Monthly Archives: June 2017

NHL

Drai Pou and What Are The Oilers To Do?

First off, I want to send out my thoughts and condolences to the Semenko Family. The Oilers family lost a dear member yesterday.  Dave Semenko was a like a character out of a storybook for me. I was too young to ever watch him play for the Oilers but that didn’t stop me from learning about the legend that was Dave Semenko. Luckily with the old Boys on the Bus movies from when I was a bit older and

Dave Semenko was a like a character out of a storybook for me. I was too young to ever watch him play for the Oilers but that didn’t stop me from learning about the legend that he was. Luckily with the old Boys on the Bus movies from when I was a bit older, the help of books like “The Glory Days” by Douglas Hunter, “Champions” by Kevin Lowe and Stan Fischler, “The Battle of Alberta” by Mark Spector, or “The Game of Our Lives” by Peter Gzowski, and nowadays Youtube, I’ve learned on my own why he didn’t have to fight as much as people think he did.

“Do you wanna go for a canoe ride?” I learnt this was Dave’s line on the ice if things got out of hand from Bruce McCurdy on yesterday’s Lowetide show. I think it is such an original line if there ever was one!

Through those aforementioned mediums, we also learned what a big heart he had and how great of a person he really was. We’ll miss Dave Semenko not only for his cinder block-like fists but also his knack for the net 😉

Once an Oiler, Always an Oiler. RIP Dave!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKgT5sVFoUw

The Edmonton Oilers have finally had enough of trying to peddle Benoit Pouliot to the rest of the NHL and bought him out eh? Well, I’ll tell ya, I’m indifferent on the subject. Actually, no I’m not. I’m a fan of the buyout and had Griffin Reinhart not been selected in the expansion draft, I think we’d be sitting here today talking about Mark Fayne as the one being bought out.

The Oilers have a few more wingers that are primed to be given golden opportunities to become full-time Oilers. I’m talking Drake Caggiula, Anton Slepyshev, Jesse Puljujarvi, and JJ Khaira. Paying Benoit Pouliot $1.4M for the next two seasons not to play for the Oilers, not to get offensive zone penalties at the worst times, not to get injured, and not to disappear completely during games is fine by me.

Now, in defense of Pouliot, there were times when he looked really great out there but then again there were times when Hall, Schultz, and Eberle looked great too…

What will the Oilers do with the extra money they’ve acrued from trading Eberle and buying out Pouiot?

Well, they could go out and sign a Patrick Marleau to a 3 year deal but I believe Ryan Rishaug when he says the Oilers are probably done tinkering with the roster and as much as I’d like to see Chiarelli add some more bodies this summer and make things interesting, he’s going to give the steering wheel over to the young guns and let them steer the ship.

If that faulters, or even if it doesn’t, expect Edmonton to be active at the trade deadline with these possible players hitting the market due to their upcoming UFA status:

  • Mike Green
  • Zdeno Chara
  • Cam Fowler
  • Patric Hornqvist
  • Cam Atkinson
  • Rick Nash
  • The Sedins
  • Evander Kane
  • James Neal
  • JVR
  • Lars Eller
  • Mikael Backlund
  • John Tavares
  • Kyle Turris
  • Bryan Little
  • Mikko Koivu
  • Paul Stastny
  • Carey Price

That’s a bloody crazy list of players going UFA next summer potentially! Edmonton would definitely be in on any one of those players should they be made available at the trade deadline next March but for the time being Peter Chiarelli will be keeping the powder Drai…

Can we talk about Leon Draisaitl for a moment?

Hey, remember that time when a prominent wood salesman in Edmonton compared Leon Draisaitl to Blair MacDonald?

Done laughing? Too much time with the lid open on the wood stain will make you say silly things kids. Be forewarned.

So this Draisaitl contract is going to be an issue one way or another, right? Be it too much money, not enough term, an offer-sheet hovering over negotiations or a holdout, the folks have Leon Draisaitl pointed in a very dangerous direction but if you remember the Jonathan Drouin saga; you’ll know that they are not afraid to go that route.

Leon will get paid because that’s what his agency does but I feel like it’s going to tarnish his image amongst the fans a bit until they win a Cup.

I feel like Connor should take a million or two less to help the team but that’s just me. His contract will usher in a new era in the NHL where the elite players get paid what their worth and the middlemen get less, with the bottom 6ers getting even less.

