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!

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The Athletic

Xavier Bourgault and his ETA with the Edmonton Oilers

• Xavier Bourgault was drafted from the Shawnigan Cataractes of the QMJHL in the first round, No. 22, by the Edmonton Oilers at the 2021 entry draft.
• Bourgault shines as a scorer in the group of forwards recently drafted in the early rounds. He is a high-percentage offensive sniper and a volume shooter based on his draft-year results.
• He’s a quality offensive prospect; even more evidence comes in the fact that Bourgault posted strong numbers in the QMJHL in his draft-minus-one season.
• Red Line Report is a respected draft service, and its ranking and verbal suggested Bourgault lacks intensity and effort. 
• Bourgault is advanced as a prospect, and if he turns pro in 2022 could challenge for an NHL roster spot based on his pure scoring ability. He’s also right-handed and could play his NHL hockey as a scoring right wing.
• Holland is building toward a difficult decision at right wing, with young skill forward Yamamoto not yet signed and top right wing Jesse Puljujarvi one year away from a significant payday.
• Internal options via the pro pipeline (Raphael Lavoie, Ostap Safin, Kirill Maksimov) show promise, but none is pushing for NHL time this year.
• If Yamamoto signs a one-year deal, it sets up the possibility that management will have to choose between the two players.

BLH’s Thoughts: I can’t think of one player under Holland’s tenure that has come in during his first season of NHL eligibility and made the club. Prior to that the Oilers have given their first rounders an early season runout consistently. 

So, with that said, I don’t think that Go-Go is going to be playing for the Edmonton Oilers on opening night in the 2022-23 season. Injuries and contract issues could change that, but Holland doesn’t build his perennial playoff clubs that way if he can help it.

NHLTradeRumors.me

Edmonton Oilers: 2 Underrated Players To Watch

• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins C/LW: He has the ability to play both center and on the wing, so the Oilers have multiple options with him. He also can be utilized on both the power play and penalty kill. They were wise to re-sign him to an eight-year extension because of everything he provides. Although he never became that elite talent many expected him to be, he is still a very solid top-six forward in this league. 
• Jesse Puljujärvi RW: When he returned to the Oilers this past season, he found success. In 55 games, he scored 15 goals and had 25 points. He seems to be forming into a top-six winger, so expect big things from him this year.

BLH’s Thoughts: These two members of the Edmonton Oilers are surely underrated by a lot in the hockey world, I agree with that. They’re quiet individuals and they don’t have the same sort of flash and dash that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have, but I’d say they’re absolutely fine with that. 

As for Nuge and Pulju being the most underrated players on the Oilers to keep an eye on this year, I think Derek Ryan might be worth adding to that list as well as Cody Ceci. 

Ryan and Ceci are highly unspectacular hockey players and often overseen as they play a very simple game. They’re like a couple of ghosts who only show up when they want you to see them… 

The Daily Goal Horn

Blues starting season with Tarasenko

• Head coach Craig Berube was recently on the Cam & Strick Podcast and gave the following update on Tarasenko.

“I expect Vladi to play for us. I’m going to treat him like every other player. And yeah, he asked to be traded, and things happen, but again, you know, we want Vladi to play good hockey for us,” 

Penguins looking for center help

• Veteran center Brian Boyle who did not play last season was signed to a PTO and has a chance to get a contract. Another center on their radar is Tyler Bozak, but he may be an expensive option.
• Two other possible options could be 27 year-old Alex Galchenyuk or 36 year-old Eric Staal.

Rangers working on Zibanejad extension and missed out on Ritchie

• No deal (with Zibanejad) is imminent, but the desire for both sides to stay together is there.
• Another interesting note is the Rangers went after Nick Ritchie, whom the Bruins did not qualify. It turns out that Ritchie turned down the Blueshirts to sign with the Maple Leafs because he felt he’d get more ice time there.

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!

• Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
• Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
• Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
• Facebook: Beer League Heroes

Lowetide.ca

I BELIEVE IN MARODY

• Since he was acquired by Edmonton in the spring of 2018, you and I have been staring at Marody. He’s a skilled player, a righty center and (when healthy) a point-per-game (or more) AHL talent. In his rookie season with the Bakersfield Condors, he posted over a point-per-game and was an outstanding player at that level. He even made it to the NHL for six games, and looked good.

BLH’s Thoughts: I wonder if LT is looking at Marody’s Natural Stat Trick line when he says the winger “looked good” because he was completely ineffective. 

