Monday Mailbag – Biggest Preseason Surprise

Welcome, friends, to another edition of the ON mailbag! Look at our beloved Oilers making their way through the preseason in good shape with the 2018-19 season drawing closer. If you’re anything like me, you’re champing at the bit for the regular season to start, and while these preseason games have certainly scratched an inch they’re still not quite the same as the games that matter. Thankfully, the mailbag is back to help you kill off a little bit of time until the sweet sweet regular season starts on October 6th. As always, need you guys for this feature so email me your questions to baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Now sit back, relax, and pretend to look busy for as long as possible. Have a good week, everybody.

Would have to be Ryan McLeod. He has performed better than I expected. His skating is already NHL ready. He will still go back to junior, I presume, but he has opened many eyes. Puljujarvi looks more comfortable in every area of the ice. He is an ideal reminder of how development isn’t always a major splash. Even for a high pick, it can be a slower process. Most big bodied players take a bit longer. I still believe he will take a big step at 21 or 22 years of age. People just need to be patient with him. And Rattie’s production has been a surprise. I thought he had a good chance to play well, but obviously I didn’t expect seven points in two games.

How good Ty Rattie has been. It’s one thing to get the chance to play alongside McDavid. It’s another to make the most of it with all eyes on you to see if you’ve got what it takes. He’s also been very good away from McDavid.

Ty Rattie looks better than he did during the final stretch last season. He clearly sees he has a ridiculously good opportunity in front of him and he wants to capitalize on it. Ryan McLeod is another given the fact there weren’t really any expectations for him.

Rattie looking fantastic early on has been very pleasant. Biggest (positive) surprise for me has probably been Ryan McLeod. That kid can skate like the wind and he’s very talented. Impressive vision.

Ty Rattie and Ryan McLeod are both solid answers to this question, but my answer is actually going to be Jesse Puljujarvi. Maybe this is because I’ve been watching him the closest, but he appears more comfortable than I’ve ever seen him at the NHL level. In past seasons he’s looked frantic with the puck, and through two preseason games, he looks calm when the puck is on his stick. He isn’t afraid to make plays, but he also isn’t forcing them like he would in the past.

Is it just preseason? Yeah, but this is a nice start to what I’m hoping will be a breakout year for #98.

Ty Rattie is an easy pick. But I’m going to say Ryan McLeod. He’s been playing very hard and is surprising everyone with the persistence he’s shown. With that said, I still don’t think he makes the team. But it’s reassuring knowing we’ve got a skilled prospect in the system for when the day comes.

There have been a few nice surprises for me. Ty Rattie is the obvious pick. The dude seemingly wants to win a Rocket Richard Award in the preseason and I respect it. Jesse Puljujarvi has also been fun to watch, and he seems to be playing with more confidence than ever before. Now, of course, the key is that they both keep it going into the regular season.

Pretty much exactly what I was expecting all summer. Fair deal for both.

Yes. Always saw it falling right in the range that it did. Fair deal for both sides at this point.

I thought it would end up at two years, $3 million, so I’m not complaining about $3.2 million.

It is pretty much spot on with my expectations. The Oil didn’t have any other option so it was only about whether he got one or two years on his bridge. It’s a good deal for Edmonton.

My first thought was “holy $%#& they actually got it done”. I was very worried this holdout was going to creep closer to the regular season and with the team heading to Europe early, he may have missed the first game. I’m happy that didn’t happen. As far as the value, it’s a slight overpay considering what Josh Morrisey and Brandon Montour got, but I’m not mad. It’s a good deal and I’m just happy he’s signed.

Yeah, that’s pretty much in the ballpark of what I was thinking. It’s frustrating that it took so long for it to go down but as Darnell said, it’s all part of the business. I ESPECIALLY wasn’t surprised when Josh Morrissey signed the day before because they are identical players.

I liked the deal and the term. It wasn’t too much money and the term allows both the player and team to see what they really have here. I’m just grateful that it got done before the season started.

Hard to say. He has looked good, but early in preseason games are very different than NHL games. He has NHL speed right now. He has shown many great things. I can’t say if he will have the consistency next year or the year after to be a regular, but he has done very well this camp and if he keeps progressing there is no reason to think he can’t compete for a job next season.

At the very least, he’s opened some eyes and he’ll get a contract. That’s a start. I don’t think he’s close, yet, but he’s a lot closer than he was when camp started.

He could surprise and make the team out of camp next season, but given the fact the Oilers are deep down the middle he likely won’t be here until 2020-21 at the earliest.

I would be shocked if he isn’t returned to Junior no mater how great he looks. So with that expectation, I’d say at least one more year out. He’s fast and a good passer, plus he has NHL size. If he has another great season in the OHL then I think they will seriously consider a spot for him.

