Category Archives: Beer League Hero

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

Edmonton Oilers Trade/Prospect Talk: “…he has become GM Ken Holland’s best trading chip.”

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Sportsnet

Top 5 Oilers prospects: Refining his defence will unlock Broberg’s other skills

1. Philip Broberg, LD, Bakersfield Condors/Oilers

  • Broberg is an above-average skater — excellent, by many scouts’ ratings — but showed upon being called up this season that his defensive game still needs some work.

2. Dylan Holloway, LW, Bakersfield Condors

  • …some believe he could play after just a couple of months in the AHL and help the Oilers during this spring’s playoffs.

3. Xavier Bourgault, C, Shawinigan Cataractes

  • Bourgault is a shooter, which means his future in Edmonton might just be on the wing. Whatever the case, he is at least one year away from the NHL, likely two, but thus far looks like a nice find at 22nd overall.

4. Markus Niemelainen, LD, Bakersfield Condors/Oilers

  • Big, extremely physical, but still in need of some refining where puck skills and defensive acumen are concerned, in an organization full of puck-moving prospects Niemelainen is that rare D-man who makes you much, much harder to play against.

5. Dmitri Samorukov, LD, Bakersfield Condors

  • To be honest, with all the young, left-shot defencemen ahead of Samorukov, he has become GM Ken Holland’s best trading chip in any dealing requiring a top prospect going the other way. For me, he could be a second-pairing left-side defenceman for years to come in the NHL…

BLH’s Thoughts: It’s tough not to throw Carter Savoie or Ty Tullio in that 5-hole considering that the Oilers have made multiple calls to Bakersfield for a left-shot defender and not once has Samorukov’s name been called. Spector might be on to something there…

Lowetide.ca

  • Craig MacTavish had a way of finding players who could thrive in a two-way role and score enough to help teams win. I think Pisani was his great triumph, Chimera (who never did establish himself with MacT) a player the coach overlooked those years ago because his defensive acumen was shy of Pisani-level.
  • One player who spent two games in Bakersfield this season who could make the list beside Cleary, Pisani and Chimera in the years to come? Brendan Perlini. Not one doubt in my mind. He’s like Chimera, dynamic qualities but attention to detail without the puck will be a challenge, but he could certainly emerge as a success.

BLH’s Thoughts: That’s an interesting shout by LT. I never really considered Perlini in the same boat as Chimera, but now after thinking about it, it’s almost impossible NOT to… All Perlini has to do is set his sights on pivoting his game like Tyler Benson did. He’s got the tools to be a fantastic two-way player and that speed/shot are x-factors… With the right coaching/mentoring, an NHL player can learn the defensive side of the game… This is something I’ll be watching for the rest of the year I think.

The Daily Goal Horn

  • Right now, Chychrun is being looked at as a game-changer for some teams, and Arizona is asking price is four pieces for him per Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos. The Islanders were linked to him in the summer but there is a report from Elliotte Friedman that the Edmonton Oilers are not one of the teams in the mix.
  • The NHL All-Star Game is in Vegas from February 4th to the 5th. Some have speculated that the game may be cancelled so the time can be used for rescheduled games.

BLH’s Thoughts: If Edmonton wants Chychrun, the ask will be Broberg, Yamamoto, and two firsts if not one first and a second down the road. I’m sure they’ll be angling to get the Coyotes to accept Dmitri Samorukov, but surely that’ll simply increase the cost of the futures (draft picks) included in the deal.

That’s too much and I feel like Ken Holland isn’t keen to give up on the Swede this soon and on a player who might be as impactful as his no.1 defender, Darnell Nurse, but has trouble staying healthy. 

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

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

Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: “…it’s likely we’ll see a player from the Bakersfield Condors offered in a package.”

