Tag Archives: Elliotte Friedman

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

2019 Edmonton Oilers GM47: Oilers @ Flames – 3P2W – TONS of Oilers Rumors Today!

The latest installment of the Battle of Alberta should be a beauty tonight. I will ask though, what kind of game are we going to be treated to by these two clubs? Might we get something that would remind us of the old days? Hits and fights galore with some scoring sprinkled in? Or might we be offered something akin to the most recent meeting where it was a one-sided affair?

With the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Zac Rinaldo, and Milan Lucic in the lineup; it appears that Calgary is happy to play the game anyway Edmonton wants to. When the Oilers release their roster for tonight’s game, we’ll see which way they’ll be leaning. With only Sam Gagner and Patrick Russell available to bring into the lineup, I’d argue that Coach Tippett will be looking for his team to play a solid two-way brand of hockey. It is the BoA though, so expect a few fireworks at the very least.

Regardless, the importance of this game cannot be understated for both teams. First place in the Pacific Division and some extra separation from the wildcard teams is up for grabs.

The Latest Edmonton Oilers Trade Rumors

  • Josh Anderson (CLB) – This week Oilers colorman Bob Stauffer mused upon the Columbus Blue Jackets prized power forward after a caller texted into his show and offered up a trade proposal that featured Jesse Puljujarvi going to Columbus in exchange for Anderson. Stauffer laughed that off, gave it a “not. a. chance.”, and rebutted with what he figures the demand would be from the Blue Jackets for the currently injured winger. That being either Ryan Nugent-Hopkins OR a first-round pick and Philip Broberg or Evan Bouchard. Stauffer went on to say that he believed that Anderson’s next contract will be starting with a five. Meaning five million dollars per year or more.
  • Andreas Athanasiou (DET) – Stauffer also commented on Athanasiou saying that he thought the demand for him would be a 2nd round pick and a prospect. He wasn’t the only Edmonton Oilers pundit to make his opinion known on the NHL’s green jacket leader, veteran scribe Jim Matheson also spoke up on this and he just said that Ken Holland loves Athanasiou’s speed, he’s a restricted free agent and that Detroit GM Steve Yzerman didn’t draft him.
  • Nick Bonino (NSH) – Matheson didn’t stop there. He tweeted about Nashville’s overpaid third-line center. Edmonton would have interest if Nashville picked up part of his salary was the message relayed.
  • JG Pageau (OTT) – Mark Spector was asked about the Ottawa pivot during his spot on the daily Edmonton Oilers radio show and he figured that it’d make more sense to invest more into current Oiler Gaetan Haas than to pay the price it would take to acquire Pageau. Lots of speculation that Pageau will re-sign with the Senators at over $5M per year in the summer.
  • Jesse Puljujarvi – Brian Lawton was on Oilers Now this week and he was asked about Pulju. The only real think of not that I took away from the topic was that he thought that IF the Oilers were going to move the Big Finn, it’d be closer to the trade deadline. Maybe a week before it.
  • Lias Andersson (NYR)/Puljujarvi Swap? – Elliotte Friedman and Bob Stauffer talked about this on Friday and the Sportsnet insider said that both the Rangers and the Oilers talked about it but at the end of the day neither team was comfortable with the players they’d be receiving and weren’t convinced it was going to work.
  • Jujhar Khaira – The big Oilers winger could be traded tomorrow for a small quick forward who plays in the bottom-six according to the host of Oilers Now. Bob Stauffer also said that if Khaira were to hit waivers he would get claimed.
  • Tyler Benson – Lots from Stauffer this week… He said that he believes that Benson will be in Edmonton by at least February 15th.

I’ll say this. The Edmonton Oilers may very well be first in the Pacific Division after tonight’s game, so why deviate from the plan that is in motion? It doesn’t mean the team has to get cold feet and do nothing, but what’s the point in spending assets if the team is in a good spot come the deadline? Holland’s message to the fanbase in Edmonton when he was hired was that he was going to build a team that could compete year after year, not just be a flash in the pan and make the playoffs every now and then.

That being said, if there’s a deal on the table that makes sense, then fine. I would just prefer the team not blow things up and see what the internal options can do for the club this year and perhaps to try and deal out some big tickets that aren’t producing on the ice like a Sam Gagner or a Kris Russell. As much as I love what those players bring to the locker room, there are younger players who are ready to step up in my opinion. No, I’m not talking about Benson or Bouchard. I’m speaking to the William Lagesson’s and Patrick Russell’s of the world. Yamamoto is here to stay, so I’ll not include him.

