Connect with us

Published

on

DALLAS — Everything about Dylan Holloway and Darnell Nurse sitting next to each other on an elevated dais at the Western Conference finals said quite a bit before either one of them answered a single question.

Between them, they represent so much of what the Edmonton Oilers have done to build around their generational superstars, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid.

It’s important to have homegrown talent in today’s NHL, and the Oilers have that. They selected Nurse with the No. 7 pick in 2013 — a year before Draisaitl and two years before McDavid — which shows how long the Oilers have been trying to build through the draft. Holloway, who went 14th in 2020, is a more recent example of Edmonton remaining committed to that approach while simultaneously trying to win in the present.

“It’s cool to come in to a team with such phenomenal players,” Holloway said. “Darnell, Leo, Connor. I want to learn from those guys. They kind of paved the way here. Our team’s this good right now because of them.”

But while nine of the players in the Oilers’ Game 1 lineup were drafted and developed by the franchise, they had to build the rest of the team with intent. They acquired Warren Foegele and Zach Hyman because they needed forwards who could forecheck and score. They added Cody Ceci, Mattias Ekholm and Brett Kulak because they needed to strengthen a defense that was in a consistent state of flux.

The natural inclination could be that having superstars who have yet to hit 30, such as Draisaitl and McDavid, should guarantee a title at some point. But there are no guarantees in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning won consecutive Stanley Cups because they hit on first-rounders Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos and Andrei Vasilevskiy while striking it rich with later-round picks Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. The Colorado Avalanche won their title because they were able to build around first-round picks Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen.

Other teams, such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, show how building around a core of stars can come with many challenges. Despite having Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, the Leafs have been beyond the first round only once since 2016, and there is no guarantee they’re going to win a championship with their current core.

Somewhere in the middle are the Oilers.

Since McDavid and Draisaitl first played together in 2015-16, winning the Stanley Cup has been the expectation. That only intensified once Draisaitl, who was drafted third in 2014, exploded for 50 goals and 105 points in his fourth season. His surge showed the Oilers truly had a pair of generational talents, and not just one in McDavid.

The Oilers have reached the postseason in five consecutive seasons. Altogether, they’ve missed the playoffs only twice in the McDavid-Draisaitl era. Until recently, the biggest highlight of those postseason runs came in 2022, when the Oilers reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2006.

If reaching the conference final in 2022 was a lesson, what they’ve done this year could determine if they’re ready to pass the final test by winning that elusive Stanley Cup.

But if they fall short, they may be a step closer toward being the latest cautionary tale of a franchise that built one of the most talented rosters of its generation and failed to win a championship.

“The organization as a whole, especially from when we first got here, has grown and grown,” Nurse said. ” At some points, when you first got here, it was like, ‘Are we ever going to even play in the playoffs?’ And now over the last few years, being a team that’s competing at this time of year is just a testament to ownership and management of where they wanted this team to grow and get to.”


The conversation about how this championship-caliber team was built starts with Oilers general manager Ken Holland bringing up two names from the team’s not-so-distant past.

The 2019-20 season was Holland’s first with the Oilers. The Oilers had several young players, with nine who were drafted by the franchise appearing in more than 20 games during that campaign. The tesm included Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson, who arrived in the Taylor Hall trade with the New Jersey Devils. But as Holland quickly noted, the departures of those two defensemen were the first metaphorical dominos to fall when it came to making the necessary adjustments to keep the Oilers competitive.

“Klefbom’s career was over because of his shoulder, and Adam Larsson, for personal reasons, made a decision that he didn’t want to be in Edmonton anymore,” Holland recalled. “Those are two massive pieces to try to replace. You just peck away.”

Draisaitl, McDavid, Nurse and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are the only holdovers from that 2019-20 roster. Sam Gagner, who was drafted by the Oilers in 2007, played 36 games that season in his second stint with the club before he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. Gagner returned for a third tour this season.

So how did Holland and his staff build out the roster? They constructed their current top defensive pairing by using the team’s 2018 first-round draft pick on Evan Bouchard, and then trading for Mattias Ekholm in 2023. It was a deal that saw them part with prospect forward Reid Schafer along with a 2023 first-round pick, a 2024 fourth-round pick and blueliner Tyson Barrie.

Holland’s 34 years with the Detroit Red Wings as an amateur scouting director, assistant GM and GM allowed him to learn something vital from former Wings GM Jim Devellano and coach Scotty Bowman: the importance of having depth players who can check, kill penalties and be trusted to play on either special teams.

