Can you imagine this edition of the Oilers selling at the deadline? Of course not. This year there’s some November wobble and that may lead to some movement, but missing the playoffs is not an option. How long will Ken Holland wait to tweak? If this team is selling, there are going to be mammoth changes and that goes all the way to the top of management and coaching. What’s that old saying? Failure is not an option? Yes.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: What should the Edmonton Oilers expect from Klim Kostin?
- New DNB: Oilers must learn how to cope without Evander Kane
- Lowetide: How close to balanced are the 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers?
- DNB: Oilers’ Evander Kane hospitalized after skate blade cuts his arm
- Lowetide: Oilers top prospect is unclear for the first time in a dozen years
- Lowetide: Oilers prospects crowding AHL roster, ice time at a premium
- DNB: Why Oilers’ latest ‘pathetic’ performance from Jack Campbell is a growing issue
- Lowetide: Oilers rookie Stuart Skinner is chasing history
- DNB: Devils stun Oilers in Edmonton: How 7 seconds changed the game
- DNB: Ryan Smyth on Oilers memories, keepsakes and the current team: Q&A
- Lowetide: Making room for Dylan Holloway
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers start October slow but finish month strong
- Lowetide: Oilers prospect Tyler Tullio adjusting quickly to AHL
- DNB: Oilers’ Skinner, an Edmonton native, closes door on Flames
- DNB: The Oilers have a third line that’s settling in
- Lowetide: Early season trade unlikely for the Oilers
- DNB: How the Oilers can manage Connor McDavid and star players’ workloads
- Jonathan Willis: Jakob Chychrun would look good on the Oilers, but is there a deal to be had?
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers reasonable expectations for every player in 2022-23
- Lowetide: Oilers top-20 prospects, summer 2022
WHAT TO EXPECT IN NOVEMBER
- At home to: NAS, NJD, DAL (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 1-2-0)
- On the road to: WAS, TBY, CAR, FLA (Expected 1-2-1) (Actual 1-2-0)
- At home to: LAK, VEG (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: NJD, NYI, NYR (Expected (1-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: FLA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: CHI (Expected (1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- November expected result: 7-4-3, 17 points in 14 games
- Actual November results: 2-4-0, 4 points in 6 games
- October results: 6-3-0, 12 points in 9 games
- Oilers in 2022-23: 8-7-0, 16 points in 15 games
A win this afternoon by the Oilers would bring the team home at .500 on what was predicted to be a difficult four-game visit to the American south. Edmonton is on pace to finish with 87 points, and that won’t be enough for the postseason no matter the current standings.
POSSIBLE ROSTER
I much prefer the Kulak-Bouchard second pairing option, glad the coaching staff has (apparently) returned to the idea. Bouchard and Kulak are 6-6 goals and that’s the play here. The third pairing is a bit of a mess no matter who plays with Ryan Murray. The veteran is 0-5 with Bouchard and 3-2 with others.Markus Niemelainen and Tyson Barrie are 4-4 together, Murray-Barrie is 2-0. That’s the ticket. Nurse-Ceci, Kulak-Bouchard and then the two lefties play with Barrie against the depth opposition. Klim Kostin will be a player to watch in his Oilers debut.
CONDORS
The Oilers farm team is getting strong results from prospects in the system early in the year. Led by RH defenseman Mike Kesselring (six goals and seven points in 10 games), the ’22 and under’ group is enjoying a strong start to the year. Xavier Bourgault (3-3-6 in 10 games) is the player I notice most often, but Raphael Lavoie (2-1-3 in four games), Tyler Tullio (1-2-3 in nine games), Carter Savoie (2-0-2 in five games) and Olivier Rodrigue (.915 SP) all have a story to tell. Philip Broberg played last night, did some nice things and also showed signs of being in and out of the lineup during the early days of preseason and regular season.
