Tag Archives: James Neal

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Edmonton Oilers GM3 Game Grades: King James Edition + RUMORS!

THREE AND OHHH BABY!!! It’s tough not to get excited. However, I did not think that James Neal would have six goals through the Oilers’ first three games nor Zack Kassian three goals. Did anybody? I mean, we all knew he could score, but this is pretty sick the heater that Neal is on right now. On the other side of the coin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins doesn’t have a single point so far… I suppose they balance things out at this point, don’t they?

Getting back to the game though, I told you in the game preview, Sergei Varlamov is one of those goalies that rides the waves up and down and last night the waves were most definitely down. I can’t really name a player on the Islanders that was on their game actually. Mathew Barzal had a moment or two but couldn’t capitalize. Maybe Brock Nelson? He seemed to stick out due to all of his penalties and that disallowed goal. I was happy for Noah Dobson though. The rookie defender got his first NHL point and for the most part, played a very solid match for the Isles.

As for the Oilers, I was thoroughly impressed with the line of Jujhar Khaira, Riley Sheahan, and Patrick Russell. They had a helluva game in the trenches. My memory isn’t the best, but when’s the last time the Oilers had a really good third line who could just lean on the other team and grind out an entire shift or three with the lead?

I love that the team has started the year with three straight wins but, there’s this:

It’s great that the team is generating a lot of high-danger chances and their goals for percentage is high, but they are losing the possession battle and it’s not even close… With a team PDO of 109, this is going to come back to Earth at some point. My only hope is that it is a gradual decline over the course of the year. Then again, #SmallSampleSize

The first ten-game segment of the year that I predicted back on Oct.3rd has gone thusly so far,

  • Vancouver (h): I predicted a loss. (LOSS) WIN 1-0-0
  • Los Angeles (h): I like the Oilers chances here against their former coach. (WIN) WIN 2-0-0
  • NYI (a): The Islanders are a tough squad. Skill and grit in excess. (LOSS) WIN 3-0-0
  • NJ (a): This game will feature FIVE former first overall picks… Should be exciting! (WIN)
  • NYR (a): The Rags are gonna be good soon, but I like the Oilers here. (WIN)
  • Chicago (a): I’ll take Edmonton’s young superstars vs. Chicago’s aging ones. (WIN)
  • Philadelphia (h): The Flyers are always a difficult team to beat and now they’ve got Hart. (LOSS)
  • Detroit (h): Ken Holland’s first game against his old team. DET’s defense is horrid though. (WIN)
  • Winnipeg (a): I’m a huge fan of WPG’s fwd core. I’ll take the Jets here. (LOSS)
  • Minnesota (a): What are the Wild anyhow? They don’t impress me. (WIN)

I’m terrible at predicting game outcomes apparently…

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RUMORS

  • Mark Pysyk is on the outs in Florida. Some fans think that he’d be a good pickup for the Oilers with Adam Larsson on the IR. There are a few folks out there that think Ken Holland could move another immovable contract in Brandon Manning to the Panthers as Joel Quenneville had him in Chicago. If the Oilers brought him in, they’d only be adding 700k to their payroll but the potential problem would be when Larsson returns.
  • I wonder about the Oilers’ depth at center. Specifically, in the bottom-six. I feel like they could use somebody with a bit more assuredness down there. Gaetan Haas has been pretty decent, but I feel like Tippett is handling him with care and what happens if Sheahan goes out with injury again. So what about Brian Boyle? I feel like he’d be an upgrade on Colby Cave and he’s also a righty if I recall correctly. Not fast by any means though. Bob McKenzie brought him up on ‘Insider Trading’ recently and said this,

    “There is significant interest in Boyle; he is talking to a number of teams. But one of those teams either needs to clear some cap space or clear a roster spot in order to sign him. But I would anticipate that there is a strong expectation that Boyle will be back in the NHL sooner rather than later.

  • According to Elliotte Friedman, negotiations have stalled between the Nashville Predators and Roman Josi. The reason I bring this up is that Darnell Nurse is going to need a new contract this year and if I had to choose between seven years of Roman Josi vs. seven of Darnell Nurse, I think I’d take Josi. I know Nurse is younger, and a long-term deal with him would be cheaper, but Roman Josi is elite. There are defenders that play at a very high level well into their 30s and into close to 40 and I feel like Josi would be one of those. Imagine a left side defense that had Josi, Klefbom, and Broberg…
  • Another 29-year-old elite defenseman that might go to market is Alex Pietrangelo. Now, if you ask me who I’d rather have between Josi and Petro and everything is equal, I’m going with the Blues captain. If I’m being frank though, I don’t see Josi or Pietrangelo heading to market. Plus, is adding a $9M 30-year-old to the payroll next summer the smart way to spend all that cash that the Oilers are going to have?

