Tag Archives: Oilers Now!

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Trades

Is Oilers Now Host Bob Stauffer a Mad Genius?

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Bob Stauffer

So if you were listening to Oilers Now w/ Bob Stauffer recently you would’ve heard him discussing a trade scenario if the Oilers landed the 1st overall pick with Mark Spector. Mr.David Staples wrote about this subject as well here. It’s a much longer and detailed post than this one but it’s very good. I like Staples, he gets a lot of shit but I’ve got time for him. I’m more or less piggybacking on Mr.Staples’ post but I’ve got an opinion on Mr.Stauffer’s comments as well.

If you’d like to hear the Oilers Now segment I’m referring to, you can listen to it here.

Basically his scenario had the Edmonton Oilers winning the draft lottery and making a deal with the Arizona Coyotes. It went as such:

To Arizona: 1st overall selection in 2016 (Auston Matthews)
To Edmonton: Dylan Strome, the 7th overall, 18th overall, and 37th overall picks in 2016.

Staples didn’t like it so much saying the following,

It would be next to madness to trade any of the top three picks in this draft unless you’re bringing back a player like P.K. Subban or Erik Karlsson.

I especially don’t like this proposed Arizona trade because I watched Dylan Strome regularly last year in the playoffs and didn’t come out loving his game. Yes, he’s big, he’s got a great shot and he puck protects and passes well, but he’s not overly aggressive and his skating isn’t great. He kind of reminds me of the Griffin Reinhart of forwards and I wonder if Strome’s trade value won’t drop a bit each year. That said, I haven’t seen Strome this season, so maybe he’s a much better player than he was in the 2015 playoffs.

I can definitely see where he’s coming from with regards to the first comment above and we’ve covered what happens when you deal out of the top 5 previously here. It’s not a good idea.

BUT!

The Oilers are in a unique situation here where they’re really don’t need to add another game-breaker to the team. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the original core of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Nail Yakupov, IF they decide to keep some of them, provide enough depth within the top 6 that they shouldn’t really be adding another teenager to it.

The Oilers should be looking to add depth to their roster at both the NHL level and AHL/CHL level.

**One caveat though. Patrik Laine looks to be the exact kind of forward the team is lacking in their top 6 though. A man with size, hands, and a lethal one-timer. He would be the guy I’d be after at this year’s draft. More so than Matthews.** 

Taking a Deeper Look at Bob’s Deal

Using the mock draft from mynhldraft.com to see where the Coyotes are sitting in the first round and then using the mock from draftsite.com to check out the possible players that might be sitting around the Coyotes selection in the 2nd round we are left with the following:

7th overall – Olli Juolevi (LD), London Knights (OHL)
18th overall – Max Jones (LW), London Knights (OHL)
37th overall – Will Bitten (C), Flint Firebirds (OHL)

And so we add those three possibilities to Dylan Strome (C) from the Erie Otters of the OHL and that is definitely accomplishing the goal of adding depth to this team’s prospect cupboard.

So this Strome kid that Staples didn’t really rate… He’s put up 240pts in his last 164 games played in the OHL if my math is correct. He’s a whiz on the face-offs, he’s 6’3″ and nearly 200lbs and the most important but often overlooked part… He’s Connor McDavid’s best friend. If there’s even the remotest chance that McDavid could bolt via FA someday, you’d want to give him a very good reason to stick around. And Just keep this in mind as well. McDavid-Draisaitl-Strome down the middle is the right amount of skill and size that Chiarelli craves and one that you’d probably bet on to thrive in the Western Conference.

Olli Juolevi isn’t being touted as a no.1 defenseman as of yet. He’s trending in a top 4 manner at this point. The great thing about the Finn is that he’s a madman on the PP. Put up some serious offensive numbers at the World Junior’s this past year and is anchoring the London Knights back-end. What I don’t like about him is that he’s a left-handed shooter. We’ve got a shit ton of those right now.

