Edmonton Oilers Talk: Do the Edmonton Oilers have an ELITE Defensive Forward in their Ranks?

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The Cult of Hockey (McCurdy)

These are the value years for Kailer Yamamoto, but first Edmonton Oilers need to re-sign him

Between injuries, “time between leagues” and actual shortened seasons, he’s come in around 50 GP a year since being drafted. Each season, the percentage of those games in the NHL creeping up from 18% to 39% to 54% to 100%. He’s in the bigs to stay now.
The player has no arbitration rights and a generally weak negotiating position beyond his actual performance to date. He’s in a similar spot Ethan Bear was last summer, a negotiation that wound up dragging right to the cusp of training camp to the detriment of both player and team.
Bear eventually got a two-year bridge deal at $2 million per, and many have speculated that Yamamoto may fall in the same range.
The club may even be considering a one-year extension as a cost control measure, albeit one with the potential to bite back hard a year from now if Yamamoto has a strong season. (Think: Kevin Labanc in San Jose.)
In 2021 he played nearly twice as many games but wound up with fewer goals, fewer assists, fewer points, lower plus than his outstanding run in the winter of 2020.
In 2021 Yamamoto was again joined at the hip with Draisaitl on what remained an outscoring line, even as his numbers fell off as the season progressed.
The suspicion was he was nursing an injury of some sort, taking a number of “maintenance days” along the way and missing a couple of games here and there. Given his occasional reluctance and persistent ineffectiveness shooting the puck, this observer wondered if it might be an arm issue of some sort — a thumb, a wrist, a bicep perhaps.
Add it all up and in the past two seasons the Drai-Yam duo outscored their opponents by a whopping 59 goals to 27. Yamamoto apart was an ugly +3/-11, though in a tiny enough sample size (under 200 minutes, or just 17% of his total ice time) that some of it can be hand-waved away to variance and luck.
By eye Yamamoto is already a strong defensive player with the potential of becoming an elite one. He fearlessly engages opponents, makes a beeline for the puck in all three zones, has an “active stick” and a top-notch understanding of both passing and shooting lanes.
Questions remain about his ability to finish, and whether he is better described as a “top six” vs. “top nine” forward at this point. I’m convinced he’s got the defensive chops to help the team from either spot…

BLH’s Thoughts: Ya know, I was wondering what he was dealing with for the latter half of the season too. It seemed completely obtuse that he wasn’t shooting and according to Mr. McCurdy’s research, he wasn’t hitting either. I’d guess it was a shoulder problem, but that’s just me speculating.

Killer’s game will never ever be about strength. If he’s to maximize his potential, he’ll need to add some ninja to his game. Nobody will question the amount of fight in this dog, but I think he’ll have a longer more impactful career if he holsters that aggression for the post-seasons and plays a more clever regular season game.

Oilersnation (Laing)

Edmonton Oilers player review and 2021-22 preview: Alex Chiasson

Last year, Chiasson found himself fighting for a bottom-six role playing in 45 games, but his struggles this year were apparent.
With him on the ice at 5×5, the Oilers controlled 43.19 percent of the shot attempts, 37.93 percent of the goals scored, 41.36 percent of the expected goals while posting a 98.5 PDO.
His on-ice save percentage dipped three percent from the year before and that’s a big reason for his struggles.
At even-strength, he contributed offence at a seven percent rate below league average and defence at a one percent rate above league average.
He made his mark mainly on the powerplay, where according to hockeyviz.com, he contributed offence at a 15 percent rate above league average.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ll miss Chiasson if he isn’t back. I liked what he brought to the team despite the declining numbers. He was a fantastic net-front presence on the PP and he didn’t take any shit out there. All he did was go out and leave it all on the ice. Lastly, and the thing I loved most about this guy, he told it as it was with the media. No mincing words with him, no BS.

Good luck to him where ever he lands.

NHLTradeRumors.me

Vegas Golden Knights: 2 Players Most Likely to Be Traded Next Season

Reilly Smith: The pending free agent may price himself off the team for the 2022-23 season as the Golden Knights won’t have a ton of cap space and Smith could be in line for a hefty raise… Depending on where Vegas is in the standings, Smith could be dealt mid-season.
Picks/Prospects: The Golden Knights are a long shot for Eichel, but expect them to be in on some other talent and using their first-round pick and prospects to entice other general managers to pull the trigger.

Tampa Bay Lightning: 2 Players Who Could Be Traded Next Season

Ondrej Palat: The Lightning lost Yanni Gourde to the Seattle Kraken and some feel it was Palat they were hoping to lose.
Picks/Prospects: The team is stacked and they will be adding some more pieces at the trade deadline…. Look for the Lightning to add grinders at the deadline as losing Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow is going to hurt.

Pittsburgh Penguins: 2 Players Most Likely to Be Traded Next Season

Jason Zucker: Zucker hasn’t fit in well with Evgeni Malkin on the second-line and his $5.5 million salary isn’t suited for any team’s third-line.
Marcus Pettersson: Another expensive player who is not performing to his contract, Pettersson was given a knee-jerk extension by ex-Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford and now it looks like the team is stuck with him.

St Louis Blues: 2 Players Most Likely to Be Traded Next

Vladimir Tarasenko: At this point it’s been the New York Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes who have been engaged with the Blues in serious discussions.
Colton Parayko: A pending free-agent and someone who may price himself off the team. The 28-year-old could be one of the biggest names on the rental market come trade deadline…

BLH’s Thoughts: What do you think it would cost the Edmonton Oilers to get their hands on Colton Parayko? More than Cody Ceci, Philip Broberg, and Rafa Lavoie?

Beer League Heroes