than you do about Babs ability and acumen however
we wait.
It is pretty simple, you need the horses, if you don’t have them, you have to play a certain way consistently and factors have to go in your favour ie. injuries, chemistry, growth, coaching.
Currently, they dont have the horses, I like this team and think they will be better than last year but they will need to add at the deadline, a high end forward and top 4 D. Those additions along with steps from Savoie, Howard, Shea continuing his solid play, steady tending then the horses might be there to a very good chance at the Cup. Just thinking aloud, imo. Not all of things will happen likely and possibly not all need to.
— yeah one would assume they are better than the team that lost meekly in the first round …
— I just don’t place faith that Babs is some super coach that will come up with a strategy or has the acumen to overcome the weaknesses
— To modify a Godotism Babs is “far removed from being a thoroughly mediocre coach”
— a deadly use of the cap space though is an unknown upside that might make Babs a better coach too
Fully agree. It’s been a minute since Babcock was a good coach in this league and he was absolutely atrocious at his last stop.
I don’t know why he gets a free pass on that and so many act like it didn’t happen. It did. And the Oilers have to hope like hell it was an outlier instead of the start of a new pattern.
Not quite sure what you’re talking about with his “last stop being atrocious”.
Leafs
2015-16 (no Matthews yet)
29w 42L 11OTL
2016-17 (1st year Matthews)
40w 27L 15OTL
2017-18
49W 26L 7OTL
2018-19 (last full season in NHL)
46W 28L 8OTL
Oilers last 4 seasons
2022-23
50W 23L 9OTL
2023-24
49W 27L 6OTL
2024-25
48W 29L 5OTL
2025-26
41W 30L 11OTL
Yes the leafs lost in the first round each season but you could easily say Paul Maurice finished outside the playoffs 14/28 seasons as a coach and 6/9 seasons with the Jets finished outside or out in the first round as a coach.
Was Babcock an AH? Yes. Bad coach? No.
Nothing in his coaching record suggests he was ever a bad coach.
He must of thought he coached in Columbus for a few years. He was good in Toronto couldn’t beat Boston. They ran into hot goaltending.
He was hired as an HC in Columbus. He did such a horrible job, he was fired before he coached a single game. Not sure you can do any worse than that.
He was not fired in Columbus.
In any event, when I see Columbus used as an example of bad coaching, given he never even coached the team there, hockey coached the team, well, that’s when I know the narrative drive is strong.
To use your language, you’re being obtuse. Columbus gave Babcock the choice to resign or be fired. Which is essentially the saving face version of being fired. Didn’t coach a game because he completely alienated the players before a single puck drop. Utter failure however he might try to gloss it over.
You know this, how? That is not from verified reporting.
Notable that Babcock resigned and then retried and when he decided to come back to the Oilers a full investigation was run re: Columbus and nothing suspendible or worthy of any sort of discipline was found to have happened.
In any event, he never coached in Columbus so you saying how awful a coach he was in Columbus seems, well, made up.
Well that’s a most generous reading of the situation. When we write things like this, it calls into question all of the other things we write. Either you don’t know the story, or you are not being sincere. Either way, a disappointing take from you.
The call is coming from inside the house.
I am liking this roster (pre-season) over many that have come before. Aging is a factor. But the losses on the roster, those replaced are not that substantial barring the last two.
Roslovic
Henrique
Mangiapaine
Lazar
Philp
Kulak
Nurse
Corey Perry
Connor Brown
Jeff Skinner
V Arvidson
D Ryan
E Kane’
D Caggulia
Kingberg
Stetcher
Foegele
MacLeod
Kane
Perry
S Gagne
Carrick
Lavoie
Earnie
Ceci
Desharnais
Holloway – big loss, but judge him opening night 23
Broberg – big loss but judge him at opening night 23
Sometimes its addition by subtraction
Counter point – we have three all star players in their prime, if we can get average goaltending and the team believes he is a good coach they will make him a good coach.
Haha I love Godot theories
It’s still Bowman that supplies the players. I’m sure Babcock & the rest of the coaching staff possibly the players will also have some output.
