Author: Stephen Vani

Oilers fan in Toronto. Staying up past my bedtime for Western games since the mid 2000s.

Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Before I criticize the team for doing an impression of last season, I’m going to congratulate a couple of milestones that were reached this past weekend. Saturday night was Brett Kulak’s 500th NHL game. That same night, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recorded his 700th NHL point. And don’t forget Jeff Skinner scoring his first goal on his […]

Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

This is the first Battle Of Alberta since the sudden passing of former Flames star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew in a car-on-bike collision. It’s not a key to the game, but how can it not cross your mind? It’s normal for Edmonton and Calgary fans to throw friendly jabs at each other, but […]

Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Oilers fans on Twitter jumping into paranoia after only the first game of the season? It’s good to be back. My apologies to fans who attended that game, I’d guess you’d rather have spent the money on something else. Look at it this way, the Oilers allowed eight goals in last year’s season opener and […]

Edmonton Oilers Game 1 Thoughts

Was Edmonton’s preseason bad? Yeah. Am I concerned? Not really. We’re talking about practice. During the Decade Of Darkness, the Oilers sometimes had much better preseasons than regular seasons. Jack Campbell was pretty good in last year’s preseason and a lot of us thought that meant he’d have a bounce back year. Spoiler alert, he […]

Raphael Lavoie Claimed Off Waivers

On Monday afternoon, it was announced that forward prospect Raphael Lavoie got claimed off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers by the Vegas Golden Knights. The 24-year-old, drafted 38th overall in 2019 by Edmonton, had 131 points in 202 games with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. Before that, his junior career was even better. 227 points through […]

2024-25 Edmonton Oilers Expectations

There is a famous old joke told by comedian Jerry Seinfeld that was about silver medals in the Olympics. His punchline was, “Congratulations, you almost won.” For fans of the Edmonton Oilers, it was absolutely worth celebrating during the summer how far the team got last season and how close they were to winning it all. […]

Opinion: My Projection For The Oilers Defense Pairings

On paper, this group of six on the backend looks slightly worse than it did a year ago. After Philip Broberg’s showing in Rounds 3 and 4 last season, I was hopeful that he’d change his feelings about staying with the Oilers. The offer sheet signed with the St. Louis Blues proved my hope wrong. […]

Jasper Weatherby Signs PTO With Edmonton Oilers

Another day, another PTO. On Thursday morning, the Edmonton Oilers signed forward Jasper Weatherby to a professional tryout. The 26-year-old center was a 4th-round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks. He played 50 NHL games for them in the 2021/2022 season and put up 11 points. In 161 AHL games, he has 57 points. […]

Mike Hoffman Signs PTO In Edmonton

On Wednesday morning, the Edmonton Oilers signed forward Mike Hoffman to a professional tryout. It’s their second PTO in less than a week after the one they signed Travis Dermott to. The 34-year-old left winger has played in 745 NHL games and has scored 487 points, 228 of which are goals. Earlier in his career, […]

Projected Oilers Forward Lines

Every once in a while, an Oilers fan on Twitter will retweet Edmonton’s lineup from the 2018/2019 season. We can laugh at it now, but this roster has come a long way from what we used to sit through. The mouths of every fan in Oil Country got watery after July 1st. An already elite […]