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GM18: Vegas @ Edmonton
Who to Keep an Eye for the Golden Knights
- #9 Jack Eichel – Five goals in his last five and two assists on top of that! Jackie’s flying right now. He and Connor going head-to-head is much better than when Crosby and McDavid face each other I find and I’m expecting nothing less than a very entertaining battle tonight.
- #20 Chandler Stephenson – Don’t ask me where this guy came from but he’s got one goal and 7 assists in his last half dozen minus one. If I recall correctly, this guy has got a pair of rockets on his feet. He can really move.
- #19 Reilly Smith – Eight goals in his last ten games. This guy always burns Edmonton for at least one when he plays then I find. Don’t take that as fact though, it just feels like he’s always scoring against the Oilers.
Who to Keep an Eye for the Oilers
- #21 Klim Kostin – He’s still performing very well. He hit a post and demolished Drew Doughty the other night. I’ll be very interested to see how he meshes with Ryan McLeod (needs a point) and Jesse Puljujarvi (needs a goal in the worst way). Can the combination of speed, size, and physicality overpower Vegas?
- #26 Mattias Janmark – One good game and he’s on McDavid’s wing. Well, I hope that he’s got the same legs tonight as he did vs. LA.
- #29 Leon Draisaitl – One 5v5 goal this month… Averaging a shot/game at 5v5… He needs to pick up the pace offensively toute suite.
BLH’s Thoughts: The recipe for success tonight for the Oilers is to prevent zone entries, clog up the middle of the ice, and get shots and bodies on Vegas’ net.
I’ve got a bone to pick though…
On Friday, Bob Stauffer couldn’t say enough about how much Jesse Puljujarvi is struggling but the fact of the matter is, he’s hitting more than any active forward on this team, he’s shooting more at 5v5 this month than the likes of Leon Draisaitl and RNH, he’s disrupting more plays, he’s winning more battles on the boards. He’s not button hooking 10 feet into the other teams zone and losing the puck on a consistent basis like Draisaitl is. JP has drawn as many penalties this month as Leon and Nuge combined whilst only playing 5v5 and around 13 minutes a night. Jesse has three times as many takeaways as he does giveaways despite the Pulju-haters saying the puck dies on his stick all of the time.
It’s true, of the three $3M men (JP, Yamo, Foegele), McLovin’ has the most goals and he appears to be doing more work but the fact of the matter is, Puljujarvi is clearly the best of the three (also in November he’s one of the team’s best possession and chance drivers) despite not scoring a goal. Head over to Natural Stat Trick and look at those publicly available numbers, it’s not even debatable. The Oilers are better with The Bison King on the ice than not, yet Jay Woodcroft in all of his wisdom refuses to play him more and demotes him to the third line. It’s a bold tactic but I sense a bit of panic settling in amongst the Oilers coaching staff.
Leon Draisaitl is averaging ONE fucking shot on goal at even strength this month! He’s a god damned 50 goal scorer! What the hell is he doing out there for $8M a year if he’s not shooting.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has ZERO bloody assists at 5v5 ON THE SEASON! You want to talk about how the offense is dying with the $3M men but Nuge is out there eating shit at even strength despite getting close to ALL of his ice time with Draisaitl and McDavid?!!! C’mon man!
And this is what pierces my nuts about Edmonton media. They know what’s going on but it’s a game for them. They can read the stat sheets about who’s doing what and when and how often. Yet, they choose to go after the easy targets every single time.
Here’s the thing, there needs to be more attention paid to disallowing zone entries, getting back to support the dmen, and forcing pucks and men on the other team’s net.
This team doesn’t need a “short-term” fix in the bottom six to give the club some more truculence. If they’re going to upgrade that portion of the roster, go out and get a long-term fix like Garnet Hathaway. Forget this Zack MacEwen bullshit. You want a guy who’ll play 6 minutes a night that’ll smash faces? Ryan Reaves is on the outs in NY but I’d argue the game has passed him by.
This team needs to trade for one or two top-four defensemen. Simple as that. Proper ones too. Not players who they think “could” play there. I’m talking about blueliners like John Klingberg, Scott Mayfield, Joel Edmundson, maybe Erik Karlsson, I think they’re looking at Gavrikov in Columbus.
The Oilers could also use some shit disturbers. I think Tyler Benson could be one. Brendan Lemieux is definitely one but I am curious if Ken Holland is talking to Montreal about Josh Anderson. His name is coming up again. He’s basically and Evander Kane-type but on the other wing.
Look, this month can’t end fast enough. I think tonight’s game will be very competitive, however, if the local media in Edmonton is going to cherry pick names to blame for this micro-slump and completely ignore others, I’ll be there to correct that injustice.
Rant over… This version at least.
