Monday Mailbag – Do pre-season records matter?

What have we here? A shiny new mailbag for a shiny new season. I hope all of you had excellent days off and that the punishment of your livers was kept in check or at least at a minimum. Since we’re all headed back to work this morning, I wanted to make sure that you had something to read and help you kill off a few minutes of company time. Enter the mailbag. I need questions for next week, so if there’s something you want to ask feel free to hit me up by email or on Twitter. Enjoy.

Tough question. I’m writing this after the Winnipeg game and would list Jujhar Khaira, Kailer Yamamto and Caleb Jones. All good young players pushing is exactly what this organization needs. AHL veterans impressing in training camp doesn’t impress but these are future NHL players. Good arrows.

Is Khaira a non-NHLer? I’d say so considering he only played 25 games the past two seasons. He has looked much quicker and has shown more confidence with the puck.

Kailer Yamamoto. Hard on the puck. Goes to the greasy areas. Has met every expectation.

Yamamoto. He was pretty quiet during the Young Stars tournament so I thought maybe this just wasn’t his year. Early on I’d say he’s been one of their best players. He looks like a player who will make the decision to send him down a very painful one.

I’ll echo everyone else’s sentiments and say Kailer Yamamoto, who has looked very mature on the ice for his age. I’m still not a fan of rushing him into the league regardless of how he looks in the exhibition games, but still, it’s encouraging stuff. The other one would be Yohann Auvitu, who’s moved the puck incredibly well and has looked very mobile on the Oilers blueline. If this can carry into the season, maybe the Oilers won’t be as hard pressed to replace Sekera’s presence for the first few months as we expected.

I’d say Kailer Yamamoto. Even though he’s a first-round pick I still never really expected him to stand out like he is due to his size. He’s speedy and has great hands, and makes me wonder if he’ll show up in the NHL sooner rather than later.

After having a tough rookie game against NAIT/MacEwan, Kailer Yamamoto has been lights out. The kid is like a little water bug out there and I love watching him figure the pro game out in real time. I still don’t think he cracks the roster this year (outside of a nine-game taste), but he’s been really fun to watch so far. I like his offensive instincts and ability to fly in and out of traffic.

Hmm. I hated Kenny Linseman until he arrived in Edmonton and then loved his agitating play. Until he left!

Hard to recall a player who broke the jaw of an Oilers by swinging his stick, and then a few years later playing for the Oilers. His personality, raw and honest, about his struggle with addiction is why I think most fans have become huge fans. We all like to see someone turn their life around.

Sure. Opposing fans bases have always hated guys like Ryan Kesler, Steve Ott and Darcy Tucker because they agitate and start stuff. Kassian’s reversal here gets a big extra bump because of the way he’s turned his life around off the ice while continuing to be a pain the in the butt on it.

Off the top of my head, no. The hate for Kassian was so intense and deserved in my opinion. He did some nasty things that really crossed lines. His recovery towards a healthy lifestyle, however, is something that deserves recognition. He can still be an agitating force on the ice, but I’m most happy that he could make a change to the things that matter most.

Not with this team, no. The only thing close is Chris Pronger, but in the opposite direction. Kassian went from being a POS who did terrible, dirty things on the ice — not so much an endearing grinder who you’d love if they were on your team! — to a very incredible and admirable life story, which I think plays a role in the way in which he’s been accepted in Edmonton.

Not really. Zack Kassian is a hero in this city and it just doesn’t make sense to think about. And if we’re being honest, I also hated Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic before they came to Edmonton. Gotta love sports hey?

It’s almost like some kind of wrestling storyline, right? In another world, I could see Kassian standing in the ring taunting the crowd on Monday Night Raw one week and then winning a title belt and having that same crowd cheering his name the next week. It really is an amazing story.

As of now, I’d say that portion of the story has yet to be written. Yamamoto has put himself in the conversation, Puljujarvi has started slowly. Many miles to go.

I don’t see it. Yamamoto is going to back to junior, and I’m not sold it is Puljujarvi’s spot either. When Anton Slepyshev returns there will be a healthy competition for icetime.

Not this year. He’s been terrific, as I noted above, but that doesn’t mean he should (or will) stay for the entire season.

