Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Adam Larsson, Casey Cizikas, and the Vegas Golden Knights

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

From The Cult of Hockey

Flyers have interest in Adam Larsson or Tyson Barrie for top-pairing, says Philly insider

This in from Sam Carchidi, who covers the Flyers for The Philadelphia Inquirer: “The Flyers need a defenseman to join Ivan Provorov on their top pairing. You know it. I know it. General manager Chuck Fletcher knows it… Here are some defensemen on the Flyers’ radar. They would be an improvement over the revolving defensemen who played alongside (Ivan) Provorov this season.”

Carchidi goes on to list Dougie Hamilton, Seth Jones, Matt Dumba, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, David Savard, Colton Parayko, Jamie Oleksiak, Travis Hamonic, Cody Ceci, Alec Martinez, Rasmus Ristolainen, Brandon Montour, Barrie and Larsson.

” Some folks who are OK if Larsson moves on will consider such a risk to be no major deal. I’d prefer they not have that risk and sign up Larsson ASAP, at least if there’s any doubt about his willingness to return here. Why take a chance with such a high-performing player?” – David Staples

BLH’s Thoughts: By listing off every notable right-shot defender available Carchidi is basically saying that the Flyers need to go out and get one and he doesn’t care who it is.

I’m with Staples here though, if the Oilers don’t get Larsson signed they’ll be taking a massive risk AND I believe they’d be putting themselves at a disadvantage negotiation-wise for the next guy they want to sign because there are no Adam Larssons in Edmonton’s system. So instead of paying $4M/yr (ish), they’re paying $5M or more…

From Spector’s Hockey

WHAT NEXT FOR THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS?

ESPN.COM: Greg Wyshynski believes the Vegas Golden Knights need to open up some salary-cap flexibility during the offseason. They’ve only got $3 million in cap room for 2021-22 with Alec Martinez and Tomas Nosek hitting free agency. Reilly Smith, Ryan Reaves, Brayden McNabb and Nick Holden will be UFAs next summer.

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Ed Graney believes offseason changes are needed for the Golden Knights after failing to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season. Pointing to a power-play that went scoreless in 15 attempts against the Montreal Canadiens in the semifinal, he feels it needs a “massive overhaul, be it schematically or personnel.”

BLH’s Thoughts: It was only a matter of time before Vegas was getting their names into the Jack Eichel Sweepstakes. The Owner of this club gives zero f*cks though and if he wants Kelly McCrimmon to go out and add point producers, that’s what he’ll get.

With names like Hall, Hamilton, Kuznetsov, Seth Jones, Matthew Tkachuk, the aforementioned Eichel, and don’t even think about forgetting Alexander Ovechkin because if it’s possible, you can count on the NHL’s 31st team to do everything in their power to try and get him as they did with Alex Pietrangelo, Max Pacioretty, etc.

So, knowing this, I think the off-season is going to get even more interesting with the Golden Knights set to be so involved.

From NHLTradeRumor.com

WHAT WILL THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS DO THIS OFF-SEASON?

Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports the most attractive player left unprotected for the Seattle Kraken might be defenseman Nick Leddy, who had a strong postseason to boost his value.

The Islanders are tight against the salary cap and it will be unlikely Lamoriello will be able to bring the same team back. The Isles are likely to lose the following free agents – Andy Greene (acquired at 2020 trade deadline), Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac (acquired at 2021 trade deadline) and Casey Cizikas.

BLH’s Thoughts: I was really impressed with Casey Cizikas during the series against Tampa. He played with so much heart, his work rate was top notch, and he was a massive pain in the ass for the Lightning. Those are all the kinds of attributes I value in a bottom-six forward and I believe he’d make Edmonton a tougher team to play against if he joined them.

With that out of the way, I wonder if he would’ve been even more impactful had JG Pageau been healthy? I’m curious if the elevated minutes had him gassed by the end of the game last night.

I’ve liked Cizikas for quite a while now but his contract was a tad rich for my blood to play in the bottom-six. Could he be an option for the Oilers this summer?