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

The Athletic

If the Oilers add a big deadline asset, Philip Broberg will be the ask
  • If the intent is to acquire real talent between now and the trade deadline, the pressures of spent picks and no cap room mean the Oilers will need to give up someone close to NHL-ready and destined for a feature role in the league.
  • If the club gets into heavy negotiations for players like Jakob Chychrun or Marc-Andre Fleury, Holland’s first draft selection as Oilers GM (Broberg) could be the ask based on his current season.
  • (Trade) Candidates might include goaltender Mikko Koskinen and right wingers Zack Kassian and Kyle Turris. These men aren’t so much the target of an acquiring team but would be included to make the money work, much as Sam Gagner was used in the February 2020 deal with the Detroit Red Wings for Andreas Athanasiou.
  • If Holland isn’t going to deal young roster players who are emerging (Ryan McLeod, Stuart Skinner) and already in the NHL, then it’s likely we’ll see a player from the Bakersfield Condors offered in a package.
  • If Samorukov and Niemelainen progress, could Broberg be expendable?

BLH’s Thoughts: Broberg might be the ask, but he’s Holland’s boy and if he traded him, he’d be admitting he made a mistake seeing how well Trevor Zegras is playing for Anaheim and the American could’ve been an Oiler. Reckon they could use that guy on Leon’s wing this year?

If the Oilers do end up playing on the 27th of this month, they’re going to need reinforcements because they’ll be down five left-shot defenders this time because Nurse, Keith, and Lagesson are in COVID protocol, Niemelainen’s hand is broken and Russell is out with an upper-body injury. Meaning, Samorukov and Broberg will need to be recalled if Edmonton is to play with a full deck against Calgary their first game after this break. 

Jesus… When’s the last time an NHL team went down FIVE dmen on the same side?… 

Anyway, I feel like the trade deadline might be a tad disappointing in that the Oilers probably aren’t willing to deal the futures they’d need to in order to make a headline trade OR if they do go that route, the fanbase will be irate at who they decided to move. 

So, we’ve got to ask ourselves, is it important that Ken Holland makes a big move or a series of right moves? 

For me, the netminding position is of the utmost importance, then bottom-six depth, and then an extra defenseman. What about you?

Edmonton Sun

Another Olympics down the drain for Oilers captain Connor McDavid
  • Connor McDavid will be 29 and in his 11th NHL season before he gets his first, and perhaps only, chance to represent Canada in an Olympic Games.
  • All Olympic hockey tournaments are special, but this one — McDavid teaming up with childhood idol Sidney Crosby and Nate MacKinnon, a powerful American team led by Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin’s final hurrah with the Russians — would have been an all-timer.
  • That many players were still willing to run the risk of testing positive at the Games and spending between three and five weeks in a Chinese quarantine (which is probably even worse than it sounds), shows how badly they wanted this.

BLH’s Thoughts: Oh boo hoo. Cry me a bloody river… The Olympics are a massively overrated TV event anyhow. It’s supposed to be the best AMATEUR athletes competing against each other but where’s the money in that?

As if the NHL and the PA aren’t going to arrange a best-on-best hockey tournament to make up for the millions of Chinese dollars they’re losing by not heading to the Olympics. You don’t NEED the Olympics to have a major hockey event that would feature the world’s best.

Would it shock you if there were a few more Chinese companies sponsor NHL events in the future? Maybe some more exhibition games being played over there… Gary Bettman isn’t going to let all that revenue go for nothing.

Spector’s Hockey

  • PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Dan Kingerski observes the solid performance of Evan Rodrigues this season could force Penguins coach Mike Sullivan to rethink his lineup when everyone is fully healthy… Kingerski wondered if Rodrigue’s play could make Jason Zucker expendable. The 29-year-old left winger has 11 points in 30 games.

BLH’s Thoughts: Depending on the price and if the Penguins become sellers, Zucker and Rust might be two wingers the Oilers could use considering their experience and goal scoring talents.

