Edmonton Oilers Talk: The Original Alternate Oilers Jersey, How Tippett Likes To Run his Practises, and More Rumors!

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That Spawn Jersey

…it’s been 20 years today since the Edmonton Oilers unveiled the first third jersey in franchise history.
…the five-bolt lugs on the front logo and shoulder patches paid homage to the five Cups, but McFarlane’s design was edgy — and it was timely.
“The jersey broke NHL records for third jersey sales for number of units and dollars sold,” said former Oilers’ president Patrick Laforge.
It was designed by Todd McFarlane, creator of the red-hot Spawn franchise, who’d joined the Oilers’ vast ownership group known simply as the EIG in the era before the salary cap and Daryl Katz came along.
“I saw some of the early designs on it,” said McFarlane, who was one of the last investors to join the EIG. “It was like uughhhh. I mean, it was goofy, silly . . . I wanted to design something that, even if you knew nothing about sports, even if you knew nothing about hockey, you could still look at it and go, ‘I don’t know what it is, but it’s pretty rad.’

BLH’s Thoughts: Brownlee goes on to tell a story about how he almost had a glimpse of the uniform before its release but was thwarted by his own clumsiness. Click the link above and check out the rest of the post to find out what he did to shoot himself in the foot.

Personally, I was never a fan of the jersey back then, but in recent years I’ve been on the hunt for a Ryan Smyth version. The ones I’ve found on Ebay have been a tad out of my price range so far though. So, the search will continue…

In the meantime, here’s a YouTube clip about the uniform from around 13 years ago. Please forgive the quality…

Edmonton Sun

Was four-day break good or bad for 5-0 Edmonton Oilers?

…after winning three games in four nights to improve to 5-0, taking advantage of a four-day break in the schedule by spending two extra days in the desert oasis made perfect sense for the Edmonton Oilers.
Keeping players fresh during an 82-game home and road schedule, while still addressing their needs in practice, is a constant challenge. Run them too hard and they wear down. Give them too much time down time and they might lose their edge.
Tippett likes to hit the team with fast-paced practices about 45 minutes long. He says it keeps everyone sharp and, if you go at a strong pace and have a couple of focal points every day, you get a lot done.
…40-45 minutes of organized ice time is only a fraction of the daily regimen.
“Players nowadays are always (training). They do a workout before, they go on the ice early, practice ends and you’re still seeing guys out there half an hour later. This is a full time gig. They’re doing whatever they can to make themselves better and as a team.”
The Oilers are looking to start a season at 6-0 for the first time since 1983-84.

BLH’s Thoughts: When I heard that the Oilers were going to spending a few days in Vegas after their win, I became concerned because there’s been a plethora of high-profile players hit the COVID IR lately and it would be Edmonton’s luck if somebody caught the ‘Vid and it derailed their hot start. So far, nothing has come of my fears, so that’s good.

THREE PLAYERS TO WATCH VS. THE FLYERS

Philly’s 2-1-1 to start the year and they’ve scored 18 goals in those four games whilst only giving up 13… So I think we might be in for a track meet. I’m reading defenseman Ryan Ellis won’t be playing but one of my favorites, Rasmus Ristolainen will be.

#86 Joel Farabee – Has 8pts so far and leads the team in scoring. A very dangerous goal-scoring winger.

#70 Rasmus Ristolainen – A massive tank who fears nobody. Hyman and Puljujarvi will have fun with this guy. I imagine Kassian will have a chat with him too.

#89 Cam Atkinson – Acquired in the summer in the Voracek deal. He’s scored five goals so far on Philly’s second line.

EDMONTON

#75 Evan Bouchard – Another game on Edmonton’s top-pairing. Philly’s no joke… How will he do against a much better group of forwards?

#97 Connor McDavid – Connor’s going for Gretzky’s record of most multi-point games to start the year and he’s only two games away from tying it…

#19 Mikko Koskinen – He’ll play his third game in a row. I wonder if the big break between games will be a help or a hinderance for the big Finnish goalie?

NHLRumors.com

Sportsnet: Frank Seravalli on Sportsnet 590 on the options the Toronto Maple Leafs have right now after their slow start to the season.

One, you mentioned, it’s the easy one, fire the coach. I just don’t see it. Sheldon Keefe just got an extension. We just talked about the big three not holding up their end of the bargain. And it’s not on him.
So that brings you to number two, which is make a huge trade. Grab the attention of everyone in the dressing room, and if you’re going to circle a player, I think everyone would have to agree that it’s got to be Mitch Marner that would be the guy.
And then really the third option which is, what I feel the Leafs doing at this point is to essentially triple down. Triple down on the roster and what you’ve put together.

BLH’s Thoughts: