Edmonton Oilers Talk: “What does Duncan Keith have to do this year to make the organization happy?”

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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Oilersnation (baggedmilk)

Monday Mailbag – How many games is too many for Mike Smith?

Mike Smith looks like the default starter for the season and I wonder how many games you think he’ll play now that we’re back to an 82-game season?

“If he plays more than 41 games I’d almost be surprised. Not because I don’t think he has the ability, but our boy isn’t getting any younger and we’re back to having the boys travelling all over the place rather than a mini-series in each city.” – baggedmilk

BLH’s Thoughts: If Mike Smith is making saves and winning games, he’ll start 2/3s of the games. If he’s struggling, it’ll sway the other way for Koskinen or Stalock or whoever.

Is there a part of you that thinks we could be witnessing something special with Smith here? I mean, it’s a rare occurrence when a goalie has some good seasons in his late-30s, early-40s and I do wonder if he’s poised to do something crazy for the Oilers…

Who is your bet to be the biggest surprise at training camp, both good and bad?

“I’d be surprised if Kyle Turris can bounce back in any meaningful way. Would certainly be a positive if he did.” – Brownlee

BLH’s Thoughts: Tyler Benson winning a spot out of camp would surprise me and Xavier Bourgault staying for the entirety of training camp would be a bit of a shock too, but I think there’s a universe where both could happen.

How big of an impact do you expect Evan Bouchard to have and where do you see him in the lineup come January?

“Bouchard turns 22 in October. It is interesting to see how many players physically mature between 21 and 22 and he has. He is noticeably bigger and I believe he will be paired with Nurse by January.” – Gregor

BLH’s Thoughts: Yeah, I think this is the overwhelming feeling amongst pundits keeping a close eye on Bouchard. If he’s not pairing up with Darnell by the new year, he’ll be there shortly after.

What does Duncan Keith have to do this year to make the organization happy?

“He needs to be a legitimate top-four defenseman who can handle consistently going up against the other team’s best players. He also has to kill penalties.” – Yaremchuk

BLH’s Thoughts: The organization is already ecstatic with him on the team. I think the question should be, what does he have to do to make the fanbase happy? The answer to that is, outscore Connor McDavid for the scoring title, beat up Matthew Tkachuk, coax Wayne Gretzky out of retirement for at least one more game with the Oilers, and score the series-clinching GWG in the Stanley Cup final.

Anything less than that and the fanbase will be disappointed.

The Hockey Writers (Couch)

Oilers Can Fill Larsson Void with Newcomer Ceci

Ceci shouldn’t have the most difficult time making up for what the Oilers lost in Larsson, as he has been playing that role for nearly as long throughout his entire career.
When it comes to physicality, Larsson has the edge, but at the cost of spending much more time in the box.
Ceci is able to play at a high level while also avoiding putting his team at a disadvantage. He received some recognition for this in 2014-15, when he received votes for the Lady Byng Award.
Larsson’s defensive zone start percentage (dZS%) was 60.3 during his tenure in Edmonton. Ceci joins the team with a career dZS% of 60.7, showing that he can more easily acclimate himself to the role he will be playing for the Oilers.
With a possible Duncan Keith pairing, these two will probably be the shutdown pair and be the go-to duo matching up against top opposing lines.
Ceci joins the Oilers with a different attitude than what Larsson had, as he is on a fair deal and there is no trade to live up to.

BLH’s Thoughts: I wasn’t aware that Ceci started so many of his shifts in the defensive zone. Did Adam Larsson cost the Oilers a lot of games with his penalties? I can’t really recall off the top of my head a meaningful game where Larsson took a bad penalty and it cost his team. Besides, I don’t mind a rugged defender sitting for two minutes if he saves his club from a goal against.

My prediction with Ceci is that he’s going to be a very unspectacular defenseman like Geoff Smith was in the 90s for the Oilers. I mean Smith fought a few guys now and then but that was part of the deal, right? Check out this fight of Smith pummeling Rob Ray! Bet you didn’t think that ever happened.

The Daily Goal Horn

Pettersson Contract

Per CapFriendly, Vancouver has around $10 million in cap space to get deals done. The expectation is that it will take more than that to sign Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
- “I want to stay [in Vancouver], but I also want to play for a team that’s winning and has the chance to go far into the playoffs every year,” Pettersson said in a recent Swedish interview.

P.K. Subban will be trade bait this season

The 32 year-old defenseman scored 19 points in 44 games on a struggling Devils team last season. P.K.also has one year remaining on his contract that comes with a $9 million AAV. New Jersey signed Dougie Hamilton to a monster long-term deal worth $9 million a year this summer making Subban expendable.

Sharks Rumors

Elliotte Friedman noted that the Montreal Canadiens prior to trading for Christian Dvorak spoke with the Sharks about Hertl, and the Capitals about Evgeny Kuznetsov. Another team Montreal called were the Flames about Sean Monahan.
As for Evander Kane, he has no trade market and is a buyout candidate.