Everyone quiet down — it’s time to learn something! As per tradition, I’ve taken five of your questions and sent them off to our panel of writers to give their input and worldly wisdom. Without you guys the Mailbag doesn’t work, and I need questions for next week so if you have something you’d like to ask you can email me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter. Without further adieu, the Mailbag. Get it in ya.

I will choose San Jose, but this is not an easy choice at all and it isn’t clear at this point who would be the easy choice. The Sharks are struggling, but as of this writing are about to play the Oilers in a few hours. I would turn it around and ask who wants to play the Oilers with McDavid as the centrepiece? This is so tight it’s anyone’s guess.

Calgary. Oilers swept the season series. The Flames are the least experienced playoff team they can face. That’s a factor.

I’d take the Flames. Rivalry needs a shot in the arm, but also I see better matchups for the Oilers versus Calgary than I do versus Anaheim or the Sharks, although the Thornton injury could change that.

Flames. Edmonton has owned Calgary all year and what could be a better way to usher in an era of playoffs than with a Battle of Alberta? It’s also the scariest because losing to the Flames would be a disaster.

The Oilers have dominated the Pacific Division all year. Anaheim is a physical, tight checking team with an excellent blue line and one dangerous scoring line. San Jose is a veteran team who looks worn out but knows this could be their last chance to get it. Calgary has skill up and down their lineup and is finally clicking after adjusting to a new coach. All of them have strengths and weaknesses, but right now, I would probably want to hit the Sharks in the first round, largely based on how bad they’ve looked down the stretch. I love their team, Burns, Thornton, and all, and what they did in the playoffs last year, but they look completely exhausted and I don’t think they could stop a fast, strong, energetic Edmonton team.

I honestly think we’re going to walk all over the Calgary Flames. For some reason I don’t feel comfortable with San Jose or Anaheim as a first round opponent. We always match up well against the Flames, and they don’t have anything compared to San Jose or Anaheim in terms of playoff experience.

Honestly, and I mean this, I don’t care who the Oilers play. I think they will have a decent chance to win against any of the teams they can match up against in the first round.

This is an untested team, but McDavid doesn’t appear to have a cruising gear and there are lots of veterans. I think we’ll see a strong run to the end of the schedule.

Foot off the gas? They’ve got a division title and home ice advantage on the line. There is no letting up.

They won’t just sit back because they clinched. They still have a lot to play for.

Hammer down. McDavid is chasing a scoring title and an MVP award. He could hit 100 points before the final buzzer sounds on this season.

Definitely. They’ve played some of their best hockey of the season, I think, in the past few games, largely because they see first place in the division within sight. This is also a young team who can really push hard in the final stretch of the season unlike, say, San Jose, who’s loaded with older players. I’m sure this team wants every advantage they can get come playoff time.

They’ve gotta keep their foot on the pedal. Now’s the time to really throw down some intimidation in the Pacific Division as the playoffs are around the corner. Taking your foot off the gas right now and having guys potentially learn bad habits or have the team fall down the standings doesn’t make sense to me.

They’re battling for the division and I think they’ll keep the hammer down until the final buzzer goes. Not many of the players have been through this kind of pressure at the end of the year and with every remaining game being against a division opponent, they’re all big.

Ideally you get him signed to a two-year deal that averages between $2M and $2.5M. Pretty clear based on this season he has earned a raise, and I am not good at these guesses. But that’s my line in the sand.

The Oilers will re-sign Kassian. He’s earned a new contract with his play on the ice and his turnaround off it. I’d start looking at two years in the range of $1.75 to $2 million per season.

I see him signing a two-year extension valued around $2mill/season.

I would be wary of overpaying third liners in this coming era. He’s in the spot that Puljujarvi will likely be in next year so that pushes him down to the fourth line. How much are you willing to pay for a guy who will be playing less than 12 minutes a night? I’m good with 1-year deals at no major pay increases.

Probably nothing more than a two-year deal worth somewhere in the ballpark of $2 million. He’s had an excellent year and has filled a role nicely for the team, but players who play this style of game aren’t ones to be locked up to long-term contracts because of the toll it takes on their body.

I would love to keep him with the team, at least for a couple more years. He’s proved himself to have changed his life for the better and adds a physical, angry aspect to our team.

