My five-year-old son has been in Can-Skate for the past 14 months. We have played floor hockey in the garage for years, but last week was the first time I put him on the ice with a hockey stick. I wanted him to learn how to skate first, and after a few falls learning how to balance while he shot the puck, he was wheeling around the outdoor rink with a huge smile on his face.
He is becoming a hockey fan.
He has watched his cousin’s WHL highlights in the morning for a few years, but usually he is in bed when the Edmonton Oilers games start. Over the past few months my wife and I let him watch the first ten minutes of the first period before going to bed. He loves the national anthem. He makes us stand up and sing it because at kindergarten they sing the anthem. It is great to see what kids gravitate towards.
And he is now a Connor McDavid fan. He wants a #97 jersey. I never influenced him at all, but even the most innocent and inexperienced fan can see how great McDavid is. It is no surprise he is the favourite of most kids in Northern Alberta. And the other great part about kids is how honest they are.
He watched part of the San Jose afternoon game at our house. I was at the rink watching it live and Sunday morning when he and I were building lego I asked him about the game. “I asked mom to change the channel. It wasn’t fun to watch,” he said.
I confirmed later with my wife that this is exactly what happened. He just turned five and he has a short attention span, so even if a game is close he sometimes will stop watching, but in this case he simply didn’t like the drubbing the San Jose Sharks were giving the Oilers.
After I explained you can’t win every game, he, in deep thought, looked at me and said, “How come the Oilers can’t score many goals? McDavid and his friend Dra-saddle (It is a hard name to pronounce for kids) score but not the other guys,” he asked.
He is young and as anyone knows kids aren’t vindictive. He was simply curious why they rest of the team struggles to produce. I said it is hard to score in the NHL and that is why those two are so good. It is too early to explain to him the real truths, but I found it interesting how even the youngest fan can see one of the Oilers main deficiencies.
It reminded me that sports isn’t as complicated as us adults try to make it to be. It is pretty basic. You need a great player or two, some quality depth forwards, a sound defence and a reliable goalie. If you have that, you have a chance.
Right now the Oilers have virtually no depth scoring and they are leaking goals at an alarming rate. No doubt some players need to be doing more offensively — mainly Tobias Rieder and Milan Lucic — but Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli hasn’t built a solid enough supporting cast around McDavid, Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Tonight’s roster illustrates this.
LINEUP…
Oilers
Khaira-McDavid-Rattie
Rieder-Draisaitl-Spooner
Lucic-RNH-Puljujarvi
Gambardella-Brodziak-Kassian
Nurse-Petrovic
Manning-Larsson
Jones-Benning
Koskinen
The forward lines are a projection based on yesterday’s practice and the recent trades. I’m certain about the first D pair, while the others are an educated guess. A neat story for Joseph Gambardella. His brother graduated from the New York City Police department two days ago. He will be working his first shift tonight in New York at the Ball Drop, while Joseph plays his first NHL game. A thrill for both in their respective line of work.
Khaira has eleven points in his last eight games and Rattie had three points on Saturday, so they are the best offensive options on McDavid’s wing if you don’t want Draisaitl or RNH there. None of the Oilers wingers enter tonight’s game with more than three goals. Ouch.
Kailer Yamamoto is out with an injury, and I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. My concern with Yamamoto being in the NHL this season was his size. I believe he will be a solid NHL player in the future, but he needs time to develop and get stronger. You can’t rush the latter. It is impossible. He missed three weeks in Bakersfield in early December and I hope for his sake this is just a minor tweak.
Earlier today Peter Chiarelli outlined that Brandon Manning and Alex Petrovic are third pairing defenders. Which is fine. Teams need solid third pair players, but both will be asked to play more tonight. Much of that is due to injuries to Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell, but as I wrote earlier today, I don’t see how Manning is much of an upgrade over Kevin Gravel.
I asked GM Peter Chiarelli what Manning does better than Gravel as I see them battling for the same spot on the third pair LD.
“That is where I respectfully disagree with you,” began Chiarelli. “He’s (Manning) an established player in the NHL. He’s a good solid defender, and he can make some offensive plays. I think from the offensive perspective you are going to see more. He’s played longer in the league and he is meaner. Kevin has done well for us. This (trade) is about bringing in some players who can help our defence now. It doesn’t mean we aren’t looking for higher end D, as we have dipped into our LTIR money…but it is a fair question, Jason, but he has more experience and he’s shown he can do more at this level. That is our evaluation of him.”
It is fair to say Manning has more offence in his game. In junior he was a 50-point defender and in the AHL he produced 31 and 43 points. He had 19 points in the NHL last year. He will bring more offence, but it is unlikely he adds a lot. What about defensively though? The Oilers have allowed 31 goals in the past seven games.
On the season Gravel is an even player at 5×5. He’s been on for 12 goals for and 12 against. With Chicago Manning has been on for 26 goals against and nine for. He is -17 at 5×5. Now I recognize that doesn’t mean he was at fault on all the goals against, but he hasn’t been outperforming Gravel in the D zone. Maybe that changes with a new address, but I think much of this was due to Manning being a more aggressive player.
Chiarelli and Ken Hitchcock like big-hockey. It doesn’t mean they don’t like skill, but I think they still have a soft spot for the bigger, meaner player. I love that type of player, but in today’s game, unless that player also has the skill to make plays his aggressiveness is not nearly as valuable as it was in the past.