Although I like Samanski, I am not fazed by his absence from the top 12 (as currently constituted).
If you look at Horcoff’s career — granted, a very far outer marker for Samanski — he did not play a full season until his third season (40ish games his first year, 60 odd the second).
Samanski will get into the lineup, and then it is up to him. I have every belief he will impress this coaching staff. I do believe Dach will prove to be far more effective on the wing.
Samanski is waiver-eligible.
The best thing for him is ~20-40 games as a top-line C in the AHL and then become a full time NHL’er as the calendar turns to 2027.
The goal is for him to start the playoffs as 4C.
Yes, this is key. Waiver status matters here. He was also impressive last year but very shy offensively. Let him build a bit more offensive confidence in the AHL.
Waivers is not an issue – they have room for Max Jones on the team as 14F (if they keep 7F) and definitely room for all of Dach, Samanski, Formenton and Joseph.
I mean, I cannot get on board with sending Samansksi down in order to not waive Max Jones.
Samanski doesn’t need AHL minutes for offensive confidence, he already did that and after his playoffs and Worlds I imagine his confidence is sky high coming in – an AHL assignment craters that.
Right so waivers might matter if they want to keep 8 D.
Yes that is your opinion. Many players have multiple AHL stints and it’s beneficial for their development, especially marginal players.
No, they can keep all four and 8D.
The four make 13 forwards – Jones being the man out (as 14F).
Of course that is my opinion – except for actual facts, everything I post is opinion.
Technical wording point, Samanski is not waiver-eligible, he’s waivers-exempt.
I agree with the last statement but not the process to get there.
Samanski was already a 1C in the AHL and led the Condors in 5 on 5 scoring when we was there. He got called up and was a very good defensive 4C in the NHL, played well at the Olympics and was even better down the stretch and quite effective in the NHL playoffs – then had a great World Championships.
He’s the incumbent and he’s ready. I think the path is playing him now at 4C, 10-12 minutes plus a good 90 seconds on the PK and reap the payoff rewards.
Samaski is ready. It might just take Babcock a couple of days to see it.
Here is hoping you are right on the latter.
Samanski is in the last year of his entry level contract, are we still in the playing games with our upcoming RFAs era. The kid needs reps, don’t screw him around or next year his agent will bend us over. He can sign an offer sheet…..
Personally, I think he would look fabulous on Leon’s LW.
To the last sentence, I agree that Dach is better suited to the wing and without the defensive responsibilities of a center – this move sets him up for less success (and I think sets the line up to get crushed in goal share).
It impossible for me to think that Babcock will fade a competent 4C for a non-established wingers without reason so we’ll see.
Dickinson did not take part in the scrimmage after getting hurt.
McDavid got up holding his arm after getting taking down by Shakir. He scored on the penalty shot and continued with practice.
This is a very bad take. I would hate for the fanbase to hate on Shakir before puck drop.
Despite the reporting McDavid wasn’t “taken down”, he leaned too far as he tried to make his cut and lost his edges. He was falling before SM made any contact, and contact that was made was to McDavid’s upper body.
I think 97 was anticipating some sort of body contact, so he really leaned into the cut, but there was none and hit the ice and slid into the net.
See for yourselves:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/connor-mcdavid-appears-shaken-up-after-hit-during-training-camp/
That was not “a take” – that was the words of some of the media who are there.
Is it Jarry in net who’s jock strap fell off on the penalty shot by McDavid?
Ungar
Thanks that was like watching a Junior player scoring on a 12 year-old boy. If that was Jarry I was phoning headquarters and canceling my parade tickets.
I definitely agree it wasn’t a take down, McD was clearly falling already…obviously speculating, and regardless of what did happen Shak did nothing wrong, but it does kind of look like when he went for a stick lift at the moment McD is falling his stick may have caught McD in a part of the arm that’s unpadded. Stings like hell but not a long term issue I would presume if that is in fact what happened. Shak definitely looked apologetic afterward though, despite just trying to make a hockey play.
Makes sense!