The Game Grades

For those that don’t recall, I grade the players on a scale from 1-5 but there are no threes so as to eliminate the fence-sitting. A player either did poorly, below average, above average or exceptional.

Mikko Koskinen – 4 – I’d say a pretty solid effort. Aside from Beauvillier’s post and Barzal ringing one off of his dome, his teammates did a good job of keeping the shots to the outside. I got a bit concerned when Brock Nelson thought he’d scored. It felt like the tide was turning a bit at that point and could see things heading downhill fast had that goal stood.

Darnell Nurse – 4 – I was happy to see Darnell’s 5×5 possession numbers creep towards 50%. He achieved a 48.78% CF% vs. the Islanders, posted another assist, AND he absolutely blew up Leo Komarov to boot. So things are trending up for him. A much better game all around for Doc.

Jujhar Khaira – 4 – The BEST game of the year so far. He was pretty unstoppable when he had the puck. The Islanders didn’t have anybody that could take it from him due to his brute strength and so with his linemates, they put on their hardhats and went to work in the corners. During the 2nd period, this line had one shift where they just ate up the clock grinding along the boards.

Riley Sheahan – 4 – His line started the game against Trotz’s star grind line of Casey Czikas, Cal Clutterbuck, and Matt Martin and after a short foray in the defensive zone, went to work in the Isles zone and came close twice in a matter of 15 seconds. He was 58% on the faceoffs!

James Neal – 5 – Player of the game, no doubt! He was in the right spot at the right time all night and he knew exactly what to do with the puck every instance he had it. He has a real confidence with the puck on his stick, you know? When he gets it, he’s always aware of how much time he’s got and usually makes a solid-spectacular play as a result. Four goals on eight shots but don’t get too high on him though, he scores in bunches and then fades away at times.

Patrick Russell – 4 – Right off the hop, on his first shift, Russell had two glorious chances to put the puck in the net but couldn’t find an opening on Varlamov. To my eye, he had about four really good scoring chances just in the first frame. Playing nearly two-and-a-half minutes with a man down, he was a major contributor to the Oilers going 2/2 on the penalty kill.

Leon Draisaitl – 4 – What can you say about this man right now? He’s playing with a lot of heart and no better way to show everyone than by diving at a puck on the penalty kill to clear it from your zone. It’s a joke that the media over in Toronto are comparing Connor McDavid to Auston Matthews when they should be worried about Leon Draisaitl being better than the American sniper. Leon had two primary assists (gorgeous ones at that), three shots, but was only 40% on the dot.

Connor McDavid – 4 – The man isn’t quite there yet. He’s not making rushes with the puck on every shift like we’re used to, but he’s still racking up the points. This is how Mario Lemieux used to do it. As a young boy following the Penguins captain, I’d grab the Edmonton Journal’s sports section every morning to see if Pittsburgh had played. If they had, it wasn’t to see IF he scored, it was to see HOW MANY points he scored.

Zack Kassian – 4 – We’re going streaking!!! Three games and three goals for Kass. He’s on roll baby! Are there still questions regarding his ability to play in the top-6? He took a penalty in the first for hooking, but the Oilers killed it.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – 2 – His tenacious forechecking was the reason James Neal scored his first goal of the evening. He had three shots but I found him to be quiet and he was only 33% on the faceoff. He’s got to be a bit more noticeable than that for me. Especially when his linemate is scoring goals like it’s 1984. In his defense though, he usually plays below the radar a bit.

Joakim Nygard – 2 – No hits on the evening, but one recorded shot.

Gaetan Haas – 2 – I think that Haas is a pretty clever player. The way he positions his body defensively and where he skates on the ice to keep himself open for passes are fine to me, but against the Islanders, he got tossed around a bit. The physicality of the NHL can be an eye-opener for new members of the league.

Markus Granlund – 2 – If Granlund plays but nobody notices him, did he really play?

Tomas Jurco – 4 – This man might be the most subtle hockey player I’ve ever seen. Two plays stand out to me, one being the silky pass from one side of the ice to the other to hit a streaking Darnell Nurse which eventually lead to James Neal’s first goal. The other being the no-look pass he made to Neal for his fourth goal in the 3rd. His line took 80% of their 5×5 faceoffs in the offensive zone… That’s a lot.

Oscar Klefbom – 4 – I held my breath when he got clipped in the first… Luckily he came back after getting zipped up and was as solid as he’s been to date. Not a good night from an analytics POV though. Persson and Klefbom were both sub-32% on the Corsi For %.

