Even the most staunch Edmonton Oilers supporter could see this coming. The Oilers are 1-3-1 in their last 5, a run that includes games versus the best teams in the NHL (TB/WPG) and not the best teams in the NHL (VAN/STL/PHI).

I don’t care what you say, a team run by the greatest GM in the world would still struggle with the loss of two of its top-4 defenders.

Tampa Bay is ridiculously talented. They’ve got the best goalie in the league, in my opinion, a Norris trophy candidate anchoring their defense, a RWer that challenges for the Art Ross every year, a Rocket Richard trophy candidate, and perhaps the best coach in the league at the moment. There’s no shame in losing to that club at all and a lot of credit should be given to the team for hanging in there for as long as they did.

That being said, Edmonton’s first and second lines are doing all of the heavy lifting and not getting a lot of help from the bottom-6. It’s a sentiment that echoes what head coach Ken Hitchcock said in his post-game avail.

This is the first time since Hitch took over that he’s looked and sounded defeated. His body language also reflects this. I hope his GM was listening because his message was loud and clear,

GET ME BETTER SUPPORT PLAYERS!

At some point after JJ Khaira returns from his suspension, I get the feeling that he will be reunited with Jesse Puljujarvi and the Anti-Puljujarvi Brigade (Jason Gregor and Ryan Rishaug) will get loud and tell us,

“I TOLD YOU SO! I TOLD YOU HE WOULDN’T LAST WITH McDAVID!”

It’s at that point you need to point them in the direction of this presser where Hitchcock says that was the plan all along.

“That’s going to be a line after the 27th, we hope.” You can find that quote around the 7:04 mark below.

I talked to my sources last night and they basically said that Peter is working the phones on daily basis. The scouts are giving him information constantly and it’s really up to Peter to make the deals. I also got the impression from what I was told that Chiarelli is attempting to rebuild the old Bruins squad that he won the Cup with, and if he continues down that path, he’ll be out of a job.

I guess folks in the organization are getting impatient with Chiarelli’s patience. PC wants to build from within and make small deals for young inexperienced players. To put it plainly, he’s bringing in guys who hit singles but hoping they’ll give him some home runs.

I will continue to put my support behind the current Oilers GM. Should he be let go though, I will understand why, write about it, and subsequently transfer my support to the new GM. That’s just how I roll. Call it an appeal to authority if you want to. I call it deferring to authority. If I want a medical opinion, I’ll talk to a doctor. If I want an opinion on building an NHL team, I’ll talk to someone who is or was an NHL GM.

The Forwards

I have a list of forwards who I think are expendable that I asked about,

• Milan Lucic – Team likes him but he’s starting to get frustrated and he’s not getting any puck luck. Questions about why he’s not driving the net anymore. Expect him to move this summer either through buy out or salary retained trade.
• Zack Kassian – Will be moved.
• Matt Benning – Most likely to be traded.
• Drake Caggiula – Too inconsistent and expensive. There’s interest in him.
• Ty Rattie – Can’t seem to convince Hitch to give him any TOI. Could be headed to waivers.
• Valentin Zykov – Nothing here. Destined for Bakersfield unless someone takes a chance on him via waivers.
• Ryan Spooner – He’ll be dealt probably for a player with an expiring contract to a team who needs some flair in their top-6. Not a Hitchcock player.

There are folks out there that believe Chiarelli will be fired because of the Larsson/Strome trades but I think the deal that will probably be the one that seals it is the Spooner/Strome trade. Barring he doesn’t do anything to improve the roster substantially before the season is out of course.

It’s too bad about Milan. He’s put on a brave face through all this adversity (which you have to respect) but he keeps getting shuffled down the lineup. The brass agrees that the experiment hasn’t panned out as they’d liked are willing to move on from it now.

If I were Chia, I’d be calling Jim Rutherford every day. I’d be texting him that Oleksiak/Wilson fight looped over and over until he agreed to take Lucic.

See, I don’t think all is lost with Looch. I simply believe he’s lost his desire in Edmonton. The experience here has beaten him down to the point to where his heart isn’t there. He’d look great in Pittsburgh and I’m sure he’d be a willing combatant for Tom Wilson.

