For the second time in franchise history, the Edmonton Oilers will not have a first round selection in tonight’s NHL entry draft. The other time was 2006 when they dealt their first round pick to Minnesota for Dwayne Roloson. The first round begins at 5 p.m. MT. It usually takes four to five hours to complete, and unless Ken Holland makes a trade it will be a quiet day for the Oilers.

The main story in Nashville regarding the Oilers is what happens with Kailer Yamamoto. Ken Holland has had discussions with teams about trading him. If they don’t find a trade partner by noon tomorrow, then I’d expect he will be put on waivers for the purpose of being bought out. Friday is the final day of the first buyout window, and a player needs to be placed on waivers the day before. Ideally, Holland finds a trade, because a buyout, even though it only carries a $433K cap hit this season and $533K next year, gives the Oilers less cap space to work with.

The Oilers schedule was released yesterday. Here’s a deep dive into it.

They play division rivals Vancouver, Calgary, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Seattle four times and Vegas and San Jose three times. They are in Vegas once, while the Sharks only come to Edmonton once.

They will play 21 games on Saturdays, 16 on Thursdays, 14 on Tuesdays, 10 on Wednesdays and seven on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays.

Their home games have 10 on Saturdays, seven on Tuesdays and Thursdays, six on Wednesdays, four on Fridays and Sundays and three on Mondays.

They have four matinee home games:
Saturday, November 4th v. Nashville.
Sunday, December 10th v. New Jersey.
Saturday, January 27th v. Nashville.
Saturday, March 30th v. Anaheim.

They have three weekday home games at 8 p.m. MT: Tuesday, December 12th v. Chicago and Connor Bedard. Wednesday, February 21st v. Boston, and Wednesday, March 13th v. Washington. They also have four weekday home starts at 6:30 p.m. MT: Monday, November 13th v. NYI, Wednesday, November 15th v. Seattle, Wednesday, February 28t v. ST. Louis, and Wednesday, April 10th v. Vegas.

They play seven matinee games on the road:
Saturday, November 18th in Tampa Bay (2 p.m. MT).
Friday, November 24th in Washington (12 p.m. MT). This will be an extended lunch day for many Oilers fans.
Saturday, February 17th in Dallas (10:30 a.m. MT).
Monday, February 19th in Arizona (3 p.m. MT). This is Family Day in Alberta, so hopefully most of you have the day off.
Saturday, March 2nd in Seattle (2 p.m. MT).
Saturday, March 9th in Buffalo (10:30 a.m. MT).
Sunday, March 10th in Pittsburgh (11 a.m. MT).

 They have 10 sets of back-to-back games.

December 21st and 22nd in New Jersey and New York (Rangers).

December 30th and 31st in LA and Anaheim.
February 9th and 10th in Anaheim and LA.
February 23rd and 24th at home v. Minnesota and Calgary.
March 2nd in Seattle and March 3rd at home v. Pittsburgh.
March 9th and 10th in Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
March 23rd and 24th in Toronto and Ottawa.
April 5th v. Colorado and the 6th in Calgary.
April 12th and 13th at home v. Arizona and Vancouver.
April 17th and 18th in Arizona and Colorado.

They have six sets of BTB games in their final 25 games. Banking points early in the season will be crucial.

Is it just me, or have some of the recent trades clearly favoured one team more than I expected?

Maybe I’m underestimating Pierre-Luc Dubois, but I like Winnipeg’s side of that trade more by landing Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a second rounder in 2024. Dubois made it clear to Winnipeg that LA was his first choice and the Kings still gave up a lot. LA has now traded four players from their playoff roster including sending Sean Durzi to Arizona. Vilardi and Kupari are both RFAs who need new deals, but neither should be that difficult to sign. Even if Vilardi gets a $4m AAV, the combined salary for the Jets’ three new players would be $9m compared to PLD’s $8.5m AAV in LA.

Montreal gave up a lot (the 31st and 37th picks) for Alex Newhook. Newhook will get more of an opportunity in Montreal than he did in Colorado, and they are betting he takes a big jump from the 13- and 14-goal seasons he had in Colorado. Maybe Marty St.Louis will unlock something in Newhook, but giving up a late first and early second rounder was a lot in my eyes. The Canadiens’ young forwards are all small.

The Flyers retained 50% on Kevin Hayes and only got a sixth round pick. So they will pay him $3.571m not to play for them for the next three seasons. Hayes was overpaid at $7m+, but at $3.571m, I think he will be solid value for St. Louis. The Flyers are planning a full rebuild, but they got virtually nothing to eat $3.571m for three years. Unless ownership said they need to reduce paid salaries, this trade doesn’t help them in any way. They aren’t going to be a cap team.

How do you view those deals?

The Blackhawks are clearly rebuilding, but adding Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno will give Connor Bedard a great leader in Foligno, and Hall will be able to talk to him about the pressures of being a #1 overall pick (and Hall is more than skilled enough to play with Bedard). The Blackhawks have loads of cap space, and it is smart to surround Bedard with some better players than what they had last week. Boston needed to clear salary, but they desperately need a centre.

Ryan O’Reilly would be the ideal replacement for Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. The Bruins desperately need centres.

Max Comtois could be a viable option to replace Klim Kostin. Comtois scored 16 goals in the shortened 2021 season. The past two years he’s only scored 15 in 116 games. He is 6’2, 210 pounds and skates well. He is physical, but not as tough as Kostin. He’s only 24 and I like him to bounce back, and at $1m or so he’s a bet I’d make.