Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to each and all of you. As always, I’ve got a brand new mailbag ready to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their take on whatever is on your mind. This week, we’re discussing the Ryan McLeod trade, Stuart Skinner’s contract, and more. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

The lack of finish from the Oilers top guys. Zach Hyman having no goals or points is a major surprise.

I 100% agree. The powerplay looking as disjointed as it has been is very surprising. They haven’t even been producing many “Grade A” chances either. Bouchard is having an alarmingly high number of his shots blocked, Draisaitl is trying to make too many hero plays, and McDavid has been a non-factor. It’s wild.

It’s definitely been  a quieter start to the season by the star players than I maybe expected, but I also think they’ll rebound sooner than later. We’ll see. I’m with you, though, the power play struggles aren’t something I had on my bingo card.

I don’t expect 97 and 29 to play together long term. McLeod was traded for high end potential in Savoie.

No, I just think the Oilers should stop playing Connor McDavid with Leon Draisaitl. They could have excellent centre depth, they’re just actively choosing not to. They do miss McLeod on the PK though.

I wish Kris Knoblauch would separate McDavid and Draisaitl, and put them together at strategic moments of the game. I think the Oilers are a more dangerous team when they’re both anchoring their own line.

Skinner would need more consistency to be in their category. He has shown he can have long stretches of playing well, but he also has stretches of poor play which lowers his Sv% and increases his GAA and until that changes he likely won’t sign a similar deal to either of Swayman and Oettinger.

I think he’s closer to being in the same league as those guys than some people realize. He’s a very good goaltender, not elite, but very good for his age and it’s going to cost the Oilers. If I were Stan Bowman, I would be trying to extend Stuart Skinner as soon as he’s eligible next summer. Give him the full eight-year team and lock in some cost certainty.

No matter what Stuart Skinner gets on his next deal, his agent is going to use Swayman and Oettinger as comparables. He wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t. I think Stu is a fantastic goalie but I also think his lows are maybe a step below where the truly elite goalies end up when they’re off their game.

I can’t answer that for others.  I wrote before the season began they would miss his combination of skill and toughness. I disagreed with those claiming they wouldn’t miss him.

I don’t think so. I don’t believe the reason they’re loosing is because of depth scoring or toughness. The reason they’re loosing is because of their special teams and a lack of production from some of the big guns.

When Kane is healthy and at his best, he’s one of the best power forwards in the league. Unfortunately, our man has been pretty banged up over the last two years, and we’ve forgotten how good he is at his best. I miss the swagger he brings to the lineup. It doesn’t show in the spreadsheets, but it does in overall vibes.

Predators being 0-5 is a surprise. Oilers offence being MIA is also a surprise, but I’d say NSH is a bigger surprise.

The Predators being 0-5 is very surprising. Yes, they brought in a lot of new pieces and it just isn’t clicking yet, but they had a full pre-season to get used to playing with each other. The Avalanche have some serious problems, but with all their injuries, their roster looked flawed from the jump.

All of them are surprising, but having Nashville go 0-5 with the pieces they have in their lineup wasn’t something I saw coming.

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