Speculating from an Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest NHL news and rumors feat. Paul Stastny, Anton Khudobin, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, William Nylander, and many more!
I'm being told that in the next 24-48hrs the #Oilers are set to make a massive move that will improve the club in a big way. pic.twitter.com/OvSwBOtlht
— B.L.H. (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast) (@BeerLeagueHeroe) October 9, 2020
The News and Rumors
- Richard Labbe (La Presse): One of the factors to trading Max Domi may have been due to his relationship with coach Claude Julien.
BLH’s Thoughts: Shocking. Veteran coach butts head with young outgoing forward…
To Domi’s credit, he had to watch two very young players hop over him in the depth chart in the playoffs and that couldn’t have been easy. He’ll be a great warrior for John Tortorella in Columbus.
- Jordan Hall (NBC Sports): The Winnipeg Jets likely want a defenseman like Travis Sanheim or Philippe Myers for Patrik Laine.
BLH’s Thoughts: You’d think at least one of those would be going to Winnipeg in a Laine deal.
Why is Winnipeg dealing Laine again? Because the coach wants to play him away from their star player? Or is Scheifele saying something? They had to be a horrible team for a whole year to get their hands on Laine and now they want to wash their hands of him without getting a forward in return who can produce at the same rate? Odd… Why wouldn’t they ask for Travis Konecny?
- Craig Morgan (The Athletic): The Arizona Coyotes could be interested in Bruins players; Jake DeBrusk and Brandon Carlo.
BLH’s Thoughts: That’s about equal to one Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the payroll… Do you think that could be what the Bs are offering for the Swedish defenseman?
- Pierre LeBrun (TSN): The Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche are among the teams interested in Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad.
BLH’s Thoughts: Brandon Saad is an interesting character. He’s never been the same since he was moved from Chicago the first time and now he makes $6M/yr… I don’t think this is a “change of scenery” kind of deal either… He might be on the career decline already.
That said, he was quietly one of the better Blackhawks vs. Edmonton in the play-ins. So maybe I’m out to lunch on this one.
- More LeBrun: The Edmonton Oilers pursuit for Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom is getting hotter, as they’re pulling ahead of teams in the race.
BLH’s Thoughts: Lots of talk about Markstrom below but Pat Steinberg (Fan960) says that Calgary is Markstrom’s preferred landing spot if things with Vancouver don’t work out…
- LeBrun cont: The Predators and Blue Jackets are expected to take a look at Coyotes forward Taylor Hall in free agency.
- Even more LeBrun: There will be a ton of interest in Anton Khudobin including Calgary, Vancouver (If Markstrom leaves), and Vegas (If they trade Fleury). The Oilers are looking at Braden Holtby as well.
- Frank Seravalli (TSN): The Vegas Golden Knights could consider moving forward Jonathan Marchessault due to their need for cap space and Nate Schmidt’s name is also out there.
BLH’s Thoughts: A lot of folks seem to believe that the Blue Jackets are going for Hall with all of the salary dumping they’ve been doing these last couple of days, but I’m not so sure they’re not going to go the route the Avs did and simply upgrade the depth of the team by grabbing some secondary free agents and giving them solid contracts. Hoffman, Dadonov, Turris, Craig Smith, and Toffoli are all the kinds of players that would solidify Columbus’ forward group.
Then there’s the Alex Pietrangelo option… Imagine a trident of Pietrangelo, Werenski, and Jones for the next eight years and with all that good young goaltending on its way. Couple all of that with the fact that they’re shopping David Savard… There’s lots of potential to turn things around fast.
- Brian Lawton (NBC): Maple Leafs forward William Nylander’s name was floating around in trade talks during the draft.
- Andy Strickland (The Athletic): The Columbus Blue Jackets are shopping defender David Savard. He has one year left at $4.25M on his contract.
BLH’s Thoughts: Bob Stauffer (630CHED) also brought up Nylander’s name but he thought maybe the Maple Leafs would deal the Swede to fit Taylor Hall in… I don’t know though, wouldn’t you rather have Nylander? I suppose it depends on the price point. If Hall is going to a team for $6M or $6.5M, then it would be hard to turn that down.
- Scott Billeck (Winnipeg Sun): Two sources confirm the Winnipeg Jets are close to striking a deal for C Paul Stastny from the Vegas Golden Knights. Sounds like picks are involved going the other way. Stastny has one-year left on a deal making him $6.5 million per year.
BLH’s Thoughts: Well well well. Egg on my face. I was so certain that the Golden Knights would be paying to move their top-paid forwards. I guess Max Pacioretty was almost dealt at the draft too eh? If that’s the case, wow! How would you feel if you played there and even though you signed a substantial contract with the club, your future wasn’t secured…
- Darren Dreger (TSN): The Calgary Flames aren’t quite ready to cut ties with UFA d-man TJ Brodie just yet. Contract discussions are ongoing.
- More Dreger: The Oilers are among teams that are interested in Travis Hamonic.
BLH’s Thoughts: I think the Flames would be better off with Brodie on their roster personally. He’s a very solid top-4 puck-moving defender. Money might be a stumbling block though and Brodie has paid his dues, he should be going for a raise at this point.
