This past summer could largely be summed up by a phrase I’m planning to carve into my tombstone:
HERE LIES KELVIN
HE READ THE COMMENTS
That or HE NEVER SAW TITANIC — I haven’t decided.
But yeah, the comments. These Edmonton Oilers have had the internet arguing over the 12th to 14th forwards all summer long. No wonder it’s the most profitable franchise in the Milky Way. And I get it, honestly. I read those blogs all summer; I’m here, I ain’t judging. But I do wonder if all the huff and bother about Isaac Howard has taken away from the potential appreciation of Owen Michaels.Michaels’ rise up the Edmonton Oilers’ depth chart seems to have been largely overshadowed by Howard. Maybe because of how the latter was acquired? I don’t know; I’m not a scientist.But there’s a new sheriff in town, and he likes what he sees from Michaels to the point where he’s cracked the opening night roster. A lot of that is likely due to injuries to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jason Dickinson, but Babcock also believes in opportunity for young players in those situations. He said as much. He’s saying a lot, actually, and it sounds like he’s doing a Darryl Sutter impression at every turn, except I firmly believe Sutter was messing with the media 75 per cent of the time.
Babcock? I don’t think he has it in him to mess with the media. Not anymore. Honestly, he’s a hockey grandpa now; he’s not as intimidating as he once was. And he’s telling it like it is, or at least how he sees it.
Like this quote following Edmonton’s pre-season win over Calgary referencing Kasperi Kapanen’s ascension to the second line, replacing Howard, and quite possibly the best / funniest / most honest thing I’ve ever read:
“I just thought Kappy was the best player in practice the day before and he was being real good, and I didn’t think his group was being real good and I just thought that it was a situation he should play.”
Which brings us back to Michaels. Babcock thinks he does the hockey good too, and he feels like the young centre can help the team. He “keeps showing up in the good clips,” which has to be a huge confidence boost for the college man when he’s singled out in a positive way while he’s sitting criss-cross applesauce beside Connor McDavid et al. He beat out Josh Samanski for a job. Sure, it could be over as early as tomorrow if someone comes back, but this is an important stage for Michaels’ development. He can only control the controllables.
So while there’s plenty of kindling for online arguments, I thought it would be interesting to go through a period’s worth of Michaels’ shifts to see how he’s taken control of his own narrative.
Here are six shifts from the first period of the Oilers’ Sept. 24 pre-season game in Vancouver. Let’s see what we learn. After all, this is what I do in my day job: I find clips to share with players on my junior team.
I always start by asking a question, and then I try to answer it. I wrote everything in this post preceding this paragraph before watching any clips. And at this moment I’ve watched one, and it’s obvious what the coaching staff sees. Like, instantly. One 30-second shift.
Shift OneOver the puck, quick defending to get it backSlow and low, picks up the loose change (supporting the defenceman in the defensive zone), starts the breakout
Shift TwoFaceoff loss, good defensive position, safeHigh F3, touches puck twiceHard track to break up rushPK faceoff win, aggressive, covers a lot of ice on the PK, gets fooled on the blue line
Shift ThreeGood angle, quick feet, another good change
Shift FourAnother defensive zone faceoff win (second effort, too)Good track after turnover, stops at crease, slow and lowHoly cats, the referee and a Canuck just blew each other up
Shift FiveGood defensive support again – nothing bad ever happens when he’s on the iceStops
Shift SixAnother defensive one faceoff winOn that last shift, notice he’s on his weak side taking the faceoff, or to the left of the goaltender. A lot is made about right-handed centres, and it’s just a personal belief of mine that it doesn’t matter. You can win the draw to the inside just fine as long as your defenceman knows it’s coming. And your goalie! Colton Dach won a draw on his weak side in pre-season and ripped it right into Devon Levi’s chest.
Does he ever touch the puck?
So far? No, not really. And that’s one period’s worth of shifts. He’s safe, no question, but safe is death. If you’re too safe and you don’t improve the condition of the puck, then you’ll spend too much time in your own zone defending.
So let’s filter for scoring chances and shots on net.
Alright! Not bad. You can see that his offence comes after being in good spots. He’s high in the offensive zone to support the D, or he gets lost at the strong-side dot. Coaches love these habits. It’s clear there’s room for growth, but he can pick up passes under pressure in all three zones, so the puck skills are there. He’s got a good shot. He’ll need that to post some offensive numbers.
Either way you slice it, Michaels is playing a responsible game in the bottom six, and that’s what’s keeping him here for the moment.
By the way, I have seen Titanic.
And I’m tired of the lies.
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