Hey y’all! Welcome back for another season of Edmonton Oilers hockey! I’m BLH and I’ll be giving you the skinny on today’s game!
If you’re new here and are wondering what 3P2W means, well, it stands for Three Players to Watch and seeing I’m as lazy as I am, I figured we’d shorten it to 3P2W.
So with that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about what’s been going on lately in the Oilogospehere and then get into the player’s I’ve put under the spotlight for today’s matchup!
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Random Pontifications
You will have read that the Edmonton Oilers have kicked tires in Montreal as they search for a potential partner for Stuart Skinner in goal. While I believe that is true, I also think Ken Holland has looked around the league for a solution. With the cap situation the way it is in Edmonton, I think the more likely development here is two teams, each with goalies who “need a second opinion, swapping netminders in the hopes that new surrounding help them both. – Kurt Leavins, Cult of Hockey
- This makes a bit of sense in one aspect but fails to address the fact that Edmonton will need to find a team that’ll take Campbell’s deal AND/or buy him out. The feeling I get is that there won’t be many suitors willing to bury Campbell in the minors and have him sewer their AHL team. So the buyout is key.
- Woodguy on Twitter suggests it’ll take the equivalent to THREE first round picks to get somebody to bite on the Campbell trade and buyout scheme and he used Patrick Marleau as an example. He had a shade over $3M left on his contract when Toronto paid Carolina one first rounder to take him in a trade and buy him out.
- Jack Campbell is $9M in real dollars to buy out next summer, so you can see the math done there.
- Are there any teams out there that will have a shit ton of cap space next year as well as a very poor team?
- Maybe Chicago and San Jose are the only teams that’ll be both.
- Other teams potentially in that range are Anaheim, Minnesota, Columbus, Calgary, Nashville, and Montreal.
- So Edmonton might be able to get into conversations about John Gibson, MA Fleury, Elvis Merzlikins, Dan Vladar/Jacob Markstrom, Jussi Saros, or the three in Montreal (Allen, Montembault, Primeau) if they want a goalie back in the same trade.
- Petr Mrazek was in Detroit for a while but Chicago gave him a M-NTC… San Jose has Kahkonen and Blackwood but I’m not sure that Edmonton would want to hang their playoff aspirations on either of those guys this year.
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Three Players to Watch for the Bad Guys
- #19 Matthew Tkachuk (3g 14a 17pts) – I think it’s just a given that Tkachuk will find a way to get his nose into the thick of things as he’s always done against the Oilers. That said, Evander Kane sent him crying out of Calgary. Might we see a similar spot of embarrassment in this game too?
- #13 Sam Reinhart (13g 11a 24pts) – NINE points in his last five games. This guy’s on a heater and there’s nothing suggesting that will stop against Edmonton’s porous defense.
- #91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson (5g 6a 11pts) – The OEL resurgence continues! He’s been holding the fort down on FLA’s defense while Eklbad and Montour have been out of the lineup and doing a fine job at it no less. At least from a production standpoint.
Three Players to Watch for the Good Guys
- #28 Connor Brown (0g 0a 0pts) – I’m going to advise we watch Brown for a second consecutive game. He had a decent outing against Tampa with sheltered minutes as Knobby eased him into his return. I’m wondering if Brown might get some elevated TOI in this one which could result in him getting his name on the score sheet.
- #18 Zach Hyman (8g 7a 15pts) – Returning to where it all began, how will he respond? He’s got 16 points in 20 career games vs the team that drafted him in the 5th round of the 2010 draft.
- #30 Calvin Pickard – I don’t know if he’s actually starting but I’ve got a feeling the Oilers don’t have much of a choice at this point than to give Stuart Skinner a rest. A good showing will take some pressure off of Edmonton’s management as they pursue a new goaltender to share the net with Skinner though.
