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By Racki, June 4, 2013 9:21 am

Seth Jones, ranked #1 overall on Button’s 2013 NHL Draft Rankings

So some don’t put a tonne of stock in Craig Button’s draft rankings, much preferring Bob McKenzie’s list (which is based off a survey of NHL scouts). But it still is worth looking at.

Button has Seth Jones ranked #1 overall. Nathan MacKinnon sits at #3, which is probably different than what a lot of scouts have him at (most probably have him at 1 now). The Oilers fans may be disappointed if Button’s list is accurate to the actual draft, with the top six. I think it will be as far as players taken, although not necessarily the order. That means the better centers, including Sean Monahan, will be gone by the Oilers #7 pick. So the question a lot of people are asking is “should the Oilers trade their #7 pick?”

I’m on the fence on that idea. On one hand, I think the Oilers fans need to break away from the mentality of drafting a guy, then seeing him play that same year. Realistically, the player should be going back to junior for at least a year, and perhaps a year or two of AHL. So we could be talking somewhere between 3-5 years before seeing a player in action. So think of this draft as stocking the cupboards, unless we trade up and get in the top 4 somehow and land Seth Jones, Jonathan Drouin, MacKinnon or Sasha Barkov. This doesn’t seem likely, although it’s possibly we could move up to #5 (Carolina Hurricanes pick) and perhaps one of the big names will be still available by then if someone deviates slightly. Anyways, I think MacT should consider all options with this pick.. moving up, moving down, using it. And really, it sounds like he is. It will be interesting to see what can happen.

The other play of interest on this list is Edmonton Oil Kings’ Curtis Lazar. I’ve seen him as high as 12 (on the ISS rankings). Button has him way down around 32. That seems unlikely. But I think if Lazar lingers, the Oilers should trade their 2nd, and another pick (perhaps in another draft) and get a late 1st. I don’t see Lazar lasting past 20th though.

To wrap up, teams are always going to need centers, and they’re always going to need defensemen. I don’t want to see the Oilers drop too far down with their pick unless they get a good offer in exchange. No matter where they pick, I hope they choose the best d-man or center available (unless we get into a position of picking a guy like Drouin).

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By Racki, May 5, 2013 12:27 pm

Was Ruff too hard on Hall?

So there’s some uproar that Lindy Ruff unfairly benched an offensive weapon in Taylor Hall against a team that has a stifling defense. The thought was that Canada needed a guy like Hall who such a penchant for generating scoring chances. Hall’s line seemingly saw some decreased ice time in the 2nd. In the 3rd, it was clear that Hall played his last shift of the game with 14:54 remaining in the 3rd period.

So.. was he unfairly benched?

I would like to break down the first half of the game more.. I didn’t start really paying attention until the 2nd, so I’ll probably come back to this. But here’s a quick breakdown of the mid 2nd and early 3rd: Continue reading 'Did Ruff unfairly bench Taylor Hall in game 2 of the WHC?'»

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By Racki, December 31, 2012 2:27 am

Nail Yakupov will suit up for Russia

Finally a game I can watch live, in its entirety. I have to work tomorrow, but luckily I’m working at home and will just stream the game on TSN’s site (well worth the $20, BTW).

Not much of a GDT thread here, as it’s 2:30AM, and I have to be up in a mere 4.5 hours or so. Looks like this game starts at 7:00AM MST. The times for this were a bit all over the map. I am sure I saw somewhere on TSN’s site that the game started at 7:30AM MST, but it now says 6:30AM (probably pre-game show). But looks like the puck drops at 7:00AM, so be there folks.

I can’t remember how the hell to make the game day chat work, so hopefully this works…

Edit: game over… Canada wins 4-1. Overall a good game by Canada. Got an early break with a 5-min powerplay, which gave them a 2-goal lead to hang on to. Subban played yet another good game.

One thing I’ll say, and I’m probably alone on this, but I don’t like the gloating some players do (holding the jersey crest to the Russian crowd, Subban’s penalty shot celebration, etc..). It’s one thing that irked me about the Russians in the past. But oh well. It’s not that bad and could be a lot worse, but some humility would be nice.

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By Racki, December 30, 2012 12:15 pm

Malcolm Subban makes a big save against Team USA

Canada wins 2-1 over the USA. Canada built up an early 2-0 lead in this one, in the first period. They exchanged chances with the Americans up until the 3rd period where the US came on strong in spite of getting into serious penalty trouble. Canada had a brief 5-on-3 followed up by a full 2 minute 5-on-3, but couldn’t capitalize.

This game was Malcolm Subban’s best game we’ve seen thus far, answering questions about whether he could rise to the question or not. He did make one near fatal error though. On a delayed penalty in which he was a bit mysteriously called on a trip, Subban raised his hands in disgust just before a shot was coming in from the point. Luckily, our boy Nugent-Hopkins came to the rescue, sliding across on one knee to block the shot, or that likely would have went right in (thumbs down to him though for taking a dumb penalty in the final 2 minutes of the game while protecting a 1 goal lead though). Credit also to Scott Harrington for his unheralded defensive game. He came up big near the end of the game to stop the Americans from banging in a loose puck. That all said, Subban played quite fantastically throughout the game, including a huge kick save (and a beauty) in the 3rd. He earned player of the game for this one. John Gibson also stood out in the other net and also was given player of the game.

Overall, I thought the Canadians played a decent game and managed to stay out of penalty trouble for the most part. This game was a lot less of an offensive showcase, and was more of a tight defensive game / goaltending battle… I would have thought the Americans would beat us in a game like that. It didn’t help much that the Canadian powerplay was quite limp throughout the game. They had their chances, but couldn’t finish.

Next game is vs. Team Russia tomorrow, a 7:00AM MST start. I’m looking forward to that one cause I can actually watch the full game live. I work tomorrow, but I’ll have the game on for sure. I stayed up for two periods this AM for the Canada / USA game, but that was about all I could do. Canada will get a boost as J.C. Lipon (1 game) and Boone Jenner (3 games) return from their suspensions. I’m thinking about putting up an actual GDT for that one since there is a chance people will be up to watch that one.

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By Racki, December 26, 2012 12:30 pm

Great game for the Nuuuuuuuge

So, Team Canada just wrapped up a 9-3 win in their first official game of the tourney against Germany.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins stood out for Canada, earning 1 goal and 4 assists, and getting the player of the game award for Team Canada. The German player of the game was Leon Draisaitl, who looked like one of few Germans who were really in the game… so that was well earned on his part. Edmonton prospect Tobias Rieder had the first goal for the Germans on a back-door play on the powerplay. He was left unprotected behind Malcom Subban, and banged a cross-crease pass home on the one-timer. Later in the game, Subban got revenge though.. on a similar play 5-on-5, Rieder was in tight for a cross-crease one timer, and Subban made a remarkable kick save.

Good game all around for the Canadians. Some shakey play here and there, to be expected. The top line of Jonathan Huberdeau, “The Nuge” and Mark Scheifele is also as dangerous as you might expect. Huberdeau and Nugent-Hopkins, in particular, have incredible chemistry together.

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