• He was hurt in the spring of 2019 in a playoff series against the Colorado Eagles (by a former Oiler prospect, of course) and it derailed him for the following season. In 2020-21, the old Marody returned, a better scorer this time, and a man who moved to wing in order to push for an NHL job.

BLH’s Thoughts: Why didn’t Jay Woodcroft go the extra mile to get Marody a feature role on Bakersfield’s penalty kill like he did with Benson and when you’re a career center and you get moved to the wing, I don’t necessarily see that as a good thing… The production he put up flanking Ryan McLeod and Benson, if he didn’t do that, that would’ve been a massive concern. 

• Did you know Teddy Purcell was too slow? Patrick Maroon? Yes. True. Purcell’s first full NHL season (over 40 games) came in 2009-10, and he was traded at the deadline. Purcell was 24 when he began helping NHL teams win games, Maroon was 25. Marody will turn 25 the week before Christmas.

BLH’s Thoughts: Teddy Purcell and Patrick Maroon could do other things away from the puck and were glue guys in the locker room too… They were also massively built men, that which Marody is not. 

Smaller players can’t be poor skaters at the NHL level, it just doesn’t work for them. Whereas bigger players aren’t traditionally fast or quick, so they get a little bit more leash there. This comparison isn’t fair in my opinion. 

• Bottom line: Marody needs to find a coach who believes in him, will give him a chance to establish himself in the NHL. Once he’s comfortable in the NHL, points should come. That’s my belief. I also believe that most of the time when someone says (or posts) “that player isn’t fast enough” the assertion is a community opinion built sky high through hundreds of posts that have driven the point home.

BLH’s Thoughts: I love LT’s content. Every day I hit up his site and I listen to his show, but I don’t agree with his affinity for small skilled players. However, his point about the fanbase parroting the narrative about Marody’s feet, is true, but that being said, somebody had to say it first and if he didn’t have bad boots then folks like Jason Gregor and Bob Stauffer would never have commented on it in the past. Hell, Gregor asked Marody straight up if he though his skating needed work and Marody basically told him that the folks who were saying that didn’t know what they were talking about… 

Now, I’m no scout, but when I watched Marody at the NHL level, his speed and skating were so obviously not NHL level quality. Each time he attempted to carry the puck over the other team’s blue line, the defense simply boxed him out and forced him to the wall where he’d have to dump it in or lose possession.

The real bottom line is that Cooper Marody will not be a top-six forward at the NHL level on a team that has actual depth on the wing because, to put it bluntly, he’s a one-trick pony and NHL coaches don’t have time for those kinds of players who are slated to play in their bottom-six. Marody’s not beating out Puljujarvi or Yamamoto, Kassian or Archibald. So where’s he going to play? Center? Nope! Not with those boots. 

I wish the best for Cooper, but I don’t personally see a future for him in Edmonton. 

Edmonton Sun

Oil Spills: Oilers, Kailer Yamamoto down to wire in contract talks

• NHL beat writer Jim Matheson talks to host Craig Ellingson about contract negotiations between the Edmonton Oilers and forward Kailer Yamamoto as the start of training camp for the 2021-22 season comes closer.

The Holdup on Yamamoto

• “Money is the no.1 thing. There’s not a lot of cap room because Ken Holland spent a lot of that.”
• “After last season, I think the Oilers are looking at Yamamoto and saying, “We’re not totally sure what we’ve got here with this player. Is he a top-six RWer or is he a 3rd line RWer?”
• “You’re not paying a 3rd line RWer $5M over five or six years as Philadelphia paid Farabee and Ottawa paid Batherson.”
• “It never works out well when a player is not at training camp.”
• “Jesse Puljujarvi proved last year that he is (a top-six winger), if he has another good year where his stats get even better over an 82-game season, then the Oilers are going to have to pay fairly big for him long-term. Probably in the same Farabee/Batherson mode.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Not a lot said here by Matheson that he hasn’t already tweeted out, but that note about Pulju is interesting. Will the Oilers be able to afford Jesse next summer when his deal is up if he has another season equal to better than last year? Five million on a six year deal is pretty decent for Pulju if he’s scoring 20 goals a year and racking up another 20-30 assists. 

What do you think Pulju should get on his next deal if he keeps trending up?

NHLRumors.com

Lance Hornby: Ilya Mikheyev‘s agent Daniel Milstein wouldn’t comment on Elliotte Friedman’s report that they requested a trade at the end of the season. He was assured by the Toronto Maple Leafs that he is a big part of their plans for this season.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: (mailbag) The St. Louis Blues still need to re-sign RFA forward Robert Thomas and get cap compliant before the season starts.

• Have a hard time seeing Vladimir Tarasenko playing for the Blues when the season starts as it’s sure to be a distraction.
• Zdeno Chara signing with the Blues seems unlikely. If he does play this season it’s believed he’s looking to play on the East coast.

Donnie and Dhali: Rick Dhaliwal on Friday: “Not saying they are going to sign him, could be a PTO situation but the #Canucks have been poking around with the Tyler Ennis camp.”

Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said he briefly considered trading one of their core players this past offseason.

“None of those opportunities that came along in the summer were going to tangibly improve our team,” 

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!

• Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
• Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
• Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
• Facebook: Beer League Heroes

Edmonton Sun

OILERS NOTES: Yamamoto has no leverage in negotiations

• While Philadelphia and Ottawa went all-in and gave young forwards Joel Farabee and Drake Batherson six-year deals for in the $30 million range with comparable NHL stats to Yamamoto because they obviously felt both were solid top six players, the Oilers clearly want to see more before committing long-term.
• The comparables range from Anaheim winger Max Comtois’s two-year deal for $2.03 million AAV to Columbus’ forward Alexander Texier, who signed a two-year contract for $1.5 million to Brandon Hagel’s three years at $1.5 mil AAV in Chicago.
• Maybe Yamamoto only signs a one-year deal, not a two-year.
• It took all summer, but restricted free-agent forward Cooper Marody signed his one-year contract for the NHL minimum $750,000 if he makes the Oilers… He’ll get $150,000 for 2021-22 in the minors.
• Holland wants his 13th or 14th forwards making in the $800,000 to $850,000 range but he has 14 signed already, along with top farmhand Tyler Benson.

BLH’s Thoughts: I hope Yamo’s agent isn’t using Batherson and Farabee as comps for his client. Both of those young men made huge leaps statistically over the last two years and Killer regressed HARD last year all the while playing 80% of his TOI with the Hart Foundation (McDavid/Draisaitl). 

$2M sounds a little high considering what the pundits around town are saying, but eventually, I think this player’s ceiling financially will be around $4M-$5M. What the club has to ask themselves is, do they want their own Tyler Johnson scenario on their hands? Surely, Yamamoto would love to get the same deal as the fella he grew up training with in the off-season. 

The Cult of Hockey

Forecasting how opening night may look for the Edmonton Oilers and their fans: 9 Things

• The Oilers may well have offered pending UFA Adam Larsson a 5^th year on their contract offer to him, yet Larsson still opted for the change in scenery in Seattle.

BLH’s Thoughts: Why do I get the feeling that Leavins is surprised that the Oilers couldn’t just throw more money at Larsson in an attempt to get him to forget about the traumatizing experience he had with his father a couple of years back? 

• 5. One player on the roster who I think will start in the Bottom-6 but could easily end up in the Top-6 it’s winger Warren Foegele. If he catches fire early then Dave Tippett could then have the option of running Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at Center, at least for stretches.

BLH’s Thoughts: If Foegele is running hot early on, wouldn’t it make sense to see if the top-six is also playing well before changing things up? Plus you’d think if Foegele is playing well that his linemates are also in good form, why change that up? Keep players in the positions that are bringing them success, right? Why try to fix something that isn’t broken?

• Given his history with both players, it’s logical to assume that Oilers scout Brad Holland played a significant role in bringing both Foegele and Zack Hyman to Edmonton. If so, that factor surely wouldn’t hurt Foegele’s cause.

BLH’s Thoughts: Does Brad Holland have a history with these players? I see on his staff profile over at Elite Prospects that he was a “team manager” for two years in Toronto (I also read he was the Maple Leafs’ travel secretary…), so the Hyman connection(?) I can get, but where’s the Foegele one that would make it logical to assume that Holland played a big role in bringing him to Edmonton and this help his case to make the Oilers’ top-six?

• I think Marody will be hard-pressed to crack the NHL roster out of camp this year. Marody is no longer waiver exempt. So, can I see him being claimed by a lower echelon team that lacks depth scoring at forward? Yes. But I’d say its less than a 50/50 chance.

BLH’s Thoughts: I reckon Marody’s back in Bakersfield to play the year out unless one of the more analytically leaning GMs wants to take a crack at Marody. 