Joel Persson – 2 – If they gave points for being the 3rd last player to touch the puck before a goal is scored, Persson would’ve had an assist on the Kassian goal. It was his tap to McDavid that lead to the zone entry and subsequent goal. I find that Persson likes the long bomb. A couple of times in this game he tried to hit a teammate from behind the goal line who was out at the center line unsuccessfully. He’s going to have to eliminate that from his game I feel.

Kris Russell – 2 – I’ve noticed fewer clearings going out off the glass or rimmed along the boards from Russell and a bit more of that player who was an offensive defender in junior. He’s not a bad skater at all, so skating a puck out of danger isn’t the same risk to him as to say, Brandon Manning. He had a team-best 54% Corsi For percentage at 5×5 on the evening! Bet you didn’t think you’d be reading that.

Ethan Bear – 4 – Thank the Gords for Ethan Bear. He’s still carrying Nurse (54% CF with Bear 5×5 and a 20% without him) and that’s saying a lot. That said, having him as the transition man and Darnell as the Transporter seems to be working on some level.

Matthew Benning – 2 – Tell ya what. I didn’t notice him and that’s probably for the best as it means he must’ve played a mistake-free game.

The next game up is versus Taylor Hall and the Devils! Are you excited to see Jack Hughes? What did you think of the Islanders game? Let us know in the comments below!

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Edmonton Oilers Preseason GM1 Game Grades: Defense Shines in 2-0 Win Over Jets

You’re always going to hear from media members in any sport that you shouldn’t put too much stock into preseason games and that’s always sort of bugged me a bit. The reason for that is because I feel like if the games didn’t mean anything, why have them at all? Why not just have an extended training camp and then hop into the regular season? Well, you can’t do that because these games DO mean something to the players trying to make these hockey teams and it’s not just about the players, the coaches have something to prove as well.

I believe that we’re going to see a shift in how Edmonton plays. Meaning that the free-wheeling offense is a thing of the past. We’ll be seeing an onus on a defense-first style of play that’ll probably lead to lower scoring games. Games where leads will be locked down early and often.

So it is to no surprise that in game 1 of the preseason, the Jets got very little offense against the Oilers after the first period. The second and third periods saw Edmonton take it to Winnipeg and come out with a two-nil victory.

The game was pretty mucky at the start. Not a whole lot was getting generated, but the Jets did manage to find themselves trapping the new Oilers in their own zone on a couple of occasions. William Lagesson, Evan Bouchard, Gaetan Haas, Joakim Nygard, and Alex Chiasson first and then the same forwards but with Matt Benning and Caleb Jones on defense the second time.

Rust is getting knocked off, players are getting to know each other on the ice, new systems are being introduced, etc. The fact that the team made the adjustments in the 2nd intermission successfully gives me hope.

The way I’m going to try to do my game grades this year is that I will give each player a score between one and five but no threes so as to eliminate any fence-sitting. The scores would mean something along these lines,

  • 1 – Horrid effort, made an impact on the game negatively
  • 2 – Could’ve been better, didn’t make much of an impact
  • 4 – Above average, decent effort and impacted the game positively
  • 5 – Outstanding game, was a major difference-maker

Here are your game grades for Edmonton’s first 2019-20 NHL preseason game vs. Winnipeg,

Dylan Wells – 4 – Wells was quite good in his half of the game after coming in to replace Skinner. Made one lovely point-blank glove-hand stop later in the match. Apart from that, he didn’t have a real heavy workload.

Stuart Skinner – 4 – Excellent work in the first half of this game to keep the Oilers in it as they tried to get in the game. He was cool and collected and most importantly, didn’t let any goals in. Nice work!

Matt Benning – 2 – Like his partner, I didn’t really notice Benning apart from the one time he tried to step up on one of the Jets bigger players but just bounced off the guy like he was nothing.

William Lagesson – 4 – Solid is how I’d describe his game. He was all business. As I said in the pre-game post, he passes well, he skates well, and he plays a gritty game. During a board battle behind the Oilers net, he got his feet taken out from under him from behind in the 3rd period and I wondered how that would affect him but he was okay.

Evan Bouchard – 4 – Bouchard carried his intra-squad scrimmage performance into this one. He looked solid. His inside passing lead to a number of zone exits and he also displayed some very solid technique on defense versus a Jets squad that will most likely be similar to what he’d be facing in the AHL. Had one hiccup in the first when he tried to carry the puck out and skated into Joakim Nygard. This lead to a chance against that was stifled by Stuart Skinner. One highlight that I particularly liked was near the end of the game when he found RNH in the Jets’ slot but Nuge couldn’t handle the pass. The vision on this kid!!!

Caleb Jones – 2 – I hardly noticed Jones to be honest. Not sure if that’s a good sign for him.

