Evan Bouchard Struggles as Oilers Lose to Islanders | Oilersnation Everyday with Tyler & Liam

Evan Bouchard Struggles as Oilers Lose to Islanders | Oilersnation Everyday with Tyler & Liam

Switch. Welcome to Oilers Nation Everyday with your hosts Tyler and Liam. Tai Emerson had a good game. Let’s get into it with the lead. Ah, welcome to Oilers Nation every day on the heels of a a loss to the New York Islanders. Historic night. Oh man, I really thought it was going to be point night. I thought we were going to light up big save Dave. Yeah, none of that happened. Um, Emmonton falls 4-2. Their first regulation loss of the season. They are now 21 and one on the year. Welcome into Oilers Nation every day. We are coming to you live from the Sports Closet studio. From jerseys to hats to the legendary Foam Finger, you will find it all and more at the Sports Closet. We are also a presentation of Bet365. Download the app today. Use the promo code nation. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at bet365. Um, not a great night for uh for the oil, Liam. Uh, yeah. Yeah, there was certain moments where it’s okay, there’s a bit of a push back there, but unfortunately it didn’t happen enough. Um, also probably shouldn’t have to push back so hard against the Islanders. It shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was. And I mean, there’s no easy outs in the NHL, but I was going to say I I feel like this was coming a little bit in the sense that their offense has been a little bit sloppy to start. The Rangers game wasn’t wasn’t bad by any means, but it certainly wasn’t perfect. Vancouver, they struggled. They were sloppy against Calgary. Maybe they needed a bit of like a a bad bad result to go against them for a bit of a wakeup call. We’ll obviously find out more tomorrow and see if it did work. But easily their worst game of the four. Yeah. And and like you win the first one against the Rangers. You don’t deserve to. All road trips are tough. You know, this one maybe not quite as bad when you look at one, quality of opponents. Two, the fact you kind of stay in the same hotel for the first three, four games or first three games for four or five nights. Um, still though, you win the Rangers, you feel like you got lucky, you want to take advantage of that Islanders game and kind of, you know, really put yourself ahead of ahead of the curve, but disappointing nonetheless. A game that had a couple of different real tough turning points. We’ll talk about the short-handed goal in a little bit. And actually, we’re going to be joined by Steve Peters at 1:00 today, and he’s going to give us kind of like the film room breakdown of uh of everything that went down yesterday. So, well, actually just Evan Bushard. Yeah, actually. Well, yeah. Everything, all the clips are Buchard ccentric. Yes. But not like all like negative ones. The first two are negative. The bottom two are intriguing. Well, so let’s talk about the Bard struggles right out of the jump here cuz that is really where everyone was jumping. I see Westside Shane put it in there. the Mark Spectre tweet that plays or games like this or whatever or what going to be having Bard and Turks and Caos, not Milan this February. And yeah, haha, that is a great joke. That’s a good one. There’s we know these games are in there for Evan Bushard. Oh yeah, definitely. But I actually don’t I’m not surprised to see what we saw last night. It’s not like whoa, what’s happening? Like Yeah, I mean it seemed inevitable. Yeah, at some point he’s gonna have he’s just who he is. Like and we all Yeah, we all we all know what Evan Bushard can be at times if we want to take the good out of it. Probably his worst game ever. I’ve literally never seen him play that poorly before. Like honestly, like I cannot recall and I understand there certain moments like you look back at last season. A great example was the Toronto game. He puts one up the middle, hits someone on the ass, it ends up in the back of the other net. They lose the game in overtime I think it was. But that was one moment. I feel like last night there was there was at least two that led to goals and then probably at least two or three more after that that were just like you need to focus a little bit more here or a coaching staff member needs to be like hey like just just sit here until the end of the period. We’ve got 5 minutes left. We’ll just throw Ecom and Nurse out for a couple extra shifts. Just don’t play either Boo or Ecom for 5 minutes. Anything. Yeah. And I think that’s what I would have done. And I did take him off the power play after the short-handed goal, but I would have and and look like they’re not going to bench Evan Bush for a game. That would be idiotic. That would be really silly. Especially in a game you’re chasing. He gives you a very good opportunity to go and win a game. He’s that good. Last night was terrible. Really, really bad. Again, worst game ever. And it came at poor timing with I believe Julian Bruce was in the building. Tough one for Julian to watch. I had this take in the postseason last year. I had this take probably before the playoffs, but I think the first time I delivered it in this way was during the playoffs. I said it again when they inked him to the $10.5 million deal. There will be eight to nine games in the regular season where you go, why the hell are we paying this guy $10.5 million, but there will be eight to nine games in the playoffs where you go, “Holy [ __ ] thank god we have that guy.” And the proof is in the results. I will take a defenseman who has dog [ __ ] games like this against the New York Islanders because I know that round one, if we get LA again, you better believe he’s scoring a clutch goal, making a clutch play. Their season is over if he doesn’t hold in that puck against Quinton Biffield. Let’s go back to the playoff run before this. Their season ends round two against the Vancouver Conucks. And you don’t want to know what this organization would have done that offseason if their season ended against the Vancouver Conucks and they didn’t at least make the Western Conference final. I’m telling you right now, it would have been very, very, very ugly. If he does not score two OT winners and a clutch game winner, this this franchise looks very different right now. They don’t go to a cup final in either of the last two years if they do not have Evan Buchard on their team. So, that is a whole big preface on what I’m about to say next because you he is worth the money. You need guys like him to win. Agreed. I don’t really want to make that excuse anymore for him because he’s 25 and about to be 26 years old. He turns 26 in three days. Happy early birthday, Evan Bushart. Um, at some point you need to cut out these kinds of games. You can have a bad play, but like he was bad against New York, too. And I’m willing to again say that, you know, once every 10, 15 games you’re going to have a stinker from Bousard. And if they’re the stinker to the level of what we saw against the Rangers, I’ll live with it. He made two or three mistakes. His goalie bailed him out last night against the Islanders. That’s a level that he just simply can’t be at anymore in his career because again, this is season 1 2 3 4. This is his sixth year in the NHL. 350 games. We always throw that 300 game mark around with with defenseman that like once they get to 300, they’re developed. You know what you have? It can no longer be that bad. And then there’s another side of this which is gonna kind of again we’re going to do this sort of whole cycle with Pey at one o’clock. He’s not doing the [ __ ] that makes him good. Mhm. I’m okay. And this is I’ll spoiler alert. This is my first question to Petey. I will live with bad Evan Bousard plays if they come at moments where he is trying to do too much, trying to make a perfect pass, trying to seam it across ice through three guys cuz it might send someone on a breakaway. I want the Oilers need Evan Bousard making those kinds of plays and taking those kinds of risks. What I saw last night and what I saw against the Rangers was not a guy having turnovers that were the result of taking big risks. It was a guy who was just playing [ __ ] terrible. Like there’s no upside to that risk. That cannot happen. And there was guys available to pass to. Like even if you just play it up the boards, it’s fine. You’re you’re over the red line. It’s just a mistake like you said that kind it’s a preseason mistake is what he kind of felt like. Um I’m also kind of over the excuse of like what he does in the playoffs but it is just a fact. Um but I don’t think it needs to be called out every single time he makes a mistake because we’ll just be blue in the face at this point like you said like he’s played a lot of games in the league. It needs to be eliminated. And I thought Nblock said it well last night. It’s like we’ve seen Bard play better and mistakes like that will not be accepted around here. I would like to see N block what would you how would you call that? Um like display that a little bit more in his decision- making with Bard but there’s also also too sorry probably be aware that the fastest second fastest guy on the ice is the one coming at you right now if you’re going to try and dangle around him. So again, like I don’t mind Bard mistakes, the ones that drive me nuts, like again a pass up the middle that’s picked off. Like you’ll live with that because you get what he’s trying to do. It’s the ones where he’s just so unaware. He seems to be in like a days where like he gets stick checked while he’s just barely moving with the puck, where he doesn’t recognize it’s Matt Barzell. Like those are the ones that just drive you absolutely bonkers. There are certain mistakes you can live with. He will never be a guy who is a perfect defensive defenseman who never like that’s just not who he is and that’s not who you want him to be as a defenseman. You pay Ekholm to be steadying. You pay Kulak to be steadying. You pay Evan Bousard to get the puck to your high-end forwards and put them in positions to well score. He needs to take risks to be at his best. And that’s why you always have to live with some amount of mistakes. But we just can’t be seeing what we’ve seen for we’ll call it the last six periods. Like it’s just unacceptable. And I’m willing to say that. And people sit there and be like, “Oh, the media is hard. Darnell Nurse has been dog [ __ ] for all four games this season.” I’m not afraid to say that. But we also know what Darnell Nurse is now. And we know what Evan Bousard is. And it’s frustrating because yesterday was worse than what Evan Bousard’s worst usually is. Yeah. I I will backtrack on one thing I said earlier and just on the way Knoblock kind of threw him out there. If Wman was playing that probably would have been taken back a little bit more from him. They were missing Wman. Regula obviously didn’t play too. I know we don’t really know what he is yet but technically they were down two defenseman. So I think once Wman’s back maybe we can see a bit of a reduction in Bousard and maybe again like you mentioned how poor Nurses played. At least he was very bad last night. I thought certain players where he’s just like, can you just focus and play a little bit like a normal hockey player for a second? H hopefully he can get balanced out a little bit too by WMAN. It’s it’s crazy to think we’ve really not seen our top four defenseman play together as like a healthy unit ever since Wman came. Like they’ve just been go they’ve always someone’s always been up. What was that? Are we getting robbed? Oh, I know that. Oh, it’s the pot. It’s probably windy, I think. Yeah, the pot tipped over on our deck. Broken into. Yeah. Is it shattered everywhere? Oh, well, that’s encouraging. Oh, that was Okay, I want to get to a comment here. Uh, YouTube chat is brought to you by Odd Company Brewing in the Nation Beer. Everyday logger, a crisp clean logger crafted not just for game day, but for everyday two locations in the Edmonton area, downtown or Richie Rafat Barrow, I hope I’m saying that Rafa yet. I’m butchering your name, but that’s fine. He said on my point about Bard, “But he’s not doing that. He’s not doing that, Tyler.” Like that. That was my problem with his signing. But what do you mean? Like what are you talking about? Like I want a clarification. Are you saying that like he’s not making good decisions with the puck? Like since he got s? I mean, to be fair, it’s been four games. It’s been four games since he’s been signed. Like if we’re going to have a conversation about Evan Bousard that is only about how he’s played in these four games, then I don’t