Tag Archives: Tyson Barrie

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

Oilers Trade Targets: A Goalie, A Defenseman, and a Winger

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https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/964284963569909761

First things first, Dreger didn’t get all of that from Chiarelli. Either someone within the Oilers organization above Chiarelli leaked it, Dreger is making it up, or one of the other GMs is trying to throw a wrench into Trader Pete’s deadline/summer plans.

Secondly, why would the Oilers want a winger who can skate WITH Connor? It’s not like you see tandems breaking out of the d-zone into the neutral zone and then into the other team’s end together.

I feel the type of player the Oilers are looking for is a trigger man, not a speedster because if that was the case, why wouldn’t they have gone out and traded for Carl Hagelin when he was struggling like mad earlier in the year? Why wouldn’t they have picked up Nikita Soshnikov before TO traded him to the Blues.

They need a guy who knows where to go on the ice while Connor has the puck in order to get himself open for a one-timer.

If not this kind of winger then a winger who is quick. Personally, I don’t think they need to go out and get one. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is right there and alternatively, Anton Slepyshev is here too and if he didn’t feel slighted by how he’s been treated by the Oilers this year, he might be a cheap re-signing too.

But if we’re going outside the organization, I feel like Mike Hoffman is the perfect winger for the Oilers here. TSN’s Travis Yost feels like Swapping RNH for Hoffman would be beneficial for both teams.

I could see it but I always thought you never trade a centre for a winger…

But what if the Oilers send Kris Russell w/salary retained (remember contrary to what Capfriendly says, the first two years of his deal lack any clauses, only the final two seasons or at least that’s what I’m lead to believe from the MSM reporting on his contract and Spotrac’s website) and say Jesse Puljujarvi to Ottawa for Hoffman.

The Sens are looking to rebuild, the Oilers are looking to upgrade whilst opening cap space and even if I am wrong about Russell’s first two years having no clauses, a simple request is all it takes. If Ottawa truly wants to tear it down, would having Russell on defense help or hinder that goal?

Don’t get me wrong here, I do NOT want Jesse Puljujarvi traded. I love that kid more than Oilersnation loves anti-Chiarelli rallies. I’m just thinking out loud here and trying to work around trading Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Oscar Klefbom to Ottawa. I do feel like, despite Pulju’s young age, he shouldn’t be fading as the season goes on but this is his first real pro season. Plus I’m thinking the coaches are higher on Yamamoto than Pulju.

Again, I’m not advocating for the trading of Puljujarvi. Having him and Yamamoto on the RW for the next 5 years would please me to no end but how else do you satisfy Ottawa’s needs w/o moving RNH, Klefbom, or this year’s 1st rounder.

Another name on my list is David Perron. Not the fastest but draws penalties, is irritating as well and had his best pro season as an Edmonton Oiler in his previous stint with the club.

Thirdly, the defenseman that Oilers are looking for will have to have some puck skills. I think they one they’ve got the best shot at is Rasmus Dahlin at the moment. Not even joking.

But if we were to look at the pro roster, the Oilers have to send someone out before bringing in another because the D corps. is simply too crowded and I’d prefer to see them bring back Davidson and Auvitu too.

At the moment the D looks like this:

Klefbom/Larsson
Nurse/Benning
Russell/Sekera
Davidson, Auvitu, Lowe

Which defender might that be? I mentioned Kris Russell before but the word I’m getting is that it’s Oscar Klefbom. Management/Coaching aren’t happy with his progression or lack thereof, this year. They’re pissed that he can’t stay healthy. So, they’re listening to offers on him which is a far cry from offering him out. Let’s make that distinction clear right now.

I’d love for the Oilers to bring in Mike Green because I value his veteran experience as well as his RH’d shot, and his offensive eye for the game.

A player few might consider is Chris Wideman out of Ottawa. He’s a UFA this summer, he’s 28 years old and he’s also RH’d. Not a big guy but he can skate well and move the puck well. Before going down with an injury this year he had 8pts in 16 games. So he was definitely on pace (#OnPace) for a career year. He’s making 800k this year.

