You never truly know about a player or coach until they arrive on the town team. It’s impossible to know another club like we know the Edmonton Oilers. Trying to tell a stranger about the Oilers would take forever. You know why a rookie phenom suffering a shoulder injury brings out gallows humour among Oilers fans, but explaining it takes a lifetime. You know why Finns are so beloved in this town, and that includes Lennart Petrell. Would you like to explain it? Pack a lunch, because it’s going to take you all day.
That’s kind of what it’s like for Oilers fans and observers as Mike Babcock takes the wheel. We think we know, but we don’t really.
We didn’t know what the hell Jay Woodcroft was doing when he kept Vincent Desharnias on the roster in 2022, but Desharnais established himself as an NHL player. The Oilers drafted Desharnais, but signed him only to an AHL deal. Imagine! Desharnais worked hard to become an NHL player, but Oilers management was slow to recognize him. Not Woodcroft.
In the fall of 2000, new head coach Craig MacTavish immediately took a liking to Shawn Horcoff over Mike Comrie because he saw Horcoff as someone who could play a complete game. Both would play for the Oilers in 2000-01, but Horcoff was used by MacTavish in tough situations and would eventually emerge as the team’s captain.
I think Mike Babcock sees some things we don’t see in this year’s training camp. I believe it is similar to Woodcroft (Desharnais) and MacTavish (Horcoff) those years ago.
Babcock’s verbal on Owen Michaels yesterday: “Michaels is beyond smart. Skates elite. He’s in all the good clips every night. I mean, it’s not what we thought coming in. I can tell you that. But what are you going to do? They decide, not me.”
I don’t think anyone saw Michaels emerging as a legit threat in the middle, beyond the fact he is the lone righthanded center. Michaels may not make the Oilers (I still think Josh Samanski is the better bet), but the Jason Dickinson injury means there are more possible roster spots in play for opening night.
Which brings me to the waiver wire. The Oilers put Josh Brown on it yesterday, along with Riley Stillman and Eduards Tralmaks. We’ll see more cuts over the weekend, and watch that waiver wire because the Oilers might be on the hunt for a center if Dickinson is going to be out for a time.
One of the other things to look for? Splitting up McDavid and Draisaitl. It would be foolish to run them together with so little established help in the middle after the Dickinson injury. Foolish, but possible.
CERTAIN OILERS (20)
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Jason Dickinson, Zach Hyman, Vasily Podkolzin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kasperi Kapanen, Mathieu Joseph, Trent Frederic, Colton Dach, Alex Formenton, Ike Howard, Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Ryan Shea, Connor Murphy, Jake Walman, Ty Emberson, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Tristan Jarry, Devon Levi
UNCERTAIN OILERS (5)
Ike Howard, Jason Dickinson, Josh Samanski, Owen Michaels , Alex Formenton, Quinn Hutson, Max Jones, Spencer Stastney, Josh Brown
THE DISTANT BELLS (8)
Owen Michaels, Viljami Marjala, William Nicholl, Connor Clattenburg, Eduards Tralmaks, Matt Savoie (ir), Mattias Janmark (ir), Aku Raty, James Stefan, Brady Stonehouse, Alec Regula, Damien Carfagna, Beau Akey, Riley Stillman, Atro Leppänen, Tomas Cibulka, Frederik Andersen (ir), Matt Tompkins, Samuel Jonsson, Connor Ungar, Nathan Day, Eemil Vinni, Rudolfs Berzkalns, Seth Griffith, Caden Harvey, David Lewandowski, Rhett Pitlick, Simon Tassy, Zach Bookman, Andrew Robinson, Samuel Sjölund.
I just watched the highlights. Is this version of the Flames particularly slow, or was Kapanen on fire? He looked good.
100 and OH baby!
Summarizing!
The CHL’ers had a productive night.
Harvey scored twice (PP, ES) in a 6-3 Windsor win. He was named 2nd star.
For the second straight night, Lewandowski scored the GWG and had an assist. He was named 1st star.
Robinson assisted on Harvey’s PP goal.
Berzkalns somehow avoided the scoresheet in a 6-1 win.
Cameron played the role of backup tonight.
Prospecting takes a break until Green Day, i.e., when September ends. (You shall be awakened then.)
Dustin Wooof
I like that I’ll use it on my loser Flames buddies.
Eff yeah! That was a sick goal by Kappy. ❤️
Great lead pass by Nuge to Kap – fun finish.
