The Edmonton Oilers, this afternoon’s opponent, are a mess.
Despite having a generational talent and the league’s best player along with an apparently unstoppable Alex Chiasson, they sit six points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
And while it’s almost entirely Tobias Rieder’s fault, their inability to surround Connor McDavid with other good hockey players is a big part of it too.
See, the Oilers serve as a cautionary tale for teams pondering the full rebuild approach. They rebuilt for the better part of a decade, had a handful of first overall picks and look at them now! They also serve as a cautionary tale for those that think a deep-pocketed Owner and a shiny new downtown arena can solve all your problems. It turns out a conveniently located rink and infinite resources do very little for a roster full of holes.
Whoever ends up as the GM in Edmonton will have some serious work to do to get this team on the path to being a legitimate Cup contender. Or he’ll just have to get rid of Tobias Rieder, I guess.
The Ottawa Senators are ALSO a mess of course but it’s important that even in our darkest moments, we summon the strength to mock someone other than ourselves. In that sense, this game against our Canadian cousin in dysfunction is quite timely.
Some good news on the injury front as Thomas Chabot and Colin White, who were born on the same damn day, are expected to return to the Ottawa line up. Chris Tierney is good to go too. Cody Ceci is a question mark, much as he has been throughout his NHL career.
No game day skate today but Crawford is expected to confirm his line up just after 2:00 PM. Until then, here is a collection of professional hockey player names listed in close proximity to one another.
Tkachuk-Pageau-Veronneau
Duclair-White-Boedker
Balcers-Tierney-Paajarvi
Smith-Lindberg/Gibbons-Ryan
Chabot-DeMelo
Wolanin-Ceci
Borowiecki/Harpur-Jaros
Hmm I guess Erik Brannstrom is still here too. No idea what Crawford will do with the defence actually.
Craig Anderson, who hasn’t won a hockey game since a week before Christmas, is the likely starter. The league moved puck drop up by a few hours at my request to clear the dance floor for the Belleville Senators.
4:00 PM start today.
The game is available SportsnetWest and TSN5. Bet you could stream it too if you can find a way to fend off 10-15 pop-ups.
The Head2Head table can be accessed by shifting your vision slightly below this particular sentence.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 25-43-6 (56 pts) | 33-34-7 (73 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.95 (T-16th) | 2.80 (20th) |
| Goals Against | 3.70 (31st) | 3.28 (25th) |
| Power Play | 19.5% (15th) | 21.3% (9th) |
| Penalty Kill | 79.0% (24th) | 75.3% (30th) |
| Shots For | 29.8 (24th) | 29.2 (28th) |
| Shots Against | 36.1 (31st) | 31.7 (20th) |
| Leading Scorers | Chabot- 49 pts Tierney- 46 pts Ryan- 38 pts |
McDavid- 107 pts Draisaitl- 94 pts Nugent-Hopkins- 61 pts |
| Starting Goalie | Craig Anderson 14-25-4 3.55 GAA, .902 sv% |
Mikko Koskinen 23-18-4 2.85 GAA, .909 sv% |
