This is the 2015 rookie camp roster. One could reasonably have hoped several names would spend years with the North Star cluster (Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse). I believed Anton Slepyshev had a chance, Griffin Reinhart and Ethan Bear too, and Laurent Brossoit already had a great resume.
As it turned out, Peter Chiarelli and then Ken Holland weren’t believers in Oilers draft picks. Chiarelli traded Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and others long before the Steve Tambellini rebuild (Eberle, Hall, Nuge) could join the Craig MacTavish rebuild (Draisaitl, Nurse) in hammering opponents senseless and having lovely visits with Stanley.
Instead, both Chiarelli and Holland pursued veterans, established names, complete with higher salaries and onset erosion. Both men remained true to their styles, Chiarelli in clouds with icy altitude and Holland with an aw shucks delivery.
Stan Bowman’s approach to what was left for him has been unique so far. He is still trading draft picks, but also retaining enough to give his scouts and development department a fighting chance. He added a piece that could help immediately (Ike Howard) for Sam O’Reilly, but Howard can grow with the group and is the owner of an affordable contract for the next three seasons.
Bowman also added European and college bets. Ahead of the final game of the preseason, let’s look at those players in the context of certain, uncertain and distant bells.
CERTAIN OILERS
Bowman’s impact on the certain group consists of a young winger (Vasily Podkolzin), two veteran wingers (Trent Frederic, Andrew Mangiapane) and a veteran defenseman (Jake Walman). Just over one year from his hiring, Bowman’s impact on the certain group (four of 13) is within expectations. I would note it has more youth than Chiarelli and Holland averaged in their early days.
UNCERTAIN OILERS
Bowman once again has added youth in procurement among the uncertain group. Ike Howard is the prime example, but Ty Emberson and Alec Regula also qualify. His veteran pickups often come at little cost, as reflected here by the pickups of Kasperi Kapanen and David Tomasek. By the way, there are 26 names listed among the certain and uncertain group. That includes two goalies, eight defenders and 16 forwards. If Connor Ingram had been part of camp, he would have been on this list.
DISTANT BELLS
All of the distant bells are gone now, save the injured Damien Carfagna. Most likely recall? It might be Josh Samanski. That’s a feather in the cap for Bowman and his European scouting group. Also from Bowman’s summer are Carfagna, Riley Stillman, Viljami Marjala, Quinn Hutson, Matt Tomkins. Bowman has eschewed signing fringe NHLers (Stillman and Tomkins exceptions) in favor of European and college players. Are these names better than the previous administrations choices? We’ll see. Preseason indications were very positive, I don’t recall anyone in the last decade having the impact of Josh Samanski among the youth procured from outside the organization.
Finally, David Tomasek and Atro Leppanen. They look good to me. I don’t know if either spends a long time in the NHL feature role, but do believe they are most talented than Gaetan Haas, Joakim Nygard or Joel Persson.
On the Lowdown today, we will talk about Kris Knoblauch’s new contract, and we have two feature guests (Steve Lansky and Tyler Yaremchuk) and Declan Krueger will have his 12:40 Top Five list. We love your texts and you tube comments, keep them coming. Noon to 2pm today, Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Watched the highlights (lowlights?) of the Lightning vs Panthers game last night. Panthers are going to play their dirty brand of hockey unless the NHL takes calling the rule book seriously and starts suspending players.
Can this Oilers team overcome this type of play? They haven’t so far. If they are going to win the SC, do they lower themselves to this style of play? I hope not but I would really, really like them to win the cup so they will have to ask themselves what is more important – playing what is perceived to be the ‘right way’ or winning it all.
Florida’s not making the finals this year minus Barkov. And with Tkachuk out half the year they are going to need to worry about making the playoffs first.
Hockey has always been a rough game did the Russians and European teams play the right way in 70’s and Canada not. The Panthers have found the sweet spot since fighting is basically banned. You have the Matt Cooke (Bennett) gaining more and more worth as sneaky dirty players value has increased without having to be accountable. The Betuzzi incident changed hockey forever as Coaches can’t tell players to get that son of a bitch anymore. A Coach needs to be very cryptic nowadays as anything they say can haunt them.
There’s a story about the 1975 Habs facing that problem with the 2x Cup champ Flyers: could they win playing their (skill) game, or would they have to play to the Glyers level of thuggery? The story goes that this was settled in a preseason game. Prior to arriving in Philly for the exhibition game the Habs brought up every heavyweight in their system. The story continues… Not long into the contest a young Larry Robinson handily and soundly beat a Flyer (it may been Dave Schultz, the king of PIM). Later Serge Savard did the same with another fearsome Flyer. Neither Robinson nor Savard had reps as fighters, but they asserted their “skills” in that dept. The upshot of the story is that the Flyers didn’t try to their intimidation on the Habs, and the Habs went on to win the first of four Cups in a row.
