Tag Archives: Nail Yakupov

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, Jack Gruninger, Rob Cooke, Sunday Night Pint, Zach Laing

BLH Sunday Night Pint #2

We’re back for another edition of the BLH Sunday Night Pint! Coincidentally this is the anniversary of the Chris Pronger trade! So Happy Pronger Day everyone!!

This week we have Zach “The Ladies Man” Laing (@loweded), Grapplin’ Jack Gruninger (@jackgruninger), and Rob “Don’t Call Me Cookie” Cooke (@cooke_rob) to tackle the hard-hitting Oilers topics of the week!

We’re going to start things off with an easy question:

1.Have the Oilers Done Enough to Make the Playoffs in 2015/16?

Jack – Not yet, no. They could be close, but unless some younger guys can have a surprise impact at the NHL level, the Oilers aren’t playoff bound yet. I think there are still question marks at forward. Lauri Korpikoski was brought in in the Boyd Gordon trade, how will he do? In the right situation he could excel, but there are likely better options. Will Yakupov finally turn his game around and start producing like a first overall pick? He hasn’t been trending upwards. Matt Hendricks is aging, how much longer can he have an impact? Also, not much needs to be said about the team’s defensive woes. Sekera and Klefbom are good defencemen, but what about the rest? Schultz can produce offense, but the defensive side of his game is clearly lacking. Fayne had a poor first season in Edmonton, they need more from him. Can Darnell Nurse take on a top 4 role like we desperately need him to? If Ference and Nikitin are both in the lineup at any point this season I might lose my mind. Finally, this team isn’t getting out of the bottom 5 unless they can get a save.

Rob – The answer to this is no. Not necessarily for the reason that most people might think though. The Western Conference is a killer to begin with and unfortunately for the Oilers most of the teams that made the playoffs last season improved this summer. The obvious exceptions being the Canucks and the Blackhawks. No clue what Jim Benning is planning for the fall but it does appear that the Canucks are headed for a rebuild in the near future. The Blackhawks are worse than last season but that has been due to cap issues that required some really good players to be moved for less than full value. So out of eight teams that made it last year six either improved or at least remained at the same level. Add to that Los Angeles and San Jose were outside the playoffs last season and definitely will challenge for the post-season again.

2.Who Will Lead the Oilers in Scoring This Season?

Zach – Taylor Hall! He’s going to have a monster year. I can’t feel it in my bones.

Jack – If Hall could stay healthy, he would lead the team in scoring easily, but since coming into the league, and not counting the lockout year, he has only averaged 64 games a season. A lot of people might say Nugent-Hopkins, but with Gordon no longer on the team, they will need him to start taking some tougher defensive assignments, so I’m not expecting a huge increase offensively. Jordan Eberle can always be relied upon to put up 60-70 points. We can’t forget about McDavid, of course. It will be really interesting to see what he puts up. It could be a tight scoring race, but I’m going to say that Hall leads the team in points.

Rob – Taylor Hall. He is the only bona fide point per game player on the team right now. McDavid will get there in short order I believe but until he has done it the only guarantee is Hall when healthy. Hall is going to have a bounce back season after losing 29 games to injury last season. He will not only lead the team in scoring this year but he will also be back in the league top ten in scoring.

3.Who Will McDavid Benefit Most From Playing With?

Zach – Whoever he’s on the ice with. Connor is one of those players that will presumably be playing a good amount of time even-strength and will likely see power play minutes as well. His skill will raise the level of play of the teammates around him, and I look forward to seeing him build chemistry with different guys. If I had to pick one specific player, I would say Nail Yakupov as I see him being a winger for McDavid.

Jack – There have been a lot of line combinations thrown around, and a lot of suggestions regarding who McDavid should be played with. Hall is the choice of many people, but some think that McDavid should be put with two veterans to start the season, such as Pouliot and Purcell. From an offensive standpoint, Hall would obviously help McDavid the most, but it’s the third player on that line that could be key. I think Teddy Purcell could be a good fit, and he could really help McDavid out in his adjustment to the pro ranks. After all, Purcell does have a resume of playing with a certain young phenom in Tampa Bay.

