Tag Archives: Kevin Shattenkirk

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

Oilers Trades: Real, Rumored, and Speculated

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This week the Oilers trade talk has been a real treat to experience. We’ve had deals that were never made, deals that are being made up, and an actual trade. The common denominator in all of them, Oilers fans have been given another reason to bitch and moan about Peter Chiarelli.

I mean isn’t it amazing, if you go to the sponsored Oilers blogs like Oilersnation, The Oilers Rig, Copper and Blue, or Oil on Whyte, it’s all FIRE CHIARELLI! Get rid of McLellan!

I get why they do it apart from clicks for the sites but it’s really a shame. I thought re-hashing the Larsson trade every month was bad but this is getting ridiculous (and unoriginal).

Rant over.

 

The Speculated Trade

Ray Ferraro threw a trade idea out into the wind this week that sparked the fires of discontent amongst Oilers fans. A deal centered upon two stars, Max Pacioretty and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

“What if there’s a deal to be made between Edmonton and Montreal that involves Nugent-Hopkins, and Pacioretty is in it? And there are some other pieces to equal the way that works. Edmonton gets a shooter. Gee, that would look pretty good on McDavid’s side. Montreal gets a centre. Gee that would look pretty good in that centre spot.”

Over at the Athletic, Jonathan Willis also jumped on the “trade Nuge” bandwagon this week and his reason was that all of his numbers are basically the same as they’ve always been but the difference being this year he’s riding a shooting percentage that is 40% better than his career average. Sort of the opposite of what usually happens to an Oiler before he’s traded.

My thoughts: If there’s a year to trade RNH, it’s this one unless the Oilers go on a ridiculous tear and are in a playoff spot come trade deadline. His value couldn’t get any higher and the Oilers still need a top 4 right-handed PP specialist on defense. Someone who can transition the puck a helluva lot faster than what the Oilers dmen are doing now. They could also use a proper right-handed 3rd line centre who is a marvel on the PK too and if they acquired both of those pieces in a trade for RNH, what’s the problem?

On the other hand, if the Oilers are looking for a LW who can score, why not simply move RNH to McDavid’s left wing and be done with it. Internal solution utilized!

The Real Trade

Al Montoya from the Montreal Canadiens to the Oilers for a 5th round pick which may turn into a 4th rounder if the former 6th overall pick plays more than 7 games.

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My thoughts: I like it but the folks in the Oilers Twittersphere who think they’re smarterthan everyone else hate it because they think that the Oilers could’ve grabbed a backup off of the waiver wire, even Montoya had they waited for Montreal to activate him off of the IR. The problem with that line of thinking is we don’t know what the price was for those backups and the Oilers defense could be held just as responsible for the poor goaltending performances earlier in the year.

Another thought out there was that 3rd string goalies can be had anything for a 4th round pick but I don’t subscribe to that. If that was the case, we would’ve seen some of these goalies like Pickard, Hutchinson, Hammond, Lindgren, or Sparks with new homes.

Todd McLellan said that they’re worried about Brossoit getting reps but somebody is going to have to be sacrificed for LB to get some games in. I’m guessing Brossoit hits waivers (gets claimed… wouldn’t that be fun fodder for the Chia-haters?), clears, goes down and then Eddie Pasquale goes to the ECHL or is traded/loaned. Nick Ellis, who’s had better AHL stats than Brossoit since taking over in Bakersfield is getting a raw deal here and I feel bad for him.

The Rumored Deal

What did Peter Chiarelli do to Darren Dreger? Geez.

Yesterday on Dustin Nielsen’s show Dreger dropped this massive bombshell that the Oilers had a deal with the Ottawa Senators that would’ve seen Taylor Hall traded for Cody Ceci but Sens ownership needed to approve it, was nowhere to be found, and subsequently Adam Larsson was traded for instead.

Taylor Hall was rumored to be traded for a lot of different dmen before he was actually traded. PK Subban was one, Dougie Hamilton was one, and Kevin Shattenkirk was another. So don’t get your speedos in a bunch by second-guessing Chiarelli’s player evaluation abilities.

