The Oilers are on a nice roll now, with the teams just below (Kraken aside) fighting for the final playoff spot in the west fumbling toward ecstasy. The upshot is that Edmonton is about to clinch, making the postseason for the fourth year in a row. That’s news, as the team has done it just one other time since 1992. That was the five-year wonder that was the 1996-97 through 2000-01 cluster. It began with Glen Sather as GM, Ron Low as coach. It ended with Kevin Lowe as general manager, Craig MacTavish as coach.
The current run began with Ken Holland as general manager and Dave Tippett as head coach. Jay Woodcroft now coaches, Holland remains. Whatever happens from here. however this ends, what happens next?
THE ATHLETIC!
- New Lowetide: Stock up or down for every Oilers prospect in the system
- Lowetide: Oilers prospect Matvey Petrov and his possible impact in 2023-24
- DNB: Oilers’ recent play gives 3 reasons to be optimistic about a long playoff run
- Lowetide: Is Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak the odd man out this summer?
- Lowetide: Is Oilers AGM Brad Holland having an impact on trade success?
- DNB: Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl shows he’s more than Connor McDavid’s sidekick
- Lowetide: Are the Oilers carrying too much youth to win the Stanley Cup?
- DNB and Dom: Why Connor McDavid should be the unanimous Hart Trophy winner — again
- Lowetide: What to expect from the Oilers’ 2023 NHL Draft after trading first-round pick
- DNB: Blunders hurt Oilers in loss to Maple Leafs
- Lowetide: Making the call on the Edmonton Oilers’ 2023 RFAs
- DNB: The Oilers and Stuart Skinner can use their comeback over the Bruins as a springboard
- DNB: For new Oilers Mattias Ekholm and Nick Bjugstad, family matters most after a trade
- Lowetide: How unique is Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins career season?
- DNB: Connor McDavid’s importance to the Oilers keeps showing no bounds
- Lowetide: Oilers finally commit to Evan Bouchard. How much will it cost?
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers prospect Tyler Tullio is outplaying the high picks
- DNB: Why more vintage Kailer Yamamoto outings could solve Oilers’ right wing woes
- Lowetide: Edmonton Oilers spring signing season preview
- DNB: Why Mattias Ekholm is a big addition for an Oilers team that needs to win now
- Lowetide: Oilers’ mediocre February shows importance of protecting the puck
- DNB: Inside Brad Holland’s scouting process
- Lowetide: Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie turns a corner, now NHL-ready
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2022
WHAT TO EXPECT IN MARCH
- At home to: TOR, WPG (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- On the road to: WPG, BUF, BOS, TOR (Expected 2-2-0) (Actual 2-2-0)
- At home to: OTT, DAL (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 2-0-0)
- On the road to: SEA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: SJS, ARI, VGK (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- On the road to: ARI, VGK (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: LAK (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- March expected result: 9-6-0, 18 points in 15 games
- March actual result: 7-2-0, 14 points in nine games
- February results: 4-3-4, 12 points in 11 games
- January results: 8-2-2, 18 points in 12 games
- December results: 7-6-2, 16 points in 15 games
- November results: 7-7-0, 14 points in 14 games
- October results: 6-3-0, 12 points in 9 games
- Oilers in 2022-23: 39-23-8, 86 points in 70 games
I have the Oilers going 2-1-0 this week, including a win tonight. The starting goaltender may well be Jack Campbell, but it isn’t a slam dunk. Making the playoffs is key, and the Oilers are close. Stuart Skinner has been strong and is in a good zone currently. Edmonton has a little breathing room, perhaps Campbell gets the Arizona start instead. Personally, I would run Skinner for all games this week. Monday, Wednesday, Saturday is not an overwhelming workload.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Holland has one more year to go on his five-year deal. If the Oilers repeat last year’s final four appearance, and play well against the Central Division winner, I see him coming back. If not? Well, I think that opens up the possibility that Holland gets bumped upstairs and we see some change.
Who are the candidates for general manager? Keith Gretzky, Bill Scott and Brad Holland are all assistant general managers. There was a time when Keith Gretzky would have been the obvious choice but the younger Holland has emerged as an interesting candidate.
Steve Staios was hired as a special advisor to Ken Holland in October, and his resume is intriguing. He worked in player development with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and was most recently president and general manager of the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL.