Tyson Barrie will be the name on the market connected to the Oilers from now until he’s moved and his cost is pretty high. Meaning RNH is probably the ask and I really want to avoid breaking up the 3-headed menace down the middle for Edmonton.

So how would you feel if the D looked like this:

Nurse/Larsson
Sekera/Barrie
Russell/Davidson
Auvitu or Wideman (I’d prefer both)

That means Benning and Klefbom would be moved on.

Fourthly, we’re looking for a goalie to compete with Talbot aka we’re afraid that Talbot might shit the bed again next year and we want to go with a 1A and 1B in the nets.

David Staples and Bruce McCurdy have brought up a good point in that perhaps the Oilers WILL need another goalie in addition to Talbot and Montoya and that Montoya should go to the minors in case of emergency next season.

The problem I have with that is, do you simply let the goalies you’ve paid to develop all these years walk away? Not that I think that Brossoit and Ellis are ready but the question still remains.

Here are a handful of UFA goalies who are putting up acceptable numbers this season:

  • Carter Hutton – STL – (15-5-3, 1.81 GAA, .940%) – Does STL move him or Allen?
  • Jonathan Bernier – COL –  (17-10-2, 2.74 GAA, 916%) – $2.75M per… Pricey!
  • Aaron Dell – SJ – (14-4-2, 2.51 GAA, 917%) – The New Cam Talbot?
  • Antti Raanta – ARI – (11-14-0, 2.53 GAA, 920%) – Maybe should’ve acquired him last year…
  • Anton Khudobin – BOS – (12-3-1, 2.32 GAA, 925%) – Chiarelli would be familiar with the little Russian.
  • Michael Hutchinson – WPG – (1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, 958%) – Rumors earlier in the year had connected the Oilers and Hutchinson.

I fancy either Carter Hutton or Anton Khudobin for the 1B position because they’re a bit older and I value experience. But would Antti Raanta be the guy who’d push Talbot a bit more for that no.1 spot? Hutchinson is a beauty too though.

Tough call! Hutchinson and Khudobin have history with Chiarelli though, so there’s that.

A couple of wild cards might be Curtis McElhinney (TOR) and Kari Lehtonen (DAL) if you’re like me and prefer experienced goalies. These two tenders’ contracts expire after next season. The Leafs have Garrett Sparks and Calvin Pickard on their AHL team right now and I’d like to think that one of them will be the back-up next season. I don’t see Lehtonen getting paid $5M per season ever again nor do I see him being a starting goalie again.

Is it even possible for the Oilers to start the 2018/19 season with the following roster?

Hoffman/McDavid/Slepyshev
Lucic/Draisaitl/Yamamoto
Caggiula/Khaira/Strome
Pakarinen/Beagle/Kassian

Nurse/Larsson
Klefbom/Barrie
Sekera/Wideman
Davidson

Talbot
Raanta

It seems like we’ve just moved the chairs around on the deck a bit, no?

I’ll leave you with one last thought here. Look at that lineup above, now add one of Rasmus Dahlin, Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Zadina, Brady Tkachuk, or Adam Boqvist.

How does it look now?

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Oilers Rumors: Friedman on Phaneuf, Hamonic, Barrie, Eberle, and Vegas!

Our favorite insider Elliotte Friedman did his usual spot on Oilers NOW! with Brendan Ullrich yesterday morning and hit on a number of topics regarding the Oilers and what they might be doing before the roster freeze later today.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES EBERLE GETS DEALT BEFORE THE ROSTER FREEZE?

EF: I think pretty decent. I don’t think there’s any doubt they’re going to try very hard. Peter is in the cone of silence about it. I tried to ask him a few questions about things that I was hearing and he was very polite about it and said, “Look, I’m just not going to talk to you about it right now.”

I think he’s really trying to get something done. I’m sure for Eberle too he’s sitting there saying, “I hope this ends sometime.” because he’s probably tired of the whole sage as well. 

I think if it’s up to Peter Chiarelli to get something done, he will. I think he’s really going to try.

SOME OF THE OFFERS CHIARELLI IS LOOKING AT

EF: I don’t know about the offers. I can’t tell you exactly on that. I think also too, the league is really trying hard to get the salary cap sorted out today. There have been reports today and John Shannon is one of the ones reporting it, the players are voting on a $75M cap and that is something that could have a direct influence on what some of these teams are looking at and what they’re going to be able to do. So I think that’s a factor in just about everything that these teams are talking about. 

