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

(3/4/21) BLH’s NHL Trade Rumors: 31 Thoughts Edition

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring the latest heresay from Elliotte Friedman’s weekly 31 Thoughts.

BLH has some ideas for the Oilers lineup card. Check those out here!

Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp think the Calgary Flames have a better chance at the playoffs this year than the Oilers. Read about that here. 

Is Leon Draisaitl’s excellent two-way presence just a mirage? One Edmonton pundit says they may very well be, BLH says not so fast. Read about it here.

A new name in the rumor mill for Oilers fans! Check out who it is here.

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NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • “Publicly and privately, Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen stands up for John Tortorella. This is key, because sometimes what people say in private is not the same as what they say in public. But, as the Blue Jackets were swept last weekend in Nashville, extending the losing streak to five games, it was impossible not to wonder about that “pushback.””

BLH’s Thoughts: As I was reading this I was thinking that it’s all fine and dandy that the coach is getting the dreaded public vote of confidence but what about Kekalainen himself? At what point does he find himself on the hot seat? When do folks start wondering about him and his heavy loyalty to John Tortorella and could that be his undoing?

  • “Kekalainen did confirm what has been rumoured, that the Blue Jackets are looking at centres. They’ve got some talented young players who need time to grow into that position, but immediate help is needed, too.”

BLH’s Thoughts: The BJs are five points behind Chicago for 4th in their division, surely they start to look at being sellers for this year’s trade deadline soon if they can’t pull right out of this funk they’re in. Maybe they could find their center in the off-season? Would they put in an offer for Jack Eichel possibly using one of their big d-men as trade fodder?

  • “Boston and Philadelphia are eyeing defencemen, although both teams must monitor expansion-draft issues. You don’t want to make that situation worse, unless of course you are trading something that nullifies the problem. Toronto is checking out forwards. Colorado is looking at some options, but I don’t know how high-salaried they would be. One interesting possibility: Minnesota. Unafraid GM and challenging for top spot in the West.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Minnesota is a very interesting team to me. I gave them non respect at the beginning of the year because I didn’t think they’d have the personnel to compete in that division. With five picks in the first three rounds of this year’s draft, they could probably make a significant addition to their club if they wanted. If it were me though, I’d keep my powder dry because they’re playing with found money I reckon and those draft picks may come in handy this off-season should they find the need to shed a contract or two. 

  • “On Jack Eichel: I would be shocked for the above reasons if the Sabres considered a trade now. First, it’s something they have to come to grips with. Second, there simply aren’t a ton of teams in position to do it for budget or cap reasons. Things change in the off-season: contracts coming off the cap; the 10 per cent summer cushion; etc. The Rangers are an obvious exception — they could do it at any time, if they wished — although some of the proposals I’ve seen out there are kinda crazy.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t think Buffalo will make any moves with Eichel in-season, even if he asks out. It wouldn’t be in the Sabres’ best interests to do anything. Come the off-season and closer to the draft, the options and offers will open right up and that will be the best time. It would also give the club an extra moment or two to find an experienced executive to help GM Kevyn Adams because he’s doing all of this on his own right now… 

  • “I do think teams searching for goalie depth have asked Buffalo about Jonas Johansson, who will be an unrestricted free agent without 21 appearances of at least 30 minutes. Sunday was his second game of the season.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Reckon there’s a team that will want to trade for an impending UFA that’s only played twice this year and for a shitty team no-less? If there is, they’re not offering a lot. 

  • “Alex Stalock is going to play in Edmonton… I do think the Oilers would like to see Stalock push Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith… Stalock is a competitive guy, so you know he’ll grind for the opportunity.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I was on a podcast on Wednesday evening with Michael from Oilers Live and we talked about Stalock a bit. I wondered if the plan is to get him into a game or two as soon as his quarantine is over to see how he does as a precursor to a goalie trade most likely involving Mikko Koskinen. Stalock is a wonderful puck handler (like Mike Smith) and his contract is for next year as well and that satisfies expansion requirements. 

  • “Another KHL player to keep an eye on: Magnitogorsk defenceman Grigori Dronov. Just turned 23 and may need some AHL time, but there are NHL clubs watching him.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve not the foggiest when it comes to this guy but here’s a snippet from his profile on Elite Prospects,

“Proactive at getting first on pucks and getting into battles.. whether in a race or when trying to move the opposition off the puck”, Draftin Europe 2018

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

(2/17/21) BLH’s NHL Trade Rumors: “There has been some talk of trading him if he isn’t going to fit in…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Dylan Holloway (EDM), Matt Dumba (MIN), Patrick Kane (CHI), Jake Virtanen (VAN), and more!

