Edmonton Oilers Talk: 30g for Pulju? Koski having Fun Again? McLeod to the Farm?

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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Cult of Hockey

Mikko Koskinen’s hard luck 2021 is a good reminder of just who these guys really are: 9 Things

9. Stuart Skinner is having an eye-opening pre-season. I’m not sure Skinner will ever be a #1 man in the NHL. But on a club that still has some cap challenges, having one of your 2 goaltenders next year just off his ELC but at the league minimum would be a meaningful turn of events.

BLH’s Thoughts: Never read too much into preseason. The sample size is too small and the quality of competition is nowhere near where it gets during the regular season.

We need to see Skinner become a dominant goalie at the AHL level and then as a backup in the NHL before we heave to much praise.

Mr. Leavins does make a good point with regards to the financial advantages the Oilers would obtain if Skinner could work himself onto the roster next season (or this season for that matter).

8. If I am reading the tea leaves correctly, expect Colton Sceviour to sign a 2-way deal with Edmonton.

BLH’s Thoughts: I think Sceviour had to play himself OUT of a contract offer in order for this not to happen. So no big surprise here.

6. The longer I watch the 4LW battle between Brendan Perlini and Tyler Benson the more I wonder if the Oilers keep both and perhaps instead farm out Ryan McLeod.

BLH’s Thoughts: Now THIS would be a surprise. McLeod getting sent to Bakersfield would send a strong message to the young forward, “Get your shit together offensively or see yourself out.”…

Personally, I’d rather keep him on the roster and move him to the wing at the risk of losing Benson, but that’s just me. I see more potential in McLeod.

5. I didn’t like Dave Tippett’s post-game criticism of Leon Draisaitl on Saturday, after #29 had won the game (albeit a mostly meaningless exhibition tilt) with that amazing backhand pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins… I generally have a lot of respect for Tippett. But I don’t remember Glen Sather winning 4 cups in this city by blaming his best players.

BLH’s Thoughts: Every player on this club should be open to critique from the coaching staff. We don’t know the whole story, do we? Maybe Tippett had already whispered something in Drai’s ear to cut out the cute shit and Leon decided to go all Fleetwood Mac and go his own way hence the public shaming.

Now, with that in mind, knowing Leon’s personality, the public criticism probably rolled right off his back. Besides, Draisaitl and McDavid are going to hear a helluva lot worse from Duncan Keith. Will Leavins question Keith’s tactics when he does it, or will the former Norris Trophy winner get a pass?

2. My eyes tell me that Jesse Puljujarvi has taken another step forward… If he stays on the line with Connor McDavid and Zack Hyman, I can see Puljujarvi scoring 30 goals.
1.Mikko Koskinen was excellent Saturday. If his season goes anything like last night (so, a .912 SV%) then that solves a big potential problem in the Edmonton nets.

BLH’s Thoughts: Is it the Year of the Finn? Well, no. It’s actually the year of the rat. Rat? Finn? Hey, remember when Esa Tikkanen said that Puljujarvi didn’t have it in him to be an NHL player?

Edmonton Sun

It was lonely existence for Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen last season

Mikko Koskinen is coming off a winter of discontent.
The Edmonton Oilers goalie couldn’t stop enough pucks and couldn’t stop thinking of his wife Karolina and two kids (sons Lukas and Oscar), also his dog, back in Finland.
Koskinen knows he has to be much better after he was overworked in the first month of the 56-game last season when Smith had a leg injury and he played all but one of the first 13 games.
So far, in a small sample size in two exhibition games, Koskinen has been very sharp, against Seattle and Winnipeg. He looks like he’s having fun in the net; saves will do that, so will have his family here, again.

“In the last year it was tough with no fans, sometimes it felt like, not pointless, but we are just chasing the puck. My family is gone and the whole world is basically closed,” said Koskinen. “Now everything seems to be back to normal … I’m trying to have fun this year.”

BLH’s Thoughts: If comedian Bill Burr and Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus had a baby, it’d come out looking like Mikko and that’s no insult, those two guys are ridiculously handsome!

But facetiousness aside, Koskinen was put in a very difficult position last year after Mike Smith got hurt. Compound that with not being able to have your family around and I get it. It was probably really hard to get in the right frame of mind for his games and mentally he wasn’t as sharp as he needed to be. The club probably should’ve just gave Stu Skinner some more starts to be honest, but from their POV you’ve got to see how cutthroat things are at that level too.

That said, it’s a new year, Koski looks rejuvenated, his family is around, and given it’s a contract season, I think we’re going to see him at his very best.

Spector’s Hockey

THE ATHLETIC: Eric Duhatschek recently looked at which notable players among the 2022 unrestricted free agents could become trade candidates later this season.

Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov
Toronto Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly
Boston Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron
Calgary Flames’ Johnny Gaudreau
Nashville Predators’ Filip Forsberg and Mattias Ekholm
New York Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad
Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

THE TENNESSEAN: Gentry Estes believes Filip Forsberg’s contract negotiations could determine the Nashville Predators’ true intentions. Trading him for draft picks and prospects will signal the rebuild is on rather than a soft reset, marking the end of an era for the club.

BLH’s Thoughts: I do wonder if Ken Holland picks one of the big upcoming UFAs and makes him a trade deadline priority this year? Mattias Ekholm would make a lot of sense to me in that you can never have enough high-end defenders on your roster heading into the post-season.