You watched another afternoon game, you got a bit day drunk, took Sunday to recover, and now you’re looking for ways to kill company time until you’re allowed to leave. Luckily, the mailbag is here to save you from working too hard and we’re pretty good about not telling your boss about all the time you spend here. As always, the mailbag depends on your questions.  If you have one, you can email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Enjoy the distraction, my friends, you’ve earned it.

First glance I say Cammalleri can help the Oilers more, because of his ability to score. I could see both being okay, but not very impactful, for either team.

Cammalleri can finish. That’s something the Oilers need. Jokinen just looked used up in his short time here. Advantage Oilers.

I think it was a pick ’em to be honest. Cammalleri is the better scorer but Jokinen has the better two-way/checking skills. Jokinen also played in some bad luck but his boots are not fast enough. For me, you can see the reasoning for both teams, after that just hope both men have success in their new surroundings.

I think the trade is a wash as each team gets what they wanted. Kings got the better possession player. Oilers got the better shooter. I think Jokinen is a better overall player who was getting brutal bounces, but neither looks like a major difference maker.

Cammalleri looked pretty energetic and trigger-happy, which is great. I think he’s a nice fit in the top six because he’s a good shooter and knows where to be on the ice. Is he a solution to the larger issues? No, but he’ll help. It’s a shame he wasn’t just signed in the off-season because Cammalleri and Jussi Jokinen on the wings is nice depth.

I was pretty thrilled about it. Sure it’s a bottom six veteran for a bottom six veteran but if you look right at their point production this year it has to make you satisfied. Jussi Jokinen really hasn’t done anything for us this season, he’s barely even played. Cammy has a hell of a shot still and i’m looking forward to him producing in the bottom six and powerplay.

My first thought was that there is no way Cammalleri could be worse than Jokinen was. I still feel good about that.

I assume it just they are not used to it. Teams in Philly, New York, Boston etc. play many afternoon games each year. Even when the Oilers were a dominant team they weren’t great in the afternoon, and it seems the change in time is a big disruption.

Players like routine and day games are the exception to the rule. That’s not an excuse, though. Same for both teams.

Bah! It’s always been thus. Worst one I remember was an April 1 game in Carolina when Mike Grier was still here. I think a bunch of players had the flu as well because of course they did.

I have no clue. I think if anyone, blogger or hockey person, knew the answer then the problem would have been solved already. This team is brutal in matinee games and I don’t have an answer for it.

They’re all lazy, entitled millennials who would rather be enjoying avocado toast from brunch rather than working, obviously.

This is 100% true. We’re cursed! Maybe the boys stay up a little too late drinking Coca Cola and playing video games and can’t regroup? I don’t know but it’s annoying as hell.

Forget day games, why don’t they play well in most games. General disappointment all around.

The Oilers PK has been a low. The emergence of Darnell Nurse would be the high at this point.

Watching Connor McDavid’s talent carrying a team that has far too many passengers most nights. That’s the high and the low.

I’ve been very impressed with Nuge, Nurse and Yamamoto’s ability to earn another game (maybe the last three were unearned, but that young man kept doing enough to get into the NHL in the same season he was drafted. Impressive.) Lows? Inconsistent play across the board.

High was the 8-2 game versus the Golden Knights. Low was being out of the playoff picture before American Thanksgiving like we’re back in the Decade of Darkness. Thanks, Chia!

My high was the Vegas game. It was fun and seemed like a turning point, though we all know deep down that it was self-trickery as we prefer illusion to despair. My low point has been watching the mainstream media begin an anti-Connor McDavid narrative because too many of them are fanboys who are legitimately petrified of doing anything other than doing freelance PR work for management. Chop wood, carry water.

The low is that people are starting to turn on the players and not the person that stripped the team of offensive talent and lost more trades than he’s won. The positive is that Connor McDavid is an Oiler and that Nuge is having a solid year.

I thought it would have been great to refurbish it with six rinks/lacrosse surfaces. I presume they will tear it down and put up condos. Maybe they will make it a hub for all the bike lanes in east end…

I agree with Iveson. I would like to see affordable housing and/or a centre focusing on community services on that land.

I liked the idea of turning it into four (or six?) ice surfaces for rec hockey. That building is historic, give to the hockey fans who paraded there for decades.

I would like to see something on that stop of the LRT line that the people of Edmonton can use. Having a pile of rubble isn’t going to move the dial for me.

Repurpose it into multiple ice sheets for citizens to use. It’ll always be special for Edmontonians to play beer league or Minor Hockey Week games at old Northlands.

Real life talk, the most feasible and likely logical idea is to demolish it as sad as that makes me feel. In my dreamland, I’d LOVE if they converted it to a four-rink multiplex with soccer fields, gyms, courts, and any other sport areas that I’m missing.

Man, what a bummer. I loved Rexall Place and to know that it’s going to come down bums me out. I was hoping they could find another use for it but I guess that’s not looking so likely. RIP good times in a bad neighbourhood.

I think analytics has value and some good points, however, if you overvalue it you are in trouble. I think Florida erred when they revamped their entire defence in one summer and went with all what they deemed puck movers. It is great to move the puck, but you still need some puck separators or puck retrievers. Because most teams have the puck about as much as they don’t have it.

I don’t think it means analytics do not work or are a fad, it just shows they, like the eye test, are prone to failure.

I think you’re trying to stir the pot. There are bad teams being built by experienced, traditional hockey men and by inexperienced GMs who are in over their heads like John Chayka in Arizona.

Not at all. We don’t know which managers are listening to the analytics people. I think we’ll know more when a general manager who came from an analytics background is named GM and is given five years to implement a plan. Might not be the first one who gets the chance who proves the value of analytics, though.

A couple things here. 1) Florida famously bailed on the analytics movement when Tallon took over and started undoing those moves. They lost major contributors like Marchessault seemingly because the analytics people liked him. They are worse under Tallon than when the computer boys were running the show. 2) Arizona is a mess as they were before Chayka took over. He came out of a black box analytics background. I couldn’t tell you what actual metrics he actually values or how it’s recorded. 3) EVERY team in the NHL uses analytics in one form or another. The best, the worst, and the middling teams all have departments internally or outsourced. Asking if analytics is a passing fad is like asking if video in coaching is a passing fad. It’s a tool that has been added to every clubs toolbox. How each uses it is different, but it’s never going away.

Why are the Coyotes and Panthers, one which who gave up on the movement after, like, two weeks the figureheads of analytics? Why not Carolina and their absurd amount of young talent? Or the Leafs who appear to be one of the best teams in the East? The Penguins leaned into stats, as have many teams. There are plenty of things that can be gained when you take out the subjective and roll with the objective. I’m a fan of using the eye test and old hockey knowledge coupled with stats in evaluating talent, building a roster, and in-game execution. The teams who don’t are going to get passed by. Just because the Panthers are a joke and the Coyotes haven’t developed yet doesn’t mean it’s an overarching failure. Look at this nerd enjoying his day with the Cup. 

I actually never really thought of that, but it’s hilarious. I don’t think it’s a fad that’s passing just yet. But it could be signs of things to come.

The Oilers don’t care much about stats and they suck too so what’s your point? Relying solely on stats or not using them at all is equally dumb, in my opinion.

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