Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to each and all of you. I’ve got a brand new mailbag ready to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their take on whatever is on your mind. This week, we’re discussing Viktor Arvidsson’s first games in Edmonton, Jeff Skinner, Zach Hyman’s scoring struggles, 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.

Broberg because he’s a D-man. However, if he was here he’d be playing RD. He is playing LD in STL and that makes it difficult to assume he’d have the same results in EDM. Losing him for draft picks rather than trading him for an NHL-ready player is the larger issue for the Oilers. Their handling of him as a player, but moreso their asset management of him was very poor.

The answer is Philip Broberg, but I am also not upset they didn’t pay him. There’s an obvious hole right now where he’d be playing and the team is going to struggle until they fill that void. Everyone else doesn’t matter to me.

At their current contract values and to be different, I think I’d probably take Dylan Holloway back. I think he has more offensive ability than Vasily Podkolzin, and I also believe the Oilers miss his speed through the neutral zone.

Just keep playing well. Once he scores once, he will relax and more goals will come.

Sometimes you’ve just got to see one go through the hoop and it’s as simple as that. Once that happens, Hyman can easily go on a run to get everything back on track. Many want to pretend that Hyman didn’t score goals before his 50 goal season. However, since he joined the Oilers, he’s 17th in the NHL in goals with 117 and tied with Steven Stamkos. He has more than Matthew Tkachuk, Filip Forsberg and Sidney Crosby. He’s going to be fine, he just needs to get one.

Just keep doing what he’s doing. Obviously, I want him to score, but I’d be more concerned about him if he wasn’t getting chances. The goals will come. I believe.

I spoke to him Friday morning and he felt he was playing well, he just wasn’t finishing. He wanted to take different angles to the passes he was receiving from Draisaitl. Arvidsson fanned on three different one-timers in the first seven games. He said he and Draisaitl were still learning each other’s tendencies and where they like the puck etc. He also said he wants to shoot more, so look for him to fire the puck more. He had his best game Friday night vs. Pittsburgh.

I am a little underwhelmed, but not concerned. The game against Pittsburgh on Friday reassured me that he’s going to be okay and just needs time to settle in. I hope Knoblauch gives him an extended look next to Leon Draisaitl.

Friday’s game against Pittsburgh was the best he’s had in an Oilers uniform so far, and I’m thinking he’ll only get better with more at-bats. Sometimes it takes a minute to settle in with a new team, and I’m hopeful that he’s turned a corner here in Edmonton.

He is quicker than I thought. He isn’t fast, as far as carrying the puck up ice, but he’s quick in how he darts in and out of plays. He’s slippery in puck battles and he never hesitates to shoot the puck.

He has a better nose for the net than I expected. Not that I thought he was always a perimeter guy, but he gets himself to the dirty areas of the ice more than I thought. I like it.

They Oilers don’t have McLeod (25), Lavoie (24), Broberg (23), Holloway (23) and Bourgault (22).

They added Emberson (24), Podkolzin (23), Jarventie (22) and Savoie (20).

Lavoie isn’t as big of a loss as some suggest. I think Jarventie has more upside than Lavoie and Bourgault due to his size and speed.

Podkolzin has played 145 NHL games and has 18-18-36 (0.25 pts/game) while Holloway has played 98 games and scored 12-10-22 (0.22 P/GP). Will Holloway clearly be better? I’m not sold on that one.

No question, Broberg has a much higher ceiling than Emberson.

McLeod is a more proven NHL player than Savoie, but he’s also five years older. If Savoie develops into a complementary top-six winger, then the trade works very well for them.

The Emberson, Podkozlin, Jarventie/Savoie combo are younger than McLeod/Broberg/Holloway/Lavoie. They also are less proven at the NHL level, and I view that as more of the concern than actual age.

Certainly not happy about what they lost, however, I’m going to counter you slightly. While I don’t believe these guys have the ceiling a Holloway or Broberg would have, they did bring in Ty Emberson and Roby Jarventie while also having Noah Philp return. They’re not glamorous names, but Emberson is 23, Jarventie is 22 with NHL games played, and Philp would’ve made the opening night roster almost any other year. They also drafted Sam O’Reilly. The prospect pool is bleak but, to be fair, it hasn’t been a strong point for a while now.

The Oilers’ depth chart has been a concern for me long before this past summer. The team just hasn’t done a great job of drafting over the last five years, and it’s especially painful to see these specific players leave because they were the only ones with any NHL games played.

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