Latest results and news from the Canadian rookie tournaments.
Oilers shut down Connor McDavid for remainder of rookie tournament.
EDMONTON SUN: The Oilers have decided Connor McDavid won’t participate in any further games during the Young Stars tournament. They claim McDavid, who absorbed a big hit from Jake Virtanen in the game on Friday against the Canucks, isn’t hurt and he’ll participate in Wednesday’s game against the Alberta Golden Bears.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers may be “managing an asset”, as the piece claims, but it has to be a disappointment to the fans in Pentiction who turned out for this tournament to see McDavid, who only played in one game.
THE VANCOUVER SUN/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: Led by Jake Virtanen, Jared McCann and Brendan Gaunce, the Vancouver Canucks downed the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 in the Young Stars tournament on Sunday.
OTTAWA CITIZEN/MONTREAL GAZETTE: Ottawa Senators goalie Matt O’Connor made 47 saves backstopping his club to a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, whose management is pleased by their prospects performance in the rookie tournament.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Once again, a hot Senators goaltender frustrates an otherwise dominant Canadiens team.
TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs rookies Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen had a strong showing as their club thumped the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 in rookie tournament play on Sunday in London, Ontario.
CALGARY SUN: Young Flames defenseman Ryan Culkin is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks after suffering a shoulder injury against the Edmonton Oilers during the Young Stars tournament on Saturday.
Odd, Chiarelli seemed ok with McDavid taking the hit. Well in his interview. Now they are scared
Umm. Didn’t the young Sens fire 45 at Fucale? Seems to me a margin of 2 shots doesn’t equal dominance.”
Touche.
A testament to their young D it wasn’t! LOL.
Quality of SOG,,, and O-zone possession, count too, for instance, if you have a SOG from center ice, that was a low quality SOG, with no O-zone possession.
I watched the entire game on Rogers. No one dominated. Both had their moments of offensive flurries – D was almost non-existent. Goaltending on both sides was excellent.
Once upon a time, the Oilers had another generational player named Gretzky who had Marty Mcsorley as his linemate ensuring Gretzky had a long productive career devoid of frequent on ice abuse.
It might make sense here to consider finding or trading for someone to fulfill a similar role along side McDavid.
It was a different time/game then… not so sure McDavid needs a Mcsorley type…Oilers could use some size I think but Hall will be riding shotgun with Connor and that’s the way it should be IMO. Hall is a pretty tough kid really.
I agree the role of the fighter/enforcer has largely been removed from the game,but my comment was really about asset management and how best to keep McDavid from needless abuse.
Considering the perceived”tanking” that took place last year in an effort to draft McDavid; as well as the off ice issues with Kane, Richards, Voynov, the NHL can not afford to have another public black eye to a generational player injured from a senseless hit.
Mark Spector is running an article on Sportsnet right now discussing this very topic.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/how-should-the-oilers-protect-mcdavid/
Nylander looked like he was playing against kids…he will be a good one down the road.
i think you mean semenko since mcsorely was a dman. mcdavids line mates need to be able to keep up to him not playing a man short