July 13, 2020 /

2019/20 Edmonton Oilers: #Operation19W Starts Now!

Day one is in the books and #Operation19W is fully underway! Everybody in the main camp was on the ice except for Caleb Jones this time around as he was deemed “unfit to play”. That said, Caleb will be back shortly!

Right now, it’s game time and there’s no better feeling in the world that when NHL hockey gets started again. I’m so bloody stoked to get this tournament going!!! This is going to be a mess of a blog, isn’t it? My pre-emptive apologies to all who make it past this point.

Oilers Talk

Anyways, let’s talk about the Oilers. Here are the latest line combos courtesy of my favorite play-by-play man in hockey today (how good does it feel to get daily roster updates again?),

Glad to see the Colby Cave tribute up there on the screen. #WeSkateForColby

That roster is about as deep as it’s ever been. Maybe as deep as the run of ’06. The fact that the team has SIX functional forward lines and FOUR d-pairings that they could throw out is a very good sign that this club is trending upwards and I think it’s going to do some damage during these 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Only one team scares me a bit and that is the St. Louis Blues. The Oilers can beat every other team in the Western Conference without question in my mind.

The only surprise (kind of) that I noticed within those line combos is Petr Klima~ er I mean, Andreas Athanasiou getting slotted alongside Leon Draisaitl and Kailer Yamamoto. From my perspective, this is the right place to put AA. His speed in addition to Leon’s pin-point passing ability could cause absolute havoc against opposing defenses and throwing RNH up with McDavid and Kassian will give the Hawks fits. That line also needs some defensive conscience if Chicago is planning on matching up Toews’ line with 97’s.

No Shaw or Crawford For the Blackhawks

Andrew Shaw has opted out and according to the reporting of The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus, it doesn’t sound like Corey Crawford will be back anytime soon. Leaving the Hawks with a better than average chance at being one of the first teams to qualify for the Alexis Lafreniere sweepstakes.

I hope everything is okay with Crawford and respect to Shaw for bowing out for health reasons. With that in mind, the odds have swayed Edmonton’s way massively. Shaw would’ve been a royal pain in the ass for the Oilers and Crawford has been Chicago’s saving grace against the Oilers all season.

Malcolm Subban’s stats vs Edmonton: 2W 1L .887SV% 2.69GAA (source)

How is Alexander Nylander on the 2nd line and Kubalik on the third? Yikes…

So, my feeling is that Calvin de Haan and Connor Murphy will be tasked to shut down Draisaitl’s line and Keith/Boqvist will get McDavid’s.

What I’ve noticed over the years is that if a defensemen is a very good skater and can keep up with Connor, he’s got a decent chance at shutting him down. Keith, even at this age, can still skate well and Boqvist is a good skater too. Now, I’m not sure how they’ll combat the physicality of Kassian and the tenaciousness along the wall from Nuge, so we’ll have to see there.

Murphy is a very annoying defensive defender for players like Draisaitl. I remember him really giving it to the Oilers top stars this season and said stars really hating it. de Haan is basically an upgraded Kris Russell but he’s coming off of surgery I believe, so who knows how that will turn out? A lot of blocked shots maybe?

The wildcard for me on Chicago’s roster is their third line. Kubalik/Dach/Caggiula.

Dominik Kubalik was a 30-goal scorer this year and Caggiula plays the game for keeps (when healthy). Kirby Dach (8g/15a)… Once in awhile great young players emerge at the unlikeliest of times and Dach has the talent and the ability to do such a thing if the Oilers aren’t careful. Sure, Toews and Kane, Debrincat, and Saad are a scary bunch when they’re on their games, but Kirby Dach is right there and there’s a good chance some on the Oilers might write him off because he’s so young and he hasn’t “earned it”…

Did you see this news? My eyes nearly bulged out of my head Looney Tunes-style when I read this.

I mean this is just one team, but there were a plethora of announcements from teams regarding players who’ve been deemed unfit to play or weren’t included on their team’s registered training camp rosters. Good Lord Pittsburgh! What are ya doing over there?

I’m very curious how many teams this is going to happen to and how they’re going to get into Canada if something like this goes down the night or week before teams are scheduled to head into Edmonton? Would they be removed from the “tournament” or would alterations be made to the playing schedule of that team?

Asterisk time! Who can make it to the Stanley Cup Final with the least COVID positive cases?

Alberta’s Growing COVID Concern

I’ve noticed that Bob Stauffer has stopped updating the Covid-19 numbers lately. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that over the weekend Alberta nearly QUADRUPLED its 7-day average of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of June? On June 6th, the 7-day avergage/100k was .39. The latest numbers tell us that statistic has rocketed up to 1.41 (7/14/2020).

This. Is. Not. Good…

Ontario’s numbers are slowly decreasing and Alberta’s are increasing at a bit of an uncomfortable rate.

What is the “magic number” with regards to things going back into shutdown mode and is that number the same as the NHL’s?…

The weather is nice and folks have been couped up in their houses with not much to do for quite a while now but that doesn’t mean the risk is gone. Look at the US. Look at those states that are absolutely blowing up. How many of them had lower numbers not that long ago?

Do the right thing. Wear. A. Mask.

Grab a #Operation19W Mask, Shirt, Sticker, etc right now! Click the pic above!

Puck Racism

The sales are starting to trickle in with this design and I’m going to spam the hell out of it on my website and the BLH Hockey Instagram because I feel passionate about it and I feel like Hockey is Diversity deserves the proceeds that I’ll be donating to them.

So, please. If you’ve got an extra $20 lying around and you want to do a good thing for good people, click the pic down below and grab a t-shirt, a mask, a onesie, a tank top, or some stickers.

Hockey is Diversity is a German group whose aim is to draw attention to the ethnic diversity in society, which goes beyond the sporting borders in order to sensitize people interculturally. The diversity that has long been regarded as an enrichment in sport as a melting pot of people of different ethnicities, cultures, and religions should also be transferred to society.

Puck Racism Shirts
Click the pic and help support this worthy cause! Portions of the proceeds will go to Hockey is Diversity!

Hockey is Diversity

CategoriesArmchair GM Beer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL

TagsAlberta Chicago Blackhawks COVID-19 Edmonton Oilers NHL

Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!