Let's Talk About Stuart Skinner

 The Edmonton Oilers evened up the 2022-2023 edition of the Battle of Alberta at one game apiece Saturday night, after a 3-2 win. The Oilers were down 2-1 after two, but a fluke goal by McDavid (thank you Markstrom for continuing to be dogshit vs Edmonton) and backdoor tap-in by Zach Hyman gave Edmonton a 3-2 they would not relinquish. After a 6-game homestand that saw the Oilers go 3-3, the Edmonton Oilers head on a three game roadtrip and go 3-0 to push their record to 6-3 and place them firmly in 2nd in the division. And a big part of why the Oilers went 3-0 on this road trip, is because of the play of Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner. 

Stuart Skinner, or Stu Skinny as I like to call him, was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Taken 78th overall in the 3rd round, Stu was drafted in the hopes that he would become the goalie of the future for Edmonton. After being drafted by the Oilers, Skinner was sent back to the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes for the 2017-2018 season. He played 31 games with Lethbridge, posting an .897 sv%, before being traded to the Swift Current Broncos. In 25 games with Swift Current, Skinner posted a .914 sv% and led the Broncos to a berth in the CHL playoffs, even outdueling top goalie prospect Carter Hart in a playoff series.

After his time in the WHL, Skinner started the 2018-2019 season in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder. His stats in that season were good, but by no means impressive. 15-14-7 with a 3.16 GAA and .903 sv%.  And you know what? For a guy his age, playing in that league, those are reasonable numbers. At some point during the 18-19 season, Stuart was called up to the AHL to play for the Bakersfield Condors. In 6 games with Bakersfield, Skinner went 4-2-0 with a 2.99 GAA and a .879 sv%

In the 2019-2020 season, Skinner was on the Condors full time. Expected to spend the next year or two in the AHL before making the jump to the NHL, Oilers fans were keeping a close eye to see how Skinner did with Bakersfield. It didn't go well. Skinner played 41 games with Bakersfield, going 16-17-6 with a 3.31 GAA and a .892 sv%. Demoted back to the ECHL, Skinner played 3 games with Wichita, going 2-1-0 with a 3.62 GAA and a .892 sv%. 

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything was shut down, and Skinner was unable to play in the ECHL, AHL, or even NHL levels. However, something happened during that shutdown that caused Skinner to become good again. 

In the 2020-2021 season, the Edmonton Oilers called upon Stuart Skinner for a game against the Ottawa Senators. Four years after being drafted, Stuart Skinner was set to make his NHL debut. And I'm gonna be honest here, the stats say he wasn't great, but my eye test says he was just fine, and got hung out to dry. Skinner would help the Oilers win that game 8-5 for his first career NHL victory. After that game, Skinner was sent back down to the AHL, and Skinner had a phenomenal season. In 31 games played that year, Skinner went 20-9-1 posting a 2.38 GAA and a .914 sv%.

2021-2022 saw Stuart Skinner's development went from "he might become something" to "this kid is the real deal". Due to injuries to Mike Smith, and inconsistent play from Mikko Koskinen, Stuart Skinner was once again thrown into action at the NHL level. This time, Skinner looked COMPLETELY different to the guy we saw vs Ottawa. He was calm, he was poised, he was making saves left, right, and center. Stu Skinny played 13 games in 21-22 at the NHL level, going 6-6-1, posting a 2.62 GAA and a .913 sv%. 

After his stint with the Oilers, Skinner went back to Bakersfield for the last time. He would play 35 games with the Condors, going 22-7-5, posting a 2.21 GAA and a .920 sv%. With his numbers having improved in the last three years, Skinner was ready for full time back-up duties in Edmonton. With Mike Smith on LTIR for the year, and Mikko Koskinen going to Switzerland, the Edmonton Oilers signed Jack Campbell, and Skinner was automatically deemed the backup. 

And so far, Skinner has been nothing short of spectacular. Through 4 games so far, Stuart Skinner is 2-1 with a 1.59 GAA and a .955 sv%. His first game of the season came in relief of Jack Campbell (who paid the price for Edmonton's sloppy start vs the Flames), he got his first start vs Bufflo (Edmonton lost that game 4-2 thanks to a sloppy second), stopped all but one shot in his 2nd start of the season vs St. Louis (the one goal he did allow, Ryan O'Reilly smacked a puck out of mid-air and off Skinner's back) and tonight against Calgary, Skinner stopped all but 2 shots enroute to a 3-2 Oilers W over Calgary. In fact, Stuart Skinner currently has the best sv% in the NHL this season thus far. 

Looking at the stats, it's funny to see a guy who was just an "okay" goalie and then suddenly turn into a guy who's now considered to be a future stud for the Oilers. Whatever Skinner did after COVID-19 first shut everything down, it was certainly enough to get his development back on track. But whatever he did, it's paid dividends, and now Stuart Skinner is starting to turn heads in the league. 

