Everything you need to know going into Oilers Vs. Flames

Mike Babcock is making one thing clear. His expectations are high, and he doesn't care how much you're getting paid. With Jake Wallman projected to be a healthy scratch, the Oilers are getting ready to host a red-hot Flames team who are riding a four-game win streak as the Oilers and Flames look to reignite one of hockey's most iconic rivalries, the Battle of Alberta. Welcome back to Oilers Digest. I'm your host, Joseph Greco, and in today's video, we're going to be looking at tonight's game between the Oilers and Flames. The Flames are riding a four-game win streak as they head into Edmonton tonight, as I mentioned, one of the most iconic rivalries in the sport of hockey, the Battle of Alberta, with one of the biggest or more shocking headpiece of headlines and news in the last day or so is Jake Wallman will be a healthy scratch for the Edmonton Oilers. Now, it's no secret that Jake Wallman has had a rough start to the season. He hasn't been 100% on the ice, despite the fact that he indicated this offseason he put a lot of work in his health and his strength and he said he felt the best he had ever felt heading into a season and just the results have not quite been there for Jake Wallman in the early going from a point output you're expecting this guy to be the second best point producing defenseman behind Evan Bouchard he is a minus seven with one point averaging 14 minutes and 44 seconds time on ice it seems as though he's somewhat in the doghouse of head coach Mike Babcock he's not been on that second power play unit despite the fact that Jake Wallman just signed a nice shiny new seven by seven contract in the offseason with the first year kicking in right here at the start of the season so tough start to the season for Jake Wallman a guy making seven million dollars a year getting a healthy scratch just you know 12-13 games into the season and as we could as I mentioned you know he's not in the best of favors with Mike Babcock it seems and if you take a look at that ice time very sporadic for Jake Wallman now I will sprinkle in the fact that against Leafs there was a little bit of potential injury concern there so that's a game that you kind of maybe look away from but as I mentioned not getting any of that time on the second power play unit the games that the Oilers have gone to overtime Jake Wallman's not even trusted in overtime and that's a little bit of a red flag a little bit of a concern because you paid this guy seven million dollars and you can't trust him to put play the second power play unit you can't trust him to be in overtime you got Shaq McAdoolan coming into the lineup he he was the one elevated alongside Evan Bouchard when Jake uh Matthias Ekholm went down not Jake Wallman so you got a young player that they just acquired in trade stepping up and stepping in alongside Evan Bouchard rather than your seven million dollar defenseman Jake Wallman and to add insult to injury McAdoolan will remain into the lineup but that seven million dollar defenseman and Jake Wallman he's gone he's out of the lineup so unfortunate news there when you just take a look at you know the expectation that you have on him and you know when we've seen what he could do when he's at his best and he does bring a lot of value to the lineup and so it's just unfortunate to see that this is how it's gonna look for him the early going of the season but Mike Babcock wanted to make one thing clear and that's that it's nothing personal he just looks at everything based on merit you got to earn your ice time he said it wouldn't have mattered if it's my son you know he's going to have to make tough decisions behind the bench he indicated that he just goes there every night doesn't care who you are looks at everyone with the same level playing field indicating that the expectations are high and at the end of the day he's going to have to make some tough calls and players cannot take that personally and that's what he was speaking of in regards to Jake Wallman and if we take a look at these lines here at practice the Edmonton Oilers continue to run that top line of Hyman, McDavid and Drysdale, Draisaitl after having a impressive two-point game against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night we'll slot in with Nugent Hopkins and Ah Casparicaptain with Zach Hyman remaining out with a head injury then we have Formington and Hollander rotating in on Michaels and Frederick line Trent Frederick elevated on that third line in place for Matthew Joseph one thing i will indicate i wish we could see more Trent Frederick at center. I think he does his best work at center, seeing as to how he's in natural center. And then Joseph with Dickinson and Howard. Dickinson is expected to return to the lineup tonight. Having said that, it is not 100% confirmed. So he's nearing his return. All signs have been somewhat pointing towards the fact that we could see Dickinson in the lineup tonight. He indicated yesterday after practice that he's feeling good and that he's taking all the precautions he's needed so that it's not just constantly going in and out of the lineup. If you wants to take his time returning from this injury to make sure that you know there's a he can actually play hockey for a long stretch of games here as we all know Dickinson came in to the season with a little bit of an injury missed the first few games got activated off the IR came back and then hurt himself almost immediately so one point in only three games played for Jason Dickinson so far so Dickinson is someone who has a lot of value to the depth of the team especially at center can help kill penalties even just help bring a little bit of energy to the bottom six so big loss in that regard and despite the fact that Mike Babcock pretty much stated it'd be a guarantee that he'd be back in the