Rob – To me this question is backwards and it should be who is going to benefit from 82 games of awesomeness the most. But either way my answer is still going to be the same. The player that will benefit McDavid and get the most benefit from having him on their line is Taylor Hall. Hallsy is a solid point per game guy and an absolute terror flying down the port side. Imagine Hall and McDavid going full tilt towards the opposition nets on a nightly basis. Probably going to be more than a few goalies that need to change their shorts during the intermission. This is not a knock against Nuge or Ebs as they are both fantastic players and hopefully Oilers for many years to come but Hall has never had the opportunity to play with a guy of this caliber. Hall to McDavid back to Hall. He shoots! He scores!!!! Sounds beautiful already doesn’t it?

We asked some of our biggest fans and friends of the blog for their opinions on the topics on Facebook and Twitter and these are some of the responses:

Dave Gordon (@rustyknuckler):
1 – No
2 – McDavid if he stays healthy
3 – Good question, depends on who McLennan puts him with, there aren’t any real skilled vets to play with him. Maybe Pouliot, the better question might be who benefits most playing with McDavid.

Shawn Kelemen (@sharkyzeee):
1) No. But by only a few points. It will be a year we are actually in the hunt towards the end of the year. But we need a few tweaks to put us over the hump. Plus another year of experience under a computing coach will help a lot.
2) Nugent-Hopkins/Hall will both tie for the lead this year. Hall will win goals and Nuge will win assists. Eberle will be a close third to them and McDavid will finish fourth with a strong second half after he figures things out and wins our teams first rookie award.
3) I have to go with a few guys. For his two way development I’d say letestu is going to help him. A guy with skill who adapted his game to be a great bottom six guy with all the little things he does. Plus help McDavid with his face offs and positioning(if he needs it). Hendricks and his balls to the wall is going to show him sacrifice/hard work aspects. And Hall will be the perfect line mate for him. Both with blazing speed, will be able to push back defenders so less guys try and come across at McDavid, trying to hurt him. Plus defenders and slower venters will go bananas trying to check two speed demons. While Nuge/Ebs cycle the puck and attack with skill to wear down top defenders.

Rob Soria (@Oil_Drop):
1. Not a chance
2. McDavid
3. Probably Hall

The player who could possibly benefit most from No. 97’s presence may very well end up being Mr. Justin Schultz.

For a nice little change up I asked the guys who their Edmonton Oilers All-Time Starting 6 were but none of my guys are original and they more or less picked the same 6… Lol. Just kidding guys! I’ll flip the switch a bit with mine though…

Zach
G – Grant Fuhr, D – Coffey/Pronger, LW – Ryan Smyth, C – Wayne Gretzky, RW – Jari Kurri
Jack
G – Grant Fuhr, D – Coffey/Pronger, LW – Mark Messier, C – Wayne Gretzky, RW – Jari Kurri
Rob
G – Grant Fuhr, D – Coffey/Pronger, LW – Mark Messier, C – Wayne Gretzky, RW – Jari Kurri
BLH
G – Curtis Joseph, D – Coffey/Lowe, LW – Glenn Anderson, C – Wayne Gretzky, RW – Jari Kurri

Well that’s a wrap for another BLH Sunday Night Pint! Thanks for joining us and a HUGE thanks to all of those who participated online! Let us know your thoughts below in the comments section!

And don’t forget to head on over to the BLH T-Shirt shop! We’ve got a massive collection of 16-bit Superstars waiting for you to take them home and show them the kind of love only a NHL fan can give.

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Take Care!

– BLH

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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Merch, NHL, Rob Cooke

Examining the Oilers Core.

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I am a firm believer that for a team to be a consistent cup contender a team must have a core group of players that are kept together for as long as possible. That is a very easy statement to make without providing any additional information with it. A few questions that come up when talking about this subject are what is the core? How many players do you in include in the core? What positions make up the core? Who exactly are the core players for the Edmonton Oilers? And finally are all the pieces here?

The first question when we are examining the Oilers core is obviously what is the core? That question goes hand in hand with the question of how many players make up the core so I will answer both of those questions before we look at the Oilers group specifically. The core of a hockey team is the group of players that are most needed to be a successful NHL franchise year after year. Easy enough answer right? Well how many players does the core consist of? That is a tougher question because not all supporters of the core theory agree on how many players should be included and what positions they play. I have seen some suggest as little as five players make up the core while others, myself included think there should be a total of twelve players included.