Is it his job to take less? Of course not and he’s worth every penny he earns. It is Peter Chiarelli’s job to build the team around him and make it as successful as possible but neither person needs to make it harder on the other to do their jobs. In fact, if they worked together, I’m sure the club would benefit greatly because of it.

Back to Leon, should he take less? I guess it depends on what is being offered and what they are asking? I have to believe that they are smart enough not to ask for more than the $ 7.5M that Tarasenko in STL is making. Leon is right in there with the Scheifeles, the Monahans, and the Gaudreaus of the NHL in terms of production, that’s for sure.

What I do think will happen is that he very well may take a 5-year deal or possibly something shorter. A contract akin to what the media has been discussing when referencing Crosby’s 2nd deal. I think Stamkos, Kane, and Toews also went that route as well.

So perhaps the Oilers don’t have to buy any free agent years but their team control of the player will be a shorter frame of time which will work both ways, right? Draisaitl can work his ass off to become the Malkin to McDavid’s Crosby and the Oilers will have to stump up big or he may digress into Nick Bjugstad too and the Oilers will be free of that huge contract scare.

You might be the type of fan that says the team is better off without Leon if he’s going to be demanding/willing to sign that kind of deal that handcuffs the team. To that I would question your ability to judge how good Leon Draisaitl is.

Was he the beneficiary of a lot of points from Connor? Sure. But who was leading the Oilers in the 2nd round of the playoffs against a Ducks team that looked unstoppable and refs that looked unbeatable. It wasn’t Connor, Eberle, Lucic, Klefbom, Nuge or Maroon. It was Leon and when the games get tough and the Oilers need a clutch player, Draisaitl is that man. The guy won the Memorial Cup MVP on the losing team!

If Leon does sign an offer sheet, the Oilers have to match it and deal with the consquences after and that might mean Patrick Maroon gets dealt as well as RNH or Darnell Nurse. It’ll probably mean that the Oilers Cup runs will have to wait until the salary cap is in the $90M range but if PIT can have Malkin and Crosby run their show for so long, Edmonton could do it with 97 and 29.

I do have one question about Leon’s relationships on the team though if he does sign such a deal. How would Patrick Maroon feel if he knew he was out the day Draisaitl signed his contract and now they have to play the year out together. What about a couple young guys like Nurse and Benning, who will be looking to re-up with the Oilers next summer and won’t get as much as they’d like because their raises are going to Leon’s bank account?

I just wonder how each player’s contract affects the locker room dynamic.

I just hope that each party does the right thing. This I do know though, players/agents that have mucked around with management come contract time in Edmonton never stayed there long… So I’m intersted in seeing how Chiarelli handles this very unique situation given his downfall in Boston came at the hands of poor salary cap management.

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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors, Trades

How Much is Pou Worth? By Andrew Taylor (@DrewTaylor1978)

Whether we are ready to admit it or not, the Edmonton Oilers officially have a cap crunch on their horizon.  With pending raises for Leon Draisaitl this coming season and Connor McDavid next season, they will be struggling to find a way to keep their core players, surround them with the proper support players, and compete for the Stanley Cup every year.

No matter what happens this season (Draisaitl contract, 7th defenseman signing, Puljujarvi making the team? etc.), with McDavid’s likely $10 million plus cap hit next year things are going to start to get really tight.  It’s going to be imperative that contracts present high value to the Oilers for them to be able to succeed.

This is where Benoit Pouliot comes in.  Whether you think he’s a terrible player (some do) or not, it’s hard to argue that he’s currently overpaid.  He’s still definitely a serviceable NHL player, and if he had only 1 year left I don’t think it would be an issue; you could play him out this year and let him move on.  I also think if he was a smaller cap hit, say $2.5 million, we wouldn’t be talking about him; unfortunately, that isn’t the case.  However, his 2 years remaining at $4 million which will overlap McDavid’s first year of his contract is where the issue lies.

Buying Pouliot out would reduce the amount of damage his cap hit would do per year but would extend the “dead” cap space further into McDavid’s contract.  As much as that can be a tool if required it’s best to stay away from it, as well as burying guys in the minors since you give up cap space to guys not even dressing on your team.

So, aside from packaging him up with draft picks to try to convince another team to take our problem (I am absolutely opposed to the idea of the Oilers throwing their draft picks away, especially carelessly), is there a way to move him out now so that the impact isn’t felt beyond this upcoming season (i.e. buying him out, which while it would give some cap relief now would cause the “dead” cap space to live on)?  It turns out if Chiarelli can be creative, there is.

