News   Apr 03, 2020
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Edmonton Oilers

I can guarantee you if the Oilers do it, they will change the rule next season. Can't have a Canadian team doing that. Also, wouldn't be surprised if they try to find some obscure clause in the CBA that prevents it, or launch an investigation.
 
Kane out 4-5 months, estimated return in January or February. Don't necessarily want to wish a guy injury or a slow recovery, but that extra 5+ million would be really sweet to use at the deadline.

Given a setback, his return could potentially be delayed until March/April.
 
Fun to be back in the barn last night.


Standouts:
-Dineen - great eyes and sensing of who is where
-Philp - smart and fast
-Podkolzin - power forward prowess
-O'Reilly - goal+scorer
-Carrick - all-round
-Gleason - playmaker, play finisher


Lavoie reminds me a bit of early Gags.
 
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Sorry, had to post this. Couldn't stop myself from laughing my ass off! Good ol' fLamers beat reporter setting the expectations.....lol
 
I know it is preseason and all, but man o man, I am not liking what I am seeing from the Oil when it comes to puck movement, breakouts and ice awareness.
 
It's because we didn't have Nursey....lol. Meh, not too worried about it, who wants to end up as another Laine with a busted knee going up the middle during pre-season....the kids will be alright!
 
I thought I would drop my season predictions here, now that we're mere days from puck drop on the regular season:

x = make playoffs
y = lead division
z = lead conference
* = lead league
e = eliminated

Atlantic:
1. y - Florida Panthers
2. x - Toronto Maple Leafs
3. x - Boston Bruins
4. x - Buffalo Sabres
5. e - Tampa Bay Lightning
6. e - Detroit Red Wings
7. e - Ottawa Senators
8. e - Montreal Canadiens

Call me crazy (being that I've picked them to finally do it 3 years in a row now), but I think Buffalo finally puts it together and snags a wildcard spot. Tampa is falling in the standing as their core is aging and Vasy gets worse and more injured every year. Losing Sergachev and Stamkos is big as well. I think Buffalo is at least a step or two ahead of the other 2 up and comers in the Atlantic (Ottawa and Detroit). If the Swayman situation isn't rectified, I could even see the Sabres leap frogging Boston.

Metro:
1. * New Jersey Devils
2. x - New York Rangers
3. x - Carolina Hurricanes
4. x - Pittsburgh Penguins
5. e - New York Islanders
6. e - Washington Capitals
7. e - Philadelphia Flyers
8. e - Columbus Blue Jackets

The Devils had a nightmare season in 23-24 after they finally broke out of a lengthy rebuild, the main issues being injuries, coaching and goaltending. The goaltending, and to a certain extent the coaching (Keefe > Ruff, still not great though) have been fixed. Given better health, particularly for their blueline, they should be a force to be reckoned with. Pittsburgh barely missed last year with a terrible powerplay and awful PDO, they've fired their powerplay coordinator (who somehow fumbled a powerplay with Crosby, Malkin and Karlsson) and with a bit better luck they should be able to best the Midlanders and Crapitals.

Central:
1. y - Dallas Stars
2. x - Colorado Avalanche
3. x - Nashville Predators
4. x - Winnipeg Jets
5. x - Minnesota Wild
6. e - St Louis Blues
7. e - Utah Hockey Club
8. e - Chicago Blackhawks

I predict the Central will be relatively similar, I see Dallas topping the division, but with their losses (and subtraction by addition of Mat Dumba) on the blue line, being not as good as last season. The Avs are more of the same, great top end that will carry them through the regular season, but a lack of forward depth and goaltending causing problems for them. Nashville got better and Winnipeg got slightly worse so I see them swapping. Everyone on Minnesota had a down year last season, so I see them rebounding to narrowly make the playoffs.

Pacific:
1. z - Edmonton Oilers
2. x - Vancouver Canucks
3. x - Vegas Golden Knights
4. e - Los Angeles Kings
5. e - Seattle Kraken
6. e - Anaheim Ducks
7. e - Calgary Flames
8. e - San Jose Sharks

I see only 3 teams making it from the Pacific as I think the Central wild card teams are just that little bit stronger than the Pacific. LA is pretty much a middling team at this point. They had some great stretches last season but they're now going to be missing Doughty for an extended period their success is going to depend on whether they have Darcy Kuemper from last year, or a couple years ago. If it's the former, they could be in trouble. I see Vegas, LA and Seattle all being close, but Vegas prevailing in the end, despite massive offseason losses. Edmonton and Vancouver being 1 and 2 are probably the placements I have the most confidence in. The PDO Nucks are still good, but likely won't have their bottom 6 scoring on every third shot, so they could take a step back, missing Demko and Silovs for at least the beginning of the year will hurt them as well, for that reason, the Oilers should win the division.

Awards:

Presidents Trophy: New Jersey Devils
(Runner Ups: Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers)

Art Ross Trophy: Connor McDavid - EDM (Runner Ups: Nathan Mackinnon - COL, Kirill Kaprizov - MIN)
Rocket Richard Trophy: Auston Matthews - TOR (Runner Ups: David Pastrnak - BOS, Leon Draisaitl - EDM)
Hart Trophy: Kirill Kaprizov - MIN (Runner Ups: Sydney Crosby - PIT, Connor McDavid - EDM)
Ted Lindsay Trophy: Connor McDavid - EDM (Runner Ups: Nathan MacKinnon - COL, Kirill Kaprizov - MIN)
Norris Trophy: Cale Makar - COL (Runner Ups: Adam Fox - NYR, Quinn Hughes - VAN)
Selke Trophy: Nico Hischier - NJD (Runner Ups: Sasha Barkov - FLA, Connor McDavid - EDM)
Vezina Trophy: Igor Shesterkin - NYR (Runner Ups: Juuse Saros - NSH, Connor Hellbuyck - WPG)

Playoffs (Round 1 Only):
East:

NJD vs PIT

NYR vs CAR

FLA vs BUF

TOR vs BOS

West:

EDM vs MIN

VAN vs VGK

DAL vs WPG

COL vs NSH
 
So what happened to Marcus Neimalainen? Wasn’t he supposed to be NHL ready by now? It looks like we shipped him off to Germany? I liked this kid…….big and strong…..now pissed off!
 
So what happened to Marcus Neimalainen? Wasn’t he supposed to be NHL ready by now? It looks like we shipped him off to Germany? I liked this kid…….big and strong…..now pissed off!
He opted to sign in the DEL, probably a good move for him career wise, he was never going to be more than a 7th D with the Oilers, I'd have him at #7 in the system right now assuming 1: Bouchard, 2: Ekholm, 3: Nurse, 4: Emberson, 5: Kulak, 6: Stetcher. I'd have him ahead of Josh Brown who unfortunately seems to be the guy who's likely to grab the 6 spot. Not sure if the Oilers ever offered Niemo a contract. I would suspect not though. Unfortunately for him he's a lefty, and the Oilers are in need of righties, if he shot right, he's probably in the opening night line up right now tbh.
 

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