Tag Archives: Jason Demers

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

Lowetide’s Defensive Targets

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Below is a list of targets our beloved Lowetide has come up with (Here’s the link). Now, I’ve been wanting to comment on something like this for a while now but my time is split between running around Taipei for work and my two young children at home, I haven’t had the chance. So I’d like to use Lowetide’s list and comment on each player because if anyone has their eye’s on the ball regarding the Oilers, it’s LT.

RD Josh Manson, Anaheim Ducks. A dream solution to 2RHD.

– Perfect dman for the Oilers right now. I agree with LT here. He’s as mean as his old man but doesn’t quite have the shot. Skates better and is a tad smarter though. Fearless.

RD Radko Gudas, Philadelphia Flyers. Duck killer, if acquired.

– Some might be scared off by his previous run-ins with player safety but he’d neutralize any threats from the opposition and be a mentor to someone like Darnell Nurse and Matt Benning. This guy is an absolute tank and his shot may very well be one of the hardest in the league. Players get hurt when he takes the ice one way or the other.

RD Alex Petrovic, Florida Panthers. Rugged D, good possession numbers.

– I’m not as sold on Petrovic as LT. He’s only okay to me. Kris Russell was a better defender with worse possession numbers for Edmonton in my opinion. There are better players out there and yeah, he’ll drop the gloves but he’s not a great scrapper.

RD Travis Hamonic, NY Islanders. A rumored target.

– Hottest rumor out there has Hamonic coming in for Eberle but I can’t see it. He’s better than De Haan I reckon but isn’t as consistent as of recent. The Isles would be better off finding a way to keep him but if Edmonton could get him, he’d be right up there with Manson as a very nice piece to add to the Oilers puzzle.

RD Mark Pysyk, Florida Panthers. Panthers young and emerging blue.

– Bob Green must be salivating at the thought of reuniting Griffin Reinhart and Mark Pysyk. Not only that but seeing as Reinhart looks to be the hill that Peter Chiarelli will die on these days, I’m sure he’d also be okay with him coming to Edmonton and attempting to re-animate that old Edmonton Oil Kings partnership. Is he a 2nd pairing dman though? Griffin sure isn’t.

RD Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes. He brings a lot of offense, bigger ask obvious.

– Is Faulk a better version of Justin Schultz? As LT says, he brings a lot of offense but he hemorrhages chances defensively and is that the kind of player you want partnering up with Kris Russell next season if KR were to be re-signed?

RD Kevin Shattenkirk FREE AGENT (80gp, 13-43-56). One year at big coin?

– Boy, that is a big ticket for one year. That being said, it’s a great opportunity for both parties to hit a home run as it’s well known Shattenkirk would like to be beamed up to the Rangers and New York needs to rid itself of one of Marc Staal or Dan Girardi before stumping up for Shattenkirk. And the Oilers could use the year to rip up the league offensively before McDavid’s new contract kicks in and that would also give them a year to find a replacement for Shattenkirk internally or externally.

RD Sami  Vatanen, Anaheim Ducks. Talented, inconsistent.

– Apparently, the teams are lining up for this Finnish defender even though he won’t be ready for the beginning of next season. I like him but man, coming back from that shoulder surgery will be hard. I can’t see him being as effective until the 2019 season. Not worth it to me.

RD Jason Demers, Florida Panthers. Veteran D visited Edmonton as UFA last summer.

– Honestly, I think that Matt Benning can do an equal-to-better job than Demers and he’s a helluva lot cheaper.

LD Kris Russell FREE AGENT. GM and coach like him, good chance he’ll return.

– I dig Russell but not at $4Mx4. Anything over $3M is an overpayment in my opinion.

RD David Savard, Columbus. Rarely mentioned but an interesting option.

– Really emerged this season on the Blue Jackets’ blue line. Very much an all-round defender but I think the Oilers are looking for somebody with a bit more offensive flair.

RD Matt Dumba, Minnesota Wild. Power play option, chaos in his game.

– Dumba isn’t a puck rusher like a Kris Letang but he’s got a cannon like Ryan Ellis. He hits like Scott Stevens but he defends a bit better than Justin Schultz. So plainly put, he has his pluses but the warts are pretty apparent too.

LD Ryan Murray, Columbus Blue Jackets. Doesn’t seem a fit.

– That’s a good summary of Murray from LT. Is he better or worse than Kris Russell in your opinion?

RD Cody Franson FREE AGENT. His fancy stats: Out of the blue and into the black.

– I reckon I heard Jason Gregor talking about how Franson has trouble pivoting and is Marshmellow Man soft…

RD Tyson Barrie, Colorado Avalanche. He had a poor year, but has talent.

– His price point is up there at $5.5M per year and he really is chaos defensively but he puts up the points and he doesn’t take shit from anybody. Just ask Pat Maroon. Could cost the Oilers dear to acquire him.

LD Brian Campbell FREE AGENT (80gp, 5-12-17). The man can still wheel.

– I like this option because it could be very helpful to the Oilers salary cap. I don’t think he’d cost very much, he’s a veteran (which I think the Oilers could use more of), and as LT says, he can still skate. Think of him as a 2006 Bret Hedican type.

LD Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins. Played over 23 minutes a game this past season.

– On the last year of his deal, making $4M, still plays a beastly game. I really believe he’d make a positive impact of the Oilers could get him. That said, the relationship between Boston and Chiarelli since his firing has been frosty at best.

RD Michael Stone FREE AGENT (64gp, 3-12-15). Last chance Texaco.

– He’s going to get the same kind of money that Kris Russell is going for, isn’t he? I don’t like it long-term. The Oilers need more offense in a defenseman for that kind of money on the 2nd pairing.

There are a couple names I believe Lowetide failed to mention, one being Jacob Trouba. I think he’d fit in well in Edmonton and surely that trade demand out of Winnipeg is still lingering.  The other being Noah Hanifin.

Don’t ask me why Ron Francis would even entertain the notion of dealing him. Maybe they reckon he’s going to ask for a pretty penny once his entry-level contract is up and they like Slavvin and Pesce in the long run a bit better. And with the likes of Roland McKeown, Hadyn Fleury, Jake Bean, and Klaus Dahlbeck coming up, perhaps they feel they could really cash in on him…

If that really is the case, I’d be happy to send Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to Carolina for Hanifin. I’d add to that to make it happen too. Noah Hanifin is a better version of Seth Jones and we saw how well he’s turned out for Columbus.

If I had to choose a top 5 out of the list of Lowetide’s above who I think the Oilers are after, I’d go with this:

  1. Kevin Shattenkirk
  2. Travis Hamonic
  3. Tyson Barrie
  4. Matt Dumba
  5. Justin Faulk

My top 5 would be different:

  1. Josh Manson
  2. Radko Gudas
  3. Travis Hamonic
  4. Tyson Barrie
  5. Zdeno Chara

Which dmen would you like to see the Oilers pursue? Are there any on Lowetide’s list above you wouldn’t tough with Zdeno Chara’s stick? Let us know in the comments below!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

What In Sam’s Hell is Going On?

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Well, the wheels are falling off of the bus and we’re veering into the ditch. Edmonton is 4-5-1 in their last ten games now but have the games really been that bad?

After every game I head over to G Money’s website and read his post-gamers because he recaps the game in a common tongue even though he’s using some mad stats to show you how the Oilers were successful or not. You can check that site out HERE.

I want to quote what he said in his latest game review because I think what he says is something as fans we lose touch with when the Oilers are winning AND most of all when they are losing. And honestly, if any fan in this generation knew a thing or two about losing, wouldn’t it be Oilers fans?

You know, one of the things I try to do here and on Twitter is provide a level, objective assessment of every game. (Sometimes I fail because I am first and foremost a fan.)

One of the things you have to try and do to make that happen is, believe it or not, ignore the score. The score in any one game is affected by all kinds of weird and wacky things. In the short term, it can and does diverge – sometimes widely – from the underlying process. All the time.

Over the long term, though, the score and the scores do tend to align strongly with the underlying process.

It’s the process that matters in the big picture. That’s what we’re trying to measure with all these stupid fancystats.

When it comes to process, the Oilers had unsustainably good sh% & chances vs shots conversion (that is to say, they were converting their poor shot rates to dangerous chances at an unsustainably high pace) early in the season. (And I went on record and said so).

Right now, as painful as this streak of losses is (and losses tend to be more painful than wins), the situation is just the opposite. The Oilers are having unsustainably bad sh% & chances vs shots conversion (that is to say, they are converting excellent shot rates to dangerous chances at an unsustainably low pace) lately. They’re missing wide open nets, multiple times a game.

Just as the good streak inevitably ended, so too will this bad streak, and probably soon. (I’m going on record in saying so).

The Oilers were nowhere near as good as the early winning streak said we were.

The Oiler are nowhere near as bad as this recent losing streak says we are.

Seriously. We’ve been through 10 years now where the underlying numbers have confirmed that this team was complete and utter sh*t.

This year, we are not sh*t! At long last! The underlying process now – even with the woeful effort in the third period in this game, and it really was abysmal – is noticeably better than it has been in the past. It is what will drive the longer term results.

If you check out G’s site and read the review of the Ducks game from yesterday, you HAVE to check out the shot charts… It’s unreal! The Oilers should’ve won that game but they couldn’t capitalize no their chances and they couldn’t stop  Anaheim from scoring on theirs… Riz-diculous I say!

IMAGINE IF WE HAD…

The Hall-ogists are coming out now in full force now that the 2ndary scoring has dried up a bit. So, I wanted to take a look at how Hall, Lucic, Demers, and Larsson are doing this year via stats.hockeyanalysis.com and compare them.

My findings (5×5, 50 minutes minimum) are thus:

Name TOI Pts/60 Shots/60 CF% CF60 RelTM  CA60  RelTM
Lucic 246 .97 5.11 53 3.19 -1.27
Hall 220 1.64 7.6 51.3 5.78 2.38
Demers 244 .74 3.19 54.5 6.88 -2.15
Larsson 301 .40 3.38 51.4 2.37 1.88

So by all accounts and no surprises, Hall is dominating Lucic on almost every level here. That is Taylor Hall’s M.O. and his job really but Milan Lucic wasn’t a 1st overall pick either. Hall absolutely should be putting up massive offensive numbers and the fact that he still isn’t has to be a helluva lot more thought provoking than how he compares to Lucic’s production so far.

Sure, they make the same amount of money but they’ve also accrued the same amount of goals this year (5). Maybe we should compare Pat Maroon’s production to Hall’s because that’s who is playing in Taylor’s spot right now.

When you think about it, who should really be in a position to make the playoffs more at this point, Edmonton or New Jersey?

As for Demers vs. Larsson, do we need to take into account that they are very different styles of dman or should we leave that out? In any event, Demers takes the cake in stats like CF%, CA60 RelTM, and Pts/60. Whereas Larrson has the edge in TOI, Shots/60, and CA60 RelTM. I really want to call that one a draw.

As G Money says above, the boys are in an unsustainable funk but are bound to beat it. I don’t subscribe to the idea that if the Oilers had Hall and Demers instead of Lucic and Larsson that they’d be winning these games. It’s possible but I’ve seen too many years of Hall dropping off of the face of the earth when the team needed him most to believe that he’d shed that skin and things would be different.

THE SKID

How can the Oilers get off this path of mediocrity?

  • Give Cam Talbot a bloody rest!!
    • The guy just had twins and he’s on pace to play 77 games. Grant Fuhr he is not!!
  • Stop with the McBlender.
    • It’s telling me that the coaching staff has no idea what to do with their roster and if the head of the ship has no discerning clue as to the direction his ship should be going, that’s a yellow flag.
    • If Toddy Mac wants to double shift McDavid, do it. But be consistent with the lines.

I was really enjoying watching Tyler Pitlick up with McDavid and we do know that Jordan Eberle has had success with Nugent-Hopkins in the past… Draisaitl-Lucic-Kassian was looking sexy too!

