Monday Mailbag – New Year’s Day Edition

What have we here? A shiny new mailbag for a shiny new year. Welcome to 2018! I hope all of you had excellent days off and that the punishment of your livers was kept in check. My friends, it’s your last day off before heading back to work after another successful holiday season of binge drinking and overeating, so you may as well start it off right with this here 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.

When the Oilers are in the push for the playoffs in Feb I don’t see them trading him, just to get a mid-round pick, and then lessen their chances of winning in the playoffs. I’d rather win a round in the playoffs than add a mid-round pick. He has also proven he can produce in the playoffs. His 26 points in 42 playoff games is much higher than his point-per-game average in the regular season. I wouldn’t trade him for a draft pick.

It’s a difficult one but I would try to get value for an expiring player like Maroon. Looking at the standings, there could only be five or six teams actually selling, and a big winger who can play in the top six with playoff experience is a more worthwhile commodity than we’d expect. The Oilers need good players on their ELCs in order to be successful, so a second or a late first in a deep draft is worth a lot to this team.

I love Patty but the way this season is going I can’t see him signing a big deal with us anymore. I think management has a pretty good argument that his play could be blamed on the Connor McDavid effect and that he isn’t worth a big deal. If Chia can get something worthwhile for him at the deadline that will help our push I can certainly come to terms with that. Except we’ve all definitely lost some trust in Chia so I wouldn’t mind just holding onto Maroon to see if he can help us in the playoffs.

Personally, I love Patty Maroon but think he’ll be traded before the deadline. Had Nuge not had the year he’s having, I could see the Oilers picking the big winger and looking to move RNH but I can’t imagine that’s the case any longer. What will be interesting to see is what they get for him. I mean, a pick won’t make much of a difference but has he been good enough to get a prospect with some upside? The Oilers need skilled forwards in the AHL and I could see that being the type of return in this case.

If this team makes the playoffs, it will be in a wildcard spot (barring a huge winning streak). That doesn’t scream a team that can afford Maroon next year in any kind of volume. Trade him and get someone young or with something to prove and with some room to grow, and a pick. See how they play with Connor and Co. and decide where you want to go. If you can’t get a body with a pulse, then keep and wish him the best of luck going forward.

The only draft years eligible are 2016 and 2017 and some of those picks are already too old. Puljujarvi is in the NHL, Benson was injured or he likely makes team. So that is six out of two years who are trending in right direction. How many would you want to see? I know the history of the Oilers hasn’t been great, but the past two years it looks okay, but there is still a massive step to go from being in the WJC tourney and being in the NHL.

I wouldn’t bother using the WJC as a way to assess how the team is doing in terms of drafting. Look at Team Canada, for example. They didn’t take the No. 6, 9, 10, and 13 overall picks from this year’s draft. Does that mean Vegas, Detroit, and Florida messed those picks up? Not necessarily. It’s nice to have a lot of prospects in the tournament, but I don’t think a win-now tourney is the best way to assess long-term draft decisions.

I don’t think four prospects in the tournament is a LOW number by all means. Also seeing the way Team Canada has built their teams over the years and snubbed some excellent players, I’m not looking too in depth on which Oilers are in and out of the tournament.

I’m a little bit surprised that Tyler Benson wasn’t among the finalists to make Team Canada based on his skillset and the fact that he’s been producing well since coming back from injury. That said, it’s one of those things that we should always be watching. It’s when they have no prospects at the tournament that you should be concerned.

It’s exciting to see the Oilers have players listed for sure, but when it comes to a tournament where there are teams picking players based on their own plans and ideas, I am not too worried about it saying things either way. Team Canada picked Chris Kunitz instead of Taylor Hall because reasons. There is mistakes and surprises with every team. That said, my Weekend Update I do each week has kind of given a more bleak outlook for players coming along.

They allow too many seam passes. To me, something is missing in communication from the coach to the team. Also, right now it seems they have zero confidence at home. Their road PK is 5th (as of Thursday), but home PK is a disaster. The system is the same in both places, but I also wonder if that is just an anomaly, since their PK has been 76% for the past 105 games. That shows a bigger problem than just home and away.

