Heavy Hockey Network

November 16, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

“We’re not talking greatness. We’re talking legendary type stuff.”

Those were the words that Leon Draisaitl used to describe Connor McDavid after Tuesday’s overtime victory over the New York Islanders. McDavid recorded four points that night, which put him at 999 career NHL points.

Draisaitl also predicted that McDavid would get his 1000th career NHL point on Thursday night against the Nashville Predators. He ended up making sure of it. Darnell Nurse sprung Draisaitl and McDavid on a two-on-one early in the second period. Everyone in the building knew that pass was going to McDavid, and everyone knew it would end up in the back of the net. McDavid buried the one-timer and got mobbed by his teammates who spilled over the boards and onto the ice to celebrate the milestone with their captain.

McDavid became the 99th player to score 1000 points in the NHL. Only three men did in fewer games than it took McDavid to do it (659).

It was fitting that Draisaitl and Nurse, McDavid’s two oldest and closest friends on the team, combined on the milestone goal. “It’s funny how it works out like that. I remember my 100th point in the COVID year or whatever, and both of them assisted on that as well… It’s pretty special that it comes from Leo and obviously Nurse” McDavid told the assembled media in the locker room after the game.

“All of us have grown up on this ice… We grew up here. We grew up on this ice, we grew up playing in front of you guys [Oilers fans]” McDavid said to Tony Brar during the post-game interview after he was named the first, second, and third star of the game.

When McDavid was asked to talk about Draisaitl and Nurse, he said that “They’re teammates, the guys you go to battle with, the guys that have been here forever through the bad times and the good times. You build a brotherhood and you build a bond, and we certainly got that… these moments are a great time to look back and appreciate the things and the people that mean a lot to you, and those two certainly are both.”

McDavid is normally pretty mellow and even keeled, but it was evident that this milestone was emotional for him. His dad, Brian McDavid, flew in for the game. “Not getting it tonight was never an option,” McDavid said.

“You guys [the fans] are making me emotional, man. I’m getting emotional in my old age” McDavid said to Brar.

“It’s pretty special… To see my teammates, to see the fans react the way they did, it just means a lot to me. I feel incredibly lucky right now” McDavid told Gene Principe after the game. “It’s a special night for sure, and one that I’ll never forget.”

McDavid spoke in more detail about his feelings in his post-game media availability. “Some of these things have hit me more emotionally than I would’ve thought. You know, you spend your whole life playing hockey and loving the game, and I just wanted to play and make the NHL; and you know, 1000 points later, I’ve been doing it for ten years now. It’s pretty special.”

It was clearly emotional for Draisaitl as well. He was asked if there was a chance that he would’ve taken that shot rather than passing it to McDavid, and he chuckled before saying “No, of course not. I mean , he could’ve had three guys all over him, I would’ve still tried to get it to him. You know, I think that every guy on our team would’ve done the same thing. He deserves that, and that shows you how much we love him and how much we appreciate everything he does for our organization. It’s a great night.”

When asked about the embrace between him and McDavid after the goal, Draisaitl said that “It’s a special moment… This is legendary stuff right; so to witness that, be a part of it, and to have seen him grow up from when he was eighteen when we first met him, it’s pretty cool. Pretty amazing to be a part of.”

McDavid said that “These milestones are a great time to reflect”. It’s not just a time for him to reflect and look back. It’s a chance for us fans to do the same. It wasn’t just an emotional night for him.

Watching McDavid play hockey is an emotional experience. Those 1000 points represent the thousands of times he’s made me get up from my seat. He does something that makes me smile and shake my head in disbelief every game, whether it’s a subtle stick handling move or a ridiculous goal. McDavid doesn’t merely collect points. He does it with a style and a flare that’s unmatched by anyone in the sport.

The anticipation builds every time I see him wind up and fly through the neutral zone with the puck, or when he circles the offensive zone with the puck. You just know something exciting is about to happen, like when he walked through the Columbus Blue Jackets and scored in his first game back after breaking his collarbone as a rookie, or when he split four New York Rangers defenders and tucked it home to tie the game in a dramatic comeback win on Kevin Lowe’s jersey retirement night.

He even does special things in the playoffs, like his individual effort that sealed Game 7 against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the 2022 playoffs, or when he maneuvered around Miro Heiskanen and roofed a backhander over Jake Oettinger’s shoulder to open the scoring in the game that sent the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final last season.

I can’t forget all the four and five-point nights, the hat tricks, the overtime winners, and the big plays as well.

We’ve shared the lows from the tail end of the Decade of Darkness and the painful playoff losses, and we’ve shared in all the highs. We watched him cry in the dressing room after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last spring. He’s brought us to tears many times, and we shared those tears with him.

Related: 2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part One

We’ve watched him evolve as a player from a kid that would just try to beat everybody wide with his superior speed to a player that nobody can stop. Draisaitl and Nurse have had a much closer view of McDavid’s growth as a person, but the fans have seen it from afar. We’ve seen a mild mannered kid take the city by storm. We watched McDavid become the youngest captain in NHL history, and we watched him evolve into the leader that he is today. We’ve also seen him build a life here in Edmonton, and we saw him marry the love of his life this past summer.

McDavid said that “You take it for granted sometimes… These moments give you a chance to look back and be grateful.” That applies to the fans too. The fact that we get to watch McDavid do what he does is a privilege that I certainly don’t take for granted. He’s 27 years old, and he’s only played in 659 NHL games. 2000 points is well within reach for him. That would make him the second highest scoring player in the history of the game. We’re watching a legend play out in front of our very eyes. It’s something that I’m grateful for.

It’s been an incredible first ten years of the McDavid era in Edmonton. There have been a lot of incredible moments, such as the one we saw on Thursday night. There are still so many more moments to forward to though. Bigger moments are ahead.

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November 9, 2024 by Bob Schmidt

With each NHL team having played at least 10 games this season, I have assembled my first power rankings of the 2024-25 campaign. These ranking are based on each team’s overall record through 10 games, their strength of each team’s schedule during that span and how they fared against the stronger, middling, and weaker teams.

1. Carolina Hurricanes (8-2-0, 16 points)After going .500 in their first four games, the Carolina Hurricanes finished off the segment on a six-game winning streak. Martin Necas, averaged nearly two points per game (1.80) and the goaltending tandem of Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen have combined for the second-best goals against average in the league at 2.30. Shayne Gostisbehere, who signed with the Hurricanes in the off-season, has been a welcomed addition early on this season. The 11-year veteran has four goals and nine points already to lead all Carolina defenders.

2. Winnipeg Jets (9-1-0, 18 points)The Winnipeg Jets opened the season with an impressive eight-game winning streak, highlighted by a 6-0 blanking of the defending Western Conference champions Edmonton Oilers on October 9. Winnipeg has simply been outgunning the opposition to date, as they lead the NHL in goals for per game (4.92) and power-play percentage (44.1%). They also went undefeated on the road.

3. Tampa Bay Lightning (7-3-0, 14 points)A couple of three-game winning streaks bookend the first 10-game segment for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. Despite the departure of franchise icon Steve Stamkos in the off-season, the Lightning remain of the most dangerous offensive teams in the league, as four of their seven wins were by three or more goals. The Lightning had six players averaging at least a point per game, led by reigning Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov.

4. Washington Capitals (8-2-0, 16 points)The Washington Capital strung together winning streaks of five and three in this first 10-game segment. Dylan Strome has picked up right where he left off after his career high 67-point 2023-24 season into 2024-25 by racking up 17 points in the first 10 games. Alex Ovechkin, who is now in his 20th NHL season, appears to have turned back on the clock a decade, as he’s netted seven goals in the first 10 games. Ovechkin is now just 34 goals away from break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record of 894.

5. Minnesota Wild (7-1-2, 16 points)The Minnesota Wild are a team I’m surprised to see on this list, even in the early stages of the season. It remains to be seen if they can stay in the top 10 for any length of time, but there are certainly some positive signs. Kirill Kaprizov was among the league’s top producers in October, tallying 18 points in the first 10 games. Filip Gustavsson has rebounded nicely from his disappointing 2023-24 season, sitting in the top four in goals against average and save percentage, after finishing 37th and 33rd, respectively, last season.

6. Dallas Stars (7-3-0, 14 points)The Dallas Stars started strong by winning their first four games, including shutouts on back-to-back nights. On October 12, Jake Oettinger made 34 saves in a 3-0 blanking of the New York Islanders, and then on October 13, backup goaltender Casey DeSmith stopped all 25 shots he faced in a 2-0 win against the Seattle Kraken. The Stars have showcased an impressive penalty kill to start the season, having killed off nearly 90% of the power-play opportunities against them, which is good enough to be in the top three in that category.

7. Vegas Golden Knights (7-2-1, 15 points)The Golden Knights refuse to go away. Despite the key loss of their 2023-24 leading goal scorer and points leader, who also happened to be the Conn Smythe winner the season before that when they won the Stanley Cup, Jonathan Marchessault, the Knights just keep winning. Having a full season of five-time 20-goal and two-time 30-goal scorer, Tomas Hertl, along with the hopes of a healthy Mark Stone, should give Vegas every opportunity to help keep to their winning ways.

8. New York Rangers (7-2-1, 15 points)Is this the year the New York Rangers finally win the Stanley Cup? They have averaged 51 wins over the past three seasons and made it to the Eastern Conference Final twice during that span. Artemi Panarin has started the season at a nearly goal per game pace with nine markers in the first 10 games. The Rangers lead the NHL in goals against per game (2.18) and rank fourth in goals for per game (4.00) to start the season. Perhaps more impressively, they lead the league in penalty kill efficiency at 92.0%.

9. Florida Panthers (6-3-1, 13 points)There appears to be no Stanley Cup hangover for the defending champs, as half of their wins in this first 10-game segment were against other top 10 teams in my rankings. Sam Reinhart, coming off his career-best 57 goals campaign, has led the way by scoring eight goals and 17 points in these first 10 games. Reinhart had to carry the load early on, due to injuries to key players like Aleksander Barkov and Mathew Tkachuk. With Barkov and Tkachuk now back in the lineup, Florida will be eager to repeat as champions in 2025.

10. Columbus Blue Jackets (5-4-1, 11 points)No team had a more devastating off-season than the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2024. The passing Johnny Gaudreau is an impact that could have easily crippled this already floundering franchise. Instead, first-year Blue Jackets bench boss, Dean Evason, has his team playing inspired hockey. Three of the five wins in this segment were against legitimate Cup contenders, including the Oilers, Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs. Not only did they win those games, but they happened to score six goals in each of them, too.

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November 7, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Evander Kane was sixth in the NHL with 250 hits last season. That’s a lot of physicality on the LTIR right now. Consider that the Edmonton Oilers also lost Vincent Desharnais’s size and his 135 hits this summer. Dylan Holloway was second in the playoffs last spring with 86 hits in just 25 games. For context, Warren Foegele had 89 hits in 82 games last season. Those 89 hits are also gone from the Oilers’ lineup this season. Cody Ceci represents 91 vacated hits from last season’s team. Lastly, Ryan McLeod and his 65 hits are also gone.

Related: Kane goes onto LTIR after all

Replacing those players this season are Jeff Skinner (26 hits in 74 games), Viktor Arvidsson (8 hits in 18 games), Adam Henrique (99 hits in 82 games), Troy Stecher (67 hits in 54 games), Ty Emberson (94 hits in 30 games), and Vasily Podkolzin (36 hits in 19 games).

Skinner has essentially replaced Kane’s role. Asking Skinner to replace Kane’s physicality is like asking him to jump across the Grand Canyon. It’s just not going to happen.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 22 Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Evander Kane (91) lines up a hit on the boards in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the St Louis Blues on October 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Arvidsson replaced Foegele’s spot in the top six, and he hits far less than Foegele does. Henrique (McLeod), Podkolzin (Holloway), Stecher (Ceci) and Emberson (Desharnais) all hit at a higher rate last season than the players that they replaced did though.

The team lost a significant amount of speed and hits this summer. There are concerns about the Oilers being slower and softer this season. One could easily create a direct relationship between speed and hits because you need to get there in time to be able to legally hit a player. The Oilers’ lack of hits this season and their slow start have only exacerbated those concerns.

The question at hand is does it matter? Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was asked about the fact that his team is 32nd in the league in hits per 60, and 27th in the league in blocked shots during his media availability on Thursday.

“If you look at hits, probably the worst teams in the league have the most hits because they don’t have the puck. We lead the league in puck possession, so that’s obviously pretty tough to get hits when you possess the puck and if you do, that’s probably an issue. And as for shot blocking, same thing. We give up the fewest shot attempts, so if we give up the fewest shot attempts, we’re in fewer situations to block shots, so a team that blocks a lot of shots and hits are probably teams that aren’t very good… to look at stats, especially those two stats, I think those are nice to look at and say that you did a good job at that, but it’s usually a stat that you don’t want to be leading in.”

Last year’s Florida Panthers would beg to differ. They led the league in hits last season, and they beat the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final.

Conventional wisdom suggests that physicality is vital to winning a Stanley Cup because you need to be able to wear teams down over the course of a series and a playoff run. The intimidation also plays a role in the decision making of opponents, which can lead to turnovers. The hits themselves can also lead to turnovers.

However, Knoblauch has a point. The only player on the ice that can legally be hit is the player with the puck, so it stands to reason that teams that hit more don’t have the puck as much.

I decided to look and see where recent Stanley Cup champions ranked in the league in hits to see if there’s a direct correlation to hits and championships. Here’s what I found:

Hits rankings from Moneypuck. Team finished from Hockey Reference.There are certainly some interesting findings in this table. Only two teams have led the league in hits and won the Stanley Cup in the same season since 2008-09: last year’s Panthers and the 2013-14 Los Angeles Kings.

The Kings were clearly a physical team during their glory days. They led the league in hits in three seasons, and finished second in another one (in which they also won the Stanley Cup). Contrast the Kings with the three-time champion Chicago Blackhawks who finished dead last, second last, and sixth last in the league in hits in the seasons that they won their Stanley Cups. For what it’s worth, the little physicality strategy has worked for Oilers GM Stan Bowman before.

EDMONTON, AB – July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThe Pittsburgh Penguins and the Tampa Bay Lightning won a combined five Stanley Cups while finishing anywhere from seventh to twelfth in hits during the regular season. Seven Stanley Cup champions have finished the regular season in the top ten in hits during the regular season since 2008-09.

Conversely, six out of the sixteen Stanley Cup championship teams since 2008-09 finished in the bottom third of the league in hits during the regular season. The 2018-19 St. Louis Blues were considered to be a really physical team, but the numbers say that they finished 24th in hits that season. The 2021-22 Colorado Avalanche rolled through the league on their way to their Stanley Cup win, and they finished 23rd in hits.

Interestingly, thirteen teams that led the league in hits during the regular season did not advance beyond the first round of the playoffs. Only four regular season hits leading teams advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs. Two of those teams won the Stanley Cup, and one other made the Stanley Cup Final. One other team made it as far as the Conference Final.

All of this information tells me that there’s no direct correlation between hitting and championships. There’s a pretty strong correlation between leading the league in hits and not advancing beyond the first round. For what it’s worth, the Oilers failed to reach round two in both of the seasons that they finished top five in hits in the regular season since 2008-09.

There’s more than one way to win a championship. The Oilers have clearly decided to use a strategy that doesn’t revolve around hitting. The roster is loading with scoring talent, and they employ a strategy that encourages puck possession over physicality. You can’t score if you don’t have the puck, afterall. There’s enough recent data to suggest that it isn’t a losing strategy.

The Oilers’ lack of hitting doesn’t suggest a lack of emotion or a lack of desire. It doesn’t represent laziness to me. It’s just a result of strategy. They’re getting the puck possession results that they want, but that isn’t leading to wins early in the 2024-25 season. That’s the way it goes sometimes. I have absolutely no doubt that the Oilers will be able to get things going, and it won’t be because of hitting.

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November 3, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Noah Philp never gave up on his NHL dream.

After taking a year off from pro hockey for personal reasons in 2023-24, Philp arrived at Edmonton Oilers training camp this fall feeling rejuvenated and eager to earn a spot on the big club. Though Philp didn’t make the team out of camp, it was clear he wasn’t far away.

Philp wouldn’t have to wait much longer for his first NHL opportunity, as he was recalled from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday in the wake of a lower-body injury to Connor McDavid. And at age 26, Philp finally realized his dream of playing under the bright lights of the NHL, when he suited up in a 5-1 win for the Oilers over the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

No NHL debut would be complete without family members in the crowd watching on, and Philp had his parents and wife in attendance at Bridgestone Arena to witness his first taste of playing at hockey’s highest level.

“[It felt] great,” Philp told Oilers TV following the victory on Thursday. “Just the energy from all the guys was so much fun to be a part of, and having my family here was incredible. They were all standing there right at the glass [before the game], and I went up and gave them a smile and took a quick picture. That was a pretty precious moment for all of us, I think.”

Slotting in on the fourth line alongside Corey Perry and Drake Caggiula, Philp registered his first career NHL point when he assisted on Perry’s game-winning goal midway through the first period. It always makes the transition to a new team easier when there is familiarity with teammates, and fortunately, Philp was also linemates with Caggiula in Bakersfield. Having a future Hockey Hall of Famer like Perry playing on his wing didn’t hurt, either.

Related: Connor McDavid expected to miss 2 to 3 weeks with ankle injury

“I thought it was great,” said Philp. “I’ve been playing with Drake in Bakersfield, and he’s so much fun. He talks really well, and he does a lot of things well, and he’s a pleasure to play with. And then Corey, I mean, he’s been around forever, and I’m just honoured to be out there with him.”

The Canmore, Alberta native became the 15th University of Alberta Golden Bears alumni to play in the NHL and sixth with the Oilers, joining Bryon Baltimore, Randy Gregg, Ian Herbers, Cory Cross and current teammate Derek Ryan. Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, who is also a Golden Bears alum, said he was glad to see Philp get his first NHL point out of the way early on.

Photo Credit: thehockeywriters.com“It was great [for Philp to get his first point],” said Knoblauch in his post-game media availability. “It was pretty much his second shift, but really, his first he was out there for five or 10 seconds, and then we made a change, and then they came back and scored on that one. Drake made a nice play, Corey put it in, but Noah had a really good game tonight.”

While it’s impossible to replace McDavid’s production, it was an encouraging sign that 11 different Oilers skaters had a point in a convincing victory on the road. Philp, who also won 11 of 15 faceoffs in his NHL debut (73.3%), was pleased with how well the team performed, even without the best player in the world in the lineup.

“[I liked] that it was a full effort,” said Philp. “Knoblauch said in the beginning that everyone needs to step up, and I thought the whole team did that.”

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October 30, 2024 by Eric Friesen

The Edmonton Oilers announced that Connor McDavid will miss the next two to three weeks with an ankle injury on Wednesday.

McDavid sustained the injury during his first shift of a 6-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, when he was tripped by Zach Werenski as he entered the offensive zone in full stride and jammed his left skate into the boards. Werenski escaped this incident without being penalized.

While Oilers fans were understandably concerned over losing McDavid for any length of time, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug tweeted during the second period that initial reports suggested McDavid’s injury was not believed to be too serious.

“You never know what the outcome was going to be and how long [McDavid would be out],” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch told Oilers TV on Wednesday. “Obviously, you don’t want to miss him for any time, but when you think about what could have been, I guess we’re lucky that it’s as short as it is. There’s obviously challenges of not having the best player, point producer, and somebody who gets one-and-a-half, two points per game, that will make an impact on our team.”

Since being sidelined for 37 games with a broken clavicle during his rookie campaign in 2015-16, McDavid has never missed double-digits in games in a single season. McDavid missed six games with separate core muscle and lower-body injuries in 2023-24, but still finished third in the league in points (132) and became only the fourth player in NHL history to record 100 assists in a single season.

Related: Oilers curiously recall both Caggiula and Philp

With McDavid on the shelf, the Oilers recalled Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday. Caggiula, who played all of last season in the AHL, tallied 27 goals and 50 points in 156 games with the Oilers from 2016-2018. Philp, who was the final cut at Oilers’ training camp this fall, could make his NHL debut against the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

However, it’s impossible to replace the best player in the world, even despite his usually slow start. The Oilers captain has three goals and 10 points in 10 games this season, and is just eight points away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau in his future Hockey Hall of Fame career.

Photo Credit: nhl.com/oilers/Still, because of their disappointing 4-5-1 record to start the season, the Oilers need to find a way to string together some wins without their captain in the lineup, or risk falling too far behind the other top teams in the Pacific Division. Leon Draisaitl will slide into the No. 1 centre spot in McDavid’s absence, where he will be expected to drive the team’s offence during this important stretch. Draisaitl has 51 points in 50 games without McDavid since they became teammates in 2015-16.

The only real positives here are that McDavid is known to be a quick healer, and Edmonton is only scheduled to play five games in the next 13 days. Under his current timeline, the earliest McDavid could return to action would be on November 12 against the New York Islanders.

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October 29, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp have been recalled by the Edmonton Oilers in the wake of the injury to Connor McDavid. McDavid left Monday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets after sustaining a lower body injury on his first shift of the game. The injury to McDavid isn’t believed to be serious at this time, but he will undergo more testing in the coming days.

Photo Credit: nhl.com/oilers/Cagguila has continued his strong play in training camp into the regular season. He has five points in five games for the Bakersfield Condors. Caggiula had 37 points in 43 games for the Condors last season. The Pickering, Ontario native has played in 282 NHL games, including 156 games in a previous stint with the Oilers from 2016-2019.

Philp also had a strong camp. He has three points in six games for the Condors so far this season. The 26-year old took the 2023-24 season off from professional hockey, and he hasn’t missed a beat. The former University of Alberta Golden Bear is still waiting to make his NHL debut, which is something that could happen as soon as Thursday’s game against the Nashville Predators.

The #Oilers have recalled forwards Noah Philp & Drake Caggiula from the @Condors. pic.twitter.com/EbFo1z6YZD

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 29, 2024

I should also note that Roby Jarventie was activated from the season opening injured reserve (SOIR) last Friday. He was carrying a cap hit of $107,114 as a result of being injured to start the season, having a two-way contract, and having played less than 50 games in the NHL last season.

The Oilers had $1,288,686 in cap space after sending Jarventie to Bakersfield. Caggiula and Philp will go on the books on Wednesday because the transactions were made after the end of the league day on Tuesday. Their combined cap hits ($1.55 million) will put the Oilers over the salary cap on Wednesday.

They are allowed to exceed the salary cap because Evander Kane is on LTIR. Remember that the Oilers have been allowed to accrue cap space all season thus far even though Kane has been on LTIR all season because they have been under the cap the whole time; but since they will be exceeding the cap on Wednesday, they will officially be utilizing their LTIR pool. That means that the Oilers will not be able to accrue cap space from Wednesday until whichever day they stop utilizing the LTIR pool.

Related: Kane goes onto LTIR after all

Before the McDavid injury, the Oilers had twelve healthy forwards on the active roster. They were carrying twelve forwards, seven defencemen, and two goaltenders. They are now carrying fourteen forwards, thirteen of which are healthy.

They could have chosen to recall one of Caggiula or Philp to replace McDavid for the short time that he is expected to be out of the lineup, which would’ve allowed them to stay under the cap and to continue accruing cap space; but that’s not the choice they made. They chose to carry an extra forward rather than continuing to accrue cap space. It’s a curious choice.

They could just want to give each of them a game or two to audition for future recalls. If that’s the case, then why would they have recalled them both at the same time? They could easily have recalled one player, then recalled the other in favour of the first player at a later date to continue accruing cap space. The Oilers will be in Western Canada from after Thursday’s game until November 16, so it isn’t as if the travel logistics would be insane over the next couple of weeks.

They could have decided to recall another forward to give head coach Kris Knoblauch the option to bench a forward that has been underproducing in the early part of the season. There are several forwards that fit the bill. Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, and Corey Perry each only have one goal. None of Mattias Janmark, Derek Ryan, or Vasily Podkolzin have goals yet. Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson are also goalless, but I don’t see either of them being benched.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVMcDavid being out means that the Oilers need another top six centre. The simple solution is to put Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at centre, like they do when they put McDavid and Draisaitl together. That opens up a spot at left wing, which is likely to be filled by Caggiula.

If Knoblauch wants to bench a forward on top of those changes, then Philp would have to come into the lineup. He’s a right-handed centre. Ryan is the most obvious player to sit in favour of Philp, but Ryan could slide over to right wing if Perry was to be scratched.

Related: Philp was the most positive story of Oilers camp

The question would be what would happen if Janmark was to be scratched. Henrique would have to slide over to left wing, and Ryan would have to move up to centre Henrique and Brown. Then the fourth line would be Caggiula – Philp – Perry.

If that’s what Oilers management is thinking here, then my question for them would be why now? Why would they have waited specifically until an injury happened to recall an extra forward?

That leads us into the next possibility, which is that the decision might have something to do with the amount of time that McDavid will miss. If McDavid was only going to miss a game or two, then there wouldn’t be a need to recall two forwards.

Photo Credit: nhl.com/oilers/Theoretically, they might have decided to recall the extra forward because the team will only be unable to accrue cap space for a week or so. They could reward Caggiula and Philp for their strong play in camp and early in the regular season by giving them each a game or two. Then they could send them back down to Bakersfield.

Once again, they could have done it that way without having recalled both of them at the same time.

The other possibility is that McDavid will be out longer than we initially expected. Caggiula has the most NHL experience out of all of the forwards currently in Bakersfield. It would make sense to bring up the most experienced NHLer available if there will be a hole to fill for a while.

That doesn’t explain Philp’s presence though. They likely want to have more roster flexibility in case of another injury while McDavid is out.

Philp can go up and down between the AHL and the NHL without waivers. The Oilers have the flexibility to be able to use paper transactions to send him down on off days so that he wouldn’t count against the cap on those days, and then to recall him if they want him to play. The Oilers would be able to accrue cap space on the days that Philp is not on the active roster.

Philp is on a two-way contract, which means that he gets paid a different salary in the AHL than what he gets in the NHL. He would get paid an NHL salary just for being with the Oilers, even if he doesn’t play. Those NHL paychecks are a reward for Philp, which is probably appreciated by him after not playing professional hockey last season. They could’ve been doing that for Philp before the McDavid injury though.

It could also potentially mean that they have resigned themselves to having to use their LTIR relief because they are close to executing a trade to add another player. It’s no secret that Oilers GM Stan Bowman is in the market for a top four defenceman. The McDavid injury might’ve accelerated Bowman’s urgency to cross that item off his shopping list.

This is all just speculation on my part. I honestly don’t understand why both Caggiula and Philp were recalled at the same time. I don’t think it was necessary to recall them both, even if McDavid will miss several weeks. I don’t think it was necessary to stop accruing cap space. It will be interesting to see how it plays out here though.

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October 24, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch is continuing to experiment with his defence pairings in the early stages of this young season. The problem is the clear hole on the right side of the second pairing beside Darnell Nurse. There are a lot of questions, but no answers on the right side right now.

The latest experiment occurred in Tuesday’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes where Nurse played on the right side with Travis Dermott. Nurse had minimal experience playing on the right side in the NHL prior to Tuesday’s game. Nurse talked about how playing the right side isn’t that big of a deal prior to Tuesday’s game. There are a lot of moments where defencemen switch sides during the course of a game, so it’s not foreign to him.

Well, the numbers from Natural Stat Trick weren’t pretty. Nurse had a rough game from an analytical perspective.

Stats from Natural Stat Trick.The reality is that it is different playing your off side versus your strong side. You get the puck in different spots, and you often have to pivot in the opposite direction that you’re used to pivoting. Your passing angles change as well because your stick is closer to the boards on your strong side, whereas your stick is closer to the middle of the ice on your off side.

I don’t think it would be a significant change for an elite professional hockey player, but a learning curve should be expected. Nurse is a fantastic skater, and he should be able to figure it out. The first game didn’t go well, but it would be an interesting experiment to continue.

The Oilers’ desire to upgrade their defence via trade this season is probably the worst kept secret in hockey. The market for right-handed defencemen that would be upgrades, that are on teams that are unlikely to make the playoffs, and that could be available at the trade deadline is pretty slim.

EDMONTON, AB – July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVJeff Petry (M-NTC), Cody Ceci, Henry Jokiharju, and Will Borgen are the only impending UFAs that fit the criteria. Dante Fabbro could find himself in that group as well. Your mileage on the legitimacy of these names as second pairing options and fits with Nurse may vary.

Ideally, the acquired player would have some term beyond this season. Rasmus Andersson (M-NTC), Connor Murphy (M-NTC), Nick Jensen, Radko Gudas (M-NTC), Justin Holl (M-NTC), and Connor Clifton all have one year left after this season. Jared Spurgeon (M-NTC), Rasmus Ristolainen, Artem Zub (M-NTC), and John Marino (M-NTC) all have two years left after this one.

The market opens up by a substantial margin if Nurse can play the right side and the Oilers can target a left-handed defenceman. Ivan Provorov, Jacob Chychrun (M-NTC), Marcus Pettersson (M-NTC), Alec Martinez, Brian Dumoulin (M-NTC), Olli Maata, and Matt Grzelyck are all left-handed impending UFAs that could be available at the trade deadline.

Cam Fowler (M-NTC), Mike Matheson (M-NTC), Ben Chiarot (M-NTC), Jamie Oleksiak (M-NTC), TJ Brodie, Jake Walman, and Mario Ferraro all have one year left after this one.

The left-handed options are far more confidence inspiring than the right-handed ones.

Those options only become possibilities if Nurse or Mattias Ekholm can play the right side, unless they find a left-handed option that has experience on the right side. A better version of Dermott, if you will.

I still think that splitting up Ekholm and Evan Bouchard is worth a chance as well. Bouchard has all the qualities of an ideal partner for Nurse. I feel that worries about their defensive zone play are over exaggerated. They would have the puck far more often than the opponents would.

Ekholm is also a better choice for a player to insulate weaker defencemen than Nurse is. Some people think that Nurse should be able to carry a successful second pairing regardless of who his partner is because of his contract, but I would argue that a player making his money should be playing on the top pairing.

There’s a lot of track left before the trade deadline. There’s lots of time left for Knoblauch to experiment with the defence pairings. Playing Nurse on the right side is a creative idea that certainly merits exploration, and there are other options that merit exploration too.

Related: The Oilers’ best players need to be better

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October 20, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have had trouble getting the engine started early in the 2024-25 season. The engine is cranking, but it hasn’t started yet. The team fell to 2-4 after Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Stars in a rematch of the Western Conference Final.

There are several reasons for the Oilers’ inability to get things moving in the right direction this season. What I’ve heard from talking to a lot of Oilers fans is that there are a lot of new players on the team, and the group is just taking some time to gel.

Jeff Skinner has four points in the team’s first six games. He’s played on three different lines already, but he’s producing. Viktor Arvidsson hasn’t looked all that dangerous yet, but his underlying numbers are solid and his five-on-five goal share is even. He’s not killing it, but he’s not hurting the team.

Vasily Podkolzin is leading the team in hits. He has played most of the season on the fourth line with Corey Perry and Derek Ryan, and that line has been fairly effective. Podkolzin has also played with Adam Henrique and Connor Brown, who each have a goal to their credit. The former Vancouver Canuck got a brief stint in the top six, but he did not record a point while playing on a scoring line. I’m not pinning the team’s slow start on a fourth liner though.

The Oilers have three new defencemen. Ty Emberson had a horrendous start, but he looked better in Saturday’s loss to the Stars. His five-on-five goal share is 1-4 (20%), but his expected goal share is 59.07%. He needs to be better, and I feel that he will settle in. Travis Dermott has only played in three games, and his five-on-five goal share is 0-3. His xGF% is 40.26%. Dermott has made some good plays in those three games, but the numbers are what they are. Troy Stecher has been fine. His goal share is 2-3 (40%), but his other underlying metrics are all hovering around 50%. These three new defencemen have been slowly leaking goals against, but I don’t think they are the biggest reasons for the team’s early struggles.

Related: The summer of discount shopping for the Oilers

Blaming all the new guys for the 2-4 record is too easy. There’s room for growth there, but I’m looking higher up the lineup.

Photo Credit: usatoday.com/sports/I’ve seen a lot of Connor McDavid on the highlights of opponents’ goals in the first two weeks of the season. He’s been on the ice for six five-on-five goals against already (3-6, 33.33%), which is more than any other player on the team. That’s one per game! He normally outscores any mistakes that he might make, but he only has one five-on-five goal and three five-on-five points. He only has six points on the season. I say “only” because this is McDavid. A point per game pace is fantastic for most players, but he isn’t most players. He’s the best player on the planet. That level of offensive production is far below his standard.

Zach Hyman has been on McDavid’s wing all season. He’s been on the ice for four five-on-five goals against (3-5, 37.5%). Hyman scored 54 goals last season, and he got 77 points. Then he added sixteen more goals and 22 more points in the playoffs last season. Hyman has exactly zero goals and zero points through six games this season. He’s had his chances, and he’s had a goal called back; but it just isn’t going in for him right now.

Leon Draisaitl has also been on for four five-on-five goals against, but he has at least been able to keep his goal share even (5-5, 50%). Draisaitl only has four five-on-five points in six games, and only five points in total. That’s also well below his standard. Head coach Kris Knoblauch benched Draisaitl after he took a totally needless penalty just fifteen seconds after the Philadelphia Flyers scored a goal at the end of the second period of Tuesday’s game. He went on to assist on the game tying goal and to score the overtime winner, so the benching clearly had some kind of positive effect; but it’s rare for a superstar like Draisaitl to get benched.

Mattias Ekholm leads the defencemen in five-on-five goals allowed while on the ice with five (5-5, 50%), but he has also been able to keep his goal share even. Evan Bouchard is getting outscored 3-4 (42.86%) at five-on-five right now. He’s been fighting the puck a little bit early in the season, just like he did last year. The results aren’t as disastrous as they were last season, but they aren’t where they should be.

It isn’t so rosy for all of the Oilers’ stars though. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has had a rough start to the season. He’s been outscored 0-3, and his xGF% is a dismal 36.84%. He only has two points in the first six games.

If you need more evidence that the top players have been struggling, we can look at the futility of the powerplay. It’s running at a pathetic 6.7% success rate (1/15), good for 30th in the league. The NHL’s most successful powerplay of all-time only has one powerplay goal in six games. That’s nowhere near good enough.

I’m also going to mention Darnell Nurse in this space. I feel that he’s been better than he was last season. He’s making better passes, and he’s being more physical. However, he’s been outscored 3-5 (37.5%) at five-on-five. To be fair, I will say that two of those goals against came in the season opener against the Winnipeg Jets, and I feel that Emberson made the mistakes on both goals. The numbers are what they are though. Nurse’s improved play needs to result in a better goal share.

It takes contributions from everyone to have a winning team. The best players aren’t entirely at fault. The penalty killing has been atrocious (55%, 32nd in the league), the goaltending hasn’t been up to standard, the team’s defensive play hasn’t been good enough, and the scoring has gone MIA.

You can’t argue that the Oilers will only go as far as their best players take them though. Their best players haven’t been good enough in the team’s first six games. There’s no sugar coating it. They need to be better.

The underlying numbers are there, and they are starting to generate more chances. Those are all good signs and evidence that they aren’t playing THAT poorly; but this is a results oriented business. The results need to start coming for the team’s best players. The results won’t come for the team until that happens.

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October 11, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s been a roller coaster of a week for Raphael Lavoie. The Edmonton Oilers placed Lavoie on waivers on Sunday. They thought that they would be able to send Lavoie down to the AHL after he cleared waivers, but the Vegas Golden Knights foiled that plan by claiming him on Monday.

Raphael Lavoie:

October 6 – Placed on waivers (EDM)
October 7 – Claimed off waivers (VGK)
October 8 – Placed on waivers (VGK)
October 9 – Claimed off waivers (EDM)
October 10 – Placed on waivers (EDM)
October 11 – Claimed off waivers (VGK) pic.twitter.com/mZrOhDRJrz

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 11, 2024

The Golden Knights placed him on waivers on Tuesday so that they could send him to their AHL affiliate. However, the Oilers reclaimed him on Wednesday. The Oilers would’ve been able to send him to the Bakersfield Condors if they had been the only team to put a claim in for him, but someone below them in the waiver order also put a claim in for Lavoie.

The waiver order is based off of the regular season standings at the end of last season. The Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, and Boston Bruins are the teams that finished ahead of the Oilers last season. One of those eight teams put a claim in on Lavoie on Wednesday, which prevented the Oilers from being able to send him. There’s reason to believe that team was the Avalanche.

We are hearing that the #GoAvsGo were the team that put in a claim for Raphael Lavoie according to some sources this afternoon.

There has been some conspiracy theories on the treatment the #LetsGoOilers are getting around the @NHL right now, we don’t know if those are true.

— 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast (@2MuttsHockeyPod) October 11, 2024

The Oilers placed Lavoie on waivers for the purpose of reassignment again on Thursday. The Golden Knights claimed him on Friday. No other team made a claim this time though, which meant that the Golden Knights were able to send Lavoie to their AHL affiliate without having to place him on waivers again. It took a week, but the Golden Knights wrestled Lavoie away from the Oilers.

The Golden Knights claimed forward Raphael Lavoie off waivers and have assigned him to the @HSKnights of the AHL. #VegasBorn | #ForgeTheKnight

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 11, 2024

The Chambly, Quebec native was the Oilers’ second round pick in 2019. Lavoie didn’t record a point in seven NHL games for the Oilers, all of which were played last season. The 24-year old put up career highs in goals (28), assists (22), points (50), and games played (66) for the Bakersfield Condors last season.

Related: Raphael Lavoie ready to make a serious push to crack the Oilers’ roster

Lavoie’s greatest weapon is his shot. A big winger that can score from distance like Lavoie can is a nice asset to have. However, the 6’4”, 215 lb winger isn’t noted for his physicality, and his skating has always been a question mark. Those issues, along with a lack of opportunity from the coaching staff, led to an unproductive seven-game test run in the NHL last season.

Some fans are looking at Corey Perry and Derek Ryan and wondering why the Oilers opted to sign old veterans rather than making a little bit of room for Lavoie on the roster. The argument is that Lavoie is younger than those two players and that he has more upside, so he should have been prioritized over the old veterans.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/EdmontonOilers – Corey Perry skates at Oilers practice on January 22, 2024I would argue that Lavoie’s seven-game stint from last season is the answer to that question. Oilers GM Stan Bowman said that he liked Lavoie earlier in the week, but he was clearly comfortable with taking the risk of losing Lavoie on waivers. If they were scared of losing him, then they would have worked harder to keep him.

I had hope for Lavoie, but I think that some fans are overvaluing him. I don’t think that it’s a guarantee that Lavoie would have outproduced Perry or Ryan in a fourth line role this season. Lavoie doesn’t play a fourth line game, and there’s no room at the inn for Lavoie on a scoring line on the Oilers. One might have opened up for him at left wing on the second line next season, but I honestly don’t think that he will be top six ready by next season. I don’t think the timing of Lavoie’s development matched the Oilers’ timeline for needing his services, which is unfortunate.

I would have time to listen to an argument about trying to get an asset for Lavoie if he was never going to get an opportunity to succeed with the Oilers. I felt that Lavoie was a trade candidate for quite a while.

I question Lavoie’s trade value though. Consider that Vasily Podkolzin was acquired for a fourth round pick. Podkolzin was the tenth overall pick in the same year that Lavoie was a second round pick. Podkolzin has played 130 more NHL games than Lavoie has. There’s no arguing that Podkolzin’s trade value is higher than Lavoie’s. Lavoie would yield a mid to late round pick at most. Knowing that and knowing the odds of a late round pick turning into a useful player, I understand the Oilers taking the risk of losing Lavoie on waivers. Ideally, Lavoie would’ve cleared and the team would’ve kept him; but the risk didn’t pan out. It’s a loss, but a minimal loss in my opinion.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/edmontonoilersLavoie was one of the three draft picks from the Ken Holland era that has played NHL games for the Oilers up to this point in time. The other two were Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, who both signed offer sheets with the St. Louis Blues that were not matched by the Oilers in August. There are no longer any Holland draft picks that have played for the Oilers remaining in the organization.

That doesn’t mean that none of Holland’s other picks will ever play games for the Oilers. However, it absolutely speaks to how utterly dismal the drafting and development was during Holland’s tenure with the Oilers.

Lavoie joins Curtis Hamilton, David Musil, Mitch Moroz, Marco Roy, Tyler Benson as leaves that have fallen and disappeard into in the wind. They’re all former Oiler second round picks since 2010 that played less than 40 games for the Oilers.

I hope Lavoie finds success in the NHL, and it’s too bad that it couldn’t have been with the Oilers.

Releated: Making sense of Monday’s Oilers roster moves

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October 9, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers faced significant challenges with their salary cap situation this summer. The Oilers came within one win of a Stanley Cup last season, and “Cup or bust” expectations remain in Edmonton. Oilers management have been able to assemble what appears to be a contending roster thanks to plenty of discount shopping this summer.

The team was unable to retain unrestricted free agents Vincent Desharnais and Warren Foegele. The Oilers traded Ryan McLeod and Cody Ceci away, and they were not able to match offer sheets signed by Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. The Oilers were comfortable moving on from these players for various reasons, but most of their shopping had been done by the time those moves were made.

Related: 2024 Oilers Free Agency Wrap

Arvidsson only played in 18 games for the Los Angeles Kings last season due to a back injury. He was effective for the Kings in those 18 games, but they apparently didn’t want to re-sign a 31-year old player coming off of a significant back issue. The Oilers took the risk because it was a value buy.

The Buffalo Sabres bought out the final three years of Skinner’s eight-year, $72 million contract because they weren’t getting $9 million in value out of him and they have younger players that will need contracts soon. Skinner may have been expensive at $9 million per season, but he’s a pretty good deal at $3 million for one season.

Adam Henrique turned down more money from the Winnipeg Jets to sign a two-year, $6 million contract. He certainly counts as a discount. The 34-year old is still playing at a high level, but teams are usually wary about players of Henrique’s advanced age.

Once it became clear that the Oilers were going to lose Holloway and Broberg, they started working the phones in search of cheaper options. The first one that they found was Vasily Podkolzin. They snagged the 2019 tenth overall pick from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2025 fourth round pick. Podkolzin had a promising rookie year with 26 points in 79 games, but he’s only played in 58 NHL games in the two seasons that have passed since then. The Canucks likely didn’t think that he would make their roster out of training camp and that they would lose him for nothing on waivers at some point, so they opted to get what they could for him.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/edmontonoilersCeci was traded to the San Jose Sharks along with a 2025 third round pick for 24-year old defenceman Ty Emberson. Emberson was claimed by the Sharks on waivers prior to last season, and he played 30 games for them. The Sharks were able to gain a veteran top four defenceman to help their cause now while adding a third round pick to help them in the future, and all they had to do was sacrifice a 24-year old defence prospect. They could afford to do that because they have several younger defence prospects in their system. The Oilers needed to find a cheaper option on the right side of their defence, and they’ve chosen to gamble on Emberson, who will start the season on the second pairing alongside Darnell Nurse.

Related: The Ceci trade was more about Emberson than we realize

Travis Dermott was invited to Oilers camp on a PTO, and he earned himself a contract by outplaying Josh Brown, who was the only free agent addition of the summer that I would classify as the opposite of a discount. The bar wasn’t set all that high by Brown, but Dermott’s versatility makes him useful. His mobility and his ability to move the puck quickly make him a decent fit with the Oilers. Dermott will make his Oilers debut on the third pairing with Brett Kulak tonight.

The discount shopping hasn’t just been limited to the team’s NHL roster. The McLeod trade brought 2022 ninth overall pick Matthew Savoie to the Oilers. It seems silly on the surface for a team to trade a player picked in the top ten just two years ago for a third line centre, but Savoie was also available for a reason. His stock has fallen since his draft year. Savoie dealt with an injury in his draft year, and then he missed training camp last season due to shoulder and elbow injuries. The Sabres have a pile of prospects, and they were looking to move one for a player that could contribute right away. Savoie was the odd man out. His declining stock landed him in the discount bin, and the Oilers pounced on that deal.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersThe Oilers also traded 2021 first rounder Xavier Bourgault and 2021 fourth rounder Jake Chiasson to the Ottawa Senators for 2020 second rounder Roby Jarventie and the 2025 fourth round pick that was used to acquire Podkolzin.

Related: Oilers acquire Jarventie from the Senators for Bourgault & Chiasson

Jarventie had surgery last season to address a knee injury that had nagged him for a couple of years. He only played in 40 AHL games in 2022-23 after playing in 70 AHL games in 2021-22. Jarventie only played 22 AHL games and seven NHL games last season. However, he got 20 points in those 22 AHL games. Jarventie was in the midst of a breakout season. The Oilers used their struggling 2021 first round pick to buy low on Jarventie. Unfortunately, Jarventie was not healthy enough to participate in training camp, and he is starting the season on the season opening injury reserve (SOIR).

You could even argue that Oilers GM Stan Bowman was something of a discount buy given his history and the reason that he was available. Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson felt comfortable enough with Bowman as a person and with his efforts to learn from mistake to give Bowman an opportunity to lead the Oilers to a Stanley Cup.

EDMONTON, AB – July 24, 2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman (left) and Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson (right) address the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVAll of these discount buys for the Oilers could end up paying big dividends this season and beyond, but they all carry varying degrees of risk. Discount shopping for a season where the team will be out to take care of unfinished business isn’t exactly sexy, but that’s what was needed given the Oilers’ top-heavy roster construction.

The end result of all of that discount shopping is the NHL’s oldest roster. The forward group got a little bit slower, but I would argue that the forward group also got deeper and more prolific, which makes the group better than last year’s forward group. The defence was the team’s biggest positional weakness last season, and it appears to be even weaker this season. There are some bets down on some defencemen that will be asked to carry bigger loads than they have in the past.

Overall, I think the group is better than the one that fell just a goal short of winning the holy grail of hockey last season; but the discount bin doesn’t always offer quality products. I have a hard time envisioning a start that comes anywhere close to being as bad as last year’s 2-9-1 start was; but a slow start is definitely in the cards for this group. They need to be careful to not replicate last year’s woeful start.

The Oilers’ quest for glory begins tonight when they host the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Place.

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October 8, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Just as Monday’s roster moves suggested, the Edmonton Oilers placed Evander Kane on LTIR on Tuesday. Kane had surgery to fix both adductors, two hernias, and two abdominal muscle tears on September 20, 2024. The Oilers said that Kane’s recovery timeline will be “a minimum of five to six months”.

The #Oilers have placed forward Evander Kane on long-term injured reserve (LTIR).

Subsequently, we have also loaned forwards Matt Savoie & Cameron Wright to the @Condors. pic.twitter.com/pw5VcPD3sP

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 8, 2024

That specific language is important because it leaves room for error. Kane could be ready to play in five to six months, but his recovery could also take longer than that. March 20, 2025 will mark six months from Kane’s surgery. The Oilers play their last regular season game on April 16, 2025. It’s entirely possible that Kane’s recovery will take an extra 27 days above and beyond the five to six month minimum timeline that was initially announced by the team.

Thoughts of Mark Stone have been in the minds of Oilers fans since Kane’s injuries first came to light. Stone has been placed on LTIR part way through each of the last three seasons, only to be reactivated at the end of the regular season. He played in Game 1 of the playoffs in the two seasons that the Vegas Golden Knights made the playoffs.

Related: Vegas Golden Knights and LTIR: Part 1 – Conspiracy Theories and Potential Solutions

It sounds easy enough to just leave Kane on LTIR until the playoffs, but there are rules that have to be followed. This excerpt was taken directly from the NHL CBA’s Article 50.10 (d) about players with long-term injuries:

“If, however, the League wishes to challenge the determination of a Club physician that a Player is unfit to play for purposes of the Bona-Fide Long-Term Injury/Illness Exception, the League and the NHLPA shall promptly confer and jointly select a neutral physician, who shall review the Club physician’s determination regarding the Player’s fitness to play.”

I’m unaware of any situation where the league called for a neutral physician to check on a player’s health status, but that doesn’t mean that the possibility of being challenged on it doesn’t exist.

If the Oilers wanted to circumvent the cap by ensuring that Kane stays on LTIR for the entire season regardless of his actual health status, then an obvious tell would be to use that LTIR relief to improve the roster now. That would be a bold and stupid strategy that would be entirely transparent.

EDMONTON, AB – July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThe part of Oilers GM Stan Bowman’s plan that he appears to be sticking to is waiting until closer to the trade deadline to make any major additions. There will be more information about Kane’s recovery by the March 7, 2025 NHL trade deadline. The Oilers will also have an idea of where they sit in the playoff race by then, and they will have plenty of information about the players on their current roster by then.

Bowman doesn’t have a crystal ball, so he doesn’t know exactly how long Kane’s recovery will take. He needed to prepare the roster for the possibility that Kane will return before the end of the season. He initially claimed that he did not want to put Kane on LTIR because of this part of the ruel as noted on PuckPedia:

“While on LTIR, Cap Space is no longer accrued, meaning any portion of the LTIR pool not used cannot be used later.”

However, Daniel Nugent-Bowman claims that the Oilers will be able to accrue cap space during the season because they were under the league’s $88 million salary cap when Kane was placed on LTIR.

The Oilers have signed D Travis Dermott to a one-year, two-way contract. NHL salary: $775,000.

Matt Savoie and Cam Wright are returned to the AHL. Evander Kane is on LTIR. The Oilers will accrue cap space because they're below the cap hit they had when they placed him on LTIR.

— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) October 8, 2024

As you can see in Nugent-Bowman’s post, the Oilers also sent Matthew Savoie and Cam Wright down to the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday. Those moves were entirely expected despite Oilers fans’ excitement about Savoie. His presence on the season opening roster was always about making sure that his performance bonus doesn’t get tacked onto his cap hit if he gets called up while Kane is on LTIR this season.

The Oilers also signed Travis Dermott to a one-year contract with a league minimum cap hit of $775,000. It’s a two-way deal with an AHL salary of $500,000. He deserves the contract. He outplayed Josh Brown, who was rightfully waived and sent to Bakersfield. Dermott’s versatility makes him an ideal seventh defenceman.

These roster moves leave the Oilers with $1,063,719 in cap space with an active roster of 21 players (12 F, 7 D, 2 G). While I haven’t seen Nugent-Bowman’s claim about the Oilers being able to accrue cap space confirmed in writing anywhere, I feel like the Oilers wouldn’t only be carrying 21 players if they weren’t able to accrue cap space.

Assuming no roster changes happen between now and the trade deadline (which has a 0% chance of happening), the Oilers will have accrued $835,779 in cap space by the trade deadline. That would allow them to add up to $3,900,303 in full season cap hits at the deadline because those contracts coming in at that time would be prorated. If Kane is indeed expected to be on the LTIR for the entire regular season, then the Oilers would be able to add approximately $8 million in cap hits at the trade deadline.

My gut is telling me that Kane won’t play in the regular season and that the Oilers will try to be aggressive at the trade deadline.

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October 4, 2024 by Spencer Pomoty

The Edmonton Oilers Rookies dropped all three of their games at the 2024 Young Stars Classic in Penticton. Not only did fail to pick up a single victory, the Oilers Rookies only managed to score one goal in nine periods of hockey.

Few players really stood out to me at the annual prospect tournament this year, but some players had good moments. We also have to keep in mind that the Oilers only had one drafted defenceman, Max Wanner, in Penticton, while the other five were all camp invites.

Who Stood Out?The newly acquired Matt Savoie was easily the Oilers Rookie’s best player throughout the tournament. Savoie and 2024 first-round pick Sam O’Reilly were starting to mold extremely well together in their short time together. The St. Albert, Alberta native was excellent on the forecheck, he forced a turnover and made a great pass to set up Carl Berglund’s goal against the Calgary Flames Rookies. In the same game, Savoie made an excellent move on the Flames ninth-overall pick Zayne Parekh, using his triangle against him, attacking Parekh with speed and putting the puck under his stick then dishing a backhand pass to O’Reilly for a high-danger scoring chance. He was dominant in that outing, but it only resulted in the one point.

Max Wanner was the one defender who could get things rolling in transition and helping his team in the offensive zone. The former Moose Jaw Warrior was showing his continued growth and comfortability with the puck on his stick as he was activating constantly from the blue line and joining in the rush as the weakside defenceman. Even under pressure, Wanner was able to connect on passes in his own zone and make it easier for his forwards. O’Reilly also had a strong tournament. Considering he’s still just 18, his defensive game is very polished. He stays above his man and it allows for the defenceman to be aggressive because he can cover for them if the puck gets chipped by them or if they get beat in anyway. The London Knights’ centre has a great tendency to come low on routes to try and be an option for the defenceman in the middle of the ice on breakouts. O’Reilly made an excellent one-touch backhand pass to Savoie that resulted in a good chance on net. I do believe additional work on his skating will benefit him massively in the long run, but the mechanics are solid.

The other London Knight who was selected in the seventh-round of this year’s draft also had a strong tournament. William Nicholl stood out with his skating and effort on the forecheck as well as the backcheck, but he also made some excellent plays with the puck on his stick. Nicholl’s usage of linear crossovers to attack defenceman and gain speed is textbook. His decision-making while moving at the speed he moves is also impressive, he doesn’t have any other standout tools, but he has a great base to work with and I thought he was the teams third-best forward in this tournament. He was the extra attacker in the Winnipeg Jets game when the Oilers Rookies were down by two and pulled the goalie, he started all games on the third line, and I think being put out in that situation says a ton about how his tournament went.

The power-play stood out because of how poor it was. A unit with Matvey Petrov and Savoie sounds like it should be a nightmare for younger players, but it was the opposite of that. The first unit failed to sustain any sort of pressure against all three other teams at Penticton. I didn’t like the usage of Savoie as he was the middle bumper player, but his strength is on either flank making plays cross ice or using his sneaky shot. I was looking for way more out of this unit and they left me wanting way more out of them.

The second line of Petrov, Dalyn Wakely, and James Stefan also underperformed in my eyes, especially because they are all older players, and Petrov has pro games under his belt. The trio was outperformed by the third line and didn’t get anything offensively in this tournament. Wakely was the strongest out of the three and put in some good work on the PK, but the other former Battalion, Petrov, still hasn’t added much to his off-puck game. I will say though that this defensive core didn’t help much at all and it’s hard to just rely solely on the forwards to create everything offensively.

The Depth of The Defensive PipelineI’ll keep this as short as I can, but this organization needs to spend draft assets next year on adding prospect defenseman and some that have some sort of offensive dynamic play ability. Beau Akey was injured and unable to play in the tournament, Luca Munzenberger is strictly a defensive defenseman, Albin Sundin leans to be more of a defence first player, but I do like what I saw from him in the transition game, and Nikita Yevseyev has impressed me with some of the dynamic ability he can bring to the game.

The depth of the defensive pipeline is not strong right now, and rightfully so, because the big club has spent assets on trying to win a Stanley Cup in 2025, but this was a glaring hole in all three games, and CEO Jeff Jackson surely knows this as well. The positive is that Edmonton’s top defensive prospects are both right-handed in Wanner and Akey. It’s easier to find a left-shot defenceman, and I believe they need to get one that can upstart the offence and make it easier on the forwards.

I will have new articles out soon with the 2024-25 WHL season underway. You can follow me for more WHL content on X.com @SPProspects.

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September 28, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The eight-game preseason for the Edmonton Oilers typically feels like an arduous slog, but this one seems to have flown by. A split squad game against the Calgary Flames that accounts for two of the team’s four preseason games played thus far is likely to blame. Regardless, the first half of the preseason is already done.

The second half of the preseason is where things start to get interesting. 41 players remain in camp, four of which are injured. That doesn’t include Darnell Nurse, who has been skating with the team but has not played in a preseason game yet because of an injury from the playoffs last year that the team is being cautious about.

None of the early camp releases have been surprising. Gone are the kids that needed to get exposed to NHL preseason hockey before inevitably being returned to their junior clubs with the exception of 2024 first rounder Sam O’Reilly, who will get more exposure to the professional game as camp winds down. The AHLers that are most certainly not going to earn recalls at any point this season are gone as well.

The players that remain are either in competition for roster spots, or are potential recall options during the season. These are the lines and pairings from the first group’s session on Friday according to Tom Gazzola:

93-97-18
53-29-33
13-19-28
92-10-90

14-2
25-49
27-44
24-51

First session lines and pairings today. https://t.co/vTjXRxAMp1

— Tom Gazzola (@TomGazzola) September 27, 2024

These lines and pairings represent the leaders at the half-way point of camp in my estimation. Let’s dive in a bit deeper on what we’ve learned from the first four games of the preseason.

ForwardsBob Stauffer has been talking about the battle for the fourth line centre spot consistently throughout camp. The contestants in his eyes are Derek Ryan, James Hamblin, Noah Philp, and Lane Pederson. All four of them played against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night. The Jets iced an NHL-heavy lineup with some of their best players, so it was a good test for the players competing for roster spots.

The Oilers lost that game 6-1. Philp made a couple of nice passes into the slot for chances on the powerplay, but he won’t ever get powerplay time with the Oilers. None of those players were noticeable at five-on-five on Wednesday night. Nobody did anything to grab the roster spot from Ryan, who is the incumbent.

Honestly, I don’t think the battle for the fourth line centre spot is real. Say what you want about Ryan. He’s old, he’s slow, he’s this, he’s that… but you can’t argue that he can kill penalties and win faceoffs. There are right-handed centres developing in the organization, but none of them are quie ready yet. You also can’t argue that Ryan is a smart hockey player. I think Ryan’s spot on the team is secure. You could move Ryan to right wing, but that would bump Corey Perry out of the lineup. Whether you think it’s merited or not, that’s not happening.

The real battle in my eyes is the battle for the fourth line left wing spot. Evander Kane had successful surgery just over a week ago to address all of his injuries, and the recovery timeline will see him sidelined well into the new year. Ryan and Perry, who are both righties, are pretty much cemented on the fourth line in my opinion. That means the fourth line left wing spot is open.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/edmontonoilersThe contestants are Vasily Podkolzin, Raphael Lavoie, and Mike Hoffman. Podkolzin being on Ryan’s left in practice on Friday makes me think that he has the lead. I thought the spot was his to lose entering camp. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has been playing Podkolzin on the left side as opposed to his typical right side, which is exactly what I thought he would do because the available spot is on the left side. Podkolzin’s underlying numbers have been impressive, and his physicality has been noticeable. Podkolzin’s stick positioning in the neutral zone has impressed me. Little details like that, his physicality, and his offensive instincts are why he appears to be in the lead.

Related: Deep Dive: 2024 Oilers Training Camp Preview

Lavoie is certainly in the hunt as well though. He has one goal on eleven shots in two preseason games, including a seven-shot effort against the Flames in the split squad game in Edmonton. Lavoie’s goal came off a hard one-timer on the powerplay, something that he wouldn’t get to show off in the regular season if he were to make the club.

Lavoie and Podkolzin got to play with Leon Draisaitl on Monday evening. It was a chance for them to show what they could do with a star offensive player. An interesting note from that game was that Podkolzin got taken off that line in the third period in exchange for Perry. Both Podkolzin and Lavoie were on for two goals against, so it didn’t feel like a penalty to Podkolzin though. Podkolzin’s underlying numbers were superior to Lavoie’s in that game, with Podkolzin’s 61.31% expected goals for percentage shining brightly above Lavoie’s 53.68%.

Hoffman has played in three games, the most that could have been played by anyone at this time. He has two points in those three games, which places him in a tie for the team lead with Connor McDavid and three defencemen destined for Bakersfield. Both of Hoffman’s points have come on the powerplay. He wouldn’t see top unit powerplay time with the Oilers in the regular season, but second unit powerplay time would be a real possibility. Hoffman led the team in five-on-five ice time in the split squad game in Calgary, but he was on the ice for two goals against in the 6-1 loss. I don’t think anyone expected Hoffman to dominate this preseason, but he hasn’t looked out of place by any means.

DefenceThe picture on defence is far more muddled. There are two or three spots open, and nobody has really grabbed the bull by the horns.

Ty Emberson has been skating with Nurse in practice, and he was in that spot on Friday as well. Emberson has surprised me a little bit. I was expecting a smooth skating, rangy player that makes simple plays with the puck and doesn’t move much in the offensive zone. He has been more than that in camp so far. He doesn’t default to rimming the puck around the boards or firing it off the glass and out. He’s a better outlet passer than I was expecting him to be. The thing that has surprised me most about Emberson is his willingness to move around in the offensive zone. He will make pinches, and he will go lower in the zone if he sees an opening. It’s not a constant thing with him, but he’s not afraid to go if the situation calls for it. Emberson got caught up ice on a goal against the Jets on Wednesday night, which is not a mistake that I thought Emberson would make.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersJosh Brown was skating on the third pairing with Brett Kulak on Friday. Honestly, I’m getting a bad feeling about that situation. I have not been at all impressed by Brown. Brown needs some time with Paul Coffey because he consistently makes panic plays with the puck in his own end. He’s a terrible outlet passer. He’s big and physical, but that’s all he’s shown me in camp so far. He was signed to replace Vincent Desharnais’ size in the organization, and he got a three-year deal. I’m not going to be impressed if those are the reasons why he lands a spot in the starting defence group on opening night.

Mind you, Stecher hasn’t necessarily earned it either. He’s only played one game, and he went -2. Travis Dermott is -3 in two games. Connor Carrick, who has only played one NHL game since 2020-21, is even with an assist in two games. The team has gotten spanked in their last three games, so I don’t expect many guys to have positive goal shares; but none of what I’ve seen from the defencemen competing for roster spots has inspired confidence.

WrapThere are four opportunities left for players to grab hold of roster spots. They get the Seattle Kraken and the Vancouver Canucks twice each, once at home and once on the road. It starts with the Kraken visiting Rogers Place on Saturday night, and it ends with a visit to Vancouver to face the Canucks next Friday night. The battles will play themselves out over the next week.

Knoblauch said that “…our next two games will probably have half our lineup, but they’ll be pretty much playing their roles and their situations that they’ll play. And then, as we play probably our last two exhibition games, we’re looking at getting ready for regular season and we’re almost at that stage of having our team.”

Bob Stauffer posted the lines for Saturday night’s game against the Kraken based on the morning skate:

The @EdmontonOilers tonight vs Seattle:

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-O' Reilly-Perry
Lavoie-Ryan-Hoffman
Pederson-Philp-Savoie

Ekholm-Bouchard
Dermott-Stecher
Gleason-Kemp

Pickard
Rodrigue

— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) September 28, 2024

O’Reilly will continue to get a chance to play as long as he’s here. I’m thinking that he will be sent back to the London Knights before the Oilers hit the road for Wednesday’s game in Seattle. Podkolzin is getting a look with Perry, his likely right winger on the fourth line. Ryan, the likely fourth line centre, will be flanked by Lavoie and Hoffman. The best way to see how they will fare with their likely centreman on the fourth line is to play them all together and see what happens. Pederson and Philp will get a chance to play with the organization’s top propsect, Matthew Savoie. Note that Pederson is on the wing instead of centre. That’s a tell that Philp is ahead in the “race”, which I think is accurate.

My eyes will be on the Dermott and Stecher pairing. They have a chance to put themselves ahead of Brown, which is an opportunity that I hope they seize. Gleason is one of the defencemen that is tied for the team lead in points. He’s likely to end up in Bakersfield, but he has played well thus far. It will be nice to get a better look at Phil Kemp as well. If the veteran defencemen continue to be lack lustre, then he could potentially emerge as a viable option.

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September 23, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Raphael Lavoie has been one of the top prospects in the Edmonton Oilers system since he was selected 38th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft. Now, about to turn 24 this week, Lavoie appears ready to finally graduate from being a prospect to a full-time NHL player.

Lavoie scored a power-play goal and was plus-one in a 3-2 overtime victory for the Oilers in a pre-season contest against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. The Chambly, Quebec native was an offensive player throughout his major junior career, but has evolved into a solid two-way player as a pro.

“I feel like I’m more of a complete player,” Lavoie told Oilers TV following the win on Sunday. “When I got drafted I was pretty offensive. You learn in the American league to round out your game, play without the puck, be reliable out there, and that’s been a point of emphasis since I’ve been in the American league.”

Raphael Lavoie hammers home his first of the pre-season https://t.co/tumeWmuEGV pic.twitter.com/eRtmzDUKVz

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 23, 2024

The former second-round pick had a taste of NHL action last season, going pointless in seven games. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound winger will get a real chance to make the Oilers’ opening-night lineup thanks to his combination of size, physicality and scoring ability. Still, he isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I feel it’s an earn-it factor,” said Lavoie. “Even if you’ve played some games [in the NHL], you have to earn it every time you come back to camp, so it’s pretty much the same mindset. You just want it even more.”

Related: Deep Dive: 2024 Oilers Training Camp Preview

The 23-year-old scored a career-high 28 goals with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors last season, including 14 on the power-play. Lavoie possesses an NHL-calibre wrist shot and one-timer that can often allow him to beat goalies from range. However, Lavoie knows he won’t be stealing anyone’s job on the Oilers’ historically-good top power-play unit, so he will need to do more than bury chances on the man-advantage to stick with the big club in 2024-25.

“You try to bring [different things to the table],” said Lavoie. “I was trying to be more physical out there on the forecheck. You finish your hits, you’re more reliable along the wall, you break pucks out, and when you have the chance to contribute offensively, you do it, as well.”

Photo Credit: nhl.com/oilers/His ability to finish plays has always been the hallmark of his game. He arguably has more pure goal-scoring upside most of Edmonton’s projected bottom-six forwards. If Lavoie makes the team out of camp, he could end up being a effective even-strength scorer lower in the lineup, similar to Klim Kostin in 2022-23. But with seven exhibition games remaining, Lavoie understands what Head Coach Kris Knoblauch and his staff want to see from him.

“They want me to be physical, they want me to contribute, they want me to do the little things right” said Lavoie. “They know I can shoot the puck, can shoot it offensively, but you have to do everything else that comes with it.”

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September 18, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The leaves are beginning to fall. The weather is getting slightly cooler. NFL football has started, and the MLB playoff races are heating up. The Young Stars Classic has come and gone. That means that the NHL season is near. The Oilers reported to training camp on Wednesday.

There’s a surprising amount of mystery and intrigue in this year’s Oilers training camp despite the team having come within a game of winning a Stanley Cup just a few short months ago. I’ll take you through some of the key battles that we should be watching during training camp.

Forwards

There are three players that I see being involved in a battle for the final forward spot out of camp.

Raphael LavoieLavoie got a quick cup of coffee with the Oilers last season. He played seven games where he was -2 and averaged just 7:17 of ice time per game.

The 23-year old played right-wing in the NHL last season, but he can play on either side. He played a lot of left wing in the AHL last season. A full summer of training and an opportunity on the other side of the ice might just be what the doctor ordered for Lavoie’s NHL chances.

Vasily PodkolzinThe 23-year old Russian winger is a reclamation project for the Oilers this season. He’s got a boat load of potential. He plays a physical style, and he’s got a heavy shot. Podkolzin has to earn his roster spot with a solid camp though. He should be plenty motivated after the team that drafted him gave him up for a fourth round pick because they assumed that they would lose him on waivers at some point during training camp.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/edmontonoilersRelated: Oilers acquire Podkolzin

Podkolzin has typically played right-wing in his short career, which is his off wing. His shot is an asset that makes him playing his off wing dangerous; but perhaps a move to his natural wing will allow him to see the game in a different way, which could yield positive results.

Mike HoffmanThe Oilers made the surprise announcement that Hoffman signed a PTO with the team on Wednesday. The 34-year old got 23 points in 66 games for the San Jose Sharks last season. His offensive output was the lowest since Hoffman became a full-time NHLer in the 2014-15 season.

The #Oilers have signed forward Mike Hoffman to a professional tryout.

The 34-year-old has recorded 228 goals & 259 assists in 745 career @NHL games. https://t.co/T8XfG1ZRMt

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 18, 2024

NHL Edge says that Hoffman ranks below the 50th percentile in all speed related metrics. It also says that his 14.1% shooting percentage put him in the 83rd percentile last season, and his top shot speed put him in the 92nd percentile. Hoffman can’t skate well anymore, and his offensive production has fallen off a cliff; but he can still rip the puck. If the Oilers have lacked one thing over the years, it’s finishing in the bottom six. That’s all that Hoffman could really offer.

Hoffman has done a lot of his damage on the powerplay throughout his career. He only got six powerplay points last year though. Hoffman has always played the right half wall on the powerplay, which is Draisaitl’s spot. He simply wouldn’t get first unit powerplay time with the Oilers, so he would need to earn a roster spot with his even strength play.

His seventeen even strength points in 66 games are on par with the production of a fourth liner. Hoffman doesn’t do any of the things that you might want a fourth liner to do, such as hitting and killing penalties. He will have to score his way onto the team in the preseason.

Honourable Mention: Matthew Savoie, Roby Jarventie, Noah Philp

Predicted outcomeThe thing that Hoffman has going for him is that he’s a natural left winger. Podkolzin is a left-handed shooter that prefers the right side. Say what you want about Hoffman, but he produced more offence than either Podkolzin or Lavoie did in the NHL last season.

I see parallels between late-career Hoffman and late-career James Neal. Neal fell from 19 goals in his 32-year old season to just five goals in his 33-year old season in 2020-21. He played one more year where he split time between the NHL and the AHL.

Hoffman turns 35 in November. His goal total dropped from fourteen in 2022-23 to ten last season. I could see Hoffman getting both AHL and NHL time this season.

The fact that the Oilers brought Hoffman in speaks volumes about what the team thinks of Podkolzin and Lavoie right now. They would both have to clear waivers before being sent down to the AHL. The Canucks traded Podkolzin out of fear that a team would claim him off waivers because they didn’t think that he would make their team. The Oilers would be taking a risk by exposing Podkolzin to waivers, but they are probably comfortable with that risk since Podkolzin’s stock is so low right now. As we saw last year with Lavoie, the odds of a player clearing waivers are higher if he gets waived in training camp when everyone else gets waived, so the smarter play might be to waive Podkolzin during camp rather than doing it during the regular season.

I think Hoffman will get a contract and Podkolzin will start the year in the AHL should he not be claimed on waivers. I don’t think that’s intelligent asset management, but I think that’s what will happen.

Remember that whoever wins this spot will be relegated to the thirteenth forward spot once Kane recovers from his surgery. Oilers GM Stan Bowman confirmed that Kane will be having surgery, and Kane said that he will be having both adductors, two hernias, and two torn abdominal muscles repaired. The timeline for recovery is unknown at this point.

Evander Kane discusses his upcoming surgery & recovery plans on the opening day of #Oilers Training Camp.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/90AkbN8mM3

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 18, 2024

Defence

Cody Ceci, Vincent Desharnais, and Philip Broberg all left the team this summer. All three of those players were healthy scratches at some point in the playoffs this past spring; but all three of them played in the Stanley Cup Final. Ceci had been Darnell Nurse’s partner for the last three seasons, and Broberg assumed the role in the latter stages of the 2024 playoffs. Both are gone, which has made for some intriguing camp battles on the blue line.

The fact that Nurse is expected to miss most of training camp while recovering from a nagging injury from the playoffs further clouds the situation. The identity of Nurse’s next partner is the biggest question heading into this coming season, but that won’t be answered until the end of camp at the earliest.

Two spots are open on the blue line, with a third spot potentially available for a seventh defenceman. Four players will be in contention for these spots.

Ty EmbersonEmberson was the return in the Ceci trade. The Oilers gave up a legitimate top four defenceman and a third round pick to get Emberson, who has only played 30 NHL games. The 24-year old performed admirably for the San Jose Sharks last season, but the sample size isn’t large enough to guarantee success for the Oilers. He’s a defensively oriented player that has thrived in Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch’s system before. The data loves Emberson, and we know the coach likes him. Time will tell if he will earn a roster spot out of camp though.

"Just in the first week or two that I've been here you can see why Edmonton is such a great organization."

New d-man Ty Emberson expressed his excitement about joining the #Oilers on the opening day of training camp.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/mMp9pmFHeY

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 18, 2024

Related: O’Reilly and Emberson moves have Parkatti’s fingerprints all over them

Troy StecherStecher was acquired at last season’s trade deadline. He got into seven games for the Oilers before the playoffs, which he missed due to an ankle injury that required surgery. Stecher signed a two-year deal with the Oilers this summer. He hasn’t played an AHL game since 2016-17, when he played the only four AHL games of his career. Stecher hasn’t established himself as a mainstay in an NHL lineup in the time since then though. He has changed teams six times since the 2021-22 season, and he hasn’t played in more than 61 NHL games in a season since 2019-20. He has only played 74 NHL games in the last two seasons. He’s a mobile defenceman that can move the puck fairly well, but he doesn’t produce much offence for a player with his skill set.

Josh BrownBrown was essentially brought in to replace Desharnias’ size. The 6’5”, 220 lb right-handed defenceman’s size is his biggest asset. The 2013 sixth rounder has played in 119 NHL games in the last two seasons, but his underlying numbers have never been stellar. Perhaps that is the result of his playing on terrible teams for his whole career; but Brown will have his work cut out for him to earn a spot out of camp, even after signing a three-year, $3 million deal with an AAV of $1 million per season this summer.

Travis DermottDermott is coming to camp on a PTO. He has a couple of advantages working for him here. One is that he can play on either side. That versatility is useful in a seventh defenceman. Another is his familiarity with Knoblauch, his former junior coach. The other is the fact that if signed, his contract would likely be for the league minimum.

Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY SportsRelated: Dermott agrees to PTO with the Oilers

Dermott is the only lefty in this group competing for the final spots in this defence group. He could well simply be a placeholder for Nurse in training camp, but there would be an opening on the left side if Brett Kulak was to be deployed in the top four when Nurse is healthy.

Honourable mention: Connor Carrick

Predicted outcomeThe one thing I feel is certain is that Emberson will be in the top six. The coach likes him, the data likes him, the team paid a handsome price to get him, and he’s already been claimed on waivers once. I don’t think the Oilers will risk losing him on waivers.

The interesting thing about the other three players in contention here is that they all played on the same team last year, and they all played close to the same amount of games. Stecher led the trio in average time on ice per game overall and at even strength. Dermott was second in those categories, and Brown was a distant third. Dermott got the most penalty killing time per game of the three last year. Stecher was second, and Brown was third once again. It should be noted that all three players averaged over two minutes per game on the penalty kill.

I think Brown is the odd man out here. Injuries are always a factor, so he will be needed at some point. The reality is that he’s the worst of the bunch in this group though. Brown would be a guarantee to clear waivers with his contract being what it is (3 x $1 million).

That means that I think Dermott will get a contract and that Stecher will be on the roster as well.

WrapThis is how I believe that the Oilers will start the 2024-25 season:

| S. Skinner ($3.6M) | | Pickard ($1M) |

Injured: Kane ($5.125M)

Buyouts: Campbell ($1.1M), Neal ($1,916,667)

Overage: $3.55M

Total: $87,604,167

Cap Space: $395,833

Active roster: 21

Bowman really wants to accrue cap space this season. Having both Hoffman and Dermott on league minimum contracts would certainly help Bowman achieve that goal. This active roster has 21 players, but they could choose to waive Dermott and carry the bare minimum of twelve forwards and six defencemen. If injuries were to become a problem, then Kane could be placed on LTIR to create cap space for reinforcements.

I think it will be a rotating cast at the bottom of the roster. I don’t think Hoffman will get 82 games. Podkolzin will get games with the Oilers this season if he does not get claimed on waivers.

It will be more of a carousel on defence though. The reality is that none of Emberson, Stecher, Dermott, or Brown are top four defenders. I think the responsibility of playing the right side of the second pairing will be shared by Brett Kulak, Emberson, and Stecher. I also think that the third pairing will have many different looks throughout the season.

We get eight preseason games between Sunday and October 4. Some fans complain about the excessive amount of preseason games, but I prefer to think of it as a chance to watch more hockey and to watch these training camp battles play out.

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September 17, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they and Assistant General Manager Brad Holland parted ways on Tuesday.

CEO & President of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson announced today the #Oilers & Assistant GM Brad Holland have agreed to mutually part ways.

"We thank Brad for his work during his time with the organization & we wish him well in his future endeavours." – Jeff Jackson

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 17, 2024

Holland joined the Oilers as a professional scout shortly after his father, Ken Holland, became the general manager of the Oilers in 2019. The junior Holland became an assistant GM prior to the 2022-23 season.

Holland’s primary role was to oversee the professional scouting department. The Oilers currently have three professional scouts: Chris Cichocki, Warren Rychel, and Dani Rylan-Kearney. I predicted that Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson would beef up the professional scouting department shortly after he was hired last year. He hired Rylan-Kearney, but the organization still has fewer scouts than most NHL teams have. I would not be surprised to see the Oilers hire another person to fill Holland’s role along with two or three more professional scouts at some point in the not too distant future.

Related: Oilers Hire Former NWHL Founder Rylan Kearney

Holland’s departure leaves the Oilers with two AGMs. Bill Scott has been in charge of the salary cap for the last four seasons, and Keith Gretzky has been GM of the Bakersfield Condors since 2019.

This move shouldn’t come as a huge surprise since Holland’s father is no longer with the team. Elliotte Friedman reported that New Jersey Devils AGM Dan MacKinnon was a finalist for the Oilers GM position that eventually went to Bowman. I wonder if MacKinnon impressed Jackson enough to consider trying to poach MacKinnon away from the Devils.

Related: Holland and the Oilers part ways

I compiled a comprehensive list of people that have ties to Jackson that I viewed as potential candidates for the GM position this summer. These candidates could also find their way into an AGM position with the Oilers. Jim Benning and Laurence Gilman are notable free agents from that list.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part One – The Former NHL GMs

Bowman might also want to bring in one of his own people. Current Chicago Blackhawks AGM Mark Eaton worked with Bowman from 2014-15 until Bowman’s departure in 2021. Former Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin joined the Blackhawks organization at the same time that Bowman did in 2005-06. He’s currently a senior advisor to the GM for the Los Angeles Kings.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part Two – The AGMs

This front office shake up shouldn’t have a drastic impact on the coming season, but it will be interesting to see how Holland is replaced, or if he will be replaced in the near future.

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September 12, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Just 78 days after the Edmonton Oilers’ heartbreaking loss in Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, Connor McDavid and company were back on the ice together at the Downtown Community Arena on Tuesday.

McDavid met with the media following for the Oilers’ informal skate to discuss a variety of topics surrounding the team as training camp approaches. Chief among them was Leon Draisaitl’s new eight-year, $112 million contract extension, which he signed on September 3. The 27-year-old couldn’t be happier to know his longtime teammate will be staying in Edmonton for at least the next nine years.

“Obviously, it’s great,” McDavid told Oilers TV on Tuesday. “I’m really happy for him and his family. It’s well-deserved. He deserves every penny. I’m happy he’s here for a really long time.”

Photo Credit: usatoday.com/sports/With Draisaitl now committed to the Oilers’ organization through the 2032-33 season, the focus in Oil Country quickly turned to McDavid’s long-term future with the club. McDavid, who still has two years remaining on his contract, is eligible to sign an extension with the orange and blue on July 1, 2025. However, the Oilers captain is only focused on preparing for the upcoming season with just six days remaining until camp opens.

“It’s not something that I’m going to worry about,” said McDavid. “It’s a question that I’ll answer once. I’m worried about this year, I’m worried about being ready for the season, both myself personally and the group. That’s where my focus is at. It’s not on anything else. That stuff takes care of itself. It’s not something that I’m worried about.”

Related: Insider believes Oilers will sign McDavid and Draisaitl to contract extensions

The Oilers were viewed by many pundits as the Stanley Cup favourites ahead of the 2023-24 season. However, the Oilers posted a horrid 2-9-1 mark to start the season, while McDavid also had a slow start by his own high standards, tallying just 10 points in his first 11 games (the first time he had had fallen under a point per game since his rookie season). Fortunately, the Oilers posted an NHL-best 47 wins from November 11 onward, including a historic 16-game winning streak. The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner also put up 116 points in his final 60 games, which is a 158-point pace in a full 82-game schedule. Going into the 2024-25 campaign, McDavid and the Oilers are hoping the lessons learned will allow them to avoid making the same mistakes this season.

“I didn’t love the start I had last year, both personally and for the group,” said McDavid. “I’ve definitely learned a lot of lessons that way. The goal is to peak in early October, not necessarily in early September. You can’t get ahead of yourself. We talk about lessons and implementing them as you go, and last year, a big lesson would have been not getting ahead of ourselves and taking care of what’s in front of us. I think our group had good intentions. I think we got a little bit ahead of ourselves coming out of the gates, and obviously, it showed. So you can just take care of what’s in front of you, and for us, that’s getting ready to go for a big camp and going from there.”

Photo Credit: nhl.com/oilers/When the Oilers selected McDavid first-overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, the team had just missed the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, and were the least desirable market in the league from a players perspective. Even with hockey’s next phenom in the fold, the Oilers still only made one playoff appearance in McDavid’s first four NHL seasons. But now, after winning six playoff series since 2022 (second-most in the league during that span) and reaching Game 7 of the Final this past spring, McDavid believes Edmonton has become an attractive landing spot for high-end free agents.

“Winning helps,” said McDavid. “Being part of a winning team goes a long way. The [new arena] helps. You spend half your time, maybe more, in the rink. And our building is completely first class. And for people who haven’t experienced Edmonton and don’t know Edmonton, it’s really easy living, it’s convenient living. There’s no hour-long drive, there’s no traffic. The construction could be better, but it’s really convenient living. It’s stress-free living. It checks a lot of boxes for a lot of guys.”

Related: Henrique thrilled for opportunity to chase a Cup with the Oilers

Free agent additions up front like Zach Hyman and Evander Kane were key contributors during the Oilers first deep playoff run in the McDavid era in 2022. While McDavid is too humble to take any credit for it, he was major factor in Hyman and Kane deciding to sign with the Oilers. CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson brought in two more marquee free agent forwards this off-season in Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, and re-signed Adam Henrique, who was acquired by the Oilers at the 2024 trade deadline. Despite losing four players from their Cup run, including Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod, Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, McDavid still feels good about the team coming into this season.

“I love the additions that we’ve made. I think we’ll miss some of the guys that we’ve lost,” said McDavid. “With that being said, that’s the NHL, that’s the salary cap era. That’s part of being a good team that’s right up against the cap. Things happen. It’s the unfortunate part of the game, but there’s lots of good players in this organization and a chance for guys to show what they have.”

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September 12, 2024 by Spencer Pomoty

Team Canada captured their third consecutive Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Czechia in the Gold Medal Game in Edmonton on August 10.

It seemed fitting that several of the best players in the WHL would lead Canada to victory in the league’s best arena. Here’s a look at Canada’s standouts from round robin play in the tournament and an update on how each WHL player performed in those games.

Matthew SchaeferThe first-overall pick in the 2023 OHL draft had a great round robin for Canada. The Erie Otter product mostly known for his two-way play impressed me with his offensive prowess in the three games. Scoring two goals and adding three assists doesn’t show how much of a needle pusher he was offensively. The Canadian captain was hopping into the rush constantly and showing he can make plays while doing so. What I was most impressed with was his offensive game from the blue line. Instead of opting for a low percentage shot from the point he was jamming the opponent’s feet with his edge work and then able to handle it around them. The way he was able to blend his skating ability with his above average puck handling ability was eye opening. Schaefer scored an absolute beauty against team Switzerland showing off this exact skillset. The potential top ten pick will look to carry on his strong two-way play against Canada’s toughest competition yet on Friday.

Jack IvankovicThe Team Canada starting goalie was nothing short of exceptional in the round robin. The seventh overall pick in the 2023 OHL draft started two games and stopped 43/44 shots for a 0.977% save percentage. From tracking pucks laterally and through traffic to exceptional second chance saves (if there was even a rebound) Ivankovic was absolutely on point from the first puck drop. The mobility was outstanding, he moves very well, but when its time to set his feet, they are set perfectly, no happy tapping, no unnecessary cheating, nothing. Playing in front of a goalie that’s as on as the Brampton starter is injects a certain kind of confidence in the players that play in front of him.

Gavin MckennaWhat is there to say that hasn’t already been said about the absolute star from Whitehorse? Scoring two goals and adding another three assists the points aren’t as eye-popping as they usually are for the Medicine Hat winger, but he did nothing but create high chances for himself and everyone around him. Against Canada’s toughest round robin opponent, Sweden, McKenna scored the game-winning goal off a faceoff win and drew two penalties throughout the game. Constantly taking opponents 1-on-1 and even 1-on-2 he was unstoppable, finding pucks through traffic, using his outside edge work to cut on a dime around opposing players, drawing all eyes on him to then find a wide-open player for a high-danger scoring chance, and the number of turnovers he caused was exceptional. The offense runs through him in every setting, and he’ll need to continue his strong play heading into the semi-final against the Americans.

WHL Player PerformancesSeattle Thunderbirds’ center, Braeden Cootes was on the top line for the first two games of the tournament. Against team Slovakia he took a spearing penalty that got him suspended and ineligible to play against Sweden. The 10th-overall pick in the 2022 WHL draft was on the second powerplay unit and played on the penalty kill as well. What I liked most was his board play, able to seal opponents on the wall and connect on plays to jumpstart the offence.

On Cootes right side for the tournament was Vancouver offensive dynamo, Cameron Schmidt. The winger scored two goals against Team Slovakia and that’s all for his round robin scoring. Against Sweden he showed some bite, but if he’s not scoring, he can of disappear from the game.

Cole Reschny was Canada’s point leader in the round robin. The Victoria Royal center put up a five-point night against team Switzerland and then added an assist off a faceoff win on McKenna’s game winning goal versus Sweden. Reschny started on the wing for the first two games but was promoted to first line center after Cootes was suspended for game three. The former third overall pick always seems to connect on the right pass and make the right decision, even after his five-point night I thought his game against the Swedes was by far his best.

Shifting focus to Calgary, one of my favourite prospects coming up for the 2025 NHL Draft is Benjamin Kindel. The right shot winger from Coquitlam started on the fourth line for the first two games and got promoted to the second line for game three where he scored an absolute beauty over the left shoulder of the Swedish netminder for his only point of the round robin. Shift after shift Kindel was impressing me with his board play, little chip passes, constant head scanning/shoulder checking helps him make the right decision 95% of the time. He connects on plays with at an incredible rate and he’s strong in all three zones of the rink, even playing a big role on the penalty kill.

Sticking in Calgary, to talk about defenceman Reese Hamilton. The score sheet doesn’t quite show the impact he made throughout the round robin. The Hitmen defenceman was not giving anything up on the rush thanks to his spectacular lateral mobility and gap control, constantly stepping up at the red line to force opponents into a dump in or a turnover. Then once retrieving the puck he’s a threat on the breakout due to his ability to skate it out with control or make an excellent pass. I thought he was Canada’s second-best defenseman even without recording a point.

Jackson Smith started as the seventh defenceman but worked his way into the rotation consistently and even playing a ton of minutes on his off-side. The Tri-City product had three assists throughout the round robin. Smith is a mixed bag for me, he shoots the puck a ton from the point which can work against lower skill level teams but doesn’t quite translate against stronger peers. Sometimes in his own zone he gets lost chasing, and his passing decisions can be spotty, but he shows glimpses of the ceiling he could have. The former second overall pick in the WHL draft can showcase strong puck carrying ability and some creative play while doing so, he will also show glimpses of great breakout play through his stretch passes. On the rush defensively I would like to see a tighter gap with a lower stance and to not cross his feet as much.

Swift Current Broncos defenseman Peyton Kettles started in the top four when the tournament started. Scoring a goal was the highlight of his tournament as he struggled throughout the three games, but much more against team Sweden. The decision making and struggles with retrievals was apparent to me. Turnovers were piling up and he didn’t get much ice time as the round robin went on. The former sixth overall pick in the WHL needs to add more head scans on retrievals, trust his unique size and skating combo, needs to scan the whole ice better instead of just going with his first read, and most importantly he needs to grow into his frame which will take time. It’s still early in his draft year and he’s a very young player (two weeks away from the 2026 NHL draft).

Follow me on Twitter @SPProspects for more prospect coverage.

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September 12, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Young Stars Classic, the annual showcase of prospects for Western Canadian NHL teams, is set to go down in Penticton, BC from tomorrow through Monday, September 14. 25 players from the Edmonton Oilers will be heading to Penticton, including fourteen forwards, eight defencemen, and three goaltenders.

Check out the #Oilers Rookie Camp roster! pic.twitter.com/dBHyKNl3M6

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 9, 2024

Matt Savoie, the 2022 ninth overall pick that was recently acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in a trade for Ryan McLeod and Ty Tullio, is the main attraction for Oilers fans. Savoie won the Ed Chynoweth Cup with the WHL Champion Moose Jaw Warriors last season. He got 47 points in just 23 regular season games with the Warriors after being acquired in a post World Junior tournament trade with the Wenatchee Wild, and he added 24 points in 19 games in the playoffs. Savoie also registered five points in six games with the AHL’s Rochester Americans during a conditioning stint, and made his NHL debut for the Buffalo Sabres last season.

Photo Credit: tsn.ca2024 first rounder Sam O’Reilly will also play in this event. O’Reilly put up 56 points in 68 games for the London Knights last season as an OHL rookie, and he is expected to play more of a feature role for them this coming season. He recently got six points in just two preseason games for the Knights, including a four-point effort last Saturday night. O’Reilly’s teammate, Oilers 2024 seventh rounder William Nicholl, will also be in this event along with fellow 2024 draftees Connor Clattenburg (fifth round) and Dalyn Wakely (sixth round).

Photo Credit: facebook.com/Oilers.NHLI expect Matvei Petrov to rip this tournament apart. This is the 2021 sixth rounder’s third time participating in the event. His first professional season was a bit of a struggle as he got just fourteen points in 53 games with the Bakersfield Condors last season, but his two OHL seasons of 90 and 93 points suggest there is much more production in Petrov.

Another forward to watch is Brady Stonehouse, who earned himself an entry-level contract with the Oilers based on his play in last year’s Young Stars Classic. Stonehouse got 44 points in 64 games with the Ottawa 67s last season. James Stefan was signed as an undrafted free agent this past March. He got 101 points in 67 games with the Portland Winterhawks last season in his fifth season of major junior hockey. Jayden Grubbe will be looking to build on his first professional season where he got fourteen points in 67 games with the Condors.

2023 second round pick Beau Akey highlights the Oilers defencemen participating in this year’s event. Akey teased Oilers fans with his tantalizing skill set during last year’s event. He was limited to fourteen games with the OHL’s Barrie Colts after suffering a season ending shoulder injury, but he’s healthy and ready to go now.

Related: 2023 Young Stars Classic Preview

2021 seventh rounder Max Wanner is the only other defenceman drafted by the Oilers that is heading to Penticton. Wanner continued his rapid ascension last season with a solid rookie professional season. He played in all 68 of the team’s games, and he tied for the Condors team lead in plus minus at +13. He also got seventeen points in those 68 games. Wanner is certainly trending in the right direction.

Connor Ungar was signed as an undrafted free agent this past March. He posted a tremendous .932 save percentage and 2.15 goals against average en route to a 20-6 record with Brock University last season. Brett Brochu signed an AHL deal with the Condors this offseason. He had a 7-11-1 record with a .920 save percentage and a 2.66 GAA with the Oilers’ ECHL affiliate, the Fort Wayne Komets, last season. Brochu was a member of the 2022 Canadian World Junior team that won gold in Edmonton. He also suited up for the Vancouver Canucks in this tournament in 2022. 2023 sixth rounder Nathaniel Day will also be in Penticton. He went 17-10 with a .874 save percentage and a 3.91 GAA with the OHL’s Flint Firebirds last season.

"I feel like it's really important to play well, but I think it's just about getting back into the mix of things & getting your skating legs back."

Matt Savoie checked in with the media at @RogersPlace ahead of his first #Oilers Rookie Camp. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/0nxyp4f3AO

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 11, 2024

Nine players on this roster are camp invites. Jesse Heslop of the Everett Silvertips got 54 points in 61 games last season, and is draft eligible this season. The same goes for Vincent Desjardins of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, who got 47 points in 68 games last season.

A pair of Edmonton Oil Kings defencemen were invited to this year’s camp. St. Albert’s Marc Lajoie signed an amateur tryout with the Bakersfield Condors last spring on the heels of a season where he got 58 points in 68 games for the Oil Kings. Stettler’s Rhys Pederson got twelve points in 50 games for the Oil Kings last season, and will be draft eligible this season.

Pier-Olivier Roy and Frankie Morelli are both left-handed 5’11” defencemen. Roy put up 50 points in 66 games with the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL last season. Morelli got 25 points in 60 games with the Ottawa 67’s last season. They will be invitees to watch.

Heavy Hockey’s Spencer Pomoty likes Heslop and defenceman Hyde Davidson the most out of all of the camp invitees. The 6’2”, 170 lb defenceman is small, but mobile. The 18-year old slid through last year’s draft, and he’ll be looking to make some noise in his fourth season of major junior hockey with the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Vancouver CanucksPlayers to watch: Jonathan Lekkerimӓki (2022 1st round), Autu Rӓty (2021 2nd round), Danila Klimovich (2021 2nd round), Elias Pettersson (2022 3rd round), Arshdeep Bains (undrafted)

Camp invitees: 5

Lekkerimaki is the Canucks’ greatest scoring threat in this tournament. He’s a small forward with a fantastic shot, and he can skate like the wind. The Canucks have a pair of 2021 second rounders that need to start showing a little bit more this season. Rӓty was the prized prospect that was acquired in the Bo Horvat trade. He took a step by putting up 52 points in 72 games for the Abbotsford Canucks last season, but he will need to elevate his game more if he wants to make the Canucks team. Klimovich had an injury riddled third AHL season last year where he only played in 24 games. The Belarusian winger has talent, but he needs to have a great season to remain a relevant prospect for the Canucks. Bains became just the fourth Punjabi player to ever play in the NHL when he made his debut for the Canucks last season. The Surrey, BC product didn’t record a point in his eight NHL appearances, but he did get 55 points in 59 games in the AHL last season.

Calgary FlamesPlayers to watch: Zayne Parekh (2024 1st round), Samuel Honzek (2023 1st round), Matvei Gridin (2024 1st round), Artem Grushnikov (2021 2nd round, acquired in Chris Tanev trade), Hunter Brzustewicz (2023 3rd round, acquired in Elias Lindholm trade)

Camp invitees: 1

The Flames have been collecting draft picks and prospects recently as the big club sold off assets as part of a retooling phase. They will only have one camp invitee on their roster, which means that their roster is full of players signed to NHL and AHL deals.

Flames fans will get their first glimpses of some of what the team received in return for some its star players. Grushnikov was acquired in the Chris Tanev trade. If I recall correctly, Grushnikov was the reason that the Flames preferred to send Tanev to the Dallas Stars rather than taking the Oilers’ proposed offer of Cody Ceci and a first round pick. Brzustewicz was a part of the return for Elias Lindholm.

The Flames now boast three of the top ten leaders in points by defencemen in the OHL last season including Brzustewicz, Parekh, and Henry Mews. Parekh, the ninth overall pick in this past summer’s draft, is a dynamic offensive defenceman.

Parekh was one of the team’s two first round picks in the 2024 NHL draft. The other was Gridin. The Russian forward has a heavy shot, but there are questions about his effort level.

Winnipeg JetsPlayers to watch: Chaz Lucius (2021 1st round), Brad Lambert (2022 1st round), Colby Barlow (2023 1st round), Brayden Yager (2023 1st round), Tomas Milic (2023 5th round)

Camp invitees: 9

The forward group will be the strength of the Winnipeg Jets in this tournament. They are featuring three of their own recent first round picks in Lucius, Lambert, and Barlow as well as Yager, who was recently acquired for Rutger McGroarty.

Milic, who led Canada to World Junior gold in 2023, will lead the way for the Jets in goal. Milic was also a part of Canada’s Spengler Cup team last season.

WrapWhile the Oilers have some interesting players in this event, I suspect that they will be in tough in this event. The Flames are loaded with high end picks, and they enter the event as the favourites in my estimation.

The Oilers schedule for the event is as follows:

Oilers vs Canucks: Friday at 8:30 pm MT

Oilers vs Flames: Saturday at 8:30 pm MT

Oilers vs Jets: Monday at 12 pm MT

The games will be streamed on Oilers+.

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September 11, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced three new additions to their front office on Wednesday. Tobias Salmelainen is in charge of Player Acquisition and Development in Europe, Andreas Karlsson is now a Player Development Coach, and Vincent Malts is now the team’s Mental Performance and Player Development Coach.

The #Oilers have made three hockey operations additions, hiring Tobias Salmelainen for Player Acquisition & Development (Europe), Andreas Karlsson as Player Development Coach & Vincent Malts as Mental Performance & Player Development Coach. https://t.co/EzjEAXgjfE

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 11, 2024

Salmelainen became an agent after his playing career in Finland. He was with Acme World Sports from 2014 – 2017. After that, he became the general manager of HIFK in Finland’s Liiga from 2017 – 2024.

Salmelainen will be based in Helsinki, Finland. He will be able to work closely with Oilers prospects playing Europe, which include:

Eemil Vinni (2024 2nd round – HIFK Helsinki – Liiga)

Albin Sundin (2024 6th round – Frolunda – SHL)

Nikita Yevseyev (2022 6th round – Kazan Ak Bars – KHL)

Maxim Berezkin (2020 5th round – Yarolslavl Locomotiv – KHL)

Maxim Denezhkin (2019 7th round, Yekaterinburg Automobilist – KHL)

Karlsson has a nineteen-year professional playing career that included 264 NHL games with the Atlanta Thrashers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. He moved on to coaching with Frolunda’s junior program, including being an assistant coach for their J18 team and a development coach for their program in 2011-12, and the head coach of their J20 team from 2012 – 2015. Karlsson then moved on to be an assistant coach at York University for two seasons before spending six seasons as an assistant coach in the OHL (Kitchener Rangers, Hamilton Bulldogs, Brantford Bulldogs).

The Oilers used six of their ten draft picks in the last two drafts on players from the OHL. Six OHL players were selected in the 2024 draft, including first rounder Sam O’Reilly of the London Knights. Beau Akey of the Barrie Colts was the Oilers’ second round pick in the 2023 draft. My expectation is that Karlsson will be working closely with those OHL prospects.

2024 seventh round pick Bauer Berry plays for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL. Joel Määttä (2022 7th round) and Luca Munzenberger (2021 3rd round) both play for Vermont in the NCAA. Shane LaChance (2021 6th round) plays for Boston College Long with Matt Copponi (2023 7th round). All of those teams are in the North Eastern United States, which is close enough to Ontario for Karlsson to monitor closely.

Malts has been involved in coaching for over twenty years. He owns a company called Bloodline Hockey that works with youth players to improve their mental performance. Malts has worked in a Mental Performance Coach role with the NAHL’s Danbury Jr Hat Tricks and the ECHL’s Indy Fuel.

The Oilers brought in renowned mental coach George Mumford last season, and he worked closely with the team during the playoffs this past spring. The organization has clearly embraced the idea of improving mental performance, which is critical when the lights are the brightest and the stakes are the highest.

Related: Focusing on the day’s business

Kalle Larsson was hired as the team’s Senior Director of Player Development on May 30, 2024. That was the first step towards improving the development process for Oilers prospects. These three additions to the player development team are the next step in that process. My assumption is that Salmelainen and Karlsson will work with Larsson to implement development plans and to monitor player progress. I’m encouraged that the team has decided to embrace mental performance, especially with developing prospects. I’m excited to see the impact that Malts will have on the latest crop of Oilers prospects.

Related: Oilers hire Kalle Larsson as Senior Director of Player Development

The Oilers’ prospect group is one of the worst in the league thanks to poor drafting and development in recent years. The Oilers are likely to continue trading draft picks for immediate help while their championship window is open, and they will likely continue to have low draft picks as a result of championship contention. The Oilers will certainly need a steady flow of young, cheap players that can contribute to the NHL roster in the coming decade. These hires will play a critical role in the success of the Oilers through the next contracts of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

*Editor’s note: This piece has been changed to reflect the fact that Matt Copponi transferred to Boston College from Merrimack College this past April.

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September 10, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

According to multiple reports, Travis Dermott will be signing a PTO with the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton Sports Talk’s Dustin Nielson talked about it on Tuesday’s edition of 2 Guys and a Goalie. Nielson referred to a post from Brendan Escott of Oilers Now from Monday night indicating that Dermott would be signing a PTO with the Oilers, and Tom Gazzola from EST confirmed that to Nielson. Frank Servalli and Mark Spector have since reported the news as well. For what it’s worth, I wrote that I expected this to happen on August 24, 2024 after Bob Stauffer dropped hints that pointed directly at Dermott signing a PTO with the Oilers.

Related: Possible Oilers defence additions

Dermott has 62 points in 329 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and Arizona Coyotes. The 2015 second round pick got into 50 games for the Coyotes last season, and he got seven points.

Dermott played his junior hockey for the Eerie Otters. He was coached by Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch while playing for the Otters. He also played with Connor McDavid and Connor Brown with the Otters in the 2013-14 season. Dermott is also a former client of Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson back when Jackson was still an agent.

The Oilers have a split squad game against the Calgary Flames on September 23. There are rules for how many veterans a team must dress for a given NHL preseason game, which include needing to have either played at least 30 NHL games in the previous year or at least 100 NHL games in his career. A first round pick in the most recent draft also counts as an NHL veteran for these purposes. The numbers for goalies are slightly different. They need at least 50 career NHL games or 30 NHL games in the previous season.

Anyway, the Oilers have fifteen forwards, eight defencemen, and two goalies for a total of 25 players that qualify as NHL veterans for preseason games with the addition of Dermott. The Oilers will need at least sixteen veterans to suit up for the split squad game against the Flames. That split squad game will occur early in camp, which means that the top end players are unlikely to be involved. Up to nine of the 25 players with NHL veteran status for preseason games can sit that split squad game out. Dermott’s addition just makes it more likely that the Oilers’ top defencemen won’t have to play in that split squad game.

The 6’0”, 202 lb defenceman only played in eleven games in the 2022-23 season due to a concussion that he suffered in training camp that season. His underlying numbers were not impressive last season, which shouldn’t be surprising after having barely played hockey during the prior season and while playing on a terrible team. He might be more successful on a better team like the Oilers.

Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY SportsDermott’s biggest strength is his ability to make a first pass. He won’t put up gaudy offensive numbers, but he will help a team exit their own zone efficiently. Dermott is a third pairing defenceman at best these days.

Make no mistake about it though, Dermott will compete for a roster spot out of camp. He shoots left, which puts him behind Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, and Brett Kulak on the depth chart. If the Oilers coaching staff decides to put Kulak in the top four, a spot on the left side of the third pairing would be open for Dermott. Dermott has played the right side in his career as well. He played on Morgan Reilly’s right side with the Leafs. That puts him in direct competition with Ty Emberson, Troy Stecher, Josh Brown, and Connor Carrick in training camp. Dermott has the advantage of being more versatile than his competitors.

Escott and Seravalli both reported that Dermott will join the team for informal captain’s skates sometime this week.

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September 9, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

There’s a debate topic that has been relevant to the Edmonton Oilers since the early days of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s careers. Together, McDavid and Draisaitl create the most fearsome twosome in the entire league. Keeping them apart gives the Oilers two elite scoring lines though.

Related: The Nuclear Option – Part One

EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 19: Edmonton Oilers Winger Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his power play goal with Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Well, the Oilers have a defensive version of the same debate now as well. Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard have become one of the best defence pairings in the entire league, but they could be split up to improve the second pairing. It’s the Bizarro version of the McDavid – Draisaitl debate. Most Oilers fans wouldn’t even entertain splitting up such a dominant pairing, but I fully believe that splitting them up is the best path forward for the Oilers.

Peering down below Ekholm and Bouchard on the depth chart is like peering down into the murky depths of the ocean. We don’t know what lies beneath. The left side is strong with Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, and Brett Kulak. The right side is an enigma. Cody Ceci and Philip Broberg are gone now. Left in their wake are Ty Emberson, Troy Stecher, and Josh Brown. None of them are guaranteed to succeed in a top four role. So, the Oilers coaching staff will have to get a little bit creative.

Finding a partner for Nurse is the most pressing issue for the Oilers defence right now since Ceci and Broberg are both gone.

@NHL_Sid has done excellent work identifying strengths and weaknesses of the Oilers’ defencemen as well as analyzing stylistic fits based on individual strengths and weaknesses. His analysis says that Nurse does not defend the blue line well, so Nurse needs a partner that defends the blue line well. Nurse also benefits from playing with an accurate passer.

The Oilers already have such a player. Bouchard is the best stylistic fit for Nurse on the team. Bouchard is the best puck moving defenceman on the team, and he defends the blue line well. He ranked first in controlled zone exits and third on the team in entry defence last season.

| CF% | SF% | GF% | xGF% | HDCF% | | Nurse/Bouchard 2021-22 – 2023-24 | 58.85% | 57.21% | 46.03% | 58.46% | 56.44% |

Stats from Natural Stat Trick.The fear with the Nurse – Bouchard pairing is that they have both struggled with in zone defending in their careers. The gap between their goals for percentage and their expected goals percentage seems to suggest that there have been too many breakdowns that result in goals against.

We can also look at the fact that they’ve had a 90.61% save percentage while on the ice together compared to the team’s 92.01% save percentage without them on the ice. That could be poor goaltending, or it could be a result of allowing too many high danger scoring chances. Their 56.44% high danger chances for percentage tells me that it’s not so much about the volume of scoring chances that they have surrendered as it is about not getting bounces or timely saves. It’s also fair to say that they have made some defensive errors that have led to goals against, but EVERY PAIRING makes mistakes.

I can’t say that the Nurse – Bouchard pairing would be as incredible as the Ekholm – Bouchard pairing, but it wouldn’t be a drastic drop off. Their goal share should regress to the mean based on their expected goals percentage and their shot share metrics.

Related: Nurse and Bouchard Could be Together for a While

Putting Nurse with Bouchard still doesn’t solve the problem of figuring out who should play 2RD though. The safest option would be to put a left-handed veteran at 2RD. Kulak is the most obvious choice, but his preference is to play on the left side. Nurse hasn’t ever played his off-side. The other option is Ekholm.

Daniel Nugent-Bowman asked Ekholm about his experience playing the right side when he was acquired by the Oilers, and he said that “I have done that in the past, it’s not a big deal. It’s obviously something that’s a bit different, but it’s not a big deal at all.” Ekholm referenced playing the right side in the first ten games of the 2022-23 season with the Nashville Predators. These were his numbers from Natural Stat Trick in those ten games:

| CF% | SF% | GF% | xGF% | HDCF% | | Ekholm (1st 10 games of 2022-23) | 53.56% | 53.79% | 58.33% | 58.09% | 54% |

Stats derived from Natural Stat Trick.It’s a small sample size, but Ekholm was more than fine on the right side in those ten games. While his numbers would be expected to decline slightly if he was to play the right side full time, Ekholm is more than capable of doing it. His experience and skill set allow him to excel in any role he’s asked to play. I’m inclined to believe him when he says playing the right side isn’t a big deal to him.

If Nurse was to be paired with Bouchard and a left-handed defenceman was to play 2RD, then Kulak and Ekholm would be the second pairing. Both of them are capable of playing on either side. The responsibility of playing the right side wouldn’t fall fully on the shoulders of either player in that scenario.

The problem with that approach is that the Oilers don’t have an NHL option that could play the left side of the bottom pairing if Kulak isn’t there. Emberson, Stecher, and Brown are all right-handed. The next best lefties in the system are Ben Gleason and Cam Dineen. That’s why I still believe that a left-handed defenceman will get a PTO from the Oilers, and I still believe that player will be Travis Dermott.

Related: Possible Oilers defence additions

The narrative around the Ekholm – Bouchard pairing is that Ekholm stabilized Bouchard and allowed him to succeed. Let’s run with that theory for a moment here.

Ekholm’s game is so well rounded that he can basically fit with anyone. If Ekholm is the stabilizing force that brings the best out of other defencemen, doesn’t it make more sense to pair him with one of the weaker links on the right side?

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 01: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Mattias Ekholm (14) in his first game as an Oilers defends his zone in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Toronto Maple Leads on March 1, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Ekholm and Emberson could form a shut down pairing. Ekholm could provide the offensive support, and Emberson could focus on defending. A “Double E” pairing in Edmonton could make for a fun story. Ekholm could also potentially be a good fit for Stecher. Ekholm could be the defensive conscience, and Stecher could be more free to roam. Rotating Emberson and Stecher in with Ekholm to shelter their minutes could be a reasonable game plan.

Related: O’Reilly and Emberson moves have Parkatti’s fingerprints all over them

You might look at Nurse and his $9.25 million cap hit and say “shouldn’t the $9.25 million defenceman be able to drive a pairing on his own?”, but let’s put salary aside for a moment here. I would trust Ekholm to anchor a second pairing with a weaker link more than I would trust Nurse to do that. If you’re using salary as an argument for what a player should or shouldn’t be doing, then I would think that you want the highest paid defenceman on the team to play on the top pairing.

I’m also not buying the idea that Bouchard needs a babysitter. I never really felt that way, but he proved it last season. His expected goals percentage actually rose by 3.52% away from Ekhom last season. In fact, the only two metrics on Natural Stat Trick where Bouchard wasn’t better away from Ekholm last season were goal share and high danger goal share, both of which were still above 55%.

Consider this as well. Bouchard struggled at the start of last season before the team turned their season around. Bouchard played with Ekholm exclusively while he was struggling through that stretch. It isn’t as if Ekholm is a magical fairy that instantly cures Bouchard of his turnovers and defensive lapses at all times.

Related: Oilers Glaring Individual Mistakes

The plan entering last season was to play Nurse and Bouchard together, and to play Ekholm with Broberg. Ekholm was hurt in training camp, and he missed the first game of the season. The Oilers went with Nurse – Bouchard for that one game, and the team lost 8-1. They quickly abandoned that plan and went back to the Ekholm – Bouchard pairing for the next game.

Some people have PTSD from that game and wouldn’t want to try Nurse – Bouchard again. Here’s the thing though: EVERYONE played poorly in that game. All three of the defence pairings were on the ice for goals against in that game. It wasn’t all Nurse and Bouchard’s fault that the team allowed eight goals. You can’t draw conclusions from a one-game sample size.

If most people believe that it’s best to keep McDavid and Draisaitl apart, then I don’t understand why keeping Ekholm and Bouchard apart is an untenable thought. I strongly believe that the best path forward is to split up the Ekholm – Bouchard pairing. Putting Nurse with Bouchard would put Nurse in the best position to succeed, and it would still be a tremendous top pairing. Ekholm is the best candidate to play with a weaker link because he’s so strong in all facets of the game, including mentorship. Having Ekholm driving the second pairing offers the most flexibility to the coaching staff for options for the bottom two pairings.

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September 6, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

September 3, 2024 was a historic day for the Edmonton Oilers. That was the day that Leon Draisaitl’s contract extension was announced. The occasion wasn’t just significant because he’s a superstar. It was significant because he’s a superstar that chose Edmonton.

Related: Oilers extend Leon Draisaitl

When the NHL announced that Edmonton, Seattle, and Detroit were the leading candidates to host the 2025 NHL All-Star Game, Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand took to Instagram to say “lol, I can’t wait to see how many guys boycott that game”.

brad is back at it pic.twitter.com/VSUd0CF6OR

— natalie (@nataliezicko7) February 21, 2023

The league’s northern-most city has never been a desirable place for NHL players to land. It can’t boast the bright lights of New York City, or the warm weather and beaches of California and Florida. Edmonton doesn’t have the caché of being an original six city. The cold, harsh winter months and the apparent lack of things to do in Edmonton have historically acted as repellents for NHL players.

The list of players that have included Edmonton on their no-trade lists is probably longer than we could ever know. We know that Dany Heatley blocked a trade that would’ve sent him to the Oilers in 2009. Kevin Shattenkirk blocked a trade that would’ve involved Taylor Hall in 2016.

Edmonton has traditionally had trouble attracting free agents. A prominent unrestricted free agent deciding to sign with the Oilers in the prime of his career was as rare of an occurrence as a movie star dating a common peasant during the 1990s and early 2000s.

I’m not talking about players like Craig MacTavish and Ken Linseman who signed as free agents with the Oilers in the era of equalization payments before unrestricted free agency was introduced to the league in the 1995 collective bargaining agreement. I’m not talking about players like Kevin Lowe, Bill Ranford, and Marty McSorley that signed for second terms with the Oilers at the end of their careers either. Nor am I talking about others like Adam Oates, Nikolai Khabibulin, and Petr Sykora who were former stars elsewhere that signed with the Oilers near the ends of their careers as well.

BOSTON, MA – MARCH 09: Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) carries the puck during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers on March 9, 2023, at TD garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)Michael Nylander signed a contract with the Washington Capitals in the summer of 2007. The Oilers thought they had reached a deal with Nylander the day before he signed with the Capitals though. Clearly, Nylander chose the Capitals over the Oilers.

The players that were the closest things to prominent when they signed with the Oilers as free agents during those years were Sheldon Souray and Steve Staios. Those were good signings, but far from Earth shattering signings.

Who could forget some of the big names that requested trades out of Edmonton. Chris Pronger was traded shortly after the team’s run to Game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. Rumours swirled around the reason for Pronger’s desire to leave the Oilers, but the bottom line was that he wanted out after just one season with the team.

Former local hero Mike Comrie earned a $3.5 million performance bonus by the skin of his teeth in 2001-02 in a season where he struggled with injuries and poor defensive play. Comrie needed a new contract for the 2003-04 season, and there was a hold out because negotiations didn’t go well. Lowe, who was the team’s general manager then, worked out a trade for Comrie to go to the Anaheim Ducks for Corey Perry AND a first round pick, but Lowe asked Comrie to pay back $2.5 million of that performance bonus to facilitate the trade. That obviously did not happen, and Comrie was later dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Souray also requested a trade out of Edmonton because of the way that the team handled his injury situation, which was disgusting. I’ll put a link to his interview with John Scott about it here, but please use your discretion before listening to the conversation because Souray goes into some graphic details about the injury. Basically, the Oilers thought that Souray was milking an injury because he didn’t want to play for the team anymore; but he was in the ICU for a serious staph infection.

There are also the more recent examples of Jesse Puljujarvi and Philip Broberg, who both requested trades because of the way that their development was handled by the Oilers.

Related: Oilers decline to match offer sheets for Holloway and Broberg

Oilers fans have had their share of heart breaking departures as well. Wayne Gretzky was famously sold to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988. Mark Messier was traded to the New York Rangers in 1991. Doug Weight was traded to the St. Louis Blues in 2001 because the team couldn’t afford to keep him. Ryan Smyth was traded at the 2007 trade deadline because they couldn’t work out a contract extension in time. Taylor Hall was controversially traded for Adam Larsson in 2016, who would later leave the Oilers in free agency. Jordan Eberle was traded in 2017 as well. Oscar Klefbom’s career was unfortunately cut short due to a nagging shoulder problem.

To say that hearing Draisaitl say “I’m really, really happy and excited to hopefully be an Oiler for life” was refreshing would be an understatement. He has already played ten seasons for the Oilers, and he is committed for nine more seasons. Draisaitl has committed 19 years of his life to Edmonton. Having a superstar say things like “I take great pride in being an Oiler” and “I love nothing more than wearing that jersey and representing our city and our great, great fans” filled my heart with pride and joy as an Edmontonian and an Oilers fan.

Draisaitl’s decision is the latest symbol that times have changed in Edmonton. Elliotte Friedman had this to say on Friday’s edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast:

“I heard from some agents who told me that there were players [that] took Edmonton off their no-trade lists.”

That’s a plot twist.

Friedman also mentioned that Shattenkirk would now be interested in playing for the Oilers. Yes, the same Shattenkirk that blocked a trade to the Oilers in 2016.

The tradition of Edmonton being passed over as a desirable landing spot has slowly been changing since 2016 when Milan Lucic signed here. That turned out to be a disaster, but he was a star player in his prime that chose to come here.

Zach Hyman also chose to come here in 2021. His comments in the dressing room that were captured after the team’s Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final this past June said all you need to know about how Hyman feels about the Oilers. It’s easy to see how close the team is on and off the ice even as an outsider peering in.

Powerful words from Zach Hyman moments after the Oilers’ Game 7 Stanley Cup Final loss.
.
(Via: @EdmontonOilers) pic.twitter.com/GxE5ItoE15

— BarDown (@BarDown) August 9, 2024

Mattias Ekholm didn’t choose to come to Edmonton, but he is certainly happy that it worked out the way that it did for reasons beyond coming to a contending team. “[My wife Ida] grew up in the northern part of Sweden, where there’s even more snow than there is here. She has always just been very much pro four seasons. We were at Snow Valley ski hill here. Ida was taking the kids up and down the hill. I was just there supporting. I’m not saying ‘Oh, she loves it’ just to win over the fans. It’s the truth. She’s from there. She’s grown up in it. We’ve missed having snow on Christmas” Ekholm told Sportsnet shortly after being acquired by the Oilers.

Draisaitl’s fiancée, Celeste Desjardins, is also excited about her life in Edmonton. She wrote this in an Instagram story after Draisaitl’s contract was announced on Tuesday:

“So incredibly proud of you baby. I’ve watched you pour so much love and hard work in everything you do. Your commitment and passion for the game is unmatched. I can’t wait to see what the next 8 years has in store for you. So happy to be on this journey with you and get the privilege to call Edmonton home for the next 8 years. We have created such a beautiful life there with an incredible community and I’m so excited to watch all your greatness continue there. I know how much this city and this team means to you. Keep going my love! Ich liebe dich. Let’s go Oilers!”

We saw Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner sign in Edmonton this summer for a chance to win. Adam Henrique took less money than what was offered to him by the Winnipeg Jets to return to Edmonton this summer.

Make no mistake about it: Edmonton has become a place where players want to play. Draisaitl’s contract extension is one big reason that Edmonton will continue to be a place where players will want to play for the foreseeable future. Oilers fans hope that the second big reason for that will be in place sometime next summer.

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Septmeber 3, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

A cornerstone of the Edmonton Oilers franchise has been secured. The Oilers announced that they signed Leon Draisaitl to an eight year, $112 million contract on Tuesday. The contract will kick in for the 2025-26 season. It carries an annual average value of $14 million dollars, which will make Draisaitl the highest paid player in the league.

LEON'S LOCKED IN

The #Oilers have signed forward Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year contract extension beginning in 2025-26 with an average annual value of $14 million. pic.twitter.com/wERUyneHA7

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 3, 2024

The third overall pick from the 2014 NHL draft has 850 points in 719 games with the Oilers. Draisaitl has added an impressive 108 points in 74 NHL playoff games. The Cologne, Germany native won the Art Ross, Ted Linday, and Hart Trophies in 2020. Draisaitl finished no worse than fourth in league scoring from 2018-19 until last season when he finished seventh. He ranks second in the league in points since 2018-19 behind only his running mate Connor McDavid.

Related: The Nuclear Option – Part One

Draisaitl ranks second in playoff scoring in the last three seaons. He finished second in playoff scoring with 32 points in 2021-22. That was beyond impressive not only because he only played in sixteen games, but because he did what he did essentially on one leg after being taken down awkwardly by Mikey Anderson during a scrum in the team’s first round series against the Los Angeles Kings. Draisaitl famously put up seventeen points in five games against the Calgary Flames in the second round that year. He finished third in playoff scoring with 31 points in 25 games during the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final this past season.

Draisaitl has a ridiculous skill set. He’s a threat to score every time he’s on the ice. Draisaitl ranked in the 89th percentile in shot volume last season according to NHL Edge, and he ranked in the 97th percentile in shooting percentage. He’s a volume shooter with elite accuracy. That’s a lethal combination. He’s an elite playmaker as well, as evidenced by the fact that he ranks third in the league in assists since 2018-19 (371). His backhand passing specifically is off the charts good.

He uses his 6’2”, 209 lb frame to protect pucks as well as anyone in the NHL. NHL Edge has Draisaitl’s top speed in the 92nd percentile, which is deceiving because of his size.

The German superstar impacts every part of the game for the Oilers. He ranks third in the league in even strength points since 2018-19. He can centre his own line, and he can play either wing when required. It’s true that he does get time with McDavid, but he is most often asked to drive a line with inferior linemates. He’s never had a true scoring winger to call his own.

NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 02: Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates a third period goal by center Leon Draisaitl (29) during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers, held on March 2, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire)Draisaitl leads the league with 124 powerplay goals since 2018-19. The next closest competitor is at 88 powerplay goals in that timeframe. If you want to go back further than that, Draisaitl ranks behind only Alexander Ovechkin in powerplay goals since Draisaitl’s rookie season in 2014-15. He’s known for his lethal one-timer from below the right faceoff circle. Draisaitl can score from seemingly inconceivable angles. He’s one of the reasons why the Oilers set a record for powerplay efficiency in the 2022-23 season (32.4%), and that they have the league’s best powerplay percentage from 2014-15 through 2023-24 (23.7%) according to NHL.com.

He doesn’t get used on the penalty kill routinely, but Draisaitl is a valuable asset for the penalty kill as well. He is often asked to take faceoffs on the penalty kill. The most telling thing for me is how often Draisaitl is used as the only forward while killing a five-on-three situation. Draisaitl’s fantastic stick positioning and elite hand-eye coordination allows him to excel in that role.

As an added bonus, Draisaitl is always good for a few hilarious sound bytes every season because of his sarcastic humour. He’s also a great leader and teammate, which we can see through the strong friendships he has with his teammates like McDavid and former Oiler Cody Ceci.

It’s a relief to not have to deal with the drama that would have come with Draisaitl entering the coming season without an extension in place. The deal expires after the 2032-33 season, at which time Driasaitl will be 37 years old. This ensures that Draisaitl will be an Oiler through the prime of his NHL career. That’s one important piece of business down. Two more remain. Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid are next.

Related: The Nuclear Option – Part Two

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Join Michael (Oilerslive), Dash (DashInThePark), Bob the Goalie (BobGoalie1) and Ryan Lotsberg (Lotsry) from Heavy Hockey Network as they look at the Edmonton Oilers and the NHL. Edmonton Oilers Talk Part of Heavy Hockey at Night at www.heavyhockey.com
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August 30, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The hockey world woke up to devastating news on Friday morning. Brothers Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau have passed away. They were reportedly struck by a drunk driver while riding their bikes in Salem County, New Jersey on Thursday evening.

Johnny Gaudreau got 743 points in 763 NHL games over eleven seasons with the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets. 602 of those games came as a member of the Flames organization. “Johnny Hockey” won the Hobey Baker Award while playing for the Boston College Eagles in 2014, which was one of his three seasons there. He also played for the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL in 2010-11. Johnny Gaurdeau was 31 years old.

Johnny Gaudreau was a four-time NHL All-Star and a Lady Byng Trophy winner. He also made the NHL All-Rookie team in 2014-15. His best season came in 2021-22 when he put up 115 points in 82 games and led the Flames to the second round of the 2024 playoffs. He scored the game and series winning goal in overtime of Game 7 of the first round against the Dallas Stars in 2022, which was the biggest goal of his career.

He scored the most goals in the tournament (7) en route to winning gold in the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship. He also won silver at the 2010 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament, and he played in four IIHF Men’s World Championships.

He was a decorated collegiate player. In addition to the Hobey Baker Award, Johnny Gaudreau won the USA College Hockey Player of the Year award and was a First Team All-American in 2014. He also won a National Championship in 2012.

“Johnny Hockey” was a rare talent. He was truly so much fun to watch. He was a small player at just 5’9” and 163 lbs, but the talent of the 2011 fourth round pick was far larger. Johnny Gaudreau was always dangerous with the puck on his stick. You just knew something was going to happen when he had the puck. His speed, agility, and ability to hold onto the puck for as long as he wanted to have it made him a constant scoring threat.

Columbus Blue Jackets statement on the passing of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew. pic.twitter.com/V2aFykgKIs

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) August 30, 2024

Matthew Gaudreau was also a professional hockey player. He recorded five points in 21 AHL games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the Stockton Heat from 2017-2020. He also got 100 points in 127 ECHL games with the Worcester Railers and the Reading Royals from 2017-2022. Matthew Gaudreau also played at Boston College. He amassed 63 points in 119 games in four years for the Eagles. He also played 106 games with the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, where he got 40 points. He would go on to be an assistant coach with the NAHL’s Philadelphia Rebels for two years, and he also coached the Gloucester Catholic High School hockey team. Matthew Gaudreau was 29 years old.

Johnny Gaudreau leaves behind his wife Meredith and his two young children, daughter Noa and son Johnny. Matthew Gaudreau leaves behind his wife, Madeline. She is expecting the couple’s first child. The parents of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau are Guy and Jane Gaudreau. Johnny and Matthew also had two sisters, Katie and Kristen Gaudreau. Katie was scheduled to be married on Friday, and her brothers were supposed to be groomsmen.

I can’t adequately put into words how tragic this news is. First and foremost, my sincerest condolences go out to the entire Gaudreau family. The lives of two young men were unnecessarily and cruelly cut short. Two children lost a father. Two wives wife lost their husbands. Two sisters lost their brothers. Two parents lost their two sons. Those are unimaginable pains to have to endure.

My heart also goes out to their friends, teammates, and coworkers as well as fans of their respective former teams. It doesn’t matter what team you cheer for on a day like this. All hockey fans feel this loss.

Tragedies like this put life into perspective. Life is so fickle and fragile. One moment can change everything, for better or for worse. Nobody has control over it. No matter how much we try to gain control, we simply don’t have control over life.

What we can control is our actions. Hug your loved ones and let them know they’re loved because you never know which hug will be the last. Stop putting things off because the time might never come for those things to happen. Life is meant to be lived, so do it while you have the chance.

Rest in peace, Johnny and Matthew.

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August 28, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson made a smart move to beef up the Oilers’ analytics department last fall when he hired Michael Parkatti to be the team’s Senior Director of Analytics and Data.

Michael Parkatti has been named the #Oilers Senior Director, Data & Analytics!

Working closely with the hockey operations department, Parkatti will lead the creation & operation of a new analytics department, providing insight-driven recommendations for the team. pic.twitter.com/2ITPw1DOeo

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 21, 2023

Parkatti has spent his career in data and analytics in various sectors, but hockey is clearly a passion of his. He used to be a blogger, and his blog is still available to read at boysonthebus.com. Parkatti has a series of articles outlining the various steps he took to create a statistical model that would predict the likelihood of draft eligible CHL players having careers in the NHL. It’s a five-part series where each piece outlines a change that he made to the model that made it more accurate than it was in the previous piece. It was clear that the model was in the early stages of development when he wrote those pieces because he demonstrated that there was a lot of room for growth, but it was already reasonably accurate.

That’s just one example of how data can go beyond what is publicly available online. While I have no idea what sorts of projects Parkatti has been working on during his time with the Oilers, I have to believe that the information he provides to the Oilers is highly insightful and useful.

I can point to two moves made by the Oilers this summer that have Parkatti’s fingerprints all over them.

The first was the Oilers trading a conditional 2025 first round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 32nd pick in the 2024 NHL draft, which was used to select London Knights centre Sam O’Reilly.

Related: Oilers trade up to select Sam O’Reilly with final pick in the first round

They must’ve seen something they REALLY liked in O’Reilly to pull the trigger on that trade specifically to draft him. I’m not trying to put O’Reilly down here, but he wasn’t a featured player on the Knights this past season. He showed off his defensive acumen in a depth role on the Knights last season which is great, but it’s not like he popped off for 150 points and was a must-have prospect. As much as Director of Amatuer Scouting Rick Pracey liked what he saw in O’Reilly, my gut tells me that O’Reilly stood out as a smart player to draft based on Parkatti’s model that works to predict the likelihood of future success of CHL players.

Photo Credit: facebook.com/Oilers.NHLThe other move that stands out to me as a data driven move is the acquisition of Ty Emberson.

Related: The Ceci trade was more about Emberson than we realize

The Sharks got a third round pick and Cody Ceci, a veteran top four defenceman on a reasonable contract, and all they had to do was part with a 24-year old prospect that they scooped up on waivers for nothing.

That begs the question, what did the Oilers see in Emberson that made them willing to do this deal? Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch coached Emberson with the Hartford Wolfpack in the 2022-23 season, and Emberson won the AHL Eastern Conference Defensive Defenceman of the Year award that season. I feel like there’s more to this one than the coach saying good things about the player though. It may have mostly been a cap dump, but the acquisition of Emberson is one that you have to dive into the data to truly appreciate from the Oilers’ perspective.

Emberson played on a Sharks team that ended up with the first overall pick in the most recent NHL draft, so a lot of the commonly analyzed underlying numbers don’t look great for Emberson.

Comparing his performance to that of his Sharks teammates tells a more flattering tale about Emberson though. Let’s start with a comparison of how the Sharks performed at five-on-five with Emberson on the ice and without him on the ice using Natural Stat Trick’s Line Tool:

| SF% | GF% | xGF% | HDCF% | HDGF% | | Emberson | 46.21% | 44.44% | 43.26% | 43.05% | 50% | | w/o Emberson | 42.43% | 33.33% | 41.63% | 41.11% | 31.61% |

Data taken from Natural Stat TrickThe Sharks were better with Emberson on the ice than they were with him off the ice. While the expected goals for percentages are close, the actual goal share is wildly slanted in Emberson’s favour. The same can be said of the high danger chances and high danger goals percentages.

It looks like PDO is a factor because Emberson benefitted from a 91.7% save percentage while he was on the ice, while the team’s save percentage dipped to 89.74% with Emberson off the ice. It’s also a small sample size for Emberson, just 498:43 compared to 3525:31 for his teammates.

PuckIQ tells us that Emberson got 32% of his ice time against elite competition, 43.2% against mid level competition, and 24.8% against low level competition. That’s on par with second pairing usage.

His best goal share came against elite competition (7-6, 53.8%), which is highly encouraging. It makes his 33.3% goal share against low level competition (4-8) immensely surprising. Once again, PDO played a role there as Emberson got a lowly 83.3% save percentage against low level competition compared to a 92.2% save percentage against elite competition.

However, we can’t just use save percentage to explain why Emberson was so good against elite competition last season. PuckIQ analyzes Corsi and Dangerous Fenwick numbers relative to teammates (CF%RC and DFF%RC). In case you’re unfamiliar with the terms, Corsi is simply any shot attempt, and Dangerous Fenwick is a measure of unblocked shot attempts with the quality of those shot attempts based on the location of the shot attempt considered. Just for clarity’s sake, negative numbers are lower than teammates and positive numbers are higher than teammates. Higher numbers are better in these particular metrics.

| CF%RC | DFF%RC | | All | -0.3 | 1.5 | | Elite | 6.5 | 10.6 | | Mid | -5.3 | -4.5 | | Gritensity (Low) | 1.2 | 2 |

Data taken from PuckIQEmberson’s numbers against elite competition in comparison to teammates in these two metrics LEAP off the page!

If we only look at Dangerous Fenwick against relative to his teammates (DFA%RC) against elite competition, we see a figure of -23.05 for Emberson. That is absolutely ridiculous! His strong DF metrics against elite competition suggest that Emberson understands how to defend the dangerous scoring areas in the slot and near the net.

The big asterisk here is that these numbers are in comparison to his former teammates on the Sharks, who were the worst teammates in the league last season. This information tells us nothing about how he would’ve compared to defencemen on a Stanley Cup contending team.

So, we move on to individual stats.

NHL_Sid (@NHL_Sid) from Oilersnation wrote a piece about the options to fix the team’s hole on the right side of the second pairing, and he shared some interesting numbers on Emberson.

He shared that Evolving Hockey says that Emberson ranks in the 89th percentile in defensive impact on expected goals at even strength. The fact that he ranked so highly in defensive impact on expected goals while playing a second pairing role on a terrible team is impressive.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersNHL_Sid also said that data from AllThreeZones shows that Emberson ranks in the 75th percentile in puck retrievals, which is pretty good. He ranks in the 29th percentile in entry defence, and in the 24th percentile in controlled zone exits. That tells me that Emberson doesn’t excel at defending because he prevents the other team from spending time in his team’s zone. It tells me that his impact in the defensive zone comes from reading plays, defending the slot, and breaking up scoring chances. That sounds like a player that would thrive in Knoblauch’s zone defence scheme.

Emberson racked up ten points (1G, 9A) in his 30 games last season. Nine assists in 30 games is pretty good for a defensive defenceman whose team only shot 7.73% while he was on the ice. That level of production isn’t expected to continue, but there’s a chance that it might if he gets time with the Oilers’ scoring lines.

I’m certain that Parkatti and the Oilers have access to more data that I can’t see; but based on the data that I can see, Emberson has the making of a potential shutdown defenceman. We can expect more data-driven moves similar to the ones made for O’Reilly and Emberson in the coming years because the Oilers are going to be tight on cap space for a while and the team’s prospect pool is quite weak. That makes Parkatti a critical part of the organization.

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August 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

I want to take a minute to clarify something here. When the Edmonton Oilers traded Cody Ceci, some people thought that it was a trade to create the cap space to match Philip Broberg’s offer sheet. That clearly was not the case since Broberg is now a member of the St. Louis Blues.

Some people also thought that the Ceci deal was done to put pressure on Blues general manager Doug Armstrong to get him to agree to making the side deal that saw the Oilers acquire Paul Fischer and a 2028 third round pick in return for not matching the offer sheets. The theory is that they needed the cap space to make Armstrong think that they were going to match Broberg’s offer sheet.

I’ve also seen comments about the lack of wisdom in trading Leon Draisaitl’s good friend during negotiations with the German superstar just to make room to possibly match an overpriced offer sheet for a young and unproven player or to squeeze a prospect and a pick out of the Blues.

That’s not why Ceci was traded. Let me explain in detail.

First of all, listen to Armstrong’s media availability from the day that the Oilers announced that they wouldn’t be matching the offer sheets. “They had access to our second round pick, they had access to our third round pick, they had access to Holloway, and they had access to Broberg; and we had access to none of it… [Oilers GM Stan Bowman] said that we would have to add a piece or two. He and I went to work, and we were able to get that done.”

When Armstrong was asked to elaborate on why he had to make the extra trade to get Holloway and Broberg, Armstrong said that “Our goal was to get [the] players… when we were talking, [Bowman] said that if we work to a point where that’s agreeable, then we won’t match. Our goal was always to get the players, and to have to add a little bit to the second and the third to reach our goal, we as an organization wanted to do that.”

Armstrong never felt that he was in a position of power. The leverage always belonged to the Oilers in his eyes. Bowman was really smart to ask the Blues for more in that situation. Armstrong was clearly motivated to get Holloway and Broberg, and Bowman worked to increase the return knowing that he had the leverage.

Bowman was quite clear in explaining that this was a business decision. The Oilers wanted to allow themselves the most salary cap flexibility in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. The Oilers were $354,167 over the salary cap before the offer sheets were signed. Add Broberg’s cap hit of $4,580,917 to that, and you get a roster that was $4,935,084 over the cap.

