Tag Archives: Calvin De Haan

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

Klefbom, Eberle, and More Oilers Rumours!

I’ve been sitting on a blog for a couple of days now waiting for the right time to publish it because new information keeps popping up. Add to that tonight’s game is quite important for the Oilers and the Islanders, both teams who most likely won’t make the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs but are a couple of the most exciting teams in the NHL.

OSCAR KLEFBOM

The other day on Lowetide’s show Woodguy talked about how you don’t deal off the top of the deck when referring to trading Oscar Klefbom. He said that Darnell Nurse is almost there with regards to being the top LHD on the team but not quite yet. Alex Thomas reminded us that defensemen don’t develop in straight lines when he talked about Nurse and trading Klefbom here. I’d argue that Nurse’s developmental path has been pretty straight though.

But the best argument I found in this discussion came from David Staples because he talked about both sides of the coin.

Then you’ve got the bloggers who are running around crying bloody murder before a trade even happens!

Why would the Oilers let Klefbom play if he’s injured? More on that below but to add to that, perhaps they’re not worried about him playing for the Oilers next season and the team’s talking to Edmonton (Tampa before McDonagh was acquired and Boston) aren’t worried about it either.

Every wondered why Klefbom didn’t get a clause in his new contract?…

So, here’s the deal with Klefbom. He can shoot but he’s always injured. Bob Stauffer talked about him even dealing with something during last year’s amazing run. He hasn’t spent ONE season in his professional career (or amateur one) healthy. He’s playing through an upper-body ailment this year that doctors reckon won’t get worse if he plays with it. So the Oilers are sticking him with needles and sending him out there.

This. Is. A. Problem.

Now, it wouldn’t be a problem IF he put up offense other places OR if he was a defensive stalwart.

4 PP goals in his ENTIRE career and we’ve got him pegged as the Oilers PP savior. That’s over 450 minutes played on the powerplay and he’s scoring a goal every 100 minutes-ish.

I’ve said in the past that Klefbom is the guy for the powerplay, so I’m just as guilty as everyone else who has believed that but 4 PP goals in nearly 4 seasons? That’s not acceptable at all.

He does own the #8 spot for shots on the powerplay this year for dmen with 49 but that’s not what the Oilers really need is it?

They need a guy who is a proven PP specialist which brings me to the next point.

Torey Krug is a player the Oilers have been watching. THIS is a player who produces with the man advantage (and 5×5). He makes $5.25M per year until 2019/20 and the final two years of that deal include a modified NTC. That screams out that he’ll be traded this summer.

There are ZERO question marks when it comes to Torey Krug and on-ice production and there’s a previous relationship with Chiarelli.

THAT is how you trade from the top of the deck.

JORDAN EBERLE

The day a person close to the Oilers from the Decade of Darkness and the Chiarelli-era writes a book is the day we’ll learn about all of the “off-the-record” trade requests…

Eberle said it himself, “It was just time for a change” and who can blame the guy? He’d been part of trade rumors for 3 or 4 years previous to last summer. Yakupov basically did it through his agent…

Now I’ve heard that Chiarelli wasn’t even looking at Strome when he was in talks with Garth Snow and that he was actually looking at a couple of defensemen on the Isles but Snow was having none of that and for these reasons:

  • Cap hit
  • Playoff performance
  • The risk of Eberle not bouncing back from a poor season

I can’t confirm who the dmen were that Chiarelli was asking about but my own feeling is that Calvin De Haan and Thomas Hickey might’ve been the ask. And that just seems crazy to me as the Oilers had enough left-handers as it was… Why ask for more?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

  • How different would things have been had Tambo given RNH, Hall, and Eberle proper contracts? Did Eberle and RNH really deserve $6M at that time? Did Hall?
  • Carolina is about to be open for business, so if there’s a RH’d defenseman a team wants, perhaps this summer is the time to get one. (*Cough* Faulk *Cough*)
  • If you’re one of those who believes the Old Boys Club in Edmonton has still got their hands in on things, I’m here to tell you that you’re right AND wrong.
    • MacTavish and Howson are scouts, so not much there but opinions on players. The guys you should keep an eye on are Paul Coffey (possible asst. coach next season) and minority owner Wayne Gretzky…
  • If there was ever a trade partner for the Oilers with regards to Milan Lucic, the Canucks would be at the front of the line.
  • Knowing the above, do you think that the Canucks would take a run at Pat Maroon?
  • Oliver Ekman-Larsson talk is real. That’s another guy with a proven track record of offense… Dealing from the top of the deck 🙂
  • I wonder how long Bob Nicholson is for his current position and might he desire a return to the international hockey scene with the 2020 Winter Olympics coming up and question marks regarding NHL involvement.
  • The Oilers’ AHL coach seems like he’s on borrowed time. I guess Chiarelli has had to make some “visits” to Bakersfield to “ask” the coach to play the younger players more…

