Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton Oilers head coach Dave Tippett told reporters that Connor McDavid tested positive for COVID-19 and will be re-tested.

Center Derek Ryan, 35, also tested positive, per Tippett. Both missed practice Tuesday and are questionable for the team's matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.

On the whole, McDavid has been durable for much of his career. The transcendent star played all 82 games in back-to-back seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18 before playing 78 in 2018-19 and 64 in the shortened 2019-20 campaign.

He appeared in 56 games last season.

McDavid consistently dazzles with his combination of speed in the open ice, playmaking ability with the puck and tendency to finish opportunities with goals. He has lived up to expectations since Edmonton selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft and posted 100 or more points in a season four times.

This season, he has 53 points on 34 assists and 19 goals in 33 games.

The Oilers do not have anyone who can replicate the production of the four-time All-Star—he also has two Hart Memorial Trophies, three Ted Lindsay Awards and three Art Ross Trophies. 

For the Oilers to have a realistic chance at their first Stanley Cup since the 1989-90 season, they need McDavid back and healthy.

The Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers will honor late NHL forward Colby Cave prior to their game in Boston on Thursday night.

According to ESPN's Kristen Shilton, the Bruins will play a video tribute to Cave before the game, and his wife Emily will take part in the ceremonial puck drop.

Cave played for both the Bruins and Oilers before his death in April 2020 at the age of 25 as a result of a brain bleed.

After falling ill on April 6, 2020, Cave was airlifted from Barrie, Ontario, to a hospital in Toronto. It was there that a colloid cyst was discovered on his brain.

Cave underwent emergency surgery and was in a coma for four days before his death on April 11, 2020.

Prior to Thursday's game, Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said of Cave: "He's in your mind all the time. He was a fine young man that we lost too early."

Cave went undrafted despite a standout junior career for the WHL's Swift Current Broncos, but he managed to break into the NHL with the Bruins during the 2017-18 season.

He appeared in 23 games over parts of two seasons in Boston, recording one goal and four assists. Edmonton then claimed him off waivers during the 2018-19 season.

Cave spent parts of two seasons with the Oilers, registering three goals and one assist in 44 games.

All told, Cave appeared in 67 NHL regular-season games and accounted for four goals, five assists and 22 penalty minutes.

Cave was an AHL standout with the Providence Bruins and Bakersfield Condors as well, putting up 54 goals and 84 assists for 138 points in 283 games.

Edmonton Oilers winger Josh Archibald is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with myocarditis.

Head coach Dave Tippett told reporters Archibald had tested positive for COVID-19 over the summer.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study that found an increased rate of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, in patients who had COVID-19.

The condition can be serious, even for a professional athlete in the prime of his career. Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez missed the entire 2020 MLB season after being diagnosed with the ailment.

Rodriguez told the New York Times' James Wagner he initially couldn't hold down any food and lost 20 pounds in 10 days. Doctors also advised him to avoid any physical activity for three months so as to keep his heart rate down.

Oilers goaltender Alex Stalock told The Athletic's Michael Russo he was diagnosed with myocarditis last fall. General manager Ken Holland said the team is expected to be without Stalock for the entirety of the upcoming campaign.

Archibald signed with the Oilers ahead of the 2019-20 season. In two years with the team, he has 19 goals and 15 assists in 114 appearances.

Holland said in September the 28-year-old was the only member of the active roster who wasn't vaccinated against COVID-19. 

The Oilers are five games into their preseason and host the Calgary Flames on Monday. They drop the puck on the regular season Oct. 13 against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they agreed to an eight-year, $74 million extension with defenseman Darnell Nurse on Friday. 

Nurse was slated to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2021-22 NHL season and was earning an average annual value of $5.6 million. He'll see a significant raise for the 2022-23 campaign when his AAV jumps to $9.3 million. 

The 26-year-old has certainly proved he's deserving of the deal. Nurse has tallied at least 33 points in each of his last three seasons and hasn't notched fewer than 26 since 2016-17. The cornerstone defenseman had a career-high 16 goals over 56 games in 2020-21. 

If Nurse's extension kicked in today, he would be the fifth-highest paid defenseman in the NHL. Only Erik Karlsson, Drew Doughty, Zach Werenski and Seth Jones are currently earning a higher AAV. 

He'd also become the third Oiler to earn more than $8 million per year alongside Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. 

According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the NHL's salary cap is expected to rise by $1 million for the 2022-23 campaign, but giving so much Nurse could come back to haunt the team despite the fact that Nurse recorded the most even-strength goals (15) among blueliners.

Despite rostering arguably the best tandem in the league in McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers have failed to find postseason success. The team was swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round in 2020-21 and has only advanced to the second round once since losing the Stanley Cup in 2006. 

Changes are coming in Edmonton this summer. A first-round sweep against the Winnipeg Jets guaranteed as much for a team in win-now mode, and with a number of inherited contracts coming off the books, general manager Ken Holland is certain to bring in new faces and make the team unequivocally his.

