Tag Archives: Travis Hamonic

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Re-Post: Dreger Hints at Oilers/Islanders/Avalanche 3-Way

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**This is a re-post of the previous blog because the site hit the skids as soon as I posted it**

OK… If you follow me on Twitter or read last night’s Halak to the Oilers rumor blog, do you remember how I told you about the 3-team trade rumor that seemingly gets tossed around every year involving the Oilers? I think Darren Dreger just gave this year’s proposal some legs…

Last night I wrote a post detailing a Halak to the Oilers rumor and near the end, I included a little tidbit about a 3-team trade that I’d been passed. Well, I was prepared to wait a little bit to get this published and I did go out and ask a few more people who I believe to be in the know about this rumor to more or less get the amount of confirmation I needed to go forth with this post. I said on Twitter this morning that this rumored deal is ridiculous, like blockbuster ridiculous and probably something closer to an HF Boards trade proposal than a real one but Darren Dreger has weighed in now and that gives it real legitimacy…

These are the hazy details:

To Colorado: Travis Hamonic, Brock Nelson, *Brandon Davidson*, Oilers 1st round pick
To Oilers: Tyson Barrie, Jarome Iginla, Ryan Strome
To Islanders: Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle

WHAT?!!

It sort of contradicts the Halak to Edmonton rumor that I wrote about last night but that is an insane rumor, right?

Now, I put an asterisk beside Davidson’s name because he was one of the iffy players my sources weren’t sure on. But the main players (Barrie, Duchene, Eberle, Hamonic) were in it for sure.

I know that Colorado is working like crazy to move Iginla and it’s becoming more apparent that Matt Duchene might be going the same way that Taylor Hall did in his last season with the Oilers. A good player whose attitude is souring on a struggling franchise who’s wasting his talents.

Any trade rumor I’ve been passed or come across on Twitter re: Jordan Eberle to the Islanders has included Ryan Strome coming back. I couldn’t confirm the draft pick, anytime in the past when I’ve asked about Chiarelli’s willingness to deal that pick I was told that if the deal was right, he would.

For the Islanders, this would be a very big statement made to John Tavares that the franchise is ready to move Heaven and Earth to get him to stay in Brooklyn. I believe the team values Ryan Pulock more than Travis Hamonic and after this season, can you blame them? Hamonic has been a disaster.

For Colorado, this would be the kind of deal that would start the reset. I believe that they need a top-pairing left-handed dman more than a right-handed one but that could be a player they acquired with Gabriel Landeskog, no? Cue, the Krug to Colorado rumours.

For the Oilers, there’s your top-4 offensive right-handed defenseman, your right-handed PP shot, and a young player with term left on his deal who can switch in and out from the centre position to the right-wing position. All that’d be left is the backup goalie and the shopping list would be complete.

But getting back to the mad deal that could be in the works above, I think there would need to be some wiggling around to do to make it work dollar-wise (mostly for the Islanders) but yeah, there you go.

I honestly cannot see a trade like this going down now. These kinds of trade fall apart so easily because there are so many moving parts but it could set something else up that could be consummated before the trade deadline passes or another deal at the draft where money is less of a problem.

If this mega-deal does actually happen, I’ll have a more detailed post to follow.

**Disclaimer** Lastly, during this crazy time of the year, we’re bound to hear a shit ton of rumors coming from every nook and cranny out there. I’m not connected to the Oilers, I hear what I hear from people who know people and I pass that on to you. Rarely, IF EVER, do the things I post here come true but the batting average of an insider has never been that good anyhow. It’s all speculation until the teams make things official folks! So I hope you can enjoy what you read here but don’t take it too seriously. I don’t. **Disclaimer**

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, RIGHT AFTER, you check out our sweet selection of Beer League Heroes swag we have for you! Click on the pic below to head over to our shop at Teepublic!

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

Ridiculous 3-Team Trade Rumor Confirmed by Dreger?

