On this morning’s opening segment of Oilers Now!, Bob Stauffer and Brenden Ullrich were talking about Benoit Pouliot’s status with the team, health and otherwise, and Stauffer broke off point for a moment and said something that perked my ears a bit. Here’s the quote:
Kevin Lowe used to tell me all of the time, “Never say never.” and that was about two days before the Oilers brought Mike Comrie back a number of years ago. You now, Ryan Smyth came back as well.
Skip ahead to the 15:03 mark to hear the quote.
I mean, why would Stauffer even bring that up? Are the Oilers looking at bringing an Oiler from the past? Maybe someone that was previously thought to be lost for the season but looks like he’ll indeed return to play before the year is out. Maybe a player that played in the Cup run of ’06? A player that was once loved before injuries ravaged his career.
You know the Oilers are looking for depth on the RW and for some help on the powerplay…
Jamie is pretty happy to see Hemsky practicing again (without a red no-contact jersey on). Photos from Day 5.
On the Feb.13th edition of Oilers Now! Bob Stauffer laid out four teams that he thought would be possible destinations for struggling right-winger Jordan Eberle. I think Stauffer has intimated in the past that any big deals that would be going down would be consummated in the summer when the cap isn’t an issue and I also believe that to be the plan because rarely these days do teams make significant roster changes in-season.
The Four Teams with Stauffer’s quotes and my commentary,
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars have three high-priced players. Jamie Benn, I think he goes up to $9.5M next year. They’ve got Benn, Seguin, and Spezza. And then they’ve got nothing because Hemsky’s coming off the books, they’ve got a bunch of other UFAs that are coming off the books as well. Hemsky’s a right-wing, Eberle plays right-wing.
The Stars are going to have so much money available next summer, it’s not even funny. But the team is going to go through some major changes and it’ll be on Jim Nill to give his team the best tools possible go get back to the playoffs. I reckon a new coach will come in, *cough* Ken Hitchcock *cough*, and there’ll be some new goaltending personnel. I imagine they’ll be looking to upgrade that young d-corps too.
What would I be asking for: From the Stars I like, Julius Honka. A right-shooting Finnish defender who has been marinating in the AHL since being drafted 14th overall in 2014. He had 44pts in 73 games last year and this year in 32 games he’s racked up 23pts. He had a short stint with the big club earlier in the year where he managed 4 assists in 10 games.
I highly doubt the Stars would move a player like Honka but Eberle IS a bonafide scoring RW and the Stars want to get back to being a contender as fast as possible, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LvyTOSLzDY
Arizona Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes got some dead money coming off the books. I think Pronger comes off and Datsuyk comes off. Don’t forget, those guys are on the books for Arizona. The could use a proven right-shot, you know, Shane Doan is going to retire, he’s a right-wing.
The Coyotes are another team that is basically going to have a clean slate to work with. I imagine they’ll add more young players like Dylan Strome to their NHL roster in 2017/18 but as Bob Stauffer said, they’ll be looking for a proper NHL right-winger who can bury the puck despite what struggles Eberle is going through this year.
What would I be asking for:Christian Fischer straight up. Normally, I’d ask for Kyle Wood because he’s a righty, enourmous, and has the hardest shot in the AHL but I reckon the Coyotes might graduate him in 2017 after Michael Stone moves on.
I love this former Windsor Spitfires’ ability to put the puck in the net. He’s big, he’s young, but he looks like he’ll be ready for full-time NHL hockey starting next season. Also, he can play both centre and right- I’d be hard pressed to find a good reason for the Coyotes to move the young American apart from them wanting to speed their rebuild up a tad and add a player who has a history of scoring goals consistently before this season.
I’m not a huge fan of dealing within the division but Eberle seems pretty easy to contain, so no big deal here.
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders, if you look at their club, could they use a RW that has had success playing with John Tavares. Oh, who’s that? Oh wait, Jordan Eberle during the World Junior Championship in Ottawa that year.
Now here’s a team that is in dire need of a skilled winger for John Tavares and some extra sweetener to try an keep him from hitting the free agent market in 2018. Since letting Kyle Okposo go, the Isles have seemed lost on the RW without him. Adding Eberle could elleviate that feeling of loss a tad.
