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‘ approach to the trade deadline, Canada vs. USA, the Bobby McMann 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.

The only way he can surprise us is if he finds a way to clear out some significant cap space. Andrew Mangiapane is the likeliest player to be moved, and that would give the Oilers some serious wiggle room. If he could also get someone like Adam Henrique off the books, then he could probably start shopping for some more expensive options, but honestly, there really aren’t a lot of great names out there, and the Oilers don’t have a lot of assets. I think the most likely outcome is that he moves out Mangiapane and adds one defenseman and one or two top-nine forwards.

I’m predicting a quiet deadline. One of those “nibble around the edges” kind of years. That said, I also didn’t expect the Mattias Ekholm trade a few years back or even Jake Walman last year, so who knows?

No, I still think they’d need to do more. I would like to see another centre added, no matter what, and I think they need another defenseman, even if it’s a depth piece. I really like McMann, and the fact that he comes at such a low cap hit does mean the Oilers can do more than just add him.

Bobby McMann can score goals at 5v5, so he’d absolutely help. Would he be enough? No. Not close.

I’d like to see him try some new pairings, but I don’t think that will happen. He seemed pretty set on keeping Ekholm and Bouchard together in the past, and I doubt he’s going to change his mind. There are a lot of numbers that show that Bouchard gets the best out of Darnell Nurse, and I think it’s worth trying out again, but I’m not holding my breath.

Work on the breakout. If the forwards can’t get the puck, and the rest of the team’s defensive play isn’t strong enough, minimizing time in the defensive zone is priority one.

The pride of playing for your country. Everyone is playing with playoff-like intensity, no one is taking a shift off, and the result is that the skill gap we all see when we compare lineups gets much closer. This tournament has absolutely lived up to my expectations of what best on best hockey should be.

All of these guys are so proud to represent their countries, and I think that makes the quick tourney feel that much more intense. These guys are top-line players on their respective NHL clubs, but for the Olympics, they’re taking whatever role they need to fill to achieve the ultimate goal. That selflessness is very unique to a tournament like this, and I think the intensity ramps up as a result.

Both of these teams were one shot away from being bounced in the quarterfinals, so to say that it was always going to be them isn’t totally accurate. They got pushed really hard at points. But I am excited that we are getting this matchup.

I mean, both sides could have been bumped out in the quarterfinals by Czechia and Sweden, so I don’t know it was a lock. That said, it had to be this way. The Hockey Gords know.

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