The Oilers dominated a must-win Game 6, forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 with the Canucks on Monday night in Vancouver.

Oilers 5, Canucks 1 (series tied 3-3)

Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each scored a goal and added two assists in the Oilers' Game 6 victory. Bouchard in particular had a strong game, finishing with a plus-4 while unleashing his lethal shot on his goal.

BOUCHARD. 3-1 OILERS. pic.twitter.com/TjadKdTC3t

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 19, 2024

Bouchard now has four goals in this series and five goals overall in the playoffs. He also leads all defensemen with 18 points in 11 playoff games, while last season he finished with 17 points in 12 playoff games. Bouchard is someone you want on your playoff pool roster, especially if you have to fill your roster with at least one defenseman.

Dylan Holloway, Zach Hyman, and Evander Kane scored the Oilers' other goals. Ben mentioned Holloway in this week's Journey as a player receiving an opportunity with Leon Draisaitl. Holloway was finally able to cash in with a goal, breaking an eight-game point drought. Holloway's only other playoff points were two goals in Game 2 of the first-round series against Los Angeles.

Connor McDavid finished with three assists, while Leon Draisaitl added two assists. Draisaitl is the third-fastest player in NHL history to reach 100 career playoff points, which he has done in 60 games. The only players to do it faster are two guys named Lemieux and Gretzky. Regardless of how far the Oilers go in the playoffs, Draisaitl, McDavid, and Bouchard score at a high enough pace to justify their place on playoff pool rosters. They are currently 1-2-3 in playoff scoring, with Draisaitl at 23 points, McDavid at 21 points (but just two goals), and Bouchard at 18 points. The next-highest player is Cale Makar at 15 points, while the next-highest active players have 14 points.  

The big story before Game 6 was the fact that Stuart Skinner would be back in net for the Oilers after Calvin Pickard started Games 4 and 5. Pickard hadn't been bad in his two starts in this series, but the Oilers felt the need to go with their starting goalie in a game where they faced elimination. Skinner was fine in making 14 saves, but the Canucks didn't test the struggling goalie nearly enough in Game 6. Expect the Oilers to turn back to Skinner for Game 7.

Thatcher Demko was a participant in Saturday's practice, so it looks like he should be able to return soon. Meanwhile, Arturs Silovs allowed five goals for the first time in the playoffs. Silovs has had two really bad starts in this series, with the other being in the Game 1 win for the Canucks (4 GA on 18 SA). After the game, Rick Tocchet threw cold water on the idea of Demko starting, which makes sense because he would be thrust into the Canucks' most important game of the season after not playing in nearly a month.

That being said, if the Canucks win Game 7, don't be surprised if Demko starts Game 1 of the conference final against Dallas, which would take place on Thursday. I'll bet the Stars were cheering for Edmonton in Game 6 and will be pulling for a lengthy overtime in Game 7 so that their opponent is tired heading into Big D for Game 1.

Nils Hoglander scored the Canucks' lone goal in this game, which was his first goal of the playoffs. Elias Pettersson registered the primary assist on the goal, giving him assists on each of the last two Canucks' goals. He hasn't been at his best during the playoffs, but at least he's contributed something lately.

The secondary assist on the Hoglander goal went to Filip Hronek. That assist was Hronek's first point of the playoffs. One hockey insider suggested that Hronek's next contract figure would begin with an 8, but I'd beg to differ since Hronek hasn't exactly excelled under the playoff spotlight. In his Salary Projections, Alex has Hronek at $6.05 million. I'll go $6.5 million.  

Vancouver and Edmonton have alternated wins and losses over the first six games of the series. If that holds true for Game 7, then it's the Canucks' turn to win. I picked the Canucks in 7 in the writers' playoff predictions, which seemed like a bold move at the time with how I was in the clear minority. Now? I'm still somewhat confident in my prediction, even though the Oilers have to be feeling good about their chances after their Game 6 result. The Canucks have been very good at bouncing back after weak efforts this season, so expect a better Game 7 effort from them. Canucks and Oilers fans will be sweating bullets, while hockey fans with no rooting interest will sit back and enjoy the ride.

