Eveything You Need to Know Before the Edmonton Oilers 2025/26 Season

Eveything You Need to Know Before the Edmonton Oilers 2025/26 Season

[Music] This is Oilers Nation Radio, your one-stop shop for everything Oilers. One hour of straight hockey talk with bagged milk. Tyler, Liam, Rick, and Dan starts now. No bagged milk. And no Rick. There is a Dan. There is a Liam. There is a Tyler. And Reese is here. Well done, Ree. Ra. He did it. That’s a hell of a way to start it. Uh Liam, what were our bets on what Reese would say to start his Oilers Nation radio debut? Wicked. Not raicked. I was told I had to bring the raw. Ah, I see you’re sitting in Rick’s chair, so a lot of pressure. Uh if you’re listening to this and you don’t know who Ree is, he started as an intern with us last year in January. Yeah. This year. Keep the mic tight. Keep the mic tight. Floats away. Act like you’ve been here before. Oh yeah. To interview W one time. Did you really? Really? Yeah, like a school project. Oh, you were asking W questions. Yeah. About what it’s like in the industry. I’m sure he gave you just awesome. I was going to say, what were they honest? Were Do you feel like they were Well, basically everybody here is super nice and I think so. All right. Well, Reys uh works with us full time now. So, congratulations to Ree. He’s filling in on Oilers Nation Radio. BM is in on his way to Minnesota. He’s actually probably in Minnesota already. And Rick has real life work stuff that he does that he uh needs to do. But either way, we got you covered for a podcast. Uh, lots to get to today cuz training camp has opened up for the Edmonton Oilers. So, a few headlines have emerged there. I also have a game for you guys and I’m very excited. So, I don’t look at my laptop cuz you could you could steal answers to this bad boy. I got whiteboards and everything for you guys for this game. I don’t want to ruin your day. Uh, we got some news from around the NHL, some betting talk. Uh, but first, let’s start things off with our delicious debate for Odd Company Brewing in the Nation Beer Everyday Logger. a crisp, clean logger crafted not just for game day, but for everyday. Find one at your local liquor store by going to liquorconnect.com, searching Odd Company Nation beer, and clicking on the map. It’ll show you which liquor stores have it in stock. Odd Company Brewing two locations in Edmonton. Uh, I got a couple questions that I do want to throw you guys, but does anyone else have a delicious debate they want to get off their chest? Reese, I don’t have one off the top of my head. Nothing. Nothing on the tip of the tongue. Just weigh in. Give us some raw raw questions here. Come on. I feel like there’s not really a McDavid contract angle, right? We We could probably start the show with something else. I’ll bail out Reese and I’ll give you guys a delicious debate. We saw the Oilers take to the ice for the first time as a team officially. I know the captain skates were the other week, but with the first practices of the year come the first line combinations and we had Conor McDavid skating with Andrew Maji and David Tamasc, which is how we’re saying it apparently. Really? Tamas, not Thomas. According to who? Greor and the 1440 guys. I think that Greor interviewed him, so I’m assuming Gregor got the right pronunci. God, just these names, new names. Um, your question though, boys, who would you have started with Conor McDavid on his wing to open up camp? Dan, I’ll let you go first. Uh I I did listen to you guys on Owen every day a little bit today and I I do agree with you Ty that uh I like the idea of giving some guys that we really didn’t plan for like Amanji Aani uh a look up at the top. It’s the start of training camp so we’re not we’re not we’re certainly not looking for you know two players to gel together and become the superstar tandem or anything. I just think we’re giving guys a shot that maybe won’t get another opportunity for a while. Liam, who do you who would you like to play next to Conor McDavid? Let’s call it Who would I like to play? Yeah. Who would you have? Well, who would you have started him with? Okay. Well, I think there’s a layers of they wanted to put certain guys in spots to like test things out like New John Frederick’s sentiment is something NBlock said he wants to see what that’s all about. I would have started him with um Seavoi would have been one guy I would have had on the wing was he a right winger. Yeah, man is still a good spot for him. So I think I would have got Mania and Seavoi. Maybe that’s a bit too small though. But Maniaani kind of plays with a bit of speed and pace to him. So I’m not super worried about that. But I that would be a little unlike Chris Knoblock to put two smaller guys on wing. Yeah, I like I do wonder like Pod Cole’s such a lock on Dry Saddles line and I understand it, but imagine if he played next to McDavid. Like I wonder what that would be like or does McDavid play too quick for Coles and Well, there’s the Heyman factor as well. I know right now, but he would be the guy that’s going to slide in there anyway. So yeah, eventually you are going to have Zack Heyman backing on that top line. So I don’t mind that’s why I don’t mind him getting like a little bit experimental with a Thomas. I don’t mind either. And the thing like the Thomas versus Seavoy debate for me is like okay if you put Seavoy up there and I know this would be a you’d file another good problems to have but like you put Seavoy up there first month of the season it’s going well and then what Heyman comes back and you go well we need to put Zack Heyman on that line so we move Seavoy off even though he deserves it. Thomas even if he plays well I think you kind of go like this isn’t lasting long. Yeah it’s not lasting long. It’s it’s a spot and then at least Thomas slides down the lineup with some confidence. The other side of it too is you know what Seavoy is what you’ve seen to an extent he’s been in the organization in comparison to how do you say his name Tamask coming over from Europe you know what he is like you obviously watch a lot of video of him sounds like they went over and watched him in person as well and that’s significant but smaller Ice how does he do with the physicality of things I know it’s practice and all that good stuff but like I could see him getting a couple of games whenever ever McDavid plays. I’m assuming it won’t be Sunday for the split squad. He might play like split squad. I think he almost have to play everybody. Do you think that’s why they have the two different at least five lines on both teams? Oh, yes. Maybe not. So maybe not. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Who uh Ree, who would you have like to see next to McDavid? Are you good with Tamas and Majapani or would you like to see someone else there in the first game? I like them both being there to like go basically see what they’ve got, see what they can play with McDavid, if they can handle it. But I also do not mind seeing like I’m sure that they will get reps, but I’d like to see Howard and Seavoy like up there getting opportunities with them like before long. Yeah, the Seavoy one’s interesting and I wrote about this uh earlier in the week. I think it was yesterday it went up on Oilers Nation where like the idea of Seavoy and Nouge kind of jelling and giving you a third line that like consistently outscores the other team. And you know, it’s not I agree with the people who are like you need to properly develop skill. You need to put these guys in positions to succeed. And like yeah, I don’t want to see Matt Seavoy or Ike Howard playing with Henrik and Yanmark or Kapp and Henrique, right? Like that to me, agreed. That’s a bit of a waste playing N isn’t a slouch. N is a good centerman. So having Seavoy with Nooj, I don’t mind that at all. Howard, I think they’re easing Howard into his first pro camp a little bit. Like you said, Liam, Seavoi is a bit more of a known commodity here. Yeah, Howard, you don’t know how he’s going to look against other pro hockey players. All you know is how he looks against the other rookies. So yeah, I would like to see Howard up there at some point, but you think he’s the biggest question mark at camp? Well, I’m not even saying in a bad way, but in the sense of like expect like Tomas has no expectations like we’ve all sent him down and now predicted rosters throughout the summer. Yeah, he’s eligible too. But like there wasn’t ever a scenario in a lot of people’s minds, maybe some people had it where it’s like what if I Howard isn’t good to start the year? I don’t know. We just spoke about it on OE, but like he does seem like the one guy who’s like, we don’t know like if Phil Lazar come to camp and they’re not good enough, they get sent down. I don’t think anyone would be shocked. But if Ike Howard after, let’s just call it what it was. It was a poor rookie game, both of them. He needed to be better. I granted he hasn’t skate that much and I understand all that but like if he gets sent down again I don’t think it’s a negative thing for him in the grand scheme of things but it’s just something we’re not expecting to happen. Yeah. I just think that like the I think if you put a Howard into the situation like to me Thomas sorry how do we Tomas Tomas to start it with tomas Tomasek uh is a guy that I think we like you said Liam we’ve we’ve all got him kind of pencled in to be cut at some point from this camp so have him early with McDavid Howard is going to be in this camp I think for the entire time. Oh that’s a good point. Yeah. So, so like he’s going to be around to Tom Tomas is going to uh is going to be out I would assume some point very soon. So, why not give him a look with McDavid because at some point in your lineup you might need him. But I think Tomasic I still think he’ll break camp with the team. But I do think there’s a world obviously where like if he doesn’t work with McDavid, like find that out now. See how he looks with 97, you know, maybe that’s even putting him in a good spot to succeed in his first NHL training camp. He’s 29. He’s never come over and played pro hockey in North America. And if it doesn’t work, then like all right, you have the back end of camp to be like, does he work better with Noo? Is he a third liner? Is he a checking fourth liner? Like wherever he kind of slots. With Howard, it’s almost the reverse. We’re like, yeah, get him up to speed in camp. Let him get his puck touches, all of that stuff. And you know what? If he gets better and better as the camp goes on, then in the last week of training camp, staple him next to dry because Howard’s a bit more of like a boomer bust is a is the wrong way to put it, but like he either needs to be playing with skill or he needs to be in Bakersfield. Tomas could be a wow, what a surprise in our top six or hey, good fourth line player and that’s where you start in the year. I agree. I like it. I I I think that Heyman being out benefits Tomas. Oh, big time. Honestly, probably more than any player on the team potentially. Yeah, cuz he’s again like I don’t we just don’t know enough about him to like really judge him fully, but like similar stature I guess to Heyman, 6’2. Yeah, he’s a big body. He’s a big isman. I think he’s like only 6’1. I think he’s a little bit smaller than that. That’s a small fell. 61. That’s not that small. It’s pretty big. Reese is a wee lad. Depends who you ask. Yeah, it depends who you ask. Um, yeah, that’s a good point though, Liam, cuz like I was thinking like, oh well, like, you know, does Heyman being out, does it benefit like a Frederick or what? But like Frederick’s on this team, Frederick’s getting important minutes no matter what. But like Hyman being out really could be the difference between Tamasic like making the team or not. Like that’s a very clear spot in the lineup that he is now sliding into. He never would have gotten a look next to 97 ifman’s in training camp. Zack Hyman is 185 cm tall, which is 6’1. Okay. How did you What’s the converion? I am on Wikipedia. I read both of them. He really Yeah, I never really thought about it like that because even like Lazar is not rolling back the years, you know. I know he’s back in Edmonton, but this isn’t New Orleans anymore. Sorry, Curtis. I do love how the Oil Kings are finally able to use someone like Lazar and he’s like, we’re pushing him. Promote our opening night. Play tomorrow, by the way. Oil Kings. Yeah, they’ll be with Joe season getting going. Yeah. What do you guys think of uh Pud Coulson drying captain? Um, I thought that was, you know, it’s interesting that on the McDavid line, Knoblock was a little more willing to throw [ __ ] at the wall, see what sticks, right? Like Mania, Tomasak, both unknowns. Dry settle, he was like, well, Pud Coulson and Captain were there to end the year or whatever. It’s their job. Yeah, that’s kind of the vibe I got out of that. Yeah, it really feels like uh since the Yamamoto Dry Cidle and was it NGE that was the three-headed monster that they’ve just been looking for something that Leon is just comfortable with and it so to me it just feels like Leon’s comfy with these with this combination so give it to him. Yeah, I think that is absolutely fair. Another thing too on the Isaac Howard thing because I was just reminded of this when you brought up Yamamoto. Um, remember the Oilers drafted Yamamoto. Then that year he broke camp with the team. Played nine games, didn’t score a goal, three assists, went back to the dub for the rest of the season. Then that next year it was kind of like, oh, is he not going to be in the end? And he didn’t really, he played 17 games last year. Scored once, I think opening night he scored, then never scored again. Then he went down again. Then it was the year after where he didn’t make the team out of camp. And then he finally came up uh on New Year’s Eve for that game against the Rangers. And then he was a point nearly a point per game player the rest of that season. With Ike Howard I think it’s very similar where they’re actually probably pretty close to the same age now that like Yamamoto would have been smaller guy who has you know some scoring pedigree. I think Howard has a higher ceiling obviously but the idea that Isaac Howard might need to go down for a month or two months that doesn’t mean that this is a failure and