Tag Archives: Oscar Klefbom

Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Michael Sifeldeen, NHL, Trades

Someone’s In Big Trouba

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Okay, before you beat me up and take my lunch money for that pun that doesn’t even really work if you read it out loud, let’s just talk about a few things. A recap, if you will, of a rather eventful few days at a point in the offseason not really close to any major events, when we as hockey writers have to just take it upon ourselves to manufacture controversy wherever we can. I will gladly shoulder that burden.

Oh hey, Sexbom
  • By now, we’re all painfully aware of the comments made by Klefbom in regard to Hall and his play against tough competition, and how it was in all likelihood someone in the Oilers organization who made him “clarify” those comments the next morning, when they became a whole lot more politically correct and a whole lot less about Hall
  • Tyson Barrie is going to be an Avalanche… Avalancher?.. for the foreseeable future and not, in fact, an Oiler. Boo-urns.
  • Jacob Trouba and Winnipeg management are “far apart on money, term, and usage”, according to comments made by TSN’s Gary Lawless on “That’s Hockey” on Tuesday

But what does it all mean, man?

Well, a few things, maybe:

  • The Cubs are still not going to win the World Series
  • If one more goddamn Pidgey breaks out of one of my pokeballs, I’m deleting Pokémon Go for good
  • Maybe Klefbom gets traded to Winnipeg for Trouba?

I know, I know, that’s ridiculous. I’ll never delete Pokémon Go. So let’s talk about why the Oilers and the Jets do this trade.

Anyone who’s been paying attention the last few years knows that Peter Chiarelli absolutely does not care at all about your opinion when it comes to who he gets rid of from an organization. Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin, and Taylor Hall can all attest to that. He also has no time for guys who he feels are sources of “character problems” inside or outside the locker room. Do Klef’s comments put him firmly on Chia’s shit list? Who knows. But if the rumours are true that he was the one who got on the phone and laid down the law, you’ve got to think there’s tension there.

Enter, the Winnipeg Jets and their inability to retain young talent long-term. There’s an argument to be made that the Jets are under-utilizing one of their best defensive assets, and it’s probably pissing him off, especially if they’re trying to lowball him on his well-earned bridge contract. Jacob is watching Dustin “The Brandon Davidson Killer” Byfuglien lumber around with a $7.6M contract until 2021 and he wants to get his, too. I reckon he’s asking for something like a $6Mx4 and guaranteed PP minutes, and the Jets don’t want to pony up just yet, on term or price.

I hate this guy

Maybe a guy like Klefbom, locked in at under $4.2M for the next 6 seasons looks pretty appealing to Winnipeg right now. Maybe the Oilers take a shot on Trouba (who is pretty much a known quantity at this point, who stays healthier than poor Klef has historically) and give him the $6M he wants for a few years. We’ll be shedding some anchors soon with all the money tied up in Ference and Nikitin, and we have almost $8.5M in cap space left as it is. Woodguy (one half of the very cool WoodMoney stat co-created by BLH’s own G Money) loves the guy, and he’s a lot smarter than me and has the fancystats to prove what an asset Trouba would be. The Oilers so desperately need defencemen who consistently maintain possession and drive offense, which is Jacob’s specialty. Now, that’s not to say the numbers indicate that Klefbom doesn’t do that — because he definitely does — but what I’m saying is that we wouldn’t necessarily miss him all that much. (I mean, I would miss just looking at him at the very least, and these top Google suggestions would seem to indicate the Edmonton area would share my pain.)

 

But we’ll plop BDavey on the top line on Larsson’s wing and let them just be awesome and rock solid together and out-Corsi everyone in the Pacific. Look at what it does to our defensive lineups:

Davidson – Larsson
Sekera- Trouba
Nurse – Fayne/Oesterle

Holy smokes, right? That’s an objectively awesome defensive lineup. And cheap, too! Dare I say it, that’s a playoff d-core.

And all because Klefbom shot his mouth off a bit to the Swedish press. It sure is nice here in perpetual optimism land, where the glass is always half full and this year is always our year!

