Tag Archives: Colorado Avalanche

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

The Day Before

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On this Free Agent’s Day Eve I’d like to talk about some rumblings going on in the Oilogosphere. Potential free agents we haven’t talked about, trade rumours making their way across the Twitter machine, buy outs, and fan reaction to the Taylor Hall trade including my own.

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT ADDITIONS

Stauffer started off the show today talking about the Oilers taking on a “reclamation project” in free agency. A player that was a former 1st rounder with ties to Peter Chiarelli that can play the right-wing and can kick in some offence. Who might that man be?

Brett Connolly – unqualifed free agent

Peter Chiarelli traded two 2nd round picks back in March of 2015 for Brett Connolly. At the time Chiarelli had this to say about the former Prince George Cougar:

“He’s a straight-line player but he makes plays and he can really shoot the puck,”

Connolly’s flashy junior/AHL game has never really translated to the NHL but he’s found a niche in the middle six role and if the Oilers are to move off of Jordan Eberle, not that Connolly would replace Eberle, or Nail Yakupov; I think that would make sense. The other thing is, he’s a natural righty.

Another player that has just landed on the free agent market due to being bought out and would definitely have a place on the Oilers is defenseman James Wisniewski.

After only playing just under 1 game for the ‘Canes, the Carolina Hurricanes are buying Wisniewski out of the final year of his deal worth $5.5M.

He’s not had the most health-consistent career to date with the most games played in a season was 75 in 2013-14 when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Subsequently that was his best year statistically with 7 goals and 44 assists. According to the right-shooting 32 year old’s HERO chart from 2015, he makes his linemates much better and he generates shots. Something that the Oilers are looking for, no?

Could he go the Christian Ehrhoff route contract-wise? Accepting a one-year deal to rejuvenate his career? Of course Ehrhoff didn’t quite cut it after he was bought-out, who knows with Wisniewski?

WHAT IS GOING ON IN COLORADO?

The Avs are set to make a move here eh? Gabriel Landeskog, the Avs captain, is on the market now! He’s the last guy I would’ve thought the Avalanche would move and at this point it sounds like Roy and Sakic are alienating some major names in the Mile High City.

But for shits and giggles, lets say that Lucic decides on Dallas or Detroit instead of Edmonton. That would put the Oilers in a small bit of trouble right? Would you move on Landeskog at that point? Or would you prefer Duchene and/Barrie?

Gabriel Landeskog is a beast of epic proportions and if Lucic landed somewhere else, I’d like to see the Swede in an Oilers uniform. Question being, what would the Oilers deal to get him? Nuge and who else?

WHY YOU CAN’T DEAL NUGE AND EBS

I just want to go over this one more time.

  • Nuge is the most experienced centre on the Oilers at this time. McDavid and Draisaitl haven’t the experience to be given the no.1/2 centre spots alone.
    • The Oilers could very well take a flyer on a centre like Eric Staal or Frans Nielsen and that would soften the blow of losing a player like Nugent-Hopkins but you can’t deal him before you’ve got one of those veteran centres signed.
  • Eberle is a right-handed sniper who is a consistent goal scorer. A veteran to boot.
    • Lose him and the team is left with Yakupov (8 goals last year), Puljujarvi (not one NHL game yet), and Zach Kassian on the right side.
    • The Oilers would be forced to sign or trade to fill for Eberle which is fine too but the team shouldn’t be put behind the 8-ball.
  • The Oilers finally have depth at nearly every forward position. LW is still a problem until Lucic is signed and if not Lucic, then someone else.
  • Lastly, I believe there’s a plan to move one of Leon Draisaitl or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the wing akin to how the San Jose Sharks use their forwards.

THE HALL TRADE

I knew it was coming and if you listened to Bob Stauffer he said countless times that he thought the fans should be prepared because they might not like the deal the Oilers make to improve the roster. For me, the deal was lopsided. I won’t say they lost the deal because it’s asinine to say that right now. We don’t know how Larsson is going to affect the roster going forward. We don’t know if Hall is going to put up more than 65 points a year in New Jersey either.