OK… If you follow me on Twitter or read last night’s Halak rumor blog, do you remember how I told you about the 3-team trade rumor that seemingly gets tossed around every year involving the Oilers? I think Darren Dreger just gave this year’s proposal some legs…

Last night I wrote a post detailing a Halak to the Oilers rumor and near the end, I included a little tidbit about a 3-team trade that I’d been passed. Well, I was prepared to wait a little bit to get this published and I did go out and ask a few more people who I believe to be in the know about this rumor to more or less get the amount of confirmation I needed to go forth with this post. I said on Twitter this morning that this rumored deal is ridiculous, like blockbuster ridiculous and probably something closer to an HF Boards trade proposal than a real one but Darren Dreger has weighed in now and that gives it real legitimacy…

These are the hazy details:

To Colorado: Travis Hamonic, Brock Nelson, *Brandon Davidson*, Oilers 1st round pick
To Oilers: Tyson Barrie, Jarome Iginla, Ryan Strome
To Islanders: Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle

WHAT?!!

It sort of contradicts the Halak to Edmonton rumor that I wrote about last night but that is an insane rumor, right?

Now, I put an asterisk beside Davidson’s name because he was one of the iffy players my sources weren’t sure on. But the main players (Barrie, Duchene, Eberle, Hamonic) were in it for sure.

I know that Colorado is working like crazy to move Iginla and it’s becoming more apparent that Matt Duchene might be going the same way that Taylor Hall did in his last season with the Oilers. A good player whose attitude is souring on a struggling franchise who’s wasting his talents.

Any trade rumor I’ve been passed or come across on Twitter re: Jordan Eberle to the Islanders has included Ryan Strome coming back. I couldn’t confirm the draft pick, anytime in the past when I’ve asked about Chiarelli’s willingness to deal that pick I was told that if the deal was right, he would.

For the Islanders, this would be a very big statement made to John Tavares that the franchise is ready to move Heaven and Earth to get him to stay in Brooklyn. I believe the team values Ryan Pulock more than Travis Hamonic and after this season, can you blame them? Hamonic has been a disaster.

For Colorado, this would be the kind of deal that would start the reset. I believe that they need a top-pairing left-handed dman more than a right-handed one but that could be a player they acquired with Gabriel Landeskog, no? Cue, the Krug to Colorado rumours.

For the Oilers, there’s your top-4 offensive right-handed defenseman, your right-handed PP shot, and a young player with term left on his deal who can switch in and out from the centre position to the right-wing position. All that’d be left is the backup goalie and the shopping list would be complete.

But getting back to the mad deal that could be in the works above, I think there would need to be some wiggling around to do to make it work dollar-wise (mostly for the Islanders) but yeah, there you go.

I honestly cannot see a trade like this going down now. These kinds of trade fall apart so easily because there are so many moving parts but it could set something else up that could be consummated before the trade deadline passes or another deal at the draft where money is less of a problem.

If this mega-deal does actually happen, I’ll have a more detailed post to follow.

**Disclaimer** Lastly, during this crazy time of the year, we’re bound to hear a shit ton of rumors coming from every nook and cranny out there. I’m not connected to the Oilers, I hear what I hear from people who know people and I pass that on to you. Rarely, IF EVER, do the things I post here come true but the batting average of an insider has never been that good anyhow. It’s all speculation until the teams make things official folks! So I hope you can enjoy what you read here but don’t take it too seriously. I don’t. **Disclaimer**

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below, RIGHT AFTER, you check out our sweet selection of Beer League Heroes swag we have for you! Click on the pic below to head over to our shop at Teepublic!

Click the image and head over to our Teepublic shot to grab some sweet BLH merch.
Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors, Trades

Today’s Oilers Rumours: My Take

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The Edmonton Oilers bye week is upon us and not that we’ve got 5 days of no Oilers hockey there’s not a lot going on in the rumor mill these days regarding the Oilers so what we’re seeing is some fan fiction being tossed about on Twitter. Today, we had two instances, one coming from Alan Hull (Copper and Blue) and another from Josh Marshall (I know you’re asking yourself, who? It’s fine, you’re not the only one wondering.) and I’m going to offer my commentary on both if you please. If you don’t, go here.