This is an example, IMO, of a “good take” 😀
Jeez Louise! Are we lucky enough to see him play between 50-55 games per year the next 5 years?
Is anyone interested in me doing Power Wins for this season? It’s interesting to me but a lot of work because I don’t have the ability to automate it
I might not do it if there isn’t enough general interest
I’ve always appreciated it.
If I recall correctly it’s parsing a lot of public stats that should be fairly easy to automate with the free tier of ChatGPT or Claude. I bet 90% of the work would be in the set up and once it’s dialled in you would only have to reprompt at your chosen interval for an update.
Good thought. I don’t use AI much, but it could accumulate the data probably
That, and build the spreadsheet pretty quickly too. Then it’s just a matter of updating, and you can prompt it to track by interval (weeks/7 games/months, etc), maybe make a graph as a visual aid. Takes all the skill out of using Excel well, and I’m here for it haha.
Ha ha indeed. Much appreciated, my preferred AI and I have been talking, and it’s a go. This also means it will be the whole league, I didn’t follow teams I thought wouldn’t be good to reduce the work. Graphs is a good idea, we’ll see as we go, and work on the format I post to the blog – any input is appreciated when the time comes
You’re suggestion was genius, and the work is complete (benefit/danger of small business). No more manual data entry, thanks! I’ll do the first one after game 21 methinks, the whole league is in it now. I can select what data I post so it’s not the whole data set necessarily, it’s a lot
I also worked with the AI to develop a ranking system mostly based on PW and CL, which I used to do by commenting on certain contexts, but the thought process is now automated. It’s quite amazing how intuitive AI is these days
Fantastic, looking forward to the results and glad it saved you some time/effort.
If you are interested hit the thumbs up or leave a comment
Yes I enjoy this content especially under the Babcock reign.
It will be interesting for sure
My ignorance behooves me to ask… please tell me what a Power Win is?
It’s a look at team strength that I renamed, first done by Scott Reynolds years ago. I revived it because I think the premise is solid. He called them Clear Victories IIRC, which is a win by two or more goals minus empty net goals. The more games you win like that, the stronger the team is
And the inverse of course
Interesting yard-stick. I’d be curious to see those stats, thanks.
Being honest here for your voting, I rarely read them fully so I’m cool without them but I think I’m in the minority here.
I respect the work for sure.
No worries thanks
Babcock is alot of things, one is knowing the game of hockey very well. Samanski will get his time to shine, may just be delayed a bit.
Yes, the “short pre-season” is an invisible line. In my opinion it probably lengthens the evaluation process.
Evaluations must also be done, talent and readiness still need to be assessed, so perhaps this happens in real time, in season.
If Dickinson is hurt then he might get a wee look earlier than Babcock thought. I have faith in Samanski making it work this year regardless.
The line up is very obvious new coach start. They all do it. You start with rewarding your veterans who have already played in the NHL. (Howard the exception here but hes taking Savoies spot)
To climatize to a team, you show veterans you respect their accomplishments to date. They get first shot.
If a rookie is to pass them, they are going to have to play their way past, not be given the role by the coach. But he knows. He will be well aware of Samanski in particular, and Max Jones who also has NHL experience.
Yes your bang on this isn’t Babcock first rodeo.
I have no qualms about anything except Dach being moved to center and Samanski being faded. Dach isn’t quite in that “veteran group” but is being chosen over Samanski in order to keep the two vet wingers, Formenton and Joseph. Given the position change for Dach, which doesn’t seem to like up with his skillset (I think he’d be better on the wing and boards with less defensive responsibilities), I don’t get it.
Who said Dach wasn’t a Centre anymore?
Oops I thought that was Kirby his brother that was drafted 4th overall by Bowman a few short years ago. I thought he might have shaken loose from
the Habs since they have acquired Kreider.
Kirby was drafted 4th overall and, for a while there, was looking full value for that draft position – in particular in that play in against the Oilers.
Its too bad he’s a shadow of that player.
Which Dach? Neither is a center and the one on the Oilers has not played center in the NHL.
