Edmonton Oilers Talk: Tullio’s Killer Weekend-io, Koskinen’s Future, Omicron, and the Latest 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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The Cult of Hockey

The Edmonton Oilers organizational depth shakes off some shallow criticism: 9 Things

a 7-point weekend for 2020 5 ^th Round draft pick Ty Tullio . He posted a hat trick Friday and then followed up that performance with a 1-3-4 evening Saturday.
The NHL’s terribly inconsistent job of calling hitting-from-behind infractions is sure frustrating. Colton Sceviour was drilled right in the numbers by Jeremy Lauzon Saturday. Filthy hit.
The emergence of Stuart Skinner as a real NHL option has some ready to move on from Mikko Koskinen . Not so fast. The Oilers’ NHL-quality organizational depth in goal is but 3.
Benson is being aggressive on the fore check, smart and reliable without the puck, and perhaps the most notable…a pain in the ass to play against.

BLH’s Thoughts: So, a few things here,

TyTullio SHOULD be dominating the OHL in the season after being drafted. It doesn’t always work that way but for a little guy who plays with a ton of heart, has quick boots, and can skill, this shouldn’t be a surprise. The challenge for him will be how long it’ll take for him to transition to the pro game when he signs with Bakersfield at the end of Oshawa’s year.

That hit from behind on Sceviour was textbook and the fact that it was video reviewed and still not called is a joke. What’s it going to take for the league to take these sorts of hits seriously? We all know the answer but is THAT even enough? Remember this hit on The Great One?

My feeling on the netminding is that Holland will find a way to swap Koskinen out with somebody else. He just doesn’t have the trust of his teammates I don’t think and going into the post-season, that’s definitely not the kind of distraction the Oilers need hanging over their heads.

I’m happy for Benson. I don’t know how many times it was mentioned here that in order for him to become a FT NHLer he would have to pivot his playing style and he’s done just that. I wonder what would’ve happened if Cooper Marody would’ve done that?

Oilersnation

Off the Top of My Head

Players like Puljujarvi don’t grow on trees, and we haven’t seen the best of him yet. While he’s already a handful for opposing defencemen around the net, Puljujarvi isn’t done developing physically, which was been obvious as we’ve watched his confidence grow by the game. There’s more here. We’ll get back to that after this latest interruption.
If there’s another guy who has voluntarily stepped away from an NHL head coaching gig for the reasons Paul Maurice resigned from the Winnipeg Jets Friday – he felt the team needed a new voice — I can’t think of who it was. It certainly hasn’t been done with as much class as Maurice showed. Some might say it was Craig MacTavish with the Oilers in 2009, but not so. GM Steve Tambellini and MacT agreed it was time for him go. That’s a diplomatic way of saying he got fired.
Can the NHL avoid another league-wide shutdown or a drastic change in format/alignment and still get a handle on the Omicron variant, which, in many cases, is infecting people who have been double-vaxxed? I hope so. I fear not.

BLH’s Thoughts: You don’t have to wax poetically about Pulju around me. I was well aware of his potential when everybody was calling him a spoiled brat and a traitor. World Junior Championship MVPs don’t just flame out like that…

Add Paul Maurice’s name to the growing list of candidates to replace Dave Tippett if he’s not re-signed in the off-season.

It’s interesting to see GMs like Steve Yzerman lobbying the NHL through the media to have the league stop testing asymptomatic players for positive COVID cases.

I thought that the whole point of testing is to see who had the virus so that a potential spread could be contained? Because the players wouldn’t be the only ones who could get sick, right? I mean, unless they’re going back to the bubble, everybody they walk within 6ft of is at risk, are they not? That’s wives, girlfriends, kids, grandparents, parents, neighbors, restaurant/bar employees, gas station attendants, grocery store workers…

I don’t know much about the Omicron variant aside from a couple of interviews with doctors out of South Africa and if I’m recalling correctly, they said at worst, the unvaccinated will be very uncomfortable with headaches and body soreness and the vaccinated will have very minor discomforts, if any. So it sounds like this variant’s death factor has lessened significantly and more so if you’ve been vax’d. So, that would lend itself to Yzerman’s point considering that the entire league save for Tyler Bertuzzi of Yzerman’s Red Wings, have been vaccinated.

Now, as that all pertains to the Olympics, it sounds like the NHLers aren’t going and I support that decision but I’m disappointed it came because of COVID and not as a message to the country where the event is being hosted…

The Hockey Writers Rumors

Hailey Salvian of The Athletic was asked about the odds the Calgary Flames make a big splash before the NHL Trade Deadline and she noted that the Flames would like to add a depth defenseman and a high-impact forward.
According to Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period, the Hurricanes have sniffed around defenseman John Klingberg from the Dallas Stars, but may also look to add in other areas.
Luke Fox of Sportsnet wondered why the Arizona Coyotes would be gauging trade interest for defenseman Jakob Chychrun when he’s exactly the type of player the team should be building around.
- Fox brings up the idea that maybe Chychrun is unhappy or his injury history is a problem for the organization. He’s had two knee surgeries and is currently on the IR. Fox says, “something feels odd about this one.”