Per 82 games in the AHL, Matvey Petrov averages 14 goals. Only three of his 18 goals came on the power play. He is a splendid passer, and owns a 13.6 shooting percentage. What’s his problem? He doesn’t shoot the puck enough to collect boxcar numbers. If he wants to make the Oilers, Petrov has to shoot the damned puck more often.
If we take a look at the last four Condors seasons, and include only prospects, here are the shots-per-game totals:
- Dylan Holloway 3.2 (2023-24)
- Roby Jarventie 3.0 (2024-25)
- Raphael Lavoie 3.0 (2023-24)
- Raphael Lavoie 3.0 (2022-23)
- Dylan Holloway 2.8 (2022-23)
- Raphael Lavoie 2.6 (2021-22)
- Dylan Holloway 2.5 (2021-22)
- Noah Philp 2.4 (2024-25)
- James Hamblin 2.4 (2024-25)
- James Hamblin 2.2 (2022-23)
- Matt Savoie 2.1 (2024-25)
- James Hamblin 2.1 (2023-24)
- James Hamblin 1.9 (2021-22)
- Xavier Bourgault 1.9 (2022-23)
- Noah Philp 1.7 (2022-23)
- Tyler Tullio 1.7 (2023-24)
- Xavier Bourgault 1.6 (2023-24)
- Tyler Tullio 1.5 (2022-23)
- Carter Savoie 1.3 (2023-24)
- Carter Savoie 1.3 (2022-23)
- Matvey Petrov 1.3 (2023-24)
- Matvey Petrov 1.2 (2024-25)
Some of these numbers show young players improving year over year (Hamblin, Holloway, Philp) and of course that’s a nice total for Roby Jarventie in the smallest of sample sizes.
Below Hamblin’s 2022-23 number are a bunch of guys who needed to improve. Philp jumped handsomely, and he’s in the mix for NHL work.
Petrov went the wrong way. Meanwhile his shooting percentage in 2024-25 (14.8) was among the best of Bakersfield’s prospects. I think he touches the puck enough, and also believe there have been chances given, although not much on the power play. Petrov isn’t a disappointment on the level of Bourgault, who was a first-round pick. However, any damn fool can see the young man has talent, but he’s not using that accurate shot near enough to get noticed. Damn shame.
Bakersfield scored 224 goals last season, in 72 games (3.1 goals-per-game). Colin Chaulk often gets ripped for lack of offensive creativity, so I thought it would be interesting to run back the last decade in Bakersfield and see if the Condors are scoring less with Chaulk as coach.
- 2015-16: 3.12 (Gerry Fleming)
- 2016-17: 2.94 (Gerry Fleming)
- 2017-18: 2.76 (Gerry Fleming)
- 2018-19: 3.56 (Jay Woodcroft)
- 2019-20: 2.89 (Jay Woodcroft)
- 2020-21: 3.31 (Jay Woodcroft)
- 2021-22: 3.31 (Woodcroft and Chaulk)
- 2022-23: 2.94 (Colin Chaulk)
- 2023-24: 3.10 (Colin Chaulk)
- 2024-25: 3.11 (Colin Chaulk)
So, the numbers show Jay Woodcroft was more of an offensive coach. The big season (2018-19) was the year Cooper Marody and Tyler Benson stormed the league, while Joe Gambardella and Josh Currie were solid AHL scorers. Kailer Yamamoto delivered bigly too, when he was in the minors that season.
On the Lowdown today, I’ll be joined by Kevin McCurdy and we’ll chat about Oilers training camp and things we’re looking forward to seeing this month. Noon to 2pm on Sports 1440 and You Tube (here).
Can the Edmonton Oilers ice three scoring lines in 2025-26?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6587829/2025/09/03/edmonton-oilers-lines-2025-26/
My verbiage is not quite how our esteemed leader can do it. Nobody can
Hey, love you!!! I love the guys as well.
i am so sick of listening about what could have been. It’s done. Over!! I love reminiscing. Do know how good hemmer would have been on this team? I don’t think good, he was Ales, I loved the guy, playing street hockey on the ice.
my point is let’s look at this team. I personally the best defence in the west. We know we have 2 best centers. If needed 3 with nuge. Hasn’t been said run from the the back and through the middle.