The only way to have kept Broberg would’ve been to utilize LTIR for Evander Kane. Bowman explained that they don’t know what Kane’s game plan is in regards to treating and recovering from his injury, so they don’t know if he will be on LTIR to start the season or not.

Let’s play it out as if Kane was going to be on LTIR though. As Bowman explained during his media availability last Tuesday, the Oilers would have to be able to get below the league’s $88 million salary cap in order to activate Kane if he was to become healthy at any point during the season. That means that the Oilers would’ve had to have removed at least $4,935,084 from a 22-man active roster to activate Kane in that scenario.

If Ceci had been traded with no salary cap hit coming back, that would’ve cleared $3.25 million. That’s $1,685,084 shy of the mark. They would’ve had to have played a game shorthanded and used an emergency recall to be able to activate Kane after trading Ceci with no cap hit coming back if they had kept Broberg. The other option would’ve been to trade another significant roster player in addition to Ceci, like Brett Kulak, to be able to activate Kane.

My point is that moving Ceci alone wouldn’t have created enough room to magically make it easier to keep Broberg.

What actually happened was that Ceci was traded to the San Jose Sharks along with a 2025 third round pick for Ty Emberson. That saved the Oilers $2.3 million against the cap. So no, the Ceci trade was not a move that made keeping Broberg more possible, and it was not a trade made to scare Armstrong into giving the Oilers more assets.

Related: Oilers trade Ceci to the Sharks

The other critical piece of information here is the timing of the decision to not match the offer sheets. Bowman said that “…once we decided that we weren’t going to match the offer sheets, obviously we knew that we were going to be getting some assets back, so we started having other conversations”.

Bowman said that he made the decision to not match the offer sheets, AND THEN he started talking to other teams about trades. The decision to not match the offer sheets had already been made before Ceci was traded. So no, Ceci was not moved out to make room to match Broberg in an effort to strong arm Armstrong into adding more to the deal.

The Ceci trade was obviously made to create cap space though. That cap space allowed them to be able to add Vasily Podkolzin as a cheaper potential forward replacement for Holloway. They also brought in Emberson with that cap space. All in all, the Oilers came out with $1.3 million more cap space than they had prior to those trades.

That cap space has offered the Oilers a lot of flexibility. They don’t need to place Kane on LTIR to be cap compliant now. They can accrue cap space over the course of the season, which will allow them to add at the trade deadline, which is important to Bowman and the Oilers.

Bowman also spoke about needing to give the players they currently have a chance to show what they can do. While the team is likely going to add a defenceman on a PTO according to Bob Stauffer, and they’re still exploring options for right-handed defencemen, it sounds like the current group will get plenty of opportunity this fall.

Related: Possible Oilers defence additions

Emberson is a part of that group. Make no mistake about it, the Oilers wouldn’t have paid a third round pick to trade Ceci for Emberson if they didn’t think that Emberson could play. Trading Ceci was a cap dump, but it was more about Emberson than a lot of people realize. Stauffer seems to think that Emberson is a lock to start the season with the team, and I would be inclined to agree. I just don’t know what role he will have yet.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Ty Emberson may turn out to be a bit of a surprise for the @EdmontonOilers
Had a successful season with Kris Knoblauch in 2022-23.
Played some tough minutes in San Jose.
A lock for me to start in EDM and also be a part of the PK.

— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) August 24, 2024

I’ll have more on Emberson later in the week.

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August 24, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Oilers have had a busy August with the decisions to let Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg walk away after signing their offer sheets, trading Cody Ceci and a 2025 third round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Ty Emberson, and trading for Vasily Podkolzin. It appears that the Edmonton Oilers aren’t quite done making moves this summer though.

Bob Stauffer dropped in with a spot on his own show, Oilers Now, while on vacation last Tuesday after the Oilers declined to match the offer sheets. He also dropped some information on what the Oilers might do later this summer. He said that “…they’re going to be adding a PTO defenceman. It’s coming…There might be a guy that’s got some history with Kris Knoblauch who might be available on a PTO too… There’s somebody that he knows well that’s not signed an NHL deal right now that’s played a bit in the league in the past three or four years, actually he’s played a fair amount in the league in the last three or four years. I wonder if that guy makes sense. They’re adding for sure.”

Stauffer mentioned that the Oilers will be playing a split squad game against the Calgary Flames on September 23, 2024. He said that the Oilers have fourteen defencemen on NHL contracts. He explained that the Oilers will likely choose to add a defenceman on a PTO just to make sure that they have enough “veteran” defencemen available without making their top defencemen available for those two games.

I put “veteran” in quotes because the NHL has specific criteria that make a player a “veteran” for preseason games, and there is a rule that dictates that each team has to dress at least eight “veterans” for each preseason game. Skaters need to have either played at least 30 NHL games the season before, or at least 100 NHL games to be considered a “veteran”. A current year first round pick also counts as a veteran, so Sam O’Reilly will count as a “veteran” for preseason games this fall.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThere are three defencemen who fit the criteria of having played for Knoblauch at some point, qualifying as a “veteran” for preseason games, and having played a fair amount in the league in the last three or four years who do not currently have contracts. Those players are Libor Hajek, Jarred Tinordi, and Travis Dermott.

Hajek played for Knoblauch with the Hartford Wolfpack for parts of three seasons. He has 110 NHL games under his belt. However, he played for Pardubice HC in Czechia last season, so I’m not sure how many NHL teams will be knocking on the 26-year old’s door this summer.

Tinordi played for Knoblauch with the Wolfpack in 2021-22. He has 205 NHL games under his belt, including 52 with the Chicago Blackhawks last season.

Dermott played for Knoblauch with the Eerie Otters for three seasons. Yes, he played with Connor McDavid and Connor Brown as well. Dermott has 329 NHL games to his credit, including 50 with the Arizona Coyotes last season.

Stauffer also made a post on X on Thursday suggesting that the defenceman coming in on a PTO would be able to play either side of the ice:

Wouldn't surprise me if the @EdmontonOilers are exploring the option of adding another right shot D.

Or bringing in someone on a PTO that can play LD/RD.

EDM could also end up targeting a 2nd pairing RD at the trade deadline with the accrued cap space they will have.

— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) August 22, 2024

Dermott is the only one of the three defencemen that I just mentioned that has played both sides in the NHL. I speculated that Dermott would be someone that the Oilers might consider bringing in at last year’s trade deadline mostly because Dermott is a former client of Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson’s. I would be shocked if Dermott is not the PTO defenceman that Stauffer was talking about.

Related: Oilers 2024 Trade Deadline Rumours

Frank Seravalli dropped some information about the Oilers’ search for a right-handed defenceman on Friday:

UFA Update: #Oilers are perusing the market for right-shot D, including Justin Schultz, Tyson Barrie and Kevin Shattenkirk, among others.

Also, Max Pacioretty has firm offers in-hand from at least three teams, the veteran forward expected to make a decision soon.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) August 23, 2024

The thing that those three have in common, aside from being right-handed defencemen, is that they have all been top four defencemen at some point in their careers. The Oilers have question marks on the right side of the second pairing.

Tyson Barrie’s name is the most eye-catching on that list since he’s a former Oiler. He was traded to the Nashville Predators as part of the package that brought Mattias Ekholm to the Oilers. Barrie was a part of the deal for a few reasons. One was to make the money work. Another was to allow Evan Bouchard the chance to run the top powerplay unit. Having both Barrie and Bouchard was redundant. Barrie was also not known for his lockdown defensive play.

Barrie only played in 41 games for the Predators last season, and he only got into one playoff game for them. However, there are two pros for bringing Barrie back. One is that he’s extremely well liked in the Oilers dressing room. The other is that Barrie and Darnell Nurse formed a more effective pairing in Barrie’s last season with the Oilers than Nurse and Cody Ceci were last season.

DENVER, CO – MAY 31: Edmonton Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie (22) looks on during a Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Finals game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on May 31, 2022. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire)Justin Schultz is intriguing to me because of his smooth skating and his puck moving ability. He’s also won two Stanley Cups. However, I’m not sure how keen Schultz would be about coming back to Edmonton after he was essentially run out of town in 2016 after being thrown into the deep end on the top pairing of a terrible Oilers team in the early part of his career.

Kevin Shattenkirk is not the elite offensive defenceman that he once was, but he’s still playing solid hockey at this stage in his career. He was effective on a strong Boston Bruins team last season, but he only averaged 14:16 per game at even strength, which does not scream “second pairing”. It should be noted that Shattenkirk blocked a trade to the Oilers in 2016 because he wouldn’t sign with the team long-term. However, he blocked a trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017, and he eventually won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2020.

Seravalli also used the words “among others” in his post on X.

Tony DeAngelo has a long and checkered past in the NHL, but if there’s one organization that has shown a willingness to give people chances after questionable off ice behaviour, it’s the Oilers. There’s no denying that DeAngelo is a talented offensive defenceman. He puts up points everywhere he goes. Points aren’t everything as a defenceman, but they are an indicator that a player makes smart decisions and skilled plays with the puck that lead to offence. The issue is his defensive ability, his lack of consistent playing time last season, and his off-ice conduct.

There’s also John Klingberg, who fits a similar profile to the other right-handed defencemen that I’ve just discussed. Offensively inclined former top four defenceman with defensive question marks. Klingberg is also coming off of a season where he barely played due to a hip injury which he had surgery to address this calendar year.

Gustav Lindstrom is another player that some people have mentioned as a possibility. The 2017 second round pick played 32 of his 174 NHL games with the Anaheim Ducks last season. He had an astonishing 23-11 (67.65%) five-on-five goal share on a shoddy Ducks team. However, his expected goals for percentage was 46.60%. That’s a large discrepancy between actual and expected goals that can’t be expected to last forever. Lindstrom has far more NHL experience, but I’m not sold that he’s more of a sure bet than Emberson is at this point.

Related: Oilers trade Ceci to the Sharks

Calen Addison is also out there. The 2018 second rounder is only a year removed from a season where he put up 29 points in 63 games for the Minnesota Wild. He played twelve games for the Wild last season before being traded to the Sharks, where he played 60 more games. He got 17 points in the 72 total games that he played last year. Addison is small at 5’11” and 173 lbs, but he clearly has some skill. He’s similar to Troy Stecher, but younger and with more draft pedigree.

Adding a player or two on a PTO won’t be a problem for the Oilers at all. They could accommodate one or two defencemen signed to deals worth around $1 million for the 2024-25 season with some roster shuffling. Once again, I’ll be shocked if Dermott doesn’t get signed to a PTO; but I’m not sure how the right side will play out. It will be a situation to monitor over the coming weeks.

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August 20, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman spoke to the media on Tuesday after he made the decision to not match the offer sheets signed by Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.

Bowman began by speaking about the process that he and his management team went through while making the decision to let both players walk. He basically explained that he set out to evaluate how his team would look both in the short term and the long term in any of the four possible scenarios that existed (keeping both players, keeping one player or the other, and letting both players leave).

He also said that he spoke with every team in the league to get a sense of what they were trying to do with their players at this time. Bowman said that they “…exhausted all opportunities, and at the end of the day, we ended up where we are today.”

Related: Oilers decline to match offer sheets for Holloway and Broberg

Bowman also made a point of saying that the decision wasn’t based on any concerns about either player. He said that “this came down to a business decision…”.

That’s really what it boils down to for Bowman and the Oilers. It was a salary cap related decision. Bowman specifically said “…this situation gives us more opportunity to hopefully be able to accrue some cap space…”, which would allow the Oilers to add players at the trade deadline.

That specific language was very important. Teams that operate in LTIR cannot accrue cap space. That leads us into the Evander Kane situation. Later in the media availability, Bob Stauffer asked Bowman for any clarification on Kane’s situation.

Bowman said that he is not involved in the decision making process regarding Kane’s treatment and recovery, and he said that he should not be involved in those discussions. The game plan is entirely up to Kane and his doctors. Bowman added that he will be supportive of whatever decision Kane makes.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 22 Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Evander Kane (91) lines up a hit on the boards in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the St Louis Blues on October 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Bowman actually went into a bit of detail about how the LTIR system works and explained that a team needs to be able to get back under the salary cap in order to activate an injured player that was on LTIR. He said that was going to be a challenge if they kept one or both of Holloway and Broberg, but they are now in a situation where they would be able to activate Kane once he’s healthy.

Bowman also went on to explain that teams do not accrue cap space while they use LTIR, and that the team starts from $0 of accrued cap space once a player is activated. Hypothetically, if a team’s spending would add up to $87 million with the cap hits of the players on the opening night roster and no roster movies were made during the season, that team would accrue $500,000 in cap space at the halfway point of the season. If a player was to be placed on LTIR and reactivated at the halfway point of the season leaving them with that same roster, then the team starts at $0 of accrued cap space on that day. Bowman said that “…you’re not going to be able to build up a lot in just a month or so…”.

This was basically the thought process that I went through when evaluating my own choice in the matter. I wrote a piece about the cap implications of the offer sheets last week, but I actually made an error in that piece. I wrote that the Oilers’ new upper limit after placing Kane on LTIR would be $88 million plus his cap hit since the Oilers were over the cap at that time.

I neglected to include the fact that the team’s new upper limit would be whatever their cap hit would add up to at the time Kane would be placed on LTIR. That would only have mattered if the Oilers had kept Holloway or Broberg. Keeping just one of the players would have made the team’s cap spending somewhere between $88 million and $93,125,000. I operated under the assumption that they would be under the upper limit if they were to keep one player, but that was wrong. The new upper limit would have been whatever the team’s total cap hit was when Kane would have been placed on LTIR.

I rectified the mistake in a piece last night that included the numbers after Sunday’s trades. They could have kept Holloway and been able to activate Kane without trading a player away. They could have kept Broberg and activated Kane, but they would have had to have played shorthanded for a game and then used an emergency recall to do it. They could not have kept both players and been able to activate Kane without making a trade to move money out.

Related: Oilers cap recap after Sunday’s trades

EDMONTON, AB – July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVAnyway, the salary cap was ultimately the deciding factor for Bowman. They wanted to give themselves the most salary cap flexibility for this season and going forward, and walking away from both players accomplished that. They also wanted to put themselves in a position to be able to add players at the deadline. They have put themselves in a position where they don’t have to place Kane on LTIR at all if they don’t want to risk not being able to accrue cap space.

Bowman said that once they decided not to match the offer sheets and they knew that they had other assets coming, they were able to have other conversations about other transactions. Reading between the lines, that means that the decision to not match the offer sheets was made prior to Sunday evening’s trades that saw them acquire Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks for a 2025 fourth round draft pick, and Ty Emberson for Cody Ceci and a 2025 third round pick.

Related: Oilers trade Ceci to the Sharks

Bowman gave a little bit of insight into Podkolzin, Emberson, and the prospect that was acquired from the Blues on Tuesday morning (Paul Fischer).

Bowman likes the skill set that Podkolzin brings, citing his goal scoring ability, his power, and the way he plays the game in straight lines. He also likes Podkolizin’s physicality. Bowman also noted Podkolzin’s high draft pedigree and the fact that the Canucks had a different management regime come in after Podkolzin was drafted. “Certainly, there’s a bet that we can get him back on track from where he was at one point, not only his draft year but his first year pro…”.

Related: Oilers acquire Podkolzin

Photo Credit: twitter.com/edmontonoilersHe talked about having talked to Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch about Emberson because Knoblauch coached Emberson with the Hartford Wolfpack in 2022-23. “[Knoblauch] was very complimentary of his game, you know he loved having him on his team in Hartford. He was a very effective player for him.”

Bowman also addressed Fischer. Fischer is a left-handed defenceman from Chicago, where Bowman has spent many years. Bowman said that he has watched a lot of Fischer’s games. He spoke highly of Fischer’s character, which is a positive sign. Bowman also mentioned that he fell to the fifth round of the 2023 NHL draft because of injuries in his draft year and that his actual level of talent would have justified his going higher in that draft if he was healthy. He also said that Fischer is in the mix to make the World Junior team for the United States this season.

Ryan Rishaug asked Bowman what he thinks of his new defence group after losing Broberg and Ceci:

“We have players that we’re optimistic that they’re going to be able to come in and fill a role for us…one of the things we want to do is give them a chance to show us… there’s three new players there (Troy Stecher, Josh Brown, and Emberson) that we have to give an opportunity to show us that they can be valuable…”.

Bowman also said that he wouldn’t close the door on adding a free agent before the season starts, but his comments suggest that the current players are going to get the chance to show what they can do to start the season. It seems like they want to be in a position to add at the trade deadline, so the current group will have to get the team that far at least.

This was Bowman’s first real test as GM of the Oilers, and it was his first real interview about a decision of his. Time will tell if he made the right decision by letting Holloway and Broberg leave, but I felt that Bowman was refreshingly transparent during his interview. He commended his staff for the work they did over the past week, and he talked about having consulted with Knoblauch about Emberson, which are both great signs in my opinion.

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August 20, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Dylan Hollway and Philip Broberg are now members of the St. Louis Blues. The Edmonton Oilers declined to match the offer sheets signed by the two restricted free agents last week.

With Edmonton declining to match the offer sheets, the Blues acquired D Philip Broberg and F Dylan Holloway on Tuesday and made an additional trade. #stlblues

DETAILS https://t.co/jaoO4IW7I2 https://t.co/jaoO4IW7I2

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) August 20, 2024

Holloway was the fourteenth overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft. He had eighteen points in 89 games with the Oilers, and seven points in 26 playoff games. 25 of those playoff games came this past spring. Holloway made his NHL debut during Game 4 of the 2022 Western Conference FInal in which the Oilers were swept by the Colorado Avalanche.

Holloway had seemingly just grabbed a hold of an NHL roster spot with his performance in the 2024 playoffs. He scored five goals in the playoffs, and he spent a significant amount of time on Leon Draisaitl’s wing. Holloway led the Oilers with 86 hits in the playoffs, which put him second in the entire league.

The Oilers’ forward group just became a lot older and slower with the loss of Holloway. Ten of the thirteen current Oilers forwards are over the age of 30. Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are two that are under 30. Newly acquired Vasily Podkolzin is 23 years old. It felt like Podkolzin was a potential replacement for Holloway when the deal happened, and that now appears to be the case with certainty.

EDMONTON, AB – JUNE 06: Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Dylan Holloway (36) in his first NHL game makes a play in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals, game 4 on June 06, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Holloway made a short-sighted decision to take a few hundred thousand dollars more than what the Oilers reportedly offered in a three-year deal with an average annual value just a shade over $1 million. Holloway could’ve taken another three runs at a Stanley Cup and had the chance to play with Draisaitl more to increase his value for his next contract, but he took the immediate pay day from the Blues instead.

Broberg had thirteen points in 81 games for the Oilers. The 2019 eighth overall pick also got three points in 20 playoff games for the Oilers. Ten of those playoff games were played in the 2024 playoffs. Broberg entered the lineup for Game 4 of the Western Conference Final after watching the team’s first fifteen games of the spring from the press box. Broberg scored a goal in Game 5 of that series. He also scored a goal in the Oilers’ first home game in a Stanley Cup Final since 2006. Broberg played admirably for a young player that came into the playoffs so late and was forced to play on the second pairing on his off side.

Broberg was a controversial pick in 2019. He was a bit of a reach with the eighth pick, and he was chosen over highly skilled forwards like Trevor Zegras, Matthew Boldy, Cole Caufield, and Podkolzon. Broberg was consistently blocked by the Oilers. First, it was with the acquisition of Brett Kulak at the 2022 trade deadline. Then it was by Ryan Murray and Markus Niemelainen out of training camp in 2022. Murray was signed on September 2, 2022 after former Oilers general manager Ken Holland said that Broberg was going to have to play his way off the team to not be on the team that fall. They chose to keep Niemelainen over Broberg as the seventh defenceman. I thought Broberg had the better camp, but the Oilers wanted Broberg to play more minutes in the AHL.

Murray got hurt and only ever played in thirteen games for the Oilers. Niemelainen got a 23-game look because Broberg hurt himself in a kitchen accident after being sent to the Bakersfield Condors that fall. Hindsight is 20/20, but I wonder how different Broberg’s story might’ve been if Murray had not been signed and Holland had actually prioritized getting Broberg NHL ice time earlier in the 2022-23 season. Broberg eventually played 46 games for the Oilers that year and didn’t look out of place. However, the team acquired Mattias Ekholm at the 2023 trade deadline to improve the defence group. That was the right decision because Ekholm has been fantastic, but the decision bumped Broberg down the depth chart.

The reality is that the organization didn’t think enough of Broberg to get him an NHL roster spot on his natural side. The only way that he was going to get ice time with the Oilers was by playing on the right side, which I think was a poor game plan for Broberg. Broberg also wanted a change of scenery. He requested a trade back in Decemebr of last year. Ryan Rishaug reported that Broberg’s agent, Darren Ferris, said that multiple other teams were prepared to sign Broberg to offer sheets. It feels like the Oilers were destined to lose Broberg this summer, and they were clearly fine with that.

According to Darren Ferris, Brobergs agent, there were multiple other teams prepared to move on offer sheets, and 2 x 1.1m was the Oilers offer in to Broberg.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) August 20, 2024

I’m disappointed to have lost both Holloway and Broberg because they were both promising young players. I also got to watch them live at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in 2018. However, both players’ development were slowed by injuries and a frustrating lack of opportunity while playing on a team that was emerging as a championship contender. It’s also entirely fair to say that neither player truly earned a roster spot by making it impossible to remove them from the roster. Holloway has played four professional seasons since getting drafted, and Broberg has played in five professional seasons since getting drafted. They were definitely slow to develop. They have both also dealt with multiple injuries that have not helped their development.

Losing Holloway and Broberg means that the Oilers now have two less young players with upside in their lineup, which will make it more difficult to be competitive for the duration of Connor McDavid and Draisaitl’s next contracts. It’s easy enough to replace left wingers, but finding young top four defencemen is difficult. Broberg might never become that, but he just might with an opportunity on his natural side with the Blues.

The departure of Holloway and Broberg now means that every single one of Holland’s first round picks is no longer with the organization. Raphael Lavoie is the only other one of Holland’s prospects that has played any games with the Oilers. That just goes to show how poor Holland’s drafting and development were. He got the development part right by waiting on Evan Bouchard (although he could’ve played much sooner in my opinion) and Vincent Desharnais, but it hasn’t worked with any of his own drafted prospects to this point. Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson was clearly not married to any of Holland’s prospects. He also moved 2021 first rounder Xavier Bourgault earlier this summer.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Ken Holland addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThe Oilers received a second and a third round pick in the 2025 NHL draft as compensation for losing their restricted free agents. The Oilers also acquired a 2028 third round pick and 2023 fifth round pick Paul Fischer from the Blues for future considerations, which softens the blow of losing two former first round picks slightly. Most fans think this is a weak return for two former first round picks, but I actually think it’s not that bad of a return for two former first rounders that hadn’t earned roster spots in four and five professional seasons respectively. It feels like too little because the organization wasn’t looking to trade either player, but I point to two recent trades that make it seem like a reasonable return.

The St. Louis Blues have traded Paul Fischer, along with a third-round draft pick in 2028, to Edmonton in exchange for future considerations. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/1D6rg9m7ba

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) August 20, 2024

Alexander Holtz (2020 seventh overall pick) went to the Vegas Golden Knights along with backup goaltender Akira Schmid for Paul Cotter and a 2025 third round pick on June 29, 2024. Holtz has 28 points in 82 NHL games, which is more than Holloway, and he essentially got traded for a third rounder.

The other was the Podkolzin trade that happened on Sunday night. Podkolzin was the tenth overall pick in the 2019 draft, and he has 35 points in 137 NHL games. His development has been going in the wrong direction since his rookie season, but he was drafted equally as high and as recently as Holloway and Broberg were drafted. The return for the Vancouver Canucks was a fourth round pick.

Related: Oilers acquire Podkolzin

Now, we look to the future. The Oilers have made a number of moves to change the look of their prospect pool since Holland’s contract was not renewed. Bourgault and Jake Chiasson were moved to the Ottawa Senators for Roby Jarventie and a 2025 fourth round pick that was eventually used to acquire Podkolzin. Ryan McLeod and Ty Tullio were dealt to the Buffalo Sabres for 2022 ninth overall pick Matthew Savoie.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/edmontonoilersIt turns out that the Cody Ceci trade might’ve been more than just a cap dump. It seemed like a move to create space for Broberg, but it ultimately wasn’t. It saved the Oilers $2.3 million for the coming season, but Ty Emberson seems like a kid that can play. I don’t want to call him a direct replacement for Broberg, but he’s a 24-year old defenceman that’s a possibility on the right side for years to come.

Related: Oilers trade Ceci to the Sharks

Emberson played for Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch with the Hartford Wolfpack in the 2022-23 season, and was named the AHL Eastern Conference’s shutdown defender of the year. He got ten points in 30 games for the San Jose Sharks last year, which is great production; but that level of offence appears to be outside the normal level of expectation for him. Emberson’s underlying numbers don’t look great on the surface, but he did quite well considering the level of team that the Sharks had last season. He got some top four minutes due to injuries last season, but I’m not sold that top four should be the expectation for Emberson with the Oilers this coming season. It feels like a presumptuous expectation. It might be the plan though.

As I noted in a late-night piece last night, the Oilers can now submit a roster that’s $59,166 below the salary cap without putting Evander Kane on LTIR. PuckPedia confirmed that as well, and also shared that they could exceed the cap by $5.066 million by putting Kane on LTIR. The problem with that is that they would not be able to accrue cap space to use at the trade deadline while Kane is on LTIR, which means they would start at $0 of accrued cap space whenever Kane is activated from the LTIR.

If #LetsGoOilers don't match either Broberg/Holloway, they could start year with $946K Projected Cap Space for 21 healthy + Kane IR. They would accrue cap space.

Or, could submit roster including Savoie that's $59K under cap, put Kane on LTIR, & be able to exceed cap by $5.066M…

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) August 19, 2024

Ultimately, letting Holloway and Broberg walk gives the Oilers the most cap and roster flexibility this coming season. They will be able to add at the deadline regardless of what happens with Kane, and they got a second and a third round pick in next year’s draft to potentially use as currency. We’ll see if Jackson and Oilers GM Stan Bowman have more moves up their sleeves.

It’s disappointing to see both Holloway and Broberg leave, but they aren’t crushing blows to the organization. Time will tell if letting them go was a mistake or not. This doesn’t really change the Stanley Cup expectations for the Oilers this season, but they lost some speed up front and their defence group now has a new set of questions facing it.

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August 19, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

I wrote a long piece about the salary cap implications of the potential scenarios involving Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg last week. That was before Sunday’s trades happened, so the math in that piece has all changed.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers cap scenarios with Holloway and Broberg

However, I do need to note an error that I made. I was remembering back to the 2022-23 season when the Edmonton Oilers had Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith heading to LTIR for the entire season. The Oilers were MILES above the salary cap with those two players on it. My recollection of what happened is that their cap hits were added to the league’s salary cap to come up with the team’s new upper limit for that season.

It turns out that I misremembered. I’ll be the first to admit when I make a mistake, which has happened often with salary cap and LTIR related pieces that I’ve written in the past. I enjoy writing those kinds of pieces because I learn a lot about the system and it challenges me in a different way than I’m used to being challenged, but mistakes happen sometimes.

Here’s the related rule from PuckPedia’s website:

Screenshot taken from PuckPedia.While Evander Kane’s situation is technically still up in the air, all signs point to him having surgery and being placed on LTIR for a period of months. The Oilers have two choices for how they can approach the situation. They can either get themselves as close to the $88 million salary cap as possible prior to putting Kane on LTIR, or they can try to exceed the salary cap by as close to Kane’s cap hit ($5,125,000) as they possibly can.

Given the players that the Oilers have currently, excluding Holloway and Broberg, the Oilers sit at $87,940,834 with an active roster of 23 players. That breakdown is below:

| Skinner ($2.6M) | | Pickard ($1M) |

Buyouts: Campbell – $1.1M, Neal – $1,916,667

Overage: $3.55M

Total: $87,940,834

That puts the Oilers $59,166 below the salary cap. The Oilers could climb closer to the salary cap by waiving Troy Stecher in favour of Max Wanner (+$40,833). They could also have Roby Jarventie on the roster in place of Matthew Savoie, but Savoie needs to be on there because of his performance bonus. The closest that the Oilers could realistically expect to get to the salary cap is $18,333.

The other alternative would be to try to exceed the $88 million cap by as close to Kane’s cap hit as possible. That’s where Holloway and Broberg come into the equation.

This potential roster including Holloway, Broberg, and Savoie (needed because of his performance bonus) exceeds the cap by $292 less than Kane’s cap hit:

| Skinner ($2.6M) | | Pickard ($1M) |

Buyouts: Campbell – $1.1M, Neal – $1,916,667

Overage: $3.55M

Total: $93,124,708

This 22-man active roster would maximize the potential LTIR relief from Kane.

If the Oilers were to only keep Holloway, then the closest they could get to $93,125,000 is $90,231,291. If the Oilers were to only keep Broberg, then the closest they could get to $93,125,000 is $91,734,251. Those numbers would represent cap limits if Kane was to be placed on LTIR.

There are two challenges that would present themselves should Kane need to be activated from LTIR at any point during the season.

One is that the team can’t accrue cap space during the season if they operate in LTIR. The only way to create cap space at the trade deadline or to activate Kane would be to send players to the AHL or to trade them away.

Related: Oilers acquire Podkolzin

If the Oilers don’t use LTIR at all, then they can accrue cap space; although they won’t accrue enough cap space to do much more than add a depth player at the deadline (if that) if they spend close to the salary cap for the duration of the season. They would have to play with 20 or 21 players on the active roster to maximize the amount of trade deadline cap space that they could use.

The second is that they would need to activate Kane at some point if he was to become healthy and able to play. They could do that without a problem if they were to keep only Holloway.

They would have to play shorthanded to activate Kane if they were to keep only Broberg. They would be able to use an emergency recall after playing one game shorthanded in that situation.

If the Oilers were to keep both Holloway and Broberg, then the Oilers would not be able to get back under the $88 million salary cap to activate Kane without making a trade. They would need to bury five players with cap hits of $1 million or more to avoid a trade in that scenario. Then they would need to play shorthanded by two players for a game to be able to use an emergency recall.

Related: Oilers trade Ceci to the Sharks

All things are still possible. This new Oilers regime keeps their cards close to their chest, which is fantastic in my opinion. I like being surprised. Many insiders are suggesting that the Oilers will let both players walk. That would give them the most cap flexibility for the coming season, and they would get two picks in 2025. They currently only have a sixth and a seventh round pick in the 2025 draft.

Choosing one player or the other would be possible regardless of what happens with Kane. Keeping both players would either require Kane to miss the entire regular season, or another trade at some point during the regular season. Brett Kulak would be the most obvious player to move in such a scenario given the Oilers’ organizational depth on defence, which would be especially true if Broberg was to be retained.

The Oilers have until 7:30 AM on Tuesday morning to match the offer. They appear to be making Holloway, Broberg, the St. Louis Blues, and the fan bases of both teams sweat before announcing their decision.

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August 19, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they traded Cody Ceci and a 2025 third round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Ty Emberson on Sunday evening.

TRADE

The #Oilers have acquired defenceman Ty Emberson from San Jose in exchange for defenceman Cody Ceci & a 2025 third-round draft pick.#LetsGoOilers

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) August 19, 2024

Ceci played 237 games for the Oilers over the past three seasons, and he collected 68 points as an Oiler. The fifteenth overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft has 211 points in 786 NHL games for the Oilers, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ceci scored two goals in Game 7s for the Oilers. His first was the 1-0 goal against the Los Angeles Kings in Game 7 of the first round in 2022. The other one came in Game 7 of the 2024 second round against the Vancouver Canucks. He also made a tremendous stretch pass to Mattias Janmark for the Oilers’ only goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Notably, he won the Hardest Shot competition during the Oilers’ Skills Competition in 2024; and his dog Hugo won the second edition of the Ruff Ruff Relay.

Ceci was asked to play above his head on the top pairing in his first season with the Oilers in 2021-22, and he did quite well alongside Darnell Nurse in that role. Ceci played with Nurse for the vast majority of the rest of his Oilers tenure. However, the effectiveness of the duo waned in the subsequent two seasons. Ceci went 127 games without scoring a goal between October 15, 2023 and February 13, 2024. They were relegated to second pairing duty after the arrival of Mattias Ekholm, and the pair treaded water in that role.

The playoffs were troublesome for Ceci. He and Nurse got outscored 11-20 in the last two playoff runs combined. That included a tragic series against the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round in 2023 where they got outscored 1-6 at five-on-five. Four of those six goals against came when they were matched up against the line of Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault, and Ivan Barbashev.

Ceci and Nurse were outscored 5-12 in the 2024 playoffs. Ceci was a healthy scratch in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. The performance of Nurse and Brett Kulak, the other prominent defence partner for Ceci in the 2024 playoffs, increased when they were away from Ceci.

If it wasn’t clear to the organization that Ceci and Nurse needed to be split up after the 2023 playoffs, then it should’ve been abundantly clear after the 2024 playoffs.

Ceci got a rough ride from Oilers fans, although it was merited in the last two playoff runs. As the 113th highest paid defenceman in the league last season, Ceci finished 58th among NHL defencemen in five-on-five ice time last season. He ranked 64th in five-on-five points (20), 109th in goals for percentage (51.8%), and 48th in expected goals for percentage (53.9%). He provided more value than what a lot of Oilers fans are willing to admit. That value makes it tough to see a third round pick needing to be attached to Ceci to move his contract, but the Oilers were in between a rock and a hard place due to the offer sheets signed by Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.

Ceci’s departure clears $3 million in cap spending from the Oilers’ books for next season. He only had one year left on his contract, so this move does nothing to make life easier for the Oilers in 2025-26.

Related: The merit of moving Ceci or Kulak

Emberson was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the third round of the 2018 NHL draft. He played college hockey with the Wisconsin Badgers for three seasons after being drafted. Emberson was traded to the New York Rangers by the Coyotes for Patrik Nemeth, a 2025 second round pick, and a future pick in the summer of 2022. He played one season for the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, and put up 27 points in 69 games. Emberson was claimed off waivers by the Sharks on September 30, 2023. He got ten points in 30 games for the Sharks last season. Notably, he played zero AHL games last season.

The 24-year old averaged 17:15 per game at even strength last season, and 1:06 per game on the penalty kill. Ten points in 30 games is pretty good for a rookie defenceman, but his underlying numbers were predictably poor on a terrible Sharks team last season. His goal share was 44.4% at five-on-five (16-20). Interestingly, he fared the best against elite level competition (53.8%, 7-6) and the worst against low level competition (4-8, 33.3%) according to PuckIQ.

Heavy Hockey’s own Spencer Pomoty (@SPProspects) shared this information about Emberson:

Watching some film on Ty Emberson, but his defensive metrics are remarkable on a team that gave up a league high 4.04 GA a game. Film showing everything you like in a modern defensive D. Pinches down the wall on wingers, stands up to the offensive carrier ASAP, quick close outs. https://t.co/Hv7GZSMtWs pic.twitter.com/2PBEfUKcpE

— Spencer Pomoty (@SPProspects) August 19, 2024

It’s important to note that the right-handed defenceman had three different stints on the injured reserve last year with three different injuries, two lower body injuries and an upper body injury. He played his last game of last season on February 29, 2024.

Emberson’s contract carries a value of $950,000 for the upcoming season. Emberson will surely be in the mix for a roster spot with Troy Stecher and Josh Brown during training camp this fall. Their salaries all fall in a similar range, and it would be easy to bury any of the three in the minors. One of them will have to play in the Oilers’ top six this coming season.

The Oilers also acquired Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks for a 2025 fourth round pick on Sunday. These trades leave the Oilers at $87,054,167 without Holloway and Broberg. They would be at $93,925,541 with Holloway and Broberg with an active roster of 24 players. If Evander Kane goes onto LTIR as is expected, then the Oilers would merely need to shed $800,541, which would be easy to do by waiving one of Emberson, Stecher, or Brown. Matthew Savoie would need to be on the opening day roster, which is entirely doable if the Oilers were to waive Derek Ryan in his favour.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/edmontonoilersRelated: Oilers acquire Podkolzin

The question everyone is wondering is about how Sunday’s trades will impact the Oilers’ decisions to match the offer sheets. If the Oilers were to keep only Holloway, then they would be able to get below the $88 million cap to activate Kane at some point during the season. If the Oilers were to keep only Broberg or both Holloway and Broberg, then they would need to make another trade to be able to activate Kane at any point throughout the season.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers cap scenarios with Holloway and Broberg

I don’t think the Oilers would’ve traded Ceci if they weren’t trying to make room to keep Broberg though. Ceci was well liked in the dressing room. The players urged former general manager Ken Holland to not trade Ceci at last season’s trade deadline, and they got their wish. Now, Ceci has been sacrificed to make room for Broberg and his big new contract.

We’ll see what the coming days bring, but the Ceci move is definitely intriguing.

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August 18, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they acquired Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2025 fourth round draft pick on Sunday.

TRADE

The #Oilers have acquired forward Vasily Podkolzin from Vancouver in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round draft pick that was originally acquired from Ottawa.#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/kS8aHMDpOl

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) August 18, 2024

The tenth overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft has 35 points in 137 games with the Canucks. Podkolzin played in Russia for the first two seasons after he got drafted. He joined the Canucks in the 2021-22 season, and he got 26 points in 79 games that season. However, he has played less NHL games than the year prior in the two seasons since his rookie season. The 23-year old played in 39 games in his second season, and in just nineteen games this past season.

This is clearly a reclamation project for the Oilers. It’s a cheap bet on a winger with a high draft pedigree. Podkolzin was widely regarded as the third best prospect in the 2019 draft, but he fell to the tenth spot because of his commitment to play in Russia for two years. He was the biggest wild card of that draft. The scouting report on Podkolzin in his draft year was that he was a powerful skater, he had an elite shot, and that he was super competitive in all three zones. He has the ceiling to be a top line NHL winger. The problem is that his development has been trending the wrong way for two seasons now.

The Oilers used the 2025 fourth round pick originally acquired along with Roby Jarventie in the trade that sent Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson to the Ottawa Senators earlier this summer. Now, the trade is essentially Bourgault and Chiasson for Jarventie and Podkolzin, which is a big win for the Oilers in my opinion. This was a great use of a fourth round pick. The Oilers still have their own 2025 fourth round pick as well.

Podkolzin signed a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1 million this past April. He would have to clear waivers to be assigned to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL, so the Oilers would risk losing him on waivers if they were to send him down at any point.

The timing of this trade is interesting because the Oilers are still deciding whether or not to match the offer sheets signed by Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. Podkolzin was drafted a year before Holloway was, and they are both left-handed, so it appears to be a contingency plan for losing Holloway. This morning, I wrote that it might be smart for the Oilers to seek a cheaper alternative to Holloway. This could be exactly that.

Related: My decisions on Holloway and Broberg

However, Podkolzin plays right wing. He prefers to play on his off side. The Oilers already have Zach Hyman, Viktor Arvidsson, Connor Brown, and Corey Perry playing right wing. Hyman’s preference has always been to play left wing; but he was moved to the right side out of necessity last season, and he scored 54 goals.

Holloway would likely be on the third or fourth line if he was to be with the Oilers this fall. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jeff Skinner, Evander Kane, and Mattias Janmark are also in the mix on the left side. Kane is likely headed to LTIR for a significant portion of the season. That would open up a roster spot for Holloway.

The Oilers could also try to play Podkolzin on his natural side. That might get Podkolzin thinking about the game differently, which could yield better results.

I wrote that the Oilers would not be able to activate Kane from the LTIR at any point during the season without making a trade if they were to keep Holloway in my piece about the cap implications of the offer sheets. The Oilers could get to $354,167 above the $88 million cap with a 20-man active roster that includes Podkolzin. They could shed that cap space by waiving Corey Perry (which would be fine after the first day of Kane being on LTIR) and replacing him with a player with a league minimum cap hit.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers cap scenarios with Holloway and Broberg

If the Oilers were to keep Broberg and have Podkolzin on the roster instead of Holloway, then the Oilers would be able to fit under the new upper limit of $93,125,000 that would exist with Kane on LTIR. A 20-man roster with Broberg and Podkolzin would leave the Oilers at $93,020, 916. They would be able to waive Derek Ryan and have Matthew Savoie on the opening day roster as well.

That would leave them needing to remove at least $5,020,916 in cap space from a 20-man active roster to be able to activate Kane at any point during the regular season, which would involve a massive roster overhaul during the season.

Having Podkolzin rather than Holloway would make it much easier to activate Kane during the season if needed. The Oilers wouldn’t need to trade Brett Kulak or Cody Ceci in order to keep Broberg if they were to have Podkolzin on the roster rather than Holloway though.

Basically, the Podkolzin move is a cheap bet on a high end draft pick. However, it has also decreased the odds of the Oilers matching Holloway’s offer sheet and increased the odds of them matching Broberg’s offer sheet.

We will continue to watch closely to see how this develops before Tuesday’s decision deadline.

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August 18, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

I’ve written about my decision making process in regards to how to handle the offer sheets signed by Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg this past week. The time has come to finally share my decisions on the two players.

Related: Blues sign Broberg and Holloway to offer sheets

HollowayI really like Holloway as a player. The kid can absolutely fly, and he’s willing to use his speed to get in on the forecheck. He’s also willing to be physical, as evidenced by his 86 hits in the 2024 playoffs. He can play centre and the wing. Holloway has some untapped offensive potential as well.

Holloway fills the critical role of being a young player with a lot of speed that can contribute at a reasonable cap hit, although his new cap hit is bordering on unreasonable. It’s not a crushing cap hit, but it’s an overpayment for Holloway at this point in his career.

Let’s be honest about Holloway and his accomplishments thus far though. He’s got eighteen points in 89 NHL games, which is fourth line production. He put up five goals and seven points in 25 playoff games this past spring. That translates to 23 points over 82 games. Playoff hockey is tougher than regular season hockey, so Holloway might end up in the mid to high twenties for a point total next year should his quality of play from the playoffs continue into next season.

Holloway is a bottom six winger with the ability to moonlight in the top six. That isn’t an irreplaceable asset by any stretch. Holloway also has developed a history of injuries in his young professional career.

It would be smart to look for a cheaper option. Nick Robertson is a 22-year old left winger that has 34 points in 87 NHL games, including 27 points in 56 games last season. Robertson has requested a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think that Leafs GM Brad Treliving is more inclined to keep Robertson, but it would be worth it for Oilers GM Stan Bowman to ask the question.

Having said that, I think the Oilers could keep Holloway and reasonably expect him to play up to his new cap hit by the end of the contract. I like that he’s able to play centre and wing, and there is definitely more offensive production in him. It would hurt to give him up for a third rounder, although I don’t think that return is far out of line considering that 2020 seventh overall pick Alexander Holtz (34 points in 110 NHL games) went to the Vegas Golden Knights with backup goaltender Akira Schmid for a third round pick and fourth liner Paul Cotter earlier this summer.

BrobergThe tougher decision lies with Broberg.

Some people will scoff at the $4,580,917 cap hit and wish Broberg luck with the St. Louis Blues. Others see value in the player and the risk involved in keeping him.

Mattias Ekholm, Brett Kulak, and Broberg all have two years left on their deals. Darnell Nurse is the only left-handed defenceman that the Oilers have signed beyond the 2025-26 season. Ekholm will be 36 years old then, and Kulak will be 32 years old. Broberg will be 25 years old.

I don’t think Kulak will be a factor for a top four role in 2026-27. The question is will either Ekholm or Broberg be a top four defenceman in 2026-27?

Ekholm is amazing right now, so it’s hard to fathom the idea that he might not be a top four defenceman in 2026-27. He will be 36 years old entering that season though. There are only three top four defencemen in the NHL right now that are 36 years old or older: Brent Burns, Jeff Petry, and Kris Letang.

There aren’t many examples of top four defencemen that were 36 or more years old in recent years. Here’s a short list of examples:

Mark Giordano – CGY, SEA, TOR

Nicklas Lidstrom – DET

Scott Niedermayer (last season at 36) – ANA

Shea Weber (last season at 36) – MTL

Ryan Suter (2021-22) – DAL

The thing that all of those players have in common is that they were all undisputed number one defencemen on their teams at some point in their careers. The same applies to Burns and Letang. Petry has never been viewed as an elite number one defenceman, but he had some solid years with the Montreal Canadiens.

Ekholm has never been a true number one defenceman on his team. There’s a chance that he ages gracefully like Petry has, but the odds say that Ekholm is unlikely to be a top four defenceman after his current contract expires.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 01: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Mattias Ekholm (14) in his first game as an Oilers defends his zone in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Toronto Maple Leads on March 1, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)I discussed Broberg’s development and his chances of becoming a top four defenceman in a piece on Thursday. His slow development suggests that the odds of him ever becoming a top four defenceman are slim. However, I personally think that he has the skill set to overcome those slim odds if he was to be given an opportunity in a position where he can succeed.

The Oilers are likely going to be in the market for a left-handed second pairing defenceman in 2026-27 based on what I just wrote. They’re going to get a look at Ekholm in the next two years no matter what. If the Oilers believe that Ekholm will age gracefully and continue playing at a high level into the 2026-27 season, then they probably won’t keep Broberg.

If the Oilers have hesitation about Ekholm as a top four defenceman beyond his current contract, then they might entertain a discussion about keeping Broberg. Keeping Broberg would allow them to look at two players that could potentially take a spot in the top four in 2026-27.

The organization clearly likes Broberg, but we don’t know if they like him to the tune of $4,580,917 for each of the next two years. If they don’t think he’s worth the cap hit, then they will let Broberg walk.

I see two scenarios where the answer would be to let Broberg walk, and one where the answer would be to keep him.

There’s another risk in keeping Broberg aside from his high cap hit and the potential difficulties it could present. Let’s say that the Oilers keep Broberg and he doesn’t develop the way that they hoped he would. Then his trade value would become quite low.

We watched that situation play out with Jesse Puljujarvi. The Oilers refused to trade him because they didn’t like the potential return. They ended up having to trade him for nothing to create cap space because he didn’t develop into the player they thought he could become.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 10: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Jesse Puljujarvi (13) is demoted to the third line in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup playoffs round 1, game 5 on May 10, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Puljujarvi and Broberg are the Oilers’ only top ten picks in the Connor McDavid era. It would be a real shame to lose both players, especially for nothing. The Oilers would at least get a second round pick for Broberg by letting him walk away now. Honestly, that isn’t a bad return for a former first round pick that hasn’t grabbed a hold of a roster spot entering his draft plus six season.

The other factor we have to consider is the fact that Broberg expressed his desire to leave the Oilers organization last year. I don’t blame him for that because Ken Holland did everything in his power to block Broberg’s path to an NHL roster spot. It’s also fair to say that Broberg hasn’t earned one though.

Related: Broberg Seeking Trade

The Oilers will have lost a shade over $9.5 million and a second round pick if they were to keep Broberg and lose the bet. They could also end up with a great second pairing defenceman for the better part of the next decade if they keep him.

My decisionMy inclination is to keep Holloway. The Oilers can easily work with his cap hit, and I believe that he will grow into that cap hit by the time the contract ends. Evander Kane has battled injuries the last two years and is about to have surgery that will keep him out for months.The Oilers need Holloway in the system because there’s nothing else coming to replace those players any time soon.

The decision on Broberg was much more difficult. As I wrote in a previous post, the Oilers have a good hand with Broberg, and the Blues raised the pot pre-flop with the Broberg offer sheet. It will cost the Oilers $4,580,917 for the next two years to see the flop.

Related: The Blues see something in Broberg

No professional poker player would ever recommend chasing flushes and straights. That’s what the Oilers would be doing if they were to keep Broberg. It could be a great hand, but it could also turn into a terrible hand if the cards don’t go the Oilers’ way.

Ultimately, Broberg won’t turn into a top four defenceman unless he’s put into a position where he can succeed now. That would entail trading Kulak to create a spot for Broberg on the left side in my opinion. I would do that, but I don’t think the Oilers would do that.

As Jackson hinted on July 1, 2024, the likely plan is to play Broberg on the right side. That could be with Nurse, which would be a TERRIBLE plan. If they aren’t going to use him properly and if they’re going to continue to make decisions that actively work against Broberg developing into a top four defenceman, then there’s no point in taking the risk.

The Oilers don’t have a first or a second round pick in the 2025 NHL draft. Getting the 2025 second round pick for Broberg would either allow the Oilers to add at the deadline, or to add a prospect to their depleted prospect list.

As much as I love Broberg as a player, I wouldn’t want to risk losing him for nothing two years from now, especially if he’s already unhappy with his lot in life as an Oiler due to his utilization. My decision would be to let him walk.

That’s a really hard decision to come to because I think highly of Broberg and I realize how hard it is to find top four defencemen. My heart wants to keep Broberg, and I believe in planning for the long-term as well as the short-term; but I just think that the Oilers will continue to blunder his development and lose the bet as a result.

We’ll see what Tuesday brings. I’ll have a reaction to whatever decision is made on Tuesday, so look out for that.

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August 17, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers were already in a tight cap situation before Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg signed their offer sheets. Now, they’re really in a bind.

If you remove the two offer sheet signees from the conversation, the Oilers currently have twelve forwards and seven defencemen on the active roster. Evander Kane is likely heading to LTIR, which would bring it down to eleven forwards. So, if the Oilers have to make a trade to create cap space, it will likely be a defenceman heading out the door.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers cap scenarios with Holloway and Broberg

Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard are untouchable. Darnell Nurse has a giant contract with a no movement clause. Troy Stecher and Josh Brown can easily be buried in the minors, so moving them solves nothing. That leaves Cody Ceci and Brett Kulak as the tradable options that could save the Oilers some money. I’ll explore the merit in trading each of them below.

Cody CeciThere’s no sugar coating the fact that Ceci has played terribly in two consecutive playoff runs.

Ceci has played with Nurse for the vast majority of his three years with the Oilers. They were tasked with being a top pairing in 2021-22, which they handled admirably. Their regular season results in 2022-23 and 2023-24 were merely average. They didn’t really hurt the team, but they certainly weren’t driving the team forward either.

It’s fair to want more out of a second pairing. The Nurse-Ceci pairing shouldn’t be the plan anymore.

The perception around Ceci is that he’s going to be impossible to trade because of his horrendous performance in the playoffs in the last two years and because of his cap hit. The fact that he went 126 games without scoring a goal between October 15, 2023 and February 13, 2024 also didn’t help that perception.

Despite what many Oilers fans believe, Frank Seravalli believes that Ceci could be moved. He said this on Oilers Now on July 8, 2024:

“…I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is a market for Cody Ceci. Right shot defencemen in that pay range are always in demand, and just go look at the free agent market this summer and look at some of the money thrown around. Cody Ceci at that number is really quite palatable. In fact, probably to some teams that are cap strapped, interesting. So, there’s a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ if Jeff Jackson and the Oilers want it…”

Well, the Oilers are now dealing with an emergency. If Seravalli is to be believed, then getting rid of Ceci shouldn’t be an issue. The issue would be replacing him. Someone would need to play the right side on the second pairing in Ceci’s place, and that option would need to be a cheaper option.

Related: Blues sign Broberg and Holloway to offer sheets

The first place to look would be internally because an internal replacement wouldn’t cost the team extra money. Broberg played on Nurse’s right side in the Stanley Cup Final, and Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson has hinted that the plan for Broberg should he be in Edmonton this fall would be for him to play on the right side. Broberg and Nurse outscored the Florida Panthers 4-2 at five-on-five in the Stanley Cup Final, but they also had an atrocious 30.21% expected goals percentage. None of their underlying numbers were good.

Related: The Blues see something in Broberg

Kulak can also play both sides, but his preference is the left side. My thought would be to put the veteran in the more challenging role of playing on his off side on the second pairing rather than putting a young prospect that’s just breaking into the league in that role, but that’s just my opinion.

The crazy option would be to split up Ekholm and Bouchard, and to put Ekholm on the second pairing. I’ll dive into this in a future piece, but that would involve Nurse and Bouchard playing together. Ekholm would play with either Broberg or Kulak on the second pairing in this scenario.

Regardless, all of the possible internal replacement options for Ceci on the second pairing are left handed. Stecher and Brown are right-handed, but they’re not viable second pairing options. Replacing Ceci internally is a bit awkward for that reason.

There aren’t many intriguing external replacement options left on the market right now. The potential replacements are either uninspiring or former Oilers that wouldn’t likely be willing to come back to Edmonton. Tyson Barrie might be willing to come back, but he falls in the “uninspiring” category for me.

Brent Burns (M-NTC)

Aaron Ekblad (M-NTC)

Jeff Petry (M-NTC)

Neal Pionk (M-NTC)

Adam Larsson (M-NTC)

David Savard

Henri Jokiharju

Jan Rutta

William Borgen

Dante Fabbro

Nicklaus Perbix

There is only one name on that list that could be a legitimate top four option, wouldn’t be too expensive for the Oilers in 2025-26, and that could potentially be available at the deadline as his team might not be in playoff contention: William Borgen of the Seattle Kraken. Adam Larsson is on the list as well, and the Kraken might choose to keep the younger Borgen next summer. No, Larsson will not come back to the Oilers, so get that thought out of your head. The strategy can’t be to rely on something better shaking loose at the deadline.

Consider this about Ceci. Broberg’s new deal makes Ceci’s the 114th highest cap hit among NHL defencemen. Math says that there are 128 top four defencemen on the league’s 32 teams. According to Moneypuck, Ceci ranked 58th among NHL defencemen in five-on-five ice time last season. He ranked 64th in five-on-five points (20), 109th in goals for percentage (51.8%), and 48th in expected goals for percentage (53.9%). Ceci ranks as a top four defenceman in all of those categories. Those numbers suggest that Ceci is actually good value that would be worth keeping. He’s likely to be cheaper at 31 years old in 2025-26, which could be helpful for the Oilers.

Brett KulakMoving Kulak would certainly be an unpopular choice. Kulak has been a great addition to the team since joining the Oilers at the 2022 trade deadline. He’s a reliable veteran that rarely makes mistakes. His underlying numbers are consistently good. He’s a tremendous third pairing defenceman, and he’s a local product to boot. I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about how he has elevated his play in the playoffs in all three of his Oilers playoff runs.

I’ve said this a few times before, but Kulak is a luxury that the Oilers might not be able to afford going forward.

Kulak is the one player that’s really blocking Broberg right now. The ideal spot for Broberg is as the left defenceman on the third pairing, and that’s Kulak’s spot. I don’t care that Broberg’s cap hit is $4,580,917, or that the future expectation is for him to be a top four defenceman, or that he was deployed on the second pairing in the playoffs last season. If Broberg is expected to develop into a second pairing defenceman, then he needs to start with a consistent role on the third pairing on his natural side.

Kulak is a rangy, smooth skating defenceman. He’s a strong rush defender. He kills penalties. He can play on either of the bottom two pairings, and he can play on either side of the ice.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 21: Edmonton Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak (27) skates up ice during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 21, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)I can say the exact same things about Broberg! I feel that having Kulak and Broberg is redundant. They’re versatile players with useful skill sets, but having both isn’t necessarily a must.

Kulak is obviously more polished than Broberg is today. However, Broberg has proven that he can handle the third pairing role, and he has a much higher upside than the 30-year old Kulak. Broberg’s edge work is better than Kulak’s. Broberg is a more talented and creative offensive defenceman than Kulak is. Broberg is also only 23 years old. He has plenty of room to grow, and he’s NHL ready now.

Aside from being more proven, Kulak’s biggest advantage over Broberg at this point is his $2.75 million cap hit. The challenge in moving his contract would be the two-year term. That might deter some teams from acquiring Kulak, but getting Kulak’s money off the books would make life in 2025-26 easier if the Oilers were to decide to keep Broberg.

I’m not trying to run Kulak out of town, but moving him would solve a couple of big issues. It would help with the Oilers’ cap crunch this season and in 2025-26; and it would create a spot for Broberg on his natural side, which would provide the best chance of the Oilers’ potential bet on Broberg paying off for them.

WrapYou could easily argue that moving one of these two established veterans just to be able to pay the largely unproven Broberg his monstrous new salary would be a poor choice in a year where the Oilers are expected to contend for the Stanley Cup. If I had to trade one of Ceci or Kulak though, my choice would be Kulak all day every day.

The Oilers have five years and a first round draft choice invested in Broberg though, so they might decide that the future is now with Broberg despite the obvious overpayment that it would take to keep him.

Remember that trading one of Ceci or Kulak is only a must if the Oilers decide to keep both Holloway and Broberg, or if they keep one of the two and they have to activate Kane off LTIR at any point during the season.

I’ll share my opinion on what I think the Oilers should do in tomorrow’s piece.

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August 16, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The St. Louis Blues made the offers that they made to Dylan Hollway and Philip Broberg in part because they knew that the Oilers were in cap trouble. The numbers offered to Holloway and Broberg have put the Oilers in a difficult spot in regards to the salary cap.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee or a stiff glass of whiskey because you’re in for a long read involving lots of numbers here.

Prior to the offer sheets, the Oilers were $354,167 over the league’s $88 million salary cap. That number is based on an active roster of 21 players. The breakdown is below:

| Skinner ($2.6M) | | Pickard ($1M) |

Buyouts: Campbell – $1.1M, Neal – $1,916,667

Overage: $3.55M

Total: $88,354,167

*all cap figures taken from PuckPedia

All signs are pointing to Evander Kane at least starting the season on LTIR because it is expected that he will have surgery. Putting Kane on LTIR would bring this active roster down to twenty players.

The way that LTIR works is that the value of the injured player is added to the value of the team’s cap hit at the time when the player is placed on LTIR. The Oilers are over the cap. If Kane was to be placed on LTIR on opening day with the same roster the Oilers have now, Kane’s $5.125 million would be added to the $88 million salary cap, leaving the Oilers with a new upper limit of $93,125,000.

It’s actually to the Oilers’ advantage to have a roster that is over the $88 million cap when Kane is placed on LTIR because if the team is below $88 million on that day, then their new upper limit would be lower.

Related: Blues sign Broberg and Holloway to offer sheets

There’s a little known rule regarding performance bonuses when a team is operating in LTIR as the Oilers will be this season. The Oilers have two players that could see time on the NHL roster this season that have potential performance bonuses: Corey Perry and Matthew Savoie.

When a team places a player on LTIR, there are two “pools” created. One is for salary cap relief, which as noted above is dictated by the cap hit of the injured player minus the amount of cap space the team had before placing the player on LTIR.

The other “pool” is for performance bonuses. The values of the potential performance bonuses for players on the active roster at the time that the injured player is placed on LTIR are placed in a separate “pool”.

If a team operating in LTIR has players on the roster whose performance bonuses cause the team to exceed the amount in the performance bonus “pool”, then the difference counts against the salary cap. In other words, the player’s performance bonus gets tacked onto his cap hit.

Perry can make up to $250,000 in performance bonuses, and Savoie can make up to $1 million in performance bonuses. Having them on the active roster when the Oilers put Kane on LTIR would result in a performance bonus “pool” of $1.25 million. That would allow Savoie to move up and down between the NHL and the AHL freely at his regular cap hit.

If Savoie was to not be on the active roster when Kane gets placed on LTIR, then his $1 million would not go into the performance bonus pool. His $1 million in potential performance bonuses would get tacked onto his $886,666 salary cap hit if he was to get called up at any point in that scenario, making his cap hit $1,886,666.

Photo Credit: tsn.caThat’s my long winded way of saying that Perry and Savoie will be on the active roster for at least the first day of the regular season assuming that Kane gets placed on LTIR, so whatever decisions get made before then need to account for Perry and Savoie being on the roster. Savoie’s addition to the roster listed above would put the Oilers at $89,240,834, which is $1,240,834 over the salary cap.

Let’s imagine that Kane will spend the entire season on LTIR. That would give the Oilers $4,770,833 in usable cap space throughout the season after sending Savoie down to the minors on the second day of the season. They could basically do whatever they wanted with that cap space, including carrying a full 23-man active roster and adding at the trade deadline. They would be able to get under the $88 million salary cap if Kane was to be reactivated at any point throughout the season with no issues, assuming that no major additions are made throughout the season.

Remember that scenario is without Holloway or Broberg.

2024-25HollowayAdding Holloway’s $2,290,457 would bring the total cap spending to $90,644,624 with a 21-man active roster (excluding Savoie). That would put the Oilers $2,480,376 under the $93,125,000 upper limit after putting Kane on LTIR. Savoie would easily fit under the cap on day one of the regular season, so no problem there. Holloway fits without a problem.

EDMONTON, AB – JUNE 06: Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Dylan Holloway (36) in his first NHL game makes a play in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals, game 4 on June 06, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Could they get back under the $88 million cap if Kane was to be activated during the season though? Waiving and burying Josh Brown’s $1 million would be a no brainer in that instance. That would leave $1,480,376 needing to be removed from a 20-man active roster. Twenty is the minimum that you need for a full NHL game night roster. They would have to trade money out to activate Kane in this scenario. They would need to make a trade to get a player to play a role for at least $1,480,376 less than a current player. Cody Ceci, Brett Kulak, Jeff Skinner, or Adam Henrique could theoretically be replaced by cheaper options in that scenario.

BrobergBroberg’s new cap hit will be $4,580,917. If the Oilers were to keep Broberg and not Holloway, then the Oilers would be at $92,945,084 (excluding Savoie). That would be $179,916 under the $93,125,000 upper limit after placing Kane on LTIR with a 21-man active roster.

EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 5: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Philip Broberg (86) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Washington Capitals on December 5, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)That 21-man active roster would only have eleven forwards on it. Savoie needs to be on the roster for the first day of the season, so I’ll find a way to get him on the roster here. Brown would have to be waived and buried to make room for Savoie. That transaction would save the Oilers $113,334 against the cap, leaving them with $293,250 in cap space with twelve forwards and seven defencemen on the roster.

If the Oilers would be unable to get under the $88 million salary cap to activate Kane without making a trade with Holloway on the roster, then they certainly wouldn’t be able to do so with Broberg on the roster. The question is how much money would the Oilers have to clear in order to activate Kane with Broberg on the roster?

Related: The Blues see something in Broberg

That 21-man roster would have a value of $92,831,750, which would leave them with $4,831,750 of cap space needing to be removed to activate Kane. Troy Stecher could be waived and buried because he would be the seventh defenceman on this roster, which would bring it down to $4,044,250 with a 20-man active roster. It would require a lot of roster reconstruction to activate Kane if the Oilers were to keep Broberg. The only way to do it in one move would be to trade a player making $4.82 million or more and replace that player with a player making the league minimum.

BothThe Oilers would be at $95,225,541 with both Holloway and Broberg on the roster, which is $7,225,541 over the cap. Let’s see if there’s a way to keep them both without trading someone away. Kane would obviously have to go on LTIR, which would leave them with a 22-man active roster.

Remember that Perry and Savoie need to be on the roster for day one, so there needs to be a way to have Savoie on the roster here as well. I’ll use a roster where Derek Ryan is waived for Savoie here. That would leave the Oilers at $95,212,207, leaving the Oilers needing to remove $2,087,207.

Brown and Stecher would have to be waived and buried, which would leave the Oilers $299,707 over the $93,125,000 upper limit with Kane on LTIR. That would leave the team with a 20-man active roster.

The only way to get under the $93,125,000 upper limit without making a trade in that scenario would be to waive and bury Perry and have a player with a cap hit of $775,000 on the roster. Perry needs to be on the active roster for day one because of his potential performance bonus, so this plan wouldn’t work.

The Oilers would definitely have to trade someone away to keep both Holloway and Broberg. Activating Kane while keeping them both would essentially be impossible without blowing up the team. Regardless of the decisions that they make on Holloway and Broberg, the Oilers will be losing at least one player as a result of this situation.

2025-26The Oilers have 2025-26 to think about here as well. The Oilers currently have $62,387,500 committed to 2025-26 already with an active roster of fourteen players. PuckPedia has that figure at $69,258,874 and sixteen players with Holloway and Broberg factored into the equation. The contracts of Ceci, Skinner, Perry, Ryan, and Connor Brown will have expired. The numbers committed for 2025-26 if Holloway and/or Broberg were to be kept now are below:

Just Holloway: $64,677,957

Just Broberg: $66,968,417

Both Holloway and Broberg: $69,258,874

I know what you’re thinking. Yes, both Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard will need new contracts next summer. The Oilers will also need to have a solution to replace Ceci in the top four in addition to rounding out the forward roster.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The good news is that the salary cap is expected to rise by a significant margin again for 2025-26. There’s a rule in the league’s CBA that dictates that the salary cap can only rise by a maximum of 5% in a given year; but the league and the NHLPA can agree to veto that rule and agree to a larger number if they deem it fit to do so. We saw that with the salary cap rising to $88 million for the 2024-25 season. The salary cap was at $83.5 million for the 2023-24 season. $83.5 million plus five percent is only $87,675,000.

Just to make this exercise easier, I’ll use the five percent rule to arrive at a number for the 2025-26 salary cap. $88 million plus five percent equals $92.4 million. However, the final number could be higher or lower than that.

Here are the amounts of cap space the Oilers would have in the four possible situations after deciding on the offer sheets with a theoretical $92.4 million salary cap for 2025-26:

Let both players walk: $30,012,500

Just Holloway: $27,722,043

Just Broberg: $25,431,583

Both Holloway and Broberg: $23,141,126

The number that has been floating around online for Draisaitl’s contract is $13.5 million per year. I have no concrete information to suggest that will be the number at this time, but I’m going to run with it for this exercise. Bouchard’s negotiations aren’t going to happen until next summer, but given what he did last season and in the playoffs, it’s going to be a steal if the Oilers can get Bouchard signed for less than $10 million per year regardless of the term. Let’s run with those two numbers and subtract $23.5 million from the above numbers to see how much the Oilers would have left to round out the 2025-26 roster:

Let both players walk (Active roster – 16): $6,512,500

Just Holloway (Active roster – 17): $4,222,043

Just Broberg (Active roster – 17) : $1,931,583

Both Holloway and Broberg (Active roster – 18): $-358,874

Related: What we know about the Oilers’ thoughts about the offer sheets

Keeping Broberg, whether Holloway is kept as well or not, would make that a challenge; but it would be possible to navigate. Moving Kulak would give the Oilers a little bit more flexibility, and that would be manageable on the ice if Broberg was around. Kane is a big X-factor here. He has to submit a list of sixteen teams that he would accept a trade to on March 1, 2025. Kane could be traded or bought out in the summer of 2025 to create more cap space. A buyout would cost the Oilers $1,333,333 against the cap in 2025-26 and 2026-27.

WrapUltimately, there are ways around any potential cap problem the Oilers could face from keeping Holloway or Broberg. Those solutions become more and more difficult for the 2025-26 season if Broberg is around with or without Holloway. The Oilers would have to REALLY like Broberg to justify taking the gamble on him knowing the cap trouble that keeping him will cause.

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August 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The St. Louis Blues clearly see something in Philip Broberg. They offered Broberg a two-year deal at an average annual salary of $4,580, 917. That’s a gross overpayment for a player that has thirteen points in 81 NHL games over three seasons, but they had to offer Broberg enough money to make the Edmonton Oilers even think about not matching the offer.

Related: Blues sign Broberg and Holloway to offer sheets

The contract will pay Broberg like a top four defenceman. His new AAV will rank 79th in the league among defencemen, which places his salary in line with that of a high-end second pairing defenceman. We know that he’s not that today. He’s entering his draft plus six season, and he appears to have just earned an NHL roster spot somewhere now. That math usually doesn’t add up to a top four defenceman.

The Blues have put their money on Broberg developing into a top four defenceman by the start of the 2026-27 season. The Oilers have a pretty good hand with Broberg, but the Blues just raised the pot pre-flop. It will now cost the Oilers $4,580,917 for two years to see the flop.

CALGARY, AB – SEPTEMBER 26: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Philip Broberg (86) takes a shot during the first period of an NHL game where the Calgary Flames hosted the Edmonton Oilers on September 26, 2021, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)I think it’s fair to say that Broberg is a legitimate NHLer right now. He showed that by dominating the AHL this past season. He played 49 games for the Bakersfield Condors in 2023-24. He got big minutes in all situations, and he was great. Broberg put up 38 points in those 49 games. He has 65 points in 87 career AHL games. He’s too good for that league.

Broberg also showed that he’s a legitimate NHLer with his performance in the 2024 playoffs. He watched the Oilers’ first fifteen playoff games from the sidelines, but he played in the team’s final ten playoff games, including all seven games of the Stanley Cup Final. Broberg scored two goals and added an assist in those ten playoff games. According to Natural Stat Trick, he played 66:40 with Darnell Nurse on the second pairing on his off side. He didn’t play more than 24:55 with anyone else. The underlying numbers were not flattering for him, but he managed to outscore his opponents 6-2 at five-on-five. That included a 4-2 goal differential in the Stanley Cup Final. They achieved that despite a 30.21% expected goals for percentage (its was the same figure in the Stanley Cup Final and the playoffs as a whole). While he and Nurse spent the majority of their five-on-five ice time in their own zone, they managed to defend well enough to win the goal share battle in the late stages of the playoffs.

Broberg performed admirably in the toughest games of the year after being thrust into the lineup in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final, but the underlying numbers suggest that a second pairing role is a bit too much for Broberg today. He certainly belongs on an NHL ice surface though.

Related: What we know about the Oilers’ thoughts about the offer sheets

Honestly, I think that it’s hardly fair to judge Broberg too harshly based on his 2023-24 NHL regular season. He played in just twelve games. Ten of those games came before the team’s November 24, 2023 game against the Washington Capitals that turned their season around. The Oilers won just two of Broberg’s first ten games of the season. The whole team was playing beyond poorly, so of course his underlying numbers weren’t spectacular.

The other two games that Broberg played were the team’s final two games of the season. One was the final game for the Arizona Coyotes as a franchise, which was an emotional win for the Coyotes. The other was against the Colorado Avalanche on a night where the Oilers dressed a glorified AHL roster to rest some of their top players before the playoffs.

Broberg was the organizational number seven defenceman entering last season. Nurse, Mattias Ekholm, and Brett Kulak were ahead of him on the left side. Vincent Desharnais was the coaching staff’s preference on the right side due to that being his natural side and of course due to his specific skill set. Kulak and Desharnais were one of the best third pairs in the league last season. The team started winning with that configuration. I don’t think Broberg would’ve gotten into more NHL games last season no matter how well he had played.

EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 5: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Philip Broberg (86) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Washington Capitals on December 5, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)I want to point to Broberg’s 2022-23 season here. Broberg played in 46 games for the Oilers that season. According to PuckIQ, Broberg’s five-on-five goal share was 52.7% (29-26). PuckIQ also splits performance based on quality of competition. Broberg’s goal share was at 50% or better against all levels of competition in 2022-23. He actually fared best against mid level competition (58%).

PuckIQ also tracks Dangerous Fenwick For percentages (DFF%). It’s a metric that takes shot quality into consideration. Broberg had a DFF% of 59.2% in 2022-23. He struggled against elite competition in that metric (41.3%), but he shone brightly against mid level and low level competition (60.2% and 64.3% respectively). That suggests to me that Broberg was doing just fine in a third pairing role and that he would’ve gotten to a point where a third pairing role was too easy for him. The team rightfully brought in Ekholm at the 2023 trade deadline though, which pushed Broberg down the depth chart.

Broberg is already an excellent rush defender, and he’s great at retrieving pucks. He’s fantastic at skating the puck out of trouble. I don’t think people realize just how good Broberg’s skating really is. His stride is effortless, and his edge work is ridiculous. He’s got the size, the reach, and the skills to be an excellent defenceman.

Based on what I have seen, there are a couple of areas where Broberg needs to improve to become a top four defenceman. Simply put, he needs to produce more offence. I think he has the tools to be able to do that. Broberg was far more active in the offensive zone early in his career. I think that he has had the offensive creativity coached out of him because he has always had such a tenuous hold on a roster spot in the NHL chances that he has been afforded. Broberg has incredible edge work, which allows him to do some special things with the puck in the offensive zone. He just needs the confidence to do it. The fact that he got two goals and an assist in those ten playoff games at the most difficult time of the year is a sign that the offence will come for him. The video below shows a play from a preseason game against the Seattle Kraken on October 2, 2023 that shows Broberg’s edge work in action. Go to the 6:20 mark of the video below for the goal.

The other area where Broberg needs to improve is his composure with the puck in his own end. He’s really effective at skating the puck out of trouble because he’s such an effortless skater, but he struggles with breakout passes. He tends to get rid of the puck too quickly, which can result in turnovers or icing calls. Both of those results mean that his team spends more time defending. Nurse has some of those same issues, which is likely why the pairing had such a low xGF% in the Stanley Cup Final. Those underlying numbers that were troublesome in the Stanley Cup Final would certainly improve with more composure with the puck in his own end. He would start to pile up more assists with improved breakout passing as well, especially on a team that thrives off the rush like the Oilers.

I did a piece on how Broberg’s development had gone compared to other Swedish defencemen drafted in the first half of the first round prior to the start of last season. Broberg was entering his draft plus five season, and he still had not earned a full-time NHL spot. Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson were the only ones that went on to become top four defencemen after earning a permanent full-time NHL roster spot in their draft plus five season or later. Larsson was a weird case because he was a fourth overall pick that played 65 NHL games in his rookie season, but was a healthy scratch later in his tenure with the New Jersey Devils before getting a permanent full-time NHL role. The early part of Klefbom’s career was similar to Broberg’s in that they were both slowed by injuries; but Klefbom had a much clearer path to a top four spot on a chronically terrible team.

Related: Broberg’s Development Versus Swedish Draft Comparables

The odds are certainly against Broberg turning into a top four defenceman at this stage of his development, but I believe that he’s a player that could defy those odds given his skill set and the fact that his lack of opportunity has mostly been the result of organizational depth on a strong team. He’s twenty three years old. That’s getting close to his prime years, but he has many years ahead of him. He just needs an organization to show that they believe in him by creating a roster spot for him and putting him in a position to succeed.

The Blues have shown Broberg that they believe in him with their offer sheet. Do the Oilers believe in him enough to call the Blues on their bet? Do they see enough in Broberg to pay him second pairing money for the production of a third pairing defenceman for two years to hold his rights? Time will tell.

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August 14, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The St. Louis Blues have put the Edmonton Oilers in a tremendously difficult spot by signing their two prized young players, Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, to offer sheets on Tuesday in an unprecedented move. The ball is now in the court of Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson and his new General Manager and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman. The Oilers have until next Tuesday to match the offers.

Related: Blues sign Broberg and Holloway to offer sheets

Bob Stauffer shared this little tidbit of information on Tuesday’s edition of Oilers Now: “…I can 100% guarantee you that upper management, Ken Holland was the general manager at that time, as far back as December and January were INSTRUCTED, INSTRUCTED, at the top levels of the Oilers organization to get Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg signed to contract extensions, especially in January when both players were in the minors…”. This tells me that the organization at least values Holloway and Broberg. We’re about to find out how much they value them though.

Holloway and Broberg were obviously not extended in January. Stauffer went on to talk about how a lot of teams will make an effort to let top prospects buried in the minors like Holloway and Broberg were in January that they are a part of the organization’s plans for the future. I’m not sure if any discussion of the sort happened between the Oilers and these two players or not.

Elliottte Friedman dropped a surprise 32 Thoughts podcast on Wednesday morning, and he shared that Broberg’s plan was always to wait until this summer to begin contract discussions. Broberg and his agent reportedly sought permission to explore a trade back in December 2023 due to frustration over Broberg’s lack of playing time.

Holloway was in a similar situation where he was buried in the minors until late in the season, so I’m not sure why his thought process would’ve been any different than Broberg’s. I don’t blame either player for not signing a contract back in January. I don’t think either player expected to sign offer sheets for the values that they were offered by the Blues, so it worked out nicely for them.

As for the Oilers though, there was only one person above Holland in the hockey operations department in January, and that was Jackson. The person above Jackson is Oilers owner Daryl Katz. The instruction to extend Broberg and Holloway in January had to have come from Jackson or Katz. Thus, Jackson was either pushing to get those players signed, or he had instruction to get them signed from above him. He did not get those deals signed while he was the acting GM from late June until mid July.

EDMONTON, AB – JUNE 06: Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Dylan Holloway (36) in his first NHL game makes a play in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals, game 4 on June 06, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Jackson hasn’t said anything about Holloway this summer. We know that Holloway had a stellar playoff run where he scored five goals and added two assists while playing in all 25 of the Oilers’ playoff games in 2024. He bounced around the lineup, but he did get meaningful time with Leon Draisaitl. Holloway scored on Draisaitl’s line, and he scored while playing lower in the lineup as well.

Holloway finished second in the entire NHL in hits with 86 hits in those 25 playoff games. Holloway’s speed is a tremendous asset, and his willingness to get in on the forecheck and to be physical will allow him to keep an NHL job even if he isn’t scoring goals.

Holloway is just getting started. I’m not sold that he will ever be a legitimate top six forward, but I view him as a middle six forward. A third liner that can make cameo appearances in the top six if needed. The Oilers are one of the oldest teams in the league, and the team just lost Ryan McLeod, another young speedster. The Oilers would become a much slower team without Holloway. We also have to consider that the Oilers are thin on surefire left wing prospects, which means that it will be a while before they get another young left winger on the roster. While the cap hit is a bit high for Holloway, I feel that it isn’t an entirely delusional cap hit and that the Oilers should match the offer.

Jackson was asked about Broberg playing on the right side during his media availability after the start of the free agency period on July 1, 2024. “We’re going to find room for [Broberg] to play, so that will sort of sort itself out as we get through into camp… Somebody will probably have to move over to the right side. It might be [Broberg]” said Jackson.

He also mentioned that Broberg played on the right side in the playoffs, mostly with Darnell Nurse, and that he played well. The pairing had a 4-2 five-on-five goal share in the Stanley Cup Final; but they also had a 30.21% expected goals for percentage. That 4-2 goal share is not sustainable with a 30.21% xGF.

CALGARY, AB – SEPTEMBER 26: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Philip Broberg (86) takes a shot during the first period of an NHL game where the Calgary Flames hosted the Edmonton Oilers on September 26, 2021, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)I like that Jackson said that they were going to find a spot for Broberg. The original plan was for all six of the defencemen that played in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to start the season with the Oilers, which would have involved a lefty playing on the right side. Jackson’s comments on July 1, 2024 hinted that Broberg would be the one to play on the right side. That’s a poor plan in my opinion. The reality is that Broberg isn’t strong playing on the right side. However, the Oilers have Nurse, Mattias Ekholm, and Brett Kulak on the left side. The left side is full, so they decided to throw the kid over to his off side.

Kulak can also play the right side, but he prefers the left side. Ekholm has played on the right side a little bit in his career, but he’s more effective on the left side. My thought would be to put an established veteran in the more difficult position of playing their off side and putting the younger Broberg in a spot where he has a better chance of succeeding, but that’s just me.

The Oilers are currently $7,225,541 over the salary cap including the offer sheets to Holloway and Broberg. There’s a pathway to keeping both players without trading anyone. That would involve putting Kane on LTIR for the entire season; waiving Josh Brown, Troy Stecher, and Corey Perry; and having Raphael Lavoie on the team for the whole season. Unless all of those things happen, the Oilers will have to trade someone away. Cody Ceci and Brett Kulak are the two most likely players to be moved if the Oilers choose to keep both Holloway and Broberg.

The other thing to consider is that the Oilers don’t have a pick until the third round of the 2025 draft. The Oilers would receive a 2025 third round pick for Holloway and a 2025 second round pick for Broberg. Those two picks would give the Oilers ammunition to add at the 2025 trade deadline or to further bolster their depleted prospect cupboard. Losing two former first round picks for a second round pick and a third round pick would be a tough pill to swallow though.

I honestly don’t know where the Oilers will go with this decision. There are pros and cons to every possible outcome. I’m going to examine everything in pieces this week, so stay tuned to the Heavy Hockey Network (@HeavyHockeyNet) and be sure to follow me on X (@lotsryan) for all of the analysis.

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August 14, 2024 by Spencer Pomoty

Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson continued to upgrade the team’s prospect pool since taking over as the acting General Manager at this summer’s draft.

The Oilers dealt Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forward prospect Roby Jarventie and a 2025 fourth-round pick on July 15. Oilers fans had high hopes for Bourgault after he was picked in the first-round in 2021, but after a sophomore slump in the AHL, Jackson decided to move on from the player.

Who is Jarventie? What kind of player does he project to be? Here’s my analysis of the Oilers’ newest prospect:

Statistical ProfileSelected 33rd overall in 2020 NHL Draft by the Senators, Jarventie was born on August 8, 2002, making him one of the younger players in his draft year (he was just over a month away from being eligible for the 2021 NHL Draft). The 6-foot-2, 214-pound left winger had no goals and one assist in seven NHL games with the Senators last season. The Tampere, Finland native also put up nine goals and 20 points in 22 games with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, unfortunately, his season was cut short due to a knee injury. He has 38 goals and 86 points in 136 career AHL games, and has seen his points per game average increase in each of the past three seasons in North America. For this profile, I watched all seven of Roby’s NHL games and 13 more of his AHL games. In the 20 games I watched, one thing that stood out to me was that he played all three forward positions in these viewings.

Photo Credit: theahl.comMy Approach to ScoutingAs I stated in my previous profile about Matthew Savoie, I always reference Gus Katsaros’ “Four S’s of Scouting”. I also look for how a player can create space for themselves, Matthew Savoie and Jarventie both have different ways in accomplishing this.

SkillsThis is a quality aspect of the former second-round pick’s game. His reception range can be remarkable at times. He uses his hand-eye to knock down passes that are in the air, or catch a tough pass on his backhand. Even when a pass in his feet, Jarventie can typically do something with it. There are times where Jarventie will bobble a hard pass, but it’s not often. The Finnish winger displays great shooting mechanics, as he gets the top hand to come straight down and snaps the puck instead of sweeping it. He effectively uses the pucks momentum for a catch-and-shoot on his strong side, and he generates a ton of power on his one-timer, while being able to keep his lead foot pointed at the net. His accuracy can still a bit spotty, but that can be figured out with a little more seasoning in the AHL. Jarventie uses his body very well to protect pucks on the perimeter, but needs to get more adapt at putting the puck in his hip pocket to utilize his size and long reach. Every once in awhile you will see him try a fancier move on a defenceman. However, in my viewings, it was quite seldom.

SkatingThere is still an area for improvement in the big forwards game, but not much. Jarventie sits down low with little back hunch, able to get his knees over his toes, his legs extend horizontally, but he could get to his starting point a bit quicker. His first two-steps are decent, but he takes a bit to get to full flight, and he doesn’t necessarily have a pull away gear. When faced up against a fleet-flooded skating defenceman, he will defer to using his teammates instead of trying to push past or using linear crossovers to get his opponents feet jammed. His outside edge use is great when he uses it, but he can rely a bit much on using the inside edge of his blade. The soon to be 22-year-old can vary pace utilizing his cutbacks to gain space on opponents and finding teammates. One thing I would like to see more of, is Jarventie playing East-to-West and getting into the middle of the zone by using his edges and speed differential. When he did this, he was making good plays, but it wasn’t used enough. Another area of improvement is his balance. There were a handful of times he would get knocked off the puck quite easily but other times he was able to keep control under pressure and put the opponents on his back.

SmartsIn his draft year, this was an area of his game that needed to be addressed, especially away from the puck. This is a big area of growth I saw from him throughout my 20 viewings. Jarventie reads pinches very well and will cover for the defenseman jumping up. He’s often the first forward back, and has no problem playing the centre role in the defensive zone. One of the most intriguing aspects of his game comes from his board play (this is why I prefer him as a winger). He understands he needs to get position before he gains possession of the puck, he gets to the inside of the opposition and will use his size and reach to his advantage. He will skate into their route and force them to the boards where he does an amazing job at sealing off. The versatile forward is then able to use his small area puck skills and his shoulder checks/micro scans (more consistency here will also go a long way) to find the centre of create a battle and buy time. It was seldom he would turnover the puck along the wall and this part of his game is what intrigues me the most. His board play habits are extremely translatable and can help all of his teammates get up to gear in transition. In one my AHL viewings against the Cleveland Monsters, he pulled the puck from the boards into a between-the-legs pass to his defenceman on the point. It was a remarkable play. Another massive positive for the young power forward is the way he limits skating himself into a corner. Jarventie is very tactical when it comes to using his teammates, give-and-go plays are a big part in his game, and he rarely sees a pass he can’t make. In the offensive zone, he’s alright at finding the quiet ice, when he comes up near the point in a F3 role he can find himself in a great spot for a pass and quick shot, but Jarventie likes to play on the boards. In the future, he’ll have to use his cutbacks and reach to his full advantage to get into the middle of the ice with the puck. A small thing to note was that majority of his shifts are quite short, he doesn’t overextend his shift time, but sometimes he did put teammates in a tricky position coming back to the defensive zone. Continued reps and growing confidence will do wonders, if he’s able to utilize his cutbacks, put the puck in his hip pocket, and use his reach I believe he’ll find a way to play in the middle of the ice more often.

SpeedThis is another area of his game that could use a bit more development. The former second-round pick likes to slow the play down and play a bit more methodical. Roby excels when he can bring the defenders down a notch. This isn’t to say he can’t play at a high pace, but when the puck is on his stick he looks to cutback and make a pass rather than pick up speed and try to make a play around a defender. Off puck he is able to hang with the pace and play within the speed differential. As I stated earlier, Jarventie’s board play can help the swinging centre by catching him at full speed. He is able to let other players play fast while being able to do his own thing within the speed differential he helped create. If he can start utilizing some linear crossovers and push opposition back when the puck is on his blade, it could really breakout his game fully. He already has the proper cutback habits, but if he can add that one element it’ll take those little habits to even another level.

SummaryJarventie is such an intriguing prospect to me due to the board habits, the playmaking ability, the size and reach he possesses, as well as the skating mechanics. I think if he keeps trending positively, he will be a good third line winger that will ramp up transition play his teammates but also able to grind it out along the wall and make the small area plays that are needed in the modern day of hockey where you get very limited time and space. If he doesn’t make the Oilers on opening night, I would like to see him on Matthew Savoie’s line from the start in the AHL, especially if they plan on playing Savoie down the middle. At the bare minimum, I believe the Oilers got a fourth line winger that will chip in offensively every once in awhile that can get under the opposing teams skin a bit.

Follow me on Twitter @SPProspects for all my work.

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August 13, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The St. Louis Blues announced that they signed Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to offer sheets on Tuesday. Broberg’s offer sheet has a value of $4,580,917 for two years, and Holloway’s offer sheet has a value of $2,290,457 for two years.

We have tendered offer sheets to Edmonton's Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. #stlblues

DETAILS https://t.co/HgShyE72bU https://t.co/HgShyE72bU

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) August 13, 2024

Remember how I said that I wouldn’t really evaluate the work of new Edmonton Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman until the 2025-26 season when his job was supposed to get more challenging? Well, his job just got a lot more challenging. The Oilers have a real quandary on their hands here as a result of these offer sheets.

Related: Bowman’s task with the Oilers

This is how offer sheets work in case you’re unfamiliar with the process. A team can offer a contract to another team’s restricted free agents. If the player chooses to sign the offer sheet, then the team who currently holds the player’s rights has one week to match the offer. If the team chooses not to match the offer, then the player goes to the team that signed the player to the offer sheet. The team that currently holds the player’s rights receives compensation for the lost player in the form of draft picks. The value of the draft pick or picks changes depending on the dollar value of the offer sheet. The Oilers would receive a second round pick for Broberg and a third round pick for Holloway if they were to not match the offers.

These are the 38th and 39th offer sheets ever to be signed in the NHL according to Sportsnet. Jesperi Kotkaniemi was the last player to sign one in a deal that brought him to the Carolina Hurricanes from the Montreal Canadiens in 2021. The Canadiens signed Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet in 2019, but the Hurricanes matched the offer. Revenge may have played a factor in the Kotkaniemi deal. We have to go back to 1991 to find the last time a team signed two players from the same team to offer sheets in the same summer. The Boston Bruins signed Glen Featherstone and Dave Tomlinson to offer sheets. Ironically, it was the Blues who let Featherstone and Tomlinson walk away in 1991.

Broberg and Holloway both had stellar showings in the 2024 playoffs. Broberg wasn’t inserted in the lineup until Game 4 of the Western Conference Final, but he never came out of the lineup after that. He contributed two goals and an assist in ten playoff games for the Oilers in 2024. More importantly, he was only on the ice for two goals against at five-on-five in those ten games. He was rewarded with second pairing duty alongside Darnell Nurse.

Holloway was called up from the Bakersfield Condors with six games left in the regular season in 2023-24. He got five points in those six games and earned a spot on the playoff roster. Holloway played in all 25 of the Oilers’ playoff games in 2024, and he amassed five goals and seven points in those playoff games. Holloway played on the second line with Leon Draisaitl at times during the postseason.

Broberg and Holloway were former Oilers GM Ken Holland’s first two first round picks. They are also the only two of Holland’s picks in his five years at the helm that have even sniffed a full-time roster spot. Raphael Lavoie is the only other one of Holland’s picks to have even played a game with the Oilers at this point. Matej Blumel has played six NHL games, but those have been played with the Dallas Stars. That’s just a long winded way for me to say that the Oilers have precious little in terms of young NHL ready players, and they won’t have many for the next few years.

The Oilers don’t have a lot of cap space. The offer sheets for Broberg and Holloway have put some pressure on Bowman and the Oilers. PuckPedia has the Oilers at $7,225,541 over the league’s $88 million salary cap if you include the Broberg and Holloway offer sheets. They were $313,041 over the cap before these offer sheets were signed, so that is how far over the cap they would be if they were to let Broberg and Holloway walk away.

That $7,225,541 figure includes an active roster of 23 players composed of thirteen forwards, eight defencemen, and two goalies. 23 is the maximum number of players that a team can have on their active roster, but they can also carry fewer than that like the Oilers did last season.

EDMONTON, AB – JUNE 06: Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Dylan Holloway (36) in his first NHL game makes a play in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals, game 4 on June 06, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Bob Stauffer reported that Evander Kane is likely to start the season on the LTIR because he may require surgery to address his sports hernia injury from last season. That would leave the Oilers at twelve forwards. That would raise the Oilers’ salary cap limit from $88 million to $93,125,000. They would then need to remove at least $2,100,541 to become cap compliant to start the season.

The Oilers could choose to only carry the six defencemen that played in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final this past June, which would mean burying Josh Brown and Troy Stecher in Bakersfield. That would remove $1,787,500 from the team’s cap hit. The Oilers would still need to move $313,041 out to become cap compliant in that scenario (yes, the same $313,041 overage that the Oilers ended the day with on Monday… math is fun sometimes), which would mean playing shorthanded or trading a player away to make the math work.

Basically, what I’m saying is that no matter what Bowman decides to do with Broberg and Holloway, the Oilers will have to sacrifice at least one player within the next seven days.

Offer sheets are pointless unless they make the other team think, and that’s exactly what the Blues have done here. A second round pick and a third round pick is a weak return for two former first rounders that are on the brink of breaking out. The average annual values that the Blues gave to Broberg and Holloway are massive overpayments for what they have shown in the NHL thus far, but you basically have to overpay to make the other team even think about not matching an offer sheet.

This is Bowman’s first test as GM of the Oilers. Oil Country will wait with bated breath for Bowman’s decision.

Related: Philip Broberg emerging as important piece for Oilers

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August 5, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s not often that a team loses their general manager mere days after losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, but that’s the exact position the Edmonton Oilers found themselves in this past June. Outgoing Oilers GM Ken Holland has since been replaced by controversial new GM and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman.

Bowman finds himself in the enviable position of inheriting a team that came within a goal of the Stanley Cup, and that was bolstered during the first day of free agency. As far as the 2024-25 season is concerned, Bowman has been left with the small but important tasks of re-signing restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg as well as making the roster cap compliant by opening night. That will be the easy part of Bowman’s task with the Oilers.

Holland built his Oilers team to win during his tenure with the team at the earliest, and in the final year of McDavid’s contract (2025-26) at the latest. Holland only signed three players beyond 2026: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, and Darnell Nurse.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Ken Holland addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVMany fans were frustrated that Holland didn’t swing big at the trade deadline consistently. I would argue that he made trades to add to the team at the trade deadline in all five of his seasons at the helm. Holland traded a draft pick from the 2027 NHL draft to acquire Troy Stecher at the 2024 trade deadline for Pete’s sake. Think about that. His consistent activity at the trade deadline left the team in a situation where they don’t have their full collection of picks until 2028. Combine that with a poor drafting and development record in five seasons, and you’re left with a team whose resources are depleted with zero Stanley Cup wins to show for it.

Related: Oilers Acquire Stecher

The new GM might be in a cushy situation for the 2024-25 season, but the seat will get hot in short order. Bowman’s challenge will not just be to extend the team’s superstars, but to build a winning team around them and the three other players signed beyond 2026 with limited amounts of draft picks and prospects at his disposal.

The only way to do that is to sacrifice players off the current roster. The crux of the problem is that there are “Cup or bust” expectations in Edmonton, and those lofty but entirely realistic expectations will continue to exist as long as McDavid and Draisaitl don the blue and orange. It’s hard to justify subtracting from the current roster to prepare for the future while the team is in “win now” mode. That will have to happen sometime in the next two years though.

Photo Credit: theglobeandmail.comDraisaitl’s situation is expected to come to a head this summer, but McDavid still has another year before he can re-sign and two years before his contract expires. Bowman will need to show McDavid concrete evidence of a plan that will keep the team competitive for the entirety of his next contract to ensure that McDavid chooses to re-sign in Edmonton.

That will involve taking from Peter to pay Paul without upsetting the team’s current status as Stanley Cup contenders. It will take some crafty ingenuity similar to what we saw from Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson in his recent stint as acting GM. Trading Ryan McLeod for top prospect Matthew Savoie because Adam Henrique re-signed is the perfect example of the type of creativity that Bowman will need to show going forward to keep the Oilers competitive as they enter McDavid’s next contract.

Bowman was selected for this role in part because of his three Stanley Cups, but also in part because he has been in a similar situation before. His Chicago Blackhawks had won those three Stanley Cups before Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews signed their matching eight-year, $84 million contracts that each counted for $10.5 million against a $69 million salary cap. It’s too early to tell for certain, but McDavid and Draisaitl are poised to account for a larger percentage of the salary cap in 2026-27 than Kane and Toews did in 2015-16. Evan Bouchard’s impending large contract won’t help the cap situation any either.

The Blackhawks never made it beyond the first round of the playoffs after Kane and Toews signed those contracts. They lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games in the first round of the 2016 playoffs. Then they were swept by the Nashville Predators in the first round of the 2017 playoffs. They qualified for the play-in round of the 2020 playoffs staged in the COVID bubble at Rogers Place as the twelfth place team in the Western Conference, and they beat the Oilers in four games. They were dispatched by the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in round one of the 2020 playoffs. That hardly counts as a playoff appearance in my opinion. Aside from 2020, the Blackhawks didn’t make the playoffs after 2017, just two seasons after Kane and Toews signed their mega deals.

Bowman was forced to move Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp to afford Kane and Toews’ new contracts in the summer of 2015. They had Artemi Panarin waiting in the wings, and he was great for them in his rookie season, stealing the Calder Trophy away from McDavid. The Oilers don’t have a player like Panarin waiting in the wings. Savoie is intriguing, but he will not have finished in a tie for second in KHL scoring before coming to the NHL like Panarin did.

EDMONTON, AB – July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVBowman tried to re-create some magic from 2010 by acquiring Andrew Ladd at the 2016 trade deadline. He also added Christian Ehrhoff at that deadline. The worst move he made at that deadline was trading 2011 second round pick Philip Danault, who has become a high-end defensive centre, for nineteen games of Tomas Flieschmann and fifteen games of Dale Weise. That deadline was really the beginning of the downfall of the Blackhawks. Bowman will need to learn from that mistake and from the situation that Holland being aggressive at the trade deadline every year has left him to handle. It’s like using a credit card. You get something now, but you eventually have to pay it back. Scream all you want about needing to load up at every deadline because the team must “win now”, but a team can’t load up at every deadline and expect to be competitive for a decade or more.

Bowman’s drafting and development record also fell off a cliff after the Blackhawks’ last championship in 2015. Only seven players that Bowman drafted after 2015 have played over or near 100 NHL games, as opposed to the fourteen such players that he drafted between 2010 and 2014.

Bowman, Oilers Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey, and Oilers Senior Director of Player Development Kalle Larsson will have to be better than Bowman’s Blackhawks team was at drafting and development from 2015-2021 to keep the Oilers competitive into McDavid’s next contract given the Oilers’ limited resources.

Bowman might get a Stanley Cup before his real work as GM of the Oilers really begins, which would unfairly skew the public’s opinion of his work in his favour. I won’t start truly evaluating Bowman’s work until the 2025-26 season because the 2024-25 roster is all but set. That could change if he was to make an impact trade to stabilize the defence group though.

Related: Oilers name Stan Bowman GM & EVP of Hockey Operations

I still feel that Bowman was the wrong choice for this job not just because of what happened in 2010, but because of how he handled the Blackhawks after Kane and Toews signed those mega deals; but Bowman has a chance to prove me wrong. He has a chance to prove that he has learned from his previous mistakes. I want to be wrong because I want McDavid and Draisaitl to win multiple Stanley Cups as Oilers.

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July 29, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

I have composed letters to Edmonton Oilers General Manager and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman, Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson, and Oilers owner Daryl Katz expressing my disappointment in the decision to bring Bowman aboard due to Bowman’s actions in 2010 and what the organization hiring him says about those actions. While I’m disappointed in the decision, I also see an opportunity for Bowman and the Oilers organzation to do some good in the community. My letter to Mr. Bowman is available in part one of this piece. My letters to Mr. Jackson and Mr. Katz are below:

Related: Open Letters to Bowman, Jackson, and Katz: Part One – To Mr. Bowman

To Mr. Jackson,I think I speak for many Oilers fans when I say that the decision to hire Mr. Bowman was extremely disappointing. I feel that you made several great hires in your first year with the Oilers. I also feel that you and your team did a great job with the draft and the start of the free agency period this summer. However, the decision to hire Mr. Bowman has undone all of the good will that you had accumulated with many Oilers fans.

I felt that your comment about not being worried about the fans’ negative reaction during Bowman’s introductory press conference was in poor taste. The fact that you made your X account private the night before this decision was announced shows that you understood how this decision would be received, and your comments showed a flippant disregard for the feelings of the fans, the people that pay their hard earned money to support your organization. I understand that winning is the most important thing to a professional sports team and that your job is to build a team that will win; but that goal was possible to achieve without hiring Mr. Bowman. You may have already done that with your roster moves this summer.

I appreciate that you did your due diligence in talking to Sheldon Kennedy and Kyle Beach about this decision before you made it. Their support matters. However, I don’t think that the benefit of choosing Mr. Bowman over one of the other candidates that you interviewed for this position merits the black mark that this decision has put on the Oilers franchise or the likely impact on season ticket and merchandise sales that will result from this decision.

You also talked about the mandatory training that all staff members of the Oilers Entertainment Group have to take. While it’s great that that training exists, that’s not what matters. What matters more is what the organization will do to increase awareness and prevention of sexual assault outside of the organization in the future, especially after the decision to hire Mr. Bowman.

You said that you’re “…sure Stan’s going to bring not only his hockey acumen, but the things that he’s learned in the last couple of years to make us a better organization and help us create a culture, a really good culture around our great sport.” I hope that you, Mr. Bowman, and the Oilers organization will go beyond creating a better culture in hockey by raising awareness about sexual assault in society as a whole and by supporting initiatives that aim to reduce future instances of sexual assault.

Sincerely,

Ryan Lotsberg

To Mr. Katz,You have done a lot of fantastic things for the Edmonton Oilers organization. You brought financial stability to the team. You got the team a wonderful new arena to call home. The Ice District project has brought life to Edmonton’s downtown core. Your passion for the Oilers and the city of Edmonton has not gone unnoticed.

However, your strong desire to win has come with a cost. Mr. Jackson said that you and other members of senior management with the Oilers Entertainment Group were consulted about hiring Mr. Bowman, and he was allowed to be hired. You had the power to stop this black mark from being placed on your team, but you allowed it to happen.

I understand that Mr. Jackson feels that Mr. Bowman gives the Oilers the best chance to win and you have shown that you are willing to do whatever it takes to win, but decisions have consequences. I know full well that while Rogers Place will not be empty this season, this decision will cost the Oilers some season seat holders and merchandise sales.

The decision to hire Mr. Bowman is an extremely disappointing one. Mr. Jackson’s blatant disregard for the concerns of the fans regarding this decision was also disappointing. These are the fans that spend their hard earned money on tickets to hockey games with inflated concession prices and expensive merchandise that allows them to represent the team they love. The decision to hire Mr. Bowman brings a new meaning to the logo that a lot of people do not want to represent, which was a totally preventable outcome.

Let’s not forget that, as far as my research shows, Bob Nicholson is still a member of the OEG. While he is not listed on the Oilers’ website anymore, he is still listed as an Alternate Governor with OEG even after his involvement with using a slush fund to cover up multiple incidences of sexual assault involving Hockey Canada athletes became public knowledge. Your organization now employs two of the biggest names that have been involved in covering up instances of sexual assault in this century.

It appears to be all in the name of winning. Mr. Bowman has won three Stanley Cups. Mr. Nicholson was involved in many international competition wins for Hockey Canada. We can’t forget that Ken Holland also won three Stanley Cups before being hired by the Oilers, and that Peter Chiarelli had won a Stanley Cup before being hired by the Oilers.

Here’s the thing though: the Oilers have won absolutely nothing under any of those people! Your organization appears to be stuck on the idea of past success leading to future success. That’s not always how that works, and we have seen it play out in front of our very eyes over the course of your ownership of the team. That’s something that even Mr. Bowman addressed in his introductory press conference. He spoke about the importance of looking forward rather than trying to recreate something that was successful in the past. It feels like the hirings of Mr. Bowman, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Chiarelli, and Mr. Holland were all efforts to repeat successes of the past in Edmonton; and it hasn’t been successful in Edmonton. I feel that a different decision was needed this time from a social and a hockey standpoint. I hope to be proven wrong.

Mr. Bowman spoke about how it is his job to win the fans over with his actions. In this case, actions that could potentially win over any fans won’t be hockey related. Mr. Bowman alluded to wanting to make a difference in the organization and wanting to continue to give his time and to be devoted to improving hockey culture. The best way that he can do that is by becoming a loud voice for sexual assault awareness and prevention. I implore you to allow that to happen.

It shouldn’t just be up to Mr. Bowman though. I also implore you and the Oilers Entertainment Group to actively take a role in raising awareness of sexual assault and working to prevent future instances of sexual assault not just in hockey, but in the Edmonton community as well.

Sincerely,

Ryan Lotsberg

WrapThe best way for Mr. Bowman and the Oilers organization to become leaders in raising awareness of sexual assault and in working to prevent future instances of sexual assault would be to support the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE). SACE offers free counselling for victims of sexual assault, and they also provide education aimed at the prevention of future instances of sexual assault. SACE released this statement after Mr. Bowman’s hiring was announced:

SACE statement on the Edmonton Oilers hiring Stan Bowman. #Edmonton #Oilers pic.twitter.com/nJMScz0bac

— SACE (@sacetalks) July 24, 2024

Both Jason Gregor and Bruce McCurdy have suggested that the team should support SACE, and I thank them for their words and their suggestions. I’ve seen multiple people suggest that SACE should be a recipient of an Oilers 50/50 fundraiser, which would be a great start. Regardless of the specifics of how it could be done, I also believe that supporting SACE would be the best way for Mr. Bowman and the Oilers organization to become leaders in increasing awareness and prevention of sexual assault in the Edmonton community and in hockey culture.

While I’m disappointed by Mr. Bowman’s hiring, I do hope that he and the Oilers organization will back up his words with actions that support SACE so that something positive will come out of this situation.

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July 29, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

I referenced writing a piece about how the Edmonton Oilers can demonstrate a commitment to improving hockey culture and doing something meaningful for the Edmonton community at the end of my piece about last Wednesday’s introductory press conference for Stan Bowman. Like many Oilers fans, I’m disappointed in the decision to hire Bowman because of his actions in 2010 and what the organization’s decision to bring him aboard says about those actions.

Related: Deep Dive: Bowman’s Oilers introduction press conference

Despite that, I see an opportunity for something good to come out of all of this. I have composed open letters to Mr. Bowman, Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson, and Oilers owner Daryl Katz outlining my disappointment and encouraging them all to demonstrate a desire to improve the organization, their community, and hockey culture by becoming leading voices in increasing awareness and prevention of sexual assault. My letter to Mr. Bowman is below, and my letters to Mr. Jackson and Mr. Katz will appear in part two of this piece.

EDMONTON, AB – July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVTo Mr. Bowman,

While I’m glad to hear that you have demonstrated a genuine desire to learn from your mistakes through your work with Sheldon Kennedy and the Respect Group, the fact remains that you made a significant mistake.

What’s done is done, and we can’t change the past. All you can control are your future actions.

You said that you are “looking forward to a chance to make a difference in the organization” during your introductory press conference. You also said that the only way to improve the culture of hockey is to “learn from the mistakes that we made and try to improve, and I’m committed to that.” You then added that “I know how important it is that I be a true leader, and that’s something that I’m excited about and that I look forward to.”

Jason Gregor asked “are you going to be able to use your position to further the cause to change it, and if so, how?”, and you said “[w]ell I want to, Jason. What I really believe in is there is ability to make change and to learn from situations and to grow from them.”

You then went on to talk about the charter that you’ve made for teams with the Respect Group to address not only sexual assault, but also harassment, hazing, and bullying within teams. Those are important issues that need to be addressed, and they will help with addressing some of the issues that exist in hockey culture, but I feel that your response didn’t quite answer Mr. Gregor’s question. My interpretation was that Mr. Gregor was referring to the issue of sexual assault in society as a whole. I base that on the fact that his question to you about how you might use your position to further the cause was a follow up to a question that was about sexual assault, and on the fact that Mr. Gregor wrote a piece where he spoke quite openly about the issue of sexual assault.

You closed your response to Mr. Gregor’s question by saying that “[t]his isn’t something that I’m not going to help out anymore, like I want to give my time and I want to be devoted to that stuff.” Once again, it felt like you were referring to your work with the Respect Group and on the charter that you referenced. I view that as positive work, but you have an opportunity to do something so much more meaningful in addition to that work.

You talked about the importance of fan support in your opening remarks. When asked for your thoughts on the fans’ negative attitude towards you and your hiring, you said that “[w]hat I would say is it’s going to be my job to try to win them over. The goal is to try to do it through your actions as opposed to what you’re saying.”

Whether you like it or not, your name will always be tied to sexual assault. Multiple incidences of sexual assault in hockey have brought the issue into the spotlight, but we shouldn’t only be talking about these issues when they are in the spotlight.

You said that you know how important it is to be a true leader here? You have a chance. You said that you want to use your position to further the cause to change it? You have a chance. You said that you want to give your time and to be devoted to that stuff? You have a chance. You said that your job is to try to win the fans over through your actions? That’s going to be a tall task, but you have a chance.

You have a chance to be a loud voice for sexual assault awareness and prevention. Sexual assault happens all over the place, not just in hockey. Going the extra mile by being a vocal leader for sexual assault awareness and prevention in all facets of society would be a great way for you to back your words up with actions.

The Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE) provides free counselling for victims of sexual assault, and they provide education about sexual assault to prevent future instances of sexual assault. They released the following statement the day that your hiring was announced:

SACE statement on the Edmonton Oilers hiring Stan Bowman. #Edmonton #Oilers pic.twitter.com/nJMScz0bac

— SACE (@sacetalks) July 24, 2024

I sincerely hope that your gratitude for being allowed another opportunity to hold such a powerful position with an NHL team will propel you to back up your words by becoming a leader in raising sexual assault awareness and increasing prevention. Supporting SACE would be the best way to accomplish that.

Sincerely,

Ryan Lotsberg

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July 24, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers held a press conference to introduce Stan Bowman as the team’s new General Manager and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations on Wednesday morning. Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson was also a part of the press conference.

The press conference began with Jackson’s opening remarks. He spoke about how his and Bowman’s visions for the team align, and he called Bowman “forward thinking and progressive”. Jackson said that he “…kept coming back to fact that Stan with his experience as a general manager and his success in Chicago, having won three Cups during his tenure there, having gone through and learned a lot about himself and about the need to try to make a difference in hockey culture, I just coming back to he was the guy.”

Related: Oilers name Stan Bowman GM & EVP of Hockey Operations

Jackson also made a point of addressing the elephant in the room in his opening remarks: “I know that some of you are going to have questions about Stan’s tenure in Chicago. Let me be very clear: what happened to Kyle Beach in 2010 was wrong. It was horrible. It wasn’t handled properly at the time. I think Stan has acknowledged and taken full responsibility for the inadequate response; but I also know that he has spent a great deal of time in the two and a half years since then to educate himself, to try to learn.

He’s done a lot of work with Sheldon Kennedy, who’s one of the foremost experts in the field of abuse, sexual and otherwise, and has, I think he came out last week with his op ed supporting Stan… part of my process was talking to Sheldon because I know that he had done with Stan over the years, and when I talked to Sheldon a couple weeks ago, he gave a full endorsement of Stan’s work, his commitment, the fact that he’s sure that he learned from his mistakes; so that was a big part of the decision for me. We wouldn’t have made this hire without knowing that Stan had done all that work. Sheldon asked if he could be here today to support Stan. We’re honoured that he’s here. I have a long relationship with Sheldon that goes back twenty, 25 years all the way back to the start of the Respect Group when it was in its infancy, and I respect his opinion on this. I’m glad that he’s here today.

So in closing, I’m very excited to welcome Stan. I’m super excited to work alongside him as we try to be an elite organization both on and off the ice, and I’m sure Stan’s going to bring not only his hockey acumen, but the things that he’s learned in the last couple of years to make us a better organization and help us create a culture, a really good culture around our great sport.”

EDMONTON, AB – July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVBowman also addressed his departure from the Blackhawks organization in his opening remarks:

“I’ve had a chance to reflect on things over the last couple of years since I’ve been out of the game, so I’d like to kind of look forward to where we’re headed with the organization and my role, so I’m not here to relitigate the past; but I do think it’s important to start off by touching on my departure from the Blackhawks a couple seasons ago.

I can tell you in this room and everyone watching, as well as something that I’ve said directly to Kyle Beach as well, that my response was inadequate back in 2010. I didn’t handle things properly. I should’ve done more, and that’s something that I regret, and it’s something that I’ve had a chance to reflect on and try to learn from…I’ve had a chance to get to know some people in the last couple of years, Sheldon Kennedy being one of them. In addition to Sheldon, I’ve had a chance to work with his group. I’ve also had a chance to work with Kyle Beach and other people; and in that process, I feel like I’ve learned some things that I didn’t know and I’ve learned ways that I could do a better job in the future, and I can tell you without a doubt that those things will never happen on my watch again.

I’m looking forward to a chance to make a difference in the organization, and my work with Sheldon has encompassed a couple of different areas, in particular with working on the culture of hockey, and I think the situation with Kyle Beach back in 2010 I think it’s become something that we’ve talked a lot about, and I guess to summarize, it would be you know, we want to try to make this a better place for the sport better, and I think we can all handle situations better, and the only way to do that is to learn from the mistakes that were made and try to improve, and I’m committed to that… I know how important it is that I be a true leader, and that’s something that I’m excited about and that I look forward to.”

Bob Stauffer asked Bowman about his interactions with Kyle Beach since 2010 and prior to accepting this position with the Oilers. Bowman said that he called Beach on Tuesday night to make him aware of the decision, and they had a nice fifteen minute conversation. Bowman went on to outline how he ended up working with the team that Beach coaches. Bowman tried to reach out to Beach after he left the Blackhawks in 2021, but Beach did not respond. Kennedy told Bowman that was understandable and that Beach might not have been ready to talk to him at that time, but he encouraged Bowman to reach back out eventually. The two eventually connected with a 90 minute conversation in which they rehashed what happened in 2010 and started catching up on life since then. Bowman talked about his work with the Respect group and about the charter of respect for hockey teams that he had been working on with the Respect group, and Beach was impressed by that and said that he wished his team had something like that. That’s where the idea of them working together originated.

Photo Credit: nhl.comJackson also added a statement about contacting Beach later in the press conference. Jackson said that he spoke with Beach a couple of weeks ago and that they had a nice conversation where Beach was supportive of Bowman’s reinstatement to the NHL. Jackson also said that he talked to Oilers owner Daryl Katz and other members of senior management within the Oilers Entertainment Group about the decision, but he did not talk to any of the players about it. That includes Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, who are up for new contracts in the next two seasons.

Jason Gregor asked Bowman a great question about how he will be able to use his position to “further the cause”. Bowman’s response was “[w]ell I want to, Jason. What I really believe in is there is ability to make change and to learn from situations and to grow from them.” Bowman went on to address the charter that he has worked on with the Respect Group and how it can help improve the culture within teams. Bowman’s response seemed to be strictly focussed on the culture of an individual hockey organization, and not about hockey culture as a whole or about the larger issue of sexual abuse in society as a whole.

I felt that Bowman appeared to be genuine in his remorse for his actions in 2010, and his work with Kennedy and the Respect Group is evidence of that. I’m glad that he has shown such a desire to learn from his mistake and to learn about how he could handle such situations better in the future. It’s clear that Jackson did his due diligence before making this hire by talking to Kennedy and Beach about it as well as Katz and senior managers of OEG. I think that Beach’s support of Bowman’s reinstatement is huge, and I’m happy to hear that they have talked and have actually worked together to improve the culture at Trinity Western University, where Beach is an Assistant Coach.

Related: On Stan Bowman: Part One – The Scandal

I’ll be clear in saying that I still do not feel that this was the right hiring decision after this press conference though. It’s clear that many fans feel the same way as I do based on the online reaction to the news on Wednesday morning. Bowman was asked about the fans’ reaction to his hiring, and he had this to say:

“One thing I’ve learned over time is it’s very difficult to talk people into things, so I’m not going to try to make an argument on why they should feel a certain way. I respect the way that they feel. What I would say is it’s going to be my job to try to win them over. The goal is to try to do it through your actions as opposed to what you’re saying. I understand where they’re coming from and I want to try to earn their respect over time. It may not come right away, but that’s okay. I’m going to stick with it. I’m here to make a difference.”

I liked that response from Bowman. He understands that he will have to earn any trust that might eventually be granted to him by the Oilers fan base, and that the only way to earn trust is through actions rather than words. Bowman spoke about the importance of having the support of the fans in his opening remarks. He offered words about how Oilers fans are the best in the league after watching the team’s playoff run this past spring, but he will need to do a lot more than that to earn the trust of Oilers fans.

Jackson was also asked about the fans’ reaction to this hiring:

“I think fans are entitled always to their opinion. They have opinions about firing coaches and making trades and everything else. I think that the decision to bring Stan in is one that is in the best interest of the organization for a number of reasons that I touched on in the opening, so I mean, I have to respect the fans’ opinions. I think that Stan’s work over the next few years here will dictate how they respond… I’m not worried about it. My job is to try to make an elite organization and have people that are collaborative and progressive and good people, and I think that Stan is all of those things.”

EDMONTON, AB – July 24, 2024: Edmonton Oielrs CEO Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVJackson is unfortunately correct based on what we’ve seen play out many times before in professional sports. Someone does something awful, they go away for a while, then a new team brings them aboard and people get angry about it initially, but then forget about it once play starts. Winning seems to solve a lot of problems, which isn’t right in my opinion. Sports executives have proven time and time again that they only care about one thing, which is winning. Jackson has unfortunately proven himself to not be any different in this situation, which is extremely disappointing given the circumstances.

Jackson was definitely wrong to say that he isn’t worried about the fans’ reaction though. That’s an awful look for him and the franchise. The fact that he made his Twitter account private on Tuesday night, which ended up being hours before announcing this hiring, says that he knew that fans would be upset by this hiring and that he cared enough to make his account private. To have Jackson say that he isn’t worried about the fans’ reaction after Bowman speaking about the importance of fan support and about having a goal to win them over through his actions makes Jackson look terrible.

Tom Gazzola asked Jackson and Bowman about what the working dynamic between them will look like. Jackson said that “the model that we’re going to have here in Edmonton is that we’re going to work as a team. Stan’s the general manager. He’ll run the team day to day, but I’ve said this over the last month when I’ve been asked several times if I wanted to be the GM. I’m an active CEO. What that means is that I’m talking to the general manager often, I’m talking to the coach often, I’m not meddling, but I have my input… I’m very confident that we’ll work really well together, bounce stuff off each other. When we’re doing the negotiations we’ll do them together. [Bowman] will take the lead, and I’ll be there to support.”

Related: On Stan Bowman: Part Two – The Hockey Perspective

Bowman talked about how Draisaitl is a priority to him and about how he wants Draisaitl to be an Oiler for life. He also spoke glowingly about the roster that Jackson has assembled. Bowman said that the hardest part of building a team is getting stars, and the Oilers have already done that. While this situation is similar to the situation in Chicago when he became the GM of the Blackhawks, it’s different because Bowman had been a member of the Blackhawks organization since 2005 and he knew all of the players before accepting the GM job. He also spoke about wanting to look forward. He spoke about the playoff run and about how close the team got. While he wants the penalty kill to be spectacular again next season, he realizes that life doesn’t always work that way and there’s a chance that it won’t be that hot again next season. Bowman believes in looking to the future and how to be better in the future rather than trying to recreate something that happened in the past, which is the right way to look at it in my opinion.

As I stated in my piece this morning and earlier in this piece, I don’t think this was the right decision by Jackson and the Oilers. There were several fantastic candidates out there that don’t have Bowman’s baggage. While it’s great that Bowman seemed genuine in his remorse and in his work with Kennedy and the Respect Group, it was the wrong decision to bring Bowman into such a large role so quickly after being reinstated by the league. Jackson sewered whatever good will he had built with the fans after making several great roster decisions in the first two weeks of July with this decision. It’s a disappointing decision to say the very least.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part Four – The Big Reveal

I mentioned this in my piece this morning, but I’ll share it again here. While I’m disappointed in the decision, my attitude is that if you’re upset about Bowman not doing enough to support a victim of sexual assault, then you should do something to support victims of sexual assault in our community. You can do that by donating to the Sexual Assualt Centre of Edmonton (SACE) on their website or through my personal donation page. My goal is to raise $1000 for SACE by the end of the month, so please donate if you’re in a position to help and the cause resonates with you.

SACE released a statement on Bowman’s hiring on Wednesday:

SACE statement on the Edmonton Oilers hiring Stan Bowman. #Edmonton #Oilers pic.twitter.com/nJMScz0bac

— SACE (@sacetalks) July 24, 2024

I plan to write more on this subject in future piece, but I agree in saying that offering support to SACE would be agreat way for the organization to prove to the community that they want to be a part of the solution and to do something meaningful to not only make hockey culture better, but to make our scoiety better as a whole.

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July 24, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they hired Stan Bowman as their new General Manager and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations on Wednesday.

The #Oilers have named Stan Bowman General Manager & Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) July 24, 2024

The 51-year old was the GM of the Chicago Blackhawks from 2009 until 2021. He was also the VP of Hockey Operations (2009-2015) and the Sr VP of Hockey Operations (2015-2021) of the Blackhawks. Bowman won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks in 2010, 2013, and 2015.

Bowman famously resigned from the Blackhawks after the Jenner & Block report, which cited the results of an investigation into the handling of a serious sexual assault report involving a Blackhawks player and a member of the team’s coaching staff in 2010, was made public in 2021.

Jackson said that he wanted to make sure he got the right person for this job. He failed. Bowman is unequivocally the wrong hire.

I outlined my stance on the subject in a two-part piece on Bowman when it was reported that he would be a candidate for this position after it was announced that he, Al MacIsaac, and Joel Quenneville would be reinstated by the NHL, making them eligible to receive NHL jobs.

I did a deep dive into the Jenner & Block report in part one of my piece. I’ve provided a link to the report for those that want to click it, but I will warn you that the report contains graphic information about the incident of sexual assault. I’ll summarize Bowman’s role in the mismanagement of the situation below.

Related: On Stan Bowman: Part One – The Scandal

Bowman first became aware of the sexual assault incident in the famous meeting that occurred after Game 4 of the Western Conference Final between the Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks on May 23, 2010.

Jim Gary, the team’s mental performance coach at that time, had been made aware of the situation and shared the news with Bowman, MacIsaac, Quenneville, Kevin Cheveldayoff, and team president John McDonagh.

Gary and Bowman were the only two people in the meeting that were able to give a clear statement on what happened in that meeting. He said that “…the situation did not strike him as immediately alarming at the time as the allegation did not involve a sexual assault as having occurred” as described to him in that meeting.

Bowman said that McDonagh said that the team might never make it that far in the playoffs again and that they needed to think about when to handle the issue. Bowman claimed to have asked McDonagh what he wanted to do about the situation, and McDonagh told him that he would handle it. Bowman also recalled a discussion about needing to find out more about what happened.

McDonagh reported the situation to the team’s Director of Human Resources on June 14, 2010, five days after the team won the Stanley Cup. McDonagh was quoted as having said that it was a group decision to handle it after the playoffs so as to “not to disturb team chemistry”.

I will be clear in saying that it was a complete failure by everyone in that meeting for the result of that meeting not to have been to act immediately. I feel that McDonagh is by far the most at fault because my interpretation of what I read in the Jenner & Block report is that he did not want to have the situation become a distraction to the team while competing for the Stanley Cup. The lack of clarity from McDonagh in the report, the fact that Bowman said that he believed that McDonagh would handle the situation after the meeting, and the fact that the Director of Human Resources said that McDonagh told her that it was a group decision to wait makes me think he was hiding something.

McDonagh was the most powerful person in the room and he was the one that ultimately reported the situation to the Director of Human Resources five days after the team won the Stanley Cup. Everyone else in the meeting is guilty of not stepping up and demanding that the situation be dealt with immediately.

Sheldon Kennedy, co-founder of the Respect Group, recently endorsed Bowman. Kennedy was a victim of sexual assault by a former coach early in his hockey career, and he has since dedicated his life to raising awareness. The Respect Group, founded by Kennedy and Wayne McNeil in 2004, is dedicated to “the prevention of bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination”.

Kennedy said that Bowman, MacIsaac, and Quenneville all reached out to him after the Jenner & Block report came out and they were suspended from the NHL in 2021. Kennedy was particularly impressed with Bowman’s level of care about the issue and his desire to learn more about what he could’ve done differently as well as making amends with the victim.

“I believe Stan would be a valuable asset to an organization due to his acknowledgment of past mistakes and his relentless efforts to make the locker room/game safer for everyone. He possesses the insights, knowledge, and confidence needed to lead in this area. I feel building a strong and healthy culture within an organization and practicing it on an ongoing basis will be a top priority for Stan. I also believe Stan will carry this message within the hockey eco system, which can only help… I know that wherever Stan lands, whether in the game of hockey or not, he will be a true champion in the important area of Respect” said Kennedy in his release on the matter.

While it’s great that Bowman did this work with Kennedy and the Respect Group, I still feel that this was the wrong hire due to the optics of it and how bad of a look this is for the Oilers franchise.

I also feel that Bowman’s body of work as the GM of the Blackhawks isn’t as impressive as the three Stanley Cups suggest that it is. He added some pieces around the edges of those teams, but the core of that team was largely drafted well before he was the GM.

Related: On Stan Bowman: Part Two – The Hockey Perspective

The true test of his GM ability came after Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane’s matching $10 million contracts kicked in for the 2015-16 season. Bowman had to make sacrifices for cap reasons, but he ended up running the team into the ground by moving out veteran players and not getting quality young players back. He also traded young players like Philip Danault away for veteran players that didn’t move the needle in an effort to keep the glory years alive.

That’s the exact situation the Oilers are about to find themselves in assuming that Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid both sign contract extensions with the Oilers. Bowman failed to keep the Blackhawks competitive for very long after Toews and Kane signed their big contracts, and we don’t have evidence that Bowman will have more success with the Oilers.

This is an incredibly disappointing hire by Jackson and the Oilers. Frank Seravalli said that the team’s interest in Bowman dates back to before Jackson was hired, which tells me that the interest came more from Oilers owner Daryl Katz than anyone. We will find out more during the team’s press conference introducing Bowman at 10:30 AM Wednesday. Stay tuned to Heavy Hockey for more content on this hiring later in the day.

I understand that a lot of Oilers fans are angry at the team for hiring Bowman, and rightfully so. My attitude is that if you’re outraged that the Oilers hired someone that failed to do enough to support a victim of sexual assault, then you should do something to support victims of sexual assault in your community. You can do that by making a donation to the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE). They offer free counselling for victims of sexual assault, and they provide outreach and education to prevent future instances of sexual assault.

I made a fundraising page for SACE when Bowman was first reported as a candidate for this position. I said that I would make another one if he got hired, and I have made another personal fundraising page for SACE. You can also donate to SACE at sace.ca/donate. My goal is $1000 by the end of July. Let’s take this negative situation and turn it into a positive for SACE and our community!

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July 22, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

If Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson was being fully honest during his appearance on Bob McCown’s podcast on July 16, 2024, then we are nearing a decision on who will be the next general manager of the Oilers.

This is part four of my series on potential GM candidates. I have gone through every front office in the NHL and even looked into some CHL organizations to find suitable candidates that are connected to Jackson, the Oilers franchise, and/or the city of Edmonton in some way. I have also outlined Jackson’s wish list for qualifications and presented my top five candidates based on that criteria.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part One – The Former NHL GMs

I identified Mathieu Darche, Paul Fenton, Mark Hunter, Paul Krepelka, and Ryan Martin as my top five potential candidates. My top pick out of those five candidates is Hunter.

Jackson said that he’s looking for someone who has “worked in organizations that have had success, who has had to deal with sort of the interplay with superstars and younger players… there’s teams that have won the Cup and their assistant GMs have done good jobs, so there are people that have gone that route and they’ve won, and they see they’ve done a great job in development. To me, that’s such a critical thing is like player development, so I’m looking for people who have done a good job in that; and then just you know, just a progressive attitude, a collaborative attitude, a very good communicator. Those are the things that I’m looking for… It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who’s got a ton of experience as a GM, but someone who’s been in the league for a number of years and been in an organization that has had success. I think that’s critical.”

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part Three – The Short List

Jackson’s comment about wanting someone who has “…been in the league and been in an organization that has had success” implies that he wants someone that had had success with an NHL organization, but that is not exactly what he said. Hunter has been a part of a tremendously successful organization. Hunter does have NHL experience as an AGM with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015-2018, but that’s not where his success came.

Hunter is a part owner and the GM of the OHL’s London Knights. He has been part owner of that organization since 1999. Hunter has been a part of two Memorial Cup wins in 2005 and 2016. The Knights lost in the Memorial Cup championship game this past spring. The Knights have won five OHL championships in seven trips to the OHL final since 2005.

Hunter’s Knights program has graduated many players to the NHL. Hunter clearly understands how to develop junior players. It’s incredibly difficult to keep a CHL team competitive for a long time. Hunter’s Knights have been competitive for the better part of three decades. That couldn’t happen without fantastic player development. It’s truly remarkable to think about. Hunter has demonstrated the ability to keep a team competitive for a long period of time, which is exactly what the Oilers need now if they have eyes on staying competitive throughout the remainder of the careers of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, whose contracts expire within the next two years. A GM with a commitment to winning long term would go a long way towards getting those two superstars to extend their stays in Edmonton.

The Oilers selected two players from the Knights in the 2024 draft. The Oilers have selected more players from the Knights organization than from any other organization in the franchise’s draft history. Jackson has a close relationship with Wasserman agent Dave Gagner, who is Bouchard’s agent. Washington Capitals forward Connor McMichael and Nashville Predators forward Luke Evangelista are both Knights alumni and former clients of Jackson’s, so we know that Jackson and Hunter have had a working relationship in the past.

Related: Oilers trade up to select Sam O’Reilly with final pick in the first round

Hunter has worked with star players including Patrick Kane, Corey Perry, Mitch Marner, and Evan Bouchard. He also got to work with Auston Matthews in his first two NHL seasons. While he can say that he has worked with those stars, Hunter has not quite had the type of situation that the Oilers find themselves in now. Jackson made a comment about the “interplay of superstars and younger players”. That implies that the superstars are the older players, not the younger players. The Oilers have to continue to find players to complement McDavid and Draisaitl. Matthews is a superstar, but he was the young player while Hunter was with the Maple Leafs. That situation was different.

Having the star players in junior and building competitive rosters around those players is closer to what Jackson was describing, but the difference between the Oilers situation and the situations at the junior level is the contracts and the term. CHL players can only play until they’re twenty years old, which gives them four or five seasons before they are aged out. That gives younger players the opportunity to eventually become the leaders and the stars. The NHL is different. McDavid and Draisaitl won’t be going anywhere for a long time in an ideal world. The Oilers need someone that can develop players to fit into complementary roles for a long time, not necessarily players that will take over as the top dogs eventually.

The other concern I have about Hunter is that I’m not sure that I would call him “progressive”. He lost out on the Maple Leafs GM job in 2018. Kyle Dubas got that job because of his affinity for analytics and data. Dubas is a progressive thinker in that regard. The Knights have twelve scouts, but the organization has no analytics staff listed on their hockey operations staff directory. I’m not saying that analytics equals “progressive”. “Progressive” can mean other things as well, but the points that I just made about Hunter’s seeming lack of a relationship with analytics suggest that he might not have such a “progressive” attitude.

Plot TwistHaving said all of that, I’m going to throw one more name into the mix here because I now feel that it was a MASSIVEoversight after examining Jackson’s comments about the qualifications he desires more closely. Jackson said that a focus on player development and being a part of a successful organization are “critical”. That tells me that those are the two most important things to Jackson.

I defaulted to Darche out of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization because he has been a finalist for multiple NHL GM positions in recent years and he has the highest title of the AGMs in the Lightning organization. However, there is another candidate in the Lightning organization who more closely fits Jackson’s criteria.

That man is Lightning AGM, Director of Player Development and Syracuse Crunch GM Stacy Roest. Roest started with the Lightning as their Director of Player Development and as an Assistant Coach for the Crunch in 2013. He was promoted to AGM of the Lightning and GM of the Crunch in 2019.

The Lightning won back to back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021. Those championship Lightning teams were made up of several home grown players. I’ll only focus on players that played for the Crunch after Roest came into the organization in 2013. Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde, Cedric Paquette, Carter Verhaeghe, Erik Cernak, Mathieu Joseph, and Mitchell Stephens were all members of the 2020 Lightning Stanley Cup championship team that played games for the Syracuse Crunch in the 2013-14 season or later. Darren Raddysh, Nick Perbix, and Alex Barre-Boulet were parts of last season’s Lightning squad that have played games for the Crunch as well.

Raddysh and his brother, Taylor Raddysh, were both former clients of Jackson’s. Both of the Raddysh brothers played for Roest’s Crunch teams after Roest was named GM of the Crunch in 2019. We also know that Jackson hired Mike Fanelli, who worked for the Lightning organization for four years during Roest’s tenure with the club. Roest played for Ken Holland’s Detroit Red Wings in 1998-99, 1999-2000, and 2002-03. While he has no direct ties to the city of Edmonton, he does have a big tie to the province of Alberta. Roest was born in Lethbridge. Also, Roest played his junior hockey for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers.

Roest has professional ties to Jackson and the province of Alberta. He has been a part of a successful NHL organization for a number of years. He has a strong track record of success with player development. While I’m unsure of Roest’s relationship with analytics, he comes from an organization that has a track record of using analytics heavily. Communication skills are hard to judge when you’ve never met or interacted with a person, so I’ll have to forego judgment on that front.

The Big RevealAlright, I have made the cases for all of the possible candidates. Now comes the moment where I reveal who I believe will be the next GM of the Oilers.

There have only been two NHL GMs to win Stanley Cups as GM of two different teams: Tommy Gorman with the 1934 Chicago Blackhawks and the 1935 Montreal Maroons, and Jim Rutherford with the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes and the 2016 and 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins. The odds of a previous Stanley Cup winning GM winning another Stanley Cup as the GM of a second team are incredibly low, so I would not choose a GM that has won a Stanley Cup previously.

There are only four GMs to have ever won a Stanley Cup after being the GM of a different team previously: Rutherford, Brian Burke (2007 Anaheim Ducks), Craig Patrick (1991 and 1992 Penguins), and Bill Torrey (1980-83 New York Islanders). The odds of a former GM winning a Stanley Cup in a second opportunity to be a GM are also incredibly low, so I would not choose a former GM. Jackson wants someone who is progressive, and hiring a former GM is not a progressive move in my opinion.

This portion of Jackson’s quote from McCown’s podcast is the most telling to me: “…there’s teams that have won the Cup and their assistant GMs have done good jobs, so there are people that have gone that route and they’ve won, and they see they’ve done a great job in development.” This quote tells me that Jackson has his eyes on an AGM of a team that has won the Stanley Cup. He also specifically mentioned having done a great job in player development, an aspect of the job that Jackson identified as being “critical”.

We know that Jackson prefers to keep internal information out of the press. He prefers to keep information close to his chest. We also know that Jackson likes to make progressive hires. Those progressive hires are usually somewhat surprising but intelligent hires. That makes me think that the next Oilers GM is going to be someone whose name has not appeared in the media as a potential frontrunner for the position.

Having said all of that, I believe that the next GM of the Oilers will be Stacy Roest. He has the two most critical qualifications that Jackson is looking for, which are a track record of success in player development and having been a part of a successful organization. Roest has been in a hockey operations job in the NHL since 2013, and he had an NHL playing career as well. He has been an AGM and the GM of an AHL team for five years, so he has managerial experience. The Lightning have long been viewed as a progressive organization, and Roest would be a first time NHL GM, so I would view it as a progressive hire. It also helps that Roest has had professional interactions with Jackson in the past.

We shall see if I’m right in the coming days.

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July 18, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

In case you missed yesterday’s piece, I wrote about the attributes that Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson will be looking for in the next general manager of the Oilers. Jackson wants someone that has been a part of a successful organization, someone that has worked with superstars, someone that has a track record of developing players, someone that has a progressive attitude, and someone that is a good communicator.

Related: What is Jackson looking for in the next Oilers GM?

I also recently put out a two-part piece highlighting a long list of potential candidates and their connections to Jackson, the Oilers franchise, or the city of Edmonton. This is part three of the piece. I have whittled the list down to what I believe are the five best choices to be the next GM of the Oilers based on their connections to the team and Jackson’s wish list. I have listed the candidates in alphabetical order by their surnames.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part One – The Former NHL GMs

Mathieu DarcheDarche could be an interesting candidate because he has a lot of varied but useful experience. He has been an NHL player, he was a part of the labour negotiations during the 2012-13 NHL lockout, he was a high level sales executive, and he’s currently an NHL AGM. Darche has knowledge of hockey, sales, and negotiation. Those are all skills that would translate well to a GM position. He has also interviewed for four other NHL GM positions in recent years. Being a part of an organization that won back to back Stanley Cups will do that for you, I suppose.

