Tag Archives: Darnell Nurse

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Edmonton Oilers Trade Deadline 2020: Insiders Say It Could Be A Quiet One

Yesterday on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer, noted hockey man and NHL insider John Shannon spoke with the host about the Edmonton Oilers’ possible future plans for newly-signed defender Darnell Nurse and the trade deadline this year.

On Nurse

This (new contract) also makes Darnell Nurse a much more attractive commodity if the Oilers are forced to trade him. If, this summer, at some point they feel that in order to get the right bodies back that Darnell could be part of the package if you can guarantee the guys you’re trading with you give him two years, that’s a bonus. 

That’s very interesting and says to me that the idea of moving on from Nurse is on the table. Even more interesting was Stauffer’s response to this,

Sometimes you’ve got to let go of guys you like. 

Stauffer is a smart hockey guy with his ear to the ground and if he didn’t think that this was a reality, he would’ve said something contrary to that.

More Nurse Talk

When you look at his approach to the game you want to know at times, why isn’t he more dominating? And that’s something that I’m sure Dave Tippett and Jim Playfair will happily work with for the next couple of years.

The other obvious one to say there, Bob, is that when you look at the strength of the Oilers farm system there are a couple of pretty good defencemen down there and when you think about cap issues and you talk about players on entry-level deals or lesser deals than what Darnell is making or is going to make in two years; then you have-, it’s not fun but that 10% chance that you talked about in the future, you at least have to talk about it.

Shannon asks a very fair question there. Why isn’t Darnell more dominating. He’s got the tools to be an absolute wrecking ball on the back end and he is one of the league’s top-scoring defenders 5×5 over the last two years. This is a player that should much more noticeable for his strengths than his weaknesses.

The Trade Deadline

There’s two options, I think it’s either that they need a third-line center or do they need somebody else for Connor. And just as importantly, I think that this is the part that Ken Holland is struggling with, as he starts his time in Edmonton; what’s he prepared to give up? What does he really want to give up? Do you want to give up picks?

I, for one, everybody talks about you don’t wanna give up your first but you’re prepared to move a second. I’ll tell you what, the success rate of second round picks in the NHL is pretty high and if you have confidence in your scouting staff, I’m not sure you want to get rid of a second round pick. 

So we can sit here and talk about do they need another scorer for Connor? Yes. Do they need a defensive center or a third-line center? Maybe. But I’m not sure I’m prepared to give anything up. So perhaps Kenny is in one of those scenarios where unless he knows he’s got a bonafide player that he’s prepared to sacrifice something off this roster, I’m not sure he does very much. 

Stauffer replied,

I tend to concur with you. I’m not even sure- I think we both know Puljujarvi’s going to get traded at some point.

Bob and John go on to talk about how Jesse won’t be an Edmonton Oiler past the draft in Montreal this summer.

Where I was going to go with this, you talked about the left shot options and we know Broberg is at some point going to play in Edmonton whether it’s two years from now, a year from now, time will tell… There’s another left-shot defenceman, Dmitri Samorukov, who’s playing for Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson. I’m not even sure I’d move him. 

Shannon’s comments on Dima,

Let’s face it. Samorukov got off to a slow start in Bakersfield this year. Lots of people were disappointed in the way he played in October and November in the AHL. But it was a similar start he had when he went to Guelph (OHL). Once he got the grasp of it- remember last year’s OHL playoffs, Bob. Samorukov was better than Bouchard. He was better than Bouchard. Samorukov has HUGE upside. I wouldn’t not be anywhere near touching him if I was the Edmonton Oilers unless, again, as I said, they’re getting somebody bonafide back

Just as I was saying on Twitter yesterday evening, any GM calling the Oilers asking for Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg, Dmitri Samorukov, and/or their 1st rounder won’t be talking trade for very long. Those players are off of the table and deemed untouchable at this point right now.

Shannon went on to say that Ken Holland is here for the long run and there’s no way he will be mortgaging the future just for one playoff run.

You can check out the full segment here.