“These are all the things that over 82 games are important, but over seven games are really important,” Holland said. “One miscue can change a game and change a series.”

Between Edmonton’s amateur and professional scouting staffs, Holland & Co. were able to identify the set of current NHL players who could fill those needs.

The Oilers’ professional scouting staff identified proven players who could address key needs for the club, such as Cody Ceci, Evander Kane, Brett Kulak, Derek Ryan, Foegele and Hyman, among others.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate throughout my whole career to make the playoffs, and there are some guys who’ve played a lot of games and not made the playoffs,” said Foegele, who arrived via trade in 2021. “It’s understanding that you don’t always get this opportunity. Obviously, the moves that Kenny has made — you understand what’s at stake and that everyone’s here to win.”

The prospects who became full-time roster players — such as Vincent Desharnais, Ryan McLeod, Stuart Skinner and Bouchard — were already in the system when Holland arrived, while Holloway was a pick made during Holland’s tenure.

“I think since being drafted and coming in here, they’ve kind of wanted to engrave a winning mindset,” Bouchard said. “They’ve had a lot of years prior when they didn’t have success. I think the guys here have learned from that, have built from that. They want guys coming in to know that this is a winning organization.”

As with many teams, the trick is finding the balance of using picks to build their system while knowing when to trade them to gain a useful veteran to help win right now.

The Oilers drafted 18 players in Holland’s first three years. Since then, they’ve traded away more than 20 picks and have drafted only seven players.

For example, the Ekholm trade means they don’t have Schaefer, their first-round pick in 2022, along with their 2023 first-rounder (which the Predators used to select defenseman Tanner Molendyk). They also don’t have their 2024 first-round pick because it was used in the three-team trade that brought in Sam Carrick and Adam Henrique at the trade deadline.

Past Oiler trades resulted in other teams cashing in well: The Minnesota Wild landed star defenseman Brock Faber, and the Montreal Canadiens secured defenseman Lane Hutson.

“Some have worked, some don’t … so we’ve traded away lots of futures looking at ‘this is the window,'” Holland said. “So what’s the window? You look at Connor, Leon, Darnell, Ryan. The players that were here, these are their prime years and trying to build a supporting team around them that can make us better.”

Holland said the Oilers felt good about their team. But their 2-9-1 start to this season led to the firing of coach Jay Woodcroft, who was replaced by Kris Knoblauch. The work done by Knoblauch and his staff — which includes Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey — saw the Oilers go from near the bottom of the NHL standings to second in the Pacific Division by finishing 46-18-5 in their final 69 games.

That gave the Oilers the best record in the NHL since Nov. 12, 2023, when they announced they hired Knoblauch. Winning games, however, is only part of the equation. The Oilers returned to being the sort of prolific team that was averaging 3.72 goals per game, with a power play that was operating at 26.9% under Knoblauch.

They also found a way to establish a connection between their defensive structure and goaltending that hadn’t consistently been there in years past. The Oilers allowed 2.68 goals per game after Knoblauch took over, which was the fifth fewest in the NHL. Their penalty kill had a 81.7% success rate, good for seventh, while the 28 shots per game they allowed was also fifth fewest in the league.

“Everyone has had different roads to get to what our team looks like today,” Skinner said. “I think just combining all that experience and we’ve been able to grow with each other this season as well. Looking back on it, we’ve been through a lot obviously as a group. I think being able to go through what we have had to go through has brought us as a team a lot closer and we have a solid brotherhood now.”

All of their success led to a number of questions, the most significant being: Can the Oilers’ translate their regular-season success under Knoblauch to playoff success?

Beating the Los Angeles Kings in five games in the first round while fending off elimination twice to beat the Vancouver Canucks in the second round has helped answer that question. Holland said the key is having that mix of core players starting to hit their prime, with young players carving out their place alongside established veterans.

“But we also know we are in the final four, and these are the four teams that have performed the best to get to this point,” Holland said. “You’re playing the best teams in the world now. One’s going to advance, and one’s going to get shuffled to the sideline.”


The manner in which the Oilers won Game 1 of the Western Conference finals was emblematic of how they’ve tried to build a team around McDavid and Draisaitl.

Contrarians will point out that Draisaitl still scored the Oilers’ first goal, and McDavid scored the winning goal in double overtime. Those who have closely watched the Oilers will point out that the Game 1 win was a group effort.

