Big rumour day for the Oilers eh? I love waking up on the other side of the planet to rumors of trade! Gives me a bit more time to digest what’s being said online.
Here’s what I’ve read online so far:
Obviously, those are taken from within the Facebook groups but Gruninger (a former writer here at BLH) is quite good at reporting all Oilers-related things on Facebook and I guess this Trevor Boz character is said to have some “connections” but when I asked my own trusted sources, they said this:
“Oilers like Halak but they don’t feel he’s consistent enough for the 4.5 cap hit. Plus, Winnipeg is willing to retain salary. They like Hellebuyck and Hutchinson. Pavalec is believed to be done in Wpg. Edm is VERY interested.”
Halak is under contract for another year @$4.5M after this one, so unless the Isles are willing to take on some Mark Fayne or Benoit Pouliot… I don’t see this going down. That being said, the Oilers could do a whole lot worse than a Talbot/Halak tandem going into 2017/18.
It was Jim Matheson, I believe, who also threw out the idea of the Oilers looking at Pavalec too, no? So who is one to believe?
Pavalec is a UFA at season’s end and at the moment he’s not exactly lighting up the AHL with the Manitoba Moose (5W 4L 2T, 3.17 GAA, .906 SV%). Is this really a player that is considered an upgrade on Jonas Gustavsson?
What about giving Nick Ellis a shot to see how he does?
As for Duchene:
“Duchene is bigger and he can produce whether he’s bottom 6 or top 6. Oilers like him alot. Ebs body language says what everyone thinks. Of course hell say he wants to stay to appease the fans.”
Personally, I would never put a player like Duchene in the bottom 6 unless he was playing for an all-star team like Team Canada. This is a player who makes the same money as Eberle and has the speed to match McDavid. Plus have you seen what he can do in the corners? Best tight-turns in the game bar none AND he can play right-wing! Don’t forget about the goals… THE GOALS!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsvF54YGvH0
This isn’t new news to me. I’ve been told that Brandon Davidson will be left exposed for the expansion draft, so if the Oilers can pick up a vital piece in the drive for the playoffs by trading him, so be it.
What that piece might be? All I know is that the Oilers are still on the search for a PP QB (preferably RH’d) and they’re not picky as to if that is a forward or a defenseman (We’ve talked about Cam Fowler and Michael Stone in the past). Also, as Bob Stauffer teased a couple of days ago on Oilers Now!, the Oilers are still looking to get bigger (Stauffer says it differently though, “I wouldn’t be surprised if…”).
Is that the writing on the wall for Jordan Eberle? There’d be a lot of “diehards” out there that would welcome that, eh?
What do you think about these latest rumors? Let us know in the comments below!
Eberle + 1 for Duchene + 2 sounds too good to be true except if the Oilers don’t make the playoffs and win the lottery where they could pick Liljegren.