Tag Archives: Ryan Strome

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

Edmonton Oilers Rumors: The Players Chiarelli Was Watching This Week

November 9, 2018 Beer League Hero

So the #Oilers Chiarelli was at the #Penguins #Capitals game last night. It will be interesting to see if he’s at a different east coast game tonight other than in Florida.
Not sure who he would be looking at from the Pens… or the Caps.

— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) November 8, 2018

A source of mine texted me the other day with regards to what the Oilers are in the market for and I was told, “a puck moving PP defender”. In addition to that, they might possibly be looking for another center.

**Disclosure: I’m not an insider nor do I play one on the television. I simply offer information for your entertainment. I just so happen to know some folks who are employed by NHL clubs or are very close to people employed by NHL clubs and have been given shareable information. So take what you’re about to read as watercooler banter if you will. Something to chat about at the pub. Things change all of the time and so rarely do these things come to fruition. Thanks – BLH**

So when I poked a prodded a bit more to find out some names, these are the ones that were disclosed:

Dmitri Orlov (D) – WAS – I cannot see the Caps trading Orlov away unless they’re setting up another trade. Another thing that must be considered here is his contract. Orlov will be paid $5.1M per season until 2022/23 and there’s a M-NTC that kicks in next season.Orlov has struggled this season, only putting up 2pts in 14 games thus far.
Olli Maatta (D) – PIT – Maatta tied a career-high in points last year with 29 but for some reason is in Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan’s doghouse. He makes a shade over $4M a year on a contract that doesn’t expire until the ’21/22 season.Maatta has 4 points in 13 games to date this year.

Now, the thing that has me most questioning why the Oilers would be looking at these two players is PP TOI. Orlov has 12 minutes on the PP this season and Maatta has just under 13 minutes with the man-advantage.

Pittsburgh is obviously looking to shake some things up as they’re in quite the funk at the moment but you’d have to think that GM Jim Rutherford would like an upgrade on their blueline, right? I don’t know if Sprong and Maatta get them that but it’s definitely a start.

Washington might look to divest themselves of Orlov but any deal involving serious cash coming to Edmonton has to see it going out too and I haven’t the foggiest idea what the Capitals would be shopping for. They’re the reigning Stanley Cup champions, what would they even want? If I had to guess it might be prospects but even then they’ve got a nice crew of young dmen coming up like Djoos, Bowey, and Seigenthaler.

Final thought on these two rumored targets: Unlikely.

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[/caption]That said, the Oilers have 1 goal all year from their blueline and that was a PP marker from PTO-signing Jason Garrison. They need production from the backend. If I were the Oilers I’d be looking at these players:

Torey Krug (BOS) – $5.25M/yr – 4pts in 4gp.
Connor Carrick (DAL) – $1.3M/yr – 4pts in 9gp.
Colton Parayko (STL) – $5.5M/yr – 5pts in 13gp.
Alex Pietrangelo (STL) – $6.5M/yr – 5pts in 13gp.

I don’t know where the Blues are going but they’re last in the Central right now and I really don’t know if they’re going to pull a playoff rabbit out of their ass this year. Would they be interested in a package that included Jesse Puljujarvi/Kailer Yamamoto and Darnell Nurse for Pietrangelo?

In Boston, Matt Grzelyck looks to be cementing his status in the Bruins lineup with 7pts so far this season. That has to put a guy like Torey Krug on notice given his salary and injury history. My feelings with Krug is that if he can help get a team to the playoffs, that’s what matters. The post-season is a whole different bowl of cherries and usually belongs to the teams with the best goaltending.

Does anybody know what the deal was with Connor Carrick in Toronto? He’s seemingly a good player. He’s young (24) and he’s right handed to boot. Aren’t those the kind of defenders teams are clamoring for? Admittedly, I haven’t watched him that much and so perhaps I shouldn’t even be including him but I like what his traditional stats say, so I guess we can fight about it if you want.

The name Tanner Pearson has also been mentioned to me recently. He hasn’t a goal scored all year and only has one assist to his name. He makes $3.75M per year but is only 36 years old.