Random Oilers Thoughts

  • Tyler Benson wasn’t going to get a lot of time in Edmonton and anybody that’s been watching him this year knows that there was little to no chance he was going to get any time in Edmonton’s top-6. He simply doesn’t have the wheels and a brutally honest fact might be that he may never have them. But that doesn’t mean there’s no future in the NHL for him because he has other skills that are NHL-caliber.
  • I love the Nurse contract and I’m not worried one iota that it walks him to free agency. I do think that what we see today is probably what he is as a defender though and not to expect much more in terms of dynamic growth. He’ll play an important role for Edmonton as they develop the Samorukovs and the Brobergs.
  • Does anybody else simply not trust the Oilers’ with injury releases since McDavid blew out his knee? Coach Tippett told us after the game that it WASN’T the same knee that was bruised and then we learned yesterday that it WAS the same knee… Is it even bruised? Now we’re forced to simply wait to find out. Maybe Sportsnet will make another documentary on it…

*EDIT* I knew it… Just announced. Connor is out 2-3 weeks with a “quadricep” injury and he could miss up to seven games (CHI, TB, FLA, CAR, BOS, MIN, LAK). Is it even a quad injury? Why would he need to go all the way back to Toronto to have that looked at? You know those times when the media guy says, “We’re going to see what this team is made of now.”, this is one of those times. 

  • I read somebody comment that Jesse Puljujarvi has the potential to be another Andre Burakovsky and I think that’s a fair comparison for potential. I feel like the Oilers are going to look for a deal similar to the one that saw the Coyotes send Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini to Chicago for Nick Schmaltz, but who could that be? Andreas Athanasiou? Josh Anderson? Kasperi Kapanen? Alex Tuch? or what about Nolan Patrick?
  • Speaking of Kasperi Kapanen, his name and that of Connor Brown’s is still coming up in the rumor mill connected to the Oilers. I was told that Edmonton probably won’t go big game hunting this year but with McDavid’s injury coming at such a timely date you have to wonder if the plan has changed?
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Edmonton Oilers: Did the Blue Jackets Just Do Ken Holland A Massive Favour?

News out of Columbus today is that one of their star defenders, Zach Werenski, has re-signed with the team for the next three years at $5M per year. I think this is massive for the Oilers in that they will soon have a young restricted free agent of their own that will need a new contract. His name is Darnell Nurse.

If you’ve been following along this summer you’ll probably already be aware that I do not believe that the defender should be getting paid more than $6.5M per year on a new contract. He doesn’t bring enough offense to the table and to be honest, his defense is still lacking a bit at this point.

I wrote about it in detail here.

So when I saw Werenski had signed for $5M a year the first thing I thought was…

Then I remembered this quote from Nurse’s agent from a couple of seasons ago when the Oilers were in negotiations for what turned out to be the bridge deal he’s currently on.

“If they’ve got $5 million in cap space (now), it’s not going to be a long-term deal,” said Thun. (source)

At the time, the Oilers defenceman was coming off of his ELC so you can understand why going from an 863k cap hit to one that was more than $5M per year long-term was a bit insane. Especially given his career-high in points was 26.

Fast forward to today, Nurse is on the last year of a contract that will pay him $3.2M this year. No doubt at the beginning of the summer he was looking at the Jacob Trouba $8M/yr deal and licking his chops, but now that we’re seeing his peers signing for smaller cap hits, I wonder what he’ll do?

Look at these comparables:

  • Ryan Murray, CLB (25 yrs old) – 2yrs @ $4.6M cap hit per year. Signed in 2019
  • Will Butcher, NJ (24 yrs old) – 3yrs @ $3.73M cap hit per year. Signed in 2019
  • Noah Hanifin, CGY (21 yrs old) – 6yrs @ $4.95M cap hit per year. Signed in 2018
  • Tyson Barrie, COL (24 yrs old) – 4yrs @ $5.5M cap hit per year. Signed in 2016
  • Josh Manson, ANH (26 yrs old) – 4yrs @ $4.1M cap hit per year. Signed in 2017
  • Samuel Girard, COL (22 yrs old) – 7yrs @ $5M cap hit per year. Signed in 2019
  • Matt Dumba, MIN (23 yrs old) – 5yrs @ $6M cap hit per year. Signed in 2018
  • Brady Skjei, NYR (24 yrs old) – 6yrs @ $5.25M cap hit per year. Signed in 2018
  • Hampus Lindholm, ANH (22yrs old) – 6yrs @ $5.25M cap hit per year. Signed in 2016
  • Colton Parayko, STL (24 yrs old) – 5yrs @ $5.5M cap hit per year. Signed in 2017
  • Esa Lindell, DAL (25 yrs old) – 6yrs @ $5.8M cap hit per year. Signed in 2019
  • Shea Theodore, VGK (22 yrs old) – 7yrs @ $5.2M cap hit per year. Signed in 2018
  • Damon Severson, NJ (22yrs old) – 6yrs @ $4.166M cap hit per year. Signed in 2017

There’s NO WAY the Oilers can justify signing Nurse to anything more than $5M. Look at the players on this list that are considered offensive defenders like Barrie, Dumba, and Girard. The ceiling is six million dollars!

