As far as first impressions go, it is next to impossible to not like what we have seen from Patrick Maroon during his first two games as a member of the Edmonton Oilers. In the span of just over 24 hours, the hulking American winger made his presence felt both from a physical standpoint and on the scoresheet. Outside of getting tagged with a ridiculous uppercut during an energetic tilt with Columbus Blue Jackets heavyweight Jared Boll, not much has gone wrong for the former Anaheim Ducks winger since arriving in the Alberta capital.
As much as the NHL would love to see a rivalry form between Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel over the next decade, there is an extremely good chance that nothing of the sort will ever materialize. Contrary to popular belief, the reason hockey fans will not be treated to another “Sidney Crosby vs Alexander Ovechkin” styled showdown over the foreseeable has little to do with the fact the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers play in different conferences…and everything to do with how good a player No. 97 is going to be.
So what gives? While it has yet to be made official it appears as though Hockey Canada has decided to leave Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban off their list of 16 players they will announce as locks to represent Team Canada at this summer’s much-anticipated World Cup of Hockey. Sorry but with all due respect to general manager Doug Armstrong and the rest of Canada’s brain trust, not including the flamboyant and absurdly talented rearguard on that list would be an absolute farce.
While yesterday’s NHL Trade Deadline failed to deliver the punch hockey fans across North America were hoping for, it was still a very interesting day in the world of the Edmonton Oilers. After moving his only two real trading chips in Teddy Purcell and Justin Schultz over the weekend, chances were pretty good that Peter Chiarelli would do nothing more than a bit of tweaking to his roster prior to the 1 p.m. local cutoff.
As anyone who follows the game of hockey knows, today is all about the NHLTrade Deadline and seeing what potential future pieces teams are willing to part with in order to take a run at winning the Stanley Cup or just making the playoffs. That is not the case in Edmonton, where the Oilers are focused and tomorrow and Peter Chiarelli did some nice work in signing defenceman Brandon Davidson and Laurent Brossoit to multi-year extensions.
Of all the Edmonton Oilers trade rumours that have bounced around social media over the past few months, the one which seemed most plausible involved Jordan Eberle and Anaheim Ducks defenceman Sami Vatanen. While no one should have been expecting such a move to happen prior to the NHLTrade Deadline, the opportunity for a potential swap did appear to make sense for both sides. Though upon further examination, that may not necessarily be the case.
It appears as though Peter Chiarelli has decided to take the lead of some of his counterparts and get a jump-start on next week’s NHL Trade Deadline. After sending backup netminder Anders Nilsson to the St. Louis Blues earlier Saturday for a prospect and pick, the first year general manager wasted little time in moving what was arguably his only two real trading chips in forward Teddy Purcell and defenceman Justin Schultz.
