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Edmonton Oilers Offseason Talk: Provorov, Lindholm, Nurse, and Stauffer Brings Up Two More Names

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!

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NHL Trade Talk

Can Oilers Find Another Mattias Ekholm On Trade or UFA Market?
  • “There’s been buzz that Edmonton might be eyeing New Jersey’s Damon Severson as a nice free-agent fit… The Oilers would need to dump both Ceci and Yamamoto without taking anything back, which may or may not be possible.”
  • “Prior to acquiring Ekholm, there was talk the Oilers took a long look at Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks…  if the Sharks are open to being flexible and would take a contract like Jack Campbell back in the deal, there’s a long shot Edmonton might revisit this.”
  • “(Radko) Gudas isn’t necessarily an upgrade over Ceci, but he brings a different element. The costs would be around the same and a deal like this would see Holland admitting that his mix isn’t quite right.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I wonder if Luke Schenn might be a wild card as well. Cheaper version of Gudas who’s done well in the post-season in recent years. 

I don’t think they’re going to do much tinkering with the D. Injuries slowed Ceci down and I don’t reckon Holland will move a guy out with that knowledge in hand. 

If Edmonton wants a right-shot offensive dman, there’s always Tony Deangelo… Say what you will about the person, but the player produces. 40pts in 71 games on a shit Flyers team… What would that look like in Edmonton? He’s on the last year of his $5M/yr deal. Perhaps he’s a deadline pickup with 50% retained by Philly. 

Bob Stauffer brought up the names of right shot defensemen Mark Pysyk and Alex Petrovic on his show yesterday. So that might be an insight into how the Oilers are approaching their defense going into next season. Pysyk and/or Petrovic would most likely be two-way deals and would add much needed organizational depth to a team losing Jason Demers from Bako.

Stauffer’s been going on and on about Philip Broberg spending 40 games in Bako next season playing big minutes since the Oilers year ended and maybe the club is considering pairing him up with a Pysyk or a Petrovic or possibly Phil Kemp (if he’s re-signed) and really leaning on him heavily down in the AHL. 

I think there will be some that really disagree with that move but I’m not totally against it. I grew up watching prospects get yoyoed between the NHL and the minor leagues a ton and Broberg is still so young. I don’t necessarily think there’s a massive risk there and if the team holds on to Ceci for most of the year or actually keeps him for the entire year in order to deal him in the summer of ’24 when he’s got a year left on his deal, Phil will still only be 22 years old at that time and getting bridged. 

For me, unless a defenseman is special, he shouldn’t be getting full-time work in the NHL until he’s 23 or 24 years old. Keep them in junior or overseas until they’re 20 or 21 and then let them marinate in the AHL for three or four years. I mean, look at Phil Kemp, three years in the NCAA, three years in the AHL, and now he’s getting some consideration for the NHL. Not a lot mind you but he’s opening some eyes because he plays a very old school defense-first style plus he doesn’t let any shit go around his net. Stauffer’s going to start bringing him up more and more soon, watch (listen). 

The Cult of Hockey

The secret to Darnell Nurse and Codi Ceci rebounding? Embrace the Cowboy Way
  • “They’ve got to pick up where Kris Russell off and embrace the Cowboy Way.”
  • “Year after year, when it came to limiting to Grade A shots, there was no d-man better on the Oilers than Kris Russell.”
  • “Is it possible for d-men so settled into the NHL to have such improvement? Yes, it is. After Tyson Barrie arrived in Edmonton, he became increasingly determined to play sounder, more positional defence. He made steady progress. This is reflected in his rate of bad mistakes on Grade A shots. He dropped from 0.41 per game in 2020-21 to just 0.23 per game in 2022-23 before he was traded.”
  • “…if the Oilers are to improve on defence and hold on to leads, something they failed to do in all six playoff games against Vegas, Nurse and Ceci must improve their play in the defensive slot.”
  • “Nurse has everything it takes to be a premier shut-down d-man in the NHL. He’s got the size, courage, speed and agility. What he needs now is to change his focus somewhat, change his expectations, not worry in the least about putting up points, improve his reads, and make sure he’s always, always, always on the right side of his man in the defensive zone and that’s never too far from that defensive slot.”

BLH’s Thoughts: As I’ve said before, I think Darnell Nurse knows what he’s got to do but I don’t believe he trusts his teammates to do what they’ve got to do and he feels the need to do their job as well. 

If they can’t do it, then maybe Ken Holland needs to go out and bring in the next Kris Russell. Upcoming UFA Scott Mayfield has over 500 blocked shots over the last four seasons as does New Jersey’s Ryan Graves. Darnell Nurse is actually 9th in the league in blocked shots in that same time frame but he’s THE worst amongst the players with 500 or more blocked shots in the giveaway category and Mayfield isn’t far behind. 

The top two, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb from Vegas. Geez, I wonder how the Golden Knights control the 5v5 goal share so well? 

Another guy that might interest the Oilers, Nick Seeler from the Flyers might be an astute pick-up, to be honest. He blocks a ton of shots, he doesn’t give it away, and he’s one of the league’s best fighters to boot. Not sure on the fancies end of everything, but surface level scouting tells me the 6’2″ 200lb dman could be handy. 

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey
  • Ryan Quigley noted Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere’s recent remarks about his willingness to entertain offers for goaltender Carter Hart.
    • Quigley believes defenseman Ivan Provorov is another player who could be moved, noting his productivity has declined since 2019-20.
    • Provorov should attract interest from clubs seeking a top-four defenseman in his late twenties who’s in need of a change of scenery.
  • If (Elias) Lindholm isn’t interested in signing a contract extension with the Flames but was willing to do so if he were traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets to be reunited with Johnny Gaudreau, would the Blue Jackets part with the third overall pick?
  • The Stars have limited salary-cap space if they hope to re-sign Evgenii Dadonov and Max Domi. Both were trade-deadline acquisitions who are slated to become unrestricted free agents on July 1. Clark suggests it’s possible they could move some cap space to sign Dadonov and/or Domi.

BLH’s Thoughts: Nurse and Yamamoto to Philly for Provorov and Konecny, who says no?

How dominant would a line of Laine-Lindholm-and Gaudreau be for Columbus? Not a lot considering if they lost the puck it’d probably end up in their net. But all kidding aside, Zach Werenski will be back next season and those four players would be awfully entertaining to watch. 

I wonder if Dallas goes through a bit of a turnover this summer. I think Jamie Benn is going to catch some shit for this series vs. Vegas and with two years left @ $9.5M/yr, he’s not worth that anymore plus he’s 33 years old. Maybe a team looking to hit the cap floor (CHI, NJ, ANA) who doesn’t want to spend a lot of real dollars (DET) would take a shot at him. He only makes $1M in real money and the rest ($5.5M) is in bonuses. 

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