The next question that needs to be answered is what positions does the core encompass. For me personally the positions that I include when I talk about a teams core are the top six forwards, the third line center, the top four defensemen, and the starting goalie. Simple enough right?  There are plenty of other possibilities when discussing positions to include so if your don’t line up with mine it isn’t that big of a concern. Next question will take a little longer to answer, Who are the Edmonton Oilers core players?

Well if we follow the guidelines I set out above as to who is included it is fairly easy to see what players we include and where we need to add. The top six forwards are nearly set now, the only question mark being the second line right wing. By all rights that should be where Nail Yakupov slots into the line-up but until his two-way play improves significantly he can’t be relied on to a six winger. The other five slots are a given right now. Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be one of the best top two center pairings in the league in the near future so we are set there. Taylor Hall is one of the premiere left-wingers in the NHL right now and Benoit Pouliot proved last year that he is capable of being a consistent top six player on the left side. Jordan Eberle is a rock-star on the right wing right now, being as he is the only consistent offensive threat on the right side until Yak develops a little more. The third line center is being filled currently by Anton Lander and depending on what coach McLellan decides to do with Leon Draisaitl could be his slot long-term. If Leon is moved to the wing excels we could really have three scoring lines that are an actual threat to burn teams at any time. The forward group is in pretty damn good shape if I do say so myself.

The defense is still a big question mark for this team and I am positive that we don’t have four viable top four options on this team right now. Andrej Sekera and Mark Fayne will be the top pairing without a doubt in my mind. They will face the toughest competition on a nightly basis and will see a lot of time on the penalty kill for both and the power-play for Sekera. The second pairing is where things get a little hazy. Oscar Klefbom is a legitimate second pairing defenseman right now, likely a number four but will get better still, but as far as I can see there is no one on the team that can have the same said of them. Justin Schultz isn’t a top four guy on any other team in the league. He should be getting third pairing minutes at evens and first power-play unit minutes. There are other options long-term but none should be counted on to fill the role that would be required. Both Darnell Nurse and Griffin Reinhart will eventually be solid top four defenders but are not there yet. Nurse especially has the potential to be the number one defender this team has so desperately been trying to find since the mass exodus following the glorious cup run in ’06. Still having three out of four already in the line-up with Fayne hopefully holding the spot for Darnell Nurse and Reinhart nearly ready to take on full-time NHL duties things look pretty good on the backend for the first time in a decade.

The starting goalie position looks to be filled for the foreseeable future. Cam Talbot looks like the goalie of the future for the Edmonton Oilers. He is a better than good bet to be a solid starting goalie for a long time in this league. Darcy McLeod, aka @woodguy, had some excellent posts about the goalie situation both prior to the draft and after. There were four pieces total that covered the situation with Talbot, the links for all of them are here, here, here, and finally here. All excellent articles to read, especially if you are still having concerns about how the whole Talbot situation will play out. He is a legit starting goalie, or very damn close to it.

We currently have ten out of the twelve players that we need to have a complete core. The other two should hopefully be here this year sometime. Either Schultz will actually start to play defense or one of the younger guys will take his minutes and run with them. Reinhart has significant skill with the puck and a howitzer from the point. If he works on his acceleration this summer he could be a possible option to take the minutes that Schultz currently will get. Up front this season is vital to the future of Nail Yakupov with the Edmonton Oilers. Should he fail to produce on a consistent basis the management may find that his brand of chaos on ice just isn’t worth what he provides offensively. If he isn’t significantly better than he was to start last season he will be moved at some point this year in favour of a bigger and stronger Leon Draisaitl. I’m not saying Yak is a bust or even that he will be but he has the potential to be a 35 plus goal scorer in the NHL for at least a decade if he can finally put it all together and find the net more often.

Smart money is on Yakupov figuring it out and putting together a season more akin to the second half of last season than the first half. I sincerely hope the kid does put it all together because for all of his chaos he really is delightful to watch play the game. His enthusiasm is inspiring and his love for the game is contagious. I look forward to the days where we get to see the exuberant cellies from years past and the giant smile on his face that gives everyone the warm feelies.