What would I be asking for: From a salary cap standpoint, the Isles aren’t in the same boat as Arizona or Dallas. They’ve got some players who make bank and have some term left on their deals. I do like Ryan Strome but the Isles have only him and Cal Clutterbuck shooting from that side.
I’ll go off the board a bit and say Johnny Boychuk but the Isles would have to retain $2M per year salary or toss in a significant prospect like defenseman Ryan Pulock, goalie Ilya Sorokin, or a 1st round pick to cover that cash difference.
I’ve been watching Boychuk and it doesn’t appear that his skating has deteriorated too much given his age (33) and he’s still got that right-shot cannon that would surely help out the Oilers PP. Reminds me of Sheldon Souray a bit too. And if he did get to that point to where things have gotten so bad for him on the ice, could the Oilers just send him to Andrew Ference Island? Meaning, toss him on the IR for two years?
Peter Chiarelli did trade him previously but was reluctant to do so in my opinion and the players (2nd round draft picks that turned into defensemen Brandon Carlo and Ryan Lindgren) that he got in return will help the Bruins for years to come unless they deal them away for Matt Duchene or Gabriel Landeskog.
I like veteran defensemen and Boychuck is just that. A local boy to boot. Would he waive the NMC to come play with Connor and Co.?
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are another team. Teams that are short of scoring would look at a player like Bobby Ryan or Jordan Eberle.
I reckon the Devils would have to move some money around to fit Eberle in. But the temptation to re-unite Hall and Eberle might be tempting enough to do just that. But will Ray Shero be looking to add more offense to a team that has Hall, Cammalleri, Palmieri, Henrique, and Zacha?
What would I be asking for: I think either Kyle Palmieri or a Damon Severson package. But to me, I can’t see the Devils looking to get fleeced in another trade with the Oilers 🙂
I’ll add one more team to that list. The Washington Capitals IF TJ Oshie isn’t re-signed. The Caps are good to go with regards to the right-wing position and their bottom 6 but Oshie is a free agent this summer as is Justin Williams. Brett Connolly (RFA) could re-sign and I suppose Marcus Johansson could slide over too but Washington doesn’t have a pure right-winger IF Oshie leaves. Enter Jordan Eberle.
As for a return, since the Capitals have been going for the Cup for some time now, they’re prospect cupboard is a tad empty. I believe the Oilers will be looking to fill certain roles on the team so a trade that would include Jordan Eberle might garner a return including right-handed centre Jay Beagle (who is under contract for another season at $1.75M) plus prospects or draft picks. Or perhaps the aforementioned multi-positioned Marcus Johansson could be part of the return. The Swede has a contract worth $4.583M for two more seasons after this one.
How would Eberle do beside Niklas Backstrom and Alexander Ovechkin in a Barry Trotz system?… Scary to think about that isn’t it.
Jordan Eberle is a damned good hockey player and I’m disappointed that it won’t be his level of play that gets him traded but his contract. If he was making $4.5M per year, we’d be talking a bit differently about him I believe.
Watch Eberle light up the Coyotes tonight now that I’ve posted this…
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If there’s any time during the year to pay extra attention to what the host of Oilers Now! Bob Stauffer is throwing out there, it’s right before the trade deadline because his cadence changes a bit when talking about certain players and he tends to throw our some tidbits regarding the players that the Oilers are targeting.
Case in point, during yesterday’s show (2/13/17) during the second segment where Bob is taking calls. A caller said that he heard the Oilers were linked with Patrick Eaves (our post on Eaves is here) and Bob immediately and pointedly, nearly cutting the poor guy off, asked the caller,
“Where have you seen that?”
Normally Stauffer takes a moment to offer his opinion and he’s usually pretty jovial when talking about these sort of armchair GM comments/queries but this got Bob awfully serious right quick and at the beginning, his reply was kind of all over the place.
Bob: I think Dallas is going to have to sell. Eaves has had an incredible year. I think part of it is just the fit for him and Dallas and he is a RW. So, you know, we’ll see.
A lot of short and obvious notes given here. Just seems like Stauffer was caught off-guard to me. Below you can tell he’s back to his normal self though.
