Happy Canada Day everyone! Hopefully this post won’t be too late for some of the signings!
Last season the big UFA signings for the Oilers were those of Jussi Jokinen and Yohann Auvitu. If it weren’t for the MEGA RFA re-signings last season, the shat ton of AHL signings, and the trade for Strome, one might call it a quiet off-season.
Jokinen had promise based on past performance but it became very clear that he wasn’t NHL caliber very quickly and Peter Chiarelli quickly atoned for that mistake by dealing him for Mike Cammalleri.
Auvitu is an interesting story because you could see quickly that the way that he was being deployed, or lack thereof, that there was a disconnect between GM and coach. Personally, I thought the Frenchman started slowly but got better as the year wore on. He should’ve been used on the PP for more than a shift or two and it’s a shame that Todd McLellan and the coaching staff at the time couldn’t see the positives in using him in certain scenarios on the ice.
But enough about last season, let’s talk about what’s going to happen later today and perhaps this week.
FREE AGENT FRENZY (OR FLOP?)
It looks like the Oilers are going to go the same route this year in regards to the UFAs they sign as they did last year. Bottom-6 players on the cheap and this is a plan in endorse. I don’t think they should blow their loads on one player because this is a team that could use a veteran or three to help smooth out those in-season highs and lows.
So who’s on the docket?
Well let’s first talk about who’s NOT on the docket.
Matt Calvert is out. Tobias Rieder is out. Austin Czarnik is out.
I asked right around draft time if the GMs are going to overdo it on the little guys and have it come back to bite them in the ass. At the time I was speaking more to the sub-6-foot defenseman but I think it’s going to apply to every player now. I really think that the GMs are going to put too much of an emphasis on smaller skilled players and they’ll come to regret it come playoff time.
Speaking of playoff players, let’s have a chat about some who could help the Oilers next spring in their drive to Lord Stanley’s cup.
Kyle Brodziak (C) – Grit, leadership, right-handed, PK capable, willing to be used on the 4th line, and will most likely come in under $1.5M
*UPDATE*
Kyle Brodziak will sign with the #Oilers.
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) July 1, 2018
Blake Comeau (RW) – two-way winger, PK capable, bottom-6 compliant, plays an old school brand of hockey, and MIGHT come in under $1.5M.
Jason Chimera (W) – Speed, speed, speed. Leadership and experience out the wazoo, a coach’s delight, a former Oiler that knows the lay of the land, and definitely will come in under $1.5M.
Brandon Davidson (D) – perfect no.7 dman, does everything well but nothing horrible/amazing, is a team player, loves to play for the Oilers, a player who’ll play for less than $1M.
These four gentlemen are, in my opinion, most likely to sign with the Oilers in the upcoming days.
I can’t feel any more strongly about how much the Oilers need to have strong-willed veterans on the roster. Matt Hendricks wasn’t great at playing hockey when he was in Edmonton but dammit he was a fine locker-room presence by all accounts and It’s my belief that the Oilers are aggressively pursuing more of these kinds of players.
Listen, the Oilers roster has the skill to compete. There’s no arguing that. But does it have the compete as a whole? As a collective/group/team, do the Oilers have what it takes to get to the next level? Is the glue there to keep them united at the moment? If it isn’t, Chiarelli needs to bring it in.
There are other players who’ve been tossed in the Oilers tumber as well by local media types like Joe Colborne (Dustin Nielson), Lance Bouma/Nick Holden (Stauffer), and Scott Hartnell (Leavins) but I’m hard-pressed to think any of them will be Oilers. That being said, I’ve got lots of time for Hartnell and Bouma.
This is hockey analytics in a nutshell. #Farce https://t.co/0ZHpzo4hXI
— TheCynic (@J_TheCynic) June 30, 2018
WHO’S COMING OUT?
With all of this roster speculation, we often forget that when the Oilers add a player to their NHL roster, that means someone may have to come out and at the moment there’s only 1, maybe 2, spots available. Meaning third line right wing and left wing. The Cult of Hockey has those spots occupied by Pontus Aberg and Kailer Yamamoto.
Do you think that Pontus Aberg is actually going to get a fair shot next season after what happened last year? Veteran coaches have memories like elephants and there’s no doubt in my mind that if Todd McLellan can get Chiarelli to sign Kyle Brodziak so that they can move Jujhar Khaira to 3rd line LW, he’ll happily punt Aberg to the press box.
Kailer Yamamoto is going to show us he deserves to be on the roster this fall but I don’t think it’s in the Oilers best interests to have him on a line with Strome and Khaira, he’s a top-6 player and should be playing those kinds of minutes and earning that type of experience under Woodcraft in Bakersfield until Ty Rattie or Jesse Puljujarvi has shown they cannot perform in the top-6. Blake Comeau would be a great fit for 3rd line RW alongside JJ and Strome.
IF Tavares signs in SJ and Karlsson goes to Vegas, the Pacific is going to be a bitch of a division to get through this upcoming season. Kovalchuk has already given LA a bump and Calgary has lots of cap room to bring in a James Neal if they wanted. SJ re-signed Kane too, let’s not forget about him. I’m curious to see what Arizona does, they’ve got lots of cap room too, and not that Vancouver is going to be competitive next season but they could be a thorn in the Oilers side given that Edmonton usually has a bit of trouble with teams worse than them and a bit better versus teams that are better.
I’m not saying that Chiarelli needs to go out and make a splash of his own. Not at all. This is on the players, they’ve got to step up and rise to the challenge in 2018/19.
Lastly, Lucic’s bonus has been paid to him and he’ll only make $4.5M this year, that might make him more attractive on the trade market IF that’s a route the Oilers want to take.
Your thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments below!
