Tonight the Edmonton Oilers will host the Buffalo Sabres. Mike Smith is already slated to start. Fans of the team should certainly watch the game tonight because it's rare to watch a game and know you are watching that last game of someone's career... or at least that is what I want to believe.
In the short term, winning the game tonight and being on a four game winning streak is a good thing. For the long term success of this team it might be better for Smith to do what he has done for most of the season; not enough.
Koskinen appears to be the Oilers best option in net right now, though he did remind us of why so many had soured on his play with a shaky 7-5 win against the Red Wings. The rest of the team in front certainly took their foot off the gas but Koskinen made his fair share of errors too. Skinner is the next best bet, the young up and comer who has shown well in his small sample size of 13 games. Right now I would give Konovalov a shot over Mike Smith.
In reality, my guess is the Oilers lose tonight but not in a bad enough way that Mike Smith can be turfed to the AHL because apparently I'm not allowed to have nice things.
Around the NHL we are seeing trades starting to get made. Divisional rival Calgary made a potentially sneaky good move by acquiring Jarnkrok. His play in Seattle had been subpar early on but he started to improve since the beginning of the New Year. Florida and Colorado are both prepping their rosters ready to make big moves. Edmonton remains standing pat and it seems unlikely we will expect a big splash.
Yesterday things heated up and then immediately cooled down as rumours stated that the Oilers were in big on forward Dominik Kubalik of the Blackhawks. In his rookie season as a 24 year old, Kubalik put up 30 goals in 68 games and then 17 goals in 56 games the following year. This year has been a rough season with only 11 goals in 61 games. Since entering the NHL, Kubalik has always been a volume shooter but is not being rewarded for it as much this season. Kubalik currently makes 3.7 million a season and is an RFA which would make his next qualifying offer close to 4 million. The Hawks may not be willing to do that and could be looking to see what a return would garner.
I like the idea of adding another shot first mentality player but I don't see any way of doing that before the off-season, unless the Hawks are willing to take on the salary of a player like Zack Kassian. What would be more likely is the two teams coming together in the off-season, making a trade and then having Kubalik agree to a contract as opposed to a QO.
Tonight Jesse Puljujarvi will return to the lineup. Edmonton missed his game dearly over the past few weeks as Puljujarvi has shown to be one of the better drivers at 5 on 5 that the team has. Whenever JP is on the ice the Oilers have better puck possession. He will play on a line with Draisaitl and Kane it appears while Yamamoto moves up with Hyman and McDavid.
Speaking of Yamamoto, the small forward has gone 6-3-9 in his last 13 games and seems to be settling in as an NHL player. Two of these goals have come on the powerplay as the net front guy. While Yamamoto might not be a physical monster in front of the net, he is aggressive and has excellent hands and so far has helped to reignite what was once a stale powerplay.
Slowly the Oilers are returning to a fully healthy roster. RNH should hopefully return in the next couple of weeks max giving the Oilers their three scoring lines once more.
What the heck is happening in Vegas right now? The Golden Knights continue to slip further and further out of a playoff spot and are almost getting to the point where they need to rely on teams above them to lose games rather than just focus on their own wins. Perhaps it is the Jack Eichel effect? Meanwhile the Sabres without Eichel are 4-2-0 in the month of March including victories against the Leafs and Golden Knights.
Jack Eichel has gone 5-4-9 in 14 games this season while Alex Tuch, part of that trade to Buffalo has gone 8-16-24 in 28 games. Another player in that deal, Peyton Krebs is 6-8-14 in 26 games.
Buffalo is a team Edmonton should beat still but the recent near loss at the hands of the Red Wings should be a good wakeup call that if you take your foot off the gas even an inch than any team in this league can make you suffer.
Enjoy the game tonight!