Meet the Blogger: Reed

Hello Oiler Fanatics,

If you are reading this then you are very much like myself a hockey crazy content consumer. I, like many of you, was born into my Oilers fandom but I grew up on Weight, Arnott, Smyth and Cujo unlike my father who was lucky enough to witness the dynasty years. I am a sucker for the blue and copper and what I wouldn’t pay to see the Oilers bring back the McFarlane jersey. As I sit here and type I look around and see my walls covered in current and former Oilers, from Connor McDavid to Tommy Salo. My most frequented site is CapFriendly and I may or may not have spent a summer spamming the Oilers email accounts with trade suggestions (to no avail).

1. Favorite Oilers memory? As fondly as witnessing and nearly fainting when Bill Daly flipped the Golden Ticket that landed the Oilers Connor McDavid was that memory doesn’t top my list. Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, my brother and I were fortunate enough to be there, and despite being rather young and naive I knew that was the greatest moment of my Oilers fandom. We left that place without voices and certain hearing loss but to be there in that moment I wouldn’t trade it for anything. In writers terms Game 6 was the climactic moment of my fandom and its been steadily down hill ever since.
2. 2021/2022 Breakout Oiler? Dmitri Samorukov is the player I see who could stand to impact this Oilers roster most for the upcoming season. While Holloway and Mcloed are good candidates I see the Top 6 Depth of the Oilers FWD group, baring injury, as a tough group to crack and therefore tough group to impact. Whereas, with the Oilers LHD there is a case to be made that the 3rd spot is up for grabs between Samorukov, Broberg, Russell and Koekkoek. Samorukov is a big defender, who has had a mixed bag of results at different levels from impressive OHL offensive numbers, weak AHL numbers and strong KHL defensive numbers. The most recent results, coming from the KHL, lead me to believe he could land that 3rd pair LHD spot in a PK and shut-down role. Aside from the new addition Ceci the Oilers are lacking when it comes to shut-down style defenders. If he doesn’t make the team out of camp my guess is he the is first call up.
3. Flex the dog? If Derek Ryan can’t solidify the 3C position perhaps the Oil should give Flex a shot there as we’ve struggled to find the solution there for years. However like most Oilers fans I am hopeful they’ve found the answer for 3C in Ryan so Flex may find herself in a management role. In fact I would like to see her barking orders, we need a manager who doesn’t just roll over…
4. Can the Oilers win a Playoff series this season? Sadly I don’t know  however there is reason to hope. 97 & 29 are another year older and wiser, the Oilers forwards are deeper and there appears to be complementary players waiting in the minors (Holloway, Benson & Marody). That being said they didn’t improve their goaltending (which was their undoing in the Chicago series), the defense got older and I’m not entirely sure it got better. Of course Keith could prove to be the defensive leader we’ve been missing and Ceci could fill the void left by Adam Larsson and that group would be an improvement over last (but those are big “if’s”). For me Edmonton needs to address their goaltending, the rest of the pieces are there and as you know anything can happen when a team catches fire (did anyone outside of MTL see the Canadiens making the finals). The teams first round pick will surely be in play and I fully expect KH to be a buyer, so with that Yes I do feel like Edmonton can win a playoff series this year.
5. Tippett Stache? Yes, Ja, Si, Oui, Sim, Evet, Tak, Ya, Da ……. or to put it bluntly “what is he waiting for?”