Gabriel Landeskog - Beer League Heroes

As we sit in our comfy chairs awaiting the next move that will solidify the Edmonton Oilers roster a tad more, we’re forced to speculate. And so today I want to chat a bit about the rumblings I’ve heard regarding some roster moves that could be in the works.

FOREWARNING

*As I say with almost every post like this, believe me or not, it’s up to you. I’m not Dreger, McKenzie, Rishaug, or Stauffer for that matter. I’ll tell you what I hear and you can take that as bullshit or you can believe it. It’s no skin off my ass either way. But don’t be rude about what you read. That’s all that I ask from you as a reader.

I write, you read.*

HURRY UP BURNABY JOE!

The title of the post gives it away but it’s my belief that the Oilers are biding their time and waiting on the results of the Tyson Barrie arbitration hearing which will take place on July 29th.

Nothing new here but it looks like the Avs are in for the same culture shifting move that the Oilers themselves took part in when they traded Taylor Hall to the Devils for Adam Larsson. Speculation has calmed down as of late but right around the draft Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene were thought to be available.

Now nothing has been released to say that aren’t still on the block and there’s nothing I’d love more than to see two of Landeskog, Duchene, or Barrie become Oilers but that’d be a deal done in my dreams. Besides, could you see the Oilers parting with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, and/or Leon Draisaitl to get, say, Barrie and Duchene or Barrie and Landeskog?

But an Eberle for Barrie deal could very well be on the table depending on the outcome of said hearing.

MINOR MOVES AND THE DEFENSE

Brandon Pirri is still on the Oilers radar and from my understanding he’s got the Oilers on his radar as well but this is a move that would surely be dependent on Edmonton moving Yakupov.

Earlier this week we talked about a deal that would send Yak to Florida for right-handed dman Alex Petrovic. This was quickly quashed by some pretty big names in the media and very quickly I might add (almost too quickly to not have a modicum of truth to it).
Pirri has amassed 80 points in 166 games played. Not bad for a guy that can’t seem to find a permanent home the last three years and is yet to be signed this offseason.
Brandon Pirri has been mentioned by Bob Stauffer in the past on his show, so his name should be of no real surprise to those following the Oilers closely.

I’ll tell you why I think this would be a good fit for the Oilers.

Cheap, bonus-laden contract.
Pirri wants to find a place to put his roots down in. He can score at the NHL level, there’s no doubt about that but after playing on three teams (Chicago, Anaheim, and Florida) in three years, the 25-year old will be looking for something solid, something the Oilers can offer.
He can float in the middle six and contribute on the PP.
He’s got a history that tells us he can produce.
He’s averaged 135 shots over the last two years and a 13.15% shooting percentage. Compare that with Yakupov, whose had an average of 159 shots and a shooting percentage of 6.8% over the last two years… Efficiency leans towards the former 2nd round pick in 2009 on this one.
- The caveat to those stats is that in 2014/15 Pirri put up 22 goals in 49 games with Florida and had a 15.4% shooting percentage… That’s extremely high. His career shooting % is 13.6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmWkd0u67ss

Griffin Reinhart and Darnell Nurse to start the year in Bakersfield.

This would be a rare smart move on the Oilers behalf. Neither dman are ready for the pro game and putting them in the position to not only be good players but to dominate is something I am definitely in favour of.

James Wisniewski is still an option for the Oilers.

The Oilers are using Wisniewski as their backup plan in case any deal with Barrie falls through. I’ve been told it’s down to term not money.

*NEW* Anton Lander is being actively shopped.

I’m not sure how the Oilers could ever think they’ll get any more for him that Yakupov right now. Lander has completely fallen off of the cliff and if anything he’s suited for a 4th line role on the wing. If he was right-handed this might be a different story but would he pass through waivers another time? If so, the Oilers might want to explore the European loan route as they did a couple of seasons ago with Jesse Joensuu
*No reason to get skeptical or anything but the Oiulers have not had great success with players from Finland named Jesse… Niinimaki, Joensuu… I hope to the hockey gords that Puljujarvi is different…*

Don’t get me wrong, I really like Anton Lander because he works his ass off, unfortunately it’s not translating. I wish it would because I’d hate to see him go to a team like Detroit and find his mojo again because you gotta wonder if he’s still got the potential to be a Frans Nielsen-type? He’s not THAT old.

*Last One* Remember when Jim Matheson asked Peter Chiarelli about Yakupov’s trade request at the draft and PC told him there was no trade request from Yak or his agent? A lot of us wondered what Chiarelli was talking about… Well, as it turns out and from what I’ve been told, there’s something to it.

Nail might’ve been upset at not getting top 6 minutes…

To that I say, he should’ve performed better on the ice and in the practices.
I’m going to butcher the fack out of this quote but a player of some importance (and forgive me for not remembering who) once said that he got paid to practice and games were just the cherry on top.

FURTHER TO THAT…

The Oilers have about $9 million left in cap space. Would they add both Wizniewski AND Barrie if it were possible? Could they? How would that affect Mark Fayne? One would think that he’d be moved ASAP, right? His contract you couldn’t have sitting in the pressbox nor would you want to.

But having Larsson, Barrie, and Wisniewski would take care of the right-handed puck-moving defenceman problem once and for all AND it would let the Oilers send Reinhart and Nurse to Bakersfield with no risk attached.

Klefbom-Larsson
Sekera-Barrie
Davidson-Wisniewski
Oesterle/Fraser

As we all should know by now, it is silly season and hockey rumours are bound to find their way into our timelines more often than not. Take what you read here or any other place with a grain of salt and use your own judgement.

Let me know what you think about all of this speculation in the comments below!

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

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT ADDITIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT IS GOING ON IN COLORADO?

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

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

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

WHY YOU CAN’T DEAL NUGE AND EBS

I just want to go over this one more time.

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

THE HALL TRADE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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