Oil Spills: Tuesday Links - The Month of McDavid

About the Oilers

Connor McDavid Is The NHL's Rookie Of The Month For October -- The Copper & Blue
The least surprising news of the day.

Taylor Hall Named Third Star of the Week -- The Copper & Blue
Two goals and five assists in three games is a pretty good week in the NHL.

#Oilers have activated defenceman @GriffinReinhart from IR.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 2, 2015

Is it too soon to panic about Edmonton Oilers’ goaltending? - Bruce McCurdy -- Cult of Hockey
It’s been all of 12½ months since I wrote a column with an identical title, in that case including the coda "recent history suggests no, it isn’t". So here we are early in another new season, and once again the Edmonton Oilers’ results are in the dumpster in large part due to a poor defensive record.

Finally, some actual organizational depth - Jason Gregor -- OilersNation
It has taken a decade but for the first time since 2006, it is beginning to look like the Oilers have some actual, useful organizational depth.

Putting Out an Oilers Tire Fire - Zach Laing -- Beer League Heros
The season is young, and the sample size is small but it is apparent that the tire fire known as the Edmonton Oilers defence needs to get put out.

Catch Us Now, We're Falling - Alex Thomas -- The Oilers Rig
One month ago the season began with that warm and fuzzy feeling known as hope. About 30 days and a 4-8-0 record later, you can feel that fuzzy feeling fade away for the usual cold, hard and helpless feeling of reality. It’s starting to settle in again in Oil Country.

It’s time to send more Edmonton Oilers veterans to the AHL - David Staples -- Cult of Hockey
Unless they start playing better, the Oilers might be better with veterans Purcell & Fayne in AHL

Oilers’ Brandon Davidson shooting for more offence -- Edmonton Journal
It had been years since Brandon Davidson had taken the time to just shoot pucks: one after another after another, until he worked his way through at least 300.

Around the NHL

You gotta have heart: Defining hockey's intangibles -- Toronto Star
"You can’t mark (an intangible) on a grade of 1-to-10 with any accuracy," analyst Ray Ferraro says. "It’s all subjective."

Taxes and the NHL -- Spectors Hockey
Last month, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (in conjunction with Americans for Tax Reform) released a report called "Major Penalty for High Taxes", claiming 60 percent of this year’s UFAs and players who waived their no-trade clause chose destinations with lower taxes.

The NHL’s concussion issues -- TSN
Are concussions occurring more often than past years? It is impossible to say. The NHL does not release injury information and only compels general managers to designate whether an injury is of the "upper" or "lower" body variety. We’ve been forced to take Gary Bettman at his word when he says concussions are either up or down at occasional press conferences.

The end of Grantland, plus some of my favorite posts -- Down Goes Brown
So by now you’ve probably heard the news: Grantland is no more.

Phil Kessel deserved better than the Maple Leafs -- Pension Plan Puppets
For six years, management failed Phil Kessel. Saturday night it was the fans' turn.

High-flying Dallas Stars succeeding by playing two-way game -- ESPN
There are still times when the Dallas Stars treat their own zone like it's a house on fire. But the key so far this season is that those instances happen less often, a key point of emphasis before the season and a major reason they carried a 9-2-0 record into Monday night's game with the Toronto Maple Leafs.