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Major Oilers Announcement on the Horizon? Stauffer’s Cryptic Message Suggests Maybe

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“And uh we might see a puff of smoke coming out of Rogers Place tomorrow, wait and see on that front”

That was the quote with 27 sec remaining on yesterday’s episode of Oilers Now from host Bob Stauffer.

If it was used on purpose (which is probably the case), the puff of smoke traditionally refers to the fact that the Cardinals have gathered together and selected a new pope. Stauffer could be telling us:

  • The entirety of the management team has gathered, and/or
  • Changes are a comin’

BUT I find it very interesting that Stauffer started his show off yesterday with this quote,

“Peter Chiarelli, the Oilers GM, I would assume, would speak sometime later this week maybe as early as tomorrow. I guess there’s an outside chance later today but my guess is tomorrow.”

Not to analyze what Stauffer has said here too much but to me that doesn’t sound like the Oilers are going to be announcing the “firing” of Peter Chiarelli per se.

The other thing to add here is that in the first quote he was chuckling a bit because of an earlier comment and I’m not sure that that sort of news would be something to take lightly. Not only that but he waited until the last possible moment to mention it…

In contrast, I woke up to a message from one of my sources and they said that the Oilers brass will probably give Todd McLellan one more year but his assistants are gone and that the men above are super pissed with the job Chiarelli has done and there’s a good chance he won’t be doing the presser.

As for Todd McLellan’s coaching staff, Jason Gregor and Ryan Rishaug said the assistants are only on 3-year contracts, so those that have been here since the start of the Chiarelli regime would simply be let go instead of fired… They discussed that on Gregor’s show yesterday in the final segment.

I got to talking to some of my closer friends online and an interesting idea that was tossed out there was what if the Oilers are announcing a promotion? Meaning Chiarelli wouldn’t be fired, he would simply be kicked upstairs to focus on the President of Hockey Operations job and perhaps Keith Gretzky would get promoted to GM.

Thoughts?

My feeling is that Bob Stauffer has been talking about assistant coaches since last week with his guests and tomorrow he’ll have a former Oilers assistant coach on his show in Craig Simpson. Simply a coincidence I know but great timing IF the Oilers do let go of a coach or two or four.

*Side note: might we see a Manny Viveiros hiring this summer by the Oilers? Either to coach with McLellan and do something with the special teams OR to head coach the AHL club?*

I reckon Bob Nicholson doesn’t want to tear things down completely and start again and is willing to give this crew some more time to see if this past season was a mirage.

From what I’ve been told previously, Nicholson isn’t happy with Chiarelli and bumping him up out of the GM’s seat and giving the roster construction job to the minority owner’s brother whilst not having to pay Chiarelli out by firing him sounds like a pretty good way of not rocking the boat too much there. Also, they can let Chiarelli run his contract out and then address that role when the time comes in two years.

It’s such an Oilers thing to do, right? I mean how many rungs are there on the ladder in that organization? But IF that does happen the critics will still be out there saying that if Chiarelli still has a hand in this, the team is doomed. I really like the idea though. There’s no major upheaval in the coaching and management team and it still gives this regime a chance to turn things around.

It was said to me and I do believe this, perhaps this season was the best thing that could happen to the team. I mean if Chiarelli relinquishes his GM duties to Keith Gretzky perhaps both men will thrive in their new positions. Gretzky has a pretty good record at the draft table since becoming head scout in Boston to his new role in Edmonton. The team learning first-hand how hard it is to get to the playoffs and stay in that race is another lesson that comes to mind. Not reading the press clippings is another thing that could be learned from.

We learn a lot more from losing than winning but the trick is to apply that knowledge right? Previous regimes in Edmonton didn’t do that. They simply kept on making the same mistakes whereas this regime has seen improvement. Marginally albeit but nevertheless, improvement. And with a young-cored team, the highs will be high and the lows will be low. That’s about the only expectation we should have until the team manages to mature a bit more.