I’m sure the Islanders are there, Colorado’s there, I always think there’s somebody there that maybe we don’t think about. That there’s a team there that we haven’t considered or you haven’t heard about. I would generally believe that that’s the case. 

I’ve said a couple of times now, I don’t know what to make of the whole Islanders situation. That quite simply when Kelly Buchberger was with Jordan Eberle, I know they butted heads sometimes. I don’t know if that’s a big deal or not and that means the Islanders are or aren’t interested. But I know a lot of people around Edmonton, they really think that the Islanders are the team, I can’t tell you that’s true one way or another.

I’ve always wondered if a team like Carolina could be involved but I don’t think they are. In that particular situation, I always wonder because they’re looking for offense.

THE ISLANDERS AND EBERLE

EF: From what I hear on Hamonic, the price is really high. I wonder if it’s higher than Eberle to be perfectly honest…

(It should be, given Hall was offered for Hamonic last summer.)

I don’t know if Hamonic is going to get it done unless there’s more to it than that. 

I mentioned a while ago that during the World Championships that Detroit was really looking at De Haan and he played pretty well there. And then someone said to me that after he played there, the Islanders might want to keep De Haan and maybe it’s Hamonic that Detroit goes for and I just heard that the price on Hamonic is really high. I think that’s more than what Eberle is and I think also, don’t forget, you talk about Edmonton and the choices you have to make with your cap with Draisaitl and McDavid, the Islanders have to do Tavares and I think everything that they do is going to be about Tavares. So, I just wonder if that’s a move they want to make. Hamonic’s on a great contract too. 

Don’t forget last year one of the reasons that Hall for Larsson was 1-for-1 was Edmonton was saving, what, $1.8M on the cap. So I think everything gets done, Hamonic makes less than Eberle but is a more impactful player at this point in his career. I’m not sure that that’s going to do it. I think that if it’s Eberle going to the Islanders, either it’s going to be more than him or there’s going to be something else involved. 

So I’m not convinced that that’s the deal that’s going to get made. 

COLORADO DEAL?

EF: I think there’s a lot in Colorado. I think there’s Tyson Barrie. Tyson Barrie is available in a pure hockey deal. That’s what I was told and I know Tyson Barrie, I’ve written about this before, he got injured at the World Championships, and I know teams were really disappointed because I know there were teams that wanted to watch him there. 

I think that Colorado is willing to do that but it’s got to be a hockey deal.

Now, you know what? Maybe that’s Eberle but I don’t know. I can’t say yes or no but I do think there is something that could get done there too. 

(That’s four insiders in a week, McKenzie, Stauffer, Rishaug, and Friedman; three in one day mind you, that have mentioned Barrie and the Oilers. Why is everyone focused on Hamonic still?)

HOW ABOUT THAT MATHESON TWEET?

EF: Are you talking about this Eakin for Eberle rumor? I kinda looked into it and I was kinda told it probably wasn’t going to happen. So my inclination is to say right now that’s a no. That particular deal.

(Friedman says “that particular deal” which tells me there’s another deal(s) on the table he’s away of… Wonder what that could be? Nichushkin?)

WOULD VEGAS OR ST.LOUIS BE AN OPTION FOR EBERLE?

EF: I think Vegas is going to have trouble finding scoring. I could see that and if I were a player, I’d want to go there. You know Fleury is going to be there. Initially, I think teams were hoping Fleury was going to get flipped out of Vegas but I don’t think that’s happening anymore. I think he’s staying. So, immediately you’ve got a player there that a lot of players would like to play with and a good goalie. 

To me, if I was Vegas, I would take a long look at Eberle. Simply because I see a team there that is going to need scoring and you know what? Maybe he’s a perfect fit for that. I don’t have any problem with a Jordan Eberle in Vegas and you know I’ve always felt that St.Louis is a team that could use offense but I don’t know if they’re in on him or not. 

I think the biggest question with Vegas is how many guys that are drafting and keeping?

Let’s say for argument