The Lightning have long been regarded as a team that uses analytics heavily. Darche is not an analytics person himself, but coming from an organization that utilizes data makes me think that he at least sees value in the data. Darche worked with Oilers Video & Coaching Analytics Coordinator Mike Fanelli with the Lightning (which I failed to point out in my first piece about potential GM candidates), so Jackson has a sense of how the Lightning used analytics because of Fanelli.

The Lightning have no shortage of stars that Darche would have worked with including Steven Stamkos, NIkita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Brayden Point. However, it’s important to note that the Lightning’s drafting record has slipped in recent years after being an organization that built a championship team predominantly through the draft. No player that was drafted by the Lightning since Darche’s first year there in 2019 has played more than 23 NHL games. Jackson noted that the ability to develop players is important to him, and Darche has no track record of being able to do that.

Paul FentonFenton inherited a Minnesota Wild team that earned a playoff spot by finishing third in the Central Division with 101 points in 2017-18. They lost to the Winnipeg Jets in five games in the first round of the playoffs that season.

Things didn’t go well for Fenton in 2018-19. The Wild were only able to muster 83 points, and they missed the playoffs. Fenton didn’t make any major changes to the roster prior to that season. The only significant move that summer was re-signing Jason Zucker after a career year. Zucker’s performance predictably slipped in the first year of that contract. It got a little better in the second year of that deal, but he was traded to the Penguins during that season.

Fenton made a couple of trade deadline moves to make his team younger at the 2019 trade deadline. He traded Nino Niederreiter to the Carolina Hurricanes for Victor Rask, which ended up being a terrible trade. Then Fenton traded Charlie Coyle to the Boston Bruins for Ryan Donato and a 2019 fifth round pick. Coyle is still producing for the Bruins, whereas Donato has bounced around the league after playing parts of two seasons with the Wild. Fenton redeemed himself by trading Mikael Granlund to the Nashville Predators for Kevin Fiala, who he knew well from his time with the Predators. Lastly, Fenton signed Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30 million contract after the 2018-19 season. That deal worked out nicely for the Wild.

It feels like the Wild fired Fenton out of anger over the team not making the playoffs in 2018-19 after a strong season in 2017-18. Fenton made some good moves and some poor moves, but I also feel that he wasn’t given much of a chance by the Wild. It was a roster that went largely unchanged until the second half of Fenton’s only season there, and they went from scoring the eleventh most goals in the league in 2017-18 to scoring the fourth fewest goals in the league in 2018-19. At some point, it’s on the players more so than the manager. The 2018-19 Wild feels like one of those situations.

Fenton played a huge role in player personnel decisions with the Nashville Predators. He was the Director of Player Personnel for them from 1996-2006, at which point he was promoted to AGM for the team. The Predators were consistently a strong team while Fenton was there, and the organization drafted and developed a remarkable number of fantastic players with Fenton on staff, including current Oilers Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson. Roman Josi, Juuse Saros, Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, and Pekka Rinne are just some of the other big names that were drafted and developed in the Predators organization while Fenton was there.

Fenton worked under former Predators GM David Poile for many years. Ray Shero, the man who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to three Stanley Cups, also learned under Poile. Shero was an AGM with the Predators from 1998-2006.

Fenton is a part of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers front office right now, which has a large hockey operations team. It consists of GM Bill Zito, three AGMs, four advisors to the GM, and a Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations. That makes for an environment with a lot of different voices wanting to be heard, but they have had success. Being a part of that team is an indirect sign that Fenton is a decent communicator.

Fenton does not have a pre-existing direct professional relationship with Jackson or the Oilers, but other people in the Panthers organization do have relationships with Jackson.

Mark HunterHunter has been a part owner of the London Knights since 2000. The Knights have enjoyed a long run of success under Hunter’s direction. They have been to six Memorial Cups, and they have won two of them. They have won five OHL championships since 2000. They have also churned out a long list of NHL players including stars like Patrick Kane, Corey Perry, Mitch Marner, and Evan Bouchard.

It’s clear that they’re doing something right in London. Being a consistently competitive team in the CHL is really difficult given the volatile competitive cycles of most teams due to the short life span of a CHL player. The Knights seem to find a way to find fantastic players and develop them properly. Hunter clearly understands what a competitive team needs to succeed and how to develop players properly.

What we don’t know is if it would translate at the NHL level. The Vegas Golden Knights were rewarded for taking the chance on Kelly McCrimmon, who had a similarly long career as part owner and GM of the Brandon Wheat Kings. Similar results would be the hope if any team was to hire Hunter.

We know that McDavid and Draisaitl want to win, and that desire will stay with them for the entirety of their careers. Hunter has demonstrated the ability to keep a franchise competitive for an extended period of time. That could be a huge factor in the decision making process.

Hunter co-owns the Knights with his brother, Dale Hunter, and Columbus Blue Jackets Director of Player Personnel Basil McCrae. Hunter has an Associate GM, Rob Simpson, as well. McCrae and Simpson have both been the GM of the Knights at times in the past. All of these men know hockey, and I can imagine that they don’t always agree on everything. The Knights also have twelve scouts on their staff. All of that tells me that while there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen with different voices that need to be heard, the organization has found a way to excel. That doesn’t happen without open communication, which suggests to me that Hunter is a decent communicator.

The only thing that worries me about Hunter is that I’m unsure of his stance on analytics. Kyle Dubas, his co-AGM with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015-18, famously relies heavily on analytics. Dubas was chosen for the Maple Leafs’ GM job in 2018 in large part because of his use of analytics. The Knights don’t have any analytics staff listed on their website. All of that makes me wonder just how much value Hunter puts in analytics. The Oilers have Michael Parkatti, a stats and data guru, on staff. Parkatti can handle the data, but it would be up to the new GM to actually take that information into consideration when making decisions.

Jackson said that he wants to hire someone with a “progressive attitude”, and I’m not sure that I would characterize Hunter as “progressive”. I could be wrong on that, but that’s just my impression.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part Two – The AGMs

Paul KrepelkaKrepelka just won a Stanley Cup with the Panthers. Krepelka has only been in hockey management in the NHL for six years, but he has been a part of two great organizations in the Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes. He was the Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Hurricanes for two seasons, an AGM with the Panthers for three seasons, and the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Panthers this past season. He also spent a year in the hockey operations department of the Norfolk Admirals in 2017-18.

Krepelka was an agent for twenty years, including time with the Orr Group while Jackson was there. Krepelka was an agent to Eric Staal and Jordan Staal among others. Agents are involved in scouting players, developing players, and negotiating contracts with teams. The skills directly translate to an NHL GM job.

According to The News Observer, Krepelka sold his stake in the Orr Group after becoming frustrated with the agency business in general. He eventually spoke to the Hurricanes GM Don Waddell and current Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon about joining their team. Krepelka said this of Dundon: “He’s bringing a different element and management style…Traditionalists aren’t used to it in the NHL. I hit it off with him. I liked his energy, his passion.”

Dundon is far from a traditionalist in the hockey world. Krepelka’s comments about working with Dundon suggest to me that he also has a progressive attitude. Krepelka has clearly worked with star players as an agent and in hockey operations roles in the NHL. He even has a professional relationship with Jackson from their days at the Orr Group. He’s a part of the massive hockey operations team with the Panthers, which I have deemed to be an indirect sign of having decent communication skills. Krepelka checks off a lot of the boxes that Jackson seems to covet.

The one big thing that Krepelka does not have is a track record of developing players. His time with the Hurricanes was too short to offer a fair assessment of his ability to develop players. The Panthers were short on home grown drafted and developed players on their 2024 Stanley Cup championship team, aside from Anton Lundell.

Ryan MartinMartin won a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008 as their Director of Hockey Administration. He would’ve been exposed to some of the great Red Wings like Steve Yzerman, Niklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg.

Martin was the GM of the Grand Rapids Griffins from 2014-2021. The AHL season was not played in 2020 due to the pandemic, and there were no playoffs in 2021. The Griffins made the playoffs in every season from 2013-14 until 2018-19 under Martin, including a Calder Cup championship in 2017-18. While those Griffins teams were strong, the Red Wings’ drafting and player development took a bit of a hit as the franchise fell down the league standings after a long run as an annual championship contender.

The Hartford Wolfpack had not made the AHL playoffs since 2015 before they made it there in Martin’s second season at the helm in 2022-23. Now they have made it there for two straight years. Oilers Head Coach and former Wolfpack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch would be able to describe Martin’s ability to communicate and other work related attributes since the two worked together as recently as last November.

WrapRealistically, there are no candidates that check all of the boxes. It’s super rare to find the “perfect” candidate. The five that I have discussed here all have a lot of positive traits, but none of them check every single box. Having said that, I believe that these five candidates most closely match Jackson’s desired qualifications.

I will share my final prediction for who I believe will be the next GM of the Oilers on Monday.

Honourable mention: Jason Botterill, Jim Benning, Mike Barnett, Keith Gretzky

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July 17, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson has a big decision to make this summer. He’s responsible for hiring the team’s new general manager. That decision could come within the next week or so, as Jackson said on Bob McCown’s podcast on Tuesday.

The heavy lifting of creating the 2024-25 Oilers roster is done. The team needs to sign restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, and then they do what needs to be done to make the roster cap compliant by the time the season starts in October. The Leon Draisaitl contract negotiation looms large, but there is plenty of time for that to get done.

In case you missed it, I wrote a two-part piece outlining many potential GM candidates. Most of them have connections to Jackson, the Oilers franchise, or the city of Edmonton. I plan to whittle the list down in future pieces, but I want to discuss some of the things that Jackson might be looking for in a GM candidate. I also want to analyze the hirings that Jackson has made in the hockey operations department in the near calendar year that he has been on the job to see if there’s anything that could provide clues as to what he might be thinking about for this hire.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part One – The Former NHL GMs

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVHere is a list of Jackson’s hires thus far:

Rick Pracey – Director, Amateur Scouting

Michael Parkatti – Senior Director, Data & Analytics

Noah Segall – Video Coach

Mike Fanelli – Video & Coaching Analytics Coordinator

Dani Rylan Kearney – Professional Scout (Metropolitan Division)

Kris Knoblauch – Head Coach

Paul Coffey – Assistant Coach

Kalle Larsson – Senior Director, Player Development

Jackson has taken different approaches with his hiring methods thus far, which makes it tough to figure out what he’s thinking for the GM role. He created positions for Parkatti, Fanelli, and Larsson based on team needs and their experience. Jackson basically gave Parkatti the analytics department. Parkatti held positions involving data and analytics for Suncor, Conexus Credit Union, and the Government of Alberta prior to joining the Oilers. He also won an Oilers blog contest, the Oilers Hackathon 2.0, in 2013 which landed him a temporary position with the Oilers’ analytics department. Fanelli has his foot in two different departments that he has experience with previously. Larsson held a bunch of different roles in the USHL, but none of them are quite like the role he has now with the Oilers. Larsson is solely responsible for creating development plans for players and for ensuring that players, coaches, and managers all know what is expected of the players.

Related: Oilers Hire Fanelli and Segall

Jackson has made five hires in positions that every NHL organization has: Knoblauch, Coffey, Rylan Kearney, Segall, and Pracey.

This is Knoblauch’s first NHL coaching job, but he coached at the junior and AHL levels for many years before Jackson hired him. Coffey was an Oilers and NHL legend as a player, but his only coaching experience before hopping behind the Oilers bench last season came in minor hockey. Rylan Kearney’s experience goes beyond scouting, but her experience in founding a professional hockey league qualifies her to be a scout. Segall spent many years as a video coach at the collegiate and AHL levels before joining the Oilers. Pracey had long tenures in the amateur scouting departments of two different NHL teams before Jackson hired him.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVRelated: Oilers Fire Woodcroft and Manson & Name Knoblauch and Coffey as replacements

Out of those five hires, Pracey is the only one that had an established career in the NHL in their area of expertise prior to being hired by Jackson. One out of five. Only one out of five hires in typical roles that all NHL organizations have had experience in their given field before Jackson hired them. Jackson has shown that he isn’t afraid to give people a chance if their experience and expertise merits giving them a chance. That experience doesn’t necessarily have to have been NHL experience.

Related: Oilers Mutually Part Ways with Wright, Hire Pracey

As I’ve just outlined, Jackson has done a lot of work to remodel the hockey operations department. He believes that they have a capable group. Jackson doesn’t need to hire someone that will desire full control of the wheel. The Oilers don’t need someone to come in and revamp the hockey operations department because Jackson has already done that. Jackson has called himself an active and hands-on CEO multiple times. While we know he does not want to be the GM, I think it’s fair to say that he doesn’t intend to push himself further away from the controls by giving someone a greater title than GM.

Jackson did say that experience with a successful organization is important, but his being a hands-on CEO tells me that we can rule out a legacy GM. Names like Ray Shero, Doug Wilson, Dale Tallon, and Stan Bowman have all had incredible success as NHL GMs. All of them have had more powerful titles in addition to their GM roles for extended periods of time. They have all gotten to build their own hockey operations departments in the past. My gut tells me that they won’t be excited about coming to a situation where the hockey operations team below them is already set and they won’t get to bring in their own people.

Aside from Bowman, who isn’t currently employed by an NHL team for obvious reasons, all of these men currently have Senior Advisor roles with other teams. They could be waiting in the wings for more powerful positions with other teams. Their power would be limited in Edmonton, which would make the job potentially unappealing to them. They could also be content with their advisor roles at this stage in their careers. Either way, they don’t seem like fits for the Oilers GM job.

So, who is a fit for the job then? While on Bob McCown’s podcast on Tuesday, Jackson said that he’s looking for someone who has “worked in organizations that have had success, who has had to deal with sort of the interplay with superstars and younger players… there’s teams that have won the Cup and their assistant GMs have done good jobs, so there are people that have gone that route and they’ve won, and they see they’ve done a great job in development. To me, that’s such a critical thing is like player development, so I’m looking for people who have done a good job in that; and then just you know, just a progressive attitude, a collaborative attitude, a very good communicator. Those are the things that I’m looking for… It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who’s got a ton of experience as a GM, but someone who’s been in the league for a number of years and been in an organization that has had success. I think that’s critical.”

Those comments basically mirror what I thought he might be looking for while I was putting this piece together prior to hearing the clip from McCown’s podcast. Jackson needs someone whose vision for the team in the future aligns with his. That tells me that a strong pre-existing relationship with Jackson will be an advantage for a potential candidate. That’s just how life works. It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.

This person needs to be able to facilitate open communication with the existing staff members in the hockey operations department. The successful candidate will need to be someone that will put their trust in the hockey operations team that is currently in place. Ideally, this person will be open to incorporating analytics into their decision making process because Jackson recently beefed up the Oilers’ analytics department.

Most importantly, the new GM will need to be committed to winning. That seems like an obvious statement, but it’s an important one because of the impending contract negotiations with Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

Photo Credit: theglobeandmail.com“There’s probably going to be a point where we sit down with both of them and chat. I mean, Connor’s not going to be involved in a negotiation involving Leon, but philosophically when we get our new general manager, I’m sure we’re going to meet and talk about things and not do it in a vacuum. I think it’s important that we have the collaboration of our top two players and that they know what the vision is and what our new GM is thinking and I sort of anticipate at some point” said Jackson when he was asked about how the relationship between Draisaitl and McDavid will impact their contract situations.

Draisaitl and McDavid have both said that winning is the most important thing to them. They are the two best players in the world right now, they’re in the primes of their careers, and they have not won a Stanley Cup yet. I don’t think they will be satisfied with just one Stanley Cup either. They will need to know that their GM is going to do what it takes to keep the team’s championship window open for as long as possible.

Jackson seems keen on having Draisaitl and McDavid be on the same page with the new GM. Given the new timeline of seven to ten days as of Tuesday for the hiring and the fact that McDavid’s wedding is on July 27, 2024, I’m thinking that Jackson has already had some of those philosophical discussions with his superstars. I would expect another such conversation with the new GM involved later in the summer.

While we’re waiting for Jackson to make his decision, I’m going to evaluate the fit of some of the candidates that I mentioned in my previous piece based on the criteria that I’ve outlined here in another piece soon. I’ll come to my own decision, and we’ll see whether or not I can predict who Jackson will hire.

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July 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they have traded 2021 first round pick Xavier Bourgault and 2021 fourth round pick Jake Chiasson to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for 2020 second round pick Roby Jarventie and a 2025 fourth round pick on Monday.

Bourgault had promising showings at Oilers training camp in the last two seasons, but he was never able to realize that potential in the organization. He got 34 points in 62 games with the Bakersfield Condors in his first professional season in 2022-23. However, Bourgault took a bit of a step backwards in 2023-24. He only managed 20 points in 55 games for the Condors last season. He only played in 55 games due to a shoulder injury, but he wasn’t as effective as he was in his rookie season when he was healthy in 2023-24.

CALGARY, AB – SEPTEMBER 26: Calgary Flames Defenceman Andy Welinski (45) and Edmonton Oilers Center Xavier Bourgault (54) compete for the puck during the third period of an NHL game where the Calgary Flames hosted the Edmonton Oilers on September 26, 2021, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)Chiasson played one game for the Condors last season, and he got twenty points in 68 games for the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL.

Jarventie got twenty points in 22 games for the Belleville Senators of the AHL last season. He also got to play in seven NHL games for the Senators. Jarventie is only two months older than Bourgault, but he has much more professional hockey experience. He played five games in Finland’s SM-liiga in his draft year. That’s also where he spent his draft + one year, a season in which he got 25 points in 48 games with Ilves Tampere. He also got four AHL games that season. Jarventie has 83 points in 132 AHL games over four seasons in total, compared to Bourgault’s 54 points in 117 AHL games over two seasons.

Jarventie suffered a knee injury last season, which is why he only played 22 games. He had surgery to address the injury this past spring. It will certainly impact his play in the 2024-25 season, but Jarventie is still a high quality prospect that will add some offensive firepower to the Condors and the Oilers’ prospect pipeline.

Remember that Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson’s first move after being hired was to fire Tyler Wright and replace him with Rick Pracey. That was a clear sign that Jackson was unimpressed by the Oilers’ prospect pool, which is fair. Since he began his role as acting GM on June 27, 2024, Jackson has made trades to add Sam O’Reilly, Matthew Savoie, and Jarventie to the Oilers prospect pool. He has also traded away three of Wright’s picks: Ty Tullio, Bourgault, and Chiasson.

Related: Philosophical change for the Oilers under Jackson

I have friends that can attest to how angry I was when Ken Holland traded back in the 2021 draft to select Bourgault. He had the opportunity to select Jesper Wallstedt, who is an elite goaltending prospect, with the twentieth pick in the 2021 draft. While Wallstedt is still not an established NHLer, he is trending upwards in the Minnesota Wild system. The thought of having Stuart Skinner and Wallstedt as a goaltending tandem for the next decade gave me goosebumps; but alas, it was not to be because Holland wanted Bourgault, and he got Bourgault with the 22nd pick. Let’s not forget that Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston was selected with the very next pick after Bourgault was taken. Johnston led the Stars in goal scoring during this past regular season and their playoff run to the Western Conference Final. While Bourgault has an intriguing skill set, it was always the wrong choice in my opinion. This move suggests that Jackson felt the same way.

Related: What are the Oilers getting in Matthew Savoie?

By all accounts, Jarventie appears to be a clear upgrade on Bourgault. Chiasson was highly unlikely to pan out given his extended stay in the ECHL last season. The Oilers got a fourth round pick in the 2025 draft, which brings them up to five picks in that draft. It was a smart move for Jackson to add another pick to the cupboard. It could be used on another prospect, or it could be another potential asset that could be used in a trade to address the current roster. The Oilers don’t have a full slate of draft picks until the 2028 draft, so adding a pick is an important piece of business. Jackson is clearly not married to any of the Oilers prospects outside of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. If that’s the case, then it makes sense to move out the prospects that are unlikely to work out to add future draft picks.

This is yet another move that appears to be a win for Jackson and the Oilers despite the admittance that Bourgault was the wrong pick for the Oilers in the first round of the 2021 draft.

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June 9, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

I thought that Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson might opt for a more experienced coach when making the coaching change for the Oilers on November 13, 2023; but he made me look silly on that one when he hired Kris Knoblauch, and the decision has seemingly paid off thus far. I trust Elliotte Friedman, but I’m not getting fooled again with Jackson’s upcoming general manager hire.

Related: Oilers GM Candidates: Part One – The Former NHL GMs

The Internal CandidatesThe easiest place to start the search for a vacant role is within the company. The Oilers definitely have an internal candidate that could do the job:

Keith Gretzky: Gretzky has been an Assistant General Manager with the Oilers since 2016. He acted as the interim GM for the Oilers in the 2018-19 season after Peter Chiarelli was relieved of his duties, and he was a candidate to be Chiarelli’s replacement in 2019. Gretzky made two trades that season: Cam Talbot for Anthony Stolarz, and Sam Gagner for Ryan Spooner. The Great One’s brother has been the GM of the Bakersfield Condors since then. The Condors missed the playoffs in Gretzky’s first season as GM, but they have made the playoffs in each of the four years since. They won their division in 2020-21, the COVID shortened season. Gretzky played with Jackson and Wasserman Hockey agent Dave Gagner on the 1982-83 Brantford Alexanders of the OHL.

Brad Holland is the team’s other AGM right now. He has only been with the Oilers since his father, outgoing Oilers GM Ken Holland, asked him to come on board to be a professional scout in 2019. Holland was promoted to the role of AGM in 2022. His responsibility with the Oilers is to oversee the professional scouting department.

Gretzky is by far the more experienced and qualified candidate of the two current Oilers AGMs. I certainly hope that he gets an interview at the very least.

The Current or Former AGMsSome of the candidates that I’ll share here are intriguing, and others will make you roll your eyes. Here are some of the current or former AGMs of NHL clubs that have the closest ties to Jackson, the Oilers, or the city of Edmonton:

Mark Hunter: Hunter is the current owner and GM of the London Knights. He was the co-AGM of Maple Leafs with Kyle Dubas from 2015-18. Dubas was promoted to GM when Lou Lamoreillo came aboard in 2018. Hunter went back to London after that. He had Evan Bouchard with the Knights for a season in 2018-19. Bouchard’s agent is Dave Gagner. Washington Capitals forward Connor McMichael and Nashville Predators forward Luke Evangelista were members of the Knights under Hunter in their junior days, and they are both former clients of Jackson’s.

Expect Bowman to land in Edmonton. Mark Hunter might have a significant management role there as well. Time will tell. https://t.co/IQytGf66mM

— E.J. Hradek (@EJHradek_NHL) July 1, 2024

The Oilers have selected more players from the Knights than they have from any other organization in their history. Just to make things interesting, Jackson and the Oilers traded up into the first round to grab Knights forward Sam O’Reilly in this year’s draft, and they drafted William Nichol from the Knights with the 192nd overall selection in the 2024 draft. The Oilers drafting two of Hunter’s players this year tells me that the Oilers watched the Knights organization closely last season, and many conversations with Hunter likely occurred over the course of the season.

Related: Oilers trade up to select Sam O’Reilly with final pick in the first round

Hunter and Jackson share the distinction of being alumni of the Alexanders. The team played in the OHL for six seasons from 1978-1984. However, they never played on that team together.

Hunter was also a candidate for the Oilers GM job in 2019.

Paul Krepelka: Krepelka was an AGM with the Florida Panthers from 2020-2023 before taking a role as the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations with the team last September. He was also formerly the Vice President of Hockey Operations with the Carolina Hurricanes from 2018-2020. Krepelka was also an agent for 20 years, including time with the Orr Group while Jackson was there.

Sean Burke: Burke was an AGM with the Arizona Coyotes from 2012-2016. He interviewed for the GM job with the Vancouver Canucks, which eventually went to Patrik Allvin. While he doesn’t have NHL GM experience, Burke has been the GM of the 2018 Canadian Men’s Olympic team and multiple Canadian World Championship teams. Current Oilers Connor McDavid, Cody Ceci, and Calvin Pickard were members of Burke’s 2016 World Championships roster. There was likely some discussion between Burke and Jackson about McDavid’s participation in that tournament. Burke was also a part of the management team for the 2015 Canadian World Junior team. McDavid and Darnell Nurse were stars on that roster.

Burke is currently the Director of Goaltending for the Vegas Golden Knights. Jackson played with Golden Knights President of Hockey Operations George McPhee on the 1986-87 New York Rangers. McPhee could offer Jackson insight into Burke as an employee.

Ross Mahoney: Mahoney was the Director of Amatuer Scouting for the Washington Capitals for fourteen years before becoming an AGM for them in 2014. He has held that position since then. Mahoney is in charge of the draft and player development for the Capitals. He played a huge role in creating the team that won the 2018 Stanley Cup. As noted earlier, McMichael was a client of Jackson’s when he was drafted by the Capitals in 2019. Mahoney and Jackson would likely have discussed McMichael at length during his draft year. McPhee would also have excellent insight into Mahoney’s work because McPhee was the GM and Vice President of Hockey Operations with the Capitals from 1999-2014. Mahoney was a candidate for the Oilers GM job in 2019. Mahoney was just passed over by the Capitals. They promoted Chris Patrick to be their new GM on Monday. I can’t speak for Mahoney, but being passed over like that would inspire other people to leave their organizations.

Ryan Martin: Martin is currently an AGM with the New York Rangers, and he is the GM of their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack. Jackson has already dipped into that pool with the Knoblauch hiring. Knoblauch was the head coach of Martin’s Wolfpack team before Jackson scooped him up for the Oilers coaching job. Martin was also an AGM with the Detroit Red Wings. He was the GM of the Grand Rapids Griffins for eight seasons, which gives him eleven seasons of AHL GM experience in total. If there’s one man that would be incredibly familiar with Martin’s work, it would be Holland. Holland is out now, but he left on good terms and has a good working relationship with Jackson. Wolfpack defenceman Ben Harpur, a former client of Jackson’s, has been a member of the Rangers organization since the 2022-23 seson. Martin also has a background as an agent. He worked at KO Sports Agency as an attorney from 1999-2003. Martin interviewed for the GM job with the Anaheim Ducks in 2022 that eventually went to Pat Verbeek.

Mathieu Darche: Darche had a twelve year NHL career. He became interested in hockey management after participating in CBA negotiations with the league as part of the NHLPA during the 2012-13 lockout. He had a job as Vice President of Sales for Delmar International, a Canadian customs broker in Montreal, after his playing career. Darche left that job after being hired as an AGM with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019. Darche has been a candidate for several NHL GM jobs in recent years (Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Chicago, and Vancouver) because of his success with the Lightning, which includes Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021. There’s no question that Darche will be an NHL GM sooner rather than later.

The Raddysh brothers, Darren and Taylor, were both clients of Jackson’s. Darren Raddysh signed with the Lightning as an unrestricted free agent in 2021. Taylor Raddysh was drafted by the Lightning in the second round of the 2016 NHL draft, but he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022.

Scott Mellanby: Mellanby was an AGM with the Montreal Canadiens from 2014-2022. He has been a Senior Advisor with the St. Louis Blues since 2022, and he was a Senior Advisor for the Vancouver Canucks in the 2009-2010 season. Mellanby had a 22-year NHL career in which he got 840 points in 1431 games. He played for the Oilers in the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. Mellanby interviewed for NHL GM jobs with the Canucks and the Blackhawks, but did not get either job. Mellanby was cut from the 1985 Canadian World Junior team, a team that Jackson made. They attended the team’s camp together that year.

Shawn Horcoff: The former Oilers captain has been an AGM with the Red Wings for the last two seasons. Horcoff has been the GM of Grand Rapids Griffins for that time. He spent six years in player development with the Red Wings before becoming AGM. Horcoff’s time with the Red Wings overlaps with Holland’s time with that organization.

Scott Nichol: Nichol is currently an AGM with the Nashville Predators. He was the Director of Player Development with that club from 2013-2018, and he has been the GM of their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, since 2018-19. He was promoted to AGM of the Predators in 2021. Nichol was a finalist for the GM position with the San Jose Sharks in 2022 that went to Mike Grier. As noted earlier, Evangelista was a former client of Jackson’s. He played for the Admirals in 2021-22, and he has played for the Predators ever since. Harpur played on Nichol’s Admirals team in 2019-20 and 2021-22, and he played for the Predators in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Fun fact: Nichol was born in Edmonton.

Laurence Gilman: Gilman has held NHL front office roles since 1999. Most recently, he was an AGM with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he was AGM of the Canucks and the Coyotes before that. Gilman is currently a free agent after leaving the Maple Leafs earlier this offseason. Harpur also played for the Toronto Marlies while Gilman was the GM of that team in 2019-20.

Brett Peterson: Peterson served as the Vice President of Hockey for Wasserman Hockey (Jackson’s former agency) and has been a certified agent since 2009. Peterson has been an AGM with the Florida Panthers since 2020.

Mike Futa: Futa was a member of the Los Angeles Kings organization for thirteen years. He spent the first seven years as the Director of Amateur Scouting for the Kings, and then he moved into a Vice President of Hockey Operations and Director of Player Personnel role from 2014-2017. He won two Stanley Cups while he was running the drafts for the Kings. Futa was an AGM with the Kings from 2017 until the organization decided not to renew his contract in 2020. Futa also held an advisory role with the Carolina Hurricanes during the 2021-22 season.

Futa is the only person on this list that does not have a professional tie to Jackson or the city of Edmonton, but he has been reported as a potential candidate by John Shannon on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on July 5, 2024. Shannon also named Hunter and Gilman as potential candidates after downplaying rumours of Stan Bowman being a candidate.

There are several fantastic candidates on this list that will certainly end up in GM roles at some point in their careers if they don’t get this particular position. I would be more inclined to pursue a candidate who has a better understanding of today’s game rather than someone who was successful a long time ago. Jackson and Oilers AGM of Salary Cap & Hockey Operations Bill Scott are more than capable of lending a helping hand in contract negotiations. I think we’re dreaming if we don’t think that Jackson will be involved in the Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid negotiations in the next couple of years, so I feel that Friedman’s concern of needing an experienced GM strictly because of those upcoming negotiations is not necessarily warranted.

Intriguing Random “Other” CandidatesNone of these candidates have the typical experience that you would expect an NHL GM to have, but they’re all interesting potential candidates for varying reasons:

Dave Gagner: Gagner’s connection to Jackson and the Oilers is obvious given that Gagner is an agent with Wasserman Hockey and that he’s Sam Gagner’s dad. Sam Gagner was Jackson’s first client. Gagner and Jackson also played together on the 1986-87 Rangers and the 1982-83 and 1983-84 Alexanders. Dave Gagner represents several former Eerie Otter players, including Connor Brown. As I mentioned previously, he represents Bouchard as well. I’m not sure if Gagner has an appetite to make the switch to a GM role, but he could be a good fit.

Ray Whitney: The Fort Saskatchewan native and former Oiler was a part of the Hurricanes team that beat the Oilers in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. Whitney is now working with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. He was a finalist for the San Jose Sharks’ GM position in 2022.

Sunny Mehta: Mehta is currently the AGM, Director of Analytics with the Panthers. He has quite the mind. Mehta founded the first NHL analytics department in 2014 for the New Jersey Devils. He was a professional poker player, and he is the author of poker strategy books. Mehta has been an AGM in Florida since 2023. He might need more time in an AGM role before being considered for a GM job, but he does have quite the resume.

Tim Barnes: Barnes is currently the Director of Hockey Analytics for the Capitals. He’s Alberta born. He has lived in Calgary and Edmonton. Barnes has an engineering background. He developed the “Time on Ice” analytics website. He’s also a former Oilers blogger. Barnes wrote the Irreverent Oilers Fans blog under the pseudonym “Vic Ferrari”. He has close relationships with Mehta and former Oilers analytics guru and Oilers blogger Tyler Dellow. Barnes became an Oilers fan after the Todd Marchant overtime goal in 1997. Jackson has already dipped into the Oilers blogging world to hire Michael Parkatti, but Jackson hiring Barnes for the GM role would likely be a stretch.

Related: Oilers Hire Parkatti as Senior Director, Data and Analytics

None of these four options are likely options, but I wanted to throw them in here anyway. Like I said, I’m not even sure that Gagner would welcome the opportunity. Whitney’s experience doesn’t line up with the experience of other GMs. Mehta and Barnes are gifted when it comes to analytics, but Jackson is already leaning on Parkatti for his analytical expertise, so I don’t see him venturing down that road for this GM hire.

WrapIt’s clear that Jackson is quite well connected in the hockey world. Jackson played nine NHL seasons, held an NHL AGM position, and developed a sports agency that represents some of the biggest stars in hockey. Those connections means that Jackson has a ginormous list of potential candidates for jobs on his team in his pocket. He doesn’t have to default to the biggest name available for this search. Jackson can take his time and make an intelligent decision about who to hire to be the Oilers’ next GM as they navigate a critical time in the history of the franchise.

Other possible candidates:Dave Brown – Eerie Otters GM

Wasserman Agents – Judd Moldaver, Richard Evans, Darren Hermiston

Other qualified current AGMs – Jeff Salomon, Evan Gold, Jason Karmanos, Darren Yorke, Brad Pascall, Basil McRae (played with Jackson on 1984-85 Leafs), Kevin McDonald, Scott White, Steve Greeley, Les Jackson, Dan MacKinnon, Chris Lamoreillo, Steve Pellegrini, Ricky Olczyk, Joe Will, Doug Weight, Ryan Miller, Stacey Roest

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July 8, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Ken Holland is no longer the General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers. It was announced that he and the team mutually agreed to part ways on June 27, 2024. CEO Jeff Jackson is the acting GM for the time being, but he has no intention of becoming the GM on a permanent basis. That means that he will need to find a new GM this summer.

Related: Holland and the Oilers part ways

Jackson did say that he has a number of candidates that he would like to speak to about the Oilers GM role, but they are integral parts of other organizations. That doesn’t necessarily mean that ALL of the potential candidates are currently with other teams, but it’s safe to assume that most of them are with other teams right now. Jackson understands that patience is needed for this hire, and he is more than okay with that. This GM will be tasked with not only trying to win a Stanley Cup in 2025, but also with negotiating the two biggest contracts in the history of the franchise in the next two years. Now that the dust has setteld from the draft and the start of the free agency period, Jackson will be able to give more focus and attention to his GM search.

I’ve conducted my own search of front offices across the NHL to find the members of other organizations that would be qualified for an NHL GM job, as well as some that are not currently working for any NHL team. I’ve also attempted to identify any possible connections to Jackson, the Oilers franchise, or the city of Edmonton. This search has yielded several names that could be on Jackson’s list of candidates for the Oilers GM job.

I will be clear in saying that I am not an insider and I have no connection to the Oilers in any way, shape, or form. This is not a list of people that have been contacted about the position. It is simply a speculative potential list of candidates, some of which have ties to Jackson, the Oilers, or the city of Edmonton. I will be flabbergasted if the next Oilers GM is not mentioned in either part one or part two of this piece. Let’s dive into it, shall we?

The Former NHL GMsElliotte Friedman shared that he believes that Jackson will opt for someone with NHL GM experience for this hire because of the gravity of the Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid negotiations in the coming seasons. Here are some candidates who are former NHL GMs:

Jason Botterill: Botterill was noted as an example of the type of GM Jackson wants by Friedman during the 32 Thoughts podcast episode that aired the day of the NHL Draft. Botterill was the GM of the Buffalo Sabres for three seasons from 2017-2020. Botterill drafted well for the Sabres, bringing in players like Rasmus Dahlin, Michael Samuelsson, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and Casey Mittlestadt. Prior to that, he was an AGM for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2009-2017, and the Director of Hockey Operations with the team from 2007-2009. Botterill won three Stanley Cups while with the Penguins organization. He was born in Edmonton. Botterill was a member of the gold medal winning 1995 Canadian World Junior team. That tournament was held in Red Deer. Botterill is currently an AGM with the Seattle Kraken.

Dave Nonis: Nonis has served as the GM of two different Canadian NHL teams. He managed the Vancouver Canucks from 2004-2008, and he managed the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2013-2015. Nonis was the youngest GM in NHL history (37) when he took the Canucks job. Nonis has held hockey operations roles with the Anaheim Ducks on two separate occasions. Notably, he was also the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Maple Leafs while Jackson was an AGM with that club. Nonis currently works with the Calgary Flames as an AGM.

Jim Benning: Benning was the GM of the Vancouver Canucks from 2014-2022. Prior to that, he was an AGM with the Boston Bruins from 2007-2014, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2011. The Oilers have hired a member of the hockey operations staff from that 2011 Bruins team to be the team’s GM before. Benning was born in Edmonton. He played with Jackson on the Newmarket Saints and the Maple Leafs in 1986-87. Benning’s brother, Brian, was cut from the 1985 Canadian World Junior team. Jackson made that team, which means that Jackson and Brian Benning attended the same camp prior to the 1985 World Junior tournament.

Brian Lawton: Lawton was the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2009-2011. He was also an agent for a long time. Lawton was the first overall pick in the 1983 NHL draft. He played with Jackson on the 1989-90 Quebec Nordiques. Lawton is currently an on air analyst for the NHL Network, and he’s also a frequent guest on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer. He discussed the Oilers’ free agent signings on the show on July 1, 2024.

Mike Barnett: Barnett was the GM of the Arizona Coyotes from 2001-2007. Barnett’s Coyotes made the playoffs in 2002, but lost in the first round. Wayne Gretzky was the coach of Barnett’s Coyotes in the final two years of his tenure as Coyotes GM. Barnett was also Gretzky’s agent during his playing career. Barnett founded CorpSport International in Edmonton in 1980, and was Gretzky’s agent for 21 years. IMG Hockey eventually bought CorpSport International, and Barnett became President of Hockey Operations for IMG Hockey. Gretzky became minority owner of the Coyotes in 2000, and he brought Barnett in to manage the team. Barnett has worked for the New York Rangers as a Senior Advisor since 2014. Barnett worked under Oilers legend Glen Sather until his recent retirement.

Dale Tallon: Tallon never won a Stanley Cup as GM of the Chicago Blackhawks, but he had his fingerprints all over their three Stanley Cup championship teams. Tallon was the GM of the Blackhawks from 2005-2009. He did get a Stanley Cup ring for his efforts as he was a Senior Advisor with the Blackhawks in the 2009-10 season. Tallon moved on to a more powerful position as Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations and General Manager of the Florida Panthers. His fancy executive position was eventually dropped, but he stayed on as the GM of the Panthers until 2020. Tallon has held multiple roles with the Canucks since 2022.

Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad is a former client of Wasserman Hockey. He is listed as a former client of Jackson’s, but Dave Gagner was Ekblad’s agent when he signed his current contract with the Panthers in 2016 while Tallon was the GM of the Panthers.

Marc Bergevin: Bergevin was the GM of the Montreal Canadiens for nine seasons from 2012-2021. He had a 344-265-81 record with the Habs, and they made the playoffs in six of his nine seasons, including an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. Prior to his time with the Canadiens, Bergevin held multiple positions in the Blackhawks organization from 2005-2012. He earned a Stanley Cup ring as the team’s Director of Player Personnel in 2009-10. Bergevin was hired by the Los Angeles Kings as a Senior Advisor to GM Rob Blake in 2022. Bergevin and the Kings have been beaten by the Oilers in the first round in all three of the seasons that Bergevin has been there. Kings forward Quinton Byfield is a former client of Jackson’s.

Stan Bowman: The former Blackhawks GM is the most controversial potential candidate. Bowman has been reported as a favourite to land the Oilers GM job by multiple insiders. Frank Seravalli added that Bowman was of interest to the Oilers last summer before Jackson was hired, but Bowman was still ineligible for work in the NHL at that time. That tells me that the interest likely comes more from Oilers owner Daryl Katz than it does from Jackson.

Alex DeBrincat, who used to be represented by Jackson, was drafted by Bowman in the second round of the 2016 NHL draft. Duncan Keith was a member of Bowman’s Blackhawks championship teams. Keith currently has a role within the Oilers organization. Bowman’s father, Scotty Bowman, was the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings while Holland was the GM of that team.

I’ll be clear in saying that I do not want Bowman to be hired. There is absolutely no reason to hire Bowman. If you’re angry at the idea of him being a candidate for the Oilers GM role, then I urge you to please donate to the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE) because they actually make a difference in the lives of victims of sexual assault. I’ve started a personal fundraising page for SACE.

Ray Shero: Shero won a Stanley Cup as GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. He was at the helm of the Penguins franchise from 2006-2014. He made three trades with the Maple Leafs while Jackson was an AGM for that team between 2006 and 2010. Shero handled a situation similar to the one facing the new Oilers GM with Draisaitl and McDavid when he navigated contracts for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Shero moved on to become the GM of the New Jersey Devils from 2015-2020. He has been a Senior Advisor for his hometown Minnesota Wild since 2021.

Doug Wilson: Wilson was the GM of the San Jose Sharks from 2003-2022. The Sharks were basically always competitive under Wilson. He made one trade with the Maple Leafs while Jackson was an AGM there, which was the trade that sent Vesa Toskala to the Maple Leafs in 2007. They made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016, but they fell short to the Penguins. Wilson is now a Senior Advisor with the Penguins.

Rick Dudley: Dudley has had a long and extensive career in professional hockey. Most notably, he was the GM of the Ottawa Senators in the 1998-99 season, the Lightning from 2000 until he resigned midway through the 2001-02 season, the Panthers from 2002-2004, and the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2010-11 season. He has been involved in the hockey operations department of an NHL team in every season since 1998. Dudley is currently a Senior Advisor with the Florida Panthers.

Paul Fenton: Fenton was the GM of the Minnesota Wild in the 2018-19 season. They finished seventh in their division and missed the playoffs. He held scouting and hockey operations positions with the Anaheim Ducks and the Nashville Predators before becoming an AGM with the Predators from 2006-2018. Fenton currently works for the Panthers as a Senior Advisor. Fenton was a member of the 1990-91 Flames team that lost to the Oilers in the second round of the playoffs. It’s not a direct tie to the city of Edmonton, but it’s a fun fact.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers and Panthers Stanley Cup Final Connections and Storylines

Shero and Wilson having made trades with Jackson’s Maple Leafs while in GM positions is admittedly a bit of a stretch as far as a connection to Jackson goes. Aside from those two, Dudley and Fenton are the only former GMs on this list with no previous encounters with Jackson or ties to the Oilers or the city of Edmonton. Dudley and Fenton do work with former Wasserman agent and current Panthers AGM Brett Peterson though. Of course, we know that the Panthers just beat Jackson’s Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.

There are several experienced GM options for Jackson to consider. Only two NHL GMs have won Stanley Cups as the GM of two different NHL teams, so the odds of a former Stanley Cup winning GM winning a Stanley Cup as the GM of a new team are slim. Bowman and Shero are the only two former GMs on this list to have won Stanley Cups as GMs of their teams. Botterill, Benning, Tallon, Bergevin, Dudley, and Fenton all won Stanley Cups in other hockey operations roles.

In part two of this piece (which will come out tomorrow), I will look at possible candidates that either have held or currently hold AGM positions with NHL teams.

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July 6, 2024 by Spencer Pomoty

Though we’re less than two weeks into the Edmonton Oilers off-season, CEO and acting General Manager Jeff Jackson hasn’t stopped upgrading the roster.

The Oilers traded Ryan McLeod and Ty Tullio to the Buffalo Sabres for forward prospect Matthew Savoie on Friday. In what appears to be another great move by Jackson, the Oilers were able to both clear cap space to re-sign some of their own players and add a high-end prospect to their system.

Here’s my evaluation of what the Oilers are getting in Savoie:

Statistical ProfileAt 5-foot-10 and 179-pounds, Savoie won’t wow you with his size, but his production will. In four WHL seasons with the Winnipeg Ice/Wenatchee Wild and Moose Jaw Warriors, Savoie put up 103 goals and 263 points in 183 games (1.44 points per game). He also tallied five points in six AHL games as a 19-year-old with the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, last season. He’s an extremely gifted goal-scorer at the major junior level, but will it translate to the highest level?

My ObservationsOver my time scouting the WHL, I’ve seen plenty of the former first-overall pick in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft – even his bantam games were must-watch hockey. During his junior career, Savoie played centre for about 95% of it. I think he will be a winger at the next level due to his size and most NHL coaches preferring bigger bodies down low. For all my player profiles, I follow Gus Katsaros’ “Four S’s of Scouting.” This sheet is by my side every time I watch WHL players, as it covers all facets of the game, and I put an emphasis on how players create their own space. Whether it’s using your body to buy time or using your speed to push a defenceman back and cutting back or to the middle, once an NHL player has space, they’re able to do worlds with it. It’s about finding that extra millisecond.

SkillsA strong suit of Savoie’s game is his quick twitch ability when it comes to stickhandling. He’s able to make guys miss when they are coming at him and when he’s attacking defenders you never know what he will do, he doesn’t tip his hand a lot of the time. One of his strengths in this area is his shooting ability. He’s a dual threat offensive weapon and it starts with the willingness to shoot, but also the refined mechanics on his shot. Savoie can generate excellent power by pulling his top hand straight down and letting his lower hand follow through. He’s able to change the angle with a drag move or quick fake to the outside. Two more translatable mechanics are his ability to shoot in stride and use the pucks momentum on a catch and shoot opportunity on his strong side. Sometimes his shot choice can be a little questionable, as he can shoot from the blue line a little too much for my liking, especially because of his ability to make a play. Another point of development is to get that lead foot pointing towards the net more consistently. Savoie is a player I would try out on his off-wing, he is willing and loves to cut into the middle to use his shot.

SkatingAnother strength of the highly touted prospect is his ability to generate speed off of his crossovers. As far as mechanics go, Savoie is pretty sound. He sits low with his knees over his toes, his hips hinged so no hunch in the back, legs stay inside the stride instead of being bowed, his first two-steps are strong, his outside edges allow him to cut on a dime within milliseconds, his speed is good but not great and I do see a path where he gains an extra step because his mechanics are clean. An area for development is lengthen the stride out horizontally. He gets back to the middle quick, but sometimes his stride will go more vertical.

SmartsIn this area, there is mostly good, but there are some issues I can see poking their head through the door for Savoie. What I like are his micro scans and shoulder checks, I think this will make the transition easier to the wing due to these habits he got from playing center (and yes, I believe its downplayed how hard it is for a centre to transition to the wing with succession). Another positive is how he is able to get lost in the offensive zone, whether it’s going behind the net to lose his checker or going high into and sometimes out of the offensive zone, he’s able to sneak his way to quiet ice due to this. When his team gets possession, Savoie is early to fly the zone this shows he’s seeing the play form before most of the other players, and he generates a healthy number of chances because of it. When Savoie was younger, he would trust himself to translate the puck as he has grown older, he has adapted to using his teammates, you now see more give and goes in his game. The passing ability is an overall strength even under pressure he is able to draw a defender in and make a play. Another strong facet of Savoie’s game is his ability to support teammates and use one quick pass to relieve pressure. As I stated earlier in the “Skills” category, there is a tendency to take some questionable shots, he trusts his shot a lot and sometimes it is to a fault.

Coming into an Oilers system where they clearly prefer quality over quantity can help with this a ton. The forecheck habits are solid as well, he gets into the defenders’ hands and prioritizes position over possession first which will help him buy time on retrievals in the NHL. Defensively at the junior level he wasn’t as intense as you would hope, but I say this about a ton of prospects and it’s generally nothing to worry about. If I’m in the Oilers camp I would be telling him to trust his scanning ability and to hold onto the puck for a half second longer sometimes, he has the skill just needs the patience. Another point of development is to add some deception to his game, wave your stick over the puck before a retrieval or use those outside edges to make it look like you’re going one way when you have no intention of going there, pull the puck back into your shooting mechanics and then pass it off. These minor details can take a good scorer into a great one.

SpeedSkating is a strong aspect of his game, and I think he’s shown some great improvement throughout the years. Savoie was all pace as a young player, but throughout his WHL career he has started added more push and pull to his skillset, especially when he plays his off-side. He loves to push the defenceman back and then cut to his forward to either make a play or cut it to the middle. The St. Albert, Alberta native has a good reception range, he is able to pick pucks up on his backhand and in his feet consistently. There are times when he is going full flight where he can bobble the odd puck, but this can be worked out with reps in the AHL. One of my favourite qualities of his is to be at cruising speed, but when he receives a pass, he will use his strong first two-steps to try and create an instant speed advantage against the opposition (Nikolaj Ehlers is the prime example of this).

SummarySimply put, the Oilers are getting a top-notch prospect in Matthew Savoie. He’s not a perfect one, but he has a very high ceiling. I could see him getting in a few games towards the end of the 2024-25 season, but I would start him out in the AHL on the top line and let him get his feet wet at the pro level. There aren’t many holes with the newest Jackson acquisition, but it’s about adding the finer details now to take you from a good prospect to a great one. I have no doubt he can be a top six duel offensive threat winger in the NHL, but I also see a world where he is an excellent third line scorer and that’s a great bet to make.

Follow me on Twitter to find more of my work @SPProspects

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July 6, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers CEO and acting general manager Jeff Jackson has added two first round prospects via trade since the start of the 2024 NHL draft on June 28, 2024. These two trades represent a needed philosophical change in thinking by the organization.

The Oilers surprised the hockey world by trading into the first round of this year’s draft. They gave fans a bit of a show at the Sphere in Las Vegas. They traded a conditional first round pick in either 2025 or 2026 for the 32nd pick of the 2024 draft. The 2025 pick is top twelve protected, and the condition is that the pick slides to 2026 if the Oilers decide to trade the 2025 pick away. London Knights forward Sam O’Reilly was the man the Oilers were after with that pick.

Related: Oilers trade up to select Sam O’Reilly with final pick in the first round

This was a puzzling move for a couple of reasons. First, the Oilers are in “win now” mode and they traded away an asset that could’ve been used at the trade deadline in 2025 to bolster their roster for another deep playoff run. The conditions of the trade allow them to still trade that pick away if they so choose, but that would just kick the can down the road by a year.

Scouting lists are subjective, but the second reason that this was a puzzling move was because O’Reilly was ranked much lower than where he was taken by many scouts. The most optimistic rankings had O’Reilly being taken right where he was eventually taken, and the least optimistic ones had him going late in the second round. Jackson said that they had O’Reilly ranked higher on their list than where they got him. Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey liked O’Reilly enough to push for this trade to happen.

Photo Credit: facebook.com/Oilers.NHLIt was an interesting move for Jackson and Pracey’s first draft pick. I can’t help but wonder what impact Senior Director of Data & Analytics Michael Parkatti had in this decision. You see, Parkatti used to be a blogger back in the day. His website boysonthebus.com is up and running. There, you will find a series of five articles that he wrote about his efforts to create a model that could predict the future success of CHL prospects.

All of the methods that Parkatti used to create this model are way over this simpleton’s head, but the basic idea is that he evaluated 559 OHL and WHL players drafted between 1996 and 2010 using 57 variables. He sought to create a model that would sort them into two categories, NHL player and non-NHL player. He used the criteria of a player having collected 75 NHL points in seven years to qualify as an NHL player.

Michael Parkatti has been named the #Oilers Senior Director, Data & Analytics!

Working closely with the hockey operations department, Parkatti will lead the creation & operation of a new analytics department, providing insight-driven recommendations for the team. pic.twitter.com/2ITPw1DOeo

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 21, 2023

Parkatti wrote a five-part series where he introduced a new type of statistical model in each piece that got progressively more intricate with each passing piece. I’ll let you read them for yourself to get the results; but I will say that what he came up with was fairly accurate, and he didn’t really get too far below the surface in those pieces. Parkatti wrote those pieces in 2019, and he has been employed with the Oilers since last September. He has had a lot of time to refine his statistical model since writing the original pieces. This is just one example of how analytics and statistics offer value beyond Corsi and expected goals, which makes Parkatti’s presence in the organization tremendously important.

This was the first draft since Parkatti was hired. My gut is telling me that Parkatti’s model viewed O’Reilly favourably.

Related: Oilers Hire Parkatti as Senior Director, Data and Analytics

O’Reilly put up 56 points in 68 games for the Knights this season, which led OHL rookies. The scouting report on O’Reilly seems to be that he can play in all three zones, but his defensive work gets a lot of praise. He will need to improve his skating (as most eighteen year old prospects do), but the hockey sense is there. There is some offensive upside with this player as well. O’Reilly was not the feature player on the Knights this past season. He’s likely to break out in a big way this coming season.

Jackson made an even bigger splash on Friday. He traded Ryan McLeod and Ty Tullio to the Buffalo Sabres for 2022 ninth overall pick Matthew Savoie. The trade was made necessary due to salary cap constraints, but there’s more to it than that.

Related: Oilers trade McLeod to Sabres for Savoie

I’m sure the team didn’t need Parkatti’s expertise to tell them that Savoie is an elite prospect. He put up 71 points in 34 games split between the Wentachee Wild and the Moose Jaw Warriors last season. He also got five points in six AHL games with the Rochester Americans last season.

Most Oilers fans are focussed on the here and now because the Oilers are contenders on the verge of a Stanley Cup win. The attitude of a lot of fans is that the team needs to go “all-in” every year, which means that they want the GM to load up the current roster with top talent now. They want the top free agents every summer, and they want the team to add the biggest names available at every trade deadline with blatant disregard for the future because draft picks and prospects don’t help you win immediately.

Regardless of what you thought of former Oilers GM Ken Holland’s trade deadline acquisitions, he added at all five of the trade deadlines during his Oilers tenure. Holland’s trade deadline acquisitions left the Oilers’ well of draft picks and prospects all but dry. Holland dipped into the 2027 draft to make a trade! He constantly took water out of the well without putting anything else back in by trading players out like Jackson did on Friday. It also doesn’t help that only two of Holland’s draft picks (Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg) are looking like legitimate NHLers at this point.

It’s highly likely that O’Reilly will become an NHL player. We just don’t know how productive he will be at the NHL level. He’s likely three to five years away from coming into the lineup. A lot of people will balk at that because they are short-sighted. The thought process is that this asset won’t help the Oilers win a Stanley Cup in 2025, therefore it’s a useless asset. I disagree with that thinking because the Oilers want to contend for the duration of McDavid and Draisaitl’s careers. They need a pipeline of prospects that will hit the lineup down the road. O’Reilly looks to be one of those players.

Savoie’s three-year entry level contract is set to begin this season. I don’t expect Savoie to be in the AHL for all three of those seasons. The McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard extensions will all be signed before Savoie’s ELC expires. Savoie could certainly be ready to contribute by the time McDavid’s next contract begins. He could be a much needed cheap source of offence in the 2026-27 season.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVJackson has made two trades to rectify Holland’s wrong. The goal here is to win a Stanley Cup now AND to be in the mix to win multiple Stanley Cups down the road. If a team is going to contend for a long period of time, then they need to have a pipeline of home grown players that can provide value. Both O’Reilly and Savoie are likely to be ready early in McDavid’s next contract.

It’s great to see that Jackson has an eye on the future. It’s a needed philosophical change in the organization. Restocking the prospect pipeline will make the Oilers’ GM job more desirable to potential candidates, and it will show McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard that there is a plan in place to keep the team competitive over the course of their next contracts. The O’Reilly and Savoie additions are a great start, but the Oilers will have to keep the prospects coming over the course of the next few seasons.

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July 5, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson is sure making a lot of moves for a guy that doesn’t want to be the team’s general manager. The Oilers have traded Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Matthew Savoie.

McLeod was the Oilers’ second round pick in 2018. The 24-year old got 75 points in 219 games played for the Oilers, including 30 in 81 games last season. McLeod added thirteen points in 56 playoff games, including four points in 24 playoff games this past spring.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 9: Edmonton Oilers Winger Ryan McLeod (71) in action in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Washington Capitals on March 9, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)McLeod’s point total from last year suggests that he has become a legitimate third line center, but we have to remember that he got twelve of those 30 points while playing on the second line with Leon Draisaitl and Warren Foegele during the team’s sixteen game winning streak. McLeod has a lot of components that make him a fantastic player. He’s got a ton of speed, he’s defensively responsible, and he transports the puck well. McLeod is a frustrating player because the offensive production was just not consistent enough when he was an Oiler. He has increased his hit count in every year of his professional career so far, but he leaves fans wanting more in that area. He consistently stops and turns back at the half wall in the offensive zone rather than taking the puck to the net.

McLeod was a healthy scratch in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars in the 2024 playoffs. He didn’t get a single point in fourteen games prior to being scratched. McLeod was on the ice for two goals against at five-on-five in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings, and he wasn’t on the ice for a single one in the first five games of the second round against the Vancouver Canucks. McLeod was on the ice for one five-on-five goal per game in the next four consecutive games until he was removed from the lineup. One of those goals against was the direct result of McLeod mishandling the puck in his own zone and turning it over in Game 7 in Vancouver. McLeod’s greatest strength was his defensive play, and he struggled for a four-game stretch in the playoffs. He couldn’t counteract those mistakes at the other end of the ice, although he does get credit for scoring a goal upon returning to the lineup in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final.

The bottom line is that the Oilers are ready to win, and they need an uptick in secondary scoring. The third line is a key to that, and McLeod wasn’t able to provide that in the playoffs. He needed time in the top six to boost his offensive production to a level consistent with that of a third line centre in the regular season. The Oilers decided that McLeod isn’t the player they want to centre their third line next season and down the road. McLeod was a home grown draft pick that gave them over 200 games. That’s not an easy asset to give up, but the Oilers were clearly comfortable making that decision. They aren’t in a position to wait for McLeod to be able to put it all together offensively. They re-signed Adam Henrique, which made McLeod expendable.

Tullio was a fifth round pick of the Oilers in the 2020 draft. The 22-year old got 21 points in 54 games for the Bakersfield Condors in his second professional season last year. He’s small in stature at 5’10” and 165 lbs, but he plays a tenacious style. He’s an industrious player that has a chance to make the NHL in a bottom six role. Tullio was a quality pick in the fifth round.

The Oilers got Matthew Savoie in return. Savoie was the ninth overall pick in the 2022 draft. The St Albert product had quite the final year of junior hockey last season. He was injured during training camp with the Sabres, and he was sent to their AHL affiliate (the Rochester Americans) for a conditioning stint. He got two goals and three assists in his first five AHL games before being held off the scoresheet in his sixth and final game for the Americans on November 3, 2023. Savoie got called up to make his NHL debut on November 10, 2023, a game against the Minnesota Wild in which he only played 3:50.

Savoie was sent back to the Wentachee Wild of the WHL immediately after his NHL debut. He put up 24 points in just eleven games before heading to the World Juniors to play for Canada, where he got one point in four games. Savoie got traded to a loaded Moose Jaw Warriors team, where he got 47 points in just 23 games. He added 24 points in nineteen playoff games en route to the WHL championship. Savoie got four points in the Memorial Cup as well.

The St. Albert product instantly becomes the Oilers’ top prospect. Savoie is a bit on the small side at 5’9” and 180 lbs, but his offensive production speaks for itself. Savoie was an elite point producer at the junior level. He played centre in junior, but he will likely be a winger in the NHL whenever he arrives. He’s also right-handed. That’s a big thing for the Oilers, who are short on right-handed forwards in the system.

Yes, Savoie’s brother is Carter Savoie, the Oilers’ fourth round pick in the 2020 draft. The elder Savoie was not issued a qualifying offer by the Oilers last month, which means that he is now an unrestricted free agent.

Related: Carter Savoie signs ATO with Bakersfield Condors

The Oilers gave up a useful young roster player and an intriguing prospect, but they got the best player in this deal. Savoie won’t be ready to help the Oilers right away, but he will be a contributor in the near future.

Savoie might not be ready for a while, but this move does help the Oilers in the short-term. The Oilers were $2,454,167 over the league’s salary cap prior to this trade, but moving McLeod’s contract out saved them $2.1 million. They are now only $354,167 over the salary cap with an active roster of 21 players. They still have to sign restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, but the team’s cap situation is far less dire after this trade. I’m expecting that the Oilers will be in a situation where they will be forced to only carry 20 players on their active roster for most of the season, barring any injuries or any potential players being placed on long-term injury reserve.

This was another brilliant stroke of the proverbial paintbrush by Jackson. I was hesitant about trading a young player that has the defensive acumen and the positive impact on five-on-five goal share that McLeod has, but Jackson was able to clear salary while turning a former second rounder and a former fifth rounder into a former top ten pick that is now the team’s best prospect. I’m fine with it now that I’ve seen the return. I wish McLeod and Tullio the best of luck in Buffalo, but it’s a big win for the Oilers.

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July 2, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

In case you missed part one of this piece, I went into further detail about Stan Bowman’s role in the mismanagement of the 2010 sexual assault case as documented in the Jenner & Block report as the first part of my analysis of Stan Bowman’s potential candidacy for the Edmonton Oilers’ vacant GM position.

Related: On Stan Bowman: Part One – The Scandal

Now I’ll move on to the hockey related side of this potential hiring decision. Bowman was the GM of the Blackhawks from 2009-2021. The team won three Stanley Cups in that time. That includes the infamous 2010 Stanley Cup win and subsequent wins in 2013 and 2015.

It really needs to be noted that the core pieces of the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup winning teams were drafted long before Bowman took the job. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook were all already in the organization when Bowman got there. Bowman just kept trimming the bushes throughout those glory years. Here is a list of the players that Bowman acquired that helped the Blackhawks win Stanley Cups (thanks to CapFriendly for helping me out one last time):

Antoine Vermette – 2015 trade deadline acquisition

Kimo Timonen – 2015 trade deadline acquisition

Andrew Desjardins – 2015 trade deadline acquisition

Antti Raanta – 2014 RFA (undrafted)

Brad Richards – 2014 UFA

Michal Handzus – 2013 trade deadline acquisition

Kris Versteeg – 2013 in-season trade acquisition (also traded Versteeg away after 2010 Cup win)

Ryan Hartman – 2013 draft

Michal Roszival – 2012 UFA

Johnny Oduya – 2012 trade deadline acquisition

Daniel Carcillo – 2012 UFA

Teuvo Teravainen – 2012 draft

Andrew Shaw – 2011 draft

Steve Montador – 2011 UFA (traded for UFA rights on June 27, 2011)

Nick Leddy – 2010 in-season trade acquisition

Kim Johnsson – 2010 in-season trade acquisition

Nick Boynton – 2010 UFA

Brandon Bollig – 2010 RFA (undrafted)

While some of these players played important roles in those Stanley Cup runs, none of them were key members of the core group. I can’t totally discredit Bowman’s role in any of the three Blackhawks Stanley Cup wins, but he was not the true architect.

Drafting is another key aspect to analyze when considering a potential GM hire with previous NHL experience. Here is a list of the players that Bowman drafted that went on to have NHL careers (over 100 NHL GP):

2010: Kevin Hayes, Justin Holl, Stephen Johns, Joakim Nordstrom

2011: Philip Danault, Brandon Saad, Klas Dahlbeck, Andrew Shaw

2012: Teuvo Teravainen, Vinnie Hinostroza

2013: Ryan Hartman, John Hayden, Tyler Motte

2014: Nick Schmaltz

2015: N/A

2016: Alex DeBrincat

2017: Henri Jokiharju

2018: Adam Boqvist, Philip Kurashev

2019: Kirby Dash, Alex Vlasic (97 games and counting)

2020: Lukas Reichel (99 games and counting)

2021: N/A

Obviously it’s too early to evaluate the success of recent drafts, but Bowman’s drafting record took a hard dive after 2013. Bowman had just as many players drafted from 2014 onwards go on to have NHL careers as he did in his first two drafts as GM of the Blackhawks. Mike Kelley was the Director of Amatuer Scouting for the Blackhawks from 2008 until 2021. Kelley was a consistent fixture on Bowman’s staff throughout his tenure with the Blackhawks, so we can’t use a change of personnel as an excuse for the decrease in drafting proficiency in the mid to late 2010s.

The thing we need to evaluate most closely is Bowman’s work in trying to re-tool in the stretch between their last Stanley Cup win and the end of his tenure. The Blackhawks finished sixth in the Central Division in Bowman’s last full season as GM of the team in 2020-21. There was a clear downfall that occurred between 2015 and 2021.

Bowman signed electric Russian free agent Artemi Panarin, who won the 2016 Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year, after the Blackhawka won the Stanley Cup in the summer of 2015. That was a great, cheap signing for the Blackhawks in 2015. It was needed because the 2015-16 season was the first year of the matching behemoth contracts of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews that each carried a $10.5 million cap hit.

CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 27: Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) and teammates raise their sticks to fans as a thank you after a game between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Chicago Blackhawks on April 27, 2022 at the United Center in Chicago, IL. (Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire)Bowman offloaded Brandon Saad days after the team won the 2015 Stanley Cup. Saad signed a contract with a $6 million cap hit with the Columbus Blue Jackets after the Blue Jackets had traded for his rights. It’s clear that the Blackhawks couldn’t afford Saad’s new contract. Patrick Sharp was the next one to be moved out a couple of weeks later. His $5.9 million contract was a luxury the team couldn’t afford after the Kane and Toews contracts.

Bowman tried to keep the good times rolling at the 2016 trade deadline despite the realities of the team’s roster construction after the Kane and Toews contracts. He traded for Andrew Ladd at the 2016 trade deadline hoping to recreate magic from the 2010 championship year. He acquired Christian Ehrhoff at that deadline as well. The worst move at that deadline was trading Philip Danault, a second round pick in the 2011 draft that was the cusp of breaking out, for Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise. The Blackhawks lost in the first round that year. Andrew Shaw, Bryan Bickell, and Teuvo Teravainen were the next ones to be shuffled out the door in the summer of 2016.

Niklas Hjalmarsson and Markus Kruger followed in 2017. The summer of 2017 also saw the incredibly odd trade that saw Saad return to the team in exchange for Panarin. Panarin had signed a two-year extension with the Blackhawks in December 2016 that was worth $6 million per season. Saad was also signed at $6 million per season, but for a longer term. Panarin ended up signing a massive contract with the New York Rangers in 2019. Bowman knew that he wouldn’t be able to afford Panarin’s next deal, so he got ahead of it in odd fashion.

Then came the end of Marian Hossa’s time in Chicago. His famous equipment allergy brought an end to his storied career, and Bowman dumped his contract on the Arizona Coyotes in July 2018.

Finally came the summer of 2021 when Bowman had to get rid of the contracts of his two legacy defencemen, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. Keith requested a trade to be closer to home, and his wish was granted with a trade to the Oilers. Seabrook’s contract was moved to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Tyler Johnson. The Blackhawks got a player they could use, and the Lightning got a way to create some cap space with an LTIR player.

CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 21: Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith (2) skates with the puck in action during a game between the Nashville Predators and the Chicago Blackhawks on April 21, 2021 at the United Center in Chicago, IL. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire)There were also notable missteps from Bowman regarding young players near the end. Nick Schmaltz was traded to the Arizona Coyotes for Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini. Henri Jokiharju was traded for Alex Nylander. The Blackhawks gave up the best player in both trades.

The Oilers find themselves in a situation where they have their own massive contracts that they need to give their franchise players over the next couple of seasons. Bowman didn’t get creative with Kane and Toews. He just gave them matching contracts. Bowman also ran the team into the ground after those contracts were signed. He was unable to turn the assets gained from moving out expensive contracts into anything that would help the team in the future to keep them competitive. They have lost both Kane and Toews since. Toew’s issue was more of a health issue, but Kane didn’t want to stick around for a rebuild.

Photo Credit: theglobeandmail.comThat’s not the outcome that I want for the Oilers. Based on a purely hockey perspective, I would not choose to hire Bowman because of his body of work. His worst work came in the phase of his Blackhawks tenure that most closely matches the phase that the Oilers are about to enter. The other factor to consider is that there are only two GMs that have won Stanley Cups as the GM of multiple teams in the history of the NHL. I don’t like those odds. I personally would not choose a GM that has won a Stanley Cup as a GM in the past for that reason.

I also wouldn’t hire Bowman simply based on the optics around hiring Bowman due to the 2010 sexual assault incident. Regardless of his level of guilt or involvement in the mismanagement of that situation, the potential hit to the public image of the Oilers just isn’t worth what Bowman could potentially bring to the table.

I will be extremely disappointed if that is the direction that Jackson and the Oilers choose for this hire. I’m not a torches and pitchforks person, and I have a deep emotional connection to the Oilers, so the decision will not affect my fandom. Like a parent of a child that does something wrong, I’ll be disappointed; but I’ll still love my team.

I want to return to Servalli’s post for a second here. He pointed out that the Oilers were interested in Bowman as early as last summer BEFORE Jackson was hired.

Bowman will become a top candidate for #Oilers GM vacancy. Believe he was on Edmonton’s radar when Jeff Jackson was hired last summer though still ineligible then. https://t.co/x369DKhs0p

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 1, 2024

Where could that interest have been coming from within the organization? Former Oilers CEO and Vice Chair of the Oilers Entertainment Group Bob Nicholson was moved to an advisory role within the organization after Jackson was hired last year. Nicholson was a part of the upper management shuffle, so the interest couldn’t have been coming from him. Former Oilers GM Ken Holland certainly would not have been involved in the process of searching for his boss. The only one above those two is Oilers owner Daryl Katz. That leads me to believe that Katz was the one that was interested in Bowman last year, and I believe that Katz is still the one with the most interest in Bowman.

That little tidbit of information also makes me think that Bowman could be considered for a larger role with the Oilers than just the GM role. The NHL Network’s EJ Hradek hinted at this type of management structure on Monday:

Expect Bowman to land in Edmonton. Mark Hunter might have a significant management role there as well. Time will tell. https://t.co/IQytGf66mM

— E.J. Hradek (@EJHradek_NHL) July 1, 2024

Once again, I’ll reiterate that if you’re truly angry about the notion of the Oilers hiring Bowman because of his role in mismanaging the 2010 sexual assault case, then please do something meaningful about it and donate to SACE either on their website or my personal fundraising page. My personal fundraising page will be up until July 10, 2024, and I will make a new one if Bowman is hired by the Oilers.

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July 2, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Stan Bowman, Al MacIsaac, and Joel Quenneville were reinstated by the NHL on Monday. These three former Chicago Blackhawks staff members became ineligible to work in the NHL in 2021 after the findings of an investigation into the internal handling of a serious sexual assault incident in 2010.

Bowman, MacIsaac, and Quenneville will be eligible to obtain work in the NHL starting on July 10, 2024. Bowman has been reported as a “top candidate” for the currently vacant Edmonton Oilers general manager position by multiple NHL insiders.

Bowman will become a top candidate for #Oilers GM vacancy. Believe he was on Edmonton’s radar when Jeff Jackson was hired last summer though still ineligible then. https://t.co/x369DKhs0p

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 1, 2024

Oilers fans have already started voicing their disgust at the mere notion of Bowman entering the Oilers organization online, which is valid. I’m going to start this piece off by saying that if you’re truly angry about Bowman potentially becoming a member of the Oilers organization because of his actions in 2010, then I encourage you to do something that will actually make a difference in the lives of victims of sexual assault by donating to the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE) rather than just voicing your outrage online. You can go directly to SACE’s website to donate. I have also started a fundraising page for SACE that will be active until July 10, 2024. I have made the first donation. If Bowman is hired by the Oilers on or after that date, I will start another fundraising page.

The Heavy Hockey Network is proud to host the Heavy Hockey Showdown in support of SACE every year. The most recent iteration of the event in February raised nearly $50,000 for SACE, and we plan on raising more for SACE next year.

I personally raised $1,095 for SACE as part of the event. Let me be clear in saying that I do not condone sexual assault in any way, shape, or form; and I’m proud to support SACE. However, I’m also not a person that believes in reacting to situations with torches and pitchforks. I don’t feel that it’s right to default to outrage whenever the court of public opinion says that’s the only acceptable reaction. I believe in educating myself on the facts and forming opinions based on those facts.

I’m going to evaluate Bowman as a potential candidate for the Oilers GM role in this piece. I have read through the report from Jenner & Block that outlines the findings from their independent investigation into the Blackhawks and their handling of the 2010 sexual assault incident. The report contains graphic information about the incident of sexual assault, so please use your discretion if you choose to click the link. I will also examine Bowman’s body of work as the GM of the Blackhawks from 2009-2021 in part two of this piece.

Related: On Stan Bowman: Part Two – The Hockey Perspective

I’ll summarize the Jenner & Block report’s explanation of how Blackhawks executives handled the sexual assault situation internally as best I can in the limited space available here.

The incident is said to have occurred sometime between May 8 and May 10, 2010 while the team was in Chicago for Game 5 of the Blackhawks’ second round series against the Vancouver Canucks.

The team was in San Jose for the first two games of the 2010 Western Conference Final from May 12, 2010 until May 19, 2010 when they flew to Chicago. That time frame included several days off in San Jose before the series began. The team was in Chicago for Games 3 and 4 of the series from May 19, 2010 until May 23, 2010. The series ended after Game 4 on May 23, 2010, and the team stayed in Chicago to await the start of the Stanley Cup Final.

The first time that any member of the Blackhawks organization was made aware of the incident was when the victim told skating coach Paul Vincent about it in San Jose. Vincent said that he would take it to the proper people to handle it. Vincent told mental coach Jim Gary and United Center security guard Brian Higgins about the incident. Those conversations presumably occurred in Chicago between May 19, 2010 and May 23, 2010.

A quick explanation of the aliases used for two witnesses that chose to remain anonymous in the report is necessary here. Another player that was called up to practice with the Blackhawks during the 2010 playoff run was interviewed and is referred to as “Black Ace 1” in the report. An employee of the Blackhawks that was close with Black Ace 1 at the time is referred to as “Employee A”.

Employee A learned of the incident through a conversation with Black Ace 1 in Chicago after the team had returned from San Jose. The report states that Employee A went into MacIsaac’s office to tell him about the incident on March 23, 2010. That was the day of Game 4 of the series. MacIsaac recalled asking Gary to reach out to the victim to get more information about what had happened.

Gary and the victim had a private conversation about the incident later that day. The report says that this conversation took place in the middle of Game 3 or Game 4, but the information provided in the report leads me to believe that the conversation took place during Game 4 on May 23, 2010. Gary went back to MacIsaac after that conversation to tell him what he had found out, and MacIsaac called a meeting with Blackhawks management to discuss the matter.

The people in that meeting were MacIsaac, Gary, Bowman, Quenneville, then-Assistant General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, then-Senior Vice President Jay Blunk, and then-President John McDonough. Each person had a different account of what was said in that meeting.

Gary informed the meeting participants about the situation. The report states that Gary’s recollection of what he shared with the group was that the victim was pressured for sex, that the victim said that he wasn’t “into that”, and that the victim received a physical threat. That is obviously only a fraction of what happened during the incident. Upon the group starting to discuss their next steps to handle the situation, Gary asked if he was needed anymore and he was told that he was not needed. Gary also asked to be updated on the team’s intended course of action on the way out the door so he could relay the information to the victim, and he was told that “someone would get back to him.”

Bowman was the only other person in that meeting that could give a clear statement on what was said in the meeting. The report states that Bowman said that “…the situation did not strike him as immediately alarming at the time as the allegation did not involve a sexual assault as having occurred” as described to him. Even if Bowman was only privy to the information that Gary shared in the previous paragraph, Bowman’s interpretation of the information was wrong.

The report states that Bowman recalled a discussion about the need to find out more about what happened. Bowman also recalled Quenneville saying that it was hard for the team to get where they were and that they could not deal with the issue at that time. Bowman also recalled McDonough saying that the team might not make it that far in the playoffs again and that they needed to think about when to handle the issue. Bowman claimed that he asked McDonough what he wanted to do about the situation, and McDonough said to leave it to him. Bowman claimed that he believed that the issue was in McDonough’s hands after that meeting.

McDonagh, MacIsaac, Blunk, Cheveldayoff, and Quenneville were unable to provide clear assessments about what was said in the meeting. McDonough denied any conversation about who was going to handle the situation and when they would handle it.

The then-Director of Human Resources for the Blackhawks stated that McDonough called her into his office on June 14, 2010. That was five days after the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. The Director of Human Resources said that McDonough told her about the incident that he had learned about a few weeks prior. She also said that McDonough told her that the group involved in the May 23, 2010 meeting decided not to tell anyone or do anything about it until after the playoffs were over so as to “not disturb team chemistry”.

Those are the facts as outlined in the Jenner & Block report. I will also add that the report states that no reference letters were given to any future employers of the perpetrator. Members of the Blackhawks management group were accused of giving the perptrator letters of reference for future jobs in a second lawsuit aside from the lawsuit pertaining to this incident. The perpetrator received multiple jobs and did commit another act of sexual assault after 2010.

McDonough told the Director of Human Resources that it was a group decision to handle the situation after the 2010 playoffs. Bowman said that he believed that McDonough was going to handle the situation after the May 23, 2010 meeting. There are conflicting statements there. I personally believe that McDonough had more to lose by not being transparent, and I believe that he likely twisted the truth a little bit when talking to the Director of Human Resources on June 14, 2010. The majority of my ire towards the Blackhawks organization about the way that the issue was handled is directed at McDonough.

The accounts of everyone in that meeting are different, so there’s no way to know exactly what was said. That makes everyone in that room guilty by association. While that’s true, I also understand Bowman’s position. He was a first year GM, and it was his belief that the President of the team told him that he would handle the situation. The expectation that he was supposed to go behind the team President’s back and handle the situation himself is unrealistic in my opinion. Many people will say that’s exactly what he should’ve done, but I highly doubt that anyone would actually take that course of action if they found themselves in the same situation.

I’m not trying to fully defend Bowman here. Bowman’s interpretation of the information that was presented to him as not being an incident of sexual assault was wrong. As I said before, we don’t have concrete evidence about what was said in that meeting. Bowman could also have been lying, but we don’t know that to be the case definitively. It’s clear that there was not a lot of energy placed into convincing McDonough that something needed to be done immediately, which was an error from everyone in that meeting. I believe that McDonough was more at fault than anyone though.

I’ll move on to part two where I analyze Bowman’s body of work as GM of the Blackhawks.

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July 2, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson said that he doesn’t want to be the team’s new general manager. He didn’t act like it on the opening day of free agency. The Canada Day fireworks in the river valley weren’t the only fireworks in Edmonton on Monday. Jackson orchestrated the greatest opening day of a free agency period in the history of the Oilers franchise!

Related: 2024 Oilers Free Agency Primer

Jackson signed a whopping thirteen players on Monday. That doesn’t even include the deals signed by Calvin Pickard (two years, $1 million AAV) and Cam Dineen (one year, $775,000) on Friday. It does include seven players that were a part of the organization at the end of the 2023-24 season re-signing with the team, five players who are totally new to the Oilers, and one player that is set to return to the organization after taking a year away from professional hockey.

Here’s a list of the signings that the Oilers made on Monday:

| Term | AAV | | Viktor Arvidsson | 2 | $4,000,000 | | Jeff Skinner | 1 | $3,000,000 | | Adam Henrique | 2 | $3,000,000 | | Mattias Janmark | 3 | $1,450,000 | | Corey Perry | 1 | $1,150,000 (+$250,000 potential performance bonus) | | Connor Brown | 1 | $1,000,000 | | Josh Brown | 3 | $1,000,000 | | Troy Stecher | 2 | $787,500 | | Connor Carrick | 1 | $775,000 | | Collin Delia | 1 | $775,000 | | James Hamblin | 2 | $775,000 | | Noah Philp | 1 | $775,000 | | Noel Hoefenmayer | 1 | $775,000 |

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Adam Henrique coming back on a two-year, $6 million contract. The deal happened later in the day after many people figured that there was no room left to sign him. Henrique had offers from other teams, but he chose Edmonton. He said that “[he] loved coming here and having the opportunity to chase the Cup and play with the guys here. It felt like [he] fit in great with the group” during his season ending media availability last Wednesday. He added that there’s a price for being on a team like the Oilers that is on the cusp of winning, and he feels that “whatever that is, it could be worth it.” Henrique said that it was important that this was a family decision, and his wife was fully supportive of his decision when speaking with the media on Tuesday. Henrique added that the other most important factor for him was “…to have the chance to win.” He went on to say that “I think the group there is a special group, and I had so much fun being a part of it this year and just wanted more of that.”

Henrique’s signing confirmed that all three members of the line that turned the Stanley Cup Final around will be back with the team next season. Mattias Janmark signed a three-year deal with an AAV of $1.45 million. This is the first time that Janmark has signed a multi-year deal since 2015. He signed seven consecutive one-year deals prior to this deal. Janmark got twelve points in 71 games in the regular season; but added six more in 23 playoff games, including a shorthanded goal to open the scoring in the team’s first Stanley Cup Final win since 2006 and a goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Connor Brown is the other member of that line. The Oilers signed him to a one-year, $1 million contract. It took him until game 55 to score a goal last season, but he ended up with four goals and eight assists in 71 games coming off a knee injury that kept him out for all but four games in 2022-23. Brown stepped up in the playoffs with three massive shorthanded points to go with excellent work on the penalty kill and good forechecking. Brown’s skating appears to be close to where it was pre-injury, which makes this a good bet by Jackson and the Oilers.

Corey Perry is returning on a one-year deal worth a maximum of $1.4 million. $1.15 million of that is the actual cap hit, and there is $250,000 in potential performance bonuses. Perry has a tantalizing skill set, but at the age of 39, I don’t feel that the Oilers will reap the benefit of those skills. Perry had thirteen points in 38 games for the Oilers last season. He added three more points in seventeen playoff games, including a goal in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Perry has made it to four Stanley Cup Finals in the last five years, and he has won everything there is to win in hockey. His presence in the locker room is valuable. I think the cap hit is a little bit high, but I also don’t mind having Perry’s experience and leadership in the fold.

The biggest move of the day was signing Viktor Arvidsson to a two-year, $8 million deal. Arvidsson has battled injury issues over the last couple of seasons, but he says that he’s 100% healthy now. Arvidsson is good friends with former Nashville Predators teammate and current Oilers Mattias Ekholm, who played a role in Arvidsson’s decision to sign with the Oilers. Arvidsson is a legitimate top six winger. The 31-year old got fifteen points in eighteen games last season, and he got 59 points in 77 games in 2022-23. He fills a gaping hole that has existed on the right side in the top six for years. Arvidsson should be a good fit alongside Leon Draisaitl because of his speed, his tenacity, and his penchant for scoring off the rush. Jackson said that’s exactly where he sees Arvidsson playing when he spoke to the media on Monday.

The final three years of Jeff Skinner’s eight-year, $72 million contract was bought out by the Buffalo Sabres, which made him a free agent. Skinner signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Oilers. The 32-year old had a bit of a down year with 46 points in 74 games last season, but he put up 82 points in 79 games in 2022-23. Skinner has a background in figure skating, so his edge work is fantastic. He won’t blow you away with speed, but he’s a smart player with good hands and offensive instincts.

Jackson pointed out that the great thing about Arvidsson and Skinner is that they produce offence at five-on-five. Arvidsson finished 80th in the league in points per sixty minutes at five-on-five among forwards that played at least 227 minutes last season (Arvidsson played 228:06 at five-on-five last season) with 2.09. Skinner finished 100th in that metric with an even two points per sixty minutes. Arvidsson produced five-on-five offence at a first line rate this past season, and Skinner produced at the level of a high-end second liner in a down year for him. Skinner was second in the league behind only Nathan MacKinnon in that metric in 2022-23. That’s important for the Oilers because neither of these two new additions will see powerplay time.

We know those six players will be with the big club throughout the season. The fate of two of the three right-handed defencemen that the Oilers added on Monday remains to be seen.

Troy Stecher is coming back on a two-year deal at the league minimum. Stecher was acquired by the Oilers at the trade deadline last season. He played in seven games for the Oilers and got two assists. Stecher was not available during the postseason due to ankle surgery. When healthy, Stecher is a reliable veteran option.

Related: Oilers Acquire Stecher

Arvidsson was the biggest signing of the day, but he wasn’t the largest player signed. That honour belongs to Josh Brown. The 6’5”, 220 lb right-handed defenceman put up ten points in 51 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season. Brown was likely brought in to replace Vincent Desharnais, who signed a two-year, $4 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. The underlying numbers on Brown are not favourable, but we have to balance that out with the fact that the Coyotes were not a strong team. The three-year term is a bit much for this player, but the $1 million cap hit can easily be buried in the minors should the need arise.

The Oilers also signed 30-year old right-handed defenceman Connor Carrick to a one-year, $775,000 contract. Carrick got 66 points in 70 games with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds last season. He’s clearly a strong AHL defenceman, but he has only played one game in the NHL since 2021. His fate is more certain.

Aside from Carrick, there were three other players signed that are expected to be regulars for the Bakersfield Condors and could be potential call-up options.

The Oilers signed goaltender Collin Delia to a one-year deal worth the league minimum $775,000. Delia has a 19-18-7 record with an .897 save percentage and a 3.51 goals against average in 52 NHL appearances. He hasn’t played an NHL game since 2022-23 with the Canucks. Delia posted an 11-19-1 record with a .872 save percentage and a 3.55 GAA with the Manitoba Moose last season. Delia will compete for starts with Olivier Rodrigue with the Bakersfield Condors next season. Rodrigue has taken big steps forward in the last couple of seasons, and he is expected to get the majority of the starts for the Condors in 2024-25.

Restricted free agent James Hamblin signed a two-year deal with an average annual value of $775,000. Hamblin scored his first NHL goal this season in a November 18, 2023 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Edmonton native has speed to spare and is defensively responsible. He could be an option in a depth role for the Oilers next season.

The Oilers also welcomed Noah Philp back into the fold. Philp took a year away from professional hockey for personal reasons last year. The former University of Alberta Golden Bear put up 37 points in 70 games with the Bakersfield Condors in 2022-23. Philp was on track to becoming a solid right-handed fourth line centre for the Oilers. Hopefully the year off has not hindered his development at all.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVMonday’s signings were so great for the Oilers for a few reasons. Jackson was able to bring back everyone from the team that made the Stanley Cup Final last season except for Desharnais and Warren Foegele. The Oilers lost eleven players in the summer of 2006 after that run to the Stanley Cup Final. The fact that Jackson was able to get Arvidsson, Skinner, and Henrique to sign without screwing the team’s cap situation going into the next two years where Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Connor McDavid will all need new lucrative contracts was amazing. Jackson found a way to improve the team and add depth in all positions.

The only criticism that I have of Jackson’s day was that it appears that the top six defence group went unchanged. There were quite a few right-handed defence upgrades over Cody Ceci available, and Jackson didn’t sign any right-handed defencemen that are better than Ceci. He said that they will find a spot for Philip Broberg to play. That’s fantastic. Jackson pointed out that Broberg played with Nurse on the right side in the playoffs and played well, and that someone will have to move to the right side. He said that player might be Broberg.

I feel that Broberg should be the last player to move to the right side because of his inexperience at the NHL level and because of the fact that his underlying numbers are so much better when playing on the left side than on the right side. Pushin Broberg over to the right side would be setting him up for failure rather than success in my opinion. The better decision would be to move Brett Kulak over to the right side.

Broberg with a right shot D

42 5×5 minutes
68% xGoal share
61% shot share
55% scoring chance share
100% goal share

Broberg with a left shot D

94 5×5 minutes
28% xGoal share
37% shot share
34% scoring chance share
67% goal share https://t.co/YR8BRUpk1L

— Blue Bullet Brad (@BlueBullet1981) June 28, 2024

Aside from that though, it was a fantastic free agency day for Jackson and the Oilers. Jackson has assembled a group that is better than the one that lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. That’s an exciting thought.

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June 30, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s the Canada Day long weekend. July 1 represents the official start of a new NHL calendar year. It’s the day where old contracts expire and unrestricted free agents are allowed to sign with new teams. We know there will be fireworks around the NHL during the day and across Canada at night.

Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson doesn’t want to be the team’s new general manager, but he’s going to be assuming the role through the start of the free agency period. He has said that he wants to bring as many of the Oilers’ impending UFAs as he can, but it’s not likely that all of them will be back.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVHere’s where the team stands from a cap perspective on June 30, 2024:

Nugent-Hopkins ($5.125M) McDavid ($12.5M) Hyman ($5.5M)

Kane ($5.125M) Draisaitl ($8.5M) X

X McLeod ($2.1M) X

X X Ryan ($900k)

Ekholm ($6M) Bouchard ($3.9M)

Nurse ($9.25M) Ceci ($3.25M)

Kulak ($2.75M) X

Skinner ($2.6M)

Pickard ($1M)

Player Cap Hit Total: $68.5M

Buyouts: Neal ($1,916,667), Campbell ($1.1M)

Overage: $3.55M

Total: $75,066,667

Cap Space: $12,933,333

Active Roster: 14

RFAs: Holloway, Broberg

UFAs: Henrique, Foegele, Brown, Janmark, Perry, Carrick, Gagner, Desharnais

The Oilers bought out Jack Campbell and re-signed Calvin Pickard to be the team’s backup over the weekend. Those moves netted the Oilers $2.9 million in cap space for next season.

Related: Oilers buy out Jack Campbell

Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg were both issued qualifying offers on Sunday, which means that both players will be back with the Oilers organization. Holloway forced his way onto the playoff roster and he was second in the league in hits with 86 hits. Broberg entered the playoffs in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final, and he played admirably well in the remainder of the playoffs. I would imagine that both players will carry a cap hit of approximately $1 million for next season.

The #Oilers have issued qualifying offers to defencemen Philip Broberg & Noel Hoefenmayer as well as forwards James Hamblin, Dylan Holloway & Raphael Lavoie.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 30, 2024

The penalty killing duo of Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown was fantastic during the playoffs. Janmark contributed with four points, including a goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Janmark was great on the forecheck as well. Brown scored a shorthanded goal and set up two others in the final two rounds of the playoffs. Brown appears to be past the knee injury that cost him essentially all of the 2022-23 season and that slowed him down significantly last season. I expect Janmark to sign a one-year, $1 million deal with the Oilers. Brown’s heart belongs in Edmonton, and I expect that he will sign here as well. The number will be challenging because Brown had a terrible regular season, but an encouraging playoffs. It won’t be the $4 million that he ended up with in total last season, but it also won’t be the league minimum cap hit.

Related: Janmark and Brown appreciation Post

Adam Henrique and Warren Foegele are expected to get an AAV of approximately $4 million for next season. If the Oilers were to sign the four players I’ve mentioned above for $1 million each, then they would have just enough room to sign Henrique and Foegele at $4 million apiece. They would be stuck with an active roster of 20 players if they were to do that. Unfortunately, I don’t see both of these players coming back.

Henrique was a decent addition to the Oilers for the stretch drive and the playoff run. He got nine points in 22 games for the Oilers down the stretch, and another six points in fifteen games in the playoffs, including a goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. Henrique centered a third line with Janmark and Brown that played a key role in pushing the Stanley Cup Final to seven games. Henrique’s versatility makes him a compelling player for the Oilers.

Photo Credit: x.com/BR_OpenIceFoegele had a career year in 2023-24. He scored twenty goals and got 41 points in 82 games in the regular season. Foegele struggled in the early rounds of the playoffs and found himself as a healthy scratch in the Western Conference Final, but he turned it up in the Stanley Cup Final. He scored the first Oilers goal at Rogers Place in the Stanley Cup Final, and he got five points in the final four games of the series. My gut tells me that it would be a mistake to overpay for Foegele based on a career year at the age of 28. Foegele provided great value for the Oilers as a middle six forward that mostly played in the top six last season, but I don’t expect that to continue. Foegele’s production in 2023-24 was his ceiling, and the Oilers need a top six winger whose floor would match Foegele’s production from last season.

Related: Foegele’s Stanley Cup Final resurgence

The Oilers do need a fourth line centre, and Sam Carrick fits the bill. The Oilers could put Ryan McLeod there if Henrique was to re-sign, but having a true fourth line centre like Carrick around would give the team flexibility. I would consider bringing Carrick back on a cheap deal, but I expect the Oilers to get a fourth line centre in the open market if Carrick doesn’t come back.

The other forwards listed are depth forwards. Corey Perry didn’t produce much offence for the Oilers and he’s 39 years old. Sam Gagner is beloved and I have all the time in the world for him, even as a minor leaguer. Gagner didn’t get into a playoff game, which says a lot about how the organization feels about his ability to contribute at the NHL level though.

Then there’s Vincent Desharnais, the tower of power on the back end. The friendly giant has an opportunity to get paid in the open market. Frank Seravalli doesn’t think Desharnais will get more than $1.5 million per season on the open market, and I think that’s a fair assessment. I would definitely bring Desharnais back at that price. He’s a great penalty killer and a solid third pairing defenceman.

Signing everybody would round out the 2024-25 Oilers roster. However, that would leave no room for improvement. There are two ways that I see to improve the Oilers in free agency.

The more important yet more complicated way is to shore up the defence. That would involve making at least one change. Cody Ceci himself is not a terrible defenceman, and his $3.25 million cap hit is actually reasonable for a second pairing defenceman. The problem is that he isn’t a good fit with Darnell Nurse, and he becomes expensive if he’s stuck on the third pairing. The underlying numbers say that he makes every one of his partners worse.

Moving Ceci would create $3.25 million in cap space. If no defenceman is brought in to replace him, then the Oilers would have to rely on the combination of Kulak, Broberg, and potentially Desharnais if he re-signs to handle second pairing minutes. Kulak can handle himself there, but he’s better on a third pairing. Broberg will get to that level, but he isn’t there yet and he’s far better on his strong side. Desharnais is over his head in a second pairing role if he’s there for any length of time, but he did acquit himself nicely in limited time with Nurse last season.

Ideally, a right-handed defenceman would be brought in to replace Ceci. The top right-handed defencemen on the list are already off the market with Chris Tanev’s rights being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brett Pesce reportedly heading to the New Jersey Devils, and Alexandre Carrier reportedly on the verge of extending with the Nashville Predators. There are options like Brandon Montour, Sean Walker, and Matt Roy out there; but the challenge there is the money. Kulak might have to move in addition to Ceci to create enough space to sign a top UFA right-handed defenceman.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 21: Edmonton Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak (27) skates up ice during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 21, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)There are also riskier options like John Klingberg, Matt Dumba, Tony DeAngelo, Justin Schultz, and Kevin Shattenkirk out there. Nurse would benefit from being paired with a good puck moving defenceman; but none of the players I just listed as risks are great defensively.

The other area of need is a winger for Leon Draisaitl. We are entering the final year of Draisaitl’s contract. Draisaitl has never had the benefit of having a steady and consistent top six winger on his line. He does get to play with McDavid a lot, but when they are apart, it’s a rotating cast of players like Foegele, McLeod, Holloway, and Janmark who are not proven top six wingers. Draisaitl has had Evander Kane a lot, but the numbers say that they aren’t a fantastic duo. Getting Draisaitl a legitimate top six winger would go a long way towards getting to sign an extension with the Oilers.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The Oilers aren’t getting Jake Guentzel or Sam Reinhart, and Steven Stamkos is a long shot; but there are some options out there. Jonathan Marchessault might be just out of the price range, but he would be a great pickup for the Oilers. Viktor Arvidsson is an intriguing option. He’s fast and tenacious. His issue is staying healthy though. Tyler Toffoli is another great option. He’s a pure sniper. Tuevo Teravainen, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Jeff Skinner could also be good options. Players like Nikolaj Ehlers and Martin Necas would be nice trade options, but the Oilers don’t have the necessary assets to pull either one of those players away from their respective teams.

Jake DeBrusk is a popular choice that I’m not in love with because a team will be paying for the one truly good year he had two years ago. I look at players like DeBrusk, Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, David Perron, Jack Roslovic, Anthony Duclair, and Daniel Sprong as secondary possibilities that are either overvalued or simply not quite productive enough for what I believe the Oilers need.

If the Oilers are to sign one a top six winger, then it means that they would have to sacrifice both Henrique and Foegele. I would personally make that sacrifice for a legitimate winger for Draisaitl.

Jackson is getting the chance to put his stamp on the Oilers. He is relying on his newly strengthened hockey operations team to help him out during this process, but he will ultimately be the one making the decisions in the early stages of the free agency period. I’m curious to see how aggressive he chooses to be on Monday.

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June 30, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have bought out the remaining three years of Jack Campbell’s contract. Campbell originally signed a five-year, $25 million contract in the summer of 2022.

The #Oilers have placed goaltender Jack Campbell on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout. pic.twitter.com/lXb1UmGTi3

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 30, 2024

Campbell had an .888 save percentage and a 3.41 goals against average in 36 appearances in his first season with the Oilers in 2022-23. He had a great exhibition season last fall, and earned the opening night start for the 2023-24 season. That was short lived. He allowed four goals on twelve shots in an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. Campbell ended up with an .873 save percentage and a 4.50 GAA in just five appearances with the Oilers last year.

Related: Oilers Send Campbell to AHL, Recall Pickard

He spent the rest of the season in AHL Bakersfield after being waived last November. Campbell did see an improvement in his time with the Bakersfield Condors. He put up a .918 save percentage and a 2.63 GAA in 33 regular season appearances, and he allowed five goals in a playoff loss to the Ontario Reign.

Regardless of how well Campbell played in Bakersfield, the reality of the situation was that Campbell was always on his way out of the organization after he was waived and sent down last year. Skinner is the undoubted organizational number one goalie, and he has been for quite some time. I felt that the Oilers giving him every start in the 2023 playoffs answered any doubts about the goaltending hierarchy in Edmonton. They also can’t keep taking starts away from up and coming goaltending prospect Olivier Rodrigue.

The Oilers’ cap situation is too tight to have a player with a $5 million cap hit buried in the minors. The Oilers have a long list of impending unrestricted free agents that they would like to re-sign, and they also have areas of need that they should be trying to improve via free agency. Campbell’s contract was the one they could afford to get rid of without impacting the quality of the roster that got them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

That made the buyout the only option to get out from under Campbell’s contract. Here is the buyout structure for Campbell’s contract according to PuckPedia:

The #LetsGoOilers are buying out the final 3 years @ $5M Cap Hit on Jack Campbell's contract. Buyout cap hit:

Year 1 $1.1M ($3.9M savings)
Year 2 $2.3M ($2.7M savings)
Year 3 $2.6M ($2.4M savings)
Years 4, 5, 6: $1.5M Cap Hit (cost)https://t.co/SQEEliFTOF pic.twitter.com/VWxcvGSl2N

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) June 30, 2024

Just as the Oilers are entering the final year of the James Neal buyout, they are now staring down the barrel of another six years of dad cap space due to a buyout of a bad contract. That dead cap space is frustrating because of the team’s tight cap situation. The impending contract extensions of Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and Evan Bouchard make every little bit of cap space valuable, and this buyout doesn’t help the situation.

Related: Moving Campbell is the MOST IMPORTANT Thing for the Oilers

I believe that the Campbell contract was one of Holland’s worst decisions as Oilers GM, if not the worst one. I understand why Campbell was signed. He had an unbelievable season going in 2021-22 before he got hurt, and he was comfortable playing in the pressure cooker that was the Toronto market. Mike Smith’s career was ending, Mikko Koskinen’s contract had expired, and the Oilers’ only signed goalie was an unproven Skinner.

Skinner showed signs of being a really good goaltender in the 2021-22 season though. The Oilers just didn’t fully know what they had in Skinner. I personally would’ve gone after a goalie that could’ve played in a tandem with Skinner for two or three years on a cheaper contract rather than giving Campbell the big pay day. The Campbell contract had two possible outcomes: blocking Skinner’s path to a starter’s job, or the outcome we’re seeing now. Neither were desirable outcomes.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)If Campbell had worked out, then it wouldn’t have mattered, but he didn’t work out. The Oilers signed that contract knowing that he was dealing with an injury, and that his performance dipped significantly at the end of the 2021-22 season after that injury. There was always a strong chance that Campbell would not regain his fantastic form after the injury, and that’s exactly what played out. Now, the Oilers have to face six years of a dead cap hit during the prime years of McDavid and Draisaitl.

The bright side is that the Oilers just gained $3.9 million in cap space. They now sit at $12,933,333 in cap space after the Campbell buyout and Saturday’s contract extension of backup goalie Calvin Pickard. They also made qualifying offers to Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg along with Raphael Lavoie, James Hamblin, and Noel Hoefenmayer on Sunday. Holloway and Broberg will surely be on the opening night roster next season, and Hoefenmayer will definitely be with the Condors; but the destinations of Lavoie and Hamblin, both of whom saw time with the big club last season, are up in the air.

The Campbell buyout offers more flexibility for CEO Jeff Jackson for the start of the free agency period on Monday. The Oilers have several unrestricted free agents that they would like to sign including Adam Henrique, Warren Foegele, Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Corey Perry, Sam Gagner, Sam Carrick, and Vincent Desharnais. I’m not sure that they can get all of these players re-signed and make upgrades to the roster, but the Campbell buyout helps the cause in the immediate term.

Related: Resilient

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June 29, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Heading into the 2024 NHL Draft, it looked like the Edmonton Oilers would go without a first-round pick in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history.

The Oilers traded their first-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick in a three-team trade also involving the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 6. However, as the opening night of draft weekend began to wind down, the Oilers dealt a conditional first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to the Philadelphia Flyers for a first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The conditional pick is top-12 protected in 2025 and unprotected if it transfers to 2026.

With their first-round pick (32nd overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft, the Edmonton Oilers selected centre Sam O’Reilly from the London Knights of the OHL. It marked the first time the Oilers chose an OHL player in the first-round since Evan Bouchard from the Knights at 10th overall in 2018. Additionally, O’Reilly was the 12th Knights player ever drafted by the Oilers, which is the most from any CHL team in franchise history.

Scouting Reports“He has good game habits, is hard to play against and plays with some bite while playing within the rules. He has very good offensive hockey sense and puck skills, is hard to contain down low and gaining more confidence offensively as the season progresses. O’Reilly can play the fast/smart game in traffic and small areas and has all the tools in his kit to contribute offensively.” – CHL Content Manager Matt Tidcombe (January 22, 2024)

“I really wanted to put him higher and there’s a chance that I do by the draft, but I’m just a bit hesitant right now because I don’t love his skating. I’ve seen some praising his speed on social media, and I just don’t see that. I think his stride is clunky and it lacks power, preventing him from getting clear separation.” – Director of Scouting for McKeen’s Hockey Brock Otten (January 23, 2024)

“He’s the main reason why we really didn’t do that much at the OHL trade deadline, because we felt he was ready to step in and play a key role in our top nine forwards. The nice thing that Sam brings is he’s a little bit of a throwback to me because he does a lot of little things on the ice that are hard to find. He drives the net extremely hard, can tip pucks, screen goalies. He’s physical all over the ice and he can play a 200-foot game.” – Associate General Manager of the London Knights Rob Simpson (March 15, 2024)

A prospect on the riseAfter being selected 37th overall by the Knights in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection, O’Reilly tied for the league lead in goals (26) and finished second in the league in assists (47) and second in points (63) in 35 games with the London Nationals in the Great Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) in 2022-23. He also appeared in five contests with the Knights that season.

Playing on a stacked junior club with championship aspirations, O’Reilly started his OHL career a bottom-six penalty killer with the Knights. A rising prospect throughout the season, O’Reilly saw increased minutes and offensive production down the stretch drive and into the playoffs. O’Reilly tallied 20 goals and 56 points in 68 games as a rookie in 2023-24, including 38 points in his final 41 games.

Photo Credit: gamedaylondon.comToronto, Ontario native finished third in goals, second in assists, and third in points among OHL rookies, and was named to the 2023-24 OHL Second All-Rookie Team. O’Reilly led all OHL rookies with 12 points in 16 games in the 2024 playoffs. The 18-year-old helped the Knights win the 2024 OHL championship and reach the 2024 Memorial Cup final. He added four points in four games in the Memorial Cup.

Ranked No. 24 among North American skaters, O’Reilly played for Team White in the 2024 CHL Top Prospects Game in Moncton, New Brunswick. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound centre patterns his game after Nazem Kadri because of his combination of high-end skills and agitation. O’Reilly has strong two-way instincts, creative hands, excellent positional awareness, a heavy shot and a ton of physicality.

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June 28, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

What a ride this past season was! The 2023-24 Edmonton Oilers gave us a truly unforgettable season. If I had to pick one word to describe this team, I would have to say “resilient”.

The team showed up for captain’s skates two weeks before training camp started. The disappointment of losing in the second round to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions was bitter, and they came into the season with a “Cup or bust” mentality.

They started by getting roundhouse kicked in the face. The Oilers took an 8-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the season opener. Their only wins in October were against the Nashville Predators thanks to a big night from Leon Draisaitl, and in the Heritage Classic against the Calgary Flames. They didn’t get a win at Rogers Place until November 13, 2023.

The Canadian flag is displayed on the ice during the Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium on October 29, 2023. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergThat date is significant for another reason. That was the debut of new Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch. The Oilers made the decision to fire Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson after a November 9, 2023 loss to the last place San Jose Sharks that actually bumped the Oilers down to last place in the league with a 2-9-1 record. Woodcroft and Manson got one last game in Seattle to close out that road trip, but the decision had already been made. The Oilers made a coaching change with a record of 3-9-1.

Related: Oilers Fire Woodcroft and Manson & Name Knoblauch and Coffey as replacements

Knoblauch got two home wins to begin his Oilers tenure. Then the team took off on a four-game Eastern road trip. They took losses in Tampa Bay and Florida before moving on to Carolina to face the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes got out to a 4-0 lead within the first fifteen minutes of the game. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl gave each other taps on the thigh with 5:11 left in the second period of a game where they were down 5-1 to the Hurricanes. They lost the game 6-3, but that would be their last loss for a while.

Things are absolutely not going the Oilers way, but here's a wholesome "hang in there" glove tap exchange between McDavid and Draisaitl. pic.twitter.com/oVFdz0P2oy

— seanpangs (@seanpangs) November 23, 2023

It was American Thanksgiving, and the Oilers sat ten points back of a playoff spot. That situation usually means a lost season is ahead. They went into Washington to face the Washington Capitals, and the Oilers rolled through with a 5-0 win. It was the first of eight consecutive victories that put them back in the playoff race.

The streak lasted through the first four games of a six-game December home stand. They lost the last two games of that homestand and the first game of their next Eastern road trip against the New York Islanders. Once again, that would be their last loss for a while.

They didn’t lose again until after the All-Star break! The Oilers won sixteen games in a row, which is tied for the second longest winning streak in NHL history. The historic streak vaulted them into second place in the Pacific Division. The playoffs weren’t even a question at that point. The Oilers had thoughts of winning the division.

Related: Anatomy of a Franchise Record 10-Game Win Streak

That ultimately never came to pass, but they finished second in the Pacific Division and earned themselves another first round matchup with the Los Angeles Kings. This time, the Oilers took care of the Kings in five games.

Next up were the Vancouver Canucks. The same Canucks that stomped on the Oilers in the season opener and that beat the Oilers in all four regular season matchups. The Oilers surrendered a three-goal lead and lost in Game 1. They came back with an overtime win in Game 2 thanks to Evan Bouchard. Bouchard provided more late game heroics in Game 4 to even the series at two. JT Miller provided the late dramatics in Game 5 in a Canucks win. The Oilers needed a big home win in Game 6, and they got it by a score of 5-1. It all came down to Game 7 in Vancouver. The Oilers carried a 3-0 well into the third period. The Canucks made it interesting late, but the Oilers held on for the 3-2 victory. The Oilers didn’t lead in that entire series, but they still won the series.

That earned them their second trip to the Western Conference Final in the last three years. This time, they faced the Dallas Stars. Game 1 was a classic double overtime win finished off by McDavid. The Stars took the next two games to take a 2-1 series lead. The Oilers took over from there though. Philip Broberg entered the series, the powerplay got going, and the Oilers earned their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 2006.

Photo Credit: x.com/NHLNetworkThey made their way to Florida to face the Florida Panthers in Game 1. Sergei Bobrovsky was brilliant in a 3-0 win. He was fantastic once again in Game 2, a 4-1 Panthers win. The Oilers came to Rogers Place down 2-0 in the series. It wasn’t ideal, but still manageable. Warren Foegele scored the first Oilers goal in a Stanley Cup Final game at Rogers Place to tie the game at one early in the second period. However, the Panthers exploded for three goals in the second period and held on for the 4-3 win. The Oilers suddenly found themselves down 3-0. Their backs were against the wall.

They played like it in Game 4. Mattias Janmark opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal. That was the first of eight Oilers goals on the night! An 8-1 win for the Oilers got them on the board and put doubt in the minds of Bobrovsky and the Panthers.

McDavid said that they needed to “drag ‘em back to Alberta” ahead of Game 5. They did exactly that thanks in large part to McDavid and his second consecutive four-point night.

Photo Credit: si.comGame 6 at Rogers Place was truly special. Loud and electric don’t begin to describe the atmosphere at Rogers Place. It only got better as the game went along and the Oilers lead grew. They got up 3-0 heading into the third period. Aleksander Barkov got the Panthers on the board, but the Oilers added two empty netters to send jubilant Oilers fans onto 104 avenue to celebrate an upcoming Game 7.

The Oilers had a chance to make history. They had a chance to become the second team to ever win a Stanley Cup after being down 3-0 in the Final. They also had a chance to break the 31-year Canadian Stanley Cup drought. It was McDavid’s first chance to win a Stanley Cup.

Unfortunately, Game 7 didn’t go the Oilers’ way. It was a hard fought 2-1 loss with the difference being a Sam Reinhart wrister from the right faceoff circle. The Oilers got their chances in the third period, but Bobrovsky shut the door and the Panthers defended incredibly well.

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov lifts the Stanley Cup at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida on June 24, 2024. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergThe result wasn’t what the Oilers were hoping for, but they have a ton of reasons to be proud. They were dead in the water after a 2-9-1 start, and they made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. They were down 3-2 against the Canucks, and they won the series. They were down 2-1 to the Stars, and they won. They were down 3-0 to the Panthers, and they forced a Game 7 and only lost by a goal.

There’s more than that though. McDavid became the fourth player to get 100 assists in the regular season in NHL history. He also recorded 42 points in the playoffs, which is fourth all-time and only five points behind Wayne Gretzky’s 47 points in 1985. McDavid also won his first Conn Smythe trophy, which was certainly bittersweet at the most. He didn’t care about that. His eyes were set on the bigger prize. McDavid did all of this with an apparent abdominal injury.

The Conn Smythe Trophy sits alone on the ice at Amerant Bank Arena after Connor McDavid was announced as the winner on June 24, 2024. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergZach Hyman got 70 goals this season, including 54 in the regular season and sixteen in the playoffs. Evan Bouchard got 32 points in the postseason, which is the second most all-time by a defenceman (Brian Leetch, 34 points in 1994). Draisaitl put up 32 points in the playoffs with broken ribs and a broken finger.

Mostly though, they should be proud of the joy that they brought Edmontonians. Oilers fans came together in a big way during these playoffs. Their passion and their pride shone brightly this spring.

Related: 2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part One

The Oilers entered the season with a “Cup or bust” mentality. They lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, so it was a bust in their eyes. That’s not how fans see it though. They are all proud of the Oilers’ season. They showed resilience time and time again, and they did some incredible things. They gave us a year that we will never forget.

Photo Credit: x.com/NHLNetworkThe season ended on Monday, and the NHL Draft is on Friday. The business of the offseason has already commenced. The Oilers will be eager to get back to the Stanley Cup Final in 2025, but there is a lot of work to be done before that happens.

That work will be done without Ken Holland. Holland and the Oilers mutually agreed to not renew Holland’s contract. Holland leaves the team in a better position than he found it. He inherited a 25th place team, and he left after a Game 7 Stanley Cup Final loss. There were questionable moves like there is with any general manager, but he also made a lot of great moves.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Ken Holland addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThe tight turnaround between the end of the Oilers season and the draft and free agency has left CEO Jeff Jackson no time to find a replacement for Holland before those two big offseason occasions. Jackson will be the acting GM until a new GM is found, which is not likely to be until later in the summer. Jackson will lean on his newly beefed up hockey operations department to get through the draft and the start of the free agency period.

Talks have already begun with the team’s internal free agents. Cam Dineen was re-signed by the Oilers on Friday. Restricted free agents Broberg and Dylan Holloway will surely be signed. The rest of the picture is muddy at best. Here’s the situation heading into the draft:

Nugent-Hopkins ($5.125M) McDavid ($12.5M) Hyman ($5.5M)

Kane ($5.125M) Draisaitl ($8.5M) X

X McLeod ($2.1M) X

X X Ryan ($900k)

Ekholm ($6M) Bouchard ($3.9M)

Nurse ($9.25M) Ceci ($3.25M)

Kulak ($2.75M) X

Skinner ($2.6M)

Campbell ($5M)

Player Cap Hit Total: $72.5M

Buyouts: Neal ($1,916,667)

Overage: $3.55M

Total: $79,966,667

Cap Space: $10,033,333

Active Roster: 14

RFAs: Holloway, Broberg

UFAs: Henrique, Foegele, Brown, Janmark, Perry, Carrick, Gagner, Desharnais, Pickard

I’ll spend more time on what should happen in another piece, but the cap situation is tight for the Oilers. Jackson wants to bring the gang back, but being able to bring everyone back is unrealistic.

What I do know is that this coming season is a huge one. The Oilers came within a goal of the Stanley Cup. This is the last season of Draisaitl at $8.5 million, and the last season of Bouchard at $3.9 million. The Oilers have Cup aspirations, and new contracts for Draisaitl and Bouchard next season are only going to make the cap situation tighter, if Draisaitl decides to stay (which I believe he will, but nothing is guaranteed).

It feels like their backs are against the wall heading into this offseason with no GM, limited cap space, and entirely realistic Stanley Cup expectations. If I know one thing about this team after watching them this season is that they’re resilient. I have no doubt that they will put a great roster together and they will be in the mix for another chance to win a Stanley Cup in 2025. They still believe, and I do too.

Related: 2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part Two

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June 27, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson addressed the media via a video conference call on Thursday morning to address Ken Holland’s departure from the organization and what lies ahead for the Oilers in the coming weeks.

Jackson said that “this was not a surprise”. Jackson and Holland had a “discussion that had been ongoing during the season”, and it’s clear that this was going to be the case for quite a while. Jackson praised Holland’s work during his tenure as Oilers GM, pointing at the acquisitions of Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm as his best moves.

Jackson said that there was never a discussion about Holland returning as GM beyond this season. “We sort of just agreed right from when I got hired that [Holland] had one year left, we would work closely together, we had a great relationship, we were very collaborative, we spent a ton of time together. All the moves we made were things that were discussed with each other. I think it was just sort of understood that that’s what he wanted and he made the comment to me ‘you probably want to have your own guy, and it’s probably time’, but that didn’t change the way we operated this year” said Jackson.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Ken Holland addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVIt seemed pretty clear that this was always the way that it was going to happen. Jackson’s first move after being hired was to fire Tyler Wright, a long-time staffer of Holland’s. That was surely a sign of things to come. It’s clear that Head Coach Kris Knoblauch was a Jackson hire. Holland interviewed Knoblauch for a coaching job with the Grand Rapids Griffins back in the day, but Holland didn’t give Knoblauch the job. Jackson knew Knoblauch from when Knoblauch coached Connor McDavid with the Eerie Otters, and Jackson was McDavid’s agent. Jackson saw Knoblauch work day to day, and he had intel from McDavid on how Knoblauch was as a coach. That hiring was a sure sign that Holland was not likely to return after this season in my opinion.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVWhile nobody would ever be upset about the team advancing as far as it did this season, the long playoff run by the Oilers has made their management situation more complicated. Now, the Oilers are days away from the draft and the start of the free agency period, and they don’t have a GM in place.

“We knew we were going to be handcuffed if we went far in the playoffs because you can’t be having discussions about other general managers and asking for permission from other teams while we’re playing because in our business, as you guys know, everything makes its way into the public realm. [Holland] and I talked a bunch of times this year about just making sure that we kept everything ‘no distractions for the players’. I think we were totally aligned on that, and it served our players best to do it that way.”

Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey will run the draft. Jackson specified that Pracey’s job is to run the draft, so that was always going to be the way it was going to work. Jackson said that the team has already started talking to their own impending free agents, and that he is working with his management team, the professional scouts, and his newly beefed up analytics department on that front. Jackson also stated that he will be the acting GM for now and that he does not have any intention of being the general manager.

“I’m working closely with our management group and our pro scouts, all of whom are excellent. Our analytics guys, the hockey ops. The one thing about this year is I was not a CEO of a team that was not involved. I was sort of integrated and embedded all year with [Holland] and the staff, so I have a very good understanding of you know, skill sets and personalities and what people do well, and we have a very capable group… We’ve got a lot to do and we’re sort of behind the eight ball, but I’m confident that we’re going to be able to accomplish what we need to in the short-term.”

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThere’s more to a management team than just a GM. A GM is the one that has the final say, but there is a large team of assistant GMs, scouts, salary cap specialists, and analytics personnel that all provide information about players. Jackson himself is a former agent that is fully capable of negotiating contracts and of negotiating with other general managers. While it’s not ideal to be without a GM for the draft and the start of free agency, the Oilers have a capable hockey operations team that can carry the load for a short time.

Jackson was asked if he plans on being aggressive in making deals in the coming days, and he said that “we’re going to look at any way we can to improve the team, even if it’s by a small amount. We’re not going to be super aggressive and start making deals all over the place. We obviously have a very good group, we made it where we made it. I’ve never seen a team that’s gelled so well and then through the playoffs matured as a team sort of before our eyes.”

He added that “we’d like to bring back the team. We might like to tinker with it a little bit, make a change here or there. Being realistic, I don’t know if we’ll get everybody back or not… We’re going to be active and looking at ways to free up money and have options for sure, try to make improvements wherever we can in the lineup; but I wouldn’t say we’re going to just open the floodgates and try to do a bunch of big deals. That just doesn’t make sense with the team that we already have in place and the success we had this year and the group we have.”

Mark Spector asked Jackson about two players in particular: Jack Campbell and Leon Draisaitl. The question about Campbell involved the likelihood of a potential buyout. Jackson said that he wouldn’t comment on Campbell, but he did say that “we’re looking at every option we can on various things, including [Campbell], but at this point we’re not planning that. We’re considering it.” My hope is that there is a way to move Campbell’s contract, but getting a team to take a $5 million cap hit for three more years will be costly. A buyout will leave the team with dead cap space for six years, which is not ideal in a Stanley Cup window.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 20 Edmonton Oilers Goalie Jack Campbell (36) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Carolina Hurricanes on October 20, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The conversation around Draisaitl was about his upcoming contract negotiation. He has one year left on his current contract, and he is eligible to sign an extension with the Oilers as early as this summer. Jackson said that he hasn’t started conversations with Draisaitl’s camp yet, but he will meet with Draisaitl’s agent at the draft this week. Jackson went on to say that he thinks that “it’s critically important that the general manager is in place before we get into the meat of that discussion because I’m sure for [Draisaitl] and his representatives, they’re going to want to know what the vision is, who the GM is, all of those sorts of things. It’s a big move and it’s a commitment from [Draisaitl]. I think that obviously he knows me and the way that I operate, and I think that we’ll have a very good general manager in place, but I’m assuming they’re going to want to wait and know who that is before we really get into it.”

He added that he doesn’t feel pressure to get Draisaitl’s contract done by a certain date. “He’s got another year on his contract. He likes playing in Edmonton. He likes this team, he likes the coach, the coaches. We need to sit down and talk about you know, not only money, but philosophically where the team is going to go, what we’re trying to do. I mentioned earlier he needs to know who the new GM is before we really do that because he’s not going to commit long-term and not know who you know, the guy that’s going to be with him day-to-day and on the planes and the hotels on the road and all that sort of stuff, and who’s managing the team day-to-day… We’ve got a year to work on it. We want to keep this group together, and it’s a priority to do that with Leon; but I don’t feel like a date here in the next two, three days or July 1st or anything like that where we have to do something or we’re putting ourselves in peril. I just don’t feel like that.”

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Draisaitl is the second best player in the world in my opinion. There’s no argument that he’s a top player in the NHL. I love that Jackson understands that Draisaitl will need to be on the same page with the organization about their long-term goals. Jackson has a lot of time before he needs to hire a new GM since there is a plan in place to get through the draft and the free agency period. He will have time to have preliminary discussions with Draisaitl about what his long-term goals are and his philosophical thoughts about the direction of the team.

The same goes for McDavid, whose contract runs out one year after Draisaitl’s contract expires. We know that Draisaitl and McDavid have a tight relationship. McDavid is the best player in the world, and he will also surely be involved in discussions about the future philosophical direction of the team.

“There’s probably going to be a point where we sit down with both of them and chat. I mean, Connor’s not going to be involved in a negotiation involving Leon, but philosophically when we get our new general manager, I’m sure we’re going to meet and talk about things, and not doing it in a vacuum. I think it’s important that we have the collaboration of our top two players, and they know what the vision is and what our new GM is thinking…They’re linked, but they’re also separate.” said Jackson.

Photo Credit: theglobeandmail.comThey will have separate negotiations, but both players will certainly want to be on the same page with Jackson and the new GM about the long-term goals for the team. Jackson understands that the Oilers are in “win now” mode with Draisaitl and McDavid in their primes, and we know that Draisaitl and McDavid want to win more than anything. They also both love playing for the Oilers. I understand that some people are concerned that the team might lose Draisaitl and/or McDavid for nothing in free agency if they are not extended before the last year of their contracts begins, but Jackson is not at all worried about that at this time. Neither am I.

As far as the search for a new GM is concerned, Jackson said that he has “a number of candidates that [he has] started to reach out to. It’s a difficult time for everybody, you know we’re at the draft. People that I want to talk to are like integral parts of other organizations… I’m anticipating that I’m going to have to be a bit patient with that and get through this next few days; but I’m okay with that. I think that I want to do this the right way. I want to get the right person. I don’t have a timeframe for it. Obviously it’s a priority, a big priority, and I don’t want it to linger, and I don’t know how long it’ll take. It’ll sort of be subject to my ability to talk to people when they’re freed up.”

This hiring is critically important for the future of the Oilers. The new GM will have to negotiate the two biggest contracts in Oilers history with Draisaitl and McDavid in the next two years. The new GM will also be tasked with putting the finishing touches that will push the team over the top and allow them to win the Stanley Cup, something that the current group came within a goal of achieving in 2024. We will have to wait and see what Jackson has up his sleeve for this hiring.

For now though, the news of the day is that Holland’s contract will not be renewed. Holland got this team to the Stanley Cup Final and led them through nine playoff series in the last three years. While Holland made some questionable moves that did not pan out, he also made some incredibly impactful moves that got the Oilers to where they are today. Holland did a lot to turn the Oilers into perennial contenders. He should be commended for that.

Related: Holland and the Oilers part ways

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June 27, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers and General Manager Ken Holland have mutually agreed to part ways. Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson released a statement this morning confirming the news that Elliotte Friedman reported was likely to happen late last night in MST and that Darren Dreger was first to report this morning.

Oilers CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson has released a statement regarding President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Ken Holland. https://t.co/xcuFvngOCe

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 27, 2024

Holland’s five-year contract that started in the 2019-20 season will simply expire. The 68-year old had a 220-121-32 record in his five seasons as GM of the Oilers. The Oilers finished in second place in whichever division they played in during all five of Holland’s seasons at the helm. The Oilers appeared in two Western Conference Finals in the last three years of Holland’s tenure with the Oilers, and they made it to Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, narrowly falling short of completing a historic comeback from being down 3-0 in the series.

Holland inherited quite the mess from previous Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli. The Oilers finished in 25th place in the 2018-19 season, and they were tight against the salary cap. He had to deal with the anchor of Milan Lucic’s contract, he had a disgruntled former fourth overall pick in Jesse Puljujarvi, and he had a difficult goaltending situation with Mikko Koskinen having just signed a long-term extension.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 10: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Jesse Puljujarvi (13) is demoted to the third line in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup playoffs round 1, game 5 on May 10, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The first thing that Holland did was trading Milan Lucic for James Neal. Their contracts expired at the same time, and Holland retained a little bit of money on Lucic’s contract to make the money exactly the same. The difference was that Neal’s contract was much easier to buy out. That’s exactly what Holland did with Neal after two seasons. Neal’s buyout cap hit lasted exactly as long as Holland did with the Oilers.

The Oilers made trade deadline deals in every season under Holland. It was Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Ennis in 2020; Dmitri Kulikov in 2021; Brett Kulak and Derrick Brassard in 2022; Mattias Ekholm and Nick Bjugstad in 2023, and Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick, and Troy Stecher in 2024. Ekholm was clearly the pick of the litter of Holland’s deadline acquisitions. Kulak has been quite serviceable in his time with the Oilers. Henrique was a solid addition for the 2024 playoff run. The success of the other trade deadline moves was limited. Athanasiou was not qualified the next season due to his high qualifying offer number, so that was a big loss for Holland.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 01: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Mattias Ekholm (14) in his first game as an Oilers defends his zone in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Toronto Maple Leads on March 1, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Holland did have other trades that worked out well. The Ethan Bear for Warren Foegele trade was criticized at first, but Foegele turned into a meaningful contributor, especially this season. He scored twenty goals in the regular season, and he got five points in the Stanley Cup Final. Holland also traded Dmitri Samorukov for Klim Kostin. Kostin was a fan favourite for his combination of fighting, hitting, and goal scoring last season.

Holland had more success in free agency though. At first, it was a laundry list of cheap bets due to the cap situation, and those didn’t pan out. Once some cap space became available, Holland was able to do more. Zach Hyman is Holland’s best free agent signing. Hyman provides incredible value. The guy led the playoffs in goal scoring with sixteen goals this season, and he scored 54 goals in the regular season. Holland also signed Evander Kane during the 2021-22 season after his contract with the San Jose Sharks was terminated. Kane had a massive playoff run for the Oilers in 2022, and he still remains a contributor on the team. Mike Smith was the free agent signing that helped the goaltending situation. Smith played three seasons with the Oilers, and he led the team to the Western Conference Final in his last season. Cody Ceci was signed to replace the departing Adam Larsson in 2021. Ceci is not Larsson, but he has been serviceable.

ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 05: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Zach Hyman (18) on the ice during a face-off in an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks played on April 5, 2023 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire)Holland definitely valued experience and championship pedigree. The Duncan Keith trade was widely viewed as a loss because Holland didn’t get the Blackhawks to retain any of Keith’s salary for the last year of his deal, but Keith was a contributor on the team that made it to the Western Conference Final in 2022. He was a mentor to Evan Bouchard, and his presence in the dressing room was surely impactful. Holland also brought in Corey Perry, who has won everything there is to win in hockey, for this year’s playoff run. Those players offered valuable guidance to an Oilers team that needed to learn how to win in the playoffs.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Holland. He made some missteps as well. I already addressed the Athanasiou trade where he gave up two second round picks for basically nothing. Puljujarvi ended up being moved for a prospect that was never re-signed. It got the Oilers cap space at the 2023 deadline, which made it possible to acquire Ekholm; but giving up Puljujarvi for cap space definitely hurt. He signed Zack Kassian to a large contract that he later had to surrender a first round pick (Reid Schaeffer) to move. Perhaps the largest of his mistakes was signing Jack Campbell to a five-year, $25 million deal when Stuart Skinner was about to emerge as a number one goaltender. Campbell spent all but five games buried in the AHL this past season after struggling in his first season.

I’ll never forget the fact that the Oilers traded down to select Xavier Bourgault when they had an organizational need in goal and the chance to select Jesper Wallstedt with the 20th pick in 2021. Instead, they picked Xavier Bourgault with the 22nd pick. Bourgault has yet to play an NHL game and had a tough year this past season. Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars took Wyatt Johnston with the next pick, and he led their team in goal scoring this season. It’s things like that that cost Tyler Wright his job last summer and that played a role in Holland’s contract not being extended.

Say what you want about Holland’s body of work, but the Oilers were always strong regular season teams under Holland, and they had a lot of playoff success under Holland despite falling just short of the ultimate prize on Monday night. Holland will not be a part of the Oilers staff in any capacity moving forward. We will wait to see what Holland’s next move will be, whether he retires or takes on another role with another team. If this is the end for Holland, then it was an incredible career. If he’s not done yet, then I wish him all the best in his next role. Either way, good luck to Holland.

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June 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers were on the precipice of making history. They had the chance to become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to come back to win a Stanley Cup Final after being down 3-0. It was Connor McDavid’s first chance to win a Stanley Cup. The Oilers had a chance to break the 31-year drought of Canadian teams not winning the Stanley Cup. Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final was being billed as the biggest game in NHL history by some media members. I felt like I had no choice but to go!

My buddy and I stayed up until 4 AM after Game 6 trying to arrange flights. We found several, but they were being scooped up as we found them. He finally found one that we could book, so he booked it. It was official, we were going to Game 7!

Related: 2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part One

The original plan was to fly to Toronto at 6:20 PM on Sunday night. We were set to arrive just after midnight Eastern time. We had an eleven hour layover in Toronto before our connecting flight to Orlando was scheduled to leave just before noon. We were scheduled to land in Orlando just before 3 PM, leaving us just enough time to make the three hour drive to Ft Lauderdale and to get ourselves to the game comfortably.

That’s not at all how it went down.

Our first flight was delayed four times. FOUR! We left four hours later than we were originally scheduled to depart. Thankfully we had a massive layover in Toronto, but it was extremely frustrating. We predictably got stuck at a train on our drive to the airport. We got into Toronto at around 4 AM, and it was closer to 5 AM by the time we got to our hotel. It meant that we would only get a few hours to sleep. I have trouble sleeping in my own bed let alone in hotels, so I got zero winks of sleep that night. My buddy only slept for a few hours.

We figured we would still be fine if our flight to Orlando didn’t get delayed. Sure enough, with only ten minutes left until boarding, that flight got delayed until 2 PM. The game started at 8 PM. A three hour flight and a three hour drive left us racing to get to Amerant Bank Arena in time for puck drop.

My friend and I went to the desk to talk to Air Canada. A couple that was also going to the game approached the desk at the same time, so we just had the conversation together. There was a flight to Ft Lauderdale that was scheduled to land at 7:35 PM, leaving us in the same situation essentially. That flight was full, and we had the option to join a waitlist for openings on that flight. That flight left a couple of hours after ours, so we opted to wait it out.

It was playing out like the start of the series did for the Oilers. Our backs were against the wall. I said that I’ve heard this story somewhere before. It was feeling like something out of a movie at that point! It was the trip with all of the possible delays that could potentially have prevented us from getting to our incredibly important event in time.

We got onto the plane with no further delays. The couple that we met at the desk was sitting a few rows in front of us. Near the end of the flight, a man stopped to thank the couple as he walked by them to go back to his seat. He had been talking to a flight attendant. I overheard the flight attendant say that they would let Oilers fans going to the game get off the plane first. Sure enough, they made an announcement moments later that said that they would be letting Oilers fans going to the game off the plane first because we still had a three hour drive ahead of us!

Just landed in Orlando! Plane was delayed. There are lots of #Oilers fans on this flight. The flight attendants are letting all Oilers fans going to the game off the plane first because we still have a 3 hour drive ahead!

Let the race begin!#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/rUFiSafvVE

— x – Lotsy (@lotsryan) June 24, 2024

I legitimately started choking up and holding back tears. I wanted nothing more than to just get to that game on time. I was running on no sleep, and the day had been stressful up to that point. That was the positive turning point in the movie where the main characters realize that they can make it!

Once the flight landed, half the plane got up and raced towards the door. The sprint was on!

The drive there certainly could have offered us more encounters that would have slowed us down more. Thankfully, there were no more dramatic scenes in our movie. We passed several state troopers on the highway, but none of them wanted to stop us. We were obviously driving in a totally safe manner.

2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part Two 11We arrived at the game in a nick of time! We entered the building as the player introductions were happening. We got to our section as the Canadian anthem started. We got to sing O Canada loudly and proudly with all the other Oilers fans in attendance, but we had to do it from the entrance to our section. They let us into our seats for the American national anthem. We got into our seats just in time for puck drop!

Ryan Lotsberg takes a selfie excitedly upon arriving at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 24, 2024. Photo Credit: Jeff BienertThe adventure of getting down there was honestly crazy! I had two media members reach out to me for interviews on Sunday afternoon after I posted about what happened on the plane. One was from SONiC 102.9 in Edmonton; and one was from Scripps News wanting me to appear on Morning Rush, their national morning show, if the Oilers had won the game. Neither one worked out because of my travel schedule and the result of the game, but it was still really cool to be asked.

This experience wasn’t ALL about the outcome for me. It was about making a core memory with a friend and sharing an incredible experience with other Oilers fans. We were sad that we didn’t get to meet up with Oilers fans for any pregame festivities, but we got to meet a few Oilers fans at the game.

We were in a section full of Oilers fans. I sat beside a man from Ottawa that had the EXACT same orange shoes as I was wearing! We met a man from Halifax that was wearing an Oilers jersey that said “McMagic” on the back. He and his wife drove 39 hours from Halifax for the game. He told us that his mission was to find Mark Messier at the game and get his autograph. I don’t know if he was successful or not unfortunately. I also got to meet Tony Brar in the concourse in the first intermission.

We know what happened in the game. Panthers fans were loud throughout the game, but it was not anywhere close to what I experienced in Game 6. The outcome stung, but the experience was still amazing! I’m always going to remember the excitement and the anticipation before the game, and how it felt when Mattias Janmark scored to tie the game in the first period. I’m also going to remember the disappointment of watching the final minutes and seconds tick off the clock. I’ll remember the feeling of helplessness and emptiness as I watched the rats fly onto the ice and the gloves and sticks go flying in the Panthers zone. I’ll also remember McDavid not coming out to accept the Conn Smythe trophy. Gary Bettman made sure to remind everyone that the award is for the best player in the ENTIRE PLAYOFFS while presenting the trophy.

The Conn Smythe Trophy sits alone on the ice at Amerant Bank Arena after Connor McDavid was announced as the winner on June 24, 2024. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergI took that one on the chin. It’s okay though because those feelings serve to make us stronger, and it will make it feel so much better when the Oilers do finally win the Stanley Cup.

I travelled 10,182 km in a span of 46.5 hours. It involved a 22 hour trip to Ft Lauderdale, and a 13.5 hour trip home. It was five flights in three days, including two flights and five delays on the way down and three flights on our way home on Tuesday. It was fifteen hours in the air and three hours on the road. We were on both coasts on Tuesday. We basically did a full circle of the United States in two days. I got two hours of sleep plus what little bits I could get on my flights on the way home in those 46.5 hours. It was all worth it even though we saw the wrong team lift the Stanley Cup.

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov lifts the Stanley Cup at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida on June 24, 2024. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergThe reaction to the Game 7 loss by Oilers fans made me super proud. I’m already proud to be an Oilers fan. We have the loudest building in the league, and the most passionate fans. The way we all came together in the playoffs and more specifically in the Stanley Cup Final was really incredible to me.

This playoff run was about Oilers fans coming together. It was about dance circles in the Moss Pit and chanting on 104 avenue. It was also about celebrating our super fans. Superfan Magoo was always present, as usual. Mama Stanley stayed in the Moss Pit late to give fans hugs after Game 7. We saw Banjo Guy everywhere!