As for Todd McLellan, I have no idea. I guess during his media avail he said he’d already done some exit interviews with the big players but then Jim Matheson said in a post yesterday that he was doing them by phone this year? And him thanking the media the way he did suggested to me that perhaps he wasn’t even sure if he’ll be back next season…

The bottom line here is that the team has to get better and it doesn’t have a lot of resources to do so. The pipeline is JUST starting to get better after years of shite drafting and dealing away young prospects. Plus there isn’t much money to add a significant talent to the team without dealing away a contract first.

*Side note: Bob Stauffer also said on his show that Andrej Sekera is a player we should keep an eye on (I’m paraphrasing) going forward*

To sum it all up, here’s my prediction, Chiarelli gives up his GM role, gives it to Keith Gretzky, and announces the assistant coaches won’t be re-signed. A slight possibility that a more formal decision on Paul Coffey is announced as well.

So we wait to see what color the smoke will be, white or dark?

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19 Games to Set Up the Oilers for 2018/19 + The Reason Pontus Aberg NEEDS to Play More!

During last night’s Oilers/Sharks game I was pleased as punch to see Edmonton kicking the snot out of San Jose in the 1st period. I thought we might have something here… And then the hit.

Look, the play was moving quickly but that’s no excuse to the clown in stripes with his eyes fixated right on the play in question. It’s no wonder the NHL’s stars are openly mocking the refs and throwing their equipment at them on the ice. It’s BS.

The other thing that was BS was the lack of a response from the Oilers after the incident occurred. Where was Matt Benning’s backup? At least one of Klefbom, Draisaitl, Rattie, or Cammalleri could’ve bull rushed Kane…

I remember a lot of this during Taylor Hall’s days as the de-facto “leader” of the Oilers. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. To me, it displays a lack of togetherness on the club despite what I’ve been told by those I’ve talked to who are VERY close to the players.

Just quick I want to talk about the goals that came after the Kane incident.

First off, it’s a team game and so everybody can take a slice of the blame pie but did Cam Talbot have a chance on any of the remaining goals?

  • Sharks 2nd goal from Braun was tipped by Lucic.
  • Sharks 3rd goal went off of Sekera’s leg.
  • Sharks 4th goal was a roof daddy special but Talbot was out of position anticipating the pass across.

Maybe the 4th goal Talbot could’ve done a better job but I have a hard time faulting him for the first two. I’d say get outta the way Milan on #2 and Leon, you gotta do a better job containing Meier so he doesn’t walk out and get a clean chance on net for goal #3.

If really feels like the other teams are scoring at least 1 flukey goal a game vs. Edmonton this year. I think the Oilers should fire Peter Chiarelli because of that… What?!

Milan Lucic is leading the team in posts hit this year, right? How much would have that turned the course of the game had he scored on that wide open cage?

Anyways, that game is over. Now to look forward to the remaining 19…

This is what I want to see from the Oilers to play out the season:

  • Keep Leon and Connor away unless it’s an absolute imperative that they must be reunited.
  • Put Nuge on Connor’s LW because we need to see what Strome and Khaira can do down the middle. If all three perform well in their given assignments, that will do a few things:
    • It’ll give the Oilers a scoring LW instead of having to trade out for one.
    • It’ll give the Oilers their bottom-6 centres.
    • It’ll give the Oilers a chance to simply focus on re-signing players instead of having to focus on acquiring new ones.
  • Good, consistent performances from the players who are underperforming this year. Those include:
    • Matt Benning
    • Drake Caggiula
    • Oscar Klefbom
    • Zack Kassian
  • For Puljujarvi to go on a nice scoring run to show everyone there’s a player there. Maybe the addition of Pontus Aberg helps that?
  • Connor McDavid’s march to the Art Ross should be fascinating as well
  • But don’t discount Leon Draisaitl’s ongoing assault on the scoring charts. Can he make it into the top ten despite having an “off” year?

Funny thing with Jesse, he’s “only” scored 11 goals and 14 assists in 74 games to date but did you know that by the time Phil Kessel had played 70 games, he only had 11 goals? Did you know Jakob Voracek only scored 9 goals in his first 80 games or that Matt Tkachuk had only 13 goals by game 76. Even Marian Hossa took more than 66 games to score 15 goals.