know. you’re just intentionally being obtuse. Like it that’s we can look at a guy who in the last two playoff runs is well over a point per game as a defenseman. You know how many defenseman in the history of the sport have done that? What was his name? Say his name. Bobby or it is every offensive metric you look at for playoff production by a defenseman. It is Bobby or it is Evan Bousard. And it is and like again this isn’t like I’m spinzoning some stats into like well in the last 10 years right shot defenseman under the age of 26 no one’s been more no it is like a black and white statistic history of the sport playoff production Bobby or Evan Bard you cannot ignore that level of production it’s not even like there’s two like people love to do this with Zack Cassian he scored two big goals and had one big hit in one playoff run and because he is rough and tumble, Zack Cassian who hit guys and playoff performer. Yeah. Turtled Kachchuck, all that. Well, you pay him for what he does in the playoffs. But as soon as it’s Evan Bushard, those exact same people who make those points all of a sudden love to totally disregard the playoffs. And it’s [ __ ] because if you’re willing to do it for Cassian, which you shouldn’t have cuz he’s a fourthliner who lucked into two goals. Like we’re not talking about pointing to two overtime winners Evan Buchard has and being like, “Well, that’s why he’s worth 10 and a half million.” We are legitimately talking about 50 plus playoff games, 75 playoff games. That is not a small sample size. 75 playoff games where he has six game-winning goals, one overtime winner, a late game tying goal, a key like the list goes on and on and on and people just want to ignore it. If we’re going to have a conversation about Evan Buchard, it cannot be isolated to last night. And I that’s what I was trying to articulate is like last night very very bad. Those need to go totally away from Evan Bousard’s game. But at the same time, anyone sitting there taking cheap shots at him, saying he’s a bad defenseman, you’re either one in the media trying to be clickbaity, which lack of respect for that right out of the gate. Or you’re just an idiot. Like I don’t even know what else to tell you. Like if you come away, if you’ve come out of back-to-back playoff runs where this guy has been without a doubt your third best player, and again, I will beat this drum one more time, one of the best defensive playoff performers in Stanley Cup playoff history. If you are choosing to ignore those, you are an idiot. How can you watch the last two playoff runs and be like, you’re not going to win with guys like Evan Bush? Well, they didn’t tie. I count I consider I consider going to two Stanley Cup finals and having three playoff runs where you are the second most winning team in the entire league. I consider that having a winning team. I agree. I completely agree with everything you just said in your your little passion rant there. It’s all true. Um someone put in the chat it was Sam squash. I think it’s like the captain needs to hold him accountable. You don’t think they’re [ __ ] pissed at him? Yeah. And I also just don’t think McDavid needs to take Bushard to the back room and be like, “You cannot do that, Evan.” Like, I think he’s well aware of what he did. And it’s it just is what it is. Like, at the end of the day, it’s one game against the New York Islanders on the road that when the Oilers win the division and go on and hopefully have some playoff success, hopefully, I we probably all will remember, but it’ll be irrelevant. Yeah. Okay, I think we’re good. Um, yeah. Why am I so pissy? I just again, it’s just frustrating like and people will say like I saw some people like, “Well, we just don’t need to talk about it.” It’s like, “Okay, but we do because it was the big story from last night. It’s the number one narrative coming out of the game.” And unfortunately, it it needs to be reduced. And sorry, I forget who made the original comment that kind of put you on your little speech there of just uh whoever it was. Yeah. came back and said is I just worry that he’s going to play at this standard. It’s like okay but I don’t think you should be worried about that because I think the proof is in the pudding that he is able to bounce back. When you look back at the trauma game like we mentioned earlier last season when was that December February I think it was the next game he had the arguably the greatest goal of his career when he dangled through everyone in Ottawa and put it top cheddar like it was great. So I believe in Evan Bushard. I think you should too. I think the proof is there that like this guy is capable of being the best defenseman, can produce at a high level. There’s certain things that need to be cleaned up for sure, but like I don’t think we’ve seen an egregious turnover like that for a while. What do we got? What do we got? Which like one of the first off, this isn’t even written well, so I shouldn’t even give this the time of day, but I hate when people do [ __ ] like this. three events of allowing Marshon losing the cup challenge. That’s not a like good sentence. That makes zero stupid. Got over 72 minutes of Evans screw-ups from last season. 89% resulting in goals against. It’s a fact. What the What are you even talking about? Send me the send me the sources. Yeah, send me the numbers that show 89% of Evan Bart’s screw-ups end up in the back of the net. Also like also honestly no [ __ ] You want to talk about the playoffs? Evan Buchard without Matias an injured Matias Ecom was [ __ ] awesome. You’re a number one defenseman. He became a penalty killer. He learned how to penalty kill on the fly in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And then all of a sudden Ekcom comes back. He’s very banged up. Don’t get us wrong. Ekcom is on himself. Arguably should not have played in the playoffs after a certain time. He ruined Bousard’s playoff legacy that season in a way. Yeah. Do we all forget that the pass in game six that B? I’m surprised they didn’t take Bush’s hips out. Like he was crazy. And everyone’s like, “How did you not bring that down? How did he not stop that?” What do you mean? Almost went through him. I like Okay. Um, Rafett dropped in a 1399 super chat for the Ben Stelter Foundation for Tyler making fun of my name. Appreciate the donation to the Ben Stelter Foundation. It is great that you’re a good sport. And in all fairness, I was not making fun of your name. I just legitimately don’t know how to pronounce it. So if you clarify it, I’ll get it right next time. Yeah. Yeah. We Naimm used to do that for us, too. Yeah. Now we’re buddies. We’re going to see Naimm next week. Yeah. Oh, this week. Oh, man. If Bushard doesn’t [ __ ] turn it around, boys, we’re in trouble. Oh, he’s next week. Today’s Friday. No. Na is Naim pro bouch anti-goalie. Yes. And right now Skinner 921 for Stuart Skinner. Pretty good last night. Okay. So, again, I guarantee you we’re going to we’re going to get a comment cuz I’m going to pivot. We’re going to do like 5 minutes of positives and we’re going to do our Friday fun zone. We’re going to get a comment being like, “You guys aren’t even talking about Boo Shard at some point in the next 10 minutes, but we just spent 20 minutes on them and there’s another 20 coming at the top of the hour with PD.” So, please allow me to pivot off of this and let’s go to our game recap for our friends at Od Noodle. You can take advantage of the value menu deal, which allows you to add two green onion cakes, five spring rolls, or six wanttons to your order for just $2. Any premium or signature box, takeout only. ood.ca. You know what I’m doing for dinner tonight? Noodle. Noodle, baby. Jay’s play at 4:00. We got ONR here till about 3:15. So, I’m going to try to perfectly time it up where I will drive home, pull into an Noodle Noodle, have the food ready. Out I go. Back home on my couch for first pitch. Who’s pitching tonight? Kevin Gau on the bump. The gauze. The gauze father. Is that what they’re called? All gauze, no breaks. Okay. All right. Let’s do some positives cuz I mean they lost 42 to the Islanders. That stinks. But there were a couple of things that I that I pulled from that one. Um might have been down earlier if it wasn’t for Stuart Skinner. He did well yesterday. I thought um the two breakaway goals were breakaway goals. I mean, sure, like I think you could say you probably have a 50% chance on a breakaway. So maybe you wanted one save, not the other. But at the end of the day, they were both pretty crazy. It was more like a shootout than anything else. But he did well. This was a great save. There was another one too on Anthony Duclair which I think was still one- nothing around that time. So that was really really solid. And yeah, he’s he’s done well the last couple of games. And I said this in After Dark last night, too. So sorry to repeat myself if you heard this already, but I said it last season as well. I’m so over save percentage. Like I just think it’s such a terrible stat because last night Skinner didn’t have the 900 save percentage we all need him to have, but he had a quality start. It was a quality start. I think he’s giving you two of three on quality starts now. Honestly, minus the mistake against Calgary, you probably could be three of three. Yeah, but unfortunately he made that mistake and it cannot be qualified as that. So, really good. 875 I think he finished with. So, we’re only we need a good one tomorrow or Sunday whenever he plays because we’re at 921 safe percentage. Can’t have the trade talk creeping in yet. Nope, we’re still above the threshold. Uh dry set power play goal was nice. It was awesome. Good play. Good play by Thomas to kind of get that puck back. McDavid drives saddle. Classic. I mean, he’s unstoppable from in tight like that. Like that’s just a goal. We’ve seen him score that I feel like a 100 times. Yeah, just the flat paddle snap release far side post. Beautiful. Um the noo snipe. That one was nasty. Uh they talked Louisie actually had the little factoid on the broadcast that Nude switched his stick this year. He went from a CCM. He’s now going to use a warrior and they’re trying out as the year starts a bunch of different patterns for him. Um, so I mean Noo having to snipe that. I mean, we seen that dry side of goal a million times. There’s not a lot of times where we’ve seen N rifle a puck like that and pick a corner. Not much at five on five anyway. But a great little move as well to get around whoever. I think it was Romanov if I’m not mistaken. Yep. How just Newton Hopkins just shows up every game. 15th season in the NHL. That still blows my mind that that guy has been in the league for 15 years. Insane. Like watch this. Was it really Now watch this here kids. Ryan Tujen Hopkins from Burnaby BC. Great pass from Tyson. That was actually uh Pacio. Sorry. So forward on forward there. But really good play by NG. Yeah, Ty Emerson. Good pass. Plus one on the night for Ty Emerson. Five minutes. I like liked Emerson a lot last night. He done well. I thought the game before too against the Rangers, he was solid. I liked him against Calgary. I just don’t see how you take him out of the lineup when things come around. Like for me, like Troy Stetcher, I was surprised he played more than Emerson last night to be honest because I thought Emerson was a lot more noticeable. Yeah, I think that’s fair. I thought Stetcher was fine though. I thought he fine. Made some nice plays in the ozone. So, um, yeah, someone said sackic type release. Yeah, Bernabby Bernaby Nooj Spec was just Yeah, Spec was on fire. Um, okay. Okay, so those are what I Oh, I like Matt Seavoy and Chester commented and said, “No points in four games. Can we stop heaping praise on Seavoy just cuz he plays 11 minutes?” Buddy, [ __ ] relax. Okay. Yeah. Calm down, Chester. Sat here and criticized Bousard for 20 minutes. Let’s have some positivity. Seavoy was good. He drew two penalties and he’s limited time on ice. He’s a rookie playing on the penalty kill. He deserves to be higher in the lineup. He should be playing 15 minutes. On that same note, I thought I would had a decent game yesterday. Much better, much more noticeable. Who do you play with? Seavoi. I again I’ve really liked Matt Seavoy’s game. He one drawing the penalty is not a nothing footnote. Like that’s again Yeah, it’s a sign that you’re holding on to the puck, you’re making good plays, you’re in smart positions. Um he’s a wicked smart player and I made the comparison last night when we were talking to BM at the bar. I don’t think Matt Seavo is ever going to be a 30 goal guy in the NHL. I don’t think he has that