Without digging into the analytics, I would consider Nurse to be a solid two-way defender and by using the list above I’d say he falls into the same bucket as the Ryan Murrays and Josh Mansons of the world and they’re barely above four million dollars a year…

Anton Thun is going to have a helluva battle on his hands if he thinks he’s getting Trouba dollars for Darnell… He just doesn’t bring enough offense yet and if Jim Playfair’s word can be trusted (Playfair has been saying that he wants to put Nurse and Adam Larsson together to form a shutdown pairing), I think we might’ve seen the last of Mr. Nurse on the Oilers PP. So there go those cherry secondary points that he conjured up last year and it makes sense to do that with him. Edmonton has Joel Persson, Oscar Klefbom, Caleb Jones, Ethan Bear, and Evan Bouchard that they could use who are MUCH better with the puck on the PP than Nurse.

Now we wait to see what Ivan Provorov, Brandon Carlo, and Charlie McAvoy get, right? If they fall in around the same money as Werenski, that should seal the deal for Nurse. If he’s smart, he signs on the cheap and allows Ken Holland to work his magic with as much financial leash as possible.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

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Edmonton Oilers: Should Oilers Fans Even Bother With the 2019/20 Season?

Most years I’m chomping at the bit for the Oilers season to get going but for some reason, I’ve got very little to be excited about this year. That’s kinda weird, right? Given Edmonton has the best duo in the world in McDavid and Draisaitl as well as the acquisition of James Neal, you’d think there’d be more reason to be jacked up. But I’m not. In fact, I’m thinking about just being a casual follower this year and perhaps focusing my efforts on Bakersfield and the draft (the first round is so f*cking good this year).

To compound the dark cloud hovering over me, I’ve got a strange feeling that McDavid’s knee was a lot worse than previously thought or it’s not healing as fast as the doctors had previously anticipated it would. I’m going to go as far as saying that I think he won’t lead his own team in scoring let alone the NHL. I think that honor will go to Leon Draisaitl.

The impression I’m getting from my sources, what Ken Holland has been preaching and with his actions over the last couple of months, is that this is a transition year. Just look at how he’s been signing players this summer, mostly to one or two-year deals. He’s doing his best to improve the penalty kill and the Oilers’ bottom-six on the short term with one move that has a chance at improving the top-6.

Looking at the roster as it currently stands, does it really have your heart racing?

Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian
Nygard-RNH-Neal
Granlund–Haas–Archibald
Khaira-Gagner-Chiasson
Cave, Jurco

I suppose there’s a little bit of intrigue when it comes to Nygard and Haas… But nothing to get hard over. I don’t think Brodziak makes it this year. It might make more sense to send him to Ference Island or to Bakersfield. No kids from the Condors either. One more year of marination and domination in the AHL.

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Benning
Russell-Persson
Lagesson

I’m still adamant that Jones/Bear will be running the show in Bakersfield and I think that’s the right thing to do. There’s no sense in having them up in Edmonton sitting in the press box when they could be getting 20-22 minutes a night for the Condors.

Koskinen
Smith

How will Mike Smith’s puckhandling ability impact the opposition’s zone entries and his team’s exits?

Isn’t it obvious, he’s going to go for broke in the summer of 2020 when the UFA class could be staggering.

  • Taylor Hall
  • Alex Pietrangelo
  • Niklas Backstrom
  • Braden Holtby
  • Mikael Granlund
  • Tyson Barrie
  • Justin Schultz
  • Torey Krug
  • Mike Hoffman
  • Jared Spurgeon
  • Brayden Schenn
  • Robin Lehner
  • Alex Galchenyuk
  • Chris Kreider
  • Tyler Toffoli
  • Evgeni Dadonov

There are a shite ton more but these are the cream of the crop.

Ken Holland, with enough cap room, could add a proper difference-making player to each forward line, defensive pair, and in the net, if he so chooses to and in a single off-season no less. The Oilers would be contenders not just for the playoffs, but the Stanley Cup!