Joel Persson – 4 – Had some chaos early. The Jets forechecking had him spinning a couple of times but he settled down in the 2nd and 3rd and showed his poise and confidence on the puck. He attempted a three-zone saucer pass to Nygard from behind his own goal line that I found impressive. It didn’t connect mind you, but the fact that he nearly succeeded is a positive in my books. A great debut! He assisted on both Oilers goals.

Oscar Klefbom – 4 – Two assists on the evening while playing a safe and solid game. He was a calming presence for his rookie partner. They looked good.

Tyler Benson – 2 – Not a whole lot going on for Mr. Benson in this one. He was on the 4th line with AHL vets Patrick Russell and Colby Cave. He did have a lovely chance in the last frame of the game where the puck squirted out to him around the Jets’ faceoff dot and he leaned into it with a big clapper that was ultimately swallowed up by Eric Comrie with relative ease.

Patrick Russell – 2 – Russell played the way he always plays and had three shots on the night. Hard-nosed and tough. He’s not someone you’d like to go to battle against on the boards because he works his ass off trying to gain possession of that puck. There’s no quit in this guy. Personally, I think he’s ready for the NHL. The Dane does a lot of things right according to Coach Tippett and I happen to agree. He was a late cut in prior training camps and it wouldn’t shock me if that was the case again this season.

Colby Cave – 2 – Good on the dot (8/13) but there wasn’t much more than that to speak of.

Joakim Nygard – 2 – Very tentative early on. Looked apprehensive to try and make plays and it took him some time to get comfortable on the ice. By the 3rd period, he was starting to assert himself a bit more. He’ll need a good portion of this preseason to get himself acclimated.

Gaetan Haas – 2 – Not sure if this is the right-handed centre the team is looking for. To me, he looks like he might be more suited to the wing with his speed and quickness. Looked alright defensively and positionally but I’d like to see some more offense out of him. Like Nygard, I reckon he’ll need a few more games to get sorted to this style of hockey.

Alex Chiasson – 2 – He had one outstanding chance in the slot set up by Khaira’s forecheck but he shot it right into Comrie’s chest. The rest of the game he looked out of sorts if I’m being frank. Maybe it had something to do with the unfamiliarity of his linemates.

Josh Archibald – 2 – Archie had a really nice first shift where he went out and was banging bodies hard but after that he sort of disappeared. If he can play that style on every shift and in every game, he’ll be a fan favorite in Edmonton easily.

Riley Sheahan – 2 – To my eye, he had a pretty tight game. Was 50% on the draw and used his body well to shield the puck as well as on the forecheck. I’m not expecting a lot of offense out of Sheahan this season, but I am expecting him to be quite good on the defensive side of the puck. He was pretty good there vs Winnipeg.

Jujhar Khaira – 4 – Ohhhh. JJ might be back kids! We’ll see how he does against better opponents, but he was looking very confident with the puck on his stick. He used his reach and strength to outmuscle the Jets forecheckers and defenders easily. Set up Chiasson with his excellent work ethic for a great one-timer early on.

Sam Gagner – 2 – I’m disappointed in Sam’s game. I thought he would’ve been more involved offensively but he had little impact on the match in this regard. He wasn’t horrible mind you and he didn’t cost his team defensively, he just wasn’t on the same level as Nuge and Neal. Once the line was set up in the offensive zone, he was where he needed to be though.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – 4 – He scored a lovely net-front backhand goal late in the 2nd period that caught me by surprise. It was something you’d try in ball hockey and it worked! But seriously, Nuge had a massive impact on the game for the Oilers offensively and that should be expected when his opposition was icing very few NHL defenders. That said, he still struggles to win faceoffs… He was under 50% again…

James Neal – 5 – Neal starts his Oilers campaign beautifully! He got a bit lucky on his goal as the puck hit him and then fell to his stick making it a mere formality as to where the biscuit was going to end up. Point is, he was right where he was supposed to be at exactly the time he was supposed to be there. He played with passion and purpose once he found his legs. He was the Oilers best player I felt and I’m looking for more of the same in future games.

In conclusion, I thought that the game looked like it should being the first match of the preseason. Players are trying to shake some of the offseason habits while at the same time attempting to make the most of an opportunity to show the coaching staff that they have what it takes to make this hockey team.

Next preseason game goes tomorrow night vs. the Canucks! See you then!

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Edmonton Oilers: Oilers to Address Team Toughness After Dealing Lucic to Calgary?

It’s done. They said he couldn’t be moved with that contract. They said that since Toronto included a 1st rounder to move a single year of Patrick Marleau’s contract, that Edmonton would have to do even better than that! They were wrong!