The successful candidate to replace Holland, should he spend the final season of his deal in a different role, will not have a big window to win the Stanley Cup. Leon Draisaitl’s contract comes up in the summer of 2025 and the decision about signing may take place a year before, which is, you know, the summer after this one!
The team plans on re-signing Draisaitl, and then McDavid, and at this point the club is heading in a good direction. An increase in cap will help and is badly needed, but getting both men signed is in the realm of reasonable expectation if the cap abides.
If Ken Holland can make the Draisaitl deal happen, he might get extended should he have the desire. It’s possible Staois is added to the chorus line of AGM’s this summer, but if Holland is going to be the architect of the new 29 and 97 deals, he’ll get an extension.
So the play could be this: Holland tacks on another year or two as GM, in order to get 29 and 97 signed. He then hands off the team (hopefully after a Stanley or two) to one of his AGM’s?
If things go the other way, and the team doesn’t sign Draisaitl, would Holland even be interested in starting anew with a young roster and all of the building that entails? Suspect that would be a natural exit point for him.
If it’s a rebuild, Brad Holland has been putting together a solid resume, Steve Staios has experience in the actual job (at a lower level) and Keith Gretzky held the chair for a brief time. Bill Scott would appear to be a secondary character in this plot, but things change and major characters can arrive late to steal the show. Remember Marge Gunderson in Fargo? Late arriving, stole the show. Maybe Bill Scott spots the tan Sierra.
I don’t really care who runs the show, unless Eric Tulsky is willing to leave the Carolina Hurricanes all the candidates are different shades of grey.
What I do want to see is an analytics department for the organization. Two, in fact. One for the pro side and another for the amateur. No matter how things shake out with Draisaitl, Edmonton needs to make an informed opinion. Analytics is part of it. The team has a department, and there are signs (Kostin deal, deadline trades, recent drafts) that suggest there’s an awareness of the good things math brings.
Who in the Oilers organization can add to the knowledge foundation, aside from Brad Holland and Justin Mahe? Hell, slide Bob Stauffer into a weekly meeting and you’re closer to having an analytics department. Or, hire the Puck IQ people and take the site private (I will cry).
Daryl Katz is a man who spends on his hockey team. To the cap every year, his people are well paid. Stanley is close. All of these decisions are important, but I think Ken Holland leaving or staying is less an issue than ensuring more math is in the room when decisions are made. The organization is making progress. Time to take the big step and open up a legit pro and amateur analytics department. Today. That’s the big step.
I assume Campbell gets the second Arizona game, Anaheim, and San Jose again if there’s nothing to play for. At the least, he didn’t earn more than that tonight.
With how baddly he bobbles every dump in he attempted to control behind net:
It’s hard to imagine him having to play in playoffs ends okay. He looks so rattled. They did manage to get him the win and he appeared a bit better nearing end of game…
I definitely would play him on back to back coyotes and ducks games but anymore thsn that depends on standings.
Delicious Oilers win, Flames lose (BIG)! The only negative is the Flames loss came with a Kings win. But hey, any day the Flames get blown out is overall a good day.
Great performance by the “Christian” bigot.
https://twitter.com/WendolynLamchop/status/1638036292431929344?t=J-plSLr1GRPCjXyY8R_Psw&s=19
Do we have to go there?
If you aren’t close with the affected people it may seem like politics and annoying. If you are close with people on these communities you may hope for more acceptance and fewer beatings in back allies. The NHL talks about race and other types of discrimination where violence results from ostracizing a group.
There’s a place for him in Russia.
Reimer had a great game and made the save of the year. He deserved 1st star
Yeah – that Nuge-cuddle was impressive!
AKA Battlin Billy Smith
Reja, are you “Goalie Greg” on Overtime Openline? He’s arguing with Rob Brown about Campbell over Skinner citing team winning percentage.
I don’t blame Campbell for several of those goals, including a couple of the disallowed ones.
But, I haven’t felt this way about an Oilers goalie since Ty Conklin. In 06, I thought we were a goalie away from a run, and Roli was that salvation. But I also remember that dread in game 1 when Conklin stepped onto the ice. I would feel the same way now if something happened to Skinner. Maybe it’s wrong, but Jack really needs a reset, and it’s too late this season
This.
a reset in a different damn city…
Or Continent.
He isn’t helping himself but my god the team needs to play better in front of him, there were so many defensive breakdowns.
