The 2017/18 season is upon us and I’m so bloody excited!!! But that hasn’t stopped the media machine from digging into the Oilers.
Take a listen to Ryan Rishaug’s spot on The Jason Gregor Show in the Youtube clip below and let me know what you think?
Highlights include:
- The Benning comments
- What price is Edmonton willing to pay to upgrade their defense?
- Who could fill that spot on defense from within the organization if Matt Benning shows he’s not ready?
- The reason the Oilers are willing to “tread water” until Andrej Sekera comes back.
- How two spots in the top 6 on the right side were wide open for the taking and none of the players expected to take it capitalized on that opportunity… Except one.
- Why Todd McLellan was forced to move Draisaitl back to McDavid’s RW?
- How Kailer Yamamoto made the team.
- Why the Oilers aren’t releasing Chris Kelly from his PTO.
Personally, I give it the month of October and if the Oilers’ defense is looking shaky, Chiarelli sorts that out toute suite! Add to that the fact that a team like Vegas needs to move some bodies off of their blueline and we might see something sooner.
One thing working against Edmonton right now is that they’ve only got 4 games in the next 2 weeks… Not really enough time to make a judgment call on the D in such a small time frame, right?
A bigger concern might be that right wing. Seems to be a bit of a circus right now with Yamamoto beating out Puljujarvi, Caggiula, Strome, and Slepyshev for a spot in the top 6… That said, I’m stoked to see the new guys and I’m really curious what kind of answers the Oilers will give us to those questions above…
Let us know in the comments or on Twitter (@beerleagueheroe) your thoughts on what the boys on Gregor’s show have said below.
I think PC didn’t do a good job this summer. If another top 4 d man gets hurt, the team is in trouble. The problem with the 32 left handed d men in the system is that they are all 5-6 d men at this moment in time.
Still think its time to trade Nurse for a #2 d r/h if possible. Nurse will be the #3 d man on the left side, this is a position that the team has plenty of spare parts in.
Also think too much is being made about the right side on offense. Most teams have two studs on their first line with a player who can be swapped up and down the line up. All 4 right wingers could be moved up and down the line up depending on who they are playing.
Good to hear from you Lee! I think you make some really valid points. I wonder how much of Chiarelli’s plate was taken up by McDavid’s and Draisaitl’s contracts… Not an excuse by any means but he’s left the team with significant cap room for future reference.