More than anything, it was about celebrating our team and our city. Edmonton isn’t as big as Toronto or New York, and it isn’t as pretty as Vancouver; but it’s a beautiful city with passionate, hard working people.

The Oilers didn’t finish the job and come out with the ultimate prize, but they gave us a reason to celebrate and to feel joy this spring, which is a wonderful thing. They should be damn proud of that because we’re damn proud of them.

2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part Two 122024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part Two 132024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part Two 142024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part Two 152024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part Two 16Thank you, Edmonton. Thank you for coming together to celebrate my team and my city with me. It was an incredible ride that I’ll never forget. Thank you to the Oilers Entertainment Group for bringing the party to the Ice District. 30,000 Oilers fans were showing up to the Ice District on game days, which is absolutely incredible. I was legitimately in the city where the home team won the Stanley Cup in a Game 7. Their celebrations were NOTHING close to how Edmonton celebrates winning a playoff game of any kind, let alone a Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final on home ice.

I know one thing for sure. Rogers Place will be MUCH louder than Amerant Bank Arena was on Monday night when the Oilers win a Stanley Cup, whether they win it on the road or at home. Edmonton will ABOSLUTELY GO OFF! I still believe that they will win one soon.

The 2006 run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was more magical than this run because that team wasn’t expected to be there. They were the eighth seed in the Western Conference, and they caught fire to get to the Stanley Cup Final.

These Oilers are legitimate contenders. Everyone expects the Oilers to contend for the Stanley Cup because they have the two best players in the world. I wasn’t around to witness the eighties Oilers, but this one seems more like the 1983 Stanley Cup Final loss than the 2006 loss. The Oilers went on to win five Stanley Cups in the next seven seasons after that loss. I’m not saying that the current Oilers will have that level of success, but they will be expected to be in the mix for many years to come.

I speak for all Edmonton Oilers fans when I say that I can’t wait to watch that happen, and I can’t wait until we come together again next spring.

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June 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

There’s nothing quite like the city of Edmonton during the playoffs. The city elevates to another level during long playoff runs, and we haven’t had this long of a playoff run since 2006. It went up another level in 2024.

It started with a first round matchup against the Los Angeles Kings for the third consecutive spring. Fans, including myself, watched from the Moss Pit as the historic Hangar 11 burned to the ground in the distance. The Oilers Entertainment Group added a Molson Hockey House tent to the list of available venues to watch the team play. The series was a matchup with some viewer fatigue due the fact that this was the third year in a row that they have played in round one, but Oilers fans still came out in droves to watch.

Edmonton Oilers fans watch from the Moss Pit as Hangar 11 burns down in the distance on April 22. 2024. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergThings really picked up in round two where we were treated to a fantastic series against a Canadian rival, the Vancouver Canucks. Both fan bases were enthusiastic, which brought a ton of energy to the series. The Molson Hockey House tent was rocking all series long, even in a Game 3 loss while I was there.

Edmonton Oilers fans gather in the Molson Hockey House tent in the Fan Park at the Ice District on May 12, 2024. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergThe Oilers faced a 3-2 deficit, and needed to win Game 6 at home to force a Game 7. They delivered with a 5-1 win. Evander Kane scored the fifth goal off a faceoff as Oilers fans sang “Livin’ on a Prayer”. They went on to win Game 7 in Vancouver and earn a berth into the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2006.

2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 33That series started off with a classic double overtime victory sealed by Connor McDavid. The DJ for the Dallas Stars consistently plays a song that has something to do with the other team after home victories. He played “La Bamba” after the Stars won Game 2. Once he learned the meaning behind the Oilers’ win song, he immediately apologized and donated to the Ben Stelter Foundation. Oilers fans responded in kind by donating thousands to the Dallas Stars Foundation. Interactions between Oilers fans and Canucks fans were mostly fuelled by hatred and rivalry, but interactions with Stars fans were generally positive and fun.

Done https://t.co/5gq3kgEbh2 pic.twitter.com/dLldIqlFFW

— Shippy (@ShippySpins) May 26, 2024

The Oilers lost Game 3, but they won the next three games to earn a berth into the Stanley Cup Final. A cool moment for me was when Mark Spector retweeted my piece about Darnell Nurse after Game 3. I got a bunch of new followers because of that. Nurse responded with a big night in Game 4.

This piece adds the necessary context to the Darnell Nurse conversation that the numbers exclude.
A walk through his playoffs, goal by goal. Which were his fault, which ones had nothing to do with Nurse.
An excellent read. https://t.co/ZOAbQLDxHk

— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) May 29, 2024

I was at the Fan Park for Game 6. That was when things really started to pick up! I won’t forget the feelings of excitement in me and the crowd as the final minute ran off the clock and we got to celebrate a trophy win on home ice. The chanting outside the Hall of Fame Room on 104 avenue took off to another level after the Oilers won Game 6. I got onto Sportsnet Central in the madness after that game!

How Ryan Lotsberg’s debut on Sportsnet Central on June 2, 2024 looked on TV. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergThis was the first time that the Oilers made the Stanley Cup Final since 2006. I was seventeen years old then. This was the first Stanley Cup Final that the Oilers have made in my adult life. I told myself that I was going to make damn sure that I enjoyed the hell out of the Stanley Cup Final, and I did.

I had to make sure I had the Stanley Cup Final patches on both of my jerseys. I posted a picture of the jerseys before the series started, and it was my most popular post ever! I’ve said some pretty smart things, but that apparently took the cake.

It's just so beautiful #LetsGoOilers#Oilers pic.twitter.com/WZf5GVqK6R

— x – Lotsy (@lotsryan) June 5, 2024

It started with the Ultimate Edmonton Sports Weekend. The Edmonton Riverhawks played their home opener on Friday, June 7, 2024. The Edmonton Elks had their home opener to kick off their 75th season on the afternoon of Saturday, June 8, 2024. I walked from Commonwealth Stadium to Rogers Place for the watch party for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Edmonton Stingers had a home game the next day. The Edmonton teams lost all four games, but I attended all four events and had a blast doing it!

2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 342024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 352024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 362024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 37Prior to Game 2, I participated in a rap video shoot. Cadence Weapon, an Edmonton born rapper also known as Roland “Rollie” Pemberton, wrote a playoff song about the Oilers in 2017. He revised the lyrics after the Oilers made the Stanley Cup Final, and he flew to Edmonton from Toronto to shoot a new video for the song called “Connor McDavid” (video linked) before Game 2. He invited Oilers fans to show up and be in the video, which was shot just outside the Moss Pit. I was planning on watching the game there anyway, so I showed up just a little bit earlier to participate in the video shoot. He commented on the Stanley Cup Final patch on my jersey. I told him to go get one at the Oilers Store, and he did.

Ryan Lotsberg (left) and Cadence Weapon (right) after the video shoot for “Connor McDavid” outside the Moss Pit on June 10, 2024. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergI have gone to every hockey related Rogers Place first. I was at the first public tour of the building. I was at the first airing of a hockey game on their big screen, Finland vs North America during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. I was at the first hockey game to take place there, which was an Edmonton Oil Kings game against the Red Deer Rebels. I was at every Oilers preseason home game in 2016. I went to the Oilers’ first home game at Rogers Place against the Calgary Flames. I also went to the first playoff game there in 2017 against the San Jose Sharks. I even went to Game 4 of the 2022 Western Conference Final, which was the first time that a Conference Championship trophy was awarded at Rogers Place with fans in the building.

I had to be at Game 3 of this series as well, the first Stanley Cup Final game at Rogers Place where fans were allowed in the building. I had tears rolling down my cheeks during the pregame ceremonies. I also got to watch Our Lady Peace perform at the Festival at the Final in the Fan Park.

2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 382024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 39I watched Game 4 at home with my dad. He isn’t much of a hockey fan, but he watched a few games with me this spring. It’s great that we have a new hockey memory, which was watching the first Oilers win in a Stanley Cup Final game since 2006 in convincing fashion. He definitely enjoyed watching me excitedly react to eight Oilers goals.

I watched Game 5 at a cigar room with some friends. It was a fairly intimate setting compared to others I had watched games at in the playoffs, but I got to watch the game with some friends that I hadn’t watched a playoff game with yet this year.

I knew I needed to be at Game 6. I knew the Stanley Cup would be in the building and that someone would have a chance to win it. That team was the Panthers, but it didn’t matter. I knew the atmosphere at Rogers Place for Game 6 would be unbelievable, and it certainly lived up to my expectations. It was unforgettable. It’s a night that I’ll always remember.

I showed up to the Fan Park to line up for the free concert at 1:45 PM that day. I was standing in line, and a Rogers representative was walking down the line asking if people were Rogers customers. I am, so I was offered VIP passes for the concert! I needed another person to go with me and I was alone, so I offered it to a guy in front of me in line. He came down from Yellowknife to watch the game at the Fan Park. What made it even funnier was that I ran into him again at the Red Bull Soap Box race at Queen Elizabeth Park the next day!

2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 40The game though, holy moly! The first playoff game at Rogers Place in 2017 is the only other game I’ve been to that even compares to the atmosphere in Game 6. There’s nothing quite like that little bit of time before the game starts and while the players are waiting for the anthems to begin, and the crowd serenades the team with the loudest “Let’s Go Oilers” chant you’ll ever hear. That is until you sing O Canada as loud as you can with over 18,000 overjoyed Oilers fans. Enjoy, and sorry you have to hear my voice in these videos:

The crowd was in great spirits for the whole night! The “Let’s Go Oilers” chants were rampant. The “Sergei” chants taunting Sergei Bobrovsky were deafening. Fans were singing along to songs and letting it rip in the final minutes of the third period. It was truly amazing! The videos make me tear up with pride. I often dreamt of what a game like that at Rogers Place would be like, all the way back to when I first set foot in the building for the first public tour in 2016. It didn’t disappoint. Oilers fans never disappoint. It was an unbeliveable reality!

The concourse was definitely the loudest that I’ve heard it after a game! I had the good fortune of running into some friends to share the memory with after the game. The crowd outside the Hall of Fame Room on 104 avenue was something else that night! There was a kid with a drum that was leading chants the whole time. Fans were literally dancing in the street! It was absolute pandemonium! It helped that it was a Friday night. I went to a couple of different bars to have a drink afterwards. There were lines outside of most every bar, and some were full. I wanted to stay out longer, but I needed to get home to arrange flights to Florida.

2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 412024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together - Part One 42Read Part two of this piece to read about my harrowing trip to Game 7 and for my closing thoughts on this amazing fan base.

Related: 2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part Two

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June 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Florida Panthers are the 2024 Stanley Cup champions after one of the most entertaining and dramatic finals we’ve ever seen. The Panthers needed all seven games after going up 3-0 on the Edmonton Oilers in the series.

Sergei Bobrovsky was the biggest reason that the Panthers won the first two games at home. He only allowed one goal on 51 shots in those two games.

The Oilers came home to a raucous crowd at Rogers Place for Game 3. A tough second period led to their demise in Game 3. The Oilers tied the game early in the period, but mistakes led to a three-goal second period by the Panthers. One of those second period goals ended up being the difference.

The Oilers MORE than made up for it in Game 4 with an incredible 8-1 win. The Oilers got three goals on Bobrovksy in Game 3, but Bobrovsky allowing five goals on sixteen shots in the first half of the game was the thing that really changed the series.

The Oilers came out of the gates hot in Game 5. They got off to a 3-0 lead in the second period. The teams exchanged goals later in the period, including a highlight reel assist by Connor McDavid on a Corey Perry goal. It was one of four points for McDavid on the night. Game 5 was his second consecutive four-point night, which is a feat that nobody else has ever accomplished in the Stanley Cup Final. McDavid added an empty netter to seal a 5-3 win and to force a Game 6 at Rogers Place.

Game 6 was a simply dominant performance by the Oilers. A 5-1 win in front of a Rogers Place crowd that deserves adjectives that are beyond my vocabulary forced a Game 7 in Sunrise.

The Panthers came out with the guns blazing in front of their home crowd in Game 7. They got the first goal, but Mattias Janmark responded a short while later. The Oilers survived the first period and had settled the crowd down a little bit. The Panthers played a solid second period. It was a scoreless period, but the Oilers couldn’t seem to get anything going in that period. The Oilers loaded up by putting McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together down by a goal in the third period of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, but the Panthers held strong defensively. They won Game 7 by a 2-1 score.

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov lifts the Stanley Cup. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergFive-on-Five PlaySeries Preview: Advantage FLA

Actual Series: 14-14

This was a battle between the league’s best defensive team and one of the top offensive teams in the league.

The Panthers had only allowed 24 five-on-five goals in seventeen games entering the Stanley Cup Final, but the Oilers tagged them for fourteen five-on-five goals in seven games in the Final. The final five-on-five goal tally was even, but we have to remember that the Oilers got six of those goals in Game 4 alone.

The Oilers had allowed 38 five-on-five goals in eighteen games entering the Final. They allowed fourteen goals in the seven games in the Final. Their defensive performance was right on par with every other series they played this spring.

The Panthers held slight advantages in shot attempts (53.12%), expected goals (51.26%), and scoring chances (51.95%) according to Natural Stat Trick. It would be entirely fair to give them a slight edge in five-on-five play in this series.

Special TeamsSeries Preview: Advantage: EDM

Actual Series: Advantage EDM

Special teams were a factor in the series, but not for the reasons that you might think. The Oilers powerplay is their biggest weapon, but it only went 3/24 (12.5%) in the series. They finally scored a powerplay goal in Game 4, but that was a five-on-three goal. It took an Evan Bouchard blast bouncing in off of Zach Hyman’s knee in Game 5 for the Oilers to finally get a five-on-four powerplay goal in the series. Perry’s powerplay goal was the result of a McDavid walking through three Panthers defenders. It took a bounce or McDavid magic for the Oilers to get a five-on-four goal in the series.

The Oilers penalty kill was even better than the Panthers’ was though. The Oilers only allowed one goal on 21 attempts in the series. The Oilers penalty kill outscored the Panthers powerplay 2-1 in the series! That’s the second straight series in which the Oilers penalty kill did that. The Panthers also allowed two shorthanded goals in the Eastern Conference Final. I wrote that shorthanded goals by the Oilers would be something to watch for in the series, and shorthanded goals opened the scoring in Game 4 and 5 wins for the Oilers.

The Oilers special teams were superior in the series, but it wasn’t enough of a difference to push them over the top.

GoaltendingSeries Preview: Advantage: FLA

Actual Series: Advantage EDM

It looked like Bobrovsky was going to single-handedly win the series for the Panthers after the first two games. He had a 32-save shutout in Game 1, and he stopped eighteen of nineteen shots in Game 2. Bobrovsky was looking unbeatable and unshakeable.

However, the Oilers got to him in Game 3. The Panthers were up 4-1 after two periods, but the Oilers got it to 4-3. A Philip Broberg point shot bounced off of a Panthers defenceman and past Bobrovsky. Then Ryan McLeod tipped a puck past Bobrovsky to make Game 3 interesting. It took a couple of bounces to put some doubt in Bobrovsky’s head.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/FlaPanthersThe Oilers got a shorthanded goal from Mattias Janmark to open the scoring in Game 4, and that seemingly broke the dam. The Oilers got out to a 5-0 before the game was 25 minutes old, and Bobrovsky was yanked. Anthony Stolarz didn’t fare much better in Game 4 as the Oilers went on to an 8-1 win.

Related: Can the Oilers keep the goals coming, or will Bobrovsky shut the door?

The Oilers got four more past Bobrovsky in Game 5. McDavid got his second consecutive four-point night, three of which happened with Bobrovsky in net.

The 5-1 score in Game 6 makes it look worse for Bobrovsky than it actually was because of two empty net goals by the Oilers.

Bobrovsky was solid in Game 7 though. He made 23 saves on 24 shots in the 2-1 win. The Oilers got nine shots and nine scoring chances in the third period of Game 7, but Bobrovsky shut the door in the third period to preserve the win and to clinch the Stanley Cup for the Panthers.

The final numbers for Bobrovsky in the Stanley Cup Final were disastrous. He had a 0.812 save percentage and a 5.49 goals against average in the series. I would not have expected that after his first two games, and I would not have expected those numbers to be enough for the Panthers to win the series.

Stuart Skinner deserves a ton of credit for his play. The series started out a little bit shaky, but I would say that his teammates left him out to dry in the first three games of the series. The goals that Skinner allowed in those games came off quality chances caused by Oiler mistakes.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)He settled into the series though. Skinner made 32 saves on 33 shots in Game 4. The Oilers won the game 8-1, but Skinner made some big saves early while the result was still in doubt. He played well enough for the Oilers to win in Game 5, and he was fantastic in Game 6.

Skinner allowed two goals in the Game 7 loss. The first one was tipped in by Carter Verhaeghe. That shot was going into the corner if not forVerhaeghe’s tip. That’s an unfortunate bounce.

Sam Reinhart beat Skinner cleanly under the glove for the game winner late in the second period. Reinhart got the puck by his own blue line and led the rush. It looked like a three-on-two rush, so Brett Kulak drifted away from Reinhart and more in between Reinhart and Verhaeghe. I feel like that was a bit of a misread by Kulak because Warren Foegele was in hot pursuit of Aleksander Barkov on the backcheck. Kulak gave Reinhart a huge gap, and it looked like he may have partially screened Skinner on the shot. It’s still a shot that Skinner would want back, but I will not blame Skinner for the loss. Skinner was otherwise solid in Game 7.

Skinner had the superior numbers over Bobrovsky in the series. Skinner had a .909 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average in the Stanley Cup Final. If there were any doubts about Skinner’s ability to get it done on the biggest stage entering the series, then I feel that he has removed any doubts with his play in this series.

Call OutsThe team simply made too many defensive mistakes in the first three games of the series. I won’t call out individuals here because it wasn’t one player or pairing that consistently made the mistakes in all three of those games. As a team, they needed to find a way to make less mistakes, especially in the second period of Game 3 after they had tied the game.

I will call out the powerplay though. They led the playoffs in efficiency through the first three rounds, but they limped home. They went 3/24 (12.5%) in the Stanley Cup Final. They failed to score a powerplay goal until Game 4, and they failed to score a five-on-four powerplay goal until Game 5. They did not score a powerplay goal in any of the four losses in the series. The Oilers’ biggest weapon was held in check, and the Oilers lost the series.

Stand OutsConnor McDavid had eleven points in this Stanley Cup Final, which is tied for the third highest amount of points in a single Stanley Cup Final. McDavid got eight of those points in games 4 and 5, consecutive four-point games. Wayne Gretzky also had two four-point nights in a Stanley Cup Final in 1985, but he did not do it in consecutive games. McDavid’s feat stands alone. He did this while playing through an abdominal injury that may require surgery according to Oilersnation.

Photo Credit: si.comThe penalty kill was absolutely incredible in the series. They killed off 20 of 21 powerplay opportunities for the Panthers. The penalty kill was a huge reason that the Oilers were able to push this series to seven games. They not only prevented the opposition from scoring, but they also outscored the Panthers powerplay 2-1 in the series thanks to Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark.

ShoutoutsWarren Foegele deserves a big shoutout for his improved play in the Stanley Cup Final. Foegele had struggled throughout the playoffs until he scored the first Oilers goal in a Stanley Cup Final game at Rogers Place in Game 3. He got five points from Game 3 to Game 6. He was a big reason that the Oilers were able to push their way back into the series.

Related: Foegele’s Stanley Cup Final resurgence

Mattias Janmark got four points in the series, all of which came in the final four games. He got a shorthanded goal to open the scoring in Game 4. Janmark made a beautiful saucer pass to Adam Henrique to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead in Game 6. Finally, Janmark scored the only Oilers goal in Game 7. Janmark was great on the forecheck, and he was incredible on the penalty kill.

Related: Janmark and Brown appreciation Post

Connor Brown played his role incredibly well. It was his work that resulted in the shorthanded goal that got the scoring going in Game 4, and the shorthanded goal in Game 5 was all Brown. Brown was also solid in five-on-five play. It was great to see him succeed in this series after such a difficult regular season coming off of his injury.

Philip Broberg came into the playoffs during the Western Conference Final, and he never came out of the lineup again. His underlying numbers weren’t stellar, but he finished with a five-on-five goal share of 5-2 (71.42%) in the Stanley Cup Final. He also scored a goal in Game 3.

WrapThis was an absolutely incredible series. The players gave us a fantastic show. It was full of historic performances, and one giant nearly historic storyline.

I want to talk about one factor that hasn’t been mentioned here yet, which is coaching. The Oilers struggled early in the series, but they made some tactical adjustments heading into Game 4. They responded by scoring eight goals.

The Panthers’ forecheck remained the same as it had all season long, but the Oilers found a way to break through it by utilizing passes to the middle of the ice or across the ice from the strong side to the weak side. The Panthers would stack three players along the strong side wall in an effort to create turnovers high in the offensive zone. The Oilers started having a forward play lower in the zone on breakouts, and they started having the weak side defenceman accept cross ice passes and lead the rush up the ice. They also started utilizing the stretch pass to a forward waiting at the offensive blue line more often in an effort to prevent the Panthers’ forecheck from happening in the first place.

Credit to Kris Knoblauch for making the adjustments. He should also get credit for making a more subtle change to start Game 4, which was starting the Janmark-Henrique-Brown line against Barkov’s line. That matchup worked nicely for the Oilers.

Paul Maurice didn’t make any real adjustments until Game 7. I noticed that the weak side forward started retreating earlier on the forecheck to prevent odd man rushes against. They also did a great job of keeping McDavid’s speed in check by having a forward skating the same direction as McDavid in the neutral zone. That limited the number of times that McDavid was able to attack the neutral zone with speed. Maurice also started his third line against the Henrique line in Game 7, which was a deviation from the norm.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Game 7

I have to give a lot of credit to the Panthers, especially in Game 7. The Oilers were hesitant to shoot the puck all night long. It wasn’t jitters or a poor mentality on the part of the Oilers. The Panthers were simply always in the way. They always had a body or a stick in the shooting lane. I haven’t seen many teams defend with their sticks to the level that the Panthers did in Game 7. They also sold out defensively in the third period. The Oilers had some good looks to tie it on scramble plays in front of the net, but the Oilers couldn’t get good shots away in those scrambles.

The Panthers deserved the series, and they won it. The Oilers made a valiant comeback, but some costly mistakes early in the series proved to be too much to overcome. Congratulations to the Panthers and their fans.

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June 26, 2024 by Bob Schmidt

On a Monday night in Florida, the stage was set for what every hockey player has dreamed about at one point in their lives. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Edmonton Oilers had defied the odds by being only the sixth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the Final to knot it up at 3-3, and were on the cusp of becoming only the second team ever to complete the reverse sweep. The Florida Panthers were desperate to not be that team on the wrong side of history and set the tone by scoring the ever important first goal of the game.

Six seconds after Warren Foegele stepped back on the ice after serving a high-sticking minor, Panther forward, Carter Verhaeghe, was left all alone in front of the Oiler net and deftly tipped an Evan Rodrigues shot between the legs of Stuart Skinner for his eleventh goal of the playoffs to make it 1-0. Just over two minutes later, the Oilers responded when Cody Ceci made an astounding two zone pass to a streaking Mattias Janmark who stuffed the puck in between the blocker and pad of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game.

The Oilers had a couple of impressive sustained pressure shifts late in the second period but it was after a near miss in the Panther zone that the home team transitioned up the ice and Sam Reinhart fired a partially screened shot through Skinner that gave Florida their second lead of the game and one they wouldn’t relinquish this time. With some strong defensive work and a couple of big Bobrovsky saves, the Panthers held on to win their first-ever Stanley Cup.

Call OutsIt was Ryan McLeod’s failed clearing attempt and then his inability to get to the point man and apply pressure, that led to the Panthers first goal. A little later in the first period, an eerily similar mistake was made by the Oiler forward that led to another scoring chance against. It was a rough playoffs for the young speedster but definitely not from lack of effort. Not to place blame for the partially screened game winning goal on netminder Stuart Skinner but, speaking from experience, any time the puck squeaks through you between your arm and body, it’s one you think you should have had.

Stand outsMattias Janmark has proven his worth these playoffs time and time again and he did it once more on the world’s biggest hockey stage. It wasn’t just the breakaway goal to tie the game as mentioned earlier, but also his 1:56 of excellent penalty killing and his relentless forecheck that saw him disrupt a couple of Panther breakout passes. The eight-year veteran has had a penchant for scoring timely goals this post season. Janmark scored four goals all regular season and matched that total in the playoffs. Talk about stepping up your game. I would be remised to not mention Ceci’s pass on that Janmark goal as a stand out moment in this game as well.

ShoutoutsConnor McDavid’s 42 points in the 2024 playoffs, is the fourth-highest single-playoff point total in NHL history and helped propel him to claim the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs. Evan Bouchard’s 32 points is the third-most points by a defenceman in a single-playoff in NHL history. Zach Hyman’s 16 goals tied him with Craig Simpson for the third-most goals in a single-playoff in franchise history.

The penalty killing duo of Janmark and Connor Brown was another storyline this post season. Not only did they contribute to the Oilers league leading 94.3% penalty kill with their strong defensive play, but the formidable duo became a short-handed scoring threat as well as they combined for all three of the team’s short-handed goals. The emergence of Philip Broberg as an everyday and dependable defenceman was a revelation as well. After producing only two assists and being a minus three in twelve regular season games this season, the former eighth-overall draft pick was sent down to the Oilers minor league affiliate in Bakersfield to work on his game.

Broberg was called back up to be a reserve defenceman during Edmonton’s playoff run. The 22-year-old Swede found himself in the lineup for game four in the series against the Dallas Stars with the Oilers down two games to one. He responded by scoring two goals for three points and going plus eight (good for fifth on the team) over the remaining ten games. Head coach, Kris Knoblauch, showed his growing confidence in the smooth skating rear guard by giving him an average ice time of four more minutes per game in the playoffs than Broberg averaged during the regular season. He also saw some penalty kill time.

WrapAs heartbreaking as to lose in Game 7, there are so many positives to take from the Oilers’ 2024 playoff run. The ongoing theme that resonated throughout this entire season for this team was resiliency. From 31st overall in November to falling behind in three of the four playoff series to bouncing back from a seemingly insurmountable series deficit in the Final to making it a one-game-winner-takes-all showdown for the hockey’s ultimate prize, the resiliency of the 2023-24 edition of the Edmonton Oilers can never be questioned.

Thanks for the ride, boys. Enjoy the off season. The fans in Oil Country are already excited to see what you can take from this experience and bring into 2024-25!

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June 24, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Few words can elicit the emotions of hockey fans quite like those particular words. One game with the hardest trophy to win in all of sports on the line. Jubilation awaits one side, and the agony of defeat lurks for the other. The Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers will play a Game 7 in their Stanley Cup Final series this year.

Monday’s Game 7 at Amerant Arena in Sunrise is the first Stanley Cup Final Game 7 since 2019 when the St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden in Boston. Let’s take a closer look at the Game 7 histories of this year’s combatants.

PanthersThe Panthers have only played in three Game 7s in their franchise’s history. They have a 2-1 record in those games. The Panthers are 2-0 on the road in Game 7s, but they are 0-1 at home.

Their first came in the Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 1, 1996. John Vanbiesbrouck made 39 saves in a 3-1 win for the Panthers. Petr Nedved tied the game at one for the Penguins with a powerplay goal early in the third period, but Tom Fitzgerald scored the game winner and Johan Garpenlov added an insurance marker to send the Panthers to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final.

Their second Game 7 came on April 26, 2012. It was the deciding game in the first round series between the Panthers and Adam Henrique’s New Jersey Devils. The Devils had a 2-0 lead entering the third period, but Stephen Weiss and Marcel Goc scored in the third frame to tie the game at two. The game would require double overtime, and it was Henrique that played the hero that night, sending the Devils on to the second round. Martin Brodeur made an impressive 43 saves for the Devils, while José Theodore made 30 saves for the Panthers.

The Panthers’ most recent Game 7 came in last year’s first round against the Bruins. It was a back and forth affair. The Panthers got a 2-0 lead thanks to a first period powerplay goal from Brandon Montour, and an even strength goal from Sam Reinhart in the second period. However, the Bruins scored three straight goals to give them the lead early in the third period. Montour forced overtime with his second goal of the game with one minute left in regulation time. Carter Verhaeghe scored the overtime winner to complete the Panthers’ comeback from their 3-1 series deficit.

Photo Credit: Florida Panthers (X)The Panthers have never played a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final. That will change on Monday night.

OilersThe Oilers have played in twelve Game 7s in their history. They have an all-time record of 8-4 in Game 7s. They have a record of 4-1 in Game 7s at home, and a record of 4-3 in Game 7s played on the road.

The Oilers have played the Calgary Flames in three Game 7s. The provincial rivals faced each other in the 1984 Smythe Division Final, which the Oilers won. Their Game 7 in the 1986 Smythe Division Final was the game in which the infamous Steve Smith incident occurred. The Oilers beat the Flames in the Smythe Division Semi-Final in 1991 as well.

Wayne Gretzky broke the hearts of Oilers fans in the 1989 Smythe Division Semi-Final, as if his leaving town the previous summer didn’t cause Oilers fans enough pain. Gretzky recorded three points in a 6-3 Kings win. The Oilers would have to wait until 2022 to exact Game 7 revenge on the Kings. Connor McDavid came up with a highlight reel goal to seal a 2-0 Oilers win in Game 7 of the first round of the 2022 playoffs.

EDMONTON, AB – JUNE 04: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his first goal of the game in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Western Conference Finals, game 3 on June 04, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The year after Gretzky broke their hearts, the Oilers faced the Winnipeg Jets in Game 7 of the Smythe Division Semi-Final. The Oilers won that by a convincing score of 4-1.

Who could forget Todd Marchant dashing down the right wing to score the overtime winner in Game 7 of the first round of the 1997 playoffs? That was the first of their two straight years with first round Game 7 wins in the late 1990s. They beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 in Game 7 of the first round in 1998.

McDavid’s Oilers have played in two other Game 7s besides the first round in 2022. They made it to Game 7 of the second round against Corey Perry and his Anaheim Ducks in 2017. Perry assisted on Nick Ritchie’s series winning goal in the third period of that Game 7. Their other one came this year. They defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 3-2 in Game 7 of the second round. The Oilers had a 3-0 lead in the third period, but they let the Canucks back in the game thanks to a furious third period rally.

Related: Oilers vs Panthers: Recent Game 6 history

The Oilers have played in two Game 7s in Stanley Cup Finals. They have a 1-1 record in those games.

Their first came in the 1987 Stanley Cup Final against the Philadelphia Flyers. The teams exchanged goals in the first period. Jari Kurri scored the Stanley Cup winner for the Oilers, and Glenn Anderson provided the insurance marker in a 3-1 victory.

The Oilers’ most recent Stanley Cup Final Game 7 came in 2006 against the Carolina Hurricanes. That game also ended in a 3-1 score, but not in favour of the Oilers. The Cinderella run of the eighth seeded Oilers came to an end in Game 7 Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. Fernando Pisani scored a minute into the third period to give the Oilers hope, but Justin Williams got an empty netter with a minute and one second left to seal the Stanley Cup for the Hurricanes.

WrapIt’s certainly fitting that this series is going the distance. The Panthers and the Oilers are both tremendous hockey teams. They have both been tested in Game 7s in recent seasons. The hockey in this series has been incredibly entertaining, and I’m expecting Game 7 to offer more of the same. If nothing else, this run down of historical Game 7s is a fun way to reflect on the past and to build excitement for the game, as if it needs anything else to add to its excitement.

Game 7s don’t happen all that often, and it’s truly a special occasion when your team gets to play in a Game 7, especially in the Stanley Cup Final. Enjoy the game. Appreciate every single second of it because it might be a long time until it happens again.

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June 24, 2024 by Eric Friesen

It’s been 36 years since Wayne Gretzky last played for the Edmonton Oilers, but “The Great One” still bleeds orange and blue.

Though Gretzky went on to play for the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers during the final 11 seasons of his illustrious career, he will always be best remembered for his decade with the Oilers (nine seasons in the NHL and one in the WHA). Gretzky was at the height of his powers with the Oilers — setting 49 NHL records, claiming 23 individual awards and winning four Stanley Cups as captain.

Gretzky even rejoined the organization as OEG Vice Chairman and Partner from 2016 to 2021, before embarking on a broadcasting career as a hockey analyst with TNT. In an interview with Hockey Forever on Instagram on Sunday, Gretzky said he thinks the Oilers will win the Stanley Cup on Monday night.

“Edmonton, I picked them at the beginning, and then we were down 3-0, and I got nervous,” said Gretzky during a round of golf. “But Florida’s good. They’re both good. Edmonton, I think, is just a little faster. And Florida, they’re grinders and they play hard and scrappy. You know, they’re just well-coached. I’m just going with my heart.”

Photo Credit: twitter.com/EdmontonOilersAside from his ties to the organization, Gretzky has good reason to believe the Oilers will win the Cup. The Oilers have outscored the Panthers 18-5 over the past three games, they have dominated in every aspect of the game, and they are 5-0 when facing elimination during the 2024 playoffs.

Thanks to their 5-1 victory at Rogers Place in Game 6, the Oilers became the first team since 1945 to force Game 7 in a Stanley Cup Final. Now, they have the opportunity to become only the second team in NHL history and first since the Toronto Maple in 1942 to win the Stanley Cup after trailing 3-0 in the Final.

Related: 3 milestones Connor McDavid could reach in the Stanley Cup Final

Though he’s only focused on winning the Cup, Connor McDavid is also on the verge of making history. McDavid has already shattered Gretzky’s NHL record for most assists in a single playoff year (34) and could break two more in Game 7 on Monday.

McDavid enters Game 7 with eight assists and 11 points in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. He needs three more assists and three more points to break Gretzky’s records for assists and points records in one Final, which he set in 1988. If McDavid picks up three points in Game 7, it’s likely the Cup will coming back to Edmonton with them.

Photo Credit: x.com/hockey_refJust five weeks ago, was the 40th anniversary of the Oilers first Stanley Cup in franchise history as well as Gretzky’s first Cup. Gretzky was the first Oiler to ever get hoist the Cup, which kicked off one of the greatest dynasties in NHL history.

Now, four decades later, McDavid can become the first Oiler from the generation to raise Lord Stanley’s mug over his head — something Gretzky predicted years ago.

“When you do win, and you will win the Stanley Cup, the feeling is just over the top,” Gretzky told McDavid during a one-on-one conversation for GQ Sports on April 2, 2020. “So, when you actually lift the Cup, it’s pretty special. You will lift it one day, because you’re too good.”

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June 23, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s hard to imagine that the Edmonton Oilers started 2-9-1 this season and they now find themselves headed to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final after being down 3-0 in the series, but that’s the reality. The decision was made to make a coaching change after the loss in San Jose that put the team at 2-9-1; but Jay Woodcroft got one more game, a 4-1 win in Seattle. The team was 3-9-1 when new Head Coach Kris Knoblauch took over the coaching duties on November 13, 2023.

Related: Oilers Fire Woodcroft and Manson & Name Knoblauch and Coffey as replacements

Knoblauch deserves a ton of credit for guiding the Oilers here, but I find myself thinking of Woodcroft before Game 7. These were Woodcroft’s words on April 28, 2022 before the Oilers’ first round series against the Los Angeles Kings:

“…I keep saying it, but we’re focussed on the day’s business…”

Woodcroft seemingly uttered those words or a reasonable facsimile of those words every day during his tenure as the Head Coach of the Oilers. That was his mindset. Whether it was an off day where the team needed to focus on getting rest or it was a game day where two points were on the line, Woodcroft’s message was always to focus on the day’s business. The message became tiresome to hear as a fan and I’m sure the players became sick of hearing it too, but my goodness was it the right message.

We need only look at the comments of the players throughout the series to see Woodcroft’s messaging still ringing true. Prior to Game 6, Leon Draisaitl said that “…we’re one game at a time still. We’ve got to win a game at home tonight and you know, get this thing back to Florida, and then it’s a one-game series… Your focus is on this one game tonight and not on what’s going to happen in four or five days from now.”

Draisaitl stated that the task at hand on Friday night was to win a home game. He acknowledged that as a human, it’s hard to not think about the prize at the end; but he said that the focus is on the task at hand. Focus on the day’s business.

Look at what the Oilers did in the regular season. They came back from being in 32nd place in the league on November 9, 2023 to finishing in second place in the Pacific Division and earning home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

That rise up the standings included an eight-game winning streak AND a historic sixteen-game winning streak. They weren’t thinking about going on these long winning streaks. Knoblauch broke the schedule up into eight-game segments and wanted the team to strive for a 5-3 record in each of those eight game segments. That made the daunting task of climbing back into the playoff picture less daunting. Woodcroft built a foundation of taking things one day and one game at a time though. You can’t pile up wins like they did during those streaks if you’re thinking about what you’ve done in the past and what lies ahead. They got those winning streaks by focussing on each task at hand.

Look at what they have done to date in these playoffs. They were down 3-2 to the Vancouver Canucks in the second round, and they won Games 6 and 7 to take the series. The Oilers never actually led at any point in that series, yet they found a way to win it. The Oilers were down 2-1 to the Dallas Stars, and they won three straight games to win that series.

Photo Credit: x.com/NHLNetworkFinally, they have become the first team in 79 years to force a Game 7 after being down 3-0 in a Stanley Cup Final. They have done an amazing job of staying in the moment and focussing on the task at hand on their way to tying the series at three games apiece.

Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson reached out to renowned performance coach George Mumford to work with the Oilers this season. I’ve shard this quote from Mumford in this space before, but I’ll share it once again here:

“The hardest thing, after all the work and all the time spent on training and technique, is just being fully present in the moment.”

To be fully present in the moment is to be focussed on the task at hand. There is no room in the mind for any thoughts that deviate from the moment and the task at hand if one is to achieve maximum performance. That really isn’t different from Woodcroft’s messaging. Be fully present in the moment. Focus on the day’s business.

This is Knoblauch’s team now, but let’s not forget that Woodcroft did play a role in this team’s season. Yes, the team had a terrible start to the season under Woodcroft; but he had a fantastic record with the Oilers and he guided the team to their first Western Conference Final in 2022. His messaging has clearly stuck with the players.

The Oilers have one more piece of business to attend to on Monday. I expect that they will continue to stay present in the moment and focus on the day’s business.

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June 22, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Warren Foegele had a career year in the regular season for the Edmonton Oilers. The 28-year old got twenty goals and 21 assists for 41 points in 82 games in 2023-24. He spent a healthy chunk of his regular season playing on a line with Leon Draisaitl.

The playoffs got off to a slow start for Foegele though. He found himself demoted to the bottom six in Game 5 of the first round. He had a tough night in Game 2 of that first round series against the Los Angeles Kings where he made multiple mistakes on goals against. An empty netter in Game 1 was his only goal of the series. He added an assist in Game 2.

Foegele stayed in the bottom six through the second round against the Vancouver Canucks, and he didn’t register a point in the series. He had an egregious giveaway in the defensive zone that led directly to a goal against in Game 3. His play was simply not up to the standard that he set in the regular season.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Canucks Top Oilers in Game 3

Things got worse for Foegele in the Western Conference Final. He registered an assist in Game 2 against the Dallas Stars, his first point since Game 2 of the playoffs (an eleven-game stretch). Head Coach Kris Knoblauch decided to make Foegele a healthy scratch in Game 4, a game that Knoblauch felt was almost a “must-win”. The Oilers won Game 4. They also won Games 5 and 6 without Foegele in the lineup to clinch their spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

Foegele failed to record a point in either of the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, both Oilers losses. The tides began to change for Foegele in Game 3 though. Foegele scored the first Oilers goal at home in the Stanley Cup Final since 2006. He beat Sergei Bobrovsky clean with a wrist shot on a partial breakaway early in the second period of Game 3. Then he got an assist on the Oilers’ eighth goal of Game 4 in an 8-1 drubbing of the Panthers.

He got moved up to the top line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman for Game 5, and he delivered another assist. Foegele won a race to a puck in the left corner of the Panthers zone, and he protected the puck as he worked his way up the wall. He deftly left the puck for McDavid, who was cutting down the left wall as Foegele was moving in the opposite direction. McDavid did McDavid things and finished off the play. Foegele was excellent on the forecheck in Game 5, which helped that line create chances.

Foegele kept the good times rolling in Game 6. He was reunited with Draisaitl for Game 6. He drove the net and presented a target for Draisaitl, and Draisaitl hit him with an amazing pass. Foegele was able to bury it to open the scoring for the Oilers for the second time in the series. He also got an assist on Ryan McLeod’s empty net goal. Once again, Foegele was excellent on the forecheck.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers push the Stanley Cup Final the distance

Photo Credit: x.com/BR_OpenIceHe may have only recorded an assist in Game 4, but perhaps Foegele’s most important play of Game 4 was his pre-game fashion choice. Foegele sported a t-shirt with a picture of the late Kobe Bryant wearing a white Oilers jersey with Wayne Gretzky’s name on it prior to Games 4 and 5. According to NHL.com, Bryant wore the jersey during the second round of the 2012 NBA playoffs to spark the Los Angeles Lakers. The image of Bryant wearing Gretzky’s jersey is an image that is overflowing with greatness. It might be a coincidence, but Foegele has been great since he decided to start wearing that shirt to games. I think I can guess what Foegele will be wearing to the rink on Monday night.

Foegele’s resurgence in the Stanley Cup Final has been huge for the Oilers. He now has five points in the last four games. Foegele was long overdue for some of the offensive production that we saw from him in the regular season, and it couldn’t possibly be coming at a better time.

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June 22, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers played host to a Game 6 of a Stanley Cup Final for just the second time in their history on Friday night. The Oilers managed to force a Game 7 against the Florida Panthers after a 5-1 win in Game 6 at Rogers Place.

The Oilers opened the scoring 7:27 into the first period, and they took the 1-0 lead to the first intermission. They scored another one early in the second period. The Panthers had a goal disallowed moments later due to an offside challenge by the Oilers. The Oilers took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. Aleksander Barkov got the Panthers on the board early in the third period, but the Oilers got two empty netters to seal their trip to Florida for Game 7.

Call OutsCody Ceci had an opportunity to clear the puck on his backhand on the Barkov goal, but failed to do so. Leon Draisaitl and Derek Ryan could not win the battle along the wall. Barkov walked past Warren Foegele and Brett Kulak before tucking the only Panthers goal of the game past Stuart Skinner.

Stand OutsFoegele scored the first goal of the game on an excellent feed from Draisaitl. Foegele also got an assist on Ryan McLeod’s empty net goal. He was the only Oilers to record a multi-point game in Game 6. This is also the second time that he has opened the scoring in a home game in this series (Game 3).

Mattias Janmark was simply fantastic in this game. He made a beautiful sauce pass to Adam Henrique for the Oilers’ second goal of the game. Janmark was a demon on the forecheck all night long though.

ShoutoutsZach Hyman scored his league-leading sixteenth goal of the playoffs on a breakaway. The goal was his 70th of the season including the regular season and the playoffs.

ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 05: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Zach Hyman (18) on the ice during a face-off in an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks played on April 5, 2023 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire)Skinner didn’t have to make many difficult saves in this one, but he was solid when called upon. He also got an assist on Darnell Nurse’s empty netter! Skinner is the eighth goalie in NHL history to record a point in a Stanley Cup Final game. No goalie has more than one Stanley Cup Final point; so yes, Skinner is now tied for the all-time record for the most career points by a goalie in the Stanley Cup Final.

Draisaitl was critical of his play prior to Game 5, but he stepped up with a world class pass to Foegele for the game’s opening goal.

Philip Broberg was plus three with three shot blocks in Game 5. He added an assist on Nurse’s empty net goal.

A huge shoutout goes to Noah Segall and Mike Fanelli. Segall is the Video Coach for the Oilers, and Fanelli is the Video and Coaching Analytics Coordinator. Head Coach Kris Knoblauch acknowledged that the decision to challenge the Panthers’ goal early in the second period started with Segall and Fanelli. They saw enough to warrant an Oilers challenge, and the call on the ice was reversed. The Oilers were able to hold on to their 2-0 because of that video review.

Related: Oilers Hire Fanelli and Segall

WrapThat was an INCREDIBLE game! Oil Country showed up in a BIG way! The Oilers stepped up and got a massive victory. This was a true team effort. As a fan, Friday was a night that I’ll never forget.

The Stanley Cup Final will go to a Game 7 for the first time since 2019. Game 7 goes on Monday night.

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June 21, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Florida Panthers will have a chance to win the Stanley Cup in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night in what is the biggest home game for the Oilers since Game 6 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final.

PanthersThe Panthers have a stellar 4-1 record in Game 6s since 2021. They’ve won their last four consecutive Game 6s dating back to 2022. Their record in Game 6s at home is 2-1, and it is 2-0 on the road.

They played their first Game 6 in the modern era against the vaunted Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2021 playoffs. That series was one of the most entertaining series I’ve watched in my life! The teams played two intensely fierce games to close out their regular season schedule before meeting in the first round. The games were action packed, violent affairs with a lot of goals and excitement. The Panthers were unable to stop the Lightning’s powerplay in that series. They were down 3-1 in the series before winning Game 5 and ultimately losing the series in Game 6.

The Panthers faced the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2022 playoffs. They were down 2-1 after three games, but they won the next three games to take the series in six games. Game 6 was an overtime win on the road for the Panthers.

Photo Credit: Florida Panthers (X)They found themselves in a similar situation in round one against the Boston Bruins last season. They were down 3-1 in the series, and they managed to complete the comeback by winning three straight games, including a Game 6 win at home.

The Panthers have played two Game 6s in these playoffs, and they clearly have won them both. The Bruins pushed their second round series to a Game 6 when faced with a 3-1 deficit, but the Panthers closed out the Bruins at the TD Garden in Boston in Game 6.

The New York Rangers took a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final after consecutive overtime wins in Games 2 and 3. The Panthers won the next three games in a row to take the series in Game 6 on home ice.

The Panthers are battle tested in Game 6s, and they have fared quite well in those games. However, they have not played a Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Final before.

OilersThe Oilers have an also stellar 6-1 record in Game 6s in the Connor McDavid era. They are 3-1 in Game 6s at Rogers Place, and 3-0 in road Game 6s.

The Oilers and the San Jose Sharks were even through four games. The Oilers got a huge overtime goal from David Desharnais in Game 5, which gave them the chance to close out the series in the Shark Tank. The Oilers got goals from Leon Draisaitl and Anton Slepyshev in the first period, and McDavid added an empty netter in a 3-1 win in Game 6.

Related: Deep Dive: 5v5 play through five games of the Stanley Cup Final

They went on to face Corey Perry and the Anaheim Ducks in round two. Game 5 featured the infamous three-goal collapse, Ryan Kesler grabbing Cam Talbot’s pad, and a double overtime winner from Perry. The Oilers took their frustrations out on the Ducks in Game 6 at Rogers Place though. Draisaitl got his first career playoff hat trick in a 7-1 drubbing of the Ducks in Game 6 that forced a Game 7.

The Oilers didn’t get another Game 6 until the first round of the 2022 playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings won Game 5 in overtime in Edmonton, so the Oilers went to Los Angeles facing elimination. Tyson Barrie scored the game winner in the third period, and Evander Kane held up seven fingers to the crowd after scoring the empty netter to seal the Game 6 win to force a Game 7.

Courtesy: EdmontonOilers.ComThe two Pacific Division foes faced off in the first round again in 2023. This time, the Oilers went down 2-1 after Game 3 and went on to win three straight games to take the series in six games. Kailer Yamamoto scored the series winning goal on a deflection in the third period of Game 6 in Los Angeles.

The Oilers then faced the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round. The Oilers had the lead in every single one of those six games. A Jonathan Marchessault second period natural hat trick led to the Oilers’ demise in a Game 6 loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champions. It was a bitter loss to be sure.

The Oilers have also played in two Game 6s in these playoffs. Just like they did in 2017, the Oilers took their frustrations over a frustrating and dramatic loss in Game 5 on the road out on their opponent in Game 6 at home. The Vancouver Canucks got a last minute winner from JT Miller in Game 5, but the Oilers won Game 6 by a score of 5-1.

Related: Oilers vs Panthers: Recent Game 5 history

They went on the road and beat the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the third round, which gave them a chance to win the Western Conference Final in Game 6 at Rogers Place. They got two first period powerplay goals from McDavid and Zach Hyman, and they didn’t look back on their way to advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers are 1-1 in two Stanley Cup Final Game 6s in their history. The Philadelphia Flyers were able to force a Game 7 against the Oilers in the 1987 Stanley Cup Final with a Game 6 win in Philadelphia. The Oilers hosted the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 6 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers were down 3-1 in the series, and they won Game 5 thanks to a short-handed overtime goal by Fernando Pisani. They came home to an electric Rexall Place and won Game 6 by an emphatic score of 4-0.

WrapFriday’s Game 6 is just the second ever Stanley Cup Final Game 6 to be played in Edmonton. We know it will be the last home game of the Oilers season regardless of the outcome. Rogers Place is going to be an absolute MADHOUSE on Friday evening! Enjoy every last second of this day, Oilers fans! Get downtown early and take in the festivities. Soak in this atmosphere. Days like today don’t come around all that often, so don’t take it for granted. Take advantage of the day! I don’t have to tell Oilers fans to be loud tonight. Our passion will ensure that we are heard all the way down in Florida and beyond.

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June 20, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers did what they needed to do in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. They found a way to extend the series. The Oilers got out to an early lead and stretched it to three goals on two occasions. The Florida Panthers made it interesting, but the Oilers held on for the win.

That was far from the Oilers’ best hockey though.

The five-on-five play in the first period of Game 5 was actually pretty even. Natural Stat Trick had the shot attempts (CF) at twelve apiece, the unblocked shot attempts (FF) at 8-7 for the Panthers, the shots on goal (SF) at 7-5 for the Oilers, the scoring chances (SCF) at 6-5 for the Oilers, and the high danger chances (HDCF) at 1-0 for the Oilers.

The Panthers took over at five-on-five for the rest of the game though:

| FLA Game 5 | CF% | FF% | SF% | SCF% | HDCF% | | 2nd Period | 80% (28-7) | 77.78% (21-6) | 70% (14-6) | 11-3 (78.57%) | 75% (6-2) | | 3rd Period | 87.5% (14-2) | 83.33% (10-2) | 85.71% (6-1) | 88.89% (8-1) | 100% (3-0) |

The Panthers were quite clearly the better five-on-five team in Game 5. Game script is a big reason for that. The Oilers got an early lead and never relinquished it. The Oilers’ special teams is the real reason that they won the game though. Connor Brown opened the scoring with a short-handed goal. The Oilers powerplay finally got going with two powerplay goals. Both of those powerplay goals came extremely late in those powerplays, which means they had to grind for them. Evan Bouchard blasted a point shot off of Zach Hyman’s knee and into the net, and Connor McDavid found Corey Perry coming off the bench on an incredible individual play. They also got solid goaltending from Stuart Skinner, especially in the third period.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers drag Panthers back to Alberta with Game 5 win

Game 5 was almost the opposite of Game 1. The second period in Game 1 was pretty even, but the Oilers had the better of the play in the first and third periods:

| EDM Game 1 | CF% | FF% | SF% | SCF% | HDCF% | | 1st Period | 64.29% (18-10) | 76.19% (16-10) | 76.92% (10-3) | 72.73% (8-3) | 83.33% (5-1) | | 3rd Period | 60% (15-10) | 57.89% (11-8) | 54.55% (6-5) | 61.54% (8-5) | 60% (3-2) |

The Panthers won Game 1 3-0. They got one even strength goal in each of the first two periods, and they added an empty netter late in the game. Sergei Bobrovsky stole that game for the Panthers with a 32-save shutout.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers escape with Game 1 win over the Oilers

The Panthers were the better team in the first two periods of Game 2, but the Oilers did pick it up in the third period. Once again, game script was a factor. The Panthers took the lead early in the third period, and the Oilers were forced to press. The Panthers got the win in Game 2, and they deserved it.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take care of business in Game 2

Game 3 was similar to Game 1 in the sense that the Oilers had the better of the play in two periods but lost. The first period was somewhat even, although the Panthers had a 4-2 edge in high danger chances. The Panthers held SLIGHT edges in all of the categories mentioned in this piece except for FF%, which was even at 50%. This is how the rest of Game 3 went:

| EDM Game 3 | CF% | FF% | SF% | SCF% | HDCF% | | 2nd Period | 58.33% (21-15) | 56.67% (17-13) | 63.64% (14-8) | 68.75% (11-5) | 42.86% (3-4) | | 3rd Period | 53.85% (14-12) | 57.89% (11-8) | 54.55% (6-5) | 75% (9-3) | 75% (3-1) |

The second period was the most puzzling from an Oilers perspective. They dominated the Panthers in that period, but they lost the period 3-1. Warren Foegele scored an early goal, but then the Oilers gave up three consecutive goals in the middle frame to go down 4-1. You can see that the HDCF% was the only category that favoured the Panthers in the second period. The Oilers simply made too many glaring mistakes that turned into goals in that period. The Oilers deserved what they got in Game 3 because of those mistakes, but the underlying numbers tell a different tale.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take stranglehold of Stanley Cup Final in Game 3

Game 4 was a lopsided 8-1 win for the Oilers in which they got two five-on-five goals in all three periods. Looking at the five-on-five numbers alone wouldn’t tell you that the Oilers ran away with the game though:

| EDM Game 4 | CF% | FF% | SF% | SCF% | HDCF% | | 1st Period | 27.78% (10-26) | 28.57% (6-15) | 33.33% (6-12) | 44.4% (8-10) | 57.14% (4-3) | | 2nd Period | 62.86% (22-13) | 75% (18-6) | 80% (12-3) | 63.64% (14-8) | 71.43% (5-2) | | 3rd Period | 26.09% (6-17) | 26.67% (4-11) | 37.5% (3-5) | 15.38% (2-11) | 25% (1-3) |

The Panthers had a decent first period, but found themselves down 3-1 because of a Mattias Janmark short-handed goal and two five-on-five goals against. The Oilers just dominated the second period. The Panthers had a bit of a push back in the third period, which is understandable with the score being 6-1 after two periods. The Oilers still found two more five-on-five goals in that third period though. The Panthers certainly did not deserve a win in Game 4, but the underlying five-on-five numbers said they fared better than the scoreboard showed. The Panthers had an expected five-on-five goals percentage (xGF%) of 54.51% in Game 4, but the actual five-on-five goal count was 1-6.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers make presence felt in emphatic Game 4 win

WrapThe aggregate of the five-on-five metrics of the fifteen periods of the series says that the Panthers have had the better of the five-on-five play in eight periods compared to seven periods for the Oilers. The Panthers are ahead 11-10 in five-on-five goals. The expected five-on-five goals in the series are 9.38 – 8.15 in favour of the Panthers. They have a one-game lead to show for it.

The series has been pretty even with pushes from both teams in every game. No team has carried the play for all three periods in any game in this series, as should be expected in a Stanley Cup Final.

Related: McDavid Magic

A lot of people get carried away while looking at these five-on-five numbers, but we have to be careful when examining these types of metrics in small sample sizes. While there’s a correlation between the shot and scoring chance metrics I’ve analyzed here and actual goals, it’s not a fully direct correlation. These numbers are not totally predictive of goal share and game outcomes, especially in single game sample sizes. Game script is a definite factor as well.

These numbers do tell us that the Oilers will need to play a whole lot better in Game 6 than they did in Game 5 if they want to keep the series going though. They also tell us that despite an 8-1 win in Game 4, we haven’t seen the Oilers’ best hockey in this series yet.

All information in this piece courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.

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June 19, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Connor McDavid said that the Edmonton Oilers had a job to do in Game 5, which was to “drag ‘em back to Alberta”. The Oilers have successfully accomplished the goal of dragging the Florida Panthers back to Alberta for Game 6.

McDavid didn’t just drag the Panthers back to Alberta. He did it while carrying the Oilers on his shoulders.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a full team effort. McDavid has repeatedly said that “everyone’s pulling on the rope”, and he’s right. Connor Brown made an incredible individual play to break up a pass and score on a short-handed breakaway. Evan Bouchard had three assists. Stuart Skinner made 29 saves.

Let’s be real though… when the best player on the planet gets four points in an elimination game, he rose to the occasion and put the team on his back. When he does it two games in a row in the Stanley Cup Final, he REALLY rose to the occasion and put the team on his back!

There are two players that have ever had multiple four-point nights in a single Stanley Cup Final. McDavid is one, and Wayne Gretzky is the other. Gretzky accomplished the feat in the 1985 Stanley Cup Final against the Philadelphia Flyers. McDavid has accomplished something that had only been done one other time 39 years ago,

Here’s the list of players with multiple 4 point games in Stanley Cup Final history:

Wayne Gretzky
Connor McDavid

Here’s the list of players with consecutive 4 point games in Stanley Cup Final history:

Connor McDavid

The end.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) June 19, 2024

Gretzky didn’t get four points in consecutive games though. McDavid is the ONLY player in NHL history to get four points in consecutive Stanley Cup Final games. Remember that these were also ELIMINATION games!

McDavid is just the sixth player in NHL history to record more than one career four-point game in the Stanley Cup Final. He accomplished this in his first Stanley Cup Final.

McDavid is just the 6th player in NHL history to have multiple 4-point games in the Stanley Cup Final. https://t.co/3yweyVmt3O pic.twitter.com/HWURVV2qjg

— Stathead (@Stathead) June 19, 2024

It’s not as if McDavid piled up secondary assists in these two games. Five if not six of McDavid’s eight points in the last two games were pretty plays. McDavid got his first goal of the series in the second period of Game 4. He got a clean look at Bobrovsky on the rush, and he beat him clean with a wrist shot. McDavid got assists on the next three Oilers goals, including a drop pass to Darnell Nurse on the rush, a cross-seam feed to Leon Draisaitl in his office on the powerplay (that was eventually batted home by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins), and a cross-crease pass to Dylan Holloway to finish a beautiful three-way passing play. Yes, he got points on four consecutive Oilers goals in Game 4.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers make presence felt in emphatic Game 4 win

McDavid’s onslaught continued in Game 5. He got an innocuous secondary assist on Zach Hyman’s powerplay goal early in the second period. Then he got himself on the board with a cheeky play where he cut down the left wing and slid the puck along the ice to beat Bobrovsky, who was standing up. He caught Bobrovsky napping on that one.

The highlight of the night was McDavid’s second assist of the game. He got the puck in his own end as he usually does on the powerplay, and he proceeded to dash into the offensive zone. He got around Eetu Luostarinen and found himself right in the middle of all four Panthers defenders. McDavid found a way to split Dmitri Kulikov and Niko Mikkola with some fast stickhandling underneath Mikkola’s stick, and he found Corey Perry at the back door for a tap-in goal. We’ve seen McDavid go through four defenders multiple times before, but never on this stage.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers drag Panthers back to Alberta with Game 5 win

Finally, he scored an empty netter to seal the Oilers victory. It wasn’t a typical empty netter though. The Oilers cleared the puck from their own end and it slid towards the Panthers’ empty net. McDavid took off up the ice, and he put Oliver Ekman-Larsson in his dust. Matthew Tkachuk was ahead of McDavid, and he was somehow able to sweep the puck off the goal line with a diving save. McDavid slowed down as he realized that Tkachuk was going to get to the puck. McDavid was able to collect the rebound, turn around, and fire it past Tkachuk into the empty net while Ekman-Larsson was asleep in the corner. It was a subtle but smart play by McDavid, and he made no mistake on the finish.

Oilers fans that watch McDavid every game are used to this type of performance. We see him do things like this consistently. Now the world is getting to see a glimpse of the magic that we see from McDavid on a consistent basis.

The Stanley Cup Final stage makes these last two games from McDavid legendary. Regardless of what happens in Game 6, the last two games will go down as signature performances in McDavid’s career. Minstrels will write songs about the magical hands of McDavid when his team was on the brink of death in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.

All we know at this point is that we get one last chance to see McDavid and the Oilers at Rogers Place this season in Game 6 on Friday night. It’s one more chance to see McDavid’s magic in this series. I can’t wait to see what he and the Oilers have in store on Friday night.

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June 18, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

“We’ve got to go to Florida and do a job and you know, drag ‘em back to Alberta.” These were Connor McDavid’s words after the Edmonton Oilers beat the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Well, the Oilers did exactly that by beating the Panthers 5-3 in Game 5 in Sunrise on Tuesday to force a Game 6.

The Oilers struck first with a short-handed goal in the first period. Then came a powerplay marker in the early stages of an eventful second period. The Oilers went up 3-0 later in the period, but Matthew Tkachuk scored just 1:53 after that to get the Panthers back within two goals. The Oilers were able to restore their three-goal lead, only to have Evan Rodrigues score just fourteen seconds later. Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored early in the final frame, but the Oilers held on and added an empty netter for good measure to take the 5-3 decision.

Call OutsDylan Holloway was unable to clear the puck on the Panthers’ first goal. His clearing attempt was broken up, and then the puck was fed to Tkachuk for a partial breakaway. Tkachuk beat Stuart Skinner with a perfect shot to the top corner on the glove side. That play happened shortly after the Oilers went up 3-0, which was not a good time for such a mistake.

Philip Broberg was involved in a corner battle in the sequence that led to the Panthers’ second goal. He wasn’t able to win that battle. Rodrigues was able to get inside position on Broberg at the far goal post, and Rodrigues was able to finish off the play. That goal happened just fourteen seconds after the Oilers had restored their three-goal lead.

Holloway and Broberg have been fantastic in the playoffs and their growth has been fun to watch unfold, but those mistakes came at awful times. Thankfully the Panthers were unable to gather momentum after those quick responses to Oilers goals.

Stand OutsWe’re finally seeing McDavid’s magic on the biggest stage. McDavid became the first player in NHL history to record consecutive four-point games in the Stanley Cup Final. These were ELIMINATION GAMES to boot! He and Wayne Gretzky are the only two players to record multiple four-point games at any point in a Stanley Cup Final.

He scored a sneaky five hole goal on Sergei Bobrovsky. We’ve seen McDavid cut down the left wing and slide the puck five hole like that before, but not on this stage. McDavid also sealed the victory with an empty net goal. The puck was sliding towards the Panthers goal, and McDavid was in a race with Tkachuk for the loose puck. Tkachuk dove to sweep the puck off the goal line, but McDavid slowed down because he knew there was a chance for the puck to be swept off the line. Sure enough, McDavid gathered the rebound, turned around, and scored.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersMcDavid also had a highlight reel assist. He walked through the four Panthers defenders on the powerplay and split the last two before centering the puck to Corey Perry who finished off the play. He added a secondary assist on Zach Hyman’s powerplay goal.

ShoutoutsEvan Bouchard exploded for three assists in Game 5. He now has 26 assists, which puts him ahead of Paul Coffey for the most assists in a single playoff run in NHL history. His 32 points are the fourth most points in a single playoff season by a defenceman in NHL history. This is ridiculous stuff from Bouchard.

Perry is the only player to play in five Stanley Cup Finals for five different teams, and he has scored a goal in each one now. That’s an incredible accomplishment. Perry has won everything there is to win in hockey, and he has been to four Stanley Cup Finals in the last five years in his late thirties. It’s incredible to watch, and his presence in the locker room has certainly been valuable for the Oilers.

WrapThe Oilers came to Florida with the task of winning one hockey game, and they did that. They managed to weather the storm, especially in the second period when the Panthers made a big push with sixteen shots on goal. It wasn’t a perfectly played hockey game by any stretch of the imagination; but it was pulse pounding action, and the Oilers did well to survive. They will get to fight for another day.

They went to Florida with one task, and now they will come back to Edmonton with one task. The Oilers will drag the Panthers back to Rogers Place for Game 6 in front of what should be a crowd that can’t be described with a single adjective. Game 6 goes Friday night.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers make presence felt in emphatic Game 4 win

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June 18, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Florida Panthers will have a chance to clinch the series and win the Stanley Cup on home ice Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise on Tuesday night. The Edmonton Oilers will try to keep their season alive.

PanthersThe Panthers have a stellar 6-2 record in eight Game 5s played since 2021. That includes identical 3-1 records at home and on the road.

They won a home Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021 before losing the series in Game 6. The Panthers were down 2-1 in their first round series against the Washington Capitals in 2022, and they won the next three games to take the series in six games, including a Game 5 win at home.

They also won three straight games to beat the Boston Bruins in last year’s first round, but they were down 3-1 in that series and they got their comeback started with a Game 5 home overtime victory. The Panthers were in the same situation they currently face against the Oilers in round two against the Toronto Maple Leafs last year. They got up 3-0 in the series and lost Game 4. They ended up beating the Leafs in overtime at home in Game 5 to take the series. The Panthers were down 3-1 in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, and the Vegas Golden Knights were able to win the Stanley Cup on their home ice.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/FlaPanthersJust like they did against the Leafs last year, the Panthers went up 3-0 on the Lightning in round one of these playoffs. They lost Game 4, and then they closed out the Lightning at home in Game 5. The Panthers have been able to win Game 5 at home to clinch a series after being up 3-0 in that series in both of the other occasions that they have faced that situation.

The Bruins were able to beat the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Game 5 in round two, but they eventually lost the series in six games. The Panthers were down 2-1 to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final; but they won three straight games to close out that series, including a Game 5 win on the road.

OilersThe Oilers have a 5-4 record in Game 5s in the Connor McDavid era. They are 3-1 in Game 5s played at Rogers Place, but they are 2-3 in road Game 5s.

They won a Game 5 at home en route to beating the San Jose Sharks in six games in round one in 2017. Game 5 of the second round against the Anaheim Ducks in 2017 was the infamous three-goal collapse that included Ryan Kesler grabbing Cam Talbot’s pad and a Corey Perry double overtime winner.

The Oilers didn’t play another Game 5 until the first round of the 2022 playoffs. They took a tough overtime loss at home to the Los Angeles Kings. They eventually took that series with a memorable Game 7 win. Speaking of memorable wins, the Oilers beat the Calgary Flames in overtime in Game 5 in Calgary to finish off the Battle of Alberta in style.

CALGARY, AB – MAY 26: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) takes a shot on net during the third period of game 5 of the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers on May 26, 2022, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)The Oilers got another chance at a Game 5 at home against the Kings in last year’s playoffs, and they got the job done before winning the series in six games. Then they faced the Vegas Golden Knights, who took Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena and Game 6 at Rogers Place in round two.

The Oilers took care of business at home against the Kings again this year, and this time it was the series clincher. They had a heartbreaking loss to the Vancouver Canucks in round two this year thanks to a last minute JT Miller goal. Better luck was found in Dallas for Game 5 against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. The Oilers powerplay busted out of its slump and they got the win on the road, which was one of three consecutive wins that got the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final.

Related: Can the Oilers keep the goals coming, or will Bobrovsky shut the door?

The recent Game 5 record for the Oilers isn’t exactly glimmering, but they have played well in every single one of those Game 5s. They had a three-goal lead in Anaheim with under five minutes left in the game. They lost to that one in overtime. They also lost to the Kings in overtime. Their other loss was to the Golden Knights. The Oilers had a 2-1 lead after the first period, but they had a tough second period. The Golden Knights scored two goals in about twenty seconds on a five-on-three with just under six minutes to go in the middle frame. The second one was a pass that deflected in off of Connor McDavid’s skate. They got another goal about a minute later. If not for a rough 90 second segment, the Oilers could easily have won that game.

WrapThe Oilers have not always gotten the result they needed in Game 5s, but they have played well in every single one of them. They will definitely play well in Game 5 on Tuesday night. They just need to avoid the mental lapses of the past.

The Panthers will also play well. They have great results in recent Game 5s, they will surely tighten up defensively after allowing eight goals in Game 4, and they will be motivated to win a Stanley Cup on home ice. However, the Panthers lost their most recent Game 5 at home, and they lost in Game 5 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final.

I don’t know which way this particular Game 5 will go, but I’m expecting a tight checking, low scoring game. It should be a tense game, as it should be with the Stanley Cup in the building.

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June 17, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Sergei Bobrovsky was nearly impenetrable in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. He had a 32-save shutout in Game 1, and he stopped eighteen of the nineteen shots that the Edmonton Oilers threw at him in Game 2.

The Oilers got three by Bobrovsky in Game 3, including two in the third period. Then Game 4 happened. Bobrovsky surrendered five goals on sixteen shots before the second period was five minutes old. All of that adds up to seven goals against Bobrovsky in his last 38:57 of game action in Games 3 and 4.

The Oilers clearly started doing something right to beat the two-time Vezina Trophy winner. The question now is can the Oilers keep it going, or will Bobrovsky regroup and shut the door on the Oilers?

Bobrovsky is up for the Vezina Trophy again this season, so he likely won’t stay cold for long. He allowed five goals in a game twice during the regular season. The first was in the Florida Panthers’ second game of the season against the Winnipeg Jets. He immediately followed that performance up by allowing three goals in a win over the New Jersey Devils. Bobrovsky allowed four goals in a loss to the Vancouver Canucks two games after that, which means he allowed three or more goals in three out of those four games. The one other game in that stretch was a game where he only allowed one goal to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The second time that Bobrovsky allowed five goals in a game in the regular season was on April 1, 2024 against the Maple Leafs. Bobrovsky responded by shutting out the Ottawa Senators the next time out. He added another shutout two games after that one, this time to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Bobrovsky has allowed five or more goals in a game three times in these playoffs now. The first time was to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of their first round series. The Panthers had a 3-0 lead in that series as well, then the Lightning had a big game. Bobrovsky allowed one goal in Game 5, and the Panthers closed out the series.

It wasn’t like he settled down right away after that game though. Bobrovsky allowed four goals to the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their second round series. The Bruins had some momentum after winning a Game 7 on home ice two days before that game, while the Panthers had been off for about a week. Bobrosvky allowed two or fewer goals in the next seven consecutive games and twelve of the next thirteen games after Game 1 of round two though.

The New York Rangers beat Bobrovsky five times in Game 3 of their series. It was the only game in that series where Bobrovsky allowed more than two goals. The Panthers won the next three games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/FlaPanthersBobrovsky has been pretty consistent this season, which is expected of a Vezina Trophy nominee. He only had two stretches where he allowed three or more goals in a game in three or more straight games this season. The Panthers went on a four-game losing streak from January 13 – 22, 2024. Bobrovsky started three of those games and allowed three or more in all three of those games. Then he rattled off twelve straight games where he allowed two or less goals.

The other sequence where Bobrovsky allowed three or more goals in three or more games was a six-game stretch between March 12-26, 2024. He allowed four goals twice in that stretch, and three goals four times. Bobrovsky allowed two goals to the Red Wings immediately after that stretch, and the next game was his second time allowing five goals in a game. He allowed three or more goals in seven of eight games.

All I’m saying is that while it’s unlikely that Bobrovsky endures a prolonged stretch of sub-standard play, such a stretch is not unprecedented.

Related: Can the Oilers come back from the dead?

The other half of the equation is the Oilers scoring at a high pace for an extended period of time. The short answer is yes, the team that was fourth in the league in goals for this season and first in goals for last season can score at a high pace for an extended period of time.

The Oilers had five streaks where they scored three or more goals in a game this season. That includes a fifteen-game stretch between November 11 and December 14, 2023. That was a part of a stretch where the Oilers scored three or more goals in 22 out of 24 games that lasted until January 6, 2024. Most recently, the Oilers had a seven-game streak of three or more goals from March 19 – 30, 2024.

The Oilers have had one such streak in the playoffs. It started in Game 5 of their first round series against the Los Angeles Kings, and extended through the first four games of their second round series against the Vancouver Canucks.

They had only been held to two or fewer goals in a game four times before the Stanley Cup Final: Game 4 of round one, Game 5 of round two, and Games 2 and 6 of their third round series against the Dallas Stars.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/SNstatsGame 6 of the Western Conference Final and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final was a cold streak for the Oilers. They only went three games with scoring two or fewer goals twice in the regular season. Once was at the tail end of Jay Woodcroft’s tenure with the Oilers, and once was the first three games of an Eastern road trip in early March where they beat the Bruins in overtime, lost to the Blue Jackets, and lost to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime.

This series is so interesting because it’s a battle between one of the highest scoring teams in the league and the best defensive team in the league. The Oilers can definitely score goals in bunches, but Bobrovsky and the Panthers are highly unlikely to let the Oilers score piles of goals over the course of four games in a row.

Statistical trends tend to fluctuate. Bobrovsky has been amazing throughout the playoffs, but he has stumbled a little bit in the last two games. The Oilers’ offence was cold, but they exploded in Game 4. Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman haven’t even scored goals in the series yet, so they could get going as well. Will these trends continue to regress towards the mean, or will the Panthers shut it down in Game 5? We will have to wait until Tuesday evening to see.

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June 16, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch made a few tweaks to his forward lines with the Oilers’ season on the line in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. The only line that stayed intact from Game 3 was Adam Henrique centering Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown.

Something that I noticed right away was that it wasn’t Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl’s line that got the start. It was Henrique, Janmark, and Brown that were tasked with matching up against Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Carter Verhaeghe to start the game. Janmark (6:43), Brown (6:19), and Henrique (5:54) were the forwards that Barkov saw the most at five-on-five in Game 4.

Barkov's most common opponents 5v5 last night.@DKingBH should be pleased pic.twitter.com/WNdwPfbfc8

— Woodguy (@Woodguy55) June 16, 2024

McDavid only played 3:31 against Barkov at five-on-five. It’s clear that Knoblauch was trying to get McDavid away from Barkov in Game 4. It’s not like Barkov had totally shut McDavid down in the first three games, but the Oilers lost all three of those games and needed a different strategy. Well, the Janmark-Henrique-Brown line scored one five-on-five goal while Barkov’s line was held off the scoresheet, so that’s a win.

Henrique scored the five-on-five goal, and I don’t mean to diminish his work; but Janmark and Brown were exceptional in their roles in Game 4.

Let’s start with the Henrique goal. Janmark accepted a stretch pass at the offensive blue line and was able to hold off Niko Mikkola on the left wing so that he could find Henrique at the top of the crease. Brown drove down the left wing and took Brandon Montour out of the play, which created the space for Janmark and Henrique to make the play.

Janmark and Brown teamed up for a huge short-handed goal to open the scoring though. Brown chipped a puck by a Panthers defender in the Oilers zone, which set up a two-on-one rush with Janmark. Brown held onto the puck and patiently outwaited Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky slid too far out towards Brown, and Brown carried the puck past Bobrovksy on the right side of the net. Brown chose to slide a pass into the crease that went between Bobrovsky and the right side of the net. Janmark was there to score the goal.

That was Janmark’s second short-handed goal of these playoffs. He’s the first Oiler to accomplish that feat since Todd Marchant in 1997. Brown has assisted on both of Janmark’s short-handed goals. Brown gave Janmark a “shit burger” of a pass in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final, and Janmark was able to put it home.

They have both been on the ice for two short-handed goals. Janmark has only been on the ice for two goals on the penalty kill in the entire playoffs, and he’s second on the team in penalty killing ice time in the playoffs (45:27). His goal share is EVEN on the penalty kill through 22 playoff games! Brown has only been on the ice for one goal against on the penalty kill. That means that he is actually UP 2-1 in goals on the penalty kill!

Brown (8) and Janmark (6) lead the Oilers in short-handed scoring chances. Brown leads the team in short-handed scoring chances despite only playing 29:16 on the penalty kill in these playoffs. He does great work at defending the Oilers blue line. He’s great on zone entry denials, and he forces a lot of turnovers high in the Oilers zone on the penalty kill. That’s why he is able to generate so many scoring chances on the penalty kill. Brown hasn’t scored a shorty in these playoffs, but his work in his own end created both of Janmark’s short-handed goals.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers make presence felt in emphatic Game 4 win

Janmark and Brown weren’t the offensive stars of the night. McDavid had four points and he set the new all-time single season playoff assists record. Dylan Holloway had two goals and an assist. Janmark and Brown got the party started though. Their work had the Oilers up 2-0 just 7:48 into the game. They set Rogers Place on fire, and the team poured it on from there.

Janmark doesn’t get much credit for the work he does, but he’s an incredibly reliable player for the Oilers. He’s a true veteran that makes the smart plays consistently and rarely makes mistakes. He has been asked to play up and down the lineup throughout his Oilers tenure because his coaches have a lot of trust in him.

It’s great to see Brown contributing in a meaningful way at this time of the year after everything he has been through in the last two seasons. He missed all but four games last season with an ACL injury. He came back from that and struggled mightily in the regular season. It took Brown 54 games to get a goal in an Oilers uniform. He started the playoffs as a healthy scratch. Now, Brown is leading the team in short-handed points and chances in the playoffs. His skating is finally back to a place where it is allowing him to contribute meaningfully.

The Oilers will need to continue to get contributions from Janmark and Brown if their season is to continue past Tuesday evening.

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June 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have officially made their presence felt in the Stanley Cup Final. They stepped up with the Stanley Cup in the building. The Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers by a resounding score of 8-1 in Game 4 to avoid the sweep.

The 8-1 score represents the largest margin of victory by a team facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Final in NHL history. The previous mark was six goals in a 9-3 win by the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs over the Detroit Red Wings. I’m not saying a thing about the situation those 1942 Maple Leafs found themselves in during that Stanley Cup Final.

Oilers 8-1 win sets the record for the largest margin of victory by a NHL team facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Final.

Previous record: Maple Leafs 9-3 win over the Red Wings in Game 5 of the 1942 Stanley Cup Final.

What happened that year???

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) June 16, 2024

Related: Can the Oilers come back from the dead?

Call OutsNo call outs tonight! The Oilers played better than anyone could possibly have predicted tonight. They earned a night without criticism.

Stand OutsWhere do I even begin! Connor McDavid had himself a four-point night, including three assists which have officially given him the most assists in a single playoff run.

Photo Credit: x.com/hockey_refI thought that Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown really led the charge in Game 4 though. Brown chipped a puck by a Panthers defender to send him and Janmark on a shorthanded two-on-one. Brown outwaited Sergei Bobrovsky and fed Janmark in the slot for the first goal of the game. Janmark made a great play to centre a puck to Adam Henrique for the second goal of the game. Those goals got the party started for the Oilers. Janmark got two points, and Brown got an assist. Brown was a force all night long.

Dylan Holloway had the game of his life in Game 4. He scored a beautiful goal on a backhand deke on Bobrovsky. Then he finished off a spectacular tic-tac-toe passing play with McDavid and Corey Perry. He almost capped off the hat trick late in the game, but that play resulted in an assist on Ryan McLeod’s 8-1 goal. Holloway was a menace with his speed and physicality. It’s great to see the kid get rewarded with a big night.

ShoutoutsRyan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest serving Oiler, scored his first Stanley Cup Final goal in Game 4. That one tugs on the ol’ heart strings. The five-on-three powerplay marker got the Oilers powerplay on the board in the series, which is an important factor going forward.

VANCOUVER, BC – Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) looks up ice during an NHL preseason game(Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)How about Darnell Nurse scoring his first playoff goal since 2022 after all the heat he has taken in these playoffs? He added six shots, five blocked shots, and a hit while going +3 on the night. It was also great to see Nurse get on the board, especially with his sister and his dad in attendance.

Leon Draisaitl got his first two points of the series, and his first two career Stanley Cup Final points.

I thought Warren Foegele was great in Game 4. He only got an assist, but his speed, tenacity, and willingness to get inside position on Panthers defenders was huge in this game.

Cody Ceci was a healthy scratch earlier in the series, but he had a clean sheet and went +3 in Game 4. Philip Broberg also went +3.

Finally, Stuart Skinner was amazing in this game. He made 32 saves on 33 shots, including two unbelievable sliding glove saves! Skinner made sure the Oilers stayed ahead after they got ahead early.

WrapWhat a game! What a way to get the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final win since 2006. Chasing Bobrovsky from the net after getting five goals on seventeen shots was huge for the confidence of the Oilers. Bobrovsky was a brick wall early in the series, and the Oilers found a way to break through.

Bobrovsky did bounce back nicely after allowing five goals on 23 shots in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final though. That’s a reminder that while this was an incredible win for the Oilers, it’s just one win. They need three more of those. Their chance to get the next one comes in Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take stranglehold of Stanley Cup Final in Game 3

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June 15, 2024 by Josh Boulton

After each Edmonton Oilers playoff game, our site puts out a Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts article, which has already been posted for Game 3 by our esteemed writer Ryan Lotsberg. Obviously, it focuses on the players.

This post will be a little different.

Call Outs: Oilers Twitter, I’m looking right at you. I usually enjoy the banter, the homerism, and the typical up-and-down thoughts we all casually tweet in the moment. It’s part of being a fan. But last night was sickening.

This place is wayyyyy too negative. I’ll see you all tomorrow.

— Tough Call Podcast (@ToughCallPod) June 14, 2024

Some fans had the Cup handed when the score was 2-1 for the Florida Panthers. In the second period. Of Game 3. After 3-1, you could cut number in half. And not just in the typical “boy, they were bad tonight” way. Which they weren’t. But in a “how do they even play in the NHL” kind of way.

A way that makes it seem like you’re surprised the Oilers didn’t come 30th place. Like this group hasn’t played nine playoff rounds in three years, with two trips to the Western Conference Final, and now a Stanley Cup Final, which was nowhere near over when the ranting began.

They’re playing a team that is arguably the single best “built for the playoffs” type team of this century, and it could be a 2-1 series lead for the Oilers, if not for the incredible goaltending performance of Sergei Bobrovsky. Give the Panthers skaters credit, too. Their penalty kill has been the other key difference, and of course they have capitalized on their scoring chances.

But imagine the pressure Stuart Skinner is under, knowing if he allows even two goals, the game is probably over. How many Oilers goalies have had to mentally deal with his team not being able to out score the odd mistake? It’s a whole new experience.

Despite having what some fans believe to be the worst defensive group ever assembled, the worst goalie ever to earn a playoff starting role, two amazing forwards dragging the rest of the forwards along (even though those two have somehow also been ghosts), and as a team playing the single worst hockey game of the Final since the Florida Panthers in 1996, they STILL worked their way to within one shot of earning the first third-period three-goal comeback in the Final since 1944. Not bad.

This team was 2-9-1 in November, and almost won the Pacific Division title in April. This team was down 2-1 and 3-2 in their second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks and came through. The things many observers said about Florida heading into the Final, they also said about the Dallas Stars in the West Final. Yet, down one goal on home ice, much of Oilers Twitter quit. It was absolutely shameful to read.

Stand Outs:The fans at Rogers Place! These people brought it. Obviously, there was a portion of the second period we’d like to erase, and the crowd went understandably numb. But you brought the chanting back rather quickly considering the circumstances, and at least from my perspective watching it on the television, the place was loud for most of the third period, and was totally electric for the later stages. You made it fun for me at home.

Tonight will be the first Stanley Cup Final game the #Oilers have ever played at Rogers Place and the first they have played in Edmonton since June 17, 2006.

It's going to be an absolutely electric atmosphere in Oil Country! #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/F480LQiAQO

— Eric Friesen (@EricJFriesen) June 13, 2024

Shout Outs:A giant, heartfelt thank you to all the Oilers players, the coaching staff, General Manager Ken Holland, and everyone who contributed to getting this team to where they are right now. 30 other teams in the NHL would gladly trade places with the Oilers. This is only the eighth time in 45 seasons where the Oilers have been in the Final. Enjoy it. Three wins is not four wins. Never stop believing. I know I haven’t.

On to Game 4!

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June 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers are facing an 0-3 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final. Only four teams have been able to overcome an 0-3 deficit in any NHL playoff series.

Most recently, the Los Angeles Kings flipped the script on the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. The Philadelphia Flyers came back to beat the Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2010 playoffs, and the New York Islanders took down the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Quarterfinals in 1975.

The only team to come all the way back from an 0-3 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who beat the Detroit Red Wings.

The odds of a comeback by the Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final are certainly long, but such a feat would not be unprecedented. The Oilers are saying all the right things about being optimistic, and we know that they believe that their best can beat anybody’s best. Let’s see if there are any reasons for them to be so optimistic.

Photo Credit: x.com/hockey_refThe mentality needed for this type of comeback is to take things one moment at a time. Take each shift, period, and game as they come. Stay in the moment.

It starts with Game 4 on Saturday evening. The good news for the Oilers is that they have won each of the three Game 4s that they have played in these playoffs. Stuart Skinner shut the door on the Kings in a 1-0 Game 4 win in round one. The Oilers got a last minute game-winning goal from Evan Bouchard in Game 4 against the Vancouver Canucks, and they took it to the Dallas Stars in a 5-2 Game 4 win in the Western Conference Final.

The Oilers have won five Game 4s in a row dating back to last season. They went 1-2 in Game 4s in 2022, but both of those Game 4 losses in 2022 were overtime losses. In fact, four of the six Game 4 losses that the Oilers have had in Connor McDavid’s career came in overtime. These Oilers have a track record of playing well in Game 4s, which is one reason for optimism heading into Saturday.

The Oilers’ 2024 record in Game 4 of a series or later is 8-1. Their only loss late in a series was to the Canucks in Game 5 of the second round, where JT Miller scored a heartbreaking goal in the final minute of the game. The Oilers have played their best hockey late in series in this playoff run. That tells me that the group has poise when the stakes are bigger, and that the coaching staff has been able to make adjustments throughout a given series that have led to success.

Speaking of their coaching staff, the Oilers have lost three games in a row three times under Head Coach Kris Knoblauch this season. The first time was the first three games of Knoblauch’s first road trip, which included a stop in Sunrise. The Oilers won eight games in a row after that three game losing streak.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThe Oilers then lost three games in a row from December 14-19, 2023. The second game in that losing streak came at the hands of the Florida Panthers. The Oilers then started their sixteen-game winning streak that lasted until the All-Star break.

Related: October hockey in June

The last time the Oilers lost three games in a row was between February 14-16, 2024. That included an overtime loss to the Boston Bruins. They went on to win their next five games, including returning the favour by beating the Bruins in overtime on March 5, 2024.

It’s safe to say that the Oilers have responded well after losing three games in a row this season.

Let’s go deeper into this matchup with the Panthers though. The Panthers have now won five straight games over the Oilers this season. Well, the Oilers won the previous three matchups. There appears to be volatility and streaks in this head-to-head series.

Photo Credit: Florida Panthers (X)Statistics tend to have a way of regressing towards the mean over time. For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. By that logic, the Oilers should win the next three games at least; but it’s not that simple. We have no way of knowing when a statistical trend will start to go the other way. The Oilers could win the next four games against the Panthers, or they could go on a winning streak against the Panthers sometime over the course of the rest of the decade.

There are some statistical trends that are wildly in favour of the Panthers through the first three games of the series. For example, Sergei Bobrovsky has saved a ridiculous 5.44 goals above expected in this series. His .950 save percentage on inner slot shots is eighteen percentage points over the league average from the regular season (.770). That type of goaltending can’t last forever. It could last one more game, and all Bobrovsky and the Panthers need is one more game of solid goaltending to win the series; but it could also turn and regress towards the mean.

Goals Saved Above Expected
After Game 3 – 2024 Stanley Cup Final
Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA) +5.44
Stuart Skinner (EDM) -2.98

Bobrovsky has stopped 19 of 20 shots on net (.950 SV%) from the inner slot in the series; NHL average SV% on inner slot shots this season is .770 pic.twitter.com/vA66PprZY6

— Meghan Chayka (@MeghanChayka) June 14, 2024

The Panthers have been at or near the top of the league in fewest goals allowed above expected throughout the 2023-24 regular season and these playoffs. This has been a trend for a long enough time that it’s unlikely to suddenly switch right now, but the Panthers do seem to have the puck luck on their side in their own zone.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take stranglehold of Stanley Cup Final in Game 3

The Oilers have an astoundingly low 4.65% shooting percentage through three games of the Stanley Cup Final. They have gotten 21 high danger scoring chances in those three games, yet they only have four goals in the series. Part of their scoring woes can be attributed to the play of Bobrovsky, but part of it can also be attributed to their lack of finishing success. The Oilers are getting their chances. They just need to bury them when they come.

The Oilers powerplay is 0/10 in the series. This is a powerplay unit that has set NHL records for proficiency. The Oilers powerplay has struggled since Game 4 of the second round though. They scored fourteen powerplay goals in the first nine games of these playoffs, but they have gone just 5/31 (16%) since Game 4 of round two. Perhaps their current funk is the product of the statistical regression that I’m talking about in this piece, but we know this group is too good to stay cold for too long. They went 0/6 in the first four games of the Western Conference Final, but they got four powerplay goals in the final two games of that series to close out the Stars.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/SNstatsLook, I know that it is incredibly unlikely that the Oilers will come back to win this series; but the numbers are what they are. This team has already come back from the dead once this season, and now they have an opportunity to do it one more time. They need a few statistical trends to turn, and they need to stop shooting themselves in the foot if they want to come back from the dead one last time this season. Having the tides turn and seeing the Oilers mount a historic comeback in this Stanley Cup Final would be a fitting way for this season to end though.

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June 15, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Despite the Edmonton Oilers trailing 3-0 in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli gave the fan base a reason for optimism about the club’s future ahead of Game 4.

Seravalli believes that the Oilers will sign cornerstone players Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard to contract extensions on 630 CHED’s Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Friday. All three players are under contract for the 2024-25 season, with Draisaitl and Bouchard eligible for extensions on July 1.

“I believe the Oilers have already begun discussions with Draisaitl’s camp,” Seravalli told Stauffer on Friday. “So, then you get that done. My point is, two years from now when the Oilers take the ice, [McDavid, Draisaitl and Bouchard] will add up to $40 million. That’s my projection. And if the Oilers are sitting in their office, on Jeff Jackson’s big board that he has up there, I bet the numbers are really close to that.”

What will their next contracts look like?Getting Draisaitl locked up long-term will be the top priority for the Oilers’ next General Manager this off-season. Draisaitl has been arguably hockey’s most underpaid superstar over the past six seasons at $8.5 million annually. Since 2018-19, Draisaitl ranks second in goals, tied for third in assists, and second in points in the NHL, and has reached the 100-point plateau five times. However, he was only the 46th highest-paid player in the league this season.

Though many hockey experts believed Draisaitl’s second contract to be an overpay when he signed it back in 2017, the pact has proven to be a significant bargain for the Oilers. Draisaitl deserves a major raise on his next deal, and he will get one.

Auston Matthews is set to become the NHL’s new highest-paid player in 2024-25, with a cap hit of $13.25 million. But Draisaitl will undoubtedly surpass Matthews as the top earner in hockey the following season.

After getting Draisaitl’s contract done, the Oilers would be smart to ink Bouchard to a new deal this summer, too. Bouchard is coming an off 82-point season as a defenceman, and is currently tied with Draisaitl for second in league scoring in the playoffs with Draisaitl.

Related: Oilers Sign Bouchard to Two-Year, $7.8 Million Contract

There’s a real chance that Bouchard could put up 100 points next season playing on the best power-play in the history of the game, which would only drive up his price even more. Bouchard is now the third-most valuable player on the Oilers behind only McDavid and Draisaitl, and is line to earn $10 million annually on an eight-year extension.

When McDavid signed his eight-year extension in 2017, he could have demanded $15 million per season, which would have been the maximum amount an NHL team could pay a player at the time (20% of the $75 million salary cap ceiling). However, McDavid left $2.5 million on the table in order to help the Oilers build a Stanley Cup contender.

Photo Credit: x.com/hockey_refEven at $12.5 million, McDavid is amongst the best value contracts in the entire league. McDavid, the most dominant offensive player in the past quarter-century, contributed to 45.2% of Edmonton’s total goals in 2023-24, while only taking up 15.0% of the team’s total cap.

The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner will raise the bar for player salaries once more in 2026-27, when the league’s salary cap is expected reach to $100 million. Though McDavid will almost certainly take less than he’s worth again, he should still come in around $16 million on an eight-year deal, which would be the richest contract in NHL history.

On the surface, committing $40 million to just three players could limit a team’s ability to remain competitive in the salary cap era. But for players of their ilk, keeping that trio in orange and blue through their prime years is essential for this club to compete for Stanley Cups.

McDavid and Draisaitl want to win togetherWhile the Final isn’t over yet, the Oilers will need to win four straight games against the Florida Panthers to win the Stanley Cup this year. No team has come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the Final to win the Cup since the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942.

If the Oilers were to pull off the reverse sweep, it would have to be viewed as one of the greatest comebacks in NHL history. However, per moneypuck.com, the Oilers have just a 6.6% chance of winning the series following their Game 3 loss at home.

If they end up falling short of their ultimate goal this year, that will surely only make McDavid and Draisaitl hungrier to win it all in 2025. McDavid and Draisaitl are easily one of the most dominant offensive duos the game has ever seen, but they need to win at least one Stanley Cup together to be considered one of hockey’s greatest duos.

EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 19: Edmonton Oilers Winger Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his power play goal with Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Signing Draisaitl to an extension this off-season would be a pretty clear indicator that McDavid will follow in the summer of 2025. Beyond being teammates for the past nine years, McDavid and Draisaitl are also best friends. And Edmonton is the only NHL city where they can play together.

The Oilers are amongst the best team in the league, they have an owner who provides them with everything they need on and off the ice, and they play in front of the most passionate fans in the NHL. They couldn’t ask couldn’t ask for a better situation to be in.

Whether they win the Cup this year or not, this won’t be the last time McDavid and Draisaitl play in the Final. These two plan on winning multiple Cups together, and they plan on doing it with the Oilers.

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June 14, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

I apologize if you were trying to repress this memory, but the Edmonton Oilers had a horrific October in 2023. Their poor play extended into November as well. The team went 3-9-1 before making a coaching change and eventually getting themselves to the Stanley Cup Final.

Fast forward to June 2024, and the Oilers find themselves in a 3-0 hole in the Stanley Cup Final. I’m seeing some similarities between what has happened in this series to date and what was happening with the Oilers in the early part of the 2023-24 season.

Goal ScoringThe Oilers seemingly couldn’t buy a goal before the coaching change. They averaged 2.69 goals per game through the first thirteen games of the season. They went on to average 3.72 goals per game over the next 69 games.

Once again, the Oilers can’t seem to buy a goal. The Oilers have averaged 3.19 goals per game in the playoffs, but they have only scored 1.33 goals per game in the Stanley Cup Final.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 14: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) wait for a puck drop in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup playoffs round 1, game 7 on May 14, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Connor McDavid had one point in the last five games of Jay Woodcroft’s tenure. He has three points in the series. A point per game is amazing for most players, but McDavid had 31 points in eighteen games entering the Stanley Cup Final.

Leon Draisaitl had one goal in the ten games before the coaching change. He has now failed to score a goal in five consecutive games. Draisaitl has yet to register a point in the Stanley Cup Final.

PowerplayThe Oilers powerplay recorded the highest proficiency rate of all-time in the 2021-22 season. Their powerplay has been historically good for the last five seasons. Performance is never consistent though. There are peaks and valleys. The Oilers powerplay struggled by their standards early in the season, going just eleven for 46 (23.9%) in the first thirteen games of the season.

Defensive MiscuesI maintain that the biggest reason that the Oilers struggled at the start of the season was individual defensive miscues. Oilers defencemen were consistently making poor decisions at the offensive blue line and in the neutral zone, which was leading to a barrage of odd man rushes. A lack of back checking from the forwards is always an issue when a team is giving up a lot of odd man rushes as well. There were also many sloppy giveaways in the defensive zone that ended up in the back of the Oilers net.

Related: Oilers Glaring Individual Mistakes

Well, we’ve seen those mistakes emerge again in the Stanley Cup Final. Hockey is a fast game, and the other teams all have really good players. Things are going to happen sometimes. Having said that, the Oilers have a penchant for getting into extended stretches where they can’t get out of their own way. They are having one of those stretches at the worst possible time.

McDavid and Zach Hyman got beat up the ice by Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe, which led to a goal off the rush for the Panthers in Game 1. Evander Kane fell asleep for a second, and Evan Rodrigues beat him to the dangerous area. Cody Ceci chose to defend Sam Bennett’s body instead of his stick, and Darnell Nurse let the puck squeak by him into the slot for Rodrigues to bury.

The Oilers failed to identify Niko Mikkola joining the rush a little bit late on the Panthers’ first goal in Game 2. Evan Bouchard really struggled with turnovers early in the season. He’s had an unbelievable season, but a sloppy defensive zone turnover led to the game-winning goal for the Panthers in Game 2. Bouchard’s pass to Rodrigues was tape to tape.

GoaltendingThe early season goaltending woes for the Oilers are well documented. Things were going wrong on the back end, and they couldn’t get a save when they needed one. It felt like every mistake that was made turned into a goal against.

Jack Campbell was the starter on opening night. He was waived and sent to the AHL after putting up an .873 save percentage and a 4.50 goals against average in just five appearances. Stuart Skinner wasn’t much better. He had an .861 save percentage and a 3.53 GAA in the first thirteen Oilers games of 2023-24.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Skinner was a huge factor in the turnaround of the Oilers season, and he is a big reason that the Oilers are where they are right now. He stood on his head in Game 6 against the Dallas Stars to clinch a Stanley Cup Final appearance for the Oilers. However, Skinner has an .868 save percentage and a 3.13 GAA in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final. The team has hung him out to dry on a multiple occasions, but he hasn’t been able to come up with the big saves to bail his team out often enough in the first three games of the series.

This post from Meghan Chayka tells the story of the goaltending in this series:

Goals Saved Above Expected
After Game 3 – 2024 Stanley Cup Final
Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA) +5.44
Stuart Skinner (EDM) -2.98

Bobrovsky has stopped 19 of 20 shots on net (.950 SV%) from the inner slot in the series; NHL average SV% on inner slot shots this season is .770 pic.twitter.com/vA66PprZY6

— Meghan Chayka (@MeghanChayka) June 14, 2024

Skinner hasn’t played up to his standard, and this display of goaltending from Sergei Bobrovksy is one of the best if not the best that I have ever seen in a Stanley Cup Final series.

Underlying StatsThe early season struggles were frustrating on their own, but the thing that made that start even more frustrating was that the Oilers were near the top of the league in a lot of underlying five-on-five metrics, and they were still losing consistently.

Here’s a look at some of those underlying numbers through the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final:

CF% – 52.82%

SF% – 53.66%

GF% – 30%

xGF% – 55.60%

SCF% – 56.84%

HDCF% – 53.85%

The Panthers outplayed the Oilers in the third period of Game 1, and for all of Game 2. The Oilers have had the better of the play in the majority of the series according to the underlying numbers, but that hasn’t been able to outweigh their mistakes.

The Oilers are also dealing with a horrendous .923 PDO. Despite all the good things that the underlying numbers say are happening, the Oilers aren’t finishing or getting saves when needed.

WrapWe need to give the Panthers a lot of credit for how the series has gone so far because they really are a fantastic hockey team. They were the best defensive team in the league in the regular season, and they have been the best defensive team in the league in the playoffs.

The Oilers have said that they know that their best can beat anyone else’s best. Unfortunately, what we have seen through the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final is a far cry from the Oilers’ best hockey. It’s pretty close to their worst hockey, similar to what we saw in the first thirteen games of the season.

The series is not over, but the Oilers will need to find a way to cut out the mistakes and play their best hockey if they are going to make history and come back in this series.

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June 14, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Game 3 was the first Stanley Cup Finals game played at Rogers Place with fans in the building. Unfortunately for fans of the Edmonton Oilers, the Florida Panthers came into Edmonton and won Game 3 by a score of 4-3.

Sam Reinhart put the Panthers on the board late in the first period with a four-on-four goal. The Oilers tied it early in the second period, but the Panthers pulled away in the second frame. Vladimir Tarasenko, Sam Bennett, and Aleksander Barkov scored in a span of 6:19 to put the Panthers up 4-1. The Oilers fought valiantly to tie the game, but two third period tallies weren’t enough.

Call OutsYou can’t give up three goals in a 6:19 span and expect to win many games. It was mistakes by the Oilers that ultimately led to their loss in Game 3. Some of those mistakes were subtle, and others were less subtle.

Mattias Ekholm is usually amazing, but he had a tough game in Game 3. While he was in good defensive position on Reinhart on the game’s opening goal, he failed to tie up Reinhart’s stick. Instead, Ekholm’s stick was at Reinhart’s waist height. Being there and not tying up the stick is just as good as not being there at all.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 01: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Mattias Ekholm (14) in his first game as an Oilers defends his zone in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Toronto Maple Leads on March 1, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Ekholm also made a mistake on the fourth Panthers goal. The Oilers had three forwards involved in a puck battle on the right wall in the offensive zone. The puck got reversed, and Ekholm drifted down the left wall. A forward got there, but it was clear that forward wasn’t going to win that race. Barkov saw that Ekholm had drifted down, and he took off up the ice as soon as his team got possession of the puck. Barkov finished off the two-on-one at the other end.

Mike Smith was in attendance for Game 3. Watching Smith in the Oilers goal was always entertaining. He was a tremendous puck handler, but every once in a while he would turn the puck over and it would turn into a goal for the other team. Stuart Skinner got to play with Smith briefly. Skinner made a similar type of puck handling gaffe in Game 3. Skinner failed to corral a routine rim around the boards. Cody Ceci, like Ekholm, was engaged with his man but did not have the stick tied up. The puck got passed out front to Tarasenko, and he made no mistake.

Darnell Nurse can legitimately be blamed for the Bennett goal. Philip Broberg reversed the puck to Nurse behind the net, and Nurse got possession. Nurse proceeded to attempt a backhand pass that was picked off and promptly fed over to Bennett, who was wide open because Nurse couldn’t get over to cover him in time.

The powerplay came away empty handed once again. It went 0/3 on the night. The Oilers have gotten a few chances on the powerplay, but the Panthers are doing a great job of defending the vaunted Oilers powerplay.

Stand OutsConnor McDavid got two assists for his first multi-point Stanley Cup Final game. He added five shots on goal and three hits.

ShoutoutsWarren Foegele scored the first goal by an Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place. Philip Broberg banked a shot in off a Panthers defender from the right circle. I thought Broberg played a great game at both ends of the ice. Ryan McLeod tipped a puck by Sergei Bobrovsky to get the Oilers within a goal with a little over five minutes left.

WrapA mistake-filled second period leaves the Oilers up against the ropes and hanging on for dear life. They now face a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final. The Stanley Cup will be in the building for Game 4 at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take care of business in Game 2

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June 11, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Chris Cuthbert pointed out something interesting during the broadcast of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers on Monday night. He said that Philip Broberg was the last Oiler to score a five-on-five goal. That happened in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.

The Oilers have now gone three full games without a five-on-five goal. Broberg’s was the team’s only five-on-five goal in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final. Cuthbert added that an Oilers forward hasn’t scored a five-on-five goal since Game 4 of the third round. That goal was scored by Leon Draisaitl at the 15:22 mark of the second period of Game 4 of the Western Conference Final. That means that an Oilers forward hasn’t scored a five-on-five goal in 144:38 of game time.

That seems impossible for the team that led the playoffs in five-on-five goals through three rounds, and that features the two most prolific offensive players in the league; but the numbers are what they are. The Panthers have caught the updraft of statistical regression to the mean, and the Oilers have been victims of statistical regression to the mean through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers scored 39 even strength goals in the first three rounds of the playoffs, compared to 31 by the Panthers. However, Oilers defencemen scored six five-on-five goals in the second round against the Vancouver Canucks. Panthers defencemen have scored six five-on-five goals in the entire playoffs. Oilers defencemen had a big second round, which I believe can be attributed to tactics. The Canucks like to collapse in the low slot, and the way to create space there is to utilize point shots.

I pointed out that the Oilers led the league in goals scored above expected through three rounds according to Moneypuck in my preview of this series. That suggests that they were overachieving in five-on-five goal scoring in the first three rounds. Six five-on-five goals by defencemen in one round is evidence of that. They have now fallen to third place after not scoring a five-on-five goal in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.

Meanwhile, the Panthers were fourth in the league in fewest goals allowed against expected in the first three rounds. They are now first in that metric. They were already overachieving at five-on-five defending, and now they are overachieving by an even greater margin after the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers were fourteenth in goals scored above expected through three rounds. They have now risen to the twelfth spot. That tells me that their goal scoring luck is starting to turn. I suggested that the Oilers could be in trouble if the Panthers’ goal scoring luck would turn, and it appears that is playing out early in the series.

The Oilers were eleventh in fewest goals allowed through three rounds. They sat at 0.19, which says that their defensive reality was quite close to their expected defensive performance. The Oilers have now fallen to fourteenth in that metric (2.04). Their defensive play has clearly taken a step backwards thus far in the Stanley Cup Final.

All of these stats pertaining to goal scoring are never consistent over a large sample size. There are always peaks and valleys. Oilers forwards scored eleven five-on-five goals in five games in round one (2.2/game), ten in seven games in round two (1.43/game), and nine in six games in round three (1.5/game). They scored all nine of those goals in the first four games of the Western Conference Final, so they had a mini hot streak where they scored 2.25 five-on-five goals per game at the start of that series. Aside from that mini hot streak, Oilers forwards have been struggling to score five-on-five goals since the end of round one.

Panthers forwards scored ten five-on-five goals in five games in round one (2/game), nine in six games in round two (1.5/game), and just seven in six games in round three (1.17) for comparison’s sake. Their forwards had a cold streak in the Eastern Conference Final, but they have scored three five-on-five goals in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers take care of business in Game 2

It’s clear that the Oilers need to find more five-on-five offence. We know how the team is built. We know who they rely on to provide most of that offence. Out of the 30 five-on-five goals scored by the Oilers in these playoffs, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have not appeared on the scoresheet on just ten of those goals (33.3%). They have been in on two thirds of the five-on-five goals scored by Oilers forwards in these playoffs. McDavid has one assist which came in a four-on-four scenario in Game 2, and Draisaitl has not recorded a point yet in the series. That obviously needs to change if the Oilers are going to come back in this series.

NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 02: Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates a third period goal by center Leon Draisaitl (29) during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers, held on March 2, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire)It’s not fair to place the entire burden on their shoulders though. Zach Hyman leads the team with nine five-on-five goals in these playoffs. His last one came in Game 3 of the last round. He has now gone five games without scoring a five-on-five goal. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has scored some huge powerplay goals in these playoffs, but he hasn’t scored a five-on-five goal since Game 4 of the second round. Evander Kane hasn’t scored a five-on-five goal since Game 6 of the second round. These are star players that are expected to produce offence, and they are cold right now.

Depth offence has been an issue for the Oilers for a long time. Only six of the 30 goals in question have come from players playing in the bottom six when the goal was scored, a mere 20%. Three of those goals came in Games 2 and 3 of the first round! There have only been three five-on-five goals scored by bottom six forwards since Game 3 of the first round.

Ryan McLeod has one five-on-five goal, but that was while playing on a line with Draisaitl (although Draisaitl did not get a point on the goal). Adam Henrique has two goals in these playoffs. One of those came in Game 1 of round one when he was playing with McDavid and Zach Hyman. Warren Foegele hasn’t scored in the playoffs at all, and he scored 20 goals in the regular season! Corey Perry, Derek Ryan, and Sam Carrick have zero goals in the playoffs as well. Some offensive contributions from these players in support roles would be extremely welcome.

Combine all these five-on-five scoring issues with the fact that the Oilers’ powerplay hasn’t scored in the series, and it spells trouble for the Oilers. The Oilers penalty kill just had a streak of 34 consecutive killed penalties come to an end as well. They need the penalty kill to avoid statistical regression to the mean now if they have any chance of winning this series.

While the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final did not go the Oilers’ way, the series is still quite young. Momentum doesn’t carry over from game to game. Each game is its own story. These statistical trends that I have pointed out can switch in the blink of an eye.

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June 11, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Florida Panthers took care of business in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers. The Panthers won both of their first two home games, including a 4-1 win in Game 2 on Monday night.

The shots were lopsided in favour of the Panthers in this game, whereas it was the other way around in Game 1. The Oilers got on the board first, but the Panthers scored four unanswered goals including three in the third period.

Call OutsEvan Bouchard took two penalties in Game 2. One was an elbowing call that he earned. He got away with the first one, but not the second one. It didn’t look like it hit the Panthers player hard, but the elbowing motion was there from Bouchard. The other was a pretty weak slash to the hands, but it was a slash to the hands. Bouchard committed both infractions and both deserved to be called.

Bouchard also coughed up a puck that directly led to the game winning goal. To be fair, Ryan McLeod failed to clear the puck out of the zone moments earlier, and it appeared that Evan Rodrigues’s shot deflected off of McLeod and into the Oilers net; but Bouchard’s giveaway was poor. Bouchard was also on the ice for the 3-1 goal, the powerplay tally which ended the Oilers’ consecutive penalties killed streak at 34.

Speaking of penalties, the Oilers took five minor penalties and a major penalty in Game 2. Three of those came in the third period. They also took three misconduct penalties, including two late in the game. It wasn’t all on Bouchard. The team as a whole took too many penalties. The penalty kill has been amazing recently, but that’s a heavy load to put on any penalty killing unit in any game.

Stand OutsEDMONTON, AB – MARCH 01: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Mattias Ekholm (14) in his first game as an Oilers defends his zone in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Toronto Maple Leads on March 1, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Mattias Ekholm scored the first Stanley Cup Final goal for the Oilers since 2006. It was four-on-four, and Ekholm got the puck in his own end with room to skate. He had Leon Draisaitl to his right on a two-on-one, but he took the shot and beat Sergei Bobrovsky through the five hole. He also led the team with five shot blocks in Game 2.

ShoutoutsI referenced the Oilers’ consecutive penalties killed streak earlier. It ended at 34 in Game 2. That was after killing off seven minutes worth of penalties in the first period, including a major penalty taken by Warren Foegele. The goal was scored on the fifth Panthers powerplay of the game. The penalty killing unit deserves all the praise in the world for their work in these playoffs, and it was great again in Game 2 (even though they gave up a goal).

The best way to kill a penalty is to draw one on the penalty kill. Mattias Janmark and Connor McDavid did exactly that. Both drew tripping penalties by jumping laterally to avoid hits from Panthers players. They both failed to stick the landing due to a little bit of contact on the way down. I personally felt that the Oilers got a little bit lucky with those calls, but the calls were made. Janmark’s drawn penalty came during Foegele’s major, and it was a big reason why the Oilers were able to kill off that penalty.

Once again, Philip Broberg played over seventeen minutes in Game 2; and once again, Broberg had a clean sheet. He was not on the ice for a goal against in Game 2, one of only three Oilers defencemen able to make that claim. One of those was Darnell Nurse, who only played 4:20 due to an injury sustained early in the game. Broberg contributed four blocked shots and a hit.

WrapThe Panthers were just the better team in Game 2. There’s no other way to put it. The Panthers got the better of the shot share and the scoring chances. They didn’t make any costly mistakes, and the Oilers did.

The Panthers did what they needed to do at home. Now, the Oilers need to hold serve back in Edmonton. They will have the support of 18,000 strong behind them in Game 3 at Rogers Place on Thursday night.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers escape with Game 1 win over the Oilers

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June 9, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The pairing of Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci is the topic du jour in Edmonton once again on Sunday. The pairing was on the ice for both of the non-empty net goals scored by the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Nurse has been on the ice for more five-on-five goals allowed than any other player in the league in the playoffs, and the frequency of those goals seems to rise when Ceci is Nurse’s partner.

Nurse and Ceci have been taking heat for the last two years. As I did with Nurse as an individual earlier in these playoffs, I want to be as fair and objective as I can be in my analysis of their performance as a pairing. I took a look at their numbers in the regular season and the playoffs in each of the seasons that Ceci has been an Oiler. All stats used in this piece are from Natural Stat Trick.

Nurse and Ceci have played together for the majority of the time that Ceci has been a member of the Edmonton Oilers. They were a serviceable top pairing in 2021-22 after Adam Larsson left in free agency in the summer of 2021. They allowed 2.63 goals against per sixty minutes (GA/60) that season. They held a 53.19% five-on-five goal share (GF%), a 54.20% expected goals percentage (xGF%), and an impressive 61.98% high danger chances for percentage (HDCF%) that season. Their high danger goals for percentage (HDGF%) was 54.17%. A strong number, but one that is several notches below their HDCF%, which is a sign of trouble.

Their performance dipped a little bit in the 2022 playoffs. They were below 50% in both Corsi for percentage (CF%) and shots for percentage (SF%). They had a 51.52% GF% and a 47.15% xGF%. They got the better of their opponents in HDCF% (51.28%) and HDGF% (60%) though.

The pairing remained intact for the 2022-23 season. They started out as the top pairing, but were supplanted once Mattias Ekholm arrived on the scene and his pairing with Evan Bouchard started dominating. Nurse and Ceci’s GA/60 held fairly steady from the year before, going from 2.63 to 2.66. Their GF% slipped to 48.94%, and their expected goal share slipped to 50.52%. Their goal metrics were about as average as average gets that season. Their HDCF% was 53.03%, which was still good but not nearly as good as it was in 2021-22. However, their HDGF% was only 43.14%.

Their numbers from this season were actually better than I expected them to be. They were above 50% in every shot, goal, and scoring chance metric. Their GA/60 actually went down to 2.42. They took a lot of heat in the regular season despite having positive metrics across the board as a pairing. The exceptional play of the Ekholm-Bouchard pairing and the surprisingly strong pairing of Brett Kulak and Vincent Desharnais made the Nurse-Ceci pairing look far worse than it actually was in the regular season.

It has all fallen apart for the Nurse-Ceci pairing in these playoffs though. Their GA/60 in these playoffs is 4.31. Last year it was 3.61 GA/60 when they were as terrible as they were. Their GF% is an abysmal 25% (4-12), and their xGF% is a dreadful 34.44%. Nurse himself has now been on the ice for 23 goals against at five-on-five, and Ceci has been on for fourteen. They are numbers one and two among Oilers defencemen in five-on-five goals allowed in these playoffs. Their HDCF% is only 36.62%, and HDGF% is only 28.57%.

They are also giving up high danger scoring chances at a higher rate than they ever have in these playoffs. Their high danger scoring chances against per sixty minutes (HDCA/60) in these playoffs is 16.16. It was 13.55 last year. That figure is only 8.04 for the Ekholm-Bouchard pairing for comparison’s sake.

Mark Spector asked Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch about the Nurse-Ceci pairing in Sunday’s media availability. Spector asked if Knoblauch has access to any numbers that aren’t publicly available that tell a different story about the Nurse-Ceci pairing.

Knoblauch said that “[w]e look at players involved in scoring chances for and against… both of them were involved in two scoring chances against, and both of them they got scored against. So, I guess if you look at actual goals for and against, it’s not favourable. The expected goals for and against is not nearly, it doesn’t paint the same picture at all, completely different.”

The numbers on Natural Stat Trick don’t align with Knoblauch’s assessment when evaluating the playoffs in their entirety. However, they had a 62.14% xGF% in Game 1 against the Panthers despite being outscored 0-2 at five-on-five. Knoblauch is an intelligent man. He isn’t going to throw his players under the bus in the media at any point, and certainly not in the Stanley Cup Final. Knoblauch was able to pick an accurate stat that related to Game 1 that painted his players in a more positive light, so credit to him for that; but the expected goals percentage for the Nurse-Ceci pairing has been extremely low in these playoffs.

I have defended Nurse a lot in these playoffs, and I came to this pairing’s defence in my postgame write up on Saturday night. I still maintain that Nurse has not been at fault for the vast majority of the goals against that he has been on the ice for in these playoffs. I feel that both goals against in Game 1 were more the result of forwards failing to beat their checks to the scoring areas than they were the result of errors from Nurse and Ceci.

Related: Deep Dive: Nurse’s 2024 playoff struggles

Ceci was forced to slide over to cover Aleksander Barkov because Barkov beat Connor McDavid up the ice on the first goal. Ceci was in a position to break up Barkov’s cross-crease pass to Carter Verhaeghe, but that didn’t happen. Barkov made a nice pass. Zach Hyman stopped skating once he got over the defensive blue line and he failed to get to Verhaeghe.

Sam Bennett dumped the puck in and chased it himself on the second goal. Ceci chose to take the body on Bennett rather than the puck. Ceci pinned Bennett against the boards, but Bennett was still able to pass the puck into the slot. Ceci made the wrong choice there, but I’m sure every defenceman made that choice multiple times in the game without it resulting in a goal against. The play was still defendable after that moment. Nurse was standing in front of the net covering the slot, as is his responsibility in that situation. The puck got through him, which he was upset about. He acknowledged that he should’ve got a piece of it after the game. He might’ve been positioned a little bit too low and a little bit too far to the right, and he looked bad as a result.

The bigger problem for me on that goal was that Evander Kane was in defensive position on Evan Rodrigues, the eventual goal scorer, when Rodrigues was near the blue line. Kane fell asleep as Rodrigues snuck by him and into the slot to bury the goal.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Panthers escape with Game 1 win over the Oilers

I feel bad for Nurse and Ceci because it just isn’t going their way and it isn’t always their fault, but the bottom line is that the pairing just isn’t working. The pairing has been split up at different times in the playoffs. Splitting them up settled the team down in the second round. Putting them back together has only led to issues.

The issue that I see with them in the numbers is that they consistently have a lower HDGF% than their HDCF%. Aside from the last two playoff seasons, their HDCF% has always been above 50%. Their HDGF% is always lower. That matches the eye test, which says that they struggle to keep high danger scoring chances out of their net.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVKnoblauch has made some bold choices pertaining to healthy scratches in these playoffs. Ryan McLeod, Warren Foegele, Corey Perry, and Vincent Desharnais have all been healthy scratches in these playoffs. It might be time for another such move with Ceci in my opinion. Every partner that Ceci has had in these playoffs has a better xGF% away from him than they do with him. He is bringing down the performance of every one of his defence partners.

Desharnais needs to get back into the lineup at some point, and he has played with Nurse in the playoffs and in the regular season. Philip Broberg just put up a clean sheet and looked great in 17:55 of ice time playing on his off side in Game 1, so he’s not coming out of the lineup. Bouchard certainly isn’t coming out of the lineup. That leaves Ceci on the right side as the only option to pull in favour of Desharnais.

Knoblauch said that he and the coaching staff have not made any decisions on the lineup for Game 2. I’ll be curious to see how they choose to handle this situation.

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June 8, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Stanley Cup Final is under way. The Florida Panthers escaped with a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers. It’s hard to say that a team that won 3-0 “escaped” with a win, but that’s exactly what happened in this game. The Oilers outshot the Panthers 32-18 and got shutout.

Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers up 1-0 on their first shot of the game 3:59 into the game. Evan Rodrigues got one early in the second period to put the Panthers up by two goals. Eetu Luostarinen capped off the win with an empty netter in the closing moments of the game. Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves to earn the shutout. He was simply sensational in Game 1.

Call OutsI hate to call out Stuart Skinner because I didn’t think he played that poorly, but he gave up a goal on the first shot of the game for the eleventh time this season (regular season and playoffs). That leads the league. The Oilers can’t afford to be chasing games in the Stanley Cup Final as a result of a goal against on the first shot of the game.

Most of you will want me to call out Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci here. I’m not going to do it. Aleksander Barkov beat Connor McDavid down the ice on the Panthers’ first goal. Nurse had Sam Reinhart on the left side. Reinhart and Barkov made a give-and-go play on Nurse. Ceci had to slide over to cover Barkov (McDavid’s man) once he got the return pass from Reinhart. He might’ve been a fraction of a second late on the read, but he was still in position to potentially block the cross-crease pass. Ceci was not able to block the cross-crease pass, and Verhaeghe put it home. Zach Hyman stopped skating on the back check and failed to tie up Verhaeghe.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 19: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Darnell Nurse (25) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Philadelphia Flyers on October 27, 2021 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Sam Bennett dumped the puck in and tracked it down behind the goal line on the second goal. Ceci pinned Bennett on the end boards, but Bennett was still able to get the puck out front. Nurse was standing in front of the net (as is his responsibility in that situation in the zone defence that the Oilers play), and he couldn’t intercept the pass. It went over his stick. He looked bad there, but I put the blame on Evander Kane. He was closer to the Oilers goal than Rodrigues (the eventual goal scorer) when Rodrigues entered the zone, but Rodrigues beat Kane to the slot. Kane was caught napping on that play.

To recap, both Panthers goals were the result of one or more Oilers forwards getting beat to the dangerous area on the back check off the rush. I’m not heaping a pile of criticism on Nurse and Ceci for what happened in Game 1.

The Oilers missed two open nets in this game. Hyman made a nice move to go to the backhand on the Oilers powerplay at the start of the second period, but he somehow lifted the puck over the net from close range. It was impressive that he got the puck up that quickly, but it was a missed opportunity to get the Oilers back in the game. The net wasn’t quite as open for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the Oilers’ next powerplay mid-way through the second period, but he fired it wide. Bobrovsky did a barrel roll to make himself as big as possible, and it was enough to get Nugent-Hopkins to miss the net. It could’ve been a different game had one of those second period open net looks turned into a goal.

Stand OutsI really liked Adam Henrique’s game in Game 1. He had a breakaway chance in the first period thanks to a lovely touch pass from Mattias Janmark. Henrique had one other scoring chance as well, but he couldn’t quite bang it home. The high danger scoring chances at five-on-five were 4-0 with Henrique on the ice. Henrique led the Oilers with seven hits, and he added two blocked shots.

ShoutoutsI’m going to give a shoutout to Philip Broberg for Game 1. He and his partner, Brett Kulak, were the only two Oilers defencemen to not be on the ice for a goal against in Game 1. Broberg made the stretch pass to Janmark that led to Henrique’s breakaway. Broberg looked poised as could be with the puck in his own zone. There were no giveaways, and he used his legs to skate the puck out of trouble when he needed to use them. He did not look like a fresh-faced rookie playing in his first Stanley Cup Final game.

WrapThe Oilers got goalie’d in Game 1. Bobrovsky was solid in net for the Panthers. He’s a two-time Vezina Trophy winner and a 2024 Vezina Trophy nominee for a reason, so let’s give credit where credit is due.

I also thought that Barkov’s defending was excellent. I noticed a play in the first period where he was able to strip McDavid of a puck on a play where McDavid tried to cut back. That’s a play McDavid makes in his sleep, but Barkov was able to use his reach to strip the puck off McDavid. Barkov also showed dogged pressure on Leon Draisaitl on the Oilers powerplay. Draisaitl perhaps waited a little bit too long to attempt a backhand pass to Evan Bouchard as Barkov was pressuring him near the blue line, but Barkov ultimately caused the turnover. Barkov’s defensive intelligence and his use of his stick in the defensive zone is really impressive to watch.

I’m not panicking as an Oilers fan just yet. If the Oilers continue to play in the fashion that gave them a 32-18 edge in shots and an expected goals percentage of 62.74% in Game 2, then I like their chances.

Game 2 is on Monday night at Amerant Arena in Sunrise.

Related: Stanley Cup Final Preview: Oilers vs Panthers

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June 8, 2024 by Eric Friesen

While he’s undoubtedly one of the most dominant offensive players in NHL history, Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid has never been driven by personal achievements.

Since entering the NHL in 2015-16, McDavid has five Art Ross Trophies, three Hart Memorial Trophies, four Ted Lindsay Awards, one Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy and seven 100-point seasons. However, he would surely trade it all in for one Stanley Cup. And now, for the first time in his career, McDavid has the opportunity to add a Cup to his future Hockey Hall of Fame resume.

But for a player of McDavid’s ilk, team success and individual success go hand-in-hand. For the Oilers to realize their ultimate dream of winning the Stanley Cup in a couple of weeks, McDavid will need to producing points at a historic rate.

Here are three major milestones McDavid could reach in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final:

40 points in one playoff yearEntering into the Final on Saturday, McDavid leads the league with 31 points in 18 playoff games this year, which is two off his career-high set during the 2022 playoffs, and five shy of Evgeni Malkin the most points in a single playoff year since 2005-06. Even if he only averages a point per game against the Florida Panthers in the Final, McDavid should surpass Malkin’s high-water mark in the salary cap era.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 16: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his goal and 131st point in the third period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Dallas Stars on March 16, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)But considering his torrid pace through these playoffs, McDavid should clear that bar in short order en route to joining yet another exclusive club. The Oilers captain needs nine more points to become only the third player in NHL history to record 40 points in one playoff year. Wayne Gretzky achieved the feat three times, including twice with the Oilers in 1985 and 1988, and once with the Los Angeles Kings in 1993, while Mario Lemieux did it once with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991.

The numbers are in McDavid’s favour here, even if the series doesn’t go the distance. If he maintains his 1.72 points-per-game average during the 2024 playoffs, he’s on pace to hit the 40-point mark in the first period of Game 6. McDavid has also tallied nine or more points in five consecutive playoff series. The better question might be how close can McDavid get to Gretzky’s NHL record of 47 points in a single playoff year?

NHL single-playoff assists recordWith the helper on Zach Hyman’s series-winning goal against the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final, McDavid registered his league-leading 26th assist of the playoffs, five up on his teammate Evan Bouchard. McDavid is now just four assists away from joining Gretzky as only the players in NHL history to record 30 assists in a single playoff year as well as the only player to ever have 130 assists in a combined regular season and playoffs.

Related: Edmonton Oilers reach Stanley Cup Final for first time since 2006

Not only does McDavid has a real chance to put up 30 assists in the playoffs this year, he could also break Gretzky’s record of 31 assists. Gretzky hit the 30-asssit mark for the second time and broke his own NHL record for single-playoff assists during the 1988 Stanley Cup Final, which was also his last playoff series with the Oilers. McDavid only needs six more helpers to eclipse the all-time mark.

The fewest assists McDavid has notched in any playoff series this spring was seven against the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Second Round. He’s also had at least one assist in 14 of his 18 playoff game this year, including six multi-assist games and the first five-assist game in the playoffs by an NHL player since 1998. Shattering one of Gretzky’s playoff records and helping the Oilers win their first Cup in 34 years, should easily secure the Conn Smythe Trophy for McDavid, too.

Most points in one FinalThis will be the most difficult milestone for McDavid to reach. Just like the single-playoff assists record, Gretzky set the record for points in one Stanley Cup Final, with 13, in his final game – and on final point – as a member of the Oilers in 1988. McDavid’s highest point total in one playoff series in his career is 14, which he accomplished during the 2022 Western Conference First Round against the Los Angeles Kings. That series went seven games.

His best offensive series in this post-season was also against the Kings, where he put up 12 points in just five games. Many things will have to go right for McDavid to break this record. McDavid’s favourite passing target at even-strength, Zach Hyman, will have to continue his own pursuit of single-playoff goals record. The Oilers will also need to continue to be north of 30% on the power-play, especially considering how few opportunities they had with the man-advantage in their last series.

It’s asking a lot to expect McDavid to take down multiple Gretzky records in the same playoff series, but I wouldn’t doubt his ability to do achieve any of these feats.

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June 8, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s time. The Edmonton Oilers will play in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006 today. This is the first Stanley Cup Final for the Oilers in the Connor McDavid era.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersIt’s hard to not look back at the last eighteen years on this day. Today is not the time for that because there’s still a job to finish. There is still one more series to play, and one opponent left to vanquish. The task right now is to stay in the present moment.

Fans of both the Oilers and the Florida Panthers have felt a lot of frustration over the years. I’m not going to reflect on the Oilers’ dark days right now. The Panthers have never won the Stanley Cup. They have been to the Stanley Cup Final twice, and they’ve only won one Stanley Cup Final game in their history. The Panthers have had their time at the bottom as well. They’ve been the butt of jokes about terrible play and poorly attended home games.

Related: Edmonton Oilers reach Stanley Cup Final for first time since 2006

Fans of both teams are excited that their team is playing in the Stanley Cup Final. There’s a relationship between excitement and frustration. They live on opposite ends on a scale of emotions, but they definitely enhance each other. Not being able to have something that makes you excited causes frustration. When you finally get something that has caused a lot of frustration, the excitement turns into something more, such as jubilation. When you can’t have something that is really exciting, the frustration turns into devastation and anger.

The playoffs are incredibly exciting because the stakes are higher. The games get you closer to the ultimate goal, which is the Stanley Cup. The excitement surrounding the Stanley Cup Final is elevated beyond the excitement of the first round. Both of these teams have endured their share of frustration. They battled for draft lottery positioning ten years ago, and now they will battle for a Stanley Cup. The victors and their fans will experience jubilation. Devastation and anger await one team and its fan base.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers and Panthers Stanley Cup Final Connections and Storylines

All of that causes anxiety. Our hearts race and our palms sweat during these games because the emotional stakes are high and we don’t know what the outcome will be. We have no control over it as fans. The emotional investment is what makes being a fan such an incredible experience. You go through the lows with your team and with a fan base so that you can experience the highs when they occur. The excitement and the anxiety that we feel right now is the fun part.

We’re about to watch history. The best player on the planet is making his Stanley Cup Final debut, and we get a front row seat. We get to watch the greatest player to come out of Germany make his Stanley Cup Final debut. That is so great for hockey in Germany! We finally get to watch Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest serving Oiler, play in the Stanley Cup Final. It’s all unfolding in front of our very eyes.

The Oilers have brought in renowned mental game expert George Mumford to help the team with its mental game. Consider the following quote from Mumford:

“The hardest thing, after all the work and all the time spent on training and technique, is just being fully present in the moment.”

That’s what is required right now. The finish line is near and it’s hard to not think about the prize that awaits the winner of this series, but the task at hand requires presence in the current moment.

We as fans should be thinking the same way. This series is a coin flip. Both the Oilers and the Panthers are elite teams. Nothing is guaranteed to either team. What is guaranteed is that we are going to be treated to some incredible hockey on the biggest stage, and our team is squarely in the fight.

This moment has been eighteen difficult years in the making for Oilers fans. Enjoy this feeling of excitement. Embrace this feeling of anxiety. Live in this moment and enjoy the hell out of it because these moments are what sports are all about. Win or lose, this series is going to be an experience that we will talk about forever.

Related: Stanley Cup Final Preview: Oilers vs Panthers

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June 6, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers will play the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final. These two franchises have never met in the playoffs.

This the Oilers’ eighth Stanley Cup Final appearance. They have won five Stanley Cups and have just two Stanley Cup Final series losses in their history. This is the first Stanley Cup Final appearance for the Oilers since 2006, when they lost a heartbreaking seven game series to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Panthers will be making their third appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. This is their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final. They lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games last year. They were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final.

Tale of the TapeRegular Season Record

Oilers: 0-2

Panthers: 2-0

The first meeting between these two teams was Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch’s fourth game behind the Oilers bench. It was the second of a four game Eastern road trip. The Oilers lost that game 4-3 along with games in Tampa Bay and Carolina. The fourth game of that trip was on November 24, 2023 against the Washington Capitals, a game that was the first of an eight-game winning streak and that is known for being the turning point of the Oilers’ season.

That streak ended in the second last game of a six-game homestand in December. The Oilers welcomed the Panthers to Rogers Place in the last game of that homestand, and the Panthers won handily by a score of 5-1.

The Oilers went 0-2 against the Panthers in the regular season, but the Panthers caught the Oilers in moments where they weren’t playing up to their standard.

Edmonton Oilers49-27-6, 104 points, 2nd place in Pacific Division

Goals For: 292 (4th)

Goals Against: 236 (10th)

PP%: 26.3% (4th)

PK%: 79.5% (15th)

Starting Goalie: Stuart Skinner (36-16-5, .905 sv%, 2.62 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Connor McDavid (132 pts), Zach Hyman (54 G)

Playoffs:

Goals For Per Game: 3.50 (2nd)

Goals Against Per Game: 2.61 (7th)

PP%: 37.3% (1st)

PK%: 93.9% (1st)

Starting Goalie: Stuart Skinner (11-5, .897 sv%, 2.50 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Connor McDavid (31 pts), Zach Hyman (14 G)

The Oilers have had a more difficult road to the Stanley Cup Finals than the Panthers have had. The Oilers took care of business in round one by beating the Los Angeles Kings in five games. The Oilers faced an intense series against Canadian rival and the Pacific Division champion Vancouver Canucks in round two. It was an emotional roller coaster of a series that saw no team win two games in a row until the Oilers won Games 6 and 7 to take down the Cauncks.

The Oilers enter the Stanley Cup Final playing some of their best hockey. They closed out the Dallas Stars, who had the best record in the Western Conference in the regualr season, by winning three consecutive games. The powerplay went four for five in their last three games, and Stuart Skinner gave them exceptional goaltending in Games 5 and 6.

Related: Series Wrap: Oilers vs Stars

Florida Panthers52-24-6, 110 points, 1st place in Atlantic Division

Goals For: 265 (11th)

Goals Against: 198 (T-1st)

PP%: 23.5% (8th)

PK%: 82.5% (6th)

Starting Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky (36-17-4, .915 sv%, 2.37 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Sam Reinhart (94 points), Sam Reinhart (57 goals)

Playoffs:

Goals For Per Game: 3.24 (7th)

Goals Against Per Game: 2.29 (3rd)

PP%: 23.3% (6th)

PK%: 88.2% (2nd)

Starting Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky (12-5, .908 sv%, 2.20 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Matthew Tkachuk (19 points), Carter Verhaeghe (9 goals)

The Panthers haven’t really been challenged all that much in these playoffs. The Tampa Bay Lightning fell to the Panthers in five games. The Bruins put up a little bit more of a fight, but they did not have the horses to keep up with the Panthers. The Bruins rode the momentum of their Game 7 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in round one into a Game 1 win against a too well rested Panthers team just two days later. The Panthers won four of the next five games in that series.

The Panthers also enter the Stanley Cup Final having won their past three consecutive games. The pesky New York Rangers won two overtime games. The Panthers were the better team in all six of the games in the Eastern Conference Final, but the Persident’s Trophy winners found a way to make all of those games close. Game 1 was a 3-0 loss that was close until an unfortunate own goal by the Rangers gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead. They added an empty netter to make the score look lopsided.

Five-on-Five PlayAdvantage: FLA

The Oilers lead the playoffs in both goals scored (38) and goals allowed (39) at five-on-five in these playoffs. Part of that is due to longevity at this point, but part of that is also just playing high event hockey. The Panthers have played in one less game than the Oilers have this spring. The Panthers have scored 31 five-on-five goals, and they have only allowed 24 five-on-five goals.

The Oilers have scored the most five-on-five goals in the playoffs. However, they also lead the league in goals scored above expected according to Moneypuck, which suggests that they are overachieving in five-on-five goal scoring.

Meanwhile, the Panthers have only allowed 24 five-on-five goals in seventeen playoff games. They sit fourth in the league in fewest goals allowed above expected. That tells me that the Panthers are overachieving in five-on-five defending. It will be interesting to see which trend holds true in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers rank low in goals scored above expected (fourteenth). They have scored eight fewer five-on-five than the Oilers have scored. The Oilers lead the playoffs in goals scored above expected. That’s a trend that could even out in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Oilers have allowed the eleventh fewest goals above expected (0.19), so they are allowing goals at the approximate level that the numbers suggest they should be allowing goals. We know the Oilers have allowed the most five-on-five goals in the playoffs. This information could spell trouble at five-on-five for the Oilers should the Panther’s goal scoring luck turn.

