NHL Notebook: Holloway to skate in top-six, Blue Jackets release James Neal from PTO and more
By Zach Laing
1 year agoDylan Holloway, it’s your time to shine.
He’s getting as good of an opportunity as ever tonight to show what he can do. The Oilers are going to be playing Holloway in the Oilers’ top-six alongside Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman.
This is going to be a fun game to watch, folks.
Holloway has shown very well and is working his way onto this team, and there’s a world where playing alongside Draisaitl makes a ton of sense. He has the speed and the tenacity to help create havoc on the forecheck, and his passing ability is already at a high level.
Just look at this nifty cross-ice feed to Jason Demers from Saturday night. That’s some good stuff, folks.
James Neal released from PTO
Sail on, James.
The Columblus Blue Jackets released James Neal from his professional tryout on Monday, and it could very mark the end — or at least near the end — of the line for the journeyman NHL’er.
Neal, 35, was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the 2nd round of the 2005 draft, but didn’t break into the league until the 2008-09 season. He took the league by storm in his first three years scoring 73 goals and 137 points, but was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins amid the 2011 season. He, along with Matt Niskanen, were sent to Pittsburgh for Alex Goligoski.
Neal’s best season came in the 2011-12 season with Pittsburgh, where in 80 games he scored 40 goals and 41 points.
He spent the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons with the Oilers scoring 24 goals and 41 points in 84 games.
Cam Talbot out five to seven weeks
According to the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, Talbot is out for a while dealing with an upper body injury. Backup Anton Forsberg will be heavily relied upon in his wake.
The club made a move in net snagging Magnus Hellberg on waivers from the Seattle Kraken. Ottawa picked up Talbot in an offseason deal that saw them send back Filip Gustavsson to the Minnesota Wild.
Puerto Rico joins IIHF
Now here’s a cool one.
Puerto Rico is reportedly set to join the IIHF as an associated member after the orgnaization ruled on a decision to allow them to join last week.
The Puerto Rico Ice Hockey Association, headed by President Scott Vargas, has just over 200 players which is a number much higher than I ever expected.
You can read more about their hockey history on DailyFaceoff.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
#NATIONVACATION TO LAS VEGAS
- When: On Thursday, January 12th, we’re jumping on a flight at the Edmonton International Airport and making our way to Vegas. On Sunday evening, we’ll fly back from Vegas to Edmonton. So the dates that you need to block off for this trip are January 12th to 15th.
- Where we’re staying: After landing in LV, we’ll jump on the free shuttle and make our way to the Park MGM before settling in for a good night’s sleep. 😉
- What you get: Your roundtrip flight, hotel, shuttle, viewing party (Friday night), game entry — we got seats this time (Saturday night), and exclusive entry into our pre-trip ‘get to know everyone’ event.
- How Much: The total cost for the trip, flight, hotel, and entry to the game is $1499 per person (based on double occupancy)
- Tickets: Ready to dive in? Click this link.
Recent articles from Zach Laing