If “Coop” does end up back with the Condors and Dylan Holloway is his center, the former AJHL MVP is going to rack up some points. 

• 2. With Marody now officially back in the fold, Kailer Yamamoto is now the lone player left unsigned. With every day that goes by Yamamoto falls a little bit further behind the rest of pack. The other 3 right wingers he will be competing with for spots are already back in Edmonton and skating together. You don’t think that is significant? Well, remember the difficult start Ethan Bear had to last year after missing out on the Captain’s Skates. Bear never really did catch up. Partly because of that (and later, a concussion) he never did turn in a consistent level of play. That same situation wouldn’t help the club or Yamamoto’s next negotiation. Time to get it done.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Captain’s Skates… I wonder if years down the road we start hearing about the importance of these pre-training camp get togethers and how much they meant to the Oilers captain. 

Leavins is absolutely right though, Yamamoto’s competition is in town and prepared to do what it takes to win their spot in the lineup, where’s Killer? Do you think that his absence is going to leave a positive impression on Oilers management and its leadership core?

I’ll say it now, I think that Yamo’s time in Edmonton could be on thin ice. I’m not saying he’ll get moved this year or next, but I’ll go on record and say he doesn’t finish his third contract with the Oilers. 

Spector’s Hockey

SPORTSNET: Luke Fox recently examined where things stand with the NHL’s notable restricted free agents.

• Term could be a sticking point between the Vancouver Canucks and defenseman Quinn Hughes.
• Talks between the Minnesota Wild and winger Kirill Kaprizov continue. The Wild hoped to sign Kaprizov to a seven or eight-year deal but the winger’s camp wanted a three-year contract to bring him up to his eligibility age for unrestricted free agent status.
• The Buffalo Sabres and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin began contract talks on July 21. A three-year bridge deal is possible but Fox wonders if they’ll work toward a long-term agreement.
• Nolan Patrick could get a bridge deal with the Vegas Golden Knights…
• St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas seeks more than the $2.8 million AAV signed by teammate Jordan Kyrou. He could miss the start of training camp if he’s not offered a suitable deal.

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!

• Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
• Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
• Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
• Facebook: Beer League Heroes

Oilersnation

Random Thoughts: The Boys Are Back in Town

• I heard from a source late yesterday that Dylan Holloway is likely to miss some time (could be weeks or months) to start the season as he continues to recover from his wrist issues.
•  From what I was told, Holloway isn’t nearly as close to being 100% as we all would have hoped he’d be as the season approaches and that he may be out for a while depending on what doctors find…
• I was also told that Holloway will be evaluated again as early as this week with surgery potentially being on the table, and we’ll have to hope that the news comes out more positive than the info I was given.
• Was Cody Ceci’s high PDO the only reason he had a decent season with Pittsburgh?

BLH’s Thoughts: Ceci’s PDO (1.038) was merely 0.015 higher than Darnell Nurse’s (1.023) and 0.006 higher than Marco Scandella. Check out the list of dmen who played 800 minutes or more last year and look at the names. Lots of good players in that top ten that nobody would ever say got help from the PDO gods… 

That’s nuts on Holloway. Did he not have surgery way back in March on that wrist/thumb? We’re going on six months for an injury that should heal in at most 8 weeks. I’d love to know what happened there that has caused the affected area not to heal properly.

Now, I’m willing to bet that on Monday, either Bob Stauffer or Jason Gregor will report that Dylan Holloway could be looking at extensive time on the IR. Gregor’s not tied to the organization, so he might be more inclined but if Bob gets the green light, he’ll say something on his show for sure. 

Reckon with the recent signing of Cooper Marody, that part of the reason Edmonton brought him back was to cover for Holloway as he’ll be missing the start of the year and Bakersfield needs a center for it’s top line?

Either way, that’s not the most auspicious way to start one’s NHL career.

In any case, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. 

