July 26, 2021 /

Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Holland Looking to Add More Cup-Winning Veterans?

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!

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Oilersnation (Robin Brownlee)

Off the Top of My Head
  • With the Oilers in win-now mode and looking to get something done as we enter the prime years of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, a prospect like Bourgault, selected 22nd overall from Shawinigan Friday, could arrive right in the middle of that push. The plan by GM Ken Holland, meanwhile, is to have Hyman be an important part of getting the climb into contention started.
  • I wonder if the decision to move down to take Bourgault rather than select Jesper Wallstedt with Sebastian Cossa already picked by the Detroit Red Wings amounts to a vote of confidence in how crease prospect Ilya Konovalov projects.
  • With Holland looking at a replacement for Adam Larsson to bolster a right side that’s a bit thin with Ethan Bear and Evan Bouchard, might Josh Manson, going into the final year of a contract with a $4.1-million AAV with Anaheim, be a fit?
  • UFA Travis Hamonic is another right-shot option who might fit. He wouldn’t cost Holland an asset in a trade and he’d be on a cheaper ticket than Manson.

BLH’s Thoughts: It sounds like Ducks are looking for something close to a first rounder for Manson, if the Oilers were creative, they could definitely chisel that down and get their Larsson replacement. 

I do love the idea of getting Dave Manson’s son in an Oilers uniform, but Travis Hamonic intrigues me as well. If he came in on an affordable $2M-ish deal, they could allocate dollars elsewhere. I’d say the difference between the two would be that Hamonic is closer to a 3rd pairing dman now than a 2nd pairing one. 

My biggest fear is that Ethan Bear tops out as a no.4 and Evan Bouchard needs a year on the 3rd pair. Darnell Nurse’s partner has to be someone who is capable of handling top-pairing TOI which includes time on special teams be that the PP or the PK or both.

If Bouchard can take over the PP from Barrie and keep his head above water on the bottom pair, that would be perfect because, in theory, it would allow the Oilers to get a more affordable defenseman for Darnell. Someone who could spend most of their TOI on even strength and on the PK and generally that guy is paid less than the defenseman who racks up the points. 

As it is, I’m expecting a $4M player to come in on defense and I’m told the Oilers believe the free agent market is a little thin on defense, so we should expect this player to come in via trade. Where he’ll line up on the depth chart, that I do not know.

Sportsnet (Elliotte Friedman)

Big week for potential Jack Eichel trade, free agency predictions
  • Toronto has made it clear finding Jack Campbell’s partner is its number one priority, and whatever cap room is left over will fill out the forward core.
  • We know Philadelphia wants an experienced partner for Carter Hart.
  • If Braden Holtby isn’t traded, does he get bought out by Vancouver?
  • Does Martin Jones get a new start somewhere, assuming a buyout from San Jose?
  • Is Carolina’s next starter Antti Raanta, Frederik Andersen or someone else? (A few teams suspect the analytics-inclined Hurricanes love Raanta.)
  • Where does Darcy Kuemper end up?
  • What does Vegas do? There were rumblings they had a move for someone that fell through. I thought it might be Robin Lehner to New Jersey or Marc-Andre Fleury to Chicago.
  • What is Colorado’s limit with Philipp Grubauer? The highest recent UFA goalie deal was Jordan Binnington’s 6×6, and it’s believed Grubauer’s ask was somewhere near there — but I don’t believe the Avalanche would go there.
  • What’s the market for Linus Ullmark?

Some Predictions

  • Dougie Hamilton: New Jersey
  • David Savard: Montreal
  • Gabriel Landeskog: not hugely confident in this prediction, but he and Colorado find a way
  • Blake Coleman: the prediction is, he gets 6×5
  • Jaden Schwartz: Seattle, basically done during the Kraken’s exclusive window
  • Brandon Saad: St. Louis, Islanders, Pittsburgh or Los Angeles
  • Kyle Palmieri: haven’t heard a thing, which means the Islanders probably have him locked up
  • Phillip Danault: Los Angeles takes a surprise look
  • Alec Martinez: stays in Vegas
  • Alex Goligoski: Minnesota
  • Derek Forbort: Boston
  • Zach Hyman: Edmonton. Makes me feel I’m getting one right
  • Alexander Ovechkin: 3×10 to stay in Washington
  • Ryan Suter: Dallas
  • Florida: locks up Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe.

Trades…

  • Ryan Strome: Seattle, Vegas or Ottawa.
  • Vladimir Tarasenko: Islanders or New Jersey.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’d add that Nick Bonino could possibly be on Edmonton’s radar as well. His wife is from St. Alberta, AB and that could be a determining factor in where he chooses to sign his next deal. Remember, a very strong theme of this year’s offseason is family. With that in mind though, Bonino is an American and Elliotte Friedman recently noted that US-born players are hard pressed to come to Canada because of a number of things like pandemic restrictions, media, and social media pressures.

Now, from what I’m told, the 33yr old left-shot center could be got for between $2.5M and $3.5M. His cap hit was $4.1M last year and he scored 26pts in 55 games for Minnesota.

Don’t forget he’s got a couple of Cup rings from his time in Pittsburgh and it looks like there’s quite a bit of value being placed in veterans who’ve been to “The Show”…

Spector’s Hockey

Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup – July 25, 2021

BLH’s Thoughts: As Friedman speculated upon the market for Linus Ullmark, that has me thinking that if the Oilers want their guy, they’re going to need to up the ante a bit in order to secure him. Will the contract he signs end up looking like something closer to a $5M AAV or can he be negotiated down to a more affordable $4M-ish AAV?

We know that Ken Holland is looking to sell the players he’s courting on contract security but with them already knowing that, won’t the try to squeeze him for more dollars?

Rest assured, I’m told that Ken Holland is working his bag off to try and do what it takes to get this roster over their current hump and into the top-8 of the league. 

This is how Pavel used to tell you who was #1 back in the day! Click the pic and grab a shirt or a mask!

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!