Will the Panthers require a similar lesson, mid-season, from the Oilers? A lesson that will hold through the postseason?
ps. I truly hope someone fixes Bennett’s wagon, soon. I think his danger to goaltenders across the league is a blight on the game. The guy faced no consequences for his head-hit on Stolarz. Not the first time.
I think the only way is to rise above it, way above it, play hockey. At the very least, the crazy that is Florida will be illuminated.
Per Stauff:
The EdmontonOilers morning skate:
Draisaitl-McDavid-Frederic
Podkolzin-RNH-Mangiapane
Howard-Tomasek-Kapanen
Henrique-Philp-Savoie
Jones-Lazar
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Stecher
Kulak-Emberson
Walman-Regula
Skinner
Pickard
I hate Savoie on the fourth line. Absolutely dreadful.
I expect the 4th line is actually the 3rd line in deployment time and two way play. That “3rd” line looks like the soft parade line.
And side note, am I missing something on Tomasek. He has not impressed me, but unless they gave guarantees of NHL ice time, i feel like he is the easy call to send to bako so we don’t risk anyone on Waivers.
Hopefully not a preview, tho I think it’s a toss-up which of these fourth and third lines would push for third line minutes over time.
I agree, however I also tend to view the 3rd and 4th lines reversed in terms of expected ice time, given Henrique’s experience and responsible two way play from all 3 on that line.
I just now see that DBO and I feel the same haha, though it does raise the subsequent concern over Howard on the 4th line, even tho the line itself I would enjoy watching, at least in the O zone.
Edit: Tony Brar just posted the morning skate lines and does in fact have the 3rd and 4th reversed compared to Bob.
It’s preseason. No time to panic.
Some real potential for that third line to have some looooong defensive zone shifts and some neutral zone pick responsibility issues…..
Notice no Janmark but I believe he’s hurt.
Notice Stecher as the placeholder for Walman, not Regula, which is interesting – it’s not like they need “one more look at Stech” to know what he is.
It is good that Walman is back on the ice with the team. Should be good for game 1. Injuries have been a thing for him through his career.
Tomasek out with PP1 at skate this morning.
Who says that Savoie line is the 4th line it could be the 3rd .Just because some one writes it down that way does not mean they are the 4th line
LT does….. I just wrote it as it was posted by Stauff (Tony B. had the 3rd and 4th lines swapped on his post……)
lol 🤣 LT!
Now without checking, I’m certain that I remember there was a blog post titled, “A Persson of interest.”
It’s stored in the brain cell right next to “A fine Bourgault.”
You may be right. Persson played 13 NHL games, maybe Leppanen plays zero. Haas got into 92, Nygard 42. I just like this group better, especially Samanski. We’ll see. In the “Persson of Interest” article you mentioned, I believe the evidence is framed well, including a quote from someone who saw him. The numbers produced by Persson were solid, but not at Leppanen levels.
https://lowetide.ca/2019/01/30/persson-of-interest/
Hey Lt, I wasn’t making a comment on the player themselves—just your knack for creating memorable blog post titles.
I actually agree with you here.
Seems like the premise that Knob and Bowman are not on the same page is over blown.
I’m not thrilled with how he’s deploying some players in the here a now but we know coaching is so much more than line deployment and Knob’s team success speaks for itself.
He now has his chosen coaching staff.
Let’s go!
A three year extension for KK expires in 2029.
Same year as Bouch’s deal.
Same year as Nuge’s deal.
Three year extension for McDavid?
Should’ve kept Knoblauch on the hot seat for this year. He hasn’t shown he can elevate the big 2, or outcoach at the highest level. I wonder what factor #97 plays into this.
Two Stanley Cup finals in two seasons. I don’t know that any NHL team would leave the coach out to dry in the same situation. I have my issues with Knoblauch (why did he change the gameplan against Florida?) but this is, to me, a reasonable path forward.
Completely reasonable.
But they should be chasing greatness, not “reasonable”.
Sather wasn’t reasonable. Neither was Steinbrenner. Or Belichick.
Knoblauch’s issues may get him fired, that’s for sure. Sather, you may recall, had a helluva time finding a head coach before John Muckler finally arrived (I think it was Billy Harris, Bryan Watson and someone else who held the role as day-to-day during the era before Muckler).
