2023 Calder Trophy Finalists Announced
This week, the NHL is revealing the finalists for its end-of-season awards. On Wednesday, the Calder Trophy was front and center. The league revealed that the finalists for its top rookie are Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, Sabres defenseman Owen Power, and Kraken center Matthew Beniers. The award is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Skinner came into this season as the presumptive backup behind Jack Campbell, Edmonton’s big summer signing to help shore up their goaltending. However, it didn’t take long for him to start pushing for playing time, eventually taking over as the starter. That helped him earn an All-Star nod midseason. Skinner led all rookie netminders in victories with 29 and games played with 50 while ranking second among qualifying rookies (who had at least 25 GP) with a 2.75 and a .914 SV%. While his playoff performance doesn’t count in voting which is done at the end of the season, he has started all six games for the Oilers who kick off their second-round series tonight against Vegas. He’s looking to become the first goalie to win the award since Steve Mason did so in 2008-09.
Power, the first-overall selection in 2021, got his feet wet in the NHL down the stretch last season but 2022-23 was his first full NHL campaign. It was an impressive one for the 20-year-old as he led all freshman rearguards in scoring with 35 points in 79 games. Power also logged nearly 24 minutes a night, ranking him second on the team behind Rasmus Dahlin and inside the top 20 league-wide among all players, not just rookies. Buffalo’s last winner of the Calder Trophy was defenseman Tyler Myers back in 2009-10.
As for Beniers, he was the second-overall pick in 2022 and followed the same path as Power, playing late last season but seeing his first full NHL campaign in 2022-23. The 20-year-old led all rookies in scoring with 24 goals and 33 assists in 80 games while ranking fourth among first-year forwards in ATOI at just over 17 minutes a night. Beniers only recorded one penalty all season, making him just the fourth player in NHL history to play in at least 80 games and have two penalty minutes or fewer. He’ll be looking to become the first player from an expansion franchise to win the Calder Trophy within his team’s first two seasons since Peter Stastny (Quebec) won back in 1980-81.
The winner of the award will be revealed at the NHL Awards ceremony on June 26th. Meanwhile, the finalists for the Norris Trophy are up next to be announced on Thursday.
PHR Playoff Primer: Vegas Golden Knights vs Edmonton Oilers
With the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs now underway, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We continue our Second Round coverage with the Pacific Division matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.
Not much separated the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers in the regular season. Both teams battled to the very end to determine the winner of the Pacific Division, with Vegas finally emerging and finishing just two points ahead of their division rival.
Though they ended up at the top of the division, it was not an easy ride for either team this season. The Golden Knights had to overcome many significant injuries, including Robin Lehner, their starting goaltender, missing the entire season, Mark Stone, an exceptional two-way winger missing the second half of the season and top defenseman Shea Theodore missing significant time in the middle of the season with injury as well.
The Oilers didn’t have the same injury troubles, though Evander Kane missed half the season after having his wrist cut by a skate blade. Their adversity was more about past issues coming back to haunt them. Those issues were goaltending problems as Jack Campbell struggled all season after signing a five-year contract with a $5MM cap hit. The defense seemed to be a bit too offensive minded as well and were not able to shut things down well enough to be a serious Stanley Cup contender.
Regular Season Performance
Vegas: 51-22-9, 111 points, +43 goal differential
Florida: 50-23-9, 109 points, +65 goal differential
Head-To-Head
November 19, 2022: Edmonton 4, Vegas 3 (OT)
January 14, 2023: Edmonton 4, Vegas 3
March 25, 2023: Vegas 4, Edmonton 3 (OT)
March 28, 2023: Edmonton 7, Vegas 4
Edmonton takes season series 3-0-1
Team Storylines
The Oilers seemed to flip a switch at the trade deadline and put all those past defensive issues in the rearview mirror. There were two main reasons for this team finally looking like a sound defensive team as well as an elite offensive team instead of a one-dimensional squad that we have seen in the past.
First, they acquired Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline and he immediately became their best defensive defenseman as well as their top defender on the penalty kill. He eats up a ton of minutes and plays against the other teams best players while putting up points and ensuring the opposition stays off the scoresheet.
Secondly, the Oilers finally started to rely more on goaltender Stuart Skinner late in the season instead of Campbell. While Campbell’s contract would suggest he is their top guy, Skinner played extremely well down the stretch, starting 16 of the team’s final 21 games and posting a 2.43 GAA and a .920 SV%.
Skinner didn’t quite continue that performance in round one against the Los Angeles Kings as he posted a GAA near 3.50 as well as a .890 SV%. He is going to need to be closer to his regular season numbers if the Oilers want to advance to the Western Conference Final for the second consecutive season.
Also, the Oilers are an offensive juggernaut, but they leaned pretty heavily on just three players in their six game round one win. Connor McDavid has ten points, as did young defenseman Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl led the team with 11 points. However, no one else on the team had more than four points in the opening round. That’s not horrible, especially since Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kane, Klim Kostin and Ekholm all had four points, but having a forward other than Draisaitl and McDavid score a point-per-game pace would give the Oilers incredible scoring depth.
