Oilers v. Jets - Leviticus 16:7-10

So MacTavish will take two goaltenders and set them before God. He will then roll dice to see which is to be preferred. The one the dice choose will be called on one to serve the team, while the other will be cast off into the wilderness. The first one will start game after game so that the players' future mistakes might be redeemed; the other will be sent away, clinging to his dying career, carrying the past sins of the team with him into the wilderness so that they might be forgotten.

Edmonton Oilers @ Winnipeg Jets

MTS Centre, 12:00 p.m. MST
Television: CBC

Visiting Team Scouting Report: The Winnipeg Jets recently decided to fire their coach and hire a veteran hand in his place. The Jets aren't anywhere close to a playoff spot, but they have gone 2-0 since the coaching change. More importantly, the team's general manager isn't (just) trying to find scapegoat. He's also willing to point at the players ("we believe that we are underachieving") and take responsibility himself ("this is not without responsibility on my side"). An organization that holds everyone accountable is definitely a good first step towards improvement.

Expected Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers (15-30-5):

Hall - Nugent-Hopkins - Gagner
Yakupov - Arcobello - Eberle
Perron - Gordon - Hendricks
Joensuu - Smyth - Jones

Ference - J Schultz
Marincin - Petry
Belov - N Schultz

Scrivens

Winnipeg Jets (21-23-5):

Ladd - Little - Frolik
Setoguchi - Jokinen - Byfuglien
Thorburn - Scheifele - Wheeler
Wright - O'Dell - Peluso

Bogosian - Enstrom
Stuart - Trouba
Pardy - Ellerby

Pavelec

By The Numbers:

• Ryan Martindale was traded to Florida yesterday for 29-year-old AHLer Steve Pinizzotto in what is a very good transaction for Martindale (I can only assume the Panthers acquired him because they think he's a prospect). Martindale topped out at #15 in our Top 25 Under 25 in July of 2011. He was coming off a very good "Draft +1 Season" with the Ottawa 67's that summer (88 points in 69 games), and turned pro for 2011-12. Sadly, he didn't bring his offense with him, scoring just 17 points in 39 career ECHL games and 26 points in 81 career AHL games.
  
• Every year before the trade deadline, I look over the list of players with terrible PDO numbers to see which relatively strong players might be undervalued by their teams. Dusting Byfuglien (87.3 on-ice save + 7.7 on-ice shooting = 95.0) is one such player this season, and I sure do hope that Craig MacTavish is asking about him. Other players I'd at least be kicking tires on with brutal PDO numbers: Mika Zibanejad (96.9), Jason Spezza (96.8), Dmitry Kulikov (96.7), Seth Jones (95.8) Brock Nelson (95.7), and Roman Josi (95.3). Also worth remembering: Sam Gagner (94.7) and Nail Yakupov (93.0)
  
• So the Edmonton Oilers may not win 30 games this year. Is that something Dallas Eakins can survive? Yes and no. Since the start of the 2005-06 season (when ties were abolished), 16 teams have had seasons where they won less than 30 games:

• Nine of the sixteen coaches who started the season with Team Lose survived to start the next season, but (in what is also bad news for Barry Trotz) none of them were able to finish two more seasons and just one has been able to find an NHL head coaching job since being dismissed.