Very true. Love the post!
Minnesota owner Craig Leopold optimistic he will get Kaprizov signed as soon as es back in town.
He expects the contract to be the highest in the league.
$14.5 X 8 ?
https://www.nhl.com/news/kirill-kaprizov-contract-with-minnesota-not-that-far-off-craig-leipold-says
Tell me again why he deserves to be the highest paid player in the league?
He doesn’t but his circumstances help him, bums in seats. Nobody should care about that anyway. Who wins Cups?
Florida?
Evidence is apparent
Leverage.
For those who may be interested,
Dylan Holloway has an extended interview on the latest The Cam & Strick Podcast.
His oblique muscle was almost totally pulled off the bone whe he was injured late in the season. He has been fully healthy for three months.
There are some interesting Oilers’ morsels in there.
I miss Holloway. His high motor, speed and tenacity is exactly what Oilers are looking for. His injury history is unfortunate of course. And I do believe he was not highly valued as he stated that he felt during potential contract talks.
His significant injury history, at 23, and that he would not have the same opportunity in Edmonton says Stan made the right call. His next contract projected at over 7M
A few new faces joined the skates today including Podz, Kap, Stecher.
Of note, have not seen Hyman (no surprise) but also haven’t seen Nuge or Bouch…….
Matvey Petrov is not as talented as Slava Trukhno.
There. I finally said it.
I agree!
— the khawhi clippers cap circumvention : I alluded previous to how billionaire sports owner do this: common practice.
— Not sure which parties pissed off for it to emerge : a shake down gone wrong perhaps ?
— Anyway for cMd it’s not getting paid (in all manners) that matters : it boils down to how long does he want to be committed to an organization that has let him down while he had no control.
IMO he has been let down by the team as much as he has let them down in the finals and a couple of shocking bounce outs. Listening to the debate on the radio ranking the greatest Oilers, it seems a few of them, and seemingly the younger guys, have it Gretz Connor and Messier. In terms of skill/talent, for sure. 6 Stanleys, one without Wayne, and one captaining another team says otherwise to me. Remember the game 6 guarantee and a hat trick? That’s what the greats do, they won’t be stopped, they figure it out
The only goal is championships for the players and fans (the owners want to make money as their primary goal), and a player’s legacy will be based on that. It’s not like it’s a crap team these last few years, and last time the bottom 6 did better than the top 6. The top players have to lead the way
Per Gregor:
Oilers and Flames will play two rookie games next week. Friday in Edmonton and Sunday in Calgary.
Matt Savoie, Ike Howard will play for Edmonton along with Beau Akey, Damien Carfagna, Josh Samanski, Viljami Marjala, Quinn Hutson, Brady Stonehouse, Connor Clattenburg, David Lewandowski, James Stefan, Tommy Lafreniere and goalies Samuel Jonsson and Nathaniel Day among others.
I’m glad Clattenburg is healthy and in the mix. Calgary has lots of players that want to get noticed by Conroy. Savoie and Howard better keep there heads up.
I had high expectations for Petrov right from the start. But now he seems to be slipping down the chart. He still might show some heart and make his presence felt, as I believe he has it in him.
Sorry this got caught in spam. It was fine, just an old blog getting grumpy.
I used the word pride initially that may have triggered something then changed it to heart instead.
Derek Ryan was on Oilers Now yesterday and officially mentioned he is retired – he’s back at their home in Spokane and he’s going to “be a Dad” for the year.
Did speak about wanting to get back in to the game in some respect (more than coaching his son’s team) and mentioned maybe even with the Oilers as he’s got relationships in the room and a voice in that room.
Really sounded like he was a well respected guy in the room and really close with the core of team – talked about tears in the room when he get assigned to the AHL and more tears at Leon’s wedding, etc., etc. Mentioned a few times that he had a voice.
I do think the team lost some big dressing room guys in Ryan, Brown and Perry.
Says Magiapane will be a great fit on the team (and in the room) – played with him in Calgary (Ryan was his center for a season).