TSN1260’s Jason Gregor is pissed! Check out this rant on the Oilers here!

BLH has some ideas for the Oilers lineup card. Check those out here!

NEW: Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp think the Calgary Flames have a better chance at the playoffs this year than the Oilers. Read about that here. 

Is Leon Draisaitl’s excellent two-way presence just a mirage? One Edmonton pundit says they may very well be, BLH says not so fast. Read about it here.

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun): Recently there was some chatter between Garrioch and TSN’s James Duthie with regards to Sens forward Logan Brown. The scribe noted that there has been some talk of trading him if he isn’t going to fit in with the Senators anymore. If they do decide to put him on the trade market, there would definitely be some interest in him.
  • Jim Matheson (Edmonton Sun): Said he wouldn’t be surprised if Edmonton Oilers prospect Dylan Holloway signed with the club at the end of his season with Wisconsin (NCAA). Matheson believes Holloway might be able to fit into their bottom-six with his skating, size, and competitiveness.
  • Darren Dreger (TSN): Is of the belief that the Vancouver Canucks want a young forward in return for winger Jake Virtanen who has another year left on his contract worth $2.55M.
  • Michael Russo (The Athletic): Said in a mailbag this week that he thinks defenseman Matt Dumba’s performances the rest of the season once he returns to play will dictate whether or not he gets moved.
  • Jimmy Murphy (Boston Hockey Now): A source of Murphy’s believes goaltender John Gibson may have issue with the team’s direction and could be looking to be moved.
  • Adam Vingan (The Athletic): Believes if the Nashville predators could get a similar return for defender Mattias Ekholm that LA got in the Jake Muzzin and Alex Martinez deals that would simplify their approach to the Seattle expansion draft.
  • Elliotte Friedman (Sportnet): Friedman thinks that the Vegas Golden Knights aren’t looking to trade goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. They’re playing very well right now and in a year where some teams can’t even make it work with four netminders, why would they move him?
  • Matt Larkin/Ryan Kennedy (The Hockey News): Noted that they believe players like Chicago superstar Patrick Kane and Edmonton Oilers MEGA star Connor McDavid are their picks for quarter season NHL MVP so far.
  • Jonas Siegel (The Athletic): Doesn’t think the Jimmy Vesey project is working in Toronto and they may move him at the deadline for a draft pick.

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

If This Defenseman Is Available, the Oilers Need Him, Badly! Plus More NHL Rumors!

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Mattias Ekholm (NSH), Ryan Hartman (MIN), and is help coming in net for the Edmonton Oilers?

Craig Button absolutely tore the Oilers a new a$$hole on TSN 1260 recently. Click this link and read what he said!

TSN1260’s Jason Gregor is pissed! Check out this rant on the Oilers here!

BLH has some ideas for the Oilers lineup card. Check those out here!

NEW: Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp think the Calgary Flames have a better chance at the playoffs this year than the Oilers. Read about that here. 

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • TSN’s Pierre LeBrun’s latest appearance on Insider Trading let it be known that the Nashville Predators might have a player who a lot of teams would covet, including the Edmonton Oilers I believe.

“I don’t know if the Predators have decided that they’re outright sellers but they’re right on the brink and there are some obvious names like Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula, they signed one-year deals and they’ll be UFA at the end of the year. Those will be your pure rentals but there’s a more intriguing name when I talked to teams around the league that they hope will be on the market. I think there’s an absolute solid chance that the Predators at least listen on top-four defenseman Mattias Ekholm who’s been a long-standing member of that organization. He’s got a year-and-a-half left on his contract at a real bargain price at $3.75M. He doesn’t have any no-trade protection and again, this would really be about the Predators perhaps seeing what’s out there and if they don’t like it then keeping him, but think of the Jake Muzzin deal a couple of years ago where he had a year-and-a-half left on his deal or Alec Martinez last year, he had a year left. That top-four D that’s had a couple of playoff runs in him can be appealing to a contender. That would be an intriguing name.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Jake Muzzin was traded for Carl Grundstrom, Sean Durzi, and a first-round pick in 2019 that turned out to be Tobias Bjornfot. The return LA got for Martinez was a 2020 2nd round pick (Will Cuylle) and a 2021 2nd round pick. 

As an Oilers fan, I am definitely interested in Mattias Ekholm to anchor the second-pairing’s left-side and so I can slot some players down to where they need to be, not where they’re required to be. The fancies don’t paint him in a great light this year, to be honest, could that be a result of his team though?