This is a 19-year-old man-child growing up in front of our eyes. He’s not McDavid and he’s not Leon but he’s going to be a force for this team someday. Book it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0H7LfylDeY

Bloody kid almost fluffed it too… I wonder when he’s going to do something about that twig of his… Seems like it’s more a hindrance than a tool of scoring destruction. Good to see the Grinnin’ Finn smiling again though!

Now sometimes I make the mistake of heading over to Hockeybuzz to read Matt Henderson’s BS and something usually sets me off. Well, today it happened.

In addition to questionable standard scoring stats, Aberg has been challenged to maintain decent possession numbers relative to his team. He was at the bottom of Nashville’s forward group in Corsi, Fenwick, Shots, and Scoring Chances. All the shot metrics. All of them! 

What Henderson didn’t tell you is that Pontus Aberg was near the top of Nashville’s team (and the whole league for that matter) for goals for % (GF%) and high-danger goals for % (HDGF%).

Even higher than Connor McDavid has for Edmonton.

Aberg’s GF% was 62.96% (6th best LWer in the NHL) and his HDGF% was 69.23% (4th best LWer in the NHL). Those numbers are for LWs who played more than 390 minutes and at 5×5 and they’re courtesy of naturalhattrick.com.

If I’m correct, what this means is that when Aberg’s line was on the ice nearly 63% of the goals were scored by his team and nearly 70% of the high-danger chances were converted into a goal for. 

And I’m not sure if Matty-Boy has noticed but the increased possession totals haven’t helped the team score goals let alone win games. As illustrated by the Minnesota Wild being 30th in the league in CF% and Chicago being 3rd.

It’s fine to be good in the shooting metrics but you can’t base your opinion of a player simply on shooting stats.

And one more number to help everyone feel better about the addition of Pontus Aberg. His sv% is 3rd in the NHL at 95.52% and what that tells us is the other team has a helluva time scoring when his line is on the ice.

Now I know that taking a player who’s played not even 60 games and trying to pump his tires isn’t the best use of statistics but it goes the other way too when you’re criticizing a player. His possession numbers are horrid, it’s easy to see that but… #smallsamplesize

So I’ll add Pontus Aberg’s impact in the final 19 games as one of the things I’m looking forward to watching.

Lastly, I was listening to yesterday’s Oilers Now and a few things jumped out at me.

  • Chiarelli had minimal offers coming in.

This coincides with what the Oilers GM said at his presser, that the market was pretty dry. Stauffer also said that Boston trading for Rick Nash hurt Maroon’s trade value and the return Vancouver got for Tomas Vanek killed it.

Was Peter Chiarelli aggressive enough at the deadline? Nobody can be sure but pushing on a closed door is a good way to get shot.

  • Stauffer said he knows for a fact that Tampa was “bird dogging” Maroon because of the questions he was being asked by other scouts AND seeing Tampa Bay’s AGM Pat Verbeek at the Oilers games.

This is interesting because the pundits said there was ZERO interest in Maroon from Tampa…

  • Stauffer also said there was action on Strome.

I’d keep an eye on this. Strome is still a young player and one that can toss up 15 or more goals a year. Could he be sacrificed to bring in an older player at the same price point? I guess that depends on how his final 19 games go, right?

I’ve come to really like Strome. He’s finally finding his stride in Edmonton and his work on the PK since going there full-time has been quite good.

  • Stauffer and Spector asked each other, would you do Klefbom for Barrie or RNH for Barrie?

Both said yes to offer A and no to offer B and I’m in agreeance.

I believe that a lateral move here wouldn’t hurt the team. To me, Oscar Klefbom is a solid 2-way defender but he’s the one with the value and he plays in a position that is a point of organizational strength for the Oilers. His contract is good, his age is good but he’s not making the impact that this team needs.

So if the Oilers could get Barrie for Klefbom, do it. If the Avs insist on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers must insist on Barrie and the 1st round pick that Colorado obtained from Ottawa in the Duchene deal because that could very well turn into Jack Hughes aka Pat Kane v2 minus the dirtbaggedness.

