Tag Archives: Kevin Bieksa

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Oilers Updates on Bieksa, Davidson, Lucic, and Who Needs to Step Up in 2018/19.

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I had a nice long chat with one of my North American sources last night and we got talking about everything from the players rumored to be joining the Oilers on a PTO, to Milan Lucic, to Darnell Nurse’s agent, to where The Hockey News has Cam Talbot ranked going into the 2018/19 season.

I’d like to share some of that conversation with you today and I’d also like to comment on a few players who need to step up their game in order for the Oilers to make a return to the playoffs.

*Disclaimer*

What you’re about to read is my interaction with a person I happen to know is close to the Oilers organization. I’m not asking you to believe what you’re about to read nor am I claiming it to be fact. It’s just what I’ve been told and what I have permission to share.

I always tell you to treat this like any other rumor you hear online, like water cooler banter. If it comes true, awesome. If it doesn’t, men…

PROFESSIONAL TRYOUT CONTRACTS

I asked my source about his opinion on the following players and their chances of being asked to come to Oilers camp:

  • Kevin Bieksa – Not their first choice but he IS an option for the Oilers. Toronto likes him as well as another Eastern team. Footspeed concerns the Oilers.
  • Brandon Davidson – Top of the Oilers list. 5 or 6 teams interested. SJ and Vegas in that group. He wants a 2yr deal and has demands that are shortening that list of teams like he wants assurances (and equivalent pay) that he’ll be a top-6 defender.
  • Alexei Emelin – Little interest. Emelin wants a top-4 role but Oilers don’t believe he’s good enough for that and don’t want to gift that to him but may circle back to him depending on what shakes out.
  • Luca Sbisa – Haven’t even discussed Sbisa. Bad wheels.
  • Slava Voynov – He’s been talked about because he IS a good dman. Can move the puck well, has a shot, and has 2 Stanley Cup rings but the Oilers feel that they’d lose a lot of fan support if they did bring him in. From a PR standpoint, it’d be disastrous for him. He’ll probably end up in a place where the fans support isn’t as strong.

I followed that up by asking if the Oilers would try to mend the hole left my Sekera internally and was told players like Ethan Bear, Evan Bouchard, or Joel Persson COULD be brought in to fill the void but in an ideal world none of them make the team. Not unless they blow the doors off of training camp.

They’re (Oilers) not going ot do anything spectacular unless it falls in their laps. They’ll look at a defender for a PTO but that’s about it. Fans expect way too much out of Chiarelli. This is real life NHL. Not NHL on the Xbox. 

My source also passed along that Chiarelli is still looking at Faulk but IF anything happens on that front it’ll be closer to the beginning of the season because of cap implications and LTIR. I was told that PC could’ve acquired Faulk last year for RNH and the brass would’ve understood the move but Chiarelli would’ve been fired this summer had he done it.

CURRENT OILERS

I wanted to switch gears a bit and talk about current Oilers, so we chatted about Jesse Puljujarvi and I was told this;

Management is VERY happy with what Puljujarvi has done this offseason. He is going to have a big year. He’s going to beat out Ty Rattie IMO and take his place beside Connor. 

Glad to hear that the organization is still high on Pulju. I love that kid!

If that prediction does come true, Rattie is S.O.L… And that’s predicated on him making the team out of camp. Something that isn’t guaranteed either…

We then talked about Milan Lucic and I was gifted with some info that shocked me.

The game is changing and fighting is less and less. Looch isn’t a fighter like he once was. He’s trying to get quicker. He really is. He’s just a big boy. 

He was asked to get down to 220lbs for this season and he was nice about it and said he didn’t know if he could but that he’d try.

I believe he’s down to 228lbs now.

That’s not the shocking part. The part that floored me was the answer to when I asked how heavy he was at the end of last season…

I think he weighed around 245lbs. He was a biiiiig boy. That’s a big man coming at you in the corner. 6’3″ 245…

WTF! I can’t wait to see him at training camp. He’ll look so skinny. lol.