lineup as of this current moment or in the early morning here there uh on Thursday on Wednesday sorry ahead of tonight's game against the Calgary Flames there has yet to be any confirmation regarding Jason Dickinson's potential return to the lineup so as things currently stand nothing is 100 certain which is a little concerning considering we've seen this time and time again where it's like oh yeah you know he'll be back he'll be back in the lineup for sure and then he's not back in the lineup he did this with Zach Hyman, Nugent Hopkins now let's hope that's not the case with Jason Dickinson where it's this yes he's going to be back never mind he's not back you know these timelines have been very inconsistent it's been a little bit of a an annoyance for fans around the league not just for the Oilers but I feel like for the Oilers specifically they've gone under this trend of promising player like not releasing status updates surrounding injuries promising players are going to return and they don't return and it just kind of sits with fans the wrong way so all you know i think everyone's just kind of hoping that he could return to the lineup as projected and expected tonight against the Flames who as i mentioned are bringing in quite the hot streak four straight wins with Calgary Flames including wins over some tough opponents they've won over Carolina Minnesota and Toronto as three of those four wins so impressive in that regard not a team that a lot of people I guess would have thought as a potential threat you know if you take a look at myself and watch last week's video I said last week had its fair share of tough challenges they had the Carolina Hurricanes the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs then I said yeah you know what the Oilers next week you know they have Detroit and then they've got Calgary so two more favorable matchups in that regard but it's never an easy night whether they're in Calgary or playing Calgary at home obviously they're in Edmonton tonight Battle of Alberta always a tough game these teams bring a lot of energy in those games because they understand the history behind of it behind that rivalry so it's going to be a physical intense game but as i mentioned quite the impressive win streak for the Calgary Flames beating some tough opponents respectively they started it off against Carolina carried it against Minnesota beat Detroit and then relatively flew by an easy win a 5-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs who came into Edmonton just a few days ago and kind of had their way with the Oilers so again tough tough game for the Oilers tonight mainly because of a hot goalie a lot of credit to Devin Cooley who has been on quite the hot streak both in net and has made a lot of headlines and got a lot of attention for his absolute cold interviews where he's saying some of the most insane crazy dialed in things I think I've ever seen anyone say and he's really making headlines outside of the sport so tip my cap to Devin Levi sorry Devin Cooley who is you know making the most of his opportunity with Dustin Wolf somewhat not having the best start to the season four straight starts for Devin Cooley all four starts have been electric a .955 save percentage across those four games so if it's Cooley in net the Oilers going to be having to face off against quite the hot hand in net additionally this is a matchup between two specialty teams particularly power plays that find themselves in the top five the Oilers penalty kill remains towards the bottom of the league but their power play surging towards that top two percent in the National Hockey League and the Calgary Flames entering tonight's game with both a top five power play and a top five penalty kill which again a little bit shocking a lot of that has to do with the fact that Devin Cooley hasn't been in net and he's made a lot of key saves on the penalty kill so structure itself may not be the full storyline there it's more so just a hot goalie surging and peaking at quite the time in the season and then if we take a look obviously goalies is a separate story for the Oilers for the Flames you got an incredible backup story run here with Devin Cooley making headlines for his play making headlines for his quotes and post-game interviews and then you got Tristan Jarry who has been struggling on and off throughout the season kind of lost his start to Devin Levi down and out with an injury so now all eyes are on Tristan Jari to try and gain some momentum had a decent outing again on Monday against the Red Wings did not walk away with the win hoping if he gets the nod tonight to try and get a win because as I mentioned in the last few videos he hasn't really had the best record at home since being traded with the Edmonton Oilers and just to wrap up today's video let's take a look at last season series in this Battle of Alberta we saw the Flames take the first game Oilers dominant 5-1 win and then the Flames finishing off last season with two straight wins in Calgary to close out the Battle of Alberta so who will take the first win of the Battle of Alberta this season will it be Edmonton who's looking to try and get a win at home before heading on the road in New York or will it be Calgary who continues on a hot streak looking for their fifth straight win of the season we all know Connor McDavid is someone who always performs in the brightest lights and someone who always elevates his play in this Battle of Alberta. someone who is coming off a one-point game yesterday, but he is someone who always finds some success against the Calgary Flames. always getting about two points per game in his history against the Calgary Flames. So that's all I have for you guys in today's video. I hope you enjoyed. If you did, give the video a thumbs up. Subscribe if you're new, and I'll catch you in the next video. Toodles.