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!
The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!
If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!
Give us a follow on the socials!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
The Cult of Hockey
Dynamic Duo brings hope that Edmonton Oilers can lock in tip top-pairing
- The rapid development of Bouchard could not come at a better time for a team that unexpectedly lost solid shut-down and right shot d-man Adam Larsson to Seattle, then traded away promising right shot d-man Ethan Bear for help at forward.
- It seemed like a huge ask to count on Bouchard in this role, but he’s showing positive signs.
- Nurse is crushing it with his physical play, where he leads the NHL in hits with 32 in five games, and his solid offensive bursts up the ice, leading me to name him the Edmonton Express of the 21st Century…
- Bouchard and Nurse, they’re easily Edmonton’s two best d-men this year, though Cody Ceci has also played a run of steady games.
- Will this pairing one day join the list of the very best Oilers d-man pairings?… These are early days, but my intuition says yes. It’s hard not to get your hopes up, given the Dynamic Duo’s individual and collective level of play early in the 2021-22 season.
Latest Oilers Line Combos via Bob Stauffer
Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Foegele-Ryan-Kassian
Perlini-Shore-Turris
Benson-Sceviour
Nurse-Bouchard
Keith-Ceci
Koekkoek/Russell-Barrie
Koskinen
Skinner
BLH’s Thoughts: The feeling I get is that whether or not we like it, Nurse and Bouchard are being groomed as Edmonton’s top pairing for the foreseeable future and I’ve got no qualms with that decision. Might we be witnessing Kronwall/Lidstrom 2.0?
Oilersnation
Impressive, Not Perfect
- They sit dead last in the NHL in shots against/60 at even strength. That is not a recipe for success. Last year, only two of the bottom ten teams in SA/60 made the playoffs. They were the Predators and the Oilers.
- They have been prone to some ugly mistakes though and a lot of the goals they gave up this year have not been a product of their opponent being better than them, but rather the Oilers blowing coverage in their own zone or making really poor decisions with the puck.
- They are not winning hockey games because of their ability to defend or because of the play of any one defenseman.
- The credit for this 5-0 record goes to this team’s ability to find the back of their opponent’s net, not their ability to keep the puck out of their own.
- …the Keith/Ceci pairing has been average. At even-strength, that duo has been outscored 5-4 and outshot 49-37.
- A 5-0 start should have everyone feeling good and the fact that they’re currently undefeated despite having not played up to their full potential is very encouraging to me.
BLH’s Thoughts: This is what I’m talking about and Yaremchuk’s closing line encapsulates my feelings completely. So, while Edmonton’s defensive play has been more or less shite, I’m happy the team is 5-0-0, but almost surprised they’ve done it considering the sloppy play that’s got them there. Yaremchuk is right to lay into the Oilers lack of attention to detail on the other side of the puck. When the refs start to calm down with the penalty calls, the club won’t be relying on their powerplay to save their butts and we all know offense goes to die in the post-season… What will Tippett’s men do then?
But as I’ve also mentioned, we’re only five games in and we shouldn’t be drawing any conclusions right now be the results good, bad, or indifferent.
Spector’s Hockey
THE ATHLETIC: Saad Yousef recently followed up on Jeff Marek’s report indicating Dallas Stars defenseman John Klingberg’s camp is seeking an eight-year deal worth between $62 million and $68 million. That would put his annual average value between $7.75 million and $8.25 million.
SPORTSNET: Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman once again discussed Jack Eichel’s ongoing standoff with the Buffalo Sabres…
- Friedman mentioned several teams are continuing to engage at times. Marek brought up the Vegas Golden Knights but Friedman pointed out Eichel won’t be able to help them right now
- Friedman said the teams he’s wondered about regarding Eichel are the Golden Knights, Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets and Boston Bruins. Right now, he doesn’t get the sense that anyone’s close.
