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
- Broberg’s either gone by the end of the week or he’s in Bakersfield. Here are a few names I’d look to keep an eye on as the return is rumored to be a young player spinning his wheels in another organization that makes around the same as Broberg, $863k.
- Columbus has a number of players that Edmonton could target. Starting with the Russians,
- Wingers Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinyakov, and Dmitri Voronkov would add a scoring element to Edmonton’s roster and there are some reports that at least Chinyakov and Voronkov are unhappy in Ohio.
- Forward Cole Sillinger can’t seem to gain any traction with the Blue Jackets and to me he’s a bit of a throwback forward but with some skill. He’s physical but can handle the puck is what I’m trying to say.
- Dman Adam Boqvist’s name has come up but I don’t know if the Oilers would go after him. His body of work has been less than stellar so far. Plus he makes way too much money for a “hockey trade”.
- The Islanders have Oliver Wahlstrom doing a whole lot of nothing and they’re in a bit of an injury crisis on their backend too.
- A swap with the Flyers for Nick Seeler might make some sense. If Edmonton can make it to the post-season they’re going to need shutdown dmen like Seeler.
- Chicago winger Taylor Raddysh hasn’t been able to find the scoring touch of last season yet. Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer has brought his name up in the past in other rumors.
- Some others just for the sake that they’re underperforming on the team they currenly play for or their salary makes sense for Edmonton include Alexei Toropchenko (STL), Joe Veleno (DET), Peyton Krebs (BUF), Drew O’Connor (PIT), and Philip Tomasino/ Liam Foudy (NSH).
- Columbus has a number of players that Edmonton could target. Starting with the Russians,
- Personally, I’d see what the price is from San Jose to bring Anthony Duclair and Mario Ferraro in. That’d be a combined $6.25M and so if you’re sending Kulak and Broberg, that’s $3.5M. Add in Foegele’s $2.75 and we’re in business. Throw in a high pick and ask Grier to eat some of that salary (he’s already eating some from Burns and Karlsson so I’m not even sure if that’s possible). Now you’ve got a dependable two-way dman for another three years and somebody who can skate with McDavid and score. Holloway will be back soon, call up Phil Kemp or Rafa Lavoie and Bob’s your uncle!
Send him to Bakersfield. He needs to play. Sitting in the press box or playing nine minutes a night when he does play in the NHL isn’t helping him or the organization. He needs to play, and while he might not like the reduced salary in the AHL, he needs to look big picture. He needs to play. But the Oilers also need him for organizational depth. I’d send him to Bakersfield tomorrow and recall Cam Dineen or Tim Gleason. They can sit in the press box while Broberg logs heavy minutes in the AHL. And if the Oilers have an injury on the backend in the next month, they can recall Broberg and slot him in. – Jason Gregor via Oilersnation
- This is probably the best idea to be honest.
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Three Players to Watch for the Bad Guys
- #20 Sebastien Aho (8g 14a 22pts) – Aho’s got three goals and three assists in his last five games. He’s clicking along very consistently and as good as Edmonton is playing at the moment, I don’t see this Finn keeping his name off the scoresheet tonight.
- #88 Martin Necas (7g 11a 18pts) – A goal and four assists in his last half dozen minus one. That’s a point-per-game while Carolina has gone 3-1-1 in that time frame.
- #37 Andrei Svechnikov (1g 10a 11pts) – One goal all year for the Canes’ superstar Russian (on 39 shots no less). He’s bound to break out and didn’t he have TWO hat-tricks vs. Edmonton last year?… The only regular forward on Carolina with less goals is Jordan Martinook and knowing his luck, he’ll probably get one tonight.
Three Players to Watch for the Good Guys
- #18 Zach Hyman (12g 11a 23pts) – Hyman’s got four goals and four assists in his last five along with 23 shots. He’s tapped into the ghost of Ryan Smyth as his net-front presence has been remarkable so far this year.
- #29 Leon Draisaitl (10g 19a 29pts) – Five goals and nine assists in his last ten. A break from Edmonton’s media has probably done Leon a fair bit of good. Let’s see if that translates onto the ice.
- #74 Stu Skinner – He was humming along before the break and sometimes interrupting that can break a guy’s stride. So we’ll really need to see if Skinner will be able to get back to where he was before.
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