  • Chiarelli also mentioned adding speed to his team, more spcifically w/regards to moving the puck.

I assume Chiarelli is talking about his defenders.

This has been one of my major pet peeves this season. Slow puck moving from the defense and I’m surprised that the coaches haven’t altered their gameplans because of it. Have the forwards come down and gather the puck if the defenders can’t pass it fast enough or rush it up the ice.

Whatever he does, it’s sure to divide the fanbase even further. lol

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The Latest Oilers Trade Rumblings and Compliance Buyouts Are Coming According to John Shannon

First off I want to say that I’m very proud of the Women’s Canadian Hockey team. That was such a good hockey game and they worked their asses off. That move the American shooter made to win it was outstanding though. Seriously…

A silver medal is nothing to scoff at no matter how much Lias Andersson tries to convince you it is. And those ladies join another elite hockey team to lose a very important hockey game at the Olympics in Asia via the shootout…

99 on the bench after losing to the Czechs in ’98 at Nagano, Japan.

On yesterday’s Oilers Now, Bob Stauffer asked John Shannon a very interesting question,

Do you think that it’s an automatic that there are two non-compliance options options (going to be in the new CBA), like there have been in past CBAs?

John Shannon’s reply was, “Guaranteed!”

I’m a little confused at this point as to which kind of compliance buyouts Stauffer and Shannon are talking about. I reckon Stauffer is talking about compliance buy outs NOT non-compliance ones though.

But just to relieve any confusion, let’s go over their definitions:

  • Non-Compliance Buyout – Consider this the “regular” buyout like the one Chiarelli used on Pouliot last summer. NHL teams can choose to buy out and terminate any player’s standard player contract. It isn’t quite as easy as just cutting a player though, because any bought-out player is still due a portion of the money owed to him; either one-third or two-thirds of his remaining salary (depending on the terms of the original deal) to be paid out over twice the remaining years of the terminated contract.
  • Compliance Buyout – This is the “Get Out of Jail Free” buyout. Basically, teams can buy out any contract on their roster and it won’t count against their cap but it has to be a contract signed.

Now with those compliance (or amnesty) buyouts, in the past, there’s been a 2-week window right after the Stanley Cup final’s conclusion where the teams could do their business if you will. Also, the last time compliance buyouts were eligible to be utilized, only players who’d signed contracts on or before Sept.12 of 2012 were given the O.K. to be bought out and this was for the 2013 and 2014 seasons…

2021/22 is when the current CBA expires and conversely, the new Seattle franchise is expected to join the league the season previous. I don’t think that it would be in the league’s best interest to expand, have the new team play a year and then have a lockout. Both the NHL (Sept.1) or the NHLPA (Sept.19) can opt out next summer (2019/20) but that’s unlikely according to Shannon.

I know when I write on these kinds of things I feel like I’ve glossed something over, so please feel free to let me know if I’ve gotten something wrong in my interpretation either in the comments below or on Twitter (@beerleagueheroe). Thx!

HOW MIGHT THIS AFFECT THE OILERS?

If I’m right in interpreting the verbiage from past compliance buyout windows, it might allow them to buy out Milan Lucic IF he’s still with the club. I was thinking possibly Sekera and/or Russell but their contracts will have expired by the time a window opens and there’s no guarantee they’d be on the club at that point either. I’m thinking one of them will be in Seattle and the other playing in a different city.

  • Milan Lucic is signed for $6M/yr until 2022/23

But there’s the fact that Lucic’s deal is so laden with signing bonuses, would it even be worth it to the team to buy out the last year of his deal?

So I guess the only players who might be considered in the compliance buyout category at this point in time are Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid… Unlikely targets but you never know… Maybe the Oilers go on to sign John Carlson to a mega-deal this summer and he shits the bed for them… Or maybe they trade for Erik Karlsson and he slows right the F down in those later years and becomes a liability. I guess at that point, a compliance buyout might be an option for the Oilers.

The other thing Edmonton could do is acquire heavy contracts in exchange for tasty draft picks or prospects and then buy them out in the windows. Similar to what the Vegas or Arizona have done in the past.

