We’re deep in the summer dead zone for NHL news, but that doesn’t mean your ol’ pal Baggedmilk hasn’t been thinking about our beloved Edmonton Oilers. For this week’s Random Thoughts, I looked back on a few stories from the past week that involve our boys while also looking around the league for anything interesting we may have missed. Happy Saturday, Internet friends!

I know this clip isn’t new anymore, but man, did watching this ever hit me in the feels. As someone lucky enough (unlucky?) to be in Florida for Game 7, watching the boys go through it after that loss brought me back to the horrible way I felt after watching it happen in person. If you remember my post from that night, I basically walked out of the arena before the final buzzer had even sounded, so I can only imagine what it must have felt like to be going through that pain with cameras in your face.

Even though it’s been well over a month since the playoffs wrapped, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t heartbroken all over again after seeing the looks on the faces of the players who gave us so much joy over the course of this run. Even with Zach Hyman trying to rally the troops with some positivity, you could tell that there weren’t many takers for looking on the bright side of life at that time. But can you blame them? You can’t get much closer to winning hockey’s ultimate prize than the Oilers were, and this glimpse into what the room looked like immediately following that loss was a painful piece of content to watch. Oof.

Oscar Klefbom officially retired this past week, and the news had many Oilers fans feeling nostalgic about our handsome prince, whose career was cut short way too soon. Over on Reddit, /u/MrGoodsir87 found a highlight compilation from Oscar Klefbom’s last game as an Oiler, and it just reminds me how much of a shame it was that we lost such a quality defender for literally nothing.

I know I’m biased and all, but I don’t think the Oilers got enough love for losing the Klefbom/Larsson pairing for no return whatsoever, and I can only imagine what our defensive group would have looked like over the past few years if those two had still been around. Fantasies aside, seeing Klefbom on the ice for the final time was a real bummer. That dude had so much skill to offer on Edmonton’s back end, and it’s brutal to know now that we were never going to see him dawn an Oilers sweater ever again.

I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that Tyson Barrie was a productive member of the Oilers’ blue line when he got traded to Nashville as part of the Mattias Ekholm deal. Is that fair? I think so. That’s what makes him falling off so aggresively all the more confusing. Over at DailyFaceoff.com, the squad was putting together a “best of the rest” UFA list and Barrie’s name was included as a potential target for anyone in need of some depth defence:

In 65 games played over the season and the change he spent in Nashville, Barrie only produced four goals and 27 points, a far cry from the 43 points he put up in only 61 games in 2022-23 with the Oilers. While it’s understood that the Oilers’ PP was a significant contributor to Barrie’s points total, it’s almost like that trade out of Edmonton broke his heart and his spirit. How else would you explain such a drastic drop off in production followed by a half-year of being healthy scratched? It’s wild, man. Wild.

This past week, Nino Niederreiter, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Nico Hischier all took part in the World’s Highest Hockey Game. No, we’re not talking about some kind of Snoop Dogg twist, but rather a game of shinny that took place 3454 metres about sea level. According to a post on the NHL’s socials, the group got together to play in Jungfraujoch in Switzerland earlier this week, which just so happens to be the highest accessible point in Europe. I think the pictures look fantastic. Hopefully, we’ll get to see some video from the game because I couldn’t think of a cooler looking spot to play a little puck. Awesome.

Even though you can count me in as one of the few people who think Utah HC is actually a pretty cool name for that team, I think what they’re doing with this one year nameless season is completely embarrassing. A cash grab to be sure, I don’t understand how the NHL is allowing its new team to go a year without a name, sell jerseys/merch under that nameless brand, and then be cool to do this whole dog and pony show again next summer. I mean, this is just straight gouging the fanbase, right? What else would you call it? I guess I just don’t understand the need to steal every dollar from the fanbase like this when everyone knows full well that the team will be coming up with a new name and look in less than 12 months.

Hockey jerseys are the coolest sports uniforms, aren’t they? I personally think so. Just check out the George Springer jerseys the Toronto Blue Jays gave out this past week. They’re so good. Frankly, I’m actually a little bit bummed out because I’ll be going to Toronto this coming week for a little vacay, and it sucks that I missed what seemed like a really cool promo. That said, the chances of me actually showing up to the ballpark early enough to acquire one of the jerseys would have been slim anyway, but I think I still want to complain about not being able to get something that I didn’t know existed until it was too late.