Oil Spills: A podcast on the Edmonton Oilers

Questions about the Edmonton Oilers’ coaching staff linger following season-ending media conferences held by the team’s brass. Head coach Todd McLellan and his staff weren’t declared safe in their jobs — not that anyone thought they were given the Oilers finished well back of the NHL playoff pack this year after last year’s promising campaign.

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The end of the Edmonton Oilers’ season is here and the questions that have been dogging the team all season remain. Why did the Oilers stumble this year and finish almost 30 points behind last season and out of the playoffs? Is this season or last season’s run into the post-season an anomaly? Is this the most disappointing season in the Oilers’ NHL history? Should anyone be fired as a result?

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Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jim Matheson talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about Connor McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers captain who has been scoring at a torrid rate for more than a month, averaging almost two points a game in the month of March alone, and has vaulted into the NHL scoring lead. But how far should that scoring prowess, among his other qualities as a leader, teammate and ultra-skilled hockey player take him when it comes to voting for the league's most-valuable player award, the Hart Trophy

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Beat writer Rob Tychkowski talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about streaky Edmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl, and why he's been hot and cold on the NHL scoring charts all season. For stretches, Draisaitl can score a point or better each game. That would be followed by strings of games in which he fails to put up any points.

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Hockey writers Jim Matheson and Derek Van Diest talk to sports editor Craig Ellingson about the unclear course ahead for Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli when it comes to making decisions on personnel this coming off-season — namely who to trade and who to keep and develop in the wake of Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion’s attendance at two recent Oilers games.

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Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jim Matheson talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about the Edmonton Oilers playing out the string on the rest of the 2017-18 NHL season, with the team out of the playoff picture.

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Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Oilers beat writers Jim Matheson and Rob Tychkowski join host Trevor Robb to discuss the moves Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli made prior to Monday’s NHL Trade Deadline and this period of evaluation the team has now entered as they wind down the season — a season that will not involve a trip to the playoffs.

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A special edition of Oil Spills at this year's NHL trade deadline: Host Paul Chapman talks with Postmedia hockey writers Jim Matheson, Ed Willes and Michael Traikos about the upcoming NHL trade deadline.

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Hockey writers Jim Matheson and Derek Van Diest talk to sports editor Craig Ellingson about the trading landscape ahead for the Edmonton Oilers, who are effectively out of the National Hockey League playoff race. Before the summer hits, there's the upcoming NHL trade deadline on Feb. 26, which will almost certainly see Oilers forwards Patrick Maroon and Mark Letestu, both set to become unrestricted free agents in July, peddled to other teams. But it's not as though the Oilers don't need such players — tak

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Hockey writer Robert Tychkowski talks to sports editor Craig Ellingson about what is looking to be the final stretch of meaningful games for the Edmonton Oilers as, while they have been playing better lately, the NHL team can't move up the standings in the quest for a playoff spot. With the NHL trade deadline less than three weeks away, the team will have to make decisions on who they might trade to best manage assets, moves that would effective signal the season, as far as chasing the post-season is concer

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