Look at the projected roster for 2020-21

Draisaitl-McDavid-Neal
XXX-RNH-XXX
XXX-XXX-XXX
XXX-Khaira-Chiasson
XXX-XXX

Klefbom-Larsson
Russell-Bouchard
Samorukov-XXX
XXX

Koskinen
XXX

Now, by then, the likes of Marody, Yamamoto, Benson, McLeod, Maksimov, Safin, or Gambardella might be off the farm and playing for the Oilers, but I have to say only Benson and maybe Yamamoto have a real shot. If Marody’s skating has improved immensely by then, he could be an addition, but I don’t get the feeling that’s something he’s concerned about. As for Gambardella, his skating also concerns me and he’s aging out, to be honest.

One wildcard addition to the team in 2020 could be that of Jesse Puljujarvi. If the team doesn’t trade him and he has an excellent season, surely it’d be incumbent on both parties to re-visit a conversation themed around Pulju coming back to Edmonton. He’d be 22 years old and on a cheap contract, possibly only one or two years long too.

So what would that forward group look like if we threw in some free agents and prospects?

Draisaitl-McDavid-Neal
Hall-RNH-Puljujarvi
Benson–Pageau–Karlsson
Watson-Khaira-Chiasson
Carr–Yamamoto

So how much do you think it would cost to sign Jesse Puljujarvi, Taylor Hall, JG Pageau, Melker Karlsson, Austin Watson, and Daniel Carr? $18M-$20M? I’ve got Hall taking under $10M, Pageau asking for over $4M but under $5M, Puljujarvi taking $1M-$2M, Karlsson around $2M-$2.5M, and Watson/Carr

If the cap stays the same, the Oilers might have around $25M to play with, that’s not too bad. It won’t leave them with a lot to help the defense though. As usual, I’m most likely blue-skying this… #Wishin’

The defense in 2020 is an interesting conundrum. Darnell Nurse is coming along nicely and he’d be great on the 2nd pair as the clean-up man with a mobile right-shot defender who can move the puck. A player like Tyson Barrie or Jared Spurgeon would be ideal in my opinion. But this is predicated upon Doc signing a team-friendly contract and I don’t think that’s going to happen. Add to that the impression I’m getting from sources close to the team that Nurse could be trade bait if his ask is too high. He’s not going to have a lot of leverage with the crop of talented defenders coming out of Bakersfield and Sweden…

Bob Stauffer (Oilers PxP colorman) said not too long ago that the Oilers are going to have a “mechanism” to open up salary next summer. Is that a buyout in Kris Russell’s case? Not much savings in 2020/21 ($1M) but the next season they’re only paying 500k and that’s the year that the salary cap is expected to spike. I reckon just sending him to the minors would be a better move as it costs them only $2.5M to put him there as opposed to spending $3.5M over two years on a buyout. That or trade him…

However the Oilers choose to open up the cap space, there is going to be a push to have younger players overperforming on their ELC contracts but they do have to be careful of who they play and how much they play him as the expansion draft for the new Seattle franchise will be in the summer or 2021. They could play their cards right and give someone 35 games in each season and then leave him exposed. Say William Lagesson?

How does their defense look if updated in 2020? Maybe Nurse signs a friendly contract (that is easily traded down the road) but Russell is traded for picks.

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Spurgeon
Lagesson-Bouchard
Samorukov

I think William Lagesson would cost the Oilers less than what Matt Benning is being paid right now. So that would put the gritty Swede at around $1M-$1.5M. But Jared Spurgeon is a whole other bucket of balls. He’s going to be around $7M or $8M. So how do you fit that in with only $5M or less in space available?

You have to ask yourself if it came down to JG Pageau and Jared Spurgeon, who would you sign? The local lad or the guy that will anchor your 3rd line and PK for the foreseeable future? Or possibly forget about Pulju coming back, would you be comfortable filling the hole on right-wing internally with one of Kiril Maksimov of Kailer Yamamoto? Would Raphael Lavoie be ready by then?

As for the goalies, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Oilers found a way to move Koskinen on and have a completely different tandem in net for the season after this upcoming one. Maybe one of those is Shane Starrett? He’s definitely paid his dues.

Anyways, I think you get the point of that exercise. Holland is gearing up for a big swing but not this season. He’s going to watch a few pitches go by this season before digging in and hittin’ that dinger in 2020/21.