I love that Chiarelli went out and got Larsson. He’s just started to blossom as a defenceman and I reckon Chia got him at the perfect moment. My mind salivates at the idea of a healthy Klefbom being paired with a fellow countryman and becoming one of the league’s premiere shutdown tandems.

I asked my man in Sweden what his thoughts were on Larsson and he said this:

“When Adam Larsson started to play in SHL as a 17-year old he was one of the most talented swedes I’ve ever seen. He played like 22-23 minutes as a 17-year old.”

The other thing about Larrson is in his draft year he took Skelleftea to the SHL finals for the first time in 35 years!

He didn’t have a good start in NJ. DeBoer and Lamoriello didn’t cut him any slack and he suffered there. I fully expect Larsson to be THAT piece on the back-end the Oilers have been looking for all these years. By the numbers he’s a top shut-down defender. He was an offensive defenseman in Sweden but that wasn’t going to fly in NJ unless your name was Neidermayer.

Give Larsson a chance to show his worth. That’s all I ask.

On a more serious note, I’m extremely disappointed in some of the fanbase and even some of the people covering the team online and in the media. We had years of watching Oilers GMs doing absolutely nothing! Now we’ve got a guy in Chiarelli who’s not afraid to make a move to improve the roster and it’s like Gretzky was traded again. It’s whiny baby bullshit the way that some of the fanbase and media are acting.

We cheer for the logo on the front NOT the name on the back. 

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

Dealing Down at the Draft

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I’ve been talking about the Oilers standing pat this summer and not doing a whole lot with regards to dealing out a big core piece but I haven’t talked about the Oilers trading down in the draft as much yet.

Today I’d like to present a scenario to you and you let me know in the comments below if you think that it is a realistic possibility. So here goes nothing!

You might’ve read Jonathan Willis’ latest post over at Oilersnation wherein he goes into depth framing a picture where the Oilers and Sabres could very well be excellent trade partners for each other. Read it here.

Basically he talks about the Oilers having too many LHD and the Buffalo Sabres having too many RHD. Willis also hypothesizes at a possible swap that could include the 8th overall pick and Zach Bogosian to the Oilers for Griffin Reinhart and the 4th overall.

To me that sounds fine. It could give the Sabres some reprieve cap-wise and a top 5 pick to which they could use to draft Matthew Tkachuk. It would alleviate some of the logjam the Oilers have on the left side of their defense and it would give them a legitimate shut-down defender at a great age (25yrs).

So for me it wouldn’t just stop there. I’d take that 8th overall pick and move it to the Avalanche plus Eberle or Yakupov for the rights to Tyson Barrie and the 10th overall pick. Elliotte Friedman talked about the Avs wanting a dman in return for any deal including Barrie on Friday’s Oilers Now but I have to wonder how much the relationship between Barrie and the Avs has deteriorated. Perhaps other pieces are included to make a deal work.

I think the Avs would love to get their hands on the left-shooting right-sided dman from Russia, Mikhail Sergachev and Edmonton could very well use that pick to take the gigantic Logan Brown, swift skating Jakob Chychrun, Johnny Gaudreau 2.0 Clayton Keller, or uber-intellect Tyson Jost. Patrick Roy loves his Russians but it’d open up a major hole on their D but is Sergachev NHL-ready? If so, that might ease the Avs’ worries.

If you really wanted to go all blue sky, they could use that pick (#10) and deal it to Anaheim for Sami Vatanen…

Imagine that. Peter Chiarelli picking up Barrie, Bogosian, and Vatanen and thus solidifying the Oilers defense for the next 5-7 years. Wouldn’t that be something.

Klefbom-Barrie
Sekera-Bogosian
Davidson/Nurse-Vatanen

Now THAT is some serious wishing.

What do you think? Do any of those scenarios make sense to you?