We know GMs talk all of the time and they hash out potential deals on a weekly basis and then tweak them up if need be. Sometimes they sit on a trade for months before pulling the trigger.

The timing couldn’t get any better eh? Dreger had been sitting on this little tidbit of information for nearly two years before throwing it out into the world right when the Oilers mired in a 4-game losing streak and the heat couldn’t get any hotter on Peter Chiarelli?

Or was this a veiled shot at Sens GM Pierre Dorion?

Either way, what was Dreger’s motivation to do this? I can’t see any scenario where saying this would benefit anybody but himself or TSN’s radio numbers. He did mention it whilst talking about Edmonton and Ottawa not being good trade partners but still, I do not believe it was mentioned without ill intent aka it was a dick move.

Last Night’s Game

Fack! Was that a fun game to watch or what?!

The win versus the Ducks has their record versus teams in the Pacific to 4-1-0. They’ve outscored their division rivals 23-12 in that time but do you know what the fun part about the rest of the year is?

21 out of the remaining 41 games remaining in the season for the Oilers are against Pacific Division teams… And if you’re worried about that home PK (obligatory statistical preface: #smallsamplesize), the Oilers PK at home versus the Pacific, 85.7% and an added bonus is that their PP is 37.5%.

Peter Chiarelli said that he was going to build a team that would compete in the Pacific and despite how you feel about his handling of assets, you have to agree that he’s a man of his word.

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

Celebrations and Trade Deadline Whispers

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I just wanted to share a bit of good news with you before getting into today’s post but a little background first.

When I started this blog way back in 2012 over on Weebly, my goal was to hit the first page of google without having “Edmonton” or “Oilers” in the URL because I figured that it’d be that much more challenging.Now I’m no SEO expert, I may have read a few blogs on the topic but if I’m not mistaken, one would like all the advantages he/she can get when it comes to making it easier for people to find your website, right?

Next, I wanted to step up the site’s coverage back in 2015 and take it to the next level, so I picked up the domain and registered www.beerleagueheroes.com with the idea that maybe, just maybe, it’d help the site reach the first page.

Well after 5 years of existence and 2 years as a dot com…

BEER LEAGUE HEROES HIT THE FIRST PAGE OF GOOGLE UNDER “EDMONTON OILERS BLOGS”!!!

So I’m pretty stoked about hitting Google page one as I can honestly say I did almost the bare minimum to get it there. That being said, you are the ones that made the most impact. You chose to read our content! And we thank you so much for that. I hope we’re still up there when you get around to reading this.

Trade me right f*cking now! Happy 40th Birthday to the Greatest Hockey Movie of All-Time!!!

Trades Completed and Otherwise

  • Patrick Eaves going to the Ducks for a conditional 2nd rounder is interesting. It turns into a first rounder if the Ducks make it to the Western Conference Finals AND if Eaves plays 50% of the games in the rounds previous. So even if the Ducks do make it to the conference finals, that 1st rounder will be akin to a 2nd rounder anyhow.

I would’ve liked to have seen Eaves on the Oilers previously but I have to question if he’d be surplus to requirement on the Oilers now that Pakarinen is healthy, Slepyshev, when he’s in the lineup, is looking dangerous and he’s not shying away from the dirty areas. Leon Draisaitl is racking up the points again and Jordan Eberle appeared to have some real jump in his game vs. Washington. And Lastly, I’m loving Zack Kassian more and more each time I watch him.

How much would Eaves have really helped? And don’t forget, Puljujarvi is lighting up the AHL right now. So he’s there to call up if need be.

  • Tomas Jurco for a 3rd rounder

I asked my source if the Oilers had any interest in this guy as a depth scorer with speed and a good possession game. I was told the Oilers had ZERO interest.

Source Says…

  • PC is talking to STL about Shattenkirk. He’s open to coming to Edm. He sees what’s happening in Edm with McDavid, Draisaitl, and Co.

