Tag Archives: Erik Karlsson

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

This is How the Oilers Get Darnell Nurse Under Contract Today

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If you’ve been living under a rock since yesterday you probably already know that Darnell Nurse has flown home to Toronto until a new contract can be agreed upon between his agent, Anton Thun, and the Edmonton Oilers.

I woke up to this news and made the mistake of checking Twitter to see how the Oilogosphere was taking it…

#TireFire

So many people blaming Chiarelli for giving that little extra on contracts to Cagguila or Russell or Koskinen or Strome.

Look, here’s the reality of the situation and if you cannot grasp it, that’s on you.

The Oilers could sign Darnell Nurse the very second you’re reading this sentence. How you ask? Well, he’d just call up Anton Thun and say, let’s do this. Whatever you’re asking, let’s get it done. I’ll sort out the cap issues after we’re done.

The Edmonton Oilers actually have $3.9M in space available to them RIGHT NOW! And I’m guessing the Nurse camp is asking for $4M but the Oilers are only willing to give between $3.25M and $3.5M.

How much space will they have when ‘Rej is put on the LTIR? What kind of trade might be made to expedite the process of getting Nurse under contract? Or might a trade be made involving Darnell Nurse?

I did hear that the Oilers have sent their scouts out to get an early look on some trade targets and one of the names I heard they’re looking at rhymes with Myson Harry.

The bridge to gap is minor and I can’t begin to tell you what Chiarelli could be thinking in this scenario. I guess I’d begin by telling you that this isn’t the first time he’s been through this process with a client of Anton Thun’s.

Torey Krug, Reilly Smith holdouts on first day of Bruins training camp

Back in 2014, the same thing happened with Reilly Smith and Torey Krug. They both went the entire month of September (nearly) before signing 1-yr deals.

Boston Bruins finally sign Torey Krug, Reilly Smith to cap-friendly deals

The SI link above is probably a good indicator of what is going to happen here in Edmonton because it’s almost scary how identical the situation is with Marc Savard needing to go an LTIR back then and Andrej Sekera need to go on LTIR this year.

MY THOUGHTS

I know, it sounds silly that both camps can’t find a way to see past a few hundred thousand dollars. The Oilers have been down this path with other players in the past but Darnell Nurse and his agent can’t honestly think that he’s worth $4M per year right now. He’s just coming out of his ELC and he has no arbitration rights. What kind of comparables would he be using IF he did have arb rights?

If I were the Oilers I’d 100% sign him to a 1-yr deal and risk him exploding offensively this season because I don’t think Nurse has it. No disrespect to Darnell but I don’t see him as that kind of player. To me, he’s going to be a high-end shut-down defender. That’s Adam Larsson dollars to me (on a long-term deal) unless he can really pick up his game and move into MA Vlasic territory.

If Nurse wasn’t interested, I’d ship him out. No time for that kind of bull shit ego on this team.

AS IT IS

The Oilers have signed two more left-handed dmen this summer as well. So it’s not like the team is bereft of depth on D. The quality of that depth you can question and Jerabek and Gravel aren’t Nurse but nevertheless, they can play. At least Jerabek can. And didn’t Kris Russell play quite a few 2nd pairing minutes last season? What’s to stop the Oilers from running a Russell/Jerabek 2nd pairing or a Russell/Benning pairing until Nurse is signed?

Not to forget about Evan Bouchard, Caleb Jones, or Ethan Bear either…

Nothing is ideal here but it’s not the end of the world. Put your pitchforks and torches down.

It sounds like Scottie Upshall’s knee is buggered up, so that’s probably one less contract Chiarelli has to worry about which is a shame too. Probably why Chiasson was brought in. I’d bet he’ll stick around though like Chris Kelly did and work out with the team until he’s either healthy, there’s cap space, or another team signs him.

ERIK KARLSSON

Boy, the Pacific division is stacked isn’t it? Karlsson, who I thought was going to Vegas, goes to the Sharks for a handful of depth players? I don’t mind the draft picks but why on Earth did Pierre Dorion agree to Tierney and DeMelo as the roster players being sent over? Norris, Balcers, and the draft picks are fine but I would’ve gone for Braun, Donskoi, or Melker Karlsson.

They’ve got too many damned Karlssons now!

I want to say that I’m now starting to grow pessimistic about the Oilers playoff chances since the Pacific has added the following players:

  • Neal/Hanifin/Lindholm (CGY)
  • Pacioretty/Stastny (VGK)
  • Karlsson (SJ)
  • Kovalchuk (LA)
  • Galchenyuk (ARI)

But I’m not really to be honest.

