09/01/12 Oilers Versus: Calgary Flames

The Oilers and Flames faced off six times in 2011-12. How did the Oilers fare against their provincial rivals?

07/08/12 What Would It Take To Get JayBo?

According to The Fourth Period, the Oilers are believed to be one of five teams who have inquired about Jay Bouwmeester's availability. In many ways Bouwmeester would be a good fit for the Oilers, but what would Edmonton have to give their arch rivals to get it done?

03/25/12 Odds & Ends: Calgary, Standings, Dubnyk

Sunday's win over Columbus brings the Oilers up to 31 wins on the season, and extends a streak over the last 11 games which has seen them go 6-2-3. The implications of this run are many, but are they a harbinger of things to come? Time will tell. For now, however, improved play from the Oilers means the following:

- The Oilers have caught up to the Minnesota Wild in wins on the season and they have 26 Regulation or Overtime Wins (ROW) to the Wild's 23. The Oilers have played one more game than Minny has, but when the Wild were on top of the Conference they had 20 wins to the Oilers' 14, and Edmonton was sitting in 13th place. The Wild are 3-7-0 in their last ten games, and if things continue this way it's a good bet that they'll finish behind the Oilers.

- Speaking of finishing behind the Oilers, the Calgary Flames could still be a candidate for that if it wasn't for the loser point. The Flames have lost five straight after a five game win streak, and now sit with 34 wins on the season - just three more than the Oilers have collected. Even if the Flames finish a few wins ahead of the Oilers, that has to be viewed as an unacceptable result for Flames fans that were guaranteed playoffs before the season. The Oilers will have a tough time catching the Flames in the standings thanks to Calgary having 6 more points from OT/Shootout losses, but the win column is still within striking distance.

The Flames get the Stars, Kings, Avalanche, Ducks and Canucks twice in their final six; and all of those teams save the Ducks should be highly motivated. The Oilers get the Kings and Ducks twice, along with the Stars and Canucks. Not an easy game in the bunch for Edmonton, but the team has been playing much better lately and they might surprise one or two of those teams.

If the Oilers can take a record of 3-2-1 out of those last six games it would give them a record of 9-4-4 in their last 17. That's actually better than the way their started the season, when the went 9-6-2 in their first 17.

- A big reason for the reemergence of the Oilers is the play of Devan Dubnyk. Dubnyk has won 9 of his last 13 starts and he's owned a 0.933 Sv% over that time. On the whole, his save percentage is sitting at 0.914 on the season. Make no mistake: that's starting goalie territory. Of goalies who have played 40 or more games this season, Dubnyk's save percentage ranks 17th right now. Some notables below him in that category include Antti Niemi, Craig Anderson, Jonas Hiller, Cam Ward, Ilya Bryzgalov and Martin Brodeur. Of course, this doesn't mean that Dubnyk is a lock to be a starting goaltender in the future, but the indications are that he is giving his team as much of a chance to win as these other goalies; many of whom are backstopping far superior groups. At one time I found Dubnyk to be the most disappointing Oiler of 2011-12, and now he's become one of their strengths.

- With two assists on Sunday afternoon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has re-taken the rookie scoring lead in the NHL with 49 points in 56 games. Gabriel Landeskog went on a bit of a tear recently and yet his 48 points have come in 77 games with Colorado. It's been said before and deserves to be said again: if Nugent-Hopkins hadn't been injured there would be no debate about rookie of the year honors. It may not factor into the final decision in Calder voting, but Landeskog was thought to be the most NHL-ready prospect available at the draft, while Nugent-Hopkins wasn't even supposed to make the Oilers in the eyes of many. His performance speaks for itself.

- The Oilers are within 4 or fewer points of the Wild, Islanders, Leafs, Ducks, Hurricanes and Lightning in league standings right now. If a few of those teams fall off and the Oilers continue to roll, they could find themselves on the outside of the NHL Draft Lottery. Time will tell if that's a good thing or bad thing, but it may reduce the conflict about drafting a defenseman this year. Start getting familiar with names like Reinhart, Murray, Dumba, Trouba, Rielly, and Ceci, because they could all be in the conversation from 3-10 overall.

03/12/12 Why You Think You Want Calgary to Rebuild

You hear it all the time now. "The Flames need to rebuild." It has gotten so bad that even Oilers fans are spending time talking about it with conviction. But here's a thought:

You, Oilers fan, don't actually want the Flames to rebuild. Not one bit.

