I had Ethan Bear No. 38 on the 2015 entry draft list, behind Paul Bittner and just ahead of Rasmus Andersson. I liked his offense, RLR had nice things to say (“Shutdown rearguard plays against the opposing teams’ top line every night. Owns a laser shot that often finds the net. A good skater”) and he was chosen late in that deep 2015 pool of eligibles.
It’s been a long journey for Bear, who has both accomplished a lot in this training camp and secured nothing yet. He’s in the mix late into the final week of preseason. That’s a win.
THE ATHLETIC!
The Athletic Edmonton features a fabulous cluster of stories (some linked below, some on the site). Great perspective from a ridiculous group of writers and analysts. Proud to be part of The Athletic, we are celebrating our 2-year anniversary this week. To mark the occasion, you can get 40% off subscriptions here.
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Joakim Nygard managing his anger as he eyes spot on Oilers.
- New Jonathan Willis: Assessing the Oilers’ roster as the final positional battles are sorted out
- New Jonathan Willis: Oilers cut Evan Bouchard and Shane Starrett. Is Ethan Bear on the cusp of making the team?
- Lowetide: Oilers’ bottom-six forwards, penalty kill shine in loss to Arizona Coyotes
- Lowetide: Injuries and prospects: A brief Oilers history of devastating derailments
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Connor McDavid’s nearing return and four other things we’ve learned from Oilers camp
- New Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How five months in Kelowna changed Leon Draisaitl’s hockey career
- Lowetide: Matt Benning may be vulnerable to a trade as Ken Holland works to tweak Oilers roster
- Lowetide: Three players who helped their Oilers hopes and three who didn’t do enough to separate in Edmonton’s fourth preseason game
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Dreadful showing means several Oilers players are on the chopping block with cuts looming
- Jonathan Willis: How quickly must the Oilers’ top AHL prospects claim NHL jobs before they become suspect?
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: McDavid and more: Five thoughts through the first week of Oilers camp
- Lowetide: Why Kailer Yamamoto’s delayed training camp may benefit his Oilers career
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Q&A: Brandon Manning on how his contract is hurting him, proving his worth at camp and being a mentor
- Jonathan Willis: Four players who helped, three who hurt their Oilers hopes in Edmonton’s second preseason game
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: How an offseason adding more pop in his stick and skates has James Neal primed for first Oilers season
- Lowetide: A big night for Oilers defencemen Joel Persson, William Lagesson and Evan Bouchard
- Lowetide: Handicapping Oilers prospect progress: The development of Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones and William Lagesson
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Eight key questions for the Oilers to solve at training camp
- Jonathan Willis: Predicting the winners of the Oilers’ top-six and top-nine forward jobs out of camp
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: In, out or on the bubble: Breaking down positional battles at Oilers camp
- Daniel Nugent-Bowman: Alex Chiasson prepares to return to scoring form for Edmonton Oilers
- Jonathan Willis: Oilers’ defensive hopes will rest on the new shutdown pair of Darnell Nurse and Adam Larsson
- Jonathan Willis: How much money will Darnell Nurse make on his next NHL contract?
- Corey Pronman: Oilers No. 9 farm system.
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects summer 2019.
CONDORS BLUE 2018-19
Based on goal differential, Caleb Jones was the best young defenseman in Bakersfield in 2018-19. He earned NHL time a year ago, and entered training camp this year with a good chance of winning an NHL job. My first ‘Riesen to Believe’ post this fall had Jones 70 percent, Lagesson 30 percent, Manning 5 percent. RH side it was Evan Bouchard 50 percent, Bear 30 percent. Two 30 percenters and the guy at 5 percent are still here. Caleb Jones had the best season among Bakersfield blue a year ago. He may again, or he could be back in Edmonton by Halloween. I don’t think there’s much of a gap between Jones, Bear and Lagesson.
It reminds us, and I’ve been hammering it all summer, that you can’t project prospects (especially defensemen) in a straight line. It doesn’t work that way. It also highlights the importance, vagueness, luck and small sample that is training camp and preseason.
BUBBLE FORWARDS 5X5/60
- Tomas Jurco 5.44
- Patrick Russell 2.15
- Joakim Nygard 1.59
- Colby Cave 1.33
Cooper Marody led the Oilers forwards (6.97) before getting sent out, one of the curios of this camp. Jurco put himself in good position and then got hurt, leaving the other three men here to push for jobs.