Milan is really working on getting his weight down this summer and getting his foot speed up. Apparently, Lucic is in the best shape of his career.

So what is going on with Darnell Nurse I enquired.

His agent, that c*nt, wants 5/6 years at $5.5M per year and Nurse said that he’s cool with $3M per year for two years. 

Nurse is willing to sign right now but his agent is saying that they can get more. 

I asked what my source thought of The Hockey News saying that Cam Talbot was the 4th worst goalie in the NHL heading into 2018 and this was the response:

That’s just cause of last year. I don’t pay attention to that crap. Just bloggers and writers flapping their gums. 

Talbot will have a bounce back year. Koskinen will prove that he belongs in the show. Oilers will be alright. We’re back baby!

I love the enthusiasm! Don’t you! I share that opinion as well. I was watching one of the Oilers wins over Minnesota yesterday and Cam Talbot was making ridiculous saves in that game. That was the one where Draisaitl came down the right wing and whipped it past Dubnyk to win the game for Edmonton.

WHO’S STEPPING UP IN 2018

Cam Talbot – It’s a contract year for Dadbot and the Oilers won’t be going anywhere unless Talbot returns to his 2016/17 form. He’s arguably, apart from McDavid and Leon, the most important player for the team.

To add to that, he’s got Mikko Koskinen breathing down his neck because he’ll want that starting job as well.

Oscar Klefbom – The highest scoring defender on the Oilers last year was Darnell Nurse and he didn’t even hit 30 pts. We need Klef to reach 40pts or more this season and repay some of that patience the fans have shown him.

The Oilers don’t have a PP threat from the point and that’s why I think the PP was so poor last season. Teams simply cut off all of the other options and forced Edmonton to make shite decisions under pressure.

A healthy and confident Oscar Klefbom could be scary.

Matt Benning – Benning is going to be tasked with an increase in TOI this season. Last season he didn’t fare that well with the extra time. I feel like Benning could be a wildcard for PP QB on the Oilers 2nd unit because he’s got a slapshot that was registered at over 100mph last year.

I’d like to see more consistency in his game but being consistently good rather than consistently poor.

I’ve seen Matt Benning absolutely cream opposing players and I want to see more of that.

Ryan Strome – When Strome decided he was going to make an effort at being a better defensive centre and was placed on the PK, a little bit of magic occurred. The Oilers PK got better somehow and Strome gained a bit of confidence.

If Strome never scores 4opts in a season I won’t care but if he can be one of the league’s better PKers and defensive centres, I’ll be so happy for him. I don’t think he’ll ever be a Kadri-like centre but if he can even get close to that for Edmonton in 2018, I think that’ll push the Eberle/Strome trade closer to even than ever before.

Zack Kassian – I’ll always be of the belief that Kassian got “dinged up” after a game 1 fight with Tanner Glass last season and that’s why he couldn’t get back into the groove that we saw the previous year where he was an absolute beast.

We need him to become that beast again. His fearlessness, speed, and physicality are a rare combination of skills in the NHL today and when a player has that and applies it to the forecheck, he/she can be devastating.

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

How Would You Feel About the Oilers Adding Kevin Bieksa?

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The amount of names that the Oilers are looking to add via PTO is growing by the week. Personally, I was told Scottie Upshall and Brandon Davidson will be offered an opportunity to come to Oilers camp and earn a job but the Oilers aren’t the only teams interested in those players as I’ve heard LA and Vancouver are also looking at them.

The latest name to pop up in the Oilers PTO rumor mill is that of Kevin Bieksa.

Bieksa is 37 years old today and he’s definitely a shell of his former self. He hasn’t had a decent year of hockey since 2011/12 when he was with Vancouver and they went to the Cup final. That year he had 44pts in 78gp. He’s topped 14pts once since then and even then it was a paltry 24pts.

