Tag Archives: Brandon Saad

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

(11/26/2020) BLH Trade Rumors and NHL Speculation feat. Schwartz, Saad, Kravtsov, and More!

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Vitali Kravtsov, Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Saad, and more!

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  • Adam Gretz (NBC Sports): Believes if Brandon Saad has a good year and the Colorado Avalanche as well, maybe they’d re-sign the newly acquired winger. Gretz figures $5-$5.5M might be doable if the Avs let some free agents walk such as Ian Cole, Philip Grubauer, Matt Calvert, or PE Bellemare. GM Joe Sakic’s priorities will be getting Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar re-signed long term though. Also, Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky will be out of contract next summer.
    • With Both Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Binnington slated to become UFAs next off-season, the St. Louis Blues have some tough decisions to make. Which one do they prioritize?

BLH’s Thoughts: With the Avs, I think they’re close but not quite there yet. The final piece that they need, a no.1 goalie. Could that be someone like Tuuka Rask or Frederik Andersen? Saad will be a nice complimentary piece who brings goal-scoring, speed, and championship pedigree to the club, but ultimately, I believe they’ll let him walk unless he’s willing to take a serious hair cut on his next deal. 

I’m not overly convinced that Jordan Binnington isn’t riding a Jim Carey-like wave here. The Blues were a great team but they’re going to take a hit in the goals against category next season due to Alex Pietrangelo moving on and Torey Krug isn’t going to be able to plug that up. They might be best off seeing what hits the market next off-season. I mean, would Mikko Koskinen make sense for them?

  • Sport-express.ru: Apparently over in Russia there were some rumors that had New York Rangers blue chip prospect Vitali Kravtsov heading to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Rangers have some fantastic wingers right now and bubbling under. Kaapo Kakko, Pavel Buchnevich, Alexis Lafreniere, Chris Kreider, and Artermi Panarin will fill New York’s top-6 slots and then they’ve got Will Cuyle and Lauri Pajuniemi coming. 

I would deal Buchnevich before Kravtsov, but that’s just me. 

  • Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers have agreed to terms with defenceman Philip Kemp on a three-year entry-level contract through the 2022-23 season. The 21-year-old was drafted by Edmonton in the seventh round in 2017 & played for Yale the last three seasons.

BLH’s Thoughts: Chalk another one up for the Chiarelli regime!!! Ol’ Chia Pete is going to have his mitts all over the Stanley Cup should the Oilers win one in the next three years or so. 

In an interview with Bob Stauffer, Kemp said he idolized players like Dan Girardi growing up and if you watched him play, you could definitely see that he takes pride in being a defense-first d-man. 

He joins Evan Bouchard, Filip Berglund, and big Michael Kesselring in an ever-expanding pool of right-shot defenders in Edmonton. Maybe at some point, if his skating improves, he’ll be the Oilers’ new Adam Larsson?

  • New York Islanders: After numerous and extensive medical exams, New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk’s career has come to an end, due to an eye injury suffered during the 2019-20 regular season.

BLH’s Thoughts: Shitty deal that that eye injury did him in. He’s quite the story eh? Played over 400 games in the AHL and never really got his NHL career going until he was 25. Colorado gave up on him and let the Boston Bruins give him his shot. He never looked back. Congrats on a wonderful career are in order for Boychuk. 

  • TSN: TSN Hockey asked a panel of 12 international World Juniors experts to vote on the 25 best players in tournament history to mark the 45th anniversary of the event. #5 will be of interest to Oilers fans.

BLH’s Thoughts: Quite the list of players here. Did you know that Esa Tikkanen had 36 points in 21 World Junior Championship games for Finland in the early 80s? I had no idea… 

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

Lucic to Vancouver? Plus More Oilers Takeaways From the 31 Thoughts Podcast

Tough game for the Oilers last night. ‘Twas a shame to waste that glorious goal from Connor McDavid, that PP laser from Leon Draisaitl, and Milan Lucic’s best performance in a very very long time. The goal is coming, you can feel it. 27 games on but mark my words, it won’t be much longer especially with the Rangers coming up who have Marc Staal and a bunch of AHLers manning their blueline.

Did you know: Even though the Oilers PK is last in the NHL (that won’t last, they’ll catch the Islanders), the only month that they were the worst PK in the league for the whole month was October. In fact, they had the 14th BEST PK in the league in February. #silverlinings

BEAR WITH ME

Ethan Bear had a tough game last night. I wouldn’t say he was directly responsible for 2 of the Predators goals but he was definitely part of the reason they were scored and I would say that’s fine given the circumstances. It’s not like the Oilers are trying to lock down a playoff spot here.

Bear’s stat line read like this:

  • No points
  • minus 3
  • 14:42 TOI
  • 1 shot
  • 2 blocks
  • 1 giveaways

That said, he was noticeably out of his depth but on the plus side, that boy can pass a puck and I didn’t see any panic in his game! If he gets a few more games (hopefully not paired with Sekera), I hope to see that cannon of his. The former WHL defenseman of the year is one player I think all of us are eager to see more and more.

PUL-ME? PULJU! 

When is Todd McLellan going to put Jesse Puljujarvi in the top-6? When will Jesse get his shot on the first PP?

Since he joined the Oilers, I’ve gotten the impression that McLellan was the type of coach who would give TOI where TOI was earned. Well, what I’ve noticed is that isn’t really the case. He’ll move players up and down from Lines 1 and 2 or Lines 3 and 4 or sometimes from lines 2 and 3 he’ll swap a bit but not often.

If ice time is earned, what does Jesse Puljujarvi have to do to get some ice time with Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid? And if that isn’t something that is in the coaches plans, then can he keep some linemates for more than a game? I thought that the Aberg/Strome/Puljujarvi line looked very dangerous against San Jose.

I just don’t understand how McLellan is “rewarding” his players…

31 THOUGHTS PODCAST TAKEAWAYS

  • Milan Lucic for Loui Eriksson

This was something near the end of the podcast that Friedman had suggested reasoning it with the notion that he thought they could both use a change of scenery. Marek added that the Oilers would have to “sweeten” the deal because Lucic had more term.

I have to decline on this one. We saw last night what kind of physical impact Milan Lucic can have on a game and just because he didn’t score doesn’t mean he wasn’t useful and that’s the difference between the two really. When Eriksson isn’t scoring, what else is he doing to impact the game?

IF Loui Eriksson was the shooting machine he used to be, then that might be a different story but it looks like he’s lost confidence there or he could be dealing with some physical ailments.

As it stands, Lucic brings more to the table than Eriksson.

  • Marek mentioned that the Blues were asking organizations other than the Jets about BIG LH’d dman Logan Stanley before they dealt Paul Stastny to Winnipeg for picks and prospect Erik Foley. 

The Oilers have a few LH’d dmen they’d like to move but this SO weird because it seems like the Blues only have LH’d dmen in their system. According to rosterresource.com, the only RHers playing defense for St.Louis are on their parent roster…

But I mean if they’re looking to add to that stable of lefties, I think the Oilers could help there 🙂

  • The cost for Pacioretty is HIGH!!!

Friedman says he believed MTL asked LA for Toffoli, Vilardi, a 1st rounder this year and maybe a 1st rounder next year and LA for good reasons said no. He also mentioned the Habs wanted Charlie Coyle plus and Minnesota said no. Lastly, Florida was one of the teams that Max Pacioretty wanted to go to but Montreal wanted Trocheck and so no deal was made because the Panthers turned that down.

So if the Oilers are looking at Max Pacioretty, I’m not sure it’s going to be a worthwhile trade because it’ll cost players like Yamamoto, Puljujarvi, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or more.

It’s not worth it to deal that much future out for a guy whose contract is up shortly. Not only that but it sounds like Pacioretty is willing to make it work in MTL. Who knows if that’s true or not? Maybe Max is doing his GM a solid by saying that publicly and something at the draft happens like a 3-way between Montreal, Ottawa, and Edmonton…

  • Could the Blackhawks trade a core player?

Friedman and Marek pontificated upon what Chicago might do this summer. Are Bowman’s and Quenneville’s jobs safe? Could the move Toews because of the season he’s having? Is Duncan Keith an option to go because he’s got the easiest contract to move?

Friedman said he’d give Toews one more year before moving on him but that he’d check the market on Saad, Anisimov, and Duncan Keith.

Keith and Toews have NMC’s on their deals which means they’re not going anywhere w/o consent. Anisimov’s NMC lifts July 1 but Saad is clause-free.

Keith and Saad jump out to me for a couple of reasons:

  1. Duncan Keith is the type of General that the Oilers blueline is desperate for. There isnt’ a go-to guy in that defense. Not one. A lot of “complimentary” dmen back there but no alpha. It needs one and Duncan Keith would be that guy.

    He’s 34 years old, makes $5M+ per yer and his contract goes for another 5 years but the real money comes way down starting in 2019/20.

    He can’t score 50pts a year anymore but I’d say he’s still good for 40 at least. He’s one of the NHL’s great dmen and I could see him playing at a 1st pairing pace until he’s 39 too. What would you give up for him?

  2. Brandon Saad is only 26 years old and has another 3 years @$6M per on that deal left. He’s got the wheels, we know that. And he can shoot the pill. That’s pretty apparent.

    In order to get a guy like Saad, some major futures would have to go. What I mean by that is exactly the kind of players that the Oilers are looking for right now. I think Puljujarvi or Yamamoto for sure. But then the Oilers would have to get Chicago to take a contract back too.