Here’s hoping I am right and that this core group remains together for a very long time. What say you Beer Leaguers? Do you have a different theory about the core? Different players included? Let me know what you think, either here or on twitter, @cooke_rob. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the Beer League Heroes Shirt shop for all your BLH or 16-Bit Heroes shirt needs. Also stay tuned here for the launch of my own shirt design store, it will be coming very soon to a webpage near you!

 

Cheers

Rob

Edmonton Oilers, Lindsay Ryall, Prospects

The Russians are Coming!?

1 Comment


It was during the 2013 – 14 season when the Edmonton Oilers added Ilya Bryzgalov along with Denis Grebeshkov that an ever expressive Nail Yakupov was asked his thoughts on having some countrymen around.

“Yeah, it’s the Russian mafia,”  Yakupov joked, and added his satisfaction in being able to communicate in his native language around the rink.  Unfortunately for Nail, Bryzgalov and Grebeshkov weren’t destined to be Oilers for long.  Grebeshkov was clearly outclassed and no longer an NHL player, while Bryzgalov looked for opportunities elsewhere.

Just a couple of years later, Yakupov still has one countryman to play Durak with on road trips, but low and behold there are several more on the horizon and the future Edmonton Oilers may someday have the highest Russian content this side of the Alexander Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals.

Who Likes Borscht on the Team Right Now?

Nail Yakupov: Yakupov still hasn’t found the consistency he needs to have as an NHL player, especially a former first overall draft pick.  Nonetheless, he rebounded nicely when Dallas Eakins was fired and Todd Nelson took over.  He also responded well when paired with Derek Roy,  so even though he is teetering on the brink of being a bust, there is a strong belief that this will be the year Yakupov will establish himself with a solid 25 goal 50 point season.  Yak has jam, a world class shot, and can deliver a serviceable check when needed.  For the time being he will be an Oiler and have the opportunity to fulfill the promise of a number one overall pick.

Nikita Nikitin:  Nikitin has arguably the biggest bullseye on his back affixed by Oiler’s fans and has been roundly criticized for indifferent and downright poor play.  Amazingly he has survived the trade and buyout deadline and may very well be an Oiler come October.  It is quite possible that the tandem of Mactavish and Howson still have some influence and have convinced Chiarelli that he has some value.  In fairness, Nikitin does have some skills.  He easily has the hardest shot on a team that is looking for a cannon from the blue line to help the powerplay.  Nikitin is going into a contract year and that’s typically when most NHLers magically turn it around.  Maybe he’ll be a reclamation project . . .

Young Guns on the Way

While there are two Russians currently on the team, the Oilers’ have two hopefuls in the development system that should make the team over the next two seasons, and will likely play in the top 9.  They bring the requisite skill set you would expect from Russian trained hockey players, and also bring intangibles that cannot be taught, namely size.

Bogdan Yakimov:  Standing 6’5″ and weighing in at 232 lbs., 20 year old Bogdan Yakimov doesn’t require any more time to fill out, in that respect he’s definitely arrived.  But Yakimov is not just a big lug, he has hands and can skate.  Yakimov also had a decent first year in pro with the OKC Barons with 28 points in 57 games, numbers he will doubtless build upon next year.  In his first pro-year Yakimov also showed a keen willingness to learn, paired with a good work ethic, spending extra time with veterans and the coaching staff to learn different aspects on the North American game.  In Russia such good behavior would earn the comment, “Mollodets” (translation: Good boy).  Yakimov is still young and comparables are never 100% accurate, but forecasting him as a more rugged Victor Kozlov is a definite possibility.  With respect to development, I would project him as an NHL player in two seasons.

Anton Slepyshev: Slepyshev has dazzled and teased the Oilers organization since he was drafted in the 2013 entry draft.  The concern with Slepyshev was whether he would actually commit to playing in North America or instead continue playing in the KHL.  However, any doubt about his commitment to the NHL was erased this year when Slepyshev signed an entry level deal with the Oilers.  Slepyshev is not a physical monster, but no slouch either, checking in at 6’2 and 187 lbs and the kid can play.  Not only does he play with all the skill you would expect of Russian skater, he’s also a gamer, playing his best in big games against the best competition.  That’s what every organization wants.  His first year at pro will be the litmus test on his potential, but he is definitely one of the most exciting young players in the system.