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

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

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Barrie Might Not See Year Two of His Contract in Edmonton According to One Oilers Scribe

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

The Cult of Hockey

One thing that’s going right for the Edmonton Oilers? Tyson Barrie

 

  • In his first 14 games this year, he made 32 major mistakes on Grade A shots against in 212 even strength minutes, 2.26 such mistakes per 15 minutes of even strength playing time.
  • In his last 15 games, he’s made just 19 such mistakes in 256 even strength minutes, just 1.11 per 15, which is the rate you’d expect to see from a solid defensive NHL d-man.
  • For the past month, that decent defensive d-man has been Barrie, who can also still move the puck with great style and impact.

BLH’s Thoughts: No. We can’t just take a single metric and a cherry-picked time frame and say a player has turned the corner. Go to naturalstattrick.com and look at the rest of Barrie’s numbers. He’s eating absolute shit in every stat aside from HDGF%. I even looked at the relative numbers to see if he was getting smack from teammates and nope, he’s still well under water in almost every stat. I used the same time frame that The Cult used and… Nope. Still drowning. 

I get that we want to point out when we see a stat that’s turning itself around after being so bad to start a year, but Barrie’s not really making any sort of massive transformation from Phil Housley to Doug Harvey. 

I like Barrie a lot and I’ve got no issues with him to be honest. I understand why he’s on the team and I also understand his faults. He’s high event, baby! And if you can’t go along with that, you’re going to have tough time watching him. But he’s also very competitive and that’s an attribute I really care for. 

Mark Spector said on Oilers Now yesterday that he’s not sure that Barrie will see year two of his contract in Edmonton and Seattle’s name got brought up… So we’ll see where that goes. 

Oil on Whyte

What potential addition matters most for the Oilers: Goaltending, Depth, Or Star Talent?
  • … the top need has to be the third-line center position.
  • Adding a good third-line center would help boost the rest of the lineup. It would make Warren Foegele and Zack Kassian better and would instantly improve the scoring of this team and take some of the workloads off of stars like McDavid and Draisaitl.

BLH’s Thoughts: Nah. Too expensive and they’ve got a 3C in RNH as it stands. A goalie should be the team’s no.1 priority because, as we all know, the teams with the hottest netminders in the playoffs go the furthest. 

The Hockey Writers Rumors

  • Greg Wyshynski points out that the All-Star Game is still a go, despite the NHL season being put on pause. He writes, “Have been hearing that there has been no talk about canceling the Vegas NHL All-Star weekend at this time. Obviously, there have been other priorities that the NHL has been dealing with.”
  • With the emergence of Evan Rodrigues, Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now wonders if bumping Kasperi Kapanen and Jason Zucker down in the lineup has made either player someone who could potentially be traded.
  • Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek talked about the teams that might be interested in Chychrun and said the Edmonton Oilers are likely not among the more serious suitors. Friedman noted that a couple of his sources said he doesn’t think it’s going to be the Oilers. “They’re not in it as much as some other teams are,” he said.
  • Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now noted the Bruins will likely be looking to add a No. 2 center and a left-shot defenseman before the NHL trade deadline. He believes the Bruins might try to bring David Krejci back to solve the center depth issue, but wonders if Boston would try to acquire Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes.

BLH’s Thoughts: With the way Bob Stauffer was talking on his radio show about Edmonton’s depth on left defense, it sounds like the club might be prioritizing a top-six winger and a goaltender. So that should get the Phil Kessell/Marc-Andre Fleury rumors flying! 

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

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

Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: “…if the Oilers are not on that list, that will be his most likely destination.”

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

The Hockey Writers

3 Free Agents the Oilers Should Re-Sign
  • Colton Sceviour has played over two-thirds of the games this season and he is settling in nicely for the team. He is a great option on the fourth line and provides high-energy shifts at both ends of the ice and has been a pleasant surprise.
  • Ryan McLeod is an obvious choice but is worth talking about. He looks to be part of the Oilers’ future, whether it’s centering the third or fourth line or elevated to play the wing in the top-nine if the team ever elects to run with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins down the middle.
  • I asked a large number of fans who they would give a little longer look at next year between Brendan Perlini and Tyler Benson. It highly favoured Perlini, and I agree. Though his start has not been anything like how he played in preseason, he looks like a different player after a short stint in the AHL.

