Edmonton Oilers Prospect Talk: Xavier Bourgault, more Claude Giroux or Mathieu Perreault?

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Off the Top of My Head

Beach’s complaint came with Chicago in the middle of a Stanley Cup push. The pathetic truth is it wasn’t a priority at the time and was put aside. Imagine that. Just as damning, the dirty little secret was kept quiet from the top down for more than a decade until the lawsuits that were filed got Westhead’s attention.

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t know if people know how cutthroat things are at the top of the mountain of life… If you think these stories are sickening, what about the ones at the peak of the political game or even at the highest levels of organized crime.

Yes, we all want to believe this is “our” game, but it isn’t really. It belongs to the elite of the elite of the elite and as heartless as this sounds, there are shitty people installed at those levels and they didn’t get there by being “nice”.

So when we hear that something has been covered up for a decade or more, we shouldn’t be surprised at all. At least, not in my opinion because there’s always somebody that knew about it. They were just willing to put themselves ahead of everybody else.

Edmonton Oilers’ defenceman Duncan Keith, in Chicago at the time, was asked what he knew. How is it possible not even a single player followed up on this when the Cup parade was over? Not Jonathan Toews. Not Patrick Kane. Not Keith.

BLH’s Thoughts: How is it possible those guys didn’t reach out? Beach wasn’t a member of the main squad, he was a rookie, as a part of the Black Aces he was secluded from the main group, there was no prior relationship? I don’t know. But should those stars have reached out just to see if what they heard was true? Of course.

Now, that being said, Toews, Kane, Keith, Brent Seabrook, Corey Crawford, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Marian Hossa, John Madden, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg, Brian Campbell, they were keeping their nose out of it and it wouldn’t shock me if their agents or lawyers instructed them to distance themselves from it for fear of legal action down the road…

For what it’s worth, look at that group of names and tell me why only the ones still playing are getting grilled and not the others? Well, the reason is simple, because they’re still accessible on a daily basis. Doesn’t make it right and it does throw into question the motives of the cancel culture mob. I mean, is anybody talking about Kevin Cheveldayoff today?

If you want to cancel somebody, go after the guy that is responsible, Brad Aldrich. Cancel that human piece of trash.

Aldrich got his name engraved on the Stanley Cup in 2010 — that’s a disgrace that’s in the process of being undone. Beach never did get the opportunity.

BLH’s Thoughts: Of course his name was engraved on the Cup, because in order to cover up the story completely, they had to act as if nothing happened…

Now, what’s kinda messed up is that an original 6 team doesn’t know they’re responsible for whose name gets put on the Trophy AND whose name gets taken off or X’d out…

As for Kyle Beach getting his name on the 2010 Stanley Cup, if I’m not mistaken, he wouldn’t have had his name engraved on the Cup as it is since he never played any games and it was doubtful he would’ve played any considering he was on the black aces. Usually the players in that group need to have quite a few skaters ahead of them get hurt or really struggle before they get into any playoff games.

The Athletic

Will Xavier Bourgault be the best Oilers’ QMJHL pick this century?

Bourgault leads the QMJHL in points after 11 games. He continues to deliver high-octane offence with deadly accuracy (he owns a 22.2 percent shooting percentage) and looks poised for a dominant season in 2021-22.
(Claude) Giroux has scored 24-51-75 per 82 games, while (Mathieu) Perreault has averaged 17-24-41. That’s a wide range of results and doesn’t give us an ideal comparable from the old-timey group of NHL players who grew up in the QMJHL. A guess would put Bourgault closer to Perreault, but the draft pedigree has him as a perfect match for Giroux.

Xavier Bourgault ajoute un 5e but 😎 pic.twitter.com/ELRZaWbb8V

— Cataractes de Shawinigan (@Cataractes_Shaw) October 30, 2021

Bourgault’s career shooting percentage in the QMJHL is 19.4, so his 22.2 percent success rate this season is in keeping with his reputation as an accurate shooter.
Accurate shooters in junior tend to have less NHL success than volume shooters as they arrive in pro hockey.
Bourgault’s accuracy is a great weapon, but NHL goaltenders are the best available, and volume shooters tend to have more success. A current example of this comes from the young career of Edmonton’s Kailer Yamamoto, who averaged 2.78 shots per game in his final junior season with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL…
Bourgault needs to turn up the volume. His career shots-per-game in the QMJHL is 2.17, and this season he is averaging 3.75 shots, so the young forward is heading in a good direction.
The numbers and projections suggest Bourgault’s future will be on the wing, and that he will have to battle players such as Raphael Lavoie and Tyler Tullio if he is to see the light of day on a skill line and eventually succeed Jesse Puljujarvi or Yamamoto.

BLH’s Thoughts: “Go-Go” is looking fine, isn’t he? I do ponder if the Oilers might have themselves a Henrik Zetterberg-like player here and just going off of his rookie camp and pre-season performances, this guy is not far off at all from being an full-time NHLer.

Bourgault is so good at finding open ice quickly.

Takes advantage of the Armada players cheating on their defensive coverage and unloads a rocket.

Always loved this guy. https://t.co/xqlhZi8wlg

— Marco D'Amico (@mndamico) October 31, 2021

The Daily Goal Horn

According to Kevin Weekes, the top two destinations for Eichel are the Flames and Golden Knights. He states that the situation is fluid and as of Sunday has yet to be completed.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period also provided an update this evening. “Vegas remains very much engaged in talks with Buffalo,” he said. “There’s been a lot of traction towards a deal. One area still to be figured out, the dollars matching up (and how does that look if Eichel can’t play post-surgery).”
As for the Flames, some wonder if they have the goods to get a deal done. Would they be willing to include Connor Zary in a deal, and is Buffalo interested in him?
So while the Flames remain a possibility, it looks like Vegas will be close to landing Eichel.