The Edmonton Oilers will look to build off of their commanding 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday when they host the St. Louis Blues, a team that hasn’t lost in regulation in their last five games.

1. The Blues fired head coach Jeff Bannister after a 9-12-1 start and they’ve gone 4-0-1 with Jim Montgomery behind the bench. This is the second consecutive season in which St. Louis has made a coaching change. Last December, they canned Craig Berube after getting out to a 13-14-1 record. Bannister was called up from the team’s American Hockey League affiliate and the Blues went 30-19-5 the rest of the way.

St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong said that firing Bannister wasn’t about his performance, it was because the Blues had a chance to add a ‘top NHL coach’ who unexpectedly became available. Montgomery led Boston to a 120-41-23 record over parts of three seasons, highlighted by his Jack Adams Award-winning campaign in 2022-23 that saw the Bruins post the best regular season in league history.

Since hiring Montgomery, the Blues picked up two road wins over the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, lost in overtime at home to the Philadelphia Flyers, and beat the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames on the road. They’ve scored 18 goals and allowed nine over those five games.

2. Last season, the Blues came up just shy of the playoffs with a 43-33-6 record. They ranked 24th in goals scored and 14th in goals against and had special teams units that were below average in both categories.

The team was having a very quiet off-season until August rolled around. The Blues didn’t make any notable additions when unrestricted free agency opened on July 1 but Armstrong swung a few trades early in the summer, moving out Kevin Hayes and bringing in Mathie Joseph, Radek Faksa, and Alexandre Texier.

It appeared that the Blues would go into 2024-25 with a largely similar roster to the one they had the previous season. Then came the offer sheets.

With Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg sitting unsigned as restricted free agents and Edmonton projected to be over the salary cap ceiling, Armstrong offered deals to a pair of young players who had played very well in the playoffs. Broberg agreed to a two-year pact worth $4.58 million annually and Holloway inked a two-year deal worth $2.29 million annually. Both contracts were higher than the Oilers were planning to offer so they opted not to match.

3. Broberg signing an offer sheet wasn’t really out of the blue. The eighth overall pick from the 2019 draft had been granted permission to seek a trade earlier in the season when he was struggling to get consistent playing time in Edmonton. He watched the first two rounds of the playoffs from the press box and then effectively filled a top-four role when added to the lineup during the Western Conference Final.

Through 15 games with the Blues, the young defender has two goals and 12 points while logging an average of 20:39 per night. His on-ice shot attempt and scoring chance numbers are both in the red, but Broberg has an 8-to-4 goal differential over 259 minutes at even strength this season. He’ll play with Colton Parayko on St. Louis’ top pairing on Saturday.

The Oilers acquired Ty Emberson from the San Jose Sharks after the Blues signed Broberg and he’s been a solid addition for the third defensive pairing. The team has mostly been using Troy Stecher on the second pairing with Darnell Nurse where Broberg had played in the playoffs. Stecher is a great sixth or seventh defenceman but Edmonton needs to upgrade this position before the trade deadline.

4. Holloway singing an offer sheet was more of a surprise than Broberg because there were never any reports about the winger being unhappy in Edmonton. The biggest issue Holloway had during his entry-level contract was staying healthy, but the team’s first-round pick from the 2020 draft had plenty of opportunity at the NHL level.

He’s played 27 games with the Blues and has eight goals and eight assists, already career-highs in both categories. Holloway will line up on St. Louis’ third line with Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou on Saturday and he’ll also join Broberg on the team’s second power-play unit.

The Oilers traded for Vasily Podkolzin after Holloway inked his deal with the Blues and the skilled Russian winger is finding his stride in Edmonton’s top-six. The team also grabbed Kasperi Kapanen off of waivers from the Blues and he’s added some much-needed speed to the forward group.

5. Stuart Skinner will start for the Oilers for the first time since being left off of Team Canada’s roster at the 4 Nations Face-Off earlier this week. The Edmonton native has a .889 save percentage over 17 appearances this season. Going for the Blues will be Jordan Binnington, who was selected to be one of Canada’s three goalies come February. The 31-year-old has a .900 save percentage over 20 games for the Blues this season.

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