Tag Archives: Chris Kelly

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

Oilers Insider Says Yamamoto Might Be Back in Spokane Sooner Than You Think

Just listening to today’s Oilers Now and Bob Stauffer along with Mark Spector threw out a few interesting tidbits regarding the Oilers and its playing personnel.

Let’s get into it.

ON THE OILERS LACKING SPEED

Stauffer: I wonder whether or not the Oilers at some point look at possibly adding- like some people said, “why don’t they bring in Iginla?” I think they need another winger that can skate.

Ullrich: Well what about Puljujarvi in the minors? He can skate. If he has a good game on Thursday do you call him up? Look at the next four games, Bob. Who they play after Ottawa. Carolina, Chicago, Philly, Pittsburgh. All four of those teams are pretty quick, especially Pittsburgh.

What might be confusing to fans is how speed is defined though. It’s quite obvious with players like Connor McDavid and Zack Kassian but I do see Leon Draisaitl as fast and Puljujarvi is as well. The difference is how long it takes the latter two to get up to top speed and I reckon what fans are looking for is the zippy player like Todd Marchant used to be or Brendan Leipsic is for the Golden Knights. Somebody who can juke and jive, a Connor Sheary-type perhaps.

This slowness of the Oilers was really apparent last year when they played the teams that had a bit more zip to their game. It’s funny, for years the Oilers were known as one of the fastest teams in the league and now it’s almost the complete opposite. But look, this is the change that the Oilers had to make to become competitive in the Pacific Division with the likes of the Ducks, Sharks, and the Kings. They may very well have to pivot again soon to keep up with the rest of the league but the number one goal of the team is to make the playoffs and the easiest way to do that is to finish in the top 2 of your division. Figure out how to do that and you let the rest sort itself out.

I think that Ullrich has a good point but I’d rather the Oilers stick it out with what they’ve got instead of rushing Puljujarvi up. I guess there’s the option of putting Caggiula on the IR and bringing Pulju up then but that’s reliant on Caggiula being more injured than “hurt”.

CHRIS KELLY

Spector: Is he the guy though? A depth guy

Stauffer: He could be the guy for the first half of the year but you gotta make a move before that happens. You gotta send a guy down to junior. ‘Cause otherwise you’d be at 50 contracts.

Earlier in the conversation, Stauffer and Spector were talking about if they’d seen Kelly around the rink the last two practises and they said they hadn’t and were quite sure what to conclude from that because Spector said he’d spoken to Chris Kelly and the former Bruin had told him he was sticking around to practise with the team…

Anyways, the end of Stauffer’s comment at the top flows into the next section very smoothly…

KAILER YAMAMOTO

Stauffer: What would you do with Yamamoto right now?

Spector: I’ll tell you this, a team that’s trying to find it’s overall game and trying to find itself like the Oilers are, there is very little time for the temporary development of a junior player. I am of the mind, I think that you’ll agree, Bob. He’s going back to junior. It’s just a matter of when.

Stauffer: Maybe sooner than you think.

Spector: If things were going swimmingly, I’d say give him 6 or 7 games. Slide him in here or there, give him some NHL experience. I’m not worried about him missing games for Spokane, Bob. He’s got lots of time for Spokane, who cares about Spokane. This is no place for a young guy right now. I would suggest that there’s every chance they send him back today, on off day frankly…

Stauffer: If we knew if Caggiula was 100% healthy that might accelerate that process. Just cause right now they’ve got one, I mean, they’ve got one guy that can come in and that’s Jujhar Khaira because we don’t know what the status of Caggiula is.

So we wait now to receive word on Drake Caggiula’s status from the coach, once we get a clear idea of where Caggiula is in regards to his health, we might be able to make some clearer guesses as to when Yamamoto is going back to junior, if Chris Kelly is being signed for the year, or if another move is in the works.

I think that Yamamoto is way out of his league right now and it’s almost to the point of being dangerous keeping him up. I mean what is the point of keeping him up if he’s being healthy scratched or only played 5 or 6 minutes a night. I could see them possibly waiting on Anton Slepyshev to get back into game shape, or waiting on a good report from Bakersfield regarding Jesse Puljujarvi, or as we said above, Drake Caggiula’s health. But even then, if it’s a bottom 6 player the team needs, go out and acquire one or bring one up from the minors like Brad Malone or Mitch Callahan… Nobody will take those guys when they hit waivers on the way back to the AHL.

What do you think about the comments from Stauffer and Spector? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter/Facebook! Thanks! Oh and don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel!!

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers

Caggiula Not Ready for Top 6 Duties?

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It’s ridiculously early days, so take this with a grain of very speculative salt but Kurt Leavins from the Edmonton Journal’s Cult of Hockey has been taking in the training camp and reporting back to us his findings which for the most part have been fairly glowing for the players involved but one, Drake Caggiula.

“Of greater interest to me is who will play on the right side. Drake Caggiula was there Friday, and started there Saturday, too.  But he was replaced, part-way through, by Kailer Yamamoto, before returning to that line toward the end. Yamamoto had been on the Gambardella-Christoffer line. Some speculative eyes saw Caggiula having a sleepy 1st Period, and read this as a demotion. But it is also important to see Yamamoto with high-end players.  Most really good athletes play better with elite talent. Average ones often have a hard time keeping up, physically and mentally. Which was the case for Caggiula? Hard to say.” – source

“As with Saturday’s sessions, Drake Caggiula had a difficult time getting on track early, and just didn’t look himself for the first half. But he came on considerably, after the break, with a gorgeous finish to a 2-on-1 break with Draisaitl that sent more than a few ooh’s and ahh’s to the rafters at Rogers. Caggiula was much better after that.” – source 

Now, maybe it’s just me and maybe it’s just the Oilers trying to experiment a little but when I hear of Caggiula looking “sluggish” and “sleepy”, it doesn’t give me any reassurances that the 2nd year player is ready to take on the new responsibility and the depth on the right wing is already in question. If Caggiula continues to take his time getting used to his more talented and senior linemates, how long until McLellan replaces him and with who?

Joey Laleggia is a player I keep saying to watch out for folks. He’s got speed and he can score PLUS he’s got a helluva lot more professional hockey experience than Caggiula. Or does Chris Kelly all of a sudden come into the picture here? He’s not a top-6 man but if Puljujarvi keeps performing well at training camp, would Kelly fit in beside Jokinen and RNH?

Definitely, something to think about.

That’s not to say that the Drake isn’t ready for pro hockey. He is ready, as he showed last season. I’m just wondering if he could use a bit more time beside Mark Letestu and Zack Kassian and working on the PK instead of firing him onto a line with Milan Lucic and Leon Draisaitl right off the bat.

And I don’t think it’s pessimistic or unfair to think that someone from last season’s roster may not work out this season. If it’s Caggiula or Slepyshev, someone of that ilk, we should consider ourselves lucky, no?

Now, tonight we’re going to be treated to our first real serious (kind of) hockey of the 2017/18 season as our Oilers take on the NHL’s newest relocation consideration. It’s a split-squad game meaning we’re going to get an awesome chance to focus on some of the players whose roster place isn’t a guarantee like Joey Laleggia or Chris Kelly and some of the players who may be struggling like Caggiula.

I’m predicting double blow-outs and a combined score of 9-1 in favor of the Oilers 🙂

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