I mean other teams could simply do that themselves but what if there’s a team that is desperate to get a contract off of the books, in theory, my notion above would be applicable, no? I guess the follow up to that would be, how much cap room will the Oilers have by then and if they have enough cap room to make such a move, why is that?

What do you think? Have I got it all wrong here?

LATEST ON THE OILERS TRADE FRONT

Erik Karlsson…

No, I don’t believe that the Oilers and Sens are talking Karlsson and Bobby Ryan because Eklund tweeted that out. But I do believe it’s worth a discussion IF the Sens would take Lucic back.

I love Lucic, I really do, and I want him to succeed but it’s really hard to watch him this year. He tries to engage in the games but nobody will fight him, nobody will even hit him. So the things that got him fired up in the past aren’t available anymore and he’s struggling to get out of this slump. He’s squeezing his stick way to tightly, he’s doing fly bys at the net when he should be stopping.

He looks tired.

I’d feel bad for him if he got dealt this early into his deal but it would be what it would be if it happened. I’d accept it and move on. I’d much rather him see success as part of the Oilers than another team obviously.

I don’t want to get into the details of a proper proposal but I do want to offer an idea to you…

What if the Oilers went ahead and traded for Karlsson and then traded him at the deadline next year? What kind of haul do you think the Oilers could get IF Doughty and OEL were on the market too? Not only that but what if the Oilers also won the lottery and drafted Dahlin?

Bob Stauffer also said yesterday that the Maple Leafs have watched the Oilers five of the last 7 games… They’re not looking at Maroon and I can only assume they’re not looking at Cammalleri…. Is there a Josh Leivo/Mark Letestu deal in the works with Toronto?

Toronto has a few names that jump out to me like RH’d Connor Carrick (RFA), plus their UFAs Bozak, Komarov, and Van Riemsdyk. Not to mention a whole whack of guys on their AHL team like Andreas Johnsson, Jeremy Bracco, Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen, Calvin Pickard and Garrett Sparks.

I think the thing with Toronto is that they’ll want more bodies moving out than coming in but the potential for a huge deal is there.

Speaking of Letestu, Jim Matheson wrote recently that in addition to Toronto, Columbus and Pittsburgh are interested in his services.

if the Penguins can’t bring back Matt Cullen from Minnesota, Letestu is their second choice.

One would think that Letestu would be the first choice due to age but Cullen would definitely know the Pens system a lot better.

Matheson also says that the Oilers are looking for a first rounder in exchange for Maroon but I’m thinking they’ll have to settle for a 2nd or 3rd and a prospect. Jakub Zboril’s name has come up from Boston and so has Zach Senyshyn’s but earlier this week Joe Haggerty said he couldn’t see Senyshyn getting moved.

Stauffer talked a bit about Anders Bjork yesterday and the report on Bjork is that he can move out there. A very fast player who has 12pts in 30 games this season for the Bruins and 4pts in 9 games for their AHL affiliate.

Bjork has the speed, offensive smarts and playmaking ability to potentially be a strong player in the NHL. If all goes well, he could be a second-liner. – Dobber’s Prospects

I would say that Bjork is really the epitome of modern day NHL player. He can play both ways, relies heavily on his speed, and has “creative” hands. – Chowder and Champions

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

One of the Oilers’ Perfect Trade Partners for the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline

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Elliotte Friedman was on Oilers Now yesterday and with Bob Stauffer they were talking about what the Oiler should do going forward. I’m paraphrasing but Friedman said something to the effect that he wouldn’t do anything to add to the team this year because the team is in shock about where they are and that the young core of this team is still something to work with.

And that led to what Pat Maroon could fetch the club on the trade market this year.

Stauffer said that he thought the Oilers should be able to bring in a 2nd round pick and a prospect for Maroon or possibly a pretty good player instead. Stauffer then hinted, as he does around this time of year, that there might be an organization out there that’s got a guy that needs to be qualified as an RFA but they’ve got to save some money elsewhere.

