Randall Flagg

Edmonton Oilers Record last season: 36-40-6, 78 points, 6th in the Pacific Playoffs: None Coach: Todd McLellan GM: Peter Chiarelli Captain: Connor McDavid GF: 229 (20th) GA: 262 (27th) PP: 14.8% (31st) PK: 76.7% (25th) Top 5G: 1.) Connor McDavid (41) 2.) Leon Draisaitl (25) 3.) RNH (24) 4.) Patrick Maroon (14) 5.) Ryan Strome (13) Top 5A: 1.) Connor McDavid (67) 2.) Leon Draisaitl (45) 3.) RNH (24) 4.) Milan Lucic (24) 5.) Ryan Strome (21) Top 5 PTS: 1.) Connor McDavid (108) 2.) Leon Draisaitl (70) 3.) RNH (48) 4.) Milan Lucic (34) 5.) Ryan Strome (34) Key Additions: Tobias Rieder (LW), Kyle Brodziak (C), Evan Bouchard (D), Mikko Koskinen (G) Key Losses: Michael Cammalleri (LW), Laurent Brossoit (G), Iiro Pakarinen (RW), Eric Gryba (D) Projected Lineup: RNH - McDavid - Rattie Rieder - Draisaitl - Puljujarvi Lucic - Strome - Aberg/Caggiula Khaira - Brodziak - Kassian Klefbom - Larsson Nurse - Benning Russell - Bouchard (9 games) Gravel/Jerabek Talbot Koskinen Top Prospects we might/might not see 1.) Evan Bouchard, D, 1st round 2018 2.) Kailer Yamamoto, RW, 1st round 2017 3.) Ryan McLeod, C, 2nd round 2018 4.) Caleb Jones, D, late 2015 5.) Ethan Bear, D, late 2015 My thoughts The only team I was more wrong about last year than Edmonton was Vegas. Edmonton has a lot of problems, but their special teams murdered them last year. Their power play was the worst in the league. At one point in January their road PK was one of the best in the league, but their home PK was 57%. After months of sample size to iron out the weird stuff. That's insane. Their team looks ugly this year as well. I honestly wouldn't trade places. Benning is dreadful, Nurse is inconsistent. Their forwards are slow as hell. Puljujarvi struggles with processing NHL speed which is dangerous in development. Big meh. They could make the playoffs and not be dangerous if everyone stays healthy, Lucic bounces back, and Talbot plays like 2 seasons ago instead of last year. They'll likely miss and be a team in the 75-90 point range. Poor McDavid.

I mean, it looks to me like they're the one that understands Bobby Ryan's value in that situation, so I have no problem with that. Can't blame any team in the league for trying to acquire EK, especially a team that refused to part with its top prospect, especially a team 3 wins from a cup last year

Today is camp. This week was literally nothing except people skating because they got here early. And I wasn't picking it out to complain, I was explaining why it was confusing to me that Sam wasn't skating

The Bills' facebook and twitter pages are pretty annoying. Their signature thing is to write short statements that aren't complete sentences in rapid succession. And then use dumb emojis. Today is an article about the home opener with the caption: Two. More. Days. They shared an article that talks about young QBs a few weeks back and had the following to say: Nathan Peterman. Josh Allen. Baker Mayfield. Sam Darnold. Josh Rosen. Lamar Jackson. Or something similar. After Josh Allen's first preseason performance, it was: 9/19. 100whatever yards. 1TD. Buffalo native. Graduate of St. Francis High School. And the Buffalo Bills were his favorite team growing up. Get to know Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll in Life on the Sidelines. Before the preseason: Three. More. Days. Two. More. Days. Before Carolina preseason game. The. Bills. Are. Back. Every time I read it I cringe and get thisclose to unfollowing the page are we five

When I say Sabres I was loosely referring to the official twitter page of the Buffalo Sabres, which put out a "Roster for Sabres camp" in their own words, with Reinhart on it, with the forwards and defensemen and goal all listed with their numbers, in alphabetical order, to describe a bunch of guys skating and working on the ice before camp. With a big bold headline "2018-19 Sabres Camp" I just think that's quite dumb

I'm talking about the list of players they sent out in a weird official list form a few days ago, before camp started. When players were just in town skating in circles and screwing around. That had me thinking Sam was at camp despite not having a contract and it's just weird to do IMO

Yeah I would absolutely court him in free agency but no way would I expect him to sign, or try to trade for him

Why would the Sabres put out a roster of players skating around in circles? They're so dumb

Look in page 2 he's there

What a bummmm It wouldn't surprise me if it were wrong but I actively sought Sam out, and found him, on the camp roster picture the Sabres tweeted out.

Maybe, but id bet Sam plays center in group 2 There are two groups/sessions

What's the sample size on that corsi? And if it's teeny, what's the GF%? i can vividly remember some nasty stuff from that pairing.

Paul Coffey's career cast: Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Lemieux, Jagr, Francis EK's: Late-career Alfie and Spezza, and then Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone and Kyle Turris

I rail on him, but as a 4th line vet complementing some kids getting their feet under them he would be fine and probably not a real drag at all. In fact, I'd prefer this route to a Larsson - Sobotka - Pominville look. I just hope we avoid Pommers-Eichel

I know it's small, but little tidbits like Pominville being giddy are pretty cool, so keep 'em coming if you can! And thanks!

I'm glad to hear Okposo's problems aren't this bad. Do you get the sense that the immaturity is over the top relative to other (at least young) NHL rosters? Or are we gon' be fine and the kids will grow up/figure it out?

The third and final? Hopefully? And thanks. I don't mean to complain, but man was I curious and the constant reminder making me moreso

I understand you guys can't tell, but continuing to say that you know exactly who in the room has problems that big but can't tell is...something

That's kinda why I was cranky about how the defense looks this summer though. Because if you want to try something like Dahlin - McCabe, all of a sudden your healthy D-lineup probably puts Beaulieu on your second pair again.

Dylan DeMelo was not qualified by SJS this summer and was a UFA for two weeks. Nobody wanted him, and SJ then re-signed him.

Two LHDs, the one who prefers the right on the left, the one who plays on the left going to the right. Weird. Bogosian gets one of Hunwick/Beaulieu/Guhle/Nelson then? McCabe - Dahlin is probably a sheltered pair though, and y'all know I'm all in on that

@dudacek is gonna be doing more training camp question threads, right?

Today in off-ice testing, Ottawa's JG Pageau, he of the 4 goal playoff game and stellar defensive play, injured his achilles tendon and might be out 4-6 months. My god

Inject all the hockey things, big or small, into my veins

My interest in keeping Allen on the bench lies purely in the ability to master his playbook and then really start to focus on understanding defenses. He was still having plays explained into his headset in preseason three weeks ago, because it's a non-trivial task. We burned TOs because of it and in general I think it's better for the "trial by fire" to start when that stuff is second nature.