Edmonton Oilers Rumors: “The Oilers could sell high on him before the deadline.”

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

Will Ken Holland make an early-season trade to bolster the Oilers? What history tells us

Holland has a modus operandi that can be used to track possible targets. He trades for players he’s had on teams previously, he trades for players who have been wildly successful and he has no fear of aging players (unless the Smith setback has scared him straight, which is unlikely).
Over his long career as an NHL general manager, Ken Holland has rarely made a trade in the early portion of the season. A typical summer would involve two or three free-agent signings, possibly a trade and then a long period of evaluation beginning in training camp and running into the second half of the season.
The Oilers’ general manager is often active at the deadline, and if there’s an area of need and the club is in contention, he is one of the more aggressive GMs in the game.
In all of his career as general manager, one trade by Holland made in the first three months of the season had a massive impact on a championship.
- On December 28, 2000, Detroit acquired centre Igor Larionov from the Florida Panthers for defenceman Yan Golubovsky.
- Larionov helped Detroit win the 2002 Stanley Cup. It is the only true trade of its type during Holland’s time as an NHL general manager.

BLH’s Thoughts: I feel like I’ve mentioned this in the past couple of weeks or so, but as usual, Lowetide works his magic and makes it a much more compelling read with historic Oilers references and the lot!

Anyway, the point is, Holland doesn’t make early season trades. His mission statement is one word, “PATIENCE” and that’s it. He’s Jim Rutherford’s arch nemesis if you will.

So unless something pops up, he’ll continue to work the phones and get the lay of the land but we’re still some time from American Thanksgiving and given how much of a traditionalist he seems to be, I wouldn’t expect anything to happen near any of the holidays. In fact, I’m not expecting any moves until closer to March.

Lowetide.ca

John Tortorella suggesting Connor McDavid change his style tells you more about the people running this game than one trillion words could ever do. Shame on hockey men for being so blind to the beautiful game’s true appeal: mind-blowing skill at 100 miles an hour.
The NHL is run by old people, who believe the league’s success comes from big hits, lucky bounces, fighting and bulls on skates. There’s no room for speed, skill or strategy. The real enemy of hockey is coaching, because creative offensive strategy is difficult and brings headaches.

BLH’s Thoughts: Coaches coach to win, not to create entertaining hockey because it’s the clubs that pay their salaries and the owners want success on the ice as it translates to a significant increase in their social currency.

So in 20 years when the old dogs have been taken out back and shot, their replacements will come and the M.O. will remain the same, win or be fired, and in order to win; the coaches will do their best to limit the other team’s scoring/scoring chances and as a result, creativity will be stifled that much more.

You see, it’s impossible to re-create the old Russian squads of the 70s and 80s, who, in my opinion, were the most entertaining teams to watch because of how they moved the puck so gracefully. It’ll be impossible, because a club cannot create an academy where the players are forced to comply with the coach like the Russians were with Tarasov and Tikhonov back in the day.

What’ll happen is we’ll get fantastic individual talents like McDavid, Makar, Dahlin, Draisaitl, but who’ll need to find a way to make their abilities shine in an NHL coach’s system.

I mean, it’s worked with Connor and Leon so far and Makar to and extent, but I remember watching Rasmus Dahlin in his draft year and he was like what I would imagine Bobby Orr was like. It’s just sad that these highly gifted offensive defensemen can’t come into the NHL and be able to be themselves, play their game.

Or maybe I’m just being selfish because I grew up in a time where we had Paul Coffey, Brian Leetch, Phil Housley, etc. Blue liners who got the green light to take the puck end-to-end and entertain the crowd to no end. In that light, I agree with LT, but in reality, I don’t see a time where coaching changes to the point to where hockey is back to where it was in the 70s or 80s, fun to watch.

NHLRumors.com

Free Agent Goaltenders That Could Be On The Move

Marc-Andre Fleury — Chicago Blackhawks – The Chicago Blackhawks’ goaltender has been rumored to be moved throughout the early portion of this season. Fleury has a goals-against-average above 4 in the early going.

Mikko Koskinen — Edmonton Oilers – Now with his latest hot start, Koskinen is seemingly off the market. Edmonton runs hot and cold with the goalie that has a faulty, high-glove side. The Oilers could sell high on him before the deadline.

Braden Holtby — Dallas Stars – An excellent start for Holtby combined with a dismal one for Dallas raises the chances of trade. He may wind up on a contender just after the Olympic break at this rate.

Jaroslav Halak — Vancouver Canucksb – Simply, Jaroslav Halak would make excellent insurance for a contending team. Halak is cheap when it comes to the cap as well.

Joonas Korpisalo — Columbus Blue Jackets – For as good as Korpisalo has been, he has become expendable on Columbus. The goaltender will have to put up some better numbers to improve his trade value — which is currently limited.

Craig Anderson — Buffalo Sabres – No one knows how long Craig Anderson can keep playing like this but he got off to a great start for the Buffalo Sabres. The four wins alone were shocking enough but the .921 save percentage turned a lot of heads.

Vitek Vanecek — Washington Capitals – It does not seem likely Vitek Vanecek (restricted free agent) will get moved. However, one never knows with goaltending in Washington. The Capitals’ management does seem to favor Ilya Samsonov so a move would not be a total surprise.

Thomas Greiss — Detroit Red Wings – Thomas Greiss could be an interesting trade for the Detroit Red Wings. It seems inevitable that he will get moved. This is more of a question of when and not if.