I feel for Anton Slepyshev. He’s been super impressive to my eye this year and he can’t catch a break. I’ve loved his intensity and ability to get that puck on the net. When does he get a chance with 97? I know he took some shifts with 93 and didn’t look completely out of place. So when the team is losing consistently like this, what’s the hurt in trying Ol’ Slepy on the 1st line? We did it with “Lance” and that worked out OK.

Now I’m not saying that Pitlick, Slepyshev, and Kassian should spend an extended amount of time in the “top 6” but they add a fresh and youthful element to it from time to time. Jesse Puljujarvi has been getting better and better but, to me, Slepyshev, Pitlick, and Kassian have given me more to think about whilst watching them.

What do you think? What should the Oilers do? Let us know in the comments below!

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

Grand Larsson-y

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The talk of the town is Milan Lucic and Jason Demers being in Edmonton and there’ll be a little bit of that today but we’re also going to chat about the mystery dman Bob Stauffer was talking about yesterday. I’d like to touch on Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as well.

So if you haven’t heard the latest edition of Oilers Now, Bob Stauffer sent the Oilogoshere on a wild goose chase for about 20 minutes before being sussed out my Mark Spector.

Stauffer was teasing the listeners with talk of a right shot defenceman that nobody has been talking about. A rearguard that plays about 22 minutes, has an affordable contract, comes from a team that needs scoring and can handle the tough minutes. But there was one last caveat, there would be another piece that would have to be included that circles back to last year, about 15 months ago.

  • Adam Larsson, 23 years old
  • Shoots: right
  • 22:30 TOI
  • New Jersey had league worst 184 GF
  • $4.16M per year with a NTC that kicks in at the start of 2018 and runs until 2021

So we can see here that Larsson and Greene took on all the hard starts and opposition. They didn’t quite keep their heads above water to say the least but New Jersey was a terrible team nonetheless. This is an Eastern Conference team that could really use a player like Taylor Hall. More on that later.

Let’s take a gander at Larsson’s HERO chart and Passing chart.

I’m not completely certain as to when the last time Stimson’s passing project was updated, so don’t quote me on the results of that chart but there’s one piece of data there that is interesting. Larsson’s SC SAG/60 Rank is nearly breaking through the top. Ryan Stimson’s Passing Project glossary tells us this:

  • SC SAG – Pass sent into Scoring Chance (home plate) area and leading to a shot attempt

So I’m assuming that Larsson is very good at finding the open man in the offensive zone. Correct me in the comments below if I’m wrong.

As for his HERO chart, it’s actually nothing much to write home about. It places him in the shut down role as opposed to the offensive blueliner. But his playmaking is quite high. Could he be considered a playmaking shutdown defender? Great puck mover, not a shooter, very good at playing actual defense?

Well I went over to stats.hockeyanalysis.com and looked at the CA/60 for defenders over the last four years who’ve played at least 3000 minutes. The following resulted:

  1. Brendan Smith – 44.1
  2. Jake Muzzin – 44.23
  3. Drew Doughty – 44.85
  4. Andy Greene – 45.31
  5. Marek Zidlicky – 46.31
  6. Anton Stralman – 46.39
  7. Adam Larsson – 46.61
  8. Mattias Ekholm – 46.72
  9. Kevin Shattenkirk – 47.5
  10. Brian Campebell – 47.66

So there you have it. Apparently he’s good at defence.

I know that Stauffer had spoken about the Oilers possibly acquiring a top pairing defender AS WELL AS a PP specialist. Getting a guy like Larsson would definitely speak to that possibility which takes us to the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Matt Dumba proposal.

Mark Spector said that this was the offer Chuck Fletcher was proposing and nothing more. Take it or leave it. Personally, I’d leave it. Nuge is worth far more than Dumba himself. But it does open up the notion that IF Milan Lucic signs there’s a higher chance that a guy like Taylor Hall is moved. If he isn’t signed, then that means Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could be moved.

Or Both could be moved…

Are you warming up to this idea yet? Ha! It’s not as if Rishaug is lying here. This is a fact and the closer we get to July 1st, the more real it gets.

So what if the Oilers land Lucic AND Demers on a discount? Whether that discount be on term or salary, I could care less but for it to work plus deal Hall and/or Nugent-Hopkins, sacrifices would need to be made.

