Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Ken Holland is Set to Spend Some Cash This Week

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!

The Athletic (Corey Pronman)

Oilers’ 2021 NHL Draft picks: Grades, fit and full scouting reports

2021 Draft Grade: D+
- This Oilers class is not my personal favorite. Xavier Bourgault is a great prospect and I think he will be a good NHL player. After him, though, I have questions. I think other teams were on Luca Munzenberger, but a third-round pick was rich for me. Some of their late forward picks have chances to make it, but I think this draft will likely just come down to Bourgault and how good he can become.
I like this fit a lot, as (Xavier) Bourgault is a dynamic skill players, which is something they don’t have a ton of in their system, even if off the puck he needs a lot of work.
(Luca) Muzenberger is a big, intelligent defenseman who can make a good number of stops and makes a good first pass.
Jake Chiasson is a forward who can play center or wing and is a very good passer, showing the ability to make creative feeds and find a lot of seams.
(Matvei) Petrov has a chance due to his skill and scoring, but he will have to add elements to play in the NHL.
Shane Lachance is an intriguing talent. He’s 6-4, has great puck skills and vision. His skating is a major work in progress though and his effort can be inconsistent.
Max Wanner is a big defenseman who defends well at the junior level, but lacks dimensions in his skating and skill that will allow him to transport and move pucks at higher levels.

BLH’s Thoughts: Ouch… a D+ from Pronman… But to be honest, they deserve that grade.

Ideally teams want to get at least two NHL players from every draft and I’ll be shocked if the Oilers get one out of this year’s crop. Skating should be the no.1 thing a scout looks at when projecting these prospects and if the team takes a player who needs work in that aspect, they’d better well have something else in their toolbox that is elite. With Lachance, Wanner, and Munzenberger, I haven’t really read anything in their online profiles that tell me they have something that will overcome their skating.

The Cult of Hockey (Bruce McCurdy)

Edmonton Oilers 2021 draft wrap: A mishmash of prospects and projects in a difficult draft cycle

The Oilers stayed on the straight and narrow in Round One, drafting right-shot centre Xavier Bourgault from the Quebec League, then spent much of Day 2 straying far from the board.
The club followed its well-established practice of picking more mature prospects in the early going, as both of their top two choices were “late birthdays”.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m a fan of Edmonton’s habit of choosing late birthday’s in the first round. Getting them into the hands of Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson ASAP is an excellent plan as those two coaches have proven to be quite adept at developing NHL talent on a consistent basis. Hopefully the trend continues with this draft class.

The Cult of Hockey (Kurt Leavins)

Some eye-opening comparisons for new Edmonton Oilers F Xavier Bourgault: 9 Things

9. I expect Ken Holland is going to spend some dough in the next week on 2 gaps in his roster, 2RD and 3LW. Re-signing Tyson Barrie would mean 3 puck-moving D on that right side. I think one needs to be a shutdown/PK type of guy. And I have a feeling Ryan McLeod may get a shot at 3C.

BLH’s Thoughts: There’s a lot of inference amongst the pundits that if Tyson Barrie is re-signed, Ethan Bear will be moved. I’m not against the move, but those right-shot dmen are so damned valuable. Holland should be able to get his Larsson replacement by using Bear as trade bait. *Couch* John Klingberg *Cough*

I’m willing to bet that with a summer of training and a full preseason that Ryan McLeod will easily win the 3C position if the Oilers don’t sign someone for the spot.

Now, the problem they’ll run into is winning faceoffs. McLeod isn’t great at taking them right now and that’ll mean Leon Draisaitl will have to come on for them or the Oilers will need to sign a 4C who can win draws.

8. With the cap flat and elite players still getting paid, it will be critical to have ELC’s (like McLeod) filling spots in your lineup. I wonder of that reality may challenge Ken Holland’s tendency to over-ripen. It just may not be as do-able in a cap world as it was in his earlier days in Detroit.

BLH’s Thoughts: I still think Holland can continue with that policy. The Oilers don’t have to always use their ELC players to save cash. Why not just sign or trade for some capable bottom six forwards or defensemen? There’s a lot more risk in ruining a prospects development by going to other route…

7. Darnell Nurse’s next contract with the Oilers was always going to at least start with at least a 7. But the yardsticks have moved, folks. Get used to hearing the number “8” associated with Nurse. And if you don’t like that, fine, who would you replace him with then? Because you’ll need to.

BLH’s Thoughts: We’ve been hearing that nurse will be asking for $8M/yr for a few years now, so this isn’t any surprise. What might be a shock is that the number will most likely start with a nine and get worked down into the eights.

3. I do believe that the Edmonton Oilers are on the verge of signing Zach Hyman. But I’ve seen just enough funny things happen on the way to the Forum, I’ll wait to celebrate until he’s actually wearing the jersey in a Zoom call… Toronto did demand a 2^nd Round pick in order to seal the trade & sign… it sure doesn’t sound like Kyle Dubas is interested in helping another team out with their cap situation. That of course is his prerogative. But these things have a way of coming around again. Meanwhile, don’t be surprised if Holland just waits out the clock and settles for 7 years.

BLH’s Thoughts: I am very curious to know how Kyle Dubas’ decision not to help out the Oilers will bite him in the ass down the road. If Stan Bowman can stand pat, send Duncan Keith to the Oilers sans salary retention, and not receive any flack for it, how’s Dubas going to be punished for doing the right thing for his club?

1. Maybe Jesper Wallstedt would have become a franchise netminder here, had the Oilers picked him. He’s a good goalie. But 18 others teams didn’t take Wallstedt, either. Was it because they were concerned with his relative lack of athleticism? Is he vulnerable to the lateral pass? Did his softer second-half spark worries about conditioning? Maybe all 3?

BLH’s Thoughts: Some goalies are considered “athletic” like Dominik Hasek, Andrei Vasilevsiy, or Bill Ranford. Others are considered “blockers” or positionally sound and I’d put Wallstedt in that category and how many goalies aren’t vulnerable to the lateral pass? Also, why would half of a season be enough of a sample size considering Wallstedt was a 17yr old starter in the SHL this year and has dominated at every level he’s played? His playing record speaks for itself… For the Oilers to pass on him, I think it’s going to bite them in the ass down the road. Just watch what they pay to get a netminder this year and ask yourself if the cost was worth passing on Wallstedt.

NHLRumors.com

Greg Wyshynski: Carolina Hurricanes GM Don Waddell said that they “have gotten closer” on a Dougie Hamilton contract extension after Hamilton went out to see what the market may offer him.
Andy Strickland: The St. Louis Blues are interested in re-signing forward Mike Hoffman. It won’t be easy to re-sign him while they have Vladimir Tarasenko’s $7.5 million contract on the books.
Charlie O’Connor: Philadelphia Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher: “We wanted to get ahead of free agency. Could control the price points. But we still have work to do. Have to add a goalie. I’d look at another D and another F to add depth but we want to give young players a chance as well.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I dig what the Flyers have done. They got rid of Voracek’s ridiculous contract in return for Cam Atkinson, a winger who’s been good for 20+ goals going back almost a decade. To me, that’s a bloody steal. They’re going head into the next season with one of the most complete defenses in the league where players will be slotted correctly and on top of that, the new acquisitions are coming out of losing markets (apart from Ryan Ellis), they’re going to be absolutely jacked to play for the Flyers.

Philly is going to surprise many next season. Mark my words. Their window is now and I believe they’ll do very well.