Caller: He would be able to help out on the PP, would he not?
Bob: Well, he’s had a tremendous year. I wouldn’t consider him an elite PP guy. To me, he’s a 3rd line RW that’s having a career season. Like, he’s got 20 goals. He’s been on fire all year but there’s so much focus when you play Dallas on the likes of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin and Eaves has been the guy that’s stepped up. Especially, given the fact that they lost Hemsky in the first game of the year. So there’s one right winger down, they lost Janmark, that’s another top 9 forward. They don’t have Spezza right now either.
I think you’d have to look at Eaves. The price point is good, he’s cheap. That’s another thing that makes sense.
“Another thing that makes sense”? I’m assuming that Stauffer is talking about how Eaves is having a great year in addition to his cap hit being a paltry $1M.
In the end, I’m probably reading a bit more into the demeanor in which he’s saying those things. That’s just me though.
Look, I’m certain the Oilers are looking at Eaves but I can’t be 100% sure as I’m not an insider (even though I pretend to be on the internet) but did Stauffer let the cat out of the bag a bit here?
A Subtle Move
It’s a subtle move to go out and get yourself a backup goaltender, maybe some forward depth up front, with some help down the middle.
Stauffer has been talking up these “subtle moves” for a week and now he’s getting a tad more specific.
You could potentially see a backup goaltender being acquired. Absolutely! If that’s what you’re saying.
Stauffer was touching on a caller’s question about Cam Talbot needing someone trustworthy to back him up in case he starts to tire late in the season. I haven’t heard much in the way of who might be coming in to backup Cam Talbot. I think Lowetide has been championing Reto Berra but I’ve been seeing his name connected with various Swiss league teams and he’s not exactly lighting up the AHL right now.
A different caller did ring up Oilers Now! and ask about Halak but Stauffer said he’s too expensive in his opinion and I’m of the same belief. That being said, if the Islanders took back Mark Fayne or Benoit Pouliot, why not? Same difference, right? And who knows what happens at the draft? Maybe a team who loses out on Ben Bishop or M.A. Fleury comes calling and BINGO! You can move that contract on. Halak would be a helluva backup to have for a playoff run, no?
I think the forward depth up front is referring to another right-winger (Patrick Eaves perhaps? Chiarelli did, in fact, trade for him back in 2009 when he was GM of the Bruins and Eaves was part of the Carolina organization.) and the help down the middle is most likely Brian Boyle (TB) or Derek Ryan (CAR). I wrote a post on Ryan previously and the likelihood of the Oilers picking him up here.
Personally, I think that Chiarelli REALLY wants Brian Boyle but won’t be dragged into a bidding war for him. He might participate in the bidding but in the end, will refuse to pay the price in the hopes that somebody else does.
Even if the Hurricanes are in the playoffs and they keep Ryan for the post-season, I could see the Oilers re-visiting the Ryan camp in the summer and offering him a deal to come back to Edmonton to play hockey again. The guy is a beauty on the dot and Edmonton really needs help there.
I’m surprised Bob didn’t say anything about a defenseman because Chiarelli has a history of making trades for solid defensemen.
Adam Larsson (2016)
Andrej Meszaros (2014)
Wade Redden (2013)
Tomas Kaberle (2011)
Dennis Seidenberg (2010)
Aaron Ward, Dennis Wideman, Adam MacQuaid (2007)
Check out his trade history here. Is the market for defenders dry or the prices too dear for Chiarelli right now?
Do you think there’s anything to read into Bob Stauffer’s words yesterday? Let us know in the comments below but right after you pick up a sweet t-shirt from our Teepublic shop!
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The Oilers are in a bit of a funk at the moment but there’s no need to panic. Head coach Todd McLellan through the line combos in the McBlender and came out with the beauties below and I can’t wait to see them in action. I hope he sticks with them for a little while and gives them a chance.
I’m especially looking forward to seeing how the 2nd line does. I think that Slepyshev has been working his ass off since being recalled and I guess Lucic and Leon had some good things going for them earlier in the year. So, let’s hope this is the kind of line that takes the pressure off of McDavid’s line and really gives the opposition something to be concerned about.