200 NHL games
The line for a successful draft pick moves all over the place but 200 NHL games is usually regarded as a success. It’s almost three full seasons, it’s extremely rare for a fringe player (Martin Marincin) to hang around long enough to play that many games in the league. So, 200 games is a good line in the sand. Kailer Yamamoto is currently injured, and stuck at 199 games. It gives us a chance to look at the 2015-18 group of picks that were procured under the watch of Peter Chiarelli, Keith Gretzky and Bob Green. Keep in mind the 2010 draft has many more possible games in the universe compared to 2015.
- 2010: Taylor Hall (775), Tyler Pitlick (331), Martin Marincin (227), Brandon Davidson (180)
- 2011: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (734), Tobias Rieder (478), Oscar Klefbom (378)
- 2012: Nail Yakupov (350), Erik Gustafsson (324), Jujhar Khaira (295)
- 2013: Darnell Nurse (492), Anton Slepyshev (102)
- 2014: Leon Draisaitl (573)
- 2015: Connor McDavid (502), John Marino (203), Ethan Bear (195), Caleb Jones (155)
- 2016: Jesse Puljujarvi (274), Tyler Benson (36), Markus Niemelainen (32)
- 2017: Kailer Yamamoto (199), Stuart Skinner (20)
- 2018: Evan Bouchard (117), Ryan McLeod (96)
- 2019: Philip Broberg (23)
Seven years after the 2015 draft, four men have played a total of 1,055 games. It’s possible the 2015 draft will yield over 3,000 NHL games, making it just the fourth Oilers draft to deliver at that level (source). Edmonton has McDavid and trades that brought Warren Foegele and Shane Lachance from that draft, but the scouts had a strong weekend and the proof comes in the three blue drafted in the depths in 2015 who all should pass 200 games.
Yevseyev just got turned inside out giving up a short breakaway that his keeper bailed him out on
By the way if anyone is wondering what kind of adverts TNV Tatarstan has, so far in the first break going to intermission we’ve been shown a gambling ad (you cannot hide lol), credit card ad, car ad, music/dance extravaganza coming to the stage ad, bank ad, ad for the network’s comedy show… pretty much the same as here except no beer ad yet.
Ak Bars has a very nice very modern dressing room…
Can we just lay off our players. Do you not think that Connor has any thoughts of who he plays with. He chose nuge because why wouldn’t you. However, he also would like to play with Jesse because he wants him to be good. That’s him
Just a fantastic performance by the Condors to take down the “stacked” Reign 3-1 and win their 5th straight game.
Rodrigue was excellent as he stopped 26 of 27. The only goal that beat him was when Byefield got the puck right in front with no Condors within 7 feet in any direction – never seen someone so alone all in front.
Rodruigue’s second plus performance in a row.
I know there is a couple guys that do this, but I like yours . Klim, was huge!! We don’t score
I didn’t realize Byfield was back in the AHL.
Summarizing!
Lachance needs to stop, drop and roll because he is on fire right now. He followed up last night’s 2-goal effort with a similar effort tonight, giving him 8 on the season. For keying Youngstown’s third period rally, he was named 3rd star.
Petrov scored his 9th goal of the season, running his point streak to 13 games.
Brind’Amour picked up an assist and went a robust 14-of-22 (63.6%) on the dot in a Quinnipiac victory.
Schaefer, Chiasson, Wanner, Määttä, and Mazura were held off the scoresheet.
Münzenberger remained out of Vermont’s lineup.
Malone with a great defensive play inside the defensive zone and then absolutely bulls/powers his way up ice for a breakaway – shoots wide but it comes hot off the backboards and he banks the rebound off the goalie in for the 3-1 lead in the 3rd.
The 18th Condor to score this season….
I think Lavoie must have just lifted weights day after day after day when hurt/rehabbing because, damn, he’s STRONG out there – power moves.
A good forecheck shift by the Condors, including the likes of Kesselring and McKegg and a Demers writer is tipped in my Engras for his first pro goal and the Condors take a 1-0 lead in the 2nd period despite the worst jerseys of all time.
I guess that goal provided Engras with some confidence because, 10 seconds later, he take a pass at the top of the circles and a wicked snap shot shelf provides the Condors with a 2-0 lead.
