Oil Spills: A Podcast On The Edmonton Oilers

With Andrej Sekera lost for a few months after tearing his Achilles tendon this summer, the Edmonton Oilershave signed free-agent defenceman Jakub Jerabek to fill his spot — at least at training camp, where the NHL team will see ho stands out and deserves that sixth spot on the blue line. Prospects Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones and the oilers’ most-recent first-round pick, Evan Bouchard, will also likely be in the mix. Is adding Jerabek the right move? Podcast host Craig Ellingson talks to Edmonton Journal an Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s officially been summer going on two months now, but almost 10,000 people packed the lower bowl of Edmonton’s Rogers Place this past week for an international hockey tournament featuring a bounty of 17-year-old top prospects. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup, under a variety of names including the Air Canada Pacific Cup, the Nations Cup and the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, is a major pre-season showcase of under-18 prospects. A big question surrounding the tournament was whether fans would turn up in the Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we enter what·s typically a quiet period of the year for the Edmonton Oilers and the NHL · it is summer, after all · we are coming off recent news of the team signing their first-round pick last month, Evan Bouchard, to a three-year entry level contract. As has been the case with the franchise particularly over the last dozen years, such high picks have been getting long looks at training camp and in exhibition and have seen NHL playing time right away. Can we expect Bouchard to get the same kind of l Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s still one major fish for the Edmonton Oilers to sign, and that’s restricted free agent Darnell Nurse, the defenceman who has shown much promise on the back end and who could very well blossom into a top-pairing NHL blueliner. But right now, the Oilers aren’t in a position to sign Nurse to a long-term deal, so look for them to come to terms on a bridge contract — something shorter-term, like two years, and worth say 3 to 4 million per season. And what else can the Oilers do to add to their li Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Derek Van Diest talks to Edmonton Oilers beat reporters Jim Matheson and Rob Tychkowski about the NHL’s free agency period, which starts Sunday, July 1, 2018. Not that Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli is licking his chops, pen and chequebook in hand, to give out some fat contracts this time around. No, the Oilers will be looking way, way down the list of available free agents in search of forward depth, to the likes of Kyle Brodziak, Jason Chimera and Tobias Rieder — all former Oilers, as it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Derek Van Diest talks to Edmonton Oilers beat reporters Jim Matheson and Rob Tychkowski about the Edmonton Oilers at this year's NHL Draft in Dallas, particuarly what the team should do with their first-round, 10th overall draft pick. Should they keep it or trade it? If they keep it, what sort of player should they target? They also talk about the possibility of the Oilers trading forward Milan Lucic, who is coming off a disappointing season with plenty of time left on his expensive contract. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Derek Van Diest talks to Edmonton Oilers beat reporters Jim Matheson and Rob Tychkowski about the Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL expansion team that is in the Stanley Cup final in its first year of play against the Washington Capitals. They talk about the construction of the Golden Knights roster, how the team’s success might change the way other teams assemble theirs and how they look at salary structures, and about the entertaining home-ice production at Las vegas’s T-Mobile Arena. The trio also t Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Edmonton Oilers signed Swedish defenceman Joel Persson, who played for the Vaxjo Lakers in the Swedish Elite League last season. Will Persson help the Oilers in their quest for an offensive, puck-moving right-shot defenceman, or will he be another European who struggles to make an impact at the NHL level? The Oilers have gone down this road before with the likes of Yohann Auvitu, Anton Belov and Philip Larsen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hockey writers Jim Matheson and Robert Tychkowski talk to sports editor Craig Ellingson about the biggest news this week in Oilersland, the signing of Mikko Koskinen, a Finnish goalie who has spent the past six years in the KHL and who will be 30 years old by the time training camp rolls around in September. Who is the guy and why sign him to be the backup to push starter Cam Talbot? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No. 1 overall. Could it happen to the Edmonton Oilers again? Yes it could. Three years ago, the Oilers won the 2015 NHL draft lottery with 11.5% odds of gaining the right to choose Connor McDavid first overall. This year, the Oilers head into the 2018 lottery holding the ninth overall pick. They have a five per cent chance of winning the first overall pick, and shots at moving up to second or third overall — or dropping back to 10th, 11th or 12th. If the Oilers win one of the lotteries, they will certainl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Questions about the Edmonton Oilers’ coaching staff linger following season-ending media conferences held by the team’s brass. Head coach Todd McLellan and his staff weren’t declared safe in their jobs — not that anyone thought they were given the Oilers finished well back of the NHL playoff pack this year after last year’s promising campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The end of the Edmonton Oilers’ season is here and the questions that have been dogging the team all season remain. Why did the Oilers stumble this year and finish almost 30 points behind last season and out of the playoffs? Is this season or last season’s run into the post-season an anomaly? Is this the most disappointing season in the Oilers’ NHL history? Should anyone be fired as a result? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jim Matheson talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about Connor McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers captain who has been scoring at a torrid rate for more than a month, averaging almost two points a game in the month of March alone, and has vaulted into the NHL scoring lead. But how far should that scoring prowess, among his other qualities as a leader, teammate and ultra-skilled hockey player take him when it comes to voting for the league's most-valuable player award, the Hart Trophy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beat writer Rob Tychkowski talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about streaky Edmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl, and why he's been hot and cold on the NHL scoring charts all season. For stretches, Draisaitl can score a point or better each game. That would be followed by strings of games in which he fails to put up any points. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hockey writers Jim Matheson and Derek Van Diest talk to sports editor Craig Ellingson about the unclear course ahead for Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli when it comes to making decisions on personnel this coming off-season — namely who to trade and who to keep and develop in the wake of Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion’s attendance at two recent Oilers games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jim Matheson talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about the Edmonton Oilers playing out the string on the rest of the 2017-18 NHL season, with the team out of the playoff picture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Oilers beat writers Jim Matheson and Rob Tychkowski join host Trevor Robb to discuss the moves Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli made prior to Monday’s NHL Trade Deadline and this period of evaluation the team has now entered as they wind down the season — a season that will not involve a trip to the playoffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special edition of Oil Spills at this year's NHL trade deadline: Host Paul Chapman talks with Postmedia hockey writers Jim Matheson, Ed Willes and Michael Traikos about the upcoming NHL trade deadline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hockey writers Jim Matheson and Derek Van Diest talk to sports editor Craig Ellingson about the trading landscape ahead for the Edmonton Oilers, who are effectively out of the National Hockey League playoff race. Before the summer hits, there's the upcoming NHL trade deadline on Feb. 26, which will almost certainly see Oilers forwards Patrick Maroon and Mark Letestu, both set to become unrestricted free agents in July, peddled to other teams. But it's not as though the Oilers don't need such players — tak Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hockey writer Robert Tychkowski talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about what is looking to be the final stretch of meaningful games for the Edmonton Oilers as, while they have been playing better lately, the NHL team can't move up the standings in the quest for a playoff spot. With the NHL trade deadline less than three weeks away, the team will have to make decisions on who they might trade to best manage assets, moves that would effective signal the season, as far as chasing the post-season is concer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices