Your weekend is over, you’re back to work, and looking (read: needing) for ways to kill company time. Enter your old friend – the mailbag.  It’s the time where we can sit down together as a Nation and learn something. As always, I’ve taken your questions, passed them to our panel of geniuses, and waited for wisdoms to spill out of their brain boxes.  If you want to be included in the mailbag, email me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Enjoy.

I think MacT’s verbal showed his inexperience in the position. Chiarelli’s approach is the better one. I do think the 40-point prediction was unnecessary — no need to downplay the generational talent. He’s an impact player, no harm in acknowledging it.

Why not just be realistic? Setting the bar grossly low suggests to me they are trying to hard to protect him. If he said 20-40-60 no one would have been upset. Being truthful is never a bad thing.

I think it’s better to set them low, however I think Chiarelli went REALLY out of his way to set the bar too low. It’s totally reasonable to try and keep expectations in check, but to predict he’ll get roughly the same amount of points as Teddy Purcell is pretty silly. I’ve said all along I think he’ll get somewhere closer to 65-70 points, which is about in the middle between insane, Crosby-like expectations of 100 or more, and the outrageously low 40 points of Chiarelli.

Sure, I prefer understatement to overstatement, but Chiarelli saying he’d be happy with 40 points from McDavid isn’t close to what he expects.

I like that he is underselling production for Connor. If he were to say X number of points everyone would be consistently keeping tabs as to where he’s at.

If nothing else I think the reaction that Chiarelli’s prediction got was pretty funny. I think setting the bar as low as Chiarelli did was underselling to the highest degree. If Connor McDavid plays a full season in the NHL and doesn’t score more than 40 points I will be shocked. On the other hand, it definitely is nice to have a GM try and lower expectations as opposed to saying that players have Norris potential. Did Chiarelli set the bar too low? Of course he did, but I’d much rather have that than what we had before. 

The only ones I didn’t like were late 00’s, they took the ‘hockey’ look away. Love the 1980’s blues.

I like the blue and orange original.

The current home ones are my favourite. They combine the classic colours of the Boys On The Bus era Oilers, with the more modern aesthetics of today.

I liked the Heritage Classic jerseys.

I go back to the 80’s. I grew up loving those jerseys and I still do.

I’ve always loved the blue and orange jerseys that the team has been wearing lately. To me, and I might be biased, there is no better looking uni in the league than those crisp blue wonders. I defy you to put the classic blue and orange up against any other jersey in the league. Beautiful. 

It does seem early, I agree. The Oilers may want to wait but then again the price goes up with each successful campaign. If they can get a Brodin deal done, I’d support it.

Because they see his potential. If he has a great year, he will be in position to ask for more. I’d have no problem signing him long term now at $4 mill or close to it. It will be a bargain deal in a few years. The Oilers need a few bargain contracts if they want to be competitive in the future.

The fact that he’s only 22 years old and was arguably one of the Oilers top three defenders last year (which I’ll admit isn’t a ringing endorsement #MissYouForeverPetry), on top of all his FANCY STATS pointing towards him continuing with his rapid development into a legit top pairing defenseman,  I think it would be insane for the Oilers NOT to sign that deal immediately! Worst case scenario his ceiling ends up being a #4 D-man, but with a AAV of $4 million that’s still fairly reasonable, and an infinitely tradable contract. I legitimately see no downside to locking him up for six or seven years right now. GET IT DONE PETE!

They are gambling what they have to pay now will be considered a value contract two or three years from now.

It is a risk but if he continues to develops the middle and end of the contract will be a deal. I think betting on your own players is good.

It’s a ballsy move to say the least. The Oilers would definitely be banking on Klefbom to keep progressing and improving at the rate which he has been. If Klefbom can maintain a spot in the top four than in a few years this contract would look like a steal. 

I’d start by covering your local team (maybe AJHL) and work up from there. Blogging is a good way to reach an audience too, I have found.

If you want to write, start writing short articles on your facebook page or start a blog. I’d recommend taking Radio and Television at NAIT if you are interested in either of those, or taking journalism if you want to write.

I literally fell backwards into this current job, mostly because I stalked Wanye for a decade and have tons of blackmail in case of emergency, so I’m not sure I’d be the best source for this kind of advice. But being around the blogosphere since virtually the beginning I would say your best bet is to just start writing. Start your own blog. Pimp yourself out on social media, and once you start to get better and better, and find your own voice, and work hard, someone should take notice eventually. Don’t be afraid to volunteer either. I know there are A LOT of people who disagree with this type of thinking, but in my personal experience having a network of connections and a reputation as someone who is reliable and knows what they’re doing is far more valuable than a small paycheque from an entry level position.

Develop your writing skills by tackling every subject you can find. Read great writers. Find a college or university that offers a journalism program. Don’t be put off by rejection because you’ll get plenty along the way.

I will let the other guys fill you in on this one. My road to this career is somewhat unique.

Start writing now. The first step I would recommend would be to start a blog and start practicing. The more you write the better you will get and you can’t start working at it early enough. Get in touch with writers you like and ask questions, you never know what kind of relationship you can develop with someone. I met Wanye when ON first started and eight years later I’m working here so you never know what can happen.

Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning. Book it!

Preseason hasn’t begun yet, so hard to say who will be there, but I will confidently say Toronto and Arizona will not represent their conferences in the Stanley Cup finals.

I think Anaheim is just going to tear through everyone this season, and I can’t see Tampa taking a step back, so I’m going with a Ducks-Lightning final. TAKE THAT TO VEGAS!

I can’t. Don’t know what the teams will look like yet.

Tampa – Minny. I think the time is now for Tampa with their contract issues creeping up. The west is more wide open. I will take a flyer on a team I really like. I do think Minny will need to add a D man to push forward.

I’m going to go with Anaheim vs NYR. I think Anaheim is going to be a force coming out of the West and you can never count out a team with Henrik Lundqvist in net.

As if you wouldn’t want this autographed picture of Connor McDavid hanging in your office/basement/bedroom. I know I would. Quite frankly if it was me that won this I would carry it around with me at all times. Luckily, our friends at TeamMemorabilia.ca are giving you a chance to win this picture and all you have to do is follow them on Twitter at @teammemorabilia. Easy enough, right? On Wednesday afternoon we will be selecting one of those random followers to win the prize.