Danil Zharkov: Zharkov was pretty cocky when first drafted in the third round of the 2012 entry draft, 90 spots after Nail Yakupov.  Zharkov was billed as a potential power forward, and scored 23 and 25 goals respectively in his last two seasons of major junior with the OHL’s Belleville Bulls.  Unfortunately his development has not really progressed well since then and while he is playing in the KHL, he has not found much offensive production, scoring 5 points over 58 games in his career there so far.  It doesn’t look like Danil’s NHL or pro dream is going to happen, but hey, he’s only 21 years old, stranger things can happen.

Potential Additions off the grid

Vladmir Tkachev:  This diminutive offensive dynamo impressed all at the Oilers training camp last year (so much so that he was awarded a contract, that was eventually disallowed) but followed it up with a very lukewarm last year of junior in the QMJHL.  When you weigh in at less than a 150lbs. and stand maybe 5’9″you had better be putting up some gaudy offensive numbers and Tkachev did not (33 points in 33 games with the Quebec Remparts last year).  Nonetheless there may be a chance he is invited to camp again and has said in interviews he wants to join the Oilers and play with his countrymen already in the system.  It’s a longshot right now but so was his surprise camp last year, so there’s still a possibility.

Evgeny Dadonov:  Originally a third round pick of the Florida Panthers, Dadonov toiled for a short time in the AHL before bolting for bigger dollars and home cooking in the KHL.  Dadonov has played three seasons in the K and had a nicely productive year in 2014 – 15 with 46 points in 53 games.  Excellent numbers for that league.  He also paced well in the playoffs, outscoring Ilya Kovalchuk with 20 points in 22 playoff games. Dadonov  then capped his season with 11 points in 10 games for Russia at the World Championships and in my mind was their most consistent player in the tournament.   The Oilers are deep at wing for now, but if there was a buyout for Purcell or a long term injury that needed to be addressed, he could be a splendid addition.  At age 26 there wouldn’t be any seasoning required, but he would need to improve his defense, which reportedly needs work. Many of the goals he scored at the World Championships were world class and that’s where I would rate his talent.  His rights are till held by the Panthers and I am somewhat surprised they haven’t tried to sign him, nonetheless he’s worth keeping an eye on.  If he was made available, it shouldn’t take a lot to pry him out of the Panther’s organization.

How does the future look?

While it’s not likely that two years from now the Oilers will have anything approaching Detroit’s famed “Russian Five” of the 90’s, an all Russian line in the near future is a very real possibility with Big “Bo” Bogdan Yakimov at center and Slepyshev and Yakupov on the wings.  As for any other additions, it’s too early to tell, and I can’t see Nikitin sticking around that long, but overall the team will soon have an increased Russian presence.

Armchair GM, Breaking News, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects, Rob Cooke, Rumors

NHL expansion bids are in. How does it affect the Oilers?

3 Comments

It was made official by the NHL that there was two official bids for expansion franchises filed yesterday. All paperwork along with a 10 million dollar deposit had to be received by the head office at the end of business yesterday. According to the official NHL press release this morning there was significant interest with 16 applications being given out be league. However, only two potential ownership groups managed to meet all the criteria in the short time allotted. This is the official release from the league this morning.

Is it just me or does this come across as kind of arrogant and condescending? Imagine that, people can’t pull magical arena deals out of their hats. Two weeks in my opinion was a farce to begin with. Had the time frame been doubled or more I think we would have seen more bids submitted. Seattle seemed to depend on an arena deal that couldn’t materialize in time so it didn’t happen. In case you didn’t read the press release or are still unsure after doing so, the two bids were submitted by Quebecor and Bill Foley. So that obviously means the return of the Quebec Nordiques and an as of yet to be named to team in Las Vegas. Both cities are well on their way to having their arenas built with Las Vegas already starting a season ticket drive to gauge interest. That drive was going exceptionally well with well over 10000 seats sold the last time that I had checked.