The Next Ten Games (41-50)

  • vs. Calgary Flames (19-15-5) – The Oilers should be bitter as hell coming back from the Christmas break and looking for retribution. In terms of gf/ga on the year, the Flames are -12 and Edmonton could feast on that. The Oilers have taken two of the past three contests. (WIN) LOSS
  • vs. New York Rangers (17-15-4) – Edmonton will get its first look at 2019 2nd overall pick Kaapo Kakko and welcome back former Oiler, Ryan Strome. This should be a scheduled win for Edmonton as the Rangers aren’t anything special this year. The Oilers have won three on the trot vs. the Rags. (WIN) WIN
  • @ Buffalo Sabres (17-14-7) – Generally, over the years the Oilers have had pretty good luck in Buffalo, but this year Jack Eichel is a man possessed and last time Rasmus Dahlin was out of the lineup. If Dahlin is back in for this game, he’ll add a significant threat. I like Edmonton’s chances here though. (WIN)  OT LOSS
  • @ Boston Bruins (22-7-9) – The Bruins went into the Christmas break on a bit of a slump going 2-4-4 in their previous ten. This is going to be a challenge for the Oilers to win even when Boston is at their worst and there’s no better team to bust a slump against than Edmonton, right? (LOSS) WIN
  • @ Toronto Maple Leafs (20-14-4) – Toronto’s confidence was sky high before baby Jesus’ bday, but guess who comes to play each time he’s back home. That’s right, Connor McDavid. It will take a complete team effort for the Oilers to beat their nemesis, Freddy Andersen, though as he’s really had Edmonton’s number. (OT LOSS) WIN
  • @ Montreal Canadiens (18-13-6) – I really enjoyed Edmonton’s performance against the Habs in their earlier match. If the Oilers can replicate that, I don’t see why a win is out of the question. (WIN) WIN
  • @ Calgary Flames (19-15-5) – Round two! Ding. Ding. In Calgary, I think the Flames might be able to muster up a win here. (LOSS)
  • vs. Nashville Predators (18-12-6) – Is Pekka Rinne in net? If so, I’ll give this one to the Oilers. If it’s Saros, the Preds have a much better chance of success. They’ve been an interesting team to watch this year and are playing in a tough division. Their 42pts at the break had them in 3rd last in the Central… (WIN)
  • vs. Arizona Coyotes (21-14-4) – Hallsy’s back and if the Oilers would like to go that extra mile, they could show him how much of a powerhouse they plan to be next season by wiping the floor with Arizona, but it’ll be a tough game. Arizona is a lot deeper than the Oilers and their netminding has been much better. This needs to be a game where Edmonton’s defense shines. (OT LOSS)
  • vs. Calgary Flames (19-15-5) – Coming off of a 10-day break, Mikko Koskinen and the Oilers will be well-rested. In theory, they should be as ready as they’re ever going to be to take on their inter-province rivals. (WIN)

(Standings as of December 26th, 2019)

Three Players to Watch for the Flames

  • #39 Cam Talbot – Talbot is on one of his heaters lately and playing very well. That said, there’s always glove high on this guy and he’s susceptible to early goals in periods. Which Talbot will show up?
  • #28 Elias Lindholm – Can’t say I expect him to move to center and for his countrymate, Mikael Backlund to go to the wing, but it’s worked out. Backlund offers some defensive conscience to the first line and Lindholm brings some scoring punch to the second line.
  • #93 Sam Bennett – It really hasn’t been his year at all and I think the Flames will look to move on from him and his Lanny McDonald impression soon. That said, he usually gets up for these games against the Oilers and is, for me at least, an entertaining player to watch due to his old school brand of hockey that he can play.

Three Players to Watch for the Oilers

  • #23 Riley Sheahan – There are three players who don’t have a goal for the Oilers in their last five games (Kassian, Nygard, Khaira) and Sheahan isn’t one of them. He’s been playing a fantastic brand of defensive-first hockey and I’ve really enjoyed his addition to the club this year. There’ve been some instances this season where he’s absolutely dominated along the boards in the offensive zone and I have a hard time remembering the last bottom-six center who was as good at it as Sheahan is.
  • #29 Leon Draisaitl – Ever since Leon started to emerge as the star he’s become, the games versus Calgary have been “Must-See” TV. Even in that thrashing the Oilers took not too long ago from the Flames, Draisaitl was out there trying to get it done.  I expect the same to occur tonight with a bit more effectiveness given how well his line has been playing lately.
  • #44 Zack Kassian – Kass hasn’t scored a goal in a little while and he was even taken off of McDavid’s wing in their last game for a time. He knows what he has to do to get his engine going though and I hope he brings his “A” game tonight because when Kassian is out there banging bodies and crashing nets, he opens up space and that’s something Connor McDavid and James Neal could always use a little bit more of.
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors, Trades

Edmonton Oilers: The Best Thing Holland Can Do is Wait

The sun is just rising and we’ve already got traction on the Volkov and a pick to the Edmonton Oilers for Jesse Puljujarvi comment Elliotte Friedman made on the latest 31 Thoughts podcast.

I’ll keep this one short. It would be a massive mistake for Holland to move Puljujarvi for a 22-year-old who is trending to be a bottom-6 forward with a dusting of offense to his game.

Puljujarvi put up better numbers in the AHL (5th highest PPG for an 18-year-old player in AHL history) as an 18-year-old than Volkov did as a 21-year-old. Can we expect the Tampa Bay prospect to continue shooting at a 20% rate? Also, one has to ask, if Volkov or Julien Gauthier were playing for a club in the SM Liiga, would they be averaging five or six shots a night? Dominating possession as well as zone entries? I don’t think they would, to be honest.

