Who is the big winner of the Oilers’ offseason so far?

Who is the big winner of the Oilers’ offseason so far?

All right, here’s a look at the week seven schedule in the CFL. Edmonton, the lone team with the buy. It all starts on Thursday night. Argos facing the Alowettes and the Stamps 4- one traveling to Winnipeg for Friday night football. Saturday, the Riders and BC Lions square off. And then week seven will wrap up with a rematch between the Tabies and the Red Blacks on Sunday. That leads us to our newest segment. It’s Harvey’s Hot Takes West. We’ve been thrilled to uh invite this guy on the show and we’re so thrilled to have him on the show. It’s Dustin Nielsen. You know, he calls tons of CFL games on this network. He’s calling that Al Zargo’s game on Thursday night. He was so gracious to join us for this segment. Dustin, great to see you, buddy. This is going to be amazing. And we know Davis Alexander is set to make his return on Thursday night for the Alowettes. We also know that Alexander was an early favorite on FanDuel to win most outstanding player in the CFL. current favorite is Bo Levi Mitchell. But Dustin, you are a guy who follows the league religiously and you have a different take on who you think will end up with MP at the end of the year. Yeah. Yeah, I do. Thanks for having me, buddy. Absolutely love you. It’s great to be here. Uh Bo Levi Mitchell, I don’t want to take anything away from Bo Levi Mitchell. I don’t want to take anything away from Kenny Lawler, Davis Alexander, if he comes back and can picks up where he left off. He’s never lost. We’ll see what happens on Thursday night. Uh but I I still think it’s going to be Nathan Bor. I think when it’s all said and done, I think it’s going to be Nathan Ror. I think Nathan Ror’s like six to one right now. Pretty good number, pretty good value on him over at FanDuel. But you look at this guy, he’s missed two games. He’s fourth in the league in passing yards. He’s top 10 in rushing yards. He’s top 10 in rushing TDs. He’s number two in passing touchdowns right now. They’re three and one when he’s in the lineup. He started four games. He’s thrown for 300 yards in three of the four games. And what always helps the case is when they didn’t have them, they lost twice. So when he’s there, I think they’re one of the best teams in the West still. I think they’re going to be a problem for some of these other top teams in the West. And I think when it’s all said and done, it’s it’s going to be Nathan Ror who I think is still sort of just heating up this season. And on top of that, he’s got Justin McKinnis, he’s got Keon Hatcher, he’s got Javon Koy, he’s got Stanley Barry Hill, he’s got a great running back who can catch passes out of the back field. So, he’s got all the weapons and his defense surrenders points. So, he’s going to have to outgun some teams, which I think will probably help his case. Let’s talk about uh you are, of course, an Edmonton broadcaster. You’ve been one for a long time. We got to talk about the Edmonton Oilers. A fascinating off season, shedding a ton of cap space, getting rid of some veterans, signing Isaac Howard. The fan base seems elated about that. Uh the McDavid extension hasn’t happened yet. the the goalending situation maybe it’s a bit in the air but for you none of this is as important as maybe an under the radar thing that has happened to this team that you feel is the win of the off seasonason tell us about that yeah this guy this guy is the winner of the offseason Paul McFarland just hired as an assistant coach had a chance to chat with him yesterday morning he’s super excited it was actually funny because he said everybody else in the organization is tired of hockey right now back-to-back cup runs they just want to chill for the summer and this guy is like I’m ready to get to work. And he’s going to have the reigns to the power play which finished 12th last year. But prior to that, it was first, it was fourth, it was first, it was third, it was first. It’s going to bounce back for sure. This is this is like being the guy who gets hired to be Steph Curry’s three-point coach or the guy who’s in charge of helping Joey Chestnut learn how to make or to eat hot dogs better. He’s he’s he’s been handed the keys to a power play that’s been the best in the league for over half a decade. So, you know, he might tweak a few things here or there, but I mean, Conor McDavid to Leon Dry settle on one-time. Conor McDavid skating around, finding Bardet one-time, finding Zack Heyman in front of the net. Uh, I think this guy kind of low-key ended up with the best job of anybody in the league all summer. Let’s talk about Cal Raleigh. Uh, absolutely. the breakout star of baseball this season. Uh, home run derby leads Major League Baseball with 38 home runs. The Mariners got him on an incredible contract extension back in March. But the most important thing I think about Cal Raleigh is his nickname, the big dumper. Why is he called the big dumper? Because he has a big bump. It’s as simple as that. It’s one of the greatest new nicknames in professional sports. But Dustin, you feel we’re lacking good nicknames in professional sports right now. It’s pathetic. I mean, it’s pathetic. The the amount of real good nicknames out there right now is it it drives me crazy, especially with this guy. This guy’s going to take a run. He’s probably going to get 50 home runs. He might take a run of 60 home runs. That’s great. But his nickname, the big dumper, is so unique in sports nowadays. Uh I just don’t know why nobody else in any other league, in social media, we can’t get these other nicknames going. What happened to the days of the Big Unit? What happened to the days of White Chocolate? What happened to that? I think Shaq called himself the big Aristotle for a while. Like we don’t get that anymore. The Birdman. Uh I I died for a big country right now. Give me a Mighty Mouse. Like we have none of these. I I was looking at the top 100 sports nicknames of all time. And like six of them are current guys, including the Greek Freak and Joker. But that’s about it. Like Patrick Mahomes, does he have an awesome nickname? Does Josh Allen have an awesome nickname? We were talking earlier tonight. Does anybody in the CFL have an awesome nickname? Don’t get me started on hockey nicknames. Like we are uh we are dying for good nicknames. And I feel like in 2025 with social media, we should be turnurning out great Nick. You know who I blame for this actually? Uh Kevin Durant because he had the Darula and the Slim Reaper and he never bought into any of them and he could have branded those like crazy. So it started with Kevin Durant. It had like Steph Curry doesn’t have a great nickname. What are we doing here? Yeah. So, I love the Big Dumper and I hope we get more nicknames like it. I agree 100%. And I’ll take it a step further, Dustin. And I mean this with all due respect. Sydney Crosby could have been nicknamed the big dumper, but we missed out on that 20 years ago. Dustin, you’re the best. This has been Harvey’s Hot Takes West. Thanks for watching our news segment, everybody.

Dustin Nielson joins SC with Jay Onrait to share who he thinks will win the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award this year, who the big winner is in the Oilers’ offseason so far, and why there aren’t more quality nicknames in sports right now like Cal ‘Big Dumper’ Raleigh.