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Beer League Hero, Breaking News, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Guest Post: What Are the Oilers Trying to Hide? by Mans Karlsson (@manskarlssonyao)

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Friend of the blog, Mans Karlsson (@manskarlssonyao), a journalist with the website Hockeysverige.se; posted his reaction to the Oscar Klefbom interview fiasco early this morning here. It is in Swedish and I’m sure someone will go in and translate it differently because English is a f*cked up language in that it’s possible to translate something a multitude of different ways so that it appeases all crowds if some were to want it that badly.

With that being said, Mr. Karlsson has offered the English version of his reaction to yesterday’s interview between Ola Winther and Oscar Klefbom to us and we’re pleased to publish that for him. Poor guy is on vacation and still has to deal with this… Brutal.

Just to preface the article here. I did ask Mr.Karlsson if it was common for players to speak about former teammates in Sweden in the same sort of fashion Klefbom did yesterday with Hall and he said, “Not at all actually. It’s pretty common to talk about coaches but not players.”

So it’s not just a foreign thing here and what Klefbom said isn’t excusable just because he’s in Sweden or is Swedish. The code between players exists beyond borders.

SHIT AUTHORITY PROVOKES ME!!

I really dislike to be away. I have worked almost every day this summer, and once I get my free week I celebrate it by sitting here and writing anyway. And this is not even my first text today…

Yesterday I sat calmly out of my parent’s house in Knutby, Sweden and was enjoying a generally great holiday. When I checked into the flow of news from the day I discovered that hockeysverige.se was in the middle of the hockey world’s absolute center. NBC had mentioned site. Edmonton Oilers supporters in all corners of the world linked like crazy to Ola Winther’s interview with Oscar Klefbom. The interview in which the Swedish defender said,

“Taylor (Hall) has been our best player in recent years, but it’s also hard to tell what he has contributed. He never played his best matches against the tougher teams, when we really needed it. However, he was fantastic when we met the inferior teams.“

I think that the Swedish players underestimate how quickly the news spreads across the Atlantic now. After a click on Google Translate fans in North America are able to read everything we write on hockeysverige.se. On the other hand, I do not think Oscar Klefbom thought there was a chance that his comments during the interview would garner much attention. What he was doing was praising a trade that his team has made and since the trade involved a Swedish player, it lead to him sounding biased. Also, saying the player that left was amazing but he was not particularly well against good teams. I understand, like any other, that that is an unusually open response. But I can’t wrap my head around the reactions afterwards.

Oscar Klefbom is a really nice guy. That being said, I’ve never interviewed him myself, but from what I have heard (when interviewed) he’ll be incredibly nice and straight. If a journalist asks him a question, he answers it. Just as it should be. Yesterday we got the proof that the NHL clubs certainly do not want that. They want you to answer the questions without answering. Like the politicians.

After the interview with Klefbom was published and had spread to North America, Oscar felt misunderstood and wanted to do another interview to clear the air. That being said, Oscar still stands for his opinions, even if he felt like he needed to say it in a different way which in turn resulted in the follow-up interview here.

In my opinion, Klefbom handled the situation great. The Edmonton Oilers organization, however, made fools of themselves in total. Oscar feeling the need to make a new interview gives the whole thing even more attention. I could understand it if Oscar Klefbom said “Wayne Gretzky likes strangling cats in his spare time”, or if he said that “Connor McDavid is the worst first overall pick since Patrik Stefan”. But the only thing Oscar is doing is talking about a player who left the team. A player the Edmonton Oilers chose to ship away for a Swedish defenseman that has yet to reach his potential. They didn’t think Taylor Hall was worth more than that. Isn’t that saying it all?

Doesn’t it more or less prove that everything Oscar Klefbom said was true? And why would the Oilers make such a big deal out of Klefbom talking about a player they themselves have chosen to trade away? In an interview with an innocent little news-site in Sweden no-less. Small quotes where Klefbom was asked about a trade involving a player that isn’t even on the team anymore, yet I believe the Edmonton Oilers got so freaked out by them that they asked Oscar to redo the interview and change his tune about what he’d said earlier. But that’s just my opinion.  

I guess Peter Chiarelli and the others in Edmonton sit and watch this clip day by and say, “Now this is how you deal with the media!”