So this is an interesting twist. If you’ve been following any NHL media whatsoever in the last 48 hours, you’ve probably read or heard all the talk about Shattenkirk turning down deals to go to other teams, Edmonton included. But what I was told was that as far as an extension goes, the Oilers would have to win a couple of playoff rounds to convince Kevin Shattenkirk to re-sign in Edmonton. Otherwise, the Oilers aren’t willing to go any higher than what the market is currently dictating for rental defensemen. Michael Stone went for a third and Hainsey went for a 2nd rounder plus a career AHLer, so read between the lines there.

I got a bit of flack on Twitter for asking why a team would pay more than a 3rd rounder for a player that isn’t interested in re-signing with their club. I understand that Shattenkirk is a MUCH better player than Michael Stone and Ron Hainsey but would you give up a 1st or a 2nd round pick for a rental? Providing he’s gone on July 1st?

I know a few GMs (Bergevin/Rutherford) who might but the Oilers GM won’t be unless Shattenkirk agrees to re-sign in Edmonton. And if that happens, we should be able to put the Kris Russell 2017 contract debate to bed.

  • Speaking of Russell, the Oilers have broken off talks with his camp. I guess he’s still angling for a 4 year deal with $4M per year. Surprisingly price isn’t the problem, term is.
  • Derek Ryan should be an Oiler soon. They’ve been scouting him something fierce lately.
  • The Oilers are trying their damnedest to move Pouliot and Fayne but doesn’t sound like anything is going to happen on that front.
  • No on Hanzal and Vrbata and Iginla.

Edmonton wants a sniper and would prefer a bit more speed and size up front. But none of those players are fleet of foot and their price tag is too high.

  • Dallas is strapped to the cap and looking to move some bodies. The names that came up were Sharp, Eaves (already spoken for), and John Klingberg…

I can see Sharp and the Oilers being a potential fit but John Klingberg?!! Why in the world would Jim Nill be open to moving him? If I were the Oilers, I’d have a separate phone special for Jim Nill and I’d be calling him constantly to see what the price is. Klingberg has a beauty long-term contract similar to Larsson and Klefbom’s and that would fit in too well with the Oilers future plans.

  • The Oilers are looking at two players with regards to the backup position. Jaroslav Halak and Ondrej Pavelec. With either of those players, the Islanders/Jets would need to retain salary.

Now, I know which goalie I’d prefer. The one who had a helluva playoff run not too long ago for the Montreal Canadiens. A run so amazing that it had fans of the Habs asking for the team to trade Carey Price away… But alas, we’ve heard from Bob Stauffer that he believes Halak will be bought out at season’s end by the Isles. So, who knows what will happen there. I’m not sold on Pavelec one bit…

Personally, I’m guessing the Oilers go out and grab a right-shooting face-off man for sure. I think if they can’t get the right deal for a backup, they’ll wing it and go with Brossoit or if disaster hits, Nick Ellis. I’m with Chiarelli in that the Oilers are right on the precipice of becoming a great team with excellent depth at the minor league level and the prospect level and there’s no real reason to bet the farm this season. Next season mind you, that will be a different story.

That’s it for now. I’ll update you later on if something comes in! And thanks again for helping us to page 1 on Google! Check out our T-shirt shop! There’s a sale going on right now where you can get some pretty sweet tees for you or your kids or maybe someone else or their kids… Click the pic below and it’ll take you to our shop! You’re a beauty!!!

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

Islanders Looking at a Pair of Oilers?

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I got a message late last night from my source and it said that Eberle to the Islanders was heating up. Oilers were looking at Strome and multiple draft picks in exchange for Eberle but that there was more to it and to wait and see…

I think I called something similar a couple of days ago…

In the summer, could Chiarelli get the Islanders to send him Ryan Strome and a pick or prospect for Jordan Eberle? (source)

Of course, it was a hypothetical but I’ll take it! Oh and just before we really get going into this, my source isn’t the lovely Treena’s Oil even though she just went on a twitter craze with a handful of tweets that mentioned some of the thoughts I will go on talk about below.

