Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

“Ken Holland will want to cash a blue for a forward at some point in the coming days.” – Longtime Oilers Pundit

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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Lowetide.ca

  • This is a splendid start, and the Oilers should get credit top to bottom. The players have delivered and the team is improved overall in some important areas. Many of Ken Holland’s bets have worked well in the early days of the season. Dave Tippett was aggressive in moving Evan Bouchard up the depth chart and has been stubborn in keeping Kailer Yamamoto on the No. 2 line. Lots of work to do, but the first chapter was an enjoyable experience.
  • I watched the Condors game last night, there are NHL defensemen down there. Dmitri Samorukov is NHL-ready, he looks nothing like the struggling rookie of two years ago. Philip Broberg is constantly impacting plays and his positioning is improving by the sortie. I also believe Markus Niemelainen is going to see the NHL, and it wouldn’t shock me to see Filip Berglund get a cup of coffee at some point.
  • Ken Holland will want to cash a blue for a forward at some point in the coming days. Pretty sure.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m very curious to know how those four defenders are going to see the NHL this year aside from a trade to one of the league’s bottom dwellers…

I’m glad to hear that Broberg is coming along nicely though. As thing stand, he should stay in Bakersfield for this year and part of next. It would be really beneficial if Edmonton took the same route with him as they did Bouchard. 

The Oilers have a real logjam at defense on the left-side, so Holland is going to need to move some bodies in order to get Samorukov or Niemelainen to Edmonton this year. Hell, Kris Russell is having a hard enough time getting into the lineup as it is. 

The Cult of Hockey

How long will the Edmonton Oilers ride out Kailer Yamamoto’s scoring drought: 9 Things
  • Oilers 2021 1st Round pick Xavier Bourgault went 1-4-5 in a Shawinigan win on Saturday. Bourgault is 3-7-3 in his last 3 CHL games. I am made to understand that Oilers Assistant G.M. Keith Gretzky was at the games in Quebec taking it all in, in-person. The kid sure picked a great time to crank it up a notch.
  • Oilers D prospect Dmitri Samorukov scored the winning goal in a 3-2 Condors win Friday. Samorukov suffered a broken jaw in training camp and so only just got back into AHL action. People who have had eyes on him so far are impressed with how much of a chip on the shoulder the young Russian plays with. The Oilers would love Samorukov to be their 3LD in 2 years time, behind Darnell Nurse and Phillip Broberg .
  • Tyler Benson made a bit more happen Saturday than Brendan Perlini has during his games so far. But can this 4 th line cut it in the long run? I do not see Devin Shore , Kyle Turris and Perlini or Benson as “slow”. But can they ever hope to be as fast as Ryan McLeod , Dylan Holloway and Josh Archibald would be? I don’t think so. I wonder what the chances are that we see my alternate 3 rd line by the Olympic break.
  • Yammo has 1 goal in his last 32 games and is pointless this season. If he was just snake-bitten I would be a little less concerned. Players can be streaky. But he’s not even getting his looks. And that’s on a line with a former league MVP and a high-quality NHL-er/former #1 over-all.
  • …how long do the Oilers stick with Yamamoto in the Top 6? Edmonton is almost half-way to the quarter pole. If he hasn’t snapped out of this by the 20-game mark at the latest, I think a change will be made.
  • …so long as the Edmonton Oilers keep winning it buys Kailer Yamamoto some time to rediscover his offensive mojo… But time isn’t an infinite resource, not for Dave Tippett nor his young winger.

BLH’s Thoughts: Just with the way that Holland builds his rosters when they’re contending, I don’t see him bringing up Holloway and McLeod unless there are a couple of bottom-sixers really struggling. 

However, the Stanley Cup-winning GM is not averse to trading young players at all… Maybe a veteran RW will come in around the deadline if Kailer Yamamoto is still struggling… Tomas Hertl? Rickard Rakell?

The Hockey Writers Rumors

  • There was speculation the timing of Jakob Silfverberg‘s removal from Anaheim’s roster might have something to do with an Eichel trade considering the Ducks have been linked to the trade talks. John Hoven writes: “Silfverberg timing was ironic, unrelated. Not trade-related.” He adds, “I’m not saying Silfverberg is on his way to Anaheim. I’ll say this though… To make the money work on a theoretical deal w/ Buffalo, almost surely wouldn’t be just prospects to Sabres.”
  • Assuming the Calgary Flames stay as hot as they are right now (six wins in a row), they aren’t a team likely to be serious about adding Eichel.
  • Monday will see the NHLPA executive board hold a meeting that was not previously scheduled but was called by executive director Donald Fehr. The players are reportedly very upset about the mishandling of Kyle Beach’s sexual assault and there could be a vote to remove Fehr from his position.
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