The Oilers were something like 7-1 in back to backs this season with neither goalie starting both games. I think that gives them a big advantage over the Blackhawks but it will still be up to the Oilers to win the games.
Agreed. I've had the Edmonton TSN1260 radio on all day and they have not listed a starter or line combos.
The experts are speculating it is Smith but no one thinks there will be an announcement before puck drop.
Also, yeah the back-to-back aspect (hopefully) is super interesting. Can the Oilers gain an "edge" by splitting the 2 games (again hopefully) between 2 starters??
12 team H-2-H 1 year league, daily roster changes, 3 goalie start minimum/week
2xC, 2xRW, 2xLW, 4xD, 3xUtil, 2xG, 5 Bench
G, A, P, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, SVs
C: C. Keller, C. Mittelstadt, B. Nelson, R. Strome,
LW: K. Connor, B. Tkachuk, J. Gaudreau, J. Marchessault, E. Rodrigues, A. Lafreniere
RW: K. Fiala, J. Bratt, T. Jeannot V. Arvidsson
D: R. Josi, J. Trouba, E. Gustafsson,
G: L. Thompson, F. Gustavsson, V. Vanecek
NO IR
The Oilers were something like 7-1 in back to backs this season with neither goalie starting both games. I think that gives them a big advantage over the Blackhawks but it will still be up to the Oilers to win the games.
John Shannon
@JShannonhl
It will be Koskinen vs Crawford in G4 in Edmonton.
*
I'd expect to see Smith in G5 tomorrow if we get there, and I have little confidence that we will.
Oh well.More time to be outside this summer. Id rather thet be out now than later.
Not to mention another kick at the ol 1st overall pick can.
12 team Yahoo Roto keeper (keep 3)
9 F, 6 D; roster 3 G max
G,A,PPP,SOG,BLKS,HITS - W,SO,SV%,Saves
F: B Tkachuk, Stutzle, Eriksson Ek, Necas, Konecny, Cooley, Boldy, Lehkonen, Tippett
D: Dahlin, Seider, Matheson, Durzi, Addison, Mintyukov
G: Hill, Husso
IR:
Bench: L Hughes, Merzlikins, Terry, Tuch
Alexis Lafreniere...come on down, welcome to Edmonton...and watch the hockey world implode!!!! lol
1 in 8 chance. What are the odds? Oh right, literally 1 in 8.
I'd argue they already did. This was a good but flawed team, and was a fun season. They played themselves to a 95% chance of being a top-16 team and had the 2nd best record in the division, the 5th best record in the conference and the 12th best record in the league. They didn't play well enough or get enough breaks in a short series to prevail and reaffirm those results but reality, they were the better team in 2/4 games but lost 3/4. They were outscored by one goal across 4 games. Not a huge discrepancy. We knew that going in weird stuff would happen and well, it happened. As much as this is "another wasted season" of prime McDavid and Draisaitl, realistically they weren't a Cup contender. This was about getting important reps for guys like Yamamoto, Bear and Jones. And hopefully there are improvements to be made to this roster as well. Would love to have gotten a goal or two that wasn't created by Drai or McDavid. That would have been the difference.
But I'm with you. **** this lottery. Obviously, Lafreniere would help. He'd help a lot. I'm kind of over it and the crying about how many lotteries the team has already won. Give the #1 pick to Winnipeg, it was their lottery slot that won the initial draw leading to this 2nd phase. Give the Oilers the #14 pick, take a good forward (there are plenty in this draft, but the guy I hope for is Seth Jarvis) and then make rational decisions in the offseason. Then hopefully there's another season and another crack at it.
Great take on the Oilers season. The team is doing things right, certainly better than the old Oiler guard. I truly don't expect them to win the lottery (7 chances in 8), so here's hoping they get a good player with their pick this year to add to the prospect pool. Maybe we get lucky and convince Puljujarvi to give it another try and if he's improved as a player, which I think he has, then that's almost like winning the lottery (fourth overall) and maybe Broberg is able to break into the top 6 after a good training camp. I can at least see a future.
Even after his strong summer camp, I think Broberg is playing another year in Sweden and it's most likely the right call for his development. Holland is a slow cooker, after all. More likely, we see Bouchard start to break in, maybe at mid-season similar to Yamamoto. He really made strides in the second half of this AHL campaign. The bones of this team's defense is already set:
Klefbom - Larsson
Nurse - Bear
Russell - Jones
There are some decisions to make to fill the 7th/8th slots. Whether that's graduating Bouchard right away, or perhaps bringing back one or both of RFAs Lagesson and Benning, or maybe even UFA Green. They could maybe even gamble on internal improvements and move on from one of Larsson/Russell who are a year away from UFA, which would open up some salary flexibility for the forwards, but not enough to make a real free agency splash, which they shouldn't pursue anyhow.
I'm not sure this is a championship defense. You need improvements from Bear and Jones, which are plausible. But you also need the best of Klefbom and Larsson, which we didn't always see. Larsson, in particular was run down by injuries this season, but he was very strong in the last month of the season. Klefbom always seems to be battling injuries as well, and he was not up to #1 billing in this short playoff run. Improvement from Bear could push the Nurse-Bear pairing to legit #1 status, and allow Klefbom-Larsson to slide back to #2 status which better fits where they are at. It's probably too much to ask, however. So instead it's the bottom-6 forward group that needs to make a leap and make up for a defense that is never going to have a true #1.
It was still tough watching McDavid have to play with guys like Tyler Ennis and Josh Archibald on the left side. I love Archibald and what he offers, but in a bottom six role, not playing LW on the top line. A couple more kids need to make the leap from the AHL who are offensive wingers (Benson and McLeod, I'm looking at you). I'm not saying rush them but it would be nice if one or both forced their hands.
Putting Archibald on that top line took away from what he does best; shut down others, and left the bottom six thinner than it needed to be.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, SBennett
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
Safe to say, if this does happen, this will be his last opportunity to play in Edmonton, either from his side or Edmontons. Will be interesting to see how this plays out and where Tippett thinks he can fit into the lineup.
https://twitter.com/puck_report2/sta...45527497474053
Mark Spector: “After contacting both sides, our conclusion is we expect Jesse Puljujarvi to sign an NHL contract and return for Edmonton Oilers training camp in the fall.” #LetsGoOilers
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, SBennett
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
I hope he's right but that's purely speculation by Spector. Not much of a surprise if Holland and Puljujarvi's agent are just saying the right things when asked.
Puljujarvi however has had a nice start to the upcoming season, he was recently named an assistant captain of Karpat and in 2 pre-season games against Mestis (2nd-tier Finnish league) teams he has 2 goals and 8 assists.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, SBennett
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
It is definitely in Puljujarvi's best interest to sign a "show-me" contract with the Oilers. It either works out or he gets traded. Both of those are better options than continuing to play in Finland.