Drake
I’m getting a tad concerned with Drake Caggiula. He’s not standing out as much during this scoring slump and that’s usually not the case. Most times if he’s not scoring, he’s getting his nose dirty and that has come to a stop now too. Why not send him to Bakersfield during this time and see if he can get some of that swagger back? Give that ice-time to Iiro Pakarinen and Anton Lander to divvy up between themselves. Could the Oilers waive Benoit Pouliot to open up a spot when they want to bring Drake back up? Would they? I can’t see anybody taking on that contract and if they did, Wunderbar!
Ebs
A lot of fans getting on Eberle’s case right now and he’s getting close to falling into the same pit that Justin Schultz fell into before he was pilfered out of town for a 3rd rounder. I imagine that’s where Ebs’ value is sitting at this very moment too. Unfortunate it is but his fancies are shit compared to previous seasons. He’s simply trying to do too much as he transitions from being a 1-way player to a 200-ft player under McLellan’s reign and it’s affecting his offense.
Will Jordan Eberle get traded?
Yes. But it’ll be this summer when most of the big deals are done up. I suspect it could be right before free agency IF the Oilers have a big fish like TJ Oshie lined up like they did last summer with Lucic. Maybe Eberle goes for a young right-handed dman in a deal that could look like a loss on paper. Sound familiar?
One thing, Eberle scores an important goal in the playoffs, this regular season will be forgotten by the fans. That goes for Pouliot and Lucic as well. All the lazy talk and they don’t give a crap rhetoric will be out the window and jersey sales will be up once again. Kris Russell will have to lead the team in scoring for Henderson and Co. to forgive him though 🙂
Matt Duchene
I think that the Avalanche are straight up insane to be dealing this guy but apparently, it’s bound to happen and the Avs want a top young dman, a 1st round pick, and a blue-chip prospect in return. This had me thinking a bit…
By the sounds of it, Chiarelli is going to re-sign Kris Russell and that is going to take up, what I believe, Darnell Nurse’s spot in the top 4 next season IF it does go down and would it be better or worse for Nurse if he were to play another season of bottom pairing minutes in 2017/18? And how would doing that impact the prospects coming up from Bakersfield?
What I’m getting at is would it be to the Oilers betterment if they dealt one of Oscar Klefbom or Darnell Nurse in a package deal for Matt Duchene? He’s primarily a centre but he did play some wing at the World Cup, no?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating the Oilers trade either Klefbom OR Nurse because I love them both. They’re young, they’re going to be on value contracts for quite some time (fingers crossed on Nurse’s contract signing this summer), and in Nurse’s case; He’s def. a Chiarelli guy. Big, strong, mean, can skate, and I reckon there’s some offense in his bones too. At the moment, the Oilers are really missing his transition game I believe.
I’m just curious how Oilers fans feel about Duchene and the price it might cost to get him. I did read online somebody was ready to offer Sakic a package of Brandon Davidson, Griffin Reinhart, Jordan Eberle, and two draft picks for Duchene, Siemens, and Grigorenko… Wouldn’t it make more sense to trade RNH?
Let’s be honest though, Duchene and Landeskog are being dealt to the East. Boston is going hard after them and I can’t wait to see what Neely/Sinden tell Sweeney to do in order to acquire one of them. God help their souls if they move Charlie McAvoy…
Eaves in Dallas is one of those unrestricted free agents along with Patrick Sharp that Jim Nill will have to make a decision on. His stats might actually stun you. Patrick Eaves has 19 goals this season. A career year, his best year in 12 seasons. So, maybe the Dallas Stars could find a suitor for him on the market as well. – Frank Seravalli, Oilers Now! (Feb.8th, 2017)
The bearded fellow on the left is a man by the name of Patrick Eaves. He stands 6′ tall and weighs in at close to 190lbs. He’s currently a member of the underachieving Dallas Stars ice hockey team but will be free to play where he likes on July 1st as he is an unrestricted free agent. This is a player I believe would be of much benefit to the Edmonton Oilers playoff run and he’s currently no.4 on TSN’s trade list.
