Wow! What a game that was last night in Winnipeg eh? Who would’ve thunk that if I wrote an article outlining what the Oilers could do to get out of their powerplay funk that they would actually go ahead and get out of it in a major way! Three goals on the PP? And did you notice where that first one was? Right in the upper slot. A place where Eberle should’ve been the whole time.
How many of you completely forgot about the Oilers getting scored upon in the first minute of the game like I did? And Patrick Laine… Good Lord can that guy shoot a puck. Is he the best sniper in the NHL right now?
Ze German, Leon… Wow! Mr.Draisaitl moves up to #20 in the NHL in scoring with this beauty!
There are probably a few who could do it better but that was a pretty damned nice goal. The German is en fuego!
SEARCHING FOR STARS IN DALLAS
So I guess the Stars are leaking goals left and right and I suppose that might have something to do with them running a defense who can barely grow a beard.
Before Johnny Oduya went down the Stars had 8 or 9 NHL level dmen getting ice time for them. Those included are:
- Esa Lindell
- John Klingberg
- Patrik Nemeth
- Jamie Oleksiak
- Julius Honka
- Stephen Johns
- Jordie Benn
- Dan Hamhuis
- Johnny Oduya
Despite going ape sh*t on the Jets PK last night, the Oilers still could use that guy to run the PP for them. Swede John Klingberg is off last year’s pace with only 12 pts this year and has been healthy scratched at least once. Blazing up behind Klingberg is Finn Julius Honka, who has played 6 games and has 3 assists already. Stephen Johns leads the team in hits and I believe is 4th in blocked shots.
The reason I speak of those three defenders is because they are all right-handed and that’s the type of dman the Oilers will be looking for? But my question is, why would the Stars consider dealing any of Klingberg, Honka, or Johns for anything less that somebody in the Oilers top 6. They surely don’t need any more defensemen, so what could Chiarelli possibly offer the Stars to get one of those righties?
John Klingberg would be the guy I’d go after. He’s got a very nice Klefbom/Larsson-like contract being signed for $4.25M until 2021/22, he has a history, short albeit, of producing offense, and he’s a rightie! But that would force the Oilers to leave a pretty decent forward unprotected for Las Vegas and Jim Matheson wouldn’t get to keep his beloved Kris Russell 🙁
We know that Edmonton NEEDS to rid themselves of a Pouliot and a Fayne. But there is no way in Sam’s good green hell that Jim Nill is going to take those guys without a helluva sweetener and only $1.8M in cap space.
Would Mark Fayne be the kind of experienced veteran that could calm the Stars blueline corps down a bit? Dan Hamhuis has been scratched one time already but maybe their in the same situation that Edmonton was in before Kris Russell came on board. Perhaps they could just use a couple of veterans to sort things out and calm everything the f*ck down.
Dealing Jordan Eberle would leave the Oilers SEVERELY short-handed on the right side and they’ve got no use for Nugent-Hopkins if their center depth is Seguin-Spezza-Eakins… So ChiaPete would have to really put on his thinking cap for this one.
Best Case Scenario (For me at least): Peter Chiarelli pulls a rabbit out of his ass and finds a way to get Klingberg and Antoine Roussel for minimal damage. Perhaps Pouliot/Fayne/1st rounder/prospects and eating some salary. I’ll just slip away here and see if my NHL 17 will let me make that deal…
What do you think? How do you reckon the Oilers could take advantage of Dallas Stars team that is looking to solidify their defense? Let us know in the comments below!