It’s funny, a lot of the same names keep popping up in rumours and in various blogs. I mean, Lowetide has mentioned Reto Berra on numerous occasions on his blog and I feel like the Halak to Edmonton murmurings have been on low-rumble since he was demoted to the Islanders farm team.

Personally, I don’t believe the Oilers coaching staff is convinced that Brossoit can handle the backup duties. Brossoit looks to be the kind of goalie that needs the no.1 spot and has to be playing all of the time, similar to Talbot. I also believe that Nick Ellis might be the better of the two.

How much better is Curtis Lazar than Anton Lander?

We’re two veteran dmen down right now after last night’s game vs. the Panthers. It’s unknown how long Larsson will be out and we haven’t heard a lot on Sekera. The Oilers will need Brandon Davidson now more than ever. Is trading him in a deal that smart? Unless said deal was bringing back a defenseman… *Cough* Shattenkirk *Cough*

I can’t see Edmonton dealing Khaira. He seems very much in the mold of a Chiarelli-type player. Big, strong, hard-working, positionally versatile…

The other little tidbit, I was also told that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was another player the Islanders might be looking at…

Not a huge surprise there but would it be a bigger surprise if the Oilers dealt both Eberle AND Nugent-Hopkins to the Islanders? That’s a MAJOR chunk of cap space right there and the Oilers would have to bring some back their way. Would you be shocked if it was Johnny Boychuk waiving his NMC, Jaro Halak (Bob Stauffer did say yesterday that he believes the Isles are prepared to buy Halak out though), and Ryan Strome coming Edmonton’s way? Edmonton taking the short-term hit on Halak and then going out and signing Brian Boyle and/or Derek Ryan in the offseason? If the Oilers can find a taker for Pouliot as well as Fayne, the kind of deal mentioned here becomes more palpable financially for the Oilers.

So maybe a version of the roster before July 1st hits would look similar to this:

Maroon/McDavid/Puljujarvi
Lucic/Draisaitl/Strome
Slepyshev/Boyle/Ryan
Khaira/Letestu/Kassian

Klefbom/Larsson
Sekera/Boychuk
Nurse/Benning

Talbot
Halak

When it comes to Nuge and Eberle, I really think we’re going to find out how much of the things we’ve ingested are true before the 2017/18 season gets going with a lot of what the Oilers can or will do in the future riding on what the upcoming RFAs will be demanding, right? So we wait… Will Draisaitl demand north of $6M or can Chiarelli convince the kids who are driving this bus to take a bit less for the better of the team? It’ll be interesting nevertheless.

Just before we conclude and I shamelessly plug our wicked t-shirts, I do wonder how much of the news we get is information vs. disinformation, this time of the year. How much of what Stauffer says is genuine as opposed to something just being tossed out to keep prying minds away from precious truths. Same goes for the news that I hear from my source or the rumours you hear or read from the sites or people you know.

The other thing is, I think it’s pretty common for the GMs to use the insiders to influence negotiations? For example, yesterday on Oilers Now! Frank Seravelli was really pushing the idea of the Oilers acquiring Kevin Shattenkirk and earlier in the week Dreger was saying how the Islanders/Eberle talks had taken place earlier but had cooled off more recently. Yet, here we are today getting news of trade talks heating up between the Isles and Oilers and my feeling before today on Shattenkirk was that the Blues were going to keep him. Bob MacKenzie has stated that he believes otherwise here.

So are the Islanders looking to put pressure on the Oilers to make a deal here while they are in the thick of a pretty kickass resurgence? Are the Blues laying some heat on Chiarelli to get his butt in gear because the pieces they’d like would be of better use now than later?

Lastly, in the back of my mind, I’d like the things I share here with you to come true because it’d make me ego feel good and who doesn’t enjoy a good stroking of the ego 🙂 But the reality is, even if the reports I get are true, they may never come to fruition because the line is always moving in negotiations and trades fall apart all of the time. I mean, what is an insider’s batting average when it comes to rumours anyhow?

How would you feel about a blockbuster trade like the one proposed above? Let us know in the comments below! But don’t forget to check out our Teepublic shop as EVERYTHING IS ON SALE!! (For the time being) Click on the pic below and clothe yourself or your loved ones in some sweet sweet BLH attire! I recommend the Kris Army Tee!