That is all well and good to know that there will be two more NHL franchises in the league hopefully for the 2017-18 season, but what does it mean for the Oilers? Well for starters it will require another league realignment. I can’t see the NHL adding Quebec to the eastern conference without a team coming to the west in addition to the Las Vegas franchise. It doesn’t make sense to have a 32-team league divided unevenly. Jonathon Willis wrote an interesting piece yesterday regarding realignment and he suggested 8 divisions with 4 teams in each. Here is a link to the full article. For our purposes here is what his potential realignment would look like.

WESTERN TEAMS
NORTH PACIFIC: Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg                                CANADA EAST: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City
SOUTH CENTRAL: Arizona, St. Louis, Colorado, and Dallas
SOUTH PACIFIC: Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim, and Las Vegas

EASTERN TEAMS 
NORTH CENTRAL: Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, and Columbus
NORTH ATLANTIC: Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington
UNITED STATES EAST: Boston, New Jersey, Islanders, and Rangers
SOUTH ATLANTIC: Tampa Bay, Carolina, Florida, and Nashville

While I really like the idea I don’t see the league moving to this format. Instead opting to go with four 8 team divisions. That would likely mean that the Las Vegas team would join the Pacific and Columbus would join the Central in the west. Quebec would possible join the Atlantic but that would mean that another team would be forced to move to the Metro division with Boston being the most likely in my opinion. So if that is the realignment that the league chooses it does add two more teams to the west, evening out the conferences and making the west just a little more competitive with the addition of the Blue Jackets.

The other way that the Edmonton franchise will be affected by the expansion process is through the inevitable expansion draft. Teams will only be allowed to protect a certain amount of players on their roster at the time and the rest will be up for the taking by either Quebec or Las Vegas. The NHL hasn’t set the rules for how many players at each position they will be able to protect so for my purposes I will go off of the rules that were used in the 2000 expansion.

There were two possibilities for how many players a team can protect. The first version allows a team to protect 1 goalie, 5 defensemen, and 9 forwards. The second would see a team select 2 goalies, 3 defenders, and 7 forwards. Under the requirements set out in the 2000 expansion draft there was no eligibility requirements for a team opting to protect only one masked man. If a team chose to protect two however, then said team had to ensure that each protected goalie had player in 10 games the previous season, with 31 minutes of ice time being needed to e considered a game played. If ten games were not played in the previous season the other eligibility criteria is 25 games over the two previous seasons. Next rule is that every team has to have one defenseman unprotected that played a minimum of 40 games the previous year or 70 total over the past two seasons. There is also the same eligibility requirements for the forwards with at least two needing to meet the same criteria as the defenseman.

If you area asking yourself why the game limits set on players that are being unprotected it is to ensure that any expansion franchise will have the opportunity to receive players that will have some semblance of NHL experience. Now I am not saying that Edmonton is going to leave Jordan Eberle unprotected just because he will meet the 40-game eligibility requirement. That is just ridiculous and all of Edmonton management would likely be strung up outside the new arena if that ever happens. People need to be rational, calm, and logical when trying to come up with a list of players to protect on the team. There was a discussion of the writers last night about this same thing and we all agreed that analytics will play a huge role for the two teams that will potentially be joining the league.

To me selecting the players that Edmonton will protect shouldn’t be overly difficult because we have our clear-cut core players and those that aren’t. If you are not a core player at this point you will likely be expendable in the upcoming expansion draft. I realize that the draft won’t happen for at least a year but more likely two, with it occurring sometime between the Stanley Cup finals and the 2017 entry draft, but for our purposes here today we will base our picks off of the current roster as it sits. So let’s get right to it and expel some reasonably useful NHL players and a whole lot of players that are not.

First off, if the draft were to happen today I would have a very hard time not selecting option A. That would be 1 goalie, 5 defenders, and 9 forwards, There is just too much talent on the team to opt for a second goalie, there by giving up two defenders and two forwards. If I had to make the selections for the team my list would look like this:

Goaltender(1): Cam Talbot

Defensemen(5): Andrej Sekera, Mark Fayne, Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, and Griffin Reinhart.

Forwards(9): Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot, Nail Yakupov, Leon Draisaitl, Anton Lander, Bogdan Yakimov, Greg Chase, and Matt Hendricks.