BLH’s Thoughts: I would probably bail on Perlini unless he finds a way to pot 15 or 20 goals in the last half of the year because Dylan Holloway is coming and it would take a horrible return from injury for the former AJHL MVP not to have a spot on the Oilers roster more or less guaranteed at this point. 

Sceviour has earned another deal, like I’ve said many times, akin to that of Devin Shore’s. A 2yr term with a slight raise from the 750k he’s making now. 

McLeod is going to be an interesting one. He might take a few years but if the Oilers stick with him, I reckon there’s a really good chance they’ll be rewarded. But it should be stated that the team is not in “wait and see” mode anymore. The time is now and difficult sacrifices will be made during this window…

Oilersnation

Random Thoughts: Depth Scoring, COVID problems, Mike Smith’s return, and more

How Much Can Mike Smith Help?

  • After more than two months on the shelf with a lower-body injury, I’m curious to see how much he’ll be able to help in net after missing the last 26 games. That’s not to suggest that I doubt his ability to stop pucks — Smith can be a real difference-maker when he’s at his best — but rather that I don’t know how sharp he’ll be after so much time off or if it’s even fair for us to expect him to be. 
  • Out of game action for the last two months, Smith will need to play some serious catchup to get himself up to speed with a league that’s played plenty of games without him and that will be a challenge he won’t really have much time to tackle. 
  • Not to mention, having Mike Smith back will force the Oilers to make a decision on what happens with Stuart Skinner and Mikko Koskinen as both guys have played pretty well, but there’s absolutely no way the team will want to carry three goalies unless we’re heading back to some kind of taxi squad situation.

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t doubt that Smith will help but the caveat to that is his health. He’s fallen into the Peter Forsberg/Wendel Clark category of a player that is outstanding when he’s not on the IR and that ankle injury is a son of a bitch to deal with for a netminder. 

The Oilers won’t have to carry three tenders as Skinner is still eligible to go to Bakersfield without requiring waivers. The one wrench in the cog there is if Canada or the US reimplements border controls due to spiking COVID rates. Otherwise, this isn’t a concern. 

NHLTradeRumor.com

  • It is most likely (Marc-Andre) Fleury is traded as some point this season. He does have a 10 team no-trade list and if the Oilers are not on that list, that will be Fleury’s most likely destination.
  • Adam Herman of The Bleacher Report suggests, it is time for the Flyers to rebuild and they should look a trading Provorov… Provorov, 24, does not own a no-trade clause so there would be no restrictions on what team he could be traded to.
  • Nick Kypreos was on Toronto’s local radio station, the Fan 590 and stated, that the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams with serious interest in Chychrun… Kypreos finished with saying it would likely take four pieces to make the Chychrun trade which would be a roster player, top prospect, a first round pick and second round pick.
The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!

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

Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: Stauffer Throws Out Potential Kraken/Oilers Trade Idea

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

The Hockey Writers

Oilers Not Being In On Chychrun Trade Talks Could Prove Costly
  • According to both NHL insider Elliotte Friedman and Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer, the Oilers likely aren’t going to players for Chychrun’s services. Both suggest it’s possible, and a fluid situation could change things, but both also note it is unlikely as other teams are more serious contenders and will make more impressive offers than the Oilers will.
  • …it seems irresponsible if the Oilers don’t at least seriously consider the idea of adding a player like Chychrun to their roster.
  • While he’s not had the best 2021-22 season, considering all that Chychrun potentially brings to the table, it’s intriguing to hear that the Oilers aren’t doing cartwheels over the potential of this player being on the trade market.
  • Stauffer’s comments seem to contradict the reports the Oilers are looking for an upgrade and that he uses the phrase “cost-controlled” is ironic considering Chychrun costs only $4.6 million on the cap.