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Max Jones is a man-beast. A 6’3″ 200lb version of Raffi Torres but he can actually play. He’s got speed to burn, hands to dangle and a laser of a shot. This is not a guy you mess around with. I’ve wondered if he’s Tom Wilson 2.0 but he’s much better offensively yet still racking up the PIMs. What I’ve heard is that because of his size and physicality he can take advantage of that at the junior ranks but he’ll have to tone that down in the pros and therein lies the question marks regarding Jones.

Will Bitten, besides having a pretty cool name, is a tiny but hard-working centre. If you’re of the older vintage maybe Bitten is in the Ken Linesman category of forwards. He’s 5’9″ or so depending on what publication you’re reading and weighs in around 160lbs. The impression I get from Eliteprospects.com is that Bitten is a tireless worker at both ends of the ice and a very smart hockey player. His size bothers me a bit and I’m not sure if he’d be a Chiarelli-type player unless he were putting up 50 goals a year in the OHL like Alex Debrincat.

The Need for Impactful Veteran Defensemen

Let’s say a deal like this is made. This is where I would change things up. I think at 7th overall that the Oilers could get a veteran right-handed shooting defenseman for that pick. Could the Anaheim Ducks be persuaded into trading Sami Vatanen for the 7th overall?

How about the 18th overall? Would the Toronto Maple Leafs be interested in dealing two of their three 2nd round picks to jump up thus giving Edmonton four 2nd round picks? That would give Chiarelli some wiggling room to move around with.

The Oilers could use all four 2nd rounders on adding depth to their system. Players like highly rated goalie Carter Hart, perhaps the aforementioned and former linemate of Connor McDavid; Alex Debrincat would be there, the Oilers might have the opportunity to take a swing at defender Sean Day, or a local product like Sam Steel or Tyler Benson could be available as well.

The other thing they could do is use the picks to trade for another veteran. Perhaps using one of them as a sweetener in an Eberle for Hamonic deal? Maybe more with the Islanders because they’re devoid of a 2nd, 3rd and 4th round pick in the upcoming draft.

So in a sense the Oilers could come out of the draft with the following:

Auston Matthews, Jordan Eberle, and a 2nd round pick
for
Sami Vatanen, Travis Hamonic, Dylan Strome, Carter Hart, Alex Debrincat, and Sean Day.

Or they could keep the pick and take Laine or Matthews.

But if I’m just blue skying here, and I am, the Oilers could very well have a real opportunity to solve their organizational depth problems in one swoop at the draft this year.

Either way, Mr.Stauffer has provided us with something to chew on until the draft lottery.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for reading!

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

Mad Oilers Trade Rumours!

Ebs should be packing his bags. It looks like he’s going to get moved.

So the rumours are flying from some major sources (Friedman) and some not so major sources (Eklund) and I’d like to take a stab at some of them.

The beloved Elliotte Friedman was on Oilers Now today with good ol’ Bob Stauffer and he was letting the rumor bombs go left and right as they set ablaze the oilogosphere.

If you’d like to listen to his segment you can do that below. I’ll have another segment further down where Stauffer hits at the Washington Capitals need for a defenceman going into the playoffs…

After a bit of back and forth regarding Twitter dos and don’ts (Stauffer did tell a story about a blogger that made a comment about Bob’s weight for which he confronted said blogger at a Golden Bears game. I have a feeling I might know which blogger he was talking about and I could be wrong but… Lay off the RC Cola) they broke into some pretty major Oilers chatter.

First up was Justin Schultz which was premised by Bob asking Friedman what the market was for Jultz and adding that the Oilers are in a position to retain salary.

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/693158003906781184

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/693158294840410112

Stauffer goes on to pontificate about the futures of Travis Hamonic, Sami Vatanen, and Kevin Shattenkirk to which Friedman replied:

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/693158799176110080

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/693160012537933824

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/693161722899623936

Friedman also spoke about Kyle Okposo and that in turn fuelled the Twitter rumor that was cruising today, what about an Okposo/Hamonic for Eberle/Jultz deal? I looked at this waaaaay back in November here. The only thing that is holding this back is possibly Okposo’s contract demands. He’s looking for some major money and anybody who is anybody knows what happens when you give power forwards big bucks on long-term deals…

EF did say that the Ducks will be looking for a young player in return. So could that be Eberle, could it maybe be Yakupov? I feel it’d be harder to see Eberle in a different jersey six times a year rather than Yak…

As for which blue liner I prefer. That is really a tough call as they are both quite good. The fact that the Oilers are dead last (I think) in scoring from the blue leads me to lean closer to Vatanen than Lindholm to be honest.

