Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

One day, I won’t have to write or talk about the Edmonton Oilers playing down to the level of weaker opponents. But it is not this day. They gave the New York Islanders team that started their season 0-3 their first win. They had 33 shots on goal compared to New York’s 25, but you wouldn’t know. A friendly reminder that Evan Bouchard got his contract extension for his play in April, May, and June. It certainly wasn’t for his play in October, and that version of him was on full display on Thursday night. The Bouchard haters felt like dancing on the streets when he made turnover after turnover, one of them resulting in Mathew Barzal’s first goal of the season. The game winner by Bo Horvat, his second goal of three on the night, was on an Islanders power play, more on that later.

All but one Oiler forward not wearing 97,29, or 93 barely got over ten minutes of ice time the other night. Andrew Mangiapane got more because he’s on the top line, as Trent Frederic did when he was placed there. Heading into this new season, even last season, the offensive depth through all four lines in Edmonton was supposed to’ve changed in the greatest of ways. Granted, Zach Hyman is still out, but that depth is being wasted on the bench. Kris Knoblauch is going back to the coaching error as old as time, burning out the stars because he doesn’t trust all the other players around them as much as he should. I hope this doesn’t become a theme for the rest of the season and that all four lines are eventually trusted equally.

Condolences to the family of local Edmonton Sports reporter John Sexsmith, who passed away yesterday at the age of 63, after battling prostate cancer for 14 years. Let’s get a pair of weekend wins for him. The keys to the game are…

Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Discipline: So I can relate to Matthew Schaefer getting high-sticked by Frederick in the third period on Thursday, as I had an elastic band snap and hit my eye while the first period was on. Unfortunately, it was one of multiple offensive zone penalties taken by the Oilers, and, as stated before, it was the game-winner. More so than not taking too many penalties, don’t take too many bad penalties.

Shoot: Every game day, we never know if we’re getting the version of Connor McDavid that scored 64 goals in 2023 or the version that put up 100 assists in 2024. There was a moment very late in the third period against the Islanders where he got the puck back in front of the net, but elected not to shoot it. This goes for anyone, but Connor was the most visible example. Never hesitate to get pucks on net. What did Wayne Gretzky say about shots?

Cool Hand Luke: 22-year-old defenseman Luke Hughes, the youngest of teammates Jack and Quinn in Vancouver, started his third NHL season. He put up 91 points through his rookie and sophomore seasons. He’s just as good offensively as some of New Jersey’s forwards, and going against our five-year veteran version, that is Bouchard.