Photo Credit: Florida Panthers (X)The Panthers have the best five-on-five goal differential in these playoffs (+7). The Panthers have the edge over the Oilers in every shot metric and in expected goals percentage.

The regular season doesn’t matter at this point, but it does provide a picture of how well a team performs in certain metrics over a larger sample size than what the playoffs offer. The Oilers and the Panthers were really, really close in many important metrics; but the Panthers held a slight edge over the Oilers in all of them except for two. The Oilers led the league in expected goals percentage. The Oilers also had a slightly better five-on-five goal differential than the Panthers during the regular season. Florida ranked near the top of the league in fewest goals allowed above expected though, whereas the Oilers were middle of the pack in that metric. Allowing fewer goals than expected is a trend that has held true for the Panthers in the playoffs as well. It will be tough for the Oilers to continue scoring at such a high pace at five-on-five in this series.

Special TeamsAdvantage: EDM

The Oilers enter the Stanley Cup Final leading the league in both powerplay percentage and penalty killing percentage, just like they did in the third round. The Oilers have now killed off 28 consecutive penalties. They have had perfect penalty kills in two of their three series this spring. Special teams have been the biggest reason that the Oilers have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/SNstatsThe Panthers were a top ten team in both special teams phases during the regular season. Their powerplay percentage in the playoffs is essentially equal to their regular season powerplay percentage. The Panthers’ penalty kill has also been magnificent in these playoffs though (88.2%, 2nd). The Rangers had the third best playoff powerplay entering the Eastern Conference Final, but they only managed to score one powerplay goal in the six game series.

One thing to watch for is that the Panthers allowed two shorthanded goals to the Rangers in their series. The Oilers scored a shorthanded goal in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final, and they get a lot of shorthanded chances because of their ability to turn pucks over high in the defensive zone. An Oilers shorthanded goal could be a huge factor in the series.

GoaltendingAdvantage: FLA

Segei Bobrovsky has simply been fantastic this season. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner and 2024 Vezina Trophy nominee had an incredible regular season, and he has backed that up with even better play in the 2024 playoffs.

Stuart Skinner was incredible at the end of the Western Conference Final and is capable of elite play, but his overall body of work is not consistent enough for me to suggest that the Oilers have any kind of advantage in goal.

Key MatchupsMcDavid vs Barkov

Connor McDavid is the best player in the world, and he leads these playoffs in scoring with 31 points entering the Stanley Cup Final. Aleksander Barkov is also an elite point producing option. However, Barkov is more known as one of the top defensive centres in the game. Barkov just won his second Frank J. Selke Trophy for being the league’s best defensive forward. Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch isn’t likely to shy away from this matchup.

Regular season 5×5

Oilers w/ Mcdavid +33
Panthers w/ Barkov +30

Oilers w/o McDavid +7
Panthers w/o Barkov +6

The pundits need to go back to the drawing board.

— Blue Bullet Brad (@BlueBullet1981) June 6, 2024

We can expand the conversation to include the top five-man units from both teams. Blue Bullet Brad (@BlueBullet1981) shared these stats:

Nuge-McDavid-Hyman
TOI(5×5) 115
GF/60 5.71
GA/60 2.08
Net 3.63

Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
TOI(5×5) 59
GF/60 1.02
GA/60 1.02
Net 0.00

Ekholm-Bouchard
TOI(5×5) 298
GF/60 3.62
GA/60 1.81
Net 1.81

Forsling-Ekblad
TOI(5×5) 283
GF/60 2.54
GA/60 1.69
Net 0.85 https://t.co/BzZCL18Zfk

— Blue Bullet Brad (@BlueBullet1981) June 4, 2024

The Oilers’ top group is far more high event than the Panthers, but the net goals for per sixty for the Oilers is higher than that of the Panthers.

Draisaitl/Kane vs Tkachuk

Matthew Tkachuk scored a hat trick in the Calgary Flames’ Game 1 win over the Oilers in their 2022 second round series. Tkachuk recorded an assist in Game 2 of that series as well, but that would be his last point of the series. The Oilers won four straight games after losing Game 1. Evander Kane played a big role in that with his on-ice discussions with Tkachuk. Tkahcuk was never quite as involved once Kane got in his face. Tkachuk is more likely to be involved in a matchup with Leon Draisaitl’s line in this series. Draisaitl lit the Flames up for seventeen points in their five game series, and he did that essentially on one leg.

Tkachuk has become a much more mature player since that series. He backed up his 104-point season with the Flames in 2021-22 with a 109-point effort last season and an 88-point season this season. Tkachuk leads the Panthers with nineteen points in seventeen playoff games. Draisaitl has 30 points in sixteen playoff games, and he will liekly be tasked with handling Tkachuk. Tkachuk will have help from Sam Bennett, who has become an outstanding forechecker, and Evan Rodrigues.

Keys to VictoryOilers: The Oilers will win the series if their special teams units continue to dominate. Five-on-five goals will be tough to come by in this series, even for the team that is leading the playoffs in five-on-five goal scoring.

Ultimately, the Oilers will go as far as their superstars can carry them. That isn’t meant to be a slight to the rest of the Oilers roster like it once was. The simple fact is that the Oilers have the two best players in the world. They also have the top three and five of the top seven scorers in these playoffs. It’s a cliché, but the Oilers’ best players will need to be the best players in the series.

VANCOUVER, BC – MAY 04: Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) is congratulated by center Connor McDavid (97) after scoring a goal against the Vancouver Canucks during their NHL game at Rogers Arena on May 4, 2021 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)The one team in the NHL that we know for certain that is good enough to beat the Oilers is themselves. They have a penchant for having stretches where they made sloppy mistakes, and it has costed them dearly in the past. The Oilers have kept those stretches to a minimum in these playoffs. No team plays perfect hockey for a full game or a full series, but the Oilers will need to not beat themselves in this series.

Panthers: The Panthers allowed the fewest goals in the league in the regular season, and they have allowed fourteen fewer five-on-five goals than the Oilers have in only one less postseason game. Their goaltending is also superior to that of the Oilers. The Panthers have also ranked near the top of the league in fewest goals allowed above expected in the regular season and the playoffs. The Panthers can’t outscore the Oilers, but they might be able to out defend them.

X FactorsOilers: Darnell Nurse

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 19: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Darnell Nurse (25) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Philadelphia Flyers on October 27, 2021 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Nurse has been on the ice for the most five-on-five goals against in the league in these playoffs. However, the bleeding seems to have been controlled after Game 4 of the Western Conference Final. Nurse has had quite a few things not go his way this spring. He has been on the ice for several key mistakes by his defence partners and forwards that have led to goals against. He has also had multiple bad bounces go against him. It’s fair to criticize his gap control or his failure to clear the puck at certain times, but you can’t argue that luck has been a factor in a lot of the goals that Nurse has been on the ice for in the playoffs. If Nurse can continue the confident and physical play while limiting the goals against, then the Oilers will be in great shape.

Related: Deep Dive: Nurse’s 2024 playoff struggles

Panthers: Anton Lundell

Lundell is the centre of a dangerous third line for the Panthers that features himself, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Eetu Luostarinen. Lundell leads the line with twelve points in the playoffs. Lundell has earned the nickname “Baby Barkov” because his style of play is so similar to Barkov. Barkov is known as one of the best two way forwards in the game, and he is seemingly up for the Frank J. Selke Trophy annually. Lundell is also a smart and strong defensive centre. The 22-year old is mature beyond his years. Whether it’s Adam Henrique or Ryan McLeod centering the third line, the Oilers’ third line will have it’s work cut out for it.

InjuriesOilers: Evander Kane left Game 6 after making a big hit near the bench, but he did return. He logged limited ice time upon returning though. We know Kane has been dealing with a sports hernia for a long time. I can’t say if his absence in Game 6 was due to that injury or not. Kane is expected to play in Game 1.

Panthers: None. This is a stark contrast to last year for them.

WrapThis is going to be a great series. There was no Cinderella run this year. Both of these teams deserve to be here and were considered contenders by most people before the season started. It’s a battle between two elite teams that excel in different areas, the Oilers in scoring and the Panthers in defending. It’s also a meeting of the top two penalty killing teams in these playoffs.

Travel will certainly be a factor in this series. The flight distance between Edmonton and Sunrise, Florida (4,093 km or 2,543 mi) is the furthest distance between two teams in Stanley Cup Final history. As the lower seed, the Oilers’ trip to Florida for Game 1 will be the extra flight in this series.

Will the Oilers become the first Canadian team in thirty one years to win the Stanley Cup, or will the Panthers take care of last year’s unfinished business? Game 1 goes on Saturday. Buckle up, Oilers fans! Enjoy the series.

Related: Edmonton Oilers reach Stanley Cup Final for first time since 2006

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June 5, 2024 by Raghu Sharma

It’s difficult to put into words exactly the emotions I felt waking up on Sunday morning. I had a sense of calm, something I have never experienced when it comes to being a fan of the Edmonton Oilers. At age 33, I have sadly never seen my favourite professional sports team win a Stanley Cup. Being born in the city of Edmonton, we live and breathe Oilers, and the closest I experienced was the heartbreaking loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 as a teenager.

I couldn’t believe this sense of calmness in me. I was confident the Oilers were going to win. My wife, sister and I arrived at Rogers Place early to see the warmups, and we all felt relaxed. Then, before puck-drop in Game 6, one of the most epic montages I have experienced started playing by our very own Tony Brar. He got everyone up on their feet and a chant of “Lets go Oilers” was absolutely deafening that my Apple watch went off at least 10 different times on the noise warning.

As game got underway, the cheering continued and the Oilers managed to get things going early on a power-play when Chris Tanev took a tripping penalty against Zack Hyman. This led to one of the greatest goals of Connor McDavid’s career until this point, which I also managed to record live. McDavid received a pass from Leon Draisaitl and then proceeded to undress both Sam Steel and Miro Heiskanen to score a video game-like goal. McDavid had amazing recognition on this play, knowing he was also going against Heiskanen versus Tanev, who would normally be out on the kill if not for the penalty.

After that goal, the Oilers proceeded to not generate much offence until yet another penalty late in the period. This time it was Ryan Suter slashing Cody Ceci, who found himself all alone in front of the net. The Oilers second power-play was having some trouble with the entry until McDavid gained the zone and set Hyman up for his league-leading 14th goal of the playoffs on a beautiful give-and-go. The Oilers ended that period getting outshot 12-3 but found themselves up 2-0.

The story didn’t get much better for the next period, as the Oilers once again found themselves playing mostly defensive hockey in the second period as well. The one positive was that they mustered five shots and held the Dallas Stars to just nine. Additionally, Stuart Skinner continued to be excellent in this period. There were definitely some nerves going into the third period, however, with so much at stake, and for whatever reason a tendency for the leading team to blow a multi-goal lead in most of the series.

Related: Series Wrap: Oilers vs Stars

The third period began with the hope the Oilers would hang on, and it once again got off to a dicey start when Draisaitl took a delay of game penalty, potentially giving the Stars some life. Yet again though, as the Oilers penalty kill has done for a majority of this playoff run and their past 27 kills (they went on to kill their 28th as well), they survived it. With just under 11 minutes to go, however, Mason Marchment managed to pop a goal into a wide open net after an amazing individual effort by Tyler Seguin to float the puck back out front.

And as we Oilers fans know all to well, the team never like to make it easy on themselves. As the game continued into the final four minutes, the entire crowd rose to rally the team, and the “Lets go Oilers” chants that did not stop. Draisaitl proved to be massive as the orange and blue continued to ice the puck and he refused to lose a draw. As the final moments wound down, the crowd erupted as La Bamba played and the Oilers won the Western Conference championship.

This was by far the most surreal experience and I begin to shed tears as someone who has been waiting for another chance to see the boys raise a cup since I was 16-years-old. The handshakes began, the hugging began, chants of “We want the Cup” roared through Rogers Place with the presentation of the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, which if you are as superstitious as many hockey fans are, the entire team refused to touch.

Leaving the arena was amazing, so many high fives, so many hugs from random strangers, everyone in this city who has waited so long for this moment, it truly was a night to remember and one I and this city are not soon to forget. Now comes the greatest challenge of all, to win the ultimate prize. 12 La Bambas down and four to go. As my favourite athlete Kobe Bryant once said when asked why he wasn’t happy when up 2-0 in a series, he responded with, “What’s there to be happy about? Job’s not finished. Job finished? I don’t think so.”

This is the same response I heard from McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mattias Ekholm, Zack Hyman, Stuart Skinner and coach Kris Knoblauch. Heck even Paul Coffey got one of the funniest moments in the team photo when he stood slightly away from the rest of the group with a stern face.

The team is ready, the fans are ready and the city is ready. Bring on the Florida Panthers.

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June 4, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Let me take you back to April 12, 2014. The Edmonton Oilers played a seemingly meaningless game against the Vancouver Canucks to close out another miserable losing season.

That game was far from meaningless though. It was Ryan Smyth’s last NHL game. The Oilers gave Smyth the captain’s “C” for his last game. The Oilers won the game 5-2, and Smyth did one last lap around the ice at Rexall Place after the game.

The other thing that happened that night was that the Oilers leapfrogged over the Florida Panthers to go from the second fewest points in the league to the third fewest points in the league. That changed the order of the 2014 NHL Draft Lottery. That win in Smyth’s final game gave the Panthers better odds of winning the draft lottery. Lo and behold, they won the draft lottery and the choice to draft Aaron Ekblad with the number one overall pick.

Ekblad was granted exceptional status by the CHL, which allowed him to start playing junior hockey a year earlier than normal prospects. He was an unbelievable defenceman in junior, and the fact that he is right-handed only made him more tantalizing. Unsurprisingly, he went to the Panthers with the first overall pick in the 2014 draft.

As an Oilers fan, I have no right to complain about draft lottery luck. The Oilers ended up with the third selection after all was said and done. They selected big German centre Leon Draisaitl. I remember watching Draisaitl play against Canada in the World Junior tournament as a sixteen-year old, and he was the best player on the ice for either team. I would say that pick has worked out nicely for the Oilers.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The other player the Oilers could’ve chosen with that pick was Sam Bennett, who went to the Calgary Flames with the fourth pick in that draft. Bennett played his junior hockey with the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL, which made him a safer pick than Draisaitl in the eyes of many hockey experts.

Ekblad was the second of three consecutive first overall picks that teams needed to land to justify sucking in the early 2010s. Nathan MacKinnon (2013) and Connor McDavid (2015) were the other two. It was frustrating when the whole Ekblad draft lottery situation played out as an Oilers fan, but I would say that it all worked out pretty well for the Oilers. The Oilers ended up getting Draisaitl in the 2014 draft and McDavid in the 2015 draft. They also got their franchise altering right-handed defenceman, Evan Bouchard, in the 2018 draft.

Let’s fast forward to June 2024. The Panthers and the Oilers are about to meet in the Stanley Cup Final ten years after that impactful draft. The Oilers are here for the first time since Smyth’s 2006 Oilers had their magical run to the Stanley Cup Final. Ekblad is a star for the Panthers, and Draisaitl is a star for the Oilers.

It’s crazy enough that two of the top three picks in the 2014 draft are playing leading roles on their teams in a Stanley Cup Finals matchup ten years later, but all of the top four picks from that draft are in this series! The Panthers also have Bennett and 2014 second overall pick Sam Reinhart now. Bennett has become an impactful player with the Panthers. Reinhart led the Panthers in points and goals in the regular season.

Related: Edmonton Oilers reach Stanley Cup Final for first time since 2006

The hockey world is pretty small when you think about it. There are always storylines that involve members of the teams in the Stanley Cup Final having crossed paths with members of the other team or having spent time with the other organization in some capacity at some point. This year is no different.

Let’s start with an obvious one. McDavid was the first overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft. That draft was hosted in Sunrise, Florida. Let’s take it further than that though. Warren Foegele was acquired by the Oilers in exchange for 2015 fifth round pick Ethan Bear. Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola was taken by the St. Louis Blues just three picks after Bear was selected. Mikkola was a part of the trade that sent current Panthers winger Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers last season.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersSpeaking of former fifth round picks, Zach Hyman was drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 draft by the Panthers. Now he leads the 2024 Oilers in playoff goal scoring as he gets set to face the team that drafted him in the Stanley Cup Final.

The full trade that sent Hyman to the Toronto Maple Leafs was Hyman and a conditional 2017 seventh round pick (the condition was that the Leafs would receive the pick if Hyman did not sign in Toronto) for Greg McKegg. McKegg has played for the Bakersfield Condors, the Oilers’ AHL affiliate, for the last two seasons.

Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice is looking for his first Stanley Cup win as a coach. Maurice was the fifth youngest head coach to coach a game in the NHL. He coached his first NHL game at 28 years and 281 days old. Now he’s 57 years old with almost 30 years of professional head coaching experience. He did not coach during the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and he coached the lockout shortened 2012-13 season in the KHL. Aside from that, he has been a head coach in the NHL since 1995-96.

1995-96 was Maurice’s first season as a head coach in the NHL. Panthers Assistant Coach Sylvain Lefebvre and Oilers Assistant Coach Paul Coffey faced off in the 1996 Western Conference Final. Lefebvre’s Colorado Avalanche bested Coffey’s Detroit Red Wings in a six game series. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup that year. They swept the Panthers in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Paul Coffey addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVCoffey found himself playing for Maurice’s Hartford Whalers the next season. It’s wild to think that Maurice coached Coffey, but the facts are what they are!

Lefebvre spent some time with the Hartford Wolfpack in the AHL in his second last NHL season in 2001-02. Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch coached the Wolfpack from the 2019-20 season until he was hired by the Oilers on November 13, 2023. Knoblauch first met Maurice at the 2015 draft in Sunrise. Knoblauch coached McDavid in junior, and was at the draft where his star player was taken first overall.

Kris Knoblauch first met Paul Maurice at the 2015 NHL Draft in Sunrise—when a certain Oiler put on the jersey for the first time.

Also expects Evander Kane to practice Friday and play in Saturday’s opener.

Kane vital in rendering Tkachuk ineffective in ‘22 Battle of Alberta. pic.twitter.com/DM1peZgUz9

— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) June 4, 2024

Maurice’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final was against the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 when he coached the Carolina Hurricanes. The general manager of the Red Wings at that time was none other than Oilers GM Ken Holland.

Maurice coached Evander Kane for two seasons with the Winnipeg Jets. Maurice also coached Oilers Assistant Coach Mark Stuart for four seasons when Stuart played for the Jets from 2011-12 until 2016-17. Panthers Assistant Coach Jamie Kompon was an assistant coach for the Jets during Stuart’s last season for them.

Oilers Assistant Coach Glen Gulutzan was on the Oilers staff when Maurice’s Jets swept the Oilers in the 2021 playoffs. Panthers defenceman Dmitri Kulikov was Holland’s trade deadline acquisition for the Oilers in 2021.

Panthers Assistant Coach Tuomo Ruutu played 735 NHL games. Ruutu has an older brother that also played in the NHL. Jarko Ruutu played for the Anaheim Ducks in 2010-11. Oilers forward Corey Perry won the Hart and Rocket Richard Trophies while playing for the Ducks in 2010-11.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/EdmontonOilers – Corey Perry skates at Oilers practice on January 22, 2024The younger Ruutu was traded from the Hurricanes to the New Jersey Devils at the 2014 NHL trade deadline. He played with Oilers forward Adam Henrique on that 2013-14 Devils team.

Ruutu’s Hurricanes beat Stuart’s Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2009 playoffs. Another member of Stuart’s 2008-09 Bruins was Panthers Chief Revenue Officer Shawn Thornton. Stuart was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers before the 2011 NHL trade deadline (yes, Kane was on the 2010-11 Thrashers team). Thornton and the Bruins would go on to win the Stanley Cup that season against Special Advisor to the Panthers GM Roberto Luongo and his Canucks. Thornton also played with Perry on the Ducks. The two won a Stanley Cup together in 2007.

The man that traded for Stuart at the 2011 trade deadline was Rick Dudley, who currently works with the Panthers as a Senior Advisor to the General Manager. Dudley was the GM of the Thrashers in the 2010-11 season. The full trade was Stuart and Blake Wheeler going to the Thrashers in exchange for Rich Peverly and Boris Valabik.

Here are some more random connections between the Oilers and the Panthers:

Matthew Tkachuk faced the Oilers in the 2022 playoffs when he was with the Calgary Flames. He was part of a blockbuster trade that sent him to Florida that summer. Bennett also has experience in the Battle of Alberta as a Flame, although he was not a part of the 2022 playoff series against the Oilers. Ryan Lomberg is another Panther that is also a former Flame. He played eleven games for them from 2017-2019. All three of these players were teammates of Brett Kulak in 2017-18 and of Derek Ryan in 2018-19.
Panthers winger Eetu Luostarinen played eight games with Foegele on the Hurricanes in 2019-20. Panthers forward Steven Lorentz played with Foegele on the Hurricanes in the 2020-21 season.
Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling was a member of the Hurricanes organization for part of the 2020-21 season as well. He only ever played for the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Forsling was claimed off waivers by the Panthers on January 8, 2021.
Panthers centre Anton Lundell was drafted with the twelfth overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft. Two picks later, the Oilers selected Dylan Holloway.
Panthers defenceman Brandon Montour played with Perry as a rookie in 2016-17. Their Ducks defeated the Oilers in Game 7 of the second round in the 2017 playoffs.
Panthers defenceman Tobias Bjornfot was a member of the Kings organization until this season. He was in the Kings system when they played the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs in 2022 and 2023, but he did not suit up for any of those playoff games.
Panthers winger and leading playoff goal scorer Carter Verhaeghe was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013. He played two games for the Toronto Marlies in the AHL in 2013-14. Sam Carrick was a member of the 2013-14 Marlies. So was McKegg.
Panthers forward Kevin Stenlund played with Sam Gagner on the Jets in the 2022-23 season.
Panthers forward Nick Cousins played with Gagner on the 2015-16 Philadelphia Flyers. He also played with Kulak on the Montreal Canadiens in 2019-20, and with Mattias Ekholm on the Nashville Predators from 2020-2022.
Kane’s last year with the San Jose Sharks was the first part of the 2021-22 season while he was suspended. Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich was on that 2021-22 Sharks team.
Speaking of Kane, he also played with Panthers winger Kyle Okposo for two seasons with the Buffalo Sabres from 2016-2018.
Panthers backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz was the player that came back to the Oilers in the Cam Talbot trade in 2019.
Paul Fenton, another Senior Advisor to the GM for the Panthers, was on the 1988-89 Los Angeles Kings. That was Wayne Gretzky’s first year on the Kings after the famous trade away from the Oilers. Fenton also played on the 1990-91 Calgary Flames, who lost to the Oilers in the first round of the 1991 playoffs.
Luongo was the starting goaltender on the 2010 Canadian Men’s Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal in Vancouver. Holland was one of the managers involved with the 2010 Canadian Olympic team.
Gulutzan was an Assistant Coach for the Canucks in Luongo’s last season with them.
St. Albert’s Josh Mahura played 30 games for the Panthers in the regular season, but none in these playoffs. Edmonton’s Mike Benning (the brother of former Oiler Matt Benning) is a prospect in the Panthers system.
Panthers Assistant Coach Myles Fee was a Video Coach with the Oilers in the 2009-10 season, and again from 2014-2016.
If we want to go really crazy with this, I could also tell you that Panthers prospect Justin Sourdif was a part of the Edmonton Oil Kings WHL Championship team in 2022.
Let’s get even crazier… The voice of the Oilers Jack Michaels did a segment with Panthers announcer Doug Plagens in 2008.

That’s me in Boise, Idaho, with the radio voice of the Florida Panthers @DougPlagens circa 2008, shortly before I came to Edmonton. He’s aged a lot better.

Nine years earlier, I’d called my first pro hockey game—opposing team was Fresno Falcons, star player was Glen Gulutzan. https://t.co/Z8QTzN3ne4

— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) June 4, 2024

Researching these connections between Stanley Cup Final opponents is always interesting. There could be some that I missed, so please comment with any others that I may have missed!

The most wild thing to me about this series is the fact that ten years ago, these two teams were battling it out for draft lottery positioning. Now, they will battle for a Stanley Cup.

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June 4, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have won the Western Conference championship and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 6.

The Oilers and the Stars really were the best two teams in the Western Conference. It was a tightly contested series until the second period of Game 4. The Stars had a 2-1 series lead, and the Oilers narrowly escaped Game 1 with a double overtime win. Arguments could have been made for either team being up 3-0 after the first three games. I personally felt that the Stars were the better team for most of the play in the first three games, and they took a 2-0 lead on the Oilers in the first period of Game 4.

The Oilers took control of the series from the second period of Game 4 onwards though. The Oilers won Game 4 5-2. They scored five unanswered goals to tie the series. Then the Oilers put down a clinical performance in a 3-1 win in Game 5. They held on for dear life in Game 6. The Oilers only managed ten shots in a 2-1 win. They tied a record for the fewest shots taken in a playoff game, and set a record for fewest shots taken in a Conference Final clinching win. Two powerplay goals in the first period put the Oilers ahead for good though.

Five-on-Five PlaySeries Preview: Advantage DAL

Actual Series: 12-11 DAL

There wasn’t much of a difference between these two teams at five-on-five and the final results in the series were pretty even, but the Stars ultimately scored one more goal at five-on-five than the Oilers did.

I gave the Stars the advantage in my series preview because they had a much higher expected goals percentage in the playoffs than the Oilers had through the first two rounds. The Stars had scored the fewest goals above expected in the league through the first two rounds, and they allowed the fewest goals above expected through the first two rounds. They had the potential to score much more, but also the potential to allow many more five-on-five goals.

Related: Series Preview: Oilers vs Stars

A look across the Natural Stat Trick page for the series says that the series was essentially even at five-on-five. The shots were exactly even, and the goal differential was only one. The Oilers held a slight advantage in shots attempts, and the Stars held a slight advantage in scoring chances. The one spot where the Oilers were markedly superior to the Stars was in high danger goal differential (10-6, 62.5%). That tells me that the Oilers did a better job of defending the slot area than the Stars did. That didn’t result in the Oilers winning the five-on-five goal share though.

Special TeamsSeries Preview: Advantage: EDM

Actual Series: Advantage EDM

The Oilers outscored the Stars 5-0 in special teams play. That included four powerplay goals and one shorthanded goal. The Oilers penalty kill was perfect in a series for the second time in these playoffs (12/12 vs LAK, 14/14 vs DAL). You know a team’s penalty kill was special in a series if they outscore the other team’s powerplay unit over the course of an entire series!

The penalty kill is the single biggest reason that the Oilers won the series, but they really took control of the series once the powerplay got going. It was a weird series because neither team scored a powerplay goal until Game 5. The Oilers powerplay went four for five in the final two games of the series, which ultimately gave them the edge in those games.

GoaltendingSeries Preview: Advantage: DAL

Actual Series: Advantage EDM

Jake Oettinger is widely regarded as one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. He was sporting a .918 save percentage and a 2.09 goals against average heading into this series. However, he ended up with a .901 save percentage against the Oilers. He was stellar in the first two games of the series, but slipped a little bit in Game 3. Oettinger really went off the rails from Game 4 onwards though. His .885 save percentage in Game 5 was his highest in the last three games of the series.

Stuart Skinner deserves a ton of credit. He was pulled from the second round series against the Vancouver Canucks after a discouraging .793 save percentage in the first three games of that series, and he made 32 saves on 35 shots (.906) in the final two games of that series. Skinner’s .810 save percentage in Game 3 against the Stars was his only game where his save percentage was below .909. He had a .923 save percentage for the series.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Skinner was sensational in Games 5 (.950) and 6 (.971). The Edmonton product was especially amazing in Game 6. The Oilers only managed ten shots in the entire game, and Skinner made 34 saves! He shut the door on the Stars while they were hemming the Oilers in their own zone all night long.

Skinner proved that he not only can handle the job, but he belongs in the conversation with some of the top goaltenders in the league. He needs to be more consistent with his elite level play before he can truly be considered an elite NHL goaltender, but there is no question that Skinner can handle himself in pressure packed games.

Call OutsVincent Desharnais was pulled for Philip Broberg after three games in this series. Desharnais wasn’t his normal reliable self in the first three games of the series. Head coach Kris Knoblauch opted to go with Philip Broberg in his stead. Desharnais and Broberg have different skill sets. Desharnais has more size and physicality, and Broberg is a better skater. The Oilers needed Broberg’s skill set against the Stars. They might need Desharnais’ skill set in the Stanley Cup Final.

Warren Foegele was also pulled from the series after Game 3. Foegele wasn’t particularly bad in this series, but his play had been waning for quite some time. He has been quiet throughout the playoffs after a fantastic regular season.

Stand OutsAs mentioned previously, Skinner was unbelievable in this series. He outdueled Oettinger. Skinner’s .923 save percentage for the series was elite level goaltending. He was spectacular in the final two games of the series and was a huge reason that the Oilers closed out the Stars.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersConnor McDavid led the series with ten points. He scored the double overtime winner in Game 1, and he gave us a new contender for the goal of his career in the clinching Game 6. He had Miro Heiskanen playing on his weak side on the penalty kill, and he exploited it. McDavid slithered through a tight hole between Stars defenders and drug the puck around Heiskanen, whose stick and feet were pointed the opposite way. McDavid then scored on a backhand shot after forcing his way to the middle of the Stars penalty killing unit. The Oilers captain came up clutch when he was needed in this series.

ShoutoutsRyan Nugent-Hopkins scored two powerplay goals in Game 5 to get the Oilers a win. More importantly, it got the Oilers powerplay going. The powerplay also won Game 6 for the Oilers.

VANCOUVER, BC – Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) looks up ice during an NHL preseason game(Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Darnell Nurse took a lot of heat for his play in the playoffs up until Game 4. Then Game 4 started with two quick goals with Nurse on the ice, one of which bounced in off his backside. He responded in a big way though. He used his feet to join the rush on multiple occasions, and he got an assist from it. He also had a career-high twelve hits in Game 4! Nurse was solid for the rest of the series after that game.

Broberg came into the series in Game 4 after having not played in about six weeks. Broberg’s only two NHL games since November were the final two games of the season, a tough loss in the Arizona Coyotes’ final game as a franchise and a silly game in Colorado where the Oilers dressed a glorified AHL team. Broberg performed admirably. He was hardly noticeable in a good way in Games 4 and 6. He had a tough sequence where he coughed the puck up twice in short succession early in Game 5, but he settled down and eventually scored his first NHL playoff goal.

WrapThe Stars had the best record in the Western Conference this season, and they took down the two most recent Stanley Cup champions on their way to their second consecutive Western Conference Final (their third in the last five seasons).

The Oilers stomped on the gas pedal late in the series and won three games in a row to close out the Stars in six games. That says a lot about how good this Oilers team is.

When people think of the Oilers, they think of a run and gun team that can’t defend and only wins games because of their powerplay. Well, the Oilers were even with the Stars through four games without scoring a powerplay goal. The Oilers only allowed two goals to the Stars in the final eight periods of the series. They were outshot 35-10 in Game 6, and they won the game. Nobody can say that the Oilers can’t defend anymore. Knoblauch, Paul Coffey, and Mark Stuart have this group defending at a high level.

The Oilers are 3-0 in games where they have the chance to close out an opponent, and 4-0 in any type of elimination game in these playoffs. They are 8-1 in Games 4 or later in these playoffs. The Oilers have played their best hockey late in series. That tells me two things. First, it tells me that Knoblauch is making the necessary tactical adjustments throughout the series. Secondly, it tells me that the Oilers are a mature team with a killer instinct.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson and Ken Holland introduce Kris Knoblauch and Paul Coffey as new coaches of the Edmonton Oilers. Photo Credit: Oilers TVThe Oilers will now face the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers are back in the Stanley Cup Final for the eighth time in their history and for the first time since losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. They last won the Stanley Cup in 1990, which was their fifth Stanley Cup.

Meanwhile, the Panthers are back in the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive year. This is their third trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Their first was in 1996, where they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. They will be looking to win their first ever Stanley Cup.

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June 4, 2024 by Eric Friesen

From the moment the Edmonton Oilers won the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery and earned the right to select 18-year-old phenom Connor McDavid first-overall, it seemed inevitable that he would eventually lead the orange and blue to a Stanley Cup.

Just over nine years after NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly revealed the Oilers as the winners of that prized lottery selection, he was on the ice at Rogers Place to congratulate McDavid on captaining his club to the game’s grandest stage. Nine years is a long time to wait for the best player in the world to have his first opportunity to play for the Cup. For the extremely loyal and passionate fans in Oil Country, the wait has been twice as long.

McDavid and Zach Hyman each scored power-play goals in the first period and Stuart Skinner turned aside 34 of the 35 shots he faced to lead the Oilers to a 2-1 win on Sunday. With the victory, the Oilers claimed their NHL-record eighth Clarence S. Campbell Bowl as Western Conference champions (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 2006 and 2024).

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the 18,347 fans in attendance dressed in orange and blue erupted in celebration of the Oilers reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 18 years. While it’s unquestionably the most significant victory of McDavid’s NHL career (and most significant victory for the Oilers’ organization in nearly two decades), sharing the moment with the passionate fans in Oil Country made it even more special for him.

“It feels like a dream, honestly,” McDavid told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas following the Oilers’ Game 6 victory on Sunday. “When the horn went off, that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard [Rogers Place]. A special place to play, honestly. There’s so much history here. These fans, it’s great to hear their support.”

Keeping with recent tradition in the NHL, McDavid and the Oilers chose not to touch the Campbell Bowl during the trophy presentation at Rogers Place. This group has a greater goal in mind.

McDavid leads Oilers to the Final in spectacular fashionRight from puck-drop in Game 6, McDavid was on another level than every other player on the ice, flying through the neutral zone with the puck and dangling opponents like only he can. After suffering through a string of playoff heartbreaks, McDavid had zero interest in going back to Dallas for Game 7.

The Oilers captain tallied two terrific power-play points in the opening frame, including the most spectacular goal of his playoff career. Despite being the primary focus of the Stars’ penalty killers, McDavid pulled off an unbelievable toe-drag move to weave through Sam Steel and Miro Heiskanen, before roofing a perfectly placed backhand shot past Jake Oettinger to give the Oilers an early 1-0 lead.

It was the type of goal you’re more likely to see in a video game than in an actual NHL playoff game. Leon Draisaitl, who picked up an assist on McDavid’s power-play marker, said it’s not the first time he’s seen McDavid score a goal like that under heavy pressure.

“Yeah, I was nice,” Draisaitl said jokingly when asked about McDavid’s goal. “I’ve seen it before, but yeah, it was nice. There’s one player in the world that can make plays like that and make things like that happen. I don’t know what to say. He knows what I think of him. I think everybody does, so I’ll just leave it at that.”

With the power-play goal, McDavid joined Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Mario Lemieux and Nikita Kucherov as the only players in NHL history with multiple 30-point playoff years. All five of the players who did it previously, won the Cup the second time they hit the 30-point mark, a trend McDavid will look to continue this month. Even more remarkably, McDavid joined Gretzky as the only player to ever reach the 30-point mark prior to the Stanley Cup Final.

Related: Connor McDavid scores the game-winner as Oilers prevail in double overtime

When they were given a second opportunity with the man-advantage later in the period, McDavid drew two Stars’ players to him along the wall, and then found Hyman alone in the slot, who wired a shot into the top corner to make it 2-0 for the Oilers. With the helper on Hyman’s league-leading 14th goal of the playoffs, McDavid reached double-digits in points for the fourth series in his past five (he had nine points in seven games against the Canucks in the last round).

Though he easily could have had more than two points in Game 6, McDavid gave the Oilers all the offence they needed to beat the Stars. He was determined to win — whatever it took to make it happen.

Record-setting penalty killWhen you hear the term “Oilers hockey,” the first thought that many hockey observers will have is a highly-skilled, fast-paced style of play that results in a ton of goals off the rush and on the power-play. It was true for the Gretzky and company during the glory days in the 1980s, and it’s still the case for the current Oilers’ squad.

In fact, the Oilers set NHL records for power-play efficiency in both the regular season (32.4%) and playoffs (46.2%) last year. And while Edmonton’s power-play in the 2024 playoffs is clicking at an outstanding 37.3%, it’s been their penalty kill dominance that’s mainly helping them win games.

So, for the Oilers to transform into a shot-suppressing, mistake-limiting team that excels on the penalty kill over the past month, surely isn’t something that anyone who follows this team closely saw coming. Although the penalty kill has vastly improved under Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, he insists that he doesn’t deserve the praise for its success.

Related: Oilers Penalty Killing Revival

“I’m not taking any credit on this penalty kill, it’s not my responsibility, it’s Mark Stuart who’s done a tremendous job on that,” said Knoblauch in his post-game media availability on Sunday. “I wasn’t sure [if he was ready to take on that task at first]. I didn’t know Mark. He’d never run the penalty kill, and I didn’t know him as a coach. I knew he was fairly green and hadn’t been doing this very long, but there weren’t many options, and we gave him that responsibility and he has done a fabulous job with it. I don’t think we would be here today if our penalty kill hadn’t been as strong as it has been through each series.”

The Oilers set a new franchise record for consecutive penalties killed, with 28, including a critical delay of game penalty on Draisaitl early in the third period of Game 6. This was also the second playoff series this year where the Oilers didn’t allow a single power-play goal.

SkinnerWhile McDavid led the way offensively in the series-clinching victory, Stuart Skinner was undoubtedly Edmonton’s best player in Game 6. The Oilers were badly outshot 35-10 against a desperate Stars team fighting to stay alive, but Skinner delivered an outstanding performance, earning a third straight win over the top-seed in the Western Conference.

In the spring of 2006, Skinner watched his childhood hero Dwayne Roloson backstop the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final in one of the greatest Cinderella runs in NHL history. Fast forward 18 years, and Roloson was in the building on Sunday night to watch Skinner help the Oilers ascend to the same stage.

“If you told me this five or six years ago, I’d probably tell you’re crazy,” said Skinner on Sunday. “But honestly, moments like this, it’s really hard to say. It’s very cool and it’s a lot more than cool, but it’s very exciting and I’m very fortunate and grateful to be a part of such an amazing club.”

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)“First off, he was unbelievable tonight. We’re not sitting up here talking about a win if it wasn’t for him,” said McDavid. “We’re on a plane to Dallas if it wasn’t for Stu. He’s gone through lots. He’s still such a young goalie, but he’s gone through so much. “I keep saying this – a lot of people doubted him. A lot of people don’t say the nicest things about him, but he is an elite goaltender in this League. He really is and he showed that tonight. He showed that over the course of the year in the playoffs. He loves proving people wrong, and he certainly did that.”

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June 2, 2024 by Josh Boulton

The NHL has a television marketing problem. The game’s best player, Connor McDavid, plays for the Edmonton Oilers. The city of Edmonton, Alberta is located in the Mountain time zone. Just three other NHL teams play their home games in that region, and six more are located further west, in the Pacific. That’s a total of 10 teams in the two westernmost regions of North America.

22 of the 32 NHL clubs play further east of Edmonton, with 16 of those having home arenas in the Eastern time zone alone. That’s a full 50% of fan bases in NHL cities on two hours difference. It also means the significant majority of sports media is located there as well. That makes it hard for reporters to watch the Western games at all, let alone cover them properly since they’re so busy trying to be the first to get out all the stories on the games that just ended.

For the general hockey fan who’s just trying to watch, it’s even less practical for most. Some Oilers fans, like me, are in the Atlantic time zone, another hour east. Even further than that are our friends from Newfoundland and Labrador, who have to tack another extra half hour on top.

As a lifelong Oilers fan in Nova Scotia, watching live Oilers games means I routinely have to stay up until 11:00 pm just to sit through the 10-15 minute pre-game rituals. By the time the third period rolls around, it’s 1:00 am, and the game finally ends around 1:30. That’s a lot to ask of me and my kids as a regular routine, even on a Saturday night. And it’s completely out of the question on a random Tuesday. As a die-hard fan who also writes casual articles about the team, sometimes here and there among the 82 games even I find it’s not worth it.

Photo Credit: x.com/hockey_refBut, okay, it’s the playoffs now. A true fan stays up for that. You have to, right? Well, somehow the first two rounds of the playoffs are even worse. For the third year in a row the Oilers played the Los Angeles Kings, a team in the Pacific time zone. Games in Edmonton started at the usual 11:00 pm (which as we know means closer to 11:15). Games in LA started at 11:30 pm at the earliest, and as late as 11:50 pm, and were ending at around 2:30 am. Without overtime.

I was so grateful that series was over in five because it gave me a chance to reset before a seven-game second round series against another Pacific opponent. I haven’t missed a single minute of these playoffs, but I’ve paid a heavy physical toll to do it.

Now that it’s the Western Conference Final, it’s much easier for me here, but the games from the West still start a half hour later than the Eastern Final. Not that I’m complaining at all. In fact, it’s got to be more of an adjustment for the hometown fans out West, who now have to start the games around an hour and a half earlier than they’ve been used to all season. Conference Final games for me are now over sometime before midnight. Remember, that’s when first round games in L.A. used to start!

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersNow, I know the NHL can’t help where some of the best players end up. Nathan MacKinnon is in the same boat in Mountain time zone based Colorado. Elias Pettersson is out in Pacific zone based Vancouver along with Adrian Kempe, the best kept secret in Los Angeles. Kirill Kaprizov is hidden in the Central time zone with Filip Forsberg.

Full credit to NHL awards voters mind you. All three 2024 Norris Trophy candidates are in the Western Conference, as are two of three Vezina Trophy finalists. Two of three Hart Trophy nominees are in the Mountain tome zone, and every one of the three coaches up for the Jack Adams Award stood behind a Western Conference bench.

It’s just no wonder the average Canadian NHL fan doesn’t have a full understanding of just how special McDavid truly is beyond his ability to accumulate points. It’s understandable why they laugh when we say things like Leon Draisaitl is the single best passer in the entire NHL. It’s why narratives about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman being “power-play merchants” take root. Because who in the East could honestly watch enough Oilers games each year to paint a proper picture?

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June 2, 2024 by Eric Friesen

When the Edmonton Oilers selected Philip Broberg eighth-overall in 2019, many fans were surprised and frustrated with gifted offensive forwards like Trevor Zegras, Matthew Boldy and Cole Caufield still available.

While the pick was initially questioned, General Manager Ken Holland insisted that big, talented defencemen who can transport the puck are required to go on a long playoff run. Five years later, the Oilers are now just one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final, and Broberg is contributing to the team’s efforts to bring home their sixth championship.

After going nearly six weeks without playing, Broberg returned to the Oilers lineup in Game 4 on Wednesday, and delivered likely the best performance of his young NHL career two nights later in a pressure-packed situation. Broberg scored his first career NHL playoff goal and had a plus-one rating, as the Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 in Game 5 of the 2024 Western Conference Final on Friday.

Shortly after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had made it 2-0 for the Oilers with his second power-play goal of the game, Broberg fired a seeing-eye shot from the blueline through crowd in front of Jake Oettinger that went right into the top corner to put the orange and blue up the three in the middle frame. Though he was glad to get his name on the scoresheet, Broberg’s sole focus was securing the victory.

“Obviously, it was nice to get the goal, but more importantly, we got a win,” said Broberg following the Oilers win on Friday. “I’m just trying to play my game. The guys out there are helping me a lot, and I want to help the team win.”

The 22-year-old, who spent most of the season with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, didn’t look out of place on the Oilers’ back end despite the extended stretch between games and taking on the top seed in the Western Conference. His 12 NHL games in 2023-24 were fewer than either of his first two seasons in North America, but injuries, including a deep bruise in February, delayed his recall to the big club.

“I wanted to get back in the lineup, and it was nice to get in the lineup, and get a feeling of the playoffs” said Broberg. “I’m just enjoying every second of it, and it’s nice to be playing.”

Related: Philip Broberg continues to compare favourably to a beloved former Oiler

Not only did Broberg score the insurance marker in Game 5, he was also tasked with shutting down the Dallas Stars’ lethal power-play when Brett Kulak was called for holding later in the second period. He does a exceptional job of using his feet to make plays, whether it’s eliminating the opposition’s attack off the rush, or making clean zone exits under control. Oilers captain Connor McDavid spoke highly of Broberg’s impact at both ends of the ice in the biggest game of the year.

“[Broberg was amazing],” said McDavid on Friday. “Obviously, a big goal, but not only that, he was skating everywhere and skating pucks out on his own. It could’ve been a one-man breakout at times, and that’s what he needs to do to be successful. His legs are a gift and he’s got to use them.”

Photo Credit: thehockeynews.comHead Coach Kris Knoblauch has shown no fear in making major changes to the lineup in these playoffs. Although the Oilers are a league-best 93.5% on the penalty kill in the 2024 playoffs (they also tied a franchise record with 25 consecutive power-plays killed off in the playoffs in Game 5), Knoblauch scratched one of his top penalty killers in Vincent Desharnais and inserted a defender with under 10 games of playoff experience. Like most of his moves since stepping behind the Oilers bench this past November, the decision to give the speedy Broberg a look has paid off so far.

“I thought Broberg has been in a really difficult situation,” said Knoblauch during his post-game media availability on Friday. “Game 4 was kind of a must-win game for us, and he came in and played really well. And for him to come in tonight, I thought he just continued to build on his game and play really well.”

If the Oilers should advance to the Stanley Cup Final, there’s no guarantee how much Broberg will play, or if he will play at all. However, if nothing else, Broberg is making a strong case for himself to be a full-time NHL defenceman with this club in 2024-25.

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June 1, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Leon Draisaitl had high praise for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins prior to the Edmonton Oilers’ Game 5 win in Dallas on Friday. “He’s so valuable in every facet of the game. He touches every part of the game. Have you guys ever seen him make a mistake? I really haven’t. So he’s such a good, smart hockey player. I think he’s probably the coach’s favourite player in the world.”

Head coach Kris Knoblauch was asked about Draisaitl’s comments about Nugent-Hopkins a short while later. “First of all, I’ve always got a favourite player. It just depends on the day, and it changes.” Knoblauch went on to talk about how Nugent-Hopkins is a big part of every aspect of the game for the Oilers.

Nugent-Hopkins showed everyone why he’s worthy of such high praise from his coaches and his peers by scoring two power play goals in Game 5, including what would eventually become the game winning goal. Knoblauch opened his post game press conference by letting everyone know that “I actually saw Ryan [Nugent-Hopkins] after the game and I told him that he was my favourite.”

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers take pivotal Game 5 in Dallas

The two goals in Game 5 gave Nugent-Hopkins twenty points in these playoffs, which blows his previous career-best of fourteen playoff points out of the water. He had at least a point in eight of nine games from Game 5 of the first round until being held off the scoresheet in Games 2 and 3 of the Western Conference Final. Nugent-Hopkins had ten points in the second round series against his hometown Vancouver Canucks, including the series winning powerplay goal in Game 7 in Vancouver.

His four powerplay goals in these playoffs puts him in a tie for second on the Oilers. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl get most of the credit for how great the Oielrs powerplay is, but Nugent-Hopkins’ role on the powerplay can’t be understated. Nugent-Hopkins is a powerplay wizard. He’s got a great feel for knowing which plays to make in which situations. Nugent-Hopkins is a great playmaker, and his wrist shot is lethal. Just ask Jake Oettinger about the Nugent-Hopkins wrist shot that beat him over the glove in Game 5.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 25: Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) skates up ice during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 25, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Nugent-Hopkins also leads Oilers forwards in penalty killing ice time with 38:27 in sixteen games. The Oilers penalty kill has killed off 25 consecutive penalties dating back to Game 3 of the second round. Nugent-Hopkins is a large part of the success of the Oilers penalty kill unit.

Nugent-Hopkins is also a fixture in the Oilers top six. Knoblauch trusts Nugent-Hopkins to centre the second line whenever McDavid and Draisaitl play together. He is currently playing on a line with McDavid and Zach Hyman, a line that was phenomenal during the regular season. They were reunited in Game 4 of the second round. Nugent-Hopkins was on the ice for eight five-on-five goals for in the first eight games of the playoffs, and eight five-on-five goals for in the eight games since being reunited with McDavid and Hyman. The difference is that Nugent-Hopkins has been on the ice for four fewer five-on-five goals against in the eight game sample with McDavid and Hyman. Either way, he’s been on the ice for an average of one five-on-five goal scored per game regardless of of his linemates.

I can’t forget about the subtle play he made in double overtime in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. He got the puck in deep on a routine rush through the neutral zone. Then he won the race to the puck behind the Stars net and chipped it around the boards to Evan Bouchard. Bouchard found McDavid on a pass to the slot, and McDavid potted the double overtime winner. Nugent-Hopkins does all of the little things right, and success seems to follow.

The 2011 first overall pick is the longest serving current Oiler. Local product Stuart Skinner said that Nugent-Hopkins was his favourite player growing up in an interview after Game 5. Nugent-Hopkins was one of the bright lights that gave Oilers fans a glimmer of optimism throughout the Decade of Darkness. He has endured many dark and difficult seasons in Edmonton.

He didn’t get his first taste of playoff action until his sixth NHL season in 2016-17. It took him until 2020 to get his first playoff goal, and that was during the play-in series in the COVID bubble with no fans in the building. He got his first goal in an actual playoff series in a Game 4 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets that ended the Oilers season. Once again, there were no fans in the building due to COVID.

Nugent-Hopkins finally got his first playoff goal at Rogers Place with fans in attendance in a Game 4 win against the Calgary Flames in the second round of the 2022 playoffs, which was in his eleventh NHL season. He scored two goals in that game, including the game winner. It was so amazing to see Nugent-Hopkins finally have such a big moment in the playoffs at Rogers Place, and to hear the fans chanting his name outside the media room during the post game press conference!

It was also amazing to see him get a series clinching goal in a Game 7 in his hometown. The same can be said of Nugent-Hopkins scoring two goals including the game winner on the road in a massive Game 5 win that has put the Oilers one win away from winning their first Western Conference title since 2006.

Nugent-Hopkins is starting to add more pages to his book of Oilers playoff moments. There’s one big moment that remains elusive to him and the Oilers team as a whole. They’re on the precipice of earning an opportunity to earn that elusive moment in later this month. He’s the coach’s favourite, and a long time favourite of Oilers fans. Nothing would be sweeter for Oilers fans than watching Nugent-Hopkins lift the Stanley Cup in an Oilers uniform.

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The Edmonton Oilers are now one win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final after a convincing 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 5. The Oilers were in control from the beginning. The Stars only managed to get four shots in the first period and only twenty in the entire game. A late tip in goal by Wyatt Johnston got the Stars on the board, but it was too little too late.

Call OutsHonestly, I have nobody to call out tonight.

Stand OutsVANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 25: Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) skates up ice during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 25, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Ryan Nugent-Hopkins received tons of praise from Leon Draisaitl and his coach before Game 5. Nugent-Hopkins proved them right with his play in Game 5. He scored two powerplay goals, which were the first two powerplay goals for the Oilers in the series. Nugent-Hopkins also played a role in a penalty kill that killed two Stars powerplays, which brings the total to 25 consecutive penalty kills.

ShoutoutsPhilip Broberg scored his first NHL playoff goal in Game 5. Broberg blasted a slap shot from the point that found its way into the top corner behind Jake Oettinger. Broberg added three blocked shots in 12:40 of ice time. Broberg had something of a tough shift early in the game where he failed to clear the puck twice, but he rebounded nicely.

Stuart Skinner was superb in this game. He made nineteen saves on twenty shots in the win. Skinner made four stops on grade A opportunities from the Stars, including three in the third period. There were enough chances for the Stars to make this game interesting, but Skinner shut the door when called upon in this game. I wouldn’t say that he stole the win, but he was an important part of it.

WrapThe Oilers had struggled in their last two Game 5s when the series was tied at two games apiece. They laid an egg in Game 5 of their second round series against the Vancouver Canucks. They also lost Game 5 of their second round series last year.

That wasn’t the case tonight. This was a complete effort from the Oilers. They played solid hockey for the full sixty minutes in this game. This win brings their all-time record in Game 5 of Conference Finals to 5-1.

Related: Oilers Western Conference Final Game 5 History

The Oilers will have a chance to win the series and the Clarence S. Campbell bowl in Game 6 on Sunday night at Rogers Place.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers score five unanswered to even series with Stars

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May 31, 2024 by Bob Schmidt

The winner of Game 5 of an NHL playoff series goes on to win the series 78.8% of the time according to Hockey Reference. Game 5 of the Western Conference finals between the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars takes place on Friday night with the series tied at two games apiece. That got me wondering how my beloved Oilers have fared in previous Game 5’s in Western Conference Finals since their inaugural NHL season in 1979-80. Let’s take a look, shall we?

1985Opponent: Chicago Blackhawks

The Oilers had made the Clarence Campbell Conference Final in the previous two seasons, but they swept the Blackhawks (1983) and the Minnesota North Stars (1984) in four striaght games in those series. May 14, 1985 would be their first Conference Final Game 5 opportunity for the Oilers franchise. The Oilers had won the first two games of the series on home ice in dominant fashion with 11-2 and 7-3 victories. The Hawks made a series out of it by winning the next two games back in Chicago by scores of 5-2 and 8-6, thus tying the series. That brings us to Game 5. On the strength of Paul Coffey’s six points (1G, 5A), Jari Kurri’s hat trick for a five-point night, and Wayne Gretzky’s four points (2G, 2A), the Oilers rolled out a dominant 10-5 win in a penalty filled affair that saw the two teams combine for 142 penalty minutes. They would go on to win the series in the sixth game and ultimately win their second Stanley Cup.

1987Opponent: Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings surprised the Oilers by taking Game 1 on Edmonton ice by a score of 3-1. The Oilers regrouped and won the next three games and returned to Alberta for Game 5 with a 3-1 series lead. At this point, the momentum that Edmonton had built up was insurmountable for Steve Yzerman and his Red Wings. Thanks to a five-assist night from Glenn Anderson, a four-point night (2G, 2A) from Kent Nilsson, and an additional two goals from Mark Messier, the Oilers closed off the series with a 6-3 win in Game 5. They would ultimately go on to win their third Stanley Cup in their last four seasons.

1988Opponent: Detroit Red Wings

In a rematch of the Campbell Conference Final of the previous season, the defending Stanley Cup champions took a 3-1 series lead after defeating Detroit 4-3 in Game 4 on a Jari Kurri overtime goal. The series shifted back to the Alberta capital for Game 5. Craig Simpson opened the scoring 47 seconds into the game with the first of his two goals on the night. A four-goal second period by the home team solidified what would become an 8-4 series clinching win. Messier led the charge with a four-point night, and Mike Krushelnyski matched Simpson with a two-goal effort as well. The Oilers would close out those playoffs with their fourth Stanley Cup in five seasons and officially become a dynasty team. Unfortunately, this would be the last season the Oilers would have Wayne Gretzky and also the last Cup The Great One would win.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/EdmontonOilers1990Opponent: Chicago Blackhawks

This was the third time the Oilers and Hawks met in the conference finals with Edmonton having won the two previous meetings. With the series tied at two, the stage was set for Game 5 back in Edmonton. It had been an evenly matched series through the first four games with each team having scored thirteen goals apiece. Game 5 reiterated how tight this series matchup was. Kurri would score the game winner with 1:31 left in the game to win the game 4-3 and take the series lead for the first time since Game 1. The Oilers would eliminate the Hawks in Game 6 in what would be the highest scoring game of the series with a score of 8-4. Thanks to the heroics of the eventual Conn Smythe winner Bill Ranford, Edmonton would hoist their fifth (and so far, last) Stanley Cup in 1990.

1991Opponent: Minnesota North Stars

Even though the Oilers managed a convincing 7-2 win in Game 2, Minnesota prevailed in the other three games of the series and carried a 3-1 series lead into Game 5 in Edmonton. Grant Fuhr’s 30 saves just weren’t enough as Minnesota clinched the series with a 3-2 victory. Oilers captain Mark Messier had tied the game in the third period, but Bobby Smith responded just 41 seconds later with what ended up being the game winner for the North Stars.

2006Opponent: Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

In what would be the last hurrah for quite some time for our beloved hockey club, the upstart Oilers of the 2006 playoffs took us on quite the ride. In a surprising turn of events, with already two upset playoff series wins behind them, Edmonton was back in the Conference Finals for the first time since 1992. The Oilers carried that momentum into round three and won the first three games of the series. The Mighty Ducks staved off elimination in Game 4 with a 6-3 win, which set the stage for Game 5 in Anaheim. The home team opened the scoring in the first period, but the Oilers responded with two goals in the second period by Ethan Moreau and Raffi Torres to take the lead. That’s all the scoring that was needed as Dwayne Roloson continued his stellar post season with 32 saves to preserve the 2-1 series clinching win. Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1990, but ultimately lost in a heartbreaking seven game series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Well, there you have it. The Oilers have reached a Game 5 in the Conference Final on six occasions and have won five of them. Four of those ultimately led to a Stanley Cup. Where will this conference finals game five lead us? Stay tuned.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers score five unanswered to even series with Stars

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May 30, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

GM Ken Holland has been with the Edmonton Oilers for five years. Heading into this season’s playoffs, none of the prospects drafted in Holland’s tenure with the Oilers had earned permanent spots on the Oilers roster. Dylan Holloway appears to have earned such a spot with his play in the 2024 playoffs, and Philip Broberg is considered to be NHL ready by the organization. Holland’s first two Oilers first round picks are the closest things to NHL roster players at this point though.

Drafting and player development have been issues during the Holland era. Holland said that Steve Staios was brought in to work in player development because they didn’t have anyone there the season before Staios was hired (2021-22). Staios left the Oilers for a far more prominent role with the Ottawa Senators last summer.

Related: Jackson’s Potential Impact on the Oilers- Part One: Player Development

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVOilers CEO Jeff Jackson has made many changes to the hockey operations department since joinning the Oilers last summer. The first of those changes was firing former Director of Amateur Scouting and Player Personnel Tyler Wright and replacing him with Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey. Pracey’s title has nothing to do with player personnel or player development. Dividing Wright’s former role into two different roles was clearly Jackson’s plan.

Related: Oilers Mutually Part Ways with Wright, Hire Pracey

Jackson hired Kalle Larsson as the Oilers’ new Senior Director of Player Personnel on Thursday. The statement released by the Oilers said that “[i]n his role with Edmonton, Larsson will collaborate and consult with senior management and coaches for both the Oilers and AHL’s Bakersfield Condors in order to formulate and implement comprehensive individual development plans for each player in the organization. He will also be responsible for overseeing and managing all areas of development for Oilers draft selections as well as signed prospects within the organization.”

Larsson’s new role within the Oilers organization is one that has been sorely lacking for quite some time. The Oilers have had precious little success with drafting and developing prospects with the exception of the core superstars that were high picks such as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, and Evan Bouchard. 2016 seventh round pick Vincent Desharnais is a brilliant success story, but is not a recent draft pick. Holloway and Broberg are close. Aside from those eight players, every other Oiler on the roster was acquired via trade or free agency.

It seems ridiculous that Oilers prospects didn’t already have comprehensive development plans, but this hiring is a necessary one. Oilers prospects will be in a better position to succeed with clear goals set and with proper guidance from the organization beyond what they get from the coaching staff on a day to day basis thanks to this hiring. Being able to develop prospects that get drafted outside of the first round or that join the organization via free agency will be crucial for the Oilers in the long run due to being a contending team that trades away high draft picks for immediate help and because of the cap situation in the coming years.

Larsson joins the Oilers after spending eleven seasons with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL. He was the Director of Player Personnel there in 2015 before being promoted to General manager in 2017. The Gothenburg, Sweden native was most recently the President of Hockey Operations with the Fighting Saints.

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May 30, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The wonderful thing about how the Edmonton Oilers roster is constructed is that head coach Kris Knoblauch has a lot of options when it comes to lineup configurations. That means that Knoblauch has many decisions to make prior to any given game. A part of coaching is knowing which buttons to push and when to push them. Knoblauch has shown a penchant for ably controlling the buttons throughout the season, but he has done so at an even higher level in these playoffs.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVGame 1 of the first round saw Adam Henrique on a line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman. The trio was used in the final two games of the regular season, both Oilers losses with depleted lineups dressed. Knoblauch stuck with the trio for Game 1 though, and the line produced three even strength goals in the first 25 minutes of the game.

Knoblauch also decided that Dylan Holloway needed to be in his playoff lineup after scoring five points in six games after being recalled from the Bakersfield Condors. Holloway rewarded the coach with two goals in Game 2 of the first round.

Warren Foegele had a fantastic regular season, but his performance has waned in the playoffs. It started with a tough night in Game 2 of the first round. Foegele started the playoffs on the second line, where he had spent most of the season. He was demoted to the fourth line for Game 5 of the first round. Evander Kane was bumped up to the second line, and Holloway was elevated to the third line. Both players had outplayed Foegele in the series and deserved their promotions. The Oilers won Game 5 and advanced to the second round.

Henrique injured his ankle in Game 5 of the first round, which meant that there was a hole to fill in the lineup. Mattias Janmark was elevated to Henrique’s spot on the top line. Janmark did not record a point in Game 1, but the line did score a goal.

Henrique gave it a go in Game 2 against the Vancouver Canucks, but was clearly hampered. He took on a limited role for that game. Leon Draisaitl left Game 1 briefly with what appeared to be a back injury, but he was able to return. The impact of that injury on Draisaitl was unknown at that point, so Knoblauch moved Draisaitl to the wing on the top line line McDavid and Hyman. That line was dominant in a Game 2 overtime win.

Notably, Foegele was moved back into the top six for the first three games of the second round. Foegele made an atrocious giveaway in the first period of Game 3 against the Canucks, and his ice time was cut dramatically after that.

Game 3 is also where we saw Knoblauch pull Stuart Skinner in favour of Calvin Pickard. Pickard entered the game in the third period and made three saves. Skinner had started every playoff game for the Oilers in 2023 and 2024 up until Pickard got the start in Game 4. Pickard was fantastic in a Game 4 win.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Game 4 is also where Knoblauch reunited McDavid and Hyman with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Another notable change that Knoblauch made in that game was moving Holloway into the top six with Draisaitl and Kane. Each of the two new top lines contributed a goal in a 3-2 Oilers win in Game 4.

Knoblauch also deployed new defensive pairings in Game 4. The pairing of Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci had been struggling to keep pucks out of the Oilers net. Knoblauch put Nurse with Vincent Desharnais to create a massive pairing. Ceci was paired with Brett Kulak. Those decisions seemed to settle the team defensively.

Related: Deep Dive: Nurse’s 2024 playoff struggles

Pickard got the start again in Game 5 and played great, but the Oilers fell just short thanks to a late game winner by JT Miller. Knoblauch went back to Stuart Skinner with the Oilers’ season on the line in Game 6. Skinner delivered with fourteen saves on fifteen shots in a 5-1 drubbing.

Knoblauch also made the difficult decision to take Corey Perry out of the lineup in favour of Sam Carrick for Game 6. Perry had not registered a point in the playoffs at that time, and he had not been mucking it up like we’ve come to expect from him over the years. It was certainly an interesting decision to remove a veteran with Perry’s experience and championship pedigree from the lineup, but it paid off for the rookie head coach.

Another development from Game 6 was that Holloway scored a fantastic goal while playing in the top six. Holloway looked like he truly belonged in the top six in the second round. It was a gamble by Knoblauch, but Holloway had earned the spot and he did well with it.

Henrique made his return to the lineup in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars. Knoblauch decided to pull Ryan McLeod from the lineup. McLeod had been on the ice for a five-on-five goal against in four consecutive games prior to Game 3, including a terrible giveaway that led to a goal in Game 7 of the Canucks series. Henrique scored a big goal to tie the game late in the second period, a period that saw a 2-0 lead turn into a 3-2 deficit prior to Henrique’s goal.

Related: Is McLeod’s defensive play compensating for his lack of offence?

Finally, we get to Game 4 of the third round where Knoblauch made three notable lineup changes. McLeod and Perry returned to the lineup. McLeod scored a goal from a dirty area that was set up by Perry. Foegele and Carrick were removed from the lineup.

Desharnais struggled in the first three games of the Stars series, and he was healthy scratched in favour of Philip Broberg, who hadn’t played a playoff game since Game 5 of last year’s second round series against the Vegas Golden Knights. Broberg had never played in a Western Conference Final game before Game 4. Broberg had a clean stat sheet in 14:21 of ice time, which blew his previous high mark for ice time in a playoff game out of the water. His previous high for ice time in a playoff game was only 9:49.

That switch meant two new defensive pairings for Knoblauch. Nurse was paired with Kulak. The pair had a tough start to the game, but Nurse was unbelievable afterwards. The Ceci-Broberg pair wasn’t on the ice for a goal against.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers score five unanswered to even series with Stars

I should also acknowledge Connor Brown here. Brown played in Game 1 of round two, was pulled for Henrique in Game 2, and reinserted into the lineup for Game 3. Brown has been great in these playoffs since entering the lineup for good. It looks like his legs are back. He has points in his last three consecutive games. Brown was elevated to the third line for Game 3 of the Stars series, and he has a point in each of the last two games since that change was made.

Knoblauch was sure to point out that he talks to a number of different people before any lineup decisions are made, but he is the man that gets the credit when those lineup changes pan out. The vast majority of his lineup changes, whether they happen mid game or pregame, have panned out. He has made bold decisions like starting Pickard and removing veteran regulars like Skinner, Perry, McLeod, and Foegele from the lineup at varying points. Those decisions have all worked out positively. That’s a testament to Knoblauch’s ability to read and understand his team.

Every one of those veterans has responded with improved play after getting back into the lineup (except for Foegele who has not yet had that opportunity). That’s a testament to the coach’s communication skills.

Knoblauch deserves a ton of praise for his work with the Oilers this season. He has brought improved defensive tactics that have turned the Oilers into a fantastic defending team. He has also pushed all of the right buttons at all of the right times. It’s hard to believe that he’s a NHL rookie head coach based on the results that we’ve seen this season.

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May 29, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have evened their series with the Dallas Stars after a thrilling 5-2 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday night. It was the Oilers’ turn to go down 2-0 early in the game. Wyatt Johnston scored on the first Stars shot of the game, and the Stars didn’t take much longer to get their second goal. The Oilers flipped the script from about the midway point of the first period onwards though. They had tied the game at two by the first intermission, and they went on to score five unanswered goals.

Call OutsBrett Kulak got caught on a poor neutral zone read just under a minute into the game. Kulak chose to attack Jamie Benn when the puck was coming to Benn along the wall at the red line, but he thought better of it once Benn retreated to his own side of centre. Benn flipped the puck over Kulak’s head to a streaking Johnston who finished the scoring chance.

Stuart Skinner allowed a goal on the first shot of the game for the tenth time over the course of the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs. A tough bounce also beat him. He was otherwise solid in this game though.

Honestly, there wasn’t much to criticize from an Oilers standpoint in Game 4. The Oilers deserve criticism for the way that they started the game; but it’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.

Stand OutsI didn’t like Darnell Nurse’s pregame media availability on Wednesday, but he absolutely brought it once the puck dropped. His night got off to a terribly unfair start. Nurse was left to defend a two-on-one thanks to Kulak’s neutral zone misread, and the Stars scored on the rush. Nurse did a great job of boxing out Logan Stankoven, but a soft Esa Lindell point shot hit Nurse in the derriere and snuck in under Stuart Skinner’s blocker.

Nurse turned it on for the rest of the game though. He got an assist by cutting down the right wing and leaving a drop pass for Corey Perry. Nurse drove the net and took a Stars defender right into Jake Oettinger, which allowed Ryan McLeod to score. Nurse was actively jumping up into the rush and making things happen in the offensive zone. He blocked a shot on the penalty kill, and the Oilers scored a shorthanded goal as a result. Nurse also joined the rush on that play. Nurse was able to be involved offensively without sacrificing in the defensive end due to his elite skating ability. Head coach Kris Knoblauch praised Nurse’s ability to close space with his skating and his reach.

What we saw in Game 4 was what Nurse brings when he is playing his best hockey, which is impactful play at both ends of the ice. He’s at his best when he’s joining the rush and being physical. That was a stand out performance, especially given the heat he has taken over the last couple of days for his play in these playoffs to date.

Related: Deep Dive: Nurse’s 2024 playoff struggles

ShoutoutsThere aren’t many nights where Connor McDavid gets three assists and gets relegated to the “Shoutouts” section of this piece, but tonight is one of those nights.

McLeod was a healthy scratch for Game 3. He had been on the ice for a five-on-five goal against in each of his last four games. The message was well received because McLeod scored a goal to start the Oilers comeback in Game 4. This wasn’t just any goal for McLeod though. This goal was scored from the edge of the crease. McLeod takes a lot of heat for not being physical or getting to the dirty areas, but that’s where he went to score a goal in Game 4.

Perry got an assist on McLeod’s goal. This was his first game back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the previous five games. I thought the line of Perry, McLeod, and Leon Draisaitl was fantastic in this game.

Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark teamed up for a massive game winning short handed goal. It was a two-on-one, and Brown made what he called a “shit burger” of a pass to Janmark. Janmark was able to finish the pass even though it was placed just off his front foot and he had to adjust a little bit to make the play. The Oilers penalty kill has now killed off 23 consecutive penalties and outscored their opponents 1-0 on those penalties. Brown and Janmark are big parts of the penalty killing unit that is en fuego right now.

Finally, Philip Broberg made his 2024 playoff debut in Game 4. This was his first career Western Conference Final appearance. His stat line was full of zeroes, but I view that as a positive for a young defenceman that was thrown into the fight in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

WrapWhat a wild series this is becoming! Both games in Edmonton featured one team getting out to an early 2-0 lead and then losing the game. Both teams have had spurts of dominant play in every game of the series. The thing I really liked about the Oilers’ game in Game 4 was that they played a strong third period where they continued to play hockey rather than just sitting back and defending

It’s now a best of three series that heads back to Dallas for Game 5 on Friday night.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Stars retake home ice advantage with Game 3 win

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May 29, 2024 by Josh Boulton

Jacob Trouba’s elbow on Evan Rodrigues in game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final has fan bases around the entire league talking. The officials initially called a five-minute major penalty to allow for a review, and then it was reduced down to a two-minute minor.

Presumably, the choice for a final call of minor penalty was based on the amount of head contact that resulted from the play, or the lack thereof depending on your stance. Supporters of the minor penalty repeatedly argue Trouba hit the shoulder pad. Supporters of a major penalty believe he hit the jaw. Many fans are also stuck in the middle, conceding some light head contact but clarifying he hit the shoulder pad first and then glanced up into the head.

For the call on the ice, maybe this angle of approach is valid. Maybe. NHL Rule 45: Elbowing says it shall mean the use of an extended elbow in a manner that may or may not cause an injury.

I think at minimum we can at least all agree that happened here. If you can’t even admit that, you may as well stop reading now. Kevin Bieksa did try to rationalize this on the Sportsnet panel by saying Trouba was attempting a forearm check, but the end result of his action is his elbow became extended and he reached it out in a manner which could reasonably be expected to have potential to cause an injury. The debate isn’t whether this is a penalty, but whether it should be a minor penalty, or a major penalty.

The parameter for a major penalty under Rule 45.3 state a major penalty, at the discretion of the Referee,shall be imposed on any player who uses his elbow to illegally check an opponent. A major penalty must be imposed under this rule for an infraction resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent.

This phrasing leads people down the wrong path. Ever since the NHL introduced Rule 48 – Illegal Check to the Head, fans have programmed themselves to believe head contact dirty, no head contact clean. We’re studying this clip like it’s the Zapruder film. Literally a fraction of an inch is swaying people between calling a major penalty and a game misconduct, and labeling this a normal hockey penalty. Does this not seem absurd to you?

Does whether or not he was able to reach that extra half inch really make this play any more or less dangerous? Do we really want to send the message that if as a defender you get beaten cleanly, it’s ok to overreach with a chicken wing extension and desperately flail your body so long as you get lucky on the outcome? I know players are going to instinctively try and grab or hook or do something to prevent a free lane to the net. That’s a normal reaction. Those would be a minor penalty. What Trouba did is only a normal reaction for someone who already has a habit of driving upward and outward with their forearm and elbow as a routine.

The main question to me isn’t “did he hit the head with his elbow or not”. The question is “how close was this to an attempt at using his shoulder or core to hit squarely through his opponent’s shoulder or core”. In other words, how close was this elbow to the only real legal hockey option he had in this scenario? I don’t know much further you need to get from the ideal hockey play than what Trouba did here before it gets to the level of major penalty.

It doesn’t help that it’s Trouba doing it. This could have been Martin Necas, or Ondrej Palat, or Jake Guenztel, or Sidney Crosby, or any number of other opponents he’s either actually hit in the head with his elbow or nearly missed hitting in the head.

Forgetting who this is, we shouldn’t want any player taking this kind of action. If this isn’t already worthy of a major penalty, head contact shouldn’t change that.

Punish the action, not the result.

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May 28, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Darnell Nurse is drawing a lot of criticism after the Edmonton Oilers’ Game 3 loss to the Dallas Stars. Nurse was on the ice for two goals against in Game 3, including the game winning goal in the third period. Nurse has the lowest plus minus rating in the NHL playoffs (-12), and he has been on the ice for more five-on-five goals against in these playoffs than any other player in the league (18).

Nurse has a $9.5 million cap hit with six years remaining, and his actual salary of $12 million for next season is tied for tenth highest in the league. Nurse’s contract is a source of rage for many Oilers fans, and his playoff performance this season is not doing anything to quell that rage.

I felt that Nurse was not at fault for either of the two five-on-five goals that he was on the ice for in Game 3. My hypothesis is that Nurse has not been as awful as his plus minus and five-on-five goal shares suggest he has been in these playoffs. I went through the video of all eighteen of the five-on-five goals Nurse has been on the ice for in these playoffs to see exactly what happened on each play. I assigned half blame on some of the goals because goals can’t always be boiled down to one singular mistake. Here’s what I found:

Round OneNurse was on the ice for four five-on-five goals in round one. I have assigned blame to Nurse on two of those four goals. Both of those were mistakes in the neutral zone.

Nurse misread and misplayed Anze Kopitar in the neutral zone, which led to the Los Angeles Kings captain scoring on a partial breakaway for the overtime winner in Game 2. Nurse also made a neutral zone mistake in Game 5. He half heartedly challenged Viktor Arvidsson in the neutral zone by lunging and swinging his stick in Arvidsson’s general direction. Nurse didn’t recognize that Blake Lizotte was attacking the space behind Nurse and that Ryan McLeod wasn’t in a good defensive position on Lizotte on the back check. Lizotte scored on a partial breakaway.

Round One Totals:

Nurse 5v5 on ice – 4

Nurse mistakes – 2

Ceci mistakes – 1

Bad bounces – 1

Round TwoNurse gained the most ground in the race for the green jacket in round two by being on the ice for ten five-on-five goals in the seven game series against the Vancouver Canucks. I have assigned blame to Nurse for a total of two of those goals (one that was fully Nurse’s fault and two for which Nurse was partially to blame).

Nurse was on the ice for three five-on-five goals in Game 1, but none of those were fully his fault. He gave Elias Lindholm a little bit too much space as Lindholm came out from behind the net and passed it in front of the net, but the puck bounced in off of Stuart Skinner’s stick when he tried to break up the pass. I assigned half blame to Nurse on that goal, but that’s me being really harsh in my assessment.

Nurse was at fault for a four-on-four goal against in Game 1 though. He was caught in no man’s land on JT Miller’s goal, and Miller made a nice deflection near the goal line.

I didn’t like Nurse’s play on the Canucks’ first goal in Game 4. He was standing in the slot trying to block a shot, but it ended up deflecting it in off of him. He should’ve been covering Dakota Joshua in front of the net rather than screening Calvin Pickard and trying to block that shot. I could’ve assigned half blame to Nurse on that one because it was ultimately an unlucky bounce; but I want to be sure I’m not using bias in this exercise, so I rounded up to give full blame to Nurse.

Nurse was also on the ice for the tying goal in a six-on-five situation in Game 4. Nurse was boxing out Joshua in front of the net this time, but the puck bounced in off of Joshua’s shin pad. That’s another unfortunate bounce.

I assigned half blame to Nurse on the Canucks’ lone goal in Game 6, but I only really did so for the sake of trying not to be biased in favour of Nurse for this exercise. Elias Pettersson shook McLeod on the right half wall and carried the puck behind the net. Nurse was in his spot in the zone defence at the left goal post. Nurse took a step towards Pettersson as he emerged on that side of the net, which was Nurse’s assignment. However, the danger was in front of the net with Nils Hoglander. McLeod was a little bit late getting to Hoglander, and Nurse had vacated that spot. That left Hoglander alone in front, and he buried it. I assigned blame to Nurse and McLeod on that goal.

Round Two Totals:

Nurse 5v5 on ice – 10

Nurse 5v5 mistakes – 2 (1 full, 2 half)

Skinner mistakes – 2

McLeod mistakes – 1.5

Ceci mistakes – 1

Pickard mistakes – 1

Foegele mistakes -1

McDavid mistakes – 1

Bad bounces – 1 (2 half)

Round 3Nurse has been on the ice for four five-on-five goals in three games in the Western Conference Final. I have only assigned Nurse half blame on one goal in the series. That was the game tying goal in Game 1. Nurse was in his proper spot in the zone defence on the left side of the net, and Vincent Desharnais was covering Evgenii Dadonov in front of the net. The problem was that Tyler Seguin was left uncovered to the right of the Oilers net. Desharnais should’ve been covering Seguin, and Nurse should’ve been covering Dadonov. Instead, Nurse tried to block the incoming shot because he was not covering anyone, and the puck bounced off of his skate to Seguin who was wide open for a tap in goal. It was a bad bounce, but I’m not going to let Nurse and Desharnais off without pointing out the poor coverage. I assigned blame to both Nurse and Desharnais on that goal.

Round 3 Totals:

Nurse 5v5 on ice – 4

Nurse mistakes – 0.5

Desharnais mistakes – 2.5

Ceci mistakes – 0.5

Draisaitl mistakes – 0.5

Playoff TotalsNurse on ice (4v4 and 5v6) – 2

Nurse mistakes (4v4 and 5v6) – 1

Nurse 5v5 on ice – 18

Number of 5v5 goals where Nurse made a full or partial mistake – 6 (33.3%)

Nurse 5v5 mistakes – 4.5 (25%)

Nurse’s partner’s 5v5 mistakes – 5 (27.8%)

Mistakes by forwards – 4 (22.2%)

Bad bounces to blame – 2 (1 full, 2 half) (11.1%)

Bad bounce a factor but not assigned blame – 2 (11.1%)

Total goals where a bad bounce was a factor – 5 (27.8%)

WrapEighteen five-on-five goals against in fifteen playoff games is a problem without a doubt. His five-on-five goals against per sixty rate has jumped from 2.54 in the regular season to 4.33 in the playoffs. However, Nurse has only made a mistake on a third of the five-on-five goals that he has been on the ice for in the playoffs. That is certainly not the best such mark on the team, but that’s not catastrophic play either. It’s not totally fair to fully blame Nurse’s defence partners either because the mistake totals for Nurse and his partners are pretty even.

It isn’t Nurse’s fault that McLeod and Warren Foegele each had atrocious giveaways that ended up in the back of the net. It’s not Nurse’s fault that Connor McDavid lost his check after a moment of miscommunication with Zach Hyman. It isn’t Nurse’s fault that Ceci’s stick imploded on him or that Ceci failed to mark and tie up his man near the net. It’s not Nurse’s fault that Desharnais couldn’t chip a puck by Jamie Benn and then compounded the mistake by unnecessarily helping Sam Carrick defend a shot and leaving Wyatt Johnston wide open. It’s not Nurse’s fault that a puck bounced in off of him after Skinner made a save. It’s not Nurse’s fault that Skinner has let in two goals due to poor use of the reverse VH position.

Here’s a fun fact: Nurse has been on the ice for all six of the five-on-five goals against that McLeod has been on the ice for in these playoffs. Nurse and McLeod have an xG% of 58.99%, but they have been outscored 0-6. I don’t know how to explain the chasm between expected and actual goal share for Nurse and McLeod, but the numbers are what they are.

Related: Is McLeod’s defensive play compensating for his lack of offence?

Another fun fact is that according to Natural Stat Tirck’s Line Tool, Nurse has a 59.88% xG% without Ceci. That number dives to 34.74% when paired with Ceci. Meanwhile, Ceci’s xG% without Nurse is only 37.52%. Nurse and Desharnais have an xG% of 52.89% together. Desharnais’s xG% without Nurse is 51.36%, which says that Desharnais is slightly better with Nurse than he is without him. Brett Kulak, Ceci’s other partner in these playoffs, has an xG% of 51.55% without Ceci. Kulak and Ceci have an xG% of 35.05% together. All of that tells me that Nurse is not the problem.

Nurse has flaws. He’s notedly not a strong rush defender because he tends to have poor gap control. Nurse has made a lot of defensive zone coverage issues in the past. Nurse is much better at transporting the puck with his legs than he is at making outlet passes.

However, hockey is a team game. Simply looking at a number of goals against while a player is on the ice and saying that he’s terrible is lazy analysis. Each goal has its own context that needs to be analyzed. Plus minus is a flawed stat because you can be on the ice and not responsible for a goal against. You can also be charged with a goal for or against fractions of a second after stepping onto the ice for a shift. Using five-on-five goals against to analyze a player’s performance really isn’t any less flawed.

My point here is let’s do our homework before we criticize players. Nurse hasn’t played up to his standard in these playoffs, but the numbers make his performance look FAR worse than it actually has been. It’s totally fair to criticize his offensive play since he only has two points in fifteen games, which is quite low for his standards. It’s fair to want more from a $9.5 million player. It’s not fair to place as much blame on him for the defensive results we’ve seen in these playoffs as he’s getting though.

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May 27, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Dallas Stars have retaken home ice advantage in the Western Conference Final with a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3.

The Oilers got off to a quick start in front of their home fans for the first time in the series, but their 2-0 first period lead wouldn’t last through the midway point of the hockey game. The Stars ambushed the Oilers in the second period, outshooting them 16-7 in the frame. The Oilers got a late second period goal to get to the third tied at three. The Stars ended up getting the game winner at 11:54 of the third period, and they added an empty netter for good measure. Jason Robertson led the way with a hat trick for the Stars.

Call OutsThis loss isn’t on any particular player or line. The Oilers as a whole failed to back up a dominant first period with anything that resembled the requisite level of play for a Western Conference Final game in the second period. The Stars increased their urgency and desire to get to the front of the Oilers net, and the Oilers couldn’t match it.

Vincent Desharnais made a mess of the Stars’ third goal though. He failed to chip the puck past Jamie Benn in the neutral zone, and the puck went deep into the Oilers zone. Benn circled the net and passed it to Logan Stankoven in the slot. Stankoven beat Sam Carrick to the slot, but Carrick was able to tie up Stankoven’s stick. Desharnais left Wyatt Johnston alone beside the net because he felt the need to help Carrick with Stankoven. The puck went to Johnston with a wide open net.

Cody Ceci and Leon Draisaitl had a little bit of miscommunication on the game winning goal. Ceci was playing man-on-man defence on Tyler Seguin. I know that because Ceci followed Seguin from the defensive left side of the ice to the right side. The puck went to the point, and a weak shot hit Draisaitl’s skate and bounced to the right half wall. Ceci challenged Seguin for the puck there, but Draisaitl should’ve been the one to take Seguin there.

The trouble was behind Ceci where Jason Robertson was lurking. The puck went to Robertson with all sorts of time because Darnell Nurse was the only man back. Robertson found a way to jam the puck through Stuart Skinner’s blocker and over his skate that was pressed against the post. That looks bad on Skinner, but that’s just an unfortunate break in my opinion.

Nurse is not a perfect player and he does make mistakes, but all players make mistakes. The Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard pairing was on for three of the five goals against tonight; yet nobody will talk about that because they have been amazing all playoffs and they were also on the ice for two goals for tonight. Nurse has had some tough bounces go against him in these playoffs, and he has had teammates make mistakes that have led to goals. He has also made mistakes. Nurse isn’t deserving of criticism tonight though.

Stand OutsConnor McDavid was flying out there in the first period. He shot a puck in off of Zach Hyman, and he was rewarded for going to the net with a goal of his own.

Adam Henrique scored a goal in his first playoff game as an Oiler, and he scored in his return to the lineup in Game 3 after his ankle injury. He was tied for fourth on the team with four hits while ranking thirteenth in total ice time. Henrique’s line was the only line that did not get scored on tonight. He was put where he was to stop the bleeding from the third line, and he delivered.

ShoutoutsHyman scored his thirteenth goal of the playoffs by giving McDavid a wider target to shoot at. He just stood right beside the left post and let the puck bounce in off of him. His line with McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was fantastic in the first period and were the reason why the Oilers got an early lead.

Warren Foegele has struggled in the playoffs; but he got an assist, two shots, and five hits in Game 3. His line with Henrique and Connor Brown was the only line to finish plus one on the night.

WrapThe Oilers were notoriously slow starters and strong finishers in the regular season, but that trend has been flipped on its head in the last two games. The Oilers had great first periods in Games 2 and 3, but they ended up losing both games in regulation time because they failed to sustain their high level of play. Credit the Stars for being able to pick themselves up off the mats and take over the last two games, but the Oilers need to find a way to deliver a full sixty minute performance because twenty minutes of strong play isn’t enough in the Western Conference Final.

Game 4 goes on Wednesday night at Rogers Place.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Stars win Game 2 against Oilers

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May 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers fans remember that the line of Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault, and Ivan Barbashev gave the Oilers fits in their second round series with the Vegas Golden Knights last year. Woodguy wrote an excellent breakdown last summer suggesting that then head coach Jay Woodcroft could have utilized his centres better to get a different result against the Eichel line.

The argument was that Ryan McLeod should have been utilized more against Eichel in that series because McLeod’s performance against elite competition was superior to Leon Draisaitl’s in the regular season and in the playoffs. Draisaitl was on the ice for three goals against Eichel in Games 5 and 6 of that series (even though Draisaitl’s xGF% vs Eichel in Game 5 was 87.3%). If McLeod had seen more ice time against Eichel, then the Oilers might have allowed fewer goals and increased their odds of winning the series.

Fast forward to the 2024 playoffs. McLeod has become something of a polarizing player among Oilers fans. He has yet to record a point in fourteen playoff games this spring, but a lot of people are defending his defensive play. Let’s dive into the numbers and see what all the hubbub is about.

The Numbers

| CF% | SF% | SCF% | HDCF% | xG% | GF% | | McLeod 23-24 (14 GP) | 49.83% (148-149) | 56.82% (75-57) | 45.93% (62-73) | 51.85% (28-26) | 55.35% | 14.29% (1-6) | | McLeod 22-23 (12 GP) | 61.16% (148-94) | 60.32% (76-50) | 62.5% (75-45) | 69.81% (37-16) | 62.86% | 44.4% (4-5) |

Stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.Let’s look at McLeod’s 2023-24 numbers first. In case you’re not familiar with the terminology, Corsi for percentage (CF%) is a measure of all blocked and unblocked shot attempts for and against while a player is on the ice. Shots for percentage (SF%) measures the shots on goal for and against while a player is on the ice.

McLeod’s CF% is much lower than his SF%. McLeod’s CF% has only been at 50% or higher in five of the Oilers’ fourteen playoff games so far this spring, which tells us that teams are attempting more shots at the Oilers goal than the Oilers are attempting at the opponent’s goal with McLeod on the ice. That tells me that McLeod has been spending more time in his own zone than in the offensive zone.

However, McLeod has only had a SF% below 50% in three games. His SF% has not been below 50% since Game 2 of the second round. That tells me that while teams are spending more time in the Oilers zone when McLeod is on the ice, their shot attempts have mostly come from the outside. Teams will get shot attempts, but if those attempts don’t hit the net often then I see that as a sign of good defending because NHL players don’t miss the net on dangerous chances often.

McLeod’s high danger scoring chances for percentage (HDCF%) supports my theory. He is on the ice for more high danger scoring chances for than against (albeit by a small margin). However, his scoring chances for percentage is really low. The difference between a scoring chance and a high danger scoring chance is the location of the shot attempt. Shot attempts on high danger scoring chances are taken from the middle of the slot area. McLeod appears to be defending that area well; but he is on the wrong side of the scoring chance battle. That is a sign of poor overall defending.

There are a lot of factors that go into goal share, but it is the only number that ultimately matters. McLeod has been outscored 1-6 at five-on-five in these playoffs. That’s not good enough.

McLeod was FAR better last year in every single metric I’ve outlined in this piece. The biggest concerns lie in his scoring chance metrics. McLeod has been on the ice for 28 more scoring chances against this year than last year in just two more games played, and he has been on the ice for ten more high danger scoring chances this year than last year. Conversely, McLeod has been on the ice for thirteen fewer scoring chances and nine fewer high danger scoring chances for this year than last year.

Those numbers tell the story. McLeod has been much less effective at both ends of the ice in these playoffs than he was in last year’s playoffs.

WrapIt’s clear that McLeod’s point production is down from last spring, but his scoring chance production is also lower in these playoffs.

There is not enough evidence in the numbers to suggest that McLeod is playing well enough defensively to compensate for the lack of offence. He is allowing shot attempts at a significantly higher rate this season than last season, and he is allowing scoring chances at a much higher rate. McLeod has been on the ice for six five-on-five goals against in these playoffs, including one in each of the last four games.

McLeod’s expected goals percentage of 62.86% last year was fantastic. That number has dipped to 55.35% in these playoffs, which is worse but still pretty good. His PDO (which combines save percentage and shooting percentage) is only at .908 (awful) this year compared to .953 (below average) last year.

The good news is that both his xG% and his low PDO suggest that McLeod’s goal share should improve over time. The tides need to start turning ASAP because the Oilers can’t afford to have their third line center losing the goal share in such lopsided fashion. I believe in McLeod, but he needs to be better.

Adam Henrique is close to returning to the lineup. Head coach Kris Knoblauch said that Henrique was at 98% before Game 2, which implies that he could be at or close to 100% for Game 3. That means that Knoblauch has a decision to make.

Related: Connor McDavid scores the game-winner as Oilers prevail in double overtime

Some people have suggested that McLeod should be scratched. McLeod is not playing up to his standard, but his 55.35% xG% suggests that there are some good things happening. I think that the Oilers need McLeod’s speed in the lineup against a Dallas Stars team that looks faster than the Oilers. I would handle this situation by giving McLeod a little bit less responsibility right now rather than outright scratching him.

I would put Henrique at third line center and move McLeod to his wing for Game 3. Moving McLeod to the wing would reduce his defensive responsibility. It would also allow him the chance to focus on utilizing his speed on the forecheck more often. Henrique is more than capable of handling himself in a third line centre role.

That would bump Derek Ryan out of the lineup, which is okay because Ryan did not play well in Game 2. Taking Ryan out would not disrupt the fourth line, which has played well in recent games. Ryan is a decent faceoff guy, but he took zero faceoffs in Game 2. As long as Sam Carrick is in the lineup, the Oilers will have a right-handed centre for faceoffs. Ryan also plays the penalty kill, which has been great in these playoffs. Ryan has only played in eleven of the team’s fourteen playoff games. The penalty kill was perfect in the three games that he did not play in round one. Henrique can kill penalties as well. Life will go on if Ryan is not in the lineup.

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May 26, 2024 by Greysen Goudy

After watching more than 120 prospects from consensus top-10 selections to late-round upside swings to overage players, I have put together a comprehensive overview of the class for the 2024 NHL Draft. Overall, this class is a strong one, top-heavy with elite offensive talent and deep throughout with defensemen who will eat up the big minutes in the NHL for years to come. I think the easiest way to go about breaking down this draft class is to organize it into tiers, starting with, in my mind, the undisputed first-overall selection, Macklin Celebrini.

Tier 1: Macklin CelebriniThis tier is self-explanatory. Celebrini, the projected first-overall pick, is in a league of his own. The Boston University forward, who won’t turn 18 until mid-June, tore up the NCAA, posting one of the most productive freshman seasons of all time with 32 goals and 32 assists in 37 games. It’s a common cliche, but Celebrini truly has the complete package. He is fast and light on his feet carrying the puck. He has a bomb of a shot coupled with a lightning-quick release. The 6-foot, 190-pound centre exudes confidence, in possession, he pulls off ridiculously creative moves to beat defenders, and out of possession, he punishes opposition puck carriers for letting him get too close. Celebrini is the third Tkachuk brother on steroids and whoever ends up drafting him is in for a real treat.

Tier 2: Elite ForwardsSome scouts will tell you Ivan Demidov is in the same tier as Celebrini and could overtake him for the number one spot. While I don’t believe that to be the case, Demidov’s ceiling could very well be just as high as Celebrini’s. His blend of smooth skating, edgework, and creative puck-handling make him one of the most electrifying and entertaining prospects we’ve seen in recent years. The Russian winger spent the first few games of the season in the KHL before spending the rest of the year scoring at will with SKA-1946 St. Petersburg in the MHL, Russia’s Junior league.

Berkly Catton tore up the WHL this season with Spokane, scoring 54 goals and 116 points in 68 games, an unbelievable DY season. Catton isn’t ever going to be the most physically dominating forward on his line, but his intelligence and vision for the offensive game are debatably second to none in this draft class. Coupled with an underrated shot and quick feet, Catton is an all-around offensive threat and caps off a top-three of franchise-altering forwards in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Tier 3: Top 5 CandidatesTier three kicks off the long list of great defensemen out of this year’s class. Zeev Buium launched to the top-five of many draft rankings, including my own, during the latter stages of the NCAA playoffs. Buium dominated the game at both ends of the ice, showcasing hard-hitting defensive hockey and elite skill and skating ability. There is a clear ceiling for Buium as one of the best defensemen in the world.

Sam Dickinson and Artyom Levshunov are similar defensemen, both big bodies with professional habits and a strong defensive game. Both could step into the NHL very soon. Dickinson is a pre-ordered reliable two-way minute muncher for whomever ends up drafting him whereas Levshunov has a bit more offensive upside.

Konsta Helenius is a really intelligent two-way centerman, he doesn’t quite have the creativity and game-changing skill to have the same offensive upside as someone like Catton but his overall 200-foot awareness and production in the Liiga make him a really intriguing option. Cayden Lindstrom is a huge body with immense skill and creativity. He spent a large portion of the year injured so we couldn’t see the extent of his point production but his physical and technical toolset leave the impression of massive offensive upside.

Tier 4: Top 10 CandidatesThis tier contains more great defensemen and several skilled forwards with incredibly high ceilings. Tij Iginla, son of NHL legend Jarome Iginla, is looking to carve out his own legacy in the NHL’s history books, and he certainly has the potential to do it. Iginla is pure entertainment, flowing with creativity and flair, and one of the most dynamic offensive toolkits in this draft class. Trevor Connelly was wrapped up in some off-ice controversy earlier this season but continues to impress scouts, finishing second in USHL scoring with 78 points in 52 games. The American left-winger is endlessly skilled and intelligent in the offensive zone.

Anton Silayev is one of the most polarizing prospects in the entire draft. At 6-foot-7, 207-pounds, and possessing an already mature defensive game, the potential for a reliable shutdown defenseman to headman an NHL blueline for many years is all too hard to resist. Some scouts, leaning into the potential of the Russian defender have Silayev ranked as high as second overall Michael Brandsegg-Nygard is one of the stronger additions to a bit of a golden age in Norwegian hockey. Highly competitive, hard-hitting, with a nose for the net, Brandsegg-Nygard wrapped up a productive season in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second tier, scoring four goals and adding six assists in 12 games in the Allsvenskan playoffs.

Beckett Sennecke went into the OHL postseason as a relatively unexciting late first-rounder. But with a hot previous couple of months including 22 points in his last 12 regular season games and 15 points in his first 10 playoff games, his draft stock is climbing rapidly. Sennecke is a powerful skater, with elite puck-handling skills, and a playmaker’s mind, set on becoming one of the steals of this year’s draft.

Tier 5: Late-First Round HopefulsMichael Hage is that stereotypical, skilled late first-round forward who dominates Junior, and seemingly has the complete package offensively but just can’t find a way to nudge his way into the upper echelon of players in their class. Look it up, there’s one of these guys every year. Hage has a deep arsenal of skills and good size, he’s a decent bet to be a second line NHL forward someday. Nikita Artamonov is a nearly guaranteed NHLer to a lot of scouts, including myself. He’s already strong and filled out his 5-foot-8 frame. He’s defensively mature and composed with the puck all over the ice and is one of the fastest skaters on the ice at all times. The offensive upside isn’t massive with Artamonov but his physical and mental maturity combined with the fact he’s already got a full successful season of KHL hockey under his belt, there’s very likely an effective NHL bottom-sixer here.

Dominik Badinka is one of my favourite prospects in the late first round. He’s a fantastic skater and already has the habits of a pro who’s been playing with grown men for a long time. Badinka is a strong skater and possesses a pretty fleshed-out defensive game. He played most of the season with Malmö in the SHL, even securing top-four minutes at times throughout the season. His offensive game holds him back from being a slam dunk top-10 pick, but he’s intelligent with the puck and his J20-Nationell numbers suggest more offensive potential than he gets credit for. Alfons Freij is an incredibly interesting and polarizing prospect. On one hand, his technical tools, mainly his skating ability are elite, having some scouts place him as high as eighth. Others point out his defensive deficiencies and ask questions about his overall awareness and IQ, having him as low as 77th. Regardless, an intriguing prospect with a lot of potential.

Lucas Pettersson looks like another really good bet to be an NHLer. He possesses a well-rounded offensive game, mainly built around his strong playmaking ability and vision. His shot is also plenty quick and accurate to be a threat. The cherry on top for Pettersson is his mature 200-foot game, making him an easy selection in the mid-to-late first round.

Tier 6: Potential First-RoundersDaniil Ustinkov holds a special place in my heart being the first player I wrote a deep dive article on for FCHockey. The Russian-Swiss defender is a fantastic frontward skater and a possession monster. Infinitely reliable in possession and on the breakout, Ustinkov has the makings of a top-four defender. I have some concerns about his backward skating and creative offensive upside but I think there’s a good chance of an NHL player here. Tanner Howe was one of my least favourite forwards of the top group of prospects coming into this year, I felt he was incredibly talented but lacked the game-changing creativity to drive play on his own. I was wrong. While he isn’t an elite skater and I still have some of those concerns, his puck-handling and shooting ability is undeniable.

If you only watch one game of Emil Hemming, you could be walking away thinking he is a top-20 talent, or you could be adding him to your “Do Not Draft” list. He can be frustratingly inconsistent on a game-to-game basis. The Finnish power forward is great in transition, a skilled puck handler, and strong physically making him easy to project anywhere in an NHL lineup. Terik Parascak is an offensive dynamo. Endlessly skilled and creative with some of the strongest offensive awareness and decision-making in this class. With elite puck-handling capped off with a great playmaking game, Parascak has the potential to be a top point producer in the NHL. There are certainly questions to be raised about his physicality and skating ability, as well as an asterisk beside his point production this season as he played within the top-six in the best offence in the WHL.

EJ Emery possesses an NHL-ready defensive game and the physicality to boot. He lacks much offensive upside but with such a mature and intelligent defensive game it will be interesting to see how he improves next season with North Dakota in the NCAA. If all goes well in his developmental path he’ll have a job in any NHL defensive core as a reliable shutdown guy.

Tier 7: Second-RoundersKieron Walton is a consensus third or fourth rounder for most scouts but he’s one of the most underrated forwards in this draft class in my opinion. The monstrous winger has a great quantity of skills in his locker including a quick and powerful wrist shot and elite puckhandling ability. Walton’s a decent skater, it’s not necessarily a strength of his but he can move pretty well and the combination of towering size and speed is hard to find and all too enticing to ignore. Aron Kiviharju is a tough one because he was a consensus top-10 pick going into this year and two years ago he was the consensus first overall. He’s been out all season with an injury and when he played in the Liiga in September he wasn’t very impressive. But respect for the hype of Kiviharju feels necessary and so I refuse to drop him too low on my list. He just recently made some appearances at the IIHF U18 World Championships so we will have to see if his performance there affects his draft stock.

Julius Miettinen is an elite playmaker. Simple as that. He’s a smooth and strong puck handler making him satisfying to watch as he carves through defenders, picking out teammates for glorious chances. Don’t sleep on his shot though, he’s got a wicked wrist shot and one-timer, making him an all-round offensive threat. His lack of WHL superstar production, slightly stinted icetime, and being one of the older players in the class stops me from ranking him too highly but I think Miettinen needs much more respect as a top prospect than he currently gets. Carter Yakemchuk has a very strong “Boom or Bust” element to his game and honestly, it puts me off a lot more than other scouts. He’s slow to react to defensive play, he can be caught cheating offensively, and he isn’t a strong skater especially backward but the offensive defenseman indisputably has an elite set of offensive tools. At his ceiling he could be an Evan Bouchard type, paired with a responsible partner and produce a ridiculous amount of points. Or he could swing and miss out on the NHL entirely. I’ve got him unpopularly low-ranked and yet I can see the appeal as a top-20 prospect.

Adam Jecho is a monster of a man, dangerous all over the offensive zone but namely in front of the net and in shooting opportunities. The 6-foot-5 Czech forward is truly a terrible skater but he possesses a nuclear missile of a shot and the goal-scoring instincts to maybe find a place in the NHL feeding off of a strong playmaker.

Tier 8: Late Second-Rounders And Other Prospects Worth MentioningTier eight is some other interesting prospects in the late second round and beyond that I thought were worth mentioning and have something unique and interesting to showcase. Ollie Josephson is a prospect that is often so disappointing for me. To rank a guy in the third round that is debatably a top-five skater in the class is painful, but in my opinion, his offensive game is quite weak. He isn’t very creative and often looks lost when attacking opposition defenders in scenarios other than beating them wide with speed. He is pretty solid defensively and has some good skill but I just don’t think there’s enough here besides skating ability to warrant a top-64 pick unfortunately.

Justin Poirier scored 51 goals for Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the QMJHL this season, showcasing his impressive shooting ability and range. Poirier has the rare talent of being able to get himself hidden in plain sight, roaming the slot, waiting for opportunities to get open. He picks brilliant moments to shoot the puck and does so intelligently, always with a purpose. The 5-foot-8 winger has some mountains to climb but his goal-scoring IQ is elite and I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people in the next few years. Mac Swanson has the hockey IQ of an elite playmaker. He sees the play so well and makes accurate passes almost no matter the difficulty. He’s perfect to play on the sides of an umbrella power play, just spraying dangerous passes. But Swanson has some serious obstacles to overcome if he wants to play in the NHL — most obviously, his size. He is short and extremely light. To play in the NHL at his size he needs to have some quality to his game that is undeniable, a quality that will shine, no matter the level of hockey. Could his vision and playmaking be that quality? Maybe.

Matthew Van Blaricom played his draft-eligible season in the SJHL. And he’s good. And that’s cool. Van Blaricom is a strong skater who plays a fierce and rough game. He hits people hard and scores goals. A true Saskatchewan-ite. Brayden Edwards is a DY+1 who has taken massive strides since last season. I saw him while watching Miguel Marques and he caught my eye. He is responsible and sound on both sides of the puck, works incredibly hard, and is a pretty strong skater. I think without a doubt Edwards deserves a shot.

Matthew Van Blaricom played his draft-eligible season in the SJHL. And he’s good. And that’s cool. Van Blaricom is a strong skater who plays a fierce and rough game. He hits people hard and scores goals. A true Saskatchewanite. Brayden Edwards is a DY+1 who has taken massive strides since last season. I saw him while watching Miguel Marques and he caught my eye. He is responsible and sound on both sides of the puck, works incredibly hard, and is a pretty strong skater. I think without a doubt Edwards deserves a shot.

ConclusionThe 2024 draft class is a deep one with a ton of great defensemen, skilled forwards, and many intriguing picks beyond the first round that I can already see being steals down the line if all works out in their developmental paths. It has been a fun group of prospects to watch and cover and as I rewatch a bunch of players between now and the draft I’m sure my list will change a bit but this is what I’ve got right now and I think that is the fun of scouting. Seeing in a couple of years time just how stupid or brilliant you are, and honestly, you’re going to be both a lot of times each. To anyone reading this who loves watching hockey and wants to get into scouting and analyzing prospects, just watch the games, have fun, and trust your gut. Here’s to another great year of hockey and I hope everyone enjoys the 2024 NHL Draft.

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May 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Dallas Stars came back with a 3-1 win in Game 2 after suffering a double overtime defeat in Game 1. The Stars opened the scoring 3:39 into the game, but the Oilers tied it 44 seconds later. They were fortunate to be tied after the first period because the Oilers outshot them 16-4 in the first period. The Stars got the go ahead goal early in the third period and added an empty netter to seal the victory.

Call OutsDerek Ryan was slow to get to a puck along the wall in his own zone, and he lost the ensuing puck battle. The puck went to the point where Ryan Suter was waiting. Suter took a shot that was deflected into the Oilers net by Mason Marchment. The five-on-five scoring chances were 5-1 in favour of the Stars when Ryan was on the ice in Game 2, and his shot metrics weren’t much better. Ryan had 8:20 of ice time, which was the least out of all Oilers forwards.

The top line of Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins combined for a grand total of three shots in Game 2. They have been pillars of excellence throughout the playoffs, but they were largely ineffective in this game. The Oilers will need more chances out of their top line over the course of the rest of the series.

Photo Credit: x.com/EdmontonOilersStand OutsConnor Brown got the only goal of the game for the Oilers. Brown funneled a puck onto the net and collected the rebound before potting his first goal of the postseason. It looks like Brown is skating much faster than he was able to during the regular season, which is nice to see.

ShoutoutsStuart Skinner can’t be blamed for this loss. Skinner made 22 saves on 24 shots. Jamie Benn beat him cleanly on a two-on-one, but the Mason Marchment goal was a deflection. Skinner was otherwise solid when called upon.

WrapGive the Stars some credit here. This was not a poor performance for the Oilers by any stretch of the imagination. The Oilers outshot the Stars 16-4, but they didn’t generate many quality chances. The Stars defended well the rest of the game. Their neutral zone play was top notch. The Oilers found themselves having to stop and turn back in the neutral zone quite often. They also had a lot of neutral zone passes broken up by the Stars.

While this was a huge opportunity to put the Stars in a terrible position by winning the first two games in their barn, the Oilers have still done well to leave Dallas with a split. The Oilers will be in a great position if they can hold serve at home, but the Stars are an excellent road team.

Game 3 goes on Monday night at Rogers Place.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers take Game 1 in Dallas

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May 25, 2024 by Eric Friesen

The Lone Star State has been the site of several memorable moments in Connor McDavid’s illustrious career.

McDavid scored his first career NHL goal at American Airlines Center on October 13, 2015. He also scored his first career NHL hat trick in that building on November 19, 2016. While those were indeed memorable, McDavid scored arguably the biggest goal of his career in Game 1 of the 2024 Western Conference Final.

After four full periods of hockey solved nothing, McDavid tallied the game-winning goal 32 seconds into double overtime to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday. With the victory, the Oilers earned their first win in the Western Conference Final since May 27, 2006, when they defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 2-1 to claim their NHL-record seventh Clarence S. Campbell Bowl.

Just like his first NHL goal nearly a decade ago, McDavid redirected a puck into the back of the net – far from a typical goal for him. Though it won’t end up on his career highlight reel, the importance of that goal cannot be overstated.

“It’s always nice to score an overtime goal,” said McDavid following the Oilers Game 1 victory on Thursday. “A big goal. Great play by [Evan Bouchard], as per usual.”

The 27-year-old superstar scored the third-fastest goal to begin an overtime period in franchise history, behind only Randy Gregg (21 seconds, Game 2 of the 1984 Smythe Division Semi-Final) and Ryan Smyth (22 seconds, Game 5 of the 1997 Western Conference Quarter-Final). With the goal, McDavid recorded his 98th career NHL playoff point, passing Esa Tikkanen for seventh-most in franchise history.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers take Game 1 in Dallas

The Oilers controlled most of Game 1 against the Stars. This was particularly true whenever McDavid stepped on the ice. He was flying all night and made a number of impressive passing plays for scoring chances.

McDavid registered his league-leading 20th assist of the playoffs on Zach Hyman’s career-best 12th goal of the playoffs, which made it 2-0 for the Oilers in the second period. McDavid joined Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Doug Gilmour and Nikita Kucherov as the only players in NHL history with multiple 20-assist playoff years. Even more impressively, McDavid joined Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Gilmour as the only players in NHL history to record 120 assists in a combined regular season and playoffs.

However, McDavid put his team in a difficult spot just 17 seconds into the first overtime when he was called for a double-minor high-sticking penalty. McDavid had high praise for his teammates for killing off that extended Stars’ power-play.

“I hated every second of it,” said McDavid. “The guys did an amazing job, truthfully. The penalty kill has just been amazing, and to step in there for four minutes against a good power-play, I can’t give those guys enough credit.”

Later in the first overtime, McDavid was denied on a glorious chance all alone at the top of the crease, when Stars’ goalie Jake Oettinger reached out his paddle to rob him of a sure goal. Fortunately for McDavid, the Stars made the mistake of leaving him alone in the slot in the second overtime frame, and this time, he didn’t miss.

“I just had to [put that first chance] in the net,” said McDavid. “Simple as that. It should have been in the net. I’m glad that we were able to get the win, otherwise I would had a tough time sleeping.”

There’s plenty of debate amongst Oilers fans about McDavid’s greatest goals. As for his most important goal, the consensus pick is his game-winner in overtime of Game 5 of the 2022 Western Conference Second Round to eliminate the Calgary Flames.

Sending your team to the Western Conference Final for the first time in 16 years and knocking off your biggest rivals in one fell swoop, should rocket that goal to the top of the list. But his double overtime winner in Dallas might be even more significant.

Making it to the final four in 2022 was a massive step forward for this group, but they completely outmatched by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. This time around, the Oilers have a deeper team, more playoff experience and a real chance to win the Cup.

For McDavid to come through in the clutch after multiple frustrating moments in the first overtime, and give the Oilers their first win in the Conference Final since he joined the organization in 2015-16, I think this goal has to be on par with his series-deciding marker against the Flames two years ago.

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May 23, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Game 1 of the Western Conference Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Stars was a thriller! The Oilers got out to a 2-0 lead in the second period, but the Stars got a tying goal with about three and a half minutes left in the third period.

Connor McDavid stole the show in overtime. He took a double minor for high sticking Matt Duchene off the opening faceoff in overtime, and the Oilers were able to kill it off. McDavid was absolutely robbed by Jake Oettinger on a chance where Oettinger’s only possible move was to reach out with his stick and hope that McDavid hit it with the shot. That’s exactly what happened. McDavid would get the last laugh because he scored the game winner early in double overtime to give the Oilers a 3-2 win.

Call OutsBrett Kulak absolutely fumbled a puck in his own zone. He was trying to make a breakout pass on his off side, but the puck slipped off his stick. The puck went to Jamie Benn, and he got a partial breakaway. He failed to tuck the puck past Stuart Skinner, but he swept the puck across the crease to Tyler Seguin who was able to jam it home eventually. Kulak was otherwise great in Game 1, but that was a terrible mistake that led directly to a goal against.

Stand OutsEvery single member of the penalty killing unit deserves to be in the Stand Outs section tonight. The group killed off all five Stars powerplays, including a four minute penalty in overtime. The Stars had a lot of trouble gaining entry and getting set up on their powerplay. The Oilers did a great job of being aggressive at the defensive blue line and making life difficult for any Stars puck carrier in the defensive zone. The Oilers have now killed off nineteen consecutive penalties, which is a tremendous stretch.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 21: Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) in net during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 21, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Stuart Skinner was terrific in Game 1. He made 31 saves on 33 shots, and he didn’t really have a chance on either of the goals he allowed. The gaffe by Kulak resulted in a breakaway that Skinner needed to sprawl out to save. He wasn’t able to get back into position in time to stop Seguin. The second goal was just a bounce off of Darnell Nurse’s skate to Seguin who had another wide open net. I put that one more on the pairing of Nurse and Vincent Desharnais for poor defensive coverage. Skinner made every save that he needed to make and he looked great doing it.

ShoutoutsZach Hyman got his league-leading twelfth goal of the playoffs, and he added an assist on the game’s opening goal.

Leon Draisaitl extended his point scoring streak to thirteen games. Yes, that means that Draisaitl has gotten at least a point in every one of the Oilers’ playoff games this season!

I want to give the fourth line a shoutout because they spent a lot of time in the offensive zone and created a lot of energy for the team in this game. Connor Brown particularly caught my eye with his play at both ends of the ice.

I suppose I can give McDavid a shoutout for his double overtime game winning goal as well. He also became the fourth player in NHL history to record 120 assists in a single season (regular season and playoffs combined) according to Eric Friesen.

Oilers Connor McDavid joins Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Doug Gilmour as the only players in NHL history to record 120 assists in a single season (including playoffs)! #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/BNedTemVBk

— Eric Friesen (@EricJFriesen) May 24, 2024

WrapThat was a huge win for the Oilers! The team that comes into a series with less rest often wins the first game of the next series, and the Oilers did exactly that. They capitalized on a potentially too rested Stars team that has struggled to win Game 1s recently. The win gives the Oilers home ice advantage for the rest of the series (unless of course, they lose a game in Edmonton).

This win is the ninth for the Oilers in this postseason. That means that the Oilers have now advanced the furthest that they ever have in McDavid and Draisaitl’s careers. It’s ultimately a meaningless stat, but it’s a nice thing to have happen before we enter the final year of Draisaitl’s contract and the second last year of McDavid’s contract.

Game 2 of this series will be on Saturday night.

Related: Series Preview: Oilers vs Stars

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May 22, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers will play the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. This will be the ninth time that these two franchises will have met in the playoffs. The Oilers and the former version of the Stars, the Minnesota North Stars, met twice. The Oilers swept the Northstars in the 1984 Conference Final, and the Northstars beat the Oilers in the 1991 Conference Final.

The Oilers and Stars would go on to meet in five consecutive seasons from 1997 until 2001, and then again in 2003. The Oilers won the 1997 series thanks to a Todd Marchant Game 7 overtime winner, but the Stars have won the last five playoff matchups between these two teams.

Tale of the TapeRegular Season Record

Oilers: 1-2

Stars: 2-0-1

Edmonton Oilers

49-27-6, 104 points, 2nd place in Pacific Division

Goals For: 292 (4th)

Goals Against: 236 (10th)

PP%: 26.3% (4th)

PK%: 79.5% (15th)

Starting Goalie: Stuart Skinner (36-16-5, .905 sv%, 2.62 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Connor McDavid (132 pts), Zach Hyman (54 G)

Playoffs:

Goals For Per Game: 3.83 (2nd)

Goals Against Per Game: 2.75 (8th)

PP%: 37.5% (1st)

PK%: 91.4% (1st)

Starting Goalie: Stuart Skinner (7-2-1, .881 sv%, 2.87 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Leon Draisaitl (24 pts), Zach Hyman (11 G)

The Oilers enter this series with only two days rest after a hard fought seven game series with the Vancouver Canucks. The Oilers have had somewhat slow starts to both of their series this spring, but they have also finished strong in both series. They will be aiming to get off to a better start in Dallas this round. They appeared to have found their A game at the end of the Canucks series, and they will try to bring that form into the Conference Final.

Related: Series Wrap: Oilers emerge victorious over Canucks

Dallas Stars

52-21-9, 113 points, 1st place in Central Division

Goals For: 294 (3rd)

Goals Against: 232 (T-8th)

PP%: 24.2% (6th)

PK%: 82% (8th)

Starting Goalie: Jake Oettinger (35-14-4, .905 sv%, 2.72 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Jason Robertson (80 pts), Wyatt Johnston (32 G)

Playoffs:

Goals For Per Game: 2.92 (7th)

Goals Against Per Game: 2.38 (4th)

PP%: 29% (4th)

PK%: 69.2% (11th)

Starting Goalie: Jake Oettinger (8-4-1, .918 sv%, 2.09 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Miro Heiskanen (13 pts), Wyatt Johnston (7 G)

The Oilers vs Canucks series got started later than the other second round series did, and it was the only one to go the distance. Therefore, the Stars ended up with a six day break after defeating the Colorado Avalanche in six games in the second round. The Stars started that series strong by getting big leads in Games 1 and 2, and winning Games 3 and 4 by hefty margins. Like the Oilers did in their second round series, they blew a three-goal lead and lost in Game 1. Unlike the Oilers, they limped their way home by losing Game 5 and escaping Game 6 in double overtime.

Five-on-Five PlayAdvantage: DAL

The Oilers and Stars were both elite five-on-five teams during the regular season. The Oilers had narrow advantages in the goal differential (4th vs 6th), goals percentage (5th vs 6th), and expected goals percentage (1st vs 4th) metrics according to Moneypuck. They both scored 194 five-on-five goals, but the Oilers actually allowed eight fewer five-on-five goals than the Stars did.

However, the results in the playoffs have been a totally different story. The Stars have the advantage in all three of the metrics that I have shared here. The Oilers have fallen from first place in expected goals percentage in the regular season to tenth (48.79%) in the playoffs.

The positive for the Oilers is that they have scored the most five-on-five goals in these playoffs (28). The Stars have scored the sixth most (22), but they have also scored the fewest goals above expected (-9.16) in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Oilers have scored the most goals above expected in the playoffs by a country mile. These numbers suggest that the Oilers are overachieving with five-on-five goal scoring, and the Stars are underachieving.

The Stars still have the second best five-on-five goals percentage and the second best five-on-five expected goals percentage in the playoffs despite under achieving in five-on-five goal scoring. That can be explained by the fact that they also lead the playoffs in goals allowed above expected (-7.81), which means that they have allowed far fewer goals than they should have allowed. The Oilers rank fourteenth in the playoffs in this metric, which suggests that they have allowed more goals than they should have based on the way that they’re defending.

The Stars are getting the edge in five-on-five play based on recency bias. Their high goals and expected goals percentages and the Oilers’ low expected goals percentage are signs that the Stars are playing better at five-on-five. The Oilers have the potential for much improved five-on-five play based on their regular season performance though.

Special TeamsAdvantage: EDM

The Oilers enter the Conference Final with both the league’s leading powerplay and penalty kill. That automatically gives them the advantage. The Oilers powerplay unit is the same group that set an all-time league record for powerplay potency in 2022-23, although Evan Bouchard was only the quarterback on that unit for the portion of that season after the trade deadline. The Oilers powerplay is their greatest weapon. The Oilers penalty kill is clearly hot right now. However, we have seen stretches where it totally falls apart as well. It will need to continue to hold firm in the Conference Final.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/SNstatsThe Stars powerplay is also quite strong. They finished sixth in the league during the regular season, and they are fourth in the playoffs. Their issue is going to be their penalty kill. Their eighth ranked penalty killing unit from the regular season is struggling mightily in these playoffs, operating at just a 69.2% clip (11th).

GoaltendingAdvantage: DAL

Jake Oettinger is a bigger brand name among NHL goaltenders than Stuart Skinner. Nobody is going to argue that Oettinger is not the best goaltender in this series. He’s playing superbly with a .918 save percentage and a 2.09 goals against average in the playoffs.

Skinner played to a .793 save percentage before being pulled in Game 3 of the second round. He did improve to .906 in Games 6 and 7 against the Canucks, but even Skinner’s improved performance isn’t enough to match Oettinger in these playoffs.

Keys to VictoryOilers:

The Oilers will need to rely on their strengths in this series. They have the two best hockey players on the planet, and they will both need to be their dominant selves for the Oilers to beat the Stars.

The Oilers powerplay is the team’s most dangerous weapon, and the Oilers will need to capitalize on a slumping Stars penalty kill to win this series. Continuing to overachieve in five-on-five goal scoring will certainly help the cause as well.

The Stars really only use five defencemen. Miro Heiskanen is second in the playoffs with 29:12 played per game. The Stars do have a couple of overtime games, but it’s fair to say that they rely on Heiskanen heavily. The Oilers need to make his life difficult by hitting him every chance they get.

The Oilers will need at least league average goaltending from Skinner if they have plans of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.

Finally, the Oilers need to not beat themselves. They won’t be able to afford any sloppy mistakes against the Stars.

Stars:

Oettinger will be a huge factor in this series. If he continues his stellar play, then the Stars will likely win.

The Stars are the deeper team. They had eight 20 goal scorers in the regular season compared to just five for the Oilers. The Stars will be in tough to win the five-on-five scoring battle with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but they could tilt the series in their favour by taking advantage of the Oilers’ bottom six.

The Stars are also the faster team. The Oilers struggle against faster teams. The Stars will need to utilize their speed to get in on the forecheck to make it difficult for the Oilers to control the puck, especially in the Oilers zone.

X FactorsOilers: Dylan Holloway

Hollway stole a top six spot on the Oilers. He earned it with his speed, tenacity, physicality, and defensive responsibility. Holloway also has three goals in the playoffs, which puts him in a tie for sixth on the team and fourth on his own among Oiler forwards. He even has more goals than McDavid right now! Continued strong play from Holloway would give the Oilers the luxury of being able to split up McDavid and Draisaitl and of having two legitimate scoring lines. It would also allow the bottom six to be bolstered by Adam Henrique once he returns from injury.

Stars: Joe Pavelski

Pavelski has a long history of strong playoff performances. However, he only has four points in the Stars’ thirteen playoff games this spring. It’s clear that he has lost a step, but he has always been known for his hands around the net. Pavelski is famous for his ability to score tip-in goals. Pavelski could be a difference maker against the Oilers’ bottom six.

InjuriesOilers: Adam Henrique (ankle) will not play in Game 1, but he will be available in this series. Evander Kane (sports hernia) continues to not practice as he has done throughout the playoffs, but his availability is not in question.

Stars: Roope Hintz (upper body) left Game 4 of their second round series and missed the final two games of that series. Jani Hakanpää (lower body) has not played since March 16. Head coach Pete DeBoer has said that both players are listed as “day-to-day”.

WrapNeither team has a recent Stanley Cup to show for their efforts, but these truly are the best two teams in the Western Conference right now. The Oilers are in the Western Conference Final for the second time in three seasons. The Stars are here for the second consecutive season and for the third time in the last five seasons. The Oilers and the Stars had the best records in the Western Conference after January 1, 2024. This is a rare showdown between the best two teams available.

These teams are built differently. The Oilers are top heavy with the world’s two best players. The 2023-24 Oilers are the first team to ever have three players with more than 20 points in the first two rounds of a playoff season (Draisaitl – 24, McDavid – 21, Evan Bouchard – 20). Bouchard’s 20 points through two rounds are the most ever by an NHL defenceman. The Oilers also have the leading goal scorer through the first two rounds of these playoffs (Zach Hyman – 11).

Meanwhile, the Stars are built with depth in mind. The Stars have a strong, veteran leadership core, and they have drafted and developed incredibly well. Long-time captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin represent the old guard. Veterans like Pavelski, Matt Duchene, Ryan Suter, Chris Tanev, and Evgenii Dadonov only serve to add strength to the group. They have a new wave of young talent led by Heiskanen, Oettinger, Hintz, and Jason Robertson. They have an even younger wave of young players in Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, and Logan Stankoven that are making massive contributions.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention the angst that the fans of these two teams have for each other from their string of consecutive playoff meetings in the late 90s and early 2000s. That hate moreso lies within Oilers fans because the Stars have won the last five series the two teams have played. This would be an incredible series without the historic rivalry, but the rivalry only adds to it.

Game 1 is on Thursday night at Reunion Arena (oops, I mean the American Airlines Center). Enjoy the series!

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May 21, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

What a series! The Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks gave hockey fans everywhere (especially in Western Canada) quite a show. The teams alternated wins until the Oilers won the final two games of the series.

Six of the seven games in this series were decided by one goal. The Canucks staged an improbable comeback from a three-goal deficit to win Game 1. There was one overtime game, and the teams exchanged last minute game winning goals in Games 4 and 5.

There was drama and hatred, and there were heroes and villains. Carson Soucy got a suspension for cross checking Connor McDavid in the neck, and Nikita Zadorov got a $50,000 fine for cross checking McDavid into Soucy’s cross check. Zadorov revelled in playing the heel. He and Evander Kane went at each other all series long. Evan Bouchard and JT Miller both got late game winning goals in the series, and Connor Garland capped off the dramatic comeback in Game 1.

It was only fitting that this series went seven games. The Oilers got out to a 3-0 lead in Game 7 thanks to a huge second period, but the Canucks made a valiant comeback in the third period that fell just short. It was a stressful and anxiety filled game that matched the rest of the series.

Related: Series Preview: Oilers vs Canucks

Five-on-Five PlaySeries Preview: EVEN

Actual: 16-14 EDM

Both of these teams were elite five-on-five teams during the regular season. The Oilers narrowly outscored the Canucks at five-on-five in this series. They scored five even strength goals in Game 6. The Canucks had the edge in five-on-five goals in the other six games. The Oilers had an xGF% of 50.27%, which says that the series was about as even as it possibly could have been. The Oilers also held slight advantages in scoring chances for (51.81%) and high danger scoring chances for (51.82%). However, the Oilers dominated every shot metric. The Canucks struggled to get many shots in both of their series, but they kept the scoring chances pretty even.

Special TeamsSeries Preview: EDM

Actual: EDM

The Oilers enter the third round with the league’s number one playoff powerplay and the number one playoff penalty kill. That says all you need to know about how the special teams battle went in this series.

The Oilers powerplay went 6/20 (30%) in this series. It wasn’t as potent as it was in round one, but it was still plenty effective. There was concern that the Canucks had figured out the Oilers powerplay after the Oilers failed to score on eight opportunities in Games 5 and 6, but the powerplay came up big one more time in Game 7.

Meanwhile, the Canucks powerplay went 3/23 (13.04%) in the series. The Oilers penalty kill faltered in Games 2 and 3 when the Canucks scored on three of their six chances, but the Oilers killed off fourteen penalties consecutively throughout the rest of the series. That included a five-on-three situation in Game 6 and a double minor penalty in Game 7.

GoaltendingSeries Preview: EVEN

Actual: VAN

I’ll give Arturs Silovs all the credit in the world. The Canucks asked the third string rookie to come in and carry the load for them in the playoffs after Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith got hurt in their opening round series, and he played admirably. His .882 save percentage for the series isn’t indicative of how well he played. Silovs basically stole Game 3 for the Canucks with a 42 save performance. The Canucks didn’t lose because of Silovs.

Stuart Skinner got pulled in Game 3, and Calvin Pickard started Games 4 and 5 for the Oilers. Skinner had a .793 save percentage through the first three games of the series. To his credit, he was great once he got back into the net. Skinner made 29 saves on 32 shots (.906) in Games 6 and 7.

Pickard was fantastic in his two starts. He made 19 of 21 saves (.914) in his first NHL playoff start and win in Game 4, and he stopped 32 of 35 shots (.905) in a heartbreaking Game 5 loss. Pickard also made three saves on three shots in Game 3 in a relief appearance, giving him a .915 save percentage for the series. Ultimately, head coach Kris Knoblauch decided to go back to his number one guy for Games 6 and 7. It wasn’t because Pickard played poorly by any stretch of the imagination.

(series stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and Hockey Reference)

Call OutsCorey Perry was a healthy scratch in Games 6 and 7. Perry has zero points in ten games thus far in the playoffs. A moment where he held his stick parallel to Brock Boeser’s neck in Game 4 to mock Soucy’s cross check to McDavid in Game 3 was the only moment where he really did anything to try to get under the skin of his opponent. The Oilers will need more from him if he gets back into the lineup.

Stuart Skinner struggled at the start of the series, but eventually found his game again at the end. Skinner will need to have his best game the rest of the way if the Oilers are going to advance further in these playoffs.

Stand OutsLeon Draisaitl averaged two points per game in this series. A four-point night in Game 2 helped the Oilers even the series after a tough loss in Game 1. It’s crazy to think that a fourteen-point series isn’t even Draisaitl’s highest output in a single playoff series, but it’s second on the list. Maybe he just needs to play hurt all the time because he played the series where he got seventeen points against the Calgary Flames on one ankle, and he hurt his back in Game 1 of this series.

BOSTON, MA – MARCH 09: Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) carries the puck during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers on March 9, 2023, at TD garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)Evan Bouchard has set a record for the most points by a defenceman in the first two rounds of a playoffs with 20 points. He got twelve of those points in this series. Bouchard scored five goals in the series, including the overtime winner in Game 2 and the late game winner in Game 4. Bouchard has put himself among the elite defencemen in the NHL with his performance in these playoffs.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was truly impactful in this series. The Burnaby, BC native got ten points in the series en route to taking down his hometown team. He got five of those in the final two games of the series. It was a three-point night in Game 6. He scored the series winner and added an assist in Game 7. The Oilers are a much better team when Nugent-Hopkins is producing offensively. Knoblauch’s decision to reunite Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid, and Zach Hyman proved to be a brilliant one.

ShoutoutsObviously McDavid and Hyman were big factors in this series. McDavid “only” got nine points in this series. It’s low by his standards, but amazing by the standards of mere mortals. Hyman’s goal scoring pace settled down in this series, but he still got four goals in the seven games including goals in Games 6 and 7.

Mattias Ekholm scored goals in each of the first three games of the series. He formed an excellent pairing with Bouchard that dominated the series from start to finish.

Dylan Holloway emerged in this series. He was elevated to the second line with Draisaitl and Kane in Game 4. Holloway opened the scoring in Game 6 with an AMAZING goal where he blew by Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes and tucked it five hole on Silovs. That goal calmed the nerves of every Oilers fan in the building that night. It also showed that Holloway has the tools to compete with some of the league’s best players.

WrapThis series truly could’ve gone either way, even with the Oilers having won the special teams battle as handily as they did. The Canucks came as advertised. A team that plays excellent defensively due to their structure and discipline and that can take advantage of scoring opportunities when they come.

The Oilers found a way to win though. The Canucks tend to collapse into the slot while defending, which makes it difficult to make passes across the slot and to get quality shots from the slot. Oilers defencemen got points on nineteen of the Oilers’ 24 goals in the series. That suggests that their strategy was to work the puck from high to low and low to high in the offensive zone rather than trying to force passes across the middle of the ice.

While their goaltending could have been better, the Oilers defended well enough to limit the damage inflicted by the Canucks. The Canucks were able to get more offensive zone time than I thought they would get in this series, but they still didn’t manage to get many shots. The Oilers had too many moments where they beat themselves with defensive miscues; but they defended quite well overall.

Once again, special teams were a big reason why the Oilers won the series. That will need to continue to be a weapon for them if they have aspirations of playing into June this season.

The Oilers will now face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. The series gets going on Thursday night. Look out for my series preview of the Western Conference Final.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers advance to Western Conference Final with Game 7 win over the Canucks

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May 20, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers have advanced to the Western Conference Final after emerging triumphant in Game 7 with a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

The Oilers outshot the Canucks 13-2 in the first period, but had to survive a double minor penalty to escape the first period tied at zero. Then the Oilers exploded for three goals in the second period to take a 3-0 lead. The Canucks got two late goals to get within one, but the Oilers ultimately held on for the win.

Call OutsRyan McLeod made two big mistakes in Game 7. He took a double minor penalty for high sticking Elias Pettersson in the corner late in the first period. McLeod also fumbled a routine breakout pass that led to a turnover and a Connor Garland goal that got the Canucks on the board and gave them life.

They had a three-goal lead, but they sat back and defended far too much in the third period. They only managed two shots on goal in the final frame. They ended up allowing the Canucks to get back into the game. Visions of Game 1 of this series and of Game 5 of the second round in 2017 started swirling through the heads of Oilers fans. Thankfully the Oilers were able to hold on for the win.

Stand OutsIt’s always a great story when the local boy comes home and makes a difference against his hometown team in the playoffs. Burnaby, BC native Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was a difference maker in Game 7. He scored the game winning goal on the powerplay to eliminate his hometown Canucks. Nugent-Hopkins also got an assist on the Oilers’ second goal. The longest tenured Oiler had the biggest impact in Game 7.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 25: Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) skates up ice during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 25, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Evan Bouchard got two assists in this game. He blasted a Bouch bomb from the point that was tipped home by Zach Hyman, and he blasted a shot wide that went straight to Nugent-Hopkins for the game winner. Bouchard ended up with a whopping twelve points in the series, which is ridiculous. His twenty points through the first two rounds of the playoffs is an NHL record for defencemen according to Sportsnet.

Oilers Evan Bouchard's 20 points are the most in NHL history by a defenceman through the first 2 rounds of a single postseason pic.twitter.com/WhbvoVmYpt

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 21, 2024

ShoutoutsCody Ceci clearly thrives on the pressure of Game 7. Ceci opened the scoring of Game 7 in round one against the Los Angeles Kings in 2022, and he opened the scoring again in Game 7 of this series. He added three shots on goal in 19:40 of ice time.

Dylan Holloway was a menace out there in this game. He got an assist on Ceci’s goal. He added two shots, two shot blocks, and three hits. Holloway climbed into the top six in the latter half of this series, and he has responded with a couple of points and a lot of solid play. We are watching the evolution of Holloway unfold before our eyes.

Stuart Skinner’s .882 save percentage in this game is deceiving. He made 15 saves on 17 shots. The first goal against didn’t happen until the 11:27 mark of the third period, and that was a result of the McLeod turnover. Skinner was calm, cool, and collected throughout the game despite facing minimal work. He responded to being pulled earlier in the series by allowing only three goals on 32 shots in the final two games of the series.

WrapThat was an incredible series! Respect to the Canucks for a hard fought battle. They had a fantastic season and were a worthy adversary in the second round.

The way the Oilers grinded this series out was great to see as an Oilers fan. They suffered a heartbreaking loss in Game 1, and responded with a big overtime win in Game 2. The Canucks were frontrunners all series, but the Oilers turned it on when their backs were against the wall after losing Game 5.

Connor McDavid wasn’t his dominant self in this series, and the Oilers had to rely on their defending to win a series. That would have been a recipe for disaster for the Oilers in the past, but they found a way this season.

The Oilers will now face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. The series will get started on Thursday night in Dallas.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers force game 7 with a 5-1 victory

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May 19, 2024 by Michael Hebert

The Edmonton Oilers faced a must-win game 6 at home against their division rivals, the Vancouver Canucks. The Oilers made a couple of line changes, with Sam Carrick replacing Corey Perry, but the biggest change was starting Stuart Skinner between the pipes after sitting games 4 and 5 after a shaky start to the series. The Oilers knew they needed to bring their best game against the Canucks, who had stifled their top lines in the previous game.

Of course for most Oilers fans, all eyes were on Skinner’s performance early in the game and the tension was palpable whenever the Canucks entered the Oilers’ zone. However, it was the Oilers who struck first. Dylan Holloway’s brilliant effort to cut inside and neatly place the puck through Arturs Silovs’s five-hole to open the scoring had the fans on their feet. The lead was short-lived as Nils Hoglander tied it up less than two minutes later with the Canucks’ third shot on net. Those fans that were uneasy about Skinner starting, were touting the “I told you so” early.