So that’s a ‘yes’ and a ‘yes’ for me. The team is probably too invested in Strome to let a rookie take his spot. Kassian is tailor-made for that fourth line with Letestu. That leaves the middle lines, where Puljujarvi resides, as his landing place. Still, this is too early to say JP is on the hot seat for certain. He’s only played one game in like five months. He needs to get up to speed as well.

I just think it would be weird to thrust Yamamoto into that spot when he’s so small and young. I would rather give Puljujarvi all the chances he can have to succeed, then, if he doesn’t, give older guys closer to make-or-break status like Caggiula or Slepyshev an opportunity in an offensive role. Like I’ve said before, Edmonton’s depth is too plentiful to need to rush a prospect at this point.

Maybe in a couple years if Poolparty doesn’t improve. Even if Kailer scores a hat-trick in the remaining preseason games he still won’t make the lineup.

Yamamoto has been really solid in the pre-season but I still don’t think he makes the team outside of a nine-game audition. Frankly, I would also give Puljujarvi more time in the AHL to get himself ready. The Oilers could sign a stop-gap like Jagr and give both Puljujarvi and Yamamoto another year to develop. What would be wrong with that?

No, not for me. Performances are important especially later in camp, but wins and losses mean nothing.

The wins don’t, but how the team plays their system and reacts to what the coach wants can help a team get off to a good start. I’d say the final one or two preseason games, when usually we see the final roster (unless Dallas Eakins is coaching), can give a bit more of an insight into what the team has.

Very little. Pre-season rosters, for the most part, don’t start to resemble regular season rosters until the last couple of games. If you go back over pre-season records and compare them to how teams have started, there’s not a lot of connection in success/failure carrying over.

Not at all. It matters more how the individual players perform and maybe specific units like PP and PK. I think the Avs were undefeated last year in preseason. As long as injuries are avoided and lines build some chemistry, I’m fine with whatever record.

There’s something to it, sure. The team has a lot of depth and they’re healthy, which is evident by the fact they’re rolling out solid lineups each game. That said, the wins don’t really matter. Everyone is getting up to speed, working with new linemates, and possibly working in new systems. That said, it’s definitely a positive thing the Oilers seem to be season-ready so quickly. Does it mean they’re going to fly out of the gate and dominate their opponents and sore five goals a game? Not quite.

Pre-season records don’t mean a damn thing if you lose them all. But if you’re winning like we are, they are a great tell of what the season will be like!

Not really. I mean, Colorado was undefeated in the pre-season last year and then went on to suck worse than anyone has ever sucked. For me, I like to look at how individual players are doing more so than the overall record.

I think the timing is everything and the Flames have bad timing. They’ll get their deal but the economy is not their friend.

The similarities are billlionaire owners want much of their rink to be paid for by the city. The differences are Edmonton wanted it to jumpstart development downtown. Calgary already has a healthy downtown.

I’d like to see the Flames get a new rink. How that comes about is a long and winding process, as we saw here with Rogers Place. Often, as we saw here, opposing sides tend to dig in early and refuse to budge before finding some common ground and moving to the middle. It’s drags on and on. I believe it will get done and the Flames will be in a new rink by 2020.

From an outsiders perspective, the proposed deal and arena from the Flames are asking for quite a bit more than the Oilers. Also, Nenshi isn’t an idiot and doesn’t look like he’ll just roll over. Those are the biggest differences. There are plenty of similarities too though. Owners hate spending their own money and I’m sure there will be more threats to move the team. Hello Seattle!

I don’t think the Edmonton and Calgary situations are similar at all, really. Edmonton badly needed a boost downtown and the arena was going to kickstart that. Also, Northlands was old, bad, and in the middle of nowhere. There were actually good reasons for both sides to pull the trigger on that kind of project. In Calgary, though? An arena isn’t going to do nearly as much for the city as it did in Edmonton because they already have a vibrant downtown core and the Saddledome is in a fine location. The reason is entirely personal for the Flames ownership, and, as a result, they should be funding the majority of it. The three-way, one-third-per-party offer the city gave them is perfectly fair for the situation, and it’s admirable Mayor Nenshi isn’t caving in.

The debate seems really dramatic but I’m sure it’s all strategy just like it happened here in Edmonton and that’s why I’m not really getting all caught up in it.

I feel like we’ve seen a version of this movie before, but luckily I’ve already developed and written about the solution. Calgary will play in a new arena in one way or another.

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