his rookie season’s like he could still come up in January and end up playing a very important role. Allah Logan Stanovven two years ago. Yeah. Stanovven and there’s plenty of other guys who have gone through that kind of stage in their careers as well. Like being sent down there is such like a like you said a bit of a negative stigma about it, but like he’ll go down there and he’ll be the best player on the team and he’ll play power play, best offensive player on the team, I should say. And I think the Oilers, like we spoke about Owen a little bit too of just like player development. The last few years they have put an emphasis on it and I think it has got better and I think you can look at Seavoy and Phil has been like I know Philip’s older but like two examples of it. both played penalty kill, both played power play last season in Bakersfield. They put him in situations to succeed, which is something Bakersfield hadn’t done for a while. Management hadn’t had it that way for whatever reason that may be, but like now we’re seeing guys kind of formed a little bit more of a all round players. Like don’t be surprised if you see a Savoy play on the penalty kill at some point this year because he’s done it so much in his career so far being a professional. He was good in Bakersfield. He was he was good. So I coward. I have full expectations that he will be a really really great player for the Oilers. I think he’s going to be awesome. I think he’s going to score a lot of goals. When that’ll stop, I don’t know. But he might just have to stop in Bakersfield and that’s okay. I also think he will make the team. Okay, let’s go around the horn right now. I’ll give you bet 365 minus 110 odds each way. So, even money. Is Ike Howard playing game one versus Calgary Flames? Ree, I think he plays game one, but where do you think he plays in the lineup? Uh like I think he would get a look like on PP2 and like on the third lineish maybe playing with somebody like NEG if they want to run the three centers but I don’t know my biggest concern with Howard is just like that he comes into the NHL this year and just get fullon Jeff Skinner treatment and like kind of just totally messes with his development. Like I’d way rather see him go down like play the first eight games or whatever go down or I guess this doesn’t even matter for any doesn’t matter for any CBA stuff though. let him get some games in, send him down, and then bring him up whenever you think he’s like mature enough to be like ready to go. And if he is, like, heck yeah, that’s awesome. But yeah, and I guess you do kind of have the built-in out with Heyman, too, where like if you wanted to give Howard the first month, and let’s say it’s up and down, it’s not going well. You’re like, ah, he’s not ready for top six role yet. Then you have the excuse of, well, Hyman’s back, whatever. But and that would be that would be my only thing is that I would say that if Hyman was healthy, I’m guessing that Howard probably doesn’t make this team just based off of what I’ve seen of him so far, which is a very small sample size. But for a guy that went into a rookie game with the hype and the the surrounding noise of, you know, asking for the trade and everything, it just wasn’t there. So I I would say that he probably wouldn’t make the lineup if it wasn’t for the injuries that we already have. I could see them. I I I genuinely don’t know the answer to the question of where where he’s going to be in the lineup though, but you just know is he in the lineup. I think he is in the lineup for game one. Yes. Yes, Liam. Uh yeah, I think you will be. Yeah, I had him we did our lineup projections on OE today. Download that new episode. Uh I had him with Tomas and Nooj on the third line. So like a bit of a scoring third line kind of deal. And then I built my fourth line to be more defensive with Henry, Yanmark, and Captain. So that’s how I structured the bottom six. But yeah, I do think he will make the team. Then I guess at that point the interesting question will be does he play well enough that when Heyman returns to the lineup, does it force the Oilers hand and they have to send someone else down? Be interesting cuz again the appeal of I mean Tamasic and Howard that might be like the internal competition for when Hyman’s back cuz neither of them need waivers and I don’t know like would you want to wave a captain in? I don’t think they want to wave a Yanmark. Well, and you brought it up, Reese, about the like we do not want to see a Jeff Skinner kind of scratching the guy for eight 12 games in a row and no explanation, no rhyme or reason to it. It’s just and and that’s do it to a young player. And that goes for Thomas, that goes for Howard, it goes for everybody. Like I don’t want to see that kind of treatment anymore, but we’re going to be in that situation to start just because of injuries. Totally. Um, one more and then we’ll kind of wrap up the lineup debate stuff here. Uh, who should be in Zack Heyman’s spot on the power play? Night one of the season, Oilers. First penalty. I’ll I’ll paint the picture for you. 8 minutes into the opening game against the Flames at 0. Raasmus Anderson trips Conor McDavid as he tries to go past. Complain, throws his arms in the air. Can’t can’t believe it. 8 minutes into the season, Anderson can’t believe this is happening to him. Oilers are going to the power play. What do they play in Rogers place on? They get a power play. It’s time. That’s the start of the game. That’s the start of the game, right? Yeah, it’s the welcome to the NMAX energy power. There you go. Connor jumps over the boards. Oh, he’s already on the ice. Leon jumps over the boards. Bard’s already out there. We’ll say nude, he jumps over the boards. Who’s the fifth player jumping over the boards? Ree, who’s on your power? Who takes spot as the netfront guy? Guy on the spot every time. I think if preseason goes well, I’d honestly like to see Tomask get an opportunity up there. But I think I’d like to see Frederick get like a legitimate offensive chance with this team. Like I think he has so much upside still. Maybe not so much, but I think he can provide some offense and if he can get off the season like well, I think that’ll be huge. I like the Frederick pick. It’s kind of uh it’s unique. It’s a guy that we haven’t seen a lot of yet uh in Oilers blue. So I like that. But we haven’t seen him fully healthy. That’s Yeah, I should say. Yeah, we haven’t seen him dynamic. seven regular season minutes. So, both stand true. But Matias Yanmark would be my pick. Just a guy that like he’s not coming in to steal that spot from Heyman. He’s just coming in to hold that spot. I really do think that we take the opportunity to stretch out the minutes or even out the minutes a little bit more between one and two without Heyman, units one and two without Heyman. Uh but yeah, for me, I would just slide Yanmark up there and he’s going to do the job. Yanmark’s hands are way too bad for him to be on my top. Did you say Matias Yamar? I did say what level of hockey. Sure. If he gets sent down, he can play on the Vegas. [ __ ] it. Matas Yam. Damn, that might be the worst thing you’ve ever