The Oilers can trade their future headache to another team for that team’s current headache.  If they could take on a larger cap hit for 1 year, while clearing their obligations to Pouliot for the 2018-19 season, I think they would at the very least consider that.  I am going to assume that after Draisaitl’s contract they have in the neighbourhood of $3.5 million in cap space remaining, so if you hold on to a million and a half for trade deadline acquisitions (the Oilers should regularly be bolstering their line-ups for the next 10-15 years) they’ll have about $2 million they could absorb this season.

So, are there any players in the league who would fit the following:

  • Predominantly a left wing;
  • 1 year left on their current contract;
  • Have fallen out of favour with their team;
  • Have a cap hit higher than $5 million (it’d have to be a significant enough impact this year to make it worth it for the other team, and at $5 million they would receive $1 million in cap space, the difference between that players contract and Benoit Pouliot’s $4 million);
  • Have a cap hit no higher than $6 million (the $2 million the Oilers could absorb)?

Here is a list of players that might fit into that category (minus the “fallen out of favour with their team part”):

  1. Evander Kane – Buffalo Sabres – Left Wing – $5.25 Million Cap Hit for 1 year – Actual Salary of $6 Million for 1 year

  1. James Neal – Vegas Golden Knights – Left Wing – $5 Million Cap Hit for 1 year – Actual Salary of $5 Million for 1 year

That’s it!

I don’t see Vegas giving up James Neal 1 week after drafting him in their expansion draft, at least not in a deal like this.  In my opinion, they have every intention of having James Neal on their top line in October unless someone knocks their socks off.  They’re not trading him for Benoit Pouliot, and if they wanted Pouliot they would’ve drafted him in the expansion draft since he was available.

So, we take Evander Kane for a year and Buffalo gets $1.25 million in cap space?  I’m not sure that the reputed locker room issues that Evander Kane presents are bad enough to warrant that on the Sabres’ end, and likely he has grown out of them for the most part.  Also, Buffalo is not in a cap crunch so I’m not sure they’re desperate for the room.  If that deal was to go down I would imagine it would be Edmonton throwing in some assets to entice Buffalo to consummate the deal, and as discussed before, this is a strategy the Oilers need to avoid.

I think Benoit Pouliot is here for two more years.  He just doesn’t fit any other teams’ needs they won’t be able to fulfill through free agency for a better deal.  He is, after all, struggling to be successful here as a third line winger while getting paid as a second line winger (on the expensive side at that).  Maybe he comes in this season motivated to turn things around and increases his value enough to garner some interest, but at this point, he should probably be seen as a “learning opportunity”.

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Trades

Why the Oilers Stepped Away From Hamonic

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It’s been quite a productive week with regards to conversations with the sources!

But the first thing I’d like to talk about is why the Oilers stepped away from the Travis Hamonic trade.

Quite simply, Islanders GM Garth Snow wanted Darnell Nurse included in the deal according to my people on the inside. I asked, “Was Hamonic talked about in the Eberle deal?”

The reply,

“Yes. But Snow wanted Nurse too. Talks stopped there. Peter was actually hot after Hamonic BEFORE he got Larsson. The Swedish pinball. After Larsson, Hamonic interest was halted. Peter loves Nurse. He’s not trading Nurse. So, It would have been Ebs and Nurse for Strome and Hamonic. But Peter was no way in hell parting with Nurse. That’s why it ultimately became Ebs Strome 1v1″

Now, the Hamonic trade makes Calgary’s d-core a cup contending one and they’ll have that core together for a solid period of time before Hamonic needs a raise. Based on the current market, you can be assured that Hamonic’s next contract will be in the vicinity of $5M or more per year. The Flames are going all-in this upcoming season because they’re not going to be able to afford all these big pieces and they gave up a HUGE amount to get a guy that can help them for the next three seasons but in the 2018 draft they are screwed because they don’t pick until the 4th round. So, they’d better have good amateur scouting because, in the long run, they’ve just shot themselves in the foot.

It’s pretty obvious that Calgary is building the defense out in an attempt to combat Edmonton’s blossoming forward corps but after Sean Monahan, Johnny Hockey, and Matt Tkachuk; their offense is bone dry.

If they want to get to the Stanley Cup next season, they’ll have to go through Edmonton or Nashville. Good Luck!

As for the Oilers, they want to hold onto their picks because, according to my source, Peter Chiarelli has learned his lesson. He went the way the Flames are going when he was GM in Boston and he’s got the opportunity to build a multiple Stanley Cup winning team here in Edmonton.

