My friends, it is mailbag time again and that means that I’m here to provide you with an opportunity for some free learnin’ courtesy of your friendly Nation panel. As you’ve come to expect, I’ve thrown your questions out to our stable of geniuses to get their answers and input. I’ve said it a thousand times before, but this feature is entirely dependent on you guys and I need questions for next week. If you have something you’d like to ask you can email me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk.com.

I think it may allow the club to shoehorn in one more veteran, possibly Kris Russell. Oilers are a cap team now through the end of the decade and beyond, so every penny counts!

The cap may or may not go up, depending on the actions of the NHLPA. I doubt it makes a big difference for the Oilers either way, given that 2018-19, not 2017-18 is the crucial year for them.

If it goes up it will help the Oilers because they have the means to spend to the cap, however, I don’t see Chiarelli going crazy with money. Draisaitl will get a raise next year and in 2018 McDavid will likely have a huge increase on  his current $3.775 million cap hit. Chiarelli will plan for that moreso than focus on cap increase next year.

It shouldn’t do much more than give him some added flexibility to add a solid depth player on a short-term deal over the offseason. Everything Chiarelli does from here on out has to be with the idea of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl soon getting major raises on their cheap entry-level salaries, so going spend-happy because of a small increase in the cap isn’t a prudent idea.

With the extra couple million, Chia can now sign Kris Russell to big time money! Kidding aside, I could see it going towards Drai’s new contract instead of giving him a bridge deal. Whatever happens, it’s a huge plus for us.

I think Chiarelli needs to proceed as though the cap is NOT going up. There are some big contracts that will be coming down the pipe and I would think he should try to figure out how to many that work under the current ceiling. That way if the cap goes up than any boost will be like bonus money.

I had a beer before each game, and will continue the tradition. Although I consider this a monster sacrifice, it is my cross to bear.

I’m not superstitious.

I went to every game, but that was for work. I’m not a superstitious person.

I was only 12 years old during the cup run, but I made a shrine in my living room with jerseys, shirts, flags, hats, cards, cutouts from cereal boxes, and other random Oilers merchandise I had. I also had this lucky green jacket that I would wear each time they played, and would lay down in front of the TV when they played. Why did I think it was a luck jacket lucky? I don’t know. It just was.

Unfortunately, I was too young to barely know what a superstition was. (just kidding, grade 7). I won’t be reviving any this year but I’m looking forward to starting some new ones! First one? As soon as they clinch, I”m setting up the dual car flags!

I drank A LOT during the 2006 Cup run so I’m going to go ahead and resume that tradition. I apologize to my liver in advance.

He is not yet physically mature for sure so maybe add 10 pounds from current weight? Frankly, I will be happy, the man goes so fast I worry he will one day become airborne.

Ideal playing weight varies from player to player so I wouldn’t even want to guess at an answer to this question. Sorry.

Adding strength is more important than weight. He will still fill out, but adding strength will be more vital than just adding pounds.

I know very little about this kind of thing, but I have the utmost trust that the Oilers training staff and whoever McDavid trains with in the offseason will ensure he follows whatever diet and exercise regime makes sense for him. He isn’t undersized now by any means, so the organization isn’t going to force him to put on a bunch of muscle like they did with Sam Gagner.

He will definitely/obviously get bigger throughout his career but I’d expect him to gain 10 pounds and stay around the 200lb mark throughout his hockey life. I look at Sidney Crosby as a comparison. Drafted smallish, now he’s got a ton of muscle on him and is not to be pushed around but can still skate really well.

I think he’s gaining weight by the day but we just can’t really tell. It takes some big ol’ cojones to charge the net the way Connor does and he only seems to be getting better at it. So I guess my answer is that he is already putting on weight but it’s in the form of giant balls.

No, not really. Calgary may pass the Oilers but that is jockeying for position within the playoffs. MAKING the playoffs is the big thing, and Edmonton is close to being home and dry.

As of this writing, L.A. is eight points back with 16 games to go. Since a five-game winning streak came to an end on February 4, the Kings are 5-7-2 overall, so I wouldn’t describe them as heating up. Calgary’s a different matter. The Flames are playing tremendously well of late and it’s basically anyone’s guess what order Calgary, Edmonton and Anaheim end up in. The good news for Oilers fans is that the race between those three teams is for positioning within the playoffs, rather than to make them.

Welcome to a playoff race. Things can change quickly. A three game winning streak or a three game losing streak can alter things rapidly in one week. The Oilers are still 7 points ahead of the Kings, but they need to avoid another three-game winless streak or the gap will shrink. It is a great time of year, but also one that sends fans on a crazy emotional rollercoaster.

Not really, no. At the beginning of the season, the overwhelming majority of us were happy with competing for a playoff spot and likely grabbing a wild card seed. That hasn’t changed. The standings will flip flop the rest of the way, teams will go on streaks, but it would take some kind post Ryan Smyth trade in 2007 collapse for this team to miss the playoffs.

Well now I am! Calgary can’t win forever so hopefully they’ll hit a rut soon. I’m answering this question before the Pens and Habs game which are pretty close to must-wins. We just have to keep winning our games and we’ll be fine.

Honestly, I could really care less where anyone finishes as long as the Oilers make the dance. Sure, I’d like home ice advantage too but let’s not forget that this team finished 29th last year. Having them make the playoffs for the first time in 10 years is all I care about. I don’t care which slot it is, as long as they’re there.

The NHL has an insane group of pressures putting a schedule together, so I will cut them some slack. Tough job, I am sure they will figure it out.

That’s *if* there’s an Olympic break next season. The bye week is going to be difficult to handle no matter what; having a relatively light two-week period is probably the best way to integrate it into the schedule.

It makes sense to have more teams on a bye at the same time. The NHL won’t go dark they will just have two and three games a night instead of four or five. Not a big deal for a short period of time.

A week without many games is better than having some teams with, like, four or five games in hand on another team in February. Even having half of the league off is better than having every single team off for a two week span.

Using the Olympic Break makes the most sense… but I suppose you need to prepare for years after the Olympics as well. I don’t mind condensing the bye weeks but, in my opinion, the NHL should worry about other topical issues like THE OFFSIDE CHALLENGE

I think it will be weird when there’s a two week span where only half the teams are eligible to play at any given time. At most you’ll be able to have eight games on and that likely means that there will be days during that span where there are no games at all. Seems odd, but meh. Who cares?