Tag Archives: NHL Speculation

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

(10/24/2020) Edmonton Oilers Talk and the Latest NHL Speculation feat. Kane, Barkov, Palmieri, and More!

Speculating from an Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest Edmonton Oilers news as well as the freshest NHL speculation featuring players such as Patrick Kane, Alexander Barkov, Kyle Palmieri, and many more!

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The News and Rumors

  • Pierre LeBrun (TSN): If an extension between the NJ Devils and Kyle Palmieri can’t be done, expect him to be moved at the 2021 trade deadline.

BLH’s Thoughts: My feeling is that it would be a mistake to let Palmieri go. Jack Hughes and Nico Hischer need someone to finish on their team. They should really make him a priority unless they can convince another veteran goal-scoring winger to sign with them… A rebuilding team. #Overpay

  • Ryan Szporer (The Hockey Writers): Montreal Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot is likely the odd man out for the Habs at the Seattle Kraken expansion draft next year.

BLH’s Thoughts: And there goes the Habs’ Stanley Cup chances… Look, if Chiarot is the guy Seattle goes for, they should be jumping for joy. They’ve got Edmundson, Weber, and Petry on that blueline for the foreseeable future. That’s not too shabby, if you ask me. 

  • Ian McNaughton (The Hockey Writers): The Detroit Red Wings should look at Andreas Athanasiou, Sami Vatanen, Anthony Duclair, and Derick Brassard.

BLH’s Thoughts: I can’t see Steve Yzerman going round two with Athanasiou. Duclair wouldn’t be a bad addition and Brassard/Vatanen would be good veteran additions. I don’t believe they’d earn them more wins over the personnel they had last year, but at this point, it’s all about bringing in high-character players who can help develop the next group of great Detroit Red Wings. Meaning Vatanen and Brassard, not Athanasiou and Duclair. 

  • Mark Lazerus (The Athletic): Patrick Kane isn’t going anywhere. One League source said, ‘”He wants to win, yeah, but he doesn’t want to go anywhere else. Maybe ever.'”

BLH’s Thoughts: If I remember correctly, this was the same prevailing message for all of Chicago’s big boys (Toews, Kane, Seabrook, and Keith). Whenever I read this sort of thing or hear it in the media, I always go back to what I’ve been told more often than not, things change. They change all of the time. Are you telling me if the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, or the Boston Bruins came calling with the right offer that Kane or Toews would say no? 

  • Eric Stephens (The Athletic): There doesn’t seem to be any doubt that GM Bob Murray wants the Ducks to make a playoff push. There’s a sincere attempt to upgrade the defense.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Ducks will be an interesting team next season. They’ve got some really nice young players pushing their way onto the big club and some that are already there that are taking the next step in their NHL Careers.

Sam Steel, Max Jones, Trevor Zegras, Isac Lundestrom, and Troy Terry are very promising forwards for the club and then when you look at their defense, with the signing of Stanley Cup champion Kevin Shattenkirk, their top-4 is really solid too. They have Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson in addition to Shattenkirk. What about their goalie, you ask? John Gibson, one of the best in the league.

Tack all those players on to high-end vets like Ryan Getzlaf, Jakob Silfverberg, Adam Henrique, and Rikard Rakell… Wow. Not that bad.

So, if there’s a wildcard in the whole league worth keeping an eye one, it might be Anaheim. Especially if they find a way to add another really good defender. 

  • Corey Pronman (The Athletic): NHL teams have been told they will not be allowed to scout live in-person during the upcoming 2021 World Juniors, which will be in the Edmonton bubble.

BLH’s Thoughts: If those airport COVID rapid tests are successful, we might see things change. I believe I read the airport in Calgary is already implementing them. 

  • Aamulehti.fi: Panthers captain Alexsander Barkov is seriously considering playing with Tappara (SM-Liiga), the club he’s a co-owner of, on loan until training camp.

BLH’s Thoughts: It’s funny, the whole “European beer league” talk has really died down since Jesse Puljujarvi re-signed in Edmonton and now that a big wave of NHLers and AHLers are playing over there. 

FWIW, I think that Tappara has some of the nicest jerseys in the SM-Liiga.

  • Iain MacIntyre (Sportsnet): The Canucks are still trying to re-sign free agent forward Josh Leivo. The deal they just signed with Jake Virtanen will give Vancouver a 24hr buyout window this weekend.

