The Oilers are in a bit of a funk at the moment but there’s no need to panic. Head coach Todd McLellan through the line combos in the McBlender and came out with the beauties below and I can’t wait to see them in action. I hope he sticks with them for a little while and gives them a chance.
Maroon/McDavid/Eberle
Lucic/Draisaitl/Slepyshev
Caggiula/RNH/Kassian
Hendricks/Letestu/Pouliot
I’m especially looking forward to seeing how the 2nd line does. I think that Slepyshev has been working his ass off since being recalled and I guess Lucic and Leon had some good things going for them earlier in the year. So, let’s hope this is the kind of line that takes the pressure off of McDavid’s line and really gives the opposition something to be concerned about.
Drake
I’m getting a tad concerned with Drake Caggiula. He’s not standing out as much during this scoring slump and that’s usually not the case. Most times if he’s not scoring, he’s getting his nose dirty and that has come to a stop now too. Why not send him to Bakersfield during this time and see if he can get some of that swagger back? Give that ice-time to Iiro Pakarinen and Anton Lander to divvy up between themselves. Could the Oilers waive Benoit Pouliot to open up a spot when they want to bring Drake back up? Would they? I can’t see anybody taking on that contract and if they did, Wunderbar!
Ebs
A lot of fans getting on Eberle’s case right now and he’s getting close to falling into the same pit that Justin Schultz fell into before he was pilfered out of town for a 3rd rounder. I imagine that’s where Ebs’ value is sitting at this very moment too. Unfortunate it is but his fancies are shit compared to previous seasons. He’s simply trying to do too much as he transitions from being a 1-way player to a 200-ft player under McLellan’s reign and it’s affecting his offense.
Will Jordan Eberle get traded?
Yes. But it’ll be this summer when most of the big deals are done up. I suspect it could be right before free agency IF the Oilers have a big fish like TJ Oshie lined up like they did last summer with Lucic. Maybe Eberle goes for a young right-handed dman in a deal that could look like a loss on paper. Sound familiar?
One thing, Eberle scores an important goal in the playoffs, this regular season will be forgotten by the fans. That goes for Pouliot and Lucic as well. All the lazy talk and they don’t give a crap rhetoric will be out the window and jersey sales will be up once again. Kris Russell will have to lead the team in scoring for Henderson and Co. to forgive him though 🙂
Matt Duchene
I think that the Avalanche are straight up insane to be dealing this guy but apparently, it’s bound to happen and the Avs want a top young dman, a 1st round pick, and a blue-chip prospect in return. This had me thinking a bit…
By the sounds of it, Chiarelli is going to re-sign Kris Russell and that is going to take up, what I believe, Darnell Nurse’s spot in the top 4 next season IF it does go down and would it be better or worse for Nurse if he were to play another season of bottom pairing minutes in 2017/18? And how would doing that impact the prospects coming up from Bakersfield?
What I’m getting at is would it be to the Oilers betterment if they dealt one of Oscar Klefbom or Darnell Nurse in a package deal for Matt Duchene? He’s primarily a centre but he did play some wing at the World Cup, no?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating the Oilers trade either Klefbom OR Nurse because I love them both. They’re young, they’re going to be on value contracts for quite some time (fingers crossed on Nurse’s contract signing this summer), and in Nurse’s case; He’s def. a Chiarelli guy. Big, strong, mean, can skate, and I reckon there’s some offense in his bones too. At the moment, the Oilers are really missing his transition game I believe.
I’m just curious how Oilers fans feel about Duchene and the price it might cost to get him. I did read online somebody was ready to offer Sakic a package of Brandon Davidson, Griffin Reinhart, Jordan Eberle, and two draft picks for Duchene, Siemens, and Grigorenko… Wouldn’t it make more sense to trade RNH?
Let’s be honest though, Duchene and Landeskog are being dealt to the East. Boston is going hard after them and I can’t wait to see what Neely/Sinden tell Sweeney to do in order to acquire one of them. God help their souls if they move Charlie McAvoy…
Thoughts?
Ya the problem is if they score all will be forgotten all the skill in the world ain’t making you a great hockey player ya need heart and eberle just doesn’t have it get off his high horse already and get what you can now or in off season you ain’t going to win anything unless your players are giving or at least trying to give 100% every night and eberle just doesn’t
And I would seriously try kassian with mcdavid more speed than eberle might have just as good of hands and he goes to the hard places making more room for 97
Eberle, Nuge, and Pouliot all need to be moved this offseason