THE 2020 NHL ENTRY DRAFT

Another reason for the Oilers to just ice a sub-par team is the 2020 NHL entry draft. This might be one of the best drafts in NHL history. The battle for first overall today is looking like it belongs to Rimouski winger Alexis Lafreniere, but I’m here to tell you that it could go as deep as four or five players.

  • Quinton Byfield – C – (Sudbury) – The 6’5″ centre reminds me of Rick Nash with his size, skating, and soft hands. He’s also one of the youngest players in the draft…
  • Lucas Raymond – RW – (Frolunda) – If you’re a fan of Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, you’ll love this crafty winger!
  • Anton Lundell – C – (HIFK) – Being called the next Barkov. Highly intelligent two-way centre.

I’d add possibly the purest goal-scorer in the draft, Swedish winger Alexander Holtz (Djurgarden), and the next great Russian~ neh! NHL goalie Yaro Askarov (SKA) to that list of players who could challenge Lafreniere. It’ll all depend on the Oceanic winger’s season really. If he slips one bit, those players I mentioned above are poised to pounce.

Even if they didn’t wind up with a top-5 pick in the draft, there’s literally a great player at every position for them to select should they miss the playoffs.

  • Cole Perfetti – C – (Saginaw) – Will rival Holtz as purest goal-scoring forward available.
  • Dylan Holloway – LW – (Wisconsin) – As balanced-a-player as you’re going to get. AJHL MVP as a 17-year-old last year.
  • Noel Gunler – RW – (Lulea) – Talented sniper but comes with concerns re attitude.
  • Hendrix Lapierre – C – (Chicoutimi) – The silkiest of hands and one of the best playmakers in the draft. Elite vision.
  • Kaiden Guhle – D – (Prince George) – Hard-nosed defender that can skate and make a play.
  • Jamie Drysdale – D – (Erie) – A fantastic skater, maybe best skating defender in 2020. Very smart, poised, and confident with the puck.
  • Justin Barron – D – (Halifax) – Built in the Thomas Chabot/Shea Theodore molding. Might be better.
  • Rodion Amirov – LW – (Tolpar) – Another flashy Russian you don’t say? He scores in bunches too.
  • Tim Stutzle – C – (Adler) – Outstanding shooter. Quite dynamic.  Very fast with great edges.
  • Marco Rossi – C – (Ottawa) – Short, stocky, and very strong. Very effective down low. Great shooter. Excellent two-way game.
  • Kasper Simontaival – RW – (Tappara) -Quick, deadly release, high-octane offensive skill.

There is SO MUCH (small) skill available in 2020. You can’t tell me the Oilers couldn’t do with one more high-end pick… My feeling is that they need to focus their attention on the centres slated to go in the first round. They don’t really have any high-end pivots in the system, do they? I mean centres who are projected to be top-6 players.

So Oilers fans, what do you think? Is there much to watch for this year or should you hold off, like the Oilers are poised to, until 2020/21?

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Edmonton Oilers: BLH’s All-Decade Oilers Teams + Why the Brassard Deal Fell Through

By the time Chris Johnston reported the Edmonton Oilers were out of the “Derick Brassard Sweepstakes” I had read no fewer than three tweets from reputable sources that he was on his way to Edmonton.

  • Georges Laraque – Former Oiler and Radio Host in Montreal
  • Kevin Weekes – Former NHL Goalie and Hockey Analyst for ESPN, NHL Network, and NHL.com
  • Dan Kingerski – NHL Home Ice and Sportsnet Hockey Tonight, www.pittsburghhockeynow.com

Nobody said anything when those gentlemen sent their tweets out. The Edmonton media might’ve still been trying to figure out Google Translate maybe. It’s hard, I know.

Then early yesterday morning all of a sudden it was BAM-BAM-BAM. Jim Matheson (Edmonton Journal/Sun) sends a tweet out, then Kurt Leavins (Cult of Hockey), and then Bob Stauffer (Oilers play by play). All really close to each other.

(That’s a pretty good indicator that all three of those fellas talked to the same source by the way…)

Anyways, not long after the three musketeers put their info out, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston sent his tweet out saying that the Oilers were out and then shortly thereafter Andrew Gross (Isles beat writer) said that the Islanders would be picking him up.