Speaking of coaching…

I’ve heard from two completely different sources that there’s a problem in the room and it’s got nothing to do with the players…

Perhaps Todd has lost the dressing room? Is that an indictment on the players and their character or is it just a sign of the times? Does that speak poorly to Connor McDavid’s leadership? What does it say for the veterans on the team?

Would the Oilers be better off under Joel Quenneville or Barry Trotz? Could we see Paul Coffey behind the bench or in the coach’s box above the ice next season? Is Ian Herbers going to get a promotion?

Why hasn’t Todd McLellan been able to do better with this team? I can only think back to the days where Dave Tippett was coaching Phoenix… Those rosters were questionable at best and got a helluva lot more out of them.

The last comment on this blog will be thus:

The Oilers first round pick is in play if it lands outside of the top 3

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

Two New Names Enter the Oilers Rumor Mill

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A good friend of mine, we’ll call him Dave, sent me a message on Twitter the other day and offered me a scenario regarding the Oilers and the Islanders. Now, I know that’s not a rumor per se but this Dave contacted me about the Oilers signing Ryan Mantha last year months before he was signed and I trust him. We’ll get to why this is a rumor later on in the post.

But first I’ve got to ask you to listen to this clip from The Jason Gregor Show and tell me what you think they’re talking about.

Here’s what my friend Dave sent me:

Arthur Staple, the NYI writer, said this in an interview: “I would not be surprised if Beauvillier and de Haan are packaged in a deal for a top 6 F.” Stauffer dropping hints that the guy coming back for Eberle is a player that can play more positions in the top 9. Beauvillier is a C/LW.

Who are the top-6 forwards that have been rumored to be going to the Islanders?

  • Matt Duchene
  • Alex Galchenyuk
  • Jordan Eberle

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/877220734057160704

So there you have the Bobfather (Bob McKenzie) saying that perhaps the Islanders will go ALL OUT and trade for both Matt Duchene AND Jordan Eberle.

Bob Stauffer said on Oilers NOW (June 20th) that he expects the Eberle trade with the Islanders to go down shortly after the expansion draft. He also echoed McKenzie’s sentiments that the Isles may go for both Duchene and Eberle.

THE PROPOSED DEALS

Stauffer thought something like Josh Ho-Sang+Travis Hamonic for Matt Duchene might be feasible and I could agree there. Elliotte Friedman thought that the Oilers would have to pay much more than just Jordan Eberle for Hamonic if they wanted him. Plus, I don’t think that Beauvillier and de Haan would get Duchene out of Colorado.

As for Jordan Eberle, if we go from my friend Dave’s thoughts, that deal would look like Calvin de Haan+Anthony Beauvillier for Jordan Eberle.

On paper, those deals would jack up the Isles forward corps quite a bit but what about the salary cap? At the moment, the Islanders have about $4M available and don’t Duchene and Eberle make $6M or more per year each?

Hamonic – $3.85M per year till 2019/20
Ho-Sang – $1.075M per year until 2018/19
de Haan – RFA
Beauvillier – $894k per year until 2018/19

I’d expect de Haan to be signing anywhere from $3.75M to $5M if you take his comparables like Mattias Eckholm ($3.75Mx6), Danny Dekeyser ($5Mx6), Chris Tanev ($4.45Mx5), into consideration. I mean he made a shade under $2M last season, so

I mean he made a shade under $2M last season, so it’s likely he’ll double that depending on the team?