Injuries have slowed this old warrior down almost to a halt BUT if there are any reasons I could see the Oilers having any interest in him (apart from the superman punch), they’re these:

  • He’s quite decent on the PK still.
  • The Oilers want a Hendricks-like player on the roster.

So yeah… The home PK was a dog’s breakfast last year until McLellan took over near the end of the year and now the Oilers are in the history books as having the worst single-season home PK in NHL history… Cool.

Let’s head to Natural Stat Trick and check out how his PK numbers look. What I’ve looked at is dmen with 100 minutes TOI on the PK last season and there are 120 defenders that fall under those parameters. I also used the relative statistics to separate him from his teammates to get an even clearer idea.

When it comes to shot suppression Bieksa probably won’t help.

  • CA/60 rel – 5.98 (71/120) – Hamonic, Brodin, Slavin, Ristolainen
  • FA/60 rel – 6.81 (79/120) – Better then Vlasic, Ekblad, Josi, Pietrangelo
  • SA/60 rel – 2.92 (69/120) – Better than Giordano, Carlson, Doughty, Chara.

He’s about the middle of the line, not too bad for a 37-year-old.

But how about his goals against on the PK. How does he stack up there?

  • GA/60 rel: -3.11 (7/120)
  • HDGA/60 rel: -2.08 (10/120)
  • MDGA/60 rel: -0.31 (41/120)
  • LDGA/60 rel: -1.12 (27/120)

HD means high danger, MD means medium danger, and LD means low danger.

To my understanding that is simply referring to where the goals were scored on the ice be it from the net front/slot area (high danger), the half wall (medium danger), or the point (low danger).

I could be wrong on the exact scoring areas there, so don’t quote me. In fact, if I am wrong or I could be clearer, please let me know in the comments.

In 113 minutes on the PK last season, only 7 goals were scored when Bieksa was on the ice. That’s best in the NHL for defenders who played more than 100 minutes on the penalty kill.

All of that is fine and dandy except the majority of the game is played 5×5 and one has to question if Kevin Bieksa is still an NHL quality defender because his traditional stats and his advanced ones tell us he’s probably no better than a no.7 defender.

That said, Matt Hendricks was in the same boat the last two years and both Edmonton and Winnipeg found a useful role for him. So much so that Minnesota even signed him for the upcoming season.

Why do players like Hendricks get signed anyhow? It’s obvious that there are younger more talented players that could easily replace him but coaches like blue-collar lunch-bucket guys like Hendricks. Here’s why:

  • They bust their asses off during practice, in their limited TOI during games, in the gym, etc.
  • They do what they’re told. Simple as that.
  • They act as mentors to younger players.
  • They’re usually glue guys in the dressing room.
  • They are the middleman between the coaches and the players.
  • They’re most often than not fan favorites.
  • They’re experienced and know the ins and outs of a dressing room, how to maintain good relationships, repair broken ones, and when to step away from toxic ones.
  • They stick up for their teammates when others won’t.

These kinds of players are needs on teams and the analytics will tell you the opposite. They’ll say to stay far away from the Hendricks and Bieksas of the world because they’ll cost you at some point but I believe with a team like the Oilers, even if a costly mistake is made, the team is good enough to come back from it.

I’d take a team of Ryan Smyths over a team of Johnny Gaudreaus any day of the week because I’d know that my team of Smyths will be giving ‘er 110% for 60 minutes.

Getting back to Kevin Bieksa though. I’ve liked him once in his entire career and that’s when he scored to put the Blackhawks out of the playoffs in 2011. So it’s fair to say that I’m on the fence if the rumors are true that he’s considering the Oilers.

Part of me loves the idea of adding a grizzled vet who can knock anybody out with one punch. A player who is a son-of-a-bitch to play against and who won’t back down from anybody. I like veterans like Bieksa and I’m of the belief that they add more to a team than most pundits understand.

But the other part of me says, this guy is 37 years old and is slower than molasses in a league that is getting faster by the draft class.