The Detroit Red Wings are in quite the situation regarding their cap as they have ZERO dollars available according to Capfriendly.com. I really feel that there are some players on that team that would be able to contribute and make a difference immediately for the Oilers. Let me explain.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

This summer Detroit has 5 RFAs that need qualifying and of those 4 of them are vital cogs in the Red Wings future:

  • Dylan Larkin
  • Andreas Athanasiou
  • Anthony Mantha
  • Martin Frk
  • Petr Mrazek

PLAYERS WITH NO-MOVEMENT CLAUSES/NO-TRADE CLAUSES

Detroit has multiple veterans who have clauses in their contracts that would make it problematic for Ken Holland to move them:

  • Frans Nielsen
  • Gustav Nyquist
  • Justin Abdelkader
  • Darren Helm
  • Mike Green
  • Danny Dekeyser
  • Trevor Daley
  • Jonathan Ericsson
  • Niklas Kronwall
  • Jimmy Howard

LONG-TERM INJURY RESERVE AND UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

Two players are occupying Detroit’s LTIR, Johan Franzen and Luke Glendening whilst Mike Green and David Booth are the only UFAs this season for Detroit.

So to put it all together, the Red Wings do not have any room to add players this season, not that they would be given their record but the only significant contract they’ll have coming off of the books is Mike Green’s.

Now if the salary cap goes up to $80M (I’m not sure that it will go that high) then the Red Wings will have a bit more breathing room but I do not believe for one second that those RFAs mentioned above will be taking any hometown discounts. I mean, Athanasiou was willing to play the whole year in Russia to get what he wanted.

According to Capfriendly, Detroit will have around $12M to sign 8 players. I think that Athanasiou will be looking for closer to $4M, Mantha will want around $3M, Larkin is definitely going to be asking for something in the range of $6M. So right there with those three players Detroit is over their cap without getting Frk or Mrazek signed or having someone fill in for Green like Vili Saarijarvi.

My thought is that this is a near perfect storm to take advantage of for the Oilers and their $8M in cap space. If I had a Christmas list of players that I’d love to see Chiarelli go after, this would be it:

  • Henrik Zetterberg – I know, he’s got 3 seasons after this one to go on his contract that pays him a shade over $6M a season until 2021. So the only way I’d take him is if DET ate half of his contract.

    The reason I like the idea of adding Zetterberg is that he’s got that experience the Oilers are lacking (I also like Nik Kronwall for that same reason but his boots left him a few years ago). Don’t get me wrong, Lucic and Sekera and Cammalleri all bring their own flavors to the team but Zetterberg has that little bit extra AND he can still perform. He lacks a clause in his deal too 🙂

  • Tomas Tatar – He’s probably the perfect candidate to help the Oilers on the PP. He’s a sniper’s sniper and he’s been brought along the right way in the Motor City. They marinated him like mad as he’s only been a FT NHLer since 2013/14. He’s only getting $5.3M for the next 4 seasons.

    But you’d have to give a bit more for TT because he’s only 27 and he’s right in his prime. He’s contracted until the end of the 2021 season BUT here’s the kicker, his NTC kicks in for next season. So that means if Detroit wants to move him without having to get permission first, this year’s the year to do it.

    I’d be willing to pay a bit more for him. Kailer Yamamoto I’d surely send over in a package to get Tatar. Plus I could make a few more creative t-shirt designs with Tatar’s name 🙂

  • Andreas Athansiou – One of the few players in the NHL that can keep up with Connor McDavid. He’s got offence to his game but I think he’d really shine on the Oilers PK with that speed and tenacity.

    I think a factor in including him on my list is the contentious contract negotiations he had with Detroit this summer. There’s probably some sour tastes in mouths on both sides and I imagine Edmonton could offer something up like Matt Benning because it’s obvious that somebody is going to have to fill in on that right side. Not that Benning is anything close to Mike Green but just being right-handed and having nearly 2 NHL seasons under his belt would allow the Red Wings to keep players like Saarijarvi in the minors to get some more seasoning.

    I really like Gustav Nyquist and Martin Frk too. Nyquist is a very competent complimentary winger who’d probably put up career numbers alongside any one of McDavid, Draisaitl, or Nuge. Frk’s an RFA and a Tatar-like player. Shooter from the wing. So if you were willing to “grow” with him, he might come along a bit later but could turn out to be that 15-20 goal man.

