Connor McDavid signs his Oilers Contract

The #Oilers have agreed to terms with 2015 first-overall pick @cmcdavid97 on a three-year entry-level contract! pic.twitter.com/D6wBFRcrrU

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) July 3, 2015

Everything is all roses on these days for an organization.

McDavid's First Rexall Skate

Today was Connor McDavid's first skate on his home ice. I found one quote in a quick glance at the article that I really liked:

"Today was a lot of fun," McDavid said. "The fitness test wasn't a whole lot of fun, but it was cool to throw on the Oilers gear, the gear that I want to play the rest of my life in. It was very special put it on and to step onto Rexall with all that history. It was a lot of fun."

Obviously, when you're 18 it's hard to speculate on where you want to play or be for the rest of your life. But it's nice to hear that the kid wants to be an Oiler for life and it is one sport where that kind of stuff really seems to happen. Teams seem to keep their own.

The Oilers signed a blue liner today named Andrej Sekera to a long contract. I don't know much about his playing style, but the numbers indicate the guy can play.

The Oilers have some serious talent. This is going to be the most exciting and high-upside team the Oilers have had since I've been following them (2010 was when I started). Talbot and Sekera if healthy should make them more competitive.

They also signed center Mark Letestu.

VIDEO: Full Connor McDavid Pick

I felt this deserved to be forever in the archives:

Connor McDavid Selected #1 by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft

Connor McDavid was selected #1 overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft tonight. I have the draft coverage from NBC Sports on my television and I'm trying to take in as much of this draft as I can. 

The Edmonton Journal Cult of Hockey Blog is already asking if McDavid can save them:

It was a transformative moment for the franchise, easily the single-most important move the team has made in more than a decade. It trumps the acquisition of Chris Pronger, a move which brought the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. Likely it even trumps the flurry of exits by Pronger and others immediately following that playoff run, the associated moves which launched the current epoch of darkness in Edmonton.

Ah. I cannot wait to watch this kid start to pile up the stats.

Taylor Hall with the Funny

Welcome to Edmonton, Connor. Don't mess up everything we've built the last 5 years! #FutureIsBright

— Taylor Hall (@hallsy04) June 26, 2015

Connor McJesus Day

It's a little much, but it's funny.

Book Review: A Matter of Inches (by Clint Malarchuk)

A lot of people know Clint Malarchuk for one reason and one reason only (if you're my age anyways and haven't watched the game dating back to the 80's):

My buddy at work Darryl played hockey in the minors for a long time. He always used to call me Clint Malarchuk.

When I was looking for a book to read this summer, I wanted a baseball book. Instead, I picked up Malarchuk's book and found a story more about life than hockey; with some great hockey tales mixed in.

I have a lot in common with Malarchuk unfortunately. The man struggles with OCD, and I think I do as well. I'm more convinced with reading this book that I have a form of it.

The book made me miss hockey season, and had me feeling excited for the start of next season as the 2014-2015 season ends. I crushed this book in about a week.

I found it to be a great story of perseverance, toughness, struggle, and real-life. Malarchuk is a good honest man that trouble found, and he is like me; he seems to fail time and again but he simply will not quit. He fights sobriety and illness with the same tenacity he used to carve out a great hockey career.

This is a powerful story of bravery with some nice hockey tales mixed in. All-in-all, one of my favorite hockey reads ever (probably top five all-time). I have such respect for Mr. Malarchuk as a person.

BRASS BONANZA!

I finally figured out what the song was that I loved in NHL '94. It's a tune that I just took to as a kid, and it turns out it has some history and tradition to it besides just being a catchy tune. I decided today was going to be the day that I went searching for it on the interwebs.

The song or tune is called 'Brass Bonanza' and apparently what I was hearing those 20+ years ago in my friends basement next door was occurring when the now defunct Hartford Whalers were in play.

I had no idea that back in those days, EA Sports actually hired professional organist Dieter Ruehle to do unique organ songs for each arena. For that era; in a video game, well that's back when EA Sports really did put it in the game if it was in the game. Those days are now sadly gone. Here's a really cool blog post with an interview with Ruehle that helped me track this down on YouTube.

Here's an NHL.com article about The legacy of Brass Bonanza, where it's called the most famous song in the sport.

And finally, here it is. Starting at 1:26 in the below video. As it was said in one of the descriptions I saw on YouTube: 'The Classics never die'.

Connor McDavid energizes HNTB

 

Connor McDavid is going to be a generational talent in hockey's heartland up in Edmonton. He's going to save the franchise we love up in Canada, and therefore we're going to start writing about hockey again.