Lowetide.ca

THE PAC-8

PREDICTED FINAL STANDINGS, PACIFIC HEIGHTS

1. Vegas Golden Knights. …the team’s top end talent (Lehner, Theodore, Pietrangelo, Stone, Pacioretty) and the best depth in the division means the Golden Knights will win the division for the third time in the franchise’s five seasons. I don’t see any team seriously pushing this group.
2. Edmonton Oilers. I think this team is going to spend much of the season going into the third period with the score tied 3-3. The good news is the club will win more than their share of those shootouts because of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The bad news is the team will be vulnerable to a hot goalie and a button-down team in the first round of the playoffs. Expect a trade for a substantial goalie at the deadline.
3. Calgary Flames. The defensemen can move the puck (third pair aside) and there’s plenty of firepower up front. In fact, this team has enough to ice three lines of quality forwards and some fine outscorers like Andrew Mangiapane and the newly acquired Blake Coleman. It’ll be close but I believe the Flames win the final playoff spot in the division.
4. Vancouver Canucks. I love their young elite talent and believe the Canucks goaltending will keep them in most games, but the defense is without a strong two-way defender who can eat minutes and keep the puck heading in a good direction. 
5. Seattle Kraken. I love the goaltending, and they should have a capable defense, but there isn’t enough offense here. 
6. Los Angeles Kings. Philip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson are excellent additions, and any number of young talents could emerge as legit Calder candidates, but this will be a year that LAK give us a taste of what is to come but will be sellers at the deadline. 
7. Anaheim Ducks. This could be a target for Edmonton once the season is scrapped for parts, with John Gibson, Hampus Lindholm and Ryan Getzlaf possible targets.
8. San Jose Sharks. There is talent here, the goaltending is better and the aging defense can still compete on any given night. Offensively, several forwards didn’t get much done last season, some will recover but it won’t be enough.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m not convinced the Golden Knights will be as good as some are slating them to be. They lost two massive pieces of their identity when they traded Fleury and Reaves and I’m hearing that the players do not like their GM, he’s ruthless with the prospects and young players and they’re furious at how the Fleury situation was handled. 

If the Canucks can get Pettersson and Hughes re-signed, I like that squad a bit better than Calgary’s. I just think that the Flames schtick is going to get old and better teams will have their way with them, especially ones with excellent power plays. Reffing was a major story last year, so I expect the parade to the box might be more consistent early on in 2021-22. 

As for the Cali teams, I don’t like LA but I’m looking forward to when Edmonton plays them considering all the really good young players they have coming up, same with the Ducks. Byfield, Zegras, Drysdale, these are all players who should be superstars some day. I reckon the Ducks may leap over the Kings in the standings though thanks to John Gibson.

The Sharks are a mess… Simple as that. Players don’t want to be there, Evander Kane has mucked everything up thanks to his massive ego, and now the GM is coming under fire… At least they got William Eklund in the draft though. That guy’s going to be a beauty. 

It’s pretty homerish to say, but I do it every year, I think the Oilers have enough talent to win the division, but I don’t really care if they do. All that I ask is they make the playoffs because with the additions that Ken Holland has made (and will make), my belief is that his club will do some damage and make it out of the first round.

Pro Hockey Talk

Kailer Yamamoto, Edmonton Oilers
Team salary cap situation: Currently more than $2 million over the salary cap
2020-21 stats: 52 games, 8 goals, 13 assists

• Yamamoto is a very good young player and currently on a team whose salary cap situation would make matching an even modest offer difficult.
• If Jesperi Kotkaniemi is worth $6.1 million and a first- and third-round pick, Yamamoto is certainly worth something in the $4.1 million range.
• The compensation for that is a second-round pick. Well worth it if you can get him to sign it.
• Yamamoto is a good player and shown flashes of being a quality top-six option but the track record at this point is so small that it would be difficult to commit anything longer term.
• It also would not make much sense for Yamamoto to commit to that when there is a good chance he could bet on himself, prove his value even more, and turn that into a more significant pay day in the future.

BLH’s Thoughts: Two lines stick out for me from Gretz’s assessment of Yamamoto’s offer sheet potential,

• “Yamamoto is certainly worth something in the $4.1 million range.”
• “…the track record at this point is so small that it would be difficult to commit anything longer term…”

So would the plan be to OS Yamo on a one-year deal and then try to re-sign him long-term at a lower price point? Why would the player agree to that if his pre-stated value is already $4.1M? This isn’t a case of a one-year massive overpayment like the Kotkaniemi offer sheet and the teams who are in a position to tender and offer sheet aren’t likely to be trending in the same direction as the Oilers. 

I think, on the other side of the coin, Edmonton is in a pretty good spot depth-wise, they might just take the pick(s) if Yamo signed an OS. Holland didn’t draft him and therefore he’s not attached to this player either… Really, the pressure is all on Killer here. He’s the one that needs to get back on the horse and return to the form that had him scoring at nearly a point-per-game a couple of seasons ago.