 

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Edmonton Oilers, Micah Kowalchuk, NHL, Prospects

Watching the Tire Fire Burn – Your Weekly BLH Oilers Review

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Hey folks, Micah Kowalchuk here! I’m filling in to provide your “Edmonton Oilers weekly review” this week.

Well, it’s another week of wondering what could have been as an Oilers fan.  Three games played, three losses sustained, and although they put up a fight, it wasn’t enough on any of the three occasions.

Anaheim 5 – Edmonton 3

What the Oilers can take from this game is they put up a solid fight against one of the hottest teams in the league.  Sekera once again proved he was a shrewd signing, ending up even on the +/- on a night where he logged 24 minutes of ice time, took a couple of shots on goal, and even landed one of those rare Sekera bodychecks.

Hall, Eberle and Pouliot all took 4 shots each on goal, and Hall and Draisaitl seemed to wake up from their slumber, however the Oilers still lack a player for that line with the speed to keep up with both who can help hold the zone and cycle the puck in.  As for the rest of the forwards, the McDavid show managed to put up a point at least in support, but for the rest of the forwards, it wasn’t an overly impressive showing.

As for the defense, outside of Sekera, well..  Justin Schultz continues to log heavy ice team (and probably shouldn’t).  I keep thinking there’s a defenseman there to fix still if he could only log 2nd or 3rd pairing minutes, but we may never find out, at least while he wears Oilers silks.  Nurse continues to improve, Davidson continues to be steady, and the right side continues to be a tire fire burning unabated.

On this night, Talbot was the better of the two goaltenders, but with a .897 to his opponent’s .889, you can’t really say either goalie was the reason their team won.  At least this was a competitive fight against a very good club.

Minnesota 5 – Edmonton 2

Well.. This looked a lot like the last game, but against a less impressive opponent.  Once again the McDavid show chipped in a goal, and Nail Yakupov proved that, even if the coaches seem to think he’s actually a 3rd line forward, he does still have arguably the best shot on the team, when he gets the chance to use it.  Beyond that, it was not a good night for the “Old Core” with Hall getting one shot and Eberle 2 shots on net, compared to 4 by Yakupov, 4 by Draisatl and 4 by McDavid.  At least in the team’s defense, Kuemper was stellar tonight with a .939 save percentage, and the Oilers did out-shoot Minnesota and were, arguably, the better team, except when they were required to defend the puck…

This takes us to the defense who, once again, were solid on the left side and terrifying down the right.  You can see this in the fact the coaching staff had Fayne (14:18), Schultz (19:38) and Clendening (15:53) all under 20 minutes played for the first time in ages.  Minnesota was able to feast continually on the powerplay and it showed.  It also didn’t help that Talbot put up an .846 save percentage.  The Oilers really do need to find a backup who can step in once in a while, maybe it’s LB, or maybe it’s time to find a veteran backup.

Avalanche 3 – Edmonton 2

Oh, to have a defenseman who can score.  On a night where Tyson Barrie put 7 shots on goal and scored twice (Yes, 7, I double checked, some defensemen apparently can not only shoot, but hit the net), you realize how much the Oilers need this component.  Once again McDavid managed to record a point, but Pouliot was the only player on the roster to get 4 or more shots on net (and the only goal for that matter).  On Defense, once again the right-side all logged under 20 minutes each, with Fayne (15:13), Schultz (19:15), and Nikitin (13:41 while attempting to impersonate an overmatched Edmonton RHD, and succeeding) in his recall.

And once again Talbot finished under .900, making it 3-for-3 with a save percentage under .900…  At least the week is over..

