Edmonton Oilers Talk: Is This Dave Tippett’s Last Year Behind the Bench?

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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Lowetide.ca

SHARE THE LAND

Here are the numbers so far from Oilers prospects across the hockey world for 2021-22:

LC Maxim Denezhkin, Lada (VHL) 9, 1-5-6
LW Patrik Siikanen, JyP (Liiga) 8, 2-2-4
LW Maxim Berezkin, Lokomotiv (MHL) 1, 1-1-2
RD Max Wanner, Moose Jaw (WHL) 2, 0-2-2
LW Maxim Berezkin, Lokomotiv (KHL) 10, 0-0-0
LW Shane Lachance, Youngstown (USHL) 4, 0-0-0
LW Jeremias Lindewall, MoDo (Allsvenskan) 2, 0-0-0
RC Xavier Bourgault, Shawinigan (QMJHL) 1, 0-0-0
LD Luca Munzenberger, Vermont (Hockey East) 1, 0-0-0
RC Tomas Mazura, Providence (Hockey East) 1, 0-0-0

BLH’s Thoughts: No surprise to me that Denezhkin is racking up points in Russia’s junior league. You’d like to see him graduate to the MHL soon though and start plying his skills in a more challenging league.

To see Siikanen performing as well as he is pleases me. It’s not easy for young players to produce in that league, but he’s on a club that is icing two top prospects for the 2022 NHL draft in Joakim Kemell and Brad Lambert.

Berezkin looks to have started in the KHL and with nothing going he was sent to Lokomotiv’s farm team where he’s having some better luck. That’s a much better move for his development but sometimes these Russian clubs move really young kids onto their KHL rosters and let them sit. I have no idea why, but it happens nonetheless.

Oilersnation

Off the Top of My Head

Duncan Keith made it known he found it “frustrating” that he had to get vaccinated against COVID 19 to play hockey. In a province that just two days earlier recorded 34 pandemic deaths, it was obvious Keith hadn’t bothered to read the room.
The old saying is you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Framed in the circumstances we find ourselves in, I didn’t much care for what the two-time Norris Trophy winner and three-time Stanley Cup champion had to say off the top.
…if Keith delivers what the Oilers are paying him handsomely for out on the ice and in the dressing room over the next two seasons, what he said Friday won’t matter a bit.
Ethan Bear, the price the Oilers paid to acquire forward Warren Foegele from the Carolina Hurricanes, has been paired with Jaccob Slavin to start training camp.
Slavin led Carolina skaters in ice time last season at 22:59 and it sounds at this point like Bear will get every chance to stay paired with him into the season.
It’s understandable some Oilers’ fans have been beefing about trading a potential top-two blueliner in Bear for a third-line winger like Foegele. I get the sentiment, but I have a feeling that Foegele will be a pleasant surprise where he’s slotted. There’s more here. As for Bear, let’s see if he sticks in that top pair.
With four goals in four pre-season games, including one in a Friday’s 2-1 OT loss to Seattle, keeping things simple is obviously working for Brendan Perlini.
… if Perlini’s name isn’t written in ink on Tippett’s line-up card by now to start the upcoming regular season, I don’t know what it’ll take.

BLH’s Thoughts: It’s clear to me that Duncan Keith gives zero f*cks as to how he rubs other people. If you aren’t a fan of his brand of honesty, that’s on you, deal with it.

Me? I’m going to love every minute of it! Even when it involves my boy Yessa because there are too many folks who pussyfoot around these days. I like directness from hockey personalities when they speak.

I see Mr. Brownlee isn’t the only one who’s skeptical of Ethan Bear’s potential. Bear could be a very good top-four defenseman, but I think it would be more fair to let him show us he’s capable of that instead of using some pretty analytics graphics. Personally, I think he’s going to be exposed playing in the Atlantic against the Capitals and Islanders, but that’s just me. I wish him good luck, but in my mind the Oilers won that trade and I don’t think it’s close.

The Athletic

LeBrun: What’s the status of these six NHL coaches on expiring contracts?

Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay – Joel Quenneville is the highest-paid coach in the NHL at around $6 million. Let’s see if Cooper can get in the $5-million range at the least, which would be an achievement in the pandemic era.
Jared Bednar, Colorado – It’s Cup or bust again with even more pressure to deliver. But it’s hard to complain about Bednar’s work since he took over, that’s for sure.
Dave Tippett, Edmonton – There are no talks going on right now between Tippett and the Oilers’ brass and that’s just fine with him… How this season goes will have a big say in Tippett’s future decision.
Dean Evason, Minnesota – I believe Bill Guerin intends to extend Evason when the time is right. I just don’t think the Wild GM feels there’s any hurry at this stage to get into it.
Craig Berube, St. Louis – I don’t think he’s in any danger, nor is there any rush to extend his contract. I suspect the season will play out for a bit before there are conversations on this front.
Rick Bowness, Dallas – The popular veteran coach turns 67 in January so it should surprise no one that he hasn’t had any talks at this stage about an extension, as I’ve heard.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve heard that if the Oilers stumble out of the gate that they’ll actively look to replace Tippett, but regardless, at the end of the season there will be discussions as to the club hiring somebody else.

Is that Jay Woodcroft’s music?!!!