What are your feelings on a Bieksa PTO? Let us know in the comments!

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Armchair GM, NHL, Rob Cooke

Beer League Heroes 15 – 16 Season Primers: Vancouver Canucks

This is probably my favorite season primer post that I am writing this season, obviously other than the hometown Oilers which goes without saying. Well I guess it doesn’t go without saying cause I just did. Why is this my favorite you ask? Well mostly because despite finishing second in the Pacific and earning a play-off spot this team seems to be set on self-destruct. No team in the league did as much to make their team worse than Vancouver Canucks and that sounds great to this Oilers fan!

Key Additions: C Brandon Sutter, LW Brandon Prust, D Matt Bartkowski and G Richard Bachman

Key Departures: C Nick Bonino, D Kevin Bieksa, G Eddie Lack, C Shawn Matthias, RW Zack Kassian, C Brad Richardson

Roster Contenders: LW Hunter Shinkaruk, RW Jake Virtanen, C Brendan Gaunce, and D Taylor Fedun

The Canucks finished the 2014/15 season with a 49-29-5 record. Good enough for 101 points and second in the Pacific division, 5th in the Western conference and 8th overall in the league. Eighteen of those wins came thanks to departed goaltender Eddie Lack who led the team in GAA and save percentage in the regular season.

The top line provided a lot of offense with Henrik and Daniel Sedin being joined by right-wing Radim Vrbata. The trio combined for a total of 69 goals and 212 points. So it is easy to see that as this line goes so does the team. The Canucks will need huge years from all three to again be in the play-offs next April.

As for the aforementioned off-season moves let’s look at what GM Jim Benning did that have me so puzzled. First off he traded Kevin Bieksa to Anaheim for a 2016 second round draft pick. While this may help in the long run it hurts the team in the here and now. Bieksa while getting up there in years, he’s 34, he was still a big part of the Canucks defense playing over twenty minutes a night and was used on both the power-play and penalty kill. Next up was the July 1st trade that sent RW Zack Kassian to Montreal for LW Brandon Prust. This was also another loss for Benning in my opinion. While I don’t like Kassian in any way shape or form I have to admit that he is a much better player than Brandon Prust. In 42 games last season Kassian had 10 goals and 6 assists. Prust only managed 4 goals and 14 assists over the full 82 game schedule. Next is the ultra boneheaded play of the summer for Jim Benning. He sent center Nick Bonino and AHL defensive standout Adam Clendening to Pittsburgh for center Brandon Sutter and a 3rd round pick. This is a no-brainer for me, Sutter is a third line center on virtually any NHL team and Bonino was the Canucks 2nd line pivot last season and was also fourth in scoring behind only the top line guys. Add Clendening who had an amazing AHL season to the deal and it is clearly in favour of the Pens. Even with the addition of the draft pick this trade is still lopsided in Pittsburgh’s favour.

Potential Lineup:

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Radim Vrbata

Chris Higgins – Brandon Sutter – Alex Burrows

Brandon Prust – Bo Horvat – Jannik Hansen

Sven Baertschi – Linden Vey – Derek Dorsett

Alex Edler – Christ Tanev

Dam Hamhuis – Yannick Weber

Luca Sbisa – Matt Bartkowski

Ryan Miller

Jacob Markstrom

Finishing second in the Pacific division last year is likely a lot higher than most had predicted for the Canucks. In my estimation after the off-season that this team had we are likely looking at a massive reduction in wins and points this season. At best I think we will see the Canucks in 5th place in the standings but more than likely I see them finishing 6th.

The players to watch for this team are, as always, the Sedin twins. If they can remain at or near the top of the league in scoring they could claw their way to fifth. As the twins go so does this team but I think even with the on ice magic between the two isn’t going to be anywhere near enough to save the Canuckleheads this year. As I stated in season predictions for the Pacific division over at JustOil.net, at least all the fires the rioters start will keep all the homeless warm this winter…

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