San Jose has always been billed as a playoff team this year and I have no qualms with the Oilers finishing behind them this season. James Neal played for Vegas last year and the Oilers didn’t have any issues with the Golden Knights. Stastny isn’t anything to write home about with regards to his offensive threats and Pacioretty still has to show us, in the same vein that Milan Lucic does, that last year was a one-off. I’ve never been seen Alex Galchenyuk as a player that should be highlighted as a dangerous player, so why should I be worried that because he plays for Arizona that he’s going to be the factor that puts the Coyotes over the Oilers. Ilya Kovalchuk is 35 years old… Meh.

What will be said when one or more of those teams above don’t make the playoffs? Because it’s going to happen, guaranteed.

We’ve got Connor McDavid. I feel fine about the Oilers chances this year.

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

The Latest Oilers Trade Rumors Leading Up to Tonight’s Draft

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The day has finally come everyone. The day where every faction of the Edmonton Oilers fanbase can come together as one glorious fanbase and… Treat it like any other day in the Oilogosphere by arguing about what moves Peter Chiarelli made or didn’t make… SMH…

Anyways, it’s draft day, one of MY favorite times of the year as a hockey fan. I don’t know about you but it has actually combined two of my favorite times into one, the trade deadline and the draft. As a person who enjoys the Oilers as a form of entertainment and not as an extension of my personal self-worth, reading rumor blogs and following insiders leading up to this day is about as good as it gets.

I’ll post twice today before the draft. This one will be re: rumors going into the draft and the next one will be an Oilers mock draft using the ISS hockey scouting service’s draft list.

I should tell you that I’ll be joining Mike from Oilers.live, Sean from theoilknight.com, and The Dirtbag for a LIVE podcast during the first round of the draft later today. If that interests you, you can head over to Mike’s website and there’ll be a link you can click to listen to us hosers flap our gums about the Oilers.

THE AVAIL

Peter Chiarelli held his pre-draft avail yesterday and told us nothing that we didn’t already know. The 10th overall is in play for the right player. If it isn’t used they’ll use it on the BPA (best player available). He’s not talking about Milan Lucic’s trade request. Eric Gryba was bought out because they didn’t think he’d play for the Oilers and they wanted to give him an opportunity to seek employment elsewhere.

Am I missing anything?

Anybody in any hockey-mad community knows that it’s a small one and that acts such as this one with Chiarelli and Gryba don’t go unnoticed. Other players will see this and remember it. I think it’s a positive light on Chiarelli. They weighed the options and decided to do it. If Chiarelli gets fired for 600k spent over two years, he never really had the job to begin with.

Bob Stauffer said that the Oilers should have between 46 and 48 spots filled on the 50-man roster when all is said and done. So that leaves a few spots for trades, waiver claims, and NCAA free agents when the time comes.

RUMORS GOING INTO TONIGHT’S DRAFT

The MSM insiders have been talking Oilers since the day the regular season ended but more recently this is what they’ve been saying.

  • Rishaug said that there are teams inquiring about Nuge’s services.
  • Friedman has said that the Oilers are in on Parayko.
  • McKenzie says the Oilers first rounder is definitely in play.
  • LeBrun has talked about Lucic’s availability.
  • Matheson has tossed out Julius Honka’s name on multiple occasions.
  • Dreger did some Rishaug-ing of his own connecting Hanifin and the Oilers.
  • Stauffer has a been throwing Ryan Ellis’ name out for a good two weeks.

The amateur insiders have also been filling websites with words about possible moves the Oilers will be making

  • Eklund has the Oilers talking to both the Senators about Karlsson and the Flyers about Simmonds.
  • Marshall has 6 teams in on the Oilers first rounder (NSH, CAR, CGY, COL, MIN, NYR).
  • Treenas Oil has popped up with tweets about the Oilers and Habs on more than one occasion. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins being the piece of interest for Montreal obviously.

So make of it what you will. It’s called silly season for a reason. It’s obvious that Peter Chiarelli is on the hunt for that defenseman that will help on the PP. With names like Krug, Ellis, Ristolainen, Hamilton, Barrie, Faulk, etc. coming up over and over in my Twitter TL. My only hope is that whatever they do, don’t trade Puljujarvi, Nuge, Drai, or the 10th overall. Deal next year’s picks, Yamamoto, Bear, Jones, or whoever but this year’s draft crop for the Oilers is very important in my opinion.

I’d be very comfortable with them trading Kailer Yamamoto though. I feel that Puljujarvi has the higher ceiling and if the Oilers would like to move a blue-chip piece to get better right now, Yamamoto is the guy they should move.

The wingers that have been discussed as trade targets for the Oilers (Pacioretty, Simmonds, Skinner, etc) are all players that are one season from UFA. Do you think that the Oilers would be willing to sacrifice the long-term future of the club to acquire one of those players?

