Everything Else

If It’s A Day That Ends In -y, Hockey Players And Fans Must Be Bitching

By 1926

Y’know, for a sport where both players and fans can’t wait to tell you just how tough and manly they are, and how tough and manly you aren’t when you point out that anything they’re saying doesn’t make an ounce of sense, they sure do whinge a lot. And it really doesn’t take much for them to do so. Even the slightest change in rules, or coverage, or even an interpretation of said rules, and you get everyone losing their mud.

So this preseason, because we have no evidence that this sort of thing will actually carry in to the regular season and have a strong hunch it won’t, the league is trying to change the ways it enforces faceoffs and slashing penalties.

And it’s led to stuff like this. Or this. Or this. Or this. And believe me, I could keep going. Preseason games started three days ago, by the way.

All it would take is the least amount of foresight from anyone involved to see what the league is doing here. The problem is foresight is territory for people who can reason and read. Those people do not find hockey to be much of a bastion.

Everything Else

Award Tour

By 1832

Been doing this every so often throughout the season, as we try and get a handle on who really should be taking home the baubles come June. Of course, almost none of these awards will actually go this way, because as expert as hockey people like to think they are most of them don’t look beyond “points” in any of these categories. The only caveat being when it comes to the Selke award, where they’ll also look at faceoff percentage and then points. But we can do better, and one day dorks like me will have their “King Felix Winning The Cy Young With 13 Wins” day. Until then, we’ll remain in the shadows, plotting our revenge (our next trip to Five Guys, really).

So, without further ado…whatever the hell ado is…

Everything Else

Come In From The Cold, We Come Down From The Wire: Oilers at Hawks Preview/Bocce Ball Tournament

By 1225

 vs. 

RECORDS: Oilers 31-18-9   Hawks 37-15-5

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV: WGN in the 606, NHLN below the 49th, Sportsnet above it

YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM AN OIL MAN: Oilers Nation, Copper And Blue

PROJECTED LINEUPS

TEAM ADJUSTED CORSI %: Oilers – 50.8 (13th)  Hawks – 50.5 (15th)

TEAM ADJUSTED xGF%:  Oilers – 49.8 (17th)  Hawks – 48.1 (20th)

POWER PLAY %: Oilers – 20.4 (11th)  Hawks – 19.6 (16th)

PENALTY KILL %: Oilers – 81.4 (15th)  Hawks – 76.8 (27th)

The somehow-controversial (only the NHL could fuck up the concept of a bye week and have it become A THING like this) bye week comes to an end for the Hawks tonight, and they’ll try and buck the trend of teams with a tan getting tolchocked when they go back to work. But the Hawks have usually avoided such pitfalls under Joel Quenneville.

Everything Else

Oilers Spotlight: Cam And Magic Talbot

By 1411

You could draw a lot of similarities between the search for a goalie and the search for a quarterback. One aspect that looks an awful lot alike is when a team splurges on what had been a backup to be their starter. You might see it here in town with the Lakeshore 11 and giving up the goods for Jimmy Garoppolo (god help us). In hockey, last year we saw Martin Jones, Cam Talbot, Thomas Greiss, Robin Lehner, and one or two others move from backup roles to starter roles, with varying success. This season Chad Johnson, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and one or two others have seized jobs. Heading into this offseason, Scott Darling could be given starter’s money and responsibilities, and one wonders if someone might not be coaxed to try with Antti Raanta after he walked the same gilded platform that Talbot did, following Henrik Lundqvist.

While Jones did get his team to a Final last year, there’s a serious argument that Talbot has been the biggest success of all of these.

Everything Else

Looks Different Now: Hawks 0 – Oilers 5

By 1479

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Hockey Stats

Well it wasn’t the Sam Gagner game. But it was probably the worst game the Hawks have suffered through in EdMo since then. That said, the Hawks put up 18 shots in the 2nd period and 28 in through 40, so to say they were completely dominated is just wide of the mark. However, the other team applied the formula the Hawks had been through most of the season. Convert on the power play, have your big stars punch through when they get an opportunity, have your goalie stand tall during a deluge. The Oilers did all that, thanks to McDavid, Klefbom, Draisaitl, and Cam and Magic Talbot. The Hawks didn’t do any of it. This is what you get.

Everything Else

Frigid Forms Sell – Hawks at Oilers Preview, Proof Of Concept

By 1764

250px-Ozymandias at ball-of-oil

Game Time: 8:00PM CST
TV/Radio: NBCSN, WGN-AM 720
Rear View Mirror: OilersNation

blackhawks-lineup-card

oilers-lineup-card

The times, they are a-changing in Edmonton. They’ve got a fancy new building wherein the lights are actually at full power and the benches are on the proper side of the ice, even if that ice is not as fast or as high a quality as that at Northlands/SkyReach/Rexall (sky point). They’re even trying the novel concept of having the puck more than the other team, which so far has yielded positive, if modest results.

Everything Else

The Fun Happens Late – Hawks at Oilers Preview, Request For Quote

By 1332

evil empire at edmonton_eskimos20logo

Game Time: 8:30Pm
TV/Radio: CSN, SportsNet 1, WGN-AM 720
Lost’n For Auston: Copper & Blue, Oilers Nation

No matter how hard they try to convince themselves, their fans, and the rest of the league, the Edmonton Oilers just can’t seem to stop tripping over their own collective dick. As of last night with John Torotrella’s Columbus Blue Jackets defeating the Blues on home ice, the Oilers are once again dead last in the NHL, and now welcome in the Blackhawks to Rexall as they begin their annual November road trip.

Everything Else

Suffer The Children – Oilers vs Hawks Preview, Ear Flushing

By 1283

oil vs evil empire

Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: WGN, NHLN, SportsNet, WGN-AM 720
Tyler Dellow Fixed Everything: Oilers Nation, Copper & Blue

And thus came a great wailing from the north. A veritable Alberta Clipper of wailing and flagellation as their latest savio(u)r was felled, as if this time were going to be any different. As if their falling ass backwards into yet another #1 overall pick in the year of a consensus franchise changer was anything but infuriating luck. As if he was going to make any material difference this year.