said on the show. See, someone had to play Rick’s role. Actually, Rick probably would have been in it. Rick would have agreed. He would have been on that one. Um, I I like Frederick. I think Tomasex’s the wild card because again if you’re going to play him five on five with McDavid which again we are we have spent 19 minutes now dissecting the first day of training camp in the line combos. I realize we’re going a bit overboard here. Um it’s our job but Frederick’s interesting. I think Henrik is the obvious. He’s kind of played that spot on power play too in the past. Good hands. He’s done it before with Anaheim. Like Henrik is the obvious one. Frederick is the underdog. Thomas X the wild card. I wonder if they give pug coke best though. He’s he did not use his stick to score on a goalie the entire season last year. But he is. Yeah. Yeah. Doesn’t need to annoy honestly. I don’t know. It’s speechless. It’s it to me it is difficult to replace a Zack Heyman. And I don’t know if you like again like I I choose a Yanmark. I choose a a basic answer because I don’t think that you are really doing anything there. I don’t want to put Seavoy in there and have him have some promise and then make my questions. Like I just I’m going after an option where it’s just I’m going to be able to be comfortable with Zack Heyman replacing him right away. All right. Uh there you go. I’ll say Pod Coulson. I think Pod Coulson has a sneaky chance to get in on that. I think he’s too similar to Yanmark where he doesn’t have the hands or the offensive awareness, but I just wonder playing alongside Dry Saddle. Maybe they’ll throw him out there a little bit more. I like the Frederick one though. I think that’s actually a really good show. Freddy or Henry is where I’d put my money. Honestly, I think if I had to rank every single forward, Yamark would be 13 on like would you put them? I never would have guessed that about you, Liam. Knowing everything I know about you, I never would have guessed that. Be the last. I’ I’d rather have Max Jones. Oh, remember we were oil to the max for Max for a game game and a half and then half it took the first game. Oh, you know what? I’ll even say this two and a half games. First game we were like, “This guy’s [ __ ] unreal.” Remember it was against Montreal, right? He stood the spin ammo and he like went end to end it, he was like, “This guy’s insane.” Then the second game it was like, “All right, back down to earth, but he might still.” And then by halfway through that third game, it was like, “Oh, fuck.” Yeah. It went from like, “Wow, I can see this guy why this guy was a first round pick to, “Holy [ __ ] I can see this why this guy played in the American League all season.” Classic Max Jones. Maybe his best hockeyy’s ahead of him, though. We’re not here to [ __ ] on the guy. We’ll see him in split squad. We will. All right. There you go. That’s your delicious debate for our friends at Odd Company Brewing and Nation Beer Everyday Logger. Um, I’m going to do things in a little bit of a reverse order than we uh usually do here just because there’s some training camp stuff that’s going to come up in Ask the Idiots. Ask the Idiots is brought to you by The Nation Vacation. We’re going to Vancouver in just over a month at donationgeear.ca if you want to get your way in. Your tickets to Edmonton vers Vancouver are included. So are your flights, your accommodations. We do have flightless packages or packages for people who are already in the Vancouver area and just want to come hang out with us. Watch party the night before for Edmonton Seattle. Tickets to the game all sitting together. Going to be awesome. Nationgeear.ca. This bad boy is I see for the double occupancy. There’s two spots left, so one more person can purchase. So, we are almost sold out of this thing. nationgeear.ca. Uh, we did get some questions in. I’m going to snag a couple because BM is the one who usually accumulates them. I’m going to snag a couple from the mailbag. Stuart Skinner has come into camp much lighter according to him, 15 pounds lighter. Uh Taylor asks, why does that even matter and does it mean anything? Well, it does matter because last year the narrative was the opposite that he came in with more weight on him. So there you extrapolated to this season. Hopefully that means good things. It means more mobility. It means more energy. It mean it can mean a bunch of different things to a player. Uh uh on the flip side of that, I do agree with the fans that get a little bit annoyed hearing that everybody’s coming into camp in their best physical shape ever. Uh that’s that’s also a narrative that continues. But every camp, but specifically to Stuart Skinner, he came in last year with a criticism of gaining too much weight in the offseason. This year, he’s lost weight. A big complaint of his game was lateral movement. So, I’m willing to sit here and say if he took that seriously and said, “I need to lose weight to get better at moving laterally, that’s a big part of his game that could be fixed.” I think it is a big deal. Ree, do you think it’s a big deal that Skinner lost weight? Yeah, like I think it’s the same thing. Like, everyone was freaking out about how much he weight he gained last year. And I mean, like I don’t know what he said today though was more about longevity and the health of his joints or something like that. Yeah. I I don’t know. I don’t think it’s like, “Oh my gosh, Skinner lost a bunch of weight. He’s going to become a VZNA goalie now.” Like, but I think it’s good that his biggest criticism was his lateral movement and now like I would assume that that can only get better. Yeah, I again nothing but positives for me and even that line I like that you brought that up Ree of like his joints, his longevity. This is a guy who’s now heading into his fourth season and as an NHL starting goalie. Maybe he’s just learned some lessons along the way and been like, you know what? Yeah, the first like after they went to the cup final the first time he probably relaxed a bit too much in the offseason, right? Wanted to focus more relax is maybe a poor word on like rest and recovery and let his physical side slip a little bit and then he learned the lesson of and a shortened off seasonason too. And a shortened off seasonason, right? Never really been through that before and maybe he just learned how to manage it better and he’s coming into this year in a much better spot. Uh Liam, I’ll let you go. Big deal, little deal, no deal. Scared of losing the weight? Uh somewhere in the middle. I don’t think like it’s good. It’s a good thing. obviously it’s not going to make him a Vzna goalie. I was just trying to look here like how many play how who else lost weight. I am through a lot of these guys and it looks like basically every player is the exact same weight they were last season besides Stuart Skinner which seems hard to believe. There is something to be said for like when they when they do that weighing versus when they update the website and if the team lies cuz they put Skinner at 205. What did they change now? Typo. It was uh It was 205 is now 215. Oh, they changed it. Good, good, good. Cuz when it was like he lost 25 pounds, I’m like, that’s insane. That’s not healthy. 