BUBBLE BLUE (CORSI 5X5)
- William Lagesson 61.54
- Ethan Bear 58.18
- Joel Persson 58.11
Evan Bouchard (70.93) and Dmitri Samorukov (69.81) had superior numbers, but the three men who remain are basically in a tie in possession. It’s been a fascinating if brief challenge for all the bubble blue.
BIG GAME
Tonight is a massive game for (likely all in) Bear, Lagesson, Haas, Nygard and Anton Burdasov. Uncertain about Jurco’s health. It’s go time for each of these men.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, I’ll be live on location at the Mighty Millions Lottery Dream Home at 697 Howatt Drive. Andy McNamara from TSN4Downs will join me at 10:20 to talk Packers-Eagles (I’m a little worried!) and then Ryan Holt, game announcer for the Bakersfield Condors will talk Bear, Lagesson and the substantial 2019-20 Condors roster. Marshall Ferguson, TSN1150 Hamilton and Ti-Cats pbp will talk CFL and playoffs. Daniel Gallen from Penn Live will give us an Eagles perspective and Karen Faulkner from the Stollery will chat about this year’s priorities and incredible prizes. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!
What may be a key to the season is that Oscar Klefbom looks as good as he ever has.
Yes, its exhibition and he should look better but he looks healthy and, in addition to his 5 points in 4 games, he just looks, well, good.
Calm, efficient, making good decisions – and doing so with a rookie D partner each and every game.
We think of him as a veteran but he’s right at the age now where he’s about to hit his prime for a d-man.
I think, if Oscar can stay healthy this year, he’s going to be a massive player for the Oilers.
New for The Athletic: Jay Woodcroft’s Bakersfield Condors might be bound for glory
https://theathletic.com/1245061/2019/09/27/jay-woodcrofts-bakersfield-condors-might-be-bound-for-glory/
Ouch. Lost their#1,#2,#4,#5D and got a#4 in Pink. And they still don’t have Laine and Connor signed. And their star goalie from two years ago didn’t have a great season least year and he hasn’t looked great so far in the preseason. It could be a very tough start for them.
In your lineup, I’d be tempted to put Gagner and Khaira with Nugent-Hopkins. Chiasson – Sheahan – Kassian 4th line?
hunter1909,
HUNTER,
Please put me down for 101 points and 14 goals for JP
I would be happy with that, although I think I would keep Lagesson on the left side when he’s playing – Russell can’t make a pass anyhow so being on the right shouldn’t hurt.
I think Granlund is a perfect 13th forward, he’s a great utility player. I don’t think he should be sent down. It’s just too bad Holland paid him like a 3rd liner.
Based solely on merit, ie pre-season performance, I have it as:
Drai McDeity Neal
Jurco Nuge Gagner
Khaira Haas* Burdie
Nygard Cave Chiasser
Archibakd Sheahan Kass
Russell Granlund
*he’s the only RHS centre we have, so technically he’s performed the best of them. Oil will do everything they can to see if it will work out, because handedness. Since we have three 4Cs, essentially, I’m giving him the nod for the moment. I think he has more offence than the other two too.
Now that’s not necessarily how I would set up the lines, I’m just slotting them by how I’ve seen their performance. Some are pretty slim diffs too… I could easily flip Khaira and Nygard, as well as Chiasser and Burdie.
And I like Archie and Kass… could easily have either in the line-up. I think Sheahan can add something defensively…
Granlund really looks like the odd man out right now though.
Drai’s first two periods were so poor I was wondering if he was sulking.
I don’t know that you can convince them to stay apart.
And if Nuge is going to score a point this season, he’s going to need more offensively talented wingers. You left the two best—warts, I know—remaining off your roster.
We can’t seem to build a roster without having a lot of spare bodies left over though. When is the trade coming and who will it be?
I did not know about Jurco’s two back surgeries and that this is the first time he’s felt really healthy in about 3 years.
I bet Old Dutch did though.
Oilers appear to play an “elegant” style of hockey. Weird for a team that’s missed the playoffs 9 out of the past 10 seasons.
I don’t think Drai, MCD or many vets play Saturday.
I am of the opinion based on this current roster that in order to ice an effective team, 97 & 29 need to center their own lines. I’d like to see Tippett fry this on Saturday:
Jurco -CMD – Burd – I think Burdasov is better fit with Connor, smart player, with get more open looks on this line
Nygard-Drai-Neal – Drai can find Neal with his passing
Granlund – RNH – Archibald – Granlund has enough skill to play with Nuge, see how they fit together
Khaira-Sheahan-Kassian – A true heavy line, saw flashes of how effective JJ & Kass were with Brodziak early last season. This would be a faster version of that line-up.
Yup, Gags and Chaser…not sure where they fit on this team….
I thought this guy was more favour than favourable outcome, so I was originally looking at his invite with a cynical eye…
But Burd Dog has really impressed me out there. Besides his obvious offensive instincts, he does smart things. Smart plays with the puck when there’s nothing available, doesn’t try to do too much, smart positioning away from the puck. forces sorties to the outside and into checking, doesn’t over-skate coverage…
He looks well-coached to tell you the truth. And that good sense with decent boots, slick hands, might mean something.
The Oil have time, as Gerta said above, he can stay on tryout or be signed to an ATO in Bako if they want to give him game time. And likely they would either need Haas to return to Swissville or divest a contract by trade before signing him..
Zelepukin,
This is awesome.
Yup, you’re right. He definitely got a little stick on it and forced it back in Bear’s direction. Two nice plays on that goal.
I have yet to try the mustard thing but I every couple games I do get debilitating calf cramps near the end of the 3rd period. Nothing has ever really worked. Electrolyte formulas, high dosage of magnesium etc.
Pouzar,
https://www.roanoke.com/archive/the-people-s-pharmacy-why-mustard-works-for-muscle-cramps/article_97bba576-25fb-5e9d-a80c-b8c0af6a91d8.html
Researchers have established that pickle juice promptly eases electrically induced muscle cramps (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, May 2010). They also have demonstrated that the mechanism of action of pickle juice or mustard is not through electrolyte replenishment (Journal of Athletic Training, May-June 2014).
Nobel Prize winner Rod MacKinnon, M.D., and his colleague Bruce Bean, Ph.D., are neurobiologists. They also are prone to muscle cramps. While kayaking several miles off Cape Cod, Dr. MacKinnon suffered debilitating cramps, which was dangerous that far out in the ocean. Fortunately, they made it back to land, and they began a quest to better understand the causes of such incapacitating cramps.
By thinking creatively, they discovered that muscle cramps are actually triggered by misfiring nerves rather than dehydration or electrolyte imbalances. These brilliant scientists came up with a revolutionary idea that might transform the treatment of muscle cramps.
They hypothesized that strong flavors would trigger nerves in the mouth, throat and stomach. This neuronal stimulation might in turn overwhelm the misbehaving nerves that were causing muscle cramps.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/d9tqls/yellow_mustard_wtf/
TIME IS STARTING TO RUN SHORT!! EITHER YOU’VE ENTERED OR YOU’RE LILY LIVERED!!
Hunter1909’s Official 2019-20 Death March™
Entries welcome between now and the first puck drop of the 2019-20 season(October 2)
Here’s how you play: Guess how many points the Oilers get in the regular season.
That’s it!
Tie break: How many regular season goals does JP score for his new Finnish team?
BS
And there I was thinking it was some super high concept energy gel thingy.
Is Smith’s puck handling the tie breaker in any goalie competition?
As you said, they are on ELCs so they couldn’t be one-way contracts.
Another takeaway from this game?
Mark Letestu eating a Heinz Mustard packet on the bench.
who,
Maybe… I haven’t seen the replay yet.
Both Haas and Nygard are on ELCs and subject to the entry level restrictions – they were not able to sign one-way contract or negotiate a guaranteed min compensation above their AHL salary.
I’d have to check but, given his age, Burdasov may not be subject to the ELC restrictions.
I thought I had read because they were on Elc’s Haas and Nygard couldn’t get more than $70,000 to play in the ahl. They both got $92,000 signing bonuses , same as Bouchard and Yamamoto so there must be something about an elc with max signing bonus and ahl contract.