Milan Lucic is no longer an Edmonton Oiler and Ken Holland moved the unmoveable. He traded four years of Lucic’s toxic deal only having to eat a bit of salary and include a conditional 3rd rounder! Between him and Brad Treliving, they got Lucic to waive his NMC and what have I always said about no-movement clauses or no-trade clauses? They can always be waived…

All Hail Holland! (A.H.H!)

I feel a modicum of relief. Now, I suppose all that’s left is to find out what happens to my favorite Finn (Please come back, Jesse!).

On that note, if you listened to Ken Holland’s media call yesterday, you might’ve heard him comment on Puljujarvi, these are his words on the matter,

I’ve got one outstanding situation with the Jesse Puljujarvi situation that I have to decide what I’m going to do. Whether I decide I’m going to trade him or whether I decide there’s nothing that makes sense and then he needs to make a decision on what he wants to do for this upcoming season…

So, nothing new there. I do wonder though if Holland knows how to pronounce Pulju’s name or if he’s mispronouncing on purpose… Chiarelli couldn’t say it either. Weird.

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The Trade

I’m not going to point out all of the statistics and whatnot. There are far better writers out there that have already done that. I’ll just say that I’m on board with the trade so far. Hopefully, Edmonton ends up paying the Flames that conditional third-rounder. I really want Milan to make a race of it though. If he scores 15 for the Flames, then Neal best be scoring 25 for Edmonton.

Did you find it hard to be surprised when the trade came through? I didn’t. I mean, that rumored trade had been out there for a ridiculous amount of time, right? It was inevitable I felt plus, I had a bit of insider help.

I guess it surprised the blue checkmarks out there who thought Brad Treliving was smarter than that, but to the Flames GM’s credit, if Calgary makes the playoffs and Lucic is a force, this will be one gamble that could pay off at least for one year.

I do have one more concern though that isn’t financially related for the Flames. Their coach has never had a player who racks up as many PIMs as Lucic does. So I’m curious, how is he going to deploy this player and use him to his team’s advantage?

As for Neal, it’s great that everyone is jacked to see him on the team and I’m really looking forward to this player. I also reckon that Neal has some flaws that will drive not only fans crazy but his teammates too.

You see, James Neal can embellish things a bit from time to time, he likes to throw cheap shots, and he’s got a “strong personality”, which is media talk for, “he can be a dick”. Why else would he be on his fourth team in four seasons if there weren’t some attitude issues? These character flaws will need to be addressed early so as to prevent him from repeating last season’s production and another dressing room distraction.

On the other hand, isn’t it nice to be on the other side of a “bad shooting percentage” trade and doesn’t it feel like Holland is undoing the damage that Chiarelli did in short time too?

  • Chia deals Caggiula, Holland signs Archibald
  • Chia deals Eberle, Holland trades for Neal
  • Chia deals Strome, Holland signs Haas (this one might be a stretch…)

All that’s left is to see what the Oilers GM does to undo the Taylor Hall trade. The summer of 2020 can’t come fast enough, can it? (Hall might be heading to the open market then…)

I’ll say this though, I was 100% on board with the signing of Milan Lucic and the day after he was brought on board in 2016, I wrote this,

I remember all those years ago when we’d bitch and moan that we didn’t have a guy like Milan Lucic on the team. Now we do and I can’t be happier. To put it in context, I’m as happy that Lucic is an Oiler as the fanbase was sad that Taylor Hall was traded. Honestly, it’s game f*cking on in Oil Country and I truly hope that the rest of the teams in the NHL are ready for the juggernaut that is about to roll through the league come October.

Three seasons later… Egg on my face. I’ll wear it though as these things happen.

Is it James Neal and Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall now?

That said, even after his first year and a half with the Oilers, who could’ve REALLY guessed that his game would fall off that badly. Yes, there was a pocketful of Twitter analysts who predicted that he’d decline in the latter years of his deal, but I’ve yet to find one that said he would after one and a half seasons.

Milan left us with some good memories though, right?

My, how the tide has turned now. Maybe we’ll see Smith v. Lucic II at some point next season. Whatever you want to say about Looch, he always showed up for the Battle of Alberta and somebody was going to be left bloody.

Addressing the Hole Lucic Leaves Behind

I asked a source of mine how he felt about the trade and he said, “I’m good with it.” So, I followed that up by asking what his feeling was now that Matt Tkachuk had some muscle behind him and I was told, “I’m not worried.” This got me wondering if the Oilers would address the toughness that was leaving down the QE2 to Calgary and the name Pat Maroon came to mind. So I enquired, the message to me was that the Oilers WOULD be addressing that but it probably wouldn’t be with Pat Maroon and it probably would be via trade. I know that in the Oilers Now coverage of the trade that Bob Stauffer had mentioned that the Oilers could bring in a guy making 700k to fill that need…

On the other side of the fence, I happened to speak to another gentleman with some deep connections and he said that he couldn’t foresee the Oilers doing anything on the “toughness” front. Mentioned that they already have JJ Khaira and Darnell Nurse to take care of that stuff.

