Tag Archives: Cam Fowler

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Stanley Cup Playoffs

Pick Your Poison Anaheim

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs resumes this Thursday for the Edmonton Oilers as they’ll travel to the Pond in Anaheim to take on those nasty Ducks. I’m anticipating some old schools shenanigans from Kesler, Bieksa, and Perry and I’ll be keeping a close eye on how close those three get to Cam Talbot.

Maybe Eric Gryba gets a game in here as a deterrent.

But here’s the thing. The Ducks have no forwards to match-up with Connor McDavid so they might have their hands full trying to sort that little problem out. Check out these numbers (5×5 btw):

Over the course of the 2016/17 season, McDavid managed to score 5 goals against the Pacific Division Champs and was on the ice for 1 goal against in 85 minutes. His per 60 metrics vs. Anaheim gather from Corsica.hockey are as follows:

GF60: 3.52
GA60: 0.7
CF60: 67.55
CA60: 45.04

So if you aren’t familiar with what those numbers are telling us, and I’m not a fancy stats expert, they’re saying that When Connor McDavid is on the ice against the Anaheim Ducks at 5×5, he’ll score nearly 5X more goals for than goals will be scored against.

Ignore the PDO of 107 though as that’ll make all of this look a little bit less shiny and optimistic.

But I regress…

Now to get more specific, according to Stats.hockeyanalysis.com, Ryan Kesler spent 50:01 minutes of ice-time playing against 97, the most of any player in the league this year, but McDavid averaged over 3.59 goals for per 60 minutes and 1.2 goals against per 60 while playing against him.

What about Ryan Getzlaf? Well, Connor McDavid only lined up for a shade over 21 minutes from Anaheim’s bald-headed wonder and McDavid averaged over 5.5 goals for per 60 minutes and ZERO goals against per 60 minutes…

As for Anaheim’s other pivots:

Antoine Vermette – McDavid averaged 5.7 goals for per 60 and ZERO goals against when on the ice with the “Slasher of Refs” in just over 10 minutes of play this year.

Nate Thompson – McDavid and Thompson didn’t share the ice this year at 5×5 apparently.

But What About a Defensive Pair?

If I were Randy Carlyle, I might make sure that Cam Fowler, if he’s playing, and Hampus Lindholm are on the ice any time Connor is; as it seems they did “okay” when tasked with shutting down the 2016/17 NHL Art Ross Trophy winner.

Fowler (35:52 TOI): McDavid only had 1.76 goals for per 60 when he was playing against Fowler.
Lindholm (40:22 TOI): Connor had 2.97 goals for per 60 when on the same ice as Lindholm.

Compare that with the pair of defensemen that the San Jose Sharks just deployed to keep McDavid at bay and Anaheim might just have something. Here are Vlasic and Braun’s numbers:

Here are Vlasic and Braun’s numbers:

Vlasic (59:47 TOI): McDavid put up 5.02 GF60 on Pickles.
Braun (54:35 TOI): Connor had 5.5 GF60 while stickhandling around Justin Braun.

WOOF San Jose!

CLEVER GIRL

But here’s where Todd McLellan gets shifty.

Take a gander at Lindholm and Fowler’s per 60 metrics versus Leon Draisaitl…

Lindholm (39.43 TOI): Draisaitl racked up 3.02 GF60!
Fowler (26:57 TOI): 4.45 GF60 is what the big German tossed up on Fowler!

So Lindholm’s #s against Connor and Leon are quite similar whereas Fowler seemed to have had a much better time lining up across from McDavid than Draisaitl. I wonder if this simply comes down to a bad physical matchup?

I wonder if this simply comes down to a bad physical matchup? Fowler is probably the only Ducks defender that can keep up with McDavid but Draisaitl can just swat him away like a mosquito.

The Nuge, what do the Oilers do with him? Well, I’ll tell you what they shouldn’t do with him and that’s put him on the ice at the same time as Ryan Getzlaf.. Nuge has a GF60 of ZERO and a GA60 of 3.1 when sharing the ice with Getzlaf.

I’d make sure RNH is out there vs. Antoine Vermette if I were in charge. He wouldn’t win a lot of face-offs (if any) but in the 15 minutes Nugent-Hopkins played versus Vermette this past season, he had a GF60 of nearly 4 (3.8) and a GA60 of 0.00.

Scary stuff there between Nuge and Getzlaf but then again, Nugey didn’t have a great season this year stat-wise.

I just spouted off using a few metrics to attempt to tell you that the Oilers are in good shape versus the Ducks from an offensive point of view but let’s not fool ourselves, the Anaheim Ducks are still a good hockey team and any letting off of the gas by the Oilers here could severely dampen their chances at an appearance in the Stanley Cup final. The Oilers MUST attack the Ducks from the get go. Shock and Awe baby!!

Does Todd McLellan go the three-headed dragon route vs. the Ducks when they’re in Anaheim?

What would you do? Let us know in the comments below!

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

Wanna Three-Way?

4 Comments
Tyson Barrie

Bob Stauffer was up to his old shenanigans again on the latest edition of Oilers Now! This time he was chatting up how the Edmonton Oilers could obtain Tyson Barrie from the Colorado Avalanche without having to deal a major piece like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle or Leon Draisaitl.

Speaking with frequent caller K-Jam, Stauffer had this to say:

BS: My guess is they’ll trade him (Barrie) before arbitration. I’ll take it one step further. People say, “Well how do you do it without trading Nugent-Hopkins?”