Nuge driving ES offence.
Elks win another fun one in OT. Vincent Blanchard set the single game CFL record for field goals made by going a perfect 9 for 9. The old record was a five-way tie at 8. 8 also happens to be the NFL record.
Nice PK FO win by Michaels – he’s done well tonight.
Kid is going to make the roster and play a game (over Samanski and maybe Jones as well) – I was wrong on him – admitted – although I do think he’ll be in Bakersfield quite shortly but he’ll be in Edmonton to start.
Booyah.
Are they going to keep Howard up if he’s not playing in the top six? Because it would appear Kappy has stolen his spot with Nuge & Hyms on the second unit.
100% and there is (1) no certainty that Howard won’t be back there on Tuesday and (2) no knowledge of the plan when McDavid/Drai are split, which will happen often.
Coach said Howard was just fine but that was more of a reward for Kap being the best player in practice and going early.
4th line getting cycled – its happened a few more times tonight after 4 times against the AHL Jets. We’ll see how it goes once the regular season starts on Tuesday.
Shea on the third pair has a chance to be really really good. I thought his goal was an Ekholm shot at first.
Levi looks great too.
the Dach line has had all dzone/neutral zone starts so far. That could be quite the transition from energy winger not known for defense to tough minutes center..
Maybe Owen Michaels can be a tough minute defensive center?
I think Shea Mukhamadullin is or will be the 2nd pair soon enough. Walman Murphy the 3rd.
Agreed
McDavid and Formenton start the real PP1 – they did that in their other game as well – this is going to be a thing, at least to start the season.
I see Howard has a hit wow.
Too funny 😂.
All cowboys are Flames fans.
Now go polish your belt buckle, and wipe the shit off your boots while you’re at it.
We’ve seen enough of the 1st line time to play the scrubs in the bottom of the order. Calgary might decide to get dirty, actually
I wouldn’t mind a few more penalties to have our PK unit get some reps.
Finally a chance to see the PK forward pairs.
PK starts with: McDavid and Formenton.
Could be a function of 14 seconds left in the period.
Michaels with a bad neutral zone giveaway while his linemates were changing and a dangerous odd-man rush against. Tsk tsk.
He’s learning on the job. I knew Babcock would try to mold a few players at positions we didn’t see coming from the left field bleachers.
Jonsson with a big pad save for his 20th.
Each goalie now with 20 saves as the Condors are being out shot 40-18 but up 3-0 late in the 3rd.
Combined 43 save shutout for Day/Jonsson.
Howard/Michaels/Frederic – Kap up to 2nd line.
New third line having an effective shift.
Howard had the puck on his stick more with that line than on the 2nd. And Kap moved the puck in the right direction w/Hyman and Nuge.
3-0 Condors – some guy named Hults rips one in from the slot on another PP. Cibulka with the 2nd assist.
Some guy named Hults… haha
He’s a pro hockey player, who the hell are you?
Goodness me – so many feeling the need to be unnecessarily adversarial these days.
It’s a full moon it could be a hormone imbalance.
Akey with a nice pass to the middle to an driving Keppen who rips home the 2-0 from the slot on the PP.
Beauty play & finish.
Connor Murphy having a tough couple of shifts with the puck on his stick in the defensive zone – couple of non-clears.
Barracuda give the puck away in then neutral zone, Clatenburg with the neutral zone cross ice pass to head out on a 2 on 1 and taps in the return pass net front.
Jake Suede with the nice pass to Clatt.
Condors lead 2-1.
Clattenburg very excited to score – playing to the Barracuda crowd.
Any news on Shea?
He’s playing.
I didn’t know he was a Bowman pick. If he continues to not be shy in the offence zone he could score 8-10 goals
Yes, he’s scoring goals apparently LoL
He just scored a goal.
Day – 20 saves in half a game.
Jonsson 6 saves to end the 2nd.
Scoreless after 2.
PP1 still good.
My 2026-27 predictions. Book it. 🤣 🤣 🤣
Hart – McD
Richard – Drai
Norris – Bouch
Selke – First ever tie, shared between Drai and McD.
Calder – Howard…Savoie a close second only because less games played due to injury.
Masterton- Frederic
Vezina – Jarry
Jennings – Jarry/Levi
Conn Smythe – Andersson – only due to unfortunate short term injuries to Jarry and Levi.
