Edmonton Oilers Talk: Best Ever Start to a Season Coming and Who is Edmonton’s Best Prospect Now?

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!

Edmonton Sun

Oilers chasing best-ever start with glory gang in town

The Oilers only won eight of their first nine before that back in 1985-86.
Edmonton has never won nine of their first 10… Not once did those guys with their names and numbers in the rafters manage to do that.
Edmonton’s win over the Nashville was half way to the American Thanksgiving date where history shows an inordinate number of teams in a playoff position on that date maintain that position through to the beginning of the Stanley Cup tournament.
American Thanksgiving has become the point where the sample size is considered big enough for general managers to start making their moves.
The Nashville visit represented the end of an opening stretch where the Oilers went 6-0 returning against Pacific Division opposition. They have no games within the division between now and American Thanksgiving and only two of the next nine they’d play before five games in a row during the Christmas stretch when a second straight IIHF world junior would be held here.

BLH’s Thoughts: This Rangers team has been sneaky good this year. Kaako and Lafreniere have taken a positive step in their development, they’ve got a really nice set of solid young defensemen lead by Adam Fox, and Shesterkin has taken the mantle over from Henrik Lundqvist quite well. Can’t forget about Panarin, Kreider, Strome, and Zibanejad.

Funny, according to Cap Friendly, Lafreniere is on New York’s 4th line. I wonder what they’re going to do with their left wingers considering they’ve got Kreider and Panarin signed through to 2027 and 2026 respectively. Where does that leave Laffy who happens to have 4pts in 10 games so far?

I guess what I’m trying to say is, the Oilers are probably facing one of their toughest tests so far and I think it would be a excellent feat if they could beat the Rangers to start the year 9-1-0 on the night that a lot of the Old Boys on the Bus will be in town for Kevin Lowe’s jersey retirement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCXJadDsfCo

The Athletic

Who is the Oilers’ top prospect now that Evan Bouchard has graduated?

Pedigree suggests Broberg, Holloway and Xavier Bourgault as top candidates — the three most recent first-round selections. There’s also a large group of young defencemen (including Broberg) pushing up from the minors, plus college forward Carter Savoie, who is scoring at a goal-per-game pace early in the Denver Pioneers’ season.
Broberg is in Bakersfield to work on coverage and moving the puck more rapidly, things he’ll need to be able to do routinely upon his NHL arrival. His point total (five assists in seven games) indicates the puck-moving side of his game is a transferrable skill from the SHL to AHL.
Dmitri Samorukov looks like a different player from than we saw play for the Condors in 2019-20. You may recall the big (6-foot-3, 197 pound) Russian scored two goals and 10 points in 47 games, with an even-strength on-ice goal differential of 28-34 (minus-6) on a team that was constantly under fire due to injuries and NHL recalls.
At this point, my bet is that Bourgault is the most substantial forward in the system, although Savoie is right there and playing against men. Holloway looms large and any of the forwards listed here (plus names like Matvey Petrov and Maksim Berezkin) could rip off a 15-game run and emerge as the top forward prospect in the system.
It’s early days, but Skinner’s games added to his strong performance with the Condors in 2020-21 have him in a good spot on the Oilers’ depth chart.
If the strong performances continue in Bakersfield, Bouchard’s replacement at the top of the prospect list will be another defenceman.

BLH’s Thoughts: Holloway would be the best prospect if he were playing. I think Xavier Bourgault is looking very promising but he hasn’t played any professional hockey yet, so it’s tough to gauge there. Lots of guys have come out of the QMJHL with gaudy stats only to shit the bed at the next level. I like him, but I want to see more of him in the AHL.

So, I suppose that leaves a toss-up between Broberg and Samorukov. Stauffer is saying that Skinner is the most NHL-ready guy in Bakersfield, but I wonder if Samorukov has the inside track considering he was a standout in the KHL last year and from all accounts, he’s continuing his dominance for the Condors.

Spector’s Hockey

SPORTSNET:Luke Fox cites Nick Kypreos reporting Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is now focused on signing Jack Campbell to a new contract after getting Morgan Rielly signed to a long-term extension.

THE JEFF MAREK SHOW: Elliotte Friedman reported the Leafs are shopping a right-side defenseman. He speculated it could be Travis Dermott, who is listed as day-to-day with a foot injury.