What’s it going to take for Old Yeller to recognize what Samanski brings? Injury or slump?
Or is it possible Babs is deferring to contract status before making any lineup decisions on merit?
Yeah Im guessing they want Formenton and Joseph on the PK and Dach is waiver eligible
They can have Samanski at 4C and not waive Dach – both of them (along with Joseph and Formenton) can be on the roster – Jones is the 14F and perhaps cut.
I’m not saying they should healthy scratch Dach but I don’t think moving him to center and fading the actual center, who has succeeded in the position, helps everyone.
I’m looking forward to both Joseph and Formenton helping this team but, for me, there is a lot of overlap in skillset there and I don’t play both wingers over Samanski requiring Dach at center – play the young center.
I agree – Thats what I would do too
Stauff thinks the top 4 lines we saw yesterday is what they plan to use to start the season and, LT, think I agree that the top two lines are close to locked to start, subject to injury but maybe some shuffle in the bottom 6.
I know I’ve said it already but I truly do hate Dach at 4C and Samanski on the outside looking in.
Playing Colton Dach, who hasn’t played centre since junior, and isn’t even an established every day NHL player and who is not great 2-way from the wing, at center, makes zero sense to me. That seems like it’s setting him, and that line, up for fail – that’s. 37% goal share waiting to happen as set up.
Not to mention they have a legit center and an NHL center in Josh Samanski right there. He did it last year, he improved through the season, played good at the Olympics, was great in the NHL playoffs and great at the World Championships. Apparently he looks good at camp too.
His arrows are straight up and he’s a very good and smart bottom six center.
Don’t overthink this one Babcock – play Samanski 10-12 minutes per night at 4C plus 90 seconds on the PK and reap the rewards in the playoffs.
Maybe I’m wrong but here is hoping the Samanski is able to show the coach enough to pivot off this initial plan.
I’m looking forward to both Joseph and Formenton helping this team but, for me, there is a lot of overlap in skillset there and I don’t play both wingers over Samanski requiring Dach at center – play the young center.
Podz-McDavid-Hyman
Samanski-Leon-Kapanen
Dach-Nuge-Freddy
Formenton-Dickinson-Joseph
Dickinson banged up already. Rishaug with video with him leaving skate hurt. He has come back to test it.
Maybe he secretly just did our coach a massive solid!
I definitely want Samanski at 4C and Dach on the wing but I’m not quite a the hoping for Dickinson is hurt in order to get Samanski at center….
I was more so referring to the centre’s three… 97, 29, 93 but your point is valid on the injury. I’m definitely not advocating for Dicks to be injured… but knock knock Babcock!
Didn’t do drills for about 5 minutes and, apparently, has started with some drills – again, per Rishaug.
Dam. I want Dickenson to play his way into a key role for this team.
Me too, I’ve honestly been really hopeful and looking forward to Dickinson and his linemates doing some heavy lifting in regards to sawing off+ against elites and giving Leon and McD a bit of cleaner air than they’re used to.
Personally, in my very humbled opinion, I think the path forward is McD driving a line, Drai driving a line, Dickinson with Nuge on his LW and Kap or Joseph on RW with Samanski centering the last line with some speedy, beefy wingers that can pound and ground and tire out opposing D.
When healthy.
Savoie McD Hymen
Howard Drai Podz
Nuge Dickinson Kap
Frederic Samanski Joseph
Formenton Dach
Looks optimal to me.
They need Dickinson healthy.
I’m downbeat about Samanski as well. This kid needs reps, not a blow to his confidence. And I still hate McD and Drai on the same line. It’s stupid.
— Yeah : the biggest fail of the McDrai era by far is not finding 2 wingers for each of them IMO.
— you just can’t win the Cup when in the playoffs all a team has to do is shut down McDrai
— I don’t care how many points they score or how deadly they look in the 84 games. They can’t and won’t win with McDrai on one line. This year isn’t different.
They could if they had another substantial outscoring second line but we don’t so def agree here.
— yeah a lot easier to find 4 wingers to cover 2 lines vs finding a 3rd elite C and 3 wingers to have two complete lines.