At the end of the day, I do believe Edmonton was VERY close to signing him, hence the silence from the Edmonton media, but the deal hinged on another offer. So the Islanders upped their ante, Brassard signs in Long Island for the year at $1.2M and he adds another Eastern Conference clubs to his name (PIT, NYR, FLA, OTT). I couldn’t be happier for it as he was absolutely horrid last season and there’s no indication that he’s going to get any better. Good looking kid though, I hope he proves me wrong. As it is, he would’ve been surplus to requirements in Edmonton and the Oilers need that cap room.

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BLH’s All-Decade Oilers Teams

Over at ESPN they are doing some fun “All-Decade” stuff and I thought that I’d like to do something like that as well. So I’m going to give you my first and second All-Decade Edmonton Oilers teams.

(I’m going with traditional lefty/righty on defense by the way.)

First Team

LW – Leon Draisaitl: 351gp 125g 187a 312pts
C – Connor McDavid: 287gp 128g 244a 372pts
RW – Jordan Eberle: 507gp 165g 217a 382pts
LD – Oscar Klefbom: 316gp 29g 93a 122pts
RD – Justin Schultz: 248gp 28g 73a 101pts
G – Cam Talbot: 227gp 104w 95l 912sv% 2.74gaa

I know what you’re thinking… “Where’s Taylor Hall?”

Well, as far as I’m concerned, Leon Draisaitl has meant more to the Oilers during this decade than Taylor Hall. From a statistical POV, they’re quite similar. Hall scored 328pts in 381 games and Leon has scored 312pts in 351 games. I simply give the edge to Leon because he’s done it from two positions. Plus, let’s be honest here, Draisaitl can play with McDavid, whereas Taylor couldn’t.

I don’t think we can argue McDavid, Eberle, and Klefbom being on the first team. They’ve definitely been the best Oilers at those positions over the decade. Maybe health plays a factor with Klefbom but even then, when he’s gone out with injury, the team has fallen apart without him. He’s a minute-munching animal that really has no equal in this exercise.

Some of you might be wondering about Darnell Nurse as opposed to Justin Schultz but once again, if we go to the stat sheet, Jultz was head and shoulders (and always will be) better than Doc offensively. Was he a tire fire in his own end? Yes, of epic proportions, but the Oilers have missed his puck-moving abilities more than ever since they dealt him to Pittsburgh.

It’s Talbot over Dubnyk between the pipes easily. 12 shutouts in 227 games vs. 8 for Dubie? The gap isn’t substantial but without Talbot, the Oilers would’ve never gotten close to the playoffs when they made it.

Second Team

LW – Taylor Hall: 381gp 132g 196a 328pts
C – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 539gp 147g 235a 382pts
RW – Dustin Penner: 144gp 53g 49a 102pts
LD – Ryan Whitney: 139gp 12g 49a 71pts
RD – Jeff Petry: 295gp 17g 57a 74pts
G – Devan Dubnyk: 171gp 61w 76l .910sv% 2.88gaa

Hall, Nuge, and Dubnyk are locks here, but the debate starts everywhere else. Unless you want to argue that David Perron should be in over Hall or Sam Gagner deserves to be there instead of Nugent-Hopkins. I don’t think there’s anyone out there that would have Khabibulin or Scrivens over Dubnyk, right?

Dustin Penner comes in ahead of Ales Hemsky and Nail Yakupov because I feel like he was a better player and a more effective one than Hemmer or Yak. He had similar goal totals (53) but he did it in a much shorter time frame (144 games).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itCUA_usE5U

On defense, I went with Ryan Whitney over Darnell Nurse because Whits was simply the better defenseman plus he could make a pass. Whitney scored nearly as many points as Nurse did in about 140 games less. It’s too bad for that bum ankle but his 0.51 pts/game is the best amongst all Oilers defenders in that decade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkpb6d1SagM

As for right-defense, it’s Jeff Petry all day for me. I considered Andrej Sekera here but since I’m going the traditional righty/lefty pairings, I can’t use him. Jeff Petry was a massive talent for the Oilers before they sent him packing to Montreal. He was big, physical, could shoot the pill, make a pass and he was consistent. Petry played nearly 300 games for the Oilers in the last decade, but he, like many others before him and after, was a victim of circumstance. He’s shone for the Habs since he left and been a top defender for them.

Who is on your All-Decade Edmonton Oilers team? Let us know in the comments below!

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Edmonton Oilers: 2019 Hlinka/Gretzky Group A Preview + Thoughts on the Oilers Defense Past 2019

The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is set to kick off on August 5th and run until the 10th in Breclav, Czech Republic and Piestany, Slovakia. For those of you that are new to the competition, it’s basically the world’s best under-18 players going head-to-head. Canada has won 22 of the last 28 contests and are looking to repeat as champions after winning last year’s edition of the tournament that was played in Edmonton and Red Deer.