The guy the Oilers are looking at in Pittsburgh is Derrick Brassard. So, maybe Edmonton deals Looch and retains 50% of his salary in return for Brassard. Some say Kassian would make more sense but I don’t think Kass is in Wilson’s weight class.

The Defense

As for the defense, I asked about these players,

• Darnell Nurse – Hitch likes him. He’ll get better. Russell is a good partner because he cleans up for him. He’ll be a helluva 2nd pair defender.
• Chris Wideman – He’s done. Coach doesn’t trust him.
• Jason Garrison – Also done. Can’t keep up at this level consistently. A great influence on the young players in the room though.
• Kris Russell/Andrej Sekera – Both will be back in the coming weeks. Russell will play vs. Vancouver. Probably will get moved in the summer when their NMCs change to NTCs. Will probably have to include some sweeteners to do so.

I asked about Nurse because I feel like he’s been caught out more times than not this year. Not only that but his decision making is all over the place I find. He doesn’t know when to pinch yet and his passes have a bit too much “hate” behind them. Why was he firing a 90km/hr pass to Puljujarvi when Jesse was 10 feet away from him last night? How was Yessa supposed to NOT bobble that pass and send Kucherov on a breakaway?

For me, with the amount of veteran LHD on the roster already, if Nurse could be dealt away in return for either a scoring winger or a right-shot defender, I’d be open to something like that. Once the defense is healthy being the caveat.

It sounds like Sekera might be back sooner than expected and he wants to go on a conditioning stint to the AHL before getting starts in Edmonton. I love this attitude by the vet! When he is ready to come back up, how will that defense look? I’d have it like this I think,

Nurse/Larsson
Sekera/Russell
Gravel/Jones
Benning

Then when Klefbom returns,

Klefbom/Larsson
Nurse/Russell
Gravel/Sekera
Jones

I have a funny feeling that Sekera might come in a bit better than people expect him to. There’ll just be an adjustment period to get up to game speed.

If the Oilers found a way to move one of Russell or Sekera and bring in Anton Stralman this summer, how would you feel about that? Stralman is very solid and a righty. Not sure what that’d cost dollars/term-wise but he’s an excellent veteran defenseman.

The Boys on the Farm

Bob Stauffer said he could see Kailer Yamamoto getting the call-up after Xmas. I guess the feeling there is because the bottom-6 isn’t pissing a drop, they’ll call up the shifty one. I don’t agree with it but I understand it.

I’ve been watching Yamo in Bakersfield this summer and down there his edgework, hockey IQ, and his checking stands out. He has to get stronger though. He gets pushed out of games and loses a lot of battles on the boards because he hasnt’ built up the muscle mass yet. There’re also questions about his ability to protect the puck.

As for Tyler Benson, Cameron Hebig, and Cooper Marody; good players but they need more time in the minors.

Who the Oilers Will be Looking at After Xmas

I guess there are a few surprising names on the market right now. Brett Pesce in Carolina is on the block. Timo Meier in San Jose is too. So Edmonton will definitely be scouting those players in the coming weeks. Other players I could see Chiarelli getting looked at include Tyler Toffoli (LA), Colton Sceviour (FLA), and Brendan Gallagher (MTL).

So a lot of Eastern Conference teams. Which makes sense. Chiarelli doesn’t want any players coming back to haunt him if they meet up in the playoffs I suppose.

Weird about Meier, eh? My thought there is that Wilson wants to retain Karlsson this summer and they’ll need Meier’s cap room to do it. They could simply let Pavelski and Thornton walk away, keep Meier AND re-sign Karlsson though…

If there’s one Western Conference team that the Chiarelli will be scouting heavily, it’ll be the St. Louis Blues. Everybody is on the block there and how good would Brayden Schenn, Vladdy Tarasenko, or Colton Parayko look on the Oilers?

Any idea why teams who have Ryan O’Reilly on them tend to have challenges? Probably coincidence.

If you listened to that presser where Hitchcock talks about having Pulju and Khaira on the same line (3rd line), that probably means that someone is going to have to play alongside McDavid or Draisaitl at some point and I wonder if that will be either Spooner (because Hitch said he’s comfier at RW) or if that means someone is coming in. Maybe Jake Debrusk?

Swing away Merrill, Swing away.

I hope you all have a great Christmas! Take care during the holidays! I wish I was back home to join in the wintery-fun!