You look at the prices to acquire such a player in the past and it makes you hesitate and wonder how much you’d be willing to pay. Also, the Preds would have to either eat some salary or take a contract back in order for Edmonton to be in a position to trade for the 32yr old. 

So, to put it in perspective, the Oilers would need to offer something like Tyler Benson, Rafael Lavoie, and a high draft pick if we’re using the Muzzin template. Again though, money would need to go back… So as much as I’d like to see Ekholm in an Oilers jersey, I have a tough time seeing it a realistic possibility. 

  • Michael Russo of The Athletic says that the Minnesota Wild could move Ryan Hartman if they’re afraid of what he might be awarded in arbitration. Other names that he mentioned the Wild moving include Viktor Rask and Nick Bonino.

“Hartman could command a bigger salary than the Wild are willing to pay a fourth-liner this offseason and already will have to re-sign Fiala, Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve always liked Hartman’s aggravating style. $1.9M is about $1M too much for the bottom-six in Edmonton though. He has some interesting advanced metrics though. He’s a bit of a drag offensively but defensively, this season, he’s done fairly well in the relative “against” stats. 

CA/60: 0.78
FA/60: -5.61
SA/60: -3.26
GA/60: 1.28
xGA/60: -0.63
SCA/60: -2.1
HDCA/60: -1.25
HDGA/60: 0.23
PDO: 0.900

I bring up the against stats because the Oilers definitely need a hand in keeping the puck out of the net. They need more players willing to do the mucky things that result in a better team defense. Plus this player would be someone who could contribute on the penalty kill as he’s seen quite a bit of that TOI since joining Minnesota.

Personally, I don’t know if Zack Kassian is going to return to the pugnacious pugilist that we all fell in love with, especially if we don’t know when the fans will return. Could Hartman be a Blake Coleman-type for Edmonton is another question worth asking.

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This is how Pavel used to tell you who was #1 back in the day! Click the pic and grab a shirt or a mask!
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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

(2/8/2021) – BLH’s NHL Rumors: “The Canucks also tried to get…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring Derek Stepan (OTT), Jake Virtanen (VAN), Thatcher Demko (VAN), Matthew Dumba (MIN), and more!

Craig Button absolutely tore the Oilers a new a$$hole on TSN 1260 recently. Click this link and read what he said!

TSN1260’s Jason Gregor is pissed! Check out this rant on the Oilers here!

BLH has some ideas for the Oilers lineup card. Check those out here!

NEW: Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp think the Calgary Flames have a better chance at the playoffs this year than the Oilers. Read about that here. 

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Sportsnet: Insider Chris Johnston was asked on over the weekend what he was hearing with regards to the Vancouver Canucks and their horrid start to the year,
    • “What I can tell you from an number of conversations in the last day or two is, there is a lot of ideas out there of what they may or may not do, but this is a challenging season to shake things up for a number of reasons.”
    • “The one thing I do wonder about is if Jake Virtanen is someone they end up giving a fresh start too. He’s had a tough start to the year. He’s been in and out of the lineup. He’s scratched tonight in Toronto. Maybe there is a feeling that, that could be a short-term move that might shock their group a little bit and might be something that suits the player and the organization as well.”
  • Ottawa Sun: In conjunction with what Elliotte Friedman has said in the past, Bruce Garrioch recently commented further on the Derek Stepan situation,
    • “As I noted on @TSNHockey Thursday, Derek Stepan was excited to get dealt to the Sens , but the reality of not seeing his family until May 8 make the situation difficult. The couple has three children (including a newborn) and a visit would require 14-day quarantine.”
  • Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman intimated on Saturday night that the Ottawa Senators might be looking to move a defenseman.
    • “Also the other situation there is they now have a lot of bodies on their blue line. Erik Brannstrom after a long quarantine is back and ready to go, playing well. Artem Zub is playing well. I think they are looking to lessen the load on their D was well.”
  • The Fourth Period: David Pagnotta has reported that the Vancouver Canucks and the Minnesota Wild were in talks over the off-season but GM Jim Benning didn’t pull the trigger because the price was too dear.
    • “The Canucks also tried to get Matt Dumba from the Wild before free agency, but talks centered around Demko (not Brock Boeser) and a Minnesota source confirmed the ask included the 25-year-old netminder.”
  • The Province: Patrick Johnston believes that the struggling Canucks have put a couple of forwards on the trade block to “test the waters” so to speak.
    • “The Canucks have floated his [Virtanen] name on the trade market but there hasn’t been a taker. Hard to imagine what might change. (Adam Gaudette is also on the block but, similarly, given his poor play, there doesn’t seem to be interest.)”

