“I genuinely think the Oilers will be a strong team next season, but that’s in spite of management and not because of it.”

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 Hockey Writers (Parsons)

Oilers Ranked 5th-Worst Run NHL Team, “Squandering” Best Players

According to fans who read The Athletic and closely follow the Edmonton Oilers, the franchise didn’t rank terribly well among 32 teams in the NHL when it comes to how the organization is being run. In fact, it ranked No. 28 out of 32 teams, putting it fifth from the bottom.

“I genuinely think the Oilers will be a strong team next season, but that’s in spite of management and not because of it. They were given a gift with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, two of the league’s best players on two of the league’s best contracts. The front office is squandering that opportunity.” – Dom Luszczyszyn

As The Athletic admits, their ranking system of fans “may not be the truest reflection of the entire hockey population, as it’s selectively biased toward those dedicated enough to subscribe (and likely have a more analytical slant).”
They also argue that the results “should still be close enough to gauge the temperature of how strong each front office is” and there’s certainly enough evidence of vitriol on social media when it comes to the Oilers
Until games are played, this is just a ranking and the opinion of a section of the fan base.

BLH’s Thoughts: Jim Parsons nails everything on the head in this post with his own responses. You should click the link above and read the whole thing.

Here’s my two cents in the meantime,

“Spite” – a desire to hurt, annoy, or offend someone.

So… Let me get this straight, the players signed and traded themselves to Edmonton and if they win some hockey games it’ll be because they’re pissed off at Ken Holland?

Well, that makes sense because professional hockey is simply chalked full of children who do things like that.

Man… The Brainiacs that come up with this shit never cease to amaze me.

As for this club’s fanbase… The Oilers could win five Cups in a row and there’d still be a fraction of it that is pissed off about the Taylor Hall trade. Hell, every summer there’s a moment of silence city-wide to mourn the trading of Wayne Gretzky.

So I wouldn’t take fan polls too seriously when it comes to determining if a team is being run well or not. All you have to do is look at the previous handful of seasons and count how many post-seasons the Oilers have been apart of compared to the previous decade and that’ll tell you if the team is being managed well or not.

The Cult of Hockey (Leavins)

A suddenly crowded port-side presents a big challenge for Edmonton Oilers prospect Tyler Benson

Tyler Benson is probably an NHL winger… The question is: Will that be with the Edmonton Oilers, the club that selected him…
He is an excellent NHL-level play maker who sees the zone very well and has high-level instincts and passing abilities.
While not a giant, Benson also benefits from a solid build that enables him to handle the heavy going. That physical attribute is the perfect combination with Benson’s knack for making things happen along the walls.
Benson’s injury history is worrisome although that was largely during his junior career.
He does not have NHL boots, as his 7-game NHL audition showed. I am made to understand that Benson has hit the gym hard this Summer and is in peak physical condition.
One more positive sign that Benson is closer to Prospect than Suspect: When Ryan McLeod was recalled just in advance of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Benson’s performance remained steady from then on.

BLH’s Thoughts: From a statistical POV, this is not true. McLeod was recalled on the 21st of April and Benson scored only one goal, was -7 from that point on to the end of the regular season (nine games), and was kept off the scoresheet four times.

Prior to Benson losing his center, he had 30pts in 27gp and was +21. Also, his longest scoring drought was two games, which happened only twice. The first two games of the season and the week prior to McLeod’s recall when San Diego and Ontario shut him down.

That said, TB did see a slight resurgence in the post-season as his production improved slightly (6gp, 3g 2a, -1 and 12 SOG). It must be noted that he scored the GWG in the championship game as well and if I had to guess, I’m thinking that might be why Leavins is saying Benson did fine without McLeod. That’s just an assumption on my part though.

That suggests Benson was not a passenger on that dangerous trio with McLeod and Cooper Marody but one of its drivers.

Yeah… Again, unless Leavins is talking about the playoffs, I disagree.

Benson’s (and Cooper Marody’s) regular season performance was definitely impacted by the absence of McLeod. No longer did that line have a big center with speed and hands who could open up space in order for Benson and Marody to do what they do best, or at least that’s my guess. Maybe both guys were dinged up too… Who knows, maybe there’s somebody out there on my Twitter timeline who could chime in.

But one should not fault the organization for bringing in the likes of Hyman, Foegele and the others. Putting all their eggs in an unproven rookie winger is not the sort of move winning organizations typically make.
PROJECTION: Given the waiver wire risk, the club will give Tyler Benson every chance to earn a spot, be it through an eye-opening performance or an injury that opens one. Failing that, another budget-challenged team could come calling. So, I think he’ll be in the NHL in 2021…somewhere.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve been told multiple times that the Kraken are watching this situation closely. Now, maybe you can help me out here, but does Seattle have first “krak” on those put on waivers? If so, they can just wait the Oilers out, right?

Anyways, it’s a story worth keeping a close eye on if you’re a fan of local lads making their clubs. For me, barring injury, I think the Condors will lose their top two scorers in 2021-22.

Spector’s Hockey

THE ATHLETIC: In his latest mailbag segment, Eric Stephens was asked about the speculation linking the Anaheim Ducks to Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel. He believes Ducks general manager Bob Murray had some level of talks with the Sabres but doubts he would part with Trevor Zegras or Jamie Drysdale as part of the return. The Sabres asking price of four top assets for an injured player is another obstacle. Waiting could drive that price down.

Stephens believes the Ducks have fielded offers for Rickard Rakell, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, Kevin Shattenkirk and Adam Henrique or attempted to move some of them.
It’s believed teams were offering a first-round pick or a top prospect for Manson or Rakell, but the Ducks want both pieces.

NHL.COM:Mike Zeisberger believes the Ottawa Senators still need some veteran depth at center for the coming season. The departures of Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan leave the club thin at center. Promising Shane Pinto could help but he’d be another young center on the roster.

BLH’s Thoughts: If what I heard around the trade deadline was correct, the Oilers probably could’ve had Manson AND Rakell for their first rounder in this past draft and one of their top prospects be that Philip Broberg or Dylan Holloway. I know the Ducks were trying to move those two as a package in attempts to obtain another first round pick in the ’21 draft but it was too much salary to take on for the Oilers at the time and they are quite high on Broberg and Holloway. Maybe they revisit a Manson trade this year since he’s a pending free agent and they’ve got a handful of promising young players who’ll be RFAs at season’s end.