One Month to the Draft...

This is our fearless, fitness-freak coach Dallas Eakins. He is being interviewed by the play-by-play man Mr. Jack Michaels. As you can tell, he is having a hard time holding his disdain in check for this man's physical appearance.

If only hockey games were won by the best hair, best VO2 max test, most chest shown etc....

The Oilers are 4 weeks away from another top 10 selection in the NHL draft. A recap of the previous few years:

2013:  Darnell Nurse (7th overall)

2012:  Nail Yakupov  (1st overall)

2011:  Ryan Nugent Hopkins (1st overall)

2010:  Taylor Hall (1st overall).

2009:  Magnus Paajarvi (10th overall)-> with a 2nd round pick =  David Perron

Despite three first overall selections, the Oilers still find themselves in the top 3 selection in this year's draft. Over the next few days, I will be profiling the top tier talent for the 2014 draft. In no particular order these players are:

Aaron Eklblad

Sam Bennett

Sam Reinhart

Leon Draisaitl

Happy reading Oiler fans!

Calder watch 6/3/2: Landeskog leads

6/3/12: Landeskog starting to tip the Calder Predictor Gauge

I. Summary of the Events 5/3/12

i) RNH: Another frustrating night from the power play perspective. The Oilers got all of 56 seconds of powerplay time and RNH wasn’t on that unit. Nor was Hemsky for that matter. RNH was involved in the second goal but did not collect a point.

Just as the Edmonton media and blogosphere were grumbling about a lack of penalty calls for the Oilers, the new rumblings are directed toward RNH’s 5X5 play. Stauffer admitted today that RNH has been more passive since his return and less tenacious on the forecheck. Time is slipping away for the Nuge!

ii) Henrique: Nil points tonight, but the highlights sure did make him look solid. If you want to see why this guy is a strong Calder contender, look at his power move on the short-handed effort. For a rookie to make a strong push to the net on a solo effort….impressive. That line of Parise-Kovalchuk-Henrique looks very dangerous.

iii) Landeskog: He has a solid frame and the highlights show him using it to good effect against the Wild. Remember his draft year stats? 36 goals in 53 games? The Avalanche rookie certainly has a number of tools at his disposal and looks very, very comfortable in the NHL. Yet another game in which my Calder predictor gauge is pointing in his direction (see below. +23?! Are you kidding me?

iv) Read: Again, he is not showing up in the highlights and his overall results lines are quiet, however he did lead his team in powerplay time tonight (2:30). Can’t blame his icetime for lack of production. The game looked fantastic with the 50 million dollar man making a last second save for the Flyers win.

Review: Tuesday, 6/3/12

Name	Versus	Goals	Assists		Points				+/-				ESP		SHP	PP	Time on Ice
Adam Henrique	Rangers	0	0		0		0				0				0	0	18:33
Gabriel Landeskog	Minnesota	0	2	2		2				1				0		1	19:03
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	San Jose	0	0		0			0				0			0	0	17:45
Matt Read	Detroit	0	0		0		0				0				0	0	18:00
Cody Hodgson	-							Not playing

II) Preview of 7/3/12

Only one rookie of interest playing on 7/3/12 and that is our Calder straggler, Hodgson. The good news, however, is that Carolina is their opponent so he has a chance at some points.

Daily Update: Wednesday 7/3/12

Name	Versus	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-	ESP	SHP	PP	Time on Ice
Adam Henrique				Not playing
Gabriel Landeskog			Not playing
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins				Not playing
Matt Read				Not playing
Cody Hodgson	Carolina

Cumulative Total for 2011/2012

Name	Position	GP	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-	ESP	SHP	PP	P/G
Adam Henrique	C	58	15	28	43	9	29	7	7	0.74
Gabriel Landeskog	L	68	18	25	43	23	30	2	10	0.63
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	C	46	15	24	39	-5	20	0	19	0.85
Matt Read	R	62	18	20	38	11	27	2	9	0.61
Cody Hodgson	C	67	16	17	33	9	23	0	10	0.49

CALDER PREDICTION GAUGE (NEW!)