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
- Benson has just two points in 26 NHL games. That’s a poor number, but he hasn’t played much and never with skill. Posting numbers in the NHL is difficult, it’s a tough league to get a job in, never mind get cherry minutes with truly great players.
- Benson may never be the second-best left winger on the roster, but he could become a useful two-way winger who can post in the range of Tyler Pitlick.
- What has to happen? I think he might go in a deadline deal, or he might score a big goal (remember Brad Winchester?) and earn more playing time.
- I would run Benson with Ryan McLeod and a veteran winger on the fourth line. That isn’t going to happen. I think he can play a middle-six role on an NHL team. Someone in the organization thinks enough of Benson to keep him from the waiver wire.
BLH’s Thoughts: As posted by LT in his article, the Oilers have drafted 11 players in the last decade who’ve gone on to play in the NHL and score at least one point. Tyler Benson is not one of them. In fact, his points-per-game after 26 games in the show is .077.
If you were an NHL coach and you had a guy like Benson who was producing that poorly, would you forget about his average skating and underwhelming advanced stats just to throw him a bone? And which one of Evander Kane, Warren Foegele, or Zach Hyman are you sending to the 4th line so the young guy can get a few minutes with the big boys?
Look, this guy’s GF/60 Rel is MINUS SEVENTEEN! His xGF/60 Rel is MINUS 7.64! His HDCF/60 Rel is MINUS 3.92!… Need I go on? I think we’ve got a case of Leaky Grinder Syndrome.
I absolutely love the effort Benson puts out when he plays, but to get radically honest here, he’s not the missing link to Edmonton’s Stanley Cup chances. He’s not even the missing link to their playoff aspirations. As an NHL player, Tyler Benson does not move the needle today. As a local lad, I get why Oilers fans want to see him good, but do not let that want get in the way of this team’s needs.
Oilersnation
A look at the Western Conference and Edmonton’s busy second-half schedule
- The Oilers will come out of the All-Star break and won’t have more than two days off in between games for the rest of the season.
- 13 are against high-quality teams (Colorado, Carolina, Florida, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, NY Rangers, Pittsburgh, Nashville. St. Louis, Washington, Boston).
- 17 are four-point games against Pacific Division opponents and teams in the Wild-Card mix (Vegas, Calgary, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Dallas, Winnipeg, Vancouver).
- 10 are against non-playoff teams (Detroit, NY Islanders, Columbus, Chicago, Philadelphia, Ottawa, Buffalo, New Jersey, Seattle, Arizona, Montreal).
- They don’t have quite as many games left against the league’s basement, so they’ll have to put up a respectable record against the top teams in order to make the playoffs.
- It’s going to be a difficult climb and it’ll be interesting to see if Ken Holland adds any reinforcements. Evander Kane has been good so far and top prospect Dylan Holloway’s arrival seems to be right around the corner, but this team might need an addition on the blueline or in net, or possibly both.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’m actually kind of happy the Oilers won’t be playing as many games against the basement clubs as the team has a history of playing to the level of their opponents.
The latter half of this year is set to be one of the most entertaining in years and those four games against San Jose are going to amazing.
Spector’s Hockey
- THE PROVINCE: Ben Kuzma believes whether to trade or keep J.T. Miller is the biggest question facing the Vancouver Canucks’ new management… The New York Rangers and Boston Bruins are believed among the clubs linked to Miller.
- BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Jimmy Murphy cites an NHL pro scout telling him the Canucks love the Bruins’ top prospect Fabian Lysell. He believes that’s what it could take for them to acquire Conor Garland from Vancouver.
- PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Dan Kingerski wonders if Jeff Petry might be a good fit with the Penguins.
- THE HOCKEY NEWS: Adam Proteau believes changes are coming for the struggling Winnipeg Jets as they’ve failed to improve since Paul Maurice stepped down as head coach in December.
- WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: Mike McIntyre observed Jets center Mark Scheifele hasn’t been the same since getting suspended from last year’s playoffs for running Montreal Canadiens forward Jake Evans… McIntyre wondered if a change of scenery might be in the best interest of Scheifele and the Jets.