I have also been very impressed with McLeod and I wouldn’t be stunned if the team brought him to Europe. He obviously won’t stick for a full year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he continued to develop and god a look sometime in 2020. Whether that’s the end of next year or the year after, he’s a skilled centre and those aren’t easy to come by.  He’s turned into one of the prospects I’ll be keeping an eye on all season no matter where he plays. Will also be interesting to see if he cracks the World Junior team.

In a perfect world, he’s three years out from making the team, I think. If I had it my way he’d play his last year in the OHL this season and then play for the Condors next season. But with the way prospects get developed in the Oilers system, we may see him play a few games next year, unfortunately.

He’s looked really good so far! But again, it’s important to remember that he’s doing all of this against weaker competition so we all need to show some chill with the guy. Personally, I’d be a little bit surprised if he gets any regular season games and expect that he goes back to junior and rips it up in the OHL. Here’s hoping he has another great year in junior and takes another big step towards going pro.

Much different forecheck. More aggressive there and with D-men stepping up in the neutral zone and at the blueline.

Yes. It’s been talked about since before camp opened. More aggressive on the forecheck, quicker transition up ice from D-men to forwards, PP re-aligned.

We really won’t be able to see major changes until the season starts, but the team looks more aggressive on the attack and the defencemen are joining the play more. It’s a more modern style of play.

I’m trying to repress most of last season.

I still think it’s too early to determine, but mind you, I haven’t exactly been breaking down the film from their game. I expect that once we see a few games with the actual NHL roster we’ll start to notice some differences.

It’s been tough to notice significant changes because the lines have been mismatched and we’ve had a lot of no-names in the lineups. What I could tell you from last nights game is that we look a lot faster, especially Jesse Puljujarvi. He was flying out there which could mean some good things for our second/third line.

I like that they’ve been a little bit more aggressive on the forecheck — that’s the biggest thing that I’ve noticed so far. Right now, I’m trying not to get excited about preseason results too much but the biggest thing I’ve noticed is how they pressure the puck in the offensive zone.

In Canada only? Montreal is outstanding. You will love Crescent Street. If you want to go to USA, go to Nashville. Unreal atmosphere, the fans are very friendly and you will have fun experience at the game and, if you boys like to go out, just walk outside the arena. Bars everywhere. It is impossible not to have fun.

Montreal. Great building. Great restaurants and delis. Great bars. Lots of nightlife. If you want to sight-see you can get around on the Metro without having a car.

Go to New York and watch them play at Madison Square Garden. I went to a game at MSG last year with a friend who has season tickets and it was a great environment. There’s a great place called Rose’s Pizza in the Subway station at the MSG stop that sells huge beers for like $4.

Montreal, all the way. I got to spend just a couple days there but I loved it. Food, hockey culture and tradition, beautiful city. That’s where you wanna go, my man.

I’m far from a travelling connoisseur, but I’ve been to Toronto a few times and it’s always a blast. Montreal seems like a great city and the rink is historic so you probably can’t go wrong with that. Both those options would be pretty pricey though. I would recommend NOT going to Ottawa. If you’re going in the middle of winter, Winnipeg might not be the best destination either. My vote will be Vancouver. You should be able to get tickets for fairly cheap, the city is gorgeous, and the odds of you seeing an Oilers win are pretty good too.

Definitely not Winnipeg because they don’t have an airport so you’d have to drive there. I would probably choose Toronto, even though I’ve never been. It’s the centre of the universe after all, and their teams fairly entertaining to watch as much as I’d hate to admit it.

This one is hard for me to answer since I’ve only been to games in Calgary and Winnipeg, but if I’m guessing I would say Montreal. Not only is the atmosphere in the arena great, Montreal has millions of strip clubs, as the legend goes.

If you’ve ever been to one of our season opener parties before, you already know that one of the best parts is getting 200 Nation citizens together to meet up and start off the new season on a high note. Not only are these parties a great way to get the band together, it’s especially fun to meet new people that you’ve been arguing with talking to online for Gord knows how long.

The bag: Exclusive Season Opener Party tee, Pint GC, Oodle Noodle GC, stickers, and a ticket to enter all of the draws and raffles
The giveaways: Memorabilia giveaways, NationGear giveaways,
Anything else: We’ll also be having a NationGear pop-up shop that features some of the new shirts and hoodies that we’ve got for the upcoming season.

Where: The Pint Downtown
When: October 6th, with doors opening at 10 am and the hockey game starting at 11 am
Who: Every single one of you… that is of legal drinking age
Why: To celebrate the launch of a new season, get together, and to raise as much money as possible for our friends at KidSport
How much: Tickets are $25 each with net proceeds going directly to KidSport
How: Tickets are available here.