It’s been an unusually busy couple of days recently with regards to Edmonton Oilers news. LOTS of Jesse Puljujarvi talk (erroneous mind you), and news that the Oilers have most likely found their third-line center, as well as, Mike Smith revealing the gear that he’ll be wearing in conjunction with the new 3rd jersey that Edmonton will be rolling out.
*EDIT* Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston is reporting that the Oilers are out of the mix for Derick Brassard and Andrew Gross is saying he’ll be signing with the Islanders. It’s likely that yesterday that Brassard was very close to signing with the Oilers but it hinged on another offer. Still, nothing is official at this point in time and he could sign in Edmonton yet. Feel free to read the portion on the UFA below if you’d like but you just have to pretend that Johnston didn’t say anything. Ha! *EDIT*
On Brassard
I’m not really convinced with Derick Brassard. I feel like the Oilers have a similar player in Sam Gagner and in Cooper Marody. In addition to that, I imagine Edmonton was looking for a player who could win a faceoff or two and help out on the PK. Brassard has never been much of a faceoff man (48.2%) and he’s never been a contributor to the penalty kill. The most time he’s ever spent playing on the kill was way back in 2014/15 when he had a shade under 20 minutes.
In 70 games with Florida, Pittsburgh, and Colorado, he played 892 minutes 5×5 averaging just under thirteen minutes per game. Here are his fancies for the year,
CF% rel: -5.58 (7th worst in NHL)
FF% rel: -6.46 (3rd worst in NHL)
SF% rel: -7.81 (WORST in NHL)
GF% rel: -20.29 (2nd worst in NHL)
xGF% rel: -11.33 (2nd worst in NHL)
SCF% rel: -8.79 (2nd worst in NHL)
HDCF% rel: -12.31 (2nd worst in NHL)
HDGF% rel: -22.84 (2nd worst in NHL)
In brackets is his ranking amongst centers who played 700 minutes or more last year.
To say the ice was tilted the other way when Brassard was on the ice is putting it nicely. We’re talking Will Acton-like fancies here.
I’d use a current Oiler to give some context to but according to Natural Stat Trick, the only centers who fit the parameters are McDavid, Draisaitl, and Nuge… I guess we can use Kyle Brodziak as he played 681 minutes. That’s as close as we’re going to get.
CF% rel: -2.93
FF% rel: -1.73
SF% rel: +0.11
GF% rel: -16.32
xGF% rel: -4.19
SCF% rel: -7.28
HDCF% rel: -5.81
HDGF% rel: -15.94
Well, at least the shot share was in the right direction. Considering Brodziak might’ve been one of the worst Oilers last year (all due respect), Ken Holland is probably signing someone worse IF we’re just going off of last year’s stats.
Now, this is a player who used to be over 2pts/60 a year, now he can barely make 1pt/60. That’s 1 point every 5 games for him… Replacement level.
That said, we don’t know why the dropoff for this player was so bad, so we shouldn’t lay into him too much, but it is fair to speculate as to whether he will help or hurt the Oilers’ playoff chances next year, right?
Yes, this is a low-risk, high-reward sort of move the analytics guys will probably lap up and Edmonton could use some more scoring from the bottom six. By signing a player like Brassard it will force the guys on the farm to really perform during camp and win their spot on the roster in 2019/20. Ken Holland likes his vets and reclamation projects though, so I’d say Brassard would really have to shit the bed to get beat out here.
Click the image above to get the new Pulju shirt!It’s not all that bad though. My sources say that he’ll be signing for under a million dollars, so if Brassard doesn’t work out it won’t cost the Oilers anything to send him to Bakersfield. If he does work out though on a soft-minutes 3rd line with a guy like Josh Archibald and Joakim Nygard, well all praise to Lord Holland and Sir Tippett then.
My feeling is that the 3C spot should go to someone who excels as a two-way forward. A right-shot and someone who is really good at faceoffs. At this point in time, Derick Brassard is none of that. I suppose all he has to do is outperform Tobias Rieder though.
Did you know that the Oilers VP of Player Development, Scott Howson, was the GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets when Derick Brassard played there?
On Mike Smith
Courtesy @InGoalMedia here is #Oilers goalie Mike Smith with his new orange & blue gear.
Imagine how it will look with the @EdmontonOilers new third jersey.
Will be interesting to see what mask design he goes with. pic.twitter.com/9O47gvyC8F— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) August 20, 2019
Well, there you have it. That setup will definitely work with the Oilers’ new 3rd but what I’m really interested in seeing is Smith’s new helmet. I really dug the Mike Vernon one he had in Calgary and I wonder if he’ll try to do something similar in Edmonton…
Elias Pettersson’s nickname is “Alien”. Here’s a shirt to celebrate it! Click the image to buy one!
Click the pic and grab a 16-bit McDavid tee!