Edmonton Oilers Rumors: “The Oilers need a third-line centre… We could see a November or December deal.”

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The Athletic

Why can’t the Oilers put together an effective third line?

The trio has scored more than the third unit managed in the past couple of seasons but has also been loose defensively. Through the first 10 contests, the third line had scored three goals but allowed six at five-on-five…
This year’s model is more high-event, but the goal is outscoring. If the Ryan line is going to play those extra minutes, Tippett’s going to need tighter defensive play.
Ryan has an on-ice goal differential of 3-8, 27 percent. That’s not close to good enough, and a change is required at the No. 3 centre spot.
There are good signs for the No. 3 line, mainly strong offensive output from Foegele and Devin Shore…
The Oilers need a third-line centre. Foegele looks the part of a productive left-winger. Yamamoto or Kassian should be able to handle the work on right wing.
We could see a November or December deal.

BLH’s Thoughts: If Edmonton’s bottom-six and it’s team defense continues to slip resulting in losses piling up, I think Ken Holland will pull the trigger on some deals.

What do you think is up with Derek Ryan? Has he picked up a knock or is it possible the Oilers signed him after his best-before date?

Oilersnation

Good Teams Lose Games

…every team needs good goaltending to win games. It’s the most important position in the sport. So, to the people saying that the Oilers are lucky that their goaltending is holding up, I would say “would these wins mean more to you if the Oilers gave up five goals in every game?”
They’ve won three games this year where their starting goaltender had a save percentage worse than .930. That’s right about on par with the other top teams in the league.
I wouldn’t say that their powerplay has bailed them out, I would say that their powerplay is a big reason why they’re such a dangerous team.
Also, the idea that the Oilers just flat out suck at five on five just isn’t that true.
The Oilers are actually getting a decent amount of offence at five on five, sitting 5th in the NHL in goals for/60. Producing at even strength is not the issue, defending is.
They currently sit 27th in shots against/60, 22nd in scoring chances against/60 and 26th in goals against/60 at five on five. That’s not good enough. They need to do a better job defending.
Last year, the best team in the NHL was the Colorado Avalanche. They still lost 17 games in a 56 game season. In 2019-20, the Boston Bruins were atop the NHL when the regular season was halted. They lost 26 games.

BLH’s Thoughts: Well here we are seeing some of the fruits of a defense group comprised mostly of puck movers. The analytics folk lead us to believe that six puck-moving defensemen were better than six shutdown cycle-breakers, no?

I suppose that’s a tad over the top and early in the season to be making any sweeping statements like that, but at the same time, how would Edmonton’s defense look if it had one or two more blueliners who specialized in disallowing zone entries?

Then again, let’s look closer at the metrics brought up by Yaremchuk.

GF/60: Edmonton (5th) Pittsburgh (4th) Seattle (12th)

GA/60: Edmonton (26th) Minnesota (27th) Arizona (29th)

SA/60: Edmonton (27th) St.Louis (23rd) Arizona (18th)

SCA/60: Edmonton (22nd) St. Louis (23rd) Toronto 19th)

The metrics are all over the place right now, so it’s tough to put a lot of faith in the context they may bring to a conversation. It’s still early in the year, right? I mean, the Penguins are last in their division and the Coyotes are atrocious, whereas Minnesota is leading their division and St. Louis is not far behind. Same goes for Toronto…

What this group of Oilers needs to do is tighten up their starts. When’s the last time McDavid’s boys had themselves a real dominant first period? If they could manage to put the other team on the back foot early, they’d be forced to take risks and that might mean PP opportunities for Edmonton… Instead we get really lackadaisical opening frames and scrambles in the final periods… Entertaining to watch, poor recipe for success…

The Daily Goal Horn

Larry Brooks is looking for certain pending UFA rentals that could help for this season only. He calls out:
- Reilly Smith (VGK)
- Tomas Hertl (SJS)
- Nazem Kadri (COL)
- David Perron (STL)
According to Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, the Habs and Sens have contacted the Rangers about Vitali Kravtsov.