Can you believe it’s been already been a week since the last mailbag? I guess time flies when you’re banging your head against the wall, trying to figure what the hell went wrong on Saturday night. Fortunately, we’re back with another edition of the Mailbag to try and make sense of it all. As always, you’ve submitted your questions and I’ve sent them off to our panel of mental warlords for their thoughts and ideas. If you have a question for the Mailbag, you can always hit me up through email or on Twitter. Until then, enjoy the free learning opportunity.

The second period v. New Jersey is much more concerning. Playing a meaningless game on big ice is not a game I would take much from. New Jersey needed the same to beat a team in Switzerland so the Cologne game was not the game I focused much on.

No. Level of intensity for the Oilers in a showcase game like this not what it is in regular season. Meant way more to Cologne in front of home fans than it did to the Oilers. Way more concerned about how they looked against New Jersey in a game that did count.

Nope. I’m much more concerned that the team couldn’t get a single shot on net in the 2nd period against the Devils.

Nah. That was pretty much a write off game. Cologne is playing their Stanley Cup Final, and the Oilers are just trying to get through the preseason uninjured. My opinion was solidified after seeing New Jersey also take their European team to OT.

After seeing how they played on Saturday night, maybe we should have been more concerned? It was a garbage effort and I’m more rattled about that one than what happened in Germany.

Weaknesses are moving the puck from the backend and the entire team’s defensive awareness. Strengths are their centres and I think their LW is better than many think.

I think that has been written about every possible way something can be in recent weeks, no? Strength is down the middle in McDavid and Draisaitl. Questions about depth on RW and defence. Special teams must improve. Didn’t see many positive signs from any of those areas against New Jersey in the opener.

Weakness at Head Coach, General Manager, and on the blueline.

I think we’ve got great center depth, and great goaltending, and a great Connor McDavid. We’ve got to work on our powerplay, penalty kill, and getting good defensemen.

Strengths – Depth at center. Weaknesses – Still not knowing when games start.

I don’t compare Lander to Rattie. Lander never really produced big points at any other level prior to the preseason he scored five goals in six games. Some people might have unrealistic expectations of Rattie based on preseason, but I think the astute fan realizes preseason production means very little, when it comes to young or unproven players. Until they prove they can produce in the regular season, I put very little stock in preseason scoring.

Fans can’t put pressure on Rattie. Do some fans have unreasonable expectations? Probably. Any pressure Rattie feels comes from within — knowing he’s getting the best chance he’s ever going to get to prove he belongs in the NHL.

Yes. He has 19 career NHL points over six seasons as a professional. He was one bad audition from washing out of North America completely. If he stays in the top 6 all year and produces 40 points you call it a complete success.

He definitely should have a lot of pressure on him. He’s getting the best opportunity of his life playing alongside Connor McDavid and if he doesn’t perform he could very well find himself in the AHL. He’s doing a fantastic job so far and I truly hope the best for him and hope he can succeed.

Expecting too much from our players is the Oilers way. I heard someone over the weekend tell me that they thought he could get 70 points by playing with Connor, and that’s wild for a guy that has never hit double digits in his career. My point is that, yeah, I think expectations need to be checked.

I think it is unlikely. Rarely do we see significant trades in October or November, unless the player, Matt Duchene, has been asking for a trade for over a year. The Oilers should simply have their best defenders in the lineup, and right now Ethan Bear should be in the lineup. Winning today should be the #1 priority of the Oilers, not looking down the road or gaining “experience” for a player.

If Chiarelli isn’t keeping tabs on who might be available, he isn’t doing his job. I’d be concerned over the elevated minutes Nurse and Benning have to play right now with Sekera out. They weren’t very good against New Jersey. Likelihood of an early trade? Don’t know.

Uh…a three? I have no clue. I think if they want an upgrade it’s going to be in the top four, so Benning’s spot. Then just convince the coach to stop playing Russell more than 15 minutes a night.

I’d give it a three. It will completly depend on how they start off their season, but I think it could be on Chia’s mind.

I’m at a four. Nothing changed since last year outside of adding soon to be 19-year-old Evan Bouchard. Not ideal for Chiarell’s hotseat.

It wasn’t ideal, but we really won’t know how it impacts them until we see the results of the next few weeks. Maybe the team bonding will help them. We shall see. Game one was not ideal, but remember the Oilers best defensive game of the season last year was their 3-0 season-opening win against Calgary. It didn’t lead to more success, and because the Oilers sucked the hind banana in the second period v. New Jersey, which cost them the game, doesn’t mean their next five games will be as bad. It was one game, and last year proved one game means next to nothing.

The second period against the Devils was, I’d hope, the worst hockey you will see the Oilers play this season. The faster pace of play we’ve heard about from the coaches wasn’t there. No flow. No sense of urgency. The Oilers played on their heels instead of on their toes way too often. Allowing the first goal on the first shot, again, almost seemed to set the tone for how bad the Oilers were going to be.

Great question. Well, Lucic had a multi-point game for the first time since January 20th. McDavid’s hair has magical properties. I liked Puljujarvi’s forechecking ability. That’s pretty much the end of the good stuff. Bouchard isn’t capable of carrying Russell on a pairing. Benning was all kinds of meh. The all-lefty PP works only by the grace of McDavid’s superhuman skating. McLellan had the blender turned on before the end of the 1st period. Oh, and Talbot let a goal on the first shot. It looked like Chiarelli took the same bad team as last year, added rookies and said “yep, that’s the ticket!”

Well I’m not thrilled after the game against New Jersey in Sweden, and the preseason game against Cologne was fairly entertaining. If anything, I hope the guys come back to North America with some great team morale and chemistry. That’s all I can ask for right now.

How do I feel? I feel like the Oilers forgot to show up to their own season opener and it was incredibly disheartening to watch. That second period was complete dogshit.

With the Oilers season opener less than 24 hours away, we get super excited in this episode talking about projected lineups, injuries, call-ups, and call downs. We’ve currently got some extra players in our lineup right now which means someone’s being sent down. The Oilers also have some excess cap space with Andrej Sekera placed on the LTIR. On this episode, we break down what we each think the Oilers should do with that extra space, and also talk about the Oilers fan experience in Rogers Place.