In the end, the Oilers played a great team game. Despite their powerplay struggles, they limited the Canucks’ scoring chances and matched the Canucks with a pristine display on the penalty kill. Scoring contributions from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane, Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman, and Holloway led the Oilers to a 5-1 victory, forcing a Game 7. Notably, this was the first game in the series won by more than one goal.

Related: Game 5 Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts

Tonight’s Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts for Game 6:

Call Outs:

The Oilers’ powerplay, usually a strong point, missed a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity and several other chances, ending the night without a powerplay goal.

Stand Outs:

Team Toughness: For the first time in the series, the Oilers outhit the Canucks, not giving them much time to move in Game 6.
Connor McDavid: Though quiet by his standards in the series, McDavid showed an extra gear tonight, earning three assists and demonstrating why top players are expected to step up in crucial moments.
Leon Draisaitl: Continuing his remarkable playoff performance, Draisaitl hit 100 career playoff points in record time, comparable only to legends Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. He extended his playoff point streak to 11 games.

Shout Outs:

Kris Knoblauch: The coach made tough decisions, such as sitting veteran Perry and reinstating a struggling Skinner, which paid off and led the team to Game 7 against their division-leading rivals.
Evan Bouchard: Despite muffing two shots early in the game, Bouchard found his shot at the right time, scoring to give the Oilers a crucial two-goal cushion.

Overall, the Oilers played one of their best games of the series. They’ll need to bring the same intensity in Game 7 to secure the series win and advance to the next round.

In closing, hockey is a great sport with passionate fans in both Edmonton and Vancouver. While we cherish the rivalry and the game, we must respect one another and the health of the players who provide us with such excitement and entertainment. The Heavy Hockey Network extends well wishes to Vancouver Canucks’ Brock Boeser, who is experiencing health issues. The game is better with him on the ice, and we sincerely wish him a speedy recovery.

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May 16, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in Game 5 on Thursday night. It was the Canucks’ turn to escape with a last minute game winning goal thanks to JT Miller. The Oilers had 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the first period, but the Canucks took over the game from there. They outshot the Oilers 17-4 in the second period and they tied the game. The Oilers held on as long as they could, but the bounce went the Canucks’ way in this one.

Call OutsEvan Bouchard has been fantastic in this series, but he made a costly mistake in this game. He gave the puck away twice on the Canucks’ second goal. Bouchard tried to make a pass through the middle of the neutral zone, but it was intercepted. The Canucks won a puck battle at the blue line, but the puck made its way back to Bouchard behind his own net. He was stripped of the puck as he was trying to escape the pressure, and the puck went to Phillip DiGuiseppe who was able to slide the puck under Calvin Pickard.

It’s rare that the powerplay unit ends up in this section, but they went 0/5 tonight. They had three chances in the first period, which would’ve put them up 3-1 after the first period. The Canucks made a tactical change to be more aggressive on Oilers puck carriers on their penalty kill, so they deserve a ton of credit. The Oilers powerplay is usually an advantage, but it played a role in costing the team Game 5.

Stand OutsPickard was the reason that the Oilers even had a chance in this game. He kept the Oilers in the game during the second period by making 16 saves. Pickard made 32 saves on 35 shots. It’s hard to believe that this was only his second NHL playoff start because he was stellar.

ShoutoutsMattias Janmark scored his first goal of the playoffs. Brett Kulak won a race to a loose puck in the Oilers zone and got the puck to Connor Brown, who made a nice pass to Janmark on a two-on-one rush. Getting a goal from the fourth line was huge for a team that has desperately needed depth scoring.

WrapThe team that wins Game 5 of a series wins the series far more often than not. it was disappointing for the Oilers to have that type of performance in such a pivotal game. The series is far from over though. The teams have alternated wins so far in this series. The Oilers are now in a position where they will have to break that trend and win two games in a row if they are to advance past the second round in 2024.

Game 6 will go on Saturday night. It will be an earlier start (6 pm MT) because that will be the only game scheduled for the night. An elimination game featuring two Canadian rivals on Hockey Night in Canada will be great theater.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Oilers take Game 4 over the Canucks

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May 16, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland’s contract will expire at the conclusion of this season. He has not made any public declarations about his potential next move. This came in from Andy Strickland, St. Louis Blues rinkside reporter for Bally Sports, on Thursday:

Ken Holland to #CBJ rumors don’t seem to quiet down anytime soon. Maybe a long run to the Final would change things but there are many who feel he could be headed to Columbus to fill their GM vacancy. Mentor Rick Nash to eventually take over?

— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) May 16, 2024

This report does not mean that anything is finalized. Nothing has been set in stone yet. However, it’s worth a hypothetical discussion.

The Oilers brought in CEO Jeff Jackson last summer. Typically, a massive change to the hierarchy of the front office doesn’t happen if a team is happy with its direction. A new boss will usually take time to assess the situation before making any major changes. Jackson has been on the job for almost a full year now, so he has had plenty of time to assess.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Jeff Jackson addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVJackson has already made several smaller changes to the hockey operations department. He replaced Head of Amateur Scouting Tyler Wright with Rick Pracey. Then he hired Michael Parkatti to bolster the analytics department, he hired Mike Fanelli and Noah Segall in the video department, and he hired Dani Rylan Kearney to be a Professional Scout for the Metropolitan Division.

Related: Jackson’s Potential Impact on the Oilers- Part One: Player Development

Jackson has been working hand in hand with Holland this season. Jackson had his hands all over the Knoblauch hiring. Holland had interviewed head coach Kris Knoblauch for a coaching position in the Detroit Red Wings organization many moons ago, but Knoblauch’s deeper connection is with Jackson. Jackson was around Knoblauch’s Eerie Otters when he was Connor McDavid’s agent, so he had a deep knowledge of Knoblauch and his coaching style. It was also Jackson that approached and ultimately convinced Paul Coffey to join the Oilers coaching staff.

The fact that the coaching change and the corresponding new coaching hires were not fully Holland’s decisions speaks volumes about where Holland stands in the organization. Holland clearly did not have the autonomy that he had in the first four years of his contract with the Oilers this season. This doesn’t seem like a situation where a contract extension is forthcoming.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers Coaching Change Press Conference

Jackson’s hires thus far would be considered to be progressive and forward thinking. Holland is one of the most successful general managers in hockey history, but he is not progressive and forward thinking anymore. New bosses also generally like to hire their own people for important positions. Holland is not Jackson’s hire nor does he fit the mold of the Jackson hirings we’ve seen up to this point.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Ken Holland addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVA Stanley Cup in June could change things, but it seems like Holland will not be the GM of the Oilers next season.

As for a next move for Holland, the Columbus Blue Jackets have the only currently vacant GM position. The logic connecting Holland to Columbus is sound from that perspective. However, Holland famously said that he doesn’t “invest in green bananas” at this stage of his career. The Blue Jackets are a young, rebuilding team. They have some big pieces in place like Johnny Gaudreau and Zach Werenski as well as some promising young stars like Adam Fantilli and David Jiricek, but there is still a lot of ripening to be done with that team. I’m sure that the Blue Jackets would love to have Holland, but I’m not so sure that Holland would want that job.

A more likely scenario would be Holland moving into an advisory role of some kind with the Oilers. My personal feeling is that Holland will not want to just walk away from hockey because he’s still quite passionate about the game and his job, but I can totally see the Oilers wanting to go in a different direction with their next GM. An advisory role within the Oilers organization would allow him to still be involved, but to a lesser degree.

Then again, Holland had a similar role with the Detroit Red Wings once Steve Yzerman was named GM of the team in 2019. That lasted about a month before the Oilers hired him to be their GM.

I don’t know what will happen with Holland this summer, but the tidbit from Strickland is certainly interesting.

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May 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 3-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday night. The Oilers got last minute goals in the second and third periods on their way to the Game 4 victory. The Canucks clawed their way back to tie the game after being down 2-0 to start the thrid period, but the Oilers got a the victory thanks to some late game heroics.

Call OutsIdeally, the Oilers would’ve found a way to ride out the late surge from the Canucks to win this game 2-1; but they gave up the lead late. Both of the Canucks goals were deflections, one off of Darnell Nurse and the other off of Dakota Joshua. Those are tough breaks that are going to happen from time to time. Honestly, there really wasn’t much to criticize about this game for the Oilers.

Stand OutsCalvin Pickard stopped 19 of 21 shots to earn the victory in his first NHL playoff start. The 32-year old veteran journeyman goaltender was thrust into the biggest game of his life, and he was fantastic. He started this season as the third goalie on the depth chart, and he just got his first playoff start and win. Pickard has been solid when needed throughout this season. Kudos to him.

Bouchard scored his second game-winning goal of the series. He added an assist, four shots, and two blocked shots in a team leading 24:20 of ice time.

Leon Draisaitl scored another powerplay goal from his usual spot to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead in the first period. He also made a great pass to Bouchard from behind the goal line for an assist on the game winning goal.

Dylan Holloway finished with the sixth most ice time among Oiler forwards for the second straight game. Head coach Kris Knoblauch praised Holloway ahead of Game 4, and his ice time in the last two games has shown that Holloway has earned Knoblauch’s trust. Holloway didn’t record a point, but he gets a shout out for doing well with increased responsibility.

WrapThe Oilers played a solid game in Game 4. They led for the vast majority of the game, and they didn’t give up many chances to the Canucks. The Oilers stayed out of their own way to win this game.

Retribution was a storyline heading into this game after the Carson Soucy cross check to Connor McDavid’s neck. The Oilers didn’t do anything to retaliate, but Corey Perry found a way to have some fun with it. There was a scrum after a whistle in the third period. Perry wasn’t quite involved in the scrum, but he was by the pile waiting for a Canuck to come at him. Brock Boeser didn’t come at Perry, but stood close to him. Perry raised his stick and just held it in line with Boeser’s neck while maintaining eye contact. It was a small bit of the type of gamesmanship that we’re accustomed to seeing from Perry over the years and that the Oilers will need more of over the course of this playoff run.

Game 5 goes on Thursday night in Vancouver.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Canucks Top Oilers in Game 3

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May 13, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Tempers boiled over at the end of Game 3 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night. Our very own Josh Boulton (@ToughCallPod) from the Tough Call Podcast offered this breakdown of the incident:

Connor McDavid and Carson Soucy were involved, and Nikita Zadorov came over to cross check McDavid from behind. Soucy decided to also cross check McDavid. McDavid was falling as Soucy delivered his cross check, which resulted in Soucy’s cross check hitting McDavid in the neck. If not for McDavid being in the process of falling down already, then Soucy’s cross check likely would’ve hit McDavid in the chest.

A lof of Canucks fans are saying that McDavid started the altercation with his two-handed slash on Soucy. McDavid absolutely did slash Soucy, but Boulton breaks down the slash in this video:

McDavid didn’t start this altercation. Soucy started it by pushing Zach Hyman and McDavid in rapid succession. McDavid’s response to being shoved was his two-handed slash, which was an escalation. Soucy then further escalated by slashing McDavid back. Soucy went on to escalate it even further by cross checking McDavid.

Soucy is not a victim here. Sure, the McDavid slash wasn’t right; but we see slashes like that a lot. It was a slash to a padded part of the body. That wasn’t a home run swing, but it was enough to let Soucy know that he was there and he wasn’t happy with the shove. That’s all that slash was, just a message saying “f*ck you.” Soucy responded in kind with his own two-handed slash to McDavid’s pants. I wouldn’t have been upset if McDavid had been fined, but those kinds of slashes are pretty common. If you’re going to fine McDavid for his slash, then Soucy shoud be fined too. Both slashes went unpunished, which is fine by me.

Soucy was given a one-game suspension for the cross check. It was absolutely worth a suspension because it was a predatory cross check above the shoulders that occurred outside of normal gameplay.

Let’s talk a bit about why all of this really happened though. It’s normal for a team to target the opposition’s best player. McDavid is the best player in the world, so the Canucks will be more than happy to take any opportunity to hit him. There’s more to this incident than just that though. McDavid got away with a hit from behind early in Game 3, so there was likely some frustration from the Canucks about that hit.

It goes back further than that though. McDavid got away with what should’ve been a double minor for high sticking Quinn Hughes in Game 2. No penalty was called even though Hughes was cut badly enough that the referees made him leave the ice to close up his cut.

It wasn’t just that though. No call was made on Darnell Nurse when he made this hit on Elias Pettersson:

elias pettersson stays in the game after taking this hit from darnell nurse. pic.twitter.com/8v9xU61puk

— zach (@zjlaing) May 11, 2024

My personal opinion on this hit was that Nurse contacted Pettersson’s shoulder, and the force put Pettersson into the boards awkwardly. It looked awful, but it didn’t look like a penalty by rule in my opinion. If it was really a hit from behind, then the camera wouldn’t have been able to see the numbers on Pettersson’s back so clearly. Nurse would’ve been blocking our view of the numbers if contact had been made in the back. Alas, no call was made and the Canucks and their fans were not happy about it.

Derek Ryan used his stick to hit Nils Hoglander in an unfortunate area in Game 2 as well:

Derek Ryan spears Nils Hoglander in the mid section #Canucks | #LetsGoOilers
: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/mcZwPp8V6a

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) May 11, 2024

Ryan was assessed a minor penalty on the play. Canucks fans are calling this a spear though, and they’re upset that there was no supplemental discipline. I don’t like the play from Ryan either, that was a dirty play; but it was not a spear.

According to the NHL rulebook, “[s]pearing shall mean stabbing an opponent with the point of the stick blade, whether contact is made or not.” Ryan did not make a stabbing motion at Hoglander. Ryan lifted his stick upwards towards Hoglander, not horizontally towards Hoglander in a stabbing motion.

Finally, Evander Kane got away with a slew foot on Hughes in Game 2:

Evander Kane takes out Quinn Hughes on a bit of questionable hit.#Canucks | #LetsGoOilers
: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/aYZW97B036

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) May 11, 2024

The NHL rulebook says that “‘Slew-Footing’ is the act of a player using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent’s feet from under him, or pushes an opponent’s upper body backward with an arm or elbow, and at the same time with a forward motion of his leg, knocks or kicks the opponent’s feet from under him.” This type of play comes with a match penalty and the potential for supplemental discipline.

Kane’s left foot definitely left the ice in a small kicking motion. I can understand the gripe of Canucks fans on this play. This isn’t the first time that Kane has been accused of this type of hit. Drew Doughty called Kane out for this type of hit while mic’d up during round one of these playoffs. There was also this hit from 2020:

Slew foot. No debate. Extremely late. Needless. Reckless. Kane needs an unpaid vacation for this one. pic.twitter.com/3mYCOLYwH8

— Tough Call Podcast (@ToughCallPod) January 17, 2020

Regardless of whether or not you feel that the referees got these calls wrong, the fact remains that the Canucks and their fans were mad about these plays from the last two games. The Oilers were buzzing around the Canucks net trying to tie the game in the final seconds of Game 3, and tempers flared. The Canucks took their opportunity to get a shot in on McDavid after all of those offences from the Oilers in the previous two games.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Oilers even series with Canucks in Game 2

This is an intense playoff battle between two Western Canadian rival teams. We had to expect that things were going to get heated in this series, and they most certainly have. The referees have lost control early in this series though. I just went through all of the issues that the Canucks might’ve had with the officiating in the last two games. I didn’t think that any of the three Oilers penalties in Game 3 were good calls. The Oilers allowed two powerplay goals on powerplays that never should’ve happened. Arturs Silovs got away with holding Ryan’s stick to prevent a goal from being scored.

The refereeing hasn’t been slanted in one particular direction. Both teams have had plenty of reasons to be upset at various missed calls or calls that were made during the first three games of the series. Oilers fans dislike Game 1 referee Steve Kozari, and Canucks fans dislike Game 2 referee Kelly Sutherland. The Canucks are 10-0-1 in the last three seasons when Game 3 referee Chris Rooney works their games.

Tonight's refs for #Canucks vs. #LetsGoOilers will be refs Chris Rooney (#5) and Graham Skilliter (#24). The Canucks have not lost a game in regulation under Rooney for the past three seasons, going 10-0-1.https://t.co/xEa5zBu6rr #VAN #EDM #VANvsEDM #Canucks #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/Fz40CVacsO

— Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) May 13, 2024

When calls are missed, the players think they can get away with more, which leads to incidents like we saw at the end of Game 3. That incident was fuelled by anger, and that anger was elevated due to the performance of the referees in the series thus far. That anger is only going to be fuelled when more footage of this unpunished Zach Hyman cross check to Zadorov immediately after the Soucy cross check gets around:

In his presser Tocchet mentioned the league had a couple things to look at including a Hyman cross check. Has to be this one below. I’m told Zadorov needed stitches to close up a cut on his face. #canucks pic.twitter.com/UU8YH4ZGrb

— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) May 13, 2024

I want to talk about Zadorov for a minute here too. Zadorov has been really good in this series, and he’s revelling in the role of the villain. He talked about how boring the city of Edmonton is, which is really just a move to try to get under people’s skin.

Zadorov is bringing those antics to the ice too. He stuffed Kane into the Oilers bench during Game 3:

Nikita Zadorov gets two minutes for roughing after putting Evander Kane into the Oilers' bench pic.twitter.com/79ESCC8GYy

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 13, 2024

The inital hit was a great hit. However, he hung around just to make sure Kane got ALL THE WAY into the Oilers bench. He rightfully received a roughing penalty for the extra pushing after the hit was made. It was totally unnecessary.

Canucks fans are complaining that Kane tried to kick Zadorov in the neck with his skate while this was happening. That claim is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. Kane had just been flipped into the bench, so his spatial awareness was not at 100% just then. I’m sure that he was trying to get his feet to the ground as quickly as he could so that he didn’t cut anyone. Kane himself suffered a severe injury from a skate blade last season, so I have a hard time believing that was an intentional kick.

Anyway, Zadorov continued playing the villain by cross checking McDavid in the back during the altercation after the final buzzer. Honestly, cross checking anyone in the back is a gutless move, especially while the play is over and the target is engaged with another player already. It was a cheap shot from Zadorov. I think the only reason that he got fined was because of the sequence that immediately followed, but it was still cheap.

It’s been a wild series already, and there are more fireworks to come I’m sure.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Canucks Top Oilers in Game 3

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May 13, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in Game 3 on Sunday night. The Oilers got on the board first thanks to an early powerplay goal, but the Canucks scored one of their own and added two more in the first period for good measure. The teams exchanged powerplay goals in the second period. A furious late game rally by the Oilers fell just short as the Canucks held on to take the series lead.

Call OutsStuart Skinner allowed four goals on fifteen shots before being pulled after the second period. The first Canucks goal was a point shot through traffic on a powerplay. I have a tough time faulting goalies in those scenarios, but tracking the puck through traffic is a part of the job description. The defence hung him out to dry on the other three goals, but you need your goalie to bail you out sometimes if you want to win in the playoffs. This loss wasn’t all on Skinner, but the numbers suggest that he needs to be better.

The fab five (Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, and Mattias Ekholm) blew the defensive zone coverage on Boeser’s first goal. McDavid and Ekholm both pursued JT Miller as the puck went to him in the corner. Draisaitl was in a fantastic position to defend the upcoming play until he decided to move for some reason. It looked like he decided to shift his focus to Carson Soucy at the other point, but the puck wasn’t ever in danger of heading there. As a result, Boeser was left all alone, and he beat Skinner.

Warren Foegele had an atrocious giveaway on the third Canucks goal. He has full possession of the puck by the faceoff circle in his own zone, and he just passed it up the middle without looking to see who was there. The other Oilers had already started up the ice, which left Brock Boeser all alone behind the defence. I don’t love that Cody Ceci was too eager to jump up ice with Boeser behind him, but Foegele was in a situation where he would get the puck out 99 times out of 100. The puck went down low to Boeser, and he beat Skinner once he got the puck. Foegele has shown up in this section too many times in these playoffs.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Oilers even series with Canucks in Game 2

The Oilers penalty kill is starting to slip again. The Canucks went 2/3 on their powerplay in Game 3 after they went 1/3 in Game 2. The Oilers penalty kill has either been amazing or dreadful at various times throughout the season. It lacks consistency. They went 12/12 in round one, but they’ve gone 3/6 in the last two games. Special teams is by far the biggest advantage that the Oilers have. They can’t afford to have the penalty kill go into a slump right now.

I hate to harp on the referees because I know they have a tough job, but they have been awful in this series and I thought they were particularly bad in this game. Draisaitl’s interference penalty was highly questionable. There was minimal contact, and Draisaitl has the right to his ice there. Boeser leaned into Ekholm to absorb a hit, and that contact broke Ekholm’s stick. Ekholm’s stick was clearly parallel to the ice, but the arm extension was minimal if there was any at all. It didn’t look like Darnell Nurse even did anything on his cross checking penalty.

Meanwhile, Arturs Silovs was able to get away with holding Derek Ryan’s stick in the crease and preventing a goal. It looked like he threw his stick, but there was also some contact on the butt end of his stick, so it’s hard to say that he definitely threw the stick.

Stand OutsLeon Draisaitl scored a big powerplay goal to get the Oilers within a goal in the second period, and he added an assist on the Oilers’ third goal. He also had five shots on goal in just over 29 minutes of ice time.

Evan Bouchard is dominating right now. He scored a big goal late to make the game interesting in the last couple of minutes. He also had a secondary assist and six shots on goal in a team leading 31:24 of ice time. Bouchard spent more than half of the game on the ice, and he was fantastic throughout the entire game.

Shout OutsMattias Ekholm scored a rare powerplay goal. He has scored a goal in every game of the series so far.

Zach Hyman had eight shots on goal, although he had nothing to show for his efforts on the scoresheet in this one.

Dylan Holloway led the team with five hits. It says something that a kid that got 11:25 of ice time led the team in hits. The biggest thing it says is that the team isn’t being physical enough, but good on Holloway for bringing the physicality.

WrapThis game was reminiscent of the Oilers that we saw in October. The Oilers were generating shots and spending a lot of time in the offensive zone, but they weren’t able to convert on many chances. Silovs played a great game, but he had some bounces go his way as well. The Oilers made a couple of self-inflicted mistakes that led to goals against, and the penalty kill struggled. They also didn’t get adequate goaltending. All of those things were happening in October too. Now those patterns are rearing their ugly heads at the worst possible time.

Nikita Zadorov received a $50,000 fine for cross checking McDavid in the back at the end of the game. Carson Soucy received a one-game suspension for cross checking McDavid as he was falling as a result of the Zadorov cross check. Soucy will miss Game 4.

This series just got even more heated. Game 4 should be intense! That one goes Tuesday night at Rogers Place.

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May 11, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks alternated goals on their way to overtime, but the Oilers ultimately prevailed with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 2.

The teams exchanged powerplay goals in the first period. The Canucks had a 3-2 lead after two periods thanks to a Brock Boeser tip-in goal and a sharp angle shot from unlikely sniper Nikita Zadorov. The Oilers dominated the third period though. They outshot the Canucks 15-2 and found a way to force overtime.

Call OutsCredit to Zadorov for his shot, but that’s one that Stuart Skinner will want back. The hole above his shoulder is one that many goaltenders leave open because of their technique, but there was no need for Skinner to have gone down while Zadorov was still above the goal line.

I also didn’t love how Cody Ceci played Zadorov on that goal. He gave Zadorov too much space. I don’t think he was expecting the big defenceman to take that shot, but Ceci needed to respect the shot there.

Stand OutsConnor McDavid failed to record a shot in a playoff game for the first time in his career in Game 1, but he more than made up for it in Game 2. McDavid had himself a four-point night, and he spent most of the night in the offensive zone wreaking havoc on the Canucks. The highlight of his night was a breakaway goal off a broken play at the defensive blue line. McDavid timed his rush perfectly, and he made no mistake on the finish. McDavid came up with a signature magical moment when the team needed it most. He added three assists.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 16: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his goal and 131st point in the third period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Dallas Stars on March 16, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Leon Draisaitl missed the last eight minutes and change of the second period in Game 1, and he looked limited in the third period. He looked fine tonight though. Draisaitl also had a four-point night. He got the Oilers on the board with a powerplay goal to counteract the powerplay goal scored by the Canucks earlier in the first period, and he added three assists.

McDavid and Draisaitl both recorded their 90th points of their playoff careers in Game 2. They reached 90 points in just 56 games. Only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux did it faster.

Shout OutsEvan Bouchard gets to ride in the front seat on the way back to the hotel tonight because scored the overtime winner. He led both teams in ice time with 29:59. Bouchard was on the ice for both Oilers five-on-five goals, had an astounding 90.48% scoring chance for percentage at five-on-five (19-2), and a ridiculous 84.21% shot share (16-3).

The five-man unit of McDavid, Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Bouchard, and Ekholm was unbelievable in this game. That group carried the Oilers to victory in Game 2. Draisaitl was moved up to the top line because he was banged up after Game 1. Loading up the top line like that makes the team less deep, but that five-man unit is without question the most dangerous unit the Oilers can ice. I would argue that it’s the most dangerous five-man unit in the entire league.

WrapThat was a much better effort from the Oilers than what we saw in Game 1. The Oilers deviated from their usual tight zone defence scheme and played more of a man defence in Game 1. That’s a recipe for disaster for this team. They were much more disciplined with their structure in Game 2.

This was a huge mental test for the Oilers after blowing a three-goal lead in Game 1. The train went off the rails in the third period in Game 1, but they got back on track in Game 2. This was a positive response from the Oilers. They found a way to steal home ice away from the Canucks. The Oilers are now 7-2 in Game 2s after losing a Game 1 in the McDavid era.

The series will shift to Edmonton for Game 3 on Sunday.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs – Game 1: Battle for Canada Begins

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May 9, 2024 by Raghu Sharma

The Battle to be the last Canadian team kicked off on Wednesday after an extended break for both clubs. The two teams came out with plenty of enthusiasm after a great anthem performance by the crowd. The Edmonton Oilers got a power-play in the first couple minutes of the game and that week off did not seem to impact them at all as Zack Hyman scored his first of the series and league-leading eighth goal of the playoffs already. After that both teams settled down and the physicality started to ramp up in what was a fast moving first period. Stuart Skinner looked steady in the first period with a key save on Connor Garland and a fortunate s. In the final 5 minutes of the period, Leon Draisaitl made a beautiful dish to Mattias Ekholm who blasted a shot past Arturs Silovs to make it 2-0 scoring his first goal of the 2024 playoffs. Safe to say the rest seemed to have benefitted the Oilers for the first 20 minutes of the game outside of a dicey final 90 seconds of the period.

However, the Oilers came out flat in the second period and Dakota Johnson scored an early goal to cut the lead in half to make it 2-1 off a nice pass banking off the boards. Stuart Skinner took a penalty for mishandling the puck in the non playable area, an awful mistake, that fortunately did not cost the Oilers. The Oilers were thoroughly outworked in that period with only 2 shots on net at the halfway point of the mark where the Canucks thoroughly dominated the game. Derek Ryan with a rush and drop pass to Cody Ceci gave the Oilers a much needed 3-1 lead followed by an amazing goal by Zack Hyman to make it 4-1 in the span of 45 seconds. The Oilers penalty killed remained a perfect two-for-two in the period and in the playoffs thus far. The Canucks made it 4-2 and the Oilers were fortunate to escape the period with a lead after only getting 2 shots on net. The Nurse-Ceci pair has really struggled this game with 5 High Danger Chances Against, the experiment has not worked with this duo in their entire tenure. A major turn of events was Draisaitl getting hurt and missing the final eight minutes of the period, hopefully not a bad injury.

The third period was fast moving and pretty uneventful for the first half of the period, fortunately, Draisaitl returned to the game but he was definitely skating very gingerly and trying to keep his movements slow. The Nurse-Ceci pair was on the ice for yet another goal bringing Vancouver back within 4-3 and with momentum on their side they drew another PP. The refs missed a clear penalty and the Canucks came back to make it 4-4 on a shot from Zadorov. Once the Oilers started reeling there was nowhere to go but down when the Canucks made it 5-4 off a goal from Connor Garland. Despite getting completely screwed by that missed call, you aren’t winning games when you only had 16 shots. The boys will have to be better in the next game to force at least a split in Vancouver.

Call Outs: The Nurse-Ceci pair and Skinner for a couple terrible goals

Stand Outs: The PK remaining perfect

Shout Outs: The only thing I can think after a crushing defeat is Draisaitl coming back on the ice for the third period

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May 7, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers will take on the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the NHL playoffs. This is the third time that the Western Canadian foes will have met in the playoffs. The Oilers swept the Canucks in the first round in 1986, and the Oilers beat the Canucks in six games in the second round in 1992.

Tale of the tape: (regular season stats used)Season Series: 4-0 Canucks

Edmonton Oilers49-27-6, 104 points, 2nd place in Pacific Division

Goals For: 292 (4th)

Goals Against: 236 (10th)

PP%: 26.3% (4th)

PK%: 79.5% (15th)

Starting Goalie: Stuart Skinner (36-16-5, .905 sv%, 2.62 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Connor McDavid (132 pts), Zach Hyman (54 G)

The Oilers enter the series against the Canucks with a full week’s rest after finishing off the Los Angeles Kings last Wednesday. Games 1 and 2 against the Kings were somewhat loose with a combined 20 goals scored by both teams, but the Oilers shut it down after that by allowing only four goals in the final three games of the series. The Oilers showed a level of discipline and maturity that they hadn’t displayed in the playoffs before in closing out the Kings the way that they did.

Related: Series Wrap: Oilers Dethrone Kings in 5

Vancouver Canucks50-23-9, 109 points, 1st place in Pacific Division

Goals For: 279 (6th)

Goals Against: 221 (T-5th)

PP%: 22.7% (T-10th)

PK%: 79.1% (T-17th)

Starting Goalie: Arturs Silovs (3-0-1, .881 sv%, 2.47 GAA)

Leading Scorers: JT Miller (103 pts), Brock Boeser (40 G)

The Canucks made a statement by crushing the Oilers 8-1 to kick off their 2023-24 season (sorry to bring that up Oilers fans). They got off to a quick start and were never really challenged on their way to a Pacific Division title. Head coach Rick Tocchet has rightfully been nominated for the Jack Adams award.

The Canucks have elite talent at every position. JT Miller is perhaps the most unheralded 100+ point player in the league. Elias Pettersson is a filthy hockey player, and I mean that in a positive way. He’s ridiculously skilled. Brock Boeser shattered previous career-highs in goals (40) and points (73) this season. Quinn Hughes is up for a Norris Trophy after collecting 92 points in his first season as captain of the Canucks. Thatcher Demko has been nominated for a Vezina Trophy after a stellar campaign.

The Canucks were aggressive prior to the trade deadline by adding Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm in separate trades with the Calgary Flames. Zadorov brings a lot of size and physicality while bolstering the defence unit. Lindholm had a down year by his standards with only 44 points in 75 games, but he’s still a high quality centre.

The Canucks were able to grind out a hard fought series win over the Nashville Predators in the first round. They had three different goaltenders record victories in the series. Demko and Casey DeSmith each won a game before leaving the series due to injuries. Rookie Arturs Silovs stepped in and played admirably well while closing out the series.

Five on Five Play: EVENAccording to Moneypuck, the Canucks had the second highest five-on-five goals for percentage, but the Oilers had the fifth highest such percentage. The Oilers led the league with a 58.17% five-on-five expected goals percentage. The Canucks were seventh in that category.

The Canucks finished second in the league with a +49 goal differential at five on five, but the Oilers finished tied for third at +41. The Canucks allowed fifteen fewer five-on-five goals than the Oilers allowed, but the Oilers scored seven more five-on-five goals than the Canucks did.

They’re both elite five-on-five teams. Having said that, there are some numbers for the Canucks that suggest that their elite level of five-on-five play is unsustainable. They were second in the league in PDO, which combines save percentage and shooting percentage. The Canucks had a PDO of 102.72% during the regular season. Part of that was due to the fact that they led the league in team shooting percentage (10.59%), and part of that was Vezina caliber goaltending.

The 2024 Vezina Trophy finalists have been announced.

Who’s got your vote? pic.twitter.com/XMnVYj7u6u

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 29, 2024

The Canucks also finished second in the league in goals for above expected, which is basically a measure of how many goals a team scored versus how many they were expected to score. The Oilers were 30th in that category. The Canucks finished with the sixth fewest goals allowed above expected, and the Oilers finished fifteenth.

These numbers suggest that the Canucks overachieved at five-on-five, and that the Oilers underachieved. I see Humpty Dumpty sitting atop the wall when I look at the Canucks. They got on top for a reason, but the fall will hurt when it happens.

The Oilers dominated the league in expected goals for with 217.14 (next closest was PIT with 187.65) and expected goals differential with 60.97 (next closest was CAR with 39.99). The Canucks finished ahead of the Oilers in expected goals against, but only by three spots (seventh vs tenth). The Oilers defend at five-on-five almost as well as the Canucks, but the Oilers are superior when it comes to generating scoring chances at five-on-five.

It has to be noted that the teams basically flip-flopped in every five-on-five metric I’ve discussed here in the first round, which is more evidence that the regular season doesn’t matter. The Canucks’ PDO has held fairly firm though (102.15% in round one).

Special Teams: Advantage EDMThe success of the Oilers powerplay will be a major factor in this series, as it is in every series they play. They went 4/16 (25%) against the Canucks in the regular season. That’s slightly below their regular season average, but it still averages out to be a goal per game scored on the powerplay. The Canucks penalty kill was 90.9%, third best in the first round. It will need to be that good or better against the Oilers.

The Canucks went 7/17 (41%) on the powerplay against the Oilers during the regular season. The Oilers penalty kill was a significant part of their early season issues, which included three losses to the Canucks. The Canucks powerplay struggled in the first round, only operating at a 15.4% clip. While I don’t expect the Oilers penalty kill to be perfect for the series like it was against the Kings, I expect the penalty kill to be much better against the Canucks powerplay than they were in the regular season.

Goaltending: EVENThatcher Demko is one of the best goalies in the NHL. He would give the Canucks a definite advantage in the crease if he was playing in the series (which might happen as soon as Game 4).

The Canucks are relying on rookie third stringer Arturs Silovs, who was solid in three appearances in round one. It’s safe to say that most people would give Stuart Skinner and the Oilers the advantage given the attrition that has occurred in the Canucks net, but Silovs posted a .938 save percentage and a 1.70 goals against average in his three starts against the Nashville Predators.

Silovs backstopped Latvia to a bronze medal in the World Championships last year, which was the first medal for his nation in that tournament. Oilers fans know that a hot depth goalie is the kryptonite of the Oilers. My gut says to give the advantage to Skinner, but that’s only because Silovs is an unknown commodity in the NHL. Silovs is definitely playing better than Skinner right now though. That and the potential for Demko to come back during the series is why I feel the goaltending is even for the series.

Keys to VictoryOilers: The Oilers will win the series if they continue their superb special teams play. The penalty kill has been volatile this season, and it will need to stay strong in round two. I expect the Oilers to have the majority of the offensive zone time in the series because they are so good at creating five-on-five scoring chances, but they will need to find ways to score off the cycle. They will also need to stay out of their own way by preventing odd-man rushes against. That will be achieved by having the discipline to always have a forward high in the offensive zone and for the defencemen to avoid ill-advised pinches at the offensive blue line and in the neutral zone.

Canucks: The Canucks will have to defend their way to series victory. They can bend, but they can’t break. They will have to withstand the attack of the Oilers by collapsing in the slot and making life easy for whoever is in net. Their penalty kill will have to step up, and their powerplay will need to find more of the secret sauce they had against the Oilers early in the regular season. They will have to be opportunistic when they get high quality scoring chances. Finally, their goaltending is going to have to steal the Canucks a game or two.

X FactorsOilers: Ryan McLeod

McLeod is relied upon to shut down his opponents defensively. He got outscored 0-2 in round one, and he lost the shot share battle; but he won the scoring chance battle. That tells me that the shots he allowed were of low quality, which is a sign of solid defending. However, his line got exactly zero points in the series. If the third line can find some offence, it will go a long way towards the Oilers winning the series.

Canucks: Dakota Joshua

Joshua broke out this season. He scored eighteen goals and got 32 points in 63 games. The 6’3”, 206 lb forward plays a hard, physical game. He also showed a lot of skill with those eighteen goals. He scored a number of big goals late in games in select viewings I had of the Canucks this season. Joshua could have a big impact in this series.

InjuriesOilers: Evander Kane (sports hernia) missed practice time this week. Adam Henrique will miss Game 1 with an ankle injury. He is considered day-to-day.

Canucks: Demko, DeSmith, Tucker Poolman.

WrapThe Oilers are the betting favourites in this series despite the Canucks having won the Pacific Division. The difference between these two teams in the regular season can be found in the head-to-head matchup that the Canucks swept. Three of those losses happened in the early part of the season when the Oilers were struggling, and the fourth was a late season game in which Connor McDavid did not dress. The regular season means absolutely nothing.

This is going to be a tight series. The Canucks will not get into a track meet with the Oilers. The Oilers will have to find ways to score goals with the defence collapsed in the slot and against a hot depth goalie, both of which have proven to be challenges for them in the past.

There’s nothing quite like an all-Canadian matchup in the playoffs! Enjoy the series, and behave yourselves out there!

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May 6, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Boston Bruins after losing a heartbreaking Game 7 loss on Saturday night. Stop me if you’ve heard that before! It has become a familiar refrain for the Leafs. This is the fourth time that they have suffered the same fate at the hands of the Bruins since 2013.

The loss was particularly dramatic in 2013 because the Leafs had a 4-1 lead in the third period of Game 7 that year. They lost in overtime. The Game 7s in 2018 and 2019 were not close, but this year’s Game 7 loss was in overtime as well.

Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner have played together since 2016-17, a span of eight seasons. They have one playoff series victory to their credit, which occurred last season. They were then promptly dismantled by the Florida Panthers in five games. They have six first round playoff exits in addition to losing in the qualification round during the 2020 bubble playoffs. Three of those first round losses have been to the Bruins.

Related: Series Wrap: Oilers Dethrone Kings in 5

A criticism of the Leafs stars is that they don’t play a heavy, physical style suited for playoff hockey. Adding John Tavares in 2018 hasn’t led to victory. Adding Ryan O’Reilly last year didn’t really work out for them. Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and Ryan Reaves didn’t push them over the edge this year either. They even added more toughness and physicality to their defence this season by acquiring Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson at the trade deadline, and it still didn’t help them win. Adding physical insulation around Matthews, Nylander, and Marner hasn’t worked.

The reality for the Leafs is that their results in the Matthews era have not been good enough. This loss has a lot of people wondering where the Leafs go from here.

The changes started last spring when the team parted ways with Kyle Dubas and hired Brad Treliving to be their GM. The changes will likely continue this spring. It was a surprise that head coach Sheldon Keefe was retained after last season. It will be even more of a surprise if he is still with the team next season.

Brendan Shanahan became the President and Alternate Governor for the Leafs in 2014. It’s needless to say that the “Shanaplan” hasn’t worked out to date. Shanahan’s fingerprints are all over this Leafs team. Shanahan was originally hired by Tim Liewicke, who came to the Leafs in 2013. New Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley recently said that “we’re not afraid of change”, which can be interpreted many different ways. Don’t be surprised if Shanahan is not back with the Leafs next season.

The on-ice drama wasn’t exclusively saved for Game 7 of this series. Matthews, Nylander, and Marner were seen yelling at each other on the bench during Game 4, which was a decidedly uninspired effort from the Leafs that ended with them trailing 3-1 in the series. Marner threw his gloves on the ground behind the bench in frustration. After that game, Elliotte Friedman proclaimed that “this is the end of this group (Core Four) if the Leafs don’t pull off a big comeback.”

Pelley has a long history in the media industry, most recently with Rogers Media. Friedman knows Pelley well, and Friedman is quite credible. I believe Friedman’s claim that this could be the end of the core four in Toronto.

Matthews just won his second Rocket Richard trophy by scoring the most goals in a single season in the salary cap era (69). His four-year extension starts in 2024-25. He’s not going anywhere. Nylander also has a new long-term contract beginning next season. He has set new career-highs in points in three consecutive seasons. I doubt that he is going anywhere either.

Marner and Tavares are both entering the final season of their contracts in 2024-25. Marner has more points and points per game in the playoffs than the other three Leafs stars in his career, but he was subpar in this year’s series. Three points in seven games is low for him. He struggled mightily in Game 4, and he lost David Pastrnak on the series winning goal in overtime in Game 7. Marner is small and he lacks physicality, but he’s an incredibly talented offensive player.

Tavares is still a fantastic player. He anchors the second line for the Leafs. Tavares is a highly skilled player that plays the game the right way. However, he’s going to be 34 years old next season. He’s in the stage of his career where players can fall off a cliff at any moment. He got 65 points in 80 games this season, which is his lowest points per game output in his career. The decline has likely begun. They could stick it out with the homegrown captain, but they could make a big change in the locker room by moving on from Tavares and giving the room to Matthews.

The Leafs don’t have to make a drastic franchise altering move if they don’t want to make one. They have cap space to use next season. If one of the Core Four gets traded, it will be because the organization truly believes that the Core Four isn’t strong enough to win a Stanley Cup. It would also be because one of Marner or Tavares, both hometown players, would have waived his no-move clause (which is unlikely). It would also be because the Leafs found a team with enough cap space and the assets to make a trade palateable for the Leafs. Those reasons are why I think the off-ice moves are more likely this summer. Get new people in place before making franchise altering decisions in 2025.

I always felt that signing Tavares in 2018 was the wrong move because it forced the Leafs to bleed depth over the years. Zach Hyman, Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, and Michael Bunting are just some of the examples of quality players that the Leafs have lost over the years since the Tavares signing because of cap space. Tavares is better than all of them, but the sacrifice of depth in favour of loading the top of the lineup and trying to Macgyver a forward group together using Kyle Dubas and his analytics team didn’t work out for the Leafs. Trading Marner or Tavares this summer would certainly flip the roster construction and give the Leafs more depth.

Having said that, the Leafs have had a lot of trouble keeping defencemen healthy in recent seasons. Muzzin has been incredibly tough to replace, much like Oscar Klefbom was for the Edmonton Oilers when they lost him to a career-ending injury. Aside from Morgan Rielly, the Leafs’ defence core has been a rotating cast of mediocrity for years. That’s on the front office.

According to CapFriendly, the Leafs will have $18,530,333 to use this summer. That figure is based on an active roster of sixteen skaters. The contracts of their LTIR players (Jake Muzzin, Matt Murray, and John Klingberg) will all expire this summer, which will open up a lot of cap space for the Leafs.

Bertuzzi and Domi are their two impending UFAs of greatest consequence. TJ Brodie will likely not be re-signed because of his poor season. There’s five million dollars right there. Mark Giordano is likely going to retire at the age of 40. Joel Edmundson is certainly worthy of being considered for re-signing.

Ilya Samsonov and Martin Jones will both be UFAs as well, which leaves Woll as the only goalie signed. Woll has been unbelievable in relief in the last two playoff seasons for the Leafs. He put up a respectable .907 save percentage and 2.94 goals against average in 25 games for the Leafs this season. He’s clearly talented enough to have a full-time position in the NHL, and the Leafs ought to give it to him. He should be insulated with another quality goaltender (whether it be Samsonov or someone else) because he hasn’t proven that he can handle a number one goalie’s workload yet, but the future is with Woll.

Toronto is usually the centre of the hockey universe, but the Leafs will definitely be thrust into the spotlight this summer as a potentially tumultuous offseason awaits.

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May 3, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 4-3 in Game 5 of their first round series on Wednesday night. The win sealed victory over the Kings in the first round for the third consecutive spring.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs – Game 5: Oilers oust Kings from playoffs for third straight year

This series didn’t end up being as tight as I suggested it would be in my series preview. The Kings didn’t play anywhere close to their best game in Games 1 and 3. They barely squeaked by the Oilers in overtime in Game 2. The Kings couldn’t score a goal in what was their best performance of the series in Game 4. They made it interesting late in Game 5, but they couldn’t keep up with the Oilers in the end.

Five-on-Five PlaySeries Preview: Advantage EDM

Actual Series: 13-12 LA

The Oilers were one of the best five-on-five teams in the league during the regular season, but the Kings actually finished the series with a slight edge in the discipline. The gap was only one goal, but that also includes the two goals that the Oilers scored mere seconds after powerplays in Game 5. Shot attempts were heavily in favour of the Kings (283-213) according to Natural Stat Trick. This will certainly be something to monitor as the Oilers continue in the playoffs.

Special TeamsSeries Preview: Even

Actual Series: MASSIVE Advantage EDM

The intriguing matchup entering the series was the Kings’ second ranked penalty killing unit against the Oilers powerplay, but the Oilers powerplay walked all over the Kings’ penalty kill to the tune of 45% (9/20). Glen Gulutzan unveiled a few new wrinkles that the Kings couldn’t handle.

As fantastic as the powerplay was, the Oilers penalty kill was unbelievable. The Oilers were a perfect 12/12 on the penalty kill in this series. They squashed any opportunities for the Kings to gain momentum off of their powerplay, which was the twelfth best in the league during the regular season. Huge shout out to Mark Stuart and his work on the penalty kill. It has been feast or famine for the Oilers penalty kill this season. Hopefully they can keep feasting for a while longer.

According to Sportsnet, the Oilers’ combined special teams percentage of 145% in round one is the highest mark in a series since 1978. The Oilers won this series by absolutely dominating the Kings on special teams.

GoaltendingSeries Preview: Even

Actual Series: Advantage EDM

Cam Talbot had the better numbers in the regular season, but he allowed seven goals in Game 1, four in Game 2, and six in game 3. He was chased from the series after Game 3, and David Rittich took over from there. Meanwhile, Stuart Skinner only allowed one goal in Game 3 and earned a shutout in Game 4. The advantage was decidedly in Skinner’s favour without even looking at the numbers.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Skinner had a .910 save percentage for the series, but we saw both sides of Skinner in this series. He will give elite goaltending like we saw in Games 3 and 4 of this series, but he will have nights where he gives up four or five goals like he did in Games 1 and 2. It was enough to get the job done in round one against the Kings.

Call OutsWarren Foegele began his descent down the lineup after making mistakes on three goals against in Game 2. Evander Kane and Dylan Holloway both bumped him down the lineup. The Oilers need him to be the offensive factor that he was in the regular season.

The Oilers didn’t get a single goal from their third line in the series. Ryan McLeod and Corey Perry were held pointless in the five game series. The Oilers will need more offensive production out of that line going forward.

The second line featuring Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and either Evander Kane or Foegele wasn’t great at five-on-five either. They managed to saw off the five-on-five goal share battle due to scoring two goals seconds after powerplays in Game 5, but their shot metrics (34.78%) and expected goals percentage (31.15%) were simply not good enough.

The Oilers will need more out of their middle six offensively in later rounds of these playoffs.

Stand OutsThe usual suspects led the way for the Oilers. Connor McDavid had twelve points in the five game series, including five in Game 1. I was critical of Draisaitl’s five-on-five play, but he did get ten points in the series. It’s hard not to be happy with two points per game! He also drew a penalty in the dying seconds of Game 5 and celebrated his effort afterwards, which was nice to see. He also won a key faceoff and blocked a shot in the dying seconds of Game 4.

ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 05: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Zach Hyman (18) on the ice during a face-off in an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks played on April 5, 2023 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire)Zach Hyman had seven goals and eight points in the series. His hard nosed, straight ahead game deserves a lot of praise.

Evan Bouchard had nine points in the series, including the game winning goal in Game 4. He also brought it in the defensive end. I’ve long felt that his defensive game doesn’t get enough credit.

Shout OutsEvander Kane had two goals and an assist in the series, including a Gordie Howe hat trick in Game 3. He also had nineteen shots on goal in the series, including six in Game 1.

I was critical of McLeod’s offensive contributions. McLeod was also outscored 0-2 at five-on-five in the series, and he lost the Corsi battle. However, he got the better of the scoring chances at five-on-five. Defence isn’t always about shot suppression. Shot quality matters. The Kings didn’t generate many high quality chances at five-on-five. The goal share didn’t go McLeod’s way, but the fact that he got the better of the scoring chances shows that he was playing well defensively.

Dylan Holloway’s speed and tenacity were rewarded with two goals in Game 2. He earned himself a bump up to the third line in Game 5. Holloway is finally proving that he belongs on the NHL roster full-time.

WrapGame 4 was the most mature performance that the McDavid era Oilers have had to date. The Kings carried the play for most of the night, but they managed to hold down the fort and keep the scoring chances pretty even. The focus was truly defence first, and they were rewarded with a shutout win.

They brought that maturity back for the third period of Game 5. McDavid was consistently choosing to dump the puck in and change rather than trying to dash through the Kings defence. They didn’t necessarily sit back and defend all period long, but they made the safe play and stayed on the defensive side of the puck while defending a lead. They played a smart and responsible game to close out the Kings.

The Oilers have proven that they can win tightly contested defensive battles along with their typical track meets. That’s a scary proposition for opposing teams.

Now we wait to find out who the Oilers will face in the second round. They will play the winner of the series between the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators, which the Canucks lead 3-2. Game six of that series goes Friday night in Nashville.

Related: Oilers vs Kings: Series Preview

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May 2, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Zach Hyman scored his league-leading seventh goal of the playoff to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of the 2024 Western Conference First Round at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

With the victory, the Oilers advanced to the second round of the playoffs in three consecutive years for the first time since 1990 through 1992 (when they also eliminated the Kings in three straight years). Additionally, the Oilers became only the third non-Original Six team to hold eight playoff series victories over a single opponent.

The Oilers knocked out the Kings in seven games in 2022, and six games last season, before making even quicker work of their longtime rivals this spring, winning the series in just five games. Edmonton also improved to 5-1 in potential series-clinching games since the 2017 playoffs.

Call OutsAfter failing to get much going offensively in this series besides an empty-net goal late in Game 1, Warren Foegele was dropped to the fourth line for Game 5. Foegele had one nice rush with the puck, where he nearly split two defenders, but didn’t have much of an impact in 10:16 of ice time. The 28-year-old showed that he plays well with elite talent during the regular season, but he needs to make more positive plays in the offensive zone to get another look in the top-six.

With more 200 career playoff games on his resume, Corey Perry has more post-season experience than any player on the Oilers. However, he has yet to make an impact in these playoffs. He took an offensive zone penalty in the second period, and needed to be helped off the ice after crashing hard into the boards. The 38-year-old also had the puck roll off his stick on a two-on-one pass from Evander Kane. More will be expected of Perry in the next round.

Stand OutsLeon Draisaitl was undoubtedly the best player on the ice in Game 5. He scored twice in the second period – both from low in the right circle – to quickly turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead for this team at a crucial point in the game. The 28-year-old drove through contact in the neutral zone and drew an obvious holing penalty, which led to the go-ahead goal.

As great as he is during the regular season, Draisaitl has proven to be an even better playoff performer throughout his career. Despite not reaching a Stanley Cup Final yet, Draisaitl has 60 playoff points since 2022, good for second-most in the league during that span. Defensively, he also applied fantastic back pressure to deny Trevor Moore of a quality scoring chance.

Connor McDavid delivered another excellent outing in Game 5, setting up both of Draisaitl’s second-period goals and nearly pulled up his signature move of banking the puck off the goalie’s name bar and in the net. Despite being doubled-teamed at times in the offensive zone, McDavid still managed to outmaneuver the Kings’ defenders and make create chances.

He tallied two helpers, giving him the league lead in assists (11) and points (12) in the playoffs this year. His 11 assists were also the second-most in NHL history by a player in his first five games of a playoff year. Only Gretzky had more, with 13 in 1987. Even more impressively, McDavid became the first NHL player to record 110 assists in a single season, including playoffs, since Doug Gilmour in 1992-93. McDavid also becomes the first Oiler to achieve the feat since Wayne Gretzky in 1987-88.

Shout OutsWhile he rarely makes any headlines, Derek Ryan gives his team solid minutes whenever he gets on the ice. The 37-year-old helped the Oilers penalty kill stay perfect in the series, put up strong numbers in the faceoff circle and helped lock down the fourth win of the series. At age 37, I think Ryan benefits from not having to play every day at this stage of his career.

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April 29, 2024 by Michael Hebert

Which is the most important game in a best of seven? In the Stanley Cup playoffs, game four in every series almost always holds the key to the series direction. It’s the game that could decide a sweep, or it’s the game that a team could hold on to their last remaining breath and avoid the sweep, or ultimately it’s the game that could decide if the series is close to done OR tied at 2. It’s easily argued as the most important game in any Stanley Cup playoff series.

So, it should come as no surprise, that the Los Angeles Kings came out flying last night in Los Angeles. The Kings were a powerhouse team in almost every area last night. They outshot the Edmonton Oilers 33 to 13. They outhit the Oilers 44 to 27. NaturalStatTrick.com had the high danger chances as 14 to 4 in the Kings favour. The eye test matched the metrics in every way, except for one. The Oilers ended up on the winning side by shutting out the Kings 1 – 0.
So how’d the Oilers get it done?

ALSO: Bakersfield Condors Eliminated by Ontario Reign

Call Outs
Important to call out, the Edmonton Oilers killer instinct. They just didn’t have it last night in Los Angeles. The Kings came out flying from the start and the Oilers just couldn’t get anything going. They seemed to sit back right from the start. Hard to believe this was their ultimate game plan for game 4, so they’ll have to reach deep for game 5 and repay Stuart Skinner for the performance.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs – Game 3: Oilers Shine in Hollywood

Stand Outs
Stuart Skinner was far and away the best Oilers player last night. While the Oilers did a great job of keeping the Kings to the outside in the first two periods despite a large difference in zone play, Skinner was outstanding in the third period and kept the Oilers in the game and earned every part of his shutout. In fact, the Oilers netminder had a complete bounce back in Los Angeles versus his first two games and has been a key part of the Oilers success through 4 games.

The Oilers power play. The Oilers powerplay was still one of the best in the league this year during the regular season, but it didn’t have the same power that it did during the record breaking season last year. However, they’re back with a vengeance and moving the puck around completely different than they were in the regular season. They’ve scored almost every way on the power play during the first four games and they capitalized for the game winner on their only power play of the night. The Bouch bomb is back as a threat and it’s bringing the Oilers back home with a commanding 3 – 1 series lead.

Shout Outs
The Oilers PK deserves a shout out. While not overly tested last night, the PK did what it had to do to keep the Oilers ahead in the game and stayed perfect for the series.

What is missed in the one sidedness of a game like last night, is the Oilers ability to win a 1-0 game. The Oilers showed some resilience in every area last night. Players were getting back to the defensive zone. Players were taking responsible shifts. No player, including the final minute, was playing for their own glory, they rallied behind Skinner and they iced the shutout. If you’d asked anyone at any point during the season if the Oilers could win the type of 1 – 0 games you have to sometimes win in the playoffs, there’d be few people who would have said they could do it, but they just did and that deserves a shout out.

Join Michael and Dash on Oilerslive Wednesday nights at 5pm MT to discuss playoff hockey. You can listen live on Edmonton Sports Talk with iHeartRadio or Tune In. Alternatively you can join in the chat with the Heavy Hockey Network on YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), or Facebook.

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April 28, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Bakersfield Condors were eliminated from the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs after losing their first round series to the Ontario Reign on Saturday night. The final blow came after suffering a 3-1 loss on home ice.

The Condors finished in sixth place in the Pacific Division with a 39-27-4 record in the regular season, and they were quickly dispatched in the first round. The Condors were only able to muster two goals in the two game series.

Now that the Condors season is finished, the Edmonton Oilers will be able to recall players from their AHL affiliate to have on hand for the remainder of their playoff run.

Jack Campbell, Philip Broberg, Raphael Lavoie, Adam Erne, James Hamblin, and Phil Kemp all played games for the Oilers this season and would all be prime candidates to be a part of the black aces for the Oilers.

Regardless, it is highly unlikely that any of these players will see playoff action for the Oilers this spring, barring any unforeseen injuries. The bigger conversation is about how the prospects playing for the Condors this season fared and what that could mean for the future of the Oilers.

Philip Broberg was frustrated with his minimal role as the seventh defenceman on the Oilers early in the season. Broberg was sent to the Condors on December 7, 2023, and he was recalled in time to play the final two regular season games for the Oilers on April 17 and 18, 2024. Broberg ended up with 38 points in 49 games for the Condors, which put him in a tie for fifteenth among AHL defencemen in points. Only two defencemen above him on the scoring list averaged more points per game.

Broberg was fantastic in a leading role for the Condors. He played in all situations and played tremendously well in that role. He was third on the team in plus/minus (+11), and fourth on the team in shots (119) despite only playing in 49 games. That says a lot about Broberg’s game.

Broberg also had two assists and was -1 in those two late regular season games with the Oilers. He made a fantastic play on the second Oilers goal against the Arizona Coyotes. He collected the puck in the corner in his own zone, used his legs to skate the puck out of trouble, then he made a crisp breakout pass to Warren Foegele. Broberg then took off up the ice and drove to the net. That created space for Foegele to cut to the middle and score a goal. Broberg got another assist on the powerplay against the Colorado Avalanche. It was a simple play where he got the puck at the point and took a low, hard wrist shot that was tipped in by Dylan Holloway.

He got fooled by an unfortunate bounce on the first goal of the game against the Coyotes, so it’s hard to place blame on him for that goal. Connor McDavid lost his check on the weak side after Broberg had challenged the puck carrier at the blue line on the second goal against in that game. If I was being really picky, I would comment on Broberg’s soft gap at the blue line and his decision to stick check rather than body check on that play; but the true breakdown came on the other side of the ice.

EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 5: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Philip Broberg (86) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Washington Capitals on December 5, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Broberg finds himself in an awkward spot where he is clearly too good for the AHL, but he hasn’t quite grabbed a hold of an NHL spot yet. He has the tools to succeed in the NHL. The question is whether or not his opportunity will come with the Oilers or another organization. If the Oilers feel that Brett Kulak is an expensive luxury to have on the third pairing when evaluating their tight salary cap situation this summer, then an opportunity would open up for Broberg. As long as Kulak is an Oiler, Broberg will be blocked from a spot in the Oilers’ top six.

Raphael Lavoie recorded career-highs in goals, assists and points this season with a 28-22-50 stat line in 66 games. He also led the team in shots by a mile with 201 shots. Those are all positive things, but those aren’t world beating numbers suggestive of an impactful NHL career. Lavoie earned seven games with the Oilers this season, but he didn’t do much with his opportunity. He didn’t record a point in minimal ice time in those seven games. The former second rounder has an elite shot and a big frame, so there’s a chance that he could become a useful bottom sixer. He’s only 23-years old, so he still has time. The problem is that the Oilers are short on time and they need impactful players sooner rather than later. He’s an impending RFA that could either be retained or used as trade bait this summer.

2021 first rounder Xavier Bourgault took a step back this season. He was limited to 55 games this season due to a shoulder injury. Bourgault only put up twenty points in those 55 games, compared to 34 points in 62 games last season. The hope is that this was simply a sophomore slump because Bourgault is an important prospect for the Oilers. The Oilers have traded their first round picks from 2022 (Reid Schaeffer), 2023 (used to acquire Mattias Ekholm), and 2024 (used to acquire Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick). The cap strapped Oilers can ill afford to have Bourgault not pan out. He has another year left on his entry level contract, but Bourgault could also easily be used as trade bait to improve the roster next season.

One bright spot I want to be sure to highlight is Max Wanner. The 2021 seventh rounder got seventeen points in 68 games for the Condors in his rookie season as a professional. More impressively, he finished tied for the team lead in plus/minus at +13. Wanner is looking like a steal of a pick.

While there are some players to be optimistic about, the reality is that no player drafted in the Ken Holland era has truly cemented an NHL spot yet (although Holloway is starting to look like he has finally earned it with his recent performances). The middling performance of the Condors this season and the lack of potentially impactful prospects on the team currently is evidence of a big problem in the organization. The Oilers will need impactful players on cheap contracts to emerge internally if they have designs on being an elite team over the course of the next decade. CEO Jeff Jackson and new Head of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey have a lot of work to do to improve the drafting and development results of the Oilers.

Related: Oilers Mutually Part Ways with Wright, Hire Pracey

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April 27, 2024 by Raghu Sharma

The Oilers got off to a really hot start in the first period after that tough overtime loss in Game 2. They got three goals from three of their best players with Zach Hyman getting one on a pure individual effort in front of the net, Leon Draisaitl capitalizing on an Evander Kane pass from behind the net, and Connor McDavid getting his first of this postseason.

The Oilers came out flat in the second period, and the Kings got to within two goals, making it 3-1. Shortly after the Kings outburst, on an extended shift by the second line, Draisaitl made a fantastic pass to Cody Ceci who blasted it off Kane for his first of the playoffs to make it 4-1. Skinner was excellent in the second period. He made a lot of important saves when the Kings were buzzing, with the best being on a point blank shot by Adrian Kempe.

The Kings decided to play dirty in classic fashion for them. Viktor Arvidsson had a dirty hit on Hyman, Drew Doughty had one on McDavid, and then Andreas Englund made a dangerous hit on Kane, which led to a fight where Kane destroyed Englund. Kane had to go off the ice for an obvious concussion protocol check. The Oilers got a five-on-three out of that, and Hyman made the Kings pay by scoring his second goal of the night and his sixth of the playoffs. The third period got out of hand, and the Oilers got awarded another five-on-three. Draisaitl made them pay again, which made it 6-1.

Call Outs• Warren Foegele had a really rough game today. He couldn’t find the puck on his stick, and I wonder if he was mentally impacted by the demotion to the third line.

Stand OutsEDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 22 Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Evander Kane (91) lines up a hit on the boards in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the St Louis Blues on October 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)• Kane got the promotion to the second line, and he benefited with a goal and an assist. After repeated dirty hits, Kane dropped the gloves and destroyed Englund in that fight.

• Dylan Holloway was excellent once again, and he stood up for Kane after that dirty hit.

• Evan Bouchard took some big hits today and he stood up for himself today, which was excellent.

Shout Outs • McDavid got his first goal of this postseason.

• Hyman is already up to six goals in this series after scoring two more in Game 3.

• This was a fantastic bounce back game for Stuart Skinner, who took a lot of heat from a number of fans for his performance in Game 2. Skinner made 27 saves on 28 shots in Game 3 after allowing five goals on 26 shots in Game 2.

• Leon Draisaitl added a two-goal performance of his own in Game 3.

This was a fantastic rebound game for the Oilers after a really tough loss in Game 2. Now they must channel everything from this win for Game 4 on Sunday night.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Kings in OT over Oilers 5-4 in Game 2

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April 25, 2024 by Michael Hebert

The Los Angeles Kings edged the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 in overtime to clinch Game 2. The Kings surged ahead early to a 3-1 lead, only to see the Oilers rally to level the score at 3-3 by the second intermission. In the third period, Kevin Fiala’s goal put the Kings ahead, but the Oilers responded with Dylan Holloway scoring his second of the game to even the score once more. Ultimately, Anze Kopitar sealed the win for the Kings, finding the top corner just over two minutes into overtime. The series is now tied at one game apiece as the teams head to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Friday.

Call Outs:

Stuart Skinner had a challenging night in net for the Edmonton Oilers, saving only 21 of 26 shots in their overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings. With his performance marking the second consecutive game allowing four or more goals, Skinner will need to elevate his game as the series progresses if the Oilers hope to advance.

Meanwhile, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins struggled to make an impact, finding himself and his line frequently outchanced by the Kings. The lack of synergy with Leon Draisaitl, which has been crucial to his success in the top six, was noticeably absent, contributing to a disappointing performance for the Oilers forward. The team will look for both players to step up in Game 3 as the series shifts to Los Angeles.

Stand Outs:

Dylan Holloway’s rise is stand out worthy, having recently returned from honing his skills with the Oilers’ farm team in Bakersfield. Despite limited ice time in the first two playoff games, Holloway made his presence felt, scoring two crucial goals to keep the Oilers competitive through three periods. His aggressive forechecking and solid hits have made him noticeable through both games.

Zach Hyman continues his goal scoring and solid play for the Oilers, finding the net in both games of the series. His toughness on the puck and tenacity in the corners have showcased Hyman’s versatility. Proving again, he’s not a flash in the pan, Hyman scored from a new angle tonight. Although the line of Hyman, McDavid, and Adam Henrique faced offense challenges at even strength, they managed the most high-danger chances for the team, and also notably no high-danger chances against while on the ice.

For the Los Angeles Kings, Adrian Kempe was pivotal, netting two goals and maintaining his aggressive scoring streak against the Oilers. Goalie Cam Talbot, despite a less than stellar performance overall, delivered when it mattered most. He made critical saves during an Oilers’ power play, a great stretch to intercept a potential goal with a glove save at the top of the crease on a “Bouch Bomb”. Then later in the power play, making a key save against Leon Draisaitl that was the result of another brilliant effort by Connor McDavid.

Recent: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Oilers Defeat Kings 7-4 in Game 1

Shout Outs:

On a night when the Edmonton Oilers’ top players, Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Leon Draisaitl, were limited in their point production, it was the team’s secondary scoring that stepped up. Brett Kulak unleashed a powerful one-timer that found the back of the net past Cam Talbot, signaling the start of a significant contribution from the Oilers’ depth players. Dylan Holloway was particularly impactful, scoring twice to help fuel the Oilers’ rally.

Further commendations are due for the line of Sam Carrick, Dylan Holloway, and Mattias Janmark, who distinguished themselves by being the only Oilers not on the ice for a goal against during a 5-4 loss. Their exceptional play on the forecheck and solid defensive play were a highlight for the Oilers night.

The Oilers are going to need to come out strong in game 3 in order to win back home ice advantage, but that’s going to start with their play in net. It would be very surprising if Kris Knoblauch decided to start making changes on the back end after one loss and I’m sure Stuart Skinner has earned at least one more shot at redemption as the Oilers head into Los Angeles for game 3 on Friday night.

For his part, Knoblauch protected Skinner in the post game presser:

Coach Kris Knoblauch on @EdmontonOilers goalie Stuart Skinner in Game 2:

"Not faulting him on any of those goals.”

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) April 25, 2024

This might not have been the Oilers best game, but a lot of the blame can go squarely on their play in the first period. The Oilers won on the shot clock, high danger chances, and overall I thought had the best chances throughout. It’s going to be key for the Oilers to play with urgency right from the start, but also realize the series is 7 games and they don’t need to panic just yet.

The Oilers are back on the ice in Los Angeles for game 3 at Crypto dot com arena on Friday. Puck drop is at 8:30 MT.

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April 23, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers took care of business by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 7-4 in game one of their first round playoff series on Monday night. The win was the first game one victory at home since 1990 for the Oilers, and they did it in convincing fashion.

Call Outs:There wasn’t much to be upset about regarding the Oilers’ performance in game one. Cody Ceci’s stick disintegrated on him on the Kings’ fourth goal. He fell after his stick broke, and swatted the puck into the slot where Alex Laferriere was able to find Trevor Moore for an easy goal. Can’t blame a guy for his stick breaking! Darnell Nurse had a puck bounce in off his skate after a shot had bounced off of Ceci. Unlucky break.

As unlucky as some of the goals were, the Oilers will need to find a way to shut things down on the nights where they don’t score seven goals. That game got way closer than it needed to be.

Lastly, I’ll call out Moore for his low hit on Vincent Desharnais. Desharnais appeared to have hurt his knee on the play, but he thankfully returned to the game. It was a dangerous low hit by Moore. We will see if the league will review the play or not.

Trevor Moore goes low on Vincent Desharnais #NHL | #GoKingsGo | #LetsGoOilers
pic.twitter.com/ACr3J4wScX

— The Cam & Strick Podcast (@CamandStrick) April 23, 2024

Stand Outs:Familiar names are going to litter this section. Zach Hyman continued his assault on the back of the net with a hat trick in game one. He missed an open net early in the game, and was foiled by Cam Talbot on a breakaway as well.

ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 05: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Zach Hyman (18) on the ice during a face-off in an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks played on April 5, 2023 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon Sportswire)Evan Bouchard had four assists. Jason Gregor shared a post on X after the game which said that Bouchard now has 30 points in 29 playoff games. Only five defencemen have ever had more points in their first 30 playoff games. He will have a chance to climb the list in game two on Wednesday night.

Oh yeah, and that Connor McDavid guy had five assists. The highlight was an unbelievable spin move that preceded an assist on the opening goal of the game. He also made a patient play behind the net to wait before dashing into the slot to find Hyman for another goal.

Shout Outs:Adam Henrique scored the second Oilers goal. His last playoff goal came all the way back in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, ironically enough against the Kings. The near twelve year drought is the longest gap between playoff goals for any player all-time. Henrique also added an assist for good measure.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist as well. Evander Kane didn’t register a point, but he was quite noticeable all night long. He had six shots on goal, which was second behind Hyman’s nine. Warren Foegele scored an empty goal and had five shots on goal.

Vincent Desharnais was excellent in this game. He had five shot blocks and six hits. Desharnais also played on after taking that low hit from Moore. Most importantly, he wasn’t on the ice for any of the goals against. That’s exactly what Desharnais needs to do to help this team win hockey games.

Recent: Oilers vs Kings: Series Preview

That’s pretty much how the Oilers would draw up a game plan for the Kings. The Kings made it closer than it needed to be, but the Kings never really seemed to be in that game. The Oilers got in on the forecheck and won races to loose pucks, they were able to hem the Kings in their own end for long periods of time, and they didn’t give up many quality chances in their own zone. The goals that the Kings got were either from outside shots or unlucky breaks and bounces. The Oilers would take another three games like that in a heart beat.

Game two of this series goes Wednesday night at Rogers Place.

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April 22, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers will take on the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the NHL playoffs for the third consecutive season.

Tale of the tape:Edmonton Oilers

49-27-6, 104 points, 2nd place in Pacific Division

Goals For: 292 (4th)

Goals Against: 236 (10th)

PP%: 26.3% (4th)

PK%: 79.5% (15th)

Starting Goalie: Stuart Skinner (36-16-5, .905 sv%, 2.62 GAA)

Leading Scorers: McDavid (132 pts), Hyman (54 G)

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 16: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his goal and 131st point in the third period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Dallas Stars on March 16, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The Oilers had a miserable 3-9-1 start to their season that prompted a coaching change. New head coach Kris Knoblauch guided the Oilers to a league best 46-18-5 record after being hired on November 13, 2023. The Oilers overcame a ten point deficit at American Thanksgiving to make the playoffs, which ties an all-time record. A historic sixteen-game winning streak paved the way for the Oilers to not just climb into a playoff spot, but to get home ice advantage in the first round as well.

The Oilers signed Corey Perry as a free agent in January after his contract had been terminated by the Chicago Blackhawks. Perry brings a winning pedigree and an annoying style of hockey suited for the playoffs. GM Ken Holland acquired Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick to fortify the forward group at the trade deadline. Henrique adds versatility and some offensive punch to an already potent Oilers team. Carrick adds some toughness and depth to the bottom of the forward group.

LA Kings

49-26-6, 104 points, 3rd place in Pacific Division

Goals For: 254 (17th)

Goals Against: 210 (3rd)

PP%: 22.6% (12th)

PK%: 84.6% (2nd)

Starting Goalie: Cam Talbot (27-20-6, .913 sv%, 2.48 GAA)

Leading Scorers: Kempe (75 pts), Fiala (29 G)

The Kings also went through a coaching change this season. They had a great start, including winning their first eleven road games of the season. Things came crashing down early in the new year though. A 3-8-6 stretch from late December until late January cost Todd McLellan his job. New coach Jim Hiller led the Kings to a 21-12-1 record after the All-Star break, which equates to a .632 points percentage. The Oilers had a 20-12-5 record after the All-Star break (which coincides with the end of their sixteen-game winning streak), which equates to a .608 points percentage.

The Kings didn’t make any moves at the trade deadline. GM Rob Blake was satisfied to give Hiller a chance to see if he can get the Kings past the first round with the roster as he constructed it.

Five on Five Play: Advantage EDMAccording to Moneypuck, the Oilers finished fourth in the league with a +41 goal differential at five on five. That’s nineteen goals better than the Kings, who finished at +22 (10th). The Oilers had the fifth highest five on five goal percentage, while the Kings finished tenth. The Oilers really shined in five on five expected goals percentage, leading the league with 58.17%. However, the Kings weren’t far behind in third spot (54.51%). The Kings are no slouch at five on five, but the Oilers were elite in this facet of the game this season.

Special Teams: EVENOne of the most interesting matchups to watch in this series will be the Oilers’ fourth ranked powerplay against the Kings’ second ranked penalty kill. The Oilers went 3/15 (20%) on the powerplay in their four matchups against the Kings in the regular season. They managed to score at least one powerplay goal in three of the four games, but the Kings largely held the Oilers powerplay in check.

The Oilers penalty kill finished near the middle of the pack. However, it was either elite or bottom feeding at various points throughout the season. It had a horrendous start, then it got really good once Mark Stuart took over those duties after the coaching change. However, it cooled off significantly after the All-star break. The series could be decided based on which version of the Oilers penalty kill shows up.

Goaltending: EVENEDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Most people would give the edge to the Skinner and the Oilers, but I think Talbot’s work this season is under-appreciated. Skinner has a better record than Talbot this season, but Talbot has the better numbers. Talbot was unbelievable in the first half of the season, but his performance dipped in the second half. David Rittich had the net for a while because he got hot, but Talbot will be that starter for the Kings. I’m sure that Talbot will be fired up to play his old team, the one that he holds the single-season franchise wins record for, and the one that gave up on him by signing Mikko Koskinen to a long-term contract in January 2018 then trading him at the 2018 trade deadline.

InjuriesOilers: Evander Kane revealed that he has been dealing with a sports hernia injury for most of the season. He sat out the final four games of the regular season to rest the injury. He will be in the lineup for game one, but not at 100%.

Connor McDavid missed three games near the end of the regular season due to a nagging injury that flared up on him during the Oilers’ 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames on April 6, 2024. He was one of seven players that were rested in game 82. McDavid will play, but he might not be at 100% health either.

Mattias Janmark will also suit up in game one after missing practice on Saturday.

Kings: None.

WrapThere will be no surprises for either of these teams in this series. The Oilers are rightfully the favourites after compiling a 3-1 record against the Kings this season and after beating them in the playoffs in each of the last two springs.

Make no mistake about it though, this will not be the cakewalk that many Oilers fans and pundits are expecting it to be. The Kings are healthy for the first time in this three year run of meeting the Oilers in the first round, and they enter the series on more of a roll than the Oilers. The Oilers powerplay won’t be the advantage that it once was. Buckle up for a tight series, Oilers fans.

Projected Game 1 Lineups (according to NHL.com)Oilers

Henrique – McDavid – Hyman

Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Foegele

Holloway – McLeod – Perry

Kane – Carrick – Janmark

Ekholm – Bouchard

Nurse – Ceci

Kulak – Desharnais

Skinner

Pickard

Scratches: Brown, Ryan, Gagner, Stecher, Fanti (EBUG)

Kings

Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe

Moore – Danault – Arvidsson

Fiala – Lizotte – Lewis

Byfield – Dubois – Grundstrom

Anderson – Doughty

Gavrikov – Roy

Englund – Spence

Talbot

Rittich

Scratches: Kaliyev, Moverare, Dell

Related: Third Time’s a Charm

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April 19, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Things tend to happen in threes. That is holding true for the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings. The Pacific Division rivals are set to clash in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

The Oilers arrive as the second seed in the Pacific Division with a record of 49-27-6. This marks the fifth consecutive season that the Oilers have finished second in their division, but this is the third season since the COVID shortened 2020-21 season where the Oilers finished second in the all-Canadian Division.

Related: Oilers Clinch Playoff Spot in Historic Fashion

That’s an incredible feat considering the Oilers started the season with a 3-9-1 record before the team fired Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson. New head coach Kris Knoblauch finished his rookie campaign with a 46-18-5 record, which was the best mark in the league in that time frame. The Oilers tied an all-time record by overcoming a ten point deficit on a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving to earn a playoff spot. They didn’t just earn a playoff spot. They got home ice advantage in the first round.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVA historic sixteen-game winning streak, which was tied for the second longest winning streak of all-time, propelled the Oilers to the second seed in the division. The other eight game winning streak they had helped out with that as well.

If things really do come in threes, then the Oilers will feel pretty comfortable about beating the Kings in the first round for the third consecutive season. That would allow the Oilers another extended playoff run.

The leadership group of the Oilers feel that it’s a “Cup or bust” season for their team, and they hope that the third time’s the charm for them this spring. They beat the Kings en route to a Western Conference Finals berth in 2022, but were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. Last season, the Oilers beat the Kings and then lost a hard fought series against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights after leading in every single one of the six games. This time, the Oilers are hoping that they will be the eventual Stanley Cup champions.

Leon Draisaitl was particularly upset after being eliminated last season. Draisaitl only has one more year left on his contract after this one. Connor McDavid only has two more years on his contract. They understand that they are in a prime winning window, and they’re running out of chances with this group as it’s currently constructed. The urgency is obviously high in the Oilers dressing room.

If the third time’s the charm, then this might be the year that the Kings finally beat the Oilers in the first round though. The Oilers’ sixteen-game winning streak ended with their first game after the All-Star break. They finished the season with a 20-12-5 record after the All-Star break, which equates to a 0.608 points percentage. That’s a significant drop off from the first 32 games of Knoblauch’s tenure before the All-Star break, where the team’s record was 26-6 (0.813 points percentage).

The Kings made a coaching change of their own at the All-Star break, firing Todd McLellan and promoting Jim Hiller. The Kings had a record of 23-15-10 heading into the All-Star break (0.583 points percentage), which was particularly awful given the fact that sixteen of those wins came on or before December 7, 2023. They won their first eleven road games of the season, which is a league record. Three measly wins from December 28, 2023 until the All-Star break (3-8-6) ultimately cost McLellan his job.

Hiller’s first game as head coach was a 4-0 win over the Oilers on February 10, 2024. The Kings finished with a 21-12-1 record (0.632 points percentage) after the coaching change and the All-Star break, a better mark than the Oilers achieved after their break (albeit not by a significant margin).

The Kings are healthy right now, which is something they have not been able to say heading into the previous two playoff encounters with the Oilers. Meanwhile, Connor McDavid missed four of the team’s final six regular season games (although all of the Oilers’ best players were rested in the last game). McDavid had a nagging issue flare up on him late in a 4-2 win against the Calgary Flames on April 6. He also missed a couple of games with an unknown upper body injury early in the season. I’m not saying these injuries are connected. I’m just pointing out facts.

CALGARY, AB – OCTOBER 29: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) warms up before an NHL game between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers on October 29, 2022, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)Evander Kane missed the team’s final four games of the season for maintenance. Kane had previously missed a game on December 30, 2023 with a groin issue. Jason Gregor said that Kane had been dealing with nagging injuries during a media scrum on January 18, 2024. Once again, I’m just pointing out facts. You can draw your own conclusions.

The Kings have also won six of their last eight games, whereas the Oilers have only won four of their last eight games. I don’t put much stock into the final two games of the Oilers’ regular season because of the circumstances. Six games in nine nights. Being the road opponent in the Arizona Coyotes’ farewell game. Resting the stars against a fully loaded Colorado Avalanche team. However, the numbers are what they are. The Kings enter the series on more of a roll than the Oilers.

So, which old theory will hold true? Do things come in threes, or is the third time the charm? We’ll find out in a couple of weeks.

The Oilers won the season series against the Kings 3-1. Their only loss to the Kings this season was in Hiller’s head coaching debut. One of those Oilers wins was a shootout victory on December 30, 2023. That makes the Kings’ record 1-2-1 against the Oilers this year, which means the season series was closer than the Oilers’ record against the Kings indicates.

Many Oilers fans were hoping for the Kings again because the Oilers have beaten them in two straight series. The belief is that the Kings are the easier opponent out of the possible outcomes they had.

The 2022 series went to seven games, and the Kings had a chance to end it at home in game six of that series. The Oilers didn’t have a lead in last year’s series until game five. The Kings are no pushovers, and they head into this series healthier and playing better than the Oilers.

All I’m saying is be careful what you wish for, Oilers fans.

This playoffs is a as wide open of a tournament as I can remember. Anything can happen. That statement is incredibly true for the Oilers. The Oilers also have a tendency to be their own worst enemy at times. One of the only teams that can beat the Oilers is themselves. They will go far if they stay out of their own way. They could legitimately be eliminated in the first round, or win the Stanley Cup. I hope it’s the latter. It will be a long and dramatic off-season if it’s the former.

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April 17, 2024 by Eric Friesen

Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid recorded his league-leading 100th assist of the season in a decisive 9-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place on Monday.

After becoming only the sixth player in NHL history to record 150 points in a single season and the fifth player to ever win hockey’s triple crown in 2022-23, McDavid has now joined an even more exclusive club this season. With the helper on Zach Hyman’s team-leading 54th goal of the season late in the second period, McDavid became just the fourth player to ever record 100 assists in a single season.

In the 107-year history of the league, this feat has only been accomplished by three players: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr. McDavid also became the first player to reach the century mark since Gretzky did it for the 11th and final time in 1990-91.

His 100th assist milestone is amongst the rarest and most impressive achievements in a career filled with them. While he always prefers to talk about the team than himself, McDavid acknowledged how special it is to accomplish something that only the three greatest players in hockey history have done.

“It’s just cool to see some of the name that have done it,” McDavid told Sportsnet’s Gene Principe following the game on Monday. “Obviously, those other guys are the best players to ever play in this game, and it’s just cool to be in the same breath as them, in that regard. It’s pretty special.”

Although McDavid never reveals if he sets personal goals for himself before each season, when he asked he always insists that his expectations for himself are greater than anyone could place upon him. Last season, Leon Draisaitl challenged him to score 60 goals. He scored 64 and won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as goal-scoring leader.

Related: Will McDavid record 100 assists this season?

It’s doubtful any of McDavid’s teammates challenged him to put up 100 assists, but it appeared early on this season that he was more focused on setting up his teammates than putting the puck in the net himself. McDavid’s most common target in 2023-24 was Hyman, who buried 39 of his 100 assists. Considering McDavid picked up the primary assist on Hyman’s 50th goal of the season last month, it seemed fitting that Hyman would also score the goal to help McDavid reach 100 apples.

“[McDavid] is always a threat,” said Hyman during his post-game interview on Oilers TV on Monday. “He creates so much time for himself with his speed that we often get odd-man rushes, where it’s three-on-two or two-on-one opportunities. And then, he’s really deceptive. His ability change an angle on a pass, to make a saucer pass, it’s really hard for the defender to defend a guy who moves that fast, and stickhandle the way he does, as well.”

His finest playmaking performance of the season was on February 13, when he recorded a career-high six assists, including his 600th career NHL assist, in an 8-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on February 13. He became the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to record 600 assists (616 games), trailing only Gretzky (416 games), Lemieux (514 games) and Orr (608 games). Three names McDavid continues to be mentioned with.

That night, McDavid also took over the league lead in assists and hasn’t looked back. The 27-year-old has 53 assists in 32 games (1.66 A/GP) since the All-Star break, which is more than all but three players in the entire league have points during that span. Even after…

“This is probably the hardest [milestone] he’s accomplished,” said Nugent-Hopkins during his post-game interview on Oilers TV on Monday. “I mean, you can’t really be surprised with the things he does every year, but it’s an amazing accomplishment. I probably didn’t think it was possible for it happen in this day and age, but he keeps surprising you.”

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April 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg and Eric Friesen

The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 3-1 at Rogers Place on Saturday. The Oilers now sit five points back of the Canucks for the Pacific Division lead with three games remaining. The Canucks have not mathematically clinched the Pacific Division crown yet, but Saturday’s victory over the Oilers has all but cemented their place atop the division.

With the Oilers firmly locked into the second seed in the Pacific Division, they will either face the Los Angeles Kings or the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. That leads us to our question for this edition of the Heavy Hockey Faceoff: Which team would you rather the Oilers face in round one, the Kings or the Golden Knights? Ryan Lotsberg and Eric Friesen debate the topic below:

Lotsy: I would rather the Oilers face the Golden Knights. The Oilers would come into that series sufficiently motivated after being eliminated by the Golden Knights last spring. The leaders on the Oilers were all extremely disappointed after losing that series. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the 2024 playoffs that to get a chance at conquering that demon. The Golden Knights started this season 11-0-1, but they have gone 32-28-7 since then. That’s a pretty mediocre team. We’ve seen the defending Stanley Cup champions go home early many times over the years. The Golden Knights are ripe for the taking.

Friesen: There isn’t a better first opponent for the Oilers than the Kings. Even if they secure third place in the Pacific Division, the Kings are arguably the least threating playoff team in the Western Conference. Plus, they are a team the Oilers know they can beat. The Oilers have an 8-5 playoff record against the Kings since 2022, and Edmonton won three of four meetings against the Kings in 2023-24. While the Kings have two of the better shutdown centres in the league in Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault, they simply can’t match the all-world talent the Oilers possess with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the charge. For the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, they will have to face several legitimate contenders along the way, but they couldn’t ask for a more ideal matchup than the Kings in the opening round.

Lotsy: While I agree that the Kings are the weaker matchup on paper, they have been much better since they made their coaching change on February 5. The Kings are 19-11-1 since making their coaching change during the All-Star break. The Golden Knights are 14-13-2 since the All-Star break. The Oilers have beaten the Kings in the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, but how long can one team expect to beat the other team consecutively before the other one gets on the board? The Kings had the Oilers on the ropes with a 3-2 series lead heading into a game six in Los Angeles in 2022, and game seven of that series was tightly contested. That series could easily have gone the other way. The Oilers would certainly be favoured against the Kings, but we can’t discount the Kings simply because the Oilers have beaten them two years in a row.

Friesen: It’s true that the Kings have been better than the Golden Knights since returning from the All-Star break. Vegas ranks 19th in the league in points percentage during that span (.517). Still, they are the defending the Stanley Cup champions and haven’t had a fully healthy roster at any point since February. They will be icing a super lineup that exceeds the regular season salary cap when the playoffs start, and could be a tough out for even the best teams in the West. If the Golden Knights end up in the first wild-card spot, I would pick them to “upset” the Canucks in the first round of the playoffs. Though Adin Hill has a dreadful .876 save percentage since February 12, he was amongst the best goalies in the league for the bulk of the season. He also beat the Oilers in the playoffs last spring. The Oilers are more familiar with former teammate and Kings’ goalie Cam Talbot, who McDavid and Draisaitl know they can solve.

Lotsy: The Golden Knights lead the NHL in man games lost due to injury this season. That lack of health is why I would rather see the Oilers face them in round one than later in the post-season. Every team gets bruised and battered during the playoffs, but the Golden Knights’ injured players will get stronger as they play in more games. They’re at their most vulnerable in round one. Mark Stone will likely be at less than 100% when he comes back. Tomas Hertl will have only played six games as a Golden Knight by the time the playoffs start. Alec Martinez has been affected by his injuries. Hill isn’t the same goalie that he was last season due in part to injuries. I think his numbers post injury are more relevant than his numbers before the injury, as we saw with Jack Campbell during his last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was one of the best goalies in the league prior to his injury that season. He has never truly rounded back into form.

Related: Vegas Golden Knights and LTIR: Part 1 – Conspiracy Theories and Potential Solutions

Speaking of the Leafs, their salary cap hit is the highest in the league because of their LTIR usage. In fact, the Golden Knights’ cap hit is only the third highest in the league. The Tampa Bay Lightning also have a higher cap hit than the Golden Knights. They did load up at the deadline. Noah Hanifin has been solid for them, but Anothony Mantha’s goal scoring pace has dropped from twenty goals in 56 games (0.37 goals per game) with the Washington Capitals to just three goals in 17 games (0.18 goals per game) with the Golden Knights. I’ll also share recent cautionary tales of teams loading up at the deadline and not winning the Stanley Cup. The Columbus Blue Jackets loaded up at the 2019 trade deadline knowing they were going to lose Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency that summer by acquiring Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel. They lost in the second round. The New York Rangers acquired Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko at last year’s trade deadline, and lost in the first round. A similar fate could be awaiting the Golden Knights, especially since their lineup hasn’t yet been healthy enough to gain chemistry heading into the playoffs.

Friesen: Injuries are a factor. Stone and Hertl likely won’t be at their best when the puck drops on the Game 1 of the opening round next week, but the Oilers aren’t at full health either. McDavid has missed the past three games with a lower-body injury, but will hopefully return before the end of the regular season. There are likely other players on the Oilers’ roster that are less than 100% right now, though we won’t find that out until after they are done playing for the year. I still think the Oilers will have an easier matchup against a fully healthy Kings’ squad than a banged up Golden Knights’ team. When McDavid and Draisaitl dial it up several notches in the playoffs, there is nothing the Kings can do to stop them. The entire point of finishing near the top of the standings is to secure home-ice and give yourself the weakest possible opponent. That would be the Kings this year. As I mentioned earlier, I expect the Golden Knights would beat the Canucks in a best-of-seven series, so I expect the Oilers will run into them eventually. It would be ideal for the Golden Knights to win that series because it would give the Oilers home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs. I believe Edmonton can beat Vegas in the playoffs, but it doesn’t need to be first round.

Either potential matchup for the Oilers will be a fantastic series with an intriguing set of storylines. Who would you rather the Oielrs face? Let us know what you think in the comments!

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April 6, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers clinched a playoff spot for the fifth consecutive season by defeating the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Friday night. GM Ken Holland has made the playoffs in all five of his seasons with the Oilers. The team has finished in second place in the division in the previous four seasons. There is still time to catch the Vancouver Canucks for the division title this season, but the Oilers sit in second place once again, five points back with seven games to play and one game in hand.

The fact that the Oilers are where they are right now is even more impressive considering that they were ten points back of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference on American Thanksgiving.

Related: Jeff Jackson believes the Oilers can still dig out of early-season hole

Emily Sadler put out a great article for Sportsnet about the fortunes of teams inside and outside of playoff spots on American Thanksgiving. Credit goes to her for the stats I’m about to share. Prior to this season, 184 out of 240 teams in a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving in the salary cap era have gone on to make the playoffs (these figures do not include the COVID shortened seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21).

That’s 76.7%, which means that only 23.3% of teams outside of the playoffs on American Thanksgiving go on to make the playoffs. Of the 56 teams that have gone on to make it in this situation, 31 were within one point of a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving. Only 25 teams have made it after being more than a point back of a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving (10.42%).

The Dallas Stars made the 2014 playoffs after being eight points back of a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving in 2013. The St. Louis Blues famously came back from the crypt to win the Stanley Cup in 2019. They were seven points out of a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving in 2018. Interestingly enough, the Blues missed the playoffs the year before after having a ten point cushion on a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving, which was the second time a team had done that in the salary cap era (the 2015-16 Montreal Canadiens blew an eleven point cushion).

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 16: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his goal and 131st point in the third period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Dallas Stars on March 16, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The Oilers’ ten point deficit is now the largest American Thanksgiving deficit to be overcome to make the playoffs in the salary cap era. It also ties the all-time record. The 1959-60 Chicago Blackhawks and the 1970-71 Toronto Maple Leafs matched this feat. The league had six teams in 1959-60, and it had expanded to fourteen teams in time for the 1970-71 season. What the Oilers have from American Thanksgiving onwards has been historic.

American Thanksgiving was on November 23, 2023. The Oilers were in the midst of an Eastern road trip. They lost the first three games of that road trip. They left the state of Florida battered and bruised after a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers. They moved on to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes on November 22, 2023, and they got their butts handed to them in the first period. The Hurricanes took a 4-0 lead in the first period en route to a 6-3 victory.

Those three games were the first road games of head coach Kris Knoblauch’s tenure behind the Oilers bench. He made his debut on November 13, 2023 in a home victory against the New York Islanders. The Oilers beat the Seattle Kraken on the strength of an Evander Kane hat trick in Knoblauch’s second game, and then they took off for the Eastern road trip mentioned in the previous paragraph. The team was 2-3 under their new coach, who was hired after a 3-9-1 start under previous coach Jay Woodcroft, and they had just got the wheels blown off of them in Raleigh. They sat in 30th place in the league, ten points outside of a playoff spot.

Related: Oilers Fire Woodcroft and Manson & Name Knoblauch and Coffey as replacements

I don’t know what was said after that game or prior to the team’s next game against the Washington Capitals on November 24, 2023. Whatever it was, it clearly worked. The Oilers steamrolled the Capitals by a score of 5-0 that day. That game was the first of an eight-game winning streak.

A portion of that winning streak occurred during a stretch where the Oilers played eight out of nine games at home. That included a six-game homestand in mid-December. The Oilers lost the final two games of that homestand (to the Lightning and the Panthers). Then they departed for another Eastern road trip, this time starting in Long Island. The Oilers lost the first game of that trip to the New York Islanders.

It would be their last loss until February. The Oilers absolutely went off by winning sixteen consecutive games between December 21, 2023 and January 27, 2024. Yes, they went undefeated for the entire month of January! That winning streak is tied for the second longest winning streak of all-time in the NHL. Their eight-game winning streak vaulted them back into playoff contention. Their sixteen-game winning streak put them into contention for the division.

Knoblauch’s record before the all-star break was 26-6. He only had six losses in 32 games prior to the all-star break. That sixteen-game winning streak represented half of Knoblauch’s tenure at the time! The Oilers currently have 24 regulation losses. Twelve of those occurred before American Thanksgiving! Their .827 points percentage is the best mark in the league since American Thanksgiving.

EDMONTON, AB – NOV 12, 2023: Kris Knoblauch addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TVOverall, Knoblauch’s record is 43-15-4 entering play on Saturday. The team’s turnaround under Knoblauch has been nothing short of tremendous. The Oilers have clinched a playoff spot with seven games left to play, which was nearly unthinkable in November.

We can enjoy this for now, Oilers fans. The work they have done to get here has been fantastic, but the work isn’t close to done yet. They are still chasing the Canucks for the division crown, and Connor McDavid is still chasing a sixth Art Ross Trophy and the first 100 assist season since 1990-91. The real work starts on April 20th though. The Oilers have some unfinished business to attend to this spring.

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April 3, 2024 by Bob Schmidt

Now that each NHL team has played at least 70 games this season, I have updated my power rankings chart. I created this chart based only on each team’s first 70 games, their overall record in those games, the strength of each team’s schedule, and how they fared against the stronger, mid tier, and weaker teams.

1. New York Rangers (70 game record: 46-20-4, 96 Pts. Games 61-70: 6-3-1, 13 Pts. Previous ranking: 2)

With roughly 85% of the regular season in the books, the Rangers are back at the top. They have never dropped lower than third in these rankings all season, and I have had them atop the list in four of the seven installments. There really are no glaring weaknesses on this team. The Broadway Blueshirts are the only team with winning percentages of over 60% versus all three tiers. Tier one (teams in the top 10 at time of play) 62%, tier two (teams 11-20 at time of play) 61%, tier three (teams 21-32 at time of play) 73%. Are the New York Rangers the Stanley Cup favourite? They just might be.

2. Colorado Avalanche (70 game record: 45-20-5, 95 Pts. Games 61-70: 9-1-0, 18 Pts. Previous ranking: 6)

Colorado jumped up four spots by ending this segment thanks to an eight-game win streak, which eventually ended at nine, including back-to-back overtime wins against strong Western Conference rivals, the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. The Avalanche showcased their many strengths during this segment. Their defensive game and goaltending (19 goals against and two shutouts), their offense (43 goals for), and special teams (34% PP and 88% PK), were all on display and have many believing that Colorado is the team to beat in the West.

3. Florida Panthers (70 game record: 45-20-5, 95 Pts. Games 61-70: 5-4-1, 11 Pts. Previous ranking: 1)

After a strong start to this segment, winning five of the first six games, the Panthers ended it on a four-game skid. Florida relies on their team defence, as their league leading 2.43 GAA indicates, and capitalizing on their opportunities such as the power-play, which is currently the fifth-best in the league at 25.9%, even though their offense only ranks 13th at 3.22 goals for per game.

4. Carolina Hurricanes (70 game record: 44-20-6, 93 Pts. Games 61-70: 8-2-0, 16 Pts. Previous ranking: 7)

Carolina won all eight of their games in this segment via win streaks of three and five games to close off the segment. The addition of Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins has paid immediate dividends as the 2017 Stanley Cup winner racked up 12 points in the first nine games with his new team. Frederik Andersen, who missed most of the season with a blood clot, is back and has only one loss in his 12 starts. The steadily improving play of 24-year-old netminder Pyotr Kochetkov, coupled with the strong return of Andersen, seems to have silenced the criticism that goaltending was the biggest weakness of the Hurricanes throughout the season. Carolina also had an astounding 97.0% success rate on the PK during this segment.

5. Boston Bruins (70 game record: 41-14-15, 97 Pts. Games 61-70: 7-2-1, 15 Pts. Previous ranking: 9)

At the time of this article, the Bruins had played past regulation time in 21 games this season. That is the second most in the NHL, only behind the Montreal Canadiens (ranked 28) who have done it 22 times. Boston has solid depth at each position. Though David Pastrnak garners the most attention, and justifiably so, in regards to the Bruins’ offence, this team could finish the season with as many as seven 20-goal scorers and already have ten players in double-digit goals. I have said this before, but it bears repeating, the Bruins were my Eastern Conference champion prediction at the beginning of the season, and they have built a season that makes that possibility quite probable.

6. Vancouver Canucks (70 game record: 44-18-8, 96 Pts. Games 61-70: 6-2-2, 14 Pts. Previous ranking: 8)

The Canucks just keep rolling. Throughout the season, Vancouver has only had one losing streak of more than two games. They are in the top five in both goals for per game and goals against per game, showing a good balance of offence and defence. That’s a huge improvement from last season, where they were 13th in goals for per game and 25th in goals against per game. Vancouver’s current points percentage of .681 is their highest since their .713 of 2010-11, when they last reached the Stanley Cup Final.

7. Winnipeg Jets (70 game record: 44-21-5, 93 Pts. Games 61-70: 5-5-0, 10 Pts. Previous ranking: 3)

Is Kyle Connor the most underrated and quietest 30-goal scorer in the NHL? The 27-year-old sniper just reached the 30-goal mark for the sixth time in his eight-year career and yet not much gets heard about him outside of Winnipeg. The three headed scoring monster of Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Nikolaj Ehlers, have helped keep the Jets in the top ten of these rankings since the 20-game mark, but will that translate to playoff success? Winnipeg has only made it past the second round just once in the 12 seasons since they moved to Manitoba from Atlanta.

8. Dallas Stars (70 game record: 42-19-9, 93 Pts. Games 61-70: 7-3-0, 14 Pts. Previous ranking: 10)

Dallas rattled off a five-game win streak during this segment and, at the time of this article, just strung together another five consecutive wins. The Stars seem to be getting hot just at the right time and creating momentum for the playoffs, not that they’ve been cold much at all this season. Dallas has only had two losing streaks all season of more than two games. Depth scoring is definitely a strength on this team as they can boast of having seven 20-goal scorers in the lineup this season and captain Jamie Benn is only three away from being the eighth one.

9. Edmonton Oilers (70 game record: 43-23-4, 90 Pts. Games 61-70: 5-3-2, 12 Pts. Previous ranking: 4)

The Oilers’ turnaround since mid-November can not be overstated. From the 10-game mark power rankings where they were 31st, to now having been in the top 10 for the fourth consecutive installment. Edmonton had a winning percentage of 23% before the coaching change. Under Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, they have a 70% winning percentage. That is sure to get the rookie head coach some Jack Adams votes. This particular segment was a bit of an up and down one but a big up was the power-play. The Oilers scored 11 power-play goals in these ten games and operated at a 32% proficiency rate.

10. Toronto Maple Leafs (70 game record: 40-21-9, 89 Pts. Games 61-70: 5-4-1, 11 Pts. Previous ranking: 5)

This was a tough part of the schedule for the Leafs as they faced a top-ten team for half of this segment and it was their struggles in those games that sees them dropping five spots in the rankings. Toronto went 1-3-1 against Boston (twice), Carolina (twice), and Edmonton. Overall, the Leafs have a winning percentage of 54% vs the top ten-teams at time of play, so it remains to be seen if their recent performances vs the top teams is a cause of concern as the playoffs approach.

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April 2, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

In case you missed part one of this piece, I wrote about how Chris Simon’s death has brought up thoughts about the impact of fighting, long-term health, and CTE. In part two of this piece, I will focus on fighting in hockey today and in the future as well as how the league handles head shots and concussions.

Related: Chris Simon, Fighting, Concussions, and CTE in Hockey: Part One

Fights largely happen after hits these days, whether they be clean or not. We see it more after clean hits now than we ever have before. If a teammate falls down after a big hit, it seems like a player comes to his defence. That represents a shift in thinking among players in my opinion. Players used to fight after dirty hits that caused injuries. Now, they fight after clean hits too. That makes it sound like there’s more fighting now, but the league has also introduced rules to remove head shots from the game, so we see fewer dirty hits now than we did ten to twenty years ago.

Hitting is and should be legal, but there is a level of respect between players that needs to exist to prevent players from making deliberate injury inducing hits. If players feel that someone failed to show that respect by making a questionable hit, the gloves come off. It personally drives me nuts when I see a fight after a clean hit, but I digress.

We’ve seen far fewer staged fights in recent years though. Situations where the two tough guys on either team line up beside each other for the faceoff, give each other the nod, and drop the gloves right after the puck is dropped. It still happens from time to time, but the instances are fewer and further between.

Given what we’ve seen play out with multiple former players dying early after suffering multiple head injuries due to fights during their careers, it’s great that these types of fights and these types of players are more rare in today’s game. I like watching fights as much as the next person, but I don’t want players needlessly risking injury and putting their long-term health at risk in staged fights like that.

The other situation where fighting happens somewhat needlessly in my opinion is when a team is playing poorly and someone decides to fight to wake up the team. There certainly can be an emotional lift from watching a teammate fight, but it shouldn’t take a fight to get the team to play better. If they can’t figure it out using tactics or they can’t find a reason to skate faster and play harder, then they don’t deserve to win the game.

Fights with anger are more fun to watch. Those are the ones we see when someone defends a teammate after a hit or when two players engage in an extended physical battle that leads to a fight. Scrums after the whistle that lead to multiple fights happening all over the ice are definitely exciting.

Having said that, I don’t watch hockey for the fights. I watch it for the goals. Hockey is the only professional team sport that allows fighting without an automatic ejection. That makes hockey unique, but I don’t think it’s a vital part of the game.

It does serve a purpose though. There is an element of the players using fighting to police themselves. The response to a questionable hit is a fight, whether it comes in the same shift, the same game, or a future game. If fighting were to be removed, then the recourse would become either to beat them on the scoreboard, or to take a number and exact revenge later. That revenge could be another questionable hit, but one fuelled by anger and a motive. An eye for an eye makes the world blind, but players often seek revenge anyway.

That policing is encouraged by the media. Think back to the incident with Matthew Tkachuk and Zack Kassian in January 2020. The Oilers played the Calgary Flames on January 11, 2020. Tkachuk made two hits on Kassian. Both of them were hits where Tkachuk left his position to hit Kassian, and he approached from blind spots for Kassian on both hits. They were legal hits, but they were dirty because Tkachuk approached from Kassian’s blindside both times. The second hit knocked Kassian over and popped his helmet off. Kassian grabbed Tkachuk and started whaling on him, and Tkachuk turned away from Kassian. He didn’t face the fight.

The teams faced each other again on January 29, 2020. Excitement for that game was elevated because of the potential for revenge. The big story in the lead up to the game was whether or not Kassian and Tkachuk would fight. They did fight. Everybody knew it was going to happen. It was a short fight where neither combatant even got any good punches in. Tkachuk didn’t suffer any real pain as a result of his actions, but he repaid his debt by accepting the fight. Once the fight was done, everyone moved on and played hockey.

There’s something beautifully simple about the “take the fight and we’ll move on” ritual, but those fights usually just end up being pointless staged fights in my opinion.

My thought is if players simply treated each other with respect, then they wouldn’t do stupid things that warrant the need for the other team to defend themselves by fighting. I realize that’s a big “if” for professional athletes, some of the most competitive people on the planet, playing an incredibly fast game where body contact is allowed and encouraged. Things are going to happen during the course of a game, and players are going to get angry because they want to win and they’re emotionally invested in the outcome.

I also understand that hockey would lose fans if fighting was to be removed. There’s a sub culture in hockey that absolutely loves fighting. Think about American fans that might be new to the game. The die hard football or boxing or MMA fan would be more likely to be drawn to hockey after watching a fight than after watching a bunch of goals.

Fighting isn’t going anywhere, but the early deaths of players like Simon and the others I mentioned in part one should be enough for players to think about how they act on the ice. It should be enough for the media to stop encouraging and enabling the behaviour of fighting. It should also be enough for the league to address the issue.

It’s possible that the strategy of systematically removing fighting by changing the rules to flush enforcers out of the game is a long-term strategy being executed by the NHL to remove fighting without actually removing fighting. They know the impact that grandfathering the removal of fighting from the game could have in terms of outcry from players and the potential loss of fans, so the long-term strategy could be intentional.

That would be an optimistic viewpoint though. We know the league is more concerned about the almighty dollar than they are about protecting current players and supporting former players suffering from long-term health issues as a result of playing the game. Bill Daly certainly isn’t going to come out and say that the scientific data available is enough to connect concussions to CTE because that could cost the league millions of dollars due to legal proceedings past, present, and future.

The QMJHL banned fighting at the start of the 2023-24 season, and my guess is that other junior leagues will eventually follow suit. That will serve to further reduce the amount of fighters that come out of the junior ranks, which will obviously serve to reduce the amount of fights that happen in the NHL in the future. That’s a positive step in what will be a generation long process.

Fighting is the most unnecessary cause of concussions in hockey, but it certainly isn’t the only one. A lot of concussions are the result of hits to the head, or the head hitting the ice. The NHL has made rules to reduce head shots, but my opinion is that the punishments for said hits aren’t severe enough. If you want to stop a behavior, then you need to punish it. A five minute major and a game misconduct, a small fine, or a two-game suspension are not punishments that are fitting for actions that cause serious head injuries and potential life-long effects. These hits need to be punished more severely in my opinion.

Of course, there are legal hits that result in head injuries. Ultimately, having respect for fellow players and avoiding head contact is the surest way to reduce the number of concussions that arise from hits. Follow our very own Josh Boulton of the Tough Call Podcast (@ToughCallPod) on X. He does excellent work breaking down hits and potentially suspendable incidents. He is also incredibly knowledgeable about proper hitting technique.

I can’t remember the last time I heard somebody use the phrase “he got his bell rung” during a hockey game. That alone is a clear sign that the league is taking concussions more seriously. There are spotters in every arena that watch for players that show signs that they might have a concussion. Players get pulled from games for medical testing if a spotter deems it necessary to do so. Teams hold players with concussions out of the lineup for longer periods of time now.

To be honest, I don’t know what more can be done at this point. The most immediate thing that could happen is the league becoming more strict on punishing head shots, but I don’t see an immediate solution to removing fighting from the game and for preventing concussions.

My hope is that even more care is taken for players having sustained multiple concussions as scientific data emerges about the impact of multiple head traumas on long-term health. I don’t want players to have to deal with the long-term effects of head injuries at all, but I certainly don’t want that to keep happening as a result of a desire to rush players back into the lineup or due to a lack of care.

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OILERSLIVE TUESDAY Sep 12th – SHOW NOTES SHOW TITLE: Inaugural Edmonton Sports Talk Episode Michael (@Oilerslive) and Dash (@DashInThePark) will be joined by Bruce McCurdy of […]

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Spetmeber 13, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers announced details for the upcoming Young Stars Classic on Tuesday. The event is an annual showcase for […]

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Septmeber 12, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers announced that they signed Adam Erne to a PTO on Tuesday. The 2013 second round pick of […]

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September 11, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Dylan Holloway is the “X” factor for the Oilers this season. The rookie scored nine points in 51 games before […]

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September 10, 2023 by Mike Dirsa

After the Edmonton Oilers were eliminated from the 2023 playoffs earlier than expected, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each insisted it was Stanley Cup or bust for this group next season. Watching that presser illustrated how badly McDavid and Draisaitl want to bring a championship back to Edmonton.

I was left wondering what steps the two leaders on the Oilers would take in the off-season to come back in the fall to make this year have a better result than the previous two, where the Oilers were knocked out by the Colorado Avalanche in 2022 and the Las Vegas Golden Knights last year. The Avalanche and Golden Knights each went on to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.

It’s well-known that McDavid works on his skills and conditioning relentlessly, and Oilers fans expected him to work even harder over the summer after suffering another playoff disappointment. The bigger question was how would the rest of the team respond?

When the Oilers were swept in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final by the New York Islanders, Wayne Gretzky and Kevin Lowe dreaded walking past the Islanders’ dressing room after the game, as they expected to hear them celebrating their fourth straight championship. However, what they saw were players with ice packs on, exhausted and in quiet jubilation. The Oilers team back then was very talented but needed to learn what it takes to win it all. As an Oilers fan, I can’t help but hope that history will repeat itself with their current team.

Following their season-ending presser, I thought what could McDavid do to better prepare himself than he already does? Then I started thinking about another legendary athlete from my childhood, Michael Jordan. This was likely because earlier last year, Paul Bissonnette said on an episode of Spittin’ Chiclets that McDavid and Draisaitl are the greatest duo in sports since Jordan and Pippen.

In 1995, the Chicago Bulls lost a chance at their fourth NBA championship when they fell to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games. Jordan didn’t take any time to get over losing. Instead, he choose to work even harder starting the very next day to to come back in the fall to win a championship. Jordan didn’t just win one more ring, either. I think you know what I’m thinking.

It’s well-documented that McDavid works just as hard, if not harder than anyone else, so how is that going to lead the Oilers to the Stanley Cup? This is the exciting part because this gets into the transformation of McDavid as a leader. There are different types of leaders. Some leaders lead by example, some who are vocal leaders, and some who are a combination of both.

The Oilers returned to the ice at Rogers Place for the Captain’s Skates on Tuesday, a full two weeks ahead of any other NHL team. This is music to the ears of every Oilers fan. When I heard about this, I instantly thought there were similarities between Kobe Bryant and McDavid.

In 2008, the United States Olympic team named Kobe Bryant team captain and gave him the task to lead a group of elite NBA players to a gold medal. The part of the story most hockey fans will not know is that Bryant led by example, by showing other NBA superstars that they could work even harder than they already were. That they needed to be even more dedicated to perfecting their craft than they already were. The greatest similarity I see from McDavid to Bryant, is that both athletes choose to lead by example, and had a hunger to win.

Sportsnet’s Mark Spector asked Draisaitl about his Cup or bust statement on Thursday, and Draisaitl ended up giving a humorous response (as he’s occasionally known to do). But during the media availability, there was a sense that Draisaitl is focused and ready to begin the quest of winning the Stanley Cup.

We are witnessing the growth of McDavid and Draisaitl into leaders much like Jordan and Pippen, or Gretzky and Mark Messier. This is an exciting development for Oilers fans, and should absolutely terrify fans of other teams across the league.

Professional sports dynasties are formed when teams develop strong leaders in pairs. Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, or Jerry Rice and Joe Montana in football. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada in baseball. Jordan and Pippen in basketball. Gretzky and Messier in hockey. All of these players would challenge each other both on and off the field, court, or ice, to never stop improving. All of these players would lead in their own way but they all pushed themselves to be the best athletes possible, and challenged their teammates to follow their lead.

This year’s Oilers are on a mission and are taking the steps to ensure they are doing everything possible to achieve the ultimate goal. McDavid is the captain and his willingness to do what it takes to lead this team is on full display by starting the Captain’s skates this early. The rest of the team has responded by showing up ready to go as well. The Captain’s skates are full on scrimmages with high intensity, not just casual twirls that you would expect from what are typically informal skates with a handful of skaters.

Now it’s time to win that Stanley Cup, and I believe they will do it this season.

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September 7, 2023 by Eric Friesen

The inaugural Heritage Classic between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens in November of 2003 represented hockey in its simplest and purist form. The event gave some of the best players in the the world the chance to reconnect with their roots of skating on frozen ponds, or backyard rinks as children.

It was a spectacle unlike anything the NHL ever done before, and one of the most memorable games in Oilers history. Now, 20 years later, Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is looking forward to creating memories for a new generation of players and fans at the 2023 Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium.

“Picturing this place full of Edmonton and Calgary fans going crazy, that’s what us hockey guys get excited about,” McDavid said in his media availability on Wednesday. “I’ve got lots of family coming in. I’m looking forward to the family skate before. Those are memories that I’ll have for a lifetime, and I’m just excited for the whole weekend. It’ll be fun. To be here at Commonwealth in Edmonton, the 20th anniversary of the original outdoor game, I’m super excited to be a part of it. Obviously, the Edmonton-Calgary rivalry is special and to play on this field and on this rink in this big venue, it’s going to be very fun. Thankfully, playing in October, it’ll be a little bit warmer, I hope. You never know with Edmonton weather.”

Photo Credit: nhl.com/oilersThis will be McDavid’s second outdoor game, as he played in the 2016 Heritage Classic, where the Oilers pulled out a 3-0 win over the host Winnipeg Jets at IG Field. McDavid picked up an assist in the game, feeding Darnell Nurse for a one-timer on a two-on-one rush in the second period. While it was a great experience for him, McDavid believes that playing in the first-ever outdoor Battle of Alberta will make this year’s Heritage Classic more special.

“The game was over a little bit. I ended up taking a penalty with three or four minutes left and I remember sitting in the penalty box,” McDavid said. “We were up by a couple, so it didn’t really matter. But I remember looking around just being like, ‘This is sweet.’ It was sick. I really enjoyed it. The fans get into it. It just feels like you’re a kid again playing outside. I know that’s cliché, but it’s true, and playing hockey outdoors is as Canadian as it gets. To do it here in Edmonton against the Flames will be even better.”

Related: Connor McDavid strives to be even better next season

Like many kids across Canada, McDavid and his older brother Cam grew up playing on their backyard rink in Newmarket, Ontario. Even after playing under the bright lights of the NHL for the past eight years, McDavid still speaks fondly of playing shinny with friends for the pure joy of it.

“My dad put together an outdoor rink for us in the backyard,” McDavid said. “As we got a little bit older, it became a deck and a hot tub or an outdoor rink, and my dad opted for the deck and the hot tub, so he put an end to that. But we still had a few good winters with the outdoor rink and have great memories of that. My brother and I would walk after school to the pond close by and shovel it off and play with buddies and stuff like that, so lots of great memories on the outdoor rinks.”

Photo Credit: sportsnet.caThe 2023 Heritage Classic will surely be the most important Battle of Alberta since the 2022 playoffs, where the Oilers eliminated the Flames in five games in their second round series. McDavid expects that playing the rival Flames early in the season will help the Oilers gel quickly, as they look to end their 34-year championship drought in 2023-24.

“I think it’s a good time for our group to kind of come together,” McDavid said. “It’s early in the year. It’s a big game. It always is. Every time Edmonton plays Calgary, a lot of family will be in town. I think the NHL does a good job of kind of scheduling a little bit of a break leading up and then a break afterwards to be able to get the families involved, which is always a nice thing. I think it’s a game that can really bring our team together.”

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September 7, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Wednesday was a monumental day for the Heavy Hockey Network and for Edmonton Sports Talk. Edmonton Sports Talk (@yegsportstalk) announced that the Heavy Hockey Network (@HeavyHockeyNet) will be a “Friend of EST”. Two Heavy Hockey Network podcasts, Oilerslive and Fantasy Hockey Hacks, will be available on Edmonton Sports Talk starting next week.

Welcome aboard the newest "Friends of EST", @HeavyHockeyNet!!

Catch "OilersLive" Tuesday nights at 9pm and "Fantasy Hockey Hacks" Wednesday nights at 9pm on the Edmonton Sports Talk live stream!!

https://t.co/nZtV4ir0AN pic.twitter.com/C04BksKr0P

— Edmonton Sports Talk (@yegsportstalk) September 6, 2023

The Edmonton sports media landscape has undergone a seismic shift since TSN 1260 was unceremoniously shut down on June 14, 2023. Dustin Nielson (@nielsonTSN1260), Lieutenant Eric (@Lieutenant_Eric), Matthew Iwanyk (@matthewiwanyk), and Tom Gazzola (@TomGazzola) have banded together to form a brand new digital radio station called Edmonton Sports Talk that officially launched on Wednesday morning. This is the aim of the station according to their website:

“Edmonton Sports Talk aims to speak to and with the people of the community, sharing stories and insights into both the local Edmonton sports scene and beyond. Bringing a focus and light not only on the heavy-hitters but also teams and players that call Edmonton home.”

The station will feature live shows including The Nielson Show, The EST Hangout, The Lock Shop, The Oil Stream, 2 Guys and a Goalie, Hello Hockey, The VIP Golf Show, and the Pit Stop Pals. The content will be available at edmontonsportstalk.com. There are options to listen or watch live, and the shows will be available in podcast form to watch on demand.

“It’s 2023. Everything operates on your computer or your phone, so we figured that’s the best place for sports content to be” said Nielson while appearing on Oilerslive on August 22, 2023. “Canada in general, but specifically our market… I think we’re a little bit behind in how sports content is being consumed. I think this is an opportunity to take a step towards something where like ten years from now, we’ll be like ‘how did we ever consume sports content any other way?’”

Edmonton Sports Talk will also feature other local shows that they’re calling “Friends of EST”. The list includes the Achy Breaky Podcast, MCTV, The Elks Call, The Pipeline Show, and The Turf District. Heavy Hockey Network shows Oilerslive and Fantasy Hockey Hacks were added to the list on Wednesday.

“Edmonton Sports Talk, we’re hoping, will end up being a hub for, you know, all Edmonton sports podcasts and things along those lines. To me, it’s an opportunity to promote others and not feel like there’s this sort of greasy vibe of competition. I think that’s the way to build a community, and you know, there’s sort of four of us that are starting Edmonton Sports Talk, but in the end, you know, we’d love for people to feel like everybody sort of belongs and has a place there if you want to do sports broadcasting, or if you want to give it a try” said Nielson.

Oilerslive is a fan based podcast that is dedicated to covering the NHL and hockey around the globe with an Oilers lean. Michael Hebert (@oilserlive) released the first episode of Oilerslive on December 27, 2017. He launched the Heavy Hockey Network on October 4, 2021.

Hebert has done a lot to connect Oilers fans from all over the world and create a sense of community in the Oilers Twitterverse. Everyone here at the Heavy Hockey Network is a fan of the game and was brought on by Hebert because he saw value in what everyone could add to the team. Hebert has spearheaded five charity hockey games since starting his podcast. Last year’s Heavy Hockey Showdown, in conjunction with the Oilers Girl’s Night Out Event, raised over $25,000 for the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton. The next Heavy Hockey Showdown in support of SACE will be on February 25, 2024, so keep your eyes and ears open for information on that as it becomes available.

I’d be remiss in forgetting Oilerslive Associate Host (or whatever he’s calling himself these days) Michael Dashney (@dashinthepark) who did a lot of work behind the scenes to make this possible. “Dash” is a vocal leader and a glue guy in the Heavy Hockey locker room. He regularly appears on Oilerslive, and he will be a part of another fun project for Heavy Hockey in the coming season. I’ve said too much already!

Fantasy Hockey Hacks is a weekly podcast that provides information to help fantasy hockey players get an edge such as projections, draft strategies, waiver wire targets, daily fantasy sports, and the latest news and injury reports. They also run their own blog with tons of helpful information. You can learn more about the Fantasy Hockey Hacks by checking out their website. Hosts Devon Davidson (@FHHacks), Bruce Guenther (@bruceguenther), John Ens (@ItsFoShoJohnnyE), and Tyler Hollman (@tai_chi67) released the first episode of the Fantasy Hockey Hacks on April 18, 2021. The group became a part of the Heavy Hockey Network on June 30, 2023.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

New LIVE 1-hour show, Wednesday nights at 9 PM MST this season on @yegsportstalk!

Thank you to @HeavyHockeyNet for all you’ve done, and to everyone at EST for the opportunity.@nielsonTSN1260 @oilerslive @bruceguenther @tai_chi67 @ItsFoShoJohnnyE https://t.co/hYgBQFRrIw

— Fantasy Hockey Hacks (@FHHacks) September 6, 2023

Oilerslive will air on Edmonton Sports Talk at its regularly scheduled time of Tuesday nights at 9 pm MST, and Fantasy Hockey Hacks will air on Wednesday nights at 9 pm MST starting next week. The full schedule of Edmonton Sports Talk programming can be found on their website.

Wednesday marked the beginning of something that stands to be amazing. It’s exciting for the Heavy Hockey Network to be a part of Edmonton Sports Talk. Nielson and company are all tremendously talented at what they do, and they’re great guys as well. Giving back to the community is an important part of the culture at the Heavy Hockey Network, and that aligns with Edmonton Sports Talk’s vision. I’m looking forward to seeing both Edmonton Sports Talk and the Heavy Hockey Network grow in the coming years!

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September 5, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers hired Mike Fanelli as the new Video and Coaching Analytics Coordinator and Noah Segall as the Video Coach on Tuesday.

Fanelli most recently was an Assistant Coach with the Sioux City Musketeers from 2021 until taking this role. His most relevant work experience that pertains to this role was his five years with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a Hockey Analytics Assistant. The Lightning have been known to have a strong Analytics department for many years, and Fanelli was a part of it for five years, including their Stanley Cup title years in 2020 and 2021. I can’t speak to Fanelli’s impact on the Lightning’s Analytics department, but he was clearly a part of a strong team that earned fantastic results.

Fanelli joins Justin Mahé, Manager of Hockey Analytics, and Shaun Mahé, Coordinator, Hockey Operations in the Analytics Department. Fanelli should bring valuable perspective from his experience with the Lightning organization.

The hiring of Fanelli is the first move that CEO Jeff Jackson has made to fortify the Analytics department, as I suggested he would do in my recent three-part series on Jackson’s potential impact on the Oilers. This is a tangible sign that Jackson values analytics and that he’s taking action to improve the department.

Related: Jackson’s Potential Impact on the Oilers: Part Three – Professional Scouting and Analytics

The Oilers have notoriously struggled when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are not on the ice. The ability to find players that can win the battle when McDavid and Draisaitl are not on the ice is critical to the team’s success. Analytics offer valuable insights that can inform those roster decisions. Analytics can also inform coaching decisions. The data can reveal which line combinations and defensive pairs are working well together, and which ones are not. That information can help when deciding on lineups or when trying to match lines with another team.

Segall was previously a Video Coordinator with the Oilers, and he has now been promoted to Video Coach. Prior to joining the Oilers, Segall was a Video Coach with the Bakersfield Condors from 2021 to 2022, and a Video Coach with the Charlotte Checkers from 2019 to 2021. He also spent two years as the Director of Hockey Operations for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The role was previously held by Jeremy Coupal, who decided to part ways with the team earlier this summer. Coupal was the person upstairs notifying the coaching staff if he felt that a play needed to be challenged. Coupal had a real knack for picking up challengeable plays, and he was correct far more often than not. Segall has big shoes to fill in that respect. Hopefully he learned lots from Coupal, which I’m sure he did.

Related: Oilers Mutually Part Ways with Wright, Hire Pracey

According to Coupal’s LinkedIn profile, he also submitted game lineups, logged events, and communicated information with the coaches on the bench during games. He also assisted with Team Services and travel planning. I would expect Segall to assume those responsibilities. Coupal also assisted with analytics. Given Fanelli’s entry into the organization, I don’t expect that Segall will be involved in analytics much, if at all.

Jackson continues to bring fresh minds and new perspectives to the Oilers organization in his quest to make the Oilers “best in class” at everything they do. He seems to be intent on reducing the number of responsibilities that each person has, such as giving Rick Pracey one of the two titles that Tyler Wright previously held and by adding to the Analytics department thus reducing the workload of the Video Coach. That should serve to make everyone stronger at their specific roles. I’m excited to see how these hires will impact the team this season and over the next few years!

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September 2, 2023 by Kirk Morris The 2022-23 Los Angeles Kings season was another test for the team in several fashions. The Kings had a major […]

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September 1, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

This is part three of my series about why Connor McDavid will more than likely sign a contract extension eventually with the Edmonton Oilers. Part one focussed on the likelihood of him requesting a trade. Part two focussed on the likelihood of him leaving as an unrestricted free agent. Today’s piece will focus on the real reasons why McDavid will likely choose to stay in Edmonton.

I’ll start with the way that the Oilers organization has treated McDavid. The Oilers made their first grand gesture to McDavid by trading Taylor Hall away. The Hall trade filled a team need on defence (Adam Larsson), but part of the reason why then GM Peter Chiarelli made the trade was to give the dressing room to McDavid. The Oilers made McDavid the youngest captain in NHL history when they named him the captain of the club mere months after the Hall trade.

Related: Why McDavid Isn’t Going Anywhere: Part One – Trade Requests

The Oilers played their first regular season game at Rogers Place exactly one week after McDavid was named captain of the team. McDavid was part of a spectacular ceremony to officially open the new arena. Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier did a lap of the ice to great applause. They left the ice surface, then a video started playing. McDavid skated onto the ice to lead the team out for warm up. The spotlight shone on him as he collected a puck and calmly shot it into the empty net, which was the trigger for the rest of the team to come onto the ice and start the warm up. McDavid represented the new era in a ceremony that honoured the storied history of the team and got everyone excited about the future. He was also the first person to get to skate on the ice surface at Rogers Place. Not many players get that kind of opportunity in their life.

McDavid has had two serious injuries in his time with the Oilers. He missed 37 games with a broken collarbone in his rookie season. Mark Giordano tripped McDavid on a partial breakaway in the last game of the 2019 season, which resulted in a brutal leg and knee injury for McDavid.

The team shot and released a documentary about McDavid’s unique recovery process for that injury that was called “Whatever It Takes”. Some teams would’ve forced McDavid to get surgery, but the Oilers allowed their prized possession to choose how he wanted to approach his recovery. Unbeliveably, he recovered in time for training camp the next season.

The Milan Lucic contract was terrible, there’s no debating that. However, McDavid had previously said in an interview long before he was drafted that Lucic is the type of winger that he would want to play with the most, as this piece from Jim Parsons noted. Chiarelli’s previous relationship with Lucic from their time together with the Boston Bruins likely played the biggest role in Lucic’s signing, but the Oilers went out and got McDavid’s preferred winger.

There have been some tumultuous years in the McDavid era, but those tough years are behind the team now. McDavid has been an integral part of building the Oilers into the team that they are today. He has played a massive role in their ascension. McDavid has been a leader in building a winning culture here. Seeing the project through is something that’s likely to provide him with a great level of satisfaction.

McDavid isn’t about individual accolades, but he’s got a chance to do some incredible things in Edmonton. McDavid will forever be tied to Wayne Gretzky because they were both the best players in the world in their primes, and they both played for the Oilers. If McDavid can play 1,118 games for the Oilers and continue scoring points at his current pace, then he would pass Gretzky for the Oilers all-time franchise points record.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/EdmontonOilersWinning a Stanley Cup or multiple Stanley Cups would elevate McDavid into the pantheon of the greatest players to ever play the sport, if he isn’t already on that track. Winning Stanley Cups in Edmonton and getting the franchise record for points would put him on a level close to Gretzky. I’m sure he doesn’t go to sleep at night thinking about stuff like that, but it might be in the back of his mind.

He’s developed strong relationships with long-time teammates like Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Leon Draisaitl. Two of the three are locked in long-term, and Draisaitl is likely to follow suit in my opinion for many of the reasons I outlined in the first two parts of this series. Friends and teammates come and go, but the chance to complete the job with guys that he’s that close with is a positive factor.

EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 19: Edmonton Oilers Winger Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his power play goal with Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)McDavid has grown as a person in Edmonton. He was an eighteen year old kid when he came here. He learned how to be an adult in Edmonton. His relationship with fiancée Lauren Kyle has certainly grown here. She has shown a commitment to the community in Edmonton. Kyle is heavily involved in the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation. McDavid said that Edmonton checks a lot of boxes for them. That’s a massively important piece of the puzzle.

Finally, the team hired McDavid’s former agent, Jeff Jackson, to be the CEO. They have a great relationship, which can only serve to increase the odds of McDavid wanting to stay. I’ll insert a shameless plug about my recent three–part series on the subject here.

Related: Jackson’s Potential Impact on the Oilers: Part Three – Professional Scouting and Analytics

I don’t know where McDavid could go where his situation could be any better than it is with the Oilers. Any team with the necessary cap space to simply sign him as a free agent without moving players out is going to be a terrible team, which would rule them out of consideration.

A team that’s currently rebuilding that could be good in a few years might be a possibility. The Montreal Canadiens will be relieved of Carey Price’s $10.5 million cap hit in 2026. They will have to sign some of their young players by 2026, but they could be in a position to go after McDavid.

The Buffalo Sabres are another example of a young team that could be in a position to strike in 2026. They have to sign Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power along with a few young forwards by then, but they have some great value contracts that could be helpful in pursuit of a cap hit the size of McDavid’s.

Teams like the Canadiens and Sabres will need to go through similar playoff growing pains that the Oilers have had to endure in recent years. I don’t see McDavid wanting to go through that again with a new team, especially if he hasn’t won a Stanley Cup by 2026.

There aren’t many contenders that will have the cap space required to sign McDavid, but the New York Rangers could be one. Artemi Panarin’s $11,642,857 cap hit will open up in 2026, and Jacob Trouba’s $8 million cap hit will be gone that summer too. Igor Shesterkin is the only truly scary contract they have to negotiate before 2026, but the salary cap is likely to increase before then. There’s a small chance that McDavid could be enticed to go to a different contending team, but I don’t think his personality is a good fit for the New York spotlight.

Related: Why McDavid Isn’t Going Anywhere: Part Two – UFA Departures

I hope that this series of articles has helped to ease some anxiety in the Oilers fanbase. There’s a general sense of pessimism about McDavid’s desire to stay in Edmonton, and it’s entirely unfounded. It’s rooted in fear and cynicism. The arguments are ridiculous and tiresome in all honesty. I’m quite confident that McDavid will sign a contract extension with the Oilers.

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August 31, 2023 by Josh Boulton

It didn’t take long for the pro-hockey fighting crowd to get their first “I told you so” in as Cape Breton Screaming Eagles prospect Rory Pilling was announced to be out for at least six to eight weeks with a broken femur on Friday.

Pilling suffered the injury late in a QMJHL pre-season game against the Halifax Mooseheads, where the Screaming Eagles were ahead 7-1. The 16-year-old was the recipient of what has been described by hockey fighting supporters as a dirty knee-on-knee hit. The identified culprit? The new QMJHL fighting ban, which was just introduced for the 2023-24 season.

That’s right. The opponents of the ban are jumping on this incident as proof the game is no longer safe. After all, the report is there was no retribution from the Screaming Eagles players, and, obviously, it’s due to the fear of getting a one to three game suspension for being the aggressor under the new rules.

Now I haven’t seen the hit, but I do know there was no penalty called on the play. Yes, officials miss calls, but the lack of penalties does make me wonder about the interpretation of the hit. Is it being called “dirty” just to fit a narrative? I’d wager most of the articles blaming the fighting ban for this play were written even as the ink declaring the new fighting rule was still drying. Just wait until the first questionable hit happens, insert teams here, and publish.

Even at that, let’s just say this was a dirty play. Obviously, the threat of a major penalty, an ejection, and a possible subsequent suspension, weren’t enough to deter the Mooseheads’ player from “sticking his knee out” in the first place. If that’s the case, why do the instigator rule and this new fighting ban work so well to stop players from jumping opponents who do dirty things? Out one side of the mouth comes “we need fighting because rules don’t stop cheap shot artists from being dirty,” and out the other side comes “the fighting ban will make it so we can’t do anything about it!” Why the heck not? If a play is really that bad, and your team mate is seriously injured, what’s one, or even three games, if it means avenging the play?

If you’re honest with yourself, the only right answer is nothing. It’s absolutely worth it. The trouble is, most hits that “used to” cause players to fight simply are not worth it anymore. And again, the truth is most of them never were. The hitting won’t be any more or less “dirty” than it used to be before the fighting ban. Players will just have to be more selective of what’s truly worth retribution. Fighting ban one, pro-fighting crowd zero.

And here’s the real kicker. This brutal injury, this broken femur caused by a cheap shot late in the third period of a blowout game that means absolutely nothing, which remember, the pro-fighting crowd claims will only happen more frequently under this new fighting ban, is actually caused by the same hockey cultural bloodthirsty attitude that wants to be allowed to avenge it.

If you want to pretend this is the first time in the history of hockey there was ever a “questionable” incident late in a blowout just to prove a point, you might as well come clean and admit you’ve never watched one minute of hockey in your entire life. But most hardcore hockey fans know this is par for the course. This is as true in the new age of fighting bans as it was in the greatest glory days of the enforcer. This is, and always will be, what you want in hockey. If a player trailing 7-1 doesn’t at least try to take a run at somebody, do they even care? Do they have no passion at all? No heart? That’s what you’d say about them. Then when it inevitably happens, and they do take a run, you also want to see them beaten to a bloody pulp. This is your idea of safety?

Any rule will have its limits. A minor penalty doesn’t stop all holding, but it does make players pick their moments for when its worth going shorthanded. A major penalty doesn’t always stop a player from cross-checking an opponent in the face after the whistle, but it does prevent it from happening as a routine. With all things being equal, the fighting ban also shouldn’t stop all fighting. Like every single rule that came before, it just forces players be more selective about when it’s worth taking a suspension.