Peter Chiarelli HAS to walk the tight rope carefully this year. I’m pretty nervous to be honest. I don’t want them to cut into the core of the offense to improve the D. I’d rather they move on from Klefbom if they’re going to use a young player.

I do wonder however if they’d be willing to trade Klefbom and the 10th overall to move up. That would free up cap room and roster space and allow them to pick a player (anyone rated that high will do for me but I’d like Quinn Hughes) they covet. Maybe Arizona cuts that deal.

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

Speculation: If the Oilers Want an Elite Defenseman, Here are the Prices!

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Just a quick update here from one of my sources on the Oilers search for their top pairing defenseman.

Now I’ll preface this by saying that these deals rarely happen and that all I’m doing is passing on the information that was given to me. Don’t kill the messenger… You can take it for what it’s worth to you but this is what I was told,

ON OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSON

The Oilers are out on OEL cause he wants to stay in Ari. 8 years reported at more than 8M AAV. Chayka asked for Drai and Nurse for OEL.

At one point OEL WAS willing to come to Edmonton but Chayka has his head up his ass.
No thank you to that one. Draisaitl AND Darnell for Oliver Ekman-Larsson? Just give me the Rishaug trade if that’s the case.
ON ERIK KARLSSON
It was Drai and a 1st to even start talks
Also, no thank you to that one.
Also, Cody Ceci’s name was brought up and I can’t for the life of me figure out why Peter Chiarelli would even think of bringing him in. Ottawa has done him no service by expediting his development and not bringing him along properly.
I guess Matt Benning contract negotiations are going poorly, so perhaps he could be moved this summer.
Just stay away from Ceci… Please. No disrespect to the guy, I’m just not convinced he’d be an upgrade on what the Oilers have at the moment.
As I said on Twitter, I do not want to see the Oilers make a massive trade this year. I don’t think they’re in the position to make one to be honest and I don’t think they’ve got the pieces to bring in the kind of player that would put them over the top.
That said, there are a couple of trades I would make. Klefbom for Ristolainen straight across, I’d do it. I don’t think Buffalo would. I think a trade like that would balance out the defense. And the #10 overall to Tampa for Tyler Johnson as suggested by one of my Twitter followers. Kucherov is going to get as much as he can from Tampa when his contract is up and Brayden Point has basically taken over Johnson’s job on that team.
Do you have any thoughts? Leave them in the comments below!
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Around the Oilogosphere, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects, Rumors

Around the Oilogosphere – April 13th Edition – Spector VS The Old Boys Club, Klefbom Trade Options, Oilers KHL Targets, and many NHL Rumors

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I feel bad for a lot of Oilers fans who frequent Twitter. There are so many that are incredibly jaded and/or entitled. Sometimes I have to sit back and ask myself, when will these folks get their break? When will the hockey gods look down on them and give them their due for being so patient and understanding?

I mean so much has been earned and then ripped from the hands of Oilers fan’s hands. It’s a wonder as to why so many stick with the team even though they sound like they hate the Oilers.

If there was just one reason. One reason at all that Oilers fans could be happy about, I wonder what it could be?

Moving on…

The KHL is going to be ripe for the picking this summer and I believe that the Oilers will be targeting some players from that league. My hope is that they bring Vladdy (Hockey) Tkachev back. I watched him, Leon, Yakimov, and Nurse take on the U of A in the Oilers/Golden Bears prospects game a few years back and he was on another level with regards to skill, patience, and hockey IQ.

There’s a Czech keeper named Pavel Francouz who’s been putting up some fairly decent stats over in Russia the past few seasons and I’ve heard he’s looking to come over to the NHL as well.

But here’s the rub… I’m not sure how good their English is and we all know that if they can’t speak English well that probably means they won’t get a lot of TOI if Todd McLellan is running the bench. Right, Jesse?

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OILERS NEWS

Sportsnet – Oilers being held hostage by voices of their past – There are voices in Edmonton. Voices who bear Stanley Cup rings from the Oilers glory years, many of them don’t believe McLellan should be the Oilers head coach. Others would have him remain as a coach, but want to install at least one of their own to help him out.

Edmonton Sun – Edmonton Oilers need to reduce number of starts by goalie Cam Talbot next season – The Oilers won’t say how many games they would like Talbot to play, but 60 should be the max if they don’t want to burn him out before the playoffs,

Cult of Hockey – Why I am OK with Peter Chiarelli returning as Edmonton Oilers GM – Mostly it’s because I saw all kinds of coaching issues with the team last year and believe that is the main issue in the team’s weak showing.

Oil on Whyte – Oilers to Sign Goalie Out of KHL – Will the Edmonton Oilers visit a non-traditional market to find themselves a goaltender to back up Cam Talbot in 2018/19?