Let’s start with the more notable of the two.

I think Brain Boyle must be Brian Boyle’s smarter cousin or it could just be a typo. Anyways, I don’t think that the Lightning are looking to deal for Davidson. Reason being, they have younger dmen who are equally as good, if not better AND they have three actual NHL defenders on the left side in Hedman, Garrison, and Coburn. Yes, Brandon Davidson can play the right side but even there Tampa has Stralman, Sustr, and Witkowski. One would have to argue if Davidson is better than Witkowski IF that was even an option. Jon Cooper likes his righty/lefty pairings on D. You can check out their organizational depth

You can check out their organizational depth here.

From an Oilers perspective, this would be a steal of a deal. Edmonton would get their BIG strapping centre who’s good on the dot, it would give them some more centre depth, and he’s very experienced playoff in the post-season. Being a 32-year old UFA at the end of the year wouldn’t worry them one bit.

From a Tampa Bay expansion perspective, the Lightning are a tad screwed. Stralman, Hedman, Garrison, and Coburn all have no-movement clauses and to add to that group on forward are Ryan Callahan, Valtteri Filppula, and Steven Stamkos. So that is 7 players they need to protect and automatically are forced into the 4-4-1 format for the expansion draft unless one or more of them agree to waive their clause. One of those players could do that this month and make Steve Yzerman’s job a bit easier too. In that scenario, MAYBE Davidson

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becomes a member of the Lightning.

So I call BS on Mr.Marshall’s “breaking news”.

Alex Thomas from the Oilers Rig also offered his take on this rumour here. Thomas’ coverage of the rumour is tight and worth a read but it’s this one sentence that irks me a bit.

Tampa Bay is in desperate need of young defenders

This is simply not true. If you look at the link above and check out their org. depth, you’ll see that of the left-handed defenseman in the Lightning’s pipeline that there are players like Slater Koekkoek, Dominek Masin, and Jonathan Racine playing in the AHL. We could add to them the Saskatoon Blades’ Libor Hajek. So they’re not “desperate” by any means. Could they get younger, YES! Coburn and Garrison are in the latter halves of their careers and not getting any faster.

I agree with Thomas, in that the Oiler should pull the trigger, I just don’t see it as realistic.

HULL OF A EFFORT

To NYI:Jordan Eberle (RW) & Kris Russell (D)

To EDM:Travis Hamonic (D) & Jaroslav Halak (G)

This is a fan proposal from Copper and Blue and if you can’t see the plethora of wrong in it already, we may have a problem, Houston.

The whole proposal is banking on the Oilers picking up a goal-scoring right winger. If the Oilers made this trade, and Hull certainly does a fine job trying to sell you on it, they’d be behind the 8-ball again. Just like in the summer when they traded Hall. I like the Hall trade more than ever now and perhaps that deal might not be viewed as trading from a bad position today but it really did in the summer and this is not the kind of place you want to be trading from because the other GMs will eat you alive.

They also get Kris Russell, who, I’ve been among the largest critics of, though I have always maintained he was a legitimate NHL Dman. Russell’s inclusion is a short-term plug for the hole left by the loss of Hamonic.

It’s not surprising to see Hull include Russell in such a proposal, his allegiance to Matt Henderson does nothing to help. But with that said, swapping Russell for Hamonic would be an upgrade for the Oilers and I’ve advocated for Halak being the Oilers backup before. Of course, my proposal was that the Oilers trade Pouliot for him… Not sure if that is any better than the above.

Is Travis Hamonic not a less skilled version of Adam Larsson though? I wanted to say grittier but Larsson has shown us this year that he’s no shrinking violet and he’s been consistently healthy (knock on wood). He also cost the team Taylor Hall. #ThePriceYouHaveToPay

Bottom line is, Hull makes a semi-compelling argument but the Oilers defense is performing fine, in fact, better than fine. According to NHL.com, the Oilers are 10th in the NHL in goals against. Last season the Oilers finished 27th…

So adding anything more than a Shattenkirk-type to aid the PP is redundant. Taking away from the RW with the “hopes” of adding to it is pie in the sky thinking. Are the Islanders in a position to be removing such a strong part of their defense in return for offense?

