This past summer could largely be summed up by a phrase I\u2019m planning to carve into my tombstone:<\/p>\n
HERE LIES KELVIN
HE READ THE COMMENTS<\/p>\n
That or HE NEVER SAW TITANIC \u2014 I haven\u2019t decided.<\/p>\n
But yeah, the comments. These Edmonton Oilers have had the internet arguing over the 12th to 14th forwards all summer long. No wonder it\u2019s the most profitable franchise in the Milky Way. And I get it, honestly. I read those blogs all summer; I\u2019m here, I ain\u2019t judging. But I do wonder if all the huff and bother about Isaac Howard<\/a> has taken away from the potential appreciation of Owen Michaels<\/a>.Michaels\u2019 rise up the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 depth chart seems to have been largely overshadowed by Howard. Maybe because of how the latter was acquired<\/a>? I don\u2019t know; I\u2019m not a scientist.But there\u2019s a new sheriff in town, and he likes what he sees from Michaels to the point where he\u2019s cracked the opening night roster. A lot of that is likely due to injuries to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins<\/a> and Jason Dickinson<\/a>, but Babcock also believes in opportunity for young players in those situations. He said as much. He\u2019s saying a lot, actually, and it sounds like he\u2019s doing a Darryl Sutter impression at every turn, except I firmly believe Sutter was messing with the media 75 per cent of the time.<\/p>\n Babcock? I don\u2019t think he has it in him to mess with the media. Not anymore. Honestly, he\u2019s a hockey grandpa now; he\u2019s not as intimidating as he once was. And he\u2019s telling it like it is, or at least how he sees it.<\/p>\n Like this quote<\/a> following Edmonton\u2019s pre-season win over Calgary referencing Kasperi Kapanen\u2019s ascension to the second line, replacing Howard, and quite possibly the best \/ funniest \/ most honest thing I\u2019ve ever read:<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought Kappy was the best player in practice the day before and he was being real good, and I didn\u2019t think his group was being real good and I just thought that it was a situation he should play.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u201ckeeps showing up in the good clips,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which has to be a huge confidence boost for the college man<\/a> when he\u2019s singled out in a positive way while he\u2019s 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\u2019 development. He can only control the controllables.<\/p>\n So while there\u2019s plenty of kindling for online arguments, I thought it would be interesting to go through a period\u2019s worth of Michaels\u2019 shifts to see how he\u2019s taken control of his own narrative.<\/p>\n Here are six shifts from the first period of the Oilers\u2019 Sept. 24 pre-season game in Vancouver. Let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019ve watched one, and it\u2019s obvious what the coaching staff sees. Like, instantly. One 30-second shift.<\/p>\n 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<\/p>\n 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<\/p>\n Shift ThreeGood angle, quick feet, another good change<\/p>\n 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<\/p>\n Shift FiveGood defensive support again \u2013 nothing bad ever happens when he\u2019s on the iceStops<\/p>\n