Monday Mailbag – Are the Oilers for real?

You watched an afternoon game, crushed a Thanksgiving dinner, and here were are with another round of the Monday mailbag to break down what’s going on with the Edmonton Oilers. You sent in the questions, we spit out the knowledge — you know how this works. And as always, the mailbag depends on your questions and I need stuff for next week so fire up your brain machine and get in touch. You can email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Enjoy the distraction, my friends, you’ve earned it.

They can’t play at a 5-0 pace obviously, but special teams have been solid and so has systems play. That’s something that can last, even if it dips a bit.

They are playing faster. They have bought in to Tippett’s system of being aggressive in all three zones. The overall team speed has improved, so that shouldn’t change. They will have bumps along the way, but I predicted they would make the playoffs before the season began and their good start hasn’t changed my mind.

With a star-studded top six, a veteran head coach, and some good support players I would like to think that this is real but it’s still a little too early to be thinking they’re in the hunt for first in their division or anything like that. Their goaltending needs to hold up, and I’m not 100% sold that it will, and also the right side of their defence needs to keep playing at the level they’re currently at, I’m also not 100% sure about that. Those are two big areas but if they can keep up this level of play into November, I’ll be a believer.

Too early. Enjoy it, but four or five games isn’t enough to tell anything significant from this team. It’s nice to see them play well, especially with Adam Larsson going down, but still need to see this for longer before determining if it’s real.

I have no idea. All I know for sure is that I’m going to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

I like Jurco too. Like Ethan Bear even better. Has shown poise. I’d also include Mike Smith, even if he’s an old new player.

How can it not be James Neal? He’s had the best goal-scoring start in Oilers history. If not him, then Riley Sheahan. He does the little things well, skates better than I expected and is solid on the PK.

Well, the obvious answer is James Neal. Apart from him, I have really liked Jurco as well. The two European free agents, Gaetan Haas and Joakim Nygard, have both been good as well. I think Haas is a very smart player who will become even more effective once he gets comfortable playing the NHL game and Hygard has the talent to be an everyday player. He skates well and has some good offensive instincts.

Smith would have been my choice before his puck-handling mishaps against Los Angeles. I was a little surprised a goalie his age could perform well, but I’d probably go with Joakim Nygard. Nygard adds much-needed speed and might be able to chip in some points.

Can I say Ethan Bear? I know he’s not technically a new guy but it’s hard to ignore how well he’s played so far.

He can cool off right down to his career shooting percentage of 11.8 and still score 30-35 goals if he gets 250 shots the rest of the way.

I felt it was a lock he’d score 20 again and had him scoring 22. Now I think 25+ is the floor (if no injuries occur) and I won’t be surprised if he scores 30 for the third time in his career. He is loving his spot on the PP.

I had him pegged around the 22-25 goal range and I’m going to think that’s still very realistic. I knew he would get on a hot streak at some point, I just didn’t think it would be in the first three games of the season. Of course, there will come a point where he cools off and doesn’t score for ten games, it’s bound to happen, and that will even things out. If he surpasses 25 goals this season, I’ll be very surprised.

Obviously, this is beyond what anyone reasonably expected. At this point you can probably expect a bit more, maybe ~20ish goals and 40 points. A bit better of a bounce-back campaign than most expected, but there’s still plenty of season left. If he can play on the power play and decently five-on-five I don’t think 40 points is out of the question.

It hasn’t really. My pre-season prediction for him was 22 goals and I still think he’s going to land somewhere around there. That said, I would LOVE to be wrong and see him blow that total out of the water.

No. Ken Holland doesn’t send away good players based on a 6-8 week stretch of results.

I don’t see Holland trading him during the season. Winning early in the year is different than winning down the stretch, and winning in the playoffs is a completely different animal. I suspect he will want to see how his team handles the increased intensity that builds up as the season progresses. He doesn’t want Bear and Persson as his top-two RD on opening night of the playoffs. Persson has been okay to me, but far from a lock.

I don’t think so. I think Holland and Tippett really value what Larsson brings to the table and moving him out because a pair of rookies had a good couple of months wouldn’t be wise. When he comes back though, I could see someone like Matt Benning being more expendable.

Absolutely. I’d argue Holland should even do that regardless. This year should be a gimmie given the mess Chiarelli left it. Moving a Larsson or Russell should definitely be considered.

Not this season, but maybe next summer. That said, it’s still way too early for that kind of decision.

The Oilers start has to be at/near the top. Nobody saw this coming. It’s not just that they’re winning. It’s how they’re winning.

The Oilers being undefeated is the biggest early story, followed by the Sabres good start, James Neal’s hot start and how the Penguins offence has been ripping it up after Evgeni Malkin’s injury.

James Neal is up there. Victor Olofsson in Buffalo has been tremendous. The Ducks not being a dumpster fire has been surprising as well. Those are my three big stories.

Is this the year the @Buffalo Sabres finally turn it around?

Can the @San Jose Sharks be horrible forever? Please?

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