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
- The Oilers will stay the course, there’s nothing in the minors that can help and there’s no obvious trade to be made. The goaltending is my primary area to look at, although another scoring winger would seem to be a rising need. We don’t know how close Keith and Mike Smith are to returning, and Holland (plus Tippett) will want to see the entire team back together before proceeding with a move.
- Where will Edmonton be in the standings at that time? Don’t know. I do know they have played well enough to earn points in this losing streak, and that panic is the worst possible move from here.
- I would stay the course. I know that is the least popular opinion on the internet today. I’m a stubborn kind of fellow, that comes in handy at moments like this one.
BLH’s Thoughts: The Oilers are going to have to dig themselves out of this rut. The GM doesn’t fire coaches and trade prices will have doubled, so Holland won’t be trading his way out.
With the impending returns of Mike Smith and Duncan Keith, you have to think their addition to the playing roster will provide some more juice.
Also, Ken Holland still hasn’t really seen the roster he built this summer for any length of time because of those injuries and therefore he may just want to do that before heading into the trade market.
But LT is right, the market is down and selling low would be the worst thing to do considering the potential for this team is still very high.
Oilersnation
Off the Top of My Head
- … it’s now 19 games with no sniff for Foegele as the Hurricanes beat the suddenly wooden-handed Oilers 3-1.
- Leaning on Draisaitl and McDavid so much is a chicken-and-egg thing. Lack of scoring from the rest of the line-up and playing from behind, as the Oilers have done far too often, means Draisaitl and McDavid play more.
- McDavid is painting the most positive picture possible. Shuffling the same non-productive players into different spots in the line-up isn’t going to make a difference. If this continues, it’s over to you, Ken Holland.
BLH’s Thoughts: Exhaustion could be one reason why the PP is suffering. When you’re tired you’re more likely to make the safe play instead of the creative more unpredictable (riskier) one.
The other day I talked about players feeling trusted by the coaches and how that goes a long way with how they perform and ya know, it’s weird, since Tippett has been starting the games with his 3rd line, there’s been more jump in the team’s forecheck. Foegele’s been part of that re-emergence and we all know that if you keep driving the blue paint and putting yourself out there, a goal will surely follow.
Holland plays the long game ppl. He won’t be pressured into making a trade right now, in my opinion, and he’s rarely made any trades before the month of the trade deadline in his GM career.
So you can say, “Over to you Holland.” as much as you want, but history tells us that the coach is likely to stay and the players will be tasked with finding a way out of their funk. Smith and Keith returning should help with that… “Should” being the key word.
The Hockey Writer Rumors
- Friedman mentioned that GM Ken Holland wants to show McDavid and Draisaitl they’re going for it this season and when asked about the deadline on After Hours, Holland said they’ve got to win some games first, but he’d really like to be in a position to be a buyer.
- While a number of candidates have been mentioned in connection to the Canucks’ open GM position — current Seattle Kraken assistant GM Jason Botterill is one — another name that was mentioned by Friedman is Patrick Allvin of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Friedman said, “One dark horse name to keep an eye on is Patrick Allvin from Pittsburgh. He worked with Rutherford with the Penguins and was the interim GM after left and before Ron Hextall took over.”
- Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports that news from the NHL that the salary cap is likely to jump again just ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season is good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. While the cap is only expected to increase by $1 million next season, the big jump comes after the escrow debt is paid off by the players which is projected to be just ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season.