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t see them buying out Loui Eriksson, that would cost too much. But, Brandon Sutter ($4.375M) is a player that I wonder about. He’d be on their cap for two more years ($2.04M in yr 1 and $1.16M in yr 2) but the buyout would save the team over $1.1M in real money. It’s right here if you want to check out all the details. 

  • Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun): The belief is if Sens GM Pierre Dorion could make a trade for another forward he would.

BLH’s Thoughts: Okay… What is this team trying to do? I mean, what is the organizational plan here? Are they looking to compete in 2020-21? They have players like Josh Norris, Alex Formenton, Drake Batherson, and a handful of bottom-sixers looking to make the club too. What kind of deal would they be after?

  • Mike Chambers (Denver Post): The Avs need to add another defenseman and a physical veteran depth forward to add some toughness to their checking lines.

BLH’s Thoughts: Yup. I think this would be a good plan. There’s nothing wrong with adding some durability and sandpaper to the bottom-end of that lineup just the same way that Tampa did with Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn.

  • Claude Julien (via Sportsnet): “It’s not so much that it didn’t work out [with Domi in Montreal]. Sometimes this is what hockey’s all about — you end up with a situation where now Max became I guess a little bit expendable, because we had those guys do so well, and at the same time, we’re able to get a big player that we really needed on the wing in Josh Anderson in exchange for him.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Man, no wonder the guy wanted out. Personally, I think the Canadiens are playing with fire here. How many times have we seen young players have a good handful of games only to cool right off down the road. Domi is a proven NHL forward and to me, it sounds like the coach didn’t really have time for him and got lucky with some good performances from a couple of younger (cheaper) players. 

Here’s to hoping we see a Blue Jackets/Canadiens playoff matchup sometime soon.

The Oilers Talk

One thing that came across my mind is all the game time that is getting pilfered from Connor McDavid’s prime. Between injuries and pandemics, how many career points is he missing out on here? I mean, to me, there are two current NHLers who could break one of Wayne Gretzky’s records; McDavid and Alex Ovechkin. I’m just concerned that with all these cancelled games neither of them will actually get around to doing it.

Unless…

Ovie decides that the all-time goals record is priority and leaves Washington as an unrestricted free agent next season to join Connor and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton where the three of them will wreak havoc on the NHL’s scoring charts.

Now, before you roll your eyes at this, just remember that Brett Hull and Wayne Gretzky once played together.

It wasn’t amazing but nevertheless, it happened.

OH! And remember the time Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne signed for a year with the Colorado Avalanche when they were one of the best teams in the league?

That’s probably not a great example either…

YOU GET THE POINT! Never say never!

Haha. Have a good day folks!

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

Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Latest NHL Speculation (8/24/2020)

Today’s edition of the #PuckReport Spec Station features notes and rumors on the Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota Wild, and more.

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  • Sean Shapiro (Q&A): Doesn’t see the Stars being a major player in the free-agent market, will only be involved in the backup goalie market if they can’t re-sign Khudobin – most of their off-season work will revolve around their RFAs.Shapiro expects the Stars will need a budget of around $14M to re-sign Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz, Denis Gurianov, and Anton Khudobin.

BLH’s Thoughts: During the regular season there was some talk on the sports talk shows in Edmonton that the Calgary Flames might have an interest in Faksa with Mark Jankowski possibly going back the other way. Not sure if that’s the case still. 

Hintz and Gurianov don’t have arbitration rights, so they might get squeezed and sign a one year deal with the intention of making bank in 21/22 and they will. The problem for Dallas is, Heiskanen’s contract is up then too and the Stars will have to stump up big-time for him. 

The Oilers do have an interest in adding Khudobin if the price is right.  

  • David Pagnotta on TSN690 says he anticipates the Montreal Canadiens will be very active this off-season and will explore bringing in that “trigger guy.” They had interest in Patrik Laine in the past – wouldn’t be surprised if they at least inquire. He could be an option, the cap space is there, but the asking price in a trade could be simply too much.Pagnotta says they need to either have Max Domi as a winger in the top 6 or use him as trade bait in a package deal. Doesn’t make sense to have him as a 4th line center.