NHL officiating

 Alright so I just finished watching the Oilers win 6-5 over the Chicago Blackhawks and so you're getting a raw, emotional post from me, and it's gonna feel like it. It is SERIOUSLY time for the NHL to have a conversation/evaluation of their referees. In the 2nd period of the Oilers-Hawks game, the Refs took over the game and started calling penalty after penalty after penalty. Here is the breakdown of the penalties in the 2nd period.

0:26 - Jack Campbell (Delay of Game)
2:48 - Markus Niemelainen (Interference)
3:53 - Seth Jones (Slashing)
5:30 - Evander Kane (Cross Checking)
5:30 - Evander Kane (Cross Checking)
7:02 - Caleb Jones (Interference)
7:27 - Phillipp Kurashev (Hooking)
8:07 - Jake McCabe (Slashing)
8:07 - Tyson Barrie (Slashing)
8:57 - Dylan Holloway (Hooking)

(That's 10 penalties in 9 minutes BTW)

11:43 - Darnell Nurse (Cross Checking)
15:53 - Jesse Puljujarvi (Delay of Game for failed challenge)*
16:15 - Evander Kane (Unsportsmanlike Conduct)*
18:42 - Caleb Jones (Tripping)

Now you may have noticed that I put a (*) next to Jesse's and Kane's penalties. Well that was because the Oilers got absolutely JOBBED by the refs in the 2nd period. So, here's the scene. The Oilers and Blackhawks are tied at 3 goals apiece, with 4:15 left in the 2nd period. The Oilers are working hard in the Blackhawks zone, grinding away with a good shift. Evander Kane is parked in front of the net (OUTSIDE the blue paint), in a battle with Seth Jones. During this battle, Jones pushes Kane into goalie Alex Stalock. Immediately after being pushed on top of Stalock, Kane makes an attempt to get up, and gets a little help from Jones. At this point in time, the puck was sent back to the point to Darnell Nurse, who takes a shot. In the few seconds from when Kane fell on top of him, to the time Nurse takes the shot, Stalock manages to get to his feet AND make the save. But, he leaves a juicy rebound, and Kane is right there to deposit it into the open net. 

Now, one of the TWO referees is standing RIGHT next to the net (to the right of Stalock), so he's got a full view of what's happened. He sees Kane and Jones battling, tells them to knock it off, and then when Kane puts the puck into the net, the ref indicates "goal". Oilers celebrate, Stalock and Jones complain, and the refs have a meeting. 

Immediately, they make the announcement that the call on the ice is "no goal". Edmonton would issue a coach's challenge to get the call overturned, the refs double down on their decision, Edmonton gets issued a penalty because they lost a challenge, and the Hawks are on the powerplay. Then Kane gets dinged for unsportsmanlike because he was yelling at the ref (I would be too tbh) and the Hawks score to make it 4-3 for THEM and not 4-4. 

This sequence, without a doubt, is the WORST example of biased reffing, I have ever seen. This is WAYYYY worse than Kesler holding Talbot's pad in Game 5, despite the fact that that game actually means a hell of a lot more than Game 8 of the regular season. First off, when Kane and Jones engage in their net-front battle, Kane is standing OUTSIDE the blue paint. Secondly, Jones knocks Kane into Stalock, which means goalie interference is out of the question (Rule 69). Third, Stalock manages to get to his feet and make a save on the next shot that's taken, immediately after being knocked down. And finally, he doesn't cover the puck, allowing Kane to scoop it into an open net on his backhand.

I know it won't happen, but the NHL needs to issue a statement or some sort of notice that the reffing in this game is being reviewed and that the goal that counted (and then didn't count) should've counted to begin with. And this keeps on happening to Canadian teams (not just Edmonton in general). Canadian teams face this kind of ridiculous bias all of the time and I'm getting sick and tired of it, quite frankly.

These refs nearly cost Edmonton 2 points tonight, and I am beyond livid.

Let's Talk About Zach Hyman

 

The Oilers season hasn't started the way many fans have wanted it. The Oilers came out all sorts of sloppy to start their season vs the Vancouver Canucks and found themselves down 3-0 20:39 into their season (down 2-0 after 20:00, and 3-0 0:39 into the 2nd period). Special teams and Jack Campbell (along with a McDavid Hat-Trick) helped propel the Oilers to a 5-3 victory over Vancouver (who has started the season 0-3-2 and blown leads in ALL 5 games). Things didn't get any better for Edmonton in Game 2. Up against their provincial and divisional rivals in Calgary, the Oilers once again came out sloppy and horrid, resulting in the Flames nabbing a quick 4-1 lead (and Jack Campbell being pulled). The Oilers would score 2 to make it close, but the rally would fall short and the Oilers would lose 4-3. Up against the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton was actually the better team... for 2/3 periods. A sloppy 2nd period allowed the Sabres to nab a 3-1 lead, and Eric Comrie stood on his head as the Oilers would get it to 3-2, before an EN would seal a 4-2 victory for the Sabres. After that Sabres game, there were many concerns about the Oilers that had fans worried, myself included. Some of these concerns range from the goaltending (which I will have none of), defence being weaker (their play has been lacking), but most notably, the forward group, most notably the wingers and how they seem to be below-average.