Ryan also mentioned, without holding back, how disappointed and frustrated he was with getting sent to the AHL. He didn’t think the management handled it well and doesn’t think it would have happened under the prior management or coaching staff.
I get he was upset, but how many teams cater to 4th line centers who fit in the tweener category? I think the kind thing the team did was bring him back at the start of last season, instead of cutting their loss and elevating higher ceiling guys in October.
I obviously can’t speak to what is or is not done in the room, but from my perspective there is too much “we want to keep guys happy regardless” in the Oilers culture. It does not need to get to a Las Vegas cutthroat approach, but Florida keeps it culture good by being perfectly clear about what matters – winning and your ability to contribute to that goal.
I would of kept the sour grapes on the new management to myself or my drinking buddies. He’s lucky he got in 36 games under the new boss and he should be thankful he recieved that 2nd year from Uncle Kenny.
He wasn’t good. Sports is cruel. Ryan got more out of his career than anyone expected, and I do have time for what must have been an extreme disappointment. Perhaps he should have retired then. The Oilers treated him well, because he was a fringe player for some time.
I applaud what Ryan did not many Wingers join the NHL in there late 20’s and last as long as he did. In saying that if Ryan is going to be management he’s going to have to cut fringe or better players by the bucketfuls
I’m excited to see if Tomasek can have the same success as Ryan coming to the NHL in similar circumstance.
Bigger player, more offensive minded, not as defensively responsible as Ryan (although was Ryan that player in his late 20s, I don’t know), good on faceoffs.
I’m going to start with hoping for one NHL game before I think about 600 but there are examples of this happening…
Per NHL-Sid, there are only 2 comparable examples (within the last 10-15 years anyway): Bellemarre and Ryan. One other player got in to just over 100 games, and the rest got a half a season or less. Hopefully Tomasek gets to at least 3rd on this list (assuming its not because Lazar, Philp or any other options turn out to be awful), but I wouldn’t bet a lot on it
Actually Ryan was a center for most of his career. It was only in his last 2 with the Oilers he spent more time on the wing. And as a smart, right shot center who won 55% of his face-offs, he had value. His on ice advanced stats were generally pretty good up until this past season. No question his time in the NHL at least for a contender was at an end as this season played out.
But Knoblauch didn’t play him 36 games this season as any favor. For those 36 games, Knoblauch played him because he believed Ryan was the best option available to him (taking into account cap and waiver exemption issues).
Pierre-Edouard Bellemarre is the only other player in any skating position to play his first game after his 29th birthday and stick around for at least 500 more (both made it over 600). Not many indeed! (Heard this from Gregor a long time ago).
Goalies who start after they turn 29 are hard pressed to play that much. Tim Thomas, played his first game at 28 and went on to play 426 more games almost all in his 30s. Pretty remarkable. His game totals were hurt be 2 ~half season strikes but he still would come up well short of total games played. In fairness his plays 60 minutes of every game he is in, and maybe goalies should get some official stats credit for being on the bench as back up.
Thanks for that it makes it a even more remarkable journey he had as a undersized Centre. For me his knack was being a able to score a goal out of nothing plays. He would seemingly get lost in the middle of the ice which is extremely hard to do. It was like the opposition forgot about him and poof he wouid score a goal. Even after watching a replay several times you still couldn’t figure out how he got open he was like a ghost for most of his 82 career goals.
I would hope that in time he would realize that he had one of the things happen that you just can’t at that stage – his hands went.
His differentiator over others at his level was the fact that you could trust him on a breakaway or with an open net. And then suddenly you couldn’t.
There all kinds of big guys, speedy guys, young guys, tough guys, who can do the job he was doing, but can’t finish. He needed to keep that up.
That and he never had the “I never get hit” skill that some of his size do. And he wasn’t bouncing back up again so fast anymore.
He should not have been in Edmonton that last stretch – and hopefully he comes to be at peace with that. Different management acting differently would have been doing the team a disservice.