The Oil Knight –  Say hello to your next Edmonton Oiler – Now if we assume the Oilers won’t be getting a Top 3 pick and don’t move down in the draft it is unlikely they will get an NHL ready winger at #9 so finding that puck moving Defenceman should be priority #1 even if he isn’t ready for 2-3 years down the road. Why? Well for one…

Oilersnation – Pick Bait – It may be poor asset management to move a pick that will become an exempt asset for a player that will need to be protected. While you contemplate that, I’m going to lay out the only three options I see making sense for the Oilers.

OILERS PODCASTS

Oilers YYC – Episode 42: Chiarelli/Nicholson Press Conferences

Cult of Hockey – The Cult’s “Chiarelli Hints at Coaching Changes” Podcast

 NHL RUMORS

NHL Rumors: Ottawa Senators – The Draft, Erik Karlsson, and the Coaching Staff

NHL Rumors: St. Louis Blues and the New York Rangers

NHL Rumors: Detroit Red Wings – Youth Injection, Mantha, and the Rebuild

NHL Rumors: Dallas Stars and Jason Spezza … Buffalo Sabres and Chad Johnson

NHL Rumors: Toronto Expansion, Senators, Blues, Sabres, Islanders, Stars, Hurricanes and Rangers

NHL Rumors: Bereglazov, Koskinen, Shestyorkin, Hutton, and the Panthers

Friedman | Summer will tell tale of rebuilding Rangers

McKenzie | O’Reilly would be absolute godsend to Canadiens

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Around the Oilogosphere – April 7th Edition – Tragedy Strikes Humboldt, Congrats on 10 years Oilersnation, Friedman on Tavares/Karlsson, and NHL Rumors!

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I never want to start out my Oilers posts with bad news but today it’s simply unavoidable. I’m sure you’ve heard but yesterday we lost some really special people in a car accident in between Tisdale and Nipawin, Saskatchewan. I don’t know all of the details and frankly, I’m not sure I want to. The number of lives lost is staggering. It’s a dark time for a lot of families right now and the words I’m reaching for to describe how helpless I feel won’t help but I hope they know they have the unending support of the entire hockey community.

I’m not really sure why my heart feels as heavy as it does. I don’t have any ties to the team or the players or the league. I live on a small island off the coast of China but there’s a small town just east of the accident site called Arborfield and that is where my mother’s side of the family grew up. We went there a few times when I was a little boy. Maybe that has something to do with it or possibly just the fact that as writers or fans of hockey when something like this happens, it hits us all.

Either way, that’s not important. What’s important is that the families of the victims, the billets, the people close to the hockey team, they get the support that they require. I understand that there’s a Go Fund Me that has been started and if you can afford to donate, it’s more than a worthy cause.

OILERS NEWS

The Cult of Hockey – The Humboldt Broncos Tragedy: This wasn’t supposed to happen. Again. – One chilly January day while playing in a Midget tournament in Saskatoon, my Dad pulled me aside, just after I had gotten off the ice…

The Cult of Hockey – Excellent advice to NHL players from Jason Strudwick: ” I don’t think players should be on social media” – Whether you’re the best player in the league or the worst player, you’re going to find something that rattles you…

Edmonton Sun – Ryan Smyth greatly appreciated Sedins on his NHL farewell – “I don’t see them crying like I was,” laughed the former Edmonton Oiler winger who played his 1,270th and last NHL game against the Sedins when the Canucks were here April 12, 2014. The Sedins made sure every Vancouver player shook Smyth’s hand before he took one last sobbing lap around the rink.

Sportsnet – Golden Knights are playoff contenders the Oilers were supposed to be – How much money could you have won back in October if you’d have wagered that, in this April 5, Game 81 meeting between the Stanley Cup-favoured Edmonton Oilers and the tomato can expansion Golden Knights, that the latter would be the team prepping for the playoffs, and the former sending players to the world championships?

Oilersnation – 10 Years: Nation Rising – I had no idea what I was in for as I drove to Earl’s restaurant on 170th Street and 100th Ave. in late February of 2008 for a lunch meeting with three guys I’d never met to talk about getting involved with a website that I’d never heard of…

Oilersnation – Cam Talbot expects to rebound next season – After yesterday’s practice, Cam Talbot spoke to the media about the season that was, where things went wrong, and what to expect from the goaltender heading into next season…

NHL NEWS AND RUMORS

Sportsnet – 31 Thoughts: Expect Canucks to be Aggressive in Post-Sedins Era

Friedman | Islanders must still convince Tavares they can win

Friedman believes Karlsson has played last game for Senators

NHL Rumors: Oilers, Kovalchuk, Knights, Senators, Sabres and Maple Leafs

NHL Rumors: Carlson, Voynov, Canucks and Stars

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