From my list you can tell the players that I value above all else. Thankfully there is no minimum amount of games played to allow for a player to be protected. Also with the  players left there are more than a couple of options for filling the league requirements of games played. On defense with Nikita Nikitin and Andrew Ference we have two players that played in excess of forty games last year. No one said they had to play well, just that they had to play. In the forwards group we have Teddy Purcell that has been a consistent player over his career and would be a good addition to a new franchise. Along with the Teddy Bear we have Lauri Korpikoski, Mark Letestu, and Rob Klinkhammer also unprotected that would fit under one of the two eligibility criteria.

We must not forget that just because certain players are unprotected doesn’t necessarily mean that the player will even be selected. I doubt there is much of a market for Nikitin and his outrageous salary. There would likely be about the same amount of interest or even a little less in an aging Andrew Ference with two years left and a full no-movement clause to boot. The forwards would garner more interest as all the players left available are either actual NHL players or are a reasonable facsimile thereof. Of the nine forwards that I chose to protect the only two that I can see a case being made for someone else on are Bogdan Yakimov and Greg Chase. The others are all key players on the roster, including Matt Hendricks. Hendy might not be a star player, a la Taylor Hall or Connor McDavid,but he plays an integral part of this team and his leadership skills can’t be discounted. Players like Draisaitl, Nurse, and Reinhart are big parts of the future of this franchise and they deserve to be treated as such. Some may say that they would rather keep Davidson or Schultz but to me Reinhart will be the better player in the long-term.

Anyone have any issues with the players I have selected? Have a completely different list? Let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree. Hit me up on Twitter too, @cooke_rob and we can talk some puck. Thanks for reading and remember to check out the as always excellent Beer League Heroes T-shirt Shop for all your T-shirt needs. The shirt shop is here, if you are interested in checking out the great designs that are currently offered by the website. Stay tuned for the launch of the official Cooke’s Shirt Shack in the very near future as well! It will be the bee’s knees, the cat’s pajamas, like the coolest of the cool! Like , fer sure! Thanks for coming out Beer Leaguers!!!

AMENDMENT: I apologize to all the readers but I was mistaken in the rules the expansion draft. I missed the rules regarding younger players. First and second year professional players will not require protection as they are exempt from being selected. By this rule it would take McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Reinhart, Yakimov, and Chase would be exempt from being selected.

With these stipulations I would obviously change my selections. No need to protect players that are exempt from being selected in the first place. Again I apologize for my error and appreciate those that pointed it out to me. Below are my new selections based on this new information.

Goalies(2): Cam Talbot and Ben Scrivens

Defense(3): Andrej Sekera, Mark Fayne, and Oscar Klefbom

Forwards(7): Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, Benoit Pouliot, Matt Hendricks, Anton Lander

I only chose to protect Scrivens because I didn’t feel there was 5 defensemen or 9 forwards that I would want to protect. I would have opted to keep Brossoit instead of Scrivens but he doesn’t meet the games played eligibility to be protected. Thanks again for reading and again I apologize for my error.  

Cheers

Rob

Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Rob Cooke, Rumors, Trades

Edmonton Oilers to use buy-out window?

 

What to do? What to do? Will the Edmonton Oilers use the buy-out window presented to them?The twittersphere is exploding with opinions on what Peter Chiarelli will do this weekend. Is he going to buy out Nikita Nikitin, captain Andrew Ference, or Teddy Purcell? There are arguments to be made both for and against using the buy-out option on any of these three players. I had seen Ben Scrivens mentioned as well but that option is easy to dismiss. His 2.3 million dollar cap hit is below the minimum amount required for buy-out.

I read a tremendous piece this morning from Jonathon Willis about using the buy-out and he is totally in favour of doing it. He was then on the OilersNow broadcast with Bob Stauffer, and discussed the idea further among a lot of other things. Jonathon is a very smart man and his reasoning is solid. If you haven’t you really should, here is his article. I won’t spoil the fun of reading by talking about his piece too much but he does make a solid argument for proceeding.

