Monday Mailbag – The prices at Rogers Place

Happy Monday, dearest Internet friends, and welcome to a brand new edition of the Mailbag to help you start your week and break down everything that’s happening with our beloved Edmonton Oilers. This week we’re looking at Darnell Nurse’s contract, the pressure on Ken Holland, prices at Rogers Place, and a whole lot more. If you’ve got got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk and I’ll get to you as soon as we can.

Oilers should be able to be 6-3 with six games on home ice.

Going 6-3 would be reasonable, but I can see 5-4 if they stand around for 10 minutes like they did in losing to Calgary Saturday.

Win more games than you lose, of course. You’d like to see something like 6-3-0 to start off but that’s a pretty big uphill climb after Saturday’s loss.

6-3-0 would be fantastic. As long as they get to 10 points they’ll be fine and I’d consider the start of the season a success.

They need to finish the month at 6-3 or 5-4. Anything less is unacceptable.

Many teams are in a similar position. It isn’t ideal, but until it becomes a regular occurrence (playing one player short), it won’t add much pressure. Holland has been very patient, and I expect he will be again. He will be looking to fill out the roster by the deadline. Making a trade in October or November, while possible, seems unlikely as very few teams are willing to make moves early in the season.

A move has to happen and it will.

They’ll have to do something. You can’t go all year with just one spare player hanging around given how minor injuries pile up. The challenge is that a lot of teams are in this sale salary cap bind so shedding a contract will be difficult.

It’s not ideal, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. It will be an issue at the trade deadline, though; that’s what I’m most concerned about. Having to dress 17 skaters occasionally won’t cause them to miss the playoffs or anything like that.

Holland should feel pressured to improve the defence. We need it desperately.

Play like he has. He plays big minutes, kills penalties, faces the toughest opponents night in and night out.

You’re doing that right now. Let him play.

He has to be the team’s best defenceman, which involves going up against the best opponents and coming out on top.

He needs to put up solid numbers while going up against the other team’s best players on a nightly basis. He’ll never be like Cale Makar in terms of his offensive production, but the team doesn’t need that. He needs to just give them 20+ minutes of shutdown hockey every night and not be the source of defensive mistakes, which he has been early in the season.

He’s never going to be that guy for some people, so all he can really do is play his game and keep getting better.

If you hate it that much, don’t pay it. You can eat at restaurants before coming or eat at home. It is a joke how they gauge people, but if you opt to pay it you have no to blame but yourself.

They’re way too high, but fans get gouged at rinks right across the NHL. It’s as bad, or worse, than going to a movie. If you’re going to the rink to chow down and drink beers like it’s a frat house party, be prepared to pay.

Stadium food is always a rip off. Eat something before the game.

Prices in almost every arena/stadium are expensive. There are plenty of really good restaurants around the arena, go eat before the game.

The worst one is the two drinks and two popcorn for $35. That popcorn has a markup of like 10,000% and it’s gross. I know the Oilers contract this stuff out but it’s straight-up gouging.

Shawn Horcoff was much better than he gets credit for.

Jesse Puljujarvi.

For this current group, it’s probably Cody Ceci. He’s quietly added so much to the blueline, a huge addition after Adam Larsson left.

Ales Hemsky is always the guy that jumps to mind for me.

I’ll say that Shawn Horcoff was a good Oiler and deserves more love than he gets.

Experience a world-class mash-up of snowboarding and style, right here in Alberta. A heightened fan experience grants you front-row seats to watch the best snowboarders go head-to-head in the largest stadium Big Air contest Canada has ever seen. Get your tickets here.