Do you agree with the path that Peter Chiarelli has the Oilers on by not sacrificing draft picks for Hamonic? Let us know in the comments below!

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Oilers talking to Patrick Marleau, Tyler Pitlick, and Brian Boyle

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Are you getting ready for the most exciting part of the offseason where the free agent courting period begins and the Oilers rumors start flying high and hard?

But just a preface before getting into what I was told.

I’m not an insider per se. What I mean by that is, just as most people back home in Canada or the United States, they know people who know people involved with hockey clubs. I’m just lucky enough to know a few people close to the Oilers organization and I just relay what I’m told. Nothing more and nothing less. Is any of it true? I’m of the belief that a percentage of it is.

Now, you don’t have to take what you read here as the gospel and I’m sure that none of you will because not everything that I’m told comes to fruition as negotiations can change at the flip of a switch. So at the very least, take what you read here today as entertainment, water cooler talk if you will and if what you read here on Beer League Heroes comes true someday, high fives all around!

Click on the image to see Patrick Marleau’s career stats!

This came in late last night from one of my sources (who is neither Garfield nor Tracy Lane but she’s “reporting” it as well on Twitter):

“Todd McLellan is talking to Marleau about the possibility of signing with Edm. But, Oilers brass really likes boyle. Boyle is supposed to come for a private visit (No media) on Tuesday or Thursday. As for Pitlick, Oilers are definitely interested in bringing him back, but it’s believed that he DOES want to test the market. See what nibbles he gets.”

I asked about dollars and term and the response was thus:

“Marleau would be a 2 year term probably. Looking at atleast $3M per. Atleast. If not, more. This is Patrick Marleau were talking about”

“Pitlick is looking at a 2 or 3 year deal. If edm only offers another 1 year, he’s gone. I believe he’s looking for $2M-$2.5M on that term“

I don’t think that the Oilers can afford to sign Pitlick for that price point and that’s too bad. I really like him.

I didn’t really get anything with regards to contract details on Boyle but I was curious how these contracts might hit the salary cap and was offered this bit of insight:

“Oilers can offer max $3.5M.”

“If you only go 2 years. Any longer than that, it’ll f*ck your cap.”

“Still have to sign Kassian too. And find a stop gap D. 3-4 names for stop gap D are Stone, Franson, Wideman and 1 more.”

So that means the team is most likely out on Nick Bonino because he’ll be getting around $4M or more, right?

My Thoughts:

  • I think this would be an outstanding move. If Marleau could come in on a 2yr deal @3.5M and replace Eberle’s points for two and a half million dollars cheaper… Beauty.
  • Imagine the wealth of playoff knowledge and experience that would come along with a Patrick Marleau.
  • And this is a player that turns it on during the post-season as opposed to the player that was just sent to Brooklyn. 120 points in 172 games played in the playoffs. That is bloody good my friends.
  • I think a lot of people would be worried about the faceoffs and how Marleau has been a winger more often than a centre in his career. Well, his career FO% is 51.3 and that’s a number I can accept.
  • Between Boyle and Marleau, it’s a tough call isn’t it? There’ll be more teams lining up for the “younger” and bigger Boyle for sure. Hard to say if the Oilers could get him to sign for under $3.5M and only for a couple of years though.
  • Patrick Marleau, on the other hand, is closer to 40 years old than 30 and has a history with Todd McLellan. He can still skate and he can still put points on the board but what is more important right now, production or size + elite faceoff abilities?
  • The Oilers nearly made it to the conference finals without a stud on the dot right? But there were nights when they could’ve used a bit more production.

So stay tuned folks. Silly season is upon us!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Four for Four on Russell

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Jesus, Mary, and Joseph does Kris Russell ever cause some divide in a fanbase but you know what? I’m glad the Oilogosphere is at each other’s throats because it means the team is finally coming around. I mean when you think about it, most of us are getting into it on the Twitter machine over a no.4/5 defenseman and that’s a pretty ridiculous thing to be arguing over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6NtGrzV3C8

But I want Kris Russell on this team for the next four years (even though that is most likely a tad longer than warranted) and I want the Oilers to pay him for the physical sacrifices he makes to keep goals out of the net for the Edmonton Oilers and the leadership he provides to the Oilers young defensive corps.

Now that Eberle is gone, the Oilers could be in the market for a new assistant captain, why not Russell?