Thoughts over a Pint

  • Hall and Draisaitl work well together, but a player like Puljujarvi who has size, speed, and defensive ability who could hold the puck in for them would look oh so nice here. It still makes me wonder why they don’t give Kassian a shot here (since he is a RW), at least he can keep up and would provide a physical edge;
  • The McDavid show is consistent lately at getting that one point a game, and it looks like Eberle’s trying harder, but they shouldn’t be shouldering any of the defensive load yet;
  • Mark Letestu, bless his heart, is not a 3C. He was signed to be our new 4C in place of Gordon, but for some reason they keep feeding him powerplay time and more minutes than he should get. For next season, here’s hoping he’s back logging 4th line minutes and whether it’s RNH or someone else, the Oilers need a quality 3C who can handle defensive duties, win a faceoff and still chip in points;
  • I like Cam Talbot, I think he might be a starter, but the Oilers can’t take two gambles in net at the same time. You don’t bring in a pair of younger backups every year and roll the dice, or prospects, or European gambles. You either have a guaranteed starter (Price, Lundqvist) where you can try out a prospect backup knowing your starter can eat minutes, or you back up your new gamble with a quality backup who’s logged heavy time in the league (Neuvirth, Montoya, Griess, Khudobin all come to mind). Giving Talbot a guy like that next season would be better than letting LB come up in the spot;
  • Ok, finding a right-handed defenseman is hard. Other teams realize that also, and settle for putting their best defensemen on the ice together and living with the fact some of them aren’t right-handed. Once Klefbom is back, the top 4 defenseman are Klefbom, Sekera, Davidson, Nurse, then Gryba. In the minors, the best defensemen to bring up are probably Oesterle, then Reinhart, then LaLeggia. So, in that vein, Klefbom-Davidson might as well be our new top pairing for now, with Nurse-Sekera as the second pairing, and then Oesterle-Gryba as our third pairing. Yes, there’s only one true right-hand D in the mix, yes, it’s not optimal, and yes, we’d probably do better icing the best players over worrying about what hand they use (I prefer lefties and righties together too, but..)

So that’s your Edmonton Oilers weekly review! I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are on the week that was for our boys in orange and blue!

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oilers Post Game Report, NHL

BLH Post Gamer G34 Oilers VS Avalanche: Nikitin-Jultzed

That’s exactly how tonight’s game felt like.

*Please excuse some of the language in the post tonight. I tend to prefer the use of colorful language to the throwing of TV remotes through the TV.*

All I could do was chuckle when Colorado scored their first goal. I knew it was Jultz that was burned and I also knew that the rest of the game would be me tweeting about how much of tire fire he is. I’d love to have been in the meeting between Chiarelli and McLellan where they discussed the possibility of a Justin Schultz/Nikita Nikitin Pairing. By the way the team is deploying the two everyone must’ve been breaking out the champagne and cigars.

The Burger Baron summed it up perfectly tonight…

BB you say what we’re all thinking and there’s honor in that.

But why IS Justin Schultz on this team year after year? Every coach has utilized him in the same way resulting in the same disappointments. If the team is showcasing him, Jultz isn’t doing anybody any favours. I was wondering at what point is Brad Hunt a better option than Schultz? Surely Reinhart or Fayne would be better, no?

The replies…

@TheAndyBabic: over hyping?
@tsn75: being careful what you wish for.
@VicL011: making bad GM decisions.
@GoopyFunSeeker: A very generous organization giving him 4 years to prove himself and getting nothing in return.

There were quite a few entries but the gist of it was more or less agreeing with my eye’s assessment of Jultz’s performance.

With that said, Schultz did come out of this game with the best Corsi +/- (+17) and Fenwick +/- (+13) out of all the Oilers’ defensemen. So there is that… I’ll conclude with this: There’s no way that Schultz get’s anything close to what he’s being paid now by the Oilers this summer. There are and will be better options by the time July 1st rolls around and I would not lose an ounce of sleep if the Oilers walked away from Justin Schultz.

Oilers were outplaying the Avs all night long. Where was the defence and goaltending?

Taylor Hall’s line was balling throughout the whole game. 4/29/16 were responsible for 17 shots on the evening! If not for Varlamov this game would’ve been over in the first period. Edmonton outshot the Avalanche 40-29 but just couldn’t get more than one to beat the Russian.