So pontificate away Oilers fans! Who do you think Ken Holland would bring in to play limited minutes and offer some heavyweight physicality?

I know he probably wouldn’t be universally praised, but what about a guy like Auston Watson? My favorite would probably be Miles Wood because that boy can play as well as chuck Knucks. Sam Bennett and Josh Anderson aren’t that far off either as ideal additions to the team.

Funny thing is, they probably don’t need to add anyone in that role. As mentioned above, Nurse and Khaira find themselves in the heavyweight division already, right? So I could see them NOT doing anything about that too.

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Lucic’s Parting Shot at McDavid?

In an interview with George Johnson over at NHL.com, Milan Lucic made a comment regarding the leadership of the Flames,

“This is a bit more of an older team, with an older captain, which I had in Boston with Zdeno (Chara). Gio is coming off his best year, winning the Norris Trophy – and deservedly so. That’s a great starting point for any team.” (source)

“With an older captain”… What’s that supposed to mean? Why would he bring that up? It seems like Milan is preferable to a team with older leadership with this comment. Does Lucic believe that there’s no real leader in the locker room and that the big three of Connor, Leon, and Darnell are doing as they like and leaving the rest of the team to pick up the pieces? Maybe Lucic couldn’t handle the leadership role he was given as he was used to playing backup to guys like Chara or Kopitar.

Kinda seems like nothing has changed over the years if that’s the case. The team giving the kids the keys to the city, I mean. And in the future, I don’t think we’ll ever hear Looch going on Edmonton radio and complaining about the youngsters partying a bit too much when he was in Edmonton though…

I’ve always been of the belief that the Oilers need older players on the team that can play still so that the younger players have someone to look up to and to learn from within the locker room. There’s only so much the Oilers alumni can do from the owners box to help…

Going Forward

Right now, we’re looking at this lineup,

Draisaitl-McDavid-Kassian
Neal-RNH-Chiasson
Granlund-Hass-Gagner
Nygard-Khaira-Archibald
*Cave

Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russell
Jones-Benning
*Lagesson-Persson

Koskinen
Smith

So, there’s still room for improvement but I want to propose to you a different forward configuration where Tippett plays the big boys in their natural positions and gives the wings a shuffle. Defense/goaltending remain the same as above.

Neal-McDavid-Kassian
Nygard-Draisaitl-Chiasson (Puljujarvi if he re-signs)
Granlund-RNH-Archibald
Khaira-Haas-Gagner
*Cave

Bringing Neal is allows the team to at least try this tactic without disrupting the line-up drastically. It’s probably a bit too much TOI for Chiasson, but I do like that 2nd line if Jesse comes back, and spare me the “earn it” cries, please. Been there, done that. One has to do what’s best for the team when it comes to the standings at some point.

What do you think? Is this a roster that can compete for a playoff spot now? Let us know in the comments below!

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Oilers Featuring Prominently in Trade Rumors

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Last week it was Friedman and McKenzie mentioning the Oilers, now the word is leaking out of Columbus and Montreal and so far we’ve got the names of Jack Johnson, Ryan Murray, David Savard, and Carey Price being connected to Edmonton. Oh! And don’t forget about Oliver Ekman-Larsson not that he’s more or less put his name out there.

What I want to know is where do the Oilers REALLY need to upgrade their roster? So let’s look at said roster.

But before we get into that I want to thank all of the folks on Twitter who attempted to debate me re: Peter Chiarelli’s job so far. It was fun, easier than I expected. I hope we can do it again soon.

The roster…

Left Wing Centre Right Wing
Pat Maroon Connor McDavid Drake Caggiula
Milan Lucic Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Leon Draisaitl
Mike Cammalleri Ryan Strome Jesse Puljujarvi
Jujhar Khaira Mark Letestu Zack Kassian

Scratches: Brad Malone, Iiro Pakarinen
IR: Slepyshev

Left Defense Right Defense
Darnell Nurse Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom Matt Benning
Kris Russell Eric Gryba

Scratches: Yohann Auvitu
IR: Andrej Sekera

Then obviously we’ve got Cam Talbot and Laurent Brossoit minding the net.

https://twitter.com/dstaples/status/932770633435422720

Are there problems with this roster, yes. Is it worse than the one that played in game 7 of the 2nd round of the playoffs, I say no and I say that because most people think that Eberle was a factor in the Oilers getting to the 2nd round. He was not. At all. Others will suggest Sekera and I will say to that Darnell Nurse. Wanna throw Pouliot at me, I’ll toss Strome back at you with fewer o-zone penalties.

