Edmonton Oilers Talk: Secondary Shockwaves and The Bison King

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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Edmonton Sun

Hyman goes full Hyman in Edmonton Oilers debut

There was considerable hype, and even a little criticism about the contract, when the Oilers landed free agent Zach Hyman in the off-season. Then the wrapping came off in the first game of the season and he immediately checked off everything on the team’s wish list.
He brought life to a second line that didn’t have Leon Draisaitl on it, scored a power-play goal, ground out hard minutes on the penalty kill, brought his patented relentless forecheck and went 5-1 in the faceoff circle for good measure.

“He’s so tenacious,” said head coach Dave Tippett, adding his hustle spreads through the lineup. “His energy is contagious. He’s one of those guys, you send him over the boards and you know what you’re going to get.”

Perhaps most importantly, Hyman gives the Oilers the kind of second line they never used to have when Draisaitl moved up to play with McDavid. Being able to follow up their nuclear option with a secondary shock wave is a massive development.
An interesting element in Evan Bouchard’s debut is the 6:01 he spent on the penalty kill, second only to Darnell Nurse’s 6:11. Rookies who are breaking into the league on the basis of puck movement and a good shot aren’t stereotypical penalty killers, but this is an area he and the coach are eager to cultivate.

BLH’s Thoughts: Ya know, yesterday on Oilers Now, Bob Stauffer couldn’t stop raving about Hyman’s performance and here I am thinking he was just okay. Maybe my judgement game is still in preseason mode or perhaps my expectations were higher than Bob’s.

I mean, Hyman came as advertised, did he not? What more should I have expected? All offseason I read about this guy’s game and what he was going to bring to the Oilers. He wasn’t poor by any means, I just didn’t come away thinking he was Edmonton’s best forward.

I wasn’t all that impressed with Bouchard’s game on the whole either, but seeing as he’s a defenseman, I usually take it as a good thing that he wasn’t really noticeable.

With that said, I reckon if I watched the game again after reading all the post-game reviews, I’d probably see what all the pundits were raving about.

Am I alone in thinking that it might be a good thing that the Oilers won a game where there weren’t many standout individual performances?

Lowetide.ca

YOU WIN AGAIN

Mike Smith had a fantastic game, even with the late goal that sent it to overtime. Stuff happens, and his save percentage on the evening (.947) an accurate reflection of his performance.
On defense, Darnell Nurse played 32:24, picked up an assist, and managed the chaos. He was exposed (all defensemen had “moments” last night) a couple of times but the overall performance was positive on apple turnover night for the No. 1 line.
The Keith-Ceci pairing were a mixed bag, outlet passes for allowed breakaways can’t be a thing all year.
Leon Draisaitl was charged with two giveaways, it felt like more. Jesse Puljujarvi was damned brilliant, six shots, a goal and tireless forechecking. McDavid had two assists and did well considering how little space he had on the night.
It was a good effort, the game went as expected (I predicted 3-2 on the Lowdown) and there are things to work on. You’re going to see plenty of bragging online (“I told you Keith-Ceci would be fine!”) but please understand there isn’t enough sample to make any conclusions that are trustworthy.

BLH’s Thoughts: It says a lot about LT’s biases that even though the Keith-Ceci pairing DESTROYED IT from an advanced metrics POV, he still reckons they were a “mixed bag” and the only plus he took away from the game was Ceci’s seeing eye breakaway pass to Kailer Yamamoto.

Lowetide is right though, one game is not enough time to form a complete and educated judgement, but you shouldn’t disregard even a single performance if it stands out like Keith’s and Ceci’s did, like Mike Smith’s did, or like Leon Draisaitl’s did (man, the German was scheisse on opening night…)

The funny thing is, analytics folk usually have a fallback in the event they are wrong. In this case, if these two dmen have a good-to-great season, it will be regarded as an outlier. Even if they have two good years, because of Keith’s age and given the teammates they play with, there will still be outlier-ish sentiments.

I’ve read tons on why Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci will most turn the Edmonton Oilers into a lottery team, but I’ve not read a lot on what would be considered a successful season on their parts. I assume because no pro-analytics writers are willing to stick their necks out and walk the fence like that or possibly someone has written a very detailed post going over what a positive season would look like for the pair and in my daftness, I’ve simply glossed over it. In that case, egg on my face.

Why focus on that silly debate when we can sit back and bask in Jesse Puljujarvi’s form like a fat cat sprawling about the front lawn taking in all the sunshine it can get?

The Bison King has arrived.

THE BISON KING!!!! pic.twitter.com/xnkVg1Qgy1

— VisuallyBetter (@Isuckatpicking) October 14, 2021

Spector’s Hockey

DAILY FACEOFF: Frank Seravalli advises keeping an eye on Vladimir Tarasenko’s start with the St. Louis Blues. While both sides are playing nice and saying the right things, the 29-year-old winger “still strongly desires a trade”, said Seravalli.

BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Joe Haggerty reports Bruins president Cam Neely suggested a new contract for Charlie McAvoy could be in the works. He said management has been working closely with the 23-year-old defenseman’s representatives in recent days. He’s hopeful of a new deal “in short order”.

NBC SPORTS CHICAGO: Charlie Roumeliotis reports Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman attempted to downplay trade rumors swirling about Dylan Strome.

THE ATHLETIC: Rick Carpiniello reported a source informed him Vitali Kravtsov’s demotion by the New York Rangers to their AHL affiliate in Hartford had nothing to do with him being waiver-exempt. Instead, it was based on his mediocre performance during training camp, the lower-body injury that cost him part of camp and preseason play, and the belief of GM Chris Drury and head coach Gerard Gallant that the winger needed more developmental time.