Patrick Eaves has never really been much of a point producer in the past. Previously, his best year point-wise was back in 06/07 when he was in his 2nd NHL season with the Ottawa Senators where he tossed up 14 goals and 18 assists in 74 games played. In the current campaign whilst playing on the right wing with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, Eaves has racked up 19 goals and 33 points, surpassing his career high in points and goals and is sure to top his career-best in assists (18). Only 5 more apples to beat that personal record.
How does this tie in with the Edmonton Oilers?
Well, the Oilers are looking for some help on the right side. Preferably somebody who can score. Patrick Eaves is doing just that this year. If the Oilers were to indeed acquire the Calgary-born winger, he’d give them some very nice roster flexibility and his cap hit, a mere $1 million dollars, could allow them to reach out and pick up another player who makes a bit more.
So what is it that Eaves does well?
He’s a jack-of-all-trades really. He can play a lot of positions. He can play both sides of special teams. He’s been a power play guy. He’s been a penalty killer. He’s got the ability to score goals,” head coach Lindy Ruff said of Eaves at the time. “Jim [Nill] knows a lot about him. I know a little bit less, but from what I’ve heard he’s a guy you can use in almost any situation and can play in a lot of different positions.” – Defending Big D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqWb8TokYL4
Admittedly, I don’t watch a lot of Dallas Stars hockey, so I can only go from scouting reports from the media and from the numbers available online.
Eaves looks like the type of player that Chiarelli would get in on for sure. He’s physical, he shoots, and he’s on a bargain contract. He’s not a big guy but he plays big and with that usually comes with critique from the analytics community but let us look at some of those fancies if you will and make a decision ourselves.
stats.hockeyanalysis.com is where I find my stats and I take the 5×5 numbers almost always and since we’re talking about a forward, we’ll keep using only the forward’s numbers.
Corsi For per 60 Relative to Teammates should tell us how he’s doing as an individual player with regards to getting shots to the net. In this case, Eaves is first on the team with a 3.74 CF60RelTM. If we tossed him onto the Oilers with that he’d be 4th on the team behind Maroon, McDavid, and Eberle.
Corsi Against per 60 Relative to Teammates should tell us how Eaves is doing on the defensive side of the puck. How good he is at keeping those unblocked shot attempts away from his net. On the Stars he sits 4th with -2.58 behind Brett Ritchie, Seguin, and Roussel. Slide that over to the Oilers’ roster and Mr.Eaves would be 3rd behind McDavid and Maroon amongst the regular playing forwards.
Let’s do the same with the Fenwick numbers. These are the unblocked shot attempts. Basically, any shot tossed at the net.
FF60relTM: 3.98 (#2 on Dallas, #4 on Edmonton)
FA60relTM: -3.72 (#2 on Dallas, #1 on Edmonton)
Look at that, he seems to do pretty well keeping the shots away from his net and getting them onto the opposition’s net… Sounds like a pretty good player to me. His fancies are not elite mind you nor might you consider them great but they are good. Patrick Eaves might be considered a solid two-way winger.
What we might not dig about Eaves is that he has a considerable recent injury history. A concussion from an obliterated jaw courtesy of a Roman Josi slapshot, an ordeal with his foot, and multiple lower-body and upper-body injuries have cut previous seasons short. Apart from that, he seems to be riding the highs of a sweet shooting percentage (14.3%) too and that’s not something you want to be on the hind-end of, right Mr.Eberle?
I believe that if you are looking for the Oilers to pick up Iginla or Vrbata, that you’d be just as happy with what Patrick Eaves could bring the team. He’s basically a smaller version of Patrick Maroon with an epic beard and he has shown, like Maroon, that he can keep up with Elite players.
At $1M, there are bound to be many many teams in the Patrick Eaves sweepstakes because they can fit him under the tightest of salary caps. So Peter Chiarelli would have his work cut out for him and from what I can gather online, this summer, there’s going to be some massive overhauling done in Dallas. Coach, goalies, and prospects cleared out in an attempt to improve the team on the fast track.
I’m not a fan of the Dallas Stars but if we could see some more Stars/Oilers playoff battles, that would be something!
Looking for more Oilers trade deadline targets, check out this previous post.
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