cross16

I'd aruge he is. The problem here for me is your highest paid player doesn't have a natural spot and the roster is lacking in players that can help him. But can you get where you want to go with Huberdeau playing like this? That's where I feel Huska is stuck. Made even worse by the fact that his supposed number one center is not playing anywhere close to that.

Oilers going full court press to keep McDavid. Which isn’t surprising given I think it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t want to stay.

Another really poor effort from the flames tonight. They were never really into this one. clock really ticking here

Bench management has not been an issue for me with Huska. I’d argue it’s been a strength actually. I don’t think he was a good hire and so far he looks very overwhelmed by the job but I don’t think the bench or ice time is a problem

It's fun to watch from a far but I do think your going to see them turn it around and go on a run soon. They 100% have issues with how their team is built but at he same time this is more of a slump than some kind of reckoning. I've watched a few periods and they are not playing terrible hockey right now, just not getting the quality offense you'd expect out of their forwards but part of it is bad luck too. There just a defeated team right now. They'll get it going and I still think they'll find a way into the playoffs but massive holes are there and I think those who tried to argue they weren't are getting exposed right now.

Markstrom is day to day according to Huska. Points to a Wolf start tomorrow night.

IMO the only reason to call up Wolf is to play him. I get the injury angle, and it makes sense to me to have someone up here, but I don't think you call up top prospects "just in case". He should play and if he doesn't that's disappointing.

I'm skeptical that hiring his agent as CEO is going to sway McDavid. I think he cares more about the city he has to live in, his financial future, and winning more than "I have a good relationship with the CEO". Can the CEO impact enough change in less than 3 years to convince him the Oilers are the best team he can win with? Can the CEO make up for the fact that McDavid likely makes more money in a bigger market? I think that's what it will come down to. Possible, if he fires Holland and overhauls their hockey ops, but the clock is ticking.

And the best part about all of this, is those picks were bad when they made them. Can't hit 100% of the time at the draft but what hilarious about the Oilers is they make bad picks in the moment and they turn out like you expect. I too would include Halloway in that who i thought was a reach. Imagine Dawson Mercer with McDavid/Draisaitl. Just bad scouting. Really surprised so little has been done to correct it too as it's been the case for a decade

another wrinkle to add, Wranglers were heading to California for the weekend. creates some travel challenges for a call up. I hope they play him but this does seem like proactive management than anything else.

I think you have to give Zary some credit here on the impact he's made. Players like him that have high IQ and are great at the details in their game are going to give any line they are on a boost. I actually think Kadri has been mostly good this season. sure a bad game here or there but i'm not seeing the same Kadri we saw last year. He seems to be getting back to his strengths.

Hunt on waivers. This is likely procedural with Ruzicka nearing return and Zary off to a promising start.

I like Evan Bouchard a lot and he's blossoming quite a bit for them. He's got some defensive issues but he's a modern day dman whose gonna have a breakout year. The Nurse contract is the killer as are the goalies but it's really down to the fact that they just cannot draft at all. Cap system requires that waive of talent but if your going to be top heavy you really need those ELC contracts and Oilers have literally had almost no one come in and provide them any value. So they have to go and sign those vet minimums deals to guys past their prime. Incredible level of incompetency from their hockey ops.

I actually would not argue the Oilers overspent on depth. They only have 5 forward on the roster making over 3 million. McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Kane and RNH. I don't think 1 of those guys is overpaid (in terms of AAV). Foregele and McLeod are decent value at 2.7 and 2.1 accordingly. The Oilers make 3 massive errors that are sinking their cap. Milan Lucic (turned into James Neal and a 2 mil dead cap hit), Darnell Nurse and Jack Campbell. I don't view that as overspending on depth, it's just miscalculation of player value and talent.

How the Flames will line up without Mang. Would appear Ruzicka is getting closer

The short answer is because that is the rule and policy outlined by the league. But to clarify, because of what Ottawa shared Vegas was under the belief that Dadonov had no trade protection in his deal. part of the limited No trade clause is that the player has a deadline to submit the list and if they miss the deadline, the clause is invalidated. What drove this situation is Vegas was told by Ottawa that Dadonov had no trade protection in his contract because the list wasn't submitted but in reality the agent did submit it but Ottawa didn't record it. It is a perfect or good system, probably not but Ottawa definitely went outside of what is very establish protocol here. Can for sure debate whether this system is good or not, and IMO a no trade list should get filled with central registry, but as it stand today Ottawa clearly didn't follow procedure

A no trade clause is written in to a contract yes but if it's a limited one (ie player submits a list like it was in this case) the list is not written into the contract because that info changes over time. These lists are not given to NHL Central Registry, in an effort to prevent them from leaking out, so it is up to the teams to manage it. As part of the trade call, which you can actually YouTube, it is process for the NHL to ask if there is No trade protection moving in the deal but Ottawa said no. They claimed they did not get a list and therefore the NTC was invalidated but Dadonov's agent was able to show them that they had indeed filled a No trade list with Ottawa and therefore the clause stood. Awfully hard to blame Vegas here. Intentional or not is irrelevant as Ottawa had a procedure to follow and they didn't. I think a 1st is a pretty steep penalty but something should have been done and I also agree Dorion has to be accountable. I think Dorion was a decent head of scouting but he was a major flop as a GM so I personally wouldn't be in a rush to hire him.

I don't think it's his fault but I would sense he's basically game by game now. Missing the playoffs is just not an option for the Oilers and I think Woodcroft will take the fall for it. This is a roster construction issue, highlighted by bad goaltending because when you have terrible goaltending like the Oilers have it's almost impossible to be a good team. But there is only so much deeper of a hole you can dig before he has to do something and fire the coach is normally the first card in that deck. I could see Bruce Boudreau as an option there.

1 game is just ridiculous but I can't say i'm surprised given how much of a joke NHL "Player safety" is anyway. Mang got off way too light IMO.

I don’t agree with that. Punish the action not the result. The action was awful an inch here or there and McCann likely has a serious concussion.

Nice to see them play competent hockey. but so happy for Pospisil. That kid has overcome a lot, so to see him play well and score was just awesome to see.

I’d put Mang closer to 5 games myself. Just a totally reckless and stupid play that could have led to something far more serious. should be 5 minimum but I’d settle for 4 given he essentially served 1 already.

Good for Pospisil. Injuries have been tough on him. Think they brought him up to try and find a spark so expect to see him running around and trying to mix it up. He’s a drag your teammates into the fight kind of guy

I don't' see any vindication. I think that Sutter was wrong about certain individuals on the team, but I don't think he was wrong about the type of game they were trying to play, nor do I think that is why he got fired. He got fired because he turned into someone who no org would employ. If you are looking for Sutter to be vindicated I think you missed the original issues. Not to mention the success of firing a coach in order to improve as a team rests far more on who you hire, more so than who you fire.

That