    The Canadiens will “put their hat into the ring” on Taylor Hall, and he could consider them if they show enough interest and make a sweet proposal. Says he expects the Calgary Flames to be another suitor for Taylor Hall.

    Pagnotta expects the Habs to take a look at Torey Krug if he hits free agency.

BLH’s Thoughts: Laine is going to be an interesting player going into this offseason. I think the Jets are shopping him very quietly. He had a turbulent season in 19/20 and his relationship with Paul Maurice seems to be breaking down. He’s got another year on his current deal at $6.75M and it wouldn’t shock me one bit if they traded him to shore up the defense a bit. If I were the Oilers, that’s a player I’d definitely be looking into. Perhaps using Darnell Nurse as bait. 

Sounds like Domi is outtie 5000 eh? Was it Elliotte Friedman saying that he expects Domi to be a Pittsburgh Penguin next year? He’d look nice alongside McDavid in Edmonton, I’ll say that. 

There are going to be lots of suitors for Taylor Hall but if I were a betting man, I’d be looking at teams who are trending up as opposed to ones with lots of cap room. Personally, I don’t know if Montreal and Calgary are the best fits for him. Probably Montreal more so because he’d be the Habs’ main man and that’s what he needs to be on whatever club he joins. The Flames belong to Matthew Tkachuk now and they’d need to move some serious assets out in order to fit him in. 

Edmonton will be in the mix this offseason just as they were when NJ was shopping him before his trade to Arizona. If I recall correctly, I believe Edmonton was in the running for him right up until the end. So we know that there’s an appetite to bring him back and he wants to play in a hockey-mad market too. 

Time will tell…

  • Lowetide: “I expect the best plan of action for the Oilers is to be allowing some teams to blow their brains out on the famous names, while GM Ken Holland sits back and waits for bargains.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Are the Oilers at that point in their quest for the Stanley Cup where they have to sit back and watch the best players available get snapped up by other clubs? Maybe it’s time to take a page out of Dallas’ book and sign some high-end vets to one-year deals and shore up the rest of the club with AHL tweeners. Holland used to do this all of the time in Detroit. 

  • James Mirtle: The Maple Leafs’ top priorities this off-season are to fix the defense, squeeze the RFAs, and pluck gems at the draft in the lower rounds. The team needs to “get meaner,” but it’s not about fighting and toughness.

BLH’s Thoughts: Reckon the Leafs would have any interest in Jujhar Khaira, Matt Benning, Darnell Nurse, or Zack Kassian? 

  • Robin Lehner on Allan Walsh’s tweet about coach Pete DeBoer “backstabbing” Marc-Andre Fleury: “We were just laughing. It’s always the media and everyone else that makes a big deal out of this … At the end of the day, he didn’t do anything. It was his agent, and if he wants to be unprofessional, go ahead. He looks terrible, but it is what it is.”
  • Calgary Flames goaltender Cam Talbot on potentially re-signing with the club: “I loved it there. My wife and family loved it there. It would have to be the right situation for myself and for them. But we’d be very open to coming back next year and beyond.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Bob Stauffer (630 CHED) mentioned last week that he thinks Talbot could go to Dallas to back-up Ben Bishop if things fall through with Calgary. I was told his wife is from Texas. If that’s true, then Stauffer is probably on to something. 

  • Murat Ates (TheAthletic): The only way Jack Roslovic isn’t on the Jets next year is if he’s part of a trade for a more established NHL player. Tucker Poolman will likely be exposed at the expansion draft. Adam Lowry, Andrew Copp, and Neal Pionk are almost certain to stay unless GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is blown away by a trade offer.

BLH’s Thoughts: Some folks floated out a Roslovic for Jesse Puljujarvi last season.

  • Michael Russo (TheAthletic): The Minnesota Wild will need to improve their goaltending for next season. Adding Kaapo Kahkonen to the tandem may help, but then they’d have to trade Dubnyk. If GM Bill Guerin can’t find a taker, he’ll have to buy out the final year of that contract, unless the team feels he can bounce back after his decline in recent years.“It’s believed Wild GM Bill Guerin attempted early in his first season to acquire Tristan Jarry in the original Jason Zucker trade. That being the case, most likely Stalock would have gone to Pittsburgh and the Wild probably would have had to take a defender like Jack Johnson back.”

For more NHL rumors and speculation go to The Scoring Touch!

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