Just getting rid of a player because he wants to go doesn’t sound like Holland’s M.O. and for 10 cents on the dollar sounds even less like the multiple Stanley Cup-winning GM.

I’ll throw one more thing out there, would you trade Tyler Benson for Julien Gauthier or Alexander Volkov today? No? Then why would you accept those returns for Puljujarvi? Pro-rate the Finn’s AHL season last year and it comes out looking pretty similar to what Benson accrued.

The best thing that Mr. Holland can do is let Jesse play for as long as possible over in Finland and get his confidence up. That’ll also allow Puljujarvi to stay in game shape while the Oilers find the correct return. What’s the worst that can happen? They don’t trade Puljujarvi? Oh damn! I guess they’ll have to revisit things in the summer. But what’s the best thing that could happen?

  • They might get a better return on a trade…
  • Connor and Leon might change their minds and actually reach out to Jesse and offer the olive branch. No doubt Edmonton could use Pulju’s skillset on their right-wing and even if those two won’t play with him, by the sounds of it, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wouldn’t mind at all.

I’m only one guy with an opinion, but based on what I’m seeing from Puljujarvi in those Champions Hockey League games so far, he’s back, he’s healthy, and he’s motivated. Given the right scenario, he’s at least a 30pt winger in the NHL right now and that’s not something I can say for Julien Gauthier or Alexander Volkov.

Game two between the Oilers rookies and the Flames rookies goes tonight in Calgary at 7pm I believe. I’ll be watching to see if Benson and Marody bounce back and also to see how Olivier Rodrigue does. Go Oilers Go!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers: Rumors and Drafting with The Draft Analyst 2019 NHL Draft Report

We’re going to talk about the recent Oilers rumors making their rounds briefly and then move on to take a look at how the Oilers draft would look like if we used Steve Kournianos’ 2019 NHL Draft Report to make the Oilers selections at this year’s NHL entry draft.

THE RUMORS

Corey Perry is the latest to come up and if Anaheim can’t find him a new home via trade, the talk is that they’ll buy him out. Now, I wouldn’t mind having the former Hart winner on the team because he’s an epic shit talker and you never know when you’ll need someone to concuss a goalie or pick on a rookie? But if he’s going to cost the Oilers anything more than $2M, I don’t think I’m interested. The Oilers ARE trying to get faster right?

Nikita Zaitsev has the same agent as Pavel Datsyuk and we know who the former Red Wing’s GM used to be right? It’s the Oilers new GM, Ken Holland. I don’t believe there’s much to this Dreger rumor and Friedman basically shut it down on Oilers Now yesterday morning. Edmonton’s defense is full at the moment, why would they be looking to add another overpaid option and weaken their leverage? I mean, are the Leafs looking to add some functional truculence to their team? In that scenario, let’s talk.

Would you rather have James Neal, Loui Eriksson, or Milan Lucic? For me it depends. Would I rather have someone who can score, help out on the PK, or address my puck possession numbers? Neal will kill on defensively but he’s not that old and he is still a bit of a pest at times. Lucic can’t score but he doesn’t kill you in the fancies. Whereas Eriksson will offer some veteran guidance to the younger players on the team, but not much more than what Lucic is giving you production-wise, apart from the puck not dying on his stick.

The fact of the matter is, Milan Lucic has gone to management THREE SEASONS IN A ROW and has made it known that he wouldn’t stand in the way of a trade… That followed an incident in Calgary that involved some alcohol and him breaking his leg thus making him ineligible to play in the final Battle of Alberta of the season and subsequently the one game where Connor McDavid gets hurt… I think that’s a poor display of leadership from someone who was brought in to bring just that to the locker room.

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THE DRAFT ANALYST’S 2019 NHL DRAFT REPORT

The 2019 NHL Entry Draft is just around the corner and I’ve got a plethora of draft guides sitting on my desktop and in my tablet just waiting to be utilized. So I thought a good idea might be to use the picks from each guide’s rankings to perform the draft for the Edmonton Oilers.

Check out the previous articles written in the 2019 series below:

Drafting with the Future Considerations NHL Draft Guide
Drafting with the McKeen’s NHL Draft Guide
Drafting with Hockeyprospect.com’s NHL Draft Guide

Now, some guides don’t have enough players ranked to do the entire draft, so we’ll just have to do with rounds one to four in that case, but for the rest that do have enough, I’ll lay them out for you and give you the best brief reports on those players that I can. I haven’t watched all of the players and therefore I’ll be forced to go with reports from other publications and my own digging about to get a good idea on them in order to present it to you.

Today we’re going to use one of the most affordable draft guides available, The Draft Analyst’s 2019 NHL Draft Report. You can find it for the low low price of $5 right here. What will you find in this guide? Let’s let the Draft Analyst himself, Steve Kournianos, tell you,

The Draft Analyst’s 2019 NHL Draft Report is now complete. Inside you’ll find 249 player profiles that take an in-depth look at every prospect’s skills, strengths and weaknesses. Also included are rankings for both first-year eligibles and draft overagers,  as well as the most detailed NHL team previews around! Find out what each club is doing right, doing wrong or in some cases,  not doing a thing! Each team’s top prospects are listed by position, as well as immediate draft needs and the players they should target to address each one.

