Draft week is here. This is one of the best weeks on the NHL calendar. Watching young men see their dream of being drafted realized is awesome. These kids put in so much hard work to have their name called, and many who don’t have their name called will continue to work hard to one…
The Drake was a mutual friend of Jerry, Kramer, Elaine and George in the greatest sitcom, Seinfeld. We were first introduced to him when JKEG decided to buy him and his fiancée a big screen TV for their engagement party. Very quickly after giving them the TV, the Drake announced they split up and now…
With one playoff appearance in twelve years for the Edmonton Oilers organization, and only one appearance in three years for Peter Chiarelli, Todd McLellan and the rest of the current regime, there could be some internal pressure to try and improve the roster immediately, and dangling the 10th overall pick to acquire an NHL ready…
The Edmonton Oilers can’t afford to just give Milan Lucic away. As I reported last week, he is open to a trade, but general manager Peter Chiarelli can’t give him away for nothing, and it makes little sense he sweeten the pot (add in a draft pick) just to rid the Oilers of Lucic’s contract….
Jesse Puljujarvi turned 20 last month. He has played 93 NHL games — a grand total of 1,184 minutes — and produced 13 goals and 28 points. He hasn’t dominated, far from it, but no one should have expected him to. I realize it is summer time, and maybe the heat is getting to people, but…
Trent Yawney played 593 NHL games with Chicago, Calgary and St.Louis. He retired in 1999 and was an assistant coach the next season with the Blackhawks, and became the head coach of their AHL affiliate in Norfolk the next year. He has been an AHL head coach for eight years, and NHL head coach for…
Braden Holtby made the best save I’ve seen since Edmonton Oilers goalie Curtis Joseph robbed Joe Nieuwendyk in game seven in their 1997 series. The Capitals slayed their nemesis, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in round two. They came back from a 3-2 series deficit to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning and now Holtby’s save in game…
Manny Viveiros was an electrifying offensive defenceman in junior with the Prince Albert Raiders. In his draft year, at 17 years of age, he produced 15-94-109 points in 67 games. He scored 17-71-88 the following year and 22-70-92 in 57 games as a 19-year-old. In his second pro season in the now-defunct International Hockey League…
The Las Vegas Golden Knights continue to find different ways to win. Their top line has been great all playoffs, but in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals, their fourth line dominated. They didn’t just score the tying goal, the game winner and the empty net insurance goal, they shredded the Capitals on virtually…
Steve Bluett was a volunteer statistician for 34 years. He did stats for over 2,200 games in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League. He started in 1983 helping out the Sherwood Park Crusaders. Bluett retired from the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL in March of 2017. His goal was to…
Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan announced three new assistant coaches today, and this trio could arguably be the most experienced assistant coaching staff the Oilers have had in three decades. Glen Gulutzan, Trent Yawney and Emmanuel (Manny) Viveiros have 44 years of coaching experience between them.
This past season the Edmonton Oilers had the NHL’s worst powerplay, 14.8%, despite deploying the league’s leading scorer, Connor McDavid, on 67% of their powerplay minutes. What went wrong? The Oilers had many challenges this year, but today we will focus on the powerplay. It was fifth best in the NHL in 2017 at 22.9%,…