The Kings are shite this year and Pearson has been a pretty consistent 40pt guy since he became a full-time NHLer, so I’m not going to read too too much into him not producing right now. He’s got 21 shots at ES, just as many as Ilya Kovalchuk and his ES PDO is a whopping .92. He’d fit right in with Lucic’s PDO party eh? Looch’s PDO is sitting at .929.

Riley Sheahan is another name that has popped up.

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It’s fun to talk about the pla

[/caption]It’s fun to talk about the players coming in but what about the players that are possibly moving out?

Here’s a list of early-season candidates to be traded out of Edmonton:

Ryan Strome (C)
Zack Kassian (RW)
Jujhar Khaira (C/LW)
Darnell Nurse (D)

Now, you’re not going to get a lot back for those players but Strome for Pearson makes a lot of sense to me for some reason. Two players struggling to produce who make similar money.

I think a lot of people will also say Jesse Puljujarvi but I’m not convinced they’re ready to deal him. He’s only 20 years old people! He’s barely played over one NHL season. There’s no need to come up with stories that a trip to the minors might “save his career”. I mean honestly, how many of your careers were ended at age 20? How many were started at age 20?

That said, there’s, as Darren Dreger put it, tension between his camp and the Oilers. If you listened closely to Esa Tikkanen’s interview during the intermission yesterday you might have heard him say this about Pulju,

Nine minutes in the game is not enough to him but you have to learn and he has to keep it focused all the time what he can do best and that’s to score goals.

It’s an interesting quote I find. Obviously, Jesse isn’t happy with 9 minutes a game (Pulju played 9:06 vs. FLA) and I thought he looked hungry when he was on the ice but at the end of the evening his line was outshot and outscored. Not sure Yamamoto would’ve done any better.

If there’s one thing that has bugged me about Peter Chiarelli, it’s his reluctance to send players like Yamamoto and Puljujarvi down to the AHL and keep them there because now we’re sitting here talking about a 20-year-old who’s career is in jeopardy.

Down on their AHL club, they are playing the kids and playing them tons. Tyler Benson, Cameron Hebig, and Cooper Marody are lighting that league up! Give them Pulju and Yammo and it’s going to be lights out for their opposition.

Let’s create a culture of winning at some point in the Oilers organization here.

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

Edmonton Oilers Rumor: Are These Kings on the Oilers Radar?

November 5, 2018 Beer League Hero

Yesterday the LA Kings relieved their head coach of his duties putting to rest the notion (and probably hopes of some Oilers fans) that Todd McLellan would be the first coach fired in the 2018/19 NHL season.

John Stevens was in his 2nd season as Kings skipper and nobody would’ve guessed that the Kings would be this poor with how they fared last year being a playoff team and then they went ahead and won the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes this summer.

I thought they’d be a lot better.

Elias Pettersson’s nickname is “Alien”. Here’s a shirt to celebrate it! Click the image to buy one!

So that takes us to where it always does when a team is performing poorly.

THE RUMOR MILL!

As Oilers fans, we know all about the rumor mill. We know what it’s like to be fans of the team that other fan bases want to pick at in hopes of getting a player on the cheap and in some cases over the years, that’s exactly what has happened.

That brings us back around to the LA Kings. Are they a club who would consider a minor tear-down and rebuild on the fly? They do have the veteran pieces that I feel are of the highest importance when rebuilding your team in players like Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick.

If there’s a club that could pilfer off some complimentary players to address team needs without finding themselves drafting in the top-5 at the draft, it’s the Kings.

Craig Button said on the Jason Gregor Show recently that he thought the Kings’ biggest problem is that they are too slow. A problem that hindered the Oilers somewhat last year (Chiarelli fixed that this summer and is reaping the benefits as we speak) and is causing issues for teams like the Blues and the Ducks this season.

So how would the Kings go about getting some team speed from the Oilers?

I would say they’d have to consider forgetting about this season and go for players that could start helping them next season (vice versa for the Oilers perhaps) and this is a list of current Oilers I think would be more available than not.