Up until Thursday's game vs Carolina, the Oilers had scored 10 goals in 3 games played (3.33 GFPG). Here is a breakdown of the goals scored.

Connor McDavid - 4
Darnell Nurse - 2
Cody Ceci - 1
Leon Draisitl - 1
Ryan McLeod - 1
Ryan Nugent - Hopkins - 1

That's 4 centers and 2 defencemen. No wingers to be seen. And before we get technical, yes the Oilers have Nuge playing on the wing, but he's a natural centerman and so that's what I'm listing him as. The other wingers on Edmonton, Evander Kane, Zach Hyman, Jesse Puljujarvi, Dylan Holloway, and Kailer Yamamoto, all had goose-eggs on the board, and all of them looked bad in all areas of the ice...save for one.

Which brings me to Zach Hyman. Zach Hyman's short time with Edmonton has been nothing short of successful thus far. On July 28th 2021 (conveniently, the day I turned 27) Zach Hyman signed a 7 year, $38.5M deal with Edmonton, carrying an AAV of $5.5M/yr. In 76 games with Edmonton last year (his 2nd highest GP in a season), Hyman set career highs in goals (27), assists (27), and points (54). In the playoffs, not only did he go farther with Edmonton than he did with Toronto, he was also a key contributor. In 16 playoff games, Zach scored 11 goals (6 of them coming against Calgary alone) and notched 5 assists for 16 points. Hyman came advertised as a player who's got size, decent hands, and hard work ethic. And it's true. Zach Hyman never took a shift off, never looked lazy or unengaged, and played every shift like it was his last. 

Before the Carolina game, Hyman was the only Oilers winger who looked good in all areas of the ice for Edmonton. Sure, guys like Yamamoto, Kane, Puljujarvi, and Holloway (before he got injured) had spurts where they looked good, but Hyman has been the only consistent winger for Edmonton so far. He finally got rewarded by opening the scoring vs Carolina on Thursday night's 6-4 victory and has also bagged three assists for 4 points in 4 games played. He's worked hard, made great defensive zone plays, offensive zone plays, netural zone plays, penalty kill plays, powerplay plays, he's touched all areas of the ice and all in positive ways. 

Now that's not to say the other wingers won't play catchup. Like the rest of the team, they've had a sloppy start, but they finally caught some breaks vs Carolina, and performed well. Hopefully this can continue in this afternoon's game vs St. Louis. But from my eyes (as well as everyone elses), Zach Hyman has been Edmonton's best winger by far. And I know, I KNOW, he'll continue to do so. 

Love ya Zach!

Let's talk about Jack Campbell

The Edmonton Oilers won their season opener over the Vancouver Canucks by a final score of 5-3, after being down 3-0. Edmonton scored 5 straight goals to win the game, and while scoring 5 goals to win is nice, a big, BIG reason why Edmonton won that game was because of the play of Oilers starter Jack Campbell.

Depending on who you ask, some people will say that Jack didn't have the greatest start to his time with the Oilers on Wednesday night. But to be fair, I can't really fault Jack on the three goals against. I mean the first goal happens because Dylan Holloway throws a sick dish to Elias Petterson, who then shoots it on Jack. Jack makes the initial save, but the puck is sitting behind him, and Petterson is able to shovel the puck home. I mean, how can you blame Jack when that entire play is caused by Holloway making a rookie mistake.

The 2nd goal, I can kind of see an argument for, but at the same time, JT Miller isn't some bum and has a decent shot. I think Jack played it perfectly. He came out, cut down the angle as best as he could, and it didn't help that the Oilers defence were just letting JT Miller walk in. It was an elite shot, and we've seen player do this numerous times. 

As for the 3rd goal, Jack had no chance. On a Vancouver powerplay, JT Miller finds Andrei Kuzmenko back door, uncontested mind you, and Kuzmenko isn't going to miss than open net. And let's be honest, it was a silly penalty for Darnell Nurse to take (he got called for Interference at the end of the 1st, which is why the Canucks were on the powerplay). 