Edmonton’s current setup meant it could rely upon a penalty kill led by Desharnais, Ekholm, Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan, among others, to blank Dallas on five attempts. Their most notable kill came just 17 seconds into overtime, when McDavid was assessed a high-sticking double minor. The Oilers’ short-handed unit took away time and space en route to running its streak of consecutive kills to 21 entering Game 3.

“I think it’s just about confidence,” said McLeod, who is part of the Oilers’ PK setup. “We’ve been tweaking it all year and we’ve found something that’s been working. It’s confidence and that everyone’s in the right spots and being aggressive, and it’s been working.”

While Bouchard and Ekholm played more than 31 minutes in Game 1, the Oilers have been able to find a balance with their six defensemen. They all played more than 20 minutes that contest, while the Stars have largely relied on five defensemen this postseason.

Prior to Game 6 against the Canucks, Skinner had a 4.63 goals-against average and a .790 save percentage this postseason. Since then, he has a 1.64 GAA and a .918 save percentage in four starts.

This postseason also shows how the Oilers are more comfortable playing in one-goal games. They’ve won six out of their 10 one-goal games, with nine of their past 11 games being decided by a single goal.

Contrast that to the prior two years, which saw the Oilers go a combined 3-6 in one-goal games. Last postseason, they had just one one-goal game in their second-round series against the Golden Knights, while having a lone one-goal game versus the Avs in the conference finals in 2022.

“You’ve got to win tight games,” McDavid said following Game 1. “We’re down to the final four teams and you don’t get to the final four without being a great team. All four teams are solid. Dallas is a great team and it’s going to be tight hockey and we’re comfortable in these games. We’re comfortable in this environment, and I thought we did a great job truthfully all game.”

Winning Game 1 of the Western Conference finals has technically made this the most successful campaign in the McDavid-Draisaitl era, considering that they were swept the last time they were at this stage in 2022.

They’re seven victories away from winning the organization’s first Stanley Cup since 1990. Only five players on the current roster were alive when Mark Messier raised the Cup that spring. In fact, Ekholm was born on the exact day when the Oilers won their last Cup which was May 24, 1990.

Capturing the Western Conference crown and then winning the Stanley Cup would bring an end to all the questions surrounding the Oilers’ strategy in building around Draisaitl and McDavid. From there, the discussion would shift to whether they could win at least one more.

Falling short of the Cup would lead to more questions in what could be an offseason of change.

The Oilers have a 10-player unrestricted free agent class. It’s a group that includes Foegele, Henrique and Desharnais. Decisions will need to be made about how to strengthen the Oilers with what CapFriendly projects to be less than $10 million in cap space.

Even that comes with questions about who would be the one charged with improving the roster; Holland is in the last year of his contract.

And if all of that isn’t enough, Draisaitl will be entering the final season of his contract, too. Whatever he decides to do will have a significant ripple effect throughout the NHL.

“Once you’ve built your team, every year is the year,” Holland said. “You’ve always got to have a look to the future. Then when the year’s over, and you haven’t won the Stanley Cup, you’re gutted. There’s an empty hole in the pit of your stomach. That’s where you have to take the summer whether you’re a player, a coach or manager and you’ve got to regroup and rebuild and play your way back into another opportunity. I think that’s certainly what we’ve done.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Hard-throwing rookie Misiorowski going to ASG

Published

on

By

Hard-throwing rookie Misiorowski going to ASG

Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.

Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.

The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.

If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.

Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.

“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”

Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.

“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”

Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.

The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.

In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.

“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”

The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.

Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.

Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.

The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”

Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.

Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.

San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.

Continue Reading

Sports

Bellinger goes deep for 3rd time after Cubs rob HR

Published

on

By

Bellinger goes deep for 3rd time after Cubs rob HR

NEW YORK — Robbed an inning earlier, Cody Bellinger wasn’t sure his first three-homer game had been swiped away again.

“I didn’t know at first,” he said. “For that third one to finally get over feels pretty good.”

Bellinger hit three two-run homers against his former team and was denied a fourth by a spectacular catch, leading the Yankees to an 11-0 rout of the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.

Aaron Judge made a trio of outstanding grabs in right field for the Yankees, who have won five straight games following a a six-game losing streak.

Bellinger, whose dad Clay played for the Yankees from 1999 to 2001, is a two-time All-Star and 2019 NL MVP.