I just want to thank Mans for taking the time to collaborate with us! You can follow him on Twitter here! What do you think about his perspective? Let us know in the comments below!
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Beer League Hero, Breaking News, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Klefbom Lashes Out on Departed Taylor Hall

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Hall was never at its best in those matches, where he was most needed, says the Swede. – Oscar Klefbom (source)

Well well well. This article is going to be a Hall-ogists worst nightmare. One of Taylor Hall’s own former teammates speaking out against him… Today is going to be fun on Twitter…

This article written by Ola Winther from HockeySverige.se was posted earlier today. The post is an interview between Winther and current Oiler Oscar Klefbom. It’s in Swedish so you’ll need to get it translated. I’m going to offer some google translated quotes in this post and comment on them.

“Taylor has been our best player in recent years, but it’s also hard to tell what he has contributed. He never played his best games against the tougher teams, which we really needed it. However, he was fantastic when we met the little inferior teams.”

Wow. Isn’t that a telling quote and from a highly regarded teammate no less. Personally, I have felt the same but it is something that should be investigated and I’m sure someone online is already working on finding out how Hall did versus the “little inferior teams”.

I harken back to the most recent World Championships where Hall put up most of his points versus the worst teams in Canada’s division and then disappeared for the rest of the tourney apart from a blowout against Sweden where he had 2 points.

This is what Klefbom had to say about the Oilers adding Adam Larsson:

“Adam makes us a better team. I think the team has improved. We already have so many promising forwards and we did not really have a peak reverse is rightare. I also think Adam gets a real breakthrough this year and hopefully I get the chance to play with him and forming chemistry.”

Klefbom speaks with incredible optimism here and for a guy that has gone through the troubles he has as an individual and a teammate of Hall’s, I dig it. I like how he talks about the team as a whole which is what folks like Lowetide have been getting at when they’ve talked about balance.

No doubt about it, Lowe, MacTavish, Tambellini, and Eakins f*cked this team over something royal when they decided that they needed to draft skilled forwards with their 1st overalls. Now we’re THIS close to seeing all of them gone but McDavid.

The Swedish defender on Lucic:

“We have received important players like Adam and Milan Lucic. Lucic is otherwise exactly the kind of player we need – a player who can create space for others.”

Oscar speaks the truth here and funny that he didn’t talk about attitude, swagger or intimidation when referring to Lucic as others in the organization have done so since the Oilers added “Looch”. He kept it dry and honest.

The interview does go on to talk about how Klefbom dealt with his injuries and the rehabilitation involved. Klefbom talks about Larsson getting an apartment in the same building as him, who he’s been training with this summer, and how he felt about last year overall.

Check it out here.

Here’s some Twitter reaction to the post:

https://twitter.com/kikkerlaika/status/759759833113436160

What do you think about Oscar Klefbom’s comments? Are the rumours about Hall just rumours? Let me know in the comments below! Have a good one!!

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Eric Friesen, NHL

Ranking the Oilers Top 10 Picks of the Past 10 Drafts

Everything considered it was a great draft weekend for the Edmonton Oilers. They didn’t get a top pairing defenceman and they weren’t able to trade Nail Yakupov (I expect both will get done in the week), but GM Peter Chiarelli got his man with the 4th overall pick. Even after losing all three lottery draws in April, the Oilers left Buffalo with Jesse Puljujarvi in their prospect pool. Hopefully Puljujarvi will be Edmonton’s last high pick for a long time as they continue to push toward becoming a playoff team.

The Oilers have done very well in the first round over the past 10 years. I mean, it’s hard to mess up when you are picking near the top of the order year after year, but it’s still not a sure thing as we’ve seen with Yakupov (1st overall, 2012) and Magnus Paajarvi (10th overall, 2009).

In today’s blog, I will rank the Oilers top 10 picks of the past 10 drafts.

10. Brandon Davidson (162nd overall, 2010) – Some might say I’m going out limb here, by putting a player who has only played 63 NHL games on this list, but he’s earned it. For a team that has had few hits beyond the first round over the past decade, Davidson was a pleasant surprise for the Oilers in 2015-16, emerging as a steady top four defenceman.

