Edmonton Oilers Talk: Tullio, Ryan, the Latest on Josh Archibald, and More NHL Rumors!

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

OILERS NOTES: Derek Ryan checks the boxes on third line and face-offs

Darnell Nurse’s NHL nickname is ‘Doc’ for obvious reasons, and now we bring you third-line centre Derek Ryan, who has been called ‘Doc’ in Carolina, Calgary, and now here.
Ryan, Warren Foegele and Zack Kassian were a handful during the scrimmage Saturday, and it looks like an ideal, aggressive unit once the season starts.
Ryan and Kailer Yamamoto are both from Spokane, Wash., and Yamamoto once attended hockey schools Ryan ran in the summer months.

“He’s like my second dad. I work out with him, skate with him,” said Yamamoto, 22, who is 12 years younger than Ryan.

This ‘N That

Stuart Skinner and Ilya Konovalov, the likely tandem on the farm in Bakersfield will split the goaltending Sunday against the Calgary Flames.
Tippett says neither McDavid nor Draisaitl will be playing.
Good chance the Ryan camp line plays.
Camp standouts Benson and Ryan McLeod will probably on the road list.
Very good bet Evan Bouchard and his defence partner Slater Koekkoek will be in Calgary.
Still no sign of Josh Archibald, out of quarantine for several days now, with any practice groups.
Khaira has been on a fourth line with Dylan Strome and Ryan Carpenter at Hawks’ camp.
Caleb Jones is in the fourth defence pair in Chicago with the first group.

BLH’s Thoughts: I like that Dave Tippett is going to go with the young guys in these exhibition games to start and rest the big boys.

Here’s my lineup prediction for tonight’s game vs. Calgary:

Foegele-Ryan-Kassian
Benson-McLeod-Marody
Perlini-Shore-Turris
Esposito-Malone-Sceviour

Lagesson-Ceci
Koekkoek/Bouchard
Broberg-Berglund

Skinner/Konovalov

There may be an extra forward or defenseman, I’m not sure.

How much do you wanna bet that Ryan and Yamamoto are going to see a fair bit of time together this time? There’s no hurt in tossing them on a line either with the chemistry they’ve got from training with one another in the past. Ryan could teach Killer a thing or two and Yamo is more likely to absorb those lessons I feel.

The “Caleb Jones is better than Duncan Keith crowd” have been pretty quiet since the line combos in Chicago were posted… Weird… 4th pair out of training camp doesn’t sound like an NHL defenseman though. That said, good luck to the lad.

Oilers holding Archibald off of the ice until he gets the poke? How deep do you think Archie is going to dig his feet in on this with Alberta falling apart at the seams during this 4th wave of COVID?

The Athletic

Why Tyler Tullio’s skill set is a good match for the Oilers — and makes him sure to be a fan favorite

A heart and soul, rugged, “dirty areas” player, he is just getting started in the organization, and the pandemic has robbed him of playing in front of a full house of Edmonton fans for two training camps.
Oilers fans will love him based on his aggressive style and ability.Oilers fans will love him based on his aggressive style and ability.
Among recent Oilers draft picks from the OHL, Tullio’s 1.07 points per game in his draft year is a close match for Ryan McLeod in 2018 (1.08).

“I try to model my game after the grittiness of Brad Marchand. He’s not the biggest player. He scores, goes to dirty areas. Bit of a pest. But he’s a winner and does everything right.”

This is a confident young man, and that quality probably explains why he can be such a pain to all comers despite being slightly under six feet tall and not yet at his adult playing weight.
He’s a fine NHL prospect, chosen by Edmonton at least one full round later than he should have gone.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ll say this, his playing style is sure reminiscent of Marchand. Just the way that he gets around the ice, you can see the comparison.

I never got much of a chance to view a lot of this players footage before he was drafted but from the little I’ve gotten during training camp and the rookie games, he’s going to be a really fun one to keep an eye on. Will he be the next Esa Tikkanen or are we looking at another Braden Christoffer/Greg Chase?

The Hockey Writers (Rumors)

NHL Rumors: Kraken, Blackhawks, Bruins, Rangers, Sharks, Maple Leafs

Kraken general manager Ron Francis reported in his press conference Friday, that Yanni Gourde’s recovery from injury was progressing “ahead of schedule.” This means he could be back in the lineup earlier than the previously projected early-December return, which is great news for the team as he’s expected to be a big part of their offense.
NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis reports Kane isn’t fully recovered from an injury that he appears to have suffered before the start of the Edmonton bubble in 2020. The belief is that Kane will be able to play through the injury and Kane says he’s “optimistic with where [he’s] going.” What the injury is, remains somewhat of a mystery.
As per Luke Fox of Sportsnet, there are a few pending 2022 NHL free agents worth keeping an eye on. Among them is Patrice Bergeron who is in the last year of his deal. Fox says, expect the multiple-time Selke Award winner to look around a bit next summer as he waits for a formal deal from the Bruins.
Fox also notes that the pending Mika Zibanejad deal with the Rangers could come this season and speculation is that the deal might be around eight figures AAV when all is said and done. That means the Rangers are prepared to give him $10 million-plus over eight years.
Jonas Siegel of The Athletic notes that the Maple Leafs have slotted John Tavares to play in the first exhibition game for the Leafs so that he can get that game out of the way and put his return to the ice in the past.