A quiet week hockey wise but Tyson Barrie kept the buzz around the NHL alive with all of his wedding festivities this weekend.
Everyone has been talking about the Barrie wedding, and rightfully so because it’s looking like the party of the year, or as many are calling it, the NHL’s  Met Gala.
Few photos have been posted, but the groomsmen included Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Mike Smith, and Tyler Ennis. If that’s not enough, other guests included:
  • Darnell Nurse
  • Connor McDavid
  • Kyle Turris
  • Sam Gagner
  • Mitch Marner
  • Zach Hyman
  • Evan Bouchard
  • Johnathan Tavares
  • Ryan McLeod
I think I also saw Jack Campbell in a photo as well…
Obviously many others, and there were some big names rumoured to be at the wedding as well including Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Justin Bieber. I won’t speak to how true this may or may not be because personally, I don’t believe it, but Zach Hyman didn’t call him the most well-connected NHL-er for nothing.
Also the hashtag was everything, #gettingbarried ?? perfect.
All jokes aside, it looks like they put together the most beautiful wedding and were able to be celebrated by the people they love and are loved by the most.
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. TB2’s!!
Moving on to our next topic of discussion, the Edmonton Riverhawks.
Or well, the Oilersnation Shennanegains at the EdmontonRiverhawks games.
Anyways, needless to say, the ON crew loves a good Riverhawks game. However, I have yet to see them actually win one.
Regardless, beer bats, baseball and a hot sunny summer day all go flawlessly together, and we’ve proven this on a few separate occasions.
Oh, and fireworks every Friday! I can’t think of any reasons not to keep going to them to be quite honest with you.
Okay, enough with the shenanigans.
For the past week, the Brick Tournament has been going on in Edmonton. If you are unfamiliar, this is a hockey tournament hosted at West Edmonton Mall, obviously by The Brick, and it brings in teams from all over Canada and the United States and showcases some brilliant 10-year-old players. AR few players of note that have played in this tournament are:
  • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
  • Jack Hughes x2
  • Luke Hughes
  • Brady Tkachuk
  • Mat Barzal
  • Auston Matthews
  • Connor Brown
  • Connor Bedard
  • Jordan Eberle
  • Jason Robertson
  • Jordan Binnington
  • Brett Kulak
and so so many more.
The street team and I got to go interview a few of the players at the tournament, and we had so much fun there! The kids seem to be having a fantastic time, and so many of them travelled to be here for a week. All of the American teams were in Canada playing hockey on July 4th… the irony there is crazy to me.
All in all this Tournament is so much fun to be at, and those 10-year-olds are putting on a clinic out there; it truly is no wonder so many kids in this tournament wind up in the NHL.
Speaking of the NHL, there are only two serious things I want to talk about this week, both are probably no surprise to anyone.
Ryan McLeod has still not signed and is likely going to be going to arbitration. Ryan McLeod is a player we simply cannot lose this off-season, and I think if the Oilers got rid of him, sooner or later they would regret it greatly. He may not be the best player on the ice at all times, but he is fast, smart skilled, and a player that will develop into something similar to Ryan Nugent Hopkins. Arbitration begins July 20th and runs until August 4th, so if the Oilers cant sign him to a deal before then, we will be seeing McLeod go through arbitration, and we will just have to hope that we can afford to keep him.
And the second, you guessed it, Evan Bouchard. He is a  better player than Bowen Byram, so you can understand why Byram getting a 3.85 million dollar deal would be worrisome.
This contract set the benchmark for a young defenceman, and just like Seth Jones in Chicago, it is not doing anybody any favours. This contract set the market way too high, which recently seems just to be a common trend with defencemen in the NHL.
In an ideal world, Ken Holland sits down with Bouch and his agent and says look, this is what we can offer you this year, but next year and going forward we can increase your contract because the cap will be going up. So Bouchard can sign a bridge deal again, and then next year we can sign him to that long-term deal we have been trying to get done.
The Oiler’s biggest mistake this offseason could wind up being that they didn’t get these two signings done before signing guys like Caggiula ( even though you know how much I love him), Lane Pedersen, Ben Gleason and Noel Hoefenmayer. 
Sure these guys might be nice to have, but losing one or both of Bouchard and/or McLeod would surely be a larger issue.