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Aleksander Barkov was announced as the winner of this season's Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive player. Barkov finished with his fourth consecutive point-per-game season (79 PTS in 73 GP). As well, he finished fifth among forwards with a plus-33 rating while leading the Panthers with exactly 1100 faceoffs taken, winning 57.3% of them.

Some of the NHL awards will be announced will be announced before the NHL's awards show on June 27. The biggest trophies – Calder, Hart, Norris, Lindsay, and Vezina – will still be announced at the awards show. See the schedule of announcements here.

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As per Kevin Weekes, Rod Brind'Amour and his coaching staff have agreed to extensions with the Carolina Hurricanes. It didn't seem like Brind'Amour would be leaving the Hurricanes, but he had been without a contract after the season ended. Even though the Canes haven't delivered in the playoffs the past few seasons, Brind'Amour still seems like the right guy for the job.

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In case you missed it, the Top 100 Roto Rankings have been updated for May. I wasn't able to update them during April because I was heavy at work on the Playoff Draft List.

I've seen a few questions about when Dobber's rankings such as the Top 300 Skaters, Top 120 Defensemen, and Top 100 Goalies will be available. They will be available once Dobber is able to return to work on them. I can't provide an exact or even approximate date due to his health situation, but please continue to check back here. I'll also clarify that his rankings are for keeper leagues, whereas the Top 100 Roto Rankings are for single-season leagues.

As always, I appreciate any feedback I receive on the rankings. Although I try to be thorough on them each month, I don't always have time to check on every player and compare to those around them. I received a few player suggestions on Twitter/X when the May rankings were released. At that time, comments usually come in the form of "What about (player that I didn't include)?" So I'll take the remaining time to discuss why they weren't on the list, and evaluate whether they should be reconsidered.

Gabriel Landeskog

When Landeskog has been healthy and active, he has been fully deserving of a place in the top 100. He has eclipsed the point-per-game mark in two of his last four seasons while averaging nearly nearly three shots and over one hit per game. The trouble is that Landeskog has not played a single game in two whole seasons. Since the Roto Rankings only take a short-term (single-season) view, Landeskog will not reappear on these rankings until he returns to action. He has been skating with the Avalanche, although no specific return date has been provided. In the meantime, Landeskog appears on the injured list for the rankings.

Mikhail Sergachev

Sergachev started last season on the top 100 list. He had just come off a career-high 64-point season where he had appeared to have taken over the top power-play spot from Victor Hedman. But in December, Sergachev was hit with two lower-body injuries that caused him to miss the rest of the season except for one game in early February. As a result, Sergachev lost his power-play role to a resurgent Hedman, and he finished the season with just 19 points in 34 games – a 46-point pace. He also registered just seven power-play points this season compared to 27 power-play points in 2022-23.

The 33-year-old Hedman may eventually concede that top power-play role to Sergachev, while the fact that Hedman has just one year remaining on his contract is also noteworthy as the Lightning need to make some hard decisions about where they stand as a team after two first-round exits. As it stands, I'd bet the under on Sergachev reaching 64 points in 2024-25. If Sergachev can regain that pace, which will likely be tied to power-play time, then he will more likely regain his place in the top 100.     

Seth Jarvis

This recommendation makes the most sense out of these three. In his third NHL season, Jarvis finally broke out to be rosterable in the majority of single-season leagues with 33 goals and 67 points. A portion – although not all – of Jarvis's jump from 39 to 67 points was in the form of power-play points. Jarvis recorded just two power-play goals and 11 power-play points combined in his first two seasons, but thanks to a promotion to the first unit, Jarvis finished with 20 power-play points, which included 13 power-play goals.

The question for Jarvis is whether the 2023-24 production is sustainable. After finishing with a 7.5 SH% in 2022-23, Jarvis's shooting percentage doubled to 18.8 SH% in 2023-24. As a result, his goal total could cool off a bit, so don't be surprised if he finishes below 30 goals next season. That might be the only negative on Jarvis, as he is about to reach the fourth season where many players break out. As long as he is able to keep receiving 50+ percent of the available power-play minutes, Jarvis should be good for 60+ points again. Add in another season of over 100 hits and he looks like a top-100 roto player.

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