Between most of the NHL pundits and prognosticators online and in the media, I think most can agree, the Edmonton Oilers’ off-season has been very productive and overwhelmingly positive because Ken Holland was able to improve the depth of his forward group at bargain bin prices in addition to signing one of the league’s better high-octane offensive defencemen.
When you can bring in the likes of Dominik Kahun, Kyle Turris, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyler Ennis, and Tyson Barrie for $8.55M and read Buffalo paid 500k less to get Taylor Hall for the year, that’s amazing. Has any other GM had such a fruitful fall?
It’s almost insane to criticize that, but I feel like there’s a possibility that Ken Holland’s approach to his signings is open to some debate.
During the play-ins, the Oilers managed to find a way to lose to the Chicago Blackhawks and their sub-.900 goalie. The Hawks had more depth scoring 5v5 is what we were told in addition to Edmonton’s goalies, defencemen, and their own depth scoring has utter shite.
Rewind even more, Holland’s men ended the 2019-20 season as the 18th ranked club in goals for at 5v5 (141) but the 29th worst team in the entire NHL when it comes to 5v5 goals against (157).
Now, let’s fast forward a little bit to the first week of October, let’s say the 5th since that’s when Jason Gregor posted on Oilersnation about it, when we found out that Oscar Klefbom was going to be out of commission for possibly the whole year. Two days later, Puljujarvi signed a two-year deal. Four days later, Kyle Turris and Tyler Ennis were brought in. Then, almost a month later, Dominik Kahun signed.
Near every impact player that Holland brought in was to address depth scoring (I figure Puljujarvi will get some PK time but the others won’t) and when the Oilers are lighting the lamp next season, it’s going to be fantastic.
That said, what’s it going to be like when they run into a team that’s a little more “bull in a China shop”?
This is exactly what Mark Spector (where’s the grit?) and Ryan Rishaug (have the defence and netminding improved?) have been talking about all week on Edmonton sports talk radio and my feeling is that some fans out there are misinterpreting what they are saying.
The Oilers don’t need to regress and bring in a bunch of bruisers. That wouldn’t help unless they were all Tom Wilsons. But what about a couple of players more akin to Barclay Goodrow or Blake Coleman? There’s no doubt in my mind that Edmonton’s 5v5 GF ranking will be better next year thanks to these signings, but what about bringing in the kind of skaters that could help out that NHL 3rd-worst GA 5v5 ranking?
As much as Coach Tippett is renowned for his ability to coach defense, that’s a tall order to ask him to teach players like Kahun, Turris, Ennis, etc. to change their games and become more defensively responsible.
We’ve heard it time and time again, if you’ve got the puck the other team can’t score, and that’s fine, however, the fact of the matter is, the best possession teams might get 55% of the shot share 5v5 at best, leaving the other 45% available to the other team. So what do you do then? A hockey team can have depth but be wildly unbalanced and that will cause problems down the road.
I feel like Spector’s and Rishaug’s concerns are valid. When the going gets tough and the games are tight, who’s going to get going when the stars have been shut down and the match is being played in the muck?
So what we’re left wondering is if Caleb Jones can take the next step in his development. Can Ethan Bear return to perform just as he did last season? What if Anton Forsberg comes out of nowhere to push Mike Smith out of a job? Will Jesse Puljujarvi come into his own as an offensive powerhouse or possibly a defensive one under the tutelage of Dave Tippett?
The one thing that is more than likely to ring true, more than a single signing from this off-season will fail to bring it. We simply don’t know who that will be just as we’re unaware to who might surprise as there’s sure to be one or two of those as well.
Sorry if this post seems a bit rushed. It was. I needed to finish it before putting the kids to bed. So thanks for your understanding!
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