It’s Sunday morning on the long weekend, and we’ve reached the summer dead zone for NHL news. This is the perfect time to schedule another dose of Random Thoughts to empty my brain of its delicious contents and give us all a reason to talk a little hockey on the long weekend.

On Friday’s episode of Oilersnation Radio, Tyler asked us how many Oilers we think can hit the 30-goal mark this season. It seemed like a silly question at first, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that number might be higher than I initially thought. After all, this is peak Kool-Aid season, which means there’s no better time to dream big. When you look at Edmonton’s roster, there are nine players who have been there before.

Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jeff Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson, Evander Kane, Adam Henrique, and Corey Perry have all scored 30 goals at least once in their careers. While I know that most of them won’t get back there this year or probably ever again, how can you look at that list and not wonder how many of them can do it again? Would it be crazy to think four of those guys can score 30 goals? What about five? I don’t think so. I’m guessing we will get four: McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, and Skinner.

Both Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg will be expected to be significant contributors for the Edmonton Oilers in 2024-25. However, as I’m writing this on the morning of August 4th, both players are still without contracts for the upcoming year. That’s not to say that I have any concerns about them getting new deals, I’m just saying that the deals they sign will be important details in regard to how much lifting the team will need to do to get cap compliant.

If both guys sign for $1.25 million, we’re talking about needing to clear nearly $3 million before the season kicks off. That’s a Cody Ceci-sized hole in the math that Stan Bowman will need to figure out, and I want to know how much of a sweetener he’ll have to throw in to make something happen. It’s not like teams are lining up to give you free cap space, you know? Surely, we must be due for one of those expensive-player-for-future consideration trades at this point, right? Dare to dream.

Do you know what would help with this cap situation we find ourselves in? Not having $6.5 million in dead cap space on the books because of performance bonuses (Brown and Perry) and buyout penalties (Neal, Campbell). Way she goes, I guess. I know a lot of teams have cap penalties like this, but that doesn’t make it any less painful to imagine what the team would be able to do with an extra $6.5 million to spend on players to upgrade the roster.

McDAVID HIGHLIGHTS ARE ALWAYS IN SEASONS

If you’re ever looking for a way to kill nine minutes and 19 seconds, I recommend this Connor McDavid highlight compilation from the 2024 playoffs. Even though the playoffs ended just over a month ago, there were plenty of moments in this video that I had either forgotten or loved to watch again.

From the tying goal in Vancouver in Game 2 to the OT winner in Game 1 against Dallas to the ridiculous dangle in Game 6 to win the West, reliving this year’s run was a lot of fun, and I will never regret spending a few minutes rewatching Connor McDavid doing Connor McDavid things. Shout out to Delta Highlights for putting this video together because it was a fun way to drink my coffee this morning. I would strongly recommend it.

If you’re looking for some live hockey to watch, the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup kicks off on Monday at Rogers Place. I was looking around for things to do on the long weekend and noticed that tickets to Canada vs. Switzerland started at $29. Even though we’re not talking about NHL calibre play here — no one is expecting that from these kids — it’s always fun to watch the NHL’s future stars giving it their all for their country.

There’s just something about international tournaments that just hit a little bit different. Might be worth checking out if you need plans. As a programming note, Liam Horrobin will be covering the tournament for the website this year, so stay tuned for some news and notes from him over the coming week.

We had Brendan Perlini on Oilersnation Radio when he first launched his YouTube channel, and I thought the idea of giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at playing pro hockey could catch if done right. And after uploading only 58 videos on his channel, I think he’s doing a good job so far. His videos range from 10 to 40 minutes and cover various topics relating to being a pro hockey player while also touching on his own journey as a player. If you’re ever looking for something light to watch that’s both fun and informative, give Lamborghini Perlini’s channel a go.

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