Hot Links: Thursday, January 2

Morning, folks! Happy New Year!

Took the Eve and the Day off, so let’s get back at it with the first edition of Hot Links for 2020!

The Oilers open up a five-game road trip tonight in Buffalo, with Connor McDavid and Co. set to duel with Jack Eichel and the Sabres tonight at 5PM.

Still a surprisingly low amount of information coming from the organization and their lackeys about the severity of Oscar Klefbom’s foot injury. That can’t be good. Not one bit. Currently fourth in the league per ATOI, Klefbom will be missed. With Matt Benning on the shelf indefinitely and it now looking like they’ll have to run Darnell Nurse for 30 minutes per, the Oilers’ defensive depth will be tested. Usually, when Klefbom’s out, the Oilers are too, so his absence will likely define the season one way or another.

Last time out, the Oilers almost blew a 6-0 lead en route to winning 7-5 in what was almost the perfect bookend to the worst decade in team history.

With 2019 in the books, we took a look at said decade, while others took the opportunity to look back at the year that was for the Edmonton Oilers. (It was also not good.)

Elliotte Friedman reported that the Oilers are afraid of dealing their draft picks in order to improve the team which, once again, begs the question: Why did they hire Ken Holland?

Get read, get fed, and get back here for our typical GAMEDAY coverage with our PREVIEW, THREAD, and RECAP coming later on.

From Us

The Oilers Decade of Destruction! (Copper and Blue)

GAME RECAP: Oilers 7, Rangers 5. (Copper and Blue)

Special teams tracking (Copper and Blue)

From Elsewhere

Edmonton Oilers Game Day: Five-Game Road Trip Starts In Buffalo (Sun)

Klefbom Hurt Against The Rangers But How Bad Is It? (Sun)

Hats Off To James Neal Who Likes To Score Three (Sun)

Edmonton Oilers In Calendar 2019: Two Elite Scorers & A Whole Lot Of Meh (Journal)

2020 (Oilersnation)

Ten Predictions For The Oilers In 2020 (Oilers Rig)

Friedman: The Oilers Are Wary Of Trading Draft Picks (Oilersnation)

Standing On The Shoreline (First Day Of 2020) (Lowetide)

So… What Did We Expect? (Oilersnation)

For Money

Lowetide: A Shift-By-Shift Analysis Of Kailer Yamamoto’s 2019-20 Debut In The Oilers’ New Year’s Eve Game (Athletic)

The Athletic’s NHL Power Rankings: How do the teams stack up with the trade deadline approaching (Athletic)