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Chapter 1: What key NHL topics does Frank Seravalli discuss?
Hey, it's Bob Stauffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. All right, it's 4.34 in oil country. Welcome back. By the way, just before we went to break, the young gun, Aiden Ganim, yeah, he did NHL today for Elite Promotional Marketing. Your local branded merchandise specialist, head to ElitePromoMarketing.com.
Momentarily, we're going to go to Frank's Air Valley, but not before I tell you that The guests and orders now receive gift certificates to Japanese Village. It's a true celebration for the census, quality ingredients, and an unmatched grill side experience. Book your seat at jvedmonton.ca. Another text. Like, how many people are in Sangudo? We got two different guys that text there.
Dan says, Bob, the people that have chosen to overlook or poorly voice Bouchard have, A, a grudge against the game that he plays and are purely flaw-focused, and, B, have disliked to really give accolades to Bouchard because then we'd have McDavid, Drysaddle, and Bouchard, all of the top three of the top players in the league, and that congestion may not fit American Narratives.
I got news for you. I'm talking even in the zone market. Again, I don't care if you're left-wing or right-wing. I don't care if you vote for the NDP or the UCP or federally for the liberals or the conservatives. You go vote for who you vote. Go out there and have your... I don't care if you're pro-abortion, anti-abortion.
I want you to be Oilers fans, but what I don't get, where I draw the line, where it gets serious, when I sit there and evaluate the intelligence of fans... is on Evan Bouchard. That's where I go. Okay, wait a sec here. Let's bring it aboard. I knew Frank Cervalli did not think that's where we were going to start, but that's where we're going to start.
Frank Cervalli's appearances are brought to you by Summers Drilling, your trusted water well expert since 1917. Visit summersdrilling.com to request a quote today. Frank, last week, Evan Bouchard, not in the final three, for the Norris Trophy in a year in which he led all defensemen in scoring. Okay, people say no big deal, but 95 points is a hell of a lot of points.
He was terrific when it mattered down the stretch. He killed penalties a ton, Frank, more than any of the other in terms of in relation to how the team was penalized. Higher percentage than any other top-end offensive defenseman in the league. and he didn't make it into the final three. Are you prepared to tell us, did you have Frank Busch in the top three of your selection list?
I had Evan Bouchard number one on my ballot.
You can stay on this show.
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Chapter 2: Why is Evan Bouchard's Norris Trophy candidacy controversial?
You know, I think for the longest time this season... I had Zach Wierenski number one on my Norris ballot. And the way the Columbus Blue Jackets collapsed at the exact wrong time of the year and the way Zach Wierenski's game also collapsed in that moment... To me, he lost the Norris.
And as I was working myself through the process, I was also saying, man, Evan Bouchard did not have a good month of October and he really struggled. And there were some of those usual characteristic turnovers. Yeah, that's true. But would you rather wait those in the front of the season or the back end? And to me, it was just enough to to put Bouchard ahead of Wierenski.
There were some massive seasons this season by defensemen. I think you could make a case for seven to eight candidates deep. And I just felt like the combination of all those things, the offense... plus the penalty killing, plus the amount of time that he has the puck on his stick, plus the turnovers per 60 and the rate relative to minutes and puck touches. I just thought his case stood out.
And... That's why I ended up going with him in the number one spot.
So I used a couple very simple metrics. Conor McDavid and Leon Dry settled together five on five this year without Bouchard, had a 42% expected goals for sure. They were at 67% with Bouchard, 42 without him. Okay, Bouchard, without either 97 or 29, was still at a 51% expected goals for sure.
If that doesn't tell you something in terms of how good this guy was this season, and people say, well, he was a minus. He got belted in game one. He has played through injury two years in a row in the playoffs. You wouldn't know because he's not a guy.
We didn't even, like at the end of the year exit interview last year for the Stanley Cup final when Stan Bowman said we weren't sure Bouchard was going to be able to play the final two games. We're all like, what? Because he was out there for practice. We were kind of in shock. We knew Nugent Hopkins was dealing with something, and he actually had more energy in the end.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and maybe you won't be able to. I think Bouchard might have had a concussion in the playoffs.
Well, I can neither confirm nor deny that, but I'm going to tell you he got belted in game one.
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Chapter 3: How does the performance of defensemen impact team dynamics?
Ralph Klein, the former premier of Alberta, and I lived in the same condo complex as Ralph in the early 2000s, and he infamously once said those eastern blanks can freeze in the dark or something like that. It was a little harsh. That was Ralph. It was a great guy to have a glass of wine with or something stronger. I digress. But the reality is...
You know, this isn't like the Eastern voters for the Norris. There's even a percentage of here in oil country where people are like, oh, Stauffer, he's not that good. He turns too many pucks over, right? And it's just like enough. He took a quantum step forward and now it's going to tie into us because we will get to three different topics today.
The second thing I want to talk about, you've got a situation, Austin Matthews in Toronto. Connor McDavid in Edmonton. Roman Yossi in Nashville. You mentioned Zach Wierenski in Columbus. All four of those guys represented by who, Frank? Judd Moldaver. All four of those guys' contracts up at the end of the 27-28 season.
Is it fair to say Edmonton's in a different position than the other three teams? Because the other three teams don't have Leon Drysaddle and Evan Bouchard.