It won’t be easy to score at will against the Golden Knights who lost their opening game of the postseason but then eliminated the Winnipeg Jets with four straight victories. They may not have an elite scorer like McDavid or Draisaitl, but they have incredible scoring depth that allowed them to quickly dispose of the Jets.
Chandler Stephenson and Stone led the way with eight points each in five games while William Karlsson, Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo all had five points in the series. Add in Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Theodore and Ivan Barbashev and the Golden Knights have scorers up and down their lineup as well as on their blue line.
The Golden Knights will lean on Laurent Brossoit in goal, giving each team a starter with very little playoff experience. Brossoit was solid against his former team, the Jets, in round one posting a .915 SV% and being good enough to outduel Connor Hellebuyck in the other end.
Prediction
Both teams have some inexperience in goal, and the ability to score almost at will. The Oilers have the top end guys while the Golden Knights have plenty of scoring depth, but putting pucks in the net will not be an issue in this series.
It should be a long series, but the defensive depth on the Golden Knights blue line may be the determining factor. Having to face Theodore, Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb will give the Oilers depth players little chance to score while limiting their top guns just enough to outlast them in a long, back and forth series. In the end, home ice advantage in that last game may prove to be the difference.
Prediction: Golden Knights win in seven games.
Mattias Janmark A Possibility For Game Six
- As the Edmonton Oilers look to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings during Game Six, they may be receiving an offensive reinforcement. Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic reports that Mattias Janmark may be back to help the Oilers clinch the series. This morning at practice, Janmark was seen skating on a line with teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He has already played in one game this series, picking up one assist.
[SOURCE LINK]
Edmonton Oilers Recall Trio Of Players
Per a team release, the Edmonton Oilers have added some depth to their playoff roster. With their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Oilers are free to call up as many extras as they wish. They have chosen to recall defenseman Markus Niemelainen, defenseman Cam Dineen and forward Brad Malone to join the NHL club as depth options for the Oilers as they continue their playoff quest.
Niemelainen is a big, physical, defensive defenseman at 6-foot-6 who played 23 NHL games this season. He was a third-round pick of the Oilers in 2016 and has 43 career NHL games of experience. He played 30 AHL games with Bakersfield this season, scoring seven points while filling a shutdown defensive role for the team.
Dineen was a third-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in the 2016 NHL Draft and was acquired by the Oilers with Nick Bjugstad at the trade deadline. More of an offensive defenseman, the 24 year old scored six goals and 47 points in 69 AHL games this season, but did not appear in any NHL contests in 2022-23. He did suit up for 34 games with the Coyotes in 2021-22, chipping in seven points but showing some defensive deficiencies as well.
Malone is a 33-year-old veteran forward who has 217 games of NHL experience. He played ten games with the Oilers this season and had 21 points in 41 AHL games with the Condors. Malone is a big winger at 6-foot-2 and 217 pounds and plays a phsyical style that could come in handy on a fourth line if a few injuries occur down the line for the Oilers.
Chances are this trio of players make up the infamous “black aces” group for the Oilers as they skate and practice with the team during the postseason but are unlikely to play any games. You never know what can happen with injuries and illness in a long playoff run so teams keep a handful of extra players around just in case, and Niemelainen, Dineed and Malone are that insurance policy for the Oilers.
Ethan De Jong Signs AHL Contract
Another player from the National Championship-winning Quinnipiac University has found his way to a guaranteed contract, as forward Ethan De Jong has signed a 2-year deal with the Bakersfield Condors, an AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers. An undrafted free agent, De Jong’s contract in Bakersfield will begin during the 2023-24 AHL season.
Over his five-season career playing for the Quinnipiac University Bobcats, De Jong played in 184 regular season matchups, scoring 61 goals and 83 assists. In his last season in Quinnipiac, De Jong scored 19 goals and 21 assists in 41 games, finishing third on the team in total scoring.
During this year’s Frozen Four, the young forward would score one goal and two assists to help his team clinch the NCAA DI Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship. The only goal he had during the playoffs came during the team’s clutch semifinal victory against the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Although the Condors managed to make the playoffs this season, the team was bounced in the first round by the Abbotsford Canucks. DeJong should help with some of Bakersfield’s weak points this season, as he has shown a knack for goal-scoring in the final two years of his time with Quinnipiac. The Condors finished this season as one of the better defensive teams in the AHL, finishing 12th in the league in goals against. However, they did not show the same prowess on the offensive side of the puck, finishing 24th in goals scored.