Is it longing for a more competitive era between the two rivals that has Oilers fans thinking of ways to fix the Flames? Is it wanting Calgary to have a taste of Edmonton's pain? Temporary insanity, perhaps? Could it be a product having been in exactly the same position that Calgary fans are in? That is, watching a bubble team year after year with impact prospects being few and far between. It could be all of those things (insanity included), but the main reason is something else entirely. Being copied is the purest form of flattery; especially when it's a rival stealing your idea.

The Oilers and their fans have absolutely no guarantees that the course the team has taken will lead to a quality NHL team. There are some positive signs and some truly elite pieces in Edmonton now, but the team is still in 29th place. For the Flames to follow the Oilers down this sometimes horrifying pit of suck would be a signal to Calgary fans - and fans all across the league - that what the Oilers are doing is the right thing.

That's it. That's all. Oilers fans don't actually want the Flames to follow their lead because that might result in some fantastic young talent landing in Cowtown. As much as there are no guarantees that what the Oilers are doing will turn out, it's possibly worse to be guaranteed of mediocrity. That's something that fans in Edmonton are all too familiar with, and it closely resembled the current situation down highway 2.

Of course, some of the best hockey in the world took place between two very good Alberta teams back in the 80's, and it wouldn't hurt the game to have that back. There may be a small voice in all Alberta hockey fans with that exact message. But deep down fans from these two cities can't help but cheer for the worst for each other. Admit it: there was a small part of you that didn't mind losing to the Sharks on Monday night because that would make it tougher for the Flames to make the playoffs. And in turn, Flames fans hope that all of Edmonton's high draft picks will only result in the Atlanta Thrashers of the West and not the West's Pittsburgh Penguins. Like any good rivals, we don't have each other's best interests at heart.

You may think that it's painfully obvious that it's time for the Flames to rebuild (and from where I'm sitting they are fast approaching that time, if they haven't arrived there already), but no Oilers fans really want the Flames to fix themselves by any method. Don't feel too bad though. Flames fans are undoubtedly enjoying the Oilers being at the bottom of the league for a third straight year and out of the playoffs for six. It's in our nature.

02/22/12 The Rivalry

That felt good, didn't it? It's hard to believe that the last time the Oilers beat Calgary was the first game of last season when Eberle scored The Goal. Despite the difference between the two in Tuesday's game and over the past two seasons, they aren't so far apart.

The Flames have had one heck of a run in the month of February, with a 5-0-3 record coming into Tuesday's action. Over those eight games Calgary scored just 20 goals (2.5 per game, which would be 22nd in the NHL) and scored 3 powerplay goals on 26 opportunities (11.5%). How on earth were they winning? Miikka Kiprusoff sported a 0.947 Sv% during those eight games. Oilers fans are familiar with a winning streak stemming from unsustainably high goaltending performance, and know that there is a gap between results and the actual quality of the team during that time.

The Flames have now been outshot in all but one of their games in the month of February (and 8 straight), and if Kiprusoff doesn't stand on his head, his team doesn't have a realistic chance to win. Kiprusoff had a 0.933 Sv% in 2003-04 when the Flames went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, but that was over a span of just 38 games. 0.947 is not a sustainable level of performance, just like Khabibulin's early season performance wasn't.

With 2.66 Goals For per Game the Flames are 26th in the NHL. The Oilers are 15th in that regard. Calgary is 12th in Goals Against per Game at 2.62, while the Oilers are 24th at 2.95. Two teams at opposite ends of the spectrum; both good at one end and bad at the other.

Both teams are near the bottom of the league in Shots per Game, and in the bottom-third in Shots Against per Game. Calgary is 30th in team faceoff percentage and the Oilers are 26th. The 5x5 Goals For/Against Ratio of the two teams are virtually dead even at 0.88 (Calgary) and 0.87 (Edmonton). Less than one percent separates the PK% of the two, but the Oilers are superior on the powerplay at 21% while Calgary is sitting at 16.8%.

The Oilers are 29th in the NHL, while the Flames are fighting for a playoff spot, but that's somewhat surprising given how little separates Alberta's teams. With equal goaltending it's not a stretch to say that Edmonton and Calgary would both be in lottery position.

It may sound ridiculous given how much Kiprusoff means to Calgary's success, but now would be the time to trade him. He's playing some of the best hockey of his career, and there are teams out there (Tampa Bay and Columbus come to mind) that may be willing to give up a lot in exchange for Kipper that could actually help turn the Flames around in the long term. Of course that won't happen, and Oilers fans are happier for it.

There was a time when little separated the Oilers and Flames because both teams were the elite of the NHL, but things are on the other side of that coin now. Without major changes in Calgary, is it out of the question to think the Oilers will pass them next year?