Edmonton Oilers

[The Comish]

I think that was a mistake by the Oilers. Scrivens is a proven back up goalie at the NHL level. His career numbers are better than Nilsson across the board. Nilsson has had a save percentage above .901 only three times in his 6 year professional career. 10/11 in the SEL, 11/12 when he played 1669 minutes in the AHL and the NHL combined and 2014/15 in the KHL. In the KHL last year, his back up, Emil Garipov, had pretty much identical numbers to Nilsson. Nilsson was 1.71 GAA and .936 SV% with a 20-9-8 record while Garipov was 1.78, .933 and 16-5-2. This tells me that the Kazan AK-Bars was the best defensive team in the KHL and not that Nilsson has found his game.

...OR, Nilsson found his inner "Dubnyk" and changed something in his game enough that he's playing with a new found confidence (he says hopefully).

[Axeman33]

I think that was a mistake by the Oilers. Scrivens is a proven back up goalie at the NHL level. His career numbers are better than Nilsson across the board. Nilsson has had a save percentage above .901 only three times in his 6 year professional career. 10/11 in the SEL, 11/12 when he played 1669 minutes in the AHL and the NHL combined and 2014/15 in the KHL. In the KHL last year, his back up, Emil Garipov, had pretty much identical numbers to Nilsson. Nilsson was 1.71 GAA and .936 SV% with a 20-9-8 record while Garipov was 1.78, .933 and 16-5-2. This tells me that the Kazan AK-Bars was the best defensive team in the KHL and not that Nilsson has found his game.

Maybe it came down to money as much as it was performance and felt Scrivens just wasn't worth the money he was making and could get the same type of performance from Nilsson for less money. There's probably more to the story that we aren't privy to.

[rataylor22]

I think that was a mistake by the Oilers. Scrivens is a proven back up goalie at the NHL level. His career numbers are better than Nilsson across the board. Nilsson has had a save percentage above .901 only three times in his 6 year professional career. 10/11 in the SEL, 11/12 when he played 1669 minutes in the AHL and the NHL combined and 2014/15 in the KHL. In the KHL last year, his back up, Emil Garipov, had pretty much identical numbers to Nilsson. Nilsson was 1.71 GAA and .936 SV% with a 20-9-8 record while Garipov was 1.78, .933 and 16-5-2. This tells me that the Kazan AK-Bars was the best defensive team in the KHL and not that Nilsson has found his game.

The only thing Scrivens has "proven" is that he's serviceable behind a great D in LA and dumpster fire everywhere else.

[LawMan]

I like the call to keep Nilsson, and frankly don't think it's a big deal either way.

Scrivens is more or less a known quantity, a serviceable, if not great, NHL goalie. If Scrivens was kept with the big club the roles would be clearly defined, Talbot starter and Scrivens to backup. Scrivens would get his 15 starts over the course of the year and the Oilers would hope he gave them a chance to win a few games. Talbot would not be challenged and it would be a very traditional NHL goalie setup. Scrivens is 29 so is in theory in the prime of his career, also he makes considerably more than Nilsson (although cap concerns are minimal for the Oilers). The Oilers are a combination of "learn to win" and "see what you've got" this season, I don't see Scrivens in the long-term plans so keeping him with the Oilers would simply be because they think he can win a few games as backup and then they move on over the off-season.

Conversely, much less is known about Nilsson. He was drafted fairly high and did not have early NHL success. He went to the KHL and put up amazing numbers, was it due to an incredible team in front of him or did he "pull a Dubnyk" and resurrect his game from the ashes of his NHL failures, the only way to know for sure is to let him play some NHL games. Nilsson is still only 25 and so it's possible he could develop into a very capable backup over the next 2-3 years if that happens perhaps he pushes Talbot to be better or is able to develop into a 1B. I think it's less than likely that Nilsson is able to be more than a solid NHL backup because most players who come over late from the KHL/SEL etc. simply don't pan out but it's worth a shot in my opinion.

Finally, keep in mind that Nilsson did not give up a single goal in 2 full games of pre-season action, that's literally perfection. Yes it was pre-season and so the teams weren't going all out but you couldn't have asked him to play any better. The Oilers signed Nilsson to come in and push the other 2 guys (mainly Scrivens) and fight for a job, when the guy does literally everything he can it's hard to then tell him he still didn't make the team. I'll be anxiously watching both Oiler goalies this coming season, the Oilers have a lot of faith in Talbot and I'm hoping he develops into a steady #1, if Nilsson can keep us in games he plays in that's an added bonus.

[chuckcouples]

Great post Lawman. Agree with everything you said except the part of pre-season performance. Here are the lineups that Nilsson faced:

Arizona (11 saves on 11 shots):
Potter, Rieder, Vitale, Gordon, Domi, Strome, Szwarz, Chipchura, P Samuelsson, Stone, Scott, Dahlbeck, Smith, Plachta, Elliott, Martinook, H Samuelsson, Boedker (1 NHL top 6 forward)

Minnesota (25 saves on 25 shots):
Keranan, Graovac, Schroeder, Bertschy, Haula, Mitchell, Fedotenko, Dalpe, Bulmer, Hagel, Sutter, Knight, Scandella, Dumba, Reilly, Folin, Olofsson, Strachan (1 forward who will play for the Wild in game 1 of their season).