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

Friedman, Seravalli, Soria, and Thomas on Shattenkirk and the Oilers

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Good Evening Oilers fans! The team is 7 pts out of 1st place… IN THE ENTIRE NHL!!! Good times. Good times.

I want to talk about Kevin Shattenkirk this morning because it’s not like everybody else isn’t, right? But difference being, I just woke up and I now get to review the radio hits and blogs to scour for quotes, to which I’ll provide to you below as well as a new t-shirt design!!! If you’re a Kris Russell fan, you should dig the new design!

Quotes on Kevin Shattenkirk

Alex Thomas on Lowetide 1/19/17 

“I think it depends on the asking price. I’m not sure if I’m willing to give up this year’s 1st round pick and then something else if I’m not going to be able to re-sign Kevin Shattenkirk. Now, I don’t think the Oilers will get a commitment from him no matter how hard they try before they trade for him but I do think it’s a possibility that Shattenkirk comes here. Let’s say the Oilers make the playoffs, let’s say they even win a round and then Shattenkirk falls in love and re-signs. All of a sudden it looks like a stroke of genius. 

But I think it depends. I’m biased, I want to see them get in, I want to see what they can do in the playoffs. I hope they dgo out and buy as much they can without truly truly hurting the future but Kevin Shattenkirk is a guy that doesn’t really come available often and he fits their needs perfectly. Almost too perfect in this spot. 

So I guess it depends what St.Louis wants here. I know they had a high asking price but I’ve seen a few people floating around the thought that St.Louis just wants the money so they can go out and get something else because they can afford to lose Shattenkirk as they need something more up front. Would they lower the price?

I think it all depends on the price for Shattenkirk.

You know I also really look at some other guys out there too. A guy like Martin Hanzal, how much is he going to cost? He’d be the perfect 3rd line centre. Or a lot of people rolled their eyes when he was brought up over the summer but Thomas Vanek has been really good on the right-wing for the Detroit Red Wings. What if he came in here as a goal-scoring right-winger? He’s going to hit 20 this year easily. Players like that, Radim Vrbata, are the guys I’m really looking at right now. 

Players like that, Radim Vrbata, are the guys I’m really looking at right now. But if Shattenkirk’s price comes down, I think the Oilers would be foolish not to look at him.”

Rob Soria on Lowetide 1/19/17

“If they (Oilers) go out and get a Shattenkirk, on his own, I don’t think it would make any sense. If they want to go for it, then, they gotta go at a couple of pieces. They need a 3rd line centre, a defenseman. If they go get two players like that, fine. Make a run but people have to understand, it’s going to come at a cost.

He’s a UFA but I think they are other playoff teams that would love to add Shattenkirk to their blueline.”

Frank Seravalli on Lowetide 1/17/19

“We obviously know that the Oilers have interest in Kevin Shattenkirk because they recieved permission from the blues and obviously they’d gotten to a desk in conversation that they were interested in inquiring enough to go down that road and talk about long-term extension and the response from the Shattenkirk camp at the time was that they weren’t interested in doing something like that.

Now, again, to stress, we’re a long way from March 1st and the deadline is still 6 weeks from yesterday. I’m not saying at all that a deal is imminent but from the conversations that I’ve had, the Shattenkirk camp, I believe, is interested and excited about the potential of Kevin Shattenkirk being a rental acquisition at the trade deadline. He’d be interested in going anywhere to try any sort of short term fit to figure out what he likes and wants for the future and certainley Edmonton would be included in that category to come and try it.

Cam Talbot was in the exact situation and has the same agent group as Kevin Shattenkirk. He (Talbot) didn’t want to come to Edmonton, in fact, his group told the Oilers, “Don’t trade for him because he’s not going to sign and extension there.” And he went and came to Edmonton and ended up loving it, started playing really well and went on that stretch last year in Dec. or Jan. and was excellent for the Oilers and it convinced him, even before seeing, really; the new building and Connor McDavid consistently playing in this team, fully turning it around in the standings. Cam Talbot absolutely loves it in Edmonton and I think that’s something that’s been the trend league-wide, is that players are realizing quite quickly that Edmonton is becoming a destination for NHL players.

