Training camps around the NHL opened up yesterday, triggering news on the injury front and quotes from new additions.

The news coming out of Oil Country was no different with updates on the health of Evander Kane and Darnell Nurse as the main topics of the day. Edmonton also brought in one more PTO with Mike Hoffman but how does he fit into the lineup? Additionally, EA Sports released their top player ratings for the upcoming NHL 25, and the NHL TV schedule doesn’t make sense once again.

Why does EA Sports have a fear of giving players a 99 rating? NHL 25 hits the shelves in less than 10 days, so EA has gradually revealed ratings for certain players to market the release. To nobody’s surprise, Connor McDavid is the highest-rated player at 97 overall and is closely followed by Nathan MacKinnon at 96 and Nikita Kucherov at 95. It’s a fair and justifiable top three, but the fact that McDavid isn’t a 99 overall is absurd. They couldn’t even give McDavid 99 speed. The Madden NFL game has no problem handing out 99s and even gets involved by giving players plates for being in The 99 Club. It’s a small detail, but the NHL is missing out on an easy piece of marketing once again.

We all knew this was going to happen, but the Evander Kane injury news was made official today. Kane said he’ll have surgery on “both abductors on each hip, two torn lower abdominal muscles, and two hernias.” The timeline for his return is unconfirmed, but after years of watching other teams use LTIR to their advantage, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kane out until the playoffs. To be fair, with injuries like Kane has, it is justifiable. Kane is going to be missed more significantly than many want to give credit for. He scored 24 goals last season while also having a 20+ game stretch without scoring. The addition of Jeff Skinner is great; however, with the loss of Warren Foegele and Dylan Holloway this summer, the loss of Kane to your bottom six stings even more. We all love Mattias Janmark, but he isn’t going to fill the net in Kane’s absence.

The Oilers signed Mike Hoffman to a professional tryout after Carl Berglund suffered a concussion at the Penticton Young Stars Classic over the weekend. Hoffman is well out of his prime, so Oilers fans shouldn’t be talking about him cracking the NHL roster. Instead, I wonder if Hoffman will sign an AHL deal with the Bakersfield Condors. The fact it took an injury to a player who played in the ECHL last year, Berglund, to get him a tryout isn’t a good sign of where he’s at in his career. He gets to stay in California, after playing for the San Jose Sharks last season, and fills the void left in Bakersfield with vets like Brad Malone, Adam Erne, and Sam Gagner now gone. Additionally, there’s a good chance Raphael Lavoie doesn’t go back to the AHL too. Perhaps there’s a chance Hoffman will take on a new role in the AHL and help the future Oilers down there.

The hype train for Connor Bedard heading into opening night last season was unlike anything we’d ever seen before. ESPN was promoting the Bedard vs Crosby matchup endlessly, and it was exciting to see a different tone ahead of hockey season. That type of love hasn’t been given to San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini, this year’s first-overall pick. Celebrini gets his first US National game on Thursday, October 10th, against the St. Louis Blues on ESPN+. Celebrini isn’t Bedard, however, it just felt right to promote the future of the league as they did last year. A Thursday night game at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time feels like a poor way to showcase the new star in San Jose: a franchise that needs to have a fire reignited.

If you’ve listened to Oilersnation Radio before, you’ll know that I don’t watch movies or TV shows in one sitting. It takes me a few attempts to get through programs for a variety of reasons. The only show that has ever grabbed my attention for hours on end is Game of Thrones, even with the disappointing ending. However, there’s a new show in town that has taken the crown for controlling my attention span. Only Murders in the Building on Disney+ is by far the greatest show on any streaming platform right now and I can’t be convinced otherwise. You’ll think you know who the murderer is but your opinion changes every episode. The main cast is incredible and the cameos they have are great too. Even Sting made an appearance! If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet then you are missing out.