Want more? How about a two-round mock draft, top-25 rankings by position and a detailed breakdown of the draft order. I’ve also added a Top-31 ranking for the 2020 NHL Draft. There’s no better guide to have in your hands as NHL teams run through pick after pick. Don’t miss out on one of the most detailed draft primers on the market.

For $5 there’s no way you can go wrong with the amount of content you’re getting. Steve is an independent scout and you’d be doing a massive service to him and his efforts by grabbing his draft report. For the price of a Big Mac meal, you won’t regret it and you’ll be healthier for it!

The Oilers have the no.8, 38, 85, 100, 162, and 193 picks in the draft. This is who The Draft Analyst has ranked at those numbers.

No. 8 – Cole Caufield – RW – 5’7″ 162lbs – USNDTP (NCAA/USHL) – 64gp 72g 28a 100pts

At this point, you’ve probably heard everything there is to hear about “Goal” Caufield. The comparisons to DeBrincat are a tad shallow I feel. Sure, they’re small and they score goals but I think that Caufield is a bit better off the puck than DeBrincat is. The way that Caufield finds the areas on the ice where he can pull the trigger is really reminiscent of how Brett Hull used to do it. The other thing I like about this little fella is that he’s pretty effective at digging the pucks out of corners and finding an open teammate. I don’t reckon he’ll be winning and Selke trophies anytime soon but nobody cared about Hull’s 200ft game when he was scoring 70 goals a season and Cup-winning goals.

Put him on a line with McDavid or Draisaitl (or both) and the Oilers will reap the benefits.

BLH’s Pick: Cole Caufield – RW – 5’7″ 162lbs 0 USNTDP (NCAA/USHL)

I have to agree with Kournianos here. Boldy is already gone in his rankings, as is Turcotte, Podkolsin, and Zegras. So I’ll take the next best thing in my books, the scoring specialist. It might be fair to wonder about the choice mind you, the Oilers do have Kailer Yamamoto, who is the same size, coming along and there’s been no definite decision made on Jesse Puljujarvi yet. I simply feel that if all the other options are off the board, you take the goal-scoring specialist. 

No. 38 – Samuel Poulin – RW – 6’1″ 208lbs – Sherbrooke (QMJHL) – 66gp 28g 47a 75pts

He’s a bull in a China shop folks. When’s the last time you saw Edmonton draft and develop a proper old-school power forward. I’m not talking about the days when Cameron Abney and Mitch Moroz were picked and no disrespect to Abney and Moroz, but Poulin is much more of a player than those gentlemen.

As I watched Poulin at the U18s, I noticed how responsible of a player he is defensively. Having an NHLer for a father has paid massive dividends with regards to Poulin’s hockey IQ and awareness. He’s not the fastest but he knows where to go and the best way to arrive at his destination. You’d think for a man of his size he’d lack in the finesse dept. but not Poulin. He’s got a good set of soft mitts on him and he can dangle.

BLH’s Pick: Albin Grewe – RW/LW – 5’11” 187lbs – Djurgardens U20 (Superelit) (ranked 50th)

I’ve watched Albin Grewe be a complete non-factor in games and I’ve seen him take over games as well. This is a player who is as feisty and pesky as he is skilled. He could very well be the next elite pest and we might be saying his name in the same breath as the Brad Marchands or Claude Lemieuxs of the world. 

Grewe will blow past you, deke your D partner out of his jock, create a scoring chance, and then wallpaper your teammate in the corner chasing the loose puck. You have to keep our head on a swivel and be mindful of when he’s on the ice or you might just find yourself counting sheep. 

It sounds like Grewe is the next coming of Cam Neely or something, right? He’s pretty dangerous but the way I see him is that he’s a throwback player with modern skills. He’d be the next Esa Tikkanen if the Oilers drafted him sans the Tikkanese. 

No. 85 – Marek Berka – LW – 5’11” 159lbs – Litvinov u20 (Extraliga JR) – 48gp 29g 21a 50pts

The feather-lite Berka is best described as a gamble that could pay off massively should his development plan succeed. He is a dangerous player on the ice at all times as he loves to play inside the dots. His motor runs high at all times and you’ll never question his work ethic.

Berka’s wrist shot is hard and accurate, and he likes to use it off the stride.

BLH’s Pick: Shane Pinto – C – 6’2″ 192lbs – Tri-City (USHL) (ranked 88th)

Pinto is a really smart player that can see the way a play is developing before it does. His wrist/snap shot is pro-ready, he’s got the strength, hockey IQ, and positional flexibility that coaches at the next level will really love. 

He’s not the most physically engaging player, but he doesn’t shy away from it. He could probably work on his defensive awareness in his own zone. I reckon he’d be a good pick for the Oilers as he’s pretty much flown under the radar until recently, I feel like with his size and toolbox, he could turn out be at the very least a depth scorer and at best, a two-way middle-6 forward. Edmonton could use as much depth as possible. 

