July 2, 2023 /

Edmonton Oilers Offseason Talk: The Oilers Were Prepared to Go After Who on Day One of Free Agency?

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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The Athletic

The Edmonton Oilers still have work to do this summer
  • “Edmonton needs to sign Evan Bouchard, Ryan McLeod and Raphael Lavoie in the coming weeks… The problem for Holland, and the Oilers, is Bouchard’s ability to receive, and sign, an offer sheet.”
  • There are several NHL teams in a position to make the move. Edmonton management will be watching opponents closely… Getting Bouchard signed sooner than later derails any mid-summer nightmare scenario, but there is no urgency from the player side.”
  • “McLeod can file for arbitration, and he was badly underpaid on his previous deal. A $2 million contract is the likely conclusion, but once again Edmonton is a little vulnerable with this player.”
  • “A player like Dylan Holloway is going to see more playing time, but he hasn’t established himself as a reliable offensive piece on a skill line. If the Oilers can sign a young forward with a little more experience, it might create competition and allow the team to be stronger.”
  • “Another example is Lavoie. He is poised to make the Oilers with a strong training camp and preseason, but Holland can provide the team with some insurance if a player like Noah Gregor shakes loose at a reasonable price.”
  • “Holland should leave the lines of communication open for Yamamoto, Gregor, Hajek and similar talents.”
  • The signing of Brown has the potential to be a home run, and the Pederson specifically signing shows an astute evaluation of available talent and addresses depth at centre.”

BLH’s Thoughts: The NHL is still full of old school hockey players who value honor over victory, so I don’t see anybody off-sheeting Bouchard. Especially with the cap jumping up next summer. The Oilers could simply get their revenge next summer… And besides, if Bouchard left, Holland would replace him with another offensively-minded dman like Tony Deangelo or maybe he’d just deal Bouchard to Carolina for Pesce. The league’s no.1 PP doesn’t run through its dman and nobody is mistaking EB for the next Ray Bourque these days. Maybe he’s not as irreplaceable as we’re led to believe. 

While there’s no urgency on Bouch to sign a deal, Holland should (key word being ‘should’) already have a plan set out for this scenario. 

I’ve got a hard time getting behind a $2M/yr salary for McLeod when his brother just signed a 1yr deal for $1.5M and Michael is the better of the two as well as right-handed.

It’s not a good idea for this team to lean on young players to be impact players when the coach is well known for favoring veterans. How in the world is Rafa Lavoie going to be a gamechanger on the 4th line and for Dylan Holloway to take the next step he’s got to show that he can stay healthy or he’ll end up in the same position Yamamoto and Pulju have. 

I think it’s different for Broberg in that the coach is going to get more pressure from the GM to play his boy. At least that’s the vibe I’m getting from listening to Bob Stauffer this summer. Either he gets played 18 minutes a night with or he’s down in Bakersfield running that show and if he’s in the AHL at all next year, I feel like he’ll be dealt before the season’s out and the return will be disappointing. 

I do like the suggestion of signing Noah Gregor though. I like his speed, grit, and doesn’t it seem like he always scored against the Oilers when San Jose played them?

Man, I hope Connor Brown lives up to the hype or else it’s going to get nasty in the oilogosphere. He supposed to be an amazing two-way 5v5 forward that can take care of the other side of the puck while his teammates are out there scoring up a storm plus it appears that he’s the next Jere Lehtinen with the way the MSM are pumping his PK skills…

He could be another Janmark-like experience (SLOW start, great but painful finish) or he could be the next Jussi Jokinen and not ever get started. I don’t see him the Ty Rattie category but stranger things have happened.

Former Maple Leaf Mike Johnson was on TSN saying he can’t shoot and he’s not great on breakaways. This comes after the Oilers trying Yamamoto (shot isn’t a threat at all) and Jesse (threatening shot, couldn’t find a corner) in that 2RW slot with little to no luck. 

I dunno… My advice, be careful of your expectations of this player. Keep ’em low and hope for the best. 

Fack… We’re back to hoping again…

The Cult of Hockey

9 Things
  • “Ken Holland took all sorts of grief from some corners when he moved on from Jesse Puljujarvi, Caleb Jones, and Ethan Bear. But none of those 3 were qualified by their new teams and have not been signed since.”
  • “I did not expect the Oilers to get an NHL D-man this weekend. Instead, I expect Philip Broberg to get a chance to be “the guy”, instead. In fact, if I were Jay Woodcroft, I would put Broberg on the 2nd pairing and give him 18:00 a night. Play him. Test him. Then, if you still need an upgrade by the deadline, go out and get one then.”
  • “I believe that the Oilers were prepared to go after Michael McLeod had he not re-upped with the Devils.”
  • “But I expect Holland to keep shopping. Jonathan Toews? Paul Stasny? Evan Rodrigues?”
  • “I like the Drake Caggiula signing… We should expect him to be in Bakersfield… Caggiula still moves very well and was just shy of being a point-per-game AHL performer last season.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Well, let’s not mention that Bear and Puljujarvi are getting or have undergone some pretty major surgeries because that information isn’t pertinent at all. 

I like the idea of playing Broberg chunky minutes but who’s TOI is he stealing from to get it? Certainly not Bouchard’s if he’s there. I guess Cody Ceci’s then? Because he’s not taking Nurse’s or Ekholm’s and Desharnais isn’t going to get that much. That should make Ceci happy… 

Where would Cloudy’s brother have slotted in? 4C? And that money would’ve come from where exactly? Would it have been a plan to get Ryan to sign another cheapie if they could get his brother over or a plan to get both to sign on discount? I don’t buy it, especially if Toews is still getting mentioned. 

Paul Stastny can’t play center anymore. He was a winger in Carolina. The skating isn’t there and Leavins had better get an upgrade in info from Stauffer because Evan Rodrigues’ name shouldn’t even be in that group. I mean, aside from just signing a multi-year deal for $3M/yr, Rodrigues wasn’t coming to Edmonton. He was completely out of the Oilers’ price range. 

I didn’t expect Drake Caggiula’s name to pop up on day one of free agency and to me he’s a guy that could come in during the playoffs and provide some energy and speed. If Holloway gets dinged up, Caggiula can sub in for a short time but I don’t see him making the team out of camp. Reason being Holloway needs the reps and Janmark, Foegele, or Ryan are shoe-ins. 

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey

BLH’s Thoughts: A winger with speed or bite at league minimum, Bob? Let’s have a gander at some of the options:

  • Noah Gregor
  • Danton Heinen
  • Darren Helm
  • Tyler Motte
  • Zack MacEwan
  • Brendan Lemieux

Oilers fans, is there anybody on that list you like? Gregor’s okay for me in the speed/grit factor. Heinen can shoot and skate well. Helm is pretty long in the tooth but there’s the Detroit connection there. Motte is like Gregor but I’m not sure he signs on the cheap, but MacEwan/Lemieux are players I could see signing in Edmonton with Kostin leaving. 

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CategoriesArmchair GM Beer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL Rumors

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Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!