Latest news with #Edmonton Oilers
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
The Party Lives On: Celebrating Artūrs Šilovs' Time With The Canucks
Winning the first Bronze medal in Latvian hockey history. Taking a superpowered Edmonton Oilers team to seven games in the Division Finals. Backstopping his team to their first Calder Cup in franchise history. Making five shutouts in 24 playoff games, three of which came in series-clinchers. While Artūrs Šilovs' journey with the Vancouver Canucks has seemingly ended as of his trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins, there is no shortage of the impact his clutchness has had on the Canucks organization.
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What role will Oilers defenceman Jake Walman play next season?
Acquiring defenceman Jake Walman was an underrated move made by the Edmonton Oilers at the trade deadline. The veteran was a strong plug-and-play replacement for the injured Mattias Ekholm. He was an enormous help on the run to the postseason in March and April, and his contract expires in the summer of 2026. Advertisement As fans contemplate next year, there appears to be a logjam on the left side of the defence. A decade ago, the Oilers had such a large percentage of left-handers on defence that many called it the Leftorium. The current depth chart isn't that unbalanced, but there are too many qualified veterans to run every game on the left side in Edmonton. What's the solution? Walman should be higher on the depth chart. Here's why. When Walman arrived, Ekholm was injured, and the new hire played a feature role. Here are the five-on-five minutes versus elites per game by Edmonton's defence from the deadline to the end of the regular season. All numbers five-on-five, via Puck IQ Ekholm barely played down the stretch, but did average over six minutes per game versus elites for Edmonton leading up to the trade deadline. After his arrival, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch used Walman heavily versus elites, with Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak joining him in heavy minutes against elites. Those three defenders, along with right-hander Evan Bouchard, formed the top-four defence for Edmonton during Ekholm's absence. How did he perform? Walman delivered 50 percent Dangerous Fenwick (similar to expected goals) in those tough minutes against elites. He was especially effective with Nurse (70 percent DFF in 16 minutes) but struggled paired with Bouchard (44 percent Fenwick in 37 minutes). Both samples are far too small to be reliable, but do tell us Walman was playing in the important moments of the game, and played well with Nurse in a minute sample. If we expand the ice time to include all five-on-five minutes against each level of competition, we get a clearer view of Walman's time with the Oilers. All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick Walman's time on ice ranked No. 4 among Edmonton's starters at five-on-five. That's second pair, but with Ekholm on the shelf for 75 percent of the schedule down the stretch. How much would Walman have played with a healthy Ekholm? That answer probably comes next regular season, when both men (plus Nurse and Kulak) should be healthy and ready to play. Advertisement Based purely on numbers, Walman and Nurse were the only two players inside the top four listed here who delivered at over 50 percent in goal share and expected goal share. There's at least some bad luck in these numbers for Bouchard and Kulak, but Walman's performance shines in this look. All but Ekholm played over 200 minutes between the deadline and the end of the season, so these numbers are more reliable. Kulak is the outlier here; those are tough results across all opponents at five-on-five. He was also the left-handed defenceman most often deployed on his off-side, and that may contribute to the coaching decision in the fall. Kulak may not be the ideal option for right-side duty on the second pairing, a spot in the depth chart he often filled last season. It's possible Walman is a smarter bet on the right side. The most recent look at Knoblauch's defensive deployment came during the postseason. Injuries and slumps in performance had an impact on decisions, but it's worth looking at the spring pairings before projecting next season's defensive combinations. All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick This is a revealing look at the process Knoblauch and his staff were going through during the playoffs. Walman found real success with John Klingberg, a puck-moving defender with passing flair. The tandem didn't spend as much time defending as other duos, because the puck was being passed out of the zone, tape-to-tape. At the other end of the spectrum, Nurse struggled with three separate partners during the postseason. His 96 minutes with Bouchard earned a better outscoring rate based on expected goals, but the gap between regular-season goal share (53 percent, 55 expected) and playoff run (47 percent actual and expected) suggests Nurse was playing too much and needed a partner with excellent passing ability. Advertisement Walman, with Klingberg and Bouchard, shone like a diamond. His regular season five-on-five goal share (62 percent, 56 expected) was a prelude to his impressive playoff run (54 percent share, 56 percent expected). Walman was a big part of Edmonton's successful playoff spring. The Oilers deployed Nurse for 444 minutes (five-on-five) during the playoffs; Walman played 369 minutes in the game state. Matchups were part of the reason — the coaching staff clearly trusted Nurse more than Walman, Ekholm or Kulak — but in the clear light of day, that decision is open to question. During the pivotal Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, Knoblauch ran Nurse with Kulak for 17 five-on-five minutes (0-1 goals), Bouchard with a less than healthy Ekholm for 16 minutes (0-1 goals), and Walman and Klingberg for 15 minutes (1-0 goals). That's basically rolling three pairings close to equally. However, there was mounting evidence of three five-on-five developments: Hindsight is 20/20, and the 2025 final is long over and put to bed. For the purposes of our conversation, where should Walman play in the fall? Much will depend on Ekholm's health. If he's 100 percent, the quality of Ekholm and Bouchard together (62 percent goals, 60 percent expected over the last three regular seasons) dictates that they should be the top pairing. Beyond that, Walman should be used as a key player on the second pairing. The numbers suggest there's a possibly dynamite second pairing on the roster. Here are the with and without you numbers from the regular season for the potential second pairing. All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick Experts say 106 minutes is just past halfway to a reliable total (200 minutes is the standard), but the strength of these numbers — and the absence of a strong right-handed shooting defender for the second pairing make the Nurse-Walman pairing plausible. Walman on the right side, Kulak left side, third pair. Advertisement The Oilers organization is on record as being pleased with the team's defence next season. Management made small moves on the blue line this summer, with the idea of returning the entire group in the fall. Pushing Walman up the depth chart, and fading Nurse's minutes (especially when away from Walman) are key tweaks that need to be considered for 2025-26.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Olympic figure skating champion Pelletier joins NHL's Stars as assistant coach
DALLAS — Former figure skating star David Pelletier is getting his first shot at being an NHL assistant coach. The Dallas Stars announced Friday that Pelletier is joining new head coach Glen Gulutzan's staff. Advertisement The 50-year-old from Sayabec, Que., had been a skating coach with the Edmonton Oilers for the last 11 years. Pelletier joined the Oilers after a decorated figure skating career that included a gold medal in pairs with partner Jamie Salé at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. In what became one of the biggest stories of those Games, Pelletier and Salé finished behind Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. But when a French judge admitted she'd been pressured by her federation to favour the Russians, it ignited a controversy. Pelletier and Salé were later elevated to the top of the podium alongside Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. Pelletier and Salé also won a world title and three Canadian championships over their career and shared the Lou Marsh Trophy (now Northern Star Award) as top Canadian athlete in 2001. Advertisement Pelletier joins Alain Nasreddine (assistant coach), Neil Graham (assistant coach), Jeff Reese (goaltending coach), Patrick Dolan (head video coach) and Chris Demczuk (assistant video coach) on Gulutzan's staff. Gulutzan, who spent the past seven seasons as an assistant with Edmonton, was named head coach of the Stars on July 1. He replaced Peter DeBoer, who was fired after the Stars lost to Edmonton in the Western Conference final for the second straight year. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025. The Canadian Press
