Lunch Links: Monday, November 29

Afternoon, folks!

In the spirit of doing my job, I’m going to try and get the links up every day this week. Fingers crossed for all of us!

Czechboy took a look at the Oilers at American Thanksgiving, a date of some significance in terms of the NHL playoff race. Edmonton’s positioned well, but Lowetide wonders whether the roster is built to win sustainably moving forward. I’m not sure we got any clarity in that regard with their big win on Saturday night, either. They were second-best for almost all of it, but won 3-2 and at one point led 3-0. Hockey, bloody hell.

Lowetide’s also got a profile on Bakersfield Condors HC Jay Woodcroft in order to prepare us for his eventual and unceremonious departure from the organization. I’d fire Tippett and promote him, FWIW, but I’m not sure Ken Holland sees it that way.

This just in from Oilers practice:

Somehow, Zack “I don’t belong here” Kassian remains at 1RW. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are still split up, and I’m not sure whose leg Jesse Puljujarvi has to hump to get a dry martini around here. Curious. I suppose one way to really juice the ‘bottom six’ scoring is to throw a first liner down there. Maybe they’ll put McDavid down on L4 to prop them up, too.

(Though, the last two games — which featured both Sceviour and Benson — were the best games by the 4L all year.)

Worth noting, too, that Kris Russell and Tyson Barrie are being billed, unironically, as the top pairing in the year 2021. I’d count that as evidence against their ability to win sustainably, but your mileage may vary. Evan Bouchard appears to have a sideburns problem.

Edmonton’s got a couple more days off before returning to action on Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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PODCAST SZN

Copper & Blue Podcast: The One Where Stuart Skinner Saves Us

It’s not often there is an episode where a player not named McDavid or Draisaitl steals the show, but this is one of them. Newcomer Gerard Murray debuts the pod for his first episode and is joined by Preston and Shona as they talk about Stuart Skinner’s big week in the Oilers crease.

They also delve into a few good games from the Oilers’ third-line and break down some rumours regarding a certain Bruins goaltender who could be up for grabs.

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Would you like to dance? (Copper and Blue)

GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Golden Knights 2 (Copper and Blue)

Chasing goals (Copper and Blue)

Oilers Stave Off Coyotes in 5-3 Victory (Copper and Blue)

Oilers defencemen with the bottom six forwards (Copper and Blue)

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Oilers Quarter-Mark Review: Is Edmonton Really Deeper Up Front? (SN)

Stanley Cup Odds Update: Teams To Buy, Sell In Futures Market (TS)

Woodcroft The Craftsman (LT)

Monday Mailbag – Have Any Of The Kids Played Their Last Game In Bakersfield? (ON)

Edmonton Oil Kings Overcome Slow Start To Defeat Saskatoon Blades (ES)

Edmonton Oilers Putting Killer Instinct To Good Use (ES)

Random Thoughts: Stuart Skinner, Snakebite, Ryan McLeod, And More (ON)

Edmonton Wins And The Nation Parties (ON)

Oilers On Road To Finishing Regular Season Among Elite Eight (ES)

Oilersnation Power Rankings: Week 7 (ON)

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Lowetide: Breaking Down The Oilers Roster After A November Of Many Wins And Many Warning Signs (TA)

Lowetide: The Oilers Won Often In November, But Is Their Roster Built To Keep Winning This Way? (TA)

Nugent-Bowman: What I think and what I know about the Oilers through their first 20 games (TA)

Lowetide: How promising is the Oilers’ Russian prospect pool? What does Ken Holland’s history reveal about timelines? (TA)

Projecting the Oilers roster through 2025: The Oilers might be relatively stable, but will they have the necessary pieces? (TA)