Awesome!
Schaefer, out PKing, stands up the zone entry at the blue line and turns the puck over. He sends a TBird in on a shorthanded break, but the attempt is stuffed. On the same shift his pressure contributes to another turnover and he dashes out to the NZ, but the stretch pass misses him. Would’ve been a clean breakaway.
Schaefer with a partial breakaway, tries to go high stick side with a snap shot but can’t elevate and Peters makes the save.
Schaefer with another good PK shift just before the end of the 2nd. Tbirds outshot the Hitmen 15-2 in this period but can’t get one by the Calgary netminder. I believe Peters is rated one of the best goalies in the Dub this season and he looks it.
Not much to say about the NB-Barrie match as it wasn’t much of a hockey game. 7-2 Battalion featuring pretty ragged loose play.
Petrov played his usual north-south game, had four or five shot attempts, two shots, with one resulting in a lucky goal. didn’t get a lot of touches tonight though. He showed his usual strong awareness of what is happening on the ice, knowing when to be back on the backcheck, or out in the NZ looking for a break.
If I had any complaints about his game, it would be a sense of urgency in his first three steps (although it wasn’t really demanded tonight) and more physicality. He tends to play a bit of the McLeod/Nuge fly-by game and I’d like to see him engage more, being one of the bigger players on the ice.
\
I’ve flipped to the last two periods of the TBirds game. Calgary has a 1-0 lead, Schaefer has one shot. I’m not sure I will make it to the end of this one still conscious though.
Lachance scores twice in eleven seconds to pull Youngstown within one in period 3.
The first one came on the PP as his wraparound doesn’t go, but he buries his own rebound:
https://twitter.com/YtownPhantoms/status/1591618896058253316?cxt=HHwWiIDQ1YC9yJYsAAAA
The second on a hard wrister from the left circle that the goalie can’t handle:
https://twitter.com/YtownPhantoms/status/1591621358760460289?cxt=HHwWgoC8na3MyZYsAAAA
We only have two games next week and I’m hoping we don’t see Campbell play either one
Well Campbell played really well in Tampa and was awful against the Hurricanes. Not really sure who he is????
Sounds like a case of Jackyll and Hyde.
Good one!
Important Oiler happenings tonight, in order:
1) Learning that Kane, while having “sliced through an artery, tendon and nerve” most importantly was able to both feel AND move all fingers and his hand fully all throughout the aftermath of his injury.
.
.
.
.
2) Big win against a tough team that hadn’t yet lost at home in regulation this season.
Fantastic!
I’ve come to the conclusion that Pulijujarvi is our new Todd Marchant.
This isn’t meant to be a bad thing, it’s actually a good thing.
It just means my expectations have switched for Pulijujarvi going forward.
You spelled McLeod wrong haha
Lol… Petrov scores on a bad angle backhand from the left wall, must’ve hit a skate or something. Yup, hit the skate of the Dman standing at the edge of the crease.
https://twitter.com/OHLBattalion/status/1591596193653882882?cxt=HHwWhIDUycaTvpYsAAAA
Points in 13 straight games now for the Petrovian One.
Thank you for the updates, good sir. Keep ’em coming!
This could get ugly for the Colts. They are struggling to keep up. Can’t getting anything going when they do have the puck. It’s their third game in three nights.
If anyone has read Project Hail Mary, the newest sci fi novel by the Martin’s Andy Weir (highly recommend) you would understand the reference when we henceforth refer to any line of Matvei’s as the Petrova Line
First period in Vermont ends so I will be switching to North Bay. I mean let’s face it, Maatta is such a distant bell the DEW line couldn’t find him.
That said, this is my third viewing of Maatta this season and that was by far the best period of hockey I’ve seen him play. three shots on net, two of which were HDSCs and one which created an HDSC. a penalty kill, some PP time and tremendous zone possession. Good arrows, Joel.
Five minutes into the game and I haven’t seen Munzenberger yet. I’m guessing he’s not dressed.