EF does wonder aloud about the Ducks willingness to add another big contract to which Stauffer says maybe Anaheim adds a contract going back to offset the $6m (Eberle I’m assuming) going to the Ducks.

Sounds like Shattenkirk is either sticking with the Blues as they go through this little injury crisis or he’s heading to Tampa in a deal for Drouin. I don’t think the Oilers were ever or will ever be in contention for the defenceman.

Later on in his segment with Friedman (11:23 mark above), Stauffer mentions Sabres GM Tim Murray’s interest in Justin Schultz and an interest that has been there since his days with the Anaheim Ducks. Now if you didn’t know, Justin Schultz was a 2nd round pick of the Ducks back in 2008. So perhaps some dots can be connected there.

Two weeks ago, I did in fact let it be known that through my sources that Buffalo was interested in a right-handed puck-moving defenceman on the Oilers here.

Later on in Oilers Now Bob Stauffer, as he often does when he’s leaking something OR misleading his audience, slyly went on about the Washington Capitals potentially looking for a replacement for Brooks Orpik. Now why would anything that the Caps do have anything to do with the Oilers? Well I imagine it’s possible the Oilers could have a dman or two that the Capitals fancy. Say…. Mark Fayne or Eric Gryba…

Staying on the Capitals, my source tells me that they’re interested in Teddy Purcell but they’re not the only team that’s interested. The other team being the Chicago Blackhawks and that lines up with Eklund’s newest post.

Now I understand fully that Eklund isn’t the most reliable of reference points and that nobody else is talking about the Hawks and Oiler getting together on Purcell but as I said before, this is the word I get. You can choose to believe it or you can choose to ignore it. Up to you. I just put it out there for all of you wonderful people to consume.

So if the Oilers move out Jordan Eberle and Teddy Purcell, that’s their two top RWs. Would Yakupov or Pakarinen get moved right up or is it possible the Oilers pick up a bad contract to fill in for the rest of the year. What about promoting Anton Slepyshev or bringing up Josh Winquist?

Lots of rumour talk today. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Are These Really the Oilers Line Combos?

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Bob Stauffer, host of Oilers Now, recently tweeted out the line combinations HE would like to see in the preseason. See Below.

So since he’s left it up to us to give him his opinion, let’s do that!

*Just a precursor before we do get started, I’m including a few HERO charts from @mimicohero in my post today. I’ve had to resize them a bit to fit them in, so if you want a closer look, just click on the image and a larger one will appear. I’m not really happy with how they turned out but it is what it is and I’m hoping you can see past the aesthetics. Thank you!*

Line 1

Taylor Hall – Connor McDavid – Teddy Purcell

I see what the thinking is here. Put a veteran on the wing to insulate McDavid… We know from this tweet that this was always part of the plan. But I wonder if that was the plan before McLellan was hired?

I don’t like it and I make that judgement based on the eye test. Purcell’s style of play is too soft and his 125 hits over the course of his 9 year career confirms that. Compare that with Nail Yakupov who’s racked up over 200 hits in 3 years!

Yes Purcell is a big body and he has pretty good hands for man of his size but I don’t like him on that line.

Contrary to my feelings his HERO chart tells us something a bit more optimistic.

From that angle we can see highlights in his playmaking (first a/60) and his possession for (CF60 +/-). Unfortunately there are a couple of blemishes. His goals/60 is terrible and I’m not a fan of his CA/60 +/-.

What I’m reading from those two stats, and please correct me if I’m off base here, is that he can’t score at the NHL level and he has a tough time when the other team has the puck.

I guess this sort of line combination is betting on the Oilers having puck possession the whole time…

I’d rather see someone like Eberle. Check his HERO chart… WOW!