He did indeed. He was that good and couldn’t clone himself. I’m still surprised he failed to turn Messier into version 2.0
I remain convinced the Oilers org is not as fanatically driven to win as many believe. They have seen their franchise value skyrocket and that seems to keep folks fat and happy. Fair enough – but I always would demand more.
The mid-90s Yankees will always be the template for things like attitude, standards, and results when I look at these situations. They did it right. And got more championships than could have been expected.
I’m not okay with a Sharks/Bills type legacy for the 97/29 years. That would be damn tragic.
I think the original sin (the 2015 trades by Chiarelli plus offloading Hall and Eberle) meant the die was cast. There’s no way optimal can be achieved now. I always thought one Stanley would be the goal, but I also thought they would keep what was already there. I agree this decade has been a blunder pile, but am fascinated to see the situation reach a pressure point forced by the captain. It’s a real thriller!
I’m not certain what you mean by “I’m still surprised he failed to turn Messier into version 2.0” but if you mean a coach, I agree. I have met and dealt with Moose many times since he retired. I watched him coach local travel teams with his dad. I saw him behind the bench a lot. Not these are teenagers, but I am sure he can coach men.
Ha! Your anti-Knob posts are as predictable as HH stating how every team in the leage is better than the Oilers…
From Google:
“The shortest coaching tenure to win the Stanley Cup is two years, achieved by a three-way tie between John Muckler (1990 with the Oilers), Marc Crawford (1996 with the Avalanche), and Randy Carlyle (2007 with the Ducks).”
Not exactly a regular occurrence….
How many years did it take Sather to win (or even make the finals) with the greatest teams ever? How many for the winning coach of the last two seasons, Mr. Maurice?
Your expectations are decidedly and hilariously UNreasonable.
Your Googling failed.
Dan Bylsma.
On a team with two of the best players in the world.
This team has the two best players in the world.
Not winning at least once in the past two years is underperforming.
And I’d rather talk hockey with HH than most of the alternatives.
More early-winning coaches:
Al MacNeil, hired in 1970, won Cup in 1971 (Montreal).
Scotty Bowman, hired in 1971, won Cup in 1973 (Montreal).
S. Bowman, hired 1991, won Cup in 1992 (Pittsburgh).
ps. I mentioned this recently, S.Bowman quipped earlier this summer that he and Knoblauch are members of a select club, the only coaches who’ve been to consecutive SCFs and lost (Bowman did it 3x with expansion Blues in the late 1960s).
Injuries probably made him change the game plan
Outlet passes up the middle versus along the wall could have been completed. He abandoned what worked after a few turnovers. No sir. The coach needed to tweak, not abandon.
This. And to calm the team when game 2 started going sideways.
It is impossible to tell from the cheap seats if the coach abandoned the short pass, high support breakout for the jailbreak before possession, or if it was the players. If the two star players abandon the system (as both McDavid and Draisaitl are prone to do) what is a coach going to do?
VEG might. They ruthless.
It’s K’s money and it doesn’t count against the hard cap. It is bad for the team to leave a coach hanging. Knoblauch is the coach for this season, so he had to be extended.
If one wasn’t going to extend him, then one should have replaced him this summer.
I’m on the “should have replaced him” track of course – and your point about it having no long term consequences to fire him is taken.
Yes you can’t have a lame duck in such a important position.
Fans of this team never cease to confuse me.
My low bar for this roster is a lot higher than most. I’ve been quite consistent about that.
Fire any coach that doesn’t win the Stanley Cup every year?
Everything points to a McDavid extension.So why doesn’t he sign? Why does every interview he does sound like he’s dumping a significant other at a coffee shop.
It’s a dangerous road for the captain, I agree. Sooner or later, when Friedman says “he’s making sure everyone is uncomfortable about losing two Stanley Cups in a row” someone is going to point out McDavid was ON those teams. Then it gets a little uncomfortable for everyone.
This is where I fear the whole thing goes south.
McDavid is a sublime talent on the ice, and we are privileged to be able to watch him.
But in terms of leadership…I’m not saying he’s a bad leader by any means…but maybe it’s telling that the Oiler players are all naming their sons Leo, not Connor.
Take it from a person (me) who used to be as serious and intense and McDavid: just because other Oilers don’t take themselves as seriously as McDavid doesn’t mean they don’t care about winning the Cup.
If McDavid is trying to send a message to the team, fine. That might even be a good thing. But once the season starts, I worry that message becomes counterproductive.
The captain hasn’t said anything for weeks. The media are the bored ones opining about it. Its the biggest story so it gets play but 97 has essentially spoken twice and been consistent on both.
Friedman admitted the interview they did with 97 came off way different than he thought it would. He said it was very optimistic and he’s not sure what got cut to convey the aloof tone.