Maatta has had a couple of good shifts. Long shot on net on his first shift that generated a dangerous rebound and two good short shifts killing the Cats first penalty.
Münzenberger is out of the lineup again tonight.
Maatta just had another good shift, pinning UNH in their zone for the entire time. Maatta almost scored on a wraparound, but their line kept the pressure on through a line change allowing the next line to score on the UNH unit that had been caught out there at least two minutes.
Maatta rewarded with some powerplay time in the bumper position after another shift with another quality scoring chance. Maatta in the slot labelled a wrister for the top left corner but the goalie managed to tip it over the net with his glove.
What a great game by the Oilers! Foegele came to play tonight. I don’t expect him to stay on that line but good for him. Good team win. Skinner was amazing. Puljujarvi may not get us any goals but I’ve decided I want him on the ice in the last 2 mins with that long stick.
NEW for The Athletic: What’s Xavier Bourgault’s NHL ETA? Does he get a look this season?
https://theathletic.com/3861935/2022/11/12/edmonton-oilers-prospect-xavier-bourgault/
Havent been able to watch the entire road trip.
By reading this blog I couldn’t believe the negativity.
Just went 2-2 on a very difficult roadtrip that presented some serious and unexpected challenges WHILE the goalie was shitting bricks.
If youre worried about rhis team right now* you’ll bever have a fun day in your life.
*Haooy to takj again in February.
** Happy to talk again in February.
Drunk. Sorry.
This is our window to win the cup, your damn right the fans are hard on the team.
My point is that 2-2 on a very difficult roadtrip that presented some serious and unexpected challenges WHILE the goalie was shitting bricks is a contending team.
82-0?? In this economy?!
The issue is for many that they are playing poorly as a team
The dynamic duo drag them along and win them games, sometimes
But the goal is the cup now, not moral victories
They have regressed from the Woody half of last season, before any injuries
It is not ok, if winning the cup matters. They should be building on what they did, not regressing for no good reason
Campbell has had issues, but the team has been hanging the goalies out to dry. That is the issue. Bottom part of the league in team D aka goals against
We have seen this repeatedly, we know what happens
So they did better than LT’s prediction and people are mad???
The record is irrelevant
Remember last season and the smoking hot start? Many were ‘complaining’ then
Because they overall were playing poorly, like now
And the ‘shit play zombie hoard’ always finds you hiding in the rickety barn breathing too loudly
Yea allowing 40+ shots night after night does not seem like a winning recipe. This win goes to Skinner for holding the fort in the woeful first period. We could easily have been down by two or three goals. Yes a 2-2 record on a tough road trip seems respectful but for Skinner could easily have been 1-3.
When’s the last game we played a full 60 minutes, it’s a flash here a flash there. On this road trip Campbell and Skinner won us 2 games. Did Campbell and Skinner lose the other 2 games or not?
In addition to the artery, a tendon and a nerve were cut
Speedy recovery
Hopefully the nerve doesn’t cause to much issue. They don’t heal like the other things
RNH is having his best season ever. Pretty fun to watch.
He’s aging like a fine wine.
Their contracts are $250k apart but I love comparing him and Coleman in Cgy. Night and day, though Nuge’s runs until he’s 36, Coleman 35.
He’s having an excellent season. On pace for 49 points.
and he’s rang a few posts – his shot seems to have the zip back on it, quick release zip, that he showed earlier in his career.
+ 1
Janmark is not going back to Bakersfield
He plays the right way.
Give him 5 games… 😉
There is a reason he’s played over 400 NHL games and is only 29 – he’s a legit NHL player and, truth be told, while his cap hit was a reason he was in the AHL, it really is a value contract – just an example of some weird roster transactions these days given how tight the cap is all over the league.
Start of a 5 game winning streak, kick back and enjoy the Jets curb stomping the Flames with the boo birds coming out.
wanna see a theo fleury jersey on the ice
I would throw that jersey independent of the Flames’ performance
With him in it.
