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!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
Oilersnation
Monday Musings: Schedule Maker’s Nightmare
- Edmonton has actually improved its 5×5 play since December 7th, even though they lost the first four games before defeating Columbus and Seattle. They have outshot teams 167-130 (55.3%) at 5×5 in that span, which ranks seventh best in the NHL.
- In their first 23 games they were outscored 54-48 at 5×5, and in their last six, despite carrying the play for long stretches, they’ve been outscored 14-8… They miss Mike Smith.
- Edmonton’s depth forwards are finally starting to produce… They have produced 7-5-12 in three games. A massive improvement.
- Unless the Oilers have many players who go three consecutive days with negative tests, it is difficult seeing them playing on the 27th. The Oilers officially closed their facility today. Remains to be seen when they will re-open.
BLH’s Thoughts: So when the club comes out of the protocols, which team are we going to see? The one that busted its ass to break out of a 6-game slump or the one that was expecting to win off of its special teams?
Personally, I don’t feel like Coach Tippett trusts his bottom-sixers and they know that, hence why they haven’t been producing. When third and fourth line skaters start a season well, that can be considered the honeymoon phase in my opinion. Then once the rest of the league has settled down, the production tends to tail off a bit and you sort of see what kind of tendencies the coaches go with in that scenario.
Since Tippett was forced to stay home due to The ‘Vid, Glen Gulutzan and Jim Playfair seemed to have found a way to motivate some very slumpy forwards. Don’t ask me how, but your Perlinis, Kassians, Bensons, Sceviours, Ryans, they all stepped up their games in the head coach’s absence.
Lowetide.ca
- Let me ask you a question: Among the current Oilers forwards who are rookies (Ryan McLeod, Tyler Benson, Cooper Marody), which one do you see having the longest career? What can their respective rookie seasons tell us about them? How important is Ryan McLeod’s offense to his future? Does it matter if he scores .20 points-per-game instead of .35 points-per-game as a rookie?
- Marody is a player I’ve believed in all down the line, but inexplicably he never got a shot after a fairly impressive first NHL audition.
- For Benson, it’s imperative that he at least moves the needle a little.
- I think (not making any major declaration here) that players who are shy of .5 points-per-game as rookies, even the teenagers, are a least a little vulnerable to the whims of management/coaching staffs of drafting teams.
BLH’s Thoughts: Marody’s never been given a shot because while his hands and vision is probably middle-six worthy, his feet are not. He’s not fast, quick, or strong enough to play in a role that would compliment his strongest assets in the NHL. Also, he’s never considered pivoting his playstyle to become somebody who could help in any role at the NHL level.
To me, Ryan McLeod has the potential to be a Jared McCann-like player. It took some time for McCann to find his way but once he did, he’s become a proper NHL player and I think the same will go down for Edmonton’s McLeod. Therefore, to answer LT’s question, the swift skating pivot will have the longest career out of the trio of names suggested.
The Daily Goal Horn
- The Buffalo Sabres finally ended all the drama by trading star forward Jack Eichel and a 2023 third-round draft pick to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday for forwards Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs, a top-10 protected 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 second-round pick.
- On the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Friedman revealed just what the Sabres wanted from Anaheim.
- “I heard what the Sabres asked Anaheim for was Zegras, Drysdale, and two first rounders” he said. “Anaheim wasn’t willing to do that.”
- The NHL roster freeze is in effect until December 28 – not that anyone was going to make a trade in the current environment.
