News and Blog Report: Training camp & Preseason News & Notes

[ChaoticOrange]

Hoffman is released ..

Not shocked. Didn't really bring an element we needed as a PP specialist at this stage in his career and he moves like his skates were tied together and then coated in glue.

 

[McDNicks17]

How exactly is Janmark an upgrade over Ryan as 4C?
Call him small, old, slow but Ryan will just continue to work his ass off. The coach knows it, the players know it.. Ryan is as valuable as Brown, Janmark and Henrique in our bottom 6 if not more.

I'm a huge Ryan fan, but I just don't think he's a guy that can play every night at his age.

Janmark on the 4th line would let you rotate through some combination of Pod-Ryan/Janmark-Perry/Ryan/Janmark.

 

[Spawn]

I'm a huge Ryan fan, but I just don't think he's a guy that can play every night at his age.

Janmark on the 4th line would let you rotate through some combination of Pod-Ryan/Janmark-Perry/Ryan/Janmark.

I like Ryan too, but I agree with you. He's not an every day player anymore. He was virtually unplayable last playoffs.

 

[Zalos]

Question for Oilers fans. How likely is it for Nuge to repeat his 100pts season while playing on McDavid's wing? My brain can't compute how he went from 104 points to 67 points last year. It seems like this mostly had to do with that incredible PP in 2022-2023, but still. You'd think he could at least do PPG next to McDavid.

What happened last year? And do you think Skinner could end up stealing his spot on the first line?

 

[McDNicks17]

Question for Oilers fans. How likely is it for Nuge to repeat his 100pts season while playing on McDavid's wing? My brain can't compute how he went from 104 points to 67 points last year. It seems like this mostly had to do with that incredible PP in 2022-2023, but still. You'd think he could at least do PPG next to McDavid.

What happened last year? And do you think Skinner could end up stealing his spot on the first line?

The PP was crazy that year. Basically everyone on the unit doubled their career high in PP points.

Last year Nuge basically matched his career average in 5v5 and PP scoring. I'd expect more of the same this year.

 

[FlameChampion]

Question for Oilers fans. How likely is it for Nuge to repeat his 100pts season while playing on McDavid's wing? My brain can't compute how he went from 104 points to 67 points last year. It seems like this mostly had to do with that incredible PP in 2022-2023, but still. You'd think he could at least do PPG next to McDavid.

What happened last year? And do you think Skinner could end up stealing his spot on the first line?

The 100 points is an outlier. I think he can be better offensively than he was last year but expecting more than 70-80 points is probably too much. He just isn’t a great 5 on 5 offensive player.

I like Ryan too, but I agree with you. He's not an every day player anymore. He was virtually unplayable last playoffs.

I like Ryan too but as others have said. Hes not an everyday player. Hes a useful player but losing or not playing younger players who seem to be ready seems short sighted to me …

 

[jukon]

Any word on what the heck Beau Akey is actually doing here? The kid lasted longer than SOR who was actually playing games and doing pretty well. If we send SOR back to junior, why is Akey still here?

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Question for Oilers fans. How likely is it for Nuge to repeat his 100pts season while playing on McDavid's wing? My brain can't compute how he went from 104 points to 67 points last year. It seems like this mostly had to do with that incredible PP in 2022-2023, but still. You'd think he could at least do PPG next to McDavid.

What happened last year? And do you think Skinner could end up stealing his spot on the first line?

The big outlier was Nuge's career high in goals with 37 that included 12 mid-range goals (NHL 94 percentile) on 14% shooting (NHL 74 percentile). His PP goals were outsized as well with 15. Not sustainable results.

This past season his total goals dropped to 18 while his mid-range goal scoring went down to 5 (NHL 72 percentile) on 7.9% shooting (NHL below 50 percentile). His shooting percentage went from 14% to 9.8%, the fourth lowest of his career. His PP goals dropped to 4. Another weird quirk is that Nuge's average shooting speed dropped from 41.75 MPH to 29.08 MPH this past season. Yet his playoff average shot speed jumped to 54.21 MPH. Have to wonder if he might have been banged up this past regular season with such a significant drop in average shot speed.

Nuge's strength on Line 1 is his sure handedness and defensive responsibility in support of McDavid and Hyman's net front game. Same for the PP where his role is to move the puck smartly and efficiently often as the '4th assist' with McDavid driving the play and finishing options including Draisaitl, Hyman and Bouchard.

Nugent Hopkin's value is in the substantive deep and diverse elements of his 200 foot game. His production is more closer normalized around the 60 to 80 point range. A solid smart PP1 point/flank distributor he puts the puck where it needs to go most often even when it doesn't net out in personal counting points. I'd be very surprised if they swapped Nuge out for another shot option in Skinner who is average defensively.

Nugent Hopkin's impact is often in the goal suppression work required to win games.

 

[McShogun99]

The PP was crazy that year. Basically everyone on the unit doubled their career high in PP points.

Last year Nuge basically matched his career average in 5v5 and PP scoring. I'd expect more of the same this year.

It probably helped that Mcdavid almost had 160 points that year.

 

[Zalos]

The big outlier was Nuge's career high in goals with 37 that included 12 mid-range goals (NHL 94 percentile) on 14% shooting (NHL 74 percentile). His PP goals were outsized as well with 15. Not sustainable results.

This past season his total goals dropped to 18 while his mid-range goal scoring went down to 5 (NHL 72 percentile) on 7.9% shooting (NHL below 50 percentile). His shooting percentage went from 14% to 9.8%, the fourth lowest of his career. His PP goals dropped to 4. Another weird quirk is that Nuge's average shooting speed dropped from 41.75 MPH to 29.08 MPH this past season. Yet his playoff average shot speed jumped to 54.21 MPH. Have to wonder if he might have been banged up this past regular season with such a significant drop in average shot speed.

Nuge's strength on Line 1 is his sure handedness and defensive responsibility in support of McDavid and Hyman's net front game. Same for the PP where his role is to move the puck smartly and efficiently often as the '4th assist' with McDavid driving the play and finishing options including Draisaitl, Hyman and Bouchard.

Nugent Hopkin's value is in the substantive deep and diverse elements of his 200 foot game. His production is more closer normalized around the 60 to 80 point range. A solid smart PP1 point/flank distributor he puts the puck where it needs to go most often even when it doesn't net out in personal counting points. I'd be very surprised if they swapped Nuge out for another shot option in Skinner who is average defensively.

Nugent Hopkin's impact is often in the goal suppression work required to win games.

Damn, thank you for this deeper analysis of Nugent-Hopkins's last two years. Very helpful!

 

[belair]

Any word on what the heck Beau Akey is actually doing here? The kid lasted longer than SOR who was actually playing games and doing pretty well. If we send SOR back to junior, why is Akey still here?

He's hurt.

 

[blueper]

I haven't been following other teams training camps but for anyone that has how has ex-Oilers, Holloway, Broberg, Bourgault and Campbell looked so far?

StL coming in peace. Broberg hasn't stood out good or bad. He will most likely start out on the 2nd pairing with Faulk. Holloway has looked good, but he will start out playing on what the Blues hope will be a defensive shut down line centered by Faksa. Joseph will be on the other wing. Holloway has 3 goals in 2 games (one was a fluke), one was on the power play (he won't start on the first unit), the other was in OT. I've watched a lot of practices. His speed and wrister are impressive. Good on the forecheck. He has a higher floor than Broberg from what I've seen.

 

[ConnorNova0929]

Long dragging pre season is almost over. Let's see those cuts