So when we bring it all together, Duchene+Eberle’s salaries are around $12M and the four players mentioned above combined are about, let’s say, $10M because we’re not sure what de Haan signs for. That leaves the Islanders with approximately $2M to play with but with no 2nd pairing on defense

Right now their defense looks as such:

Leddy/Boychuck
XXX/Seidenberg
Mayfield/Pelech

If they really wanted to, they could move Dennis Seidenberg to his native left side and move Ryan Pulock into that vacancy but that’s an awfully inexperienced bottom three defenders.

Bob Stauffer had another suggestion, he suggested that the Islanders move Mikhail Grabovski’s rights (and salary $5M) plus the Islanders first round pick (16th OV) to the Vegas Golden Knights for one fo their 1st rounders that they are likely to pick up from another team. This would open up some cash for the Islanders to play with and if Grabovksi goes on the LTIR next season, the Golden Knights are only on the hook for $1M because the other 80% would be paid by insurance.

That is only for 1 season as well and if they can move Kulemin to Vegas as well, that’d be a dream scenario for Garth Snow.

WHY BEAUVILLIER/de HAAN TO THE OILERS IS A RUMOR

Bob Stauffer has been touting Eberle to the Islanders for a very long time now but he’s only let it be known the return would be for someone that is,

“Cheaper and less established. That might give them (the Oilers) a few more options with regards to where you could move him in to the lineup”

Naturally, myself included, I jumped directly to Ryan Strome but that’s too easy when I think about it and I am of the belief that the Islanders new head coach Doug Weight (DOOOUUUUGGGGIIIIEEEE) is a fan of Strome and would like to work with him. Ryan Strome was nearly .5pts per game after Weight took over coaching duties.

Anthony Beauvillier is cheaper and less established and can play multiple positions and hardly anybody is talking about him, unless you type in “beauvillier isles” on twitter, there you’ll get all sorts of commentary as he’s being connected to the Canadiens (of course he is) and the Alex Galchenyuk rumors. Hence, why his connection to the Oilers is now a rumor. Yes, if Twitter is talking about it, it’s a rumor… lol.

Here’s what McKeen’s had to say about Beauvillier in his draft year and pay attention because a lot of Beauvillier’s character attributes are things that Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli really values.

Anthony Beauvillier has only turned 20 years old and deserves to be on a team that can shelter him and bring him along slowly. Having Milan Lucic, Pat Maroon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (maybe), Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid will certainly do that. He was a whiz on the faceoff dot in junior (not at all in the NHL yet) and perhaps that (3C) is where Peter Chiarelli could see him eventually. And wasn’t Beauvillier one of the pieces of the Griffin Reinhart trade? He was.

I think you’re probably asking, why would the Oilers need ANOTHER small forward? Didn’t we just go through years and years of trying to play with small forwards? And you’d be right in saying that but I’d have to say that the focus of such a trade wouldn’t be Beauvillier, it’d be De Haan.

I feel like I’ve oversold you on Anthony Beauvillier a bit and not even focused on the best part of that deal, Calvin de Haan.

In de Haan you’ve got a better and possibly cheaper player than Kris Russell.

Fenwick Against per 60 Relative to Teammates:
Russell: -.017
de Haan: -1.59

Shots Against per 60 Relative to Teammates:
Russell:-1.50
de Haan:-2.36

I like those statistics because they tell me how the other team is doing against said player. I like to look at a defenseman’s defensive stats if they are a more stay-at-home dman. And if we look at their “FOR” stats in both of the cases above, they are in the minuses, so that doesn’t help me much.

If you’re a Corsi fella:

Corsi For per 60 Relative to Teammates:
Russell: -7.38
de Haan: -5.13

Corsi Against per 60 Relative to Teammates:
Russell: 5.37
de Haan: 1.32

de Haan wins out here too even though the numbers don’t look great

If we take a gander at some more tradition stats, de Haan comes out on top more often that not as well.

Goals/Assists/Points/PIMs/Shots

Russell: 1/12/13/23/68
de Haan: 5/20/25/36/116

Hits/Shots blocked/Takeaways/ATOI

Russell: 67/213/36/21:13
de Haan: 139/190/24/19:51

It could be said that Calvin de Haan is a bigger better younger version of Kris Russell. They seemingly play the same style. I wonder if de Haan skates as well as Russell though. I’d lean towards no.

A deal like this wouldn’t address the Oilers need of a right-handed defenseman though and it would leave them short on the right-wing. Mark Spector talked about the Oilers signing Tyler Pitlick this summer and Bob Stauffer said that it’d be a shame if Vegas signed Pitlick.