The problems with the team are that injuries have crept back into the picture, subpar goaltending has snuck its way into our view, slow starts as well. Now if there’s a GM in the entire world that could see all of that happening in the summer, hire that MFer because all of your woes are solved!

Speaking of woes being solved…

Within a month, Andrej Sekera will be back and from there I believe that we’ll see him paired back up with Russell which means one of Eric Gryba or Yohann Auvitu will be playing elsewhere. I’d put my money on Auvitu being that guy. So there won’t be the urgency to add to that group, upgrade maybe, but not add I do not believe.

Who would be the upgrades?

Well, that depends on how far you’re willing to go and how much you’re willing to spend. Are you willing to trade Leon Draisaitl or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins? If so, you might get an Oliver Ekman-Larsson or, god willing, an Erik Karlsson (Is this any more blue-skying than Stu Cowan suggesting Draisaitl for Carey Price?). But I have a hard time believing that the Coyotes and Senators would be okay trading away their best players and if we’re being honest, the Oilers desperately need an offensive stud on their back end. They’ve got the defensive ones in Nurse and Larsson, right? My only caveat would be that this stud be a tad older or Aaron Ekblad.

That’s the defense, how about the offense?

I’m getting very concerned with Pat Maroon. He is having a very tough go right now and no matter the amount of after-whistle scrums he gets into is kickstarting his scoring. I love his willingness to get in there and show that grit and desire but we need him to do that,

a) without taking a penalty
b) while the play is going on in front of the net

Meaning he needs to sit has huge glorious ass in the opposition goaltenders face so that he can smell what Patty ate last week.

But if he’s unwilling or cannot do that then I’d have no qualms sending him in a package to Buffalo for Evander Kane.

Kane has the speed, he has the shot, he’s got the toughness and willingness to play physical, so he sounds like a good fit. Attitude aside, I’m sure if that became an issue he and Lucic could throw on the boxing gloves and go a couple of rounds.

As for Columbus, I reckon they’re looking for someone to take either Jack Johnson off of their hands or Ryan Murray or both but they want a centre.

Would the Oilers move away from Ryan Strome so soon? He’s starting to look comfortable in his role now at 3C but Leon Draisaitl is getting itchy and my feeling is that he wants his own line, stat!

Or would you take the plunge and try to fill two holes with one bird in RNH? Meaning you insist on RHers David Savard and Josh Anderson being the return for the former 1st overall pick.

I’m not as afraid of taking on Jack Johnson as some are. He’s found a way to stay employed all of these years even though he’s apparently the worst defensman in the league. He’s right-handed but he offers no offence. And that’s a problem but neither does Ryan Murray. Johnson is very agitating though. Almost at a Phaneuf-like level. With the Oilers needed to draw a few more penalties, how bad could this dman on an expiring contract be?

Finally to the Montreal Canadiens…

The contract of Carey Price concerns me (slightly). $10.5M starting at age 31 for 8 years? He’s already started to break down. I know, he’s the best goalie in the league… When he plays. I don’t like that kind of uncertainty.

But guys like Brendan Gallagher, Andrew Shaw and Max Pacioretty get me giddy. As I said above, the Oilers could use some agitation on their roster and Shaw is right up there as one of the most irritating players in the league. He’s a righty and a centre. Not only that but he can be trusted on the PK. Gally is an Edmonton boy too. Loved the team growing up and surely is losing his shit playing over in Montreal.

Max Pacioretty is one of the league’s most consistent scorers in recent memory. He’s only scored less than 30 goals four times in his career. His first two seasons he had 3 goals each. The next year was 14 and then in 2012, he had 15. He is a player the Oilers NEED!

But we’ll have to wait until the Habs lose some more before they start getting really desperate, right? Does Marc Bergevin get the axe before one more trade or vice versa? The Canadiens need a no.1 center and RNH could be that guy because they really shouldn’t have Jonathan Drouin or Philip Danault in that spot.

Would you do Nuge for Pacioretty straight across? Or would you look to make it bigger and shore up the right wing a bit more by asking for Shaw and tossing in Maroon or a defenseman.

Sooner or later the Habs lengthy IR list is going to shrink and those players are going to need a place to play. Ales Hemsky, Arturri Lehkonen, Nikita Scherbak, Noah Juulsen, and Carey Price are all going to return and that means Nicolas Deslauriers, Charles Hudon, Jacob De La Rose, and Byron Froese will be sent to Laval or traded.

