The new mandate the Oilers have set is great. The best players play, and you don’t play based on your status as a veteran or what your contract is.
Nikitin has done well well in Bakersfield scoring nine points in the fourteen games this season including a five game point scoring streak. There have seemingly been lots of rumours this season surrounding Nikitin. In November, Jim Matheson wrote about how the Blackhawks could be looking at the Russian.
His play of late in the AHL has also sparked some trade interest. Factored into recall. https://t.co/1SwFMtLo1e — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 10, 2015
Interesting. At 50% salary retained, could the Oilers get back a 2nd or a 3rd for him? That’s up in the air and totally dependant on his play over the course of the next few months. If there is a team, or teams interested in Nikitin, exposing him on the waiver wire could prove to be a mistake as someone may take a chance at him that way.
At the end of the day, it’s time to really see what we have in Nikitin. I can’t help but feel good for him, as I could imagine it was a tough pill to swallow getting sent to the AHL at the start of the year. If Nikitin wants to prove his worth to the Oilers or to another potential suitor, now is the time for that.
Tonight’s game featured the comically miserable brand of Oilers defense we all know and love from the last 2 years. Constant turnovers. Blind passes out of the corner straight to the middle of the ice where the opposition were left all alone for easy goals. Fumbled passes. Inability to clear the puck from the defensive zone while under pressure. It was all there.
The Canucks didn’t even ice their best roster and they still made the Oilers defense look like practice pylons. While the entire D squad was awful (with the exception of Justin Schultz, who played a reasonably sound game), 2 Oilers defensemen stuck out like mangled thumbs: Nikita Nikitin and Andrew Ference.
I don’t enjoy the fact that I’m about to rip on Ference after he was all over the news kicking people right in the feelz with the whole #SpiderMable thing. I think very highly of Ference and his character, and the work he has done in Edmonton’s community. He’s a stand up guy. Unfortunately, he is an anchor on the blue line, his contract makes him virtually impossible to trade, he is taking up a roster spot from guys like Nurse and Reinhart; and he’s the captain of the team.
Ference was awful all night. Getting beat on the outside, making poor decisions with the puck, and showing that perhaps his age is catching up to him. It seemed like every time I looked, Ference and his D-Partner were either in the process of turning the puck over, getting beat wide, or just leaving the ice shortly before a Canucks goal. While Ference was bad, he wasn’t Nikita Nikitin bad.
OH MY GOD. Nikitin. I don’t even know what to say. How many 2 on 1’s or breakaway chances did the Oilers give up tonight? I lost count. While not all of them were a direct result of the dynamic duo of Ference and Nikitin, a good portion of them were caused by Nikitin’s inability to play the body, skate, or do much of anything. While Nikitin’s +/- won’t show it, he had a hand in a couple of the goals against, and was directly responsible for multiple odd man chances, poor defensive plays, and all around suckage. He couldn’t keep the puck in at the blue line during an Oilers power play which directly resulted in the play going the other way, and casually skated off the ice as if to indicate it wasn’t his problem.
There isn’t much I can say about the positive side of this game, other than how incredible Hall, McDavid, and Draisaitl looked tonight. The first half of the game was magical. It seemed like every time they were on the ice, something amazing was going to happen. Unfortunately for them, Jacob Markstrom was lights out for the Canucks. He shut down the McAwesome line on all but one occasion, and was fantastic when he actually had to face an offensive threat instead of watching his team break out on yet another odd man chance. Nail Yakupov had a solid game and scored the only other Oilers goal, but for reasons known only to Todd McLellan; remained on the 3rd line despite how awful Purcell was.
The story of the game really was how terrible the Oilers defense played. Even Sekera (who started out well enough) had multiple turnovers of the disastrous variety, and Reinhart had his steady play shattered by a few himself. It was a total gong show.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the game for me personally, came when I realized that despite how dismal Ference and Nikitin were, McLellan kept them together the entire game. I started wondering if he was trying to send an SOS to Peter Chiarelli. Was this his version of a distress signal? I’ll never know, but I hope to hockey heaven we never see those two paired up again.
Random thoughts:
-Props to Virtanen for scoring a goal with his face.