I’m not sure if a RW depth chart of Puljujarvi, Slepyshev, Kassian, and Pitlick would do it? Possibly toss in a Spencer Foo and we know that Drake Caggiula can play across the board. There’s all sorts of potential though and if Draisaitl moves up, then it’s not a problem but only if Nugent-Hopkins stays.

My only problem there is if Duchene is moved out of Colorado, they’ll need another centre, and the Oilers want Tyson Barrie… So maybe you deal RNH for Barrie and you fill that RHD hole but you make another at centre, right? Is that where a signing like Derek Ryan comes in though?

You wouldn’t have to worry about defense again though and a young D-Corps of Klefbom/Larsson/de Haan/Barrie/Sekera/Nurse/Benning would be one of the best in the league.

You can never have enough good defenseman, right?

That said, how do you feel about this new rumor? Let us know in the comments below!

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

Oilers Rumors: Friedman on Phaneuf, Hamonic, Barrie, Eberle, and Vegas!

Our favorite insider Elliotte Friedman did his usual spot on Oilers NOW! with Brendan Ullrich yesterday morning and hit on a number of topics regarding the Oilers and what they might be doing before the roster freeze later today.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES EBERLE GETS DEALT BEFORE THE ROSTER FREEZE?

EF: I think pretty decent. I don’t think there’s any doubt they’re going to try very hard. Peter is in the cone of silence about it. I tried to ask him a few questions about things that I was hearing and he was very polite about it and said, “Look, I’m just not going to talk to you about it right now.”

I think he’s really trying to get something done. I’m sure for Eberle too he’s sitting there saying, “I hope this ends sometime.” because he’s probably tired of the whole sage as well. 

I think if it’s up to Peter Chiarelli to get something done, he will. I think he’s really going to try.

SOME OF THE OFFERS CHIARELLI IS LOOKING AT

EF: I don’t know about the offers. I can’t tell you exactly on that. I think also too, the league is really trying hard to get the salary cap sorted out today. There have been reports today and John Shannon is one of the ones reporting it, the players are voting on a $75M cap and that is something that could have a direct influence on what some of these teams are looking at and what they’re going to be able to do. So I think that’s a factor in just about everything that these teams are talking about. 

I’m sure the Islanders are there, Colorado’s there, I always think there’s somebody there that maybe we don’t think about. That there’s a team there that we haven’t considered or you haven’t heard about. I would generally believe that that’s the case. 

I’ve said a couple of times now, I don’t know what to make of the whole Islanders situation. That quite simply when Kelly Buchberger was with Jordan Eberle, I know they butted heads sometimes. I don’t know if that’s a big deal or not and that means the Islanders are or aren’t interested. But I know a lot of people around Edmonton, they really think that the Islanders are the team, I can’t tell you that’s true one way or another.

I’ve always wondered if a team like Carolina could be involved but I don’t think they are. In that particular situation, I always wonder because they’re looking for offense.

THE ISLANDERS AND EBERLE

EF: From what I hear on Hamonic, the price is really high. I wonder if it’s higher than Eberle to be perfectly honest…

(It should be, given Hall was offered for Hamonic last summer.)

I don’t know if Hamonic is going to get it done unless there’s more to it than that. 

I mentioned a while ago that during the World Championships that Detroit was really looking at De Haan and he played pretty well there. And then someone said to me that after he played there, the Islanders might want to keep De Haan and maybe it’s Hamonic that Detroit goes for and I just heard that the price on Hamonic is really high. I think that’s more than what Eberle is and I think also, don’t forget, you talk about Edmonton and the choices you have to make with your cap with Draisaitl and McDavid, the Islanders have to do Tavares and I think everything that they do is going to be about Tavares. So, I just wonder if that’s a move they want to make. Hamonic’s on a great contract too. 

Don’t forget last year one of the reasons that Hall for Larsson was 1-for-1 was Edmonton was saving, what, $1.8M on the cap. So I think everything gets done, Hamonic makes less than Eberle but is a more impactful player at this point in his career. I’m not sure that that’s going to do it. I think that if it’s Eberle going to the Islanders, either it’s going to be more than him or there’s going to be something else involved. 