BLH’s Thoughts: My feeling is that Stauffer is speaking to having the likes of Philip Broberg and Markus Niemelainen under “team control” which, in effect, is “cost control” because they wouldn’t be eligible for arbitration rights after their current deals expire whereas Chychrun will be an unrestricted free agent when his contract runs out. 

I’m also curious to know if Holland believes Broberg will be a better fit for the Oilers and possibly a better player long-term. There might be some concerns regarding the Coyotes defender’s health seeing as he’s on the IR right now and he’s gone through a couple of knee surgeries if I recall correctly. 

Now, getting back to Stauffer, he and Mark Spector were talking about Tyson Barrie’s future on the show yesterday and Spector pondered upon if the blueliner might even reach year two on that contract of his in Edmonton.

Stauffer brought up Seattle, Carson Soucy, Mason Appleton, and Kailer Yamamoto in addition to Barrie in the same sentence too. I’ll let you do the math as to what he was thinking…

Spector sounded like he would rather a Jordan Eberle return as opposed to the Oilers grabbing Appleton.

According to the host of Oilers Now, Soucy can play both sides for what it’s worth…

I’m not going to get into all the quotes and what not from that portion of Stauffer’s show, but I will offer you what I believe to be the roster from his point of view if the Seattle trade went down.

Foegele-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Holloway-Draisaitl-Appleton
Hyman-RNH-Kassian
McLeod-Ryan-Sceviour

Nurse-Bouchard
Keith-Ceci
Koekkoek-Soucy

Smith

Don’t quote me on those combos, I might have a guy in the wrong spot (like Hyman) but ya… Not sure on that second line there if I’m right. Looks way better if it’s Eberle on that 2nd line, not Appleton, but that’d require some creativity financially and who knows if the GM is willing to trade in-division. Seattle is a place that Barrie would be willing to go though… So there’s that. And Yamamoto would be beloved in that market considering he’d be a homestate boy.

Listen to the whole segment below and come to your own conclusions. 

Oilersnation

Ten Tuesday Questions

1. Who should Ken Holland acquire at the trade deadline?

  •  If RNH is their third line centre Edmonton is in really good shape, but he can’t move down there until they find two top-six wingers.

2. Will Dylan Holloway be able to contribute? 

  • Once Holloway gets back up to speed I could see him at minimum being a competent third line left winger.

3. Which wingers could Holland acquire?

  • Phil Kessel has won two Stanley Cups… Max Domi has 15 points in 18 games with the Blue Jackets… Joonas Doonskoi is having a terrible season in Seattle. You could get him for very little…

BLH’s Thoughts: You’ll have to go to ON’s website to check out the rest of the questions. 

I do like the idea of acquiring Max Domi as he’s the kind of player who drags the other team into the fight. Maybe the Oilers could pick him up, move Hyman to the RW with Leon and play Foegele in the top-six? Then run RNH with Holloway and Kassian on the 3rd line (eventually) and McLeod, Ryan, and Sceviour on the 4th? I dunno, I’m just spitballin’ here. 

That doesn’t leave much room for Yamamoto, Turris, Shore, Benson, or Perlini though… Turris and Perlini would clear waivers most likely and Yamo would need to be sent in the Domi deal. So, I suppose it’s possible to navigate that conundrum a bit. 

Spector’s Hockey

  • THE ATHLETIC: In a recent mailbag segment, Eric Stephens was asked if the Anaheim Ducks will be buyers or sellers by the March 21 trade deadline. He felt the longer the Ducks keep playing as well as they have thus far, the less likely they’ll want to break up a winning hand.
  • Stephens believes pending unrestricted free agents like defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson and winger Rikard Rakell will have value in the trade market given their current play.

BLH’s Thoughts: If Anaheim comes back to Earth at some point and management decides to cash in, the Oilers should be in on the likes of Rakell, Manson, and Nic Deslauriers. 

The new NHL franchise in Seattle already has their AHL affiliate worked out! Click the pick and grab a Karen shirt today!