kind of I don’t think he has the offense to do it. I think he can be a 50 60 point guy though. It’ll just come in the way of like, you know, and again it’s tough cuz he’s not getting power play time. But if he ever does get power play time, he’ll get up there. But my comparison was like I think he’ll have a similar career to like Andrew Cogiano where he is going to play on good teams. He’s gonna be a middle six, can spotlight in the top on a top line kind of thing. I think Matt Seavo is gonna have a long long long long NHL career. And I think he’s a good penalty killer. He’s a good five on five player. I don’t think he’s ever going to like drive a team’s offense the way that a top 10 pick, I’ll use air quotes for this, should, but he is go I if you gave me decent enough odds, I’d bet on him playing a thousand NHL games. I think he’ll play quite a lot as well. M. Oh, no. My laptop had to restart. Okay, it’s okay. I’ll It’ll be back up in two seconds. I feel so thrown off. Uh, yes, I think so. I’m higher on his offensive game. I think he just needs to be given a chance. Yeah. And I think him and New John Hopkins, that was a good duo. Going to be a great little duo this season. We got to start playing him. But I do have um I have an article coming out today or tomorrow, and I have my line predictions in there. He deserves more than the fourth line. I’ll tell you that much. But was last night fourth line? Yes, he played 11 minutes. Yeah, that’s fair. Okay, so he needs 14 a game. We’re talking like four or five more shifts. I think he just needs to play with good players and that too. Yeah, like it’s not fair to and like he can clearly have decent games with whomever it is, but like he deserves better than playing against those guys. I I just can’t understand like people don’t like it when I say this, but I’m saying it again. I don’t understand the Thomas experiment. I don’t get it. The guy doesn’t produce much at five and five. And I know we’re going to say and someone’s going to say doesn’t have any points. He’s like, but also I could see him making plays at five and five. Tom play. Sure. I He’s doing fine. I guess doesn’t skate well. But like how are you playing that guy next to McDavid? The end of the game. I think they’re just I if I can defend it for a second. Yes. I think they at some point will not be afraid to send Tamasic down. I just I think they want to give him like a legitimate let’s see what we have in the guy which I also don’t understand when you have Noah Phelps on the sidelines. Guy was first started the game against Vancouver scored the goal. Yep. And Thomas he’s just not doing it for me. I don’t get it. Seavoy 8 minutes 43 seconds at five and five yesterday by the way. Thomas 912. I just want to see I think he deserves a little bit better and I said this before the show. I think he’s eventually going to split the fan base a little bit like Paul Yavi did Tamastic because he thinks the analytics are good. Messages of people being like, “But his analytics are so good.” It’s like, “Okay, that’s great.” And I respect analytics. I do truly do. We use them a lot on the show, but I just There it is. Sorry, Annie. The the chat just came up. Thomas has legit analytics. Open your eyes, Liam. Who’s that? I’m watching. I’m telling you, the eye test isn’t matching up. Danny said it. I [ __ ] told you. I didn’t even have that up my laptop. And you’re right. I agree. The second part is not I don’t think that’s very accurate. I just don’t see the five and five production. I’m just not seeing it. Power play. Sure. It’s good that he’s getting into spots. Maybe I was a little overcritical on that. But I just want to see more. And you’re right. He doesn’t skate as well as those guys. But I think they are going to give him a runway. They’re going to give him a runway. He should. He’s only played four games. I just want to see I just think I’ve seen more from Seavoy at five and five than Thomas. I agree with you. I think Matto is going to be on this team all season. I think there is a world where they are not liking what they see out of Tomas by November 10th by Hyman. Maybe by Heyman, but I think they’ll give him a bit more of a leash. But if they’re not, there is a point I guess just to not argue it like there is a point where they will look and go, “We gave him every opportunity. You’re going to Bakersfield.” Yeah. And I hope it works. I really really do because that would what a what a gem that would be. But I just think Ryan Seavo is playing a little bit better. And again, we talk about this, but like 20 goal scorers, 40, 50 point guys. Matt Seavoy, I think at some point, is gonna have a six game stretch where he’s got six points and he scores three goals in two games. And then all of a sudden, you’ll look at his numbers and be like, well, he’s got really good numbers on the year, but like in the moment, it’s been four games, so you can’t really judge him too hard. Uh, we got to keep moving along with the show here today. Let’s get into our Friday fun zone for Greta. Let’s do it. That’s what it is. It is Friday. It is time to have some fun. Liam and I have our What are we drinking now? Cherry Cherry Pepsis. Yes, they are. Cherry Pepsis from That’s our pop of the week. Um, not an ad. Not an ad. Yeah, Pepsi doesn’t pay us. That’s why I put mine in a discrete cup. But anyways, Friday Fun Zones brought to you by Greta. We had a great time last night at our season opening party. Gave away some awesome prizes. Watched a couple of Well, the Oilers game was boring, but the Jay’s game was sweet. Um, anyways, watched a couple of great great games. Had a lot of or had some great company is a better way to put it. I had the pizza taqua and I had about six domestic light beers and they were cheap because Greta has great game day specials. Call from Luke. Oh, you ready Aaron? Sorry. I’m ready. I’m ready now. Welcome. I’m back in the chair. Shout out Reese. He was producing that whole time up until then. Good job. Shout out the boy. But we got the Friday fun zone. We are back and I’m on a little bit of a time crunch here. So today we’re going to do two blind rankings. Call them boards blind rankings. One NHL related, one not NHL related, but kind of. What do you want first? NHL first. Okay. NHL first. I want you gentlemen to blind rank the likelihood of these teams winning the Stanley Cup. What your thoughts? I want you to talk it out. Walk me through what’s going on those pretty little heads of yours. Okay. The first one, one through five. There’s going to be five options. Your first choice, the Toronto Maple Leafs. to win the cup. Likelihood to win the cup. Can’t put him five. They have an outside shot. They have a good goalie. They have good forwards. Morgan Riley looks way better this year. Coach has won the cup before, even though I don’t love Baru, but uh three. That’s They’re totally mid. They could be four, but three is probably good. I’m good with three, too. So, let’s go three. Dead mid. The Toronto Mid Leafs. I like that a lot. Kate Leafs at three. You got one, two, three, and four available. Your next team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. full because they could make the playoffs, but I just don’t think they’re better than Toronto. I like Jet Greavves. They got to give him the crease. Melicans had a good game the other day. I’m going to talk about that and what’s trending. Um Oh god. Is Columbus four or five? They’re four. He’s going to give us one [ __ ] team. Yeah, I don’t know what I’m going to do. The the ultimate curveball will be when he doesn’t give us a curveball. But that’s fine. That’s fine. I think there’s very few teams that could actually win the cup. They could I like their forward group and Zach Winsky is legit. The blue sneaky good and they’re on the up. Machenko is really good play. So nasty. I think four is fair. I’m good with four. Let’s go. Maple Leafs at three, the Blue Jackets at four. Your next team, how likely are they to win the Stanley Cup? The Colorado Avalanche two. He’s giving us the Oilers at some point, right? Don’t look at him. Well, even if he doesn’t, I still don’t think Toronto has sorry, Colorado. I just don’t like this is going to sound silly as well, but like they just get to the playoffs and they flame out. Yeah. And I think they’re number two. Well, besides the time they won the Stanley Cup, but besides that, but they haven’t won a round since then. No, they haven’t. They’re in a tough division, which makes it again, I’m fine without putting them at one. But either way, yeah, I’m I’m good with them at two. They look great this year, though. Nas has been unbelievable. I don’t know if they’re the best team in the NHL. And again, like if we’re talking chances to win the cup, the division they are in matters. The Oilers and Golden Knights have an easier path cuz at least one of them should have an easy first round. Like Colorado might have to go, best case scenario, they might have to go Winnipeg then Dallas. Like that’s crazy. So I’ll say two. Two’s good. Nature’s will be good until December until they Okay, so ABS at two, Leafs at three, Jackets at four. Your next team. Speaking of the Central Division, the Winnipeg Jets, the regular season darlings. This is where we’re a little [ __ ] Yeah. Five. Well, this is just where we don’t know who he’s going. Nice. But they’re definitely not better than any of the teams we’ve said. They’re better than Columbus. Like very easily better than Columbus, but they’re Yeah, but Columbus has an easy division. Easier division. Okay, then we got to put Jets five. Yeah, we’re going Jets five. Yeah, if this is Chicago, this is Philadelphia. So, this is your one spot. I think Reese knows he’s already laughing. Okay, the Montreal Canadians. Actually, honest to God, don’t hate it. They’re so nasty. Cole Caulfield is sweet. He had a huge game yesterday. Huge game yesterday. They have two good goalies. It looks like their blue line, Mat, Ghoulie, Hudson, Dobson. That is a legit top four. Their forward group is legit deep one through nine. I don’t know, man. And I’m looking at their division and I’m like, it’s not the craziest thing in the world to envision them going on a run this spring. It’s not. I think they’re good. I said I watch the H or the Crave or is it Prime? Whatever one it is about the Montreal Canadians and the rebuild, I am all the way in on it. I’m It’s propaganda and it’s working. It’s working on me. They’re good, man. They’re really good. So, the final list is Halves one, Avalanche two, Leafs three, Jackets four, Jets five. If I was doing this list knowing the five teams with sight. With with what? With sight. What does that mean? You not blind. You have sight. Oh, I have sight. Sight rankings. Sight rankings. Okay. So you are they in Toronto, Winnipeg, Colorado, Columbus, Montreal? Yeah, Colorado would be my one. Yeah, Winnipeg would probably actually be my two. Yeah, Toronto would be my three, Montreal four, Columbus 5. I don’t think Montreal’s that good. Like I think they’re good, but to say I don’t know what you like about them. I They’re young. That’s literally the only thing I don’t like. On the up right now playoff experience last year. And also they played five games. I know, but like Suzuki isn’t a rook. Coughfield has been in the league for four years. They’re all good. They’re all good players. I completely agree. They have their fourth line is line a Evans Anderson. That’s so sick. And they all have no goals and one point. Give them some time. And again, that’s your fourth line. They’re a good team. I agree. I think they’re solid. Oh, they’re so good. You’re not buying stock like we’re buying stock? I would not buy stock in them. I just think we’ve seen this every year. I don’t think they have any holes. I think Ottawa is fraudulent. Quite a few holes. I don’t think their forward groups the forward group is going to be very dependent on their top guys. There. I mean, that’s the case with a lot of teams. Totally. But like to say they’re nine deep, I just don’t see it like that. Kobe Doc, we all know he’s going to get injured at some point and miss like 40 games and they’ll just Gallagher, we’re just going to talk about his contract being bad. Like Bul Duke’s good. I think he’ll probably elevate a little bit. I forgot Alex New Hawk was in the league to be honest. He’s good though. He’s done fine. I just I’m a waiter or something. I’m waiting before I like buy in too heavily. You had Jackets above Habs or have Jackets? Jackets is my fifth team. Okay. All right. So, your next playoff team. I have a bat on them. Your next one I got here for you, it’s not NHL related, but it is kind of Oilers related. So, I want you, we’ve all been to Rogers Place several times. For your game watching experience, I want you to blind rank these food options from Rogers Place specifically off the website. I want you to blind rank your if you are sitting in the chair and you’re watching the game. What I want to eat, what you want, what you would blind rank. Your first option is a good oldfashioned pizza 73 slice of pizza. One easy one. Nothing better than having like a couple of beers in you and just getting exactly that. Like a greasy slice of cheese pizza 73 pizza. And you’re like, “Okay, I ate tonight. I’ll have six more beers. I’m good. And I’ll have six more slices.” There’s bread in there. I don’t that one game we went to, you had like four slices of it. BPP PPP. Yeah, pizza period. Yeah, pizza period. Um, yeah, easy one. 1111 across the board. This is the thing I get without a doubt the most. It’s the most bang for your buck option. Can’t believe he gave it to us first. Well, you’ll see. There’s no way our list is bad here. So, we go second option, the fully loaded nachos. I do like these. They’re really good. One thing I’ll say, sometimes they come cold. I’ve had them like a little cold before. That’s not I mean, go on. They’re not that messy cuz if you get a fork, what you can kind of do what? You get a fork and then in between the little slots on the fork, you use them to pick up the chip. Whoa. And then you then you don’t even need to use napkins or your hands cuz you can kind of get everything on the one chip. Like you Okay. It works. Uh, three, I guess. Sure. Okay. I love them though. They’re good. Okay. So pizza’s one, fully loaded nachos three. Your next one, just popcorn. Popcorn in your seat. I mean, I think it’s a tad overrated. It’s hit or miss cuz sometimes it’s stale and so and like and sometimes incredibly salty and like we’ve been in the rink like during the cup final like before when we’re doing our shows. It’s like 8 hours from the game and there’s just massive blue garbage bags of popcorn in front of every concession and it’s like, “Yeah, I’m good.” Yeah. Uh, four. Four. Four. I We could go five. I really don’t know what could be like. I think there’s going to be like I There’s one item I hope you have on here. You hope it’s a hot dog. I always a bland hot dog. But then we have our two spot for that. And like I don’t know. I just But what could be worse? Like you might have like some KFC popcorn chicken. I’m thinking the the Bobby Nick. There is KFC on the concourse. Correct. Let’s leave it at four. We’re going four. We got two and five open. That’s good. For me, it’s just the butter on the finger. I I’m not a huge popcorn guy, but I’m not getting popcorn without it fully soaked in butter. I have popcorn at home all the time anyway, so I’ll just go to the movie. Do you guys put seasoning ever on your popcorn pickle or anything? Butter. Okay, not that. I meant like the salt, like the ketchup, dill pickle, any pickles. I just have like some seasonings that like I use for other things that I just put on the popcorn. Fair enough. All right, so that is for pizzas. One, nachos three. Okay, correct. So, your next option is a hot dog. A good old Nathan’s famous all beef dog, but I’m not doing it with toppings. Yeah, you don’t have to. Whatever. You You’re a raw dogger. Two. I would have this one. No. Pizza’s way better than a hot dog. All right. Don’t mark it till you try it. Next time we go to the game, we’re all having bland dogs. Bland dog crew. We might not be able to afford an Oilers game. We’ll go to, I don’t know, Oil Kings game. Maybe when the two junior Oilers teams play each other, we’ll go. Good. Bland dogs. Bland hot dog. Got to be two. Yeah, I’m good at two. Uh secondary question, cuz this was an argument my friend group recently. We were on a golf trip. Do you guys put your toppings underneath the hot dog or on top? How can you even do like if you’re at a golf course, where where are you putting it? When I’m at home, sure, I’ll prepare the bun, but like when you’re at a golf course, are you going to pick up the hot dog and hold it? You’re like, I’m put my This was the argument that I made. And that also if you put the dog on top of the toppings seen a video Hank from PMT holding his dog making a video slid right out of the toppings on the floor. A devastating supported by any top like when you’re at homec court advantage eating a hot dog you can and like I’m dressing up your bun good. Yeah. Yeah. I’m dressing them up. I’m doing shredded cheese. I’m doing barbecue sauce. Mayonnaise. Sure. If you’re a mayo guy like dial them up. Amber likes banana peppers. I like onion. Funions. Fry up the onion with the dog. I should do hot dogs soon. See, when you say a plain dog, I’m like, there’s so many awesome toppings you can throw in a dog. I agree. I completely agree. But I just did it cuz I couldn’t find a condiment and it was so good. Happy accident. Happy accident. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get the next one. It’s not good. Who knows? I’ve never tried a second test. We’ve never discussed that possibility. Uh what’s our five going to be? Your five slot and it is specific. It is a donaire out of the cannon or coming out of the sky specifically. Five and it’s not particularly close. And I’m saying specifically out of falling out of the sky. So, you know, those ones might be a little bit colder. Yeah, it’s a five. And I feel like that was a good list, boys. Yeah, we know. Yeah, we did that good. Dead ass perfection. We [ __ ] up the cup contenders, but Well, there’s only fewer options for the menu, you know? Like we kind of knew it’s like a Bobby Nick’s burger, all that good stuff. I like our less. So, what do we got? What did we go with again? You went with pizza one, uh, hot dog, bland, hot dog, dog, two, nachos, three, popcorn, four, donaire, five. That’s a pretty solid list. That is good. Yeah, the donaire. Save your money, folks. Save your money. Let’s go get one of our top three items. Honestly, the popcorn chicken from KFC is probably fine. Yeah, I was thinking about throwing the Zinger on there. I’m a big Zer guy. Can you buy the Zinger at the games? I’ve never I’ve never But it’s so funny cuz it’s like 19.99. So funny. So like again, if you want my honest advice on the food at Roger’s place, it my advice is eat before you go. My advice is eat a credible bar egg. Bang. There it is. Honestly, the piece is decent value. Yeah, the pizza is decent value. Like 12 bucks for the big slice. You’re going to be mildly full after it. 12 bucks now, I think. So yeah, it was like seven or eight last year. Really? Oh, yeah. It was definitely under 10 bucks. I would have bought so many if it was that expensive. That’s why I don’t buy the damn beers. I can’t afford. They don’t throw the prices, I believe, also on the website. Probably for that very reason. I’m out. Reese is taking back control. All right. Oh, wait. No, no, no. You can’t go yet. We have to do our NFL parlay. Oh, [ __ ] That’s right. Yeah. I got my pick locked in already in the prep sheet. So, so I can go first. Um, by the way, if you missed this, our NFL parlay that we do on Bet 365 every week, we are up money on the year even though we are only one and four, but that’s fine. Or sorry, one and is a unit game. This is six, right? No, this is week seven. Yeah, we’re one and five. Yeah. So, we’re still up a little bit on the year. My first one, I’m going Panthers Jets over 41 and a half. The Jets defense has been inconsistent at best. The Panthers defense has been not good. Both these off I mean the Jets offense stinks, but I think the Panthers offense is actually half decent. Did you ever hear the stat of uh Justin Fields is 0 and I think it’s 12 now. So basically, he’s never won a game when a team has scored more than 21 points on him. So you could almost parlay the over and the Panthers money line team total. Yeah, just anything over 20 anti-fields kind of seems to be a way. But uh yeah, I like the over Panthers Jets. 41 and a half’s a low number, too. Like the game doesn’t have to be out of hand for it to hit that. So give me that. Aaron, do you have one? I’m torn right now. What are you talk talking out with? I’m going to do Pats minus seven. Damn it. My favorite bowl revenge game. I feel like he’s just going to really stick it to new head coach pump for the Titans though, but I don’t think that matters when you’re ass. I think he’s just an interm guy. Yeah, they just stink. Okay, Pat’s minus seven. Oh boy. Can the Packers cover six and a half against the Cardinals? There’s another one there, Aaron. Yeah. What do you like? The Colts plus one and a half against the Chargers who don’t have an offensive line. Seems decent. And not to talk you into you can make your That to me is a pick them game. And if you’re going to give me a point and a half, I was considering that. Ty, thoughts on that game. I don’t know if the Packers on the road can do it. They play. Is Kyler Murray playing? We don’t. I think he’s supposed to. Concussion boy, but he also sucks. So, there’s that, too. There’s something to consider. But there’s such a good defense that I feel like it’s going to be like a five-point game. I deated. I mean, the Eagles, I know they lost and they’ve been kind of I kind of like him as a bounceback spot. Aaron, it’s your pick. You get to go with the spot. I think I’m going to go with I should put it in the wheel. Um, it goes against everything cuz I’m a Pats guy. We hate the Colts. Colts plus one and a half. Colts plus one and a half. So you Let’s go. Play them all together. It is plus 595 for our bet 365 parlay this week. So uh yeah, giddy up. NFL week seven. It is uh all a part of a great sports weekend. Unbelievable. Also pre and post Saturday and Sunday, but now I’m out. Bye. Love you all. Bye. Um, pre and postgame shows, by the way, bright and early this weekend because it is a 1:30 start for the Oilers on Saturday, 1:00 start on Sunday. So, uh, get the two TV setups uh, going everybody. But still, I don’t mind a little matinea action on uh, on a weekend. No, me neither. Change it up a little bit. Yep. Uh, so that means pre and post going to start 12:30 and noon on Saturday and Sunday. Oilers. Yeah. Sundays, Oilers, Jay’s football. Who has it better than us? What time is that? Have they announced the start time for Sunday yet? I Oh, they’re probably waiting to see if uh they’re probably waiting to see if the Dodgers. Yeah, the Dodgers sweep them. They’re up three nothing. They’re pretty good team. Yeah, the NLCS can end tonight. So, we’ll probably know by the end of tonight what time the Jays game is on uh on Sunday. Um all right, couple of uh things to get to still. Um what’s a good record this weekend? Devils wings. A good record. Yeah, for the Oilers in those two games. Two and0 would be great. Wings are going back to Gibson tonight against Tampa Bay. Damn it. I wish they would have waited. I feel like they’re almost putting him in positions to fail. I want him to play against the Oilers on Sunday. Me, too. Just cuz I want to see it. Yeah. I want to I want to be proven right. I just truly do. Selfishly, that’s what I want. Um, I think three points is a fair result. You’re on the road at the end of the day against teams who probably like legit playoff teams. I think Detroit is at a decent start to the season. I think it’ll be bit better from what we’ve seen so far from last season. So, they’ll make a push for it. So, I think three points is reasonable. My uncle texted me, it’s 6:00 Mountain start on Sunday for the Jays. Um, yeah, Devils 3 and one to start the year. Um, they’ve been, you know, fine. They lost. They’re similar to Detroit actually where they lost their first game then rattled off uh rattled off three in a row. Yeah. Um but yeah, you you can win both these. I think so too. I I think you’re going to be facing Jake Allen on the with the Devils on on Saturday who good backup probably the best backup in the NHL top whatever you want to call it. So, they’ve got an opportunity there, though, to go and do it. And I they really do need to bounce back and have just a consistent performance is probably a fair way to put it. Like, I want to see a bit more offense to him. Can I give you my theoretical lines that I would like to see? Uh, yeah, I like that. Okay, I’ll allow it. You going to pull him up still? I got him right here. All right, give me your theoretical Keep in mind, what is this? Game five of the season. They need a bit more of a spark, I would say. Change things up, get some guys in. Top line, Nan Hopkins probably your best forward so far to start the season. McDavid and Seavoy. I think Seavoy deserves