Can you believe what we witnessed last night? Unbelievable, right? My whole family was sitting in the living room with me doing random things while I was watching this Edmonton Oilers/Calgary Flames game get out of hand and when the camera caught Mike Smith going to center-ice I knew shit was going to hit the fan. I yelled, “GOALIE FIGHT!” and my son, who is ridiculously adorable, turned ot me and said, “Daddy, ni xiadao wo!” Which means, “You scared me!” in Mandarin but I was so absorbed in the donnybrook that I barely heard him. Maybe because he’d already said it a couple times after I shouted when the Oilers had scored earlier in the game… I remember sitting in my chair cheering and clapping as if I was right there at the game and not even caring one bit how daft I might’ve looked to my wife and kids. I don’t really know how to express my feelings to be honest. I was happy, excited, nostalgic, and a handful of other things all at once. It was almost an out of body experience frankly.
To top it off, aside from the Oilers putting up a converted touchdown on Calgary with most of those going in on “No Save” Dave Rittich, there was “The Call”.
I didn’t get to hear the famous Jack Michaels call of the fight until later in the day but for me, it’s the best call of a fight I’ve ever heard. The end when he’s shouting about this being the battle of Alberta we’ve all be waiting 3o years for… It gives me goosebumps every time I hear it and hits me right in the feels too.
Now, I couldn’t keep that to myself. So I found some fan footage of that fight and spliced it together with Jack’s call and made a YouTube clip for you. I hope you like it!
New Trade Rumors
Today, in Kurt Leavins’ 9 Things blog, he introduced the Buffalo Sabres as a possible team to keep an eye out for with regards to a trading partner for the Oilers and funny enough, I was just talking about those two getting together for a deal with a friend. So I asked around and the conclusion that I came to is that the Oilers are still looking to upgrade their depth at forward. Not a lot of details were given but I came to the conclusion that the following players could be on Edmonton’s radar.
- Conor Sheary (LW) – 27 years old – 45gp 7g 9a 16pts
If you’re looking for speed and tenacity on the wing as well as someone who can score goals and play with talented centers, Sheary could be your guy. He’s having a down year as many in Buffalo aside from Jack Eichel are, but this guy can play up and down your lineup and he’s a UFA this summer. He’s been a healthy scratch at times this year to boot, so we should assume the asking price is probably pretty low.
- Jimmy Vesey (LW) – 26 years old – 48gp 6g 8a 14pts
Here’s another winger who can skate like the wind but this one has size (6’3″ 202lbs). Vesey hasn’t fit into Ralph Krueger’s system in Buffalo since being acquired by the Sabres from New York and has found himself sitting in the press box at least once. Normally a 30-ish points per year player, Vesey will struggle to hit 25 this year. Also an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
- Curtis Lazar (C/RW) – 25 years old – 22gp 4g 4a 8pts
Do you remember earlier this year when Edmonton played Buffalo and Lazar was unbeatable on the faceoff dot? Draisaitl simply couldn’t solve him that night. I wonder if the former Edmonton Oil King on that night may have caught the eye of someone in Edmonton’s pro scouting department. Now, you have to wonder about the kind of decision making your scouts are making if they’re offering recommendations after one good performance which flies in the face of a handful of poor seasons. That said, he’s only making 700k, he’d simply be a depth acquisition, and he’d fit right in with this group of players because he’s an extremely hard worker on and off of the ice.
Another player I wonder about is summer-signing Marcus Johansson. He’s a veteran with lots of playoff experience and he can move. Consistency (production/health) has been his problem but like Edmonton’s streaky scorers (Neal/Chiasson), when he’s on, he’s really on. An expensive player to bring in though as he makes $4.5M for this year and next. In addition to that, he’s got a ten team no trade list. So, perhaps this option isn’t so viable. I like his toolset though.
My feeling is that it’s going to be tough for Joakim Nygard to come back this year and regain the form he was playing with after he recovers from hand surgery and we’ve yet to see what Tyler Benson can do. If he’s not up to snuff during this call-up, Edmonton will need to bring someone in to play with Riley Sheahan and Josh Archibald on the Oilers’ 3rd line.
Buffalo is in a weird position too. Similar to what the Oilers were in when Peter Chiarelli came aboard and had to lose a couple of trades because he had no leverage. Jason Botteril is in a shit position right now and the city of Buffalo is turning on him fast. This is the time to win a trade with the Sabres and pry a good player out of that organization on the cheap.