So adding anything more than a Shattenkirk-type to aid the PP is redundant. Taking away from the RW with the “hopes” of adding to it is pie in the sky thinking. Are the Islanders in a position to be removing such a strong part of their defense in return for offense?

I’d love to add Travis Hamonic and Jaro Halak to the team but in my opinion, take it for what you will, it doesn’t work without both teams making other moves first and that’s the kicker. It’s hard enough to make a trade in the NHL today but to have not just one team but two teams move multiple pieces around so they can make this one deal, it simply doesn’t fly.  I’d argue that the Islanders would rather add a player like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins anyhow and then restructure the roster to fit around a 1-2 Tavares/RNH punch.

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

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

Don’t Believe the Hype

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“THEY’RE TAKING CALLS OUT ON ALL THREE OF THE BIG BOYS. THEY’RE TAKING CALLS ON HALL” – Bob Stauffer, June 23rd Episode of Oilers Now

Lord tunderin’ Jebus! What in Sam’s living hell happened yesterday? PK Subban happened, that’s what. We’ve all been Subbanated. So instead of this draft being about Matthews and Laine, it’s going to be about where PK Subban is going, isn’t it? I’ll get into mythoughts on the Habs no.1 dman a little later. For now I want to talk about what Bob Stauffer was saying on yesterday’s Oilers Now.

 

DENNIS WIDEMAN

  • For the 2nd day in a row Stauffer talked about a Lauri Korpikoski/Dennis Wideman deal.
    • Wideman has had a couple of good seasons in the past and I guess that and the fact that he’s a right-handed shooter qualifies him to be a potential target for the Oilers.
    • Chiarelli did say he could go the “stop-gap” route on the short-term but geez, does anybody actually think that Wideman would be anything more than Nikita Niktin 2.0?
  • BS introduced us to the high-end, middle-end, low-end of what the Oilers could do with the hole on the right side of the defence.
    • High-End: PK Subban
    • Middle-End: Tyson Barrie/Travis Hamonic
    • Low-End: Dennis Wideman
      • Personally if the Oilers come to the point to where they’re picking off the low-end, I’d prefer they stick with what they have. Play Oesterle or Davidson on the RS and wait it out.

RIGHT SHOT DMAN RUMOURS

  • BS proposed the following trade ideas:
    • Leon Draisaitl, #4 overall, Fayne and another salary player (Korpikoski) for Subban
      • Why in the hell would Montreal do that? It’d basically boil down to Draisaitl and Dubois for Subban. Surely Fayne and Korpi would move on after the season. He’d get crucified if he made any deal that didn’t involve Hall or RNH.
        • Stauffer rejected any proposals from callers that included Hall and Nugent-Hopkins later on in the show. Was adamant that Draisaitl would need to be the centre-piece.
    • Draisaitl, #4 overall, Yakupov, and Fayne for Subban and Eller
      • Later he added Montreal’s 9th overall pick.
      • Money issues with this one for the Oilers I think.
    • BS proposed the hypothetical: What if the Oilers acquired Travis Hamonic AND Dennis Wideman this summer?
      • Bs said himself that Hamonic’s offense isn’t really there like it would be with Barrie (who he’s still claiming is very much available) but that would be a bit better than what the Oilers currently have now.
        • But for Hamonic, the Isles will want Hall and this is where Chiarelli has to say no.
        • What about Draisaitl for Hamonic? Or that being the base of the deal?
      • BS exclaimed that the Oilers would HAVE to listen of the Isles put together a really good package and talked about Josh Ho-Sang and Michael Dal Colle.
  • A 2-3% chance Subban gets moved proclaimed Stauffer.
    • I don’t see him getting moved. Any trade he makes for multiple pieces will set the Habs back unless a player like Hall is included. And likewise for Edmonton with Hall, they’ll lose any deal because his numbers won’t be able to be re-created in the aggregate.