25 lbs in like 2 and 1/2 months would be like, whoa, what did you not eat? Yeah. Um, there you go. Super fasting. Uh, second one I got for you guys. This one comes in from Devin. Putting aside Conor McDavid’s extension, how would you prioritize extending these three players? Wman, Ekholm, Pud Coulson. Ree, I’ll let you go first. How are you prioritizing WMAN at home and Pod Coulson? Uh I would say Walman first and like get that deal done and then probably Pod Coulson and then Echome kind of I’m definitely I think you guys have been saying this for a while but just like hold off on extensions. Like the last thing you need to do is extend him for a couple years at a high dollar and then all of a sudden it’s like okay his plays really dropped off and we’re in year one of a three-year contract. Like that would suck. I am with you on that. Dan, what do you think? I think Walman number one just because to me it is like the most important contract. He’s got he’s had like a weird trajectory in this league and so I don’t really think that there’s like for the Oilers to be able to look at that and say this is why you’re going to make this much kind of thing and he has some promise. So I think that there’s just a lot of unknown there in that negotiation. And then I’m with you, Reese. Like I I think that Pod Coulson factors into this organization longer than you want to have a plan with Echol now. And I if Rick was sitting here right now, he’d be screaming at me. But I just think that this team really has to shift the narrative from the, you know, like, well, we had a good season out of a Matias Eholm and what if he does that again kind of thing and instead start looking for the next Matias and the next Matias after that. And that’s exactly what they do with Walman. So now you’re going out, you’ve got a guy young and and injected into this lineup, sign him longterm and get get some some solidification in that back end again. Liam, how would you prioritize Walman, Pudcolen, and Echol? Exactly how you said it. Walman, Pudcco, and Ekol. Yeah, so I agree with you, Ree. Can’t you cannot extend Echol for four years at 5 million bucks and then halfway through the year, you’re like, “Oh, [ __ ] That’s not good.” Pod Coulson, you sign that guy before the season, if you get through training camp and go, “Oh, yeah, he’s playing with Leon all year.” Cuz the last thing like if he if he’d do two by 2.5 right now, you do it cuz even if he’s on your third line and scoring you 12 goals, you can live with it. But like if you think there’s a chance he’s scoring you 20 goals this year next to Leon Dell, got to pay him now and get that out of the way. And I think the conversation’s similar with Wman where like I would have no problem giving Wman like a 6×6 right now because what if second power play minutes just being on the ice with Connor and Leon, what if he scores 65 points this year? I know that’s maybe high, but like still what if he what if he does? What if he does? Yeah. And I don’t think there’s a huge downside where like halfway through the year we’re like, “Oh, Walman’s a problem.” I think he’s a proven top four guy. Proved in San Jose he can handle top pairing minutes. Proved in Detroit even. I know they wanted to get rid of him, but I think there was more behind the scenes than, you know, just his play. I I think Wman’s a guy and Pud Coulson. And I’d love for them to be extended. They almost they’re almost in the category of need to extend. WMAN maybe you can wait till halfway through the year. Pod Cole and I wouldn’t risk. Sorry, say that again. Woman, you would risk you wouldn’t risk Pod Coulson. I just think like if halfway through the season you’re 41 games in and Wman has 28 points, then I think you can go to him and be like, “Hey, we’ve seen what we need to, what do you want to do long-term extension wise, Pod Coulson, if he’s got 12 goals in the first 40 games of the season, that guy ain’t signing an extension with you till the end of the year, if at all.” There’s a bit more by low with pods, I think. Yeah, I would agree with that side of it. I wonder if personality comes into it at all. Like Coren seems like a very like I’m here to play hockey kind of guy and woman has a bit of a swagger about him. You know what I mean? Yeah. I wonder if that side of things comes into it a little bit. Like I I do think they’ll all stay. I’m not too worried about it, but I just wonder about that. Well, go ahead. But I mean like that comes up when you think about the Detroit question mark, right? And that’s you alluded to it, Tyler, but I mean that’s for the team in WMAN to to negotiate and figure out what the heck happened there just because that does play a role in this negotiation. I’ve just come to the determination that Steve Eisman isn’t a good GM. He doesn’t like egos. He doesn’t like an ego bigger than his. Good players. Yeah. By the looks of his roster. He’s allergic to them. If you’re not Swedish, you’re not good enough. Fair enough. All right, boys. Uh let’s keep cruising along with the show today. The news is brought to you by our friends at Swiss Donaire, the pride of the north side. Not only is it great for a meal for you and the family or a late night snack, it’s also perfect for your events at home or the office catering. Swiss Donaire. Jay did that. He threw a pool party with all his neighbors and he got pizza for all the kids and then he texted all the dads in his neighborhood in a side group chat and was like, “Do you guys want donaires instead of pizza?” Elite move. Be like Jay. uh ood noodle or sorry swiss donire open for 25 years now open 7 days a week. Check out their location 8308 144th northwest or order online at swissonire.com. A little bit going in terms of the news around the league. I mean you have Malcolin saying he wants to stay with the Penguins. He doesn’t know if this is going to be his last year. Obie kind of said same thing. Not sure if this is his last year. Anzie Copitar did say this will be his final season. His 20th year with the LA Kings will be his last. A pretty rare one jersey guy actually. Yeah, in this day and age especially him Berseron. I’m trying to think of like players of that era. Malcolin Crosby for now, but Malcolin did say today that he’s willing to look at what Brad Marshon did. And Taves and Kane both now going to be two jersey guys with Taves signing in Winnipeg. Taves three jersey guy was on the Rangers. Taves said T and K. Yeah. When Mike Madano signed with the Detroit Red Wings, you knew it was over. Yeah. There’s no more long-term Oh, uh Carrie Price, one jersey. Wow. San Jose now. Yeah. Yeah, that is true. Is there anyone else? Shay web. It’s done, man. It’s over. I’m calling it. Char, you don’t I don’t remember. Leon dry jersey. McDavid. N Lstrom. Litstrom. Lstrom. Yeah, Litzro. Dat Zedterberg were all one jersey guys. That’s a different era though. Yeah, a little bit. Like the 20 teams who won the cup from 2010 onwards. That’s kind of what I look at as like that era with like Copitar Berson and them and Copar Bersron are really the only two and OV obviously. Y Cbrook. Honestly, Cory