The deal Stauffer was talking about with regards to Hall/Larsson went something to the effect of Larsson, a prospect and a draft pick AT LEAST for Hall. He noted a few things:

  • Hall and Adam Henrique played very well together in Junior
  • Devils have a lot of prospects down the middle
  • At some point, Chiarelli is going to acquire a 2nd rounder.

So if we take all of that into consideration, would Stauffer be happy with a return of:

  • Adam Larsson, local product John Quenneville, and a 2nd round pick?

I’m not sure I’d be happy with that. Larsson would fill an organizational need, he’s young, his contract has some “permeance”, and they’d be getting that 2nd round pick back which might give them the option of sending out an offer sheet… I don’t know much about John Quenneville right now. So I won’t touch on that.

For me, Pavel Zacha would have to come back in that deal.

Now before you roast me, there’s no team in the NHL that is going to trade their top defenceman for Taylor Hall, even the post I wrote yesterday is blue skying it in hindsight. But trading Hall for Hamonic or Barrie, Spurgeon or Larsson wouldn’t make any sense on the Oilers end. The other teams would have to add. Hence the above proposals. But to counter that, if you’re dealing 1 for three, you’re losing the trade. That being said, I’ve always believed that the Oilers might need to make a deal that is perceived to be one that has been lost on paper.

A team that employs Milan Lucic, Pat Maroon, Zach Kassian, Darnell Nurse, and possibly Eric Gryba is a vast difference to the cupcake teams iced in the past. In specific roles and gauged ice-times, these players can be very effective.

But everything is fluid as Stauffer stated on the show. A lot of balls are in the air right now and it’s going to depend on who decides to sign here on Friday.

Lastly, I’m not completely sure if everything has been “signed” yet since the teams aren’t allowed to talk shop before July 1 but rumours have Lucic and Demers already having “handshake” agreements with the Oilers and Jordan Eberle being sent to the Blues for Kevin Shattenkirk who’d then sign a 6-7 year deal.

Take it for what it’s worth, I was told Del Zotto, Alt, Raffl, and a draft pick for Hall and a 3rd before the draft, so the rumours are flying high and they’re flying hot. It’s silly season again folks so buckle up! Let me know how you feel about all of this in the comments below!

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

In Search of a Right Hand Man

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The Edmonton Oilers have one, count it, ONE right-handed defenseman under contract going into this summer and the trade options are becoming fewer and fewer as we get closer to the draft. Justin Faulk and Tyson Barrie have been pulled off of the shelf, Travis Hamonic wants to stay in Brooklyn now, Sami Vatanen just signed a new deal with Anaheim that makes him the highest paid blueliner on their team. So what are the Oilers left with?

DO NOT TOUCH WITH CHARA’S STICK

  • Dan Girardi (NYR) – Bad contract and the arrow are pointing south.
  • Cody Franson (BUF) – What happened to this guy? Looked to be developing into something of a beast.
  • Tom Gilbert (MTL) – Need I explain why?
  • Dennis Wideman (CGY) – The refs have been pretty inconsistent in Oilers games… Better not though.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

  • Jason Demers – 6’1″ 200lb – He’s the best of the bunch and will be no.1 UFA target on a lot of lists. Would you pay north of $5M per year for this two-way defender?
  • Luke Schenn – 6’2″ 230lb – Would offer a definite physical element and his age is preferable but his skating and mobility isn’t.
  • Zach Redmond – 6’2″ 205lb – Redmond is climbing the ranks on UFA lists everywhere. He seems to be a lesser version of Demers. Could possibly fill a third pairing role well.
  • Roman Polak – 6’0″ 230lb – Nooooo. Unless Nurse needs a sparring partner. Completely exposed in the Finals by Pittsburgh’s speed and relentless forechecking.
  • Dan Boyle – 5’11” 194lb – At 40 years old, is this the kind of player the Oilers should be targeting? I can’t see it.
  • Brian Campbell – 5’10” 192lb – He’s three years younger than Boyle but I’m not sure if he’d like to spend his twilight years playing in Edmonton. I’ve read Chicago and Florida are his preferred destinations. I don’t blame him either.

