Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. As per tradition, I’ve got a brand new mailbag set to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their takes. This week, we’re discussing if the Oilers protect Connor McDavid enough, the tight NHL standings, Ken Holland vs. Stan Bowman, and more. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

Body contact is allowed in the NHL. I didn’t think any of the contact was cheap or dirty. I for sure wouldn’t call up a 20-year-old and expect him to be the one handing out justice. Nurse, Frederic, Podzolkin, Hyman can do it if they feel it was warranted. I’d have liked someone to get in Konecny’s face as he was more pestering McDavid than bullying him, but the actual body checks weren’t dirty or cheap.

I do think that 12-15 months from now we could be talking about Connor Clattenburg being a legit call-up option. I agree that the players you mentioned should have done a little bit more to let the Flyers know that they can’t just do whatever they want to the Oilers’ Captain. The Oilers aren’t a tough team, and that’s fine, but someone has to stand up for McDavid there.

I think Clattenburg is right where he needs to be. It’s up to the guys on the NHL roster to put their big boy pants on and throw the body around. Zach Hyman had 11 hits in his first game — the guy was a human missile.

2) Robert asks – I read your answers about the front office last week, and despite back-to-back finals appearances, it feels more like we’re watching Ken Holland’s team fade rather than Stan Bowman’s success. I know Ken was old, and I was happy to see him go, but in hindsight, I’m not so sure. LA is outperforming us this year. Is Stan Bowman underperforming? What can he do to make his mark on the team?

It is 20 games. The Oilers are fine. I liked many of Holland’s moves. People who think he wasn’t a good GM, weren’t really paying attention to the growth of the team. Bowman has imprints on the team in Roslovic, Walman, Podkolzin, Frederic, Howard and I expect him to make more moves before the deadline. I think he’s already made an imprint and will continue to do so. They made the Cup Final in his first year, and Podkolzin and Walman were key contributors.

The same Stan Bowman that signed Jack Roslovic for $1.5m in October? He’s not underperforming. Players he added like Podkolzin and Kapanen have been solid adds and Walman has been damn near their best defenseman. Bowman has been fine and let’s not start singing Ken Holland’s praises in November. I hated his offseason in LA and my opinion hasn’t really changed.

Outside of not matching on Dylan Holloway and also not being sure about the eight-year deal for Frederic, there isn’t much that Stan Bowman has done that I’ve disliked. Jake Walman trade and extension, Vasily Podkolzin trade, Jack Roslovic contract, Howard trade, McDavid extension, Draisaitl extension, and getting an asset for Evander Kane without retaining are all looking good. Other deals, like Bouchard and Ekholm, will show themselves in time, but overall, I think he’s been fine. We’ll see what happens in net over the next while.

They have had seven two-goal leads, but they’ve blown them and managed to win three of seven. They have started well in many games, most recently in Carolina and in Philadelphia, the shots were 21-5 in favour of EDM, but they only led 1-0. They’ve had some slow starts, wasted some good starts. I’d still like them to be more assertive offensively, but in the past four games, we are starting to see more signs of life offensively.

I also hate that they don’t just throw pucks on net when things aren’t going well, but Knoblauch seems to be preaching patience in these situations. They need to start better and to do that, I think they need to have a little bit more desperation in their game.

My bigger problem with the Oilers is that they keep blowing two-goal leads. It’s happening so often that you can almost set your watch to it.

I think it will be a good measuring tool as the season will be 25% over on Thursday November 20^th, so the following Thursday, which is USA Thanksgiving, we will see a bit more separation, however, with so many games going to OT/SO thus far (85) it will keep the standings closer, than they likely are (talent wise).

This year might be different than years past, yes. Everyone is so close to eachother that I think we could see some teams linger in contention for longer than they would in years past. Being 5 points out of a playoff spot by December doesn’t seem daunting at all. It’s another reason why i’m not worried about the Oilers slow start. Even despite their poor play, they’ve managed to stay right in the thick of things in the Western Conference.

I think there are still some teams that will fall off and others that find their footing. The first 20 games of the season can be a mirage, but we’ll see what happens.

A scoring LW with some size and a goalie to push Skinner for starts.

A new backup goalie to fall into their lap and a scoring heater for some depth players.

Goalie and a gritty 3C with skill. Someone who will punch your face from time to time, but will also cash in goals with regularity. Oh, and maybe another Roslovic-style steal, but this time at RD.

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