Crawford, but they’re not legends. Yeah, they don’t really count. Keith was close, but then So, anyways, I wanted to play a game with you guys. Uh, instead of doing the news, I got the whiteboards. What? I just wrote down the news. Do I write something else now in my No, we’ll call it the news cuz this ties into offseason news. So, I for people watching on YouTube, I got the whiteboards for you guys. Big day. What do you think the game is? I’m going to guess price is right rules. Guess the next player is to retire. I don’t know. I’m gonna copy Reese’s answers. Dan, grab a whiteboard, grab a marker, grab an eraser, and pass it down. Yep. This game is called Same Faces, New Places. Oh, okay. I have written down eight players who signed or got traded to a new team over the off season. We’re starting easy and then we’re getting real hard. Okay, you guys are playing for the one beer that I found in the office that I put in the fridge yesterday. What about the Swiss donaire that’s been in the fridge for two weeks? That’s a That goes to last place. You have to eat the don live on air. Got it. Um Okay. So, we’re going to start you guys off, like I said, with a nice easy one. Your first name is Oh, sorry. What are we writing down? You’re writing down where this player is playing this season, and then we hide it. And then hide it and then we’ll reveal. Yeah. Okay. Your first player is Jeff Skinner. Oh my god, I just saw one. Okay. Well, Liam, is your answer ready? My pen doesn’t work. It’s like big brother. Do I just go first? Oh, you need a new pen? Yeah. Needs a new pen. One sec. Pen doesn’t work. It was is a fraudulent. There’s a lot. What do you need, Reys? There’s I’m okay. It’s okay. You can talk. We’re on We’re on a show. It is recording. If it’s like, do I have to put the team like name or the city’s fine? I don’t give a [ __ ] All right, you’re fine. No matter what it is, just have to spell it right. You spell it wrong. All right, Dan. Did that pen work? It does. All right, Liam, reveal your answer. Who is Jeff Skinner playing for? Liam goes San Jose. Reese goes Sharks. Sharks. Dan goes, “Duck sucks.” Dan point for Ree and a point for Liam. Jeff Skinner did sign a contract with the San Jose Sharks. Uh, bonus question. You’re not going to get points for this. Who is the other Oiler who signed with the Sharks this offseason? Clingberg. John Clingberg. Clingberg got a one-year $4 million deal. He’ll be back. Skinner got a one-year $3 million deal. He also shaved off his head. John. John did. All right, Dan. This next one should let you get back in the race. Okay, your next player, boys, is Ryan Reeves. Oh my god, I know this one. Oh. Oh my gosh. All right, Liam, you got it? Yeah. Dan, I’ll let you reveal first. Sharks. Hey, I tried to trick you. Tried to trick you. Feels like a waste. We could have just kept them up. And it didn’t trick anybody. Everybody said San Jose. I thought I didn’t think the ducks at first, but Henry Thron, your friend, was the one traded. Oh, really? Yeah. Third one I got for you guys. Remember, these are uh these are going to get harder as we go on. How many do you have? Five. Also, I do like that you guys say your answer into the mic when you flip around your thing. That’s probably good. Good. Three. There’s eight names. So, we’re on number three. Sweet. I Oh, buddy. I have more than that written down. We’re doing more of this later. Okay, number three. Jonathan Druan. Here’s the hint. He signed a two-year deal at a $4 million AAV. Where did Jonathan Druan sign after I just watched him try and balance a quarter on Lemon? Reese, everyone’s good? Yeah. Liam, we’ll start with you. The New York Islanders. New York Islanders. Okay, these guys are way too good at this. I said the Islanders, too. Everyone wins. Everyone gets a point. Reese and Liam tied in first at three. Your fourth player was traded from the Colorado Avalanche this off season. Your player is Charlie Coyle. I said they’re getting harder and I think they’re starting to get harder. It was a pure cap dump. Charlie Coyle. That’s actually That’s a bit of a hint. That’s a bit of a hint. That is a bit of a Where did Charlie Coyle land? I feel like Reese has been playing the new NHL game and knows all of them. This is wild. Locked in. He knows all the answers. How confident are you guys? You got this one. I feel pretty confident. I have a one in 32 shot. Uh I just started to think about bad. Two in 32 cuz it’s not Colorado. It’s not Colorado. Dan, I said Tampa. Reese. Blue Jackets. Hold your mic closer to your face. Pittsburgh. The correct answer is the Columbus Blue Jackets. Reese the only one to get a point. I do not remember that trade. Who is Charlie Coyle, by the way? He was that guy. I know. Yeah, he was on the Wild. Didn’t he start with the Bruins? He started on the Wild. He was traded with Miles Wood to the Blue Jackets, right? For Gavin Brindley, a third round pick and a second round pick. That trade happened on the 27th of June, so a little earlier. All right, boys. Next one. Uh, defenseman, another former Colorado Avalanche, Ryan Lingren. Where did Ryan Lingren sign? Dan, they’re getting harder after this. So bad at this. I’m going to just guess this team. Liam, Seattle. Reese, Seattle. Dan, Montreal. Dan, I think you know where he signed. It was the Seattle Kraken. I throw myself. Reese leads the way with five. Aren’t you guys Oiler fans? Who pays attention to these other teams? I don’t know. I’m a jolly coil. Name number six. They’re getting harder. This player signed a one-year contract. And Dan, here’s a hint or not a hint, he is a former HAB. He signed a one-year deal worth $4.85 million. Where did Christian D’vorak sign? Sorry, one-year deal worth $5.4 million. Where did Christian D’vorak sign on July 1st? Fans just went in circles. I’m not even gonna look at my board. Liam, Philly, Reese, Flyers, Chicago, Chicago. The correct answer, R. Christian Borak signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. Charlie, that should have been eight. Name number seven. If Dan gets one of these next two, I Yeah, I win. Thank you. Yeah, mega points. Colton Sizz. Holy. Where did Colton Sizz land? I thought his contract is up with the breads. No, he was traded, I think, with retained money. [Music] Reese, do you know? No. Oh, we might have stopped. We finally did it. We finally did it. Everyone’s thinking long and hard. I know this answer. You do? No. Ah, he’s not a hockey fights guy. Hey. No. Yeah. You got the Reeves one. Yeah, I did. I knew where Reeves was for sure. Reese and Liam thinking long and hard. It’s not that hard to be wrong at this game, you guys. No, I’ve been really good at it. All right, Dan, who’d you guess? I guessed Tampa. Okay, Ree, I guess Red Wings, the Devils. He was traded for Nicholas Heg to the Vegas Golden Knights, Colton Sizens, and Jeremy Loausan. And a third round pick for Nicholas Hag. Not Tampa. Not Tampa. I just assume they trade him out of province. Out of uh Liam needs to get this one to Tyrese for the first spot. Taylor Radish. Where did Taylor Radish sign this off season? Holy [ __ ] I can’t wait for part two next week when Dan or when Rick and BM are going