I wonder why they didn’t give them both one way contracts to keep them in the ahl if they needed time there rather than risk them going back to Europe
I hope they can find a way to keep Burdasov he looks like there could be an Ales Kotakik type complementary sniper in there
Well, both players are on 2 way contracts that pay them $70k if assigned to the AHL. It’s not really a rule, just the structure of the contract
He doesn’t have a contract. I’d assume he’d want a 1 way contract (player gets the full amount irrespective of what league they are in) but we’ll see.
The Oilers are in no hurry with Burdasov, they can keep him on the PTO for the foreseeable future. They don’t have to make a decision on him by Oct 2 like the rest of these players
No idea
More importantly, he’s been much more effective than Sheahan.
I don’t think the latter is a 3rd line C either but he’s Holland’s guy.
I’ll raise you Sheahan and a lot more downside.
I think Cave has been much more effective than Haas. Very aggressive on the forecheck. He has zero scoring touch though.
Unpopular opinion: Haas is decent. Hope he sticks it out.
Cute win and all but the dress rehearsal was Tuesday.
For some reason I recall that there is some rule preventing the oilers from paying Haas a large amount to play in the ahl. Can anyone confirm if this is true ? OP ?
If so does the same rule apply to Burdasov?
Bob was saying too many teams wanted Nygard for the oilers to assign him to the ahl. Maybe an implicit part of the contract?
An extremely impressive game by Bear, even before he scored the two goals!! I’m thrilled for the guy.
You’ve described Burdasov perfectly here.
He’s got size, skill, and an offensive brain. But his pace will have to improve if he is going to stick in the NHL.
Bank Shot,
ya… I’d have to agree now. As the game wore on… too stationary and passive. Still made some really nice little plays but overall 5 x 5 as it were, NHL style.. probably not going to be the difference maker.
I’m not really digging that comparison. I think Big Burd has a higher skillset but there isn’t nearly as much hustle in his game.
I like that he makes really accurate passes, and doesn’t throw the puck away. Has a hard shot as well.
He ends up stationary alot though, and is very passive defensively. I’m unsure how he would handle a faster pace once the regular season starts.
Would he be able to score enough to stay in the top six? Doesn’t see like the type of player that Tippet is looking for in the bottom six. Would be fun to see him in some more games, but he’s so old its likey make the team or back to Russia.
I just got through the 2nd page of comments (bottom up); pretty glowing reviews. Glad to see, and his supporters are impressive too.
Younger Oil,
Granlund signing was out of step. You could wonder about pretty much every one of their placeholder signings except that one.
OriginalPouzar,
your probably right. He’s competing with Chaisson and Kassian really… . he does give you a certain option on the second unit powerplay, which I think we only saw 25 seconds of tonight.. but can we really say he’s more useful to the team than chaisson ( no) and Kassian.. ( also basically no.. all things considered) ..
So the truth lies somewhere in the middle, meaning what? They are mediocre? I hope not.
I would give him another game; he looks okay out there.
Rob giving nod to Cave over Haas
That is what I’ve been saying for two years now – the key to playing with McDavid isn’t to be able to skate fast but to have high offensive hockey IQ – knowing how to create space for McDavid (drawing the defenders away), little passes to get him the puck with speed and space, timing your entry to the scoring area (Maroon was great at that).
I just got here. I’m thinking from the scoring summary Bear acquitted himself well tonight…
Bling,
his injury might have hurt him in the games he did play… .. but they’ve got archibald and shehan to kill penalties… .
I was about to say Cave and Russell as the other PK… but.. I think Haas might have just passed Cave tonight… … so do we have enough penalty killers without Granland.. ( assuming he is a penalty killer…or was)
Serious question.. who are are penalty killers… ( aside from NUGE who is our best) Khaira? Kassian? Seemed we had more pressure on the penalty kill tonight.
I think they may release Burdasov from his PTO as early as tonight/tomorrow.
He’s not making this team and what is the point of keeping him around and/or playing him on Sat?
Haas may have saved his chances with a good third period but I still think both he an Nygard should be assigned to the AHL, at least to start the season.
That was a pretty poised play by Haas on the second Bear goal. Hanging onto the puck at the top of the o-zone waiting for the play to develop instead of just dumping into the corner or at the net.
I was pretty impressed with him.