It looks like a confidence issue. They’re standing around a lot and allowing the other team to set up, make passes, and find open room. I’m not sure if that’s a coaching thing or a player personnel thing, but they look frozen.

It’s that damn “I” formation they keep using! Lining up four players in a straight line on the penalty kill is not the smartest move to make.. I know this is likely not on purpose… I just don’t understand how we can grab a screenshot of them doing this every single penalty kill.

I don’t know what the supposed gameplan is for the penalty kill but they should ball it up, have Katz pay Elon Musk to use one of his rockets, and blast that thing into space. They are awful on the PK and it is literally one of the biggest reasons the Oilers are losing hockey games. I don’t care if they have to bring back Lennart Petrell, just do something different. Anything.

Being that I was just (not at all considered) passed over as the PK coach, my opinion is pretty expert (not at all). I watch other successful teams at killing penalties and it’s really appartent they very rarely allow teams to dictate the play. The Oilers collapse into their box almost immediately, it’s like clockwork. Then they just wait for the PP to make a move/mistake. It’s not working, and needs to change.

For the Oilers? Hard not to go with McDavid. He is their best player and despite losing 15 pounds he is still in top-five in league scoring. Team has started to play better, but for me, the tandem of Klefbom/Larsson needs a better second half. As a duo they haven’t been as dominant as last year. Klefbom gets a bit of a pass due to playing injured, but if those two can play like they did last year in the final 40 games the Oilers could go on an exceptional run.

It’s certainly Connor McDavid. Hard to argue otherwise considering how the team performed when he wasn’t at 100 per cent. Oscar Klefbom needs to be better in the second half.

Connor Mcdavid will always be my mvp no matter how good or bad he’s playing. Other than that I will choose PoolParty who’s stepped up in his new role with the team and is putting up a lot of goals.

Who needs to pull up their socks? Zack Kassian. My lack of experience in high levels of hockey probably prevent me from giving an accurate opinion on this, but I don’t understand how someone can show SO much energy and fight in the playoffs last year, and come out flat for a whole quarter of a season the following year? Doesn’t make sense.

The easy answer is Connor, so I’m going to with two co-MVPs. The first is Nuge who’s having a great year and has literally improved on everything the fans and coaches wanted him to. The second is ol’ Darryl because he’s made a massive leap forward this year and I’m excited to see where his ceiling can be.

As for who needs to be better, I think Klefbom and Talbot need to turn it on down the back half. Talbot has been much better of late but the Oilers will need him to stand on his head if they have any hopes of making the playoffs. Same goes for Klefbom but with defence stuff.

Gord damn, this is a gut wrenching question Carmen. It’s always going to be Connor McDavid. He is at the top of the league in scoring even when he has been patient zero for every sickness that anyone has had in Edmonton this year.

The socks of the rest of the team need to be pulled up. Cam needs to be better. I don’t blame him. He’s just not Vezina Cam like he was last year, and we need that. The D need to be better. In mid-December they showed they could be. The forwards need to dominate beyond who ever is on Connors line.

Improve their in-game experience for fans. It still lags behind most NHL teams. Make it a more fun and lively environment.

Stop making bad trades and signings and capitalize on the final year of a generational talent’s entry-level deal.

Find ways to win more games… pls Oilers… for us. (This will probably fall under the special teams which is really dragging us down) but there’s no way this city can go another year without being in the playoffs. ESPECIALLY after witnessing it for the first time in ten years this past spring. I mean, no pressure though.

You WILL do whatever it takes to improve your special teams. And I don’t care if that means you have to make the assistant coaches walk the plank.

I would have all of them join #SacrificeFor500. I in my shorts tonight, may need some skin graphs merely walking from Rogers tonight. Baggedmilk’s beet diet has taken days off his life consuming more beets than Dwight Schrute. I feel like the guys need some incentive to improve their give a hell levels.

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