How do you guys feel about a two-year $1.775-2 million per year? It’s about the same money (roughly) that Mark Letestu makes now and would be decent cash for a bottom six guy. I like Kassian a lot and I think he feels loyalty to the Oilers for giving him a chance to play, and I hope he’d take a discount because of that.

Pisani’s brilliance was that he could play with younger players and give them a defensive conscience on their line WHILE ALSO scoring goals at a very good clip. Could Benoit Pouliot play effectively on a line with Drake Caggiula and Anton Slepyshev or Jesse Puljujarvi? He would be my guess, although Kassian has many of the same elements in his current game.

There isn’t one. If I had to pick, what about Kassian? He does his best work in the greasy areas.

It would be almost impossible to match what he did, even for star players, never mind third liners. Between 1997-2017 the only player with more goals in one playoff year than Pisani’s 14 was Sidney Crosby, with 15 in 2009. I assume you mean who will be the player who out produces expectations. I will go with Pouliot.

Benoit Pouliot. He’s always been more productive than he has been this season but the third line has offensive chemistry and Pouliot could really go off in the post-season.

I think the Fernando Pisani of 2017 has already showed up — Patrick Maroon. Pisani’s ridiculous playoff streak didn’t just come out of nowhere that year. He put up a career high in goals with 18, and was feeling the groove all year, putting up easily the best season of his career as a 29-year-old. Though, if somebody else is going to click and score 14 goals on 28.6 per cent shooting, I could easily see it being Benoit Pouliot. He’s had zero luck all season, and has been a part of deep playoff runs before. Pou deserves something to go his way after a frustrating season.

This is a fun question. It makes me so giddy just imagining who could be the Pisani but I’m pulling for Mark Letestu. There is no one better for the job of playoff hero than him. Book it!

How about Drake Caggiula? The kid has started to heat up since moving back to the wing and I could see him scoring some timely goals in the playoffs. What about Pouliot? He was great for the Rangers during their Cup run and he’s started to play better since coming back from injury.

Generally speaking, humiliating people in public isn’t a good idea. I wonder if this has been a long-term issue, and if so, further wonder if we are at a fracture point in the relationship. It isn’t good, either way.

Depends on the player. For me, it was a touch over the line, but my opinion doesn’t pre-empt Bylsma from sending a message the way he sees fit. I think taking the kid aside and telling him he was being scratched — and that he’d do the same thing if it happened again — would’ve worked just as well.

I have no issue with it. Sitting in pressbox is easier than sitting an entire game on the bench. I guarantee you Reinhart or other Sabres won’t be late for a team meeting in the future. The Sabres aren’t making the playoffs, and it was a good time to send a message without Bylsma hurting his team’s chances of making the playoffs. I also liked how Bylsma said positive things about Reinhart’s play after the next game. Similar to McLellan earlier this year when he benched Pouliot and then the next game he played the first player he acknowledged was Pouliot. Being fare and supportive is imperative for being a good coach.

I have no idea how effective it is, but I know that setting rules and not following through with enforcement doesn’t help. If the team rules were known and the punishment was established then good for the Sabres.

I have virtually zero insight into the situation because I don’t follow the team whatsoever, but sure, why not. Is it effective? Maybe. But there’s also something else to be looked at here, which is why this happened in the first place. Again, I don’t even know what policy was broken, but this sort of indicates to me that the leadership in Buffalo isn’t doing a very effective job. So sure, punish him, I’m sure he deserves it, and all, but also take an introspective look at why this, whatever it was, happened.

I actually love this. The rules to be on an NHL team are way too strict for me but in my opinion, this sends an awesome message. I would be livid if I’m Reinhart, but that’s good. He’ll learn.

Why are people so sensitive about being punished these days? If Reinhart did something wrong, and apparently he did, then what’s the big deal? Literally his only job is to be ready to play hockey games. Figure it out. When I was playing in Midget our coach had a rule that for every practice you missed (excused or otherwise) you would get a strike. When you had three strikes that meant you had to sit out a period. If you had four strikes you had to sit out two periods. On it went. Even at 17-years-old we all knew the rule and when I missed my third practice and had to sit a period I wasn’t surprised that it happened and I understood it. Point is, who knows what Buffalo’s team rules are and if it was a rule that Reinhart knew he broke then he deserved the punishment. The problem comes if he didn’t know that breaking whatever rule he broke resulted in this being the slap on the wrist he would deal with.