There’s a certain shift that is going on in St.Louis. Obviously they have Tarasenko, but they have some other issues, Fabbri there as well. They have some other issues they need to tackle. As you (Lowetide) said, Doug Armstrong was burnt by the fact that Backes went to Boston and Troy Brouwer went to Calgary on July 1, they didn’t retain either of those players and got nothing for them in return. I think the sweet spot for the blues would be finding a player that they could bring in now that wouldn’t create such a hole in Shattenkirk’s return and also have something for the future.

One of the ideas that was floated yesterday that I heard, certainly NOT from an official source but pure speculation, what about the idea of something like a Brandon Davidson and a conditional pick because the Oilers are going to position themselves for the expansion draft and as it stands right now, they’d likely lose Davidson in the expansion draft anyway. He’s someone that can help the Blues now and also that conditional pick for the future and in return the Oilers would get Shattenkirk with the idea of betting on the fact that they can convince him with both a playoff run and a really home-heavy march schedule. I think they have something like 12 home games, the Oilers do, in the month of March. That they could convice him in that time that Edmonton is the place to be for the long-term and figure out the conditional pick and him signing on the back-end.”

Elliotte Friedman on Oilers Now! 1/19/17

“I think that they (Blues) realize that they’re not going in the right direction right now and they have, on the right side at least, they have Pietrangelo and they have Parayko, so they can get away with not having Shattenkirk. And if you look at some times this year, you get the impression that the coaching staff and Shattenkirk aren’t always on the same page in the terms of how he plays.

What I don’t know is, what’s the price? Like, if they’re still determining the asking for a big price, they’re not going to do it for a guy who, they’re not going to get it for a guy who has got a couple of months left before becomes UFA. And there is a belief out there, rightly or wrongly, that he wants to be a Ranger.

If they’re going to ask for a premium, I don’t think they’re going to be able to get much. But if they’re going to ask for something a bit more short term or the price isn’t as high because maybe they want to move him to get something else. I could see it happening and the other thing I could see happening Bob is, what if they did something with Tampa where they send Shattenkirk to Tampa and Bishop goes to St.Louis? I mean, that’s something that helps both teams. I don’t know, I’m just throwing it out there.

But what I do think that is going on here is that there’s a willingness to move him, I don’t know what the price is, and I think that Shattenkirk, who was wasn’t willing to go to Edmonton last summer to sign long-term, he might be willing to do it as a rental. I think there were all sorts of teams he wasn’t interested in before like Montreal, like Toronto, could potentially in as a rental depending on what the cost is. I can’t see Peter Chiarelli giving up anything that affects his long-term situation for a 3-month rental just to get into the playoffs. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

 

My Thoughts…

Okay, so what I’ve gathered from Friedman and Saravilli is that IF the Oilers want to go out and get Kevin Shattenkirk, it’ll be for the playoffs only. Now, I like Saravilli’s suggestion that the Oilers offer Brandon Davidson and depending on what round that conditional pick is in… The Oilers might not have to give up much if Shattenkirk does indeed take off for the east coast in the summer.

Surely the New York Rangers would have interest in Shattenkirk but could they fit him under their cap? I’m not so sure with them having Staal, McDonagh, and Girardi signed up for the foreseeable future. Nobody will be taking the injury-riddled Staal and can you see any teams having interest in Girardi right now with his foot speed and cap hit? They could trade their captain but that seems extremely unlikely.

Lowetide mentioned it on his show this morning, but perhaps now is not the time for a Rangers/Shattenkirk marriage. Could that possibly open things up for a short term deal between the Oilers and Shattenkirk though? Just wait out the Rangers and then by that time, be it one or two years, maybe New York has something the Oilers would like and then perhaps the Oilers have Matt Benning running the show on the PP or another young player. Who knows?