to play, too. Yes. He signed a two-year deal with this team for $1.5 million per season. I might know this one. I already wrote it down. Reese, I’m not copying you. I don’t really know. That’s wrong. Liam, I know that’s wrong. I don’t know. To Tyrese, is it Detroit? Ree, who’d you put the Rangers? I guess Chicago again. He’s a sicko. It’s the New York Rangers. Wow. Reese with seven. Goes seven out of eight. Just couldn’t get Golden Sizz. Liam goes five for eight. That’s not bad. Dan got Ryan Reeves, right? Not Jonathan D. I can’t wait for that Swiss donaire. It’s going to be good. Oh no, you can’t do that. Uh, there you go, boys. That is the news brought to you by our friends at Swiss Donire. We’ll play it again next week. Um, no studying, though. I feel like that’ll ruin it. You got to figure it out through the power of conversation. I’m just going to talk to Reese the whole time. Yeah. Uh, let’s keep cruising along, gentlemen. For our friends at Bet 365, a little bit of betting talk. Bet 365. Whatever your bet, whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at Bet 365. I got a couple for you guys that are not Oilers related to begin this thing. A little bit of talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs turning over a new Leaf. They’re out of the Mitch Marner era. Bet 365 has odds on exactly how the Leafs season will finish. You got playoffs exit or sorry, a first round exit in the playoffs plus 155. Missing the playoffs plus 240. Second round exit plus 375. Losing in the conference finals plus 900. Losing in the cup final plus 1,600. Winning it all plus 1,800. If you guys had to guess right now, where do you think the Toronto Maples, where does their season end? Look into your crystal ball. Winning it all. I’m just joking. Uh I love that that the first round thing is uh is so low. I think that you go for round two. I think that they’ll probably make it through that first round and then get eliminated by somebody else in their I could see that and the talk will be like the Leafs learned a lesson. Like they’re out of the first round. They look they’ll win it in like five games, too. Like they’ll cruise. Uh, Ree, how do you think the leaf season will end? Yeah, I think Boston probably not making the playoffs this year is going to allow them to get through the first round. Yeah. And but like I don’t think they’re like anything better than like a round two. Like I think they’ll go out in the second round basically. All right. Uh Liam, well, they made a round one now two years in a row, beating Tampa, right? Mhm. I can They beat Ottawa last year. Did they beat Oh, okay. be hard with us, right? I think the regular season means a lot more to the Leafs than Tampa or Florida. Yeah. So, I think they can win the division and but I think and I think they’ll get a weaker opponent, so I think they’ll get bounced in round two. All right. Um, next one I got for you guys. They have some player head-to-head ones that I think are interesting. Uh, let’s go out west. Elias Person versus the new captain in the New York Rangers, JT Miller. JT Miller. You think he gets more point? They’re minus 110. It’s a pick them. Yeah, Elias Patterson will just not be good cuz that team blows. I’ll take Elias Patterson over I kind of want to take Elias Person too. I think I could see him bouncing back to like 80 points and I could see Miller being at like 70. Yeah, I don’t I don’t pick like I don’t view the New York Rangers as being like superstars themselves. It’s a good solid team, not not single players. Uh Ree Patterson or Miller? I think Miller. I think if Patterson’s going to have more points than him this year, that Vancouver power play has to be like cracked. And I don’t think that’s going to be the case. That’s young boy lingo. Cracked. It’s a Fortnite term, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s Well, it’s just like there’s a magazine I used to read, too. Okay. Mad magazine. Crack magazine. So, last season, Elias Patterson had 45 points. JT Miller had 70. Person year season before that Person had 89. Miller had 103. Year before that Miller had 82. P Yeah, Person’s never done this. The smart money might be Miller actually cuz he’s just it’s just the environment. Yeah, like Miller is the captain in the New York Rangers. That’s huge. I I also feel like the Rangers might also not be that good this season, but we’ll see. Jacob Trou was the last. Next one I got for you guys. Defenseman Quinn Hughes versus Kale Mar. Last year, Macar cleared him by 16 points, but he played 12 more games. Macar finished with 92. Hughes with 76. Uh, there is a favorite in this one. Hughes is plus 120. Mar is minus 140. Ree, you got a feel, Hughes or Macar? Probably Hughes. And I know it sounds dumb that I just didn’t take the Vancouver guy, but I don’t know. I just I have like low expectations for Colorado this year. I’ll go with Mac. I think there’s more guys who can put the puck in the back of the net in Colorado than Vancouver. I say Mar because I think that we’re for or not we’re but collectively we may be forgetting that Colorado started so slow last year. They did and they had so many injuries to start the season. I disagree with you Ree. I think that’s going to be a firewagon of a team. So I’ll say Mar. But I don’t blame you for choosing Quinn. He’s a good good little player. Next one is a fill-in-theblank question about our boy Ryan Nent Hopkins. 20 goals last year, 18 the year before, 37 the season prior to that. I want you to answer it. We’ll make it a double kind of Jeopardy one. There is a blank percent chance Noo hits the 20 goal mark and there is a blank percent chance he hits the 30 goal mark and I’ll give you the odds in a second. Uh Dan, I’ll let you go first. There is a I will say 69% chance that he gets to 20 and I’ll say there’s like a 55% chance that he gets to 30. Reese 100% that he gets to 20 and uh like 75% that he gets to 30. 7 75% you’re high on N big year this year. All right, power plays humming again. N could be the guy. But Liam, where do you go? Uh, I’ll go pretty high, too. I think there’s like an 80% chance he gets 20. Honestly, I would put it down at like 21% chance he gets 30. So, here’s what the odds say. They have him at minus 170 to hit the 20 goal mark. That’s implied odds of 62.9%. And to score 30, he’s plus 700, implied odds of 12 1/2%. So they’re saying there’s what would that be like a 50-ish% chance that he’s just right in between 20 and 30 goals somewhere which is fine. It makes sense. That’s what N is now. Especially if he’s going to be more center than wing, which has to kind of factor into this this year. Yeah, there’s and there for the odds makers on that one. There’s just so many question marks because they are looking at him as that third line center or might have to slide him up onto a wing again. So y uh there we go boys. Uh that is our betting segment for our friends at bet365. baseball, football, hockey. They got it all. Tons of great futures bets as well. And I’m sure they’ll have odds for preseason hockey as well. Um, we got Oh man, we’re all the way in hot and cold performers already. That’s awesome. Hot and cold performers brought to you