No. 100 – David Karlstrom – C – 6’1″ 187lbs – AIK U20 (SuperElit) – 41gp 9g 11a 20pts

Karlstrom is your standard 3rd line checking forward. He works his butt off and plays a very honest blue-collar game. He’s pretty average at everything sans his wrister, which is actually quite powerful and accurate.

BLH’s Pick: Dustin Wolf – G – 6’0″ 156lbs – Everett (WHL) (ranked 106th)

Half of my prospect covering super duo, Max (@TPEHockey), had this to say about Wolf at the beginning of the season,

Wolf’s game is highlighted by his technical play that is common with a lot of upcoming high-level goaltenders. Every movement is calculated and crisp. He doesn’t panic when out of position and makes a recovery using his skating ability and edges. Wolf is a butterfly goaltender and makes a lot of his movements on his knees. He’s good at sealing the ice which prevents him from opening up holes when moving.

Another quality to his game is his puck tracking and vision. Screens and tipped shots don’t phase him since often a shot is taken through a screen and Wolf can easily find it and pick it out of the air.

The hits on Wolf are his size and ability to take up the net. He measures in at about 183cm (6’0”) which is under the expected height for a top goaltending prospect at 188 (6’2”). This doesn’t combine well with his lack of aggressiveness. Wolf relies a little too much on his lightning quick reflexes and could come out of his net more to take away space. Although this isn’t a huge issue as it’s something he could easily fix as he progresses his game.

One of the reasons I really like this player is his ability to handle the puck. Watching the Oilers offensive attack die on the vine because they’ve attempted to dump it in only to see the goalie stop it and make a counter play, it’s made me really appreciate how much skill it takes to handle a puck for a goalie. To add to that, Wolf put up comparable stats to Ian Scott (Prince Albert) but because Everett wasn’t as deep (read: successful), he lost the WHL Goalie of the Year to Scott. 

I know that Edmonton has Skinner, Wells, Starrett, and Rodrigue in the system, but none of those netminders have the hands and calmness that Wolf has. I’m not sure I see Wells and Starrett as long-term members of the Oilers as it is. 

No. 162 – Simon Jellus – C – 6’2″ 194lbs – Lulea U20 (SuperElit) – 35gp 12g 15a 27pts

Kournianos is the only person who has a report on Jellus in the draft guides I’ve covered so far. So really, all I’ve got to go on is what The Draft Analyst says with the young Slovak, which is thus,

An inventive playmaking center with size and strength who shows flashes of dynamism.

Jellus is crafty and creative with the puck, using a series of moves and tricks to get himself inside for a clean look at the net. Jellus is a very good set-up man who looks to involve the entire five-man unit into the attack.

Jellus is a heady player who keeps his eyes open and looks over his shoulder quite a bit, even when moving quickly up ice. He has excellent speed and strong balance, with little to no regard for traffic no matter how thick the wall of opponents at the line may be.

BLH’s Pick: Jackson Lacombe – D –  6’1″ 171lbs – Shattuck (HS-MN) (ranked 164th)

The Eden Prairie native is a fantastic skater with the silky mitts who models his game after Shea Theodore (VGK). Lacombe is an intelligent puck mover and an adaptable defender. Meaning, he can read situations quite well and he’s not all gung-ho offense all of the time. He knows when to go and when to stay back. He used to be a forward, so he has those scoring instincts ingrained into him hence the gaudy point totals. 

This puck-moving defender played for Shattuck St. Mary’s High School program last season and racked up 89pts in 54 games. He did play five games for the Chicago Steel (USHL) but didn’t manage to put up any points. Apparently, Lacombe would’ve played more if not for an injury. According to Hockeyprospect.com, he should spend the year playing in the USHL next year and then move on to the Univ. of Minnesota. 

I wonder long-term if we’re looking at a player who will find himself being compared to Cale Makar, Thomas Chabot, and Shea Theodore due to his outstanding mobility and edgework?

No. 193 – Keean Washkurak – W – 5″10 184lbs – Mississauga (OHL) – 66gp 16g 31a 47pts

Washkurak is your typical short-statured hard-working grinder. He’s a smart player who knows where to go with and without the puck. He’s the kind of player that teammates love having on their squad because he goes to battle for them. Problem is, his skating isn’t great and he’s not that skilled. His ceiling is a 4th-line role player if he makes it to the NHL.

For me, I really think that these players can be found as free agents and that using a draft pick on them is a bit of a waste with the way the league is trending.

BLH’s Pick: Jonathan Brinkman – W – 5’11” 165lbs – Aalborg (DEN) (ranked 204th)

Brinkman is considered Denmark’s premier u18 prospect. He’s fast, intense, tenacious, gritty, elusive, and his shot and release are both lightning quick. I look at players like Michael Grabner and Marcus Sorenson, for example, and I think that taking a shot at Brinkman in the 7th round has very little risk and quite a bit of upside. I think the Oilers’ plan is to get faster and more skilled and Brinkman is both of those. 