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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Micah Kowalchuk, NHL, Trades

How Much Does a Right-Handed Defenseman Go For Anyway…

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So, at this point of the year, we’re left wondering with these two questions.  First, what is a quality Top-6 NHL winger worth, and second, what is the going price for a quality Top-4 right-handed defenseman.

In an effort to answer these burning questions while I wait for the snow to melt so I can start golfing, because, well, that’s what us Oilers fans do in the spring, here’s my best guess.

To do this, we can essentially just look at the deals for defensemen, there’s really only been 8 deals involving high-end right-handed defensemen in recent history, and here’s how they break down:

  • Jason Demers, originally a 7th round pick, had played parts of 6 seasons with the San Jose Sharks when he was dealt to the Dallas Stars for a 3rd round pick and Brenden Dillon. At that point of his career, he could safely be considered a 4/5 defenseman who has flourished in Dallas with more opportunity;
    • He was dealt for a defenseman who was younger and considered to have more upside at the time, and who was 6’3 225lbs.
  • Kevin Shattenkirk, in his first season with the Avalanche, was dealt along with a 2nd round pick and Chris Stewart, at the time considered a Top-6 NHL power forward, for Erik Johnson, a first round pick, and a depth forward;
    • Once again, we have defensemen going both ways in this deal as a balance, and both were considered quality young defensemen with high upside;
  • Matt Niskanen was dealt, along with James Neal, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Alex Goligoski, who at the time was considered a potentially premier offensive defenseman;
    • Again, we see a defenseman for a defenseman swap, with the better defensemen resulting in the inclusion of a scoring winger;
  • Tyler Myers, along with pending UFA winger Drew Stafford, a pair of prospects and a first round pick to the Winnipeg Jets for Evander Kane and Zack Bogosian;
    • Once again we see scoring forwards to balance the deal in favour of who gets the better defenseman, but again there are defensemen moving in the deal;

Now, to look at the deals where no other defensemen were involved:

  • Brent Burns for Devin Setoguchi and a first. Now, it has to be noted here, Burns was as much a winger as a defenseman at this time, and therefore was dealt for another winger with an included draft pick;
  • Dustin Byfuglien (along with Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Akim Aliu) for a 1st, 2nd, and a selection of depth forwards. Once again, Byfuglien was considered as much a power forward, and therefore his price was more along the lines of a scoring forward;
  • Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen. This was the most recent move, where a larger 1st line center was moved for a player who, although having potential, was a 2nd pairing right-hand defenseman on his team;
  • Johnny Boychuk for two 2nds and a conditional 3rd. It has to be noted that the Islanders caught Boston in a bad cap situation and was able to take advantage of it due to their cap space. This deal, although fans scream for the Oilers to make a similar one, was lighting in a bottle and is unlikely to be duplicated;
  • Dougie Hamilton was dealt for a 1st and two 2nd round picks when he didn’t sign his RFA deal;

So, to summarize, we can discount the Boychuk deal as a rarity, and we can consider the Burns and Byfuglien deals to essential be for forwards (at the time).  That leaves us with the various deals where they are essentially Best Defensemen in the Deal for Scoring Forward and Lesser Defenseman, and then the deal of a 2nd pairing with potential Defenseman for a Top-3 Center.  This shows us how much value is generally placed on a right-handed defenseman, and we can expect one of our younger left-handed defenseman will be going alongside any winger we deal to obtain such a right-handed defenseman.

Now, one can debate the quality of players such as Jordan Eberle, Nail Yakupov or Taylor Hall, but as becomes clear, no one deals a quality right-handed defenseman for a winger unless a secondary defenseman was included.  Goligoski for Niskanen and Neal are an example of this.  The only real exception would be the Burns scenario, which would still place a rough price of approximately Jordan Eberle and our first round pick to make that deal happen.  Essentially, any deal the Oilers do will probably have to include one of Oesterle, Davidson or even Klefbom along with a winger to get that quality right-side defenseman, or else our first-round pick plus a winger.  The only exception would be if the Oilers chose to deal Nugent-Hopkins, who may at best on his own fetch a right-handed defenseman with “potential”.

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