Monday's trade with the Chicago Blackhawks will be the first move of many. The Oilers traded defenseman Caleb Jones and a conditional third-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in return for Duncan Keith.

That's three-time Stanley Cup champion, two-time Norris Trophy winner and four-time NHL All-Star Duncan Keith. Not since Chris Pronger in 2008 has a defenseman of such stature joined Edmonton. His credentials are unimpeachable, and he'll be an eventual first-ballot Hall of Famer. During a press conference on Monday night, Holland made sure to allude to those qualities while staunchly defending the cost of acquiring Keith, referencing the player's "experience" and "intangibles," which he said are needed to succeed in the playoffs. 

The assets surrendered to Chicago are not a big deal. Caleb Jones is a 24-year-old defenseman on an $850K cap hit who skates well and can do a competent job as a sixth or seventh defenseman. The Oilers, having already traded a number of mid-round draft picks in recent years for meager returns, are further cutting into the prospect pool with the departed third-round pick, which isn't great. In the big picture, those are negligible expenditures in the pursuit of improving the NHL roster.

This is less about what Holland gave up and instead what he has acquired in Duncan Keith; a soon-to-be 38-year old with a $5.5M cap hit through 2023. It would be one thing if Keith was merely past his prime. That wouldn't preclude him from being a contributing member to the Oilers in the next two seasons, even if at an inflated salary. 

But Keith's on-ice performance has been actively detrimental to Chicago for years. Per Evolving-Hockey, Keith has been worth minus-18.9 goals over the last five NHL regular seasons; only Roman Polak ranks worse among NHL defensemen during that span.

Statistics aren't infallible, and there's something to be said about a change of scenery. Sometimes different systems fit different players better. There's a human component, too, and sometimes a fresh start can reinvigorate players.

However, Keith has endured a long and painful decline over a number of years to the point that his outputs resemble that of a player long past usefulness at the NHL level. A new, less physically demanding role in Edmonton could mitigate his problems, but that's still a long way from contributing in a positive manner. 

There are likely many causes for Keith's decline. The age factor is obvious, and maybe more impactful is his mileage; 1,327 total NHL games will take a toll on a player's body. What stands out most is Keith's decline in foot speed. A participant in the 2008 Fastest Skater competition, Keith no longer has the same mobility that drove his success during his prime years.

In the offensive zone, he'll still put his hands and vision on display, but he's no longer the same threat with the puck in motion. More pertinently, his defensive game has become non-existent. He isn't able to close gaps and win sprints to pucks the way he used to. There are other players who never relied on speed and can continue to play a meaningful role in their later years (Jaromir Jagr and Joe Thornton, for instance). Keith has shown no ability to compensate.

Of course, the Oilers did not acquire Keith solely—maybe not even primarily—because of tangible on-ice talent. As Holland and many in the Edmonton media have stated, Keith brings other qualities to the table. Experience, leadership and, above all, knowledge of "what it takes to win" in the National Hockey League.

It's the same tired narrative that has been tried time and again in Edmonton with nothing but underwhelming results. Holland himself was hired with the dynasty he built in Detroit in mind. Never mind the fact those teams were largely built during a different era of hockey and pay no attention to the mess he left behind for Steve Yzerman to clean up. Holland hasn't brought his winning ways to Edmonton yet.

Before Holland was Peter Chiarelli, who won a Stanley Cup in Boston.

"His record speaks for itself," CEO Bob Nicholson said at the time of his hiring. Indeed it now does. 

In previous years came a parade of dynasty-era throwbacks. Mainly head coach/general manager Craig MacTavish and president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe. In 2013, following a seventh-straight season of missing the playoffs, Lowe defended his ability to build a team.

"I'll say that there's one other guy in hockey today that is still working in the game that has won more Stanley Cups than me. So I think I know a little bit about winning, if there's ever a concern."

Lowe was removed from the role after two more failed seasons.

Along the way, many players with Stanley Cup pedigrees were brought in. Milan Lucic, Dustin Penner, Nikolai Khabibulin and Erik Cole among them. Andrew Ference was not only brought in but named the 14th captain in team history. All of these players combined to win one playoff series in Edmonton. They must have forgotten to pass their wisdom on.

There's no doubting that Duncan Keith, over the course of a long, successful career, has learned a few things he could pass on to his teammates in Edmonton. He might have some advice to lend to Evan Bouchard on how to improve his pivots. He might set a good example in the film room. He may well know what calming words are needed in the locker room after a devastating overtime loss. 

But the Oilers organization seemingly treats the conditions necessary for winning the Stanley Cup like some sort of mystical formula outside the bounds of hockey itself to which only a select few are privy, as if it's a family recipe Grandma has hiding in the attic. There appears to be no plan beyond baseline appeals to authority.

What it took for Keith to win three Stanley Cups in Chicago is not a mystery. The most basic and important requirement is a really good team. Per Evolving-Hockey, over that six-year span, the Blackhawks ranked first in the NHL in five-on-five expected goals percentage. To compare, the Oilers ranked 15th last season and 21st over the last three seasons. One can imagine how ugly those numbers look when a certain superstar isn't on the ice. 

