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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Edmonton Sun
OILERS NOTES: It’s nice not having to freak out over a loss
- The Oilers, who started 3-6 last year and needed ear muffs to shut out the public wailing, admit it’s much easier to be this calm and philosophical at 5-1.
- So, it’s not so much the 5-1 record that has their collective psyche in a warm, safe place right now, but rather an overall belief in who they are and what they’re doing.
“We’re really confident in our team and our ability to find ways to win and one loss doesn’t change that. We’re a hungry group. We don’t even really look at our record. We want to win every game.” – Zach Hyman
- Mike Smith, who’s been out three games with a lower-body issue, was on the ice prior to Thursday’s optional practice but his status going forward remains day-to-day.
- Tyson Barrie got off to a slow start with the Oilers last season with two points in his first eight games before going on the lead the NHL in points by a defenceman… he’s heating up again with four points in the last three games.
BLH’s Thoughts: If the Oilers go one loss per five games they’d drop around 28 games in regular time on the year that would leave them with 54 other games where they could win or lose in OT… I’ll take that record so long as it’s more wins that OTL.
Keeping that in mind, I believe it might be a challenge for the Oilers to keep up that sort of pace considering the massive break they’re going to have in February where they only play four games thanks to the Olympic break. January and March are going to be ridiculously intense as each month will see Edmonton play 15 and 14 games respectively.
So, the boys need to bank as many wins as possible right now in order to give them some buffer down the road.
Edmonton Sun
Every goalie looks like a Hall-of-Famer to struggling Oilers’ Yamamoto
- If sweat equity was the only requirement for getting goals at the NHL level, Kailer Yamamoto would not have a big fat zero over the last 23 games… will plus skill only works if you deposit a few shots on the net.
- In 14 of those 23 scoreless games, he’s had one or fewer shots, including three of six games this season. To extrapolate, he has one goal in his last 35 games, and just 47 shots. Again, lots of try from the 153-pounder, but …
- … if hockey is a results-driven business when it comes to wins and losses, it is forever thus for shots and goals and assists, too, IF you are playing on a second NHL line.
- He will always get high marks as a penalty-killer, dogged at the task, but doggone it, there are no goals. No points either. None this season in the Oilers’ six games. Just four assists in the last 23 games, two on the power play. His last goal was April 8 against Ottawa, on the power play. Before that, it was March 8 against the Senators.
BLH’s Thoughts: Here it comes… Terry Jones has the ball rolling on Yamamoto’s lack of production… Who’s next, Mark Spector or Daniel Nugent-Bowman?
I’m messing about, but I did say in one of yesterday’s posts that the media is not going to let this slide… Especially if the team goes into a slump of their own… Then it won’t matter how hard Yamo is working off the puck or on the PK.
The Hockey Writers Rumors
- The Fourth Period is reporting that GM Lou Lamoriello will explore the defensive market closer to the March 21 trade deadline. The team has just over $2.26 million in salary cap overage space to play with.
- Pagnotta said the Boston Bruins explored Korpisalo’s availability in the off-season and the Edmonton Oilers, who have kicked the tires on Korpisalo in the past, could revisit those discussions later in the season if they desire a change in goal.
BLH’s Thoughts: Considering that Korpisalo is 0-2-0 with a GAA of 3.53 and a SV% of .908. I can safely say that the Oilers probably aren’t that serious about making a trade for the Finnish netminder right now. The Blue Jackets have started the season quite promisingly and it seems to me that the only blemish on the year to date is this goalie’s performances.
Besides, Mikko Koskinen’s numbers are really not that bad. 3-1-0, .926SV%, 2.62GAA… If you’re an Oilers fan and that’s not good enough for you, bless your soul because you are a special human being.