I’d heard last month that Hamonic might be considering his playing future so this is very intriguing news to me. I like this player a lot. He plays with a ton of heart and grit and he puts it all out on the line. Would Edmonton keep Adam Larsson if they had Travis Hamonic on board too?
- David Pagnotta (The Fourth Period): Another UFA goalie in the mix is Scott Darling. He could be in line for a backup role after a good season in Austria.
- Sportsnet: The Red Wings having more available roster spots than ready NHL defensive prospects has led to the increased chatter that they’re poised to take a run at Torey Krug.
- Christ Johnston (Sportsnet): Dominik Kahun continues to negotiate with the Sabres after not being given a qualifying offer. It’s still unclear if he will test the market.
BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t really have much to say on Darling other than it’s probably a dodgy time to return to the NHL given the flooded goalie market. On Krug, Detroit seems as good as place as any if he’s looking for some big money. As for Kahun, Leon Draisaitl’s old linemate in Germany, he would be a real decent addition to the Oilers. Edmonton is light on the left side and Kahun’s 31pts in 56gp last year is very solid.
- Matthew DeFranks (Dallas News): Anton Khudobin, Corey Perry, and Mattias Janmark will all test the free agency market, Jim Nill said.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’ll be honest, I’d take all three. The amount of heart they displayed in that run to the Final is just what the doctor ordered in Edmonton.
Mikko Koivu says he wants to play one more year and if Oilers can fit in what it'll cost, his agent is Gerry Johannson, who happens to live here. That sounds like a call Ken Holland would make for that third-line centre.
— Jim Matheson (@jimmathesonnhl) October 8, 2020
The Oilers Speculation
It sure was nice to hear from Jesse Puljujarvi in that ALL-ENGLISH interview, wasn’t it? Language acquisition, much like player development, doesn’t progress in a straight line but I think we can all agree that the communication barrier is an excuse that the media shouldn’t be using any further.
What I liked was that he mentioned the penalty kill and being a part of that unit. How many young players profess publicly that they’d like to play more on the PK? Very few. That’s how many and what adds to this is that he’s already being used on Karpat’s PK unit in Finland, so he’s already getting his bearings in that sort of on-ice setting.
I think he’ll be a good addition to Edmonton’s PK due to the fact that he’s an amazing disruptor. He doesn’t look that fast from the get-go but he covers a lot of distance in a short amount of time. Also, he’s a really good stick checker and his big body won’t be easy to pass around for the other team’s power play.
Pulju is coming back and I couldn’t be happier!
As you noticed at the top of this post, I was indeed passed along a message of encouraging sentiment regarding the Oilers. I’m disappointed that nothing more was disclosed but I wouldn’t be shocked if Ken Holland found a way to come away from this off-season with at least two of the following:
- One proper top-pairing defenseman.
- One real starting netminder.
- One top-6 left-winger.
- One right-shot third-line center.
This is the shopping list that we’ve been hearing about for a month now and the feeling I’m getting is that Holland is still looking to shape this roster a bit more to his liking and he could be willing to use some pieces who were previously thought of as “untouchable” to get what he wants.
I would say, at the time of writing, there are five players he will not trade.
- Connor McDavid
- Leon Draisaitl
- Kailer Yamamoto
- Philip Broberg
- Dylan Holloway
Everybody else is possibly available for the right price.
Now, that being said, the rumors are running rampant that Edmonton is hot on the heels of Canucks netminder Jacob Markstrom and are willing to give him maximum term on a deal. The value of the contract has varied depending on the source as I’ve heard as low as $5M to as high as $7M.
This is a 30yr old goalie with probably three-to-four good years left, if that. Why on Earth would you offer him max term? I mean, Holland did lay out in one of his media avails that if you want to get your guy in free agency you’re going to have to offer more term or more money. So it’s not like he doesn’t know what he’s getting into. My question is, what’s the plan once this contract gets into year four and beyond and the netminder’s numbers are eroding? Is he betting on the flat-cap disappearing and being able to buy him out or deal him?
I will say this though, I like Markstrom but I can’t tell you why I like him more than Mikko Koskinen. Maybe it’s because he’s been around the league more or maybe it’s because he was The Hockey News #1 prospect for a couple of years back when he was just starting out. Maybe it’s some recency bias because he had a really good playoff performance this year. Who knows?
If Holland can get him $5Mx5, I’m all in. He’ll have to move Koskinen to a team like Buffalo or Detroit though or maybe swing a deal for a cheaper backup if he’s to get Markstrom in though.
Another note that was passed along to me very late last night was that there’s a possibility that Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Edmonton isn’t as dead as some believe.
So on that. Last I heard, the Oilers hadn’t offered anything it was made known that the 2021 first is on the table, a roster defenseman, and Evan Bouchard. Also, Edmonton needs Arizona to eat some of that contract.
Bouchard and the first-rounder don’t surprise me but I want to throw an idea past you and you let me know what you think.
A lot of people think that the roster defenseman could be Kris Russell but what if it’s Oscar Klefbom?
I don’t know the rules behind this and maybe it isn’t even possible but there’s some speculation that Klefbom might be forced to retire due to his bad shoulder. Would Arizona agree to take on a portion of OEL’s contract under the agreement that Klef will retire? Thus removing the financial weight of his contract…
Food for thought! Enjoy day one of free agency!