Becoming a really good team requires a lot of really good players. Players relegated to Chicago's third line in 2015 such as Patrick Sharp and Teuvo Teravainen would easily be Edmonton's second-best wingers today. Nor does Edmonton have anything remotely matching the iron wall of (prime) Keith, Brent Seabrook,Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya.

Winning the Stanley Cup requires a lot of ingredients: A cohesive locker room, some mature leaders who can help the group battle the trials and tribulations of a long season and luck.

But most importantly. It requires a well-rounded roster with numerous layers of talent and competency. It's still early in the offseason, and perhaps Holland has a few major tricks up his sleeve to completely change the makeup for the better. As of now, and over the last few seasons, the Oilers have been nothing more than a skeleton crew propped up by two offensive superstars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl who fell into the organization's lap at the draft table years ago. 

Keith, one of the worst defensemen of the last few seasons, isn't going to do the team any favors on the ice, and unless dramatic changes are made, all of the brilliant advice, leadership and intangibles he theoretically has to offer won't do anything for a team that lacks the comprehensive talent necessary to contend in the NHL.

The Chicago Blackhawks have traded veteran defenseman Duncan Keith and forward Tim Soderlund to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defenseman Caleb Jones and a conditional 2022 third-round pick.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN tweeted details on the conditional pick:

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported the trade. 

Keith, 37, has spent his entire 16-year career in Chicago. 

Keith is a three-time champion, three-time All-Star, a two-time James Norris Memorial Trophy winner as the top defensive player and the 2014-15 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP. He's a safe bet to be a Hall of Famer once he retires. 

The question is just how much he'll upgrade Edmonton's blue line at this point in his career:

Everything in Edmonton should be viewed through the lens of maximizing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl's prime years. The 24-year-old McDavid is the league's best player; the 25-year-old Draisaitl isn't far behind. The pair have won three of the past five Hart Trophies. 

And yet, in their time together the Oilers have won just one playoff series. That is an indictment on the talent the organization has surrounded them with, more than anything else. 

McDavid is under contract through the 2025-26 season, while Draisaitl's deal takes him through the 2024-25 campaign, so the Oilers have some time to build a true championship contender around them. Perhaps the Oilers see Keith's championship experience and his locker room presence as particularly valuable as McDavid, Draisaitl and the Oilers try to take the next step. 

Whether he's able to be a net positive on the ice at this stage in his career remains to be seen. 

As for Jones, his acquisition may be part of a larger plan for the rebuilding Blackhawks:

Regardless, the 24-year-old has appeared in 93 games over the past three years, posting a minus-17 plus-minus. 

Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid won the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP for the second time in his career on Tuesday, beating out finalists Nathan MacKinnon and Auston Matthews for the award.

The 24-year-old posted 105 points in 56 games this season (33 goals, 72 assists) to win the award again four years after notching 108 points (41 goals, 67 assists) in 82 games for his first Hart Trophy. McDavid had 21 more points than the next player on the scoring list, teammate Leon Draisaitl.

It's the second consecutive season an Oilers player has taken home the honor following Draisaitl in 2019-20. Combined with Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, it's the 12th Hart Trophy won by an Edmonton player.

It also marks the sixth straight year a forward has won the award. 

Carey Price was the last goaltender to claim the Hart Trophy in 2014-15, while Chris Pronger was the last defenseman to win it during the 1999-2000 season. 

A second win for McDavid is only likely to increase pressure on the Oilers' front office to build around their two-way star following another season with little to show for it. 

After failing to advance out of the qualifying round inside the NHL bubble last year, Edmonton was swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round this year. The Oilers have not advanced to the second round of postseason since falling to the Anaheim Ducks in 2016-17—the last time McDavid won the Hart. 

Before that, Edmonton didn't make the playoffs for 10 straight years. It took three more years between falling to the Ducks and getting knocked out by the Jets for the Oilers to march back to the playoffs.

As McDavid continues to prove he's the best player in the league, his front office has yet to catch up and provide more support around him. 

Coming off a dominant regular-season performance, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid has been named the winner of the 2020-21 Ted Lindsay Award.

McDavid beat out Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the honor as voted upon by the NHL Players' Association.

This marks the third time in six seasons that McDavid has won the Lindsay. He previously won it in back-to-back years in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

McDavid is the most dominant offensive player in the NHL. The 24-year-old led the league with 72 assists and 105 points during the regular season. This marks the third time in the past five seasons he's been the league's leading point-scorer.

The only major offensive category McDavid didn't lead the NHL in was goals scored, but his 33 ranked second behind Matthews' 41.

McDavid's impressive season helped the Oilers make the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the North Division. Their postseason run ended abruptly with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets.

Drafted No. 1 overall by Edmonton in 2015, McDavid was entrusted to become the face of the franchise as a 19-year-old. He became a superstar virtually right out of the gate, winning NHL Rookie of the Month three times during the 2015-16 season.

McDavid has since gone on to be named an All-Star four times and a three-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer. He is one of 10 players in league history to win the Ted Lindsay Award at least three times.