Welcome to our daily rumours article brought to you by NHL Lines site Betway
TSN: Ryan Rishaug on an area of need for the Edmonton Oilers.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Cory Woron: “The Oilers didn’t feel that the knee on Connor McDavid night was an intentionally dirty play and they’re okay with their response to it. So after speaking with them , what’s your opinion?”
Rishaug: “Well Cory I thought there needed to be more of a response. Either, right in the moment or certainly throughout the rest of the game. Just some sort of an effort made to make Mackenzie Weegar’s night a little bit more difficult after taking that kind of shot at Connor McDavid.
It was clearly a knee-on-knee hit. The Oilers felt it was a penalty. They didn’t feel it was malicious in it’s intent.
Let’s go back to earlier this year. They’ve shown they have a willingness to do this. Alex Edler hits McDavid and the response is immediate from Darnell Nurse. Nurse by the way said that he didn’t see the hit from Weegar last night.
So, listen, it’s about competitiveness for me. It’s about understanding as a group that when something like that happens, it immediately becomes everybody’s responsibility to set the tone and to respond in some way.
They did absolutely nothing. Let’s be clear. Nothing. Mackenzie Weegar was hit once in night’s game but Jesse Puljujarvi. The Oilers had less than 15 hits all night long. So it really underscores how much this group is missing Evander Kane, Corey, cause I can all but guarantee ya, he would have addressed the situation at some point night.
And it definitely begs the question, do they need more functional sandpaper in their lineup? The answer is a hard yes on that one Cory. But much like you, I could be considered a bit of caveman at times.”
Woron: “Yes, maybe so, and fighting though isn’t exactly what the Oilers do. They have two fighting majors all season.”