Caleb Jones (LD) – Jones is a FINE skater and a smooth puck mover.
Ryan McLeod (C) – Speed personified. Should be ready for 2019.
Ryan Strome (C) – He’s not Pavel Bure but he’s no Jason Allison either.
Jesse Puljujarvi (RW) – Fast not quick and very powerful. Lots of potential left.
Kailer Yamamoto – (RW) – Opposite to Puljujarvi. Quick, not fast. Tenacious too.

The Oilers are in a small spot of bother with regards to their RW depth. Ty Rattie is slated to return to action very soon, Drake Caggiula and Alex Chiasson are scoring consistently right now and Zack Kassian has really returned to form since that whole “The Oilers gave Kassian’s agent permission to seek out a trade” deal went public last week.

That leaves Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto more or less on the outs because neither are producing.

Now, I don’t think the Oilers are absolutely desperate to make a trade to sort out this RW issue. I think they’re happy to have the problem and I’d also go as far as to say that they’d be willing to send both Pulju and Yammo to the AHL if they could find a deal to bring in a RWer who could float throughout the lineup on the cheap. And maybe they have that guy already in Cooper Marody.

I’m not sure if Scottie Upshall is done either. So if the Oilers brought him in at some point during the year and then sent down Jesse and Kailer, they’d be more or less sorted BUT I don’t think that Peter Chiarelli wants to simply be “sorted”. I think his job depends on the playoffs.

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So one has to ask the question, what kind of transaction is going to give the team the best chances at making the playoffs this year?

You’re probably wondering why I haven’t named the players on the Kings that I believe Edmonton is looking at and I’ve got no good reason for you, so let’s do that now.

Tanner Pearson (LW) – 26 years old –
Tyler Toffoli (RW) – 26 years old –
Jake Muzzin (LD) – 29 years old –

Tanner Pearson has three years left on his deal and is paid $3.75M per year. Tyler Toffoli has two years left on his and is paid $4.6M per season and Jake Muzzin also has two years left to go on his contract that pays him $4M per annum.

Toffoli only has three goals so far and Pearson has managed to rack up a single assist to date while Muzzin has three assists and is dash three on the year with 15 PIMs.

I think it’s safe to say they are struggling production-wise.

But the rub in any deal the Kings and the Oilers make lies in how they manage the trade from a financial standpoint.

LA has a shade over 400k in cap space but could utilize the $5.8M cushion that Jonathan Quick provides them while he’s on the IR. The problem there though is that when he returns, they’d have to find a way to clear however much of that cushion they used. A conundrum that Edmonton is dealing with this season too with Andrej Sekera out.

I reckon there’ll be some that’ll say “trade Lucic to the Kings” and I think there’s some validity to that but on the other hand, you saw how the Capitals bulldozed their way to the Cup last year. Even the Golden Knights had Ryan Reaves playing an important role on their path to the final.

I’d be curious to know what a package of Lucic, Strome, and say Puljujarvi or Yamamoto would bring back. Nothing like trading an entire line eh? Because I’ll be honest, I love the idea of an Oilers roster that has Toffoli, Pearson, and Muzzin on it.

Experienced players, nay! Stanley Cup winning players really rev my engine when it comes to building a roster. I’m near obsessed with having players on a young team that know what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. Not only that, the Oilers have a coach who has no interest in developing players at the NHL level.

How would you go about negotiating a trade with the LA Kings for one, two, or all three of Pearson, Toffoli, or Muzzin? Or would you even bother?

Let us know in the comments below!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Prospects

Oilers Preseason: Puljujarvi Pops

September 19, 2018 Beer League Hero

Was last night’s pre-season tilt with the Vancouver Canucks Jesse Puljujarvi’s coming out party? Because he had a “whale” of a game (sorry, not sorry). He was the best player on the ice for both teams and that included Vancouver’s best player in Bo Horvat.

There’s lots of talk about Jesse’s stick and how he’s looking more confident and if you’re the type that reads a lot of the content here then you shouldn’t be surprised by this performance. We’ve been talking about it all summer on Twitter and I also wrote a couple of posts mid-summer about his new equipment and summer training regime.

July 23rd: Summer Update on Puljujarvi – First mention of a shorter stick is here as well as a different blade.

August 2nd: “I don’t even think about the AHL” – Puljujarvi – In this blog, photographic evidence of his new stick and more details on his summer training.

Jason Gregor’s been trying to be the big news breaker in regards to Pulju’s stick but we all know who broke that news LONG before he did.

What I’m going to be interested in today is hearing how many times Bob Stauffer uses the word “pop” when talking about Puljujarvi or how many times Gregor talks about Jesse’s stick…

Anyways, let’s get back on track here. None of this is important if Jesse isn’t playing as well as he did last night, so let’s talk about that.

Yessa’s play was not all that different from last season. He was assertive physically, he shot the puck well, and he disrupted the Canucks zone exits with his speed and stick checking but what set this performance apart from last year was his confidence with the puck on his stick. He was taking players on 1v1, he was getting to the puck first and making plays by using his body frame and strength.

For example, on the Caleb Jones goal, the puck is sent in deep and Jesse hunts it down, then he’s first to the puck and he manages to tie up not only the puck but the Canucks defensemen (Hutton) and hold onto it long enough for his linemates (Strome/Khaira) to come in to knock it loose so that Strome can gather it up and deposit it to a pinching Jones in the slot for an easy goal.

Puljujarvi was integral to that goal and that unselfish play alone is a good indicator of how much he’s matured as a player since last season. I’ve always maintained that his defensive game is one of the better ones on the Oilers, it’s his offensive game that has to catch up. Usually, it’s the other way around for young players.

It wasn’t all good for him though. He tried to be a bit too individualistic a couple times that resulted in offsides but I can forgive him for those. At least he’s making an effort.

He might be looking a bit faster too. Something to keep an eye on.

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It wasn’t all Pulujarvi though. Ty Rattie was on form in the 2nd half of the game and Kailer Yamamoto was FLYING last night.

What I was most impressed with from the top three RWs was their play off of the puck. They were tenacious, quick, and relentless. I loved every minute of it. The only time the Oilers weren’t looking dangerous was when their 4th line was out there.

Ty Rattie’s play at the end of the game where could’ve been greedy and tried to score the hat-trick goal but instead just mucked it up in the corner and wore the clock down might’ve been one of the more impressive plays in the game. That kind of character is exactly what the Oilers are going to need this year if they’re to make the playoffs.

Todd McLellan said that he talked to 5 or 6 or the right-wingers trying to make the team and he said there aren’t enough jobs for all of them, so somebody has to go out and win them. I’m paraphrasing of course but you get the gist, right?

I think that Rattie and Puljujarvi are on the team and they’d basically have to play themselves off of it but Kailer Yamamoto is really making a case for himself. On the other hand, Drake Caggiula is not looking good at all. He was absolutely invisible vs. the Canucks. Mind you it’s one preseason game but he needs to have as many good games as he can with the likes of Kailer Yamamoto playing the way he is.

Same goes for Zack Kassian. I loved that he was slamming Canucks each chance he could get but I don’t think McLellan was happy about that penalty he took behind the Oilers goal. I don’t mind it because he was getting molested by a Canuck that he’d finished a check on and the refs never called it. He was pissed and he took it out on Granlund. The worst part about that is Vancouver scored on the PP but I’d rather have that Zack Kassian than the passive one we saw last season.

The goaltending was a bit better last night eh?

Nice of Goldobin to shoot that right in Talbot’s glove, wasn’t it?

All kidding aside, Talbot was on form last night and Montoya played solid too. Exactly the kind of goaltending that the Oilers need going into 2018/19. Thanks to them and some really bad luck for Vancouver (Horvat and Goldobin had some real chances to put the puck in the net that just went wide and Jake Virtanen hit the crossbar), and the seven power plays for Vancouver didn’t help Edmonton’s cause but thanks to the Canucks shitty PP, the Oilers weren’t punished for their undisciplined play and they came away with the “W”.

I asked on Twitter if anybody was impressed with the Oilers defense and pretty much got a resounding no. None of the defenders really had a good game. Jakub Jerabek had a really nice play where he caught a Canuck on a partial breakaway and knocked the puck off his stick but he was largely unnoticeable for the game. Jason Garrison was looking like perhaps the game had passed him by, Caleb Jones got turnstiled by Bo Horvat that nearly led to a goal, Kris Russell couldn’t get the puck off his stick fast enough at any point in the game, Keegan Lowe looked like he was puckhandling a grenade for the most part, and Matt Benning couldn’t really get anything going.

So thank you goaltending…

Nolan Vesey was sent to the Oilers AHL affiliate in Bakersfield and Ostap Safin was re-assigned to Saint John (QMJHL) after the game. Expect to hear some news about Safin being traded since his junior team already has 2 imports (Filip Prikrl and Maxim Cajkovic) no their roster already. I guess Halifax has an open import spot, so perhaps Safin will go there and line up with 2019 draft eligible Raphael Lavoie this season.

Next game is this Thursday in Winnipeg.

I expect the same sort of roster to line up for that game. Maybe Lagesson, Bear, Bouchard, and Nurse get some action in that one. I would think that Mikko Koskinen gets another shot. I don’t think that the Oilers major names on forward will play. It sounds like Edmonton wants to save them for Europe and usually the bigger names will play at home anyhow. So we’ll wait and see on that front.

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

I Have a Problem With What Bob McKenzie Said About the Oilers

September 11, 2018 Beer League Hero

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Yesterday, the Bobfather (Bob McKenzie) released his 2018/19 Edmonton Oilers season preview podcast and within it, he made some pretty lofty claims. Claims that I think are off-base. So I’m going to pull a few quotes from McKenzie’s podcast and comment on them.

The podcast I’ll put at the end of the post for your reference.

Before we do that though I want to preface this post by saying I’ve got nothing against McKenzie and what I’m about to say is no slight against him. He’s one of my favorite insiders and when he speaks, we should listen, for the most part.

But sometimes, and I feel like this is happening more and more these days, we need to strip things away and really listen to what’s being said in order to make a proper judgment instead of just taking it at face value.

McKENZIE’S REFUTABLE QUOTES

“The reality is that general manager Peter Chiarelli actively chose to not make a blockbuster move in the off-season.”

I guess making a massive trade every summer since he took over has become boring for Chiarelli. One might even say that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result might have you found insane but to each his own.

“It is the same basic group that fell on its face last season”

McKenzie did mention the Oilers signing Koskinen, Brodziak, and Rieder before this quote on the pod and he’s not wrong. It is the same. basic. group. But isn’t that putting it a bit too plainly?

The missing, and most important, key in my mind is that this team is coming back healthy, with a chip on its shoulder, a year older and more developed both physically and mentally.

So on paper, the roster seems like it’s the same one from last year but it really isn’t, is it? Oh! And don’t forget about the new coaching hires. Quaint that McKenzie didn’t talk much about those…

“I think the way most people look at it, every year you have a Connor McDavid-led team that misses the playoffs, that is a crime against hockey humanity.”

He’s not wrong but it’s a pretty heavy shot at Peter Chiarelli. I’d like to read some of McKenzie’s thoughts on how the Pittsburgh Penguins handled Mario Lemieux in his first four seasons in the NHL. Was it a crime against hockey humanity that the Penguins weren’t making the playoffs from 1984-1988 even though Lemieux was putting up an average of 129 pts a season?

I bet you it wasn’t.

Another thing to consider is Bob McKenzie’s relationship with the McDavids. What is it? Are they close? Do you know any other hockey insiders that have dedicated an entire chapter of their book to McDavid and why does he seem to know so much about Connor’s journey to the NHL but not John Tavares’? Or did he choose to use McDavid’s over Tavares’ or Ekblad’s in the chapter about being granted exceptional player status in the CHL

Is McKenzie just looking out for a friend by throwing some shade on Chiarelli? Is he out of line suggesting Chiarelli is doing such a disservice to hockey humanity without considering the plethora of mitigating circumstances that may or may not have been the cause of another playoff-less year of hockey for the Oilers?

“…some might argue anybody would put up decent numbers beside Connor McDavid.”

Well, last year’s MVP couldn’t do it and Jordan Eberle was traded partly because he couldn’t do it either.

“I think the Oilers stopped trying to think of him (Strome) as the replacement goal scorer for the departed Eberle, which originally was how it was billed.”

See this is flat out not true. It was not billed as that at all.

Bruce McCurdy did a write-up on the media avail Peter Chiarelli did right after the trade and not once did Chiarelli ever say that Ryan Strome was bring brought in to replace Jordan Eberle’s goals.

Here are a few of the quotes from McCurdy’s post,

On the rationale for the trade: A function of a number of different things. 1) a chance to acquire a player like Ryan Strome. 2) No secret we have to clear up some space to sign both Connor and Leon.

On Ryan Strome: Ryan hasn’t put the numbers up like Jordan, but he’s got some things to his game that will help us in our division. He’s got good size, he’s got a terrific wrist shot — I scouted him for a long time for the U-24 team — a very very cerebral player, he can play centre or the wing, very good on the half wall. These are all some of the things that Jordan has, but when we can save cap space we have to do it. That’s the reality of building a team these days. It was a good fit hockey perspective, and a good fit from a team-building & cap perspective.

On why Eberle didn’t click with McDavid: I don’t know. He certainly thinks and mvoes the puck quickly. He was a 20-plus goal scorer, he still is and will be. He might have been with Connor this coming year if he was still around. There’s reasons we trade players, fair enough, but this is about cap management, this is about replacing good players for good players, and this is about long-term thinking.

I’m not sure why McKenzie said that the Oilers were thinking that Strome was going to come in a replace Eberle because obviously from the Chiarelli quotes above, that’s false. Did they hope Strome could come in a score at an Eberle-like pace, I’m sure they did but that trade was 100% cap management.

Lastly, the Lucic quote…

“Can Milan Lucic rebound from an abysmal season that was punctuated by him asking for a trade, one which he didn’t get.”

This is the first time that Bob McKenzie has commented on this and I’m sure that’s because Jason Gregor brought it up after the Bobfather went on holidays but he’s been back for a few days now and if it was THAT big of a deal, we would’ve heard more.

If you want a detailed timeline of the Lucic rumor rollercoaster from the beginning of June until the beginning of July, David Staples did one here.

Insiders often talk to agents and pro scouts to get their info if GMs aren’t being cooperative and Lucic’s agent, Gerry Johansson, said on Oilers Now that he never had “that” conversation with Chiarelli BUT maybe he had it with Milan.

It’s obvious that that conversation was ended quickly because maybe his agent wasn’t interested in being embarrassed by the client.

“Stauffer said representatives from Lucic’s agency have made it clear Lucic has got to look to himself and do better.”

This quote from a Jim Matheson article where he interviewed Johansson,

“Milan didn’t ask for a trade and Peter (GM Chiarelli) 100 per cent has not come to us about moving Milan. If he wants to get out from under the contract, he has to talk to us.”

Somebody is fibbing. Chiarelli did the ol’ “no comment” when asked, so he left everybody hanging with that non-answer yet Johansson said no trade request was made and McKenzie says there was.

Friedman has never said that Lucic requested a trade out of Edmonton, only that he’d heard rumors of a request (that were denied), that Lucic wanted out of Canada, and that Lucic’s name had come up.

Frank Seravalli has only commented that the situation is “almost untenable” and that the Oilers were doing their “due diligence” on a possible move.

So from what I’ve found, and there could be more out there that I’ve missed, let’s establish that, Bob McKenzie is the only one that has said Milan Lucic requested a trade. Everybody else has just hinted at the possibility (including myself).

I get that hockey fans, famous or not, would look at the Oilers under Chiarelli and McLellan and lead by Connor McDavid would be frustrated but there is this overwhelming consensus that just because the Oilers have McDavid, it’s going to be a slam dunk that they make the playoffs every year regardless of what happens to the team on the ice or off of it. That’s wrong.

There are 30 other NHL teams that have a chance to make the playoffs every year and we more or less know who those teams are by American Thanksgiving. Not that that marker is set in stone but it’s generally a good point to look at if you want to have an idea of how things are going but anything can happen at any time, right?

We must evaluate and re-evaluate our expectations for our favorite teams and players all of the time. Are we expecting too much or not enough and how do we find the middle ground that offers us the opportunity to enjoy the team and the game of hockey the most? Folks like Bob McKenzie help us with that but I feel like a lot of pundits are butthurt over their predictions from a year ago and that they might be lashing out this time around.

