Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. As always, I’ve got a brand new mailbag ready to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their take. This week, we’re discussing Jake Walman’s ability to stay healthy, player discipline, a demanding Oilers schedule, 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.

Part of it is definitely that athletes today are simply treated differently than they were 20-30 years ago. The other part of it is that if you’re star players are playing poorly, it usually means your losing the game so if you’re Kris Knoblauch, what do you care about more: trying to win the game or sending a message? Also, Knoblauch did bench Leon Draisaitl early last season so it’s not like he won’t go to that option if he feels it’s the right move.

I think the times are certainly different than when Glen Sather was behind the bench, and that’s the biggest reason the same levels of discipline aren’t there. That said, I do agree that there needs to be accountability regardless of the player we’re talking about, and the best way for Kris Knoblauch to do that is limit their ice time.

We’ll see Ike Howard go back down to Bakersfield, which makes sense both for his development and for roster management since he doesn’t need waivers. The next option should be Curtis Lazar. I really don’t want them to risk putting Noah Philp through waivers. On the blue line, one of Alex Regula or Troy Stecher will have to go through waivers when Walman is healthy and I’d bet on Regula.

Isaac Howard is the easy one because I think some time in Bako would do him good. After that, your guess is as good as mine. To play along with the question, though, I’d bet on Curtis Lazar getting waived and maybe even a Janmark trade to clear up another space. I saw some Janmark trade rumours on Twitter this week, so now that one is living in my head.

No, I think they’re just being extra cautious with him since it’s early in the season. If he kept suffering the same injury, then I’d be worried that he’s got an issue but it’s always different things with him so I chalk it up to mainly bad luck.

Being cautious and moving slow at this point in the season is the smart move. They don’t need to rush Walman back right now, so having him take his time is the best play. To the other point, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me a little nervous. A quick look at his HockeyDB shows what you’re saying for games missed.

Little bit of bad luck, little bit of trying to be cute and pass the puck into the net. They’ll find their groove, like they do every year, but they have had some good looks and they’ve had to play some really good goaltenders. I’m not concerned at all.

Definitely need some luck, but I’m seeing way too much passy passy and not enough shooty shooty.

I would like to see both goalies continue to give them quality starts. Other than that, I think cutting down on some Grade A mistakes would go a long ways in allowing them to rack up some wins. If the Oilers play a clean transition game and don’t give the other team any freebies then they can beat anyone in the league.

With 12 points on the board, the Oilers need at least eight or nine of them. How they get there doesn’t matter much to me.

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