OFFER SHEETS

  • Tyson Barrie (COL) – A top point producing dman with an edge.
  • Hampus Lindholm (ANH) – Tracking to be a top pairing dman.
  • Rasmus Ristolainen (BUF) – Incredible size and offense. Bad possession numbers.
  • Radko Gudas (PHI) – A freight train on ice. Can play over the line but has some offense.
  • Jacob Trouba (WPG) – Mean MF’er. Has trailed off since being stuck behind Big Buff and Tyler Myers.
  • Connor Murphy (ARI) – Quiet and effective two-way defender.
  • Seth Jones (CLB) – Smooth skater whose offense is a tad better than his defense at this point.

I don’t go into what each brings to the rink because you’re already aware of that but players like Barrie, Lindholm, Ristolainen, Jones, and Trouba would need to be signed in the $7M plus per year range in order to have a chance and at that point the compensation would be a 1st, 2nd, and a 3rd round pick. For a team whose pipeline isn’t a point of pride, I’m not sure if the offer sheet route is the best way to go.

With that being said, Radko Gudas intrigues me a lot and Philly has some nice pieces coming up through their system, most notably, Ivan Provorov. Sam Morin is towering beast of a dman and Travis Sanheim is another. I do wonder if a deal could be made here with the Flyers to acquire Gudas’ rights.

LITTLE KNOWN TRADE TARGETS

  • Josh Manson (ANH) – Dave’s son is a bit better technically than him but I don’t think he’ll even be starring in the NHL’s Hardest Shot Competition anyday. Not that it isn’t hard, I just don’t think offense is his game. Shut down defense is where he carves his niche.
  • Dougie Hamilton (CGY) – Think Calgary would move him to get to no.4?
  • Matt Dumba (MIN) – I can’t see him being worth the price. He looked lost at the World’s.
  • Anton Stralman (TB) – Would Tampa be willing to move Stralman for cap flexibility in order to be able to sign Hedman, Kucherov, Johnson, etc?
  • Kevin Bieksa (ANH) – If the Ducks do sign Hampus Lindholm, that defense is going to be very expensive. Might they be willing to eat some salary to rid themselves of Bieksa?

What do you think? What route would you like to see the Oilers take? Let me know in the comments below!

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors, Trades

Of Course He Did…

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Yesterday Travis Hamonic took back his trade request. I’m not surprised one bit either. I’ve been saying for some time now that fans of the Oilers should be prepared for an underwhelming summer. Now that Hamonic is off the market, I’m one step closer to being right. Not that I’m writing this to validate my assumptions and jack up the ego or anything. To be honest, I’d much rather be wrong about this one but Chiarelli’s up against the wall this summer and he’s going to have to pull off a helluva deal to get out of this predicament.

Hamonic

Something doesn’t feel right about this Hamonic situation… Check out this quote that came right after the rescinding of Hamonic’s trade request that was captured by Peter Botte of the New York Daily News:

“I love it here & want to be here & want to win a Cup here. I never wanted to leave here and couldn’t be happier to stay here.” – Travis Hamonic

He never wanted to leave and couldn’t be happier to stay there? Come again? That doesn’t sound like a person who wanted out. Arthur Staple seconded the quote on Oilers Now yesterday as well… Was there even a trade request or what? Does this have anything to do with the Islanders ownership shuffle? On July 1st, Charles Wang won’t be the majority owner anymore and it wouldn’t be irresponsible if there were major speculations going on with that whole organization.

Trade Requests

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On the note of trade requests, the players making them are not batting well. From off the top of my head Jonathan Drouin, Kerby Rychel, Travis Hamonic (apparently), and Nail Yakupov are all batting goose eggs. Which leads me to believe that Yakupov will be an Oiler for at least one more season.

Remaining Targets

So getting back to the summer of underwhelming, the remaining targets are as such:

Justin Faulk (CAR) – I don’t care how much Bob Stauffer pumps this guy’s tires. Nuge for Faulk plus because Rod Brind’Amour is tied to Nugent-Hopkins seems a read to me. Faulk is leaving Carolina like Shea Weber is leaving Nashville. Sure the ‘Canes need a top line centre but that young defense needs at least one more season to show that they’re capable of… Chopping wood and carrying water… HA! The wildcard coming out of Carolina might be the 32-year-old right-handed offenseive dman, James Wisniewski.