by our friends at ood noodle. ood.ca covering your meal needs this weekend. You don’t want to cook on a Friday night. Be the hero of your household. Pick up Noodle today. I’m going to go man the buttons, boys. Good luck. All right. Uh, Liam, do you want to go first with your veggies? Cold performer of the week. co-performer of the week. Okay, this one kind of sucks, but I got to say it. So, there was the unfortunate passing of Orca Wise Blat this past week. That was very sad. Um, former Brooks Bandits player Portage Terrier was playing in the FPHL if I’m not mistaken. Yes, correct. But of course when these things horribly happen there is tributes from people who are associated with the athlete in this case leagues will put out posts or whatever for the what seems to be a petty reason the AHL refused to put a tribute out forcer because he played for the Brooks Bandits who are not part of the AHL anymore. Of course they moved to the BCHL and that was like a nasty split from the league. and it’s bad, but I just think that like there’s a certain there’s certain things that you can just put your problems aside for. And for me, that would be number one on the list. So, mine goes out to the AHL for their amateur hour and the way they handled that situation. No button. That’s just shitty. Yeah. Dano, what do you got? Uh, more shitty. Uh, I’m sorry for the people that have to listen to politics all the time cuz I’m going to give you a little bit of political speech here. Uh the UCP government, it has just been leaked, will be using or have planned to use the notwithstanding clause on the for the third, fourth, and fifth time in our province’s entire history to push through their anti-trans bills that they believed were legally viable and would win the challenges. Now, it seems like they’re not. That’s horribly I just want to say that’s a horrible thing against human rights. We need to be able to allow laws to be processed through the legal channels that they’re supposed to be processed through. The UCP government choosing to use the notwithstanding clause three different times now for their own bills is my cold performer of the week. No. God, no. God, please no. No. No. No. Uh Reese, your first time playing Hot and Cold Performers. What do you got for us? Your cold performer of the week. I don’t know if this is like a good one, but it’s fine. I do the most random [ __ ] every week. So, yeah. Brian Hayes said on Overdrive the other day that McDavid would one never hit 150 points again, which I don’t think is outlandish. That’s a lot. No. But that he’d never win an MVP again. I don’t think that that is like that’s crazy. Yeah. Like to count him out, he’s 28. Halfway through the year, you’re telling me we’re not getting him? No, we’re getting probably two more. Yeah. He’s literally the all favorite to win this [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was lame. I also think he could get 150 points this year. He literally came out and said, “I want to score as many goals as I can.” Brian A is clickbait. Uh yeah, 100%. Uh all right, boys. Who did I have as my cold performer of uh who did I have as my cold performer of the week? I’ve been too busy hosting the podcast. How does Bag Milk do it? Um, it was in my like tweets somewhere, so now I’m just rapidly uh flipping through everything, but I’m I’m not going to find it. Um, yeah, I honestly don’t remember what it was. Cold performer of the week. Somehow I [ __ ] forgot my cold performer of the week. Uh, so let’s flip the ledger around. Hot performer. Dan, I’ll let you go first. Why not? Yeah. Uh, my hot performer of the week is going to go out to myself for uh entering the Oilers Nation Fantasy Football League this year after not following football for two or three years. And I’m at the top of the league. My team name is two and 0 out. My my record is two and 0. And I’m about to go three and 0 against W. So, I’m gonna give myself the hot performer of the week. He’s a hot guy, Reese. Uh my hot performer is the uh ladies Canadian ladies uh or women’s rugby team. They’ve been playing sick. I think they just won the semi-finals right now. Looks like they did. Let’s go. Put some respect on my name. Put some respect on my name. Liam, hot performer of the week. Um, hot performer of the week. Oh, it’s always a tough one, isn’t it? Hot performers of the week. I I’ll give mine while you’re going. Yeah, please. Edmonton product Eric Sowski. Seven straight scoreless outings, only one hit in relief for the Cleveland Guardians, who have won seven games in a row. Sevens are lucky. They’re now one and a half games back of a playoff spot. I want to see our boy get back to pitching in the postseason. Eric Sabroski gets my hot performer of the week. Spoilers fan, friend of the nation in the real life fantasy league. Uh my hot performer of the week. Um does everyone know the show Only Murderers in the Building? Yep. Heard of that show. Heard of it. Just watched uh season four and a bit of season five and I finally did it. I guess the killer. Couldn’t do it in the other three seasons, but I managed to accomplish it this year. No spoilers, but uh that show and me for guessing the killer. Feeling hot. Feeling hot. All right, boys. That is a wrap. Any closing thoughts from anybody? Closing thoughts. The Oilers need simpler names. Tomasac. Tomasak. Ike. It’s a lot. Ike’s about as easy as you can get. No, but like it’s not is I says Isaac. We should go undefeated in the preseason. Let’s do Hell yeah. I They might win our game and it might be this weekend when they play a sport squad. All right, that is a wrap on this week’s edition of Boilers Nation Radio. Have yourselves a great weekend everybody. We’ll be back next Friday.

It’s time for a fresh episode of Oilersnation Radio as the crew sat down to go through all the headlines that have popped up throughout the early stages of Oilers training camp. Tyler, Dan, Liam and Reece kicked off the show by talking about the line combos that we saw during the team’s first practice of the season.
Who should play with Connor McDavid? Who should take Zach Hyman’s spot in front of the net on the powerplay? Will Ike Howard make the team out of training camp? Where should Matt Savoie start the season? They answered all those questions with a handful of delicious debates.
They then moved onto some talk about Stuart Skinner, who is down 15 pounds as he comes into camp. They talked about how this could impact his game and why maybe it was an issue last season.
With a bunch of new players in different spots around the league, Tyler quizzed the guys on a handful of players who signed with new teams over the summer and one person ran away with this competition.
They wrapped with some betting talk, which included a fun question about how many goals Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and how many goals he could score this season, and their hot and cold performers of the week.

0:00 Intro
3:03 Who Would You Have Put With McDavid at Camp?
22:31 A Lighter Stuart Skinner
25:35 Walman, Podkolzin, and Ekholm
29:57 The News
30:36 Retiring Players
32:32 Same Faces, New Places
40:46 Betting Talk
46:45 Hot and Cold Performers