9. Darnell Nurse (7th overall, 2013) – After selecting a forward with their first pick in six consecutive drafts, the Oilers finally ended that streak by taking Nurse in the first round three years ago. Nurse was asked to handle way too much responsibility in his rookie year, and to no one’s surprise he struggled. I don’t think he’s ever going to be a big point producer in the NHL, but he’s still young, and has the size, tenacity and skating ability to develop into a top pairing defender.

8. Sam Gagner (6th overall, 2007) – Gagner got off to a great start to his NHL career, tallying 49 points as a rookie in 2007-08. He never bested that total in his next six years in Edmonton and would have been better served moving from centre to the wing. Gagner was still one of the Oilers offensive leaders for several years and the highlight of his career was when he tied Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey‘s team record for points in a single game (8 points) back in 2012.

7. Oscar Klefbom (19th overall, 2011) – Klefbom was most likely the Oilers best defenceman over the past two seasons and at only 22-years-old, his best years are ahead of him. I had no issue with GM Peter Chiarelli signing Klefbom to a seven-year extension last September, despite having played under 100 games in the NHL at that point.

6. Jesse Puljujarvi (4th overall, 2016) – I’m making a bold pick here considering Puljujarvi hasn’t even played a game in the NHL yet. But I feel confident ranking him this high on the list and think he would even higher if I were to re-do it in five years. Puljujarvi is perhaps the most complete player in this year’s draft and will likely be in the Oilers’ lineup on October 12th when they open Rogers Place.

5. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1st overall, 2011) – When Nugent-Hopkins was first drafted, some fans and media members speculated that he might be the best of the Oilers young guns by the time he reached his prime. That won’t happen now, but RNH has developed into a reliable two-way centre. He came into the league as a No. 1 centre, but in the past year has dropped to third on the Oilers’ depth chart down the middle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uz6XGbGjWk

4. Leon Draisaitl (3rd overall, 2014) – After 15 years of chasing a big, skilled centre, Edmonton finally got one in the draft two years ago. Draisiatl took a big step forward in his development last season, and even though he faded down the stretch, I believe he’s going to be a big part of this team for the next 10 years.

3. Jordan Eberle (22nd overall, 2008) – Eberle was a steal for the Oilers late in the first round eight years ago. A natural goal scorer, Eberle is one of the best right-wingers in the NHL as well as the best pure finisher on the Oilers. He’s led the team in scoring in three of his six years with the team and deserves to be one of Edmonton’s top three picks of the past decade based on that alone.

2. Taylor Hall (1st overall, 2010) – An elite scoring winger, Hall is a two-time top 10 scorer in the NHL and recorded a career-high 80 points in 2013-14. Hall became the first Oiler to score at least 80 points in over a decade. Like Eberle, Hall has led the team in scoring in three of his six years with the Oilers and has learned to take his foot off the gas a bit, which resulted in him staying healthy from start to finish for the first time last season. I will never understand why 30% of the Oilers fan base wants to trade him. Because he turns over the puck too much? Because he has perceived attitude problems? Unless Chiarelli gets a No. 1 defenceman for him in a deal, they are a worse team without him.

1. Connor McDavid (1st overall, 2015) – Was there even any question about this one? McDavid was dominant in his 45 games with the Oilers last season, registering the third-highest points per game average in the league (1.07) and only missed out on winning the Calder Trophy because of his broken clavicle. That’s alright, I have a feeling his NHL trophy case will be full 20 years from now he hangs up his skates. McDavid is the face of the franchise and will likely be named the youngest captain in NHL history this fall.

I hope you enjoyed my list. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my choices. It’s always good to talk to fellow Oilers fans. Thanks for reading!

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Exit Stage Left: Thinning Out the Herd

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Seks all. night. long. baby!

Take a look at this list of defensemen in the Edmonton Oilers system and let me know if you see a problem. And just as a preface for the rest of this post, it’s a tad jumpy. So bear with me and I think you’ll get the point at the end.