-No matter how amazing your forwards are, they can’t do squat if your defense sucks
-Welcome to Edmonton, Cam Talbot. You weren’t to blame for this one.
-The Oilers got worked over by a Canucks squad that didn’t even feature all of their top players. We know you can’t win them all, and it’s only preseason. However, the way the defense played tonight is alarming to say the least.
As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment below, or argue with me on twitter here
Oilers fans have a long history of watching this team develop real NHL defensemen only to let them walk as free agents or traded prior to UFA status taking effect. Today, more than any other day so far I have seen the changing of the tide. Proof that someone other than MacT and Lowe are in charge and making the decisions. Let’s face it, previous management had a proven track record of developing solid defenders that while they may not have been top pairing guys were still legitimate NHL defensemen and then trading them away.
The first three that come to mind for me are Tom Gilbert, Jeff Petry and Marty Marincin. Three quality players, well Marty had some issues but was still a damn sight better than Nikitin or Ference in my opinion. That brings us to today and the joyous occasion that has us reminiscing of players gone too soon. Today Peter Chiarelli made the smart decision and locked up one of the best up and coming defensemen in the league. Oscar Klefbom in my eyes is a huge part of the Oilers defense moving forward and today the Oilers proved they think the same way as I do.
The number I have heard is 4.167 per season. That is a pretty decent number but there are a lot of folks on twitter that are trashing this team for signing Oscar long-term. Well really there are those bitching about the term and there are those bitching about the dollar value. Of course all the hate that I have seen comes from those outside the organization and fan base. I haven’t really seen anyone from the MSM or fans say anything remotely negative about the deal.
Really, I don’t see how anyone can say anything negative about it now. He is a lock to be in our top four for the next eight years. He is still only 22 years old and has a ton of developing left to do so he is only going to get better! He may never be a top guy like Doughty or Keith but he will be a top pairing defenseman, likely by the end of this season. Visions of a top pairing of Darnell Nurse and Oscar make me giddy with anticipation. We are not that far away from that happening folks!
What do you think? Is this a good signing? Too long of a term? Too much money? Let us know what you think. Leave a comment below or follow me on twitter and we can converse there, @justoil78. Thanks for reading.
The hype this summer is all surrounding the future of the Oilers, Connor McDavid, and rightly so. This is wonderful news to all other prospects coming in to training camp because the attention is going to be squarely focused on Connor. This will alleviate some of the stress that will come with trying to impress coaches and management during the young stars tournament and camp. One player that will look to make a big impression and secure a roster spot in his first professional season is Darnell Nurse. What to do with Darnell? That is the question of the day. Our very own Corey Mitchell has a great write-up on Nurse and his potential. If you want to take a look it’s here. He is writing a great series on the Edmonton prospects so be sure to check that out.
There is a lot to like about Darnell. He’s a good two-way defenseman. He’s big and very mobile for a kid his size. He has great positioning and is rarely beaten one on one. He has the ability to join the rush when needed and possesses good offensive instincts. He seems to really enjoy a physical game and brings a noticeable mean streak with him. He’s not afraid to mix it up when needed and is ready to come to the defense of teammates.
The question is what will he be when he reaches his prime? He definitely has the potential to be a true number one defender in the NHL for a long time but who knows when or if that will ever happen. The tea leaves are hard to read but there is some indication that he can get there. The kid is definitely trending in the right direction.
He played huge minutes for his junior team and was vital to the gold medal effort by the World Junior squad this past year. He played 25 minutes a night in all situations and faced the best players that the other teams had. In the playoffs his coach tried to get Darnell on the ice every time that McDavid was out there and he was the only player that seemed to be able to contain him in any way. Now don’t get me wrong Connor still dominated the series but Nurse didn’t look horribly overmatched like the rest of his team.
This coming season coach McLellan will have some very difficult decisions to make before the final cuts are made. Darnell is likely already a better option on the left side than either Nikitin or Ference but the experience factor is not something that I think Todd will easily discount. He will have to be significantly better in camp and the pre-season if he hopes to be on the opening night roster. What to do with Darnell?