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1/21/2021) – BLH’s NHL Rumors: 31 Thoughts Edition – “I do think there are some very, very good teams in the weeds on…”

BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring the likes of Ian Cole (MIN), Pierre-Luc Dubois (CBJ), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM), and more!

The Oilers have a bit of a mind-bender brewing on the right side of their defense and a couple of big contracts set to expire there with some high-end prospects almost ready to take over. What is Ken Holland set to do?

TSN’s Frank Seravalli says that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins might not be in the Oilers’ plans going forward. Read all about it right here.

Craig Button absolutely tore the Oilers a new a$$hole on TSN 1260 recently. Click this link and read what he said!

Click the pic and find the NHL94 player from your team!

NHL Rumors and Speculation

  • Ian Cole’s trade from Colorado to Minnesota seems to have been made with an eye on the future in a couple of ways,

“His trade to Minnesota for Greg Pateryn (with the Avalanche keeping 18 percent of Cole’s salary), creates flexibility and the ability to bank room for the trade deadline. The numbers game is obvious for the Avalanche as Bowen Byram and Conor Timmins arrive.”

BLH’s Thoughts: If the Avalanche are clearing cap room now and we’re hearing that they’re checking in on Pierre-Luc Dubois… Is Joe Sakic going big-game hunting this year akin to how his old GM, the departed Pierre Lacroix, used to do when he was a player? 

If you’re Columbus, who’d you expect to get off the Avs though? I’m not sure there’s a good fit if the Blue Jackets are looking to trade for someone that will slot in on their first-line right away. 

  • Friedman speculates that Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald’s contract and their good start to the year could affect his future with the club long-term it expires after this season,

“Could have implications for them or possibly even Pittsburgh, where Fitzgerald worked before.”

BLH’s Thoughts: If Jim Rutherford steps down, could the Pens go with Fitzgerald? I like what he’s done with New Jersey so far and sooner or later Pittsburgh is going to have to embrace some sort of rebuild. 

  • New Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito is not off to a good start with his bosses or playing personnel so far with his treatment of current NHL ironman Keith Yandle,

“There was a wild rumour the Panthers wouldn’t invite him to camp, which obviously didn’t happen and I’m not sure that’s even allowed anyways.”

“Where things really went off the rails is Yandle was very upset over the past couple of weeks because he felt his character was called into question — that he was made to feel it wasn’t about his play but his personality.”

“At some point over the past few days, several teammates stepped up and made it clear they felt he should be in the lineup.”

“There’s a lot of speculation that he would be willing to waive to Boston. I’m not convinced there’s a match, however. The Bruins have been extremely careful not to add long-term money. It doesn’t fit their current activity.”

  • Doesn’t sound like things are getting any closer between the Edmonton Oilers and fan-favorite Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

“I’d heard earlier in the off-season that the Oilers and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were getting close on an extension, but that’s gone quiet for awhile now.”

BLH’s Thoughts: The longer Nuge goes without producing on McDavid’s wing, the more the fans are going to call for Tippett to get him back on Draisaitl’s line. Now, if he continues to struggle, it won’t be long until the trade calls start to get louder and louder. 

For myself, I would have zero qualms dealing RNH if it got the Oilers one of two things, A) a proper starting goalie or B) a top-four defenceman.

One scenario to consider might start in Columbus. If they make a deal to move Dubois and can get a very good winger back, could they be willing to part with one of their goaltenders for Nugent-Hopkins?

  • Some of the league’s top teams could be in on Pierre-Luc Dubois,

“I do think there are some very, very good teams in the weeds on Dubois, waiting to see how the Blue Jackets handle this. I’d be very curious to know what Colorado and Tampa Bay think.

BLH’s Thoughts: Wouldn’t it be something if Tampa could find a way to get Dubois? After getting out of that salary cap hell they found themselves in over the summer… It would be very interesting if not extremely entertaining if that happened. 

I did hear a possible 3-way trade between the Blue Jackets, Canadiens, and Jets rumor recently. Saying that Dubois could go to Montreal, Laine to Columbus, and Nick Suzuki plus plus plus would go to Winnipeg, but I don’t know. The only thing that fits is Dubois to Montreal as I’m certain they have Nick Suzuki held in very high regard there. Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the other hand… I think he could be had. Also, do you reckon Patrik Laine would be happy playing for John Tortarella?

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