LEFT HANDED SHOOTERS RIGHT HANDED SHOOTERS
Andrej Sekera Justin Schultz (RFA)
Oscar Klefbom Mark Fayne
Darnell Nurse Eric Gryba (UFA)
Brandon Davidson (RFA) Adam Clendenning (RFA)
Andrew Ference (IR) Ethan Bear (Junior)
Griffin Reinhart John Marino (NCAA)
Nikita Nikitin (UFA)
David Musil (RFA)
Jordan Oesterle (RFA)
Brad Hunt
Joey LaLeggia
Dillon Simpson
Ben Betker
Martin Gernat (RFA)
William Lagesson (unsigned)
Caleb Jones (unsigned)
Ziyat Paigin (unsigned)

Feel free to let me know if I’ve missed someone in that list but it looks like Peter Chiarelli definitely has his hands full here. He needs to thin this pack out, upgrade it and try to create some balance.

Surely Jultz will be gone by the end of next week and if someone is desperate enough, they just might make a deal for Gryba but I can’t see it. I see him getting re-signed. From what I’m hearing, Gryba is part of the glue of the room. The players look up to him and he looks out for them. Just as Matt Hendricks does for the forwards. I’m in favour of keeping these kinds of players and he’s had a brilliant season to date. Unlucky to have been injured this late in the season but if there’s a team out there that wants that reliable muscle for the playoff run, he’s a pretty good candidate and the Oilers could always re-visit him this summer and see what he’s looking for.

I’m skeptical that Clendenning gets another deal and is allowed to walk and if someone is willing to take a flyer on Nikitin next week. It’s been a blast Nikki. Not really. Mark Fayne could be a rightie that gets moved if there’s a team out there that has cap room and wants the insurance on the back-end.

So that would put the right side at Fayne or Gryba, Fayne and Gryba or neither of them, leaving Mr.Chiarelli a hole or holes to fill. Maybe.

As for the left side, I think that is locked down for the foreseeable future with Sekera, Klefbom, Nurse, Davidson, and Reinhart sitting pretty there. But therein lies another problem. Too many lefties. PC has to move some bodies here. Of course Sekera can move to the right side but then where do you have room to upgrade? You don’t unless you’re willing to move someone.

I wonder if PC will cut bait on Griffin Reinhart. He was supposed to be a full-time NHLer this year and hasn’t been able to hold down a place. That being said, he’s had as many good games as Justin Schultz this year. But would it be so bad if it took him a season more in the minors before he made the switch to pro? With all the lefties competing for a spot, one would have to think that there’s definitely room to have him marinate in Bakersfield for another year. Maybe send him to the gentleman that helped Leon Draisaitl’s skating last summer.

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Do you think Chiarelli would move Klefbom in a deal for Hamonic? Or in a deal where the odds are a million to one, could Nurse be sent to Montreal for Subban? What about St.Louis? Would the Blues want a defender back in a deal for Shattenkirk?

Brandon Davidson has been a revelation for the Oilers this season and is one of the only players on the team that was gifted the time in the minors to develop properly. Funny how things work out when you don’t take shortcuts, isn’t it? I’d like to keep him as he looks to be the kind of guy that calms things down for his partner. He’s still a young guy though, so I wouldn’t exactly start pairing him with Nurse or any other rookies just yet. So hopefully PC gets this guy locked up right quick!

I think ideally you could see the defense going into the 2016-17 season tlooking something like this:

Klefbom – New Guy
Nurse – Sekera
Davidson – Fayne
Gryba

But what if it looked like this?

Nurse – Hamonic/Shattenkirk
Sekera – Vatanen/Demers
Davidson – Gryba
Reinhart

So you’ve moved out Klefbom and Fayne and added Hamonic/Shattenkirk/Vatanen/Demers. Is this a defensive grouping that gets you closer to the playoffs? Closer than the previous group above? I’d have to say yes. Now, I’m not saying the Oilers would deal Fayne for Vatanen. That’s mad. Work out the deals yourself. I’m just throwing names out there that we’ve discussed previously.

Would the latter group be too heavy on the cap? S-kirk is definitely going to be looking for north of $6M per, Vatanen I would think might be looking for Klefbom numbers and Hamonic is already on a pretty sexy deal ($3.8M for the next five years). Demers is a tough call. He’s getting $3.4M now, so let’s say he seeks upwards of $5M per.

Would you be happy with a loading up of higher priced dmen at the sacrifice of skill up front? It’d probably cost an Eberle, Nuge, and/or Hall to get it done. Go the Nashville route?

What do you think the Oilers should do with their glut of lefties on the back-end? Let me know in the comments below! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

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