Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Zach Hyman wasn’t picked for Team Canada, and he took that personally.

Thursday night was his first game back from his injury and he came up with a 2 goal performance. He was even part of a successful coach’s challenge made by the other team, that never happens. On second thought, maybe that’s why he wasn’t picked. Evan Bouchard was also left out, and he put up 2 assists. Stuart Skinner was the third Oilers snub, didn’t play, but has been improving in his starts. Their captain will be the lone Oiler on that trip.

As passionate a hockey city as Edmonton is, I can understand why those three I mentioned were not invited to the Four Nations Tournament. Due to our country’s goaltending situation and being 1 win away from the Stanley Cup last season, Skinner looked like he had a good chance to even be Canada’s #3 goalie. But he started this season inconsistent, Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill have won Cups, and Sam Montembeault has looked miles better while playing behind the 30th place team. I’ve never been Anti-Skinner, I still think there is a future for him with our team, contrary to how a lot of Oilers fans feel about him. But he did play his way out of this opportunity, both feelings can be true. The Bouchard snub is understandable, not all 6 of your defensemen should be an offensive dynamo. Some Oilers analytics have posted charts to show their case for disagreeing with not inviting him. Yes, they are positive stats. But it’s not just how many more or less goals you allow, it’s when you allow them. This season, Bouchard has had many moments of ill-timed giveaways or not skating hard enough on the backcheck(also ill-timed). We don’t know what’s said in these sorts of meetings, but I imagine watching those highlights may’ve turned off the Team Canada brass. I’m not saying every other player is gaffe free all the time, nobody’s perfect. He’s just the most gaffe prone at the worst times. I’ll say that he made a great play on one of Thursday’s Oilers goals to keep the puck in the offensive zone. That aligns with the good version of Bouchard. The not-so-good version needs more finetuning. Just like Skinner, I don’t hate Bouchard and want him to be an Oiler for a long time. They may have an Olympics future ahead of them eventually, and that’s when I’ll want them wearing the red and white maple leaf.

As for Hyman, I think at least he should be in the tournament and might’ve been were it not for his injury. You may’ve heard this perspective a lot, he’s to Connor McDavid what Kris Kunitz was to Sidney Crosby. I know he started the season slow, but that wasn’t because he was invisible. He was still doing good things even if the puck wasn’t going in. He’s a quintessential intangibles type of player. That being said, things can change. If someone who was picked gets injured(not that you wish it), Hyman might still be on Team Canada’s shortlist, provided his stats go up in the next couple of months. He could absolutely still be a choice for the Olympics in 2026 if the NHL is going there, I forget if they are. Congrats to the players who did make the cut, but let’s just focus more on the NHL games. Let’s build off a nice win. The keys to the game are…

Show ‘Em: I JUST said, focus more on the NHL games. But playing against Colton Parayko and Jordan Binnington, who will be on Team Canada, perhaps Bouchard and Skinner will feel some motivation to up their game a tad. They’re going to be professional and say there’s no hard feelings. But nobody loves feeling left out, just ask Hyman the other night.

Blueline Blues: St. Louis has Justin Faulk, Nick Leddy and Torey Krug all on their list of injuries. That’s half their group of 6. They’re not stars, but they are good and it’s a lot of career games out of their lineup. Edmonton needs to throw almost everything at a banged up defense.

Familiar Faces: Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway together join the long list of young Oilers players to be under developed within the franchise and maybe find success elsewhere. Before their offer sheets were signed in the summer, Edmonton’s management obviously had trouble trying to re-sign them both to cheaper deals. Broberg always looked like he wanted to leave, as he wasn’t getting enough opportunities before the latter half of the 2024 Playoffs. With Holloway, there may’ve just been miscommunication on both sides. Dylan has 16 points in 27 games on his new team’s top 6. Broberg has 12 points in 15 games, recently coming back from an injury and playing top pairing minutes. What are the chances they score or have a big game against their former team? Don’t make them repeat bleak Oilers history.