Also true. And plenty more where they didn’t get a chance out of it but there were some lonely looking Sharks in front of the net.
Very solid game from Campbell — had to fight off some pucks early but was outstanding in the third and overtime. A great first step in rebuilding his confidence.
Not the best game from the Oilers until the third and overtime. But dang was that entertaining.
The Falmes are just getting embarrassed in LA tonight.
Huberdeau and Weegar’s 8 year deals start next season at age 30.
Ha!
You forgot Kadri who has 6 years left after this year at the age of 33. Yeesh Treliving blew his load on 3 players that never dressed for 1 game in a Flames Jersey.
Plus Kadri’s ZERO points and a whole 12:35 TOI! What a “value” contract!
Not sure I would have wished so much as this on my worst enemy. But good gord im happy the next 8 years will be pain for those heathens. Eat shit calgree!
Reja will be ecstatic over Soups performance tonight.
It’s all about the W, right?
Never heard such whining from the Lynch Mob that was Eighties Hockey I love it. The boys will tighten it up come Playoff time. Question exactly which Goal was Campbell’s fault? On Bobby Orr’s 75th birthday there’s not that many offensive D-Men in between Orr and that Erik Karlsson fella we seen burn Campbell for a pair tonight.
Don’t forget the 3 disallowed goals. These were technicalities not the variety that affected his ability make a save. Yes, I’m including the goalie “interference “callback too. So there’s a lot of goals to choose from.
Final count:
Oil 5
Sharks 4
Video review 4
too bad about the consecutive pp goal streak when receiving at least 2.
Fantastic validation in OT game tonight for Campbell.
So when is the next Sharks lottery team game next?
Not sure if having 7 go by you is validation.
Like neo in the matrix
Remember how like 6 months ago everyone was saying how easy the Pacific Division was. Turned into an absolute Thunderdome.
Like the reference, mate.
Lotta frauds and self inflicted wounds. Oil are the class with a save mixed in imo
Kings are the goods.
They set themselves the goal of not allowing more than 2 goals a game on March 1 and have been perfect.
That’s winning playoff hockey.
Pfft whatever – their schedule since March 1 has been melted butter soft … Habs, Blues, Caps, Preds, BJs, Canucks, Flames. They’ve played two potential playoff teams, beating the Avs and losing to the Isles. We beat them last year and we’re going to kick their ass this year too.
There was no ass kicking involved.
They took the Oilers to 7 games without 3 of their best players.
They’re a much better than now,
So are we.
Read it again.
Diablo: “We beat them last year…”
“And we’re going to kick their ass this year too.”
Nobody claimed last year was an ass beating, you just read poorly.
The word “too” DOES imply last year was an “ass beating.”
Kings looked fantastic in the 1st vs the shell-shocked flames, who were making defensive errors like the Oilers do. But the Oilers have better goaltending!
I’ll say it once more – Jack Campbell was a great OT goaltender tonight.
Therefore: He needs to channel his OT persona into the boring 60 regular minute games; or even the first 5-10 minutes of a regular season game.
Campbell with an .875
He runs more consistent than a Swiss watch.
He won the game and made some terrific saves in OT. And the Flames totally Suck.
Just watched the replay: Karlsson completely quit on trying to check Nurse on the GWG. He could have caught him and just gave up. Of all the brutal defensive plays tonight, that has to be near the top.
If he takes a penalty there’s only 12 seconds left before shootout. Maybe he thought Nurse the Mason wouldn’t catch Reimer off guard with the quick release shot.
I’m not convinced that he would have had to take a penalty — he just had to skate harder. When Nurse took the breakout pass facing the puck, he spun to his forehand and began to accelerate. Karlsson was only eight feet behind at that moment but was skating with a full head of steam. Nurse also was against the boards and Karlsson was skating down central avenue. It looks like he slowed down as Nurse accelerated.
Very entertaining game. I thought Jack and Louie called a great game too.
Loved how the boys mobbed Campbell after the winner.
All the goals coming from the supporting cast tonight.
Ekholm is a beast. His beard should have its own stall in the dressing room … it’s that impressive.
If he keeps this up, his beard will get its own bronze sculpture (next to Joey).
I’ll take those Ws! But good gord that’s 2 poor games in a row. They gotta buckle up. SJ and Sea play heavy games like the Kings and Jets. I’d almost prefer the Knights in the first round.
