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 the Oilers’ chance at winning the Pacific Division, free agents, Colton Dach, 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 won’t put any extra pressure on themselves to win it, especially with the run of injuries. They believe they are good enough to win a series, whether or not they have home-ice advantage. I believe it would help them, but that’s just me. The Oilers can’t lose both, or they could slide to 8th in the West and face Colorado, so they need to win at least one to give themselves a better chance to remain on the Pacific side of the bracket.

I believe them. I think they would probably like to have home ice advantage in round one, and the longer you can have home the ice the better, but this is a team that’s gone on great runs without needing home ice, so when they say that they value getting healthy and making sure their game is in the right spot over positioning, I believe them.

At this point, I think they probably just want to make it into the dance without losing more bodies. Then again, I might be projecting there.

After starting the first three rounds on the road last season, I think the group has the internal belief that it doesn’t matter where they fall in the standings, it’s about playing quality hockey at the right time. By and large since the Draisaitl injury, they’ve done that. At least, better than before, going 8-4-1 and more often staying defensively structured.

It is a concern for sure. I expect Hyman to be ready, but I’m not sure about Draisaitl just yet, and if Dickinson isn’t ready, that would be two of their top three centres unavailable for game one. Not good.

Time will tell, as lame an answer as that is. I have very little concern that Zach Hyman will be back. Leon Draisaitl is the big one, but if he starts skating this week, he should be on track to play in the first round. If he’s not ready by Game 1 then that is a big blow, regardless of where the team finishes or who their opponent is.

Very. Guys are dropping like flies up and down the lineup, and it is the last thing any team needs. We may need to find a sacrifice and a few alibis.

Out of 10, I’d be at a seven, rounding into an eight. It’s been taken as gospel that whenever Draisaitl returns to the lineup, he’ll look like his normal self. I can’t be certain of that, especially if the injury is a soft-tissue injury. The Oilers looked much different when Zach Hyman went out in the Western Conference, an absence that may have changed the result of the series. We hope it’s an abundance of caution with his absence and not underlying a major issue. With no timeline on Jason Dickinson, the Oilers third-line centre problem could return. The steady drip of players out of the lineup has me concerned, but it can all be forgotten once my eyes see them on the ice.

Knoblauch would have lots of good options. McDavid, Draisaitl and Dickinson at centre. Hyman, Savoie, Kapanen, Podkolzin, Roslovic and RNH as wingers. Multiple different options and then a fourth line of Dach, Henrique and Frederic to provide energy.

I’ll go with:

Nuge – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Savoie
Roslovic – Dickinson – Kapanen

I guess.

The question for me in determining line combos is whether the Oilers go back to a clear top-six, bottom-six share of minutes like before the Draisaitl injury, or keep a third-line together for matchup purposes. Regardless, I still prefer McDavid and Draisaitl on separate lines.

Savoie – McDavid – Hyman

Roslovic – Draisaitl – Podkolzin (I’d try it again to start for fear that Roslovic on a shutdown line is a bad idea).

Nuge – Dickinson – Frederic (Kapanen ready to jump in at any time)

No doubt he will be signed. He won’t command a big AAV. He will be signed. Jones would likely want to go somewhere else. Money won’t be his motivation, rather opportunity and with Dach, Clattenburg and Frederic in the organization, the Oilers have guys who play a similar style.

I would prioritize Dach over Jones simply because of age and upside, but I do think that Dach will be back next season. He’s an RFA so you own his rights and he’s looking like he could be a cheap regular contributor to this forward group. No reason at all to let him walk for nothing.

I like the way Dach throws his weight around, and that he’s not afraid to shoot the puck. Whether or not that’s enough to displace other guys yet seems like a stretch. As we’re seeing, depth is important, and I think the Oilers probably need more than less.

I think Bowman likes Dach. Being an RFA with arbitration rights, I see a lot of other work pending free agent work being done before it gets to Dach. Frederic’s contract is carved into the rock of Rogers, despite Max Jones scoring just one fewer goal almost 50 fewer games. Jones is an odd-man out, who is much more of a tweener than NHLer at this point. The market won’t be crazy for Jones.

Not at all. Detroit just missed for the 10th year in a row. Buffalo was at 14. San Jose has missed seven years in a row, and I’m not sold they are a lock next year. Anaheim needs to win one of its final two games, or it could miss the playoffs this year after missing the past eight years. Chicago is at seven years. With 32 teams in the NHL, I see more teams reaching 10-season droughts in the future.

Anaheim missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons, and, outside of a weird COVID bubble, Chicago wasn’t much better. This year will also be San Jose’s seventh without the playoffs. I would also argue that Philadelphia never really went through a rebuild.  The league is very competitive, and parity is at an all-time high, but there will still be long, painful rebuilds. Look at Buffalo, look at Detroit. It will still happen.

Or maybe the Oilers just did a really bad job of it? Somebody had to say it.

Not necessarily. San Jose is still rebuilding, but will likely have an off-season that represents they’re “competing.” Chicago hasn’t taken any steps yet. Philadelphia will make the playoffs this year, but I have no confidence that they are actually a playoff team for years to come as they are surprisingly light on talent.

I suppose it depends on what your definition of rebuild is. For example, the Sabres are ending their 14-year playoff drought this season, but weren’t rebuilding that whole time. Some of those years they spent like they were competing. Same with Detroit, who are now 10 years without playoffs. The scary part of any rebuild is rushing into success too early. Look at Seattle. You can argue beating Colorado in the first round in 2023 was the worst thing for their franchise development. They are in absolute no-mans-land and may be forced to rebuild because they never did so to begin with…