a bit of a bump up. And if we’re doing a bit of a duo, say Nan Hopkins and Seavoy have been pretty solid together. And I think McDavid needs a spark. I really do. People have talked about it in the chat earlier on when we were talking about Bousard and just being like, “Hey, like they need to get McDavid flying a little bit.” I think he ended up at minus three yesterday. To be fair, he didn’t really have too much involvement on uh any of the goals that went in. You know what I mean? Two of them were just straight up breaks. Second line, I’m reuniting Dry Saddle and Pod Coulson. I like that. I want to see Pod’s I thought he was okay last night. I thought he was too. I thought even the game I think he’s had I think he’s been fine throughout the season. Obviously, personally, he’s gone through a lot of things. I’m not surprised. Maybe it’s been a bit of a slower start possible. Jack Rosen keeping on the other side. He had four shots yesterday. I like that. I like that he’s shooting the pock. He had zero if he didn’t catch it against the Rangers the other day. Third line, I’m moving Mania Pani down again. I don’t think he’s been as good when he’s been up there with McDavid. I think he needs to play weaker opponents. I guess we can call it some better matchups and he can actually drive play and score. Yeah. So I’m pointing in with Henrik as a centerman, Frederick as the right winger on that line. My fourth line, this is the assumption that yeah, Mark is back. I’m putting him right into the lineup. And I have Noah Phillips center in that line with David Thomas on the right wing. So the guys who are out of the lineup for me are Casper Kappa and Ike Howard. Sorry, Curtis. No revenge game. I’m very intrigued by a McDavid Seavoy Noo line. Doesn’t that just like I think it just shows some good offense like and and I I worry about finishing ability but n just shot the other day was good. Two goals so far. Yeah. Got robbed against Vancouver if I’m not mistaken or missed too. So at the post I think I like I think there’s something there with that trio health bombing Howard just send him down right like everyone in everyone knows it’s happening. I don’t think well I guess they would probably have to as well unless they put Ragula on IR. They would need the Ross spot. Yeah. I just like don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world to healthy scratch your young players. I think sometimes these guys just sometimes you need a different vantage point. I think that’s okay. So yeah, I thought Howard again was a bit better yesterday, but you played just shy of nine uh just shy of eight nine minutes and eight minutes. Had a couple of shot attempts where I was like, “Oo, there’s a look.” Great back check too on uh Matthew Schaefer. What do you make of those lines? Anything you want to change? I see them. Yeah, give me the turn it a little more. A little more. I don’t I like giving that first line a run. That second line I’m fine with too. Dry pods Rosovvic. Like wouldn’t have a beef with that. Henrik Manga and Freddy. I think that’s a a decent I think good pieces there. Henrik’s been okay to start the year. I think Philip Yanmark and Tamasic might suck. It might suck, but I think you need the speed of Phil and Yamok in the lineup. And I know ironically, I took out Kaan. I just don’t think he was that good. And I don’t think they’re going to take out Thomas because he’s going to play in the power play. Yeah. Yeah. It’s hard for me to find like a true complaint. Like I’m trying to think what would I maybe want to do differently. Maybe uh you’re not going to like that. Mc you keep McDavid Mana and Thomasick McDavid mana Freddy and then that allows you to put NG play N at center with Henrik and Seavoy still playing it with offensive skill give that line a lot of ozone starts that’s just the beauty of this lineup I mean they have so many versatile pieces like again it’s and like I understand why we’re talking about it almost just feels so pointless to like debate or critique what Knobblock does because I legitimately think he by January is going to have everyone’s going to have played three games with everybody. And I think that’s honestly not even like a panic thing. It won’t matter if they win five in a row, lose five in a row. I just think Knoblock wants to see everybody with everybody. Did they skate today? I’m assuming not. Yeah. So, we won’t see Lions until tomorrow morning. There was a point last season, was there not, where the lines were just kind of staying together? I mean, there’s always been little runs where they do, but I just I think we’re going to see a whole bunch of everybody everywhere. Yeah, I put in this article, this will come out uh later on as well, but you can I think you and I could play next to Dylan and do okay. Like it’s kind of crazy how he and I understand the different styles. Him and McDavid are complete opposites of superstar level, but just it seems a little bit easier to play with. Right. I see. I mean, hey, we talked with Vennis about that, too. Like, it’s an adjustment, but yeah. Um, should we get out to the Star Mechanical guest line? Let’s do it. All right. Star Mechanical is Edmonton’s number one plumbing and heating company. They’ve been in the Edmonton community for more than 20 years. That’s not Star Mechanical, Ree. Who? Who? Reys. Oh my god. What is that? Uh, Evan is number one plumbing and heating company. You can find out more by visiting them online at star mechanical.ca. Residential commercial 24/7 emergency service. They do it all and they do it well. Always a pleasure to welcome in Steve Peters, former Arizona Coyotes video coach. Works now with ESPN. You can also find his YouTube inside the coaches room. What’s up, Pety? How are you doing? And just having another another busy hockey day and it’s it’s fun to talk to Edmonson Oilers. Haven’t done that yet this season. So I’m excited to hear what you guys have to say about the oil. Um well, we got a comment. We spent the first 20 minutes of our show only talking about Evan Bousard and then we told everyone we’re going to take half an hour off and then we’ll do another 20 on Bouch and yet there are still people saying we didn’t talk enough about Evan Bousard. So that’s where we’re at today. There people are pissed. It’s hard. And here’s a guy and and this hey this is how it is this time of year and you’re four or five games in this season and everybody’s expecting everybody one to be up to pace that they were during the Stanley Cup finals. It’s not going to happen. Like the urgency of play in the Edmonson Oilers game right now is not the same as it was the last time they played. And that’s hard for people to accept. It’s hard to ramp up to that when you’re in game four. It’s hard to get that same urgency and the same quickness. I know we want it. They’re professional athletes. Our expectations are they should set the bar that high immediately. But it’s hard and it’s really it’s that Stanley Cup playoff hangover that the Oilers I feel are having right now that you’re seeing. They’re not quicker to pucks. They’re turning the puck over too much. And that includes and probably the worst defender right now is number two Evan Buchard. So as we get into some clips here in a second, this is how I kind of want to lead into it and we’re going to start with some of the Bousard giveaways from last night. My big rant earlier in the show was I will always live with him making mistakes if it comes at or if it comes on plays where he’s taking a high risk where he or where there’s something with a high reward I should say like if he’s trying to zing something across ice to spring McDavid for a twoon-one like yes sometimes it’s going to blow up but I want Evan Bousard making those plays. My concern with last night is that they weren’t high reward plays where he was making the turnovers. Is that a fair way to lead into these clips? It is. And I think that again as an Oilers fan, you have to accept that from Evan Bushard’s game. Like part of what he does when he makes those plays and they’re effective on those dangerous high-risisk reward plays, you’re like, “Okay, we see what he’s trying to do. He is the guy that’s going to generate offense.” And I think of a play last night where he’s he’s coming through the neutral zone and he’s nearby McDavid. I didn’t put this in the clips because he’s near McDavid and he’s trying to feed McDavid coming through the seam to split the defense when the puck turns over and comes back. I was okay with that because he was trying to make a really high risk play to McDavid through the middle. If that connects, McDavid’s gone and he’s through the middle of the seam and gets a chance. The problem I’m feeling with Buchard right now is his decision-making time. He He’s He’s hanging on to the puck too long. He’s really slow. Not just slow with his feet, but slow with his mental acuity. When am I going to make this pass? Things aren’t happening quickly for Evan Bush right now. And I think that’s part of the problem. Let’s uh Reese, let’s run the first batch of clips here and I have Petey kind of talk us through what he’s seeing with him. Yeah. Where we Oh, sorry. This on the power play and this is the short-handed goal. This is Nent Hopkins and this is five on five. Nent Hopkins is staying over him. You want to see drive side push harder on that puck. But here’s the tough play. If this is five on five, Nan Hopkins going all the way back with Horvette, but we’re blaming Buchard. Bousard’s supposed to take that strong side on the power play. The problem is it wasn’t five on five. So this one four checks. Great. We’re going to get the puck and we’re letting people in behind us. Bousard right now his ability to read these situations. This is what happened on that short hand of goal. So as you look at people behind him I know we talk about RNH getting behind him. Well on that play too it’s his ability to recognize things. There’s one of his turnovers. Poor play. Gave up a chance. Doesn’t make the plays quick enough right now. He’s not having his head up. He’s not making these quick plays. Here he is again on the offensive side of the puck. gets the puck, then he’s got to be able to make a quick decision. Can’t handle it. Can’t handle a puck. An easy play. Just an easy DtoD pass and he has unable handle. That’s on the empty net where they need to have some offense and getting pucks toward the net where he just mishandles it. He had problems breaking the puck out of the zone and getting retrievalss again. Communicate. No one’s going back for that puck. Anome wasn’t going back for this. So, he passes his problem off on to Ekholm. So, he gets a second chance at this. Go back to get the puck again. Tries to throw the puck up the middle of the ice. No look again. Another high high risk high danger play. It wasn’t a riskreward play. It’s just a bad play. And here he is again. He gets the puck. Make what’s the easy play? That’s off the wall and out. You’re you’re in a tough pressure position with bodies on you. It’s off the glass and out or eat it along the wall. Again, he throws the puck into the middle of the ice. A and these are the problems that continually happen for him. Again, make a quick play. The the Islanders want a change here. Four guys go for a change right now. and he didn’t move the puck quickly enough to use that advantage to his, you know, use their tightness to his advantage. He took his time, made a really poor play, and here he is again getting another puck. Again, slow, doesn’t make the play he’s supposed to make, gets separated from the puck. But here is defending. Who’s taking his his check to the net? If he takes his check to the net, then he’s able to break that play up defensively. Even if you turn the puck over, you still have to recover and make the play defensively. and Rita the rush again just soft lacadasical goal slow feet not moving puck can’t get out of the zone on a PK clear again stays in your zone he end up defending longer these are easy plays for Buchard when he is playing well these are plays he has to make if this team is going to rely on him in all those key situations so again we just did a lot there um but Ree if we could maybe just keep running back this short-handed one against is this maybe the one if I’m hearing you correctly that like it’s not totally on bushier. Oh, absolutely not. One of the problems with with a power play mindset is you’re thinking offense all the time. That’s what you’re thinking. So, if this is a five on five play, RNH stays above Horvat takes him all the way back. Everything’s fine. And right now, Buchard’s job is to hold this strongside wall. Dry