What do you think of those selections? Let us know in the comments below!

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

Edmonton Oilers Organized Chaos: What the Hockey Pundits are Saying about the Oilers GM Search

Yesterday was a bit of a clown show with regards to the news on the Edmonton Oilers GM search. We were told Keith Gretzky was a front runner and then at the end of the night we were told he was out. Other pundits told us that Ken Holland hasn’t even been contacted and then shortly thereafter we were informed that he’s the leading contender for the job…

And then there are these tweets this morning from Ryan Rishaug and Jim Matheson.

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/1124294204547579904

I think there’s a feeling within the club that they’ve liked how Gretzky has pulled things together and that it’s better the devil you know than the one you don’t. Nicholson has a working history with Keith Gretzky now that he doesn’t have with Mark Hunter but I do wonder if the Oilers current interim GM would be willing to work under Hunter with an eye towards being poached by another team in the future. Would Hunger agree to that? All very interesting…

More information will come but I wanted to go through and quote all these different hockey pundits from just yesterday to show you how nuts this is and how the Oilers are either loving this because they’re orchestrating it or how bad it really is in the organization right now.

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1) Let’s start at the beginning of the day (May 2nd) with the Dustin Nielson Show (TSN) who had Darren Dreger on to talk about the Oilers GM search.

  • On the leading candidate: I wouldn’t be shocked at all if Mark Hunter emerges as the next GM of the Edmonton Oilers.
  • On Ken Holland being 100% out of the hiring process: It feels close to 100% but I never box in because you never know. Everything that we’ve been told as a group at TSN is that Nicholson and Kenny Holland would’ve had a number of conversations that would’ve lead up to the Detroit Red Wings naming Steve Yzerman as the general manager and pushing Holland further up the executive ladder of the Red Wings org.Detroit wouldn’t have done that without consent from Ken Holland, but Kenny Holland loves to be in the fight. He is an active guy… Part of me wonders if Holland is going to be satisfied professionally if he’s not in that fight.

    But I go back to what I said 30 seconds before about the relationship between Holland and Nicholson. Nicholson would’ve known weeks ago that Ken Holland wasn’t going to truly be a candidate for the Edmonton Oilers because they probably, loosely, because there are some legalities here, would’ve shared some information and I’d be more surprised if Nicholson hasn’t used Ken Holland as a resource in potentially vetting some of the candidates that he’s talked to.

    I’m not saying it’s 100% dead but unless something’s changed in the last 5-7 days, I don’t see Ken Holland being the next GM in Edmonton. 

2) Next up we move on to Lowetide’s show where he had Frank Seravalli on to give his two cents on this whole thing.

  • On how attractive the Oilers GM position is and Ken Holland: It depends on where you were coming from and what you were doing. To me, I’m a glass-half-full guy, if I have a chance to run a team with Connor McDavid at my disposal with the rabid fanbase that supports your team like no other. To me, I don’t mind having to come in maybe tear some things up or burn some things down to try and make that work and put my own stamp on it because if you can make the Edmonton Oilers a winner, you know, there’s no better job in pro sports in my opinion. With the feedback and support you get from town and that community, I mean, it’s phenomenal, it’s second-to-none.If you’re Ken Holland and you’ve won three Stanley Cups and I don’t know how many presidents trophies and you’ve been in this league for 25 years, is that the job you wanna take? Is that how hard you wanna work? 
  • On Keith Gretzky: The best thing that Keith Gretzky has done since he’s been in this role has been to bring everybody back together again. He’s done a great job of mending some fences in that front office, getting everyone on board, being the communicator and team player that I think has made him and kept him in the mix in terms of this position moving forward.

3) Elliotte Friedman discussed the Oilers on this week’s 31 Thoughts Podcast and here’s what they had to say,

  • This week I expect the Oilers to get clarity now that the u18s are over on Kelly McCrimmon and Ken Holland. From what I can tell, the Oilers did not have the “official written permission” to interview Kelly McCrimmon. So they were hoping to get that this week.I’ve been on Ken Holland since the beginning as the guy I believe is no. 1 on Bob Nicholson’s list. I think they’ll also find out this week if Ken Holland is a legit contender, legitimately interested. If Ken Holland is interested, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they offer him the job and see what he says.
  • One of the things I’ve heard is that Steve Yzerman legitimately wanted Ken Holland there, he wants him there to bounce ideas off of.
  • After I wrote the list of guys who interviewed, I forgot to add someone. Bill Zito interviewed for the Oilers GM job. (Sean Burke, John Ferguson, Mike Futa, Ross Mahoney, Scott Mellanby). I left out Bill Zito. That’s a name somebody told me.
  • What somebody told me is not everybody suggested a quick recovery. Apparently, there were some people there that said, ‘You’re gonna have to take some more pain if you want to do this right.’ Maybe more than one (candidate) said this. ‘The way you get yourself into trouble is you try to trade your way out of these problems. You may have to take a couple years more pain to get better.’
  • You take a look at Ken Holland. He’s done it both ways in Detroit, right? Like, Detroit’s way was. ‘We’re going to keep our playoff streak alive.’ So he made moves to keep their playoff streak alive.
  • But if you take a look at it now, Larkin looks like he’s a player. Athanasiou looks like he’s a player. Mantha is up and down but he’s still there, Bertuzzi looks like he’s a player. They are stocked with picks and prospects. I know there are people killing Holland in the interim but when this team is good again, a lot of his pieces, whether they’re draft picks or prospects, are gonna be part of it. People are going to notice that. So he’s done it both ways. I’m curious to know what he’s going to say.
  • If I really believe that the guy who says two more years is right, I go there. Now I realize I’m not sitting in that chair, but if you bring somebody in and they make a bunch of trades that go badly, they could go well, but if they go badly, that’s always tied to you. That’s one thing where you have to go to McDavid and say, ‘This is what we’re thinking.’
  • But I think it’s really interesting that guys would go in there and say, ‘Okay… It’s gonna take some time.’