Holland shouldn’t have signed him. This is where the buddy thing and good in the room hurts the team. He’s a great fella, ingratiated himself with the core as a mentor/dad. That is needed at times, although by 2023/24 the core were clear crusty vets, they should have been that to the group. but on ice performance is all. There were more suitable options
Winning has to be paramount for a top pro sports team if it wants to see ultimate success. Players are people, but nobody in any field that gets paid top dollars has much room for personal sentiments to drive decision making. You can still be fair and ethical, but when change is needed to improve you do it every time, and look to see where you can do it all the time. If you want to win it all, referring to sports
When Holland signed Derek Ryan a second time, he had just come off a great year for a 4th line player with 13 goals, 20 points and a goal share of 56% matched by his expected goal share of 56%. In the playoffs, his line went 6 GF 3 GA again matching his expected GF. He was playing well. And Holland signed him to an AAV of $900,000 so if he was no longer good enough to stay on the team, he could be sent down with no cap consequences and the 2 year deal probably reduced the waiver claim possibilities. It was a no risk signing that would not prevent other signings or force the coaches to play him.
Both Woody and Knoblauch made the coaching decisions to keep him in the the line up for most of 2023/24 and he played 19 of 25 playoff games. The coaches didn’t have to play him. Bowman this past season made no apparent effort to trade him either. When the team and coaches finally decided the best option was to replace him in the line up they did.
You are also not in a very good position to judge team chemistry and dynamics. Ken Holland is in a way better position to asses the relative importance of it. His 5 seasons in Edmonton, all in the playoffs, doesn’t detract from his hall of fame management career. His team lost to the eventual cup champions 3 seasons in a row, and still got to the cup final the season after he had left so he didn’t leave it in bad shape.
I get your points, but don’t agree wholly. I don’t buy the team chemistry thing, it’s a trope in a sport where few players say anything meaty. What players like is to play with the best players. Player chemistry has been shown to be about talent more than anything. They can have guys they think are what the team needs, might be right or wrong. For the best they like winning before all else
Ryan was a fine bottom 6 until the last couple of seasons, I was a fan of his. I thought that he was showing signs in difficult games of not being effective, owing to losing a step and being smaller. He was getting hit more it seemed. Sometimes the numbers can be there still, but are earned in fair weather. In the finals 23-24 his 5v5 GF a team worst 2-10. HDGF 1-6. I thought it was showing before the contract was done
The contract extension was signed in June 2023, one month after he finished two pretty good seasons as an Oiler and a decent playoff. His poor showing in the 23/24 playoffs was almost 12 months after the contract was signed. (BTW – he was 2-10 GF/GA for the whole playoffs not just the final, he was 0-3 in the finals – but both are still poor stats), But in 22/23 playoffs, just before he signed he came out even against the Knights in the 6 game loss and was 4-1 GF/GA in the first round against LA and he was not showing signs of deteriorating play.
His play did slide over the first season of the extension, but again, if they didn’t want him in the line up they could put him in the press box, waive him or trade him, and mostly chose not to. The signing in June 2023 had virtually no risk. By the way, it was signed 10 days before it was announced the Philp was at least temporarily retiring from hockey. That player likely would have been competing for Ryan’s role in camp for 23/24 had he not stepped away.
And while team chemistry, (and certain intangibles are part of that equation) are rarely the first and never the only consideration – it doesn’t overcome a meaningful talent gap, but can be a tie breaker) every coach and general manager in the league considers it to some degree whether you buy it or not. Managing emotion on and off the ice is very important in a team sport like hockey
I was using NST and sometimes the date parameters jump off, doing it at work
His decline was clear to me pre contract, should have been to the 5 Million Dollar Man, but he has shown no concern for such things, I present his start as Kings GM, Deetroit bedamned. This to me was more about his off ice role than on ice, and the coach allegedly has the decision, but Ryan mentioned ‘the previous’ wouldn’t have done that
I still can’t agree about chemistry, it’s a media and fan trope. A disruptive player is one thing, and from indirect comments from Stauffer that Kane was, other than that they want the best I am certain from everything I know. In any sport usually the better the players, the better the line works. For sure they want a harmonious group, but that cannot be the first consideration. Get the puck in the net is first, and less in yours
If you can pull up a post you made back in the spring of 2023 that Ryan’s game had deteriorated enough that he wasn’t worth a fully buriable $900,000 contract, I might buy your claim that you believed then he was noticeably deteriorating and shouldn’t even be given a chance to make the team for 23/24. Otherwise it appears to just be hindsight.