Not a lot to complain about there. I mean if you were trying to throw a line out there that would keep the puck, wouldn’t you want this guy?

I imagine that we’ll see a line featuring Hall, McDavid, and Eberle at some point. It’s inevitable. But if a deal could be made I’d be looking at trying to acquire someone like Mark Stone out of Ottawa or Kyle Okposo from the Islanders to fill in on that right side.

Line 2

Leon Draisaitl – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Why is this line the 2nd line? Or is it 1b? The key to this line is Jordan Eberle. He’s a possession driver according this his HERO charts but why not Pouliot instead of Draisaitl? The chemistry is undeniable from last season.

His chart also tells me that he can put the puck in the net. Something Purcell cannot do but unlucky for everyone, Pouliot plays the left side. I wonder aloud for you all if this could be amended? One would think that a veteran like Poo could switch sides no problem, right? If so, he’d also be a candidate for the 4/97 line.

Now one question I’m wondering about here is where is Nail Yakupov? Why isn’t he featuring on any of the top two lines in Bob’s foreseen lineup here?

I wrote here about how I thought this was the year for Yakcity to break out and I still believe that but I also mentioned if he was buried on the 3rd line that he was most likely finished as an Edmonton Oiler. There are players in the minors like Iiro Pakarinen or Anton Slepyshev, players on the team like Rob Klinkhammer or Lauri Korpikoski that are much better suited for 3rd line duty. Or is it that Nail Yakupov is being viewed in the same light as say Nino Niederreiter before he was dealt to the Wild?

Line 3

Benoit Pouliot – Anton Lander – Nail Yakupov

As a fan of watching young players, this line looks really fun to watch. Earlier above I said that Yakupov would be finished as an Oiler if he was deployed on the 3rd line. Well this line looks like a safe one for Yak but why not add Draisaitl? That’d be a pretty damn sexy line to me and one that I think could be quite effective. Draisaitl’s size, playmaking ability, and penchant for rushing the puck like a runaway locomotive perfectly compliments Landers defensive bulldog-like style and Yakupov’s shot. I have zero problems with this combination.

Another reason I like this line is that I feel Draisaitl was just getting into the rhythm before he was sent back to the WHL, Lander was putting up pretty good numbers after he was called up and Yakupov really settled into his role during the latter stages of the season.

If this were a soft zone starts line, I think that would be the proper deployment procedure for it.

Line 4

Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Lauri Korpikoski

Get your grind on! Good Lord! This 4th line could rival that of the once famed bruins 4th line of Dan Paille, Greg Campbell, and Shawn Thornton. But alas the numbers do not like these guys at all…

Apart from Letestu, Hendricks and Korpikoski are struggling to stay in the league. I haven’t watched a lot from the newly-acquired Finn so it’s hard for me to judge. I love the style of play and the leadership that Hendricks brings and Letestu I’ve seen very little of but the numbers fall in his favor.

I mean this is all without looking at Rob Klinkhammer and Luke Gazdic. But if the team was serious about getting out of the Western Conference’s outhouse, they should be eyeing up players like Sean Bergenheim and Lee Stempniak to round out the bottom 6.

Why is this guy unsigned? Is there some sort of competition between him and Cody Franson?
You know Lee, Edmonton isn’t that far from Winnipeg and it’s way cooler!

 

I think all of us Oilers fans are in agreement that until the defence is settled this is a team that will continue to struggle. So we might not even see some of these forwards past Christmas anyhow. Friends of BLH, Oil on Whyte, penned a piece covering such a scenario here. Thanks to Sammi Silber!

Thank you for reading and I truly hope you enjoyed the post! When you get a free moment hit us up on Twitter or Facebook or bet yet, BOTH! And if you’re feeling a tad chilly this winter but feeling the need to break out that old SEGA Genesis and play some NHL ’94, do so with a 16-bit Superstars T-Shirt! You can find them at our shop here!

To close out this discussion, I’d like to ask you how the lines for the Oilers should look this season? Would you trade anyone or sign any free agents? Let me know in the comments below!

Take care!

– BLH