Not a night to remember for Anders the Giant. Photo Courtesy of Doug Pensinger.

Not leaving out Nuge’s line but I found them less prevalent. Eberle had 1 shot on net and Nuge was a -3. Pouliot’s return was pleasing though. He had one or two really nice chances to score. His size is very much welcome on the RNH line but I’m not sure the coach was happy with his offensive zone penalty…

If nobody is going to fight Gazdic why are we keeping him up? Yes, he’s a big body but he’s just lacking in the technical areas. Khaira is a better player all-round and performs the same duties. Just saying.

The line of John Mitchell, Jarome Iginla, and Alex Tanguay were the best with Girgorenko, McLeod, and Skille following them. I found that the rest of the Avs looked complacent. Also the Avalanche’s best d-pairing was Redmond and Guenin.

I suppose this is the Oilers getting a little bit of their own medicine after getting some hot goaltending during their 6-game winning streak.

If Cam Talbot was looking for a sign, this is it. Nilsson’s play has petered off considerably as of late and tonight was the cherry on top. The net goes back to Talbot just in time to play the Jets and then have a layoff… lol. As Lowetide always says, goalies are voodoo and the Oilers are no different.

Brennen York, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects

10 – Colorado Avalanche

With a mere 10 days remaining until Peter Chiarelli announces Connor McDavid’s name as the newest Oiler, I’ll take some time to look at the top 10 teams and their game plan heading into the draft.

The Colorado Avalanche do not necessarily have a plethora of young prospects in the pipeline, but by no means do they lack elite, young talent. In the past six or so years, the management core has assembled a unique group of forwards which includes the likes of Nathan Mackinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, and Ryan O’Reilly. The top 6, for the most part, is in place, however they could still use a right winger to play alongside future superstar Nathan Mackinnon. Where the Avs lack depth and upside is on the blue line. Sure, they would love to grab a guy like Noah Hanifin or Ivan Provorov, but that’s not happening without a bit of an overpayment. Luckily for the Avs, this draft is littered with solid defensive prospects after Provorov and Hanifin, which leads me to the most likely target for the Sakic and Co. University of Michigan defenceman Zach Werenski had a monster season this year, leading the Michigan blueline as a freshman. He also chipped in an impressive 25 points, and played a big role on the USA World Junior squad. With Barrie and Johnson locking down the right side, a future with Bigras and Werenski patrolling the left side may mean a deadly top four in Denver. If, however, the likely scenario occurs in which Werenski is taken in the 6-9 range, the Avs will have a pile of forward prospects who are rype for the picking.

Draft Day Gameplan

– Use the 10 overall pick. If the big 3 D are gone, my list would have Rantanen at the top, followed by Meier, Zacha, and Crouse.

– Avoid any trade that involves bringing in Dion Phaneuf. There will surely be a lot of talk around bringing him in, but he’s a guy you don’t want around that young core.

– Address the lack of forward depth by drafting offensive minded players in rounds 3 and 4, such as Korostelev, Speers, Trenin, and Gagne

– Pick 40 has to be solid. I’d avoid centers, but BPA is never a bad option. Keep an eye on Fischer, Dunn, and Senyshyn.

All in all, I would avoid making any major deals unless you’re bringing in a defenceman in the Josi/OEL stratosphere.

Avs Big Board (Without McEichel)

1. Noah Hanifin

2. Mitchell Marner

3. Ivan Provorov

4. Dylan Strome

5. Zach Werenski

6. Mikko Rantanen

7. Timo Meier

8. Pavel Zacha

9. Lawson Crouse

10. Yevgeni Svechnikov

Who do they take?

I find it unlikely that Werenski and Rantanen will remain, so you have to look at Timo Meier and Pavel Zacha. If it comes down to that, Pavel Zacha is the guy.

Darkhorse pick?

The Colorado Avalanche are in a spot where they could reach a bit, but if I’m choosing a true dark horse in this spot, it would be Jacob Larsson.