It has been an eventful first few days in the NHL, especially for the Edmonton Oilers.

After losing their home opener 6-0 to the Winnipeg Jets, the conversation about the Oilers is here, there, and everywhere. It’s a little chaotic, but hopefully, the talent on the ice can calm down the critics sooner rather than later.

Outside of the Oilers’ bubble, the product on the ice has been exciting to watch. The Utah Hockey Club has started off with a bang, the Toronto Maple Leafs were shut out for the first time in forever, and the San Jose fans had something to cheer about despite losing.

With so much happening, there’s plenty to talk about in the hockey world.

Oilers cause mayhem

Watching the Oilers get rolled over by the Jets on Wednesday night stunk. The reaction to the game was entertaining, though. It was a mix of fans not wanting to overreact to an opening night loss after what happened last year and people slamming every move that was made this offseason. Matt Savoie was catching strays in my X replies, and he’s not even played a game in Bakersfield yet! It’s going to be okay, everyone. The Oilers play Chicago, Calgary, and Philadelphia over their next three games. Now, if they look terrible come next Wednesday, then we can all get a little upset. For now, take a chill pill and enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend.

The Lavoie waiver situation

I would assume Raphael Lavoie has been sitting at Chilli’s at the Edmonton airport over the last few days. The poor guy has now been placed on waivers three times this week, making him the most wanted unwanted player in the league. With the Oilers’ cap situation, it’s better to have Lavoie in Bakersfield rather than having him sit in the stands, which is why they’re sending him down again. I don’t believe they would put him through the system if they thought he’d get claimed.

They clearly like him, otherwise, they wouldn’t have picked him up off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights. With that, the Lavoie saga has gone on for a while now. Two summers ago, Lavoie was criticized for not taking the league minimum, signing a deal for $900,000 for one year instead. This year, he finally took the league minimum and still doesn’t make the team. Eventually, if Lavoie clears, he’ll be with the NHL team, bringing youth and scoring to the Oilers’ bottom six.

The NHL schedule

If you’ve watched Oilersnation Everyday before, you’ll know how much I hate the NHL schedule. The schedule rarely makes sense, like how the season started at 1:30 p.m., local time in Seattle, between the Kraken and the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Not sure how that makes any sense, but someone at the league office thought it’d be a great idea. With that said, if I am going to be negative, I need to be positive when it is deserved. There have been random matchups, like Minnesota versus Columbus, but the divisional contests have been exciting to watch. Florida-Boston on opening night was heated and full of goals, Calgary coming from behind to beat Vancouver was unexpected and thrilling, and then, last night, the Dallas Stars spoiled the party in Nashville with a 4-3 win. On top of that, the young stars are shining with Macklin Celebrini, Dylan Guenther, and Tim Stützle showing off what they can do. It’s disappointing the Edmonton Oilers played so badly, but overall a strong opening week to the NHL season.

Football manager head-butts player

This is obviously a hockey website, so talking about soccer would be weird, but I am going to do it anyway. My club back home in England is Bolton Wanderers. We used to be a top-of-the-table Premier League team, however, times have changed, and now we are seeking promotion to the Championship from League One.

Last Saturday, we played Shrewsbury Town and drew 2-2 at home. At the end of the game, everyone shakes hands as normal, then, all of a sudden, our manager Ian Evatt head-butted a Shrewsbury player. You did not read that incorrectly. If you watch the clip, the funny part is his reaction to getting a red card after grabbing a player and making physical contact. No punishment has been handed down yet, so stay tuned.