He spent 2023 and 2024 with the Cubs, hitting .266 with 18 homers and 78 RBIs in 130 games last year while missing time because of a broken right rib. The Cubs traded him to New York in December with $52.5 million remaining on his contract and agreed to pay the Yankees $5 million.

He homered in a three-run third off Chris Flexen and in the fifth against Caleb Thielbar for this 18th multihomer game. Bellinger nearly went deep in the seventh but was robbed by Kyle Tucker on a drive above the right-field wall.

“I was watching it. He timed it up perfect, so I was a little sick about it, honestly,” Bellinger said. “But it was a good catch.”

“Boys were giving me a hard time after he robbed it. Boonie was giving me hard time,” Bellinger added.

A four-time All-Star and a Gold Glove winner, Tucker snatched the ball as a fan tried for it, the spectator clasping both sides of the outfielder’s glove.

“I caught the ball and he caught my glove, so I figured even if I dropped it they’d probably look at it and get it overturned,” Tucker said. “I’ve probably had some encounters with me trying to go into the stands and catching a ball and me hitting someone’s hand or whatever but I don’t know if anyone’s ever actually kind of caught my glove while doing it.”

Bellinger homered in the eighth off Jordan Wicks, just above the red glove of leaping center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and into the dark glove of a kid in the front row.

“The fan just beat to the spot,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He just had a better chance of catching it higher than I did.”

Bellinger, who had rounded first, watched and then smiled when he saw he had hit No. 3.

“Glad the fan caught it before PCA could grab it,” said Bellinger, who met the boy after and got the ball back. “I’ve seen PCA rob so many homers. He’s a freak athlete out there.”

Bellinger is batting .406 over a career-high 16-game hitting streak, raising his average to .285 with 16 homers and 54 RBIs.

He had spoken with his Cubs ex-teammates during batting practice.

“No, no, no revenge,” he said. “Honestly, ultimately it was just fun to be out there. I saw a bunch of guys I hadn’t seen in a while and I shared a bunch of good memories with them for these past two years.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. and manager Aaron Boone encouraged Bellinger to emerge from the dugout for a curtain call.

“He was a little reluctant, but then the Bell-lin-ger” over the dugout got pretty loud. So I think he succumbed to it,” Boone said. “Belly’s loved being here and loved playing here in a meaningful place to him, going back to his childhood.”

Bellinger turns 30 on Sunday and can opt out of the final season of his contract this fall. With long balls and wide smiles, he seems to have found a home in the Yankees clubhouse.

He tried not to make much of getting the three homers against the Cubs, but Bellinger’s teammates could sense the significance.

“It’s always good to go against your old teammates that you spend a lot of time with, you know, you respect,” Boone said. “To perform right away against them I’m sure probably is a little cherry on top for him.”

Continue Reading

Sports

M’s Raleigh hits 2 more HRs, brings total to 38

Published

on

By

M's Raleigh hits 2 more HRs, brings total to 38

DETROIT — Cal Raleigh hit his 37th and 38th home runs in Seattle‘s 12-3 victory over Detroit on Friday night to move within one of Barry Bonds’ 2001 major league record for homers before the All-Star break.

Raleigh hit a solo homer off former teammate Tyler Holton in the eighth to tie the American League record of 37 before the All-Star break set by Reggie Jackson in 1969 and matched by Chris Davis in 2013.

“[Holton] and I are really good friends, and I’ve caught a lot of his pitches,” said Raleigh, who was in the lineup as the designated hitter instead of at catcher. “I don’t think that helped much, but I’m sure he’s not very happy with me.”

Raleigh hit a grand slam off Brant Hurter in the ninth.

“I didn’t even know it was a record until just now,” Raleigh said. “I don’t have words for it, I guess. I’m just very grateful and thankful.”

It was Raleigh’s eighth multihomer game this season, tying Jackson (also in 1969) for the most such games before the All-Star break in MLB history, according to ESPN Research. He also tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the most multihomer games in Mariners franchise history.

Seattle has two games left in Detroit before the break.

“Cal Raleigh … this is just unbelievable,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He’s already set the AL record and now he’s only one short of Barry. There are two games, so who knows?”

Raleigh hit 10 homers in March and April, 12 in May, 11 in June and has five in July.

“This is a very boring comment, but baseball is all about consistency,” Wilson said. “This hasn’t been one hot streak, he’s doing this month after month. That says everything.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Trending