The kid from Richmond Hill, Ontario is going to be fun to watch. With it, we'll pick up his Imports Dragon NHL Figure, NHL 16 for Playstation 4, and probably NHL Gamecenter next season. We will also do some nightly NHL on Fanduel. McDavid is "going to spark a lot of interest in the collectability of hockey cards" according to one hobby shop owner.

It's going to be a fun run, none of which would have been possible if McDavid had not ended up in Edmonton.

A Taylor Hall Hat Trick Thursday at Rexall Place

[Box Score]
[Edmonton Journal]

Taylor Hall recorded his fourth career hat trick, and now has 10 goals (along with 14 assists) on the season. The Oilers knocked off a big time team last night in the Colorado Avalanche who are 19-7 on the season. It was a win that moved the Oilers to 10-18-2 on the year.

Here they are:

Another Year of Hockey is Upon Us!

Back for another year of covering hockey sporadically at Hockey Night the Blog.

Taylor Hall is ranked as the 39th overall player in the NHL by GM's in the Top 50 Players in the NHL. He's entering his age 22 season (he'll turn 22 in November). This is the year that Hall has to stay healthy and the Oilers need to finally break through to the playoffs.

The Oilers kick things off tomorrow night at 10:00 PM ET. I'll be watching baseball; but I'll pop by here sporadically to update the blog.

Taylor Hall's Hat Trick on Hockey Night

[Event Summary]
[CBC] [Edmonton Journal] [Hall Interview]

I haven't written in a long time, but Taylor Hall logged his first hat-trick of the season last night and the third of his career. It was the fastest hat-trick in Edmonton Oilers history. Hall got it in 7:53, besting the great one by several minutes. What a dominator Taylor Hall was tonight.

Here's #1
 
Top shelf for #2:

And the Power Play goal for the hat-trick:

This is the Oilers team that everyone thought they would be this year, finally. The Oilers got over .500 to 14-13-7 and beat a better team in the 19-10-6 Canucks. Taylor Hall beat Roberto Luongo three times on Hockey Night in Canada. Times are good right now for the Oilers who need a win badly on Wednesday night against the Flames to keep things going. The Oilers have won three games in a row and now sit one point back of St. Louis for the eighth and final playoff spot. Taylor Hall now cracks the top 15 in points with 11 goals and 23 assists in 31 games. He's making this his team.

Happy Hockey Season!

Today is the first day of the NHL season. Reading the Pro Hockey Talk predictions for the season, it doesn't seem as if they know that teams like the Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning even exist. These are two teams I look to make the jump in a big way this season.

A few of the writers on Puck Daddy actually have the Oilers in their top-8 teams in the Western Conference. The Lightning are found all over the board in the East prognostications.

No one from CBS Sports is too high on the Oil. The Edmonton Journal has the team in the playoffs.

Here are the five must-watch games of the day.

Happy NHL Season, everyone.

TSN's Top 50 Players in Hockey

Taylor Hall checks in right at number 50.

NHL Lockout Ends

Thank GOD.

Let's get this thing going.

This is Our Game NHL '13 Commercial

Awesome.

If only there weren't a lockout, I would have this already and be knee deep into it.

Taylor Hall signs 7-year, $42 million extension with Edmonton

HELL YES!

Taylor Hall is an Edmonton Oiler until 2020.

Cult of Hockey's take.

And that's that.

Taylor Hall's season likely ended tonight in the Battle of Alberta that Edmonton won 3-1. If so it's another season ended on the injury list for Taylor Hall. And if that's the case, I'll check out for the spring and see you all next fall.

This sucks.

Oilers beat Blue Jackets 3-0

[Cult of Hockey] [Puck Rakers]

[Event Summary] 

Last night was the first night since Taylor Hall got hurt last year in the Derek Dorsett fight that I've gotten to watch the Oilers on cable television. Hall didn't disappoint, scoring the fourth straight game to match his career high goal streak. It was his 27th Geno of the season. 

Devan Dubnyk really helped out my hockey playoff pool, earning a shutout and pulling me even in that category.

Oilers lose another at home 3-2 to Sharks

[Event Summary]
[Cult of Hockey]

The Oilers got down 1-0, and then Ryan Whitney scored pretty much my favorite kind of goal. A top shelf slap shot:



I went to take my puppy outside to pee. When I returned back to the living room, Taylor Hall had scored for the 26th time this season, beating Anti Niemi: