Tag Archives: Ryan Rishaug

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Breaking News, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Friedman & Rishaug on the Oilers Re-Signing Pat Maroon

How Much will Pat Maroon Cost for the Oilers to Re-Sign? (AUDIO ONLY) - Beer League Heroes

Below I’m going to re-post a blog from yesterday that I think ties in well with the above radio clips from Elliotte Friedman and Ryan Rishaug speaking to how much it could cost the Edmonton Oilers to re-sign hulking winger Pat Maroon. I talk about what I think a fair price for Pat Maroon would be, how that would affect other players on the roster like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jesse Puljujarvi, and a comparable for Maroon.

If you read it already, then there’s no need to scroll down unless you want to do it again 🙂

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TSN’s Ryan Rishaug sends out a tweet this morning that says there’ve been some preliminary talks regarding a new contract for Pat Maroon, there’s interest on both sides to get things done, and the term/$$$ will be “tricky”.

I like that both camps are digging into this early and I’m hoping they can sign a new deal sooner than later. I’ll try to keep this short.

Now Lowetide believes if Maroon buries another 25 this year, he’ll be up around the $4.5M mark whereas David Staples is of the opinion that if Maroon goes for the “hometown discount”, that the Oilers might be able to get him down around $3.25M but there’ll need to be some term AND a no-trade clause to discourage the Oilers from dealing Maroon half-way into his new deal to a bottom dweller like NJ.

The analytics community has predictably hopped all over this as well:

Not many players have been able to find themselves consistently on the wing of Connor McDavid’s line. In fact, Pat Maroon has been the most consistent. It’s common knowledge that these generational types are hard to find linemates for. Just ask the Penguins.

The good thing for Maroon AND the Oilers is that the coach and GM are big fans of his play and his demeanor off the ice. To add to that, he makes sure that no liberties are taken with Connor and he loves playing in Edmonton.

Something else that works in Maroon’s favor is the Oilers LW depth going into the season:

  • Maroon
  • Lucic
  • Jokinen
  • Caggiula
  • Slepyshev
  • Khaira
  • Kailer Yamamoto (Capfriendly has him listed as a C/LW)
  • Brad Malone
  • Kirill Maksimov
  • Tyler Benson

Who’s coming up through the system that could replace Maroon in 2018/19? Drake Caggiula? Kailer Yamamoto? I don’t see it.

Big Rig could name his dollar and Chiarelli, since he tends to overpay for the players he likes, would probably do it. Not always the smartest choice but he gets his men that way.

So what happens to Nuge?

It depends on the price point at which Maroon signs for, no?

I know that the brass really like Nuge and with the new faceoff violation penalty being “introduced” teams are going to need more than one guy per line capable of taking a faceoff, but they really like Maroon too and it makes me wonder if they’d be willing to part with a high-end prospect like Jesse Puljujarvi to keep both of them.

“Puljujarvi doesn’t make enough to balance the books if he’s traded alone!!!”

I’m well aware and that’s why the team trading for him would have to take a contract, Andrej Sekera’s or Kris Russell’s.

“But clauses…”

NMC and NTC are like suggestions. Just because they’re in the contract doesn’t mean they can’t be waived.

The reason I said Puljujarvi is because Chiarelli has a track history of dealing young players who have draft pedigree and there’s this Yamamoto kid making life difficult for everyone involved.

  • Taylor Hall
  • Tyler Seguin
  • Phil Kessel
  • Blake Wheeler
  • Nail Yakupov

I’m sure you’re all familiar with these players. Most of them have gone on to have blossoming careers with other teams because Chiarelli moved them. By the beginning of 2018/19, will that list include Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Jesse Puljujarvi though?

So what do you do?

If I’m the GM, I’m probably dealing Nuge and hoping for a deal like the Sergachev/Drouin deal that took place this summer. There are some other RFAs that need to get paid and long-term it’s not in the Oilers best plans to have a $6M player in the bottom 6 unless he’s doing what Phil Kessel does for the Penguins aka scores 35+ a year.

I know that Carolina needs a top 2 centre and Arizona needs one as well. They have lots of cap room and some nice prospects too… Just saying.

I like Puljujarvi enough to hold onto him and see him through another contract. So I don’t want to trade him. There’s just too much potential there to justify dealing him before he turns 20 years old.

Patrick Maroon was/is just the right player for the Edmonton Oilers who came in and just the right time for both him and the team. When Chiarelli brought him in the team was really lacking the kind of player Maroon is. His hard-working, take-no-prisoners, hit-everyone-in-sight style really invigorated the team and the fanbase.

And it still does today.

I really like him as a player and a person. He says the right things and he plays the right way for me and I’d have no problem see the Oilers give him a 4-5 year deal WITH a NMC/NTC (Modify it how you like) worth a $4M per year.

That said, the Oilers probably look at Patrick Eaves deal ($9.45M over 3 years) and uses that to go from. Eaves is 4 years older mind you and that contract takes him to his 36th day of birth and Maroon is only 29 as we speak.

I dunno, feels like I’m all over the place here. I like Maroon and Puljujarvi more than Nuge at this point but if there’s a way to keep all three I’ll be ecstatic. It’s going to be a difficult task for Chiarelli and Co but I have faith the best thing for the team will be done. So I’ll leave it at that.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Stanley Cup Playoffs

If He’s That Bad, Sit Him

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Boy did Ryan Rishaug rip the underperforming Oilers a new one yesterday on the Jason Gregor Show. Here are a few quotes:

  • “Connor McDavid’s defensive work was as shoddy as I’ve ever seen it”
  • “A bit portion of their roster got on their horse and put together a really nice stretch and Talbot didn’t… I’m not going to sit here and rip on him for too long but let’s say it for what it is, he had a bad game.”
  • “Generating, having his (Lucic) feet moving, playing physical, there wasn’t enough of that”
  • “We’ve talked about this with Eberle for years. When he’s not scoring, what’s he doing? And the answer is nothing. And that’s a problem.”

This post is going to be about Eberle but I just want to comment quickly on Rishaug’s comments. He wasn’t just ragging on all of the Oilers in his segment on Gregor’s show. I’m paraphrasing here but he did say something to the effect that we heap a lot of praise on player X and it’s only fair that when the perform poorly, we criticize them as well.

I don’t disagree with this and the thing with McDavid, Lucic, and Talbot is that they’ve rarely gone two games in a row where they play so bad that the media singles them out. Eberle on the other hand…

Watch the goals in that clip above. Most of them come in the slot or around the blue paint. Where has the Jordan Eberle gone that we see in the video above?

The 2016/17 season has not been kind to Ebs and I’m not about to write off this post-season because he’s yet to get going. I think there’s still an opportunity for him to make his mark, positively that is, but I have to wonder if things are getting magnified 10-fold because the Oilers have played two of their main Pacific division rivals now for 9 games. Two teams that he had a combined 4 pts against, all assists.

What happens if the Oilers make it to the Western Conference Finals or the Cup Finals? The Oilers would be out of the Pacific and the style of hockey, in theory, would change and possibly to Eberle’s advantage… Just a thought.

In season’s past, we could forgive Eberle and look passed his defensive and physical shortcomings because he was getting scoring chances and he was putting the biscuit in the basket on a regular basis but since Todd McLellan has taken over, he’s the 2nd $6M man that has seen his performance on the ice peter out. Taylor Hall is a New Jersey Devil now, who knows where Jordan Eberle might be playing come opening night in 2017/18.

But back to the now.

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This is a Todd McLellan quote I ripped from David Staples latest post, oddly enough an Eberle one as well, that I thought to be revealing indeed.

““Not enough,” McLellan said, then added “This is a new experience for him for him and he’s learning as he goes as well. It’s great to be making strong plays on the boards and checking well, but you also have to find a way to contribute on the power play and  he’s not the only one, but he’s the one that stands out right now.”

If Jordan Eberle is playing that poorly, and we’re already at game 9 mind you, why hasn’t he been demoted to the press box? If the message isn’t getting through, maybe a night watching would serve him well. Or do you demote him to a line with Mark Letestu? OR do you get him on a line with McDavid and/or Draisaitl?

I mean at this point in time, is there something that Drake Caggiula can’t do that Eberle can? What about Anton Slepyshev? Benoit Pouliot?

It’s almost impossible to try and project Eberle on another line, right?

  • 1st line: He’s not replacing Draisaitl.
  • 3rd line: Are you moving Kassian or Caggiula up? Does #14 fit on this line?
  • 4th line: This line is playing quite well at the moment. Does Slepy go up?

“Rather than playing Eberle on the 4th line where he’s not tailor made to do any of that. They would be better off scratching him and not playing him at all. If they wanted to send a message to Jordan Eberle, don’t muck up your 4th line by putting a player that can’t play that way on it. Scratch him.

Now, I don’t think they should do that but that might make as much sense as dropping him down in the lineup.” – Ryan Rishaug

If you’ve read my posts this season you probably know that I’ve gone to many lengths to defend Jordan Eberle because I reckon he’s still one of the better options for a top-6 right-wing spot but I’ll be honest, my faith is dwindling. I love that Jordan is getting his nose dirty and playing that role up a bit but my word, he has to do better with the puck on his stick or he has to channel his inner Kassian and start plowing players on the other team.

What do you think? What would you do with Eberle at this point? Let us know in the comments below!

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

Have You Considered This Defenceman?

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Could Drew Doughty be an Edmonton Oiler soon?…
As I was listening to my daily Oilers radio yesterday I came across two Oilers pundits talking about virtually the same thing. Both Bob Stauffer, host of Oilers Now, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug were queried upon the Oilers search for a defenceman.

Near the end of the first segment of Oilers Now (I listen to it in podcast format) around the 17:30 mark, Bob was talking about how Mike Russo (Minnesota beat writer) and Jim Matheson (Oilers beat writer) were talking at the draft about the Oilers/Wild rumours. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins name came up and Stauffer said,

“Could be a player no one’s mentioned. Could be an organization looking for some scoring… We’ll see, my guess is he’s (Chiarelli) got a window here to make something happen and what we’ve seen so far, did anyone see the Maroon deal coming?”

Bobby kinda rambled a bit about the Maroon deal for a bit there but then said this:

“It makes me wonder if Chiarelli is looking for a specific price point, a range for a type of player.”

I don’t really know what this means, if you do, please let me know in the comments below.

Later on in the show Stauffer was presented with the question from a caller, “Do you think they’ll (Oilers) trade for a defenceman?” Bob’s reply was such:

“I think at this stage the more likely scenario is they will trade for a defenceman, and it will likely be a $6 million dollar forward that gets moved for a defenceman. I say that is more likely than signing a free agent like Jason Demers…Who knows maybe we’ll have more stuff to discuss as we close in on July 1st, which is free agency day. The Oilers are going to be a team to watch. If you’re an Oilers fan something is probably going to give here in the next week. It’s probably inevitable. Stay tuned on that front.”

Now Ryan Rishaug was doing his segment on the Jason Gregor Show and they got talking about the Oilers adding a blueliner. Gregor asked Rishaug. “Is there any name at the draft that got your attention as someone the Oilers should target? To which Rishaug retorted with:

“I still feel like, and I said it about a week before the draft, I feel like he’s (Chiarelli) going to come out of left field with someone we haven’t been talking about.”

Stauffer mentioned how he was on a flight with Wild GM Chuck Fletcher and Blackhawks assistant GM Norm McIver and how he got some time to talk with some hockey executives on that flight.

This got me thinking, there have been rumors about the Wild and Oilers, that’s nothing breaking but what about the Blackhawks? Are they still looking to shed some salary? I thought, could Duncan Keith be a player that nobody has been talking about? But then I checked General Fanager… No trade clause.

Other names that have been bandied about in the last few days are Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk but I just don’t see them as being viable options right now.

The 2nd name that came to mind, that’s the one that got the hamster wheel flying…

ERIK KARLSSON

I checked Karlsson’s contract details and he has a no-trade clause but it doesn’t kick in until the 2017/18 season. His cap hit is $6.5M per year for another three years, so that works for the Oilers. Now here’s the kicker…

New GM, new coach, new system… Welcome to a lot of 1-0 games Sens fans.

Guy Boucher is not an offensive coach. In fact, offensive defenders that have played on his NHL teams have put up some paltry numbers.

2010 – Brett Clark was the highest scoring defenceman with 32pts, Victor Hedman was 2nd.
2011 – MA Bergeron had the most points with 24, Hedman with 23pts and Brewer had 21pts
2012 – In the shortened season, Matt Carle lead the defense with 22pts and Hedman had 20pts

Karlsson is bound to be… Bound playing in Boucher’s system.

Karlsson said that he believes the way he approaches the game will have to be changed and that “It’s going to take a while to figure each other out”.

Do you think that Erik Karlsson is going to want to do that at this point in his career. Is he going to want to play in a system that stifles scoring and focuses on defense?

My opinion is that the Sens could go to a defence by committee and shore up the scoring up front to balance their team. They’ve got Dion Phaneuf there, not that he’s a good top pairing defender but he’d definitely be suited to it and he’s a yes man, so Boucher wouldn’t have any troubles with him.

The Sens could possibly use a LW depending on what happens with Mike Hoffman and Clarke MacArthur. I mean it doesn’t sound like they know what they have in Hoffman and MacArthur played what, four games last year? Hoffman is a perfect no.2 LW and MacArthur would be an even better 3rd line LW…

The Silver Seven blog wrote a post discussing left-wingers at the draft here but why look for one in the draft when you could have Taylor Hall?

So when we talk about trading Taylor Hall it is always for another elite hockey player, right? I mean in the past I’ve probably wanted to trade him for a plethora of different packages but I’ve seen the error of my ways now. Erik Karlsson is definitely the kind of player that you’d trade Taylor Hall for, especially if your team is looking to add Milan Lucic…

So here’s a proposal:

Taylor Hall, Oscar Klefbom for Erik Karlsson, Curtis Lazar and Mike Hoffman (RFA)

I think it’s an overpayment but it’s one I’m willing to make to get a 26-year-old Erik Karlsson on the Oilers. Lazar and Hoffman would be cherries on top and if pressed I’d add to it (Fack it! Toss in Yakupov) because I can only imagine what an Oilers team led by Connor McDavid and Erik Karlsson would look like. You want to see what the 80’s Oilers would look like in 2016? A team with those two would probably be the closest you’d get.

Hall is signed for $6M until 2019/20 and Klefbom has a contract until 2022/23 for $4.167M per year. These are highly valued contracts and the Sens would have to be more than pleased to get quality players under contract for such term as they’ve only got five players (Ryan, MacArthur, Phaneuf, Karlsson, Methot) signed past 2017/18.

Karlsson would benefit the Oilers in the most obvious of ways so there’s no need to get into his pros.

The flow… That’s the obvious pro to having Karlsson right?
Mike Hoffman, to me at least, would be a better no.2 LW than Benoit Pouliot. He’s a trigger man as well, something the Oilers lack. And Curtis Lazar is well… LOVED in Edmonton but he’s having troubles putting up points in his first couple of seasons with the Sens. He’s a hard worker though, a great leader (former assistant captain of the Memorial Cup winning Edmonton Oil Kings and captain of Team Canada’s gold medal winning World Junior team in 2014/15), and he’d be a good addition to the Oilers bottom six.

THE LINEUP REVISED

Lucic-McDavid-Eberle
Hoffman-RNH-Puljujarvi
Maroon-Draisaitl-Yak(Lazar)
Hendricks-Letestu-Pakarinen

Sekera-Karlsson
Davidson-Fayne
Nurse-Reinhart

Am I missing anyone?

What do you think? Is Erik Karlsson the mystery man who all of these Oilers Pundits are talking about? Let me know in the comments below!

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