Here are a few of my thoughts on this impending signing:

  • Sekera is hurt, so the jump from Klefbom/Larsson to Nurse/Benning is massive. The latter two players are far too young to be given middle pairing responsibilities yet. And if either of the Swedish Twin Towers go down, the Oilers are f*cked and we’re back to tossing the young dmen to the wolves.
  • What if Darnell Nurse or Matt Benning take a step back next season? Would sure be nice to have a trusty veteran dman that can play 20 minutes per night to cover the void.
  • I think there’s a faction of the Oilogosphere that would prefer Jason Demers and I think that’s a mistake because not only did he do worse than Russell last year, his NEW team doesn’t want him, and his contract is more than what Russell may be getting.
  • Speaking of contracts, and this contradicts the previous point slightly, how painful is $4M on the cap if the team cap keeps going up every year? I think we’re going up to $75M from $73M next season, another $2M increase the following season and maybe $3M the following season, we’re up to an $80M salary cap. I think Russell’s contract would fit in there quite nicely.
  • We’ve seen Taylor Hall and now Jordan Eberle shipped out because they couldn’t find their place in the Oilers’ new system under Todd McLellan. Well, Kris Russell IS a player that fits into the Oilers system of play and he’s seemingly found perfect chemistry with a partner in Andrej Sekera AND together they make Cam Talbot turn into 1990s Dominek Hasek. How cool is that? How rare is that?
  • I think it was Woodguy that said to me that Cam Talbot’s SV% was something like .954 when Russell and Sekera were on the ice together. An unlikely thing to re-occur again and a lot of that was attributed to Sekera but my question is, why couldn’t Mark Fayne attain this sort of defensive mastery w/’Rej a couple of seasons ago?

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  • Might the Oilers front load that 4yr contract so that the final two years are El Cheapo? I believe this was suggested by David Staples.
  • I know I was told that Chiarelli is prepared to have Kris Russell on the 3rd pairing for the last year or two of the deal even though it might piss off the fanbase and I’m not against that because, a) there’s nothing wrong with having veteran depth for your young prospects to learn from, b) he’s a wonderful skater, something that a lot of these gritty shot-blocking defenders that seem to fall off a cliff in their twilight years are not. I mean Brian Campbell is still playing.
  • To those that say you can’t have an expensive player on the 3rd pairing, I point you to Johnny Oduya ($3.75M) and Trevor Daley ($3.3M) as two perfect examples. Ideally, you want cheap bottom-pairing defenders in the 5/6 slots but it’s worked for a couple of Stanley Cup winning teams in Chicago and Pittsburgh to have more expensive options there.
  • Don’t compare this deal to the Oilers’ deal with Andrew Ference because it’s not even in the same ballpark.
  • Kris Russell is 30 years old, not 34 like Ference, and it’s obvious that he can still keep up with the game, unlike Ference.
  • Nobody is saying that Russell can’t be traded within the duration of the deal. I’m hearing that there are rumors of a full no-move clause but I can’t find it anywhere. Most likely more “end-of-the-world” Oilers fans making things up to justify their position on the signing.
  • That said, Trevor Daley had a modified-NTC but was still traded to Pittsburgh from Dallas and Johnny Oduya has had one in his contract for the past 5 seasons.
  • Lastly, if you’re one of those folks out there than believe nobody had interest in Russell last summer and that’s why the Oilers got him at the end and this is the ammunition you choose to use in your anti-Russell gun, you’re misinformed. Bob Stauffer said just yesterday w/ Elliotte Friedman on Oilers NOW that he was offered a 5-year deal worth $4.25M per year. Jason Gregor also has mentioned this but he said the team, Boston.

I think Kris Russell is a fine FINE hockey player and one that I respect a great deal for the style he plays and for the bullshit he has to put up with from ego-centric know-it-all bloggers who’ve never had the honor of having somebody sacrifice their body for them in one way or another.

Bloody hate mongers eh?

One thing I noticed during the playoffs last season was that the anti-Russell crowd was stone cold dead. Not a bloody peep out of them and maybe that’s because Kris Russell was a boss for the Oilers.

Now, if you’d rather have a Nikita Nikitin, Anton Belov, Mark Fayne, or Cam Barker, than Kris Russell or perhaps there’s a defenseman who has some wonderful Fenwick or Corsi numbers like Martin Marincin,  God save your soul because you’re lost. You’re so lost and maybe ice hockey isn’t for you. I hear knitting is an interesting hobby though.

Feel free to comment below!

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