To begin, I wanted to offer condolences to Podkolzin as his father passed away Tuesday night suddenly. He is taking time to be with his family, and I sincerly hope they can take this time to be together and support each other. I can't imagine going through something like this and my heart goes out to him and his family.
Moving on to the pre-season, so far the Oilers have played two game and one split squad game, here are my quick takeaways:
Matthew Savoie: While he does not have any points thus far, the skill and smarts are there. I really think he should make the team. If the Oilers want to keep McDavid, they need to play the kids and give them a chance to shine.
Quinn Hutson: I'll be honest, I have not wattched a lot of Quinn Hutson hockey before this pre-season, but I like what I see. Not the flashiest guy out there but he's smart and goes into the right areas. He gives me the feel at times of my favorite player ever Ryan Smyrth.
Isaac Howard: He's showing how dangerous he can be and scored a nice goal vs the Jets. Great shot and he looks to be reading it well out there. I'm not sure about Howad. I'd really love to see him in the NHL, but an AHL season is probably best so he can get his body used to playing more games vs pro hoackey players while logging big minutes.
Noah Philp: I really love this player and I thought he should have stayed with the Oilers last year after McDavid came back. He has underaated smarts out there and I get the feeling he can thrive in whatever role he has. I would for sure have him in the lineup opening night.
David Tomášek: Overall, I like his play thus far. Not much to talk about in terms of scoring, but he appears engaged and needs time to show what he can bring. He had a good game in the face off dot. I would have in on the team come opening night.
The First Line
The last thing I want to discuss is having McDavid and Draisaitl on the same line. I've said all summer they need to have them on seperate lines, and to that I hold. They need two good scoring lines to win consistently. Keep Nuge with Connor, and put whoever on his wing untill Hyman comes back. Get Draisaitl going with Mangiapane. The Panthers really exposed the Oilers reliance on loading up the first line as the others lines seemed disjointed from consistently being blended. It's like Riker's obsession to splitting to saucer in the first few seasons of Star Trek:The Next Generation (this is a far reference I know, sorry kids)
Stop doing it all the time!
Build a collective culture in your team, stop having them always look to the big boys to save them. The rest of the players need to beleive they can help the team win and feel that belief from the coaching staff. It always seems Connor and Leon are the Deux Ex Machina to all their problems. This needs to stop if they want to win a cup. Long term, I don't like this mentaltiy.