Um... No. No. I don't think that's fair. I think on the premise you would think that it is because there's only one place in the world where Leon Dreisaitl is locked in contractually. But you're also supposing that that's going to remain the case too. And I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just saying I don't think you can take that as a foregone conclusion. And beyond that,
Look, I don't even view 2027-28 as the deadline here. The Oilers, in my estimation, have one year to get this right, and that's it. This isn't a two-year deal. This is a one-year deal with some space to make a move if that's what Conor McDavid wants. I'm not saying, again, I'm not saying that he will. I'm just saying everyone has the timeline wrong, at least how it's been talked about.
And this... This is the most consequential offseason in Edmonton Oilers history. And yes, I'm including... the summer in which they traded Wayne Gretzky.
Yeah. Uh, sold Wayne Gretzky, sold Wayne Gretzky, sold Mark. Yeah. Frank Cervelli is our Oilers now headliner for Wilhock beef jerky. Others can try to imitate, but no one could duplicate the great flavor of Wilhock beef jerky only available in LA in Leduc, Alberta. And, uh, so I'm going to tie this in back to Austin Matthews.
There's been some rumblings specifically out of Toronto with some prominent media voices, uh, Have you heard anything at all on Austin Matthews?
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Chapter 4: What is the current status of Austin Matthews' contract situation?
And I think a question and part that no one really wants to say out loud also that should be said is, There's no doubt there would be a massive market for Austin Matthews if he raises his hand and says that he wants out. But what is the status of Austin Matthews and his game? This is one of the most dominant players that we've seen in the league.
Two 60-goal seasons, a 69-goal campaign that obviously far and away won him another rocket. But he's scored 60 total in the last two seasons. Yes. This is a player whose game has dropped off in a drastic fashion. This is not the same as trading Quinn Hughes at the absolute prime. It just isn't.
Frank Cervalli joining us right now for Summers Drilling. All right, Frank, we said three things. And the third thing we're going to get to is the Edmonton Otters coaching situation. And I take Stan Bowman at his word. He said this gives us time for evaluation. And so somebody texted the show and said, Bob, can you verify that Frank Cervalli said this on the Toronto show?
So can you basically highlight Cole Snow's version of what you said regarding the Edmonton Oilers coaching situation?
Yes, I said last week that I believe a coaching change is more likely than not, meaning greater than 50% chance. And the reason for that is in part due to what we just talked about, that then this is going to be the basis of the Oilers offseason as a whole, is you have one shot to get this right.
You have one year to make your case to show significant improvement after your two best players and included themselves in this said that the organization is going in the wrong direction. So part of that includes the coaching staff. Part of that includes the coaching staff that, by the way, was very publicly criticized.
by those two players and it's not for that reason alone i think the way that this season unfolded you can point to a number of things with chris knobloch that i i think he's a good coach i think he's still got a lot to learn and i think he'll probably be better in his next run wherever else that is but one not enough growth
He tried to coach this team this year in year three, the same way that he coached them in year one, even though it's a different team. Two, was probably stubborn and resistant to change, as evidenced by the late season addition of Paul Coffey back to the bench. And three, that was necessitated in part because he surrounded himself with likewise inexperienced and like-minded individuals that were
have a lot of the same comportment as him. You need to be challenged. You need different voices. You need to push the envelope. That's what Connor McDavid does every day when he walks through the door. Connor McDavid doesn't work on the things that he's good at. He works on the things that he's not good at. And that's the difference.
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Chapter 5: What factors are influencing the Edmonton Oilers' coaching decisions?
I find it stunning that this, you know, this public scouting sphere that's out there do not understand that McKenna going to Penn State and Verhoff going to North Dakota in their draft years is And playing against the level of competition that they did or Ivers Stenberg. There's been zero adjustment for that.
It's as if, you know, playing in the CHL, which got markedly worse this year with all the best 19- and 20-year-olds in the world leaving to go play college hockey. It defies logic, Frank. Like I'm like that all of a sudden, like had those guys stayed and put up massive numbers, they'd be there'd be zero doubt as to where they were in their scouting rankings as if that should be normal behavior.
But more than that, they play in the toy box, which is they come out one time a year to make their statements and send out their rankings and do whatever else it is that they do. And then there's zero accountability. No one says like, oh, man, you guys really goofed on that or got that wrong or your mock draft was bananas having Shane Wright number one.
the days before the 2022 NHL draft, but no one ever says anything. It's just like, hey, thanks for the free service. We're on to the next year.
Yeah, shocking, especially with the change.
But I'm the rage baiter. I'm apparently producing something bad. Well, you are a pain in the ass, Frank. You know that, right? I am, but that's what else am I supposed to do? I can only do what teams are telling me, which I've got three NHL teams telling me that they're taking Ivers-Denberg one, but this is rage bait.
Yeah.
i love the passion frank good convo thanks for joining us have a good night bob you're invited to join new west travel on a 14-day tour through new zealand in november from auckland sparkling shores the adventure capital of queenstown we'll explore the bay of islands and ride the scenic alpine train through the southern alps your trip includes flights with air new zealand first class hotels meals local guided tours and entertainment for more information on the new zealand tour reach out to newwesttravel.com
Coming up, it's MAC-T on Monday, the playoff roundtable. Craig McTavish, After the News, presented by Friesen Brothers. Use their Order Ahead app for hot and fresh game day meals to get you back to the TV before the puck drops. Thomas Dyess, 880 News Weather Traffic Update. And then MAC-T on Monday for Contract Equipment.
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