Trevor Neufeld: Battle of Alberta Game Day — Cuts Made

First suck it long and hard 1230.

Thanks for the blog Trevor, I find it interesting how the Oilers are paying $9.25M for Nurse a year (according to cap central on hockey buzz). I think of T.J Brodie making $5M a year and I think he's a better D man. I don't see how Nurse is worth that much it is crazy!

First suck it long and hard 1230.
- wreckage

I see you are off your meds again.

Red Wings writer coming?

Red Wings writer coming?
- mcmastermike1968

Please keep your Pornhub searches to yourself.

Went to the game and some things really jumped out.
Valimaki is done... Everytime he was on, he was very noticeable and in the worst way possible. He was all over the place, bad passes, getting bodied, bad positioning. He did make 1 good play breaking up a scoring chance, but 90% of the time he was a huge liability.
He started on the 2nd pair with Stone... On the PP he directly led to the short handed goal against. Thankfully Sutter took him off and gave Mackey his spot with Stone and boy Mackey was by far one of the best dmen tonight. He looks ready.

Milano won't be signed. Slow, lazy, cherry picking. Loses puck battles and cruises back hoping someone gets the puck back to feed him instead of helping the back check. Yes our team was out manned, but he showed no ability to rise above and contribute offensively.

Huberdeau looked good playing with 2 dead weights. I live Ruzicka, but he didn't have his best game (Toffoli still doesn't seem to be first line material) . Was nice to see Sutter trusting and testing Hubby even on the PK.
He wasn't afriad to throw the body and get physical which was nice to see.

Hanafin and Andersson were as expected. Legit top pair. Andersson drove to the net multiple times and provided the offense that our forwards were lacking most of the night.

I don't think we should sign Eakin. He's meh to me. Rooney was fine and seems like he'll be good on the PK but Zary looks better. Younger, faster.

Dube also played well. Definitely seems stronger and thirsty.

The biggest surprise was Mitch Mclain... Never knew who this was but he was buzzing and a pest. Laid a big hit and forced Nurse into 2 bad fights. As a 4th liner if you're able to take their top D out for coincidentals is a win... Getting a power play on top even better. I can't believe he drew Nurse to 2 bad fights in a freaking preseason game lol

Finally easily the best player of the game was Vladar. So steady and stole the show. I hope Sutter trusts him with more games this year

Watched the game on the Oilers website. Michael's was overly critical of a few guys, but Vladar was the best player of the game. Was obvious McDavid was playing his first game in a long while. Made some plays look like they were gonna be highlight reel before he lost it. Don't recall any wow plays out of the flames, but not surprising considering it was a preseason road game and many of their top guys weren't there. Esposito looked good for the Oil in stretches but nothing mind blowing like comrie in their decade and he blew the doors off preseason. Oil definitely owned the game and should have won by much more. But Vladar held the door and it's just preseason.

No one stood to far out positively on either team IMO. Meloche is probably cut after that game. he looked stuck in mud and reaching to me. Not sure if he has done better in prior games. Vali had no rhyme or reason to his game. Killington made some nice rushes that resulted in nothing. Plays seemed to end on Toffoli's stick.

Pujli seemed to be around the play all the time, but never did anything but end it offensively. Yamo did the same thing he always does. Esposito seemed like he wanted a 2 way contract not just an AHL one. Murray and Bouchard seemed good. Broberg looked lost.

Overall seemed like a lost preseason game aside from Nurse and McLain in 2 meh fights. Wondering What McLain did to trigger Kane on the 2nd fight.

Thanks for the great reads! Well done!


Whoever scouted Vladar deserves a shoutout. I remember thinking that he was the real deal the very first game he played. Hopefully, Sutter isn't stubborn and Markstrom's ego doesn't get in way of him playing at least 25 games this year, especially against Edmonton. Imo, he'd be a legit #1 on a few teams.