That's not exactly a who's who of scoring forwards. I guess I just trust Scrivens more than I trust Nilsson based on past performance. I understand what the Oilers are thinking (probably pretty close to what was said in the previous post) but I would rather have Scrivens starting 20 to 25 games than Nilsson. Hopefully I will be proven wrong. Regardless, Talbot is going to have to be better than he was in pre-season for the Oilers to win many games this year.

[Axeman33]

Good interview today with HC McLellan re: McDavid, captaincy and team moves.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/shows/tim-an...?show_id=13399

- - - Updated - - -

Oilers demote Ference to "alternate" captain. They will now go with four alternates for the time being.

https://mobile.twitter.com/EdmontonOilers/status/651806253065220096

The #Oilers have named four alternate captains: Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins & Andrew Ference. pic.twitter.com/78zOTG2aIY

[MarmotKing]

So, are they hoping to name McDavid Captain by the start of next season by demoting Ference?

[Axeman33]

So, are they hoping to name McDavid Captain by the start of next season by demoting Ference?

Hard to say. I am not sure they expect Ference to dress consistently so I believe that's why they went this route, more than they expect to hand it to McDavid in time.

[LawMan]

So, are they hoping to name McDavid Captain by the start of next season by demoting Ference?

The Oilers were in a tough spot, Ference is not going to play every night and it's hard to have a captain who is not regularly dressing. Initially they wanted Ference to be the stop-gap until one of Hall/Eberle/Nuge could takeover. I think the target was always the end of Ference's contract, so next season. Then they won the McDavid lottery and everything changed, seems pretty clear they want to at least keep the option to name McDavid captain open. I suspect they play this season without a captain and then decide next off-season whether they want to:

a. give McDavid the "C"
b. give it to Hall/Eberle/Nuge
c. go another year without a Captain.

This seems like they only move the Oilers could make at this time. If Ference was penciled into the lineup on a daily basis it would have been fine for him to keep it but since he isn't it's hard to justify leaving the C with him.

[SeaDawg]

I've always thought Eberle should be the captain on this team.

[LawMan]

Not a great game #1 but not a terrible one either.

Cons: The Oilers didn't touch the puck on their only goal.
Several forwards were still making 5-star giveaways in their own end, brutal turnovers lead to goals against. I'm looking at you Yakupov and Purcell.

Pros: Cam Talbot! Man he looked good despite the loss. Made a number of key saves to keep the Oilers in the game throughout.
Would have been nice to stop Tarasenko on the break-away but goal scorers are going to score there.
Had no chance on the second goal when nobody picked up the trailer...
I also liked seeing Gryba step-up to defend his teammate and have a good scrap.

McDavid seemed to progress a great deal between the 1st and 3rd periods. First 40 minutes I think he was just trying to survive, and take it all in etc. etc., then he started rolling and had 2 incredible chances in the 3rd, if he buries one of them the game might have gone to overtime.

Really hope this team can get a win Saturday in Nashville against another really good team. I fear that if they go 2 or 3 games without a win then the winless monkey will jump on them and they could start to panic before the season even starts.

[Axeman33]

I only watched the first two periods but I agree that Talbot looked good.

They seemed to have a hell of a time getting the puck out of their end most of what I saw. I get that they were playing a damn good team but they need to do a better job of clearing their zone.

Purcell looked terrible mistake of the night. He cost them the first goal with the giveaway at the Blues blueline and just looked slow all night.

[CHunter]

Friday practice lines:

Hall-RNH-Purcell
Pouliot-McDavid-Korpikoski
Yakupov-Lander-Slepyshev
Klinkhammer/Gazdic-Letestu-Hendricks

Defensive pairings:

Klefbom-Schultz
Sekera-Fayne
Ference-Gryba
Reinhart-Davidson

I'm not sold about McDavid's line.....why aren't they giving Yakupov a shot with McDavid???

[LawMan]

McDavid coming out party!! Wow, what a great game for McDavid on Saturday in Calgary, and he followed it up with a pretty solid one in Vancouver as well. The 3 part game was awesome, the 1st goal was a nice little shot, and his 2nd was a great reaction. But his greatest play was probably the goal that wasn't scored when he deked a Calgary D-man out of his skates and Hiller made an unworldly/lucky save... Glad to see Yak, Hall, McDavid and RNH all score a goal (Record 4-1st overalls in case you missed the commentators saying it non-stop).

Then, to follow it up with a solid, if not spectacular play on a back-to-back in Vancouver was impressive. Nilsson played outstanding, that has been two starts now (50 saves in 53 in Dallas) where he looked like an NHL goalie and not some backup who was giving the starter a rest. Having a backup (he still is) who still gives your team a chance to win every night, and may just push a 1st time starter in Talbot to be better, is such a huge advantage in the NHL. Also, getting any points on the tail end of a back-to-back is huge as well.

Finally, 3-on-3 is awesome. The Oilers had some brutal blunders, and Nilsson some terrific saves, but man was it exciting, had to be 3 or 4 quality scoring chances before Korpikoski finally scored. That's going to be a fun element to the game to watch going forward for sure.

[SeaDawg]

I really like McDavid and Yakupov playing together. I wanted that to happen ever since we won the lottery.

I had a hunch they'd play well together. I like the up-tempo style they each play. I know Hall plays an up-tempo game as well, but he is more of North-South type of player, whereas Yakupov and McDavid are more East-West type of players. I think putting Pouliot on that line is ok. In theory he offers some veteran guidance and provides a stabilizing two-way presence.