Lord Stanley – Edmonton Oilers!
LFGoilers!
I forgot…in case it isn’t obvious.
Art Ross – McD.
Lol
Shea not on the bench – Bob and Jack don’t know why at this point.
Intel that he’s on the bench – but not on the ice.
Hopefully only a skate issue
That fourth line can certainly use their speed to get in on the forecheck and win pucks. Just like Joseph just did.
Main question will be if they can defend.
Nathanial Day the best Condor in the first. 14 saves as its 0-0.
I’ve got to say, the most stand out plays for the Condors were two brutal neutral zone puck turnovers by Clatt. He was on PK1 though and threw a massive clean hit on the first shift (after taking a guys legs out away from the play and getting away with it)
Any other way of watching the game tonight besides Oilers+?
If you have andriod or windows download brave browser. You need it to eliminate ads.
Also brave is for windows or andriod only. On apple doesnt work.
https://slapstreams.com/
Click watch on desired team
Then home and click play. Or try stream 1, 2,3 or away stream as well.
Thanks brother!
No idea when I last owned cable haha, and streams are getting slim
Thank you good Sir.
Brave works fine on MacOS, no clue about iOS.
I think I saw you can watch on the flames site
Thank you Lenny!
Your welcome gentlemen. Anytime and have a wonderful evening
Also brave broswer eliminates ads on youtube completely
Clatt, Nicholl and Cibulka the only cuts from yesterday in the Condors lineup tonight (plus Akey).
Josh Samanski has done zero in the pre-season.
The easy fix is McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge and Dach at center.
That may very well be the plan on the road for game 2 (or even times Tuesday night).
The easier fix may even be: McDavid/Draisail/Nuge/Samanski at center – I mean Samanski has played center in the NHL with success, including with Dach on his wing – that duo was great in that set-up.
Not exactly. He plays the safe game, it is a skill but not noticeable until you don’t have it.
Neither has Owen Michaels and Josh Samanski has proven to be able to play a strong defensive game against NHL players and was very good (and productive) in the NHL playoffs.
Cloton Dach hasn’t done anything in pre-season either except be bigger – he managed to get cycled by a Jets AHL team 4 shits.
Not to mention, we know how little NHL exhibition games mean as far as player readiness – all but nothing. What these players did in their respective leagues, so Samanski in the NHL is primary over their exhibition seasons.
Oh well.
Nothing happens with him on the ice that’s probably a good thing. Yet Babcock doesn’t see that way, no Samanski with the Dickinson injury Josh might want to make sure that his passport is still at the bottom of his underwear sock drawer.
Jack Michaels says full dress-rehearsal without Dickinson and then this comes out from the team:
I’m glad they have Frederic back at wing but are they really thinking about playing Michaels on Tuesday?
I’m mind-boggled they have this guy, who I’m not sure can skate well enough for the NHL and is a bigger blackhole than Samanski offensively, who has never played a pro game, ahead.
Make your kids shoot right!
There’s always a chance they are showcasing him, but I don’t see that happening.
Showcasing Michaels? For a trade?
I suppose but agree its unlikely,
I think Babcock liked Michaels two Faceoff wins in the third period…..
Game # -1 on the schedule is a perfect time to find out now isn’t it?
Ken Hitchcock talked about how veterans will not return until they are 100% playoffs aside.
The reason being they get judged on their play, not their play with injury, there is little empathy with numbers or eye test.
He talked about this particularly sensitive when a vet had young guns coming hard for their job.
I wonder if that was where Babcock was going with his comments about Dickinson out due to physical/mental
I’m not sure what Hitch says is true, or true in today’s game.
Just last season, Frederic, Walman and Kapanen all came back prior to 100% (the first two noticeably limited and the latter re-injured himself).
Likely that is part of it. I think also, especially for injuries that impact skating ability, there is the physical recovery and the mental/confidence recovery. My son is an AT and he finds when he’s working with high performance athletes it can take a while before they have regained confidence in being able to push themselves the way they are used to while competing. So if Dickinson tweaked the foot injury again, that confidence has also taken a hit. It’s frustrating because you have to start over and be patient with yourself.
Could align, I mean Babcock and Hitch coached their last season the same year.
Which is slightly funny when you think about that. 18/19 season.
I hope the coach does put Frederick at Centre just so he can put that option to rest.