settle’s got to move his feet. Doesn’t take one stride to get that loose puck. Puck recoveries on the power play are so important. Dry settle didn’t move. And I will cut Buchard some slack. However, when Ryan Nen Hopkins lets him go, he has to recognize that Horvat is behind him. The one other caveat is Horvat’s taking a huge risk here. But this puck should be the Oilers puck. This should be a five on three in the zone. And we’re saying where the hell is Horvat going? It’s a 50/50 wall battle. There is no way that he should be leaving the zone. He does. And they benefit from a lucky play along the wall. So yes, Bousard’s got to recognize that there’s danger behind him without question. Once R&H goes to the wall, he’s got to recognize that. But this is on everybody. Everybody’s got to move their feet. There didn’t seem to be urgency in the Oiler game last night and their ability to win those those foot battles and their 50-50 wall battles. The Islanders were just quicker and that’s something you don’t want to say about an Emmonton Oiler team. So, I don’t know how many times you’ve broken down Evan Bushard film in the past, but it’s probably fair to say this might have been the worst game he’s ever played. Yep. Yeah. He he really struggled and most importantly he does make those great plays and his ability on the power play to walk the line and pull the puck to the middle of the ice and get the puck through crowds and those things just weren’t happening. He just didn’t have anything going right. So So if you’re if you’re on the coaching staff and you’re reviewing the film the following day, you often hear the term we’re going to flush that. Well, you’re not going to flush that. You’ve got to point out his deficiencies and what he did wrong. He has to be aware, but it’s also like hey you’re better than this. Like this isn’t your game. We’re pointing these things out. you’re going to be better with a long road trip we got to get through. We’re going to need you. We got to rely on you. You just have to be better. And so I do think that this was an anomaly for for Evan Bashard. Talk to power play. Yeah. I want to say about the power play is it’s done okay to start the season. I think it’s fair to say probably would have had been a better result against Vancouver, but Fchimco is really good. They didn’t have any against the Rangers and yesterday was a bit hit and miss despite Dell getting in goal. But one thing that just seems to have been completely eliminated and the Oilers’s got a new power play coach this season too is the bouch bomb. Bousard is just not taking heavy shots from the point. And I wanted to know is this based off the system or him like missing opportunities I guess we can say. I I think it looks like a little bit of both. I think there is some confusion right now with the Evston oil power play. And I want you to watch where they are all going in their positions and their slots and where they’re supposed to be. We know where Dry Cidle is supposed to be here on the bottom right. We know that’s where he’s supposed to be. We know McDavid literally could be anywhere, but we want to see Evan Buchard at the top in the middle with those shots. We want to see him letting that go. And the reason you want to be farther and closer to the blue line is you pull that penalty kill guy out with you. And this is a great example. He drifts in. He drifts in. He drifts in. He’s almost duplicating. If he’s up higher, then he pulls that first four checker out. And then no one at the net. Like there is nobody at the net on any of these plays. No one in front of the goalie. Bousard’s he he if you’re going to get let it go, let it go. Like right here, it’s got to go quick. He pulls the forcheer with him and he never gets that separation. Now he’s looking for a high tip. He doesn’t let the shot go again. It’s just a soft muffin through the middle. He doesn’t get that wind up and get that second opportunity, that second shot. Again, walk the line. But now you’ve got to create again. You’ve got to create that in front. There’s no net front presence. There’s no tips, no rebounds. And the shots got to get through. If he gets it off quick, he can beat that forker. But again, he waits that extra second and he puts it off the the penalty killer’s foot. And again, those shots are not getting through like we’re so accusto to him doing. Wrist shots are fine if they get through. Again, he walks the line, but he takes his time and instead of letting McDavid or or the winger come down downhill, he takes his time. No traffic, no screen, no tip. And again, he doesn’t get the shot off quick enough and puts it into the top penalty killer. Again, his decisions are just taking too long for him right now. Those used to be one time, let it go, fire it to the net. But right now, he’s just taking so much time and methodical again. Can he make this pass to the wing? He He’s finally got somebody in front. Get the puck through. But this goes to McDavid. Just be patient. Let McDavid go downhill with traffic at the net. Again, uh doesn’t get through the net and he’s not getting his shots through on the power play. This power play is going to take time. There is some some uncomfortability here and and I don’t know if this if I wouldn’t worry because they still have the same personnel. I I I know Heyman is the the big missing piece for that netfront presence, but you’re right. We are missing that one-time shot, but that’s got to be quick. You can’t think and it’s got to go to the net. And more importantly, everybody else has to go to the net. You need a net front screen and you got to be there for rebounds and tips. And right now, that’s not there when Evan Bushard is shooting the puck. So, sorry, just to summarize that a little bit, his his lack of urgency. Do you So, are you saying not to speak for you, but like that maybe is coming from there’s no one in front of the net either? like he’s kind of having to wait for that guy to get into position, too. Good point. 100%. And I think that that one of the things those defensemen are told to on the point, especially on the power play, is you’re waiting for someone even if they’re moving that direction. You’re going, “Okay, there is going to be some tip screen, second chance opportunities.” We’re not seeing that. Matter of fact, I I want you to watch closely how they’ve been on their power play. Those guys are drifting away from the blue paint. And that’s a concern. Like, it’s got to be all everybody getting there. And and Heyman is one of the best in the league at it. Like let’s face it, down low he’s amazing at he knows when to pop out to be that low support. He knows when to be in front of the goalender and he’s great at tips and screens. So that piece is desperately missing from this power play. But they didn’t have the same cohesion. They weren’t buzzing it around like you’re used to seeing on an Edmonton oil power play where they have that penalty kill just running and swimming that that quick movement and it is that urgency. It is that quick feet movement. Everybody moving and the puck’s not moving, the feet aren’t moving and then you get stagnant. And this is what’s happening right now on on their power play that everybody wants to see be better than it is right now. You’ve been around pro hockey players for a really long time working with different teams. How how much of this with Bouch can we chalk up to confidence? Like if we get to game 40, he’s on a fivegame point streak. Like is he still making these plays? I don’t think and and I don’t know Evan personally. I don’t I I don’t feel that he’s a guy that lacks confidence. I I think he’s a guy that believes in his abilities and what he’s able to do and and it shows what he’s done in the playoffs the last two seasons. He also understands what his role is on this team and is to provide offense and in his mind he thinks he’s got to be the guy that can help carry this team offensively, especially on the power play. And I don’t know if he’s thinking too much. I don’t know honestly and this is going to sound horrific four games into the season. I don’t know if he’s tired. That that effort by the Oilers uh last night, they look tired. And again, it’s their their first road trip, their second game after a win in Madison Square Garden. They just look slow. And Oilers teams don’t look slow. So, I I would write this off as something I’m not worried about with Evan Buchard. I I think he will be better and he’ll be much more aware because you guys are talking about it. You know, their coaching staff is talking about it and the media is, hey, Buchard wasn’t very good. He’ll be better. I I think he’ll be better through the remainder of this trip and I’d actually look for him to be a guy that can help spark that offense again, especially on the power play. I’m just like again going through some surface numbers and I mean we obviously watch every second of every game but like they are 11th in five on five shots four per 60 expected goals four we don’t use it a lot but they’re in the top half of the league when it comes to expected goals four yet at five on five they’re 31st in actual goals four as you went through some film here like wh why is this five on five offense not producing well I I think it’s something you guys brought up just before I came on is is the mixing up and the changing of the lines And I know this time of year it is used to juggle those lines and you but but you want to get that consistency too because it does take time and and I know that the pairings with with McDavid and Dry Sidle. Hey, those guys are going to produce offensive numbers regardless of who is on the their their line, but I think that that you need to find that consistency so they understand how these guys are going to play. There’s so many new guys in this lineup that you just don’t know. You know, Ma Japan is a guy that can play with pace, so he should be able to bring offense. But that whole line last night with with Thomasek and Majapani McDavid just didn’t have that that they did they weren’t together yet and I think that’s going to take time. So I know they’re going to jumble again. You you’re right. I think they they’re going to mix them in a bag, shake them up and throw them out again. But I do think that’s one of the things that’s going to start happening. But they do need to get hard. Remember this team how hard they were in the playoffs? Hard on the forch and pucks are going to the net. Like it was just that they were smothering on you. They were quick. They created turnovers and they got to the net hard. It just didn’t see that pace. And moreover, the they were able to create that five-on-ive offense by getting through the neutral zone quicker than anybody else. A and that part of their game that may be a product of what we’re talking about, the defenseman’s ability to move the puck through the neutral zone on those quick decisions, but they don’t look like the Edmonton Oilers yet. I the one thing to say though is don’t worry. I mean, that these this is still a really good hockey team. When you look up and down the Pacific division, like it’s the Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights. Like Edmonton’s going to get healthy players. They’re going to get used to their their personnel and they’re going to be fine. This team is not going to lack five on- five goal scoring as the season progresses. I guess to maybe move off of Edmonton a little bit, like I do think for the most part, aside from the one guy in our YouTube chat right now, who’s really having a meltdown over the game four loss to the Islanders, he’s freaking out years he’s been a fan apparently. Sounds like 5 minutes. Is there any is there any fan base in the NHL who you think maybe should be on edge a little bit who their team is struggling out of the gates and it’s like oh boy this might not be just a bad five games. Yeah it’s funny because it’s it’s not the Oilers and again I have high expectations of the Oilers again now to say right now today they’re they’re a threetime Stanley Cup finalist man that’s that’s a big big ask for anybody there are some good teams in the Western Conference. I mean, Colorado, Vegas to Dallas, they’re all good. But there are teams, the LA Kings to me, there’s concern. This is a team that, you know, has to beat the Oilers and they How do you beat the Oilers? You do it with speed and pace. And and and you guys are very familiar with Cody Cece. CC and Dumlan didn’t make this team quicker. So, if I’m an LA King fan and supporter, I’m very concerned at where this team might be going. There’s red flags all over the place. I I think there are teams that are looking