Is Montreal a team the Oilers could finally take advantage of? They’ve got $8M of cap space to deal in…

Have I missed anything? I’m just spit-balling here folks but feel free to let me know in the comments below what you think about these trade rumours.

Links:

Elliotte Friedman
Bob McKenzie
Pierre LeBrun
Stu Cowan

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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors, Trades

How Much is Pou Worth? By Andrew Taylor (@DrewTaylor1978)

Whether we are ready to admit it or not, the Edmonton Oilers officially have a cap crunch on their horizon.  With pending raises for Leon Draisaitl this coming season and Connor McDavid next season, they will be struggling to find a way to keep their core players, surround them with the proper support players, and compete for the Stanley Cup every year.

No matter what happens this season (Draisaitl contract, 7th defenseman signing, Puljujarvi making the team? etc.), with McDavid’s likely $10 million plus cap hit next year things are going to start to get really tight.  It’s going to be imperative that contracts present high value to the Oilers for them to be able to succeed.

This is where Benoit Pouliot comes in.  Whether you think he’s a terrible player (some do) or not, it’s hard to argue that he’s currently overpaid.  He’s still definitely a serviceable NHL player, and if he had only 1 year left I don’t think it would be an issue; you could play him out this year and let him move on.  I also think if he was a smaller cap hit, say $2.5 million, we wouldn’t be talking about him; unfortunately, that isn’t the case.  However, his 2 years remaining at $4 million which will overlap McDavid’s first year of his contract is where the issue lies.

Buying Pouliot out would reduce the amount of damage his cap hit would do per year but would extend the “dead” cap space further into McDavid’s contract.  As much as that can be a tool if required it’s best to stay away from it, as well as burying guys in the minors since you give up cap space to guys not even dressing on your team.

So, aside from packaging him up with draft picks to try to convince another team to take our problem (I am absolutely opposed to the idea of the Oilers throwing their draft picks away, especially carelessly), is there a way to move him out now so that the impact isn’t felt beyond this upcoming season (i.e. buying him out, which while it would give some cap relief now would cause the “dead” cap space to live on)?  It turns out if Chiarelli can be creative, there is.

The Oilers can trade their future headache to another team for that team’s current headache.  If they could take on a larger cap hit for 1 year, while clearing their obligations to Pouliot for the 2018-19 season, I think they would at the very least consider that.  I am going to assume that after Draisaitl’s contract they have in the neighbourhood of $3.5 million in cap space remaining, so if you hold on to a million and a half for trade deadline acquisitions (the Oilers should regularly be bolstering their line-ups for the next 10-15 years) they’ll have about $2 million they could absorb this season.

So, are there any players in the league who would fit the following:

  • Predominantly a left wing;
  • 1 year left on their current contract;
  • Have fallen out of favour with their team;
  • Have a cap hit higher than $5 million (it’d have to be a significant enough impact this year to make it worth it for the other team, and at $5 million they would receive $1 million in cap space, the difference between that players contract and Benoit Pouliot’s $4 million);
  • Have a cap hit no higher than $6 million (the $2 million the Oilers could absorb)?

Here is a list of players that might fit into that category (minus the “fallen out of favour with their team part”):

  1. Evander Kane – Buffalo Sabres – Left Wing – $5.25 Million Cap Hit for 1 year – Actual Salary of $6 Million for 1 year

  1. James Neal – Vegas Golden Knights – Left Wing – $5 Million Cap Hit for 1 year – Actual Salary of $5 Million for 1 year

That’s it!

I don’t see Vegas giving up James Neal 1 week after drafting him in their expansion draft, at least not in a deal like this.  In my opinion, they have every intention of having James Neal on their top line in October unless someone knocks their socks off.  They’re not trading him for Benoit Pouliot, and if they wanted Pouliot they would’ve drafted him in the expansion draft since he was available.

So, we take Evander Kane for a year and Buffalo gets $1.25 million in cap space?  I’m not sure that the reputed locker room issues that Evander Kane presents are bad enough to warrant that on the Sabres’ end, and likely he has grown out of them for the most part.  Also, Buffalo is not in a cap crunch so I’m not sure they’re desperate for the room.  If that deal was to go down I would imagine it would be Edmonton throwing in some assets to entice Buffalo to consummate the deal, and as discussed before, this is a strategy the Oilers need to avoid.

I think Benoit Pouliot is here for two more years.  He just doesn’t fit any other teams’ needs they won’t be able to fulfill through free agency for a better deal.  He is, after all, struggling to be successful here as a third line winger while getting paid as a second line winger (on the expensive side at that).  Maybe he comes in this season motivated to turn things around and increases his value enough to garner some interest, but at this point, he should probably be seen as a “learning opportunity”.

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