Because this team is being built to be a fast team and there’s no way Frederick can keep up in that 3C center position
Frederic on the wing, Michaels at center, Samanski and Jones scratched.
Michaels slower than Frederic.
I can’t see purpose of this 3line . We’ll see
Per NHL Edge, Freddy hit 70th percentile max skating speed last season, and 78th two seasons ago.
NHL Edge doesn’t have any data available on Michaels yet.
Is it a bad thing if Michaels is slower than Fred?
Sammy’s max speed was below 50th percentile last season.
Opening rosters need to be set by 3pm (mountain) on Monday so, anyone that they are going to send down that requires waivers will need to be waived tomorrow (Tomkins, Jones, Stastney at risk).
Of note, they can’t waive and send Regula down until healthy and, because he was on the team for more than 50 games last season on his 2-way contract, his entire cap hit will count. I thought it was pro-rated for the portion of the season he was on the NHL roster but there is that 50 game threshold I just learned from Hart.
I don’t think they’d have cap room for a full 23 if Dickinson does go on IR with the other four (although I don’t think he will).
No lineup info yet except Levi with the start.
Will they go with what we saw at practice yesterday or will Samanski (or Michaels) get in and/or Emberson?
Do we have a sense yet which way Babcock is leaning between Jarry and Levi OR are they expected to alternate starts until one presents as the clear starter?
Levi
That’s what the Coach is saying?
Coach hasn’t said anything except that he’s not even watched the goalies in practice – only in the games.
I expect them to split the home and home with Vancouver and the better in those two games gets game 3.
With that said, for all I know, Babcock gives Jarry 4 of the first 5 as a plan.
Why bother saying this stuff when you don’t know?
Because this is a place we discuss ideas? LT makes a new post on this site every day, and better than half of it is speculation, yet we all come here every day to read it. What’s the difference?
because its a discussion board and that is the topic of this post in the comments section….
Why did you post all your lineups without Howard in them? You didn’t know.
What an odd reply.
RNH is a good 3LW
Dickenson is a good 4C
Samanski is a good 4th line winger
To start the season with these players too high up the battling order will force Babcock to overplay McDri just like Tippet, Hitch, Woody and Knobby.
Let’s not spend 10 games having the latest NHL coach catch on with these realities.
Are you saying they should trade a top center so they can get a better 3C and 2line winger?
Because there are choices and compromises.
I expect tough seasons for Dickinson and Savoie. Missing part of camp always impact performance and conditioning. It’s really too bad for Savoie as he had a breakout year.
It’s starting to look that way. I hope Savoie isn’t injured on a regular basis as for Dickinson that’s a near guarantee.
Babcock and Bowman are going to ice the fastest team we’ve seen in a raccoons age. With the PK pressure and the Babcock-Detroit Red Wing 5 on 5 pressure how many games will it take for the boys to get conditioned to this? Obviously this means shorter shifts which would drive me nuts that K.K never pulled the reins back on long shifts by a selected few. I looked at the Babcock 10 game starts in Toronto and they’re not great.
It is difficult to get faster than Broberg, Holloway, McLeod, Janmark, Foegle, Kulak, and Brown.
Reversion to something closer to the first SC finals team is more accurate.
Dickinson on the ice for the optional morning skate.
Shouldn’t be out long but here is hoping he/they let it get to 100% before returning.
Babcock suggested his current injury is related to last season. I would think that is a bad sign if after an entire summer of rehab and training he is still having issues.
Throughout his career, Dickinson typically misses 15-20 games a season. So we can figure it will be the same or worse this year factoring in age.
And that’s with him healthy. I’m starting to believe Jason is a hypochondriac. Did Bowman only receive intel on Jason’s 22 goal season where he played all 82 games. I’m kinda just joking but Geez-Louise this is a bad look for a 31 year-old grinder who just signed a 5 year deal in his home town.
Dickinson is an easterner ……
First I couldn’t spell his name, now all of the off-season I thought he was from Edmonton.
The Dickinson news is very bad for this team.
I guess we see what happens but it may force Babs to split McDrai quite fast unless they make a move for a Levite 2nd line Cman and put Nuge on the 3rd dot.
No clue who they would trade for.
Just me, but I don’t think Nuge can drive the 2nd line with Howard and Hyman. I would rather see Pods on that line if Nuge is the C man with Howard moving up. At least with pods Nuge will have 2 guys that are really hard to play against on the corners and in front.