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August 30, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg This is part two of my series on why I believe Connor McDavid will extend his contract with the Edmonton […]

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August 29, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Mark Spector conducted a phone interview with Connor McDavid and released an article about it last Wednesday. The intriguing content […]

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August 28, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers annoucned that they have signed Sam Gagner to a professional tryout offer. Our very own Michael Hebert […]

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August 28, 2023 by Mike Dirsa Growing up in Northern Alberta, I thought hockey players were 10-feet tall and bulletproof. I thought nothing phased them, and […]

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August 27, 2023 by Bob Schmidt How do you accurately measure how offensively dominate an NHL player is/was? Is it as simple as the number of […]

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August 23, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Jeff Jackson said that he will seek to bring a new perspective to the Edmonton Oilers, and he went on […]

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The Edmonton Oilers have signed Evan Bouchard to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $3.9 million. For what it’s worth, our own Michael […]

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OILERSLIVE TUESDAY Aug 22 – SHOW NOTES SHOW TITLE: What’s for dinner? Michael (@Oilerslive) and Dash (@DashInThePark) will be joined by our friend Dustin Nielson (@NielsonTSN1260) […]

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August 22, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Jeff Jackson doesn’t mess around. He made his first change to the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Operations department on Tuesday. The […]

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August 21, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Jeff Jackson said that he will seek to bring a new perspective to the Edmonton Oilers, and he went on […]

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August 20, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Jeff Jackson was hired by the Edmonton Oilers to become the team’s new CEO of Hockey Operations on August 3. […]

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August 18, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Detroit Red Wings acquired Jeff Petry from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Gustav Lindstrom and a conditional 2025 […]

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August 16, 2023 by Josh Boulton The Washington Capitals signed Tom Wilson to a seven-year contract extension worth $45.5 million that runs through 2030-31 on August […]

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August 10, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Pittsburgh Penguins landed Erik Karlsson in a massive three team trade that made waves around the NHL. Karlsson and […]

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August 10, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Brandon Sutter hasn’t played an NHL game since 2021. Sutter contracted COVID, along with the majority of his Canucks teammates, […]

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OILERSLIVE TUESDAY Aug 8SHOW NOTES SHOW TITLE: Alaska Aces greatest PxP Michael (@Oilerslive) will be joined by Dash (@DashInThePark) and Jack Michaels (The voice of the […]

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August 8, 2023 by Josh Boulton The Edmonton Oilers have been blessed with multiple Hockey Hall of Fame players, including a couple of future Hall of […]

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August 3, 2023 by Eric Friesen The Edmonton Oilers officially hired Jeff Jackson as CEO of Hockey Operations on Thursday. Jackson will report directly to Owner […]

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OILERSLIVE TUESDAY Aug 1 – SHOW NOTES SHOW TITLE: Pro Stars No Sugar Added Michael (@Oilerslive) will be joined by Dash (@DashInThePark) and Lowetide (@Lowetide) and […]

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August 2, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers signed Ryan McLeod to a two-year, $4.2 million contract on Tuesday evening. It’s a nice number for […]

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August 1, 2023 by Kirk Morris The Edmonton Oilers re-signed RFA Ryan McLeod to a two-year contract worth $4.2 million on Monday. McLeod, who filed for […]

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August 1, 2023 by Eric Friesen Six Edmonton Oilers players hit the links in the fourth annual Zach Hyman Celebrity Classic at Eagles Nest Golf Club […]

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OILERSLIVE TUESDAY July 25 – SHOW NOTES SHOW TITLE: EDMONTON OILERS / NHL Michael (@Oilerslive) joined by Ryan Lotsberg (@LotsRy) from Heavy Hockey to discuss the […]

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July 25, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Edmonton Oilers goalie coach Dustin Schwartz receives plenty of criticism. Consistently solid goaltending has been on the team’s wish list […]

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July 18, 2023 by Spencer Pomoty This year’s class of draft eligible prospects from the WHL was a loaded one. Out of the top 10 scorers […]

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July 16, 2023 by Josh Boulton While most of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL records remain untouchable, Alexander Ovechkin has a legitimate chance of breaking his record for […]

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July 13, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers have two important restricted free agents that need to be signed, Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod. Bouchard’s […]

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July 10, 2023 by Eric Friesen Edmonton Oilers Development Camp concluded with one final on-ice session at the Downtown Community Arena on Friday. For several of […]

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July 8, 2023 by Spencer Pomoty Building relationships is always the main focus at the Edmonton Oilers Development Camp, so no one was graded by the […]

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July 1, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The worst kept secret in this year’s NHL free agency period was made official on Saturday. The Edmonton Oilers have […]

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June 30, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg Friday represented the deadline for NHL teams to submit qualifying offers for their restricted free agents. Tendering a qualifying offer […]

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June 30, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers have had a busy last couple of days in preparation for the free agency period, which begins […]

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June 27, 2023 by Eric Friesen Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid cleaned up at the 2023 NHL Awards in Nashville on Monday. McDavid won the Art […]

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June 26, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg I was pretty certain that Philip Broberg would develop into a top four defenceman on the Edmonton Oilers by the […]

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June 21, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg I recently wrote a piece about the positional asymmetry of the Edmonton Oilers forward depth chart. Today my focus is […]

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June 20, 2023 by Eric Friesen The Edmonton Oilers need to be aggressive in trying to add a player or two this off-season to put them […]

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June 19, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg I find it interesting to look at the forward depth chart of the Edmonton Oilers right now. There’s a lot […]

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June 13, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg “Devastated” was the word of the day during Ken Holland’s season ending press conference. That word explains how the entire […]

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May 31, 2023 by Eric Friesen

The Edmonton Oilers acquired forward prospect Jayden Grubbe from the New York Rangers in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft on Wednesday.

Grubbe was selected by the Rangers in the third-round (65th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft from the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL. The 6-foot-3, 203-pound centre played four seasons (2019-2023) with the Rebels, tallying 39 goals and 134 points in 194 career WHL games. Grubbe set career-highs in goals (18), assists (49) and points (67) in 64 games this season. He was named team captain in 2020-21.

Photo Credit: https://twitter.com/Rebelshockey“I think [the Oilers] were super excited to have me, and get me into the organization, and so was I,” Grubbe said on TSN 1260 on Wednesday. “I think it’s good to see that. There’s an opportunity for me, they preached that. They need someone like me, so that’s good to hear. I’m just going to play my game, and they want someone who can bring it all over the ice and play a solid 200-foot game. So, I think that fits my game pretty well, and it’s just an exciting opportunity.”

Internationally, Grubbe has played for Canada at the 2020 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. Following the trade, the Oilers signed Grubbe to a three-year, entry-level contract worth $2.775 million. The 20-year-old Calgary, Alberta native will turn pro with the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL in 2023-24.

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May 15, 2023 by Eric Friesen

Even though it’s been less than 24 hours since the Edmonton Oilers were eliminated from the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, there’s already speculation that front office changes could be coming.

Per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Steve Staios could possibly replace Ken Holland as the Oilers’ General Manager in the next days or weeks. Staios was hired by the Oilers as a special advisor to the club’s hockey operations staff with a focus on player development on October 6.

“I think change is on the horizon in Edmonton,” Seravalli said on The DFO Rundown on Monday. “When you consider what is looming out there in other searches, I expect the Oilers to be very proactive and protective of Steve Staios. He is someone they value, and they have a thin staff as it is. The Oilers see Staios as their next general manager, and how quickly that happens will depend on a few things.

“If Michael Andlauer is the successful bidder to purchase the Ottawa Senators, formerly the owner of the Hamilton Bulldogs where he found a lot of success with Staios, there will be a real pull to bring Staios with him as the next GM of the Senators. I think the Oilers want to get out in front of that. I won’t be shocked, I’m not reporting this, just this is what the speculation has been behind the scenes, is that there is a possibility Ken Holland will be promoted to President of Hockey Operations and Steve Staios is promoted to General Manager.”

Photo Credit: twitter.com/EdmontonOilersPrior to joining the Oilers’ hockey operations department, Staios played with the Boston Bruins (1996-1997), Vancouver Canucks (1997-1999), Atlanta Thrashers (1999-2001), Oilers (2001-2004, 2005-2010), Calgary Flames (2010-2011) and the New York Islanders (2011-12), tallying 56 goals, 220 points and 1,322 penalty minutes in 1,001 career NHL games. Staios helped the Oilers reach the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. He was named an alternate captain with the Oilers in 2006-07. Internationally, Staios represented Canada at the 2002, 2003 (gold), 2004 (gold) and 2008 (silver) IIHF World Championships.

In 2012, Staios was hired as Player Development Advisor with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 2014, Staios also become an Assistant Coach with the Maple Leafs. In 2015, Staios was hired as President and General Manager of the Hamilton Bulldogs in the OHL. Staios managed the Bulldogs for six seasons (2015-2020, 2021-22), posting a 205-156-41 record in 402 games (.561 points percentage). The 49-year-old won two OHL championships in 2018 and 2022 and reached the Memorial Cup final in 2022 as GM of the Bulldogs.

Since returning to the organization where he enjoyed his most successful years as a player this past October, I have believed that Staios would eventually become the club’s next GM. While some fans might question the decision to hire yet another former Oiler as a manager figure, this wouldn’t be a case of nepotism. Staios is going to be a GM in the NHL in the not too distant future, whether it’s in Edmonton, or somewhere else.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/HuskiesHamiltonWhen Staios took over as GM of the Bulldogs in 2015, he inherited a team (formerly the Belleville Bulls) that finished in 14th place out of 20 teams in the OHL the previous season. Three years later, the Bulldogs won the J. Ross Robertson Cup under his guidance. Then, four years after their first title, with an entirely new group of players, the Bulldogs won a second championship.

Staios is highly-regarded across hockey circles, and the Oilers wise to add him to their staff this past October. It would make sense that the plan was for Staios to work under Holland for two seasons until his contract expires on June 30, 2024, and then be elevated to the GM chair. However, with other NHL organizations potentially interested in interviewing Staios for their GM position, the Oilers might have to expedite the process.

With Holland at the helm, the Oilers have qualified for the playoffs for four consecutive seasons, including an appearance in the 2022 Western Conference Final. While not all of his moves have worked out well, I think Holland has deserved more credit for than he generally gets credit for. But much like the situation with Head Coach Jay Woodcroft 15 months ago, NHL clubs have to promote quality individuals, or risk losing them.

It’s unclear whether Holland plans to retire, or stay on with the organization as President of Hockey Operations beyond 2024, but now is the time is the time to promote Staios to GM. Staios is ready for this opportunity, and he would be put in a position to succeed by managing a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

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May 12, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

By winning the NHL Draft Lottery on Monday night, the Chicago Blackhawks won the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and the right to select top prospect Connor Bedard. Bedard is being touted as the best prospect to hit the draft since Connor McDavid in 2015. The 17-year old from North Vancouver, BC set many Canadian records at the World Junior tournament including most goals and points all-time, and the most assists and points in a single tournament. He also set a tournament record for the most points in a single tournament by a player under 18 years of age. Bedard lit up the WHL this season by scoring 143 points in just 57 games, and he added 20 more points in the Regina Pats’s seven game playoff series against the Saskatoon Blades. The Blackhawks may have won the draft lottery, but they don’t deserve Bedard.

EDMONTON, AB: Connor Bedard skates in warm-up prior to Canada vs Finland at Rogers Place on August 15, 2021. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergThe Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups between 2010 and 2015. They’re eight years removed from a mini dynasty. They lost Brent Seabrook in 2020, and they lost Duncan Keith in 2021. They said goodbye to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews this season. No worries though, because they just landed Bedard!

Let’s take it further. The Montreal Canadiens made a splash at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft at the Bell Centre when they surprisingly selected Juraj Slafkovsky with the first overall pick, which was expected to be used on Shane Wright. Wright is expected to be a top tier centre, and the Canadiens have needed an elite centre for decades. They chose Slafkovsky because they liked him, but they felt comfortable passing on Wright because they had a trade lined up with the Blackhawks for Kirby Dach, which was announced minutes later. If you remember the 2019 draft lottery, the Blackhawks had the thirteenth best odds of winning the lottery. They won the lottery and moved up ten spots to the third pick, which they used on Dach. That means that this is the second time that the Blakhawks have won the draft lottery in the last five years!

“Wait a second, an Oilers fan arguing that the Blackhawks don’t deserve a first overall pick because they won two draft lotteries in five years is pretty rich” you might say. Fair enough, the Oilers had four first overall picks from 2010-2015. Oilers fans suffered for a much longer time before the Oilers got those picks, and much more time had passed since their last Cup than the eight years it’s been for Chicago.

Anyway, I digress. The biggest reason that the Blackhawks don’t deserve Bedard is because of the Kyle Beach incident. The way that the organization handled Beach’s sexual assault was wrong. The people in power that knew about the assult did nothing to address it until after they had won the Stanley Cup that year, and they did the bare minimum. The ownership group only held people that were in the organization at that time accountable after everything was made public. Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz had this exchange with The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus at a public event on February 2, 2022:

.@MarkLazerus asked Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz how the team is working to empower players in the wake of the Kyle Beach situation.

Wirtz: "We're not going to talk about Kyle Beach. We're not going to talk about 2010. We're moving on."

@NHLBlackhawks pic.twitter.com/B12Rr5RusS

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 3, 2022

Not only did Wirtz not answer the question, he prevented someone else from answering the question. The tone of his voice in the video and the way he angrily dismissed Lazerus’s question showed that he learned absolutely nothing from that whole ordeal. He did way more damage to his reputation and that of the Blackhawks by not answering the question than he ever could have by answering it.

Blakhawks GM Kyle Davidson hasn’t done anything to make me think he doesn’t deserve Bedard. None of the current Blakhawks players have done anything to make me think that they don’t deserve Bedard. It’s all about Wirtz and the ownership group. He has had enough success in his tenure as the owner of the Blackhawks. Wirtz showed his true colours during that exchange with Lazerus. Wirtz doesn’t deserve more success. He doesn’t deserve Bedard. He doesn’t deserve the surge in season ticket sales that happened after the Blackhawks won the draft lottery, and he doesn’t deserve the profits from Bedard jerseys.

Related: Should George Parros’s Reign as Head of Department of Player Safety Come to an End?

Once again, the Anaheim Ducks finished in the runner up spot in a draft lottery with a supposed generational prospect on the line. Then Ducks GM Brian Burke looked on as the Pittsburgh Penguins won the right to select Sidney Crosby in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Bobby Ryan was a good player, but he wasn’t Sid. This time, current Ducks GM Pat Verbeek had to watch the Blackhawks win the first pick over his team. Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlsson are great prospects, but they’re not Bedard. As much as I hate the Ducks and didn’t want to see Bedard in the Pacific Division, the Ducks deserved him more than the Blakhawks did.

I’m sure that Gary Bettman is elated that Bedard will be going to a large American original six market. Bedard being in Chicago will be great for the league; but that doesn’t do anything to change my stance that the Blackhawks don’t deserve Bedard.

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May 11, 2023 by Michael Hebert

In a baffling turn of events, common sense and reason seem to have been thrown out the window when it comes to the NHL Department of Player Safety (DOPS).

So far in this year’s edition of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Toronto Maple Leafs fans are up in arms over what they perceive as an overly harsh suspension for Michael Bunting, while lighter fines imposed on Florida Panthers’ forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett have left many scratching their heads. In fact, it appears that most fans across the league are clueless about the DOPS’s decision-making process on any given night. This has raised serious doubts about the future of George Parros as the head of the department.

The spotlight fell squarely on the DOPS once again during the Wednesday night matchup between the Edmonton Oilers and Las Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4, where two plays late in the game were reviewed by the DOPS and resulted in suspensions. The first incident involved a Darnell Nurse instigator penalty during the final minutes of the game.

Per rule 46.21, a player automatically receives a one-game suspension for instigating a fight in the last five minutes of a game, but the suspension can be overturned upon review. However, despite two similar incidents during the regular season where suspensions were lifted, Nurse’s suspension was upheld this time around, defying the precedent set earlier. Not only baffling because of the earlier precedent, but it’s often noted that playoff games carry heavier weight than those in the regular season.

The second play that drew attention was an Alex Pietrangelo two-handed slash on Leon Draisaitl’s arms in the final two minutes of the game. Pietrangelo received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for his actions. While the game was out or reach for the Golden Knights at that point, and Draisaitl seemed relatively unharmed after momentarily going down, it was evident to even the most casual observer that the slash was not a legitimate hockey play, but rather an intentional attempt to injure. Consequently, the DOPS announced a hearing for Pietrangelo on Thursday.

Given the blatant intent to injure on the play, many hockey observers expected Pietrangelo to receive a severe punishment. In any other context, such an action would likely result in an assault charge. However, the DOPS handed down a mere one-game suspension for Pietrangelo, raising eyebrows and prompting widespread criticism. The NHL is renowned for its physicality, making the Department of Player Safety all the more crucial as the guardian of actual player safety. Equipped with game tape, multiple angles, and high-definition cameras, the DOPS should take into account precedents, severity, and the overall context of the game when making decisions.

Former player Kevin Bieksa voiced his disagreement with the ruling on Sportsnet, unafraid to call out what he perceived as a flawed decision. Many players, broadcasters, and fans of the league have joined in questioning the consistency and logic behind the DOPS’s actions. From my vantage point it appears that the department was more concerned about avoiding the appearance of favoritism toward either team, resulting in a questionable decision to balance the Nurse and Pietrangelo suspensions in an attempt to appease everyone.

The fans are understandably bewildered by the lack of clarity regarding what warrants a suspension and what constitutes a fineable offense. The league must be aware of the mounting confusion. When former players and broadcasters start highlighting the inconsistency, it raises a significant concern: should this be the end of George Parros’ tenure as the head of the Department of Player Safety?

Without a doubt, I think the league should step in and find a new leader for DOPS. It’s time for the league to take this in another direction and move away from former players running the department. George Parros’s time is up, it couldn’t be more clear than today.

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May 11, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Alex Pietrangelo of the Vegas Golden Knights has been suspended for one game for his slash on Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers near the end of game four of their second round playoff series. The “slap on the wrist” that Pietrangelo received is an absolute embarrassment.

I’m not going to compare this to Darnell Nurse receiving a one game suspension for taking an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of the game. Hague was involved with another Oiler, and Nurse was the third man in there. Nurse clearly instigated the fight in my opinion, although I say that without the full context of what had been said between the two players earlier in the game and throughout the series to date. The two incidents in question are separate incidents, and I want to make that abundantly clear while I write about the Pietrangelo incident.

Let’s be absolutely crystal clear about what Pietrangelo did. Shea Theodore, Pietrangelo’s defence partner, was defending Draisaitl as he skated down the right wing and directed a backhand shot towards Vegas’s empty net. Pietrangelo left his side of the ice and skated underneath Theodore in order to get to Draisaitl. Pietrangelo lifted his stick up over his head, slid his hands together at the end of the stick, and aggressively swung the stick down onto Draisaitl’s arm.

Alex Pietrangelo gives Leon Draisaitl a two-handed slash after an empty net opportunity. pic.twitter.com/wziPdleLDx

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 11, 2023

There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Pietrangelo was being deliberate with his actions. First of all, the puck was nowhere close to the vicinity of the players when the incident occurred. He clearly wasn’t defending at that moment. Pietrangelo left his position to go after the player being covered by his defence partner. He used his stick as a weapon, and slid his hands together to create a longer lever in order to deliver more force onto Draisaitl’s arm. Pietrangelo chose to attack the player that leads the league in playoff goal scoring and that is on pace to set an NHL record for goals in a playoff season. The slash was delivered to Draisaitl’s wrist. An injury to Draisaitl’s wrist would obviously make it more difficult for him to score, so there was a strategic element to his decision. Make no mistake about it, Pietrangelo clearly intended to injure Draisaitl.

Related: Leon Draisaitl on pace to become the first-ever 20-goal scorer in the playoffs

Let me take you back to February 21, 2000. Marty McSorley slashed Donald Brashear in the side of the head as Brashear was skating in the neutral zone. The two players had fought earlier in the game, but the slash was otherwise unprompted. McSorley’s hands stayed apart and it wasn’t a big swing, but the blow was directly to the head and it caused a serious concussion for Brashear. McSorley was suspended for an entire calendar year and was found guilty of assault.

Sure, these two incidents are different. McSorley hit Brashear in the head and Pietrangelo hit Draisaitl in the arm. Brashear sustained a grade three concussion, and Draisaitl is perfectly fine. The way I see it, these are two incidents where the stick was deliberately used as a weapon in an attempt to injure an opposing player. This is an example of the NHL making a ruling based on the injury and not the action itself. One player used his stick as a weapon in an attempt to injure and was suspended for one calendar year, and the other player that also used his stick as a weapon in an attempt to injure was only suspended for one game.

It’s absolute fucking bullshit that Pietrangelo was only suspended for one game. I’m not trying to argue that Pietrangelo should be suspended for a full calendar year because that’s what McSorley got. The resulting injury is a factor; but surely the chasm between the actions of Piterangelo and McSorley and the intent behind their actions isn’t as great as the difference between one playoff game and one calendar year!

It’s fucking pathetic that the NHL views the use of the stick as a weapon and the intent to injure a player as a one game suspension. The precedent that this suspension sets is so wrong. If the result of trying to injure a player by using the stick as a weapon is only a one game suspension, then every team would be smart to call up a player specifically to swing his stick at the other team’s best players. They lose an AHL player for one game, but the other team loses its best player for the series. Why would teams NOT do that? This is a complete failure by George Parros and the NHL to protect the players.

It’s also a complete failure by the NHL to protect its own product! This wasn’t just any player. This was three time 50-goal scorer and current playoff goal scoring leader Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl is an ELITE player, and he’s one of the NHL’s most prized possessions. You’re going to let Pietrangelo attempt to injure him like that and only give him one game? That’s ridiculous! The referees protected Connor McDavid from fighting Pietrangelo when two of them jumped on Pietrangelo to stop the fight, so they protected one star player. They failed to protect Draisaitl with the pointless suspension.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)They also failed to protect Pietrangelo in this situation. Pietrangelo will be back for game six of this series, which we already know will happen. That will be an elimination game for one team, so perhaps the Oilers will choose to not seek retribution in that game; but the risk of the Oilers targeting Piterangelo in game six is very real. If Pietrangelo was upset about the treatment that he had received from the likes of Evander Kane throughout the series and game four, then he’ll be really upset at how he gets treated in game six. Perhaps the Oilers will wait until the regular season to seek out retribution on Pietrangelo, but the anger is more fresh right now than it will be next season. The league could’ve done more to protect Pietrangelo by having him sit out the rest of the series.

Vegas fans would argue that Kane tried to injure Pietrangelo on a cheap play in game three. Sure, it was a cheap play by Kane. Kane charged straight at Pietrangelo and pushed his gloves into Pietrangelo’s neck/face area. Maybe Kane was trying to injure Pietrangelo.

The difference between these two incidents was the use of a weapon. Kane slid his hands together and pushed his hands into Pietrangelo’s neck/face. We would need some more camera angles to see if the little bit of stick that may have been exposed between Kane’s hands actually made contact with Pietrangelo. There’s no debating that Pietrangelo used his stick as a weapon. He slid his hands together to make his stick longer to impart more force into the slash. I’m an Oilers fan, but I’m trying to be as objective as possible here. I’m not going to accept any argument that says I’m biased because of where my allegiances lie. Kane’s play was cheap, but he didn’t use his stick as a weapon.

Game five goes Friday in Vegas, and it’s going to be a hell of a game!

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May 8, 2023 by Josh Boulton

Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl has 13 goals in his first eight playoff games of the 2023 playoffs. I could end the article right there and it would be newsworthy, but let’s dive into some context of what has made this playoff run truly special for the big German.

Fact One: Nathan MacKinnon scored the same number of goals in last year’s playoffs to tie Evander Kane for the most in the league. MacKinnon led the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup, while Kane only reached the Western Conference Final with the Oilers.

Fact Two: Draisaitl himself had seven goals total in 16 games in the 2022 playoffs. The three-time 50-goal scorer had seven goals in the six games he played in opening round against the Los Angeles Kings alone.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Fact Three: The record for most goals in any entire single playoff season is 19, shared by both Reggie Leach (1976) and Jari Kurri (1985). Leach and Kurri each made it to the Stanley Cup Final in those years. At his current clip of 1.63 goals per game, Draisaitl is on pace to beat that playoff record some time during his 12th game, so potentially in the second round.

Fact Four: Draisaitl is scoring more consistently, and evenly than Kurri was in 1985. Kurri has the record for most hat tricks in a single playoff season with four, and also the most hat tricks in a single playoff series with three (both set in that 1986 playoffs). Kurri scored three goals in the first six games, two against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and one in the first three games of the second round against the Winnipeg Jets, before busting out and scoring a hat trick in Game 4 to finish the sweep.

Related: Can the Edmonton Oilers take the next step? Lessons from the dynasty years, Part Two

In the six-game second round against the Chicago Blackhawks, Kurri scored an incredible 12 goals (also an NHL record for most goals in a playoff series), but they were all clumped into four of those games. Kurri didn’t score another goal until Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Philadelphia Flyers. Though Kurri tied the NHL record for most goals in a playoff year, he was still held goalless in nine of his 18 games (50%), including a staggering four out of five games in the Final.

Fact Five: When Kurri tied the record he had 19 goals in 18 games, he had a pace of 1.05 goals per game. As mentioned, Draisaitl is on a pace of 1.63 goals per game, which is almost unthinkable in the modern game. But even if he dropped down to Kurri’s pace of 1.05, he’d still potentially only need six more playoff games to break the record, so early in the third round.

What’s even more mind blowing is Draisaitl scored 52 goals in 80 regular season games, a pace of 0.65 goals per game. He only needs six more goals to tie the record, meaning even if he somehow faltered all the way back to his regular season pace for the rest of these playoffs (or almost half the pace Kurri scored at in 1985) he’d still reach the 19-goal mark to tie the record in 10 more games, or exactly in his 18th game played, just like Jari Kurri.

Fact Six: Last year, Draisaitl set the record for the most points in a five game series in NHL history by racking up 17 points in a second round match up against the Calgary Flames. That’s just two point shy of the 1983 record for a seven game series of 19 points set by Rick Middleton.

That doesn’t have much to do with the chase for 19, but it’s just a really impressive playoff feat and speaks to the kind of playoff performer Draisaitl has proven to be over the last four playoff series. He’s shown no reason to believe at the very least he wouldn’t be able to maintain his regular season clip, and given every sign that he gets better as the playoffs wear on.

We could very likely see the first-ever 20-goal scorer in the playoffs this spring. That record is in serious jeopardy, and not enough people are talking about it.

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May 3, 2023 by Raghu Sharma

Well, here we are. After a tough battle in in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, we finally get to witness a playoff series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights.

Since entering the NHL 2017-18, the Golden Knights have made the playoffs in each season, aside from 2021-233, where injuries caught up with them. The Golden Knights have one of the most aggressive managements in the entire league under the pairing of George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon, who will go after anyone and everyone they think can make their team better.

On the other hand, the Oilers have made the post-season for a fourth consecutive season, and many of the core players can now leverage off their own experiences making it all the way to the 2022 Western Conference Final. The group has matured and does not get down on themselves. This was shown in spades against the Kings after falling behind 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, and trailed 3-0 after the first 20 minutes of Game 4. This team is showing fans, including myself, that they are built different and the PTSD of being an Oilers fan might be behind us as this new crop of players is intent on writing their own story through sheer will and determination.

This brings us on the collision course of the top two teams in the West facing off in the second round, only being separated by two points in the regular season. Those two extra points give Vegas home ice advantage to start a series. The Oilers, however, have been in this position before as just a year ago they found themselves on the road to start the second round in a battle against their provincial rivals the Calgary Flames. The Oilers ousted the Flames in five games after dropping game 1 and have often shown us that they are one of the strongest teams on the road this season.

The fact we have not yet seen a series between these two teams in the post season adds excitement on top of the fact that we get to see it headlined by the top two picks from the 2015 draft class. Connor McDavid, drafted first-overall, has defied even the lofty expectations most had for him continually improving year over year. Jack Eichel, on the other hand, has been through a tougher road, drafted by the Buffalo Sabers and not once seeing a playoff run in his time there.

He was traded last year to the Knights in a deal that has benefited both sides, but this year has been his first taste of the Stanley Cup playoffs and you know he is just as eager to make his mark on the series. In the season series, the Oilers went 3-0-1, with a whopping 32 goals scored between the clubs. However, a lot has changed with both these teams over the course of the season.

The Golden Knights lost Mark Stone for a better part of the season and the have had the goalie carousel going. Even with the acquisition of Jonathan Quick at the deadline and with Logan Thompson injured, they have turned to Laurent Brossoit in this playoff run. Similarly, the Oilers have been a vastly different team since the return of Evander Kane from a scary injury, Vincent Desharnais getting recalled, and the acquisitions of Matthias Ekholm and Nick Bjugstad that have shored up both the offense and defensive end of the game.

Now, to the challenge. Well, the Golden Knights are not the Kings. They don’t play as structured a neutral zone defensive game, as they rely more heavily on their transition offense off a strong forecheck and their depth up front. The biggest benefit for the Oilers playing such a tough grind-it-out and wait for your moment series like they did against the Kings, was that it taught them patience and avoiding unnecessary risks.

The series also allowed first timers for the Oilers to get their feet wet along the lines of goalie Stuart Skinner and the aforementioned Desharnais. As mentioned above, this Oilers team has proven an ability to play all styles, low scoring or high event hockey. Well to counteract the Golden Knights, the Oilers will be looking to change up tactics. The Golden Knights play a strong defensive zone game, the forwards will come down to cover the slot with a much more collapsing approach allowing shots from the point. This style has been employed by Bruce Cassidy going back to all those years with the Boston Bruins.

This is why I believe, we are about to witness Evan Bouchard breakout even further after tallying 10 points in six games against the Kings. If the Golden Knights continue to play this style, Bouchard will have many opportunities to take advantage and it will be up to the Oilers forwards to get in those dirty areas to take Brossoit’s eyes away and get after those secondary chances.

EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 19: Edmonton Oilers Winger Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his power play goal with Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Secondly, while the Oilers will likely continue to play the highly successful 11-and-seven configuration, which in a lot of ways, makes the last change advantage less so on the road, I think that Jay Woodcroft will go back to splitting up McDavid and Draisaitl. The ability to load them up is something that worked well in the latter few games of the KIngs series because of the likes of Bjugstad stepping up as a solid second line centre.

However, by splitting up McDavid and Draisaitl, your Center depth is stronger and with the ability to enter the zone more easily with the style of the Knights, the Oilers can come in waves. I expect speed to be a major factor in this series and the Oilers have an extremely fast group of players, hungry to prove including the likes of Ryan McLeod. Thirdly, while Brossoit was on the winning end of a 5 game series against the Winnipeg Jets, the series became a battle of attrition as it went on with major pieces of the Jets going down game after game.

The Oilers had the fire power of the top scoring team in the regular season and they continued that trend in round 1 scoring 25 goals in 6 games. Let’s not forget that Jonas Korpisalo was stellar in the first three games of the series, but the Oilers offence broke through as the series went on and making him look quite pedestrian in the next three. I fully expect the Oilers offense with their ability to get through the Knights d core and eventually Brossoit as well.

Keys to Oilers Success:

Pressure offense leading to cycles in the offensive zone and lines coming in wave after wave
Remaining strong on special teams, the power-play is otherworldly, but the penalty kill will need to be stronger and five-on-five play
Skinner shaking off the first round jitters and playing more like the goalie we saw in the regular season
Continuing the 11-and-seven formation
The Oilers fought through adversity in round one to slay the Kings. Now, it’s time for them to take out the Golden Knights.

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May 3, 2023 by Josh Boulton

The first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs was sensational. The parity in the National Hockey League leaves everything wide open, and in several cases the possibilities became reality.

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche? Gone. They lost Game Seven on home ice to the Seattle Kraken, who made history by winning their first ever playoff series as a franchise. The best regular season team in NHL history, the 2022-23 Boston Bruins? Gone. They also lost Game 7 on home ice, in an overtime thriller to the Florida Panthers.

The Toronto Maple Leafs drought of 19 years without winning a playoff series? Over. They finally advanced to the second round after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning, also in an overtime thriller. There’s been so many fascinating storylines and dramatic events it’s been hard to keep track.

As exciting and fun as it’s been so far, we can’t forget that a player suffered a fractured neck in the process. Andrew Cogliano of the Avalanche was injured in Game 6 of his first round series when Jordan Eberle of the Seattle Kraken delivered a hit from behind, sending Cogliano very awkwardly neck first into the boards. Eberle was only issued a two minute minor penalty on the play, and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety chose not to issue any further discipline.

It was an easily preventable serious injury, and the play that caused it was given the lightest possible punishment a player can receive. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the most chaotic overall first round in memory overlaps with arguably the most tumultuous officiating in memory mixed in, and that one of the most serious injuries became the result. It can’t be overstated that the NHL has made a habit of putting entertainment and profit ahead of everything else.

In fact, the very parity that makes this league so enticingly unpredictable could be easily called into question. How much of it is organically generated based on teams legitimately being so evenly matched, and how much of it is fabricated by strategically inconsistent officiating? I want to be clear I am in no way attempting to cast a shadow on the integrity of the NHL’s officiating staff. They’re just the faces at ice level delivering the message.

As in any organization of this size and magnitude, there will always be individuals who may or may not be acting on personal agendas and biases, but overall the problem isn’t with them. It’s systemic. There’s such a cloud over the standard of penalties, over what to call and when, and too many loopholes and generalities in the rulebook that makes things left open to interpretation. Unfortunately that has become a talking point too big to ignore in literally every single series, and it has to be asked how much of it is by design.

Related: NHL officiating is officially the story of Oilers-Kings series

The NHL wants, encourages, and even demands violence. Any rule changes or decisions over the years pertaining to player safety have been made begrudgingly, and with painstaking care not to affect the physicality of the game, because the NHL’s level of physicality and aggression is what they deem as the main selling feature of the sport. I just can’t help but wonder why the physicality created through the natural course of play isn’t enough.

Hockey is a fast, aggressive game with violence literally built into the fabric of its core. Why is it so necessary in the opinion of the NHL to artificially insert more? For example, does it actually help the sport to let three crosschecks to the back go uncalled so that the receiving player gets mad enough to turn around and thump the antagonizer in the teeth with his stick, and then put both players in the box anyway? Would it really be a detriment to make the first call so that the second incident (and the ensuing injury) never happens?

Would it really hurt the value of the NHL to ask officials to call penalties based on which team commits the most infractions instead of based on which team’s turn it is to get a power-play? Instead of on which team needs a goal? Instead of on how late in a game the crime occurs?

And in the case of protecting Cogliano, is it really too much to ask a player to not hit when it isn’t safe?

On paper the right mentality is there. The onus is on the player delivering the check to do it safely. That’s the way it should be. It’s sad that in the mid-2000s this was such a groundbreaking shift in thought process that literally went against everything the NHL stood for. What’s frustrating is the NHL has never really, truly changed.

Physicality to the NHL still means protecting a player’s right to finish a check more than protecting a player’s right to play the puck. To be fair, this philosophy is true of all levels from hockey operations, to the Department of Player Safety, to the team Owners and General Managers, even to the NHL Player’s Association itself, which tends to protect the perpetrator in disciplinary hearings more than the victim.

The NHLPA negotiates to limit the dollar amounts of fines and game amounts of suspensions, but it works out well because the Department of Player Safety is only at liberty to hand them out sparingly. As a result, players keep doing unnecessarily dangerous things, officials keep calling them inconsistently and sporadically, and the Department of Player Safety keeps either giving out slaps on the wrist or ignoring things completely.

The question is with a shift in philosophy on NHL violence, a tighter standard of the rulebook, more consistent officiating, and appropriate punishments for avoidable danger, would this opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs have played out the way it did? For the sake of the long term health of the players, the time to find out is long overdue.

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May 3, 2023 by Eric Friesen

Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner was named a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year on Wednesday. Skinner is the first Oiler to be named a finalist for the Calder Trophy since Connor McDavid was the second runner-up in 2015-16.

The 24-year-old posted a 29-14-5 record, with a 2.75 goals against average, a .914 save percentage and one shutout in 50 games in 2022-23. He came into the season as the backup netminder with the Oilers, but he grabbed the starter’s job from Jack Campbell before the end of October and held the position most of the campaign.

Skinner reparented the Oilers in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida in January. The Edmonton product was the first Oilers’ goalie to play in the NHL All-Star Game since Tommy Salo in 2002 and the first rookie goalie since Grant Fuhr in 1982.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 21: Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) in net during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 21, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Skinner, who won his first NHL playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, has an outstanding 13-0-3 record in his last 17 appearances, including playoffs, while turning aside 443 of 476 shots he’s faced during that stretch He also broke Fuhr’s franchise record for wins by a rookie goalie with 29 in a 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on April 13.

No player in Oilers history has ever won the Calder Trophy. However, given his importance to the team this season and the fact that he’s the starting goalie for a Stanley Cup contender, Skinner has a real shot to take home the hardware.

The 2023 NHL Awards will be held in Nashville on June 26.

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April 26, 2023 by Mike Dirsa

Early in the playoff series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings, some of the Kings’ tactics were working on the officials. They were beneficiaries of some favorable calls in Game 1 and Game 3. Admittedly, the Oilers were undisciplined earlier in the series as well.

Oilers vs Kings Playoff Turning PointHowever, the turning point for the officiating started at the 5:52 mark of Game 3 when Darnell Nurse was originally assessed a five-minute major for a trip on Viktor Arvidsson. The play got reviewed, and the major was changed to a two-minute minor. On this play, Arvidsson risked an injury with his theatrics to draw the call. This play getting reviewed made the officials watch what happened in-depth and changed the shape of the series. Much like players, referees don’t like to be shown up or embarrassed. On this play, Arvidsson was over the top with his embellishment, and the officiating crew took notice.

Oilers Reel in Discipline, Kings Try to Bait OfficiatingIn Game 4, the Oilers reeled in the lack of discipline that had hurt them earlier in the series, and they were able to maintain that in Game 5. However, the Kings were trying to bait the officiating into calls. Kevin Fiala twice tried to hard sell calls. For me, not calling anything was the best officiating of the series so far.

Kings Become UndisciplinedAs the game got out of hand, the Kings for the first time in the series became undisciplined. Twice, the Kings took little runs at Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner, and on the second run, Fiala was caught and served two minutes for tripping. In the third period, Kings defenseman Sean Durzi took a two-minute minor for cross-checking Evan Bouchard hard into the boards as well.

EDMONTON, AB – APRIL 25: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) hits Los Angeles Kings Left Wing Kevin Fiala (22) in the second period of game two in the Western Conference First Round of the Edmonton Oilers versus the Los Angeles Kings on April 25, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Looking Ahead to Game 6The series shifts back to Los Angeles on Saturday for Game 6. It will be interesting to see if the Kings adjust the way they have been trying to work the officials for calls or if they keep playing the same way and take their chances on a revert to the earlier games in the series from a refereeing standpoint. One thing I know is the Oilers are a tough team to beat when they don’t beat themselves by playing undisciplined.

In Game 6, it will be interesting to see what the standard of officiating will be. All that is known is that if the Oilers can maintain their discipline, they should be able to close this series. The hope for Game 6 is that the game gets decided 5 on 5 and officiating is a non-factor.

Can Saturday hurry up and get here?

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April 24, 2023 by Mike DirsaThrough 20 minutes of Game 4 on Sunday, things didn’t look good for the Edmonton Oilers, as the visitors fell behind 3-0 to the Los Angeles Kings. I would like to believe that Head Coach Jay Woodcroft’s words in the dressing room during the intermission were so passionate that they peeled the paint off the walls. However, I have no evidence to support this claim, except for the fact that, led by the Oilers stars, the team made a strong comeback in the second period.

During the first intermission when the odds of winning last nights game seemed stacked against the Oilers I thought about two things. The first thing I thought of was the hard working Oilers of the late 1990s, who won a game in overtime against the Dallas Stars in 1997 after trailing by three. Thinking about that calmed my own fears of this series being on the ropes. The other thing I thought about was that the Oilers players needed to not be afraid of losing and to be totally present and in the moment.

Woodcroft made a goaltender switch from Stuart Skinner to Jack Campbell to start the second. Campbell came off the bench and was in that Zen state of being totally present, stopping 27 of 28 shots. The only shot that beat Campbell was a partial breakaway from Matt Roy in the third period. On that play, Leon Draisaitl fell down at centre ice, losing his man, and Darnell Nurse went for a big hit on Moore, which created an odd man situation for the Kings that they made no mistake on.

The Oilers roared back in the second period with two goals on the power-play and one at even strength. Evan Bouchard got it started on the powerplay with a 93 mph, bomb, one timer, off of a Leon Draisaitl feed. Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers within one by burying a Connor McDavid pass. This goal was a result of relentless forechecking that brought so much pressure to the Kings defence that veteran Drew Doughty blew a tire. Connor McDavid collected the puck and put it right on Draisaitl’s tape and Leon made no mistake. The Oilers tied it on the power-play as Leon Draisaitl one timed another one past Joonas Korpisalo. Ryan Nugent Hopkins froze Drew Doughty buying Draisaitl enough time to get open. The Nuge slid a pass to Draisaitl who once again one timed it by Joonas Korpisalo to tie the game and the Oilers went to the dressing room tied at 3. All of Oil Country took their first deep breath and regained belief.

Roy’s goal at 4:28 of the third seemed like a nail in the coffin with the way Korpisalo was playing. And if that wasn’t enough Viktor Arvidsson was sent in all alone on a breakaway with 5:50 left in the third. Campbell went into full splits like former Oilers goalie Matthew Garon and shut the door on Arvidsson. Campbell gave the Oilers the save of the series and a chance to tie the game one more time.

With just over 3 minutes to go in the third Mattias Ekholm flew out of the Oilers zone and gave McDavid a pass just outside the Kings blueline. McDavid drew three Kings players to him and sprung Evander Kane on the left wing and Kane cut to the middle and fired a wrist shot high glove and beat Korpisalo bar down. For the third time in four games off to overtime to decide a winner we went.

In the previous two overtime games the Oilers took penalties which ended both games in losses but on this night it was the Kings who took a penalty in the overtime. Adrian Kempe took an undisciplined cross checking call when he drove Evan Bouchard into the boards face first. This was the first sign from the Kings of some undisciplined play which was something that hurt the Oilers in previous games. Credit to the Kings penalty killers for managing to kill off the Oilers’ power-play. After they killed that off I started to have doubts again if it was going to be the Oilers night. The play went back and forth and I started to think the game was going to go into multiple overtimes and end on a fluky one. Korpisalo seemed pretty dialed in and he was going to be hard to solve again and the next powerplay was sure to be a Kings one.

Oilers stars shine in Hollywood 2
At the 9:30 mark of overtime Evan Bouchard took the puck behind the Oilers net and head up, fired a dart up to Zach Hyman at the Kings blue line. Hyman walked in with Drew Doughty closing on him but before Doughty could fully close on Hyman fired a wrister from from the dot and blew it by Korpisalo. After Hyman scored the winner he catapulted himself into the boards for his celebration that was reminiscent of Georges Laraque. Impossible was possible in Game 4.

I have two questions heading into Game 5. First, who starts in net? On one hand Skinner is the teams starting goalie and hasn’t played bad in the series. On the other hand, Jack Campbell came in and made 27 saves in relief. Campbell made the save of the series when he stopped Arvidsson’s breakaway. A case can be made for both goalies to start and I don’t think we will know before tomorrow’s game who Jay Woodcroft will choose. The other question I have is will there be any other lineup changes heading into Game 5?

With Klim Kostin and Vincent Desharnais getting stapled to the bench in the third and overtime in Game 4. The Oilers were already playing 11 and seven and shortened their bench going 10 and six. As the series continues having a really short bench is less than ideal. So does Woodcroft elect to go back to a traditional 12 and six rotation? Does Dylan Holloway make an appearance in the lineup and get into his second NHL playoff game or does Woodcroft go to veteran forward Devin Shore?

My dad would tell me as a kid about the importance of winning the odd numbered games in a series. With the Kings already winning two of them Game 5 is a pivotal game. If the Oilers can win Game 5 for the first time in the series they can put the pressure on the Kings. It will be important for the Oilers to play a disciplined game and take the officiating out of the question.

Related: https://heavyhockey.com/2023/04/23/nhl-officiating-is-officially-the-story-of-oilers-kings-series/

The Oilers did a pretty good job of this in Game 4 with the exception of a Hyman slash. It is going to be electric in Edmonton tomorrow for the game. Game 5 will be another test of our nerves and if the Oilers can find a way to win it they will have three days to get ready to close this series out Saturday back in Los Angeles.

Oil Country, you know what to do tomorrow night. Raise the roof at Rogers Place and bring the noise that gives everyone in the building their superpowers with the ability to run through brick walls.

Lets Go Oilers!!

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April 23, 2023 by Josh Boulton

Prior to Game 1 of the 2023 Western Conference First Round series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings, I wrote about how the officiating could favour the Kings and make it a needlessly difficult series for the Oilers.

The article ends with the statement: “We probably won’t find out one way or the other until sometime during Game 3 again, but as a fan of the game, I hope skill wins out.” With the Kings holding a 2-1 series lead after three contests, we definitely have our answer. And that answer is a resounding yes.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are a funny business in general. More often than not the best teams do win, but typically the dirtier an opponent can play, the longer the series goes.

It should be the opposite. Whichever team works harder, skates faster, and possesses the puck more and draws more penalties (and then scores on the power-play) should win. That’s not how it typically goes, though.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Look to the series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders for evidence. The Hurricanes had a 2-0 series lead, but the likes of Matt Martin and Scott Mayfield made their presence felt like they do, and the Islanders gained momentum to take Game 3 and make a series of it.

The series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning is another prime example. Two of the most talented rosters in the entire NHL are three games into what’s become one long tension filled street brawl. Instead of being a case of who can display the most skill, it’s become a race to see who can eliminate it.

That’s just playoff hockey though, right? That’s the sad reality. The officials put their whistles away and “let the players decide it”. I could almost live with that. The penalty standard of “anything goes” is frustrating, but it’s at least a standard. It’s predictable and you can adjust to play within it.

However, this series between the Oilers and Kings is quite different. I do feel the Oilers are carrying more of the play, but it’s not like the Kings are responding by being overly dirty. They’re playing a smart game and taking advantage of their moments to counter.

The fact the Oilers have either been tied or had the lead for all but just over seven minutes of the entire series and find themselves down after three outings is a testament to how effective the Kings have been at this. But the main reason the Kings are winning games is because they’ve been given 15 power-play opportunities over three games and the Oilers have had only eight.

Related: Officiating could make the first round of the playoffs harder than it needs to be

For example, both Kings’ victories have come in overtime, and both of those winning goals came on the power-play. Not just on penalties where it’s been a long hard overtime and eventually something happens that just has to be called. In Game 1, the Kings scored less than 10 minutes into the extra frame.

In Game 3, the game-winning goal came less than four minutes into sudden-death play. I’m all for the officials giving penalties to teams who deserve them even if that means one team gets way more power-plays than the other. That’s how it should be.

Fair doesn’t always mean equal. The obvious thing to say is the Oilers simply have to be more disciplined. The question is though, what exactly are the Oilers doing differently to draw so many fewer calls? What could they possibly change?

Aside from the Leon Draisaitl unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in Game 3 on Friday, where he skated at Drew Doughty after a Connor McDavid power-play marker to take the lead and gave him a tap with his stick, there hasn’t been anything noticeably avoidable and certainly nothing so obviously different than what Kings have been doing.

Again, that’s not to say the Kings are being dirty and getting away with stuff. That’s absolutely not the case. They’re being just as disciplined as the Oilers are, but for some reason they’re the only team being rewarded for it.

During a scrum after the whistle Edler crosschecked Klim Kostin in the back and there was no call against the Kings. Granted it wasn’t much of a crosscheck, but earlier in the game Vinnie Desharnais was randomly given a penalty for not much of a shoulder bump after the whistle, and of course, Draisaitl was given that unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for not much of a slash after the whistle as well.

A Phillip Danault two-handed slash near the hands of Connor McDavid went uncalled in regulation time, and a Ryan-Nugent Hopkins two-handed chop to a stick in overtime led to the game-winning goal.

The list is long, and it’s frustrating. Both teams are already playing a consistently honest, hard-working, clean-checking game. It’s easy to ask a team to stop playing dirty hockey. But how do you ask a team to stop playing hockey?

That’s what the officials are asking of the Oilers, and it may just be the biggest challenge this team will ever face.

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April 21, 2023 by Raghu Sharma

Coming off the high of their first 50-win campaign since 1986-87 and matching a club record nine-game winning streak to end the season, the Edmonton Oilers 2023 playoff campaign could not have started any better. And even more impressively, the Oilers have controlled the play without Connor McDavid filling the net.

Scoring two goals off the backs of Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard in the first period and completely dominating the Los Angeles Kings with their physicality, it felt like this was the team of destiny many of us have dreamed about for years coming into full form. The Oilers took advantage of a 5-on-3 in the first period, but after that things started to turn. The King got the next four power-play chances, leading to a swing in momentum in the second period.

While the score remained the same after 40 minutes, you could see the momentum shift of careless penalties by an Oilers group that was playing with fire. The third period led to a goal by Adrian Kempe off a broken play 4-on-4, cutting the lead to 2-1.

EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 19: Edmonton Oilers Winger Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his power play goal with Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Draisaitl’s second goal of the night restored the two-goal, but then with eight minutes left in the third period, the Oilers wheels started to come apart and they found a way to squander a win in regulation with less than 16 seconds to go in third period, sending the game to overtime. The game was eventually ended in overtime off of a questionable Vinny Desharnais tripping penalty with a goal by Alex Iafallo.

McDavid had a minus-two rating with no points and on for the ice for three of four goals against in Game 1. While McDavid showed some of his immense skill in the first period, almost breaking through the defense to score a highlight-reel goal and drawing the call that led to the 5-on-3, he was mostly quite after the first frame.

The Oilers captain is a generational talent posting a 153-point season, which I know many thought we would never see again in the NHL. That said, this was one of the rare off nights by the greatest player in the game today.

Moving on to Game 2, the story was quite similar. The Oilers once again got off to a 2-0 lead and somehow had a better first period than Game 1, limiting the Kings to their first shot of the game with two minutes remaining in the period. Jonas Korpisalo was once again the best player for the Kings saving high danger chance after high danger chance.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 22: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) in power play action in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup playoffs round 2, game 3 on May 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The Kings came back to tie the game up with two goals in the middle frame after once again creating momentum off some undisciplined penalties by the Oilers. However, the players didn’t relent as they have been known to do so in the past. In fact, it was a goal by bottom-six forward Klim Kostin (an amazing story and trade by General Manager Ken Holland), who scored his first career NHL playoff goal and game-winner that was the difference, evening up the series at 1-1.

Oilers fans are used to seeing McDavid tally up the points night after night. So far though, he has just one power-play assist on a wicked pass to Draisaitl in Game 2. Right now, Draisaitl has been playing like the MVP that Connor McDavid was in the regular season. This two-game stretch has led many to believe that something is wrong with Connor because we are used to seeing superhuman and not just a great player.

Related: Connor McDavid due for a big Game 3

So what is happening? Well, McDavid seems to be getting matched up against Philip Danault, who is one of the best two-way centers in the league, and due to youth, is a much tougher matchup than Anze Koptiar. The Kings to their credit have played the 1-3-1 system well, are a very disciplined team (powerplays are 10 to four in favour of the Kings) and, above all, are one of the strongest faceoff teams in the league.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – APRIL 12: Edmonton Oilers Head Coach Jay Woodcroft yells at the referee during the NHL game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Minnesota Wild on April 12th, 2022, at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN.(Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire)Head Coach Jay Woodcroft took some key lessons from Game 1, and coupled with a Matthias Janmark injury, was able to implement the 11 and seven structure that has been one of the Oilers strong suits all season. In Game 2, this allowed McDavid to avoid taking faceoffs and to get out on the ice with fourth pairing of wingers to control the matchups.

While this didn’t lead to more points McDavid on Wednesday, he did look more dangerous than in Game 1. The Oilers have been one of the best road teams this year and a change in scenery might be exactly what McDavid may need to unlock his full offensive potential.

The Oilers are no longer a team that needs McDavid to get three points a night to win. And outside of a few lapses, they could easily gave found themselves up 2-0 in the series. If the Oilers can avoid unnecessary penalties, remaining patient at even-strength and trusting their physicality to drive play and create pressure, the time for Connor McDavid is coming.

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April 21, 2023 by Eric Friesen

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid produced one of the greatest playoff performances in NHL history last season. McDavid led the league in playoff scoring with 33 points in just 16 games, despite only playing in the first three rounds of the post-season.

The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner became the first player to lead the league in points in the regular season and playoffs since Evgeni Malkin in 2008-09. He was also the first player to lead the league in playoff points without appearing in the Stanley Cup Final since Peter Forsberg in 2001-02.

Heightened expectations come with the territory when you’re the best player in the world. But there’s no reason to panic that McDavid has just one point through the first two games of the Oilers’ opening-round series against the Los Angeles Kings.

CALGARY, AB – OCTOBER 29: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) warms up before an NHL game between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers on October 29, 2022, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)Though he doesn’t have a goal in the series so far, McDavid had six shots in the Oilers’ 4-2 victory over the Kings in Game 2, so he’s still creating plenty of chances for himself. It would be more concerning if he wasn’t getting any quality looks at all.

So, while some Oilers fans have speculated that McDavid is either sick or hurt, I don’t think that’s the case at all. We have just become so accustomed to him generating offence at a superhuman rate, that anything short of an otherworldly game for McDavid leads many hockey observers to suspect that something must be wrong with him.

Related: Connor McDavid joins the 60-goal club in dramatic fashion

McDavid, who registered at least a point in 75 of 82 games during the regular season, consistently bounced back with a lengthy point streak each time he didn’t get his name on the scoresheet. His primary assist on the power-play could very likely be the start of another dominant post-season.

And while the Oilers captain surely wants to pile up the points, I’m sure he’s equally happy to have greater support scoring around him now than at any other point in his eight-year NHL career. And most importantly, all he cares about is winning – and winning in Edmonton.

“It’s special,” McDavid told Sportsnet’s Scott Oake on Wednesday. “We’ve had a few little runs here, and every time we’re in the playoffs, it’s always fun to be around the city. And, obviously, the games are amazing. And the atmosphere makes it fun, and difficult for the other team, which we like. So, now we’re heading out on the road, and we’ll [try to make the fans proud] on the road.”

As the series shifts to Los Angeles, the Kings will almost certainly try to shadow McDavid even more with hard line matching. He’s had two Kings’ players covering him virtually every time he’s stepped on the ice in this series.

However, McDavid has shown the ability to outthink any opponent’s plan to contain him, so it’s reasonable to expect a three-point night coming in either Game 3 or 4 on the road.

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April 17, 2023 by Josh Boulton

The Los Angeles Kings have a lot of skill. Even the worst NHL teams do. Finishing at 10th in the NHL standings with 104 points, the Kings are above average. So, yes, they are skilled. Do they have the skill to match the Edmonton Oilers? If fans are being honest, they’d have to admit they don’t. In a skill-on-skill contest with the way both of these teams have played recently, that advantage goes to the Oilers.

The Kings will have no choice but to try and eliminate the Oilers’ high-end talent, which unfortunately for them, is more evenly scattered over multiple lines than it was last year when the Kings took the Oilers to seven games before falling. What the Kings were most effective at during the opening round of the 2022 playoffs was to drag it the distance and avoiding penalties.

That’s not to say they excellent at not committing penalties. They committed a ton. They just got away with them. Frequently.

In the first three games, the Oilers outscored the Kings 14-6 and had a 2-1 series lead. After that, the cheap play began, and the officials looked the other way. What should have been a nice five or six game warm-up series turned needlessly into a grudge match with the Kings actually up 3-2 in the series.

BOSTON, MA – MARCH 09: Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) carries the puck during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers on March 9, 2023, at TD garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)In Game 6, Kings’ defender Mikey Anderson infamously hauled down Leon Draisaitl from behind with a questionable slew foot, causing a a high ankle sprain that hampered him throughout the rest of the playoffs.

While the Oilers did persevere, and while Draisaitl did recover enough in round two to set the record for most points in a single series ever with 17 as the Oilers took down the Calgary Flames in five games, amazingly, he was still never the same player last post-season he could have been if healthy.

Related: Could the Oilers be a team of destiny?

While the Oilers did persevere, and while Draisaitl did recover enough in round two to set the record for most points in a single series ever with 17 as the Oilers took down the Calgary Flames in five games, amazingly he was still never the same player last post-season he could have been if healthy.

You can’t help but wonder what might have been had the first round also been the five or six game breeze round two was. And there was no need for the opening round to be the way it was but for the officials deferring to the proverbial “playoff rulebook”.

So, the question is, will the officials afford the Kings the same luxuries as last year? Orr will they let the best hockey team win by playing hockey (whichever one of these teams that ends up being)? We probably won’t find out one way or the other until sometime during Game 3 again, but as a fan of the game, I hope skill wins out.

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April 17, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Last spring was about emerging for the Edmonton Oilers. They won their first playoff series since 2016-17 and just their second since 2006 when they beat the Los Angeles Kings in a game seven at Rogers Place. Then they extinguished the Calgary Flames in five games to advance to the Western Conference Finals. They emerged as contenders last spring after several years of mediocrity following a decade of futility.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been tearing up the league in the regular season for a while now, but they emphatically showed the world that they can do it in the playoffs too. McDavid led the league in playoff scoring with an astonishing 33 points in just sixteen games. Draisaitl finished a point behind McDavid, but Draisaitl did it on one ankle in the last ten games and two periods of their run.

Their performances this season have shown the world that they mean business. They weren’t happy about not winning it all last season, and they took their frustration out on the league this season. McDavid scored 64 goals, which was one shy of Alex Ovechkin’s high mark for goals in a season in the salary cap era. He also got 153 points, which was two shy of tying Steve Yzerman’s 155 points from 1988-89. That was the highest point total amassed in a season by anyone not named Wayne or Mario. Meanwhile, Draisaitl surpassed the 50-goal mark for the third time in his career, and he tied Nikita Kucherov’s 128-point season, which now represents the second highest point total in the salary cap era behind McDavid’s 153 from this season.

EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 19: Edmonton Oilers Winger Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his power play goal with Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)They weren’t the only ones shattering career-highs in Edmonton this year. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ended up at 104 points, which surpassed his previous best total of 69 points by 35. Zach Hyman improved upon his career-high by 29 points, going from 54 points last year to 83 points this year. It’s a formidable fab four in Edmonton.

That group led the way on the Oilers’ historically great powerplay. They set an NHL record for the highest powerplay percentage of all-time at 32.4%. The Toronto Maple Leafs had the next best powerplay at 26%.

The performances by the Oilers’s top offensive producers shows that they want more. They want more points, they want more wins, and they want more success this spring.

The team figured out how to lock it down defensively after Christmas. They got even better in that area once Mattias Ekholm arrived. The Oilers have only lost in regulation twice since Ekholm made his Oilers debut on March 1. They haven’t lost in regulation since March 11, which is a span of fifteen games. That stretch only contains one loss of any kind, a 4-3 overtime defeat at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers haven’t allowed more than two goals in a game in their last seven outings. That stretch featured four games against weak opponents, but also two games against their first round opponent and one against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

These Oilers don’t get pushed around anymore either. Ken Holland added a bunch of size this season. It started with a seemingly innocuous prospect trade of Dmitri Samorukov for Klim Kostin. Kostin has brought a nice mix of size, physicality, fighting, and scoring. Then they recalled Vincent Desharnais, aka “the Seaweed Man”, who has been rock solid on the third pairing. Finally, they added Ekholm and Nick Bjugstad at the trade deadline.

Related: Can the Edmonton Oilers take the next step? Lessons from the dynasty years, Part One

Oh yeah, they have Evander Kane too. His frightening injury caused him to miss a lot of time this year, but his impact is felt on the scoresheet and in the fight.

While we’re talking about emergence, I can’t forget about Stuart Skinner. The Edmonton product emerged as a legitimate starting goaltender in the NHL this season with his first All-Star game appearance and by breaking Grant Fuhr’s record for wins by a rookie Oilers goaltender. Skinner stabilized the goaltending situation for the Oilers this year, and he’s going to get the chance to show everyone just how good he is this spring.

It was an amazing regular season for the Oilers. They emerged as contenders last spring, but they proved that they belong with the elite teams in this league with their performance during this regular season. The Oilers are out for blood. They’re past trying to emerge as contenders. Their focus is emerging as champions.

It starts tonight with game one against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place. It’s a rematch of last year’s first round that’s expected to be a fierce battle in a budding rivalry. Buckle up, Oilers fans!

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April 17, 2023 by Raghu Sharma

After reaching the 2022 Western Conference Final, expectations were high for the Edmonton Oilers coming into the season. However, the Oilers posted a mediocre 10-10-0 record in their first 20 games, which was awfully concerning for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Though they didn’t get out to the start they wanted, the Oilers went 40-13-9 in their final 62 games, finishing second in the Western Conference with 109 points. The 2022-23 Oilers delivered plenty of peaks and valleys, but ultimately they peaked at the right time – right before the playoffs.

Below is their record over the 10-game stretches:

Games 1-10: 7-3-0 (.700)
Games 11-20: 3-7-0 (.300)
Games 21-30: 7-3-0 (.700)
Games 31-40: 4-4-2 (.500)
Games 41-50: 7-1-2 (.800)
Games 51-60: 5-1-4 (.700)
Games 61-70: 6-4-0 (.600)
Games 71-80: 9-0-1 (.950)

Top PerformersConnor McDavid: 82-64-89-153 (1.87 points per game)

First player with 150 points in 27 years
First player to claim hockey’s triple crown in 36 years
Fifth player in NHL history with five Art Ross Trophies
One goal shy of most single-season tallies in the salary cap era

Leon Draisaitl: 80-52-76-128 (1.60 points per game)

Tied for second-most single-season points in the salary cap era
Fourth 100-point season
Third 50-goal season

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 82-37-67-104 (1.27 points per game)

First 100-point season

Zach Hyman: 36-47-83 (1.05 points per game)

First point per game season

Darnell Nurse: 82-12-31-43 (0.52 points per game)

Plus-23 rating (only one power-play point)

Mattias Ekholm: 19-3-9-12 (0.67 points per game)

Led team with plus-28 rating

Stuart Skinner: 27-14-5 with a 2.80 GAA and a .912 SV%

Franchise record for wins by a rookie goalie with 29

This is the best group of the Oilers we have seen in quite some time. No more can one say the Oilers are just two players in McDavid and Draisaitl. The Oilers are a team that has a historically dominant power-play, an elite top-six, depth in the forward group that can chip in goals, play with toughness, have the most shorthanded goals this season with 17

Additionally, since the acquisition of Ekholm, have shored up their defence both lightening the load on Darnell Nurse and allowing a true veteran partnership to Evan Bouchard. During their first six games in April, the Oilers went 6-0-0, while allowing one or fewer goals and two shutouts (one from each goaltender).

We bleed blue and orange and will always be loyal to the Oil. Get Loud, Oil Country, because our time is now!

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April 17, 2023 by Bruce McCurdy

Over the 50 active seasons the Edmonton Oilers have entertained big-league hockey fans in this town – seven in the World Hockey Association, 43 in the National Hockey League, one (uncounted) in the deep freeze of a season-long lockout – there have been exactly two times a better future was obvious right from the start of training camp.

1979The first was the seminal camp in the fall of 1979, Edmonton’s first in the NHL. A new course was baked in as a result of the merger of the rival leagues. While there was plenty of buzz about the famous visiting clubs we would be seeing in the season/s to come, most of the focus naturally fell on the home club. And there was plenty to be excited about.

The focal point was teenaged phenom Wayne Gretzky, already a known factor who had won the Lou Kaplan Trophy as the WHA’s last rookie of the year, finishing third in scoring in the Rebel League while leading the Oilers to first place. This from a willowy youth who was just 17 for the first half of the season. While many of the old school saw him as too slight to last in the big leagues, others saw the wunderkind as the future of hockey.

Another object of attention at that camp was the Oilers first-ever NHL draft pick. By terms of the merger the Oilers had been consigned to pick last in the Entry Draft, despite their official status as an “expansion” team. But in one of the deepest draft classes of all time, the Oilers chose wisely at No. 21 in selecting Kevin Lowe. He would go on to become a franchise cornerstone in a number of roles, not to mention Gretzky’s roommate in those early years.

The third was a very pleasant surprise. When Gretzky was sold to Edmonton in November of 1978, he was replaced on the Indianapolis Racers roster by Mark Messier, another 17-year-old hotshot straight out of St. Albert Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Messier scored just one goal in 47 WHA games with Indy and Cincinnati, but left an impression on Glen Sather when he “beat the snot out of Dennis Sobchuk”, then of the Oilers.

By virtue of his pro experience, Messier was made eligible for the NHL Draft, by some months its youngest eligible player. He somehow lasted until pick No. 48 when the Oilers snagged him. Expectations were all over the map, but from Day One of camp Messier – just eight days older than Gretzky – impressed with his exuberance, terrific speed, and soft hands. They would be the two youngest NHLers that season… though not rookies.

I wrote a retrospective of that camp some 30 years later, devoting a paragraph to each of the three standouts who would soon emerge as the core leadership group of the dynasty Oilers. By 2009, of course, the full arc of their fabulous careers was known, even as Lowe’s ultimate selection to the Hockey Hall of Fame was still more than a decade away. But what was entirely unforeseeable was how a future training camp just six years in the future would strongly resemble the “one-of-a-kind” that was 1979.

2015In 2015, another trio of promising youngsters would stand head-and-shoulders above the crowd at rookie camp, and continue to draw rave reviews even after the veterans joined the scene. There was 18-year-old Connor McDavid in the role of wunderkind, 19-year-old Leon Draisaitl as the über -talented power centre in the mould of Messier, and 20-year-old Darnell Nurse who was already being projected as a bedrock defenceman in the fashion of Lowe.

The Oilers weren’t a brand-new team in 2015, indeed they were no strangers to having the pick of the litter at the NHL Draft. With first-overall selections Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Nail Yakupov already on hand along with another first-round gem in Jordan Eberle and coveted free-agent rearguard Justin Schultz, the likelihood of a dominant offensive team seemed imminent. But among those talented young pros, the still-younger trio of McDavid, Draisaitl and Nurse stood out as the squad’s emerging new core.

Eight seasons later that core remains, though the supporting cast around them has almost entirely changed. Hall, Yakupov and Schultz were all gone within a year, Eberle within two. Only Nugent-Hopkins remains as an éminence grise from the second rebuild, having seamlessly evolved into the ultimate team-first complementary player of the third.

Thus, the group of talented young players who attended that 2015 camp quickly shriveled to the 97-25-29-93 cluster, who today make up the core leadership group of the squad.

EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 19: Edmonton Oilers Winger Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his power play goal with Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Moreover, future prized draft picks didn’t work out quite as hoped. Jesse Puljujarvi is a good hockey player but he’s no Jari Kurri. Kailer Yamamoto is a good hockey player but he’s no Glenn Anderson. Evan Bouchard is a good hockey player but he’s no Paul Coffey.

Only in the last couple of years have the Oilers finally built up a top-notch crew of complementary wingers, with the acquisition of free agents Zach Hyman and Evander Kane along with the (nearly) full-time conversion of RNH to the left flank. It took too long by half, but the 32-team NHL of the Salary Cap/Parity Era proved a much tougher nut to crack than was the high-scoring league of the post-expansion era.

But, guess what? Scoring is finally on the rise, and once again it is the Edmonton Oilers who are leading the charge. Their 325 tallies in 2022-23 led the NHL by a tidy 24 (real) goals. While that’s nowhere near the stunning 86 tallies by which the 1983-84 Oilers led their nearest competitor, it is nonetheless substantial.

The modern Oilers have silenced all but the most foolish of critics of “one man team” criticisms, not that it was ever on point. (There were always at least TWO!) But as the 2022-23 season came to a close, the Oilers iced a group of 12 forwards who each scored at least 10 goals. That’s serious scoring depth.

ManagementAs his team has readied for a serious run for the Stanley Cup, current Edmonton GM Ken Holland has been a much busier man on the player acquisition front this season than was his distant predecessor. In 1983-84, Glen Sather brought in just a single outsider, Kevin McClelland, to tweak the ranks. For his part, Holland changed out at least seven, arguably eight positions in the past twelve months.

Of the eight newcomers, three came as free agents, three via the trade route, and two as internal promotions from the farm system. With the exception of Barrie-plus-plus for Ekholm, the exchanges were indirect, with players cleared out and then replaced in separate transactions. With so little correlation, players are simply listed in order of cap hit at each position.

A major objective of Holland was to trim some cap space in order to pay for substantial in-house raises for Nurse, Kane, Yamamoto and Brett Kulak, whose extensions all took effect in 2022-23 and had a collective cap increase of just over $10 million. Not something Glen Sather had to worry about in 1983, when his entire payroll was considerably less than $10 million and the salary cap was 20 years into a dystopian future.

But for Holland, cap compliance was a huge challenge. He accomplished it by replacing eight players costing $25.7 million with eight others costing $15.7 million (after retention). Hey, lookit! $10 million saved. It cost him significant assets on both acquisition side (Ekholm, Bjugstad) and disposition (Kassian), but the on-ice impact has been tangible.

The other thing Holland targeted was size. Let’s leave the goalies aside – all four of them are huge, and none, save Mike Smith on a feisty day, throw body checks let alone fists. The six skaters who departed averaged 6-foot and a half, 191-pounds; the sextet who replaced them, 6-foot-3 and a half, 211-pounds. Three inches and 20 pounds per man, among them enough to raise the team average by a full inch and about six pounds. In the process the Oilers have become a physically imposing club who can dish it out with the best of them. That’s one thing they have in common with that great Oilers squad of 1984.

Not all the changes have worked: Campbell, the would-be starting goalie, had a very erratic regular season, leaving the door open for the in-house promotion, Skinner. And depth defender Murray has spent much more time on injured reserve than he did on the ice, where he wasn’t effective in any event. The other additions have ranged from decent to very good, with Skinner, Desharnais and Ekholm proving to be revelations.

CoachingHow much of the credit is due on the coaching vs. management side is open to question. With the old Oilers, Sather took the credit (and the criticism) on both sides of the equation. For the modern club there is a clear division of labour. Make no mistake, though, head coach Jay Woodcroft and his staff have made their mark, and proved it in last year’s playoff run when the Oilers won more series than they had in the previous fifteen seasons combined.

Though constricted to a bare-bones 21-man roster in 2022-23, Woodcroft has continued to ice varied lineups that consist of either 11 forwards and seven defenders, or the more traditional 12 and six, both to good effect. One outcome is the Oilers are exceedingly difficult to match up against, especially given the nuclear weapons that occasionally show up on the “fourth line” in the 11 and seven deployment. It helps that a majority of Oilers forwards can play multiple positions, allowing the coach all sorts of options when matching lines, or countering same.

One change Woodcroft & Co. have stuck to for the most part this season is using Leon Draisaitl almost exclusively at the centre position, largely ignoring the temptation to pair him up with Connor McDavid, as has been done with devastating effect in the past. It’s helped that Edmonton has spent much more time leading than trailing games in the second half of the season.

The switch doesn’t quite have the finality of Messier’s move to centre in 1983-84; indeed, Woodcroft did similar last season before an ankle injury to Draisaitl in the playoffs forced the coach’s hand. With fabulous results, mind: McDavid and Draisaitl comfortably finished 1-2 in playoff scoring despite not making the Finals, each averaging two-plus points per game.

Another echo of the dynasty Oilers has involved the regular deployment of McDavid on the penalty kill, where he has excelled. No. 97 saw his ice time increase by a factor of six over last season, scoring 4-3-7 and generating a remarkable 47 percent goal share (8 for, 9 against). Teammates followed his lead on occasion, and the club as a whole produced 17 shorthanded goals to lead the NHL. Not quite the 36 shorties the Oil scored in that magical 1983-84 season, but a distant echo at least. Even in an outnumbered situation, world-class players can be a threat lining up against offensive-minded opponents; who knew? Old Oilers fans, that’s who!

One area where the modern Oilers are distinctly superior to their dynastic forebears is on the powerplay, which established a new NHL record for efficiency with a conversion rate of 32.4 percent. The last team to lead the NHL in both power-play and shorthanded goals in the same season? The 1980-81 Islanders.

ComparisonLet’s close with a direct comparison of the two clubs. We’ll use regular season results for the obvious reason the
’23 playoffs haven’t actually started yet:

I would argue this is the first time the Oilers have had a team good enough to make such a comparison, even as it will inevitably come up short against the greatest scoring club of all-time … not to mention one that played in a season that produced 24 percent more goals per game.

Both teams are/were led by the best player on the planet. Both feature/d a terrific top-four up front that is the envy of the league. The squad of the ’80s had more secondary scorers in the 20-goal range, while the modern group is a little deeper, at least on the goal production front. The largest difference by far is the absence of a Paul Coffey- type super scorer on the back end. Coffey aside, both teams had three defenders with 40-plus points; even when the Oil moved on from Barrie at the deadline, Ekholm came in and scored at a 55-point pace down the stretch.

The current squad has the better goaltending numbers, though that too is era-dependent. Much depends on Stuart Skinner, who just broke Fuhr’s 41-year-old record for wins by a rookie but is about to get his baptism by fire in the postseason.

While in most respects the modern Oilers fall a little short of their brilliant predecessors, in 2022-23 they enter the playoffs on a hotter end-of-season roll (14-0-1) than any of Edmonton’s five Stanley Cup champions did. Can they sustain it? Aye, laddie, that’s why they play the games… and why we watch them.

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April 11, 2023 by Josh Boulton

What is it about the Edmonton Oilers that makes them so good? It can’t just be chalked up to luck any longer. The Oilers have the highest winning percentage in the entire NHL since January 11 at .789.

That’s too dominating over too long of a stretch to be lucky, so there’s only three viable options to explain it. One is that the best player in the world in Connor McDavid carrying the team on his back, and everyone else is along for the ride. The second is that the Oilers are a complete team with the right pieces all in, or close to their respective primes. The third is the most fun: they’re a team of destiny. There’s a case to be made for all three.

Maybe it really is just the McDavid effect. He’s definitely blowing the NHL out of the water right now at 151 points and counting. That’s 27points ahead of the NHL’s second highest point getter and his teammate, Leon Draisaitl, and an almost unfathomable 40 points ahead of the next player not wearing an Oilers uniform.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 16: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his goal and 131st point in the third period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Dallas Stars on March 16, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)It wasn’t that long ago in 2015-16, where Taylor Hall led the Oilers in points with 65. The season before that, Jordan Eberle led the team with 63 points. There’s been at least one 100-point scorer on the Oilers in the seven seasons since, and in six of those years McDavid has been one of them. So has he been the the biggest contributor to the team’s success during that time? That is abundantly clear.

On the other hand, let’s not overlook the fact that the 2022-23 Oilers are the first franchise to have three 100-point players in the same season since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96. Along with McDavid and Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins reached the 100-point mark for the first time in his career on April 5. Nugent-Hopkins has amassed 34 points more than his previous career high of 69 in 2019-20. That’s at least two players doing more than just coming along for the McDavid ride, and there is also a fourth.

Zach Hyman deserves a mention for his own personal evolution over 77 games. He’s sitting on 80 points, which is a 26-point jump from last year’s 54. Hyman will very likely get to 84 points and join Nugent-Hopkins in the 30 point improvement club.

More impressively, with one more goal he’ll give Edmonton it’s fourth 35-goal scorer of the season. That would be the first time that’s happened for the Oilers since 1987-88, and I believe it would be the first time in the NHL since those remarkable 1995-96 Penguins.

Related: Oilers are out to prove the hockey world wrong

Other players putting up career best numbers alongside McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, and Hyman are Darnell Nurse and Ryan McLeod. Evan Bouchard is only five points shy of surpassing his totals in 2021-22 with two games to go, and Warren Foegele is just three points back of his career mark.

With Klim Kostin and Vincent Desharnais becoming regulars in the lineup, and the additions of Nick Bjugstad and Matias Ekholm, it’s possible this is the deepest Oilers team in three decades. Calling the Oilers a complete team shouldn’t earn you the looks, but for some reason, it still does, no matter how many players excel.

That’s why I believe it’s the third option – this is a team of destiny. The hockey gods are with them. As evidence of that, I turn to their goaltending. It’s no secret Jack Campbell has not been the answer the Oilers were looking for between the pipes. Campbell currently sits 89th in the NHL in save percentage at .886. Comparatively, all-star rookie netminder Stuart Skinner has a save percentage of .911, good for 16th in the league.

Skinner is one of the main reasons the Oilers have even made the playoffs, let alone stayed in the hunt for the Pacific Division title, neigh, the Western Conference title. Still, the Oilers boast two goaltenders with 20 wins each for the first time since Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog 1986-87.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes a big save in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Skinner ranks among top-20 in save percentage and is also 10th in wins with 27. Campbell is a full 73 spots down the chart in save percentage, but he’s tied for 24th in wins with 21. The Oilers have 48 wins, and this alleged waste of a roster spot and $5 million unplaying backup goalie.

Can McDavid lay claim to willing his club to all 46 of those victories? Did this roster’s depth simply outscore the opponent that many times in free-for-alls? I don’t think so. I think this is a combination of Campbell being better than some think he is, with a little intervention of fate.

Luck can only carry you for so long. A great talent, even a generational one, can alone only carry you so far. Surround that talent with help and you have a top-10 NHL team. Sprinkle in a little destiny, and the sky is the limit.

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April 6, 2023 by Bruce McCurdy

The story is a famous one, of Wayne Gretzky and Kevin Lowe passing by the home locker room in the aftermath of the Edmonton Oilers four-game sweep at the hands of the mighty New York Islanders in the spring of 1983. Here is the Great One’s version of it, as told in “his” book (with Rick Reilly) Gretzky: An Autobiography:

Kevin and I loaded up our troubles and our junk and made our way to the bus. We both knew we were going to have to walk by the Islander locker room and we were dreading it: having to see all the happy faces, the champagne shampoos, the girlfriends’ kisses, the whole scene we both wanted so much.

But as we walked by, we didn’t see any of that. The girlfriends and the coaches and the staff people were living it up, but the players weren’t. Trottier was icing what looked like a panful knee. Potvin was getting stuff rubbed on his shoulder. Guys were limping around with black eyes and bloody mouths. It looked more like a morgue in there than a champion’s locker room. And here we were perfectly fine and healthy.

That’s why they won and we lost. They took more punishment than we did. They dove into more boards, stuck their faces in front of more pucks, threw their bodies into more pileups. They sacrificed everything they had.

And that’s when Kevin said something I’ll never forget. He said, “That’s how you win championships.”**

This anecdote took on the stuff of legend when the Oilers overcame their demons the very next spring and blew by the Islanders in five games to win their first Stanley Cup. The team had hardened, stiffened its spine, gained the necessary maturity and resolve to see it through to the end.

In truth, by 1984 the Oilers were a year better, the Islanders a year older. When the two clubs met up in a Stanley Cup rematch, the Isles were beginning their twentieth playoff series in five years and the cracks were starting to show. With an epic 1-0 win in Game 1 right in Nassau County Coliseum, the Oilers were in the ascendant, ultimately closing out the series with a trio of convincing wins on home ice in Games 3, 4, and 5.

Champagne shampoos ensued. As did, presumably, girlfriends’ kisses.

While that’s the short version of The Road to Success, the real story was, of course, far more complex. What changed for the Oilers in that 12-month interval?

A second question, more relevant to today: might there be some applications to the modern Oilers across the intervening decades? We’ll dig into that aspect in Part 2.

Oilers’ General Manager Glen Sather already had most of his championship roster in place when his team fired and fell short in the spring of 1983. Such personnel changes as he made were more about deployment and role with existing Oilers than with the fabric of the roster.

Those Oilers were considerably younger than the current edition, having joined the NHL just five years earlier with the 18-year-old Wayne Gretzky already on the team. Chief Scout Barry Fraser and his crack staff followed up with the most exceptional three-year cluster in the history of the NHL Draft, selecting six (6) Hall of Famers in the process. By the spring of 1984 all were young veterans who were still in the process of achieving their peak value. In order of age on May 19, 1984:

Kevin Lowe – 25 years, 1 month
Jari Kurri – 24 years, 0 months
Glenn Anderson – 23 years, 7 months
Mark Messier – 23 years, 4 months
Wayne Gretzky – 23 years, 4 months
Paul Coffey – 22 years, 11 months
Grant Fuhr – 21 years, 8 months

Around that spectacular group, Sather’s job had always been to build a supporting cast capable of getting the job done. While there were a couple of holdovers from the Oilers squad that finished first in the World Hockey Association in 1978-79, there was plenty of work to be done.

Much of it came that eventful summer of 1979, in a messy merger process including an Entry Draft, reclamation draft, expansion draft, amateur free agent signings and a flurry of trades. In short order Sather and titular GM Larry Gordon already had acquired/retained useful role players and future Stanley Cup winners Lee Fogolin, Charlie Huddy, Dave Hunter, Dave Lumley, and Dave Semenko. The fine tuning commenced from there – adding a Randy Gregg here, a Pat Hughes there, a Willy Lindstrom somewhere else – and by the spring of 1983 was nearly complete.

For simplicity we will stick just to the playoff rosters for 1983 and 1984, and for the most part to regulars.

Astonishing to ponder how little Sather did to modify the roster that was convincingly swept by a combined 17 goals to six. No personnel changes at all to the defence and goaltending. Up front, a couple of bottom sixers got moved out, one got acquired and one got promoted from the press box to the line-up. Note how consistent from year to year are the scoring and plus-minus totals right down the lineup, with the biggest upgrades occurring in the revamped bottom-six.

Indeed, the roster that started that 1983-84 campaign (with seven straight wins!) was essentially unchanged from the one that fell in the Final. It wasn’t until December 5 that Sather made his one significant trade, sending out fourth-line centre Tom Roulston in exchange for Kevin McClelland, a raw-boned 21-year-old who had yet to find his true calling in parts of three seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In Edmonton, he stepped right into the lineup at third line centre and added his own brand of edginess, physicality and timely scoring to the mix.

For the Oilers, the win brought a glorious end to a ten-game losing streak to those Isles that included both season series 1982-84 as well as that ignominious sweep in the ’83 Finals. That single game – and that single goal by the one newcomer to the team – represented a massive change in Edmonton’s direction that would lead in short order to their first Stanley.

Which isn’t to say there weren’t other changes, but they were internal:

Fuhr worked his way back into favour after a dreadful sophomore season, and delivered key victories in Games 1 and 3 before being hurt. Andy Moog finished the job in the final two games.
After two seasons of being selected to the First All-Star Team as the best left winger in the league, Mark Messier was shifted to his natural centre position in mid-February. He excelled in that role, ultimately winning the Conn Smythe Trophy that spring, a trio of breathtaking goals in the SCF capping off a strong run of ferocious two-way play.
That same move enabled second lien centre Ken Linseman to be moved into the bottom-six, where he and McClelland provided a useful mix of nasty and nastier with a modicum of skill down the middle. Between them, a big upgrade over Roulston and Ray Cote. Meanwhile, there was a new spot available at left wing that was ably filled by Jaroslav Pouzar, who had watched the ’83 series from the press box due to a surfeit at his position. Despite the demotion, Linseman scored ten goals that spring, three of them series-winners.
In a further attempt to balance the lines, Sather took the unusual step of promoting enforcer Dave Semenko to the first line during the playoffs. Playing with Gretzky and Kurri, the big man excelled, playing the best hockey of his life.

The Oilers found balanced scoring that spring, as lesser lights like Hughes, McClelland, Semenko, Hunter, and Lindstrom each posted double-digit points, as did defence-first rearguards Lowe, Huddy and Gregg. Meanwhile the top-end guys remained as productive as ever.

The club also found a new commitment to defence and a structure founded in disciplined positional play. When a defenceman pinched, not only would F-3 sprint out to cover for him, but F-2 would sprint back to cover for F-3. For the best-skating team in the league by some margin, the constant rotation of the forwards into defensive positions resulted in a huge reduction in odd-man rushes and wide-open spaces behind the defence.

This wasn’t always apparent in a regular season. Thriving on a counter-attacking style that seemingly invited the opponents to shoot first, the squad set still-extant records for goals in a season (446) and shorthanded goals (36). Gretzky alone scored a staggering 12-11-23 on the PK, and basically crushed it in all manpower states, finding the scoresheet in the first 51 games of the campaign. A shoulder injury suffered in a hit from future linemate Dave Taylor of Los Angeles put an end to The Streak, detouring but not derailing No. 99’s greatest season.

The other major change those playoffs was one of focus. In 1983, Islanders goaltender Billy Smith had gotten under the skin of the Oilers, slashing Gretzky in a celebrated Game 1 incident that left No. 99 in a heap in the corner, not to mention on the front page of the next day’s Edmonton Sun. But when “Battling Billy” tried the same trick on Glenn Anderson in Game 1 of ’84, the speedy winger just skated through the hack and kept right on going as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. A couple games later, Pouzar crushed the notorious netminder in an “accidental” collision that left a mark. Smith’s magic evaporated in the final three games of the series, two of which saw him yanked mid-game.

By May 19, the ultimate victory was won, for the first but decidedly not last time. The handshake line between the triumphant Oilers and the proud Islanders, beaten for the first time in twenty playoff series, represented a changing of the guard from one dynasty of the 1980s to the other.

I was in the house that night, an incredible experience. Saw the Great One score his 99th and 100th goals of the season-plus-playoffs in the first period, then help set up Linseman for the Cup winner early in the second. The third period remains embedded in memory: the two first-minute goals by Pat Lafontaine that cut Edmonton’s 4-0 lead in half and put a lump in the throat, the heightened ferocity in every puck battle and zone exit, the fierce defence down the stretch, the Lumley empty-netter, the countdown, the celebration, that handshake line and finally, finally, the presentation of the Stanley Cup to the local heroes. Above it all, the enduring roar of the crowd, my own voice lost somewhere in the exuberant mix.

It remains a “life memory” I wouldn’t mind revisiting. And would wish upon every red-blooded Oilers fan out there. Maybe as soon as 2023!

We’ll dig into that aspect in Part Two, coming soon.

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April 5, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recorded his 100th point of the season on Wednesday with an assist against the Anaheim Ducks. This is the first time in his career that he’s hit the century mark in points. The feat makes him the third Edmonton Oiler to do so this season along with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They are the first trio of teammates to each score at least 100 points in a season since Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Ron Francis did it in 1995-96.

That little tidbit is great and all, but I want to focus on Nugent-Hopkins here because he deserves so much more attention than he gets. The 2011 first overall pick has lived in the shadows of others during his time as an Oiler. Taylor Hall was drafted a year before Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle was a part of the youth movement the year before he got drafted. 2014-15 was the only season that he finished ahead of either Hall or Eberle in scoring while all three were members of the team. McDavid and Draisaitl came next, and they have always outscored Nugent-Hopkins.

Nugent-Hopkins has been a consistent producer, but he’s never produced offence like one might expect from a first overall pick. His career-high for points prior to this season was 69. He’s obliterating that number this season! Let’s dive in and figure out why he’s been able to supercharge his offensive output this year.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 25: Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) skates up ice during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on January 25, 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)I’ll start with the obvious analysis. Nugent-Hopkins has 36 goals on the season, which is eight more than he’s had in any other season. His shooting percentage was at 18.8% prior to Wednesday’s game, which is 6.6% higher than his career average of 12.2%. Nugent-Hopkins has 64 assists, which is only five away from his previous career-high in POINTS. That’s where the real magic is happening. He’s making smart passes and guys are finishing for him, but there has to be something more than that.

Nugent-Hopkins has seen a few games as the third line center this year, but he’s done most of his work on the wing in the top six. He has 20 goals and 25 assists for 45 points at even strength this season. Believe it or not, this isn’t his career high for even strength goals. He scored 22 goals at even strength in 2014-15. His 25 even strength assists are a career high, but only by two over his 23 in 2013-14.

The Oilers are on the precipice of making NHL history by having the highest powerplay percentage over the course of a season. They might not get that record, but this powerplay is otherworldly. McDavid and Draisaitl get all the love, but Nugent-Hopkins’s importance to the powerplay cannot be understated. He’s a wizard on the powerplay, and his numbers this season show it. He’s got 15 powerplay goals, which is six more than his previous high of nine. His 37 assists on the powerplay is astonishing though! He had 20 powerplay assists in his rookie season, and he had 22 last year. Those are the only seasons where he finished with 20 or more powerplay assists aside from this one. 37 powerplay assists is a testament to his poise and decision making with the puck.

Related: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins continues to be a significant power-play performer

Let’s not forget about Nugent-Hopkins’s contributions on the penalty kill. He’s the best penalty killing forward on the Oilers. Nugent-Hopkins is an impact player in every facet of the game. He even beat Justin Holl in a fight this season! Nugent-Hopkins hitting the century mark in points is a big accomplishment. He deserves all the praise in the world for the way he plays the game and for his impact in the community. This season will be another point in favour of being considered an all-time Oiler great. Congratulations on an incredible accomplishment and an amazing season Ryan!

I can’t forget about the fact that he’s about to become a father, congratulations to Ryan and his wife as well!

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April 4, 2023 by Eric Friesen

When the Edmonton Oilers retired Wayne Gretzky’s number in 1999, the ceremony began with a song titled “Memories Will Last Forever” by his friend and Edmonton-born recording artist, Tim Feehan. There’s a lyric in the song that goes “To do what they say can’t be done, to prove them wrong.”

This is surely in reference to Gretzky and the Oilers getting swept by the New York Islanders in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final, before knocking off the four-time defending champions in convincing fashion the following year. Even with Gretzky at the height of his powers, few believed the Oilers could conquer the Islanders in a best-of-seven series.

But in the spring of 1984, they proved the hockey world wrong. And while the Oilers went on to win four of the next five Cups with Gretzky as captain, that first championship in 1984 is still regarded by many Oilers fans as the greatest victory in franchise history.

Now, nearly 40 years later, the Connor McDavid-led Oilers are looking to prove the hockey world wrong again.

CALGARY, AB – OCTOBER 29: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) warms up before an NHL game between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers on October 29, 2022, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire)Greater expectationsThere was a plenty of hype surrounding the Edmonton Oilers going into the 2022-23 season, and for good reason. The Oilers were coming off their highest point total in 35 years, they had just reached the 2022 Western Conference Final, and they had the to best offensive players in the world in their respective primes.

However, they ran the gamut of peaks and valleys this season prior to the All-Star break. After winning seven of their first 10 games, the Oilers posted a dismal 14-15-3 mark in their next 32 outings, and were barely clinging to a wild-card spot as the calendar turned to 2023.

But since January 11, the Oilers have a league-best .771 points percentage, thanks to a 24-5-6 record and a plus-51 goal differential. Edmonton also had an 11-game unbeaten streak in regulation (9-0-2), which pulled them within one point of the Pacific Division-lead. It was the Oilers longest point streak since going 16 consecutive games without a regulation loss between February 27-March 28, 2004.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 30: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) skates up ice in the second period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)What’s even more impressive is that the Oilers made it through the toughest part of their schedule with just two regulation losses: a stretch that saw them play the Boston Bruins, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights twice each, as well as games against the Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings in March alone.

Related: Oilers earn important win in the playoff race as they continue to put the league on notice

The Oilers clinched a playoff berth for the fourth consecutive season with a 6-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place on Saturday. This marks the first time the Oilers have qualified for the playoffs in four straight seasons since 1997-98 through 2000-01.

But making the playoffs is just the minimum expectation for the Oilers in the McDavid era. Each season McDavid plays for the Oilers, is a year where they are in their window to win the Cup.

Reasons to believe the Oilers will win the CupReaching the conference final a year ago was a massive step forward for this group, but the Oilers are even better equipped for a deep playoff run this season. Per MoneyPuck.com, the Oilers currently have the sixth-best odds in the NHL to make the second-round (60.037%), the third-best odds to make the conference final (37.1%), the second-best odds to make the Stanley Cup Final (22.8%), and the best odd to win the Cup (13.1%).

The most obvious reason to believe in the Oilers’ Cup chances is the fact that McDavid plays for them and is fully healthy. After putting up 33 points in 16 games in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, McDavid has elevated his game even further this season.

The 26-year-old is on pace for the 66 goals, which would be the most single-season goals in the salary cap era, and 156 points, which would be the most single-season points in NHL history by a player other than Gretzky or Mario Lemieux, in a full 82-game schedule. He’s on a different level than every other superstar in the league.

Related: 5 milestones and records Connor McDavid could reach in 2022-23

Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman are all enjoying career years, as well. While McDavid garners most of the attention around the league, Draisaitl has tallied an outstanding 50 goals and 120 points in 75 games this season. He’s already produced enough points to have won the scoring title in 13 of the last 18 seasons.

Nugent-Hopkins is just three points away from hitting the century mark for the first time is his career, and Hyman has already cracked a career-high 80 points. With Evander Kane back in the lineup, the Oilers can ice arguably the best top-six forward group in the league.

Edmonton’s power-play is running at 32.4 percent, and if that holds up until for the rest of the season, it will be the most efficient power-play unit in NHL history. Even if opportunities with the man-advantage are harder to come by in the playoffs, it’s still a massive advantage for the Oilers whenever the opposition gets called for a penalty.

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 01: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Mattias Ekholm (14) in his first game as an Oilers defends his zone in the first period of the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Toronto Maple Leads on March 1, 2023 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Though the Oilers are a team built around their offensive prowess, they done a better job of keeping the puck out of the net over the past month. Since March 1, the Oilers rank 15th in the league in goals against per game (3.13). This is a positive sign for a team that has been in the bottom-10 in the league in goals against and on the penalty kill for most of the season.

It’s no coincidence that the Oilers’ have reduced their goal against since the arrival of Mattias Ekholm. The Ekholm trade is already one of the best moves by General Manager Ken Holland during his tenure with the organization.

Ekholm gives the Oilers the veteran two-way presence on the blueline they needed to go on a dep run, and has taken some of the tough minutes away from Darnell Nurse. He’s also helped get Evan Bouchard return to his rookie form, after struggling through most of his sophomore campaign.

Besides McDavid and Draisaitl, rookie goalie Stuart Skinner has been the team’s most valuable player this season, and he’s a big reason why they still have a shot to win the division title. Skinner’s solid starts and calmness between the pipes should give the team confidence as he head into the post-season in two weeks.

Ultimately, the Oilers need to win the Stanley Cup to silence their doubters. Anything short of that will be met with ciritism from pundits around the league.

There’s no easy road to the Final, but this is the Oilers deepest lineup since at least 1989-90 when they won their last Cup, if not longer. I picked the Oilers to win the Cup back in October, and with their terrific second-half and deadline additions, I’m even more confident in that prediction now.

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March 31, 2023 by Eric Friesen

Connor McDavid scored his 300th career NHL goal and Stuart Skinner turned aside all 43 shots he faced, as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 at Rogers Place on Thursday night. The game was reminiscent of the Oilers’ Game 7 victory over the Kings in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Just like in the series-deciding contest last May, Edmonton held a held a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes, before McDavid provided the dagger in the final frame. With the victory, the Oilers completed their schedule for March with a 12-2-1 record (setting a franchise record for most wins in one month), and moved past the Kings into second place in the Pacific Division standings.

Since their loss to the Kings on January 9, the Oilers own a league-best 23-5-6 record (.765 points percentage) and are averaging an incredible 4.50 goals for per game. While the Oilers boast the best offence in the entire NHL, their triumph over the Kings was a low-scoring, tight-checking battle between two of the top teams in the Western Conference.

It felt like a playoff game. And these clubs could be headed toward a playoff rematch in less than three weeks. If they do meet in either the first or second round, this very important win could ultimately help Edmonton secure home-ice advantage in the series.

“That’s the type of game you have to play against this team,” Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said in his post-game presser on Thursday. “We know that. We’ve seen a lot of them here over the last, probably, 14 or 15 months. You have to have a level of patience and endurance to your game. It sounds like two different things, but it’s not. It’s understanding how they want the game to be played and trying to negate some of their strengths and waiting for opportunities that present themselves without forcing anything.”

McDavid reaches the 300-goal plateauHeading into Thursday night’s encounter, McDavid had gone three straight games without finding the back of the net, leaving him stuck on 299 goals for his career. But with an opportunity for the Oilers to leapfrog the Kings in the standings and with his family in attendance, McDavid seemed determined to join the 300-goal club before the night was over.

Just under four minutes into the third period, McDavid intercepted a pass high in the defensive zone and was off to the races. The Oilers captain skated in on a shorthanded breakaway and beat Joonas Korpisalo over the blocker to tally the 300th goal of his career and 61st of the season, extending the lead to 2-0. It was his fourth shorthanded goal of season, good for second-most in the league.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 12: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his go ahead goal and second of the game in the third period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Vancouver Canucks on October 12, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)McDavid became the 11th-youngest player in NHL history and third-youngest among active players to reach the 300-goal plateau at 26 years and 76 days old. The league’s leading goal-scorer also joined Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Peter Stastny and Bryan Trottier as the only player in NHL history with 300 goals and 500 assists prior to their 600th career NHL game.

Related: Connor McDavid joins the 60-goal club in dramatic fashion

McDavid, who wasn’t done making history on this night, also became the first player to ever record five 10-game point streaks in a single season. In addition, he’s currently riding a 19-game home point streak, where he has amassed 36 points (1.89 P/GP). He has picked up at least one point in every home game since the calendar turned to 2023.

Skinner shuts the doorIt took 76 games, but an Oilers goalie finally earned a shutout. In what was arguably his best performance of the season, and possibly of his young career, Skinner made a handful of sensational saves, including an Adrian Kempe breakaway in the second period.

The rookie netminder set the franchise record for most wins in a month, with 10. Andy Moog (January 1983), Grant Fuhr (December 1988), Tommy Salo (March 2003) and Mike Smith (April 2022) each have recorded nine wins a month with the Oilers.

VANCOUVER, BC – OCTOBER 09: Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) watches the play during their NHL preseason game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on October 9, 2021 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Skinner registered the second shutout of his career and first on home ice. His 43 saves also tied him with Nikolai Khabibulin for the third-most in franchise history in a shutout. It was the seventh time this season where Skinner has made 40 or more saves in a game.

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March 24, 2023 by Eric Friesen

Connor McDavid clearly listened to Leon Draisaitl’s advice when he told him this past summer that he needs to score 60 goals this season.

McDavid scored twice, including his 60th goal of the season in the extra frame, to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind overtime victory over the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Place on Wednesday. McDavid became only the third player in franchise history to score 60 goals in a single season and the first since Wayne Gretzky had 62 in 1986-87.

In addition, McDavid became the fastest player to score 60 goals (72 games) since Mario Lemieux (62 games) in 1995-96. The 25-year-old also tallied his league-leading 10th game-winning goal of the season and franchise record 15th career NHL overtime goal, as the Oilers extended their home winning streak to a season-high six games.

McDavid, who typically loathes to talk about his personal achievements, acknowledged how special it is to join the NHL’s exclusive 60-goal club.

“At the end of the day, they’re all just a number,” McDavid said after scoring his 60th goal on Wednesday. “But 60, a lot of great players in the past have done it, and it feels good to join that list. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work left this year and we’re looking forward to putting ourselves in a good spot heading into the post-season.”

His 60th goal of the season was also the 299th of his NHL career, moving him past Draisaitl for fifth on the franchise’s all-time goals list. It seemed only fitting that Draisaitl, who insisted that McDavid had the ability to score 60 goals, set up McDavid for for the milestone goal.

Related: Can Connor McDavid win the Rocket Richard Trophy this season?

After intercepting the puck in the defensive zone, Draisaitl spun around and sent McDavid in alone on a breakaway with a tape-to-tape backhand pass in full stride. McDavid made a nice lateral move to outwait Coyotes’ goalie Connor Ingram, but hit the post. Frustrated, McDavid slammed his stick against the boards twice.

Fortunately, his stick didn’t break, because seconds later, Draisaitl won a puck battle along the half wall and set McDavid up for another breakaway. And despite his failed first attempt, McDavid went back to the same move, but this he placed the puck in the top corner of the net to reach the 60-goal plateau in dramatic fashion.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 22: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) in power play action in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup playoffs round 2, game 3 on May 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)“Yeah, it’s pretty special,” Draisaitl said on Wednesday. “I mean, obviously he’s going to downplay it as we all know, but it’s pretty hard to score in this league and to score 60 in a season and still have 10 games to go is pretty remarkable. He’s just a special player.”

Thanks to his 13th multi-goal performance of the campaign, McDavid now has a 12-goal lead over David Pastrnak in the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race. With just 10 games to play, McDavid is a lock to win his first goal-scoring crown. The four-time Art Ross Trophy winner would be the first player in franchise history to win the Richard Trophy (first awarded in 1998-99) and the first Oiler to lead the league in goals since Gretzky in 1986-87.

Now, McDavid begins his quest for 70 goals. While he would likely never admit that he wants to hit the 70-goal mark, McDavid appears determined to keep raising the bar higher for himself offensively. Only eight players in NHL history have scored 70 goals in a single season, and no one has done it since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne in 1992-93.

McDavid needs 10 goals in the final 10 games to hit 70. That’s not easy, even for a player with 18 goals in his last 15 games, like McDavid. I tweeted back in November that scoring 70 goals in this era seems like an impossible task, but I will never bet against McDavid.

Given his current goal-scoring tear and the Oilers’ relatively light schedule the rest of the way, I’m more confident than ever that McDavid will soon be joining the 70-goal club, too.

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March 14, 2023 by Eric Friesen

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is used to receiving a large ovation at Rogers Place. However, McDavid did it without a hockey stick is his hands on Monday night, as he inducted legendary Canadian rock band Nickelback into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2023 Juno Awards in Edmonton.

McDavid, who leads the NHL in goals (55), assists (72) and points (127) this season, shared the spotlight with his favourite Canadian band at the Junos. The 26-year-old will surely go down as one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and he credited Nickelback as one of his inspirations.

“You guys are too much. You guys are too much. You guys are too much. You know how much I love playing [in Edmonton] in front of you guys,” McDavid said moments after being showered with MVP chants by the fans in attendance on Monday. “The names in the Hall inspire you. They make you want to get close to that level of greatness. Nickelback has brought my family and friends a lot of great memories over the years and kept a lot of neighbours up in the process. Tonight, it’s my honour and privilege to introduce to you, the pride of Alberta, Nickelback.”

EDMONTON, AB – MARCH 13: Connor McDavid presents Nickelback with their induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2023 JUNO Awards at Rogers Place on March 13, 2023 in Edmonton, Alberta.With sales of more than 50 million records worldwide, Nickelback is undoubtedly one of the most successful bands to ever come out of the Canada. Formed in Hanna, Alberta in 1995, Nickelback have released 10 studio albums, including Curb (1996), The State (1998), Silver Side Up (2001), The Long Road (2003), All the Right Reasons (2005), Dark Horse (2008), Here and Now (2011), No Fixed Address (2014), Feed the Machine (2017) and Get Rollin’ (2022).

The group is composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger and drummer Daniel Adair, Nickelback. In 2009, Billboard ranked Nickelback the most successful group and the seventh-most successful artist of the 2000s.

On a rare night where he wasn’t asked any hockey-related questions, McDavid had the opportunity to discuss some of his favourite Nickelback tunes.

“There’s so many, there’s so many,” the four-time Art Ross Trophy winner told ET Canada’s Carlos Bustamante following the presentation. “When you go to a Nickelback show, you’re just reminded of how many amazing songs they have. Rockstar obviously is one, Photograph is another good favourite. My dad’s favourite Nickelback song would probably be If Today Was Your Last Day, so I might go with that.”

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March 11, 2023 by Josh Boulton

Off the heels of a trip to the 2022 Western Conference Final, this year’s edition of the Edmonton Oilers are being recognized as a team that has the potential for another deep playoff run.

Of course, some of that is attributed to the “fact” that the Oilers in an weaker division, and therefore would have an easier path out of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoff. I’m not entirely sure that’s the case. I think they may even have the toughest path of all. I mean, let’s look at the facts here. The Oilers have been on a bit of a heater since early January, accumulating a record of 15-4-5 in their last 24 games. Of note, only four of those games were against teams in their own division (Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights, and Seattle Kraken).

Five others were against the other Western Conference division, the Central, and 15 were against Eastern Conference opponents. Now, it is true only 11 of those games were against teams currently holding a playoff spot. But in those contests, the Oilers went 7-2-2, including regulation wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and league-leading Boston Bruins, so it’s not like they have been milking all their points from bottom-dwellers, and definitely not just from taking advantage of being in a “weaker” division.

And as further evidence, the Oilers aren’t going to be strolling carefree through the first two rounds, look at where they are in the standings. On January 11, 24 games ago, the Oilers were tied with the Calgary Flames for fourth spot in the Pacific Division, sitting in a wild-card playoff spot behind the first-place Golden Knights, the second-place Los Angeles Kings and the third-place Kraken. Keep in mind, I just told you that since then they’ve only had four regulation losses and racked up 35 of a possible 48 points over 24 games. However, a 15-4-5 run later, the Oilers still sit in the Pacific Division’s fourth spot, still in a wild-card placement behind the Golden Knights, Kings and Kraken.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 18: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Leon Draisaitl (29) in action while sporting the new 2019 Oilers third jersey in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Detroit Red Wings on October 18, 2019 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB.(Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)In fact, on January 11 the Golden Knights and Kings were tied for first and the Kraken were four points back of them. Today, the Golden Knights and Kings are tied for first, and the Kraken are four points back of them. The top three is virtually unchanged. For a little bit of perspective, the games played per team were a little unbalanced two months ago, and now, they’re almost perfectly even. Additionally, the Oilers back then were a full nine points out of first place, and five points behind the Kraken for the final divisional seed.

By mid-March they’ve pulled to within four points of first place in the Pacific, and they’re technically tied with the Kraken at 80 points, so they have gained some good ground. But remember they’ve had to go 15-4-5 to do it. What this means is all three of the Golden Knights, Kings and Kraken have been winning at almost as good a clip as the Oilers over a significant span of time.

And remember, it’s not because they’re playing each other. Here’s how the other Pacific Division leaders have fared since January 11th:

Vegas Golden Knights 23 games played (12-7-2):

Five games played within the Pacific

Six games against the Central12 games against the Eastern Conference

Los Angeles Kings 22 games played (14-6-2)

Three games within the Pacific

Seven games against the Central

12 games against the Eastern Conference

Seattle Kraken 25 games played (13-10-2)

Four games within the Pacific

Eight games against the Central

13 games against the Eastern Conference

As impressive as the Oilers have been, the top three Pacific Division rivals have just three, one, and two fewer regulation losses in the last two months respectively. The Golden Knights and the Kings are both 10-2-2 in their last 14 games, while the Kraken are 8-5-1 (the Oilers are 7-4-3). The Pacific is currently the only division with all of its top four teams having at least 80 points, and the only one with a tiny difference of four points between the first and last playoff teams within (Central – eight points, Metropolitan – 20 points, Atlantic – 21 points).

Some hockey observers think teams in the Pacific have the easiest path to the Conference Final because of their division, but the reality is it’s the most balanced division of them all. If the playoffs started today, the Oilers wouldn’t even be playing a divisional opponent. As the first wild-card seed they would be matched up against the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars, who are only three points better than the Oilers overall. That would statistically be ever so slightly more favourable than having to stay within the Pacific and play Western Conference leading Vegas (four points better).

There are fans who believe the Toronto Maple Leafs have it bad finishing in the top three every year and having to face a Stanley Cup contender as the Tampa Bay Lightning, yet when the same scenario happens in the Pacific it’s somehow an advantage. Moreover, it’s not just happening for the middle two teams in the Pacific. It’s happening to all four playoff seeds. No team in the Western Conference is getting the comparatively statistically easy first-round matchups the Boston Bruins, and either the Carolina Hurricanes or New Jersey Devils will have based on point spread. Not by a long shot.

And even the second-round opponents of the top Eastern teams potentially won’t be as close to them in the standings as the second-round battles we could see in the Western Conference, especially in the Pacific Division. So, no, playing in the Pacific Division is the free ticket it’s made out to be.

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March 10, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Mattias Ekholm was exactly what the Edmonton Oilers needed. Ekholm has been an absolute stud in his five games as an Oiler to date. Much has been made of how much Evan Bouchard’s play has improved since being paired with Ekholm. However, I want to set the record straight here. It’s time to put some respect on Bouchard’s name.

| CF | GF | xGF | HDCF | | Season Total: | 1053-801 (56.8%) | 46-47 (49.46%) | 52.78-38.46 (57.85%) | 235-153 (60.57%) | | Pre-Ekholm: | 963-730 (56.88%) | 39-44 (46.99%) | 47.9-35.03 (57.76%) | 211-140 (60.11%) | | Since Ekholm: | 90-71 (55.9%) | 7-3 (70%) | 4.88-3.43 (58.72%) | 24-13 (64.86%) |

Yes, Bouchard’s goal share has improved significantly with Ekholm. Bouchard has gained four goals in his five games with Ekholm; but Bouchard outscored his opponents 25-16 (60.98%) at five-on-five between December 21, 2022 and Ekholm’s Oilers debut on March 1, 2023, a span of 28 games. He had a tough start to his season, but that rough patch has been behind him for quite some time. Bouchard was trending in the right direction in this metric for a long time before Ekholm’s arrival.

Bouchard’s HDCF (High Danger Chances For) percentage has increased by 4.75% since being paired with Ekholm, but it was already at 60.11%! Ekholm is helping, but Bouchard’s 60.11% was already quite strong without Ekholm. The same idea applies to his xGF (Expected Goals For) percentage. The increase in that metric is only 0.96%, and it was already pretty high prior to the Ekholm trade. Bouchard’s CF (Corsi For) has actually decreased by 0.98%, but his performance in that regard was strong before Ekholm, and it continues to be strong with Ekholm. None of these numbers suggest that Ekholm is carrying Bouchard.

Related: Oilers bolster blueline by acquiring Mattias Ekholm

My point is that Bouchard’s underlying numbers have been strong with or without Ekholm this year. These underlying numbers were even fantastic while Bouchard was struggling with his goal share early in the season. Evidence of his solid play has been there all along.

Make no mistake about it, Bouchard is pulling his weight in this pairing.

Bouchard has had two major sore spots with his numbers this season, his goals for percentage and his offensive output. I’ve already highlighted his recent positive growth with his goal share. Bouchard’s 25 points in 66 games this season is a far cry from his 43 point showing last season, but we can’t use points to evaluate a defenceman’s play, right? I joke because I’ve heard that argument many times before. If we can’t use points to support a defenceman playing well, then we can’t use a decrease in points to argue that a defenceman isn’t playing well. Regardless, his 31 point pace over 82 games is good production from a second year defenceman. Hopefully his goal against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night is fuel for a late season offensive surge from Bouchard.

It has been tough to notice Bouchard’s strong underlying metrics amid his early defensive struggles and being deployed on the third pairing with Philip Broberg for a large portion of the season. The two young former first rounders formed a solid but unspectacular pairing. The points were few and far between, but they consistently got the flow going the right direction.

Now, the spotlight is shining brightly on Bouchard because he’s playing with the shiny new toy on the second pairing and he’s been elevated into a prominent role on the top powerplay unit. He’s out of Tyson Barrie’s shadow. Bouchard is performing wonderfully under the spotlight, but the truth is that he was performing wonderfully in rehearsals too. Everyone is just able to see the show now.

None of this is meant to diminish Ekholm’s contributions to this team. He has been exactly as advertised, a solid shutdown defenceman that can transition the puck effectively. He was the right addition at the trade deadline. All of that is true, but let’s not diminish Bouchard’s contributions to the pairing’s success either just because he’s young and he had a poor start to his season. Bouchard is strong enough to stand up on his own now, and Ekholm is a fantastic partner for him.

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March 3, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Trade Deadline Day ended up being a quiet day for Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland. There was some chatter that Holland might’ve been looking at adding another right handed defenceman, such as Radko Gudas, but nothing came to fruition. He did his work earlier in the week. It wasn’t Erik Karlsson, but Holland stepped up and made a significant move under immense pressure from the fan base.

Jesse Puljujarvi to Carolina for Patrik Puistola:

The Puljujarvi saga finally came to a head on Tuesday. Apparently Holland approached Puljujarvi and his agent to inform them that he wouldn’t be qualified this summer and to offer a contract at a number that started with a one. Puljujarvi said that he would prefer a fresh start elsewhere.

Puistola is a 22 year old former third round pick that has taken a step in his fourth professional season. He leads Jukurit of the SM-Liiga with 38 points in 56 games. Puistola has a dynamic offensive skill set, but his issue has been his skating. The Oilers have until June 1 to sign him to an entry level contract, or else he will become a free agent. The most impactful part of the return for Puljujarvi is the $3 million of cap space.

Related: Oilers Trade Puljujarvi to Carolina

Mattias Ekholm to Edmonton for Tyson Barrie, Reid Schaeffer, 2023 1st round pick, 2024 4th round pick:

The cap space gained in the Puljujarvi trade made the Ekholm trade possible. Barrie’s contract was the largest expendable contract, which went a long way towards being able to absorb the $6 million cap hit for Ekholm. Nashville retained 4% of Ekholm’s salary, which ended up being important.

There was a significant amount of draft capital involved in this deal. Schaefer was a promising prospect with size and scoring ability, but his reality was that he was stuck behind Evander Kane, Zach Hyman, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod, Mattias Janmark, and Dylan Holloway that can all play left wing. He doesn’t project to be an impactful top six winger, so it isn’t a crippling loss. I don’t mind using the 2023 first round pick to add an impactful player with term.

Related: Oilers bolster blueline by acquiring Mattias Ekholm

Nick Bjugstad and Cam Dineen to Edmonton for a 2023 3rd round pick and Michael Kesselring

The 4% retention on Ekholm turned out to be important because of Bjugstad. Arizona retained 50% of Bjugstad’s cap hit, which makes his cap hit $450k for the Oilers. The Oilers have exactly zero dollars in cap space after adding Bjugstad. Having Bjugstad at that low of a cap hit means that the Oilers can have a 21-man active roster rather than a 20-man active roster. They can now carry an extra body in case of a surprise injury or illness. They didn’t have enough cap space to be able to call anyone up prior to the Bjugstad deal, so a recall wasn’t an option.

Kesselring was a sixth round pick for the Oilers that played his way into relevancy. He should be praised for the strides he made while developing in the Oilers system. He’s among the goal leaders by defencemen in the AHL this season. Kesselring gets to make his NHL debut for the Coyotes tonight, and I hope for nothing but the best for him tonight and going forward.

Dineen is 24 years old and he has 34 games of NHL experience already. He has 35 points in 50 games for Tucson of the AHL this season. He’s a solid addition to the Condors, and he becomes another call up option for the Oilers should the need arise.

This is the Oilers lineup when healthy after the trade deadline:

Kane – McDavid – Hyman

Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Yamamoto

Foegele – McLeod – Janmark

Kostin – Bjugstad – Ryan

Shore

Nurse – Ceci

Ekholm – Bouchard

Kulak – Desharnais

Broberg

*Holloway

Campbell

Skinner

The Ekholm trade was the closest thing to a good old fashioned hockey trade that we’ve seen near the deadline in quite some time. Ekholm is an extremely well rounded defender that transitions the puck well, but he is a shutdown defender first and foremost. The Oilers sit 20th in the league in goals against, and the defensive mistakes that have occurred far too often this season have been well documented. Ekholm brings a stabilizing presence to the back end.

TORONTO, ON – JANUARY 11: Nashville Predators Defenceman Mattias Ekholm (14) skates with the puck during the NHL regular season game between the Nashville Predators and the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 11, 2023, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire)Barrie was having a great season for the Oilers as a powerplay point man and second pairing defender. Barrie was never known for his defensive abilities, but he improved in that area under Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson. Barrie was a luxury because of Evan Bouchard. Barrie was brought here to fill the gap as a right-handed puck moving powerplay specialist until Bouchard proved to be fully ready for the responsibility. This is Bouchard’s time to shine. He becomes the powerplay point man after Barrie’s departure. The powerplay runs through McDavid, Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins. It will still perform at a high level with Bouchard rather than Barrie. Barrie’s money was eventually going to have to be spent to improve the roster elsewhere, and that’s exactly what happened in the Ekholm deal.

Ekholm’s arrival has pushed Brett Kulak down to a third pairing role, which is a better spot for Kulak. He was holding his own on a second pairing with Barrie, but the team is stronger with him on the third pairing. Philip Broberg has been bumped down to the seventh defence spot if Tuesday’s game was any indication. Broberg received 8:05 in ice time while fellow rookie Vincent Desharnais got 14:54. Desharnias is likely another reason why Barrie was expendable. Desharnais has proven to be solid defensively, and he’s played great since being recalled.

Darnell Nurse’s minutes don’t appear to be at all affected by Ekholm’s arrival. He got 24:56 in that game against Toronto on Tuesday. Ekholm’s arrival has sparked a change in how the rotations go on defence though. Nurse and Ceci were being tasked with the tough work, and the other defencemen would see significantly less ice time than that pairing received. Ekholm played 20:50 in his Oilers debut, the second most of all Oilers defencemen. There’s a clear top four here with Nurse, Ceci, Ekholm, and Bouchard. Kulak, Desharnais, and Broberg are clearly the bottom three right now. The fundamental shift from having a top pairing and two bottom pairings to having two top pairings and a bottom pairing reduces the amount of time that the Nurse – Ceci pairing will have to play against elite competition. It also eases the quality of competition for Kulak. All of those factors should make the Oilers a stronger defensive team.

Bjugstad is a smart, subtle addition for the Oilers. The 30-year old has 23 points in 59 games for the Arizona Coyotes this season. This is the first time in the last five years where Bjugstad has been healthy. The last time the 6’4” forward played a full season was 2017-18. Last season was the only time in the last six seasons that he was over 50% in the faceoff circle, so I’m not buying the idea that he’s some kind of faceoff specialist. The thing that excites me about Bjugstad is the fact that he has somehow managed to have a positive goal share (33-27, 55%) on a horrible team despite having negative shot and scoring chance metrics. That tells me that he must be doing something right in his own end. He will provide some depth offence as well.

I would call this a successful deadline for Holland. He added the shutdown defenceman that was so sorely needed, and he found a way to add a useful forward without having to sacrifice another one. I would say that the additions will be more impactful than the losses of Puljujarvi and Barrie. Holland improved the Oilers’ odds of winning a Stanley Cup at the deadline while being in a tough cap situation. That’s a win in my books. Now we get to settle in and see how it all plays out!

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February 28, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

It appears as though coming up just short against the league’s best team last night lit a fire under Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland’s behind to get something done. It’s been a busy day for the Oilers. First, they traded Jesse Puljujarvi. Then they acquired Mattias Ekholm a few hours later. Oilers fans got their “win now” trade. Now, let’s see where Ekholm will fit with the Oilers.

Ekholm is the shut down second pairing left-handed defenceman that the Oilers have needed ever since Oscar Klefbom left the team. The 32-year old is a well rounded defender that shines in pretty much every category except hitting and powerplay prowess, as noted by @NHL_Sid:

I was in the middle of a crowded bus when this deal happened, so here's some more detailed thoughts.

Ekholm is a fantastic two-way defenceman. He can retrieve pucks at high volume, move the puck in transition, and defend the transition. Very well-rounded two-way defenceman. https://t.co/MjK6rGNBiJ pic.twitter.com/cIjZSzLmSw

— Sid (@NHL_Sid) February 28, 2023

Ekholm has 18 points in 57 games for Nashville this season. More importantly, his scoring chances for percentage is 53.60% and his high danger chances for percentage is 53.57% according to Natural Stat Trick. Ekholm brings 75 games worth of playoff experience, including a run to the 2017 Stanley Cup final. He has three years left on his contract after this one. The Predators are retaining 4% of Ekholm’s cap hit, which means he will carry a $6 million cap hit for the Oilers.

Tyson Barrie was a part of the package going to Nashville in this trade. Barrie has had a stellar season in Edmonton. He’s quarterbacked the powerplay and been reliable on the second pairing with Brett Kulak. Barrie ranks 12th in scoring by defencemen with 43 points in 61 games this season. He tops the list in powerplay points by defencemen with 28. Ekholm is certainly not an upgrade over Barrie on the powerplay. Holland robbed Peter to pay Paul with this deal.

Barrie’s involvement in this trade had nothing to do with him being terrible at defence. He sits above 50% in any meaningful underlying statistical category this season. Barrie was a luxury whose money needed to be spent elsewhere to improve the team in the long run. Evan Bouchard made the fit awkward for Barrie in Edmonton long term. Bouchard has been being groomed for this eventuality. The 2018 tenth overall pick has been sharing powerplay time with Barrie all season. Barrie has 194:12 on the powerplay this season, and Bouchard has 107:33. Barrie moves the puck faster than Bouchard does on the powerplay, and Barrie is great at keeping the puck in at the blueline on the powerplay; but Bouchard is capable of distributing the puck and using his heavy shot on the powerplay. Darnell Nurse can also carry some of the load on the powerplay. The powerplay got worse today; but it’s Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan-Nugent Hopkins that make that unit hum. The benefit of adding Ekholm’s defensive ability outweighs the loss of Barrie’s powerplay skills.

DENVER, CO – MAY 31: Edmonton Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie (22) looks on during a Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Finals game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on May 31, 2022. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire)The defence pairings will get a shakeup after this trade. The second pairing for the Oilers has been Barrie with Brett Kulak, but that won’t be the case anymore. Ekholm is a natural fit as the second pairing left defenceman over Kulak and behind Nurse. Ekholm seems like a fantastic partner for Bouchard on paper. Playing the best defensive defenceman on the team with the most offensively orientated defenceman on the team makes all the sense in the world. Ekholm would be a steadying influence on Bouchard, much like Duncan Keith was last season.

The problem with playing Ekholm with Bouchard is that it leaves the top pairing together. Cody Ceci is playing above his head on the top pairing. The Nurse-Ceci pairing was asked to shoulder a heavy load last season, and they performed quite well. That hasn’t been the case this season. They haven’t been good together, and they’re dragging Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl down with them.

They could play Ceci with Ekholm on the second pairing. That would push Bouchard up to the top pairing with Nurse. They put up spectacular shot metrics when paired together, and I would love to see more of Bouchard with the big guns. Hopefully the old adage that the best defence is a good offence would hold true for them. That scenario would also see Kulak and Philip Broberg together on the third pairing. One of them would have to play their off-side, but both are capable of doing that.

Related: Oilers bolster blueline by acquiring Mattias Ekholm

Ekholm can also play on his off-side. He played on the right side for Nashville in their first ten games this season after they acquired Ryan McDonagh. He had also played there on a few other occasions, and he said that it’s not a big deal to play his off-side during today’s media availability. That means that there’s a chance that he could end up on the top pairing with Nurse.

That would mean that Ceci would play with Broberg or Kulak. Ceci has had some shifts with Broberg in recent games. The results this season have been underwhelming in a small sample size, but that could be an option. Last season, their goal metrics and high danger scoring chance metrics were low; but their shot metrics were promising. Broberg retrieves pucks well, and Ceci breaks out of his own zone well. That pairing could work.

Ceci and Kulak only played 53:49 with each other last season, but their shot and scoring chance metrics were promising despite their goal share being lousy. It was a small sample size though, so who knows. Check out this piece from @NHL_Sid from training camp where he wrote about ideal defence pairings for the Oilers. Ceci struggles with rush defence and zone entry denials, and Kulak is strong in those areas. Ceci is better at breakouts and in-zone defending. It could be a sneaky good shut down pairing. That would leave the blossoming Bouchard – Broberg pairing intact.

There are pros and cons to each arrangement. Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson will have time to figure it out and experiment before the playoffs start, especially if they continue to play with seven defencemen.

EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 5: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Philip Broberg (86) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Washington Capitals on December 5, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)I’m happy that Holland was able to execute this trade without giving up Broberg. I totally understood needing an upgrade in the top four this season, but I see big potential in Broberg. As much as I don’t like adding years 32-36 of a player, I feel that it was acceptable here because the Oilers are in “win now” mode and it means that Broberg won’t be blocked from moving up the depth chart over the course of the next decade, such as could’ve been the case with Jakob Chychrun. Broberg will pass Ekholm on the depth chart before his contract expires. Ekholm being an expensive third pairing defenceman won’t be an issue for a long period of time.

It’s nice to see that the 2023 first round pick went towards an impactful player with term rather than a rental player. Reid Schaeffer was an encouraging prospect, but the reality is that players selected that late in the first round rarely amount to much, as so many fans clamouring for Erik Karlsson have pointed out in recent weeks. I feel his ceiling was the third line, and he was stuck behind a log jam of big names on the left side of the depth chart.

The Ekholm contract ends at the same time as McDavid’s contract, which seems to be a trend among many recent Oilers additions. I hope fans that keep shouting phrases like “all in” and “win now” are happy with this trade. Holland continues to go “all in” on this season with the Evander Kane and Kulak extensions, the Jack Campbell signing, and now the Ekholm trade. This is definitely a “win now” trade, but it’s also a “win in the three seasons after this one” trade. I would call that a win for Holland.

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February 28, 2023 by Eric Friesen

The Edmonton Oilers officially acquired defenceman Mattias Ekholm and a 2024 sixth-round pick from the Nashville Predators in exchange for Tyson Barrie, Reid Schaefer, a 2023 first-round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick on Tuesday.

Per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Predators will retain $250,000 of Ekholm’s $6.25 million cap hit. It was the second transaction of the day for the Oilers, as they dealt Jesse Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes for forward prospect Patrik Puistola, too, on Tuesday. The Puljujarvi trade opened up the necessary space to fit Ekholm under the cap.

Barrie played parts of three seasons (2020-2023) with the Oilers, tallying 25 goals and 132 points in 190 games. Schaefer was selected 32nd overall by the Oilers this past June. As it stands, the Oilers will head into the NHL Draft this off-season without a first-round pick for the first time since 2006.

Ekholm was selected by the Predators in the fourth-round (102nd overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft from Mora IK of Allsvenskan. Ekholm played parts of two seasons (2008-2010) with Mora IK, notching three goals and 35 points in 79 career Allsvenskan games. He also played parts of three seasons (2008, 2010-2012) with Brynas IF, collecting 19 goals and 50 points in 97 career SHL games.

Ekholm spent most of the 2012-13 season with the Predators’ AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound defenceman has played with the Predators (2012-2023), tallying 62 goals and 268 points in 719 career NHL games. Ekholm helped the Predators reach the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. He had five goals and 18 points in 57 games with the Predators this season.

Related: Oilers Trade Deadline Options

Internationally, Ekholm has represented Sweden at the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championship, 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament (gold), 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship (bronze), 2014 (bronze), 2015, 2016, 2018 (gold) and 2019 IIHF World Championships and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The 32-year-old Borlange, Sweden native uses his long reach and and physicality to defend against the opposition’s top attackers. Ekholm also makes smart decisions with the puck and knows where his outlets are in his own zone.

Ekholm should help reduce Darnell Nurse’s heavy workload in the defensive zone, and be an effective penalty killer for the Oilers. The 12-year veteran will likely be paired with Evan Bouchard on Edmonton’s second pairing, who has struggled at both ends of the ice in his second full NHL season. Bouchard thrived alongside future Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman Duncan Keith in 2021-22, and Oilers fans are surely hoping Ekholm’s tutelage can help Bouchard get his game back on track.

Ekholm is expected to make his Oilers debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

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Oilers Silent Auction Items Signed Draisaitl jersey

Signed Nurse Jersey – OilersNation

Nugent-Hopkins Signed Stick – Edmonton Oilers

Sherwood Park Crusaders Season Tickets

Heavy Hockey gift basket – Heavy Hockey

Gift Basket – Paul Almeida Azorcan

Riverhawks Tickets – Edmonton Riverhawks

Dewalt Tool box with Drill, Drill bits and screwdrivers Peavey Mart $310.00 value

Rick Bronson’s The Comic Strip – Tickets

Mrs. Dirsa’s Delicious Nanaimo Bars X 2

Necklace by Slavo Retail $175.00

2 tickets to NFL Seattle Seahawks

4 tickets to NFL Tennessee Titans

1 night accommodation for 2 including breakfast Fairfield Inn by Marriott Edmonton Griesbach

Keith Moore Print

Epicure Package

Cosmetic Basket Shoppers Drug

Various ART pieces

Liquor basket –Value over 200.00

Gin Basket

Canoeheads – Canoe Ride

Wendolyn Doodle Art

Oiler Tickets March 20 vs. Sharks

Tattoo Time – Levi Lovett Ink

AND MORE

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February 28, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Well, I was wrong. I didn’t think Jesse Puljuarvi would be traded ahead of the deadline because of his $3 million qualifying offer. As it turns out, the Edmonton Oilers traded Puljujarvi to the Carolina Hurricanes for prospect Patrik Puistola on Tuesday. With that, the Puljujarvi saga in Edmonton comes to an end.

Puljujarvi was taken fourth overall by the Oilers in the 2016 draft. It was a surprise when Columbus passed on Puljujarvi because he was a consensus top three pick coming into that draft. Oilers fans, including myself, were excited that the 2016 World Junior MVP fell into their laps.

The love affair between Oilers fans and Puljujarvi started quickly. The video of him walking behind a dressing room interview while eating a slice of pizza was hilarious! Fans quickly gave him the nickname “Pool Party”. We fell in love with his dog, Jaffa. A picture of Puljujarvi spotting a bison at Elk Island Park went viral, and he was dubbed the “Bison King”. He leaned into it and trademarked the name so he could make some shirts! The way he curls his tongue to touch his nose, his big smile, and his personality will surely be missed.

Puljujarvi’s relationship with the team wasn’t anywhere close to as good as it was with the fans unfortunately. He started his rookie season with the Oilers on opening night at Rogers Place, and he scored a goal in that game. It turned out that he wasn’t ready for the NHL at that time, so he played 28 games before being sent down to Bakersfield. He should’ve started in Bakersfield.

He started the 2017-18 season in Bakersfield, but he ended up playing 65 games for the Oilers that year. Puljujarvi got 20 points that year, so it appeared that he was making strides.

Then the 2018-19 season happened. He started out with the Oilers, but he scored one goal for his only point in the team’s first seven games. Then head coach Todd McLellan made Puljujarvi a healthy scratch for five games at the end of October 2018. He played four more pointless games before being sent to Bakersfield. Puljujarvi had four strong performances for Bakersfield.

McLellan was fired while Puljujarvi was down there. The new head coach, Ken Hitchcock, asked for Puljujarvi to be recalled because he believed that he could work with the big Finn. Hitchcock praised the details of Puljujarvi’s game and talked about how teams need players with Puljujarvi’s size to win.

SAN JOSE, CA – APRIL 05: Edmonton Oilers right wing Jesse Puljujarvi (13) skates during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers on April 5, 2022 at SAP Center in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Matt Cohen/Icon Sportswire)Hitchcock talked a big game about developing Puljujarvi, but he was sparing with the ice time. He largely kept Puljujarvi in the bottom six. I recall a game against Tampa Bay where he got an assist on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal while playing with Connor McDavid. He had a great first period, but he made one mistake that led to a goal against, and he was instantly taken off that line. Puljujarvi’s opportunities while elevated in the lineup under Hitchcock were short-lived. Puljujarvi’s 2018-19 season was cut short due to hip issues. He had surgery to correct issues in both hips that year.

It was a frustrating year for Puljujarvi. He started out on the team, then got healthy scratched for an extended period. Then he got demoted only to be quickly brought back up after a new coach came in and failed to deliver on promises of better development and more opportunity. I don’t blame him for going back to Finland to play for a season after that debacle of a season. I feel that the organization bungled his development in those three seasons.

Puljujarvi came back from Finland after Ken Holland was hired. He had a promising season in 2020-21. He got 15 goals and 25 points in 55 games that year. The Bison King improved upon those numbers in 2021-22 by putting up 36 points in 65 games. He was producing and then coach Dave Tippett seemed to trust him. Puljujarvi earned a one-year, $3 million contract for the 2022-23 season.

This season hasn’t gone anywhere close to the way anyone hoped it would. Puljujarvi has a meagre five goals and 14 points in 58 games. He had opportunities to play with McDavid consistently early in the year, but he failed to produce. Puljujarvi talked about how he had lost confidence in himself and didn’t see how he fit into the Oilers lineup or even as an NHL player in November. That was the beginning of the end for Puljujarvi in Edmonton. He has been stuck getting eight minutes a night regardless of how well he played. His minutes were severely cut under Jay Woodcroft going back to the playoffs last spring. Here we are approaching the trade deadline, and Puljujarvi was dealt away for cap space.

Related: What Lies Ahead After Puljujarvi’s Comments

I was a supporter of Puljujarvi’s all along. He’s a great kid and he did lots of little things well when he wasn’t scoring. At some point though, you need your $3 million former fourth overall pick to do the big thing well, which is producing offence. That wasn’t happening anymore, and it became abundantly clear that it wasn’t going to happen in Edmonton. I wish Puljujarvi all the best in Carolina, and I think I speak for all Oilers fans when I say that we’ll miss him.

Puistola is an intriguing prospect. The 2019 third rounder is currently leading Jukurit of the Finnish Elite League in scoring with 38 points in 56 games. The left-handed winger has tantalizing puck skills, but fell down the draft board in 2019 because of his skating. He’s trending upwards in his fourth professional season. He’s another quality wing prospect to go with Xavier Bourgault, Raphael Lavioe, Tyt Tullio, Carter Savioe, and Matvei Petrov. This is a better return than many people, including myself, expected for Puljujarvi.

The more immediate benefit of this trade is the cap space that it provides leading up to the deadline. Moving Puljujarvi’s $3 million is a huge help in terms of potentially adding to the roster and increasing the number of players on the active roster. The Oilers are reportedly talking to teams about adding a second pairing left defenceman like Jakob Chychrun or Mattias Ekholm, so stay tuned for that.

For now, we say farewell and good luck to Puljujarvi.

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February 27, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Erik Karlsson said that he has not been approached about waiving his no-trade clause and that he doesn’t expect that to happen before Friday’s trade deadline. That means that the Edmonton Oilers aren’t likely to get Karlsson this week. Darren Dreger reported that the Oilers are interested in Nashville Predators defenceman Mattias Ekholm on Monday. The Predators appear to be set on a reset if not a rebuild after the announcement that long time GM David Poile will be retiring after this season, and trading Ekholm would fit that plan. Ekholm is a great plan B for the Oilers, and it would be a MUCH less complicated deal to execute than getting Karlsson.

Related: The Complications of a Karlsson Trade to the Oilers

Ekholm is a well rounded second pairing defender. The offensive side of his game has fallen this year, and so has his ice time, but Ekholm still does many things well. Look at this Tweet from @ NHL_Sid:

Ekholm is 32, and has a $6.25M cap-hit for his next 4 years, but he remains very, very good. Excellent defensive results, strong at retrievals and in transition.

I think this team needs a RD more than a LD, but depending on the price, I'd be quite happy with him. https://t.co/CiiZAZDjY0 pic.twitter.com/hbrzcJhGDe

— Sid (@NHL_Sid) February 27, 2023

He excels at defensive zone retrievals and entry transition. He ranks quite highly at breakout passing as well. That tells me that the puck moves in the right direction quite often while Ekholm is on the ice. Ekholm ranks in the 88th percentile in even strength defence, which would be a welcome addition to the Oilers. The only thing he doesn’t do well is being physical.

Ekholm represents a clear upgrade over Brett Kulak on the second pairing. Bringing in Ekholm would push Kulak down to the third pairing, and it would push Philip Broberg down to the seventh defence spot… unless Kulak ends up being involved in the trade. CapFriendly lists Ekholm as being able to play both sides of the ice, so he could potentially be an upgrade over Cody Ceci on the first pairing as well.

My concern with Ekholm would be his blocking Broberg’s ascension up the depth chart over the next couple of seasons. Ekholm is the better player today, but that won’t be the case by the end of his contract. If salary is retained on Ekholm, then the inevitable decline in the latter years of his contract won’t be a big issue. If not, then he could be an expensive third pairing defenceman in the coming years. The other concern would be potentially losing Broberg in the Ekholm trade. I don’t think Ken Holland is open to moving Broberg, so Nashville would likely have to deal with it.

EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 5: Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Philip Broberg (86) in action in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Washington Capitals on December 5, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Ekholm has a cap hit of $6.25 million through the 2025-26 season. The best news for the Oilers is that Ekholm has no trade protection of any kind. That’s great, but they would still need to fit him under the cap somehow. Nashville has a ton of cap space after trading Nino Niederreiter and Tanner Jeannot over the weekend, so they’re in a position where they could help the Oilers figure a trade out here.

The Oilers currently have a 20 man active roster, and they would have to give Nashville multiple contracts to make the money work, even with 50% retention. The Oilers would be wise to use this deal to create some cap space for themselves by giving Nashville more of a cap hit than they take back with Ekholm.

I’m operating under the assumption that Holland wouldn’t move anyone with a cap hit over $5 million. They wouldn’t be getting a powerplay specialist back, so I don’t think Tyson Barrie would be involved in this deal. Ceci and Kailer Yamamoto are the next two highest cap hits under $5 million. Their cap hits add up to $6.35 million. It would only make sense to move Ceci if Ekholm plays the right side beside Darnell Nurse on the top pairing. Bob Stauffer said that the Predators liked Yamamoto in his draft year, so there’s a chance that they might be interested in Yamamoto. Ceci and Yamamoto would be enough to make the money work without any retention, but they wouldn’t be able to add anyone to increase the number of players on their active roster, so I would think they would still push for some salary retention on Ekholm.

Related: Oilers Trade Deadline Options

Here are the players that the Oilers could use in an Ekholm deal:

Cody Ceci

Kailer Yamamoto

Jesse Puljujarvi

Warren Foegele

Brett Kulak

It would take two of those players plus some salary retention on Ekholm. I believe that it’s more likely that one of Kulak or Ceci would be involved in this deal, but that wouldn’t necessarily have to be the case.

Here’s what I think the deal would be if it were to happen:

Edmonton receives: Mattias Ekholm

Nashville receives: Brett Kulak, Kailer Yamamoto, Markus Niemelainen, 2023 1st round pick, 2024 3rd round pick

Nashville retains 33% of Ekholm’s salary.

If the Oilers wanted to pay more draft capital to Nashville for 50% retention and then add a third team to retain another 50% of Ekholm’s salary, then they could do that as well. That would give them cap space to add up front as well.

It seems like a lot, but we’re talking about three and a quarter years of salary retention, not just the rest of this season. Nashville would likely want a prospect in return, which is why Niemelainen is included as well. I would do this deal in a heartbeat as long as Broberg is not headed the other way.

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February 26, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s been a busy last few days heading into the final business week before the NHL trade deadline. We’ve already seen Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Rielly change teams. Nino Niederreiter, Evgeni Dadonov were moved on the weekend. The biggest name moved this weekend was Timo Meier. The Erik Karlsson deal is highly unlikely and Patrick Kane appears to be headed to Broadway. Things are happening everywhere but Edmonton, and Edmonton Oilers fans aren’t happy about it.

While the options are getting picked over, there are still some useful pieces out there. Ken Holland has said that he wants to do something to improve the team. We’re all aware that the Oilers are dollar in, dollar out at this point; so it isn’t as easy as just saying “go and get that guy”. Having said that, here are some of the names that Oilers fans should keep an eye on this week.

The Much Reported Options

Erik Karlsson: I recently wrote about the complexity of a Karlsson deal. If the San Jose Sharks aren’t willing to retain more than 20% of his salary ($2.3 million), then the Oilers would have to give them at least $9.2 million in contracts back. Darnell Nurse’s $9.25 million would be just about exact. If not Nurse, then it would have to be a combination of three of these players:

Tyson Barrie

Cody Ceci

Kailer Yamamoto or Jesse Puljujarvi

Warren Foegele or Brett Kulak

The Sharks will also want remuneration in the form of picks and prospects as fair value for Karlsson, and they will want more for retaining salary for four and a quarter seasons. It’s still a possibility, but the odds of a deal of this magnitude happening before the deadline are slim, unless the return in the Meier trade has any effect on it.

Related: The Complications of a Karlsson Trade to the Oilers

Jakob Chychrun: Ryan Rishaug seems to be the only member of the media that still thinks the Oilers are in on Chychrun. The price seems to be coming down for him as well. There’s speculation that Chychrun is being held out of the Arizona lineup for an injury rather than “trade-related reasons”. Time will tell on that one.

Vladislav Gavrikov: Reportedly, the Columbus Blue Jackets had a deal in place with the Boston Bruins for Gavrikov, but then the Bruins went ahead and traded for Dmitri Orlov instead. That has put Columbus back at square one. Gavrikov has made it known that he won’t re-sign in a Canadian market, so he would be a pure rental that clearly wouldn’t want to be in Edmonton.

Sam Lafferty: Lafferty is a speedster and an effective penalty killer. He’s got another year left at a modest cap hit. He’s an intriguing player, but he hardly moves the needle. Lafferty would be a bottom six player and penalty killer, no more, no less.

Nick Bjugstad: Bjugstad has size, but he’s not known as an overly physical player. He’s having a decent year in Arizona with 23 points in 58 games on a bad team. He’s a centre, and the Oilers need help on the wing more than at centre. He’s only won 47.6% of his draws this season, so he’s not a noted faceoff specialist. This move wouldn’t excite me in the least.

Shayne Gostisbehere: Gostisbehere is the fall back option should the Oilers strike out on Karlsson and Chychrun. The issue with him is that he’s all offence. He’s not a great defender, which is really what the Oilers would want if adding anything on the back end aside from Karlsson.

Mattias Ekholm: I love Ekholm as a defenceman, but he comes with a high cap hit and he will be 36 at the end of his current contract. The necessary salary retention could make those later years more palatable though. I’m also not in favour of blocking Philip Broberg long term, which is a big reason why I wouldn’t want to add Chychrun right now either.

Luke Schenn: He hits, and he’s cheap. That’s all. Next!

Tanner Jeannot: Jeannot hits, fights, and puts up points. However, he’s not doing the latter thing nearly as often this season as he did last year. Nashville could sell him while he still has some value if they’re worried about him having hit his peak already. He’s being held out of Sunday’s game in San Jose and Tampa Bay is rumoured to be the destination, but Oilers fans will hold their breaths.

The Purely Speculative Options

Gustav Nyquist: Nyquist is on LTIR and is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. That could be perfect for the Oilers. Adding Nyquist’s LTIR cap hit would have absolutely zero impact on cap space, but they could have him on the playoff roster since there is no cap in the playoffs. Holland has a history with Nyquist in Detroit as well, so he knows the player well. This would be a creative move, so long as Nyquist can be productive in the playoffs.

Lars Eller: The Washington Capitals announced themselves as sellers by trading Orlov. Eller is a solid two way centre whose production has fallen this season, but that could partly be a result of Washington not being as strong of a team as they have been.

Marcus Johansson: Johansson isn’t the player he used to be, but he consistently produces approximately half a point per game. He’s got plenty of playoff experience, including a trip to the Stanley Cup final with the Boston Bruins in 2019. He’s also a cheap impending UFA, which is perfect for the Oilers.

Jonathan Drouin: Drouin’s time in Montreal fell far short of the expectations. He’s missed a ton of time due to injury and mental health issues over the course of his tenure in Montreal. Drouin has become much more of a playmaker than a goal scorer. He has 18 assists and zero goals this season, and he has eight goals in the last three seasons combined. Perhaps he could be the distributor on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane.

Max Domi: Domi has been lights out playing with Patrick Kane this season. He’s got 47 points in 58 games in Chicago, which is a pace that would surpass his previous career high of 72 points in 82 games. He’s shown that he can play with elite players. One has to wonder what he could do with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.

Marc Staal: Staal is 36 years old, but he averages the fourth most minutes per game of all Panthers defenders, and he’s hovering around 50% in all of the major fancy stats against mostly low level competition. He would either slot in as the third pairing left defenceman over Broberg or the seventh defenceman on the Oilers. If you don’t trust Broberg in an important role this spring, then a veteran like Staal might be just the guy to insulate him and teach him a thing or two along the way. He could even assume a similar role to Duncan Keith’s alongside Evan Bouchard last year, potentially elevating Bouchard’s game. I know most Oilers fans would hate this move, but it’s one that I could totally see Holland making.

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February 19, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The Edmonton Oilers have been so close yet so far away since the All-Star break. They have lost four of their last five games in overtime or a shootout, including the last three in a row.

Two of those losses were to teams they were expected to beat. They didn’t bring their legs with them to Philadelphia, but managed to scratch and claw their way to overtime. However, they lost in the shootout. They had beaten the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 the week before, but had to forge a third period comeback to get the game to overtime. We know how the shootout ended.

These last two losses were particularly painful because the Oilers had three goal leads in each one. They got off to a quick start against the New York Rangers, but they let the Rangers crawl back into it. The penalty kill failed the Oilers that night. Then came the defending Stanley Cup champions. Once again, the Oilers started hot. It was 3-0 with twelve minutes left in the second period. Colorado got a couple of lucky bounces and capitalized on a couple of mistakes by Jack Campbell on their way to a comeback overtime victory.

The Oilers squandered four points in a tight dogfight of a Pacific Division race. They can’t afford to be blowing three goal leads when the race is so tight. Things happen sometimes, but elite teams don’t let it happen twice in a row.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 22: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) is shadowed by Calgary Flames Winger Dillon Dube (29) in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup playoffs round 2, game 3 on May 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)It wasn’t long ago that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were automatic in overtime, but the Oilers have now lost seven straight in extra time. Part of it is about execution on their part, and part of it is that other teams have started to get accustomed to defending them at three-on-three. I think part of it is their late game deployment as well. Jay Woodcroft likes to throw McDavid and Draisaitl out for the last shift of regulation time, and then they go right back out to start overtime. They take a long shift to start the extra period, and then they alternate shifts for the duration of the game. They’re elite athletes, but it might be wise to start giving them more of a chance to regenerate before overtime so they have more burst for the overtime period. It might also be time to start getting other guys like Ryan McLeod and Kailer Yamamoto into the rotation. I can’t tell you why the team can’t score in the shootout. I do know that Draisaitl’s slap shot was a sign that he’s frustrated and needs to sit out the next shootout.

These last two games were good measuring stick games for the Oilers. The Rangers were Eastern Conference finalists last season, and they just bolstered their roster by adding Vladimir Tarasenko. Obviously Colorado won the whole bloody thing last year. They showed that they could hang with those teams, but their inability to seal the deal changed the discourse about the Oilers. It could’ve been “look out, the Oilers just took down two top contenders”, but now it’s “this team is so close, yet so far away from winning a Cup.”

Related: Tarasenko Trade Makes the Rangers True Contenders

One has to wonder if falling just short in these last two measuring stick games will light a fire under Ken Holland’s behind to get a deal done in short order. They still have just under two weeks until the trade deadline, and they have tests against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets before the deadline. I don’t think these two losses will force Holland’s hand. Those next four games against tough opponents might though.

Illness has made its rounds through the Oilers room in the last week or so. Vincent Desharnais, Klim Kostin, and Leon Draisaitl were all sick recently. Jesse Puljujarvi had a “maintenance day” on Thursday. The Oilers were playing short-handed in the last two games because of cap gymnastics and sudden illness or injury (Evander Kane missed the Colorado game with an “upper body injury”. I’m sure playing in the Mile High city with a virus in the room didn’t help matters, but there’s no excuse for blowing a three goal lead. The forwards are used to playing with eleven since Woodcroft uses that lineup often, and the defence should be used to playing with six men because that’s a standard scenario. No team is at 100% this time of the season. The Oilers don’t get a pass from me on their post All-Star break play. They are capable of being better, and they need to start bringing it again ASAP.

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February 17, 2023 by Spencer Pomoty

The Edmonton Oilers made an astute selection when they chose Jake Chiasson from the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL in the fourth-round (116th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft. Having followed the 2021 draft class, I was convinced Chiasson was a great value pick at that spot. In his draft year, Chiasson made a strong impression with nine goals and 20 points in 23 games. His skillset complemented the team’s more experienced players, such as Lyndon McCallum, Ben McCartney, and Luka Barzan. He also made life easier for the Wheat Kings’ offense by playing hard in all three zones, finding space for his shot and being a dependable forechecker.

However, since then, Chiasson has encountered some setbacks. He underwent surgery on his shoulder due to an injury sustained during the Edmonton Oilers’ development camp in 2021, limiting him to just 20 of Brandon’s 68 games in the 2021-22 WHL season. Despite his injury, Chiasson managed to set a career-best of 0.90 points-per-game in those 20 games, which prorates to 61 points. During the playoffs, the Wheat Kings were knocked out in six games, and Chiasson made three assists. This season, he has managed to remain injury-free, but his points have dropped to 0.76 per game, which is not an ideal result for a 19-year-old pick in his fourth season in junior. The Wheat Kings have also struggled to score goals this season, affecting Chiasson’s point output.

Related: ON THE RECORD | Forward Jake Chiasson

Since he was dealt to the Saskatoon Blades on January 10, Chiasson has tallied four goals and 13 points in 17 games, resulting in the same points-per-game rate as before the trade. Upon his return to Brandon on January 31, Chiasson performed well, picking up an assist off a beautiful pass to Trevor Wong and playing hard until Saskatoon won in overtime.

So what does the future hold for Chiasson? Standing at 6-foot-2 and weighing 188-pounds, Chiasson has some room to fill out his frame. He needs to continue working on his skating as he tends to hunch his back and fails to use his outside edges to their full potential. Improving his lower body strength could help with some of his skating issues. Creativity and awareness are also areas that require further development. Chiasson is a straight-line player who prefers to be on the forecheck or finding space instead of carrying the puck. He is not a player who will impress with his hands. While he checks defensively, he can sometimes get caught watching the puck, but he usually keeps his head checking behind him for any threats. However, he needs to improve his ability to scan up the ice consistently when his team has the puck, which will prevent dump-outs or predetermined plays.

One of Chiasson’s key strengths is his forechecking ability. He is excellent at getting through the defender’s hands and finding the puck on the stick first, aiming to regain possession instead of delivering a big hit. As he ages, getting stronger will help him maintain pressure on his back, while lowering his center of gravity will enable him to buy time with the puck. Although he is not likely to use his skating to elude defenders, he has an excellent shot that he can release quickly off either foot and consistently one-time it. Refining his skill at finding soft ice in the offensive zone will allow him to use his shot more effectively.

All-in-all, Chiasson has the potential to become a fourth-line player in the NHL. His work ethic and defensive play are his strengths, and they could take him far. However, his issues with the puck and skating might end up ultimately limiting his potential. With the abilities he has today, if he continues to learn and grow I expect he’ll be pushing for a shot in the bottom half of the lineup in a few short years.

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February 15, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The idea of Erik Karlsson in an Edmonton Oilers uniform passing pucks to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is exciting! If you’re wondering why this trade hasn’t happened yet, consider the complications of a Karlsson trade to the Oilers right now. There are two components to a potential Karlsson deal: the contracts involved to make the money work, and the draft picks and prospects to be involved.

The Oilers are in a money in, money out situation this season. They can’t afford to absorb Karlsson’s $11.5 million cap hit. In fact, they can’t afford to take on any salary at all. The Sharks would need to retain money on Karlsson and take players back from the Oilers. San Jose can retain a maximum of $5.75 million on Karlsson. There’s a direct relationship between the asking price for Karlsson and the amount of money they would retain. The more they retain, the more expensive the trade will get for the Oilers.

The Sharks only have $984,167 in cap space according to CapFriendly, so the Sharks could afford to have their cap spending increase by that amount as a result of this deal. The Sharks have 49 out of a possible 50 NHL contracts on their books. They can only add one player, so the Oilers could only send them one more player than they get from the Sharks. The combination of needing to send a large sum of money to San Jose to be able to afford Karlsson and the Sharks only being able to add one more player than they give up could help the Oilers move an undesirable contract.

SAN JOSE, CA – NOVEMBER 05: San Jose Sharks Defenceman Erik Karlsson (65) looks to pass the puck during the second period of a regular season NHL hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks on November 5, 2022, at SAP Center, in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Tony Ding/Icon Sportswire)Karlsson would be an upgrade over every Oilers defenceman, but he’s a right handed offensive defenceman that can run a powerplay. Tyson Barrie is a poor man’s Karlsson, so it makes all the sense in the world to include him in this trade. Including Barrie’s $4.5 million would make the financial aspect of this trade easier to make happen. The Oilers would need to send at least another $1.25 million to the Sharks if Barrie is involved. That would be as simple as including Mattias Janmark or Derek Ryan.

If the goal is to send the Sharks as much money back as possible to minimize the price, then it would make sense to include Kailer Yamamoto or Jesse Puljujarvi. Both players are having down years. Yamamoto hasn’t produced in his limited healthy time this season, and he has another year left on his deal. Puljujarvi’s plight has been well documented, and he’s got a $3 million qualifying offer coming in the summer. No GM in their right mind would give him that right now, so an acquiring team would risk losing him for nothing this summer. Warren Foegele is another option, but he has also underproduced in relation to his cap hit. These players might not reduce the price on Karlsson like I suggested based on their low market value.

Evan Bouchard’s potential inclusion in this deal is the most controversial piece of this puzzle. Bouchard is a star in the making. He will never be as good as Karlsson, but Bouchard has top pairing potential. The hard question the Oilers need to ask themselves is how high is Bouchard’s ceiling? If they think his perceived lack of urgency on defence will prevent him from becoming a top pairing defenceman, then they wouldn’t worry about including him. If they think he can be a cost controlled top pairing defenceman for the next eight years and then be an impact Oiler beyond that, then they shouldn’t let San Jose have him.

Related: Should the Oilers trade for Erik Karlsson?

Here are some other combinations of players that would work money wise depending on how much San Jose would retain on Karlsson, keeping in mind that the players with cap hits over $5 million likely won’t be involved in this trade:

Foegele (or Kulak) & Puljujarvi: $5.75 million

Ceci & Foegele: $6 million

Foegele, Puljujarvi & Bouchard: $6,613,333

Foegele, Puljujarvi & Janmark: $7 million

Barrie & Yamamoto: $7.6 million

Barrie, Foegele, and Janmark: $8.5 million

Barrie, Yamamoto & Foegele: $10.35 million

Barrie, Ceci & Foegele: $10.5 million

Keep in mind that if the Oilers give San Jose three players, then they will have to take a second player back. The combination of Ceci, Janmark and Ryan adds up to $5.75 million, but that wouldn’t work because the Sharks would have to send the Oilers another player and the Sharks wouldn’t be able to retain enough on Karlsson to make that math work.

Steven Lorentz, local product Noah Gregor, and former Oiler Matt Benning would all be cheaper options that could offset the money and fit into the bottom part of the Oilers roster to replace some of the depth lost in the deal. Injured players Luke Kunin and Radek Simek might be of interest to the Oilers as well. Anybody with a cap hit less than Gregor’s $950k could also work.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 10: Edmonton Oilers Right Wing Kailer Yamamoto (56) skates for a loose puck in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup playoffs round 1, game 5 on May 10, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)We also have to think about the Oilers’s active roster situation. Once Yamamoto returns, the Oilers will be forced to use a 21 man roster. They will be in a dollar in, dollar out situation at that point. If the Oilers give the Sharks one more player than they get back, then their active roster would be at 20 players with no cap space. That would prevent them from having an extra skater with the team in case of surprise lineup changes on game days. Placing a player on LTIR would be the only way to get cap space to bring another player up from Bakersfield, unless the recall is on an emergency basis. Either that or the Oilers would play short-handed.

Then there’s the opportunity cost of the picks and prospects that would be involved. I wouldn’t move Dylan Holloway or Philip Broberg. I would be wary of trading Xavier Bourgault because the Oilers are thin at right wing and he’s the insurance policy for Puljujarvi and Yamamoto. I really like Desharnais as well, so I’d be hesitant to move him. The rest of the lot would be fair game for Karlsson.

This year’s first round is deep. A team might get a star player in the twenties in this draft. If the Oilers make the final four, then the pick will be so late that it wouldn’t hurt to sacrifice it. However, if they lose in the first round or miss the playoffs after trading the pick, then they might regret it. I wouldn’t hesitate to include any other pick, and I’d likely get over it if the Oilers traded the 2023 first rounder for Karlsson.

Related: Do Big Trade Deadline Deals Correlate With Winning Stanley Cups?

The question is do they value having a steady stream of players on entry level deals contributing over the next five to seven years, or do they value Karlsson’s potential impact more? No team can be successful consistently for a long time without that flow of young players contributing, so the scouts would need to be great at finding diamonds in the rough if a combination of top prospects and first round picks were to disappear.

The other thing to consider is that Karlsson has a full no movement clause in his contract, so he would need to waive it to be traded anywhere. I suspect that he would waive it to come to Edmonton since Jason Gregor said that Ken Holland has made San Jose GM Mike Grier an offer.

This isn’t a deal that would happen overnight if it were to happen at all. The complexity of the deal lowers its odds of happening, but it’s certainly a distinct possibility.

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February 15, 2023 by Eric Friesen

After the Detroit Red Wings captured back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998, then-General Manager Ken Holland looked to make a major addition at the trade deadline to boost their chances for a third consecutive championship. On March 23, 1999, the Red Wings acquired future Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman Chris Chelios from the rival Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Anders Eriksson and two first-round picks in 1999 (Steve McCarthy) and 2001 (Adam Munro).

Despite being 37 years old at the time of the trade, Chelios went on to play for a decade in Detroit, and helped the Red Wings win two more Stanley Cups in 2002 and 2008. 24 years later, Holland is now running the Edmonton Oilers’ front office, and looking to bring in a similar impact player to help put his club over the top. And that player could be elite puck-moving defenceman Erik Karlsson.

TSN’s Chris Johnston tweeted on Saturday that the Oilers have re-engaged in trade discussions with the San Jose Sharks involving Karlsson. And while there are considerable financial hurdles on both ends, this is at least the second time this season the two clubs have explored a potential fit.

Johnston expanded on this tweet on his podcast: “The fact that they’ve have tried once, and are trying again, and it’s two or three weeks until the trade deadline, it’s pretty notable that’s where the Oilers’ minds are at,” he said on The Chris Johnston Show on Monday.

Karlsson’s resurgenceBetween 2011-12 and 2018-19, Karlsson led all NHL defencemen in assists (381) and points (492) in 590 games. The two-time Norris Trophy winner recorded one 80-point season, four 70-point seasons and six 60-point seasons during that span.

But after signing an eight-year, $92 million contract extension with the Sharks on June 17, 2019, which made him the highest-paid defenceman in the league ($11.5 million cap hit), his production dropped off. This season, however, Karlsson finds himself back to his Norris Trophy form.

Artemi Panarin (@NYRangers), Erik Karlsson (@SanJoseSharks) and Clayton Keller (@ArizonaCoyotes) – who all recently participated in the 2023 Honda #NHLAllStar Weekend – have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Feb. 12.#NHLStats: https://t.co/4ScvPKGRT1 pic.twitter.com/OwbiEWvwWW

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 13, 2023

The 32-year-old has 73 points in 54 games this season, ranking him sixth in the NHL scoring race. His 55 assists are also tied with Connor McDavid for second in the league. He’s just six points away from setting a career-high in points, and is surely the frontrunner for the Norris Trophy.

More impressively, Karlsson is on pace to become the first defenceman to record 100 points in a single season since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. While he’s undoubtedly one of the best players of his era, few would have predicted Karlsson to have a career-year at age 32. And even fewer probably would seen it happening with the 28th place Sharks.

What would it cost the Oilers to bring him in?As recently as this past off-season, Karlsson’s contract seemed untradable for the rebuilding Sharks. Now, Karlsson is being a viewed as a major target target for Stanley Cup contenders at the deadline.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported on January 13 that the Sharks were seeking three first-round picks in return for Karlsson, while retaining 18 to 20 percent of his contract. It would be an enormous price to pay, but in order to get quality players the price will always be expensive. Still, you could make the case that if the Oilers are willing to part with that much of their future for one player, it should be Karlsson.

It’s also unlikely the players selected in those spots would be able to help the team while McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are still in the respective primes, especially if the Oilers finish near the top of the league for the next three seasons. But for any deal to work, the Oilers will need to send out at least one contract and get the Sharks to retain closer to 40 or 50 percent of Karlsson’s cap hit.

“Whether it’s forwards or defence, it’s my job to be aware of who is available and eventually what the price might be,” Holland said Wednesday on the Got Yer Back podcast on February 8.” We’re dollar in, dollar out, so if we start bringing in people with big cap numbers, we’re going to have to do some real gymnastics here to move people out. When you’re in a LTI situation like we are, it’s much more difficult at the trade deadline.”

I could see the Oilers offering a package of Jesse Puljujarvi, Warren Foegele, top prospect Xavier Bourgault and their 2023 first-round pick for Karlsson. Puljujarvi is still only 24, and all signs point to him being dealt before the deadline, whether it’s to the Sharks or another club. Foegele has performed better as of late, but is overpaid for a bottom-six forward. While the Oilers would certainly prefer to keep Bourgault, who could be a future winger for McDavid, Karlsson gives them a better to win the Stanley Cup right now.

Related: NHL salary cap expected to rise at perfect time for Oilers

That said, this deal hinges on remaining term. Karlsson is signed through the 2026-27 season. If the salary cap climbs as much as it’s expected to over the next few summers, his contract will be easier to stomach. But for an Oilers team with no cap space, they would need his cap hit to be around $7 million.

The Oilers window to win the Cup is wide open, and Karlsson could be the piece that helps them reach their ultimate goal this spring.

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February 14, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers are all over the rumour mill right now. Many fans want to see a huge trade like landing Erik Karlsson because they feel the team must win the Stanley Cup this year to prevent Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl from leaving town once their contracts expire. I wanted to see if big trade deadline deals correlate with winning Stanley Cups, so I looked back at every trade deadline in the salary cap era to find an answer.

The 2006 Stanley Cup Final featuring the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers is one of two examples of a final where both teams were active with big trades at the deadline. The Hurricanes added Doug Weight and Mark Recchi; and the Oilers added Dwayne Roloson, Sergei Samsonov, Jaroslav Spacek, and Dick Tarnstrom prior to the deadline. The Oilers had swung big by trading for Chris Pronger and Michael Peca prior to that season. That gamble didn’t result in a Stanley Cup, for what it’s worth.

TORONTO, ON – DECEMBER 10: Former Edmonton Oiler Kevin Lowe addresses the media during a press conference before a game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Nick Turchiaro/Icon Sportswire)The other year where both finalists made the biggest deals at the trade deadline was 2014. The Los Angeles Kings pulled off a big deal by trading for Marian Gaborik. However, Martin St. Louis going to the New York Rangers for Ryan Callahan and Roberto Luongo going back to Florida were both bigger deals. St. Louis’s Rangers lost to Gaborik’s Kings in the finals that year.

The 2011 Boston Bruins made (arguably) the biggest deal of the 2010-11 season by adding Tomas Kaberle. They also added Chris Kelly and Rich Peverly, who were both important depth forwards for the Bruins. They lost Blake Wheeler in the Peverly deal, but they won their Cup so it was worth it (as many people would be led to believe).

The 2012 Los Angeles Kings added Jeff Carter at the trade deadline. Carter got 9 points in 16 games with LA that season and added 13 more in 18 playoff games. He was an impact player for the Kings in both of their Stanley Cup victories.

The 2006 Hurricanes, the 2011 Bruins, and the 2012 Kings have been the only three Stanley Cup winners in the salary cap era to make the biggest trades at the deadline and win it all in the same season. If you think that the Oilers trading for Karlsson will guarantee them a Cup win this season, then I have an oceanfront property in Saskatchewan to sell you.

Having said that, the 2007 Anaheim Ducks are the only Stanley Cup winner to not add anyone to their NHL roster at the trade deadline. Teams that win usually do SOMETHING at the deadline. Also, there have been several instances where a deadline acquisition would go on to help a team win a Stanley Cup in future seasons.

Related: Tarasenko Trade Makes Rangers True Contenders

Ken Holland traded for Todd Bertuzzi at the 2007 trade deadline, and the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 2008. The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Red Wings in the finals in 2008 after acquiring Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis before that deadline. They added Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin at the 2009 deadline and won the Cup. Kunitz and Guerin were impactful players for the Penguins, but they weren’t as splashy as Olli Jokinen going to Calgary that year.

Speaking of the 2009 deadline, Recchi was dealt once again, this time to Boston. He would help them to a Cup win in 2011. Justin Williams went to the Kings in the three-way trade that brought Patrick O’Sullivan to the Oilers. “Mr. Game Seven” won two Cups with the Kings.

The 2010 Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup with Kris Versteeg (2007 trade deadline) and Andrew Ladd (2008 trade deadline). The Blackhawks absolutely fleeced the Minnesota Wild at the 2010 deadline when they got Nick Leddy and Kim Johnsson for Cam Barker. They also added Nick Boynton at that deadline. They were busy, but they only added veteran defence depth. The biggest blockbuster that year was Ilya Kovalchuk being traded to the New Jersey Devils. They lost to the Kings in the 2012 final.

In 2013, the Blackhawks got Michal Handzus in a year where Jarome Iginla and Jaromir Jagr got traded at the deadline. That was also the year of the infamous Martin Erat for Filip Forsberg trade. Washington didn’t win then, and they gave up a top prospect that turned into an elite goal scorer. Jay Bouwmeester was moved to St. Louis in 2013. He would eventually win a Cup with St. Louis in 2019.

The Blackhawks were much busier in 2015 than they were in 2013. They added Antoine Vermette, Kimo Timonen, and Andrew Desjardins. Keith Yandle was the biggest name moved that season, and that didn’t help the Rangers win. Braydon Coburn was dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning that year, and he won a Cup with Tampa Bay in 2020.

The Penguins won back to back Cups in 2016 and 2017. They did some tweaking of their defence and complementary forwards that year, but the most impactful addition for them turned out to be Justin Schultz. That trade didn’t have the same weight as Dion Phaneuf being traded to Ottawa. The Penguins simply added two veteran defencemen in 2017 while other teams were adding Jarome Iginla, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Ben Bishop.

Related: The Awkward State of the Oilers Defence

The Washington Capitals did the same sort of thing in 2018. They added two bottom of the roster defencemen while other teams added guys like Evander Kane, Paul Stastny, and Rick Nash. The most impactful trade that year turned out to be Ryan McDonagh and JT Miller going to Tampa Bay. McDonagh won two Cups with Tampa Bay. Miller was traded to Vancouver for a first round pick, which was later traded to New Jersey for Blake Coleman at the 2020 deadline on their way to a Stanley Cup.

The St. Louis Blues were about to sell it all in 2019 before Jordan Binnington was recalled. Instead, they added Michael Del Zotto and won the Stanley Cup. The Vegas Golden Knights lost to the Capitals in the final in 2018 and added Mark Stone at the 2019 deadline. They haven’t been back to the final since then. The Columbus Blue Jackets took a huge swing at the 2019 deadline knowing that they were going to lose Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky that summer. They added Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel. Their “all in” strategy at the deadline got them to the second round, but no further.

It was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s turn to win back to back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021. They added third line depth in 2020 with Coleman and Barclay Goodrow while Pittsburgh missed with Jason Zucker and Edmonton really missed with Andreas Athanasiou. The Lightning opted for physical shutdown defenceman David Savard in 2021 while Boston traded for Taylor Hall and lost in round two.

The 2022 Colorado Avalanche added Josh Manson, Arturri Lehkonen, and Andrew Cogliano at the deadline. Those were impactful moves, but they didn’t generate as many headlines as Claude Giroux being traded to Florida. The Panthers won the President’s Trophy last year and went “all in” by trading for Giroux at the deadline. They lost in the second round.

SAN JOSE, CA – NOVEMBER 05: San Jose Sharks Defenceman Erik Karlsson (65) looks to pass the puck during the second period of a regular season NHL hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks on November 5, 2022, at SAP Center, in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Tony Ding/Icon Sportswire)It’s clear that teams that win Stanley Cups typically tinker with their depth positions and try to add experience at the trade deadline. It’s not often that going “all in” and adding the biggest name available leads to instant success though. That’s not to say that it can’t lead to success in future seasons; but making a big trade like a potential Erik Karlsson trade on the premise that the Edmonton Oilers must win this season would be flawed logic. Karlsson could help the Oilers win a Stanley Cup before his contract expires though.

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February 13, 2023, by Jeffery Ade

Following a nine-day break, the Buffalo Sabres dropped a 7-2 decision to the Calgary Flames on Saturday. For a team within striking distance of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, it was a disappointing start to the unofficial second half of the season.

One bright spot in the game was the return of Tage Thompson, who suffered an upper-body on February 1 and missed the NHL All-Star Game. Thompson scored his team-leading 35th goal of the season and set a new career-high in points with 69.

Looking to get back in the win column, the Sabres take on the Los Angeles Kings as they begin their three-game road trip and annual California swing. Per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News, the Sabres had their “hardest” practice of the season on Sunday. Head Coach Don Granato mixed up the forward lines during Sunday’s practice and kept them that way for Monday.

The Sabres’ top-six forward group has generally remained the same all season, but Granato has switched things up for Monday’s game, with Jeff Skinner, Dylan Cozens and Alex Tuch together, and Casey Mittelstadt, Tage Thompson and Kyle Okposo as the new top two lines.

Related: Sabres primed for second-half surge

The Sabres are facing a tough challenge on Monday night as the Kings are coming off a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins and sit in a three-way tie for second place in the Pacific Division. The Kings’ recent success can be attributed to career minor leaguer Pheonix Copley, who recently signed a one-year extension worth $1.5 million per season and has been surprising everyone with his stellar play this season. With a 16-3-1 record, a goals-against average of 2.77, and a .901 save percentage, Copley has been impressive in the 21 games he’s played this season.

Buffalo is currently trailing Pittsburgh by five points for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand, making this week crucial for the team. 41-year-old goaltender Craig Anderson will start his 701st career NHL game and 18th start of the season against the Kings. It is yet to be seen if the Sabres will use three different goalies across this California road trip.

Staying on the West Coast, the Sabres will visit the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, where they will look to continue their success against them. The Sabres have a 4-1-0 record over their last five games at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Then, they will travel to Northern California to visit the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, where they have a 1-4-0 record over their last five visits to the SAP Center.

A strong showing in California this coming week could improve the Sabres’ playoff chances this year while also helping some other Pacific Division teams in the process.

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February 12, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The New York Rangers pulled off a blockbuster trade on Thursday. The Rangers traded for Tarasenko and defenceman Niko Mikkola from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Sammy Blais, Hunter Skinner, a conditional 2023 first round pick and a 2024 fourth round pick. The Blues also retained 50% of Tarasenko’s cap hit.

Tarasenko has proven himself as one of the top goal scorers in the league when healthy. He has six seasons of 30 or more goals and one 40-goal season to his credit. Tarasenko had something of a renaissance year last season with 34 goals after two injury plagued seasons. However, this season’s ten goals and 29 points in 38 games for the Blues represent a down year for the 31 year old.

We’re about to find out whether his low output this season is a result of the Blues struggling as a team or if he is beginning to decline. The Rangers have a firm hold on a playoff spot with an eight point gap over the first wild card team in the Eastern Conference entering play Sunday. Tarasenko has joined a line alongside Mika Zibanejad and fellow Russian star Artemi Panarin that has the potential to be one of the best lines in the entire league.

The Rangers were a strong team before getting Tarasenko. They have Chris Kreider, a 52 goal scorer last season, playing on their second line. Filip Chytil is on a heater this year with 19 goals in 44 games, a number that tops his career best total by five. He centres a third line flanked by former first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere and former second overall pick Kaapo Kakko.

Related: The Awkward State of the Oilers Defence

Their defence is led by former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox. Ryan Lindgren is the anchor on that top pairing. He’s one of the most underrated defenders in the league in my opinion. Their second pairing features K’Andre Miller, a rangy, well rounded defender, and Jacob Trouba. Finally, they have a promising young player in Braden Schneider and newly acquired Mikkola on the third pairing. It’s a deep and balanced defence group, and they’re all young to boot.

Make no mistake about it. This Rangers team deserved a spot in the Conference Finals last year and they gave the Tampa Bay Lightning everything they could handle in that series. The Rangers are even better this year. Adding Tarasenko has made them a contender if they weren’t already.

We’ve seen evidence in Tarasenko’s first two games as a Ranger. Tarasenko scored the opening goal in his first game on Broadway. The Rangers then rolled the Carolina Hurricanes by a tidy score of 6-2. Panarin exploded for four goals. That win brought the Rangers to within six points of the Hurricanes for the Metropolitan Division lead. It was a statement by the Rangers saying that they’re real and they’re spectacular.

Adding Tarasenko means that the Rangers are no longer interested in Patrick Kane, much to Kane’s chagrin. Kane openly admitted that the Rangers were one of the teams that he would have been interested in being traded to at the deadline. The other issue that could make a Kane trade difficult is his nagging hip injury. The Vegas Golden Knights remain an option for Kane since Mark Stone will miss the remainder of the season. Another possibility for Kane is the Edmonton Oilers, if they can make the money work. That’s a pretty big “if”.

I can see the smoke piling out of Edmonton Oilers fans’ ears already. The Oilers also made the Conference Finals last year, and fans want GM Ken Holland to make an impactful trade like the Tarasenko trade. The Rangers added $4.125 million to their roster as a result of this trade. The Oilers are certainly not in a situation where they can add that much to their team. The price tag on Tarasenko was pretty low, but the Oilers would have to remove more from their roster than what the Rangers had to remove to add Tarasenko to get a player of consequence. As frustrating as it is for Oilers fans to watch other contending teams add impact players as we approach the trade deadline, the Oilers are unlikely to make any major moves this season.

Unlikely is the key word. Reports that the Oilers are talking to the San Jose Sharks about Erik Karlsson surfaced on Saturday. That would be tempting, but the acquisition cost and the opportunity cost of having to move players from other positions out might make a Karlsson deal less appealing.

The Tarasenko trade and the Bo Horvat trade before it got the ball rolling on this year’s trade deadline. Other dominos could start falling soon. Jakob Chychrun was held out of the Arizona Coyotes game on Saturday, which could mean that a trade is imminent. It could also mean nothing. Ryan O’Reilly could be the next one to be moved out of St. Louis. The intrigue surrounding Kane and Jonathan Toews will swirl until the deadline has come and gone. For now though, the Rangers have put themselves in a fantastic position for another deep run this spring.

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February 10, 2023 by Jeffery Ade

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Buffalo Sabres rank 10th in the Eastern Conference with 56 points through 50 games, only three points shy of the final wild-card spot. The Sabres are currently on pace for 92 points, which would be their highest single-season point total since amassing 96 points in 2010-11.

Sabres ExpectationsEach club across the league has a different set of expectations and bar for success. Despite playing in the strongest division in the NHL, the Sabres have exceeded expectations so far, which is a great pace for this young, inexperienced group. After registering 75 points in 2021-22 and entering this season with the youngest team in the league, making the playoffs wasn’t considered a realistic goal for the Sabres. However, they have given themselves a shot to end their 11-year post-season drought with 32 games left to play.

22 of their 32 remaining games are against teams either lower or tied with the Sabres in the standings, but the concern is the Sabres’ inexperience will catch up to them down the stretch drive. Teams like the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who currently hold the two wild-card spots, are aging and declining, but they’ve been there, and done that for well over a decade now, and I believe next season is when they finally fall out. Toss in the fact the New York Islanders just upgraded by bringing in Bo Horvat and the Florida Panthers will likely be active at the deadline, the Sabres will be up against very stiff competition to end their playoff woes.

The Sabres biggest hole would be their defensive depth, their bottom pairing badly needs to be addressed. Adams will most likely make a minor addition to the blue line at the trade deadline on Friday March 3. Overall, I don’t foresee this Sabres front office group taking unnecessary risks or rushing the plan just to merely squeeze into the 2023 playoffs. General Manager Kevyn Adams is savvy enough to realize that this current road to a Sabres Stanley Cup is a marathon, not a sprint.

Sabres Core Group and Great Cap ManagementSpeaking of marathons, Kevyn Adams the other day just locked down Dylan Cozens to a seven-year contract extension worth $49.7 million. Selected seventh-overall in 2019, Cozens has shown to be an excellent pick for the Sabres. The 21-year-old ranks third among the 2019 draftees in career points (94), behind only Jack Hughes (175) and Trevor Zegras (117). Cozens, who has 43 points in 49 games so far this season, has been centering the second line with a pair of rookies on his wings in Jack Quinn and John-Jason Peterka.

Tage Thompson signed a seven-year extension worth $7.14 million a season this past August after having a breakout year in 2021-22, where he set career-high numbers with 38 goals and 68 points across 78 games played. Already in this current season, Thompson has tied his 68 point total in only 50 games. He was selected to play in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game but unfortunately, missed the event due to a minor upper-body injury.

Thompson was at practice on Friday, where Head Coach Don Granato has announced he will be playing against the Calgary Flames on Saturday to the relief of Sabres fans. Keeping the team’s top two centres at such a low combined price, gives this team so many options for the future. Kevyn Adams has done great work securing his core. With their top nine forwards signed, top six defense and two goalies under contract for next season, the Sabres are still $3 million SHY of the cap floor. That’s tremendous cap management for a team on the rise.

Tyson Jost is an upcoming RFA, a player the Sabres claimed off waivers from Minnesota back in mid-November, has built great chemistry centering the third line with Casey Mittelstadt and Victor Olofsson on the wings. I firmly believe Jost will be brought back and won’t be over $3 million, so they’ll still be shy of the Cap floor even with 10 forwards, six defencemen and two goalies. Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power are both upcoming RFAs in July 2024 but eligible for extensions this coming offseason. Dahlin will be the big ticket, but we can already see the Sabres will have loads of cap space and zero issues locking him down as they can pretty much pay him whatever he wants.

Power, will be a curious case; do they bridge him? If they do bridge Power, it is NOT the end of the world as Jeff Skinner and his $9 million will come off the books in July 2027. If they go the bridge route with Power and sign him for three years, they can easily toss over the Skinner money and then lock Owen down long-term with a nice-looking raise as well.

Sabres Goaltending FutureAll of this and I haven’t mentioned rookie goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen yet?! The 23-year-old Finn, most likely should be in the AHL right now but when Eric Comrie went down with an injury and was out for six weeks starting in mid-November, Luukkonen got the call and has owned the crease. They’re currently carrying 13 forwards, seven defense and three goaltenders. Tough to juggle at times with the netminders, but Luukkonen has proved he belongs to stay at this level.

Nothing has officially come out, but I feel 41-year-old goaltender Craig Anderson was convinced into returning for one more season instead of retiring, there must be some kind of mutual respect agreement where they won’t be moving Anderson unless he gives the green light and agrees to his next destination in what is most likely the last few months of his NHL career. Luukkonen is the starter now and for the near future. The Sabres do have Devon Levi still in college, doing phenomenal down there and will be turning pro next season; joining Rochester of the AHL.

Levi will most likely be in the minors 1-2 seasons, but the organization is in a great spot. If Luukkoneon doesn’t exactly pan out, there’s Levi not far behind. If Luukkonen does pan out, just solidifies the crease even better with a Luukkonen and Levi tandem.

Surging SabresWe’re in for a wild ride these last few months with the Eastern playoff race, they’ll be close but sadly, I don’t believe will be making the playoffs this year. 2024 and beyond, we will see a consistent playoff team. I hear from some Oiler friends that the Sabres still haven’t proved anything yet, which to a certain extent is true but we can’t speed up time here.

All the proper pieces are in place: the trades, the drafting and the signings Adams has been making are all something Buffalo fans can smile about. They’re in a great position. I know, it’s already been 11 consecutive seasons without playoffs and soon could be extending that NHL-record to 12 this season, but it’ll be well worth it in the long run.

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February 8, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

There has been a constant buzz about the Edmonton Oilers needing to acquire a top four defenceman over the last few months. I feel that the lack of affordable and absolute upgrades and the tight cap situation makes it unecessary to acquire a top four defender at the trade deadline. I decided to dig into the numbers to see how Brett Kulak has performed in a second pairing role this season. The narrative regarding Brett Kulak’s play this season is that he’s struggling as a top four defender. He directly caused two goals by tripping over his own feet on two separate instances early in the season, but my eyes tell me that he has otherwise been solid this season.

It’s fair to say that Kulak would be best served on a third pairing on an elite team, but the Oilers have asked him to take on a second pairing load this season. According to PuckIQ, he has played 43.7% of his time against middle level competition this season, compared to 30.1% against “gritensity” level competition and just 26.2% against elite competition.

Let’s look at the facts. I chose to examine goals for (GF%), expected goals (xGF%), high danger scoring chances (HDCF%), and Corsi (CF%). Analyzing goals alone isn’t fair because there is an element of luck in goals against. Including expected goals takes some of that luck out of the equation. My concern is high danger scoring chances rather than just any old scoring chances because high danger chances occur closer to the goal. Lastly, I’ve included Corsi because it provides an indication of the end in which most of the play happens.

These are Kulak’s numbers for the season according to Natural Stat Trick:

GF%: 51.61% (32 – 30)

xGF%: 50.69%

HDCF%: 53.33% (168 – 147)

CF%: 48.21%

Related: Philip Broberg continues to compare favourably to a beloved former Oiler

While these numbers aren’t eye popping, they certainly don’t suggest that Kulak has struggled. Let’s go a bit deeper. Kulak did struggle for a stretch from November 5, 2022 to November 26, 2022. Here are his numbers during that stretch:

GF%: 15.38% (2 – 11)

xGF%: 42.66%

HDCF%: 41.67% (30 – 42)

CF%: 45.54%

To say he struggled then would be an understatement! The thing that changed for him during that time span was his playing partner. Kulak began playing with Evan Bouchard rather than Tyson Barrie during the stretch in question. Here are Bouchard’s numbers during that same period from November 5 to November 26:

GF%: 20% (2 – 8)

xGF%: 53.17%

HDCF%: 56.52% (39 – 30)

CF%: 55.78%

GF%: 38.89% (7-11)

xGF%: 50.69%

HDCF%: 54.32% (44 – 37)

CF%: 51.96%

The underlying numbers suggest that the pairing was fine, but the scoreboard says that it was a dumpster fire.

Kulak’s numbers away from Bouchard this season are interesting:

GF%: 56.82% (25 – 19)

xGF%: 50%

HDCF%: 52.99% (124 – 110)

CF%: 46.86%

These numbers tell me that Kulak just didn’t feel comfortable playing with Bouchard. It doesn’t mean that Kulak is a pile of garbage, it just means that those two didn’t have chemistry.

Related: The Awkward State of the Oilers Defence

These are Kulak’s numbers excluding that difficult stretch in November:

GF%: 61.22% (30 – 19)

xGF%: 52.19%

HDCF%: 56.79% (138 – 105)

CF%: 48.91%

I see a player that’s achieving greater results than should be expected, and those results are pretty damn good. These aren’t the numbers of a player that’s struggling!

Kulak played with Barrie before the Bouchard experiment, and he has been playing with Barrie ever since it ended. Here are their numbers together as a pairing this season:

GF%: 54.55% (18-15)

xGF%: 49.83%

HDCF%: 54.55% (90 – 75)

CF%: 47.28%

I think that many people watched Kulak struggle in November and have chosen to stick to the narrative that he’s struggling in a second pairing role despite evidence that he’s actually been pretty good aside from that three week segment. There are better defencemen in the league, but Kulak isn’t struggling.

The plan has always been for Broberg to pass Kulak on the depth chart. Kulak has been asked to be a placeholder on the left side of the second pairing until Broberg is ready to take on that responsibility. Broberg is trending nicely, but he isn’t there yet. Broberg needs to earn that spot rather than having it given to him. Kulak is making it difficult for Broberg to take that spot from him.

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February 7, 2023 by Bruce McCurdy

Four times in the 2010s, the Edmonton Oilers invested a first-round draft pick in a defenceman. Three of those talented rearguards blossomed into productive full-time NHLers, while the fourth is making major strides in that direction.

That would be Philip Broberg, the eighth-overall selection in 2019, who follows in the footsteps of Oscar Klefbom (19th in 2011), Darnell Nurse (7th in 2013) and Evan Bouchard (10th in 2018). Broberg can be compared by the old-fashioned eye test to current teammates Nurse and Bouchard. However, by far the best comparison in terms of background, style of play, and career curve is his fellow Swede Klefbom.

I remember well my introduction to both players, each of them in high-profile international tournaments in Edmonton while wearing the gold and blue of their native Sweden. Both left a very positive first impression.

Klefbom played a single game at Rexall Place just before Christmas of 2011, a pre-tournament exhibition against Canada in the lead-up to the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship. Already an Oilers’ prospect and therefore the apple of my eye that night, the 18-year-old was impressive on a pairing with fellow former first-round pick Jonas Brodin as Tre Kronor upset their hosts 5-3.

GLENDALE, AZ – FEBRUARY 04: Edmonton Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom (77) skates with the puck during the NHL hockey game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Arizona Coyotes on February 4, 2020 at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)The Swedes then moved down to Calgary for their group and medal round games, ultimately winning gold by shutting out a high-powered Russian team, 1-0 in overtime. That remains Sweden’s only gold medal in the last 42 years, with Klefbom the team’s top out-scorer at plus-eight in the tournament.

Broberg made his first appearance here slightly earlier in the career curve, at the 2018 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, just turned 17 and by definition undrafted. While such gifted teammates as future first-round picks Lucas Raymond, Alexander Holtz, and Jesper Wallstedt were rated as the players to watch, Broberg made an immediate impression, scoring a brilliant end-to-end goal in the tournament opener vs. Slovakia. He was strong throughout the tournament, finishing third in team scoring as the young Swedes earned the silver medal behind a powerful Canadian squad. In the process the mobile blueliner placed himself on the radar as a potential first-rounder. Little did we know then that Edmonton would be his ultimate destination.

The two Swedish blueliners overlapped oh-so-briefly in the bubble playoffs of 2020, when Klefbom, just turned 27, nursed a wonky shoulder through his final games while Broberg, 19, watched on as a member of the Black Aces. This after they had played all of 54 seconds together during the “Return to Play” exhibition game, the only time both suited up together with the Oilers.

Comparisons I – Draft yearThe two are almost exactly eight years apart, each in the youngest quartile of his draft class, so year-over- year comparisons are directly on point. Let’s start with their draft day, when both were still just 17. In his recently-released book On the Clock: Edmonton Oilers at the NHL Draft, local blogger and sports radio host Allan “Lowetide” Mitchell had this to say on Klefbom:

“The scouting reports gushed about Klefbom’s passing ability and offensive instincts, along with quality foot speed. He had size, at 6’3 and 196 pounds, and had good defensive coverage along with the offensive potential scouts kept hammering.”

…and this on Broberg:

“An outstanding skater and two-way prospect, Broberg was less of a complete product (like Bouchard) and more a project with room to grow in all areas. Broberg had more risk to him but a chance to be a complete defenceman.”

When drafted, Klefbom had played 40 games against men, split between Sweden’s top league then known as Elitserien and the third-tier HockeyEttan. For his part, Broberg had played 41 games in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. Both had played a full tournament for Sweden at each of U-17, Hlinka(-Gretzky), and U-18, while Broberg alone had made the World Junior team before being drafted.

As youngsters, both were long and lanky, with Klefbom ultimately filling out to 215 pounds. At 21, Broberg is still listed at 6-foot-3, 199, but surely will thicken up a bit in the years to come; indeed, there were reports he had added 12 pounds this past summer.

Comparisons II – Draft +1, Draft +2Both players were signed to entry-level contracts by the Oilers and were loaned back to Swedish clubs, where they played both of their 18- and 19-year-old seasons before crossing the pond.

Besides his successful World Junior experience, Klefbom played 15 games of U-20 puck before graduating to the top level where he saw action in 33 games. The next season he managed just 11 games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury that was, alas, a harbinger of things to come. Among other things, that cost him his final year of eligibility for the World Juniors.

Broberg played two full-ish seasons of 45 and 44 games, as well as two more World Junior experiences, the second of those in Edmonton as Sweden’s captain. He got banged up in the tourney, accruing a couple of “minor” injuries that would keep him out of action for a while after his return home and reportedly hamper his play down the stretch.

Comparisons III – Draft +3Both players crossed the pond to North America at age 20. Klefbom spent 48 games with Edmonton’s top affiliate, then in Oklahoma City, posting modest totals of 1-9-10, -8. He was called up to the NHL after Nick Schultz was traded at the deadline, playing 17 games with a team going nowhere and posting 1-2-3, minus-six.

Broberg also started out in the AHL, but his (first) opportunity came quite a bit earlier in the season, Nov. 20 in fact after Darnell Nurse broke a finger blocking a shot. Duncan Keith got hurt days later, and just like that the youngster was playing big minutes, including what remains a career high of 23:44 at Vegas in just his fourth career game. He was in over his head and bleeding goals against, posting seven consecutive minus games before mercifully being returned to Bakersfield as other d-men started to return to the line-up. Early returns – one assist and a minus-eight rating in eight games – very strongly suggested “not ready yet”.

Philip Broberg continues to compare favourably to a beloved former Oiler 8His second opportunity came in early February, when he and Markus Niemelainen found themselves on the same flight from Bakersfield to Edmonton as Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson, themselves recalled to replace the fired Dave Tippett and Jim Playfair. By coincidence Keith had been hurt in Tippett’s last game. The new coaches’ solution was to go with a 7-man unit and spread out Keith’s ice time among several younger players. Broberg held his own, posting small numbers of 14 GP, 0-1-1, minus-one over the subsequent month before again being sent out when the Oil acquired Brett Kulak at the deadline. Bro got 2 more games after that, achieving a pair of milestones including his first career goal and his first career playoff game.

In the lower league, Broberg had a strong rookie (half-) season at Bakersfield with boxcars of 31 GP, 4-19-23, +14, playing significant minutes in all game states.

Comparisons IV – Draft +4 (through January)Broberg is in his Draft +4 season right now, so this is where the direct comparison will have to end, at least for now. But the development curves of the two players have continued to follow parallel paths, in fact more than ever.

Both second-year pros were expected to make the big team right out of camp but encountered roadblocks that resulted in them being sent out to the AHL for a few weeks (Klefbom 9 GP, 1-7-8; Broberg 7 GP, 2-2-4) before being recalled by the Oilers in November. Their seasons subsequently rolled out in similar fashion, as per the Splits feature of hockey-reference.com.

Not much to choose there, at least in terms of boxcar stats. Interesting also that each guy found himself paired with a similar partner, young puck-moving righties with enduring questions about their defensive acumen: Klefbom with Justin Schultz, Broberg with Evan Bouchard.

The picture so farVery interesting indeed to compare the statistics of the two players to exactly this point of their NHL careers:

Klefbom through 2015 January: 45 GP, 2-6-8, 4 PiM, -14, ATOI 18:48

Broberg through 2023 January: 47 GP, 1-6-7, 10 PiM, even, ATOI 13:30

The most interesting number to me is Games Played, reflecting how the careers of these two young Swedes remain so parallel this far out from their draft day. The boxcars too are nearly identical, both with very low penalty totals reflecting a clean style of play.

The biggest differences? Klefbom with five more minutes of ice time per night, Broberg with a significantly better goal differential. To me both of these can be explained the same way: Oscar was promoted to a much worse team with a weaker d-corps so found himself on the top four in short order, while Philip was eased in to a bottom pairing role with less playing time but more success on the goals for/against front. On balance, neither is a definitive indication that either player was “better”.

Looking aheadFrom this point forward we know just Klefbom’s track record, but given their established similarities perhaps it serves as a template of how Broberg might progress in the months and years to come.

Early signs are encouraging, starting with the second half of that Draft +4 season.

Klefbom surged down the stretch, exploding for 15 points in his final 32 games after just five in his first 28. His ice time also jumped to 23-plus minutes a night, and his shots totals doubled. The plus/minus totals remained problematic, but this was a bad hockey club made worse by the deadline trade of Jeff Petry. Loading up a youngster with all the minutes he could handle made sense. That’s less likely for Broberg in 2022-23, so an eruption in scoring output seems less likely, though a spike in overall performance is certainly possible. Considering his plus-10 in January, it may have already begun.

Oilers’ GM Peter Chiarelli had seen enough through Klefbom’s first 77 games that by the following September he signed the 22-year-old to a seven-year extension even as a full season remained on his ELC. In the eyes of most, a terrific value contract, even as it all went horribly wrong in the end. (Indeed, most Oilers fans will be glad to see the last of it at the end of this season, after three years of Long Term Injury Cap Hell.)

Klefbom was a fine player in the intervening years, even as he only made it to 70 GP once in his career. That was the breakthrough 2016-17 campaign when the minute-munching Swede played all 82, posting career highs of 12-26-38, plus-7 with just six minutes in penalties.

He was still just 23 that season, his stock steadily on the rise, but he got hurt in a fateful game in Anaheim those playoffs. His shoulder was seemingly an issue from that day forward, eventually causing the premature end of a promising career.

The cautionary tale of Klefbom is that nothing is guaranteed, even when all the arrows point up. In likewise, Broberg has had his own share of injury woes in his young career, nothing catastrophic but a worry nonetheless. It’s still a point in his favour that his early career has to a large degree mirrored that of Klefbom, who remains among the very best d-men developed in Edmonton’s system in the cap era.

Ken Holland’s patience in Philip Broberg is starting to pay dividends. For all the trade talk so popular in Oil Country these days, I for one would be shocked if he were to be dealt. He’s still just 21, with another full year to run on his ELC at a bargain price. From this distance he’s a building block, not a trading chip.

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February 7, 2023 by Mike Dashney

Stuart Skinner is everything the Edmonton Oilers have ever wanted! Among a collection of others, there are a couple of things that the Oilers keep trying to do without much success. Getting a strong start at the beginnings of games, and not playing down to the level of their opponents…. Oh, waaait! That’s not it. That’s for a different article.

What I am speaking to this time is their inability to draft, develop, and produce a quality starting goaltender since Andy Moog and Grant Fuhr. The Oilers have drafted 41 goaltenders since 1979. Including playoffs, Fuhr and Moog played almost 2,000 games combined. Devan Dubnyk is the only other goalie since then that has played more than 150 career games (542). As for Dubnyk, he was a quality starting NHL goalie that was developed into his best form outside of the Oilers organization. It was the Nashville Predators Goaltending Coach, Mitch Korn, that rebuilt Dubnyk’s confidence after being swapped for Matt Hendricks in 2014. Additionally, it wasn’t until Arizona Coyotes Sean Burke introduced Dubnyk
to the puck tracking technique of head trajectory that his game revolutionized.

Oilers Goaltending Grant FuhrI’m also speaking to the Oilers inability to have a homegrown Edmontonian become a star for our team; this hasn’t happened since the days of Mark Messier and the previously mentioned Fuhr. Joffrey Lupul didn’t quite get there with the Oilers. Sheldon Souray’s experience is well-documented. Jason Strudwick was a treat, but he wasn’t a star. Tyler Benson’s trajectory also looks to be as a bottom 6 player. It could even be argued that Brett Kulak has struggled in his first full season as an Oiler.

Stuart Skinner on the RiseStuart Skinner’s rise in his rookie season may be a surprise to some, but not to us that have followed him since he was an underaged 13-year-old playing AAA Bantam (U15AAA) with the South Side Athletic Club (SSAC) in 2011-2012. They won the AMBHL Championship that season. That team was dripping in talent. Stuey’s teammates from that team include other Edmonton Oilers players Tyler Benson, James Hamblin, and recent ATO, Matt Berlin (all 13 while playing in a 14-year-old league). He and Berlin were the returning tandem in 2012-2013. That season, a 14-year-old Skinner won the award for the AAMBHL’s Top Goaltender boasting a league’s best 1.75 GAA. They also repeated as league champions
again.

The following season, Skinner progressed to play AAA Midget (U18AAA) at the SSAC. As a double under-aged player, he not only made the U18 team as a 16-year-old, but he also became their starter. With no surprise Skinner was starting to garner a lot of attention in the scouting community. As a result, he became the 17th overall pick by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL Draft in 2013.

After the 2013-2014 AMHL season, Skinner was selected to be the starting goalie in the U17 Western Canada Challenge Cup; they won the Gold Medal. He also turned heads when he was given the opportunity to start three games with Lethbridge as a 16-year-old in 2014. The seemingly bluechip goaltender went on to play an impressive WHL Career that spanned over 5 seasons. His entire WHL tenure was with Lethbridge until January 9th, 2018. That was the day he was traded by Lethbridge to the Swift Current Broncos midseason.

Stuart Skinner WHL HighlightsAfter being traded to the Broncos, Skinner dominated the goal crease down the stretch, through the playoffs, and lead the Broncos to their 2018 WHL League Championship. At that point in his young career, it was Skinner’s 4th championship in 8 years of hockey. It was a major accomplishment, and another key step in his maturation. Not only were his family and friends celebrating that win, but every Oilers fan was too. That’s because the previous summer, the Oilers and their scouting staff drafted Skinner in the 3rd round and 78th overall on June 24th at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. In fact, Peter Chiarelli traded up to get that pick at No. 78 overall. Since then, at almost every level of hockey the 24-year-old has played, he has slowly and steadily improved and progressed.

After turning turned pro in 2018, the new found Oiler prospect became the starting goaltender in ECHL playing in 41 games for the Wichita Thunder. Wichita was 29-31-12 and an average team that season, but Skinner stole the net from the older Dylan Wells.

The following season, he graduated to the AHL, and earned the starting job in Bakersfield with the Condors. He outplayed the older Dylan Wells and Shane Starrett landing him 41 games for the 21-27-8 Condors. In the 2020-2021 season with 2 full years as a minor league pro starter under his belt, the Edmonton Oilers gave Skinner his first NHL start on January 31, 2021. Even though he allowed five goals in that game, he also won his first NHL start in an 8-5 victory over the Ottawa Senators. He finished off that second season as Bakersfield’s starter with respectable numbers earning a 20-9-2 record along side a .914 save percentage.

Following the season, his NHL club showed they believed in him when the Oilers signed Skinner to a 2-year extension. He remained the starting goalie in Bakersfield through 2021-2022 and posted similar numbers again. However, last year his NHL audition was extended to 13 games while he filled in for Mike Smith recovering from various injuries. Additionally, some even argued he was the most consistent goalie we had last season. That debate was compelling and hard to debunk as Skinner had excellent stats in both leagues. He absolutely dominated the AHL during stretches, and it was clear to the organization and its fans that he was ready to be an NHL goalie.

Skinner Makes His NHL DebutAfter his waiver exemption expired, he was tabbed for backup role in the NHL behind off-season UFA signing Jack Campbell. Instead, Skinner did what he has always done and defied the odds. Stuart Skinner earned the starting job early in the season and once again stole the crease from an elder in front of him. Just like he did in U15 hockey, U18 hockey, the ECHL, and the AHL.

The full story of Stuart Skinner is far from written of course. But for now, let’s celebrate that, the Edmonton born and developed, Skinner is already an All-Star in his rookie season. The Oilers finally have their home-grown All-Star, and by gawd he’s between the pipes! By all accounts, he is a tremendous teammate and handles media and pressure very well. He appears confident and humble in everything he does, who doesn’t want that in their goaltender? If he continues to mature and advance on his current trajectory, he has the potential to be one of the most popular Oilers of all time.

“Homemade Stu” is everything the Edmonton Oilers always craved and desired.

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February 5, 2023 by Josh Boulton

If you’ve been basing your opinion of the 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers on Twitter comments alone, you’d know they aren’t contenders. They still need a true number one defender. They still need another true top six winger. They still need a true number one goalie. They’re not deep enough. They’re not tough enough. The Oilers still have the same glaring problems they’ve had for two years.

The Seattle Kraken are currently 7 points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers and have two games in hand.

The Kraken did not exist as a roster 18 months ago.

Today would be an excellent day for the Oilers to fire Ken Holland and Bob Nicholson on the grounds of gross incompetence.

— T-Hup (@thupka1982) January 11, 2023

What a great morning to fire Ken Holland and arrest Bob Nicholson

— Copper & Blue (@CopperandBlue) January 4, 2023

Fire Ken Holland

— Oilers Daily (@oilersdailyy) December 18, 2022

General Manager Ken Holland needs to be fired with someone who’s willing to go all in and finally seek some actual solutions.

That was what the consensus used to be anyway, even as of early January. After earning 18 of a possible 22 points in their last 11 games including a 7-0-1 run heading into the All-Star break, it turns out this group suddenly has a lot to offer. Key words being THIS group. And I stress the fact it’s the same group that’s always been there. Is it possible Ken Holland had the right pieces in place all along?

Ken Holland has set this team up for success. The signing of Evander Kane just over a year ago ended up being a massive success and a huge turning point in a season that saw the Oilers end up in the 2022 Western Conference Final. This July Holland locked Kane up for four years.

Around the same time, Holland acquired goaltender Jack Campbell from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Campbell had impressive numbers for the Leafs in 2021 prior to being injured, and didn’t look at all out of place in a seven-game first round showdown with perennial superstar Andrei Vasilevsky of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Campbell started slow for the Oilers, but has settled in nicely as of late. Stuart Skinner was able to hold down the fort while Campbell got his bearings on his new team, and in December Holland negotiated Skinner’s three year extension, creating long term stability in the Oilers crease with two viable options to turn to at any given moment.

Holland also re-signed speedy depth centre Ryan McLeod in September, setting the 2022-23 Oilers team up with arguably the best 1-2-3-4 centre depth chart in all of hockey (Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Ryan Mcleod), and providing a huge versatility aspect knowing McLeod could fill in on literally any line in the roster if need be and meaningfully contribute.

In another brilliant move, Holland acquired forward Klim Kostin from the St. Louis Blues on October 9th. Kostin has been a regular in the Oilers lineup since his November 12th debut and has become a secondary scoring threat. Perhaps most importantly, he’s developed into a physical force willing to go to bat for any team mate.

One final notable move happened on January 9th, when defender Vincent Desharnais was activated at the NHL level from Bakersfield. Signed to a two-year deal by Ken Holland in March of 2022, he’s come on as yet another physical force for the big club as they begin their big push for their first Divisional title since 1987. Can you believe that’s even possible? I mean, a month ago it was near certain the Oilers wouldn’t even make the playoffs unless Holland did something drastic, wasn’t it? That’s what I was told anyway.

Even though Holland “hasn’t done anything” and was allegedly just silently wasting away the careers of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl without a care in the world, the Oilers are, in fact, looking like contenders. And all these roster pieces that are stepping up and branding a real mark into the identity of this team, every single last one of them were acquired prior to the start of this season, before the Oilers ever played a single minute of the 2022-23 regular season.

Ken Holland has created a future, a future that already includes a recipe for the short term success this fan base for some reason so desperately wants to pretend isn’t right there in front of them to enjoy.

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February 2, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The topic of the Edmonton Oilers needing to add a defenceman at the trade deadline has been discussed ad nauseam over the last few months. The rhetoric is that the time is nigh to make a splash and add a defenceman because the Oilers need to win now and the defence isn’t good enough as built. I feel that the construction is sound, but the awkward state of the Oilers defence has people convinced otherwise.

Ken Holland’s goal as the General Manager of the Oilers has always been to build a team that can compete for Stanley Cups now and for many years to come. It’s tough to have your cake and eat it too. That’s the position that Holland finds himself in this season.

Let’s talk about the long-term plan of the Oilers in more detail because it’s not enough to just point out when they want to win. The core of the forward group is set with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, and Evander Kane all in their primes and producing at high rates.

All of the defencemen not on entry level deals have at least another year left after this one. The ones on entry level deals are pretty important for the team’s current and future success. The cast appears to be set for at least another season, but the progression of the kids might impact where everyone slots in on the depth chart.

Holland took Philip Broberg with the eighth overall pick in 2019. It was a somewhat controversial pick given the quality of some of the forwards available at that spot, but Holland always wanted Broberg. I can’t help but think that Holland knew that Oscar Klefbom’s fate was a possibility before drafting Broberg. Broberg has the potential to slot into a second pairing role. His development has been somewhat delayed due to his own injuries, but his recent play suggests that he’s taken a step forward this season, albeit maybe not enough of one to receive second pairing minutes yet.

Cody Ceci performed admirably in a top pairing role last season, but he’s not a top pairing defenceman. Tyson Barrie was brought in to be a powerplay specialist and a right-handed puck moving defenceman. He’s filling that void until Bouchard is ready to shoulder that load on his own, and he’s doing it quite well. The problem is that Bouchard will soon be able to do what Barrie does for less of a cap hit, and Barrie’s cap hit could be spent to improve other parts of the roster. Vincent Desharnais looks like he could slide into the bottom pairing on the right side, but we need more NHL game tape on him before he buys a house in Edmonton.

The left side is less complicated. Brett Kulak is holding his own on the second pairing, but he’s best suited as a third pairing defenceman on an elite team. There’s an opportunity for Broberg to pass Kulak on the depth chart at any moment.

Once Bouchard and Broberg ascend to the spots earmarked for them, Ceci and Kulak will end up being slotted into spots in which they will be more likely to excel. That’s all well and good for the long-term, but what about now? Is there a scenario that would allow the team to add a better defenceman to slot above Ceci (top pairing right side) or Kulak (second pairing left side) without stifling the development of Bouchard and Broberg and interfering with the long-term plan?

Related: The Legitimacy of the Oilers Trading for Jakob Chychrun

The thought is that the Oilers need to add a physical shutdown defenceman. We’ve all heard the names by now. Jakob Chychrun, Vladislav Gavrikov, Joel Edmundson, Radko Gudas, and Luke Schenn are all rumoured to be available.

Chychrun would block Broberg long-term, and the asking price is through the roof. Gavrikov has fewer hits than five Oilers defencemen that have played over 200 minutes this season, including Markus Niemelainen. The impending UFA has one fewer point than Kulak. Gavrikov doesn’t add physicality or offensive firepower, and his underlying numbers are uninspiring; so I fail to see what he would add to the Oilers. Edmundson is slow and overpriced. Some other team can give Montreal a first round pick and a prospect.

Gudas is the type of defenceman that the Oilers could use, but I don’t see how he would supplant any current members of the right side. He can’t fill Barrie’s shoes on the powerplay, he doesn’t have Bouchard’s passing ability, and he’s not a better fit as a top pairing defenceman than Ceci. Schenn is intriguing as well since he leads the league in hits by a mile and he has Stanley Cup championship experience. I feel that Gudas or Schenn could be good fits as a seventh defenceman, but it might not make sense to spend assets on either player when Desharnais is playing as well as he has in that role.

SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 14: Edmonton Oilers right wing Kailer Yamamoto (56) carries the puck during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers on February 14, 2022 at SAP Center in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Matt Cohen/Icon Sportswire)The team’s salary cap situation needs to be considered as well. The Oilers are in a spot where they will need to shed $1.975 million to activate Kailer Yamamoto from LTIR, which could happen as early as February 12. That’s my way of saying that money is tight.

Activating Yamamoto will be as simple as waiving then sending Devin Shore and one of Derek Ryan or Mattias Janmark to Bakersfield. As a friendly reminder, if the Oilers want to add any of the defencemen I’ve discussed here, they would need to trade Warren Foegele or Jesse Puljujarvi at a minimum to create the requisite cap space. Foegele will be tough to move at the deadline because of the extra year on his deal, and Puljujarvi will be tough to move because his qualifying offer of $3 million for next season is unappealing based on his play this season. That will make it tough to add anyone at the deadline, regardless of position.

Related: Tuesday’s Oilers LTIR Cap Gymnastics

If the Oilers want to add Chychyrun, Mattias Ekholm, Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere, or anyone else with a cap hit over $3 million, then Holland would have to get the other team to retain salary or find a third team to retain salary. Teams don’t do that for free, so that would only make the acquisition cost of those bigger names higher.

The Oilers defence is certainly not perfect. The group needs to be playing at their absolute best to win, and they need help from the forwards with solid team structure. However, given the names available, their acquisition price, and the team’s cap situation, I don’t see anything of great consequence happening on the back end at the trade deadline.

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February 1, 2023 by Mike Dirsa

I am thinking back to the final two minutes and change of the third period of Saturday night’s game between the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks. A beautiful moment for a 25-year-old goaltender for the University of Alberta Golden Bears in Matt Berlin has been turned upside down by some who believe this was disrespectful to the Blackhawks.

Berlin got the call to come into the game for Jack Campbell when the score was 7-3 with just over two minutes left on the clock. Berlin was signed to a amateur tryout (ATO) signed earlier in the day due to Stuart Skinner battling an illness and not having enough time to recall a goalie from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. The decision to put Berlin into the game was to give a young man a thrill of a lifetime. The score in the game was 7-3 the game was over but yet still some people want to think this move was showing disrespect to the Blackhawks.

In every sport I can think of when games are well in hand, it is commonplace to empty your bench and give depth players time. In the NFL, starting quarterbacks are pulled in runaway games to avoid injury and nobody questions it. Why does hockey seem to be the only sport that putting in bench players can be taken as a sign of disrespect? To me showing a little bit of mercy being seen as disrespectful is comical. If I was the Blackhawks seeing Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane as a line after Berlin being put in would be more disrespectful. Looking up at a 7-3 score would hurt my pride way more than the guy in between the pipes at the other end.

This wonderful moment has been blown out of proportion to the point where negative commenters on social media have deduced that those two minutes and change have ruined the Oilers chances at a Stanley Cup, and it being a bad look on the leadership core of the team, Jay Woodcroft and Ken Holland. I have to shake my head and laugh out loud. Longtime Oilers beat writer Terry Jones decided to turn Berlin’s moment into a temper tantrum over Shannon Szabados not getting a chance to have a moment of her own.

I will close my frustration rant on a positive by quoting Jonathan Torrens on Twitter, who said “This was a decision made by the players and required buy-in from everyone. Speaks to the good culture in the Edmonton Oilers room. Love it.” I loved it, too, and am disappointed that there are people trying to dim the light off a night Matt Berlin will never forget.

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Join the Heavy Hockey Crew (Formerly Oilerslive Cup) for a great charity hockey game to win the Adam Zukiwsky Memorial Trophy.

Here’s what you need to know:Register now!

Details:

Argyll Arena

Time: 12:00pm – 1:30 pm

Date: March 4, 2023

After Party and Edmonton Oilers Watch Party:

Time: 4pm onward

Location: TBD

Silent Auction / Raffles / More

DONATIONS to Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton. Links to donate online will be provided.

At the conclusion of the game, we will be having an after party to celebrate the winning team. Also we’ll be cheering on the Edmonton Oilers as they take on the Jets later that evening!

Come join as a spectator or sign up to play hockey, but come out and have some fun with all the Oilers fans, Oilers Twitter!, and fans from all over Western Canada.

Please DM us on twitter or contact us through this site if you have any questions. Also many of us will be going to the Edmonton Oilers vs Winnipeg Jets game at Rogers Place on March 3rd, please DM for information on the group tickets package.

Follow Oilerslive on Twitter @Oilerslive

Come out and have a great time!

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January 21, 2023 by Raghu Sharma

It’s been a busy and exciting couple of months for Edmonton Oilers’ rookie goalie Stuart Skinner. After a promising start to his rookie campaign, Skinner signed a three-year contract extension worth $7.8 million with Oilers on December 19, 2022.

Then, he became a father for the first time on January 14, with the birth of his son Beau. And, on Wednesday, Skinner was named an NHL all-star. Skinner is set to join Grant Fuhr as the only rookie goalies in Oilers history to play in the NHL All-Star Game.

Though he’s been arguably the Oilers most important player so far this season besides Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Skinner was still surprised to learn he will be heading to South Florida for the All-Star Game later this month.

“I found out by [Woodcroft] on the ice. He announced [McDavid] going, [Draisaitl going], and then he took a little while and said my name. And my reaction, I was kind of just shocked,” Skinner told Oilers TV on Friday. “I didn’t really expect it. And then all the guys came and hugged me, and it was obviously a very exciting moment. It’s something you watch growing up, and kind of wanted to be there, so it’s pretty cool that I get to go and meet the guys.

After making his NHL debut in his only appearance in 2020-21, Skinner played 13 games for the Oilers last season (mostly due to injuries to Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen), where he showed that he’s close to ready for full-time NHL work. His final outing in 2021-22 was also his first career NHL shutout in the NHL, posting a 3-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on February 14, 2022.

Related: Oilers will rely on tandem of Campbell and Skinner down the stretch drive

Many Oilers fans, myself included, wanted to see Skinner stay with the Oilers down the stretch, but the cap concerns forced him back down to the Bakersfield Condors for the rest of the season. With Mikko Koskinen returning to Europe in the off-season and Mike Smith on LTIR, the Oilers brought in Jack Campbell to be their starting goalie, with Skinner helping form a promising young tandem.

While Campbell struggled early on, Skinner was one of the biggest reasons the Oilers managed to stay in the playoff hunt, as injuries started to pile up. Skinner leads the league in save percentage (.914) and ranks second in wins (12) and fifth in goals against average (2.96) among rookie goalies who have played in at least 10 games this season. The 24-year-old was a real bright spot for the team during a somewhat lackluster first-half, and will be counted on to play a big part as Edmonton continues their playoff push in the final three months of the season.

Head Coach Jay Woodcroft spoke about how impressive it is for not only Skinner, but the entire organization for him to become an all-star this early in his career.

“Stuart was commanding the net, and forcing the coaching staff’s hand at who was going to take the net a number of times this season,” Woodcroft said during post-game presser on Thursday. “When is the last time an Edmonton Oiler goaltender has played in the All-Star Game? He is a rookie goaltender, isn’t that a win for our scouts? Isn’t that a win for our development team. and a win for everyone who helped him get to that point?”

Skinner was quickly become a fan favourite in Oil Country, thanks to his positive attitude, loveable smile, fantastic moustache, and most importantly, his strong play between the pipes.

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January 17, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Ladies and gentlemen, Evander Kane is back! Kane is ready to return from his unfortunate and gruesome wrist injury that has kept him out of the lineup since November 8, 2022. He had 13 points in 14 games this season before the injury.

Kane brings elite level offensive production and some stability to the top six. Kane’s return means one less winger has to play above where he should be playing. His swagger, toughness, and willingness to play on the edge are all ingredients the Oilers need more of these days. It suffices to say that his return is more than welcomed.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 22 Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Evander Kane (91) lines up a hit on the boards in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the St Louis Blues on October 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Much had been made about the cap gymnastics that would be required to activate Kane from LTIR. There were a few different scenarios that could’ve played out, many of them requiring placing players on waivers. However, nobody was placed on waivers on Monday, so another alternative was used. This is how the Edmonton Oilers were able to activate Kane from LTIR on Tuesday.

Related: The Legitimacy of Trading for Jakob Chychrun

First, the club sent Markus Niemelainen back to Bakersfield on Monday. His cap hit is the same as Vincent Desharnais, but they chose to keep Desharnais up. That $762,500 cap spending decrease brought the Oilers’ cap hit down to $91,591,833.

The Oilers placed Ryan Murray and Kailer Yamamoto on LTIR on Tuesday. Murray has been dealing with a back issue for most of this season. This has been an issue for Murray for most of his career. Yamamoto’s issue is uncertain. Jay Woodcroft said that Yamamoto declared himself unable to go against San Jose last Friday, and now he’s on LTIR.

It’s been a tough season for Yamamoto. He went into the boards awkwardly and hard against Vancouver in the preseason. He missed the first game of the season, then played in the next 13 games. After that, he missed the next 11 games. Now he’ll be out until February 12 at the earliest because he has to miss at least 10 games and 24 days as a result of being placed on LTIR. The random timing of his injuries with no video of potential plays he could’ve been hurt during makes me think that he’s dealing with post concussion symptoms, but I have no concrete information on that.

SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 14: Edmonton Oilers right wing Kailer Yamamoto (56) carries the puck during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers on February 14, 2022 at SAP Center in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Matt Cohen/Icon Sportswire)Here’s a quick refresher on how LTIR works since I know it’s confusing. An injured player’s cap hit ALWAYS counts towards the cap. When a player is placed on LTIR, the value of his cap hit goes into the LTIR pool. That value is added to the value of the team’s total cap spending at the time when the first player was put on LTIR that season, otherwise known as the ACSL (Accruable Cap Space Limit).

The ACSL for the Oilers this season is $82,499,833 as per CapFriendly. If you add up the cap hits for Kane, Klefbom, and Smith, you get a sum of $11,492,000. That value was the team’s LTIR pool while Kane was on LTIR.

If you add up the cap hits for Klefbom, Smith, Murray, and Yamamoto, you get a sum of $10,217,000. That is the new LTIR pool for the Oilers with those players on LTIR. You add the LTIR pool value to the ACSL to get a new cap ceiling of $92,716,833.

Remember, an injured player’s cap hit ALWAYS counts towards the cap. None of today’s LTIR related transactions had any impact on cap spending. The value of the LTIR pool decreased by $1,275,000 after today’s transactions. In other words, the Oilers’ cap ceiling decreased by $1,275,000 today.

If you take the new cap ceiling of $92,716,833 and subtract the team’s total cap hit of $$91,591,833, you get a value of $1,125,000. That means that the Oilers have $1,125,000 in cap space right now.

However, we have to remember that the LTIR pool will decrease by the value of Yamamoto’s cap hit whenever he’s ready to return. If you subtract that $1,125,000 in cap space from Yamamoto’s cap hit of $3.1 million, you get $1,975,000. That’s the amount that the Oilers will have to shed to activate Yamamoto from LTIR.

The same logic applies to Murray and his $750,000 cap hit. If we add that to the $1,975,000 needed to activate Yamamoto from LTIR, then we get a value of $2,725,000 that will need to be removed from the roster when both Yamamoto and Murray are ready to return.

That leads me to the next newsworthy event of the day. We learned that Jesse Puljujarvi will be a healthy scratch against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. Puljujarvi has increased his production from when he made comments to Finnish media about his situation in December, but not by enough to live up to his cap hit. I feel that they’re spreading the healthy scratches around to keep everyone involved, but a healthy scratch will only serve to increase tensions between the Oilers and the Puljujarvi camp.

SAN JOSE, CA – APRIL 05: Edmonton Oilers right wing Jesse Puljujarvi (13) skates during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers on April 5, 2022 at SAP Center in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Matt Cohen/Icon Sportswire)The Oilers could free up the required amount of cap space to activate Murray and Yamamoto from LTIR by trading Puljujarvi or Warren Foegele for picks or prospects. They could also do it by waiving and sending players to Bakersfield. They could also hope for another conveniently timed long term injury to a player with a cap hit north of $2,725,000.

Related: What Lies Ahead After Puljujarvi’s Comments

It’s exciting to have Kane back, but today’s moves have only kicked the can down the road approximately another month. The cap problem hasn’t been resolved yet. For now, I’m just going to kick my feet back and see how things shake out.

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January 17, 2023 by Eric Friesen

When Jack Campbell signed a five-year contract worth $25 million with the Edmonton Oilers on July 13, 2022, he was expected to start around 50 games, with rookie Stuart Skinner making 32 appearances in 2022-23.

Instead, Skinner stole the starter’s job early on this season, and was undoubtedly the Oilers’ better goalie through the first-half. But with Skinner returning home to Edmonton for the birth of his first child last week, there was an opportunity for Campbell to take the net back during a crucial West Coast road trip for the Oilers.

Campbell has posted a 4-1-0 record with a 2.18 goals against average and a .912 save percentage in his last five games, including an important 4-3 victory over the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. After stringing together three consecutive wins, Campbell feels good about the direction his game is trending.

RALEIGH, NC – NOVEMBER 10: Edmonton Oilers Goalie Jack Campbell (36) sprays water on his face during the game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes on November 10, 2022 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Katherine Gawlik/Icon Sportswire)“It sure does [feel good],” Campbell said following a dominating 7-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday. “I’m just trying to keep building on it. It’s definitely more what I expect out of myself, and the team’s playing great in front of me, so we’re just trying to keep it going together.”

The 31-year-old has stopped 107 of 117 shots he has faced since January 3, and has looked more like the goaltender who was named to the 2022 NHL All-Star Game. Campbell has done a better job recently of tracking pucks, limiting rebounds into the slot area and letting the play come to him. Though it’s a small sample size, Campbell’s strong play and improved consistency since the calendar turned to 2023 is a positive sign.

Related: Jack Campbell excited for new opportunity with Oilers

Skinner leads the league in save percentage (.914) and ranks second in wins (12) and fifth in goals against average (2.96) among rookie goalies who have played in at least 10 games this season. The 24-year-old performed well enough through the first two months of his rookie campaign to earn a three-year contract extension worth $7.8 million with Oilers on December 19, 2022.

Notwithstanding Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Skinner was the Oilers’ most important player through the first-half of 2022-23. Despite only having 40 games of NHL experience, Skinner has been extremely reliable between the pipes, and has given the Oilers a chance to win on most nights. While there is an internal competition for playing time, Skinner and Campbell continue to support each other.

VANCOUVER, BC – OCTOBER 09: Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) watches the play during their NHL preseason game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on October 9, 2021 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)“I’m obviously very happy for him,” Skinner said on January 7. “I mean, I think he’s been playing great all season. Sometimes you don’t get the results, but you’re still playing a good game, and that what’s I thought with Soupy. He had a great game a couple nights ago, and I’m super happy for him. He was solid, he was calm and collected out there.”

The strength of schedule won’t be as difficult for the Oilers in the second-half. Still, because of the heavy travel in the Western Conference and four remaining sets of back-to-back games, both goalies will be counted on down the stretch drive to secure a playoff spot.

Skinner has played well above expectations so far, but he will be tested as the games mean more in March and April. The Edmonton product has posted a .933 save percentage or better in 11 of 26 games this season, so he’s giving the team elite goaltending roughly 42 percent of the time. If he can maintain his .912 save percentage on the season, the Oilers should be able to regularly outscore the opposition.

After a slow start to his first season in Edmonton, Campbell has really started to find his game in January. With some more modernized equipment and additional time to get conformable in his new surroundings, I think Campbell is primed to have a save percentage north of .900 the rest of the way.

While Head Coach Jay Woodcroft’s has been impressed with Campbell’s recent steady play, he has confidence in playing either goalie.

“I think since post-Christmas [Campbell’s] game has really come along,” Woodcroft said in his pre-game presser on Tuesday. “He’s worked at it. So, I’ve been happy with that. I said this the other day, in two games post-Christmas where Stuart has started, Jack has come into those games midway through and given us some really good minutes. And I thought that he’s been able to carry that over into his next start. He’s putting something together and he’s going to be a big factor in our second-half of the season. We believe we have two really good goaltenders. We think it’s a good tandem. And for us to get to where we want to get to, he’s going to have to help us get there.”

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December 22, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers concluded their Dad’s trip with a Texas sized win over the Dallas Stars. The Oilers beat the Stars 6-3. They snapped their frustrating three-game losing streak in their final road game before the Christmas break.

Call Outs:

The Stars’ first goal was a three-on-two rush that was played poorly. Warren Foegele floated a pass across the neutral zone that was easily picked off by Joe Pavelski. Pavelski played the puck back to his defenceman, and Kailer Yamamoto pursued from the right side. Leon Draisaitl was caught in no man’s land while trying to play the passing lane on Yamamoto’s departed right side. None of the forwards identified Stars wingers in the neutral zone, and they were able to advance the puck with ease. Cody Ceci bobbled the puck at the Oilers blue line, and Pavelski was able to knock it loose for Jason Robertson. That forced Tyson Barrie to defend a two-on-one with Robertson and Roope Hintz. Hintz one-timed it past Skinner to give the Stars the early lead.

Klim Kostin was covering for Darnell Nurse while Nurse jumped up into the offensive zone on the second Stars goal. Mason Marchment fed Wyatt Johnston streaking down the right wing, Kostin’s side of the ice on that play. Kostin badly misplayed the pass. He tried to pick it off in the neutral zone, but he completely misread it. He didn’t come close to intercepting the pass, and Johnston blew by him easily and scored. Kostin was a fish out of water on that play. He should’ve kept the player in front of him rather than trying to intercept that pass.

Standouts:

Mattias Janmark makes a rare appearance in the Standouts section! Janmark got two goals and an assist in this game. He went to the net and managed to redirect a Kostin pass into the net with his skate. His assist wasn’t pretty, but he’ll take it. He just dumped the puck softly into the zone, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins skated onto it and scored. Janmark added an empty netter late in the game.

The line with Janmark, Kostin, and Nugent-Hopkins was the best Oilers line in this game. Kostin got assists on both of Janmark’s goals. He made the mistake on the goal and took a penalty, but he played a simple, fast, and physical game. Nugent-Hopkins continued his torrid scoring pace. He scored on a quick shot just below the faceoff circle, and he got assists on Zach Hyman’s powerplay goal and Janmark’s empty net goal.

Warren Foegele scored the game winner in the third period. He found a soft spot in the offensive zone and got a pass from Leon Draisaitl. Foegele nailed the one-timer into the top part of the open net. He looked quick and motivated in this one. It’s nice to see him get on the board in just his third game back after his injury.

Tyson Barrie got an assist on Hyman’s powerplay goal, which extended his points streak to eight games. He’s now in eighth place among all NHL defencemen in scoring with 27 points in 34 games. Barrie was solid on the defensive end too. He got stuck in a two-on-one after a series of mistakes by teammates on the first Stars goal, but he defended well overall. Nobody could beat him wide, and he didn’t get lost in coverage by my eye.

Related: Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout Outs: Predtaors Beat Oilers 4-3 in Overtime

The score makes it look like a lopsided win for the Oilers, but that was certainly not the case. Foegele’s game winner was scored at 11:46 of the third period. Connor McDavid scored to give the Oilers a two-goal lead with 3:43 left in the game. Dallas had leads of 1-0 and 2-1. They tied the game at three after the Oilers had gone ahead 3-2.

The Oilers made bad mistakes on two goals, with Kostin’s mistake being the most egregious. They made bad mistakes in their previous three losses as well. The difference was that they avoided making those mistakes late in the game, and they were able to outscore their mistakes this time.

I’d like to point out that Miro Heiskanen, Dallas’ fantastic $8.45 million defenceman, committed a horrendous turnover to Draisaitl that led directly to the game winning goal. He passed it from the corner to Draisaitl’s tape at the Stars blue line. Draisaitl passed it back across the grain to Foegele, and the rest is history.

Darnell Nurse made two sloppy mistakes that led directly to goals against the St. Louis Blues last Thursday night. He’s made many mistakes with the puck in recent games. It’s totally fair to criticize him for those mistakes. However, let’s remember that other teams’ best defencemen make mistakes too. We as outsiders look at those players on other teams after those mistakes and realize that they’re still good players. If you look past the frustration of his recent costly mistakes, Nurse is still a good player, even though he’s overpaid.

The Oilers will take on the Vancouver Canucks at home on Friday night in their last game before the Christmas break.

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December 19, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Nashville Predators had lost three straight games before the Edmonton Oilers beat them last week. The Predators beat the Oilers 4-3 in overtime on Monday night, handing them their third straight loss in the process.

Call Outs:

A bad change in overtime ended up leading to the game winning goal for the Predators. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went for a change, but Cody Glass fed Alex Carrier for a two-on-one with Matt Duchene. Carrier carried the puck to the middle and fired a shot over Jack Campbell’s glove. It was a small detail that carried a large consequence. It was a stain on an otherwise great game from Nugent-Hopkins.

Standouts:

VANCOUVER, BC – Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) looks up ice during an NHL preseason game(Photo by Derek Cain/Icon Sportswire)Nugent-Hopkins scored two of the Oilers goals. Connor McDavid streaked in on the right wing and softly fed Nugent-Hopkins in the slot for his first of the night. On the second goal, McDavid recovered the puck in the corner and hit Nugent-Hopkins with a cross-seam pass. Nugent-Hopkins smoothly changed his shooting angle with a move to the middle, and he beat Jusse Saros for his 17th goal of the season.

Shout Outs:

I could’ve put McDavid in the Standouts section, but he’s always there, so I’m letting Nugent-Hopkins have the spotlight for a night. McDavid made two superb passes to Nugent-Hopkins to set up those goals though.

Campbell had an unfortunate bounce beat him on one goal, and he gambled on a poke check on Duchene and lost on another goal; but he made several fantastic saves that gave the Oilers a point in this game. He bailed Cody Ceci out after an egregious turnover at the faceoff dot. Campbell made a great read and a sliding pad save on Tanner Jeannot with a minute left in the first period. He robbed Mattias Ekholm on a rebound from Ekholm’s partial breakaway with 16:33 left in the second period. Mikael Granlund will have nightmares after Campbell managed to get a glove on his backhand that was labelled for the empty net. Finally, he showed great pad work when he stopped Glass on a rebound with 15:17 left in the game. The Oilers were loose in front of him, but Campbell kept the team in it.

Related: What Lies Ahead After Puljujarvi’s Comments

Jesse Puljujarvi busted his slump by scoring his second goal of the season. He made a nice move to get around Jeannot at the blue line, and he got the puck on net from outside the faceoff dot. It snuck its way through Saros somehow. It might not have been the prettiest goal, but Puljujarvi will take it.

Devin Shore had two great scoring chances in his 8:48 of ice time. The most dangerous of which was when he was able to turn a bouncing puck into a quick shot at Saros from just inside the bottom of the faceoff circle.

I’ll give some credit for this win to the Predators. They finally found a way to slow down Leon Draisaitl, who was held off the scoresheet. McDavid’s damage was done solely on the powerplay. The Predators did solid work in taking space away from the Oilers superstars in the neutral zone.

However, the Oilers continue to lose games because of consequential mistakes. The top line turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and it ended up in the back of the net. They had an unlucky bounce go against them. There was a bad line change in overtime. They got a goal from an unlikely source, two powerplay goals, and a good performance from their goalie. That should be enough to win a game.

The task won’t get easier for the Oilers on Wednesday night when they head to Dallas to face the Stars.

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December 16, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

Connor McDavid lost control in a few ways on Thursday night.

Darnell Nurse committed a turnover to Vladimir Tarasenko late in the game. McDavid was able to recover that turnover, but Jordan Kyrou stripped him of the puck behind the net and found Tarasenko in the slot for the game tying goal with twenty seconds left.

Leon Draisaitl thought he had scored the game winning goal in overtime, but the goal was disallowed because McDavid was ruled to have been off-side on the play. By rule, he did not have control of the puck as he crossed the blue line. The St. Louis Blues went on to win in a shootout. That prompted something of a rant from McDavid after the game, the final way that he lost control:

“… we kind of got burned on a call in the playoffs over a similar type of situation, you don’t know if it’s off-side or on-side; but you know, the league’s got to clarify some of these rules. You know, what’s a kick, what’s off-side, what’s goalie interference. It kind of depends on the night, I guess.”

Alright, “losing control” is a stretch for his post-game rant. He’s rarely critical, but he remained poised and didn’t come across as angry while making his comments. McDavid has a point though. I personally have no idea what will happen during most reviews because of the general lack of consistency that the NHL has shown in making these rulings.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 14: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) wait for a puck drop in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup playoffs round 1, game 7 on May 14, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)McDavid referenced the Cale Makar off-side goal in game one of the Western Conference Finals last year, but his zone entry on Thursday night was different. He pushed the puck back slightly behind him as he crossed the blue line. Both of his skates crossed the blue line before the puck did. It was ruled off-side because the puck was not touching his blade when it crossed the blue line. The call was correct.

However, look at this video from March 15, 2016. Evgeni Kuznetsov made a move similar to the one McDavid made where he pushed the puck slightly behind him and then crossed the blue line. Both of Kuznetsov’s skates crossed the blue line before the puck did, and the puck was not touching his blade when it crossed the blue line. This play was ruled on-side! It’s an old example, but the two plays at the blue line were exactly the same, and the rulings were different. The call on the Kuznetsov play was clearly a mistake. McDavid is right to be upset about the inconsistency on all sorts of rulings.

A referee or someone in the war room in Toronto would likely respond to McDavid’s comments by saying something like “The rule is written in the rulebook, so you can’t say it isn’t clear”. Let’s examine the way the off-side rule is written.

This quote is taken from Rule 83.1 on off-side in the NHL rulebook:

“A player actually controlling the puck who shall cross the line ahead of the puck shall not be considered ‘off-side,’ provided he had possession and control of the puck prior to his skates crossing the leading edge of the blue line.”

“Possession” and “control” are the two words that need to be properly defined. The glossary of terms in the rulebook defines the terms in this way:

“Possession of the Puck: The last player to physically touch the puck with his stick or body shall be considered in possession of the puck.”

“Control of the Puck: The act of propelling the puck with the stick, hand or feet. Control of the puck is not lost when contact with the puck is made by an opponent, the boards or the net, provided the player in control of the puck continues propelling the puck.”

Their definition of possession is fairly clear. The last person on the ice to have touched the puck has possession of the puck.

Related: What Lies Ahead After Puljujarvi’s Comments

The definition of control is much less clear. “The act of propelling the puck with the stick, hand or feet” is somewhat clear, but it does not clearly state that the puck must be touching the stick, hand, or foot for a player to have control of the puck.

There is a note in the definition of possession:

“(NOTE 1) A player can have possession of the puck without control, but he cannot have control of the puck without possession.”

The first part of the sentence makes sense based on their definition of possession. The second part is confusing though. “Control of the puck is not lost when contact with the puck is made by an opponent, the boards, or the net, provided the player continues propelling the puck”. A player can pin the puck against the boards or against the net and have control, which makes sense because the puck would still be touching the blade in either instance.

This statement implies that a player can bank the puck off the boards or the net and still have control of the puck because it says nothing about the puck having to be in contact with the stick, hand or foot to have control. The puck does not touch the stick when it’s sliding on the ice en route to the boards or the net when a player banks it off either thing, so that tells me that the puck doesn’t have to be touching the stick for a player to have control of the puck.

What about when contact is made by an opponent? That doesn’t make any sense because if an opponent touches the puck, then that player has possession of the puck. You can’t have control without possession, so how can a player have control of the puck if an opponent makes contact with it thus gaining possession? The only way it could make any semblance of sense is if a player was to pin the puck against an opponent, which would be stupid play. In that scenario, both players would be touching the puck, so both players would have possession. I would argue that neither player has control in that scenario.

EDMONTON, AB – MAY 22: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) in power play action in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers versus the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup playoffs round 2, game 3 on May 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The NHL could rid itself of a lot of frustration and grief by simply rewriting the definition of control. Makar knew exactly what he was doing when he pushed the puck across the blue line and didn’t touch it until his teammate cleared the zone. McDavid and Kuznetsov did not fumble the puck. They pushed the puck along the ice in an intentional manner. All three players were in control of the puck in my estimation because they did what they wanted to do with it. I would change the definition of “Controlling the Puck” to read like this:

“Control of the Puck: The act of propelling the puck with the stick, hand or feet. The puck does not need to be in contact with the player’s stick, hand, or foot for a player to have control of the puck if the player has imparted force on the puck in an intentional manner, such as while stickhandling. A player loses control of the puck once another player on the ice makes contact with the puck, thus gaining possession of the puck.”

This is a much clearer definition of control that uses some common sense. It’s ridiculous that a player can be deemed to not have control of the puck while stickhandling. Stickhandling is a skill that requires the puck to not always be in contact with the stick, but it’s a skill that requires control of the puck. By my rewritten definition of control, Makar’s goal would have been off-side because he would’ve had control of the puck while his teammate was in an off-side position.

I would also ditch the part of the off-side rule where a player can enter the zone before the puck if the player has possession and control for the sake of clarity. The off-side rule states that “[p]layers of the attacking team must not precede the puck into the attacking zone”. That’s it. Cut and dry. It would be as simple as removing the paragraph that talks about a player entering the zone before the puck. That would mean that the McDavid and Kuznetsov zone entries would have been off-side because they entered the zone before the puck did.

McDavid also talked about how his team should never have put itself in that situation, which is also true. They lost because of poor puck management at the end of the game and because they couldn’t score in the shootout. Looking in the mirror first before blaming others is the best way to approach these situations. McDavid was clearly frustrated that his zone entry was ruled off-side, but his point was that there needs to be consistency from the referees and clarity in the rules, which is a totally valid point.

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December 14, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

Hockey Canada has announced Canada’s roster for the 2023 World Junior Championships on Monday. Canada will look to repeat the golden performance of the group that won the tournament in Edmonton this past August.

That group that won gold in Edmonton was missing many top tier players that were eligible to play due to their desire to prepare for NHL camps. That won’t be the case this time around.

2022 4th overall pick Shane Wright and 2021 9th overall pick Dylan Guenther both played in the shortened event in December 2020 and were eligible to play in August, but both declined to play. They have both been loaned to Team Canada from their respective NHL clubs for this tournament. That rarely happens with talented young players on NHL teams anymore, so Canada is lucky to have both of these players. They also have a defenceman that has played NHL games this season. Brandt Clarke played nine games for the LA Kings before being sent down to the Ontario Reign.

Oh yeah, they’ve also got that Connor Bedard kid.

EDMONTON, AB: Connor Bedard skates in warm-up prior to Canada vs Finland at Rogers Place on August 15, 2021. Photo Credit: Ryan LotsbergBedard is one of eight returning players on this team. Logan Stankoven, Brennan Othmann, Joshua Roy, Nathan Gaucher, and Zach Ostapchuk return to the forward group; and Olen Zellweger and Ethan Del Mastro return on the blue line.

Adam Fantilli has taken the hockey world by storm this season. His 26 points in 16 games with Michigan of the NCAA has vaulted him into the second spot in the 2023 NHL Draft rankings behind Bedard. The 6’2”, 195 lb forward will look to make some more noise in Halifax. Bedard and Fantilli will almost certainly be the top two picks in the 2023 NHL Draft, and having them on the same team in this tournament will make for all sorts of interesting headlines.

Edmonton Oilers fans will be pleased to hear that 2022 32nd overall pick Reid Schaefer made the team. His fast start to the season put him on Hockey Canada’s radar, and he made the team in camp. Also, Fort Saskatchewan product Colton Dach (the younger brother of former Canadian captain Kirby Dach) made the team. Guenther is an Edmonton product, and returnee Ostapchuk is from St. Albert.

All eyes will be on Bedard. His highlights are eye popping, and his stats jump off the page. He’s got 64 points in just 28 games for Regina this season. That includes a ridiculous 27-game point streak!

Related: “A Gold Medal That Was Worth The Wait”

Bedard will be counted on to provide the offence along with Fantilli and Wright. Canada will have plenty of firepower though. Guenther has 11 points in 21 NHL games this season. Roy is 4th in QMJHL scoring right now. Stankoven is 5th in WHL scoring. Othmann is 15th in the OHL, and Zachary Dean is 18th in the QMJHL.

Zelweger (8th) and Kevin Korchinski (10th) are both in the top ten in scoring by defencemen in the WHL. They will be leaned on to bring the offence from the blue line. Clarke will figure into the equation as one of the top defencemen on this team as well. It’s a big defence unit. Zelweger is the only guy under 6’2” in the whole group. Del Mastro leads the group at 6’4” tall. It’s a rangy yet mobile group that will cause fits for other teams in the tournament.

Thomas Milic of the Seattle Thunderbirds appears to have the leg up for the starting goalie spot. He was stellar in the WHL Final against the Edmonton Oil Kings last year, and he has continued that level of play with a .919 save percentage and 2.35 goals against average this season. Benjamin Gaudreau has a .868 save percentage and a 3.62 goals against average with the Sarnia Sting.

Hockey Canada has to make difficult cuts every year, and they are notorious for cutting tremendously skilled players every year. This year was no exception. 2022 7th overall pick Matthew Savoie didn’t even receive an invite to the selection camp. QMJHL scoring leader Jordan Dumais was cut, likely due to his smaller stature. Riley Kidney and Carson Lambos were both cut after being on the team in August.

Make no mistake about it, this Canadian team is stacked! This is a roster that should absolutely be expected to win the tournament. That isn’t to slight other teams. Canada just has a ton of elite talent on their team, plain and simple.

Canada will open their tournament against Czechia on Boxing Day. It can’t come quick enough!

Happy holidays everyone, and enjoy the tournament.

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December 12, 2022

Coming off a 5-2 Edmonton Oilers win at home against the Minnesota Wild the challenge for the Oilers on Monday night was to run it back.

Call Outs:

The Oilers penalty kill still gets caught puck watching and on the first Wild goal both Darnell Nurse and Mattias Janmark were victims of it. Allowing a Matt Boldy redirect off of a Kirill Kaprizov shot pass. The Wild’s second goal Broberg tries to hold the zone but fails to do so which sends Matt Boldy and Frederick Gaudreau on a 2 on 2 for the Wild. Leon Draisaitl is in the neighborhood but doesn’t get back in to the play completely. Bouchard concedes the blue line but was in good position to challenge Matt Boldy just before he enters the offensive zone with Connor McDavid covering Gaudreau. When Boldy crosses the blue line, Boldy and Gaudreau criss cross which gains Boldy some separation from Evan Bouchard. This separation causes McDavid to start paying attention to Boldy giving Gaudreau just enough room to recieve a back door pass for the game winning goal.

Stand Outs:

Stuart Skinner stood out to me as the Oiler who wanted to win the most in the second meeting against the Wild in four days. Stuart turned aside 28 shots out of the 30 he faced. Skinner did his job and gave the Oilers a chance to win this game if they had been able to find their offense.

Zach Hyman had a strong first period and scored a powerplay goal from Ryan Smyth’s office banging in a rebound off of a Tyson Barrie point shot that Marc Andre Fleury couldn’t corral. This play was reviewed for goalie interference. The call on the ice was a good goal which relieved Hyman after a couple of other reviews didn’t go his or the Oilers way in previous games.

A tongue-in-cheek shout out to Sportsnet broadcaster Jack Michaels who announced that Jay Woodcroft said the Oilers penalty kill was starting to come around. It was only seconds later that the Wild scored a powerplay goal. It feels like every time a broadcaster brings up stats like player’s goalless droughts against the Oilers, or goalies who haven’t beaten the Oilers in two seasons, that Murphy’s law takes effect against the Oilers.

The Oilers will look to rebound against the Nashville Predators tonight and conclude the mini two game road trip in music city. Look for Jack Campbell to start in goal for Edmonton.

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December 13, 2022 by Mike Dirsa

Through 29 Games of the Edmonton Oilers’ 2022-23 Season, the have a 16-13-0 record and are positioned in third place in the Pacific Division. It’s not where the team expected to be at this point of the season, but there has still been plenty of positives.

The GoodRyan Nugent Hopkins is producing at just over a point-per-game clip with 14 goals and 33 points in 29 games this year. Nugent-Hopkins is on pace for the best season of his 12-year NHL career. The 29-year-old had a career-best 69 points in 2019-20.

EDMONTON, AB – FEBRUARY 20: Edmonton Oilers Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) takes a wrist shot in the third period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Minnesota Wild on February 20, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Zach Hyman, who is in his second season with the Oilers, is also scoring at just over a point per game pace, tallying nine goals and 29 points in 28 games. Hyman plays hard every night and he has proven to be the best winger to play with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid when “The Dynamic Duo” is put together.

McDavid is off to a torrid start this year as well. He has a league-leading 55 points in 29 games, with 25 goals and 30 assists (he leads the NHL in both categories as well). The Oilers captain has been used on the penalty kill this season and scored a shorthanded breakaway goal in a 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

Related: Can Connor McDavid win the Rocket Richard Trophy this season?

While he’s among the best passers in the league, McDavid has evolved his game to be more of a scoring threat himself, which is bad news for opposing goalies. The four-time scoring champion is looking to have a career year and carry this team back to the playoffs.

Leon Draisaitl is also having a career-year with 19 goals and 46 points. Draisaitl is just eight points behind McDavid, good for second in the league in scoring. The 27-year-old has continued to be a lethal force on the power-play with his patented impossible angle, one timers from anywhere on the left side. Draisaitl has many nicknames but maybe Lethal Leon should be another one.

Tyson Barrie is often the whipping boy on the Oilers defence, but through 29 games, he’s performed well for the most part. Barrie has four goals, including a pair against the Florida Panthers that helped seal a win on the road. The 30-year-old has also added 11 assists to those four goals for 15 points.

Many fans believe that with Evan Bouchard on the right side, Barrie is expendable but Barrie so far has been the better of the two both offensively and defensively. It’s true that Barrie has been given more powerplay time on the top unit but I think at this stage Barrie has more poise at the point. Bouchard had a tough stretch of games where he had a real problem getting shots through to the net. I think it’s an indictment of the Oilers when the only defencemen I want to put into the good category is Tyson Barrie but I will get to the bad and the ugly soon.

The Oilers power-play continues to be a force, as they lead the league at 30.7% with the man-advantage. The Oilers have a real shot of breaking the NHL record for most efficient power-play in NHL history, set by Montreal Canadiens in 1977-78 (31.9%).

Stuart Skinner has been a revelation this season. It didn’t make sense to me why Skinner never played again last season after a shutout win. I don’t begin to understand the inner workings of agents and management and everything behind the scenes but I think it was obvious that Skinner could play at the NHL level last year.

Skinner has posted a 9-7-0 record with a 2.76 goals against average and a .919 save percentage in 16 appearances. Skinner has taken the net from Jack Campbell, who has been part of the ugly, which I will get to later. The 24-year-old stopped 47 of 50 shots in his last appearance against the Washington Capitals. A game in which he was on a mission to single handedly get a win but the team in front of him let him down which leads me to the bad.

The BadDiscipline or lack thereof has been a problem for the Edmonton Oilers this year. On many nights this team has taken the first penalty and it has led to powerplay goals for the opposition.

Poor starts are still a major issue with this group on most nights. We are through several different coaching regimes so I have a hard time accepting that this problem is coaching alone. This team seems to sleep walk their way through the first 10 minutes of hockey games before they start to play. Many times they are severely outshot after the first period ends. I’m not sure why they continue to play this way but it’s been a problem for a long time now.

Depth scoring is not where it needs to be. 15 forwards on this team have a combined 15 goals through 28 games. With Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto combining for two goals. Yamamoto has had some injury ailments on the year but it’s still not good enough from the Puljujarvi, Yamamoto duo and the rest of the bottom six players. This team is too heavily reliant on the likes of Hyman, Nugent Hopkins, Draisaitl and McDavid to do all of the heavy lifting.

The UglyCampbell was signed in the offseason to a five year 25 million dollar contact by the Oilers and since coming in has been disappointing. Campbell has a winning record at 7 wins and 6 loses but has a 4.12 goals against average and .872 save percentage. He is well off his career save percentage and doesn’t look comfortable in the net. Campbell is 6’3″ but looks small in between the pipes and I think that’s from having a lack of confidence. He isn’t playing aggressive, at the top of his crease. As a result of his play Stuart Skinner has taken over as the Oilers starting goaltender. If there is a positive in Campbell’s play the only thing I can think of is it can only get better (I hope). Campbell was brought in to help stabilize the net and hasn’t done that so far.

Injuries are a part of professional sports that every team has to deal with but this season the injury bug has hit the Edmonton Oilers fairly hard and it all started with a ugly incident involving Evander Kane. On November 8th Evander Kane had his wrist severely lacerated, accidently by the skate of Patrick Maroon in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kane has had wrist surgery to repair the damage to his wrist and is expected to be out of the lineup until mid February at the earliest. Kane being out takes away from the Oilers offensive firepower and the team misses the physical edge he brings. Other injuries have started to take a toll as well with Kailer Yamamoto, Warren Foegele, Zach Hyman, Phillip Broberg, Tyler Benson and Ryan McLeod all missing time.

The disastrous Oilers penalty kill has been a major issue for this team. The Oilers are near the bottom of the league on the penalty kill with only the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken, Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues beneath them. My opinion is that the forwards up high are having difficulty knowing where they are supposed to be in their coverage. It appears each forward doesn’t fully know their assignment. The other problem I see is when they do recover the puck they fail to send the puck all the way down the ice. Our defencemen also get caught puck watching and miss assignments, fail to tie up sticks and give up easy goals because of it. The penalty kill is going to have to get better for this team to be a playoff team.

Defensive zone coverage is this teams Achilles heel. They say defence wins championships so if the Oilers want to become champions their team defence needs to improve. When Jay Woodcroft took over last year there was a commitment to playing team defence. It helped them become a playoff team. Duncan Keith retired and Kris Russell wasn’t re-signed so there have been a few changes to the defensive core.

I am of the opinion the problem with the Oilers defence goes beyond the personal on the ice but I will say that many times this season I have seen defencemen get caught giving up the middle of the ice. Bad reads have led to odd man chances or breakaways from turning the wrong way and bad pinches. I don’t want to single out any defenceman with that assessment because they are all guilty of it.

In our own end our defencemen can appear lost at times as well. I don’t like to see both defencemen chasing behind the net but it happens with this group far too often. There is also a tendency to get caught puck watching and leave opposition forwards open in prime real-estate. Far too frequently when we do recover the puck, forwards flee the zone leaving long outlet passes that lead to icings. It was noticeable when Woodcroft took over last year that team defence started in the offensive zone. This season the same cannot be said.

We can blame the defencemen on this team for their share of what’s wrong but the forwards also need to own their share. Also, with the absence of Mike Smith there has been a learning curve for this team. I’m not sure it can be quantified the adjustment for everyone missing Smith’s puck handling but this team needs to learn to play without him. In regards to our defencemen, if you ask the question like @AdamsOnHockey did on twitter of who has been the Oilers best defenceman so far I find that a real tough question to answer.

I said Tyson Barrie and that is not good news if you are a fan of the team. I think too many of our defencemen have had poor years so far. If that question was posed a couple of weeks ago I probably would have said Cody Ceci but Ceci has had his struggles as of late.

Brett Kulak for me hasn’t been as effective as he was last season also. Earlier in the year he was having skate issues. Falling down a few times which caused opposition breakaways or quality chances.

Evan Bouchard has had a sophomore slump but started to come on recently until the third period of the Washington Capitals game where he was benched in the third period after a bad read which helped the Capitals win the game.

Darnell Nurse has had his own struggles with coverage and reads. This team needs more from him than what he has given so far. This team needs him to be a true number one and for most of the season they haven’t gotten that from him. He is logging heavy minutes and at times it’s more than he can handle.

Unfortunately I don’t expect reinforcements to be coming to save the day either. This team is up against the salary cap and I believe it will be left up to the players to tread water until the trade deadline before any major trade will happen. This team has shown the ability to beat the upper echelon teams but also drop games against the lower echelon.

The Oilers have played just over one-third of the season, but more will be expected this winter to lock down a playoff spot, and hopefully, home-ice advantage in the playoffs again.

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December 12, 2022 by Eric Friesen

When Edmonton Oilers General Manager Ken Holland traded Dmitri Samorukov to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Klim Kostin on October 9, it was generally viewed as a prospect-for-prospect swap that could pay off down the road.

Samorukov was unlikely to ever become a full-time defender for the Oilers with Darnell Nurse, Brett Kulak and Philip Broberg ahead of him on the left side. The Oilers were also looking for some added forward depth, and were willing to take a shot on Kostin, who put up five goals and 11 points in 46 NHL games with the Blues over three season.

Kostin was assigned to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors following the trade, but he was recalled on November 8 when Evander Kane suffered a lacerated left wrist. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound forward has provided some much-needed grit and toughness to an Oilers team that is severely lacking in the physicality department. He’s also started to show the scoring touch that made him a first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft.

Kostin has four points in his last five games, including his first Gordie Howe hat trick in a decisive 8-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday. The 23-year-old scored his first goal as an Oiler in the final seconds of a 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on December 9, but scoring in front of Oilers fans at Rogers Place was a moment he will cherish.

“I was waiting for this moment for a long time, so it’s an insane feeling,” said Kostin following the Oilers win on Wednesday. “I can’t even explain with my words to score in front of our fans. It’s just an amazing feeling.”

Related: Oilers Acquire Kostin for Samorukov

Injuries to Kane, Kailer Yamamoto, Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele not only opened up an opportunity for Kostin to get a shot with the Oilers, but also play more minutes than he likely would have if the team had been healthier up front. Head Coach Jay Woodcroft believes keeping things simple has allowed him to become an important player for the Oilers as of late.

“I think [Kostin] is a big body, he’s a good forechecker,” said Woodcroft in his post-game presser on Wednesday. “When he plays to a certain formula, I think he’s very effective. I think simplicity is his formula for success. Being physical, being straight ahead, straight line. He’s been a good addition to our team, I think. So, credit to him since he’s come in.”

Kostin couldn’t have landed in a better spot. After struggling to get a foothold in the NHL through his first three years in the league with the Blues organization, Kostin appears to have found an NHL home in Edmonton.

“I feel at home [in Edmonton]” Kostin told the media after practice on Friday. “I really like the group of guys here. Trainers, coaching staff and everyone in the locker room. Even media, I like you guys, too.”

Kostin has two goals in 12 games with the Oilers, which is a 14-goal pace over a full 82-game season. Yes, it’s a small sample size. But I don’t think it’s a stretch to expect him to reach double digits in goals, even in a bottom role.

The Penza, Russia native owns a hard shot and can score from distance. He skates well, has decent puck skills and brings a consistent effort every night.

Related: Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout Outs: Oilers FINALLY Beat Wild 5-2

While he’s shown that he isn’t afraid to drop the gloves when challenged, I don’t think Kostin will be fighting on a regular basis. But he has no problem jumping into the fray to stick up for a teammate.

It’s wasn’t too long ago where it appeared the Oilers would need to trade for a third line forward, who could provide some support and grit. Kostin has helped the team in both of those areas, while playing on a bargain one-year, $750,000 contract.

It’s been a while since the Oilers have won a trade for a big, strong forward with a scoring tough. Kostin is likely the first since Patrick Maroon in 2016. There will be lineup decisions to make when the team gets healthy, but one thing is clear, Kostin is a permanent roster player going forward.

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December 11, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

Jesse Puljujarvi’s comments this week have capped off a rough calendar year for the big Finn. He started the 2021-22 season off on a tear, scoring 23 points in his first 28 games of the season. That portion of the season concluded with a three point night against the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 16, 2021.

He would score two more points in the remainder of Dave Tippett’s tenure, both of which came in the same game against the Ottawa Senators on January 15, 2022. That was two points in a two month span, although he only played 14 games in that span due to his getting COVID and there being a COVID related break for the team.

Puljujarvi opened the Jay Woodcroft era by scoring a goal against the New York Islanders in Woodcroft’s first game as head coach. He got three points in Woodcroft’s first four games with the Oilers before he got hurt and missed a month of action. Upon returning, he added six more points in his next ten games, which brought his total to nine points in Woodcroft’s first 14 games behind the Oilers bench.

SAN JOSE, CA – APRIL 05: Edmonton Oilers right wing Jesse Puljujarvi (13) skates during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers on April 5, 2022 at SAP Center in San Jose, CA. (Photo by Matt Cohen/Icon Sportswire)However, only one of those six points was a goal, and that came in his tenth game back. He only got one more goal in the final nine games of the season, which meant that he only scored two goals in the last 19 games of the regular season.

Woodcroft cut his ice time significantly in the playoffs. Puljujarvi received under ten minutes of ice time in seven of the sixteen playoff games, and he only surpassed thirteen minutes in two games. He got points in games two and three of the first round series against the LA Kings, but then didn’t get another point until game five of the Battle of Alberta. Then he didn’t get a point in the Western Conference Finals against the Colorado Avalanche.

Puljujarvi had shoulder surgery to fix an injury sustained at some point in the playoffs. It supposedly happened against Colorado, but I can’t be certain it didn’t happen earlier because I haven’t seen video of the injury. Regardless, it was his second major injury of the season.

It was a disappointing end to a season that had a promising start. It was also a contract year for the big Finn. Reports that he wanted to be traded surfaced once the season had concluded, and there was a long contract negotiation this past summer. Puljujarvi eventually signed a one-year, $3 million contract.

Related:Tyler Benson’s Impending Return

This season hasn’t been any better for Puljujarvi. He has one goal in 28 games. If you go back to last regular season, he only has five goals in his last 63 games including the playoffs. Puljujarvi’s comments about his play this season made to Finnish reporter Tommi Seppala were concerning. He called his production “sad” and voiced doubt about his place in the Edmonton Oilers lineup and about his ability to be a top line scorer in the NHL. Whether he’s right or not, the comments show that he’s not in a positive headspace.

All of this has re-ignited the conversation about whether the team should trade Puljujarvi or not. If Ken Holland didn’t like Puljujarvi’s trade value in the summer, I can’t imagine him liking it right now. There’s no rush to trade him since he has low value and the Oilers won’t be in cap trouble until Evander Kane returns. The Oilers have multiple injuries to forwards, and the right side is weak even when the team is at full health.

It looks like Holland gave himself a contingency plan for Puljujarvi’s potential struggles by trading for Klim Kostin before the season started. The Russian winger is a former first round pick that had trouble finding a spot on the St. Louis Blues roster. He seems to be carving out a spot for himself here in Edmonton with his play of late. Kostin has four points in twelve games since being recalled, all of which have come in the six games since his line with Derek Ryan and Devin Shore was united. He’s physical, he’s unafraid to use his big shot, and he showed off his dangles on Friday night.

EDMONTON, AB December 7, 2022: Edmonton Oilers forward Klim Kostin celebrates a goal scored at Rogers Place against the Arizona Coyotes.I don’t think Holland was fully expecting Kostin to earn a lineup spot, but I also think he knew it was a possibility. He’s about adding depth to ensure that his players have to compete for roster spots and ice time. Kostin has thrown his hat into the ring emphatically

Kostin is playing well. Derek Ryan is on a hot streak. Dylan Holloway is starting to gain confidence. Kailer Yamamoto has three points in the three games he’s played since returning from injury. Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod will be back at some point soon. Stacking Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on a line means that Draisaitl plays Puljujarvi’s position. Zach Hyman can play on the right side as well. Meanwhile, Puljujarvi is contemplating his abilities as a NHLer in the media.

Things are likely going to get worse for Puljujarvi before they get better. There are too many other forwards that are bringing more than what Puljujarvi is bringing. He leads the team in hits and he continues to do a lot of little things well; but eventually, he needs to do the big thing well, which is scoring goals. If he doesn’t snap his slump soon, then he could find himself on the outside looking in awfully quick.

Things will get ugly if he gets healthy scratched. The trade rumours will really start to go nuts then. Puljujarvi nor his agent would be happy with him being healthy scratched. Holland will likely still choose to be patient in trying to get fair value for Puljujarvi in a trade no matter what happens. This could easily turn into a situation where the player ends up with an extended stay in the press box.

Don’t get me wrong here. I love Puljujarvi. I’ve defended him often and have been expecting an offensive breakout from him. There’s still a chance of that happening. It would make my heart happy to see him succeed in Edmonton. However, he’s 24 years old and in a dire scoring slump. He’s already at or near the age where most players peak. If this is peak Puljujarvi, then there’s a problem. Things are looking grim for Puljujarvi in Edmonton. I’m cheering for the kid, I really am. My optimism surrounding him and his situation has dimmed though.

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December 9, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

Streaks were the story at Rogers Place on Friday night. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota Wild to snap a nine game losing streak at the hands of the Wild. Connor McDavid scored a goal in his seventh straight game in the victory.

The Oilers got out to a quick start by scoring two goals in the first period. The Wild had a goal called back on goaltender interference, then scored a goal that counted moments later to cut the lead in half at the end of the period. They tied the game seconds after a five-on-three advantage early in the second period. Kailer Yamamoto gave the Oilers the lead late in the period, and Leon Draisaitl provided the insurance marker in the third.

Call Outs:

Joel Eriksson Ek played Darnell Nurse like a fiddle on his goal. Nurse got the puck in the left corner. Eriksson Ek got into Nurse’s blind spot and gave him a tap on his right hip. Nurse quickly reversed the puck to his left after feeling the tap on his right hip. However, Eriksson Ek was planning to go to Nurse’s left all along. He read the pass, picked it off, walked out front, and made a nice move on Stuart Skinner to score the goal. That was a brain fart by Nurse. He was a bit too casual on that giveaway.

Stand Outs:

Stuart Skinner was poised. Skinner made 42 saves on the night. He was beaten on a great deke by Eriksson Ek as described above, and on a perfect shot by Mats Zuccarello seconds after a five-on-three. It took perfection to beat him tonight. His best work came early when he laid down in the crease and stretched his arm across the goal line. The puck did slide across the line, but the goal was called back on goaltender interference. He did well to hold his ground in that scenario. Skinner made everything else look pretty easy tonight, and the Oilers needed that against a team that has had their number in recent years.

EDMONTON, AB – NOVEMBER 1: Edmonton Oilers Center Leon Draisaitl (29) and Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrate a goal in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Seattle Kraken on November 1, 2021 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)An empty netter capped a three point night for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. His first assist came on McDavid’s powerplay goal where he reached around a Wild defender’s stick then threaded a pass across the seam to a wide open McDavid. The Wild’s aggressive penalty killing cost them on Leon Draisaitl’s powerplay goal. Nugent-Hopkins got the puck on the left half wall, then got it to McDavid in the corner. Nugent-Hopkins beat his man to the middle of the ice and accepted a return pass from McDavid. Then came a quick pass to Draisaitl, who had all day to walk into a one-timer with an open net. Nugent-Hopkins’s stellar play has been needed by the Oilers, and it’s great to see the points coming in bunches for the 2011 1st overall pick.

Shout Outs:

I’ll get the obvious and obligatory acknowledgement of McDavid and Draisaitl’s play out of the way early. McDavid had a goal and an assist, and Draisaitl had a goal and two assists. Multi-point nights have become the norm for these two superstars.

Derek Ryan scored AGAIN! He has now scored in back-to-back games for the second time this season. This time the goal came off some dirty work in front of the net. He was pushed after scoring the goal, and he gave it right back, which was good to see.

Related: Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout Outs: Oilers Rout Coyotes 8-2 in Kassian’s Return to Edmonton

Klim Kostin came to Ryan’s defence and shielded him from attacking Wild players during that goal celebration. Kostin got an assist on the goal and after the goal! This was Kostin’s best game as an Oiler in my opinion. The assist was the result of him intercepting a pass and firing a shot on net. He showed off his hands by deking around Wild defenders on multiple occasions. He looks confident right now, which is a rare thing to say about an Oilers bottom six forward. He’s quickly earning a permanent spot in the lineup.

Kailer Yamamoto finally got his first goal of the season. He went to the net and got rewarded with a tip-in goal. He’s got three points since returning to the lineup. It appears that the recovery time did wonders for him.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 22 Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Brett Kulak (27) and Edmonton Oilers Defenceman Evan Bouchard (2) kill off a penalty in the second period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the St Louis Blues on October 22, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)Evan Bouchard didn’t appear on the scoresheet, but I loved his game tonight. I noticed his physicality on display on multiple shifts in the game. He tied up a Wild attacker’s stick in the slot and kicked the puck out of harm’s way in the first period. Bouchard did solid work to obstruct a WIld forward from going to the net from the corner in the third period. The two players were chest to chest fighting for space by the net while the puck was at the point. I noticed that he made a similar play shortly before being benched in the Washington game as well. He had a shift where kept an attacker to the outside along the right wall and pinned him against the boards, then made another hit moments later. This was the most physical that I have ever seen Bouchard in a single game. It’s a sign that his game is evolving. He already has top pairing offensive ability. If he can pair that with consistent physical play in his own end, we might just have a legitimate top pairing defenceman on our hands.

I noticed Philip Broberg using his body position and strength to break up a cycle on the same shift where Bouchard kept the Wild forward to the outside as well. I keep seeing and hearing comments about how soft Broberg is and how he’s prone to getting hit all the time. That’s not what I see. I see a young player that has figured out how to play low event hockey in his own zone. We’ve seen glimpses of what he can do in the offensive zone. That’s a top four defenceman in the making.

The Oilers will need to bottle whatever they used to win this game and bring it with them to St. Paul for Monday’s rematch against the Wild.

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December 7, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

Zack Kassian was certainly hoping for a better outcome in his return to Rogers Place. The former Oiler received a nice video tribute, but he also received a cut to the nose after a fight with Klim Kostin late third period, as the Edmonton Oilers cruised to an 8-2 win on Wednesday.

The Arizona Coyotes will surely be excited to head back to desert after playing the last of their record setting 14-game road trip. The Oilers were the benefactors of an exhausted Coyotes team that is below average on their best day.

Call Outs:

It wasn’t a perfect game, but I’ll choose to give the boys a break after a blowout victory where they only allowed 18 shots on goal.

Standouts:

The first-half of the game belonged to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The four-time 20-goal scorer opened the scoring on a powerplay goal where he looked off Leon Draisaitl and chose to just score the goal himself. Nugent-Hopkins was in the right place at the right time for his second goal. Kailer Yamamoto created a turnover at the Coyotes blue line, and Nugent-Hopkins buried it on the partial breakaway. He added an assist as well.

Connor McDavid stole the show late in the game. He scored a sneaky wrap-around goal in the third period to put the Oilers up 7-1, and then blasted a one-timer that snuck through Connor Ingram and dribbled across the line to give McDavid his league-leading 24th goal of the season and second of the night. The Oilers captain added two assists for his second four point night in his last three outings.

Shout Outs:

Draisaitl made a couple of great plays in this game. He scored a powerplay goal, and he made a sublime backhand pass to McDavid to set up McDavid’s wrap-around goal. A fantastic effort that will be lost in the shadows of his peers on a big night for the team.

Klim Kostin completed the Gordie Howe hat trick when he dropped the gloves with Zack Kassian, who made his return to Rogers Place after being traded this summer. Kostin deftly played a puck through a defender to Derek Ryan, who finished the partial breakaway with a beautiful deke.

EDMONTON, AB – OCTOBER 18: Edmonton Oilers Center Connor McDavid (97) and Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Leon Draisaitl (29) in action while sporting the new 2019 Oilers third jersey in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Detroit Red Wings on October 18, 2019 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB.(Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire)The former first-round pick ripped a turn-around wrist shot past Ingram for his second goal of the season. Kostin has a cannon of a wrist shot! I feel that he would score a bushel of goals if he could make his release a little bit quicker. Kostin has been a physical presence that goes to the dirty areas and isn’t afraid to shoot. He’s on his way to earning a permanent spot in the bottom six.

Ryan made a welcome appearance on the scoresheet with a slick deke goal and an assist on Kostin’s goal.

Yamamoto did great work to get his two assists. He created the turnover that led to the 4-1 goal, and he collected a loose puck in the corner before playing it to the slot for Brett Kulak to bury. He was in the fight tonight, which was a sight for sore eyes.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Oilers Send Habs Fans Home Sad After 5-3 Win

Tyson Barrie got two assists and was involved in all sorts of chances, especially early in the game. He continued his strong play this season.

Dylan Holloway got an assist on Kulak’s goal. He deserved at least a point tonight. The play was flowing through him on his line with Jesse Puljujarvi and James Hamblin. He drove wide and took the puck hard to the net on two different occasions. This was the most confidence he’s shown since the preseason, which was great to see.

CF: 76.19% (16-5)

SF: 63.64% (7-4)

xGF: 69%

SCF: 84.62% (11-2)

This was a good response game from Bouchard after being benched last game. Young players get benched. Veterans get benched sometimes too. It happens! It was a small bump in the road on Bouchard’s development path.

The Oilers can’t celebrate this big win for long because they get the Minnesota Wild, their arch nemesis, on Friday and Monday nights.

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October 24, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The tenth iteration of the Sidney Crosby vs Connor McDavid matchup was every bit as entertaining as everyone expected it […]

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October 24, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg Sidney Crosby was touted as “the next one” when he entered the NHL after the 2005 lockout. Expectations were high […]

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In a dreaded afternoon tilt, the Edmonton Oilers didn’t get much going against St. Louis October 22, 2022 by Kirk Morris Afternoon matinee hockey games and […]

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October 21, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg It appears that whatever ailed the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday that prevented them from converting on many of their scoring […]

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October 18, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The slow start continues for the Edmonton Oilers. I was worried about this game coming into it because of how […]

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October 18, 2022 by Eric Friesen Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid was named NHL Second Star of the Week for October 10-16 with four goals and […]

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October 16, 2022 by World Hockey Report

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October 16, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers fell behind by three goals early for the second time in a row to open their season. […]

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October 15, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg This summer was full of Alberta hockey chatter. The Edmonton Oilers doused the Calgary Flames in the playoffs. The Flames […]

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October 14, 2022 by Mike Dashney If I’m going to be the only guy on this Edmonton Oilers centric hockey network that thinks the Calgary Flames […]

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October 6, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg General Manager Ken Holland said that Philip Broberg would have to play his way off the team in training camp […]

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October 6, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers have announced that they have hired Steve Staios as a special advisor to the hockey operations staff […]

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Special teams is the big winner in this pre-season affair October 5, 2022 by Kirk Morris Goals, goals and more goals! This was an entertaining match-up […]

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October 4, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg Dylan Holloway had a heck of a night last night. He scored a hat trick while playing on a line […]

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October 4, 2022 by Eric Friesen If anyone still questioned whether or not Dylan Holloway was ready to play in the NHL, he just answered them. […]

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October 3, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Oilers put the boots to a watered down version of the Canucks at Rogers Place tonight. The Oilers won […]

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October 3, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Oilers made nine cuts heading into the final week of the preseason. Xavier Bourgualt, Noah Philp, Michael Kesselring, Phil […]

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October 3, 2022 by Spencer Pomoty The Edmonton Oilers have signed their 2021 seventh-round pick Maximus Wanner to an entry-level deal. The Moose Jaw defenseman looked […]

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September 29, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg Darren Dreger of TSN reported that the Edmonton Oilers are one of the teams interested in Arizona Coyotes defenceman Jacob […]

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September 28, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Oilers iced a weak roster against a team playing many of their regulars for the second game in a […]

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Oilers handily defeat the Jets at home for the first game of the pre-season September 25, 2022 by Kirk Morris The kids are alright. In a […]

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September 24, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers held a Fan Day at Rogers Place on Saturday. The plaza had lots of kid friendly activities […]

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September 22, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg It took until the morning of the first on-ice session of training camp, but the Edmonton Oilers signed Ryan McLeod […]

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September 19, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers rookies capped off their undefeated weekend in Penticton by beating the Vancouver Canucks rookies 5-2. Maximus Wanner […]

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September 18, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers Rookies extinguished the Calgary Flames Rookies by beating them 4-1 on Saturday. After beating the Winnipeg Jets […]

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September 16, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers Rookies scraped out a tight 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets Rookies on Friday. James Hamblin scored […]

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September 16, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg The Edmonton Oilers prospects are in Penticton, British Columbia awaiting to play games against the Winnipeg Jets (Today at 5 […]

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Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) from The Cult of Hockey (@TheCultofHockey) joined host Eric Friesen (@EricJFriesen) to discuss the 35th anniversary of the Edmonton Oilers’ 1987 Stanley Cup championship […]

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Michael (Oilerslive) is joined by the Heavy Hockey crew to kick off his 7th NHL Season of podcasting. Joining to talk Edmonton Oilers hockey as we […]

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September 10, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg Prior to the 2012 NHL Draft, few would have guessed that both Nail Yakupov and Ryan Murray would eventually play […]

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Oilers CEO of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson has released a statement regarding President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Ken Holland. https://t.co/xcuFvngOCe

Oilers Connor McDavid joins Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Doug Gilmour as the only players in NHL history to record 120 assists in a single season (including playoffs)! #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/BNedTemVBk