He’s probably plotting Mat Barzal for Leddy and a seventh

If Yzerman gets equal or better return for Leddy before the deadline he should win GM of the year. Leddy is barely an NHL player at this point in his career

Not gonna lie Tampa should have kept Martin. As man hes already doing way better than Elliot and hes only 26...

Plus hes on a team whose defense is significantly worse than Tampa's

Like having a 1.58Gaa and a 0.958 when you factor in he went up against Edmonton, Florida, and Winnipeg (3 high scoring teams) its amazing hes got that good of an SV and GAA

CONNOR. MC𝗗𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗘𝗦. 🤮 pic.twitter.com/2XFCUHETWT

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 28, 2022

This guy is lucky he gets to play with Evander Kane

Evan Bouchard was so good tonight, he is gonna be so good

the Oilers finally have their mojo back

Official ✍️The #Oilers have agreed to terms with forward Evander Kane on a one-year contract. #LetsGoOilers

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 28, 2022

Great.....you know I was joking. My father passed five years ago at 95, but my mother is doing OK at 100, just saw her yesterday.

I’m bad with sarcasm. I’m sorry about your dad. And congrats to your mom

Bats aren’t really scary, they can just surprise you since you don’t expect them to appear

He's already better than Nurse, Holland has to make room for Bouchards 9.25 x 8 extension

And now, for the moment none of you have been waiting for!

BOBCAT’S MID-SEASON REPORT

Part 1: The Offseason

-This offseason, there was a lot I didn't like at first.

-The Seth Jones trade was amazing from the beginning, and still is amazing now. Adam Boqvist has done everything he has been asked to do. Cole Sillinger is the center of the future. Jake Bean (who we got by trading the 2nd round pick we got from the Hawks to the Hurricanes) has transferred very well into playing 1st pairing RD. Seth Jones himself has had a solid season on the score sheet, but doesn’t look good in the eye test.

-I personally didn’t like the Voracek-Atkinson trade at first. My thought process was “Why are we trading one of our fan favorites for essentially $3M to the cap? Oliver Bjorkstrand can do playmaking just fine.” This is one of the very few times that I was glad to be proven wrong.

-The Sean Kuraly signing was rough at the start. 4 years, $2.5M for a 4th line guy? Had Jarmo gone insane? Fortunately, he ended up becoming one-third of the greatest 4th line in hockey.

Part 2: The Season To This Point

-I loved the way we started. 12-6-0 through the first 18 games was nothing to scoff at, but I knew it wasn’t sustainable. The following stretch of 2-7-1 was completely understandable.

-I thought of this team as one of the most clutch in the NHL at the beginning. We won our first five games to go into overtime, and it took us being held to a shootout by the Ducks to put an OTL on our record.

-On most nights, our defense has been a defense in name only. In 11 of our 21 losses on the year, we gave up 5 or more goals. It takes a bit to not throw a pillow across my room.

-Out of everyone on the roster, I did not think that Boone Jenner would be leading the team in goals. My mind turned to Patrik Laine first, since he’s our big dude, known for his scoring. If Boone keeps up like this, we should retire his number and paint it into the spot in front of the net he likes to stand in for his tip-ins.

-Alexandre Texier, Sean Kuraly and Eric Robinson have banded together to become the Greatest 4th Line in Hockey™. Those three have amazing chemistry together. Tex in particular has done really well, breaking his personal record for most goals in a season, and doesn’t intend on stopping now.

-In the midway part of this stretch, I think you all saw my thoughts on Coach Larsen refusing to give up on 29 year old rookie Justin Danforth. Lars saw something in him that I didn't (and still don’t), even putting him ahead of super-hyped rookie Yegor Chinakhov. I absolutely despise those moves. Danforth is currently injured, and once he returns, I fully expect Lars to keep doing what he was doing, as much as that makes me want to pull my hair out.

-The 3rd pairing LD spot has been a carousel all season long. Usually, it’s Gabriel Carlsson for a few games, then it goes to Gavin Bayreuther for another few, and if Lars hates us, he puts in Scott Harrington, god help us. Hopefully someone will solidify themself in that spot. I certainly hope it’s Carlsson, since I like him a lot, but Maybe it’ll be someone completely different, like Jake Christiansen.

-This was the season that I discovered Bob McElligott and his amazing way of telling the actions. I can definitely tell that he’s the type of person that only thinks in puns, like me. As I write this, he’s currently taking a break due to Covid, but he’ll be okay.

Part 3: The Future

- Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko are both all but confirmed to sign their ELCs next year during the offseason, so i’d make a couple of trades to make room for them on the NHL roster.

-As much as i like him, Max Domi has to go. My idea is to trade him to a team that needs some LW help (Like Boston might once they trade Jake DeBrusk) at half retention ($2,650,000) for a first round pick. That would give us three.

-Gustav Nyquist has been having a silently very good year, but he’s pretty much a 3RW behind Voracek and Bjorkstrand. I’d say we trade him for a middling defensive prospect (Like Nicolas Meloche from San Jose) and a 3rd round pick, with retention if needed.

-Joonas Korpisalo walks into FA at the end of the season.

-The three moves above would make room for Kent Johnson to play LW, and Kirill Marchenko to play RW. My roster setup is as follows:

Laine - Jenner - Voracek
Chinakhov - Sillinger - Bjorkstrand
Johnson - Roslovic - Marchenko
Robinson - Kuraly - Texier

Werenski - Bean
Gavrikov - Boqvist
Carlsson - Peeke

Merzlikins
Tarasov

Scratches: Bayreuther, Bemstrom, Christiansen

Part 4: Final Thoughts

I keep having to remind myself that this team is very, very young. The oldest player (Voracek) is 32. That’s a baby compared to other teams like Florida (Joe Thornton, 42 years old). We have a future so bright that I have to wear shades. We’re not good now, but we’ll be great in the future.

THE END

You forgot Danforth on the lines

Seriously though, great breakdown.

Danforth’s a UFA

Celebrating Aaron Dell's incredibly massive 3 game suspension... pic.twitter.com/eKDeeUtwT1

— Steve Warne (@TSNSteve) January 28, 2022

Larsen is going to convince Jarmo to extend him 8 x 8

Dang thats a sucker punch. I was actually waiting for this.



in all serious props to you for such a detailed report, always interesting to read about teams I dont watch often

https://twitter.com/Bmarch63/status/1486870187294875650

The embed isn't working for some reason but holy sh*t

is that him ****ing on the yotes?

yes

Link to Evander Kane media conference, beginning shortly: https://t.co/n2NHZLQhLE

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 28, 2022

he's not that good yet lets not get ahead of are self's

Are you trying to give me an aneurysm?

On a serious note, i have him re-signed to $850k/2 years, but sent to the non-roster. Let him play good minutes in Cleveland, be a mentor to the kids, and maybe see NHL ice again if the bubonic plague happens and we get racked with injuries (BUT NOT TOO MUCH).

yessssss, yessss, my plot to kill Bobcat is proceeding as I have forseen...

Kane jokes that he chose the Oilers because of the weather.

— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) January 28, 2022

lol