better than they are actually. Like Chicago is still going to be a team towards the bottom and you don’t worry about that. The Rangers, I’m concerned. Mike Sullivan’s a big change. We’re going to bring a new culture in here. We’re going to be playing fast. We’re going to be on top of teams. This team can’t score. And and you look at Chris Crider with four goals in Anaheim. Phil Heedles getting goals. You go, uhoh, maybe we got rid of the long wrong guys. So the Rangers, I think, is another fan base in trouble. Ottawa’s got their injuries. And the last one I This is my hot take of the day is Tampa Bay Lightning. Worried. This is a team that that missed their preseason because they fought for two state straight games. So, they didn’t evaluate their players. They didn’t get their veteran players into the lineup and they started off poor to start the season. The worst start ever behind John Cooper at 0 and2. I’m worried like they’ve got one win right now and that’s a team that I thought would compete for the Eastern Conference title. I there’s something to miss right now in Tampa Bay. I kind of made the point uh earlier today on DFO Live with Huts because we were talking about the Montreal Canadians. They had an exciting win last night. Cole Cfield looked awesome. And I kind of said like you can never really pinpoint when these changing of the guards happen. Like you can speculate all you want, but like usually it’s a surprise when a great team finally falls off or when a young team finally takes that big step forward. That might be where we’re at with Tampa Bay. It might not see it coming at all, but it might be the end of the line. And for Montreal, like I’m we’re you can maybe break the tie. I’m very high on Montreal. Liam is not high on Montreal. Okay, just to clarify, I’m not as high on them. People seem to think they’re going to go and win the Stanley Cup this year. I think they’re a playoff team. I do not want that to be taken out of context. Yeah, I think you’re right. And I think that’s the ceiling. I I and I think that’s the expectations for Montreal. I don’t think this is a team that’s going to compete for an Eastern Conference Championship right now. I think there are still too many good teams and I know they’re sitting on top of the Atlantic right now, but let’s face it, Toronto is a better team. Florida isn’t Florida right now. And I think they have those early season starts. If Florida gets in in an eighth, look out. They can win the cup. But but their fear is making the playoffs with their injuries. Uh Detroit is better. Montreal’s is good. They’re they’re in the playoff. They’re a playoff team. I think they play with pace. They’ve got high-end scoring. You’ve got defense that can get the puck up the ice quickly. They’ve got goalending that can be solid. I like the team. I just don’t know if if we’re ready to put them into that elite group in the Eastern Conference quite yet. It’s coming. Like this is going to be one of those teams, but it’s just not maybe maybe next year or the year after because there is still Florida. There still is Toronto and right now Carolina’s looking pretty darn good, too. I mean, but that’s always the story with Carolina is that they’re looking pretty darn good now. 1 through 82. Yeah. Um although the Eers edition, all of that stuff in Carolina should be uh should be pretty good. Hey, we got our first look at Matt Schaefer yesterday as as Oilers Nation. He’s going to be a star. Yeah, the one thing with him, I mean, he’s got the feet and the speed and the skill like you’ve seen with with Lane Hudson, but he’s got he’s a bigger body. I think he can defend better. I think he’s got a better stick. This kid’s to think of what he’s doing in the National Hockey League at his age with his pace of play. This is the way the NHL goes. Obviously, it’s that young, high-skilled, speedy defenseman and everybody better have them. And that’s why when we talk as an Oiler fan base, you your guy’s Buchard, live or die with him right now because that’s what you have. This kid’s going to be amazing. And the and think of how many young like under 23 year old high high high high and skilled defenseman there are like it’s changing the face of the game. You you in the offensive zone it used to be your defenseman once in a while you’d see come off the blue line and more so they’re there to to shoot the puck and defend. Not anymore, man. You’re seeing more defenseman Jacob Chikin at the at the blue paint. You’re seeing defenseman at the blue paint. And I think that’s going to be the common occurrence now because of the ability of these guys to play with that pace. They’re able to skate like they can. Uh I think this is just where the NHL is headed. Pety, it is always a pleasure. You join me on DFO Live every Wednesday. We’re going to do these on Oilers Nation routinely throughout the year. So excited to have you on board and thanks for doing this. Yeah, thanks. Thanks guys. I can’t wait to talk more Oiler hockey as the season goes on. There you go. Steve Peters, go inside the coaches room on YouTube. I know we obviously had PD on a handful of times in the playoffs last year, but we can throw uh the link to his YouTube in our chat so people can go subscribe. He does some excellent film work. Yeah. Being able to I think walk through of an expert. Yeah. Like the short-handed goal. That’s just an easy one when you’re having a beer at Greta and you’re like holy. And like he said, he’s like Bard needs to probably follow Horvette, but there’s like layers of mistakes in front of him. And I think we do this a lot with goalending too of like, okay, this guy turned over, then that guy did, then end up in the back of the net. How do you not make a save? Well, there was two mistakes in front of him. Um, the other funny thing there, and you want to talk about this being, it was an absolute turning point in the game cuz if the Oilers score on that power play, they’re up by two instead of the game being tied. Bo Horvat ends up scoring a natural hat-tick. If one Oiler cuz PD outline, dry settle doesn’t take a stride. Nooj not a great read. If one Oiler makes their play, Bo Horvat might be benched for the rest of the game. Oh yeah, cherry picking on a penalty kill. That was a crazy play by him. And I guess credit to Pacio, I think it was. Um, putting it to the like great pass to be fair. Yeah. Um, not the best backhand pass we saw last night though. The one dry settle made in the first period was honestly insane. Like through guys, I think two or three guys have made it through. So yeah, I uh I appreciate when these film guys come on uh Steve being this one today obviously and show us the ropes a little bit. Mhm. Power play. I just don’t get it. That front look who it is. Well, just say just saying you can’t play scared on this power play. Just get your ass in front. Pucks might hit you. It might hurt. Cost of doing business. Cost of getting paid millions to play hockey. But to defend Thomas on this Thomas, someone commented. Tomas, sorry. Thank you to the person that commented on one of the videos the other day, too. Tomask in this situation. He’s never played this position on a power play before. So, why is he there? Put Frederick there. Put anyone like Frederick’s probably just the closest example. I don’t know. Maybe Henrique, for example. I don’t know who else it truly could have been. Pod calls and I’m sure can tip pucks a little bit. We know he’s fearless at least. I just feel like they’re not putting him in the position to fully succeed there. And I’m very very curious. We’ll know for sure when Hyman comes back if that’s what they want to do. Yep. Because you’re just eliminating Bushard Sean. It makes no sense. Totally. Uh let’s get to a little bit of what’s trending to wrap up our show and wrap up our week. Why not? Daily Face Off Survivor Pool. You’re in obviously I’m alive. Did you get yours right last week? I did. I picked Carolina in a home opener. I’m already down to my last life. Oh my. I know. I picked Vegas and they lost to [ __ ] Seattle. Oh, well, Seattle hot start to the year in overtime. Uh, who are you going with? Ree, are you in the DFL survivor pool? Talk to the mic. Reese, you’re on the show. You broke the plant yesterday. Camera, you can do whatever you want over there. Yes, I am in the Survivor Pool. Okay, who’d you go with? Uh, I haven’t made my pick for this weekend yet, but I still have two lives. Okay, let me see my pick. So, I Oh, I’ve gone with Colorado over Boston. Colorado on home ice against the Bruins. I don’t mind that. I’m going Toronto on home ice against Seattle. Good lord, there’s no way Seattle kills me twice, right? So, can people still play or are they No, the registration’s closed. So, there ended up 1500 people alive. 1500 people with two lives. Another 900 who’ve been knocked down to one life. No eliminations yet, of course. No eliminations yet, but there will be some after this. Any other suggestions you would have for people? Took a good hard look at Vegas home team against Calgary, but Oh, I love that one. I already picked Vegas one, so I don’t want to burn him twice. Also, I always get hesitant when a team just played a team like Vegas just beat Calgary, so beating a team twice in a row is kind of hard, but have you considered that it’s Calgary and they might be the worst team in the West this year? They might. Let me follow your question. Sure. I don’t know what his cap is. I don’t know off the top of my head. Would you ever welcome like Cadri to the Oilers? 7 million bucks is the stomach for the role he’d play and he has a few years left. But just I take that away which you can’t. Wouldn’t he just be a great player to have on your team? I think you love having him on your team. You hate playing against him. Playing against him. Oh, actually, how did your real life thing go yesterday with the obscure players you hate? Good. Uh, a lot of Robin Regeear. Robin. Okay. Yeah. Like Oilers fan. He killed Hemsky a bunch of times. Like Oilers fans hate him. Uh Rusty had a good one cuz there’s a player on the Philadelphia Eagles. Oh, I did see him message his name. And Rusty like played against this guy. their high schools and then college this guy who’s from presumably Salt Lake Utah or where Rusty’s from in Utah didn’t go to BYU went somewhere else so Rusty hate him for that and hates him cuz he’s on the Eagles. So like Rusty has like generational hate for this guy. It’s fair enough. Um but yeah, I thought that was a good one. Funny one for Jay’s fans. A lot of like roof net odor. Like I don’t think a lot of fan bases ever think about Roof Net Odor, but like Jay’s fans would hate him. Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good one. Yeah. Um there was one player Oh, Brandon Manning. Brandon Manning. Oilers fans hate Brandon Manning. Why? What happened? So, this is an obscure one. So, obviously, I used to work for the Show Park Crusaders, and we used to have a huge rivalry, still do, with the Spruce Grove Saints. But when we were both in the AGHL, we were both really good, and we play each other in the playoffs a couple years in a row. And the Saints had a player called Dylan Burle, I think he was, Bolle, solid player, and he would beat you up. And my god, could I just not stand having that guy on the ice. I respected his game massively. He’s from Edmonson. Someone might know him who’s listening right now. But my god, was he just a pain in the ass to play against. I just used to hate watching him play hockey because of the way he played, not because he used bad guy. Uh, do we have the clip of Max Scherzer screaming at John Schneider yesterday? Cuz that is just peak like old Mad Max. So, if you’re not a big baseball guy, Max Scherzer is pitching into the fifth inning. It is honest to God a miracle he’s made it this far. Schneider comes out to pull him. And you can see if if you’re not a great rip leader lip reader, look at Ernie smile. The the longer version of the clip as soon as Schneider like Sherzer’s walking around kind of like thinking to himself and then he sees Schneider and immediately just goes whoa whoa. And then Schneider comes out and is like, I’m good. I’m good. Let’s go. And Schneider’s just like, you know what, fine. No P. Varand was like about to come on the field. He was like they had another pitcher lined up. Look at Ern. I love it. And then not so there was two outs in the fifth. Sherzer says, “You are not taking me out of this ball game.” Yeah. Strikes out Randy Rosarena, one of the Mariners better hitters. And they put him back out for the sixth. They were like, “All right, you’re still good.” Cuz he went into the dugout. And he bumped