[quote=wreckage]Watched the game on the Oilers website. Michael's was overly critical of a few guys, but Vladar was the best player of the game. Was obvious McDavid was playing his first game in a long while. Made some plays look like they were gonna be highlight reel before he lost it. Don't recall any wow plays out of the flames, but not surprising considering it was a preseason road game and many of their top guys weren't there. Esposito looked good for the Oil in stretches but nothing mind blowing like comrie in their decade and he blew the doors off preseason. Oil definitely owned the game and should have won by much more. But Vladar held the door and it's just preseason.

. Killington made some nice rushes that resulted in nothing. *** Kyllington didnt play. I think it was Andersen that you saw making those rushes, which he likes to do.

Good observations for an Oiler fan lol

Went to the game and some things really jumped out.
Valimaki is done... Everytime he was on, he was very noticeable and in the worst way possible. He was all over the place, bad passes, getting bodied, bad positioning. He did make 1 good play breaking up a scoring chance, but 90% of the time he was a huge liability.
He started on the 2nd pair with Stone... On the PP he directly led to the short handed goal against. Thankfully Sutter took him off and gave Mackey his spot with Stone and boy Mackey was by far one of the best dmen tonight. He looks ready.

Milano won't be signed. Slow, lazy, cherry picking. Loses puck battles and cruises back hoping someone gets the puck back to feed him instead of helping the back check. Yes our team was out manned, but he showed no ability to rise above and contribute offensively.

Huberdeau looked good playing with 2 dead weights. I live Ruzicka, but he didn't have his best game (Toffoli still doesn't seem to be first line material) . Was nice to see Sutter trusting and testing Hubby even on the PK.
He wasn't afriad to throw the body and get physical which was nice to see.

Hanafin and Andersson were as expected. Legit top pair. Andersson drove to the net multiple times and provided the offense that our forwards were lacking most of the night.

I don't think we should sign Eakin. He's meh to me. Rooney was fine and seems like he'll be good on the PK but Zary looks better. Younger, faster.

Dube also played well. Definitely seems stronger and thirsty.

The biggest surprise was Mitch Mclain... Never knew who this was but he was buzzing and a pest. Laid a big hit and forced Nurse into 2 bad fights. As a 4th liner if you're able to take their top D out for coincidentals is a win... Getting a power play on top even better. I can't believe he drew Nurse to 2 bad fights in a freaking preseason game lol

Finally easily the best player of the game was Vladar. So steady and stole the show. I hope Sutter trusts him with more games this year
- cpltanto

Totally agree valimaki and the flames would be better off apart and yes makie is 100% ready

[quote=wreckage]Watched the game on the Oilers website. Michael's was overly critical of a few guys, but Vladar was the best player of the game. Was obvious McDavid was playing his first game in a long while. Made some plays look like they were gonna be highlight reel before he lost it. Don't recall any wow plays out of the flames, but not surprising considering it was a preseason road game and many of their top guys weren't there. Esposito looked good for the Oil in stretches but nothing mind blowing like comrie in their decade and he blew the doors off preseason. Oil definitely owned the game and should have won by much more. But Vladar held the door and it's just preseason.

. Killington made some nice rushes that resulted in nothing. *** Kyllington didnt play. I think it was Andersen that you saw making those rushes, which he likes to do.

Good observations for an Oiler fan lol
- Kevin R

Correct sorry.

Sorry guys! At a life celebration out in Tofield today. A couple solid write ups in here. I will say it’s surprising that Darryl didn’t have more positive remarks about Mitch McLain. Just griped about giving up a power play.

Taking the opposition’s best defenceman out of the game for such a substantial amount of time is pretty huge.

Very rough game for Valimaki. Maybe a coach like St. Louis could get him relaxed and enjoying the game again.

Vladar looked excellent once again.

33% on faceoffs for Ruzicka isn’t going to cut it. He’s been struggling in that area this preseason.

First suck it long and hard 1230.
- wreckage

Don't forget KY-Man. Lube it up baby and take a long hard suck.

Don't forget KY-Man. Lube it up baby and take a long hard suck.
- LordHumungous

Nice post there Mr Janitor, wash your hands before you eat.

Nice post there Mr Janitor, wash your hands before you eat.

- K-man25

Awwww...poor KY...lack of lube got you down?