— Nuge wasn’t the driver of the line when Ebs and Hall were his wingers almost a decade ago.
— So hes not suddenly transforming into a driver with lesser wingers in his mid 30s..
— Such a weird organizational fail and blind spot
I am not sold on the second line at all for those reasons and I think Nuge and Hyman are great players. Howard is unknown, I think he will work his arse off and see results a la Savoie did in the second half. Only way that line works is if Howard explodes right away.
A ton of unknowns in the bottom 6. It could be great! I think it is fast and aggressive so far BUT also could be an offensive black hole.
I like how the D was set up. If Shea can step up and hold his own with Bouch, we may have some balanced pairings. Shak and Emberson, in and out with EK. I hope Shak was working on his retrievals this summer.
LT: “The downbeat? Josh Samanski.”
Are you actually trying to blow up your blog on a Friday morning?
Samanski is on the outside looking in. There is no way to frame that in a positive light. The best we can do is suggest Babcock doesn’t know him at all.
Totally agree.
I hope the big german gets his shot.
Sometimes it sucks to be right.
You predicted the roster to be unpredictable.
Drai seemed giddy in his interview yesterday, especially when talking about Babcock. Maybe the team just needed a man to talk to them about man stuff.
I don’t follow many other sports teams closely anymore. Are all teams this weird??
I think the original sin was hiring Peter Chiarelli. All he had to do is use the 2015 draft picks MacT had acquired, and the Oilers would have won more than one Stanley. I say this while acknowledging that, at the time, I thought Chiarelli would be successful. Le sigh.
I will never forget that draft. I was so excited about McD and having an extra first round pick. Then just baffled when things went sideways.
Don’t forget the high second round pick, that was used to select Carlo … who shortly became the kind of big defensive d-man that they were hoping Reinhart was going to become.
That said, the scuttlebutt if recall correctly was that Reinhart was someone that the scouts at the time were pushing for, so its entirely possible that the Reinhart trade was going to happen even if MacT had stayed on as GM.
Another deal that went down that draft, which (reportedly had MacT’s fingerprints on it) was the Talbot deal.
Hallelujah, amen.
He destroyed the team with that Reinhart trade (worst trade in oil history imo) even though he seemed to populate the AHL ok.
Nightmare GM for me.
With all the investigations going on this is definitely something the league should be looking at, like WTF! I say this and I really liked Larsson.
I don’t think he was making decisions without interference. Not that he necessarily would have been good of left alone
At a certain point that’s irrelevant. Given ChiaPete dug in his heels for the PoHo title as well as GM, he should have dug in his heels to build the team according to his vision or not at all.
He’s the GM of record during that era, he owns the record published in the Guide and Record book.
Chiarelli was a worse GM than Tambellini. Tambo signed some dumb contracts but mostly he hurt us through inactivity and being content to draft high. Chiarelli squandered picks and traded away key pieces. I swear to god we’d have two cups by now if we hadn’t traded away Taylor Hall and Eberele for next to nothing.
One word. Gravitas.
If nothing else, he’s probably the opposite of Knoblauch personality wise.
I figure since Babcock wrote these lines on a napkin in the summer, gee I wonder how he knew they would sign Forementon, nothing is written in stone.
Don’t me naive Cowboy Formenton was signing in Edmonton. They leaked it to see how the paying public In general would few this. D.J knows Formenton better than anyone the player took less because of this. Alex still has the wheels all it takes is opportunity.
Bouchard is also best friends with Formenton IIRC.
Yes – they played together in London and apparently remain close.
Yes I forgot about the Knights connection.
I loved the Babcock interview yesterday. Guy sounds like he just chugged 4 red bulls.
Based on the video I saw he should be nicknamed Old Yeller! 🙂
But then you do know what happens to Old Yeller at the end of the book, right?
Happens to every coach ever.
Yes, I know. Hired to be fired.
Yes it even happened to Don Cherry.
Ha, excellent
Love this. Hopefully he turns out better than OTC (Old Timey Coach)!