Sorry if it’s been said but I watched the replay of the Barrie PP goal and at least Nuge should get an assist, he clearly directed the puck to Barrie.
Also what is with the back and forth shot totals? I wonder if Fla shots per game differs when home and away…
40.5 per home game and 35.8 per road game
Was thinking the same thing. Shots were constantly bouncing around.
I’d keep Foegele on that line til Kane gets back unless he becomes Jesse level useless.
I think that’s a big aggressive. While I think Foegele can fill in there for a short stretch here and there, I think we all know that he’s not a top 6 winger and, if he’s playing in that spot for 3-4 months, well, its probably not feasible.
With that said, its his job for now and, when his “mojo” declines, it will be up to someone else to step up for a stretch of games, be it Yamamoto or whoever (not a TON of realistic choices).
He is on a roll, so it’s a great spot for him at this time, for sure!
Thank god for Barrie’s shot mentality. 🙂
At least he doesn’t just bank it off the plexi!🤣
Skinner needs to be the starter until Campbell takes the job from him.
Full stop
Agreed, expect ebs and flows throughout the year. Jack will figure it out. Skinner is still a rookie technically. Would still rather have both than what we had last year.
Agreed
Stuey with a vintage Vasilevsky-esque performance. Held us in until we got going then some great stuff late.
Foegele GWG hopefully rolling into a heater.
Great stuff! Eat it Chucky
Pretty much exactly the kinda game I wanted to see, minus most of the first. lol
Welcome to the starters net, Stu. Make yourself at home, bro!!!
Biggest win of the year Skinner is the man!
A bit of turbulence for this team right now but a 2-2 road trip should calm the waters
It’s better than 1-3 but still not good enough.
That Washington game was a joke.
Can’t agree – That’s a tough trip with 4 games in less than 6 days (given early start today) and some tough travel in there – Its a 2.5 hour flight from WSH to Tampa Bay and they pulled off that win against a top team. Today was the Panthers’ first regulation loss at home of the season and first in a long time.
The Caps game was NOT great but, at 5 on 5, I could argue the Oilers were the better team.
That’s Foegele with the GWG .
He played a really good game.
6-1 when scoring first.
Well that’s a much needed win and two points. Get home and regroup. On a positive note the PK looking much better.
We dont play again until Wednesday, time to rest and more importantly, get into some serious practice time… realign, refresh.
I love it when the Nuge scores.
Me too. Thanks Captain, my Captain
Ok thank Goodness !!
BOOM!!’ Nuge with the gravy!!!
called it lol
NUGE!!!!
That should be from Jesse and McDavid
The nail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Geez Kulak took Bennet’s skate to the side of his head after the goal. Scary.
Pulujarvi elite hockey sense on that play
go to Bennett …. stop .. cover nobody.
-1
LOL 😆
Well Jesse did do more than usual this afternoon.
No lead is safe with this team …
Man…Puljujarvi can’t let his man go, there…put Barrie in no man’s land..,
Barrie read the play completely incorrectly. He can’t do that.
Huh? So he’s supposed to bail to a winger who’s already covered and leave a wide open shot in the slot?
Thats JP man, he totally bailed off a guy he had covered
Watching the replay, I think so too…he hesitated then did nothing…he’s a vet…take the man to the net, trust the forwards to get the high guy.
Yep – being the defenceman who gets caught up high when a forward cuts low and scores is an awful feeling regardless of what was communicated before. Pulling up like that has to be done on a high percentage play that creates a turnover. Otherwise he needs to keep backing in.
All I know is that Matt Kassian puts that one on Jesse, not Barrie.
I’ll listen to Overtime tomorrow at the gym and hopefully Rob Brown gives his analysis.
He managed to score a couple goals. I forgive him .
Barrie giving one back after the two goal day.
Tells his forward to take the rusher and then stops up after that.
No. Just no.
Dang not over yet….
Little bit of a let down there .
Oh my goodness Foggy. What a sequence by him and Drai
I’m McLovin it!
Warren is the Foegele point of the offense!