I absolutely agree he should not have been signed. He was the Devon Shore.
I think you misinterpret.
This is a little off target and I see it reflected in several posts below.
Keeping your locker room happy, engaged and contributing as absolutely critical to winning. You need a team, you need cohesion, you need players who will play for each other.
Ryan fully understands where he was at on the roster, he understands his age, and he understands the system, hes no fool. He stated he did not appreciate the way it was “handled” and he insinuates issues with new management and coach. This is the guy many commented on as being smart, future coach ect.
What I hear is a clue.
Similar questions surrounded the mismanagement of resigning RFA’s leading to offer sheets.
There was something going on with Evander Kane, heavily supported by some but moved out by management.
Coaching style is very passive hockey.
I see his comments not as he thought he was better than others, hes too smart. It wasn’t the decision itself, it was how it was managed. I think it a small piece of feedback on the management group. I wonder if it is shared by others.
Kenny used to take a lot of things in other than winning in regards to how players were handled. It should be mentioned he had no problem with Babcock being an absolute freak. Penance? At the Oilers expense?
I want consideration to the player (family) taken in, but you know what, I don’t make 900K US in a year to be a poor performer. The near lowest level of pay. Couldn’t get it done in the most important time. Below what is needed. For goodness sake, no need to coddle a professional athlete
Even Ray Whitney came around. They need a positive culture that is about winning first and understanding change that respects fairness and truth. Millionaires can visit whenever they want if truly friends
Ken took a risk and was the first to go after and sign Evander Kane and Corey Perry after their league suspensions for off ice issues. He brought Virtanen in on a PTO after his acquittal. None of these moves were popular but he did them in an effort to improve the team to win. He traded the exceedingly popular Tyson Barrie (not to the fans but his teammates) to get Ekholm.
You can disagree with his moves, and they all didn’t work out but his motivation in every transaction was to make the team better to win.
Part of this would be the player getting himself in to spots to shoot the puck (something, say, Matt Savoie, is great at) but also having linemates get the player the puck in those positions.
Petrov generally has played with middle or bottom six AHL players as he hasn’t forced his way up the lineup including PP1. M
With that said, he had a really strong 10 game stretch last season, the offence started to come and he was earning more opportunity. Then, boom, concussion, his season derailed and he never got back on track.
There will be lots of competition in Bako this year for middle and 2nd line forward spots. Lots of 22-25 year old players added that will be competing. Here is hoping he starts the season strong and is able to find an impactful role on the team.
He’s playing for a qualifying offer after this season.
One thing to note is they he’s a very reliable 2-way player. He works hard and competes and does the small things right.
In the five games where he scored six goals, he still had just 11 shots. Hot as a fire cracker and he won’t shoot the puck. Frustrating player.
Was he getting more opportunities and not shooting? I honestly cannot remember
200s shot in 60 games for NB in 2022/23 – around 25th in league shots.
Is there a public source for AHL corsi and fenwick attempts? This info, absent reviewing game film of Petrov, would confirm whether he is or is not taking shots. A high corsi with low shots would say he is trying to get shots on net but getting them blocked or missing the net.
Maybe he’s a good shooter when he gets a clean look, but at this level not as good at making those subtle adjustments to change shot angles to get it past the defenders’ sticks or legs.
He may have a higher shooting percentage because he is attempting to shoot for the corners. While that results in more goals when he hits the net, he would also likely miss the net more often resulting in a higher Fenwick to shot ratio.
Lastly, one would also have to watch him closely to see if he is actually passing up on good shooting opportunities or just not getting as many of them.
I think his flaw is he just does go to the dirty areas, he shot is a real weapon, so he is looking for opportunities from distance, not so much from the slot or from crashing the net.
He’s mostly perimeter player.