Oil Spills: A podcast on the Edmonton Oilers

Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Sun talks to host Craig Ellingson about the Edmonton Oilers’ search for a general manager and perhaps a president of hockey operations, too.

Also:

- The Oilers’ goaltending situation as the season draws to a close.

- How to grow a professional women’s hockey league in the wake of recent news the Canadian Women’s Hockey League is folding.

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Oilers Entertainment Group chief executive officer Bob Nicholson’s recent comments about Edmonton Oilers forward Tobias Rieder — Nicholson blamed Rieder, who hasn’t scored a goal all season, for the team’s failure to secure a playoff spot — turned Nicholson into a lightning rod among many Oilers fans, a figure onto which they turned their frustrations over yet another losing season — 12 of the last 13 of them out of the NHL playoffs.

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Host Craig Ellingson and hockey beat writer Derek Van Diest focus on the ever-slimmer playoff hopes of the team. They’re pretty much hopeless, practically, but because the NHL’s Western Conference has a lot of mediocre teams this season — the Oilers among them — Edmonton still has hope this late in the campaign. At the same point last year, the Oilers were well back of the playoff pack and out of the race.

They also talk about Connor Mcdavid and his Hart Trophy odds — they think they should be

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Postmedia reporter Trevor Robb speaks with hockey writers Derek Van Diest and Rob Tychkowski on the possibility of the Edmonton Oilers making the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring. The Oilers are within five points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 13 games left to play.

Is there really an opportunity for the Oilers to get into the playoffs? They are playing their best hockey of the season, currently on a 7-2-1 run. The team is starting to turn skeptics into believers. And

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Forwards Leon Draisaitl and Zack Kassian have been playing well for the Edmonton Oilers of late, scoring regularly as the team tries to claw its way back into the NHL wild-card playoff spot convsersation as the regular season ticks down. What have they done to elevate their games?

Host Craig Ellingson talks to hockey beat writers Jim Matheson and Derek Van Diest about Draisaitl and Kassian, and about the effect Andrej Sekera has had on the Oilers defence since he made his season debut last month.

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The Oilers made no deals on trade deadline. Derek Van Diest and Jim Matheson discuss why that may be.

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The Edmonton Oilers are indeed sellers for the 2019 NHL trade deadline coming up on Feb. 25. They dealt goalie Cam Talbot to the Philadelphia Flyers for Anthony Stolarz in order to clear salary cap room for defenceman Andrej Sekera, who returned to the Oilers lineup from injury.

But can the Oilers under interim general manager Keith Gretzky reasonably do much else besides give players away for middling draft picks to try to clear salary off the books?

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The Edmonton Oilers can win games away from home, but over the last bunch of games, they can’t seem to win at their own arena, Rogers Place.

The question, of course, is why? Just another thing that’s in the water?

Hockey beat writers Jim Matheson and Rob Tychkowski talk to host Craig Ellingson about home-ice challenges plus the prospects of the Oilers getting defenceman Andrej Sekera back in the lineup soon, about the recent success of the AHL Bakersfield Condors and about ex-Oilers coach Dallas

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We’ve been watching this dance in slow motion for weeks now, with the Edmonton Oilers on the edge of it — both before and after their extended break during and after the NHL all-star game.

It’s the great turtle derby being contested by half the Western Conference. One thing is for sure — at some point, a couple of these teams are going to break away from the pack. And the question in Edmonton is: Do the Oilers have the right team to do it?

Host Craig Ellingson talks to Edmonton Journal and Edm

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With Peter Chiarelli out and Keith Gretzky in, for the interim, as general manager, the Edmonton Oilers have an existential question to ask of themselves: Are they really all in on making the 2019 NHL playoffs — which would surely mean trading away future prospects in the form of young players or draft picks — or are they willing to ride through the storm, no matter the cost?

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