My buddy and his kid were at the game tonight for said kid’s first ever Oilers game. I’m so delighted they won for him. He’s going to be useless at school tomorrow, poor little guy! He’s bouncing off the walls going by the reports in the group chat 🙂
damn flames can’t do us a solid, got absolutely buried by LA
ha ha ha ha ha since when has a Flames heartbreaking season in the abyss with yet a few miserable hope beyond hope games to go?
When they hear about the Oilers statement game they will be salty for sure.
Have to admit there is a certain satisfaction to watching the Flames slowly dig their hole and slowly sink out of the playoffs.
I remember there was one guy on this site at the start of the season predicting they’d finish ahead of us.
Kings are rolling, maybe it’s better if they win the division and Oilers take on Vegas.
If they did draw LA, they still have to feel confident after beating them last year. Don’t forget, Mike Smith handed them game 1 on a platter. If not for that the series is over in 6. LA has some new players, but the Oilers added Ekholm and Bjustad, who both are playing excellent. Ekholm is an impact add!
Goaltending is really the question, but the Oilers are excellent at scouting and finding ways to solve goaltenders. They can skewer anyone. (Ask James Reimer how it went tonight)
I just think an EDM-LAK = a major injury.
Weird that so many goals were scored yet Reimer stood on his head and fans were chanting SOUP in overtime after some huge saves for our team. Defense “optional” tonight.
Thank you Oilers for turning a drab game into some wild entertainment!
I actually love Jack and Louie
super happy to see Nurse finish it.
Yamo played well. Campbell gets to finish on a high
Great game by the Sharks to push Edmonton.
Campbell with an outstanding OT.
Lloyd Christmas so you’re saying there’s a chance feels.
Nine shots in overtime for the Oilers.
This game was bonkers…
Great to see Campbell finally get a win. (Seems like forever since his last one)
Five consecutive goals by d-men to finish the game.
I was wrong.
There’s no room on the scorecard for pictures but that was as ugly a win as I’ve seen in a long time. But I’ll take the points as they are gold.
Our 2 heros.
1st… Ekholm …then… Nurse!
Great finish to a crazy game. At least the right team won!
GO OILERS GO!
Don’t forget Video Review Guy!
Who knew that would be so butt-clenching?! Gonna be a late bedtime tonight…
What a pass by Yamamoto to Nurse . I thought they would be headed for the shootout. But Nurse put it in the corner pocket. Holy Ekholm !!!
St Lowetide has whispered life into Yamamoto with his defense of the player the other day. For everyone down on him I think you have to recognise he had a terrific game and absolutely responsible for us winning that in OT.
Maybe St. Lowetide could do the same for Soup?
That was the most exciting game of the year.
But maybe not for all the right reasons. May you live in interesting times.
I’ll take Oiler Hockey over Jacque Lemaire boring trap 1-0 games. Oilers could of scored 9 Goals if not for Reimer.
First star, Oilers video coaches with the hat trick!
Also – Nurse is a better forward than a defenceman. I’m not kidding – he’d be something else up there.
I was ready to criticize him for the earlier rush in OT when he had the time and could have cut in, but took a low percentage shot. Incredible finish
That’s just like Jay drew it up
*it wasn’t
But big win for Campbell…it’s something anyway
Jack Campbell was AAA+++ in OT
He faced 3 shots
That was crazy. Celebratory drinks all around!
What a crazy game!
My goodness poor Reimer. What a show what a game.
Who said they were going to need 5?
Ha!
I have NO IDEA what to think of that game.
Did they deserve to win? No.
Did they deserve to lose? Not really given the last 30 minutes
Yeah. That’s about right.
xG were 5.7 – 2.7 for the Oilers
Oilers had so so many chances at least 20 McDavid and Leon also had so many pucks flubbed or bouncing on them.
I feel like they deserved to win because they created way more chances and almost got goalied. However! That type of hockey is not a great winning strategy going forward.
Can we switch goalies after the game?
Thinking that Reimer guy could really help the club.
Yeah then Draisaitl bolts to them when his deal runs out.
The eagles to the rescue, Frodo.
I yelled
What. A. Finish.
Nurse! hahahahaah
OK, that was cool. Nurse with the OT winner.
Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurse!!!!
Oh my god
Wow.
If this was the NFL we’d get another timeout here in OT
terrible defending oilers, beauty save campbell