Edmonton Oilers Have Recalled Goaltender Calvin Pickard
In a curious move the Edmonton Oilers recalled veteran goaltender Calvin Pickard from the Bakersfield Condors. The move was announced this morning by the Oilers; however, the team hasn’t commented on any reason for it. Stuart Skinner took most of the starts for Edmonton during the regular season and playoffs, however he was pulled in game four after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Jack Campbell came in to replace Skinner and performed admirably as he backstopped the Oilers to a comeback win to pull even with the Los Angeles Kings at two games each.
Pickard didn’t see any game action this season with Edmonton and has only played in 36 NHL games in the past six seasons. The former second round pick was once viewed as the goaltender of the future for the Colorado Avalanche after posting a save percentage over .920 in his first two NHL seasons. However, since those initial seasons Pickard hasn’t posted a single season with a save percentage above .900 and has bounced back and forth between the AHL and the NHL.
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, is said by the Oilers about Pickard’s recall. The Oilers did practice this morning, with Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer observing that Stuart Skinner was in the starters net and TSN has reported that Skinner will indeed start game five. The debate amongst Edmonton fans since game four has been about who to start in net for game five after Campbell stood on his head stopping 27 of 28 shots. Campbell was expected to be the starter for the Oilers coming into this season but lost the net as he struggled with a .888 save percentage in just 36 games. Skinner jumped on the opportunity to start and posted a .913 save percentage in 50 games.
Oilers Call Up Dylan Holloway, Olivier Rodrigue
In preparation for tonight’s Game Four between the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers, Mark Spector of Sportsnet reports that the Oilers have recalled forward Dylan Holloway and goaltender Olivier Rodrigue from their AHL affiliate Bakersfield Condors.
Due to the undisclosed injury to forward Mattias Janmark, Holloway could find himself in the lineup tonight if Janmark is expected to miss a second straight game. If Holloway does find his way into the lineup, it will be the first NHL playoff game of his career.
In his rookie season, Holloway, unfortunately, did not impress as much as the Oilers may have liked him too. In 51 games for Edmonton this season, Holloway posted three goals and six assists. He did achieve a positive Corsi For % of 54.2, but averaging just a touch over nine minutes a night, Holloway never really got that much of an opportunity for the Oilers this season. He was sent down to the AHL on February 17th, but injured himself for one month, getting cleared to return on March 15th.
In his first full season in the AHL, Rodrigue posted a solid season, going 14-14-1 in 29 games played, carrying a SV% of .912 and a GAA of 2.77. As both regular goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell should be ready to play for Edmonton tonight, Rodrigue will likely be serving as the emergency backup goaltender for the Oilers.
Oilers To Make Black Ace Recalls On Sunday
- The Oilers are expected to announce their ‘Black Ace’ recalls on Sunday, suggests Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link). AHL Bakersfield was eliminated from the playoffs last night by Abbotsford. As a result, Edmonton can recall as many players as they want with forward Dylan Holloway likely to be the headliner. With Mattias Janmark out of the lineup, it’s possible that Holloway could get into their series against Los Angeles at some point.
Mattias Janmark Could Miss Game 2
- Edmonton Oilers winger Mattias Janmark could miss Game 2 against the Los Angeles Kings tonight after blocking a shot off his right foot Monday, TSN’s Jason Gregor reports. Janmark did not participate in this morning’s practice and was seen limping after the Oilers’ Game 1 overtime loss. Gregor expects the Oilers to dress seven defensemen tonight with Janmark absent, meaning youngster Philip Broberg could make his second career playoff appearance. Janmark did register an assist in Game 1.
Edmonton Oilers Re-Sign Cam Dineen
The Edmonton Oilers have re-signed defenseman Cam Dineen to a one-year deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $210,000 in the minors, with $250,000 guaranteed, PuckPedia reports.
Dineen, a 24-year-old left-handed defenseman, was acquired by the Oilers in a March trade with the Arizona Coyotes that sent center Nick Bjugstad to Arizona. He was a third-round pick of the Coyotes in the 2016 NHL Draft.
He split last season between Arizona’s and Edmonton’s AHL affiliates, the Tucson Roadrunners and Bakersfield Condors. In 69 games with the Roadrunners and Condors last season, Dineen tallied 11 goals and 36 assists for 47 points. He also recorded seven assists in 34 NHL games with Arizona in 2021-22.
Dineen was eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency this offseason. Group VI unrestricted free agents are players who are 25 years old or older and have played in three or more professional seasons but have played fewer than 80 NHL games. Dineen is 24 but will have his 25th birthday before June 30, the deadline for Group VI free agency.
The Oilers’ decision to re-sign Dineen is a low-risk move, as they have secured a young defenseman with some remaining upside on an affordable contract. Dineen will likely begin the season in the AHL but has shown himself to be a decent call-up option after back-to-back strong offensive performances in the minors if injuries affect the Oilers’ defense corps next season.
Dineen’s offensive output in the AHL is promising, but he will need to round out his defensive game if he hopes to become a regular in the NHL. At 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, Dineen is not the biggest defenseman, but he has good mobility and is an effective puck-mover.