Welcome to part 2 of my series on which UFA targets that the Oilers should pursue this October. Last week I focused on the goalies, and this week I’ll move my focus up front. Another obvious need for the Oilers is a scoring winger to play with Connor McDavid. James Neal wasn’t cutting it, Andreas…Continue Reading “UFA Targets: Scoring Wingers”
It was announced today that the NHL Draft will be held on October 6 and 7, and that the Free Agency Period will open up on October 9. What good timing for my series on potential Oilers UFA targets. In a normal world, the UFA route might not be the best way to go about…Continue Reading “UFA Targets: Goalies”
I’d be remiss if I didn’t take some time to comment on the topic du jour in Edmonton: the potential deployment of Jesse Puljujarvi should he return to the Oilers. This debate started after David Staples released an article that suggested that Puljujarvi and Nygard should be used on McDavid’s wings based on their fancy…Continue Reading “Winning Supersedes Political Bullshit”
We’re going to have some fun today. TSN’s Trade Bait Board came out today, and trade speculation is ramping up across the league as we inch closer to the Conference Finals. This is a follow-up to last week’s article where I talked about who the Oilers could realistically afford to trade this off-season. I have…Continue Reading “12 Potential Oilers Trades”
We have all heard by now that the NHL will have a flat cap for the next few seasons. That is going to be tough for cap strapped teams like the Oilers because player’s salaries will continue to rise while the cap stays flat. The way to combat that is to make room on the…Continue Reading “The Tradeables”
The Oilers haven’t made players available to the media ever since they lost on Friday, but Ken Holland had a 51-minute interview with Edmonton media on Tuesday to make up for it. The basic take home message was that the Oilers improved their league ranking in all major statistical areas this season. Holland talked about…Continue Reading “Holland Exit Interview Thoughts”
My prediction for the series was wrong, but my initial instinct about this series ended up being correct. The Chicago Blackhawks upset our Oilers in four games. There is a lot to be angry and disappointed with about this result as Oilers fans. The Oilers had one more point than Dallas before the pause. Dallas…Continue Reading “Play-In Series Wrap”
Toews vs McDavid or Draisaitl: Toews is Chicago’s best defensive forward by a landslide, and the Oilers have two superstars that will need attention. Toews is one man, and he can only be assigned to one of them. I don’t know which of the two Toews will be tasked with shutting down, but I do…Continue Reading “Key Matchups and Series Predictions: Oilers vs Blackhawks”
I took a close look at the Blackhawks in my last article, and now it’s time for a closer look at our Edmonton Oilers heading into the play-in series: Nuge – McDavid – Kassian Athanasiou – Draisaitl – Yamamoto Ennis – Sheahan – Archibald Neal – Khaira – Chiasson Nygard – Haas – P. Russell…Continue Reading “Edmonton’s Keys to Victory”
The NHL is returning to play after a four and a half month pause. The assumption would be that all of the teams would be healthy at this time, but that is not the case for the Blackhawks. Corey Crawford, Calvin de Haan, and Connor Murphy are all not currently skating with the team. That…Continue Reading “Chicago’s Keys to Victory”