Edmonton Oilers Sunday Ramblings: McDavid, Cards, Pacific

This week was pretty eventful for two reasons and unlike other Sunday Ramblings, this one is going to be a bit different, because I will be focusing more so on rather than the entire Edmonton Oilers team.

Let’s start with the team first and foremost:

Two Games

The Oilers played two games this week (technically three with Sunday but I’m writing this before the game tonight). There was the 4-1 win against Philadelphia and the 2-1 loss against Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia game I was there to watch it live and it was a great game for the Oilers: they had almost 50 shots on net, just missing the mark by one. It was all Oilers, all night. The Oilers, dare I say, looked dominant against the Flyers.

Pittsburgh was a tougher game because the Edmonton Oilers were in it. They had a sloppy first period and four posts were hit. One “goal” had to be reviewed where it was determined the puck did not cross the line, which was a pretty clear case.

Yet, they are last in the Pacific Division. It stings but there’s some things we need to look at in regards to the Standings:

The Pacific Division is terrible right now: Look who’s in second right now: The Canucks sporting a 6-4-4 record. They are technically a sub .500 team, but thanks to the Bettman point they sit in second with 16 points. Third place? The 7-7-0 San Jose Sharks with 14 points, a .500 team. The Ducks are catching fire lately (as they should, they are my Cup winners this year) but still sport a 5-7-2 record. The Coyotes have a 6-6-1 record and are performing outside expectations. Calgary has only a measly point on the Oilers. There’s only one team in the Pacific Division that has a record over .500 and that’s the Los Angeles Kings. The Pacific is rough.
Things will change: Ducks are going to keep winning and the Coyotes are going to start losing. I had the Oilers finishing 5th in the Pacific and I still think they will finish there. Sure, they are missing arguably their best player, but it’s tight. I also do not see Vancouver staying in second place by the end of the year.
It’s a small gap: It’s a small gap between second and last. It’s only six points. For third, it’s only four points. Those are very doable point totals to achieve, despite having a tough week ahead.

It’s tough though. The dreaded American Thanksgiving marker is coming soon, where teams that are not in a playoff position by Thanksgiving usually do not make the playoffs.

The Injury

I was there. I was there with my dad and brother for the first Edmonton Oilers game ever that all three of us attended. It was a pretty big deal for me. We saw an Oilers dominating win, but that was not the story. Clearly, the story was Connor McDavid‘s injury. The feeling behind it, I couldn’t cheer during the third. I was looking on social media and saw the bad news. People around me did not know.

Greg Wyshynski is one of my favourite bloggers out there and he wrote a reassuring piece about the Oilers sans McDavid. When I first read it, I was angry. He did not know what it felt for this Edmonton Oilers fan. Like I told some co-workers, in my miserable existence as an Oilers fan, I have only known bitter defeats and horrible hockey for the greater part of my life. It’s true. This felt like a complete punch in the stomach.

However, after a couple days, I started to accept it. I’m usually optimistic with the Edmonton Oilers and Greg was right: Things will be fine without McDavid. Leon Draisaitl has been performing way above expectations this season. It’s an injury where Oilers fans and McDavid himself were lucky that it was not an injury to any tissue where it would impact McDavid long term. Very lucky. A torn Rotator cuff would have been devastating.

Don Cherry said last night that the Flyers did it on purpose but I disagree. After watching it live and the replays countless times, I do not see anything malicious there. Braydon Manning looked horrified getting up: he was not telling McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers “Welcome to the NHL.” Far from it.

It’s a devastating injury, but McDavid will heal up and be a great asset to the Edmonton Oilers once more.

McDavid’s Rookie Card Craze

McDavid’s Young Gun

Ironically, the day after McDavid’s injury, his Edmonton Oilers Rookie Card was released and there was an immediate buzz. This has been building up for months. Stores had line ups up to 50 people before it would open.

I’m into the hobby and I was talking to a couple people, store owners, collectors about the #collectconnor mania. For example, one shop had 200 cases (each case contains 12 boxes) and was sold out by today. McDavid’s Young Gun is one of the first rookie cards out there of him and he’s a tough pull: the average seems to be 1.5 McDavid Young Gun Rookie Card per case. Each case, at my local hobby shop, was around 1100 dollars. Some people were lucky enough to get two in a case while some didn’t even get one Young Gun.

Still, I managed to buy a McDavid Young Gun for cheaper than on eBay, as I was lucky enough to run into someone who opened two McDavids. With the costs of boxes for a chance of maybe pulling that wanted Rookie Card, I figured it would be better in the long run to just get the specific card. Sadly, that robbed me the thrill of opening that card.

There are short prints of McDavid’s Draft, one of which contains his autograph, which are going for crazy amounts on eBay.

He’s easily one of the most sought-after cards in a very long time.

How much so?

The one store sold 200 cases by the weekend. Another store is on their last two cases and had to limit people to buying 3 boxes per customer. The boxes went from 105 dollars to 125 dollars in a span of three days. The demand is so great in Edmonton that stores are on their last inventory: after they sell what they have left, that’s it for the Series One 15-16 Hobby Boxes. Not even a week into the release of the set!

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Yet, I love it. It’s great because there are people who have not collected hockey cards in a long time or are just complete beginners and it is adding a new interest into a great hobby. To all you collectors out there, happy hunting!

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