In my honest opinion leaving him off the opening night roster isn’t the worst thing in the world and will show that the coaching staff greatly value experience. I think that Todd and company will choose to send Darnell down to Bakersfield to start the season. He will go down to the AHL for a spell and hone his game as a top pairing defender in a very good league.
Just because I think that the kid will start the season on the farm team by no means does that mean that he will finish there. He will likely be the first call up on the left side, and will see significant time in the NHL this season. Mt prediction is that he is on the active roster by the end of November and will then make it impossible for the team to send him back.
Is Darnell destined to be our number one defenseman? Will he start the year in Edmonton or Bakersfield? Time will tell but I want to know what you all think. Come on Beer Leaguers let me hear it. The comments section is just waiting to be blown up with your responses. All we ask is that you keep it in good taste. If the comment section isn’t your thing then you can let me know on Twitter, @cooke_rob, I welcome all to join in the discussion.
On a side note I am proud to finally announce that my very own online store is ready for its official launch! Before I get into things too much I want to thank my good friend the Beer League Hero for the use of his design and the inspiration to start the store in the first place! I’ve added several of my own designs and used them to make a wide variety of items for all you great folks to purchase!
These three items and many more are available now! We’ve got shirts, hoodies, jackets, coffee mugs, cell phone cases, beer mugs, shot glasses, hats and more. New items are being added all the time! Check out Cooke Designs if you want to see more or if you absolutely must have the bottle opener Beer League Heroes shirt. (pictured above) Yes it is a legit bottle opener! How cool is that! Take a look and come back next week when I will run the first contest of the season and give away some free swag!
A few days ago, well July 25th to be exact, the New Jersey Devils re-signed young defenseman Adam Larsson to a six-year contract extension with a 4.16 million dollar cap hit. Why am I telling you something that 95% of NHL fans already know about? First because this is roughly the deal that I see Oscar Klefbom signing between now and next July 1st. Larsson has a slightly better draft pedigree but has had a hard time making the NHL as a full-time player. Klefbom appears to be the real deal and should again take a big step forward in his development this year under new coaching and with less pressure to be the best defenseman on the team. With slightly less minutes at evens and roughly the same zone starts that he was gifted last year Klefbom should be effective and improve on last season. The second reason that I mentioned the Larsson contract is because with the idea of re-signing Klefbom long-term before next summer it got me thinking about the Oilers cap position moving forward.
It is a little tricky when discussing the Oilers salary cap situation, currently nhlnumbers.com, brought to you by our good friends over at OilersNation, shows that there is 3.144 million in available space. That is not a lot of space to begin with and when we factor in bonuses we are possibly up to two million dollars over the cap this year. That is two million over with Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl playing all or some of the season in the AHL this year as well. The bonuses that I am including are only for McDavid, Klefbom, and Reinhart. I am not saying that I think Reinhart makes the team but just going by what the Nation network has on their site. The inclusion of Reinhart is besides the point this year anyways. The issue is going over the cap with bonus dollars.
When a team goes over the cap with their player bonuses that amount is deducted from the cap total the next season as a penalty. Normally that isn’t a big deal but with the cap likely staying at roughly the same level or rising only very slightly every dollar will count in the 2016/17 season. It will be the first year in the new building and playoffs are damn sure expected at that point. We will need to bring in whatever players we will need to be competitive in the new building. In reality though it sure would have been nice to go on one last playoff run in Rexall before they close the old barn down.
When we enter the off-season next summer we will see a fair amount of dollars come off the books just through contracts expiring that will likely not be renewed. We all know who isn’t going to be in Oilers blue when Rogers Place opens their doors. Teddy Purcell and his 4.5 million dollar cap hit will likely either be moved to another team at some point this season or will walk as a free agent come July 1st. Another 4.5 million will come off the books when the Oilers will say good-bye to Nikita Nikitin next summer as well. I know that Ron MacLean seems to think Nikitin will bounce back and be a stud defenseman for the Oilers, he said so yesterday on Oilers Now, but I don’t see it happening and even if he does I think he would need to take a massive cut to his salary in order for that to happen. The other two free agents that are both likely going to be allowed to hit the open market are Rob Klinkhammer (love that name!) and Eric Gryba. At $725,000, Rob Klinkhammer isn’t going to free up a ton of space but will likely be moved to bring up an internal option. Gryba will go if for no other reason than Griffin Reinhart will likely take his spot in the very near future and $1.3 million is a decent chunk of change to tie up in a number 7 or 8 D-man. The final free agent that will more than likely not be returning after the upcoming season is the Professor, Ben Scrivens. If Cam Talbot, who we will get to later takes the starting job and runs with it then we will likely see Mr. and Mrs. Scrivens move on down the road. On the plus side if Scrivs is moved or allowed to leave upon contract expiration that will add another $2.3 million to the pot.