Personally, I know that this is going to be a special season one way or another for the Oilers.

Santa’s Sock Drive

Summer’s over and you may have noticed it’s getting colder. As great as it is living in Edmonton, our winters are cold and unforgiving. While most of us are protected from the worst of it, there are always many that aren’t.

Santa’s Sock Drive is made up of a small group of volunteers that aims to try to help the underprivileged of our city that struggle to keep warm in winter. This is our third year doing the drive, last year we raised $3,076 and $923.26 the year before. The money we raise is used for buying things like toques, mittens, gloves, scarves, and socks to hand out. We also accept winter gear you may have at home, all we ask is that it’s clean and in good condition (no tears or stains).

Money can be donated via e-transfer to tejveer.sangha@gmail.com or through https://www.gofundme.com/santa039s-sock-drive-2018&rcid=r01-153660451446-bafc48a6b7874cab&pc=ot_co_campmgmt_w.

You can also drop winter supplies off or arrange a pick-up with tejveer.sangha@gmail.com or gurmanjit.sagoo@gmail.com.

We are going to be handing out the winter gear ourselves on October 8th (Thanksgiving). If you’d like to volunteer, email us. Everyone is welcome to come help out!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Oilers Updates on Bieksa, Davidson, Lucic, and Who Needs to Step Up in 2018/19.

August 20, 2018 Beer League Hero

I had a nice long chat with one of my North American sources last night and we got talking about everything from the players rumored to be joining the Oilers on a PTO, to Milan Lucic, to Darnell Nurse’s agent, to where The Hockey News has Cam Talbot ranked going into the 2018/19 season.

I’d like to share some of that conversation with you today and I’d also like to comment on a few players who need to step up their game in order for the Oilers to make a return to the playoffs.

*Disclaimer*

What you’re about to read is my interaction with a person I happen to know is close to the Oilers organization. I’m not asking you to believe what you’re about to read nor am I claiming it to be fact. It’s just what I’ve been told and what I have permission to share.

I always tell you to treat this like any other rumor you hear online, like water cooler banter. If it comes true, awesome. If it doesn’t, men…

PROFESSIONAL TRYOUT CONTRACTS

I asked my source about his opinion on the following players and their chances of being asked to come to Oilers camp:

Kevin Bieksa – Not their first choice but he IS an option for the Oilers. Toronto likes him as well as another Eastern team. Footspeed concerns the Oilers.
Brandon Davidson – Top of the Oilers list. 5 or 6 teams interested. SJ and Vegas in that group. He wants a 2yr deal and has demands that are shortening that list of teams like he wants assurances (and equivalent pay) that he’ll be a top-6 defender.
Alexei Emelin – Little interest. Emelin wants a top-4 role but Oilers don’t believe he’s good enough for that and don’t want to gift that to him but may circle back to him depending on what shakes out.
Luca Sbisa – Haven’t even discussed Sbisa. Bad wheels.
Slava Voynov – He’s been talked about because he IS a good dman. Can move the puck well, has a shot, and has 2 Stanley Cup rings but the Oilers feel that they’d lose a lot of fan support if they did bring him in. From a PR standpoint, it’d be disastrous for him. He’ll probably end up in a place where the fans support isn’t as strong.

I followed that up by asking if the Oilers would try to mend the hole left my Sekera internally and was told players like Ethan Bear, Evan Bouchard, or Joel Persson COULD be brought in to fill the void but in an ideal world none of them make the team. Not unless they blow the doors off of training camp.

They’re (Oilers) not going ot do anything spectacular unless it falls in their laps. They’ll look at a defender for a PTO but that’s about it. Fans expect way too much out of Chiarelli. This is real life NHL. Not NHL on the Xbox.

My source also passed along that Chiarelli is still looking at Faulk but IF anything happens on that front it’ll be closer to the beginning of the season because of cap implications and LTIR. I was told that PC could’ve acquired Faulk last year for RNH and the brass would’ve understood the move but Chiarelli would’ve been fired this summer had he done it.