    Or maybe the only deal would be Saad for Nuge… Both players contracts are the same term and dollar…

    I still think RNH on McDavid’s wing would yield the Oilers a 50pt winger, so why move a guy that could do that for you AND provide you with a kickass centre if one of McDavid or Draisaitl goes down or if McLellan wants to move Leon up to Connor’s line…

Anyways, those are a few of the trade murmurs that Marek and Friedman talked about on this weeks 31 Thoughts Podcast.

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Edmonton Oilers, Kosmic Burrito, NHL

Kosmic’s World Cup of Hockey Team North America Roster Prediction

March 1st 2016
Post Deadline

Well….here I am…I must have done something right, because I’m back to trip with the BLH Universe again! How’d you like Chia Pete’s first go as an Oiler at the ol’ deadline? Do you think that the Oilers made out alright? Me, I don’t really have any complaints, plus, that’s not what my post is about, haha…

As promised, this is my 2016 World Cup of Hockey Team McDavid, errr, I mean Team North America roster predictions/report. Let’s face it folks, this team belongs to the McWizard!

But first, I have to get something of my chest. I don’t even like the inclusion of the 23 and under North American and European teams. Do you really think that Mcdavid wants to be the one who scores the goal that eliminates Team Canada (hypothetically speaking)? Of course he doesn’t!! He wants to score the huge goals for Canada, and party with the big boys!! But….here we are, and that train has left the station.

Too be honest though, as an Oilers fan this team does possess a lot of Edmonton connections. First off, the GM is Peter Chiarelli, and the Head Coach is Todd Mclellan. Plus some key members of the team I might add.

So, just like my last report, we’ll start with the Goaltenders. Speaking of which, I think this is going to be the team’s weakest position. Only due to the lack of experienced ’tenders. There is USA’s John Gibson, who has won both gold and bronze at the World Juniors. Also, Jets prospect Connor Hellebuyck won bronze at the World Championships. So there is some experience there, that can’t be discounted. I do honestly believe that Gibson is on the verge of breaking out huge, and what a scene that would be if he could do it on the world stage.

Potential Goalies: John Gibson, Connor Hellebuyck, Malcolm Subban, Matt Murray, and Zach Fucale

Again, this is just my personal opinion, but you can’t ignore Gibson and Hellebuyck’s international resumes. So I see Chiarelli going with (in this order):

John Gibson – Connor Hellebuyck – Malcolm Subban

The defence is a different story….this is seriously a stacked backend ladies and gentlemen! We’re talking about names like Ekblad, Reilly, Jones, and Hanifin. That’s heavy duty. Baby’s got back! I didn’t realize just how stacked they are until I started to research this story. So let’s get on with it.

Potential Defencemen: Aaron Ekblad, Noah Hanifin, Matt Dumba, Morgan Reilly, Colton Parayko, Seth Jones, Dougie Hamilton, Connor Murphy, Jacob Trouba, Cody Ceci, Colin Miller, and Ryan Murray

Making my prediction for the defence was actually tougher than originally thought, but if I was GM, the defence would like something like this:

Seth Jones – Aaron Ekblad
Morgan Reilly – Jacob Trouba
Ryan Murray – Dougie Hamilton
Extra Skater: Matt Dumba

Ah yes, now the Mcdavid’s, I mean the McJesus’, Errg…Now for the forwards. You thought that the defence was stellar? Shit dude, you haven’t seen anything yet! We’re talking about names like 2 time Cup winner Brendan Saad, Johnny Hockey himself, and that other fellow, what”s his name, oh yeah…CONNOR MCDAVID! Honestly, this team should not be taken lightly at all. There is A LOT of potential firepower on this squad. So let’s get cracking at it.

Potential Forwards: Connor McDavid, Brendan Saad, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nathan McKinnon, Curtis Lazar, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Sean Couturier, Ryan Strome, Sean Monahan, Alex Galchenyuk, Jonathon Huberdeau, Mark Scheifele, Jonathon Drouin, Sam Reinhart, Max Domi, Dylan Larkin, Boone Jenner, Sam Bennett, Robby Fabbri, Anthony Duclair, and Bo Horvat

See, I told you that they’re doing pretty well for themselves….so take this with a grain of salt, but here are my line predictions:

Johnny Gaudreau – Connor McDavid – Nathan McKinnon
Brandon Saad – Sean Monahan – Jack Eichel
Alex Galchenyuk – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Ryan Strome
Max Domi – Sean Couturier – Curtis Lazar
Extra Skater: Auston Matthews

As awesome as it will be for all of these kids to play together, you can’t tell me that they wouldn’t have preferred to play for their respected countries? So hopefully the next inception of the World Cup only includes countries. But regardless, the North American team is an incredibly talented squad and they’re my sleeper pick to win it all. They definitely shouldn’t be underestimated just due to their age, they have a lot of international hardware between them, plus…..McDavid.

Well folks, once again, thanks for tripping with me!! Stay tuned for my next article……an introduction to the future, the man known as Laurent Brossoit….

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