The only real valid argument for keeping either Ference or Nikitin is that this spreads out the cap hit and keeps them on the book for longer. Obviously the first choice of the franchise would have to be trading the pair of them but that would involve in retaining half of Nikitin’s cap hit so would only save us 2.25 million. The big issue with trading Andrew Ference is his no-trade clause. He has the ability to block any move other than the buy-out.

I would imagine that you have all noticed that I didn’t discuss Teddy Purcell when discussing the argument to keep and that is because unlike the first two Purcell can still be a useful player in the top 9. He isn’t fast by any stretch and can be beaten one on one with speed, but he can still contribute offensively and provides a calm veteran presence to a very young team. He is expensive at 4.5 million but is in the final year of his contract. Unless Chiarelli and McLellan are absolutely sure that Leon Draisaitl  is a better option I think Purcell will finish out the contract as an Oiler.

That leaves us with only the two defenders to look at then. I don’t pretend to know the collective bargaining agreement as it is written and will turn to either the above mentioned Jonathon Willis or Speeds as he calls himself on Twitter, @hockeysymposium in case you want to give him a follow. Both are fairly well versed on the CBA and generally are willing to answer questions if needed. According to the CBA Nikitin and Ference will have different parameters in their buy-out situation. Nikitin is a straight forward two-thirds of his salary over the twice the term. So that would translate to a 1.5 million dollar cap-hit over the next two years. Ference, due to age, will be a little different. His breakdown would be over twice the term still but the dollars break down differently than in a younger player. From what I read on it, and don’t quote me, for Andy it would be .67 million this season and then 1.67 million for the next three years.

To me the first choice would be Nikitin. While he is likelier to rebound from last season due to age it comes down to length of term for me. If I am the general manager I don’t want the player that is bought out to be on the books in three or four years. In the third year of the Ference option we would have four key restricted free-agents that could all possibly be looking at raises of decent to high amounts. Nail Yakupov, Leon Draisaitl, Griffin Reinhart, and Anton lander will need to be re-signed at that point and will eat a decent amount of cap space to be sure. The more space available at that point the better the chance that we keep our core young players together for longer. We want to emulate the Chicago franchise in theory. We want to become contenders and stay  there for an extended period of time. To do that we will need these players signed.

This is where the argument against using the buy-out would come in to play though. Even if they do decide to use it that will leave 1.5 million dollars on the Oilers cap-hit if Nikitin is the choice which he more than likely is. Not a ton of money but we do need to keep in mind that Schultz and Klefbom will be both be looking for another deal. Oscar will be looking at a substantial raise should his progression continue as it has to this point. Justin Shultz is a story for another time, his future with the franchise is very much in doubt and I would not be at all surprised if he is moved out at some point over the next year. The decision will likely come down to what the owner and management have for expectations this season. If playoffs are expected then I think they move Nikitin prior to Monday afternoon. Not going to guess if they will trade or buy him out but if they want to be in the second season they need to clear cap space and a roster spot for a better player. If they feel they are still a year away from being able to hang with the big bad teams in the Western conference they will likely retain both players and let their contracts expire to have maximum cap space next summer. One way or another we will have our answer by this time Monday.

It is my opinion that after all the changes that have been made already this off-season that the mandate is to get back in to the play-offs this year. I don’t believe that Daryl Katz finally decided to bring in better management options for them to sit on their laurels and not do everything they can to bring success back to this storied franchise. The only question is if there is a trade partner out there that would be willing to take Nikitin for half of his salary? Some seem to think that a team like the Arizona Coyotes would have interest in him at half his salary in order to get to the cap-floor. My belief is that if there was a trade to be made that it would have been by now and that there is a small possibility that this weekend will end with Nikita somewhere else through trade. Buying him out is likely the only option if they want the additional cap space to add another free agent before training camp.

What do you think? Will the Chia Pet use his buy-out option after passing on it the first time? Did he look to the trade market first and realize this is the only option left available to him? If the team does use the buy-out who is the likely target through free agency? Let me know what you think in the comments section. I always try to reply to each and every comment my blog receives and enjoy interacting with other fans. All I ask is that you be respectful. And hey while we are at give me a follow on twitter, @cooke_rob. Help this lowly basement dwelling blogger get to 200 followers please! Thanks for reading Beer Leaguers. Until next time.

 

Cheers

Rob