4) The Jason Gregor Show had a few guests on that chimed in on this including Gregor himself, former Oiler defensive legend Jason Strudwick, and Ryan Rishaug. Here are some quotes from Gregor’s show yesterday.

  • Gregor: Holland isn’t really in from what I’ve been told.
  • Strudwick: Keith Gretzky, who I’ve said in the past, has an advantage over other people, not that he’s ahead, but he’s got an advantage on people because of the fact that he has a plan in place here and now.
  • Strudwick: This idea of a 3-headed monster where everyone has equal say, why would he (Hunter) do that?… If Mark Hunter is here, I believe he’s the GM.
  • Gregor: Rishaug said that Sean Burke is out of the race. Like I’ve said all along, I’ve thought it was Mark Hunter. Now here’s the thing, a lot of people think it’s Hunter and Keith Gretzky.
  • Gregor: Do you think the Oilers, the reaction to season ticket holders, and at this point, no offense to non-season ticket holders; because right now when you have renewals for season seat holders, that’s your priority today. Once season seat renewals are up, now it changes and it’s open to everybody.I’m curious if they’re leery of that impacting season ticket renewals where it looks like you didn’t make an actual change and you’ve kept somebody from within.
  • Strudwick: Who is the best candidate and do we truly feel that this is the best choice? And if it’s Keith Gretzky and you feel he’s the best one, then it might hurt you in the short term, yes Gregs, there’s no doubt about it. But with the name association, I think it would hurt the team. But if you firmly believe that long-term that he is the right guy, I think you win those fans back by the success that happens under his regime and that’s Keith Gretzky’s regime.
  • Strudwick: Keith Gretzky has a plan in place now. He has the plan. If he’s hired in 5 minutes, his plan starts at 4 pm. Boom! ‘Thanks for hiring me!’ and he starts making adjustments to the group whatever he feels on the ice, off the ice, whatever it is.
  • Gregor: I’ll say this for Keith Gretzky, he wasn’t here for the Hall and Reinhart trades. I spoke pretty candidly about the Caggiula trade, that had numerous people tell me that I trust that that was more of a GM with a little bit of input from the head coach and no one else.
  • Rishaug on Holland resurfacing: The wildcard is Ken Holland and a change of heart from Ken Holland to me. Then you look at Pierre LeBrun’s tweet, his understanding that Holland is currently taking stock of what lies ahead for him. Edmonton remains a possibility. Seattle is of intrigue or he could stay on in Detroit. But it seems like Holland will want to resurface at some point as a GM somewhere.So, a Ken Holland change of heart that felt like a wildcard a number of hours ago based on that tweet from Pierre LeBrun I think becomes a bit more realistic. I would say, I don’t know what the chances are, I don’t know how to handicap it, but I guess what I’d say is that I believe that if Ken Holland wanted to be a general manager, he would be a prime candidate for the Oilers that Bob Nicholson would have extreme interest in him and it’s just a matter of if Holland wanted to be here (Edmonton).

    So with the news that he may be interested, it definitely shakes things up quite a bit and he would move into the pole position in my opinion, IF he’s interested.

  • Rishaug on Sean Burke: I think he was close. I think Burke was a darkhorse that really impressed and it wouldn’t surprise me if moving forward he’s not in the mix if he wants to be, for some other positions that become available. I think he raised some eyebrows and impressed and there’s an appetite to potentially have him part of things and maybe he’s a, not necessarily the guy in this moment, but maybe the guy in the making.
  • Rishaug on Keith Gretzky: I think they’d worry a tremendous amount about the optics of it, but I think that if they feel he’s the best man for the job, they’ve got to hire him. I don’t think that you don’t hire Keith Gretzky because you’re worried about optics. If you go through this whole rigamarole and this whole process if you’re Bob Nicholson, you bring in all these people and you talk to them and you decide that Keith Gretzky’s presentation and his vision is what the organization needs, you gotta hire him. That’s the hardest decision Nicholson would have to make to hire Keith Gretzky in that role.
  • Rishaug on Holland Pt.2: By going back to someone who’s had success in the past, there is some risk in that.A couple of the things that would draw you to Ken Holland were Detroit’s absolute iron-clad reputation as an organization that handled development extremely well. They didn’t rush people. They had lots of home-grown talent. Their attitude towards development was solid and they were known for that and I think that’s very attractive if you’re the Edmonton Oilers based on what their problems have been.