No way re any of Samanski, Dach or Freddy capable 3rd line C men at this point.
The Oil could be in a little pickle here and if Dickinson didn’t heal up over the summer with basically 5 months off, then that doesn’t bode well for his entire season. I have no clue what is wrong with his ankle ( apparently it was broken) , but shit injuries like that , that get re aggravated 5 months later doesn’t bode well.
Very interested to see how Bowman reacts to this , if he actually does or he just lets Babcock use McDrai and whoever from Nuge, Freddy, Samanski, Dack and ?
If they signed a lame Dickinson to a 5-year-deal this will not end well for Bowman.
Injuris are a concern with any player, in particular one’s getting older.
With respect to this specific injury, he’s likely to be out for a short period of time – less than a percent of his contract – its a non-factor in the signing, just like Matt Savoie’s short term injury would be a non-factor in any extension he would have signed over the last month or may in the next month.
Every player gets injured. Leon has been injured for a good portion of his new contract.
Jason is no spring chicken he’s 10 years older than Matt. Everytime you go under the knife there’s a risk. We all remember the Kelfbom so called routine surgery turn into a nightmare for him, Holland and the Oiler faithful. That injury started the domino effect that probably cost us 2 Cups and still counting. I also believe the Kelfbom outcome of his surgery made Connor think twice about different alternatives after that prick took out his knee in Calgary. Anyhow I’m probably thinking way too much about what and how Babcock talked about Jason return. Then again Babcock is so calculating when he speaks. What he said makes me nervous as Jason is supposedly the heart of our bottom six.
Savoie has “had a procedure” but I haven’t heard anything about Dickinson having had surgery.
lame Frederic, lame Walman, lame Jarry.
lame Godot.
Your on your game tonight.
He’s skating today at the optional morning skates. Doesn’t sound like he’ll be out long.
It also doesn’t sound like this is going to be altering Babcock’s general line deployment other start the season.
Lets also not forget, while it looks like they will be loaded up to start game 1, game 2 is on the road and its reasonably likely they will be on their own lines.
On what basis is it reasonably likely? Have they practiced or played on separate lines during TC?
Babcock has said multiple times “perhaps it looks different on the road as it does at home”. His top assistant, who has recently been a head coach in the league has talked about how easier the load up is to defend at home than on the road.
Sure. But at the moment the Oilers center depth isn’t the greatest.
Logically , It would appear to me they will need to split up Connor & Leon, unless all the chatter about them drooling over the thought of bringing in Kirby Dach is real and it might happen sooner than later.
The free Kirby movement started grassroots with just a few of us yet it seems to be gaining momentum.
Article out on this today in the Journal. I believe Seravelli thinks Edmonton wants him . Be interesting if the Oilers offer up something for him. Dach is a huge guy that came into the NHL with high expectations for Chicago. The guy has great hands, very good skater, huge frame and you never loose the skill you have been blessed with. Unfortunately the poor kid cannot stay healthy. He has never played an entire season in the NHL yet in his 7 seasons. He was good as the 3rd line C man for Montreal in the playoffs last year , but he is a very serious bandaid.
Samanski might be learning French as we speak that is with 25%>50% retention on Dach. My dream line Dach-Dach-Formenton. When up against the Panthers-Lightning Dach-Dach-Clattenburg
Captain Obvious that a lame Kirby would be a target of Stan Bowman.
By all accounts he’s finally healthy.
He just seems to be making more sense with the injury to Dickinson. A big RHC he could either slide right in at 3c or possibly even 2c, either way it solves some problems early in the season and creates more depth in the forward group. As long as he can stay healthy.
Big fast skilled and can skate that is Bowman’s MO.
This past spring I was playing pick-up hockey in Vancouver and met a man from Spain who had traveled to Canada to play as much hockey as possible. Now in his late 30’s, he had discovered the game as a teen and had saved up to take time off work to travel to Canada to immerse himself in local hockey – getting into community skates until guys like me invited him to join us for beer league action.
He and I became friends, and along with going to puck we began to hang out to drink beer and discuss the game, the NHL, the European game, and exotic women, etc. He felt Canadian ice hockey players to be unnecessarily rough and Canadian women cold, while I thought he was a bit soft. Different strokes.
There are only a dozen or so rinks in all of Spain, where they have a single semi-pro men’s league of about 8 teams. There are around 40 rinks in the lower mainland including Michael Bublé’s basement. There must be 1,000 painted sheets of ice between Tofino and Kenora, ON the geographical centre of the country I told him, myself mystified at the innateness hockey is to Canadians.