Today’s Group A preview comes to us from the mind of Max L. (@TPEHockey)

Canada:
The Canadians are an early favorite to run away with this tournament due to their combination of high-end talent and depth. They occupied 5/10 of the top 10 scorers at the U17s last year. The team will be without 2020’s top prospect in Alexis Lafreniére due to him being a late 2001 born player rather than 2002. Nonetheless, the team has plenty of high-end talent, and anything less than a gold medal is a failure for this squad.

In net, the Canadians have various options. The go-to guy will likely be Dylan Garand of the Kamloops Blazers who has a strong 16-year-old season with the team. They also have Tristan Lennox who is a late birthday eligible for the 2021 draft. Their defense is where it gets crazy. Canada has 4 or 5 first-round talents on their blueline including Jamie Drysdale, Jeremie Poirier, Kaiden Guhle, and Lukas Cormier. With the prominence of their blue line, Canada doesn’t lack forwards either. The consensus #2 guy for the 2020 draft, Quinton Byfield, will play for the team. The 6’5” monster dominates with his ridiculous skating ability and high-end skill set. Other potential 1st rounders include Cole Perfetti, Connor McClennon, Hendrix Lapierre, Jack Neighbors, and Theo Rochette.

Finland:
The Finns have been a dominant force in hockey as of late, but this year may be a little different. Their 2002 born and 2020 draft class lacks a ton of talent, but there is hope. They’ll be without consensus top 5 prospect Anton Lundell due to him being a late 01 which is a huge hit to their roster. Finland has a chance at competing for a medal, but they’ll likely be steamrolled by a team like Canada. Although they could be a very exciting team.

The team features a few stars that will come up in later drafts that everyone should have an eye on. Underaged Brad Lambert will likely make this team and he is nothing short of phenomenal. He is one of the best upcoming Finnish players we’ve ever seen, but not eligible until 2022. Lambert has far exceeded the benchmark put up by a player like Kaapo Kakko at the same age. Aatu Räty is also a top player as he’s the #1 prospect for the 2021 draft. Other players to look out for are Veeti Miettinen, Valterri Karnaranta, Roni Hirvonen, and Kasper Puutio.

Czech Republic:
Czech hockey has seemed to be getting weaker as of late and the trend may continue. There isn’t much to be expected from this team, but there are a few good players.

In net Jan Bednar and Jakub Malek will compete for the starting job. Both are top prospects for 2020. On defense, we can expect to see Stanislav Svozil who is a 1st round prospect for the 2021 draft. The only real forward of note is Jan Mysak. Mysak could compete for a top 10 root in the 2020 draft after his time in the Czech pros as a 16-year-old. He had a remarkable playoff run with HC Litvinov where he scored 5 goals and 4 assists in 6 professional hockey games at 16.

Switzerland:
The Swiss team this year won’t be fun to watch. With only one real prospect they don’t stand a chance. They lost dual citizen Theo Rochette to Canada, a huge hit to the program. Their only guy to watch is Noah Delemont who served as an assistant captain for Switzerland at the U18s.

The Group B preview written by Keith Fries (@keithfries) will be posted tomorrow as well as a little rumor on the Oilers search for their third-line center.

The Oilers Defence Past 2019/20

Earlier this week I tweeted out a video of Darnell Nurse fluffing a 10ft pass and it caused a bit of an uproar amongst some of his biggest fans. My point was, and has been for some time, that even though he’s a tough son of a bitch and he can skate like the wind (when there’s an open lane), his decision making, IQ, and passing isn’t up to snuff for a player who is looking at Jacob Trouba’s new $8M per year deal as his own deal is expiring after this season.

Personally, I think his numbers are propped up by playing most of his career TOI with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. At least over the previous three seasons, it looks that way,

  • Connor McDavid – 1583:55 min
  • Leon Draisaitl – 1517:54 min
  • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – 1275:37

Who are the three guys who stand at the blueline during warm-ups each game again?

And don’t ask me why Todd McLellan, for the most part, and Ken Hitchcock, to a lesser degree, decided to do this. It’s obvious that Nurse was a drag on the team’s best forwards. Here are his possession metrics in all strengths With/Without/Player without Nurse during the same three seasons,

  • McDavid: 53.09%/44.25%/58.18%
  • Draisaitl: 52.09%/44.87%/57.85%
  • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 48.31%/47.13%/52.50%

Stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.