    I think there’s also a willingness to be open and work with different people and not be somebody who’s just going to go in there and close your office door and do everything yourself. I think he would be an inclusive type of guy. I think that’s a draw for them.

    The other thing he’s shown he can do is develop good people underneath him. He’s developed some exceptional people underneath him and maybe that’s part of this as well. You want a guy that can do it now for sure but there’ve been a number of guys, the Jim Nills of the world, Steve Yzermans, and people like this. Maybe it’s a tandem type thing. Maybe it’s Ken Holland overseeing everything but then it IS a more increased role for Keith Gretzky developing into that role eventually. I don’t know.

    I think maybe Nicholson after McCrimmon falls off the board, maybe it’s about circling back and making sure and double-checking. Maybe increasing an offer before going down the path of the next candidate.

    Nicholson has to be careful here. This is dragging out and people need answers too.

  • Rishaug on Keith Gretzky pt. 2: I think Keith Gretzky is a good candidate for this job and I know that’s an unpopular opinion to hold in this city because people tend to get irate over it and I’m sure the Oilers take notice of that. But Keith Gretzky has been around this game a long time and he’s got lots of experience and he’s done things on his own. Nevermind the name, people need to get that out of their head that if he gets the job it has anything to do with his name, it doesn’t. It has everything to do with his accomplishments.

5) Next is a clip from yesterday’s TSN Overdrive that involves mostly Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller discussing Ken Holland with Jamie McLennan chiming in briefly. The feeling here that I got listening to this is similar to what you’ve already read, IF Holland wants the GM’s job in Edmonton, he can have it but there’s no indication (yet) that he wants it.

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

Edmonton Oilers: The Reason Peter Chiarelli Went Insular According to Elliotte Friedman

On this week’s 31 Thoughts podcast, Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman were talking about the Edmonton Oilers situation and Friedman brought up Peter Chiarelli and why he basically went into hiding and only had a few people around him at the end of his tenure in Edmonton. He said that someone who he thought wasn’t that close to the former Oilers/Bruins GM reached out to him to speak on behalf of Chiarelli and this is what was told to the insider,

FYI: You can listen to the podcast at the bottom end of this post!

“I think he felt that some things he hoped would remain private went public, so he lost trust and that’s why he wasn’t talking to anybody.”

It’s kind of funny. Not once since Chiarelli’s firing did anybody wonder why he became so distant and the end. The majority of the conversation around him was about the quality of the transactions he’d completed.

Friedman said that he would send Chiarelli texts asking him about something he was working on and there would never be a reply, the source of the quote above also commented on that,

“He would get those texts and would be like, “I can’t keep a secret.” And that’s why he wasn’t talking to anybody.”

We heard the Oilers radio colorman, Bob Stauffer, say that in the final months of Chiarelli’s tenure that he was only working with Duane Sutter and Ken Hitchcock. Now, did he feel that those men were to be trusted and everyone else he had in his management staff weren’t to be? Men like current interim GM Keith Gretzky, Craig MacTavish, Scott Howson, Paul Messier, and Chris Cichocki.

Were those gentlemen that source of the leaks coming out of Edmonton? Stauffer seemed to have some pretty good intel on some of the happenings going on in the past… Maybe Peter’s brother Michael was the one.

And if Chiarelli thought that he needed to spend the remaining months of his Oilers career in a bunker, why didn’t he just let go the ones who he thought were breaking his trust? Maybe because it would’ve needed to go through Nicholson and Katz? Do you think Bobby Nicks would’ve greenlit the dismissal of those long-tenured senior management employees? I don’t think so… So I imagine he did what he felt he had to do…

That said, loose lips sink ships…

For what it’s worth, there are few GMs in the league that run a super tight-lipped ship. Stuff gets out. Ron Hextall (Friedman also mentioned that Hextall going solo in PHI was also due to a trust issue) and Ron Francis were known to be a couple and also Lou Lamoriello as well. If Chiarelli though that he was going to go into a market like Edmonton his word was going to stay behind office doors, that’s on him and he could’ve used that in his favor had he been clever enough.

Perhaps he should’ve used the reaction to the some of the rumored deals that got out to gauge the value of said deal?… Just an idea to throw out there. I mean, you never want to do your job according to how the fanbase of your team feels but there can be value found by listening to others too.

As if things weren’t going to slip out with all those ex-GMs in his management team. Did Craig MacTavish not use the media to his advantage when he was running the team? Kevin Lowe too? I can’t really recall Steve Tambellini doing much during his time with the Oilers apart from being a puppet for the OBC!

The Oilers have all these ex-players/management types still working for them and they have very good relationships with the local media… C’mon man… A Harvard educated person should be a bit more on the ball than that.

What do you think about Friedman’s comments? Let us know in the comments below!

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