Edmonton Oilers Talk: Savoie/Bourgault on Fire, McDavid’s Newfound Weapon, and the Latest NHL Rumors!

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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Oilersnation

Oilers Prospect Report: Condors season starts and Savoie dominates

Skinner has had a solid start to the season with the Bakersfield Condors. It’s still early, but in two games, the Edmonton native has a 1.50 GAA along with 0.946SV%.
Philip Broberg (8th overall, 2019) has dressed in both games for the Condors. He picked up his first point against Abbotsford with a secondary assist on Adam Cracknell’s power-play goal.
Philip Kemp (208th overall, 2017), Markus Niemeläinen (63rd overall, 2016), Filip Berglund (91st overall, 2016), and Vincent Desharnais (183rd overall, 2016) all picked up assists too.
Bourgault dressed in three games for the Shawinigan Cataractes. He matched his total from last week with six points; however, he found the back of the net a lot more. Bourgault scored four goals…
Carter Savoie doesn’t surprise anyone anymore… Savoie was involved in the Pioneers first six goals scoring three of them for his first NCAA hat-trick. After that weekend performance, he was named the NCHC forward of the week.
Tullio leads the Generals with seven assists in eight games. Tullio joins Savoie and Matvei Petrov as one of the late draft picks blossoming for the Oilers.

BLH’s Thoughts: Tullio should start scoring some goals I reckon. It’s great that his playmaking is shining early on but he’s an older player in that league and as such, he should be finding the net on a regular basis.

Sounds like “Go-Go” Bourgault and Savoie are going to have themselves a party of a season if they stay healthy. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Xavier is a late bday and so he, like Evan Bouchard and Rafa Lavoie before him, can start his pro career next season and I do think that unless Savoie has a change of heart, he’ll probably sign with Bakersfield at the end of the year and then with the Oilers in the summer. Akin to what Dylan Holloway did last year.

How good would the Condors be if they had a line of Savoie, Bourgault, and Lavoie running wild next season? I do wonder if Aapeli Rasanen might come over seeing as he’s found his stride in the SM-Liiga now (11pts/16gp). Swede Filip Engaras is 22 years old and is producing at a point-per-game rate for the Univ. of New Hampshire, he might want to join the organization at some point here and if the two Russians (Denezhkin and Berezkin) are playing well for their respective clubs, could Ken Holland convince them to move over from the mother land?

Sportsnet

Analyzing Connor McDavid’s one-timer impact on Oilers’ power play

When it comes to players whose passes set up their teammates for a one-timer in 5-on-5-play, no one did it more than McDavid last season. The 2021 NHL MVP teed up his teammates for one timers 80 times in 56 games…
Last year, McDavid noticeably increased how much he attempted to one-time the puck. In all situations, he had 21 slapshot one-timers (18 more than the year prior) and nine snapshots.
Still, he didn’t score a single goal last year off the one-timer, and only has seven times in his career.
For McDavid, 15 one-timers in 2020-21 exceeded his previous best (13 in 2018-19), and given that he’s not the most frequent shooter on the man-advantage, it made up a higher percentage (16%) of his attempts than at even strength.
…the one-timer can be the most dangerous non-tipped shot on the power play… That’s something the Oilers have leaned on between McDavid and Draisaitl in particular…
…it’s not necessarily a weakness that McDavid didn’t attempt to score on the one-timer more these past few years… With or without this addition to his game, he’s making a consistent impact.
Knowing just how often McDavid’s threading his teammates for that one-timer, opponents can game plan for it… if McDavid can start mixing his one-timer into his repertoire, which he is actively looking to do this season, especially on the power play, it’ll make the Oilers that much more dangerous offensively.

BLH’s Thoughts: I encourage you to click the link above and read this post in its entirety because Sportsnet has some fantastic visuals to go along with at least 3x the info that I’ve provided here.

As I’ve said before, I get why adding another weapon to the armory would be good for Edmonton’s PP, but personally, I wouldn’t be spending too much time drawing up plays around Connor’s one-timer. Tyson Barrie, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Darnell Nurse are all available for that role.

Spector’s Hockey

MONTREAL GAZETTE: Marc Bergevin said in a “perfect world” he’d like to remain general manager of the Canadiens beyond this season during an impromptu press conference. He’s in the final year of his contract… A recent report by the New York Post’s Larry Brooks suggested Bergevin could join the Los Angeles Kings next summer.

TORONTO SUN: Michael Traikos recently noted there are rumors claiming Molson has tabbed Patrick Roy as a potential replacement for Bergevin.

THE ATHLETIC: On Tuesday, Arthur Staple reported Vitali Kravtsov remains in Russia, unwilling to return to North America unless the New York Rangers trade him, according to two league sources. The cause of the dispute is said to be Kravtsov butting heads with Rangers GM Chris Drury since their time with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford two years ago.

SPORTSNET 590’s Nick Kypreos reported as many as 15 teams have inquired about Kravtsov. Among them are the Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Ben Pope believes the struggling Blackhawks aren’t doing themselves or Dylan Strome any favors by keeping him out of the lineup… Pope said the Anaheim Ducks have long had an interest in Strome as a young playmaker who could help their rebuild. The Senators were linked to the 23-year-old center, while the Canadiens, Rangers and Minnesota Wild all need help at center.