Jets…
Ehlers-Schiefele-Wheeler
Connor-Little-Laine
Perrault-Lowry-Tanev
Copp-Roslovic-Lemieux
Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Myers
Chiarot-Morrow
Hellebuyck
The Jets top-six is excellent. They are a tough matchup when your defence is healthy, but the Oilers are without the best defender in Klefbom, and a solid #4 in Russell, so the Jets will pose even more problems. The Oilers get a bit of a break with Dustin Byfuglien out of the lineup with an ankle injury, but I suspect Mikko Koskinen will have to be great tonight for the Oilers to have a chance.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…
There was a brief moment midway through this past month where a lot of Oilers fans and media felt that the 30 year old Finnish goaltender was about to take over as the Oilers number one guy in net as he had a 11-3-1 record and three shutouts along the way.
Since then he’s lost his last three games in a row with save percentages below .900 and the last game was especially bad as he gave up four goals on six shots faced against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Oilers need a lot of help pretty much everywhere outside of Connor McDavid, but if Koskinen can rebound and regain the form he had in the first part of the season, it would go a long way in help righting the ship in Edmonton.
TONIGHT…
![](https://i1.wp.com/dev1.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/GDB-Edmonton-Oilers-Winnipeg-Jets1.jpg?resize=666%2C531&ssl=1)
GAME DAY PREDICTION: Jets are too deep and skate away with a 4-2 victory.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: McDavid, Wheeler Schiefele and Draisailt, who are all top-13 in NHL scoring, register a point.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Jones picks up his third point in seven NHL games and he reminds people how a full season in the AHL is not a bad development plan.
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Source: NHL, Official Game Page, 12/31/2018 – 1:00 pm MST
Normally I do not defend PC………but he did manage to get two defenceman when we most need them. I’m not saying this will improve our fortunes, but it’s something.
Considering where we are the gamble is small, and hopefully it pays off for the team. I worry that all this losing is getting to McDavid but he always seems to say the right things and stick up for his teammates.
If nothing else, I will replay the moment in time where his named was announced next to the Oilers logo……..how lucky we are.
I almost wish they never got McD. The Oilers look even more pathetic than they ever have by not being able to produce a team that can compete for the playoffs with the best player in the world at their disposal. Biggest joke of a pro franchise in the last 25 years. Oilers and Browns, one and the same.
The Browns with Baker Mayfield will turn it around and make the playoffs next year b4 this clueless organization, who would’ve thought that when we were give the Golden Goose in 2015.
Getting defencemen isn’t a problem if it doesn’t matter how good they are, heck I can sign 5 or 6 and I have never skated in my life and grew up in the UK, they will be cheap as well, AHL plugs cost little.
Koskinen more like kostinthem the game lmao
NSOGDP: Jets blow the Oilers out 8-0 nothing and Chiarelli tips up his own contract.
Rips
8-0 Is Talbot starting?
Nope a tuder shooter going with our number one goaltender
I think the plan is to lose 3-2 or 2-1 and win the draft lottery.
I might as well start cheering for the Jets now because I’m jumping on their bandwagon in the playoffs so why wait, and each loss will bring closer the firing of Chiarelli, we hope anyways.
Chiarelli is getting away with murder.
Also it’s a New Year’s Eve game so this doesn’t bode well at all. I’ll watch, but only to see if they can grab my attention
Oh are we also bad on New Years eve games? Bad in the afternoon, poor in back-to-backs, brutal against basement dwellers, sad on Saturday nite hockey, pathetic after Christmas, and a tough schedule the rest of the year. The excuses need to end.
Not to mention backup goalies!!
Probably same result as last year. Oilers get completely embarrassed by the Peg on New Year’s Eve and I quit watching this dumpster fire until next year.
just one more day?
Haha. No. Tonight is likely the last game I watch until October. I suppose they aren’t eliminated yet like they were last season at this time but I don’t see this losing streak ending tonight or next game or the one after that. Worst D and goaltending in the league.
Much of what you sat is true but your point about Yamaoto is not on. Are the players in the AHL not also full grown men? Your on the full on Fire Chia rant and letting it cloud your reason like many Oiler fans are at the moment.
The wingers tonite have 11 goals on the season. All of them. Combined. 11 GOALS!
Softkinen puts himself in a tough spot reaching for that puck. If he stays VH he can move post to post easier but he instead overextends and the Oilers are down
You gonna do your “I told you so” thing again tonight?
If i’m right. So far so good.
Avoiding a crash landing? It seems they have crash landed already. They are just going to pick up the pieces now. This season is over folks. Lets hope against hope that they can somehow manage to make the playoffs next season with our D core healthy and some better performances from our forwards (obviously except lucic). Happy new year ON!
here’s a hot take on what this team needs to win a cup (estimate is 3 years from now to give time for Bouchard and others to matriculate). Assume the new GM makes a splash with an FA after managing the cap. And possibly moves out a first round pick.
ELITE WINGER – McDavid – Draisaitl
SCORING WINGER – RNH – QUALITY SUPPORTING WINGER
Ignore bottom 6
ELITE D – Klefbom
Nurse – Larsson
Ignore 3rd pair
ELITE G
ignore backup
If Bouchard converts to an elite D that will be huge. I feel like the wings can be had in FA or in a trade for picks.
Landing an elite goalie might be the big trick.
Fix the d. Can’t Sekera just do the lupul so we can get a decent defenceman like Parayko.
You missed the first crucial step to building a championship team. Hire a competent GM and give him total control over hockey operations.
MCNUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1-0 OIL
I give it 5 minutes before softlinen blows it
I was off by five minutes
FIRE CHIARELLI!!!!!!!!!!!