OTHER MOVES

  • Would Winnipeg consider moving down?
    • Stauffer is under the impression that the Jets need another center and could the Oilers package something with the #4 to get the talks started with the Jets?
    • Bob McKenzie did send out a tweet that said Winnipeg might not be sold on Laine…
      • When Bobby Mac talks, you listen.
  • Florida Panthers’ UFA back-up Al Montoya came up
    • Bs fully expects the Oilers to entertain the idea of them signing a UFA goalie for $1.3M or less.
      • I dig it. Brossoit had some nice highlights but he’s not ready quite yet. One more season or less in Bakersfield and he should be good to go.
  • Does the Keith Yandle signing affect any notion of acquiring Kevin Shattenkirk or Jason Demers?
    • BS reckons the right-shooting defender is going to have to come via trade and doesn’t think that the Oilers can take on another 2nd pairing defenseman who makes $5.5M per year.
  • Tyler Bozak for Mark Faybe
    • BS said TOR is lacking RH’d dmen at the moment, they just game Kadri a bunch of cash and Auston Matthews is coming in but wasn’t sure if they’d take that deal.
    • He liked Bozak’s handedness, the secondary offence he’d bring and his ability on the faceoffs though.
  • Mark McNeill for Jujhar Khaira
    • Just a hypothetical from Stauffer illustrating that whoever acquired McNeill would have to be damned sure he’d make their team because he’s not waiver exempt but Khaira is.

Do you think that the Oilers could realistically add PK Subban AND Travis Hamonic? Or is that a bit too far-fetched at this point given we’re talking about the Oilers dealing Hall, Draisaitl, the 4th overall pick, Yakupov, Nugent-Hopkins, etc. 

MILAN LUCIC

  • Bob said if Milan is coming in, expect a money man on the left-side to go out “And I think you know who that’d be.”
  • $6 per year times six years gets it done in Stauffer’s mind and the scenario where the Oilers are signing Lucic, one of Hall or Pouliot are going and what better way to address the defence than with Hall?
    • So Hall or Leon goes out, Lucic and PK Subban come in. Does that not put what Garth Snow did by adding Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy to shame?

What do you think about all of these rumours? Do you believe any of them? Let me know in the comments below!

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Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Breaking News, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors

Taylor Hall Trade Whispers Louder Than Ever

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Taylor Hall was on point again versus the Pens.

The whispers of Taylor Hall are getting louder and louder as we get closer to the draft. Could it be posturing on Peter Chiarelli’s part or has the team finally come to the point that Hall is actually an expendable piece? I’ll admit and if you follow me on Twitter or visit her often, you’ll know I’m not one to bow down to the gord that is Taylor Hall. With that being said, I think he’s a fine FINE hockey player, just not my cup of tea.

Incarcerated Bob (@incarceratedbob) and Jimmy Murphy are twitter accounts introduced to me by Lowetide or else I would pay them the same attention as the other rumour accounts but if the Godfather says we should keep an eye on something from time to time, you do.

This added to the fact that Darren Dreger has been mentioning his name with a bit more frequency recently…

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/744896743116931072

https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/744901862139146241

The likelihood of Hall being moved has never been so real, in my eyes at least. Toss in the Milan Lucic to Edmonton rumblings. It sure looks like the Oilers are looking to change the look of this team if you listen to the media.

As for the destination, the Islanders seem like they’d be a very good fit for Hall. I can only imagine how he and John Tavares could tear up the Eastern Conference together. But what would be coming back?

The Return

For me, it’d have to include Travis Hamonic, a 1st rounder, Ryan Strome and a top-level prospect.

Lowetide has talked about Josh Ho-Sang previously but I’d be after Micheal Dal Colle, A big goal scoring LW out of the OHL; or Matt Barzal, a crafty Doug Weight-like pivot out of the WHL. I think I’d prefer Barzal because he was one of the last cuts from the roster in last year’s Islanders training camp AND most importantly, he’s right-handed. Boy, those righties are in hot demand.

What do you think about all of these Taylor Hall rumours going into the draft? Do you think the Oilers will actually move one of the best left-wingers in the league to shore up their defence? Let me know in the comments below!

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