Yesterday the World Cup of Hockey initial 16 roster selections were announced and while 4 Oilers were named to teams, RNH and Hall were left off of Team Canada and team North America.
The snub for Hall comes as no surprise to me, and even as an Oiler fan at heart it wasn’t the biggest snub. PK Subban not being on Team Canada is the goofiest decision possible. Yes, these arent the final rosters, the full announcements wont come until June, but good gravy. Weber and Vlasic?
Vlasic isn’t even the best Canadian defenseman on the Sharks.
In any event, I would have Taylor Hall on Team Canada every day of the week. He’s top 3 at his position in the NHL and always been a quality scorer and possession player. I don’t want to get too much into who I would have had behind him on this announcement (Carter, Tavares) but I think there’s still room for him when the full roster is revealed. Personally, I think it would be a terrible choice not to take him.
He, along with many Oiler players, get painted with a bad brush because the team has been awful forever. If Edmonton had an NHL defense at any time over the last 3-4 years I think Hall would be on this list as a no-brainer. That's how unconnected to his play I think his reputation has become. Objectively he is better than a lot of people already named to the team, but that doesn't matter when GM's start thinking about "Winners".
As for RNH, that’s a much more interesting situation. The Oiler center is unquestionably better than a few of the players announced to the North American team, but he has been having a down year. There was the illness that hampered him earlier and the broken hand as of late. He just hasn’t been healthy and that plays into the decision making, I’m sure.
But with Chiarelli one of the men running the team and constant rumours swirling around whether or not the Oilers will break up the core, RNH’s absence makes for more fuel for that fire. It certainly doesn’t quell the rampant speculation, even though Chiarelli himself said he expects RNH to be a part of the team when all is said and done.
(Side Note: The Team North America logo looks like someone had an accident on the balance beam)
Chiarelli has expressed the wish to see a healthy team with all three centers. He’s talked about the need to have multiple centermen in the lineup. He’s tipped his hand towards wanting RNH. Still, this omission keeps the door open to him having a negative view of the Nuge. It doesn’t help that this really has been a down year compared to the last one in which he was Edmonton’s best player.
McLellan is hopeful that RNH could be back for the March 12th game against Arizona. That is significantly faster than initially feared. There were even concerns his season could be over. This could mean he still finishes the season with 12 games. And, maybe, the Oilers will be 95% healthy for one of them.
LINEUP
Pat maroon makes his debut with the Oilers with Letestu and Korpikoski. Yakupov stays with McDavid and Eberle. Maybe this time Eberle can learn a little something from Yak in the defensive zone.
Hall Draisaitl Kassian Yak McDavid Eberle Maroon Letestu Korpikoski Hendricks Lander Cracknell
Sekera Fayne Nurse Clendening Pardy Davidson
Talbot
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Please Don’t Break Him Again. Ok. Listen up, Flyers. The last time we let you guys play with McDavid you broke him. He was too good, too fast, and the only thing your talentless blueline could do to stop him was jump on his back and drive his shoulder into the boards. Next time, do the reasonable thing and just give up trying to stop him, like the Sabres did. As for Manning, the man who robbed NHL fans of seeing McDavid for 3 months, he received numerous death threats on social media, as per this Sam Carchidi article. Manning has been made a healthy scratch tonight. Nevertheless, all of the Flyers seem excited to play McDavid again. Let’s hope they just stick to hockey plays this time.
2) Gots To Be Here. Shayne Gostisbehere might have the fakest name in pro-sports since HeHateMe of XFL fame, but he is one heck of a player. He’s having a wonderful rookie season with the Flyers. The 22 year old defenseman has picked up 12-23-35 in just 44 games this year. He is the highest scoring rookie blueliner in the NHL and very deserving of being a Calder candidate (like, 3rd place when McDavid wins it). He averages 19.5 minutes per game and I’m looking forward to seeing the kid play.
3) Big Game Connor. Of late, everybody has started talking about Connor McDavid being a big game player. Someone who rises to the occasion. I can’t deny that things are shaping up that way. When the stage is big, he puts on his best shows. The return from injury game, the debut against the Maple Leafs, against Eichel in Buffalo with his parents watching, he looked like he was shot out of a canon in all those games. Now, against the team that mangled him earlier in the season, what does he have in store? This game matters to the Flyers. It probably matters to McDavid. Let’s see who has the bigger game.
Puck drops tonight at 5PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Game On!
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