CURRENT OILERS

I wanted to switch gears a bit and talk about current Oilers, so we chatted about Jesse Puljujarvi and I was told this;

Management is VERY happy with what Puljujarvi has done this offseason. He is going to have a big year. He’s going to beat out Ty Rattie IMO and take his place beside Connor.

Glad to hear that the organization is still high on Pulju. I love that kid!

If that prediction does come true, Rattie is S.O.L… And that’s predicated on him making the team out of camp. Something that isn’t guaranteed either…

We then talked about Milan Lucic and I was gifted with some info that shocked me.

The game is changing and fighting is less and less. Looch isn’t a fighter like he once was. He’s trying to get quicker. He really is. He’s just a big boy.

He was asked to get down to 220lbs for this season and he was nice about it and said he didn’t know if he could but that he’d try.

I believe he’s down to 228lbs now.

That’s not the shocking part. The part that floored me was the answer to when I asked how heavy he was at the end of last season…

I think he weighed around 245lbs. He was a biiiiig boy. That’s a big man coming at you in the corner. 6’3″ 245…

WTF! I can’t wait to see him at training camp. He’ll look so skinny. lol.

Milan is really working on getting his weight down this summer and getting his foot speed up. Apparently, Lucic is in the best shape of his career.

So what is going on with Darnell Nurse I enquired.

His agent, that c*nt, wants 5/6 years at $5.5M per year and Nurse said that he’s cool with $3M per year for two years.

Nurse is willing to sign right now but his agent is saying that they can get more.

I asked what my source thought of The Hockey News saying that Cam Talbot was the 4th worst goalie in the NHL heading into 2018 and this was the response:

That’s just cause of last year. I don’t pay attention to that crap. Just bloggers and writers flapping their gums.

Talbot will have a bounce back year. Koskinen will prove that he belongs in the show. Oilers will be alright. We’re back baby!

I love the enthusiasm! Don’t you! I share that opinion as well. I was watching one of the Oilers wins over Minnesota yesterday and Cam Talbot was making ridiculous saves in that game. That was the one where Draisaitl came down the right wing and whipped it past Dubnyk to win the game for Edmonton.

WHO’S STEPPING UP IN 2018

Cam Talbot – It’s a contract year for Dadbot and the Oilers won’t be going anywhere unless Talbot returns to his 2016/17 form. He’s arguably, apart from McDavid and Leon, the most important player for the team.

To add to that, he’s got Mikko Koskinen breathing down his neck because he’ll want that starting job as well.

Oscar Klefbom – The highest scoring defender on the Oilers last year was Darnell Nurse and he didn’t even hit 30 pts. We need Klef to reach 40pts or more this season and repay some of that patience the fans have shown him.

The Oilers don’t have a PP threat from the point and that’s why I think the PP was so poor last season. Teams simply cut off all of the other options and forced Edmonton to make shite decisions under pressure.

A healthy and confident Oscar Klefbom could be scary.

Matt Benning – Benning is going to be tasked with an increase in TOI this season. Last season he didn’t fare that well with the extra time. I feel like Benning could be a wildcard for PP QB on the Oilers 2nd unit because he’s got a slapshot that was registered at over 100mph last year.

I’d like to see more consistency in his game but being consistently good rather than consistently poor.

I’ve seen Matt Benning absolutely cream opposing players and I want to see more of that.

Ryan Strome – When Strome decided he was going to make an effort at being a better defensive centre and was placed on the PK, a little bit of magic occurred. The Oilers PK got better somehow and Strome gained a bit of confidence.

If Strome never scores 4opts in a season I won’t care but if he can be one of the league’s better PKers and defensive centres, I’ll be so happy for him. I don’t think he’ll ever be a Kadri-like centre but if he can even get close to that for Edmonton in 2018, I think that’ll push the Eberle/Strome trade closer to even than ever before.

Zack Kassian – I’ll always be of the belief that Kassian got “dinged up” after a game 1 fight with Tanner Glass last season and that’s why he couldn’t get back into the groove that we saw the previous year where he was an absolute beast.

We need him to become that beast again. His fearlessness, speed, and physicality are a rare combination of skills in the NHL today and when a player has that and applies it to the forecheck, he/she can be devastating.

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