Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. As per tradition, I’ve got a brand new mailbag set to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their takes. This week, we’re discussing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ Oilers career, Connor Ingram vs. Calvin Pickard, Andrew Mangiapane trade rumours, 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.

They’ve nailed on additions like Vasiliy Podkolzin, Jake Walman and Kasperi Kapanen so I struggle to simply point to pro-scouting and say it’s the only issue but I think they need to start targeting different styles of players. They need to find bottom-six players who are okay having that be their identity. Players who forecheck hard and can give the bottom-half of the Oilers lineup some identity. Curtis Lazar has been better than Adam Henrique this season. That’s insane.

Not all will work. They hit on Roslovic, Hyman, Kane and Podkolzin and missed on the aforementioned. I do think the scouts need to realize that Skinner, Arvidsson and Mangiapane are very similar. Smaller forwards who hold onto the puck a bit too long, and that doesn’t complement Draisaitl or McDavid. Stay away from that type of player.

It’s undoubtedly an issue, and likely something that has stunted their chances at the Stanley Cup. They managed to get to the final dance last spring, but Arvidsson and Frederic were non-factors in the final. Some of it comes down to the players not filling the roles they were brought in to, but I do think some of this falls on the pro scouting staff, too.

Both. Good players are coming here and underperforming. However, Edmonton needs to realise that undersized ageing forward clearly doesn’t work here. Trent Frederic is obviously the exception.

I’d love a summer where the Oilers take a big swing instead of trying to find value. Instead of spending $7.5m on two players for the middle six, dump it all on a stud that is a sure thing for the top six.

I think they might keep three goalies for a little bit. It’s the safe play to allow Jarry to get up to speed, maybe not have to face as much rubber in practice and hopefully stay fully healty for the whole season. By the time the trade deadline rolls around, they’ll have to send Pickard down to create some cap space but as long as Henrique is on LTIR, they can likely make a three goalie situation work.

They could send Ingram down before he plays 10 games, because he won’t require waivers. Pickard could get claimed, because many teams have goalie health issues right now and just need another goalie. Edmonton can’t risk losing Pickard for nothing, because if one of Ingram or Jarry get injured who is the backup then? I think they will either carry three, or send Ingram down, for a bit, just to protect themselves.

Zach Laing:
Here’s each of their stats since Jarry went down with an injury:

The numbers speak for themselves. Pickard, statistically, has been the better goaltender in his four starts compared to Ingram’s six, but what jumps out to me is that Ingram has had quality starts in five games. A quality start is when a goaltender who starts the game finishes it with a save percentage above league average.

If you remove Ingram’s start against the Bruins, his really bad start (one with a save percentage below .850), he has a 0.913 save percentage. a 2.38 GAA and 2.04 goals saved above expected.

My prediction is that they lose Pickard on waivers. I think someone else will grab him because they see him as an insurance policy with some playoff experience. I don’t like it, but that’s my prediction.

I think they’ll simply trade away Andrew Mangiapane by the time Henrique is back. Problem solved.

Henrique won’t be healthy until after the Olympics, so that gives them flexibility. They can activate Walman, likely Monday or Tuesday,  and then when Jarry is ready they will move Henrique to LTIR, and they will need to send down one of the other goalies or one of the forwards. The Henrique injury gives them some time, however, for regular season cap purposes, they’d likely prefer to move Mangiapane and keep Henrique on the IR, so they aren’t in LTIR during the three week Olympic break and could accrue cap space in that time.

It’s an extremely confusing situation that even I don’t have a great grasp on. How I understand it, though, is that the Oilers need to trade Mangiapane before the Olympic Break. Then, they can have Jarry and Walman activated, and send down waiver-exempt players like Isaac Howard, Matt Savoie and Alec Regula to get under the salary cap and accrue cap space during the break. They might have to place Mattias Janmark on waivers to make that happen. PuckPedia detailed that here.

My main prediction is that Andrew Mangiapane gets moved sooner rather than later, so that’s step one. Then, moving on from Calvin Pickard and sending down Ike Howard should be enough. Who knows, maybe we’ll even move Adam Henrique then.

Whatever Zach said Puckpedia said. I’m nowhere near smart enough to figure this out.

I just love that he never had any sort of an ego. He came in as a first-overall pick who has supposed to be a face of the franchise, top line centre and over the years not only has he sat through countless coaching and management changes, but he’s also seen the keys to the franchise get handed over to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and he never once complained or seemed bothered. He embraced his role, no matter how it evolved. That says a lot about the type of person that he is.

He is steady. He’s does many of the small things well. He isn’t great at anything, but he also doesn’t have a glaring weakness in his game. His best attribute is how he remains even keel. He hasn’t had a prolonged slump during his tenure and that is the most impressive part of his game for me.

He’s always been one of my favourite players to watch because of the way his game has evolved. He got thrown to the wolves in the decade of darkness and has always faced some of the toughest competition imaginable on some brutal teams. It’s been great to see the Oilers surround him with players like Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl, allowing his offensive game to flourish like it did when he was with the Red Deer Rebels.

He just reliably does whatever you need him to do. I would say the biggest evolution is that he’s gone from the guy who would drive the play when he arrived as the first overall pick to the player who works best with Connor McDavid.

He is the Swiss Army Knife of the Oilers lineup. He’s played on horrible teams, he’s played on great teams, but throughout his 15 years as an Oiler, you’ve never once heard him complain. He quietly goes about his business, executes well most of the time, and has no problem slotting in behind the two superstars who got here after he did.

I think Matt Savoie does because he kills penalties and Knoblauch has shown a willingness to play him up the lineup when things are going well. That third with the kids and Jack Roslovic seems to be working well and that’s leading to some extra 5v5 time for a player like Howard, but when there is a game with a lot of penalties, it’s harder to find him a consistent shift. I don’t have a huge problem with it right now honestly.

Savoie’s most common linemate this season has been Draisaitl in the top-six, so he hasn’t had a lack of opportunity to contribute. It’s been tougher for Howard, but prior to being sent down to the AHL, he averaged 9:29 per night. Since he’s returned, he’s up to 11:49 per night. That’s a noticeable increase.

Matt Savoie is 16th in TOI for rookie forwards, so he certainly gets his opportunities. Isaac Howard is much lower, but since coming back up, he’s had his chances, averaging around 12 minutes a game. I don’t look at it and say, ” Do they deserve more, but do the guys above them deserve less? The answer right now is no.

I’d always like guys like Savoie and Howard to get more minutes, but they also have to start scoring with the minutes they are getting. But with the Oilers’ top-six buzzing right now, they’re going to have to force the issue. That’s a good problem… I think.

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