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In No Particular Order: McDavid Awards, Holland, Season Tickets, McLeod

May 1, 2019, 2:39 PM ET [58 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
A few Oilers related things have happend in the past few days so let's get right to it.

MCDAVID NOMINATED FOR HART AND TED LINDSAY

In news that should shock nobody, it was just announced that Connor McDavid has been nominated for both the Hart and Ted Lindsay Awards. For the Hart, McDavid is joined by Nikita Kucherov and Sidney Crosby, and for the Ted Lindsay, Nikita Kucherov and Patrick Kane.

Unlike last season where McDavid led the league in scoring and was in for over 50% of his team's scoring, there should be no question who wins these awards this season; it's Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov led the league with 128 points this season, 12 more than the second place producer McDavid. Despite the unfortunate end to their season, being swept by the Blue Jackets in the first round, the performance by Kucherov and the Lightning was phenomenal through the regular season. McDavid himself has said he doesn't expect to win either award.

Once the awards are given I am more curious to see where Draisaitl falls on people's lists. Draisaitl finished 4th in points and second in goals with only one less than Alex Ovechkin. It slowly feels like people are starting to accept that Draisaitl is a brilliant player in his own rights and not just producer because of Connor.

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HOLLAND ALREADY GM?!

More rumours appear every day in regards to the Oilers search for a new General Manager. Some reports have gone so far to suggest that Ken Holland has already been inked as the new GM in Edmonton. There is no proof or a shred of evidence to suggest this is the case, with insiders like Darren Dreger flat out calling them completely false.

I'm trying to decide which option I would hate more as GM, Keith Gretzky or Ken Holland. Both would likely represent no change in status quo throughout the organization with no one being fired. Holland is a product from the 90's and while he may have done good work back in the day, he is a GM who was able to overall sit back and enjoy his team's success. He is 100% not the guy the team should be looking at bringing in.

SEASON TICKETS RENEWAL

The team has finally sent out info for season ticket renewal, which is roughly a full month later than they normally would. Clearly the team wanted people to cool down a bit from the end of the season, before banging on peoples doors for money.

A few details of note that have been laid out for season ticket holders:

- 0% price increase on season seats for 2019/2020
- 15% off food and beverage
- Additional game tickets at season seat pricing
- Increase to ticket price listing minimums on Oilers Ticket Exchange
- Monthly open practices for Season Seat Holders
- Weekly Building Tours for Season Seat Holders
- Monthly Season Seat holder opportunities to win unique Oilers experiences.

Overall these should all be viewed as "to be expected" no one was going to accept a price increase at this point and the extra discount on food and drinks is a nice bonus.

What I want to see now, is for the team to offer something for non Season Ticket Holder fans. For the fans who are maybe only able to buy tickets for one game a season, if any at all, the organization still has a Tier based fan ranking. Hopefully we see the team offer something for all fans who have struggled watching this team.

MCLEOD GETS INKED

As I was writing this, the Oilers announced they had come to an agreement with centre Ryan McLeod on an ELC deal. This was one of those things that was going to get done eventually, but it's good to see it finally happen. The young McLeod fit in surprisingly well with the big club and ended up being one of the last cuts before the season began.

This season McLeod did have some struggles, with his production dipping as he spent time with both the Steelheads and the Spirit. McLeod will likely get a bit of a look with the Condors this post-season and will be a feature player on their roster next season. He is likely at least two years away from being an impact player in the NHL.
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