Interestingly he was a fan of playing hockey but knew very little of the NHL but had a fascination. In our Div 1 beer league he had begun to play with and against former Junior and CIS players and marveled at their ability. Former NHL players I told him have otherworldly abilities.
I showed him the Kassian – Tkachuk clip which he thought was insane. I had a huge grin while I explained the Battle of Alberta and a blood rivalry that is nearing 5 decades.
I didn’t quite get into the depths of the lights going out in Boston Garden in 1988, but I did get his ear for an hour to share the passion Edmonton has for the Oilers. The Canucks were brutal so he packed his skates, took a road trip through the mountains playing pickup in Kamloops, Vernon, Revelstoke, and Edson, and spending a few days in E-town to take in game 5 against the Ducks this past spring.
”That place is crazy for hockey” he told me upon his return. It’s a long story, amigo.
That’s a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing.
Once you play internationally for a while you’ll come to understand his perspective. I played minor hockey in Edmonton, then through my 20’s and 30’s I played in various rec and rec++ (German national league, not sure where to categorize that) leagues around the world. NY, Oregon, Cologne, Paris. As you get older it’s quite pleasant to play a clean game of hockey. You can go home, get some sleep and the next day will more or less go according to plan.
But then I returned to Canada and started playing in the rec league in Victoria. It’s filled with grumpy, savage, bitter old men. They didn’t like that I could outskate everyone. So sometimes I’d head home with broken blood vessels in my legs, from hacks and slashes. One time I woke up to an entire leg that was black/purple from a blood clot.
Those games would end at midnight, I’d get home at 1am. Adrenalin wore out only by around 3am. But I had to be at work by 8:30am. . . so around 4 hours of sleep and I could barely walk.
I stopped playing rec hockey in Canada over 10 years ago. Just not worth the bother.
Excellent! And true!
Good story Mr Chambers. Good story. The “unneccessarily rough” comment stood out for me. Having played recreational hockey in Asia, I have to scale back my Canadian dirty/ subtle little hooks and grabs. We see it as so normal in Canadian hockey culture. Overseas players call it the “little movements” that Canadian players are known for.
Where did the extreme roughness come from ? the good ol hackey game from the 70’s like the broad street bullies was allowed by the league. It allowed the low skill face punchers to participate that other pro sports would not. It’s still allowed today, mostly because the dinosaurs that control the league are from that era.
If anyone has watched some rough stuff in the UK leagues, it’s like the UFC on skates and a lot of head hunting. Most Euro leagues are pillow fights in comparison. So, there’s a connection between the UK and early Canada…
In the French leagues you shake hands before the games begin!
I dont know about elite skating but Michaels seems like a smart smart player. We like smart smart players. Samanski is a safe player.
Whoever can piss a drop will win the day. Samanski has a big head start with a playoff goal but they’ll show us in time.
Do what Mcleod (and others) did and prove you do not belong in the AHL anymore right off the hop. Even Leon has started in the A one year. It’s not a death sentence.
Just catching up, so what is the Dickinson injury?
I thought there were days he was participating in camp, no?
Babcock quote via Michael Menzies:
“I don’t really know what’s going on there. I know that he’s at a setback. A huge part of it is the physical part’s one thing. The mental part’s another. When you keep having these setbacks, you know, she’s hard.
“I don’t know if you noticed, they’re flying out there, and so if you can’t fly, it’s hard to play. So someone else gets an opportunity, and let’s see who it is.”
“I think it’s the same thing. That’s gonna– I’m not the medical guy, so I don’t really know. But it looks like we were really advancing. He tweaked it. Thought we were coming good, and then yesterday was a tough day….I’m not a doctor.”
I read somewhere that he aggravated the injury he had during the playoffs . I believe it was broken foot.
Im just going to prepare myself that he’ll have a Trent Frederic type season now.
Both in terms of his on ice performance and the excuses made in this comment section haha.
This is a real possibility. If Frederic doesn’t get his shit together and Jason is lame that becomes a 3 dressed up as a 9 between them.
I was saying about a month ago I wouldn’t be surprised if Michaels makes some noise, big RHC.
I didn’t see Frederic and Dach being slotted ahead of him for center duties.