I still feel like I’m forgetting something or overlooking something with the Red Wings though. Everything seems too right with them when picking a trade partner. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

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

Bob Stauffer’s Three Needs for the Edmonton Oilers

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Bob Stauffer, the host of Oilers Now, woke up the Oilogosphere with an interesting tweet this morning…

I don’t think that any of these things are a surprise to anybody, especially if you saw the line combos that Todd McLellan had together during practice on the first day of 2018… GAWD they are ugly… But I am SO looking forward to seeing them in action! I really want to see Auvitu as a forward. That said, when the coach starts doing things like this, there’s trouble in the hen house Frank…

If you’re the type that really reads into things you might come to the following conclusions based on Stauffer’s tweet:

  • A Shooting Left Wing = Maroon is gone and Lucic is being transitioned into a middle-6 player AKA they’re looking for Connor’s and or Leon’s winger.
  • A Powerplay Right-Shot D = The Matt Benning experiment on the power play is over. (I’m not sure why it was even started…)
  • A 3rd Line Centre Who Takes Faceoffs and Kills Penalties = Nuge is on the market and Letestu probably is too.

I’ll start off by saying that I’m not sure we’ll ever see a complete 1st line ever. The door to McDavid’s LW may be ever-swinging for the duration of his time in Edmonton but with the way that McLellan has been switching between Lucic and Maroon on that line tells me his “big man on 97’s wing” theory is a failure and maybe it’s time to toss some skill up there with the greatest player in the game.

I do question why that player has to be a shooter though. The Oilers have ZERO problems shooting the puck which is evident in the numbers. In fact, Pat Maroon is 8th in shots for LWs in the NHL. Lucic is 40th mind you but that’s still more than Filip Forsberg.

Their problem is getting the puck into the net on the PP. I’d argue that they need a trigger man for said powerplay though. Someone who doesn’t hesitate to fire the puck on the net with the man advantage.

LEFT-WING CANDIDATES:

  • Evander Kane (BUF)
  • Mike Hoffman (OTT)
  • Max Pacioretty (MTL)

These three players are the target of every team in the league, as they should be. Their teams are struggling and looking to shake things up. They would be priced at a premium rate though.

  • Tyler Ennis (MIN)
  • Max Domi (ARI)
  • Carl Hagelin (PIT)
  • Alex Galchenyuk (MTL)
  • Thomas Vanek (VAN)
  • Michael Grabner (NYR)

I feel that these players would be a bit easier to acquire as nearly all of them, apart from Vanek, are slumping. Max Domi has one 5×5 goal this year according to naturalstattrick.com. Tyler Ennis has been a healthy scratch in Minnesota. Galchenyuk can’t escape the ongoing media scrutiny in Montreal and Hagelin can’t seem to find his game this year.

I like Hagelin a lot here because he’d be very handy on the PK I feel with his speed and forechecking ability. For those same reasons PLUS he can score, I like Grabner but I’m not sure the Rangers would be willing to trade him as they’re in the hunt for the post-season.

Funny thing about the Oilers left wing is that both Maroon and Lucic are having good seasons from an even strenght POV. Maroon has more EV goals (9) than Taylor Hall, Brad Marchand, and Artemi Panarin. Milan Lucic has the same amount of even-strength goals (6) as Filip Forsberg and more than Mike Hoffman, Matthew Tkachuk, and Max Pacioretty. Funnier yet, Jujhar Khaira has the same amount of 5×5 goals as Lucic.

Twenty-one 5×5 goals between Maroon, Lucic, and Khaira is great I feel. CGY’s top three LW’s have EV 24 goals, NJ has nearly 30, NYI has 25, Vegas has 21, and WAS has 24.

I will caveat this by saying naturalstattrick doesn’t seem to have everybody’s positions 100% correct. For example, I don’t think that the San Jose Sharks have only played with two left-wingers this year.