  • You go to Anaheim and you give Anaheim a conditional no.1. A top-5 protected pick to the Anaheim Ducks plus something else not named Nugent-Hopkins or Eberle for Cam Fowler because Joe Sakic wants a defenceman back in a deal for Tyson Barrie.
  • And then you give Cam Fowler and something else to Colorado and that’s how you get Tyson Barrie. But you might have to do a 3-way in order to make it happen.

BS: The reason I mention Anaheim is because Anaheim is another team who is an internal budget team. They’re a budget team and they’ve got to get Hampus Lindholm signed. And they’ve got some money to take on a forward.

  • Yakupov has been mentioned in the past. I think Jason Gregor mentioned Yakupov or Pouliot after the All-Star break possibly to Anaheim. I don’t know if that’s feasible or not but if you conclude a pick and again the Oilers would have to cover themselves here.
  • Worst case scenario for Edmonton, if it’s a top-5 pick, then the pick has to be moved to the following year.

BS: To me that’s how you’d do it without trading Nugent-Hopkins because you’d be prepared to give up your no.1 because if you’re Joe (Sakic), the other thing about Fowler is he’s got two years left at $4 million bucks. So maybe the price point works for him.

HOW IT BREAKS DOWN

To Edmonton: Tyson Barrie
To Anaheim: Edmonton’s 2017 first round pick plus a forward (Yak or Pouliot)
To Colorado: Cam Fowler plus another asset

I’ll tell you what. I’m completely in favour of Stauffer’s suggestion here. It doesn’t require the Oilers to deal another major piece and even if it results in the Oilers losing some depth in the forward corps. I believe there are sufficient names still available on the free agent market who could come in such as:

What we know about Pirri is that he’s a shooting machine and he’s put up pretty decent stats in the past (22 goals in 49 games for the Panthers in 2015/15 but only 2 assists that year… Cy Young winner!). My only question about him is why can’t he stick with a team? Chicago dealt him to the Florida Panthers for two draft picks (a 2nd and a 3rd) and then the Panthers traded him to Anaheim for a 6th round draft pick…

Other options include the likes of Kris Versteeg (30yrs), Radim Vrbata (35yrs), Jiri Hudler (32yrs), or Alex Tanguay (36yrs) if you’re looking for some veteran skill. Though they wouldn’t fit the description of heavy on the puck players. So would they really be considerations for Chiarelli?

What do you think about Bob Stauffer’s idea? Is it that cut and dry? Let me know in the comments below!

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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Fancy Stats, NHL, Rumors, Zach Laing

Cam Fowler seems to be available, so should the Oilers be calling?

On Friday, Elliotte Friedman was on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer and suggested there is a possibility that the Anaheim Ducks could look at moving defenceman Cam Fowler at some point this season:

I’m very curious about Cam Fowler. You keep hearing his name out there. And I also do think Anaheim would love to get Shea Theodore in the NHL at some point, and right now they’re backed up pretty tight. I’m not as convinced on Cam Fowler in the next month, but I just keep hearing that there are – his name comes out here and there. So that’s an interesting one.

Transcript via Chris Nichols, Today’s Slapshot

Well, that’s interesting to say the least.The source is good. Friedman is well known for providing the some of the best scoops and insight to behind the scenes activity. When he has something to say, I listen.

Fowler is still a bit of an unknown as to what he will one day turn into in the NHL. Will he be a top pairing guy, or will he only be a 2nd pairing guy? Can he play the big minutes?

One thing we do know is that the 23-year old, 6’1, 207 lbs defender has the ability to put up solid points scoring 1.2 points per hour in the NHL over his career. His possession numbers suggest that he is a solid low-event second pairing defenseman. He eats minutes for the Ducks, sitting at 22 minutes per game over his six year career.

After being selected first overall in the 2007 OHL draft by the Kitchener Rangers, he had decided to play for Notre Dame in the NCAA and refused to sign with the Rangers. He ended up breaking his agreement with the Fighting Irish a year later, and got redrafted in the 2008 OHL draft and was selected by his hometown Windsor Spitfires.

He ended up joining the Spitfires where went on to score 55 points in 55 games and help win the team – and teammate Taylor Hall – their second consecutive Memorial Cup title. After being drafted 12th overall in the 2010 NHL draft by the Anaheim Ducks, the then 18 year old jumped right into action playing a hearty 22 minutes a night.

A potential deal for Fowler could make sense. I spoke with Jason Byun, a former writer at Pucks of a Feather who said, “Fowler is due for a pay raise once his deal expires after next season, and with Despres locked up long-term, Josh Manson and Shea Theodore ready (or near-ready) to contribute, and Vatanen/Lindholm needing extensions after this year, he might be the odd-man out.”

If the Oilers brass feel that Fowler has the ability to continue on the path he has taken and develop into a top pairing defenceman, then I would imagine they would like to jump on a deal like this. The question we are left with is what would you give up?

The potential is there for a deal surrounding Nail Yakupov, Cam Fowler and prospects/picks to fill in the gaps. In my belief, Draisaitl has played so well that I could see him easily replacing what is had with Nail Yakupov. Now, this isn’t saying that I don’t think Nail Yakupov isn’t a fit in Edmonton, because believe me I am a big Yakupov fan. However, if we can make a move for a bonafide top-four with strong top pairing potential then I think that is a move we should make.

What do you think? Drop a comment below, or send me a tweet!