What have we here? A shiny new mailbag for a shiny new week. I hope all of you had excellent days off and that the punishment on your livers was kept in check. Since we’re all headed back to work, 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.

It’s completely arbitrary in terms of how it is called, or at least that is my opinion. Referees have a tough job, but that play looked to me as though Talbot was not given a full opportunity. Every fan base has this issue, you just hope it evens out over a long period.

The NHL has to figure out what constitutes goaltender interference and then apply the same standard across the board — I doubt that happens, but one can hope. The other thing is you can’t leave the review of a call a referee just made to the same referee. It has to be done by an off-ice official.

When you have different people officiating games and different people in the video review, you will always have some differing of opinions. It will never be perfect, but I do think they should look at only having the review centre review the goals. You have over 42 referees calling games during the season. They won’t all have the same opinion. If you only have, say, five people who are in the review centre, your chances of having more continuity will increase.

I am pretty much horrified at what the NHL now deems is an acceptable amount of interference (so long as you are a Duck). What has happened in this series only highlights the incompetency of the officials and the process of reviewing goals. Frankly, the series should be over right now because Friday SHOULD have ended 3-2 for the Oil but apparently now it’s not interference to pull a goalie’s legs apart.

I’m one more incorrect goalie interference call away from climbing on top of a Pint table and throwing the TV out the window. These calls are out of control and the league is losing a lot of respect from me right now.

Who are we kidding? Even if he did flop he probably still wouldn’t have gotten a call. *fart sound*

In the first round, he was impressive in possession and his line was facing a tough opponent. The Ducks series has been a little more difficult for them. Nuge doesn’t play on the 1PP, so the boxcars are not as strong as they were pre-McDavid. He certainly has value in my opinion.

No, I can’t. The Oilers need some production from RNH and Jordan Eberle and they aren’t getting it. Not good enough so far. Not even close.

It makes no sense. Two-way player is such an over-used phrase. RNH played well in the first series, and couldn’t finish, but versus the Ducks he has not been close to good enough. I didn’t even notice him the past few games.

Look, Nuge is doing lots of little things that are crazy important AND he’s a leader in shots on goal. But he also doesn’t have a single goal so I get it a little. But can I explain why people get all over him? No. I cannot. He’s a solid 200-foot player who has been cursed. We should be hunting the band of gypsies that did this to him right now.

This seems to be the same thing that’s happening all season long. Lil Nugey misses the net, or fails on an offensive play but then back-checks the hell out of everybody and makes an amazing defensive play making him the hero. I really wish he was scoring more. He’s definitely due.

Because Nuge is proving himself to be a reliable player that’s willing to battle in the playoffs and Eberle hasn’t done that yet. Let’s not kid ourselves, Ebs still scored 20 goals and 51 points this season so it wasn’t as bad as some are making it out to be, but he’s not showing himself as a Chiarelli type of player either. That’s the issue. To put it another way, RNH looks like he can play the Chiarelli style of hockey more than Eberle can. That said, both guys still need to score.

Eberle is a solid offensive winger, certainly a top 6F in the NHL. He may be eroding a little (he will be 27 next year) but Edmonton (or another team) should be able to count on him for 50-ish points next year.

Let’s get through this year first, shall we? There could be as many as two more series left to play and if Eberle finds his game and contributes, that will change the perception fans have of him right now.

Hard to say for sure. He clearly has lost his confidence, and there is no guarantee he’ll get it back to the level it was before. He is going to have to put in a lot of hard work in the off-season. He needs to get stronger. I’d start there and see where it goes.

I think he’ll rebound. Everything we can measure about this year points to it as an aberration. That said, I still think he’ll be doing it on another club.

Honestly, I don’t see Eberle making it through the offseason with the Oilers. I love the guy but his time is coming to an end. I’m surprised he’s made it this far but these playoffs are really making it apparent to Chia where our team lacks production, and that’s our second line.

Like I just said for the last one, Eberle’s season wasn’t as horrible as some are making it out to be and I wouldn’t be surprised for one minute if he went out and hit 60 points again next season. Ebbs and flows happen in the NHL and it’s not like you forget how to play year over year. I’d expect him to bounce back but I don’t know that it will be here.

No. I think it’s old-timey gamesmanship but has no real value beyond getting people riled up and excited for the next game. It has value, but it doesn’t impact the game. Now, a coach who is talking to a referee or in a meeting with the NHL officials? Yes.

No. None. I haven’t seen much controversy regarding face-offs, have you?

None. Zero. Zilch.

Yes. I think the referees are weak-willed spineless slugs who are reactive and incapable of the self-awareness required to not get played. Carlyle had them eating out of his hand.

I sure hope not. I would love to say that the refs don’t listen to that crap and that they are 100% objective… but they’re into the media stuff just as much as we are, so who really knows?

It seems to have worked, or maybe the NHL has its own agenda, or maybe the #RefsHateOilers hashtag is actually true? I think it’s gross that the officials are playing as big of a role in this series as they are. *takes off tinfoil hat*

The highlight is Connor McDavid’s season. What a wonderful year. Lowlight? Jesse Puljujarvi’s handling. The Oilers should have sent him out in September and brought him back in the spring.

Haven’t got there yet. This season isn’t over. How could a win in Game 7 against the Ducks not trump anything we’ve seen to this point?

Highlight was finally covering a competitive team again. The “they suck” and “draft lottery” angles were beaten to death. A low, I guess I’d say Pitlick injury, because he finally looked like he was reaching his potential, but once again he was injured. (On a side note, Pitlick is back skating. He’s recovering nicely).

Highlight of the season? Jeez. You picked a good year for that. Regular season: McDavid crossing 100 points. Post-Season: Sunday’s beat down of the Ducks, but it’s a placeholder for how good I’ll feel if Wednesday breaks the right way.

So many highlights. Definitely seeing Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot rise up to become the stars they are. Both are well deserved. Win or lose these playoffs, I’ve never screamed and cheered so hard at a TV before which will always be a highlight. A lowlight for me was probably seeing Tyler Pitlick miss the year after his amazing start with the team.

Since everyone is saying Connor as their highlight, I’ll take a different route. How about Leon Draisaitl’s killer season? How about Mark Letestu setting a new career high in goals (16) after being slotted in on the first power play unit?

Lowlight would have to be losing Pitlick after the start of the year and the countless Larsson/Hall comparisons. I hope those die down eventually.

At ATB, we know playoff memories are priceless but tickets are expensive. That’s why we’re giving away $2,000! ATB listens, so submit your entry today at atb.com/yegfans