After that 3rd goal went in, Jack shut it down completely. Sure he got lucky on a few chances that ended up missing the net for the Canucks, but when he was called upon to make a save, Jack was there to make it. Jack's best save of the night, and the one I deemed was a momentum changing save for Edmonton, came off of a JT Miller breakaway. During (another) Canucks powerplay, Quinn Hughes found an opening in the Oilers PK formation, and sent a nice saucer pass to JT Miller who got in behind the Oilers defencemen. Now thankfully, they were close enough so that Miller didn't have enough time to try and deke, but he still has an elite shot, and so he takes it. Jack stands his ground, doesn't budge, and makes the blocker save, keeping Edmonton only down by 1. THAT was the game-changing save Edmonton needed. 

But apparently, Jack thought making saves wasn't enough to endear himself to the Oilers crowd. Oh no, no, no, no. He also figured he'd better lay a hit. With 11:35 left in the 3rd, the scored knotted at three apiece, Canucks forward Dakota Joshua attempts to chase down a puck that is rolling towards Campbell. Dakota is also in a footrace with Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, who is also chasing the puck. Jack makes the risky goalie play of skating out to meet the puck before Dakota can grab it. And not only does Jack get the puck first and clear it away, but he also bodychecks Dakota, getting a massive cheer from the crowd. 

Jack Campbell finished the night with 33 saves on 36 shots, a .917sv%. As I said above, Jack Campbell was probably the biggest reason why the Oilers won that game. Sure having the powerplay go 3/4 (75%) and the PK going 7/8 (87%) helps, but the Oilers were sloppy, undisciplined, lazy, and all sorts of negative words to describe their performance. Jack had to keep the Oilers in the game, and he did. And even after Edmonton found their legs, starting playing, and actually competing, Jack was there to keep the door shut and win the game. 

2022 - 2023 Opening Night Rosters Set

 The opening night roster for the 2022 - 2023 Edmonton Oilers has been set in stone! With only two days to go until the Oilers drop the puck on the newest campaign, GM Ken Holland submitted his final roster list to the NHL today. Here is the current make-up for the roster. I'll be sorting by position and number.

Forwards:

#10 - Derek Ryan
#13 - Jesse Puljujarvi
#18  - Zach Hyman
#24 - Brad Malone
#29 - Leon Draisitl (A)
#37 - Warren Foegle
#55 - Dylan Holloway
#56 - Kailer Yamamoto
#71 - Ryan McLeod
#91 - Evander Kane
#93 - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (A)
#97 - Connor McDavid (C)

A few notes about the forwards before I go into the defenseman. It seems like it's been said for the last three years, but the Oilers have the deepest forward group for the first time since 2006 when they went to the Cup Final. And yeah, we said that last year, and the year before, but this time I really think that's true. The Oilers have three lines that can score, and their fourth line just has to go out there and not get scored on. Dylan Holloway makes the team, which isn't surprising, given how he played in the rookie tournament, and the preseason. Best of all, he's slated to be on a line with Leon Draisitl and Zach Hyman, so he won't be put with a bunch of plugs, and actually have skilled linemates to work off of. It is expected that Brad Malone being in on the forwards is nothing short of a paper move, as he is expected to be flipped in favour of Devin Shore. 

Defenceman:

#2 - Evan Bouchard
#5 - Cody Ceci
#22 - Tyson Barrie
#25 - Darnell Nurse (A)
#27 - Brett Kulak
#28 - Ryan Murray
#80 - Philip Broberg

Like with Brad Malone, Philip Broberg being on the team is nothing more than a paper transaction. Unfortunately for Philip, he didn't impress much during preseason. A big part of this is because he beefed up in the offseason, and is still trying to work around that big body of his. As a result, he'll be sent down to Bakersfield in favour of Markus Niemelainen, who will be called up to be on the 3rd pairing with Barrie. Niemelainen impressed during preseason, so he'll be getting the call.

Goaltenders:

#36 - Jack Campbell
#74 - Stuart Skinner

As expected, Soup and Stu will be the Oilers tandem this year. Despite many doubting their abilities, I'm pretty confident with these two, and they're an upgrade over Smith/Koskinen. Both Stu Skinny and Soup had great preseasons and neither looked out of place. And you know what? I'm going to give a shoutout to Calvin Pickard, the #3 goalie in the org, who also had a great preseason.

Taking into account the roster moves that are to be coming, here is how my opening night lineup looks.

Kane - McDavid - Puljujarvi
Holloway - Draisitl - Hyman
Nuge - McLeod - Yamamoto
Shore - Ryan - Foegle

Nurse - Ceci
Kulak - Bouchard
Niemelainen - Barrie

Campbell
Skinner 

The Oilers open the 2022-2023 NHL season on Wednesday Night at home to the Vancouver Canucks. Puck drop is set for 10pm ET/8pm MT.