Tyson Barrie (COL) – I think it would be a HUGE mistake for the Avs to move this guy. But their 10th overall pick and Barrie for the Oilers’ 4th overall is a deal that appeals to me but I’m not sure how much it appeals to the Avs. There’s just as much a chance they could get a dman at #10 than #4 IF that is in fact the way they’d like to go.

Jason Demers (DAL) – He’s a solid no.4 for me with potential to be a no.3. An older less-skilled version of Travis Hamonic. A good shutdown defender but I’m very wary of paying him over $5 million dollars per year on a long-term deal. Also, I reckon the Stars will let Alex Goligoski walk and re-sign Demers. The value of the right-handed dman prevails. But the one hope or nail in the coffin to the Jason Demers to Edmonton scenario is Todd McLellan who coached him in San Jose.

Sami Vatanen/Hampus Lindholm (ANH) – These are the guys that make more sense to me despite being in the same division. Anaheim won’t be looking to add salary so that, in theory, could take Nuge and Ebs off the table. Perhaps this is an instance where Yak or Pouliot could go in a deal and of course that would depend on if McGinn and Pirri sign in Anaheim.

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Down on Nuge?

Lastly, Nuge didn’t have a great year last season and now he’s on the block… A bit premature, no? But now he’s on his way out-of-town? As we know, players do not develop in straight lines and RNH has just had his first down season but surely that is no reason to trade him and he seems to be coming up in proposals more and more recently. The team finally has depth at centre and now everyone wants to show him the door?

Unicorns?

Check out what the Penguins are doing with their unicorns… Crosby on line 1, Malkin on line 2, and Kessel on line 3… If Pittsburgh wins this year, will that be “the model” going forward? I mean if we take that and apply it to the Oilers, do you think it would be effective?

Line 1 – Pouliot/McDavid/Yakupov
Line 2 – Hall/Draisaitl/Eberle
Line 3 – Maroon/Nugent-Hopkins/Caggiula
Line 4 – Hendricks/Letestu/Pakarinen

Extra: Kassian, Lander

Caggiula is a leftie, that much is true, but surely he’ll be given every opportunity to make the roster at any position. Chiarelli did say he’ll have to learn the pro game and learn to control his emotions, so perhaps his spot will go to Kassian or Iiro or who knows, maybe Anton Slepyshev, Matty Tkachuk or Pierre-Luc Dubois will be there…

The Defense

I’m not convinced that a healthy Oilers defence needs a mindblowing upgrade. I believe it only really needs one piece. A puck mover for the second pairing. Maybe that’s Sami Vatanen but the onus should be on adding quality hockey players whether they be left-handed or right-handed. At this point, can the team afford to be picky? Davidson, Reinhart, Oesterle and Sekera all played their off sides last season.

1st Pairing – Klefbom/Sekera
2nd Pairing – Davidson/Vatanen
3rd Pairing – Nurse/Fayne

Extra: Reinhart, Gryba (If re-signed)

Can’t Give Up Now

I think the team has eaten shit for too long to just up and trade the pieces collected for being terrible for so long. They made up 40 goals in their scoring differential last year from the season previous and that was with a banged up roster and a disappearing act from Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl for the last 30 games.

This team can and will do better because it has the pieces to do it. Not only that but the young players are a year older, stronger, wiser, and healthier. Nurse will be a much better player next season as will Yak. So don’t be surprised if Chiarelli isn’t pressured into making a bad deal because he wants to see what he’s got as a whole before tinkering with it or he’s waiting to see what the salary cap landscape looks across the league before picking his spots.

If there are some deals to be made, I have to wonder if they’ll just be the type to change-up the team chemistry a bit.

“The reason why he’ll play is that his hockey sense and his GRIT and when you combine those ingredients with skill, these guys find a way to play.” – Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli on Drake Caggiula

Click the pics and grab a tee!