So I’m not convinced that that’s the deal that’s going to get made. 

COLORADO DEAL?

EF: I think there’s a lot in Colorado. I think there’s Tyson Barrie. Tyson Barrie is available in a pure hockey deal. That’s what I was told and I know Tyson Barrie, I’ve written about this before, he got injured at the World Championships, and I know teams were really disappointed because I know there were teams that wanted to watch him there. 

I think that Colorado is willing to do that but it’s got to be a hockey deal.

Now, you know what? Maybe that’s Eberle but I don’t know. I can’t say yes or no but I do think there is something that could get done there too. 

(That’s four insiders in a week, McKenzie, Stauffer, Rishaug, and Friedman; three in one day mind you, that have mentioned Barrie and the Oilers. Why is everyone focused on Hamonic still?)

HOW ABOUT THAT MATHESON TWEET?

EF: Are you talking about this Eakin for Eberle rumor? I kinda looked into it and I was kinda told it probably wasn’t going to happen. So my inclination is to say right now that’s a no. That particular deal.

(Friedman says “that particular deal” which tells me there’s another deal(s) on the table he’s away of… Wonder what that could be? Nichushkin?)

WOULD VEGAS OR ST.LOUIS BE AN OPTION FOR EBERLE?

EF: I think Vegas is going to have trouble finding scoring. I could see that and if I were a player, I’d want to go there. You know Fleury is going to be there. Initially, I think teams were hoping Fleury was going to get flipped out of Vegas but I don’t think that’s happening anymore. I think he’s staying. So, immediately you’ve got a player there that a lot of players would like to play with and a good goalie. 

To me, if I was Vegas, I would take a long look at Eberle. Simply because I see a team there that is going to need scoring and you know what? Maybe he’s a perfect fit for that. I don’t have any problem with a Jordan Eberle in Vegas and you know I’ve always felt that St.Louis is a team that could use offense but I don’t know if they’re in on him or not. 

I think the biggest question with Vegas is how many guys that are drafting and keeping?

Let’s say for argument’s sake they take Marc Methot from Ottawa, are they keeping that guy? Because I think there’d be a stampede from teams wanting him.

(Methot for Eberle?)

JJ

EF: I think one of two things are going to happen, either he’s going to get snapped up in the expansion draft or he’s going to be playing for Edmonton because that contract is a one-way. That says to me that he’s going to be playing in Edmonton next year if not picked up by Vegas. 

DOUBLE DION COMING TO TOWN?

EF: I think he would go there (Edmonton). I think the tough thing is, even if you get Phaneuf at $5M as opposed to $7M, that’s going to be a tough squeeze for you guys. 

Unless it makes sense from a point of view where Ottawa takes something off of Edmonton’s hands money-wise. I don’t know if that makes a lot of sense. 

It’ll be interesting though, Phaneuf is more of a grinder than a speedster, and you play in the one division where Anaheim’s a real grinding team, the Kings are a real grinding team, Calgary’s more of a speed team than a grinding team. If you look at the top teams in your division, you’ve got some real grinders there. Even San Jose, they can really grind with ya too. 

Phaneuf actually could make some sense in the Pacific division. That would just have to be a deal that would make a lot of sense to me financially before I’d believe Edmonton was going to do it. 

There are teams out there that worry more about term than they do about money and if you could get Russell for three years, would you take that over Phaneuf at four? I think you probably would. 

(Phaneuf has always interested me since his days in Calgary and I like Friedman’s point about the grinding teams. See, Phaneuf is very much in the Kadri/Bieksa role in that he’ll annoy players physically but he won’t engage them. If he could be had for a lower price-point, I would support that move.)

HENDERSON’S FAVORITE PLAYER

EF: I’m going to guess that those two guys have a pretty good idea of what’s going on there, the Oilers and the agent, I’m sure they knew before he even signed last year. 

(Russell is going to have some better offers this summer. He showed that he is a fine defenseman when played in his wheelhouse and with the right support. I wouldn’t be surprised if Calgary or Toronto took a run at him or if Boston wheeled back with another offer.)

If Travis Hamonic gets traded, and I think it’s possible he does, that’s a big trade. Whoever gets him is going to hurt a bit. They’re going to be happy to get Hamonic but they’re going to give up a lot. 

Listen to the whole interview right below!

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