We may also be able to remove the $3.9 million cap penalty that is Justin Schultz should the team finally decide that what he brings to the team isn’t even close to be worth what he is paid. If I am Peter Chiarelli I would have Jultz on a very short leash this season and would feel no remorse at all for stapling his ass to the bench when warranted. I could see a scenario where Justin could spend a few games in the press box observing early on if he doesn’t appear to have made some sort of step forward with his defensive game. The one thing to keep in mind is that Todd McLellan is a wizard with the power-play so we can hopefully expect at least a return to his former levels in that aspect.
For the sake of argument lets say that all these players are either moved at the deadline or allowed to leave via free agency this summer. Returns from trades we will consider as all being futures for this exercise. So with these six gentlemen removed from the roster for the grand opening of the new joint we would have a little bit of walking around money to throw around come July 1st. With roughly $17.2 million in cap space being opened up there is the possibility to go big game hunting next summer. This is where we need to bring up Oscar Klefbom and his new deal. Like I said I would like to see him signed to roughly the same deal as Larsson, five or six-year term with around 4 million as the sticker price. With his current deal paying him only 1.244 million, if he hits his bonuses, we would still see an increase of 2.56 million year over year. So when we remove that amount we are left with roughly 14.64 million in space.
There is other people who will need to be included in next years line-up that are currently unaccounted for as well. At some point both Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse are going to force their way onto this team and will need to be included in the cap hit as well. So out of that 14.64 million we can take 5.1 million, again assuming all bonuses met, and we are left with 9.54 million in cap space. Not a bad amount to find a top pairing defenseman but unfortunately there is one more player internally that will be looking to take a big bought out of our free agency dollars.
Cam Talbot has one year on his deal and has the possibility of being the biggest value deal in the league should he perform as expected. If Cam comes to camp takes over the starter position and never looks back we could be getting one hell of a bargain this year. Next year not so much. Just because I am in an optimistic kind of mood today lets say that Talbot is everything that the stats folks say he is and a little more. Lets say he finishes the season top ten in adjusted save percentage and goals against average. What does that do to our goalie with the 1.45 million dollar price tag? Well since he is an unrestricted free agent next summer we know that it will not be cheap to get him locked up should his season go well. Would $5 million be a realistic number to ask for a top ten starter in the league? I don’t think so. Dubnyk re-signed with Minnesota to a 4.33 million dollar cap hit deal after his Phoenix-like performance last season, so should Talbot be able to have a year like Duby did last season or even close to it we are looking at a decent wage increase for sure. So we take the 1.45 off the 5 and are left with a 3.55 million dollar increase to Talbot’s salary. That would still leave the team with roughly six million in cap space to use come free agency and big game hunting.
Obviously what I wrote doesn’t take into account possible trades and other roster moves that can free up space but we are not in quite as rosy a position next summer as some seem to think. The big name free agent defensemen that are possible to be available next year are going to be to rich for our blood I fear. Mark Giordano, the Flames captain, is rumoured to be asking 9 million per year over a long-term deal so that is a dead issue for sure. No way in hell can Edmonton afford that kind of hit or term. We may need to move out some more salary next summer if we really want to acquire a top pairing defenseman. Who knows how the year will shake out though.
What do you think? Do we the cap space that we will need next summer to bring in a real number one defenseman or are we going to be waiting to see what Nurse, Klefbom, and Reinhart are going to be? Let me know in the comments or on twitter, @cooke_rob.
Thanks very much for reading and be sure to come back next time Beer Leaguers! And As always make sure to visit the best little Beer League T-Shirt shop on the great wide web for all your Beer League Heroes and 16-Bit NHL Superstars shirt needs.