For a game where the defensemen are evolving every year, it’s just not a good look on a defender who can’t move the puck without having to take it himself, to have such poor metrics. And Look, Nurse isn’t the only one, he just happens to be the one that might be asking for the moon in his next deal. Sam Girard (COL) just signed a 7-yr deal with $5M per year and I think they compare quite well and think that’s the ideal AAV for Nurse to sign that would help not only the team going forward but possibly himself should he make it for 5 years and walk himself into free agency.

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So, when people tell me that you can’t move him because he was the team’s highest-scoring defender last year and he’s only 24 or that he’s the Oilers best blueliner, I think you have to look into those 40+ points he got last year and realize that approximately 25% of them came on the PP, which isn’t a bad thing but he probably wouldn’t have gotten them had Klefbom (or Sekera) stayed healthy. Also, his secondary points (19) nearly match his primary (22) and his SH% almost doubled from the season prior (3.09% to 5.10%).

Getting back to the powerplay for a moment, do you think that Nurse will be playing a lot of minutes with the man advantage with Joel Persson and Caleb Jones most likely making the team next season? And what about that when Evan Bouchard is on the team?

My argument isn’t that Nurse is a bad player even though I’m presenting some pretty damning evidence that doesn’t really speak to the pluses of his game. I’m saying he’s not worth what Trouba makes right now and he’s never been an offensive defender.

I want Darnell Nurse to be the next Chris Pronger, but as weird as it sounds, he’s not as mean as Pronger was. He looks it when it’s time to throw down, but Pronger was as dirty as he was mean. Could Darnell be like that? Absolutely and I’d love to see it.

What I truly desire for Nurse is for him to embrace the shutdown role. Really dig in on being amazing defensively for this team so that they can pair him with a righty who needs a clean-up man in order to be the best player he can be for the Oilers. But in order to do that, he can be doing things like this,

If you think that the Oilers would have a gaping hole in the toughness department without Darnell, you need to watch a bit more of William Lagesson. This guy is as tough as nails plus he can skate and pass the puck and I think if I’m being honest, his progression is part of the reason I think I feel comfortable with the idea of moving Nurse.

Tying all of that in with the title of this portion of the post, IF Anton Thun decides he’s going to be brave with Holland like he was with Chiarelli, I don’t think it’s going to end up well. In addition to that, we’ve heard from pundits covering the team that this group of defensemen could be getting a facelift. Now whether that comes internally or externally, my belief is that the Oilers are looking for better puck-movers and more offense from the blueline.

After this season, I would project the defense to look something like this if Nurse re-signs,

Oscar Klefbom/Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse/Evan Bouchard
William Lagesson/Caleb Jones

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I do believe that this year will be the last time we see Kris Russell and Matt Benning in Oilers gear. Joel Persson is also a question mark past this upcoming campaign, so I didn’t include him.

If Nurse doesn’t re-sign and is moved, I think the defense would look like this,

Klefbom/Larsson
Lagesson/Bouchard
Jones/Bear

I know. It looks awfully green and it is, at the NHL level, but Lagesson, Jones, and Bear will have had multiple seasons of experience in the AHL and most likely games in the NHL too. Bouchard would have one full year (probably) and if Tyler Benson can get the push after one year, why not Old Man Bouchard? Can’t forget how Bouchard was the team’s best passer as a 19-year-old in his stint last year.

That group of defenders CAN move the puck extremely well and I’d be willing to bet that we’d soon forget about the toughness and puck-rushing that Nurse brings today not to mention the return on a trade for him would most likely net Edmonton a pretty good forward…

Let me reiterate this one more time, I don’t want Nurse traded. I want him to sign a team-friendly contract that pays him what he is worth long-term. But in the event that his camp is asking for too much money, I do believe the organization depth would give the Oilers the ability to field offers on the defenseman and allow them to upgrade the roster.

FYI: Almost 14 years to the day, Chris Pronger was traded to the Oilers for Eric Brewer, Jeff Wowitka, and Doug Lynch. The anniversary of that trade is very soon and I asked my followers on Twitter what the equivalent of that deal would look like today if we were using this roster? Would it be Nurse, Lagesson, and Bear for Victor Hedman? Let me know your idea in the comments below!

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