One last player I’d like to mention is Sonny Milano (CLB). He has 7 EV goals in 268 min TOI for the Blue Jackets. I don’t watch a lot of Columbus games but I do see his name in the transactions list a lot due to being called up and sent down to the AHL. This kid is a skiller but his 200ft game isn’t quite there but that’s something I care very little about. His problem might be he doesn’t shoot enough with only 24 EV shots this year to date.

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A RIGHT-SHOT POWER PLAY POINT MAN

I do think that the Oilers would be better offer picking up this sort of player sooner rather than later and perhaps using a Matt Benning or an Oscar Klefbom to do it.

The candidates:

  • Mike Green (DET)
  • Kris Letang (PIT)
  • Erik Karlsson (OTT)

It seems I’ve put these players in order of most attainable to least. The Oilers would have to sell the farm to bring in a player like Karlsson, meaning Leon possibly going the other way and I’m not subscribing to that. If the Penguins were looking to go younger on defense, it’s weird that they’re not given it’s an area of concern for them, than Letang would be a more realistic target. As for Mike Green, Matt Benning and a prospect/pick, or maybe Anton Slepyshev or Drake Caggiula ++ may be able to bring him to the City of Champions.

But as these guys are the premium targets on this year’s market, you have to ask yourself if the Oilers have the assets to acquire one of them without crippling the future of the team.

  • Colin Miller (VGK)
  • Justin Faulk (CAR)
  • Brandon Montour (ANH)

These are your straight up PP specialists. Lotta chaos here. I believe that these players could be had for less than the Karlsson cluster above.

  • Shane Gostisbehere

The reason I bring up Ghost Bear is because not only is he one of the NHL’s premier PP specialists but the Flyers LW depth is atrocious and I do wonder if something could be done with Pat Maroon there. Not straight across of course but maybe a larger deal as I know the Flyers want to rid themselves of Jori Lehtera and his chunky contract.

A PENALTY KILLING/FACEOFF SPECIALIST

I’ve been saying for years that the Oilers lack two things,

  • vets who can take the draw
  • agitators to draw penalties

I really feel that the Oilers, whoever is running them at the time, are always trying to re-create the boys on the bus from the early 80s and I wish they’d stop. You cannot had a team over to a nucleus that isn’t old enough to buy a beer in the US. You need to have capable veterans to surround them and to take the weight off of their shoulders from time to time in order to give the kids room to breath. Take a look at Toronto now and go back and look at the Penguins rosters that Crosby played on in his early days.

  • Jean-Gabriel Pageau (OTT)
  • Matt Duchene (OTT)
  • Derek Ryan (CAR)

I want to focus on these three players at the moment. I’m sure there are more out there but I don’t think they’re available and between Ryan, Pageau, and Duchene, there are three guys who can score a goal,  take a draw and kill penalties.

I feel that with Pageau you get a player who is annoying as fack! He’s speedy, fearless, he draws penalties, and has a dusting of offense to his game (remember the playoff hatty not too long ago?).

In Duchene, you’d get a higher contract but with shorter term. That’s not where the rub lies though, it’s in his faceoff abilities. He’s one of the best in the game hands down. Over the last three seasons he’s nearly 60% on the dot AND he has shown that he can produce points in the past (116pts in his last 190 games). Another reason I include him is because I do wonder if Sens ownership is putting pressure on their GM to get rid of him. Duchene only has 6 pts in 23 games this season with Ottawa.

Derek Ryan is the player that I believe Stauffer is hinting at within his tweet. He’s a former U of A guy that has caught on in Carolina and stuck there. Not a big guy and not really much of a producer points-wise (Just a shade of 50pts in his last three years) but he’d probably be better on the kill than say Drake Caggiula plus I believe he’s a righty and very good on the draw. Not sure if Stauff would be able to strap down his U of A alumni boner if the Oilers brought Ryan in though. Careful around Rogers Place if that does happen.

Lastly, I’m getting the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach these days with each growing loss. The feeling that something is going to drop soon be that a trade or a firing. Who could be leaving Edmonton? That I’m not 100% sure on but I’ve heard rumblings that the brass above Chiarelli is getting very impatient and action is being requested.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below! Happy 2018 everyone!

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