him. Oh, he bumped Pete Walker, the pitching coach. And I know part of it intensity. I think part of it was Max was pissed at Pete being like, “Why are you warming guys up? I’m good.” And it was like, “All right, if you’re good, you get back out there.” But man, that is good. I mean, the second time you can’t allow that to happen, can you? So, yeah, it was it’s good. I mean, I liked what um Schneider said after the game, too. He’s like, “You can look at all the numbers you want, but eventually it’s just got to come down to the person.” And he was balling. Greg was like, it’s the first time he’s pitched in what, like a month. Yeah, honestly, it’s been a month. Scary. I was worried. Me, too. Season was kind of on the line last night, but now it’s 2-2. Game five, 4:00 this afternoon. Let’s go. Let’s go. Um, is he a good pitcher? He had a up and down season. No, he had a horrendous finish to the year. Okay. But was decent overall. Yeah, he was good enough throughout the year. Um, but he’s a first ballot hall of famer. Um, and this might be his last kind of iconic playoff moment. It’s in a Jay’s jersey, which is kind of cool. It’s like to put it into like Oilers terms. It would be like if next season the Oilers signed Obie and he wasn’t good, but then he scored a hat-tick in the conference finals and it was like, oh, like that’s why you go get Alex Ovetkin kind of thing. Yeah. This goes the game winning. Oh yeah, that’ll that’s why. Um, report from Chris Johnson. NHL’s next expansion team will carry a $2 billion price tag. So, if you’re sitting there going, they can expand to 36 teams. It’s bad for the league. They will make $8 billion off of four team expansion. They’re going to expand. Money. I think all the other owners aren’t as like other sports owners. Like NFL teams are worth so much money and an expansion team would be worth a lot, but I think they’re very aware of their product and all of that. They don’t want to water it down. I think NBA is obviously similar. MLB I’m surprised actually MLB owners haven’t put their hands up, been like, let’s expand by four teams and make a bunch of money really fast because all their owners are cheap. But hockey owners are not going to turn down the check. Do they should get rid of the cap? No. Well, they never will. What about what’s the one called? The luxury tax doesn’t really work. No. No. The ML That’s what MLB does, right? Yeah, it does. So why why doesn’t it work? Because the it just allows the poor teams it gives the poor teams and I should shouldn’t call them poor teams. It gives the cheap owners even more incentive to not spend. Cuz like the Miami Marlins owner is just going to sit there and be like, “No, I’m not going to spend.” And yeah, Dodgers, go spend 500 million because guess what? You’re going to have to cut me an equalization check. I get a piece of your luxury tax money. So, in the MLB, how many and I know this guy’s like Sodo and stuff, but he was traded. Like, how many teams, sorry, how many players who are on their current star team, right? Star on their current team. Yeah. Leave like how often do superstars move? A lot. But, so who’s like a good example? So, like Bryce Harper left the and he just left. He wasn’t traded. Free agents. He walked out. Okay. But he he and he didn’t win. That’s right. They were an example of a team that was underperform of a star player. Correct. And then the next year they won it all ironically. Yes. But like from like the best teams like how many players legit leave? Like does that happen a lot? I’m just what what I’m trying to say is it’s just like we’ve just gone through a summer as fans the McDavid conversations like holy smokes. Like what is he going to want? Like is he going to leave? All that good stuff. The others have no cap. They have a super rich owner. They like hey like here it is. Yep. What do you want? So, that’s kind of where it goes in baseball is like when a guy’s going to leave, it’s very apparent he’s going to leave. Okay. Um because the gap of what a rich team will give him versus what a cheap owner would be willing to give him is so substantial. It’s the conversation around Paul Ske right now. It’s like Pittsburgh never spends on anybody. So, are they really going to spend on Paul Ski? Well, their owner might sit there and go, “Yeah, I’m comfortable cutting a check for $300 million and giving you a 10year $300 million deal.” But when you have the Dodgers, the Blue Jays, the Mets, all those teams who are probably going to sit there and go, “Hey, we’ll give you $600 million a season or for a 10 12 year contract, it the gap’s just too big versus the Oilers, right? Like what do you think in a non-cap and it’s tough cuz it’s the Oilers have Daryl Kates and he would pay whatever to keep McDavid but like I’m trying to think of what a good example is but let’s just say the Oilers didn’t have a rich owner and their owner says which they didn’t in the9s and they didn’t and that’s why they lost a lot of players but like the Oilers owner sits there and goes yeah okay I’m willing to bite the bullet we need to keep Connor here 20 mill a year but there’s no cap and MLS just goes 40 what do you do right like you’re screwed it just totally screws over smaller market teams. But the issue in baseball is that the cheap owners on those smaller market teams, I won’t even call them small market teams cuz like the teams who aren’t spending this year, Washington, Miami, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh’s a major market. Miami is a major market. Washington is a major market. Like these are organizations that should be a should be spending. They just don’t cuz they know their product. They’re going to make money at the end of the day. Yeah. I mean, look at the teams in the final four right now besides the Dodgers. I know the Jays are technically a rich team, but I wouldn’t call them in comparison to MLB standards like not a big market, right, for players. Milwaukee, Seattle, the Jays are getting there, I think. Totally. But like they’re not your typical side, you know what I mean? I The reason I the reason I bring it up is the McDavid thing, but I just and Jeff Merrick’s been hopping on this a lot and I listen to his show the sheet quite often. You should too. It’s very insightful. and he just brings up is like these players shouldn’t have to manage the cap. Like McDavid shouldn’t have to take the biggest discount ever in NHL history for his team to be cap compliant and be able to win a cup. He’s making up for past mistakes. This isn’t on Bowman. This is from Holland, Charelli, whoever else. Tambolina, let’s go to him as well. Blame him for this too. Why not? I don’t think players should have to do that. And I just wonder how the NHL can avoid that from happening further down. I know the cap’s going up and that’s I think it will, but like what do you think? Everything you just said there is why we’re not going to get a 2027 Major League Baseball season. Oh, okay. And it’s the reason why we didn’t get a season in 0405 for the Oilers NHL. Okay. Players do not want a cap system because it puts players in a bad spot and caps what they can earn. Yeah. The players love that the LA Dodgers can spend $399 million on payroll this year. That’s insane. Players love that. Love that because they get all the money. Of course, they’re making the money. Major League Baseball owners want a cap so that teams like the Dodgers can’t do that. If they put in a $200 million cap in, or it wouldn’t be, let’s call it 250. There’d be five teams who need to shed payroll. And I know what you’d say. Well, they would set a floor of 100 million. Okay. But then we’re talking about a couple of teams who just need to spend up a little bit or they add on bad contracts or injured players that they just end up insuring the deals. Like again, MLB is going to lock out or strike. It’ll be a lockout um in 2027. And I don’t know how it ends because I think there’s the line in the sand moment of like the players are going to be adamant. They don’t want it. Like the NHLers were in 045 and like all you need to do is look at how much top players in the NHL got paid in 0203. Yeah. Compared to now, it’s almost the same. Didn’t the Red Wings have to cut their uh their cap essentially by almost half if I’m not mistaken? Maybe that’s a bit extreme, but it it was quite significant. Interesting. It’s just something I’ve been hearing a lot about. I’m very intrigued by it. If I had to give an example of keeping the cap, but one thing I would like to change with the salary cap would be um what the NFL does where you can restructure contracts. Yeah, I think we’d all think of Don Nurse a little bit differently if you could restructure his contract. Yeah, do one a year or you can have one every three years that you do or something like that to benefit the players a little bit and I think that’s something that would work. So, here was my idea for that was you can renegotiate a player’s contract, but it needs to end up it needs to be mutually agreed upon and it needs to end up with a number we’ll call it 20%. The player needs to get 20% more in earnings and a restructured contract can’t be bought out. Okay. So the idea and the logic behind it would be let’s take Darnell Nurse for example. He has 1 2 3 he has 5 years left on his deal at $9.25 million. That is about we’ll call it $45 million. Yeah. So if the oilers want to restructure it, they can go to him and say, “Hey Darnell, we are converting your five more remaining years into eight more remaining years.” And those eight years because we have to give you 20% more, that means we have to give you at least $8 million more in total money. and what whatever the AEV would be. So you add 8 onto 45 that’s 53 you divide it by 8 years instead of five or whatever it would be 6.6 six as nurse now and I think we’d all be more than satisfied, right? And if you’re Darnell nurse, I mean again that’s a rough example. I’d have to like hash out the money side of it more, but like even from the perspective of nurse is 30, you would restructure it to a 10-year contract, which I know a lot of you would be like gross, don’t do that. But you would restructure it to a 10-year contract where nurse goes from $45 million guaranteed to $65 million guaranteed and he’s a $6.5 million defenseman for 10 years. Like that’s how I can see restructuring work for both sides. player has to get more money and has to be now fully guaranteed it with no threat of a buyout, which is why a player like Darn Allers might do it. I think it would work. I truly think it would work. We got to wrap up. We do. That was a good little That was a good tangent. Yeah, I was I’ve just been It’s been on my mind. Yeah. Someone said, “What is Tyler smoking?” I did feel a little bit like Charlie from It’s Always Sunny with the strings on the board being like, “So, you got to you can’t buy him out, but you can give them 20% more and spread out the money.” But I think it makes sense. Yeah, money something to figure out on your own time. Oh, we did it. We gave you a good example. Uh, go Jays. New episode of OR going to drop later on tonight. Pre and postgame this afternoon. Two matineese for the Edmonton Oilers. We got you covered here tomorrow afternoon. Yes. Uh, two matineese this weekend for the Oilers. So, giddy up. Have yourselves a good sports weekend, everybody. And, uh, we’ll see you all back here on Monday. Oil up. What’s up, Nation citizens? If you enjoyed today’s episode of Boilers Nation every day, make sure you hit the subscribe button here on our YouTube to not miss any of our content. We got you covered from interviews, insight, analysis, everything you need to stay up to date on everything around the team. Hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss a

It’s another episode of Oilersnation Everyday with Tyler and Liam! The Edmonton Oilers dropped their game last night against the New York Islanders by a score of 4-2, and there’s plenty to unpack. We’ll break down what went wrong for the Oilers, including a tough night for Evan Bouchard, who had one of his roughest performances of the season. From missed assignments to defensive lapses, the boys will go through all the key moments and biggest takeaways from the loss.

Later in the show, we’ll go around the NHL to discuss what’s trending across the league, and then it’s time for Friday Funzone as Producer Bordzy has a few surprise games lined up for Tyler and Liam to tackle.

Finally, we’ll be joined by Steve Peters to go over some developing trends around the NHL and get his thoughts on which teams are standing out early in the season.

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