Have to wonder if the glimmer twins load up is a way for Babcock to see which players recognize there’s a chance and are dog on the bone about it.
I’m glad to hear Babcock thinks he’s a plus skater. I recall boots weren’t that special in the write ups I saw about him. If he can keep up with the pace I think his skill set will translate well, especially with this HC
From what I’ve seen, FWIW, he is an average NHL skater.
Has to be something like that, in my opinion. Either he’s isolating to find players who can outscore with no chance to help from the Glimmer Twins, or the coach and 97-29 made a pact to run it like this. I hope they don’t squander the first 20 games.
As well, he isn’t a big NHL player, but looks to be right around average-sized height-wise (listed at 6’1” and 184 lbs).
At least he doesn’t look small on the ice, but is around 20 lbs lighter than the average NHL player.
Not sure there is anyone on the waiver wire that i would prefer at center than Josh Samanski.
Babcock could very well feel differently as he looks to prefer two fourth line wingers from last year at 3C/4C and Josh Samanski on the sidelines.
As far as splitting up McDavid and Drai, I think we can rest assured that is not going to happen to start game 1 at home, even with Dickinson out but it was always reasonably likely to start game 2 (and maybe at times in between).
Will be interesting to see the lineup tonight – does he really run Jones/Frederic/Kap as the 3rd line? Would it not behoove him to at least try Frederic/Samanski/Kap?
I’m interested in the PK tonight – with Savoie, Janmark and Dickinson out, the options have thinned out. How much McDavid (and Leon) time will we see? I think the top 4 could be a mix of Joseph, Formenton, Nuge, Kap but McDavid may sneak in to “more than the last 20 seconds”.
Kapanen might even be better at center than Freddy. It might be inovative to go with Kapanen in the middle of Jones & Frederic. And he’s right handed.
Babcock does trust Kapanen.
How about an actual center, like Samanski (or, shit, Marjala – no chance there).
Babcock probably has his reasons. All I know is Kapanen has played some center. I think he’s a better hockey player than Frederic and is more experienced than Samanski or Marjala. It makes sense to me.
For sure he has his reasons.
Has Kap played centre? I don’t recall that but, of course, haven’t followed his career – the most face-offs he ever took in a season was 77.
Kap is not the most detailed defensive player on this team – lets not forget he’s not far removed from stretches of healthy scratches on this team as he was the worst 2-way forward after he was claimed on waiver. He was better 2-way last year but I still don’t see him as a center.
Babcock likes Micheals too.
I called this season’s roster a lock 55 years ago, before I was even born. Did I mention that yet?
Material post.
Haha is this called satire?
Not if you really believe it!
I don’t think this wonderful place is somewhere we want these type of personal posts. Either challenge the substance or place the poster on ignore.
The ignore button is my favorite!
Agreed
Prospectious!
Now that all the campers have returned to their junior homes, one should expect them all in action tonight. Same teams as yesternight, but with more participation.
It was the best of times for Lewandowski who, with a short turnaround, scored the game-winner and added an assist in a 2nd-star performance.
It was the blurst of times for Cameron, allowing four goals on 22 shots in Sioux Falls’ first loss of the season. Will he get a chance at redemption tonight? We wait.
Berzkalns returns to Muskegon to captain the Jacks of Lumber, while the Spitfires also venture stateside for their match.
Muskegon (Berzkalns) @ 4 p.m.
Sioux Falls (Cameron) @ 5 p.m.
Windsor (Robinson, Harvey) @ 5 p.m.
Saskatoon (Lewandowski) @ 7 p.m.
All times, at all times, are Frank time.
The Rural Alberta Advantage (excellent live band if you ever get the chance; Nils the lead singer is an Oilers fan) has a song called Frank, AB:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8xgyynIg1c&list=RDy8xgyynIg1c&start_radio=1
They also have a fantastic song called “Edmonton” on the same album.
I love that whole album. One of my favourite bands!
That looks like a fun crowd. It’s a nice song that over 22 year-olds can understand the words.
Condors are in San Jose tonight – given Keppen and D’Amato were the top forwards and AHL tryout Luke Prokop was the best d-man, I except a much better lineup tonight.
Not sure who plays goalie – I believe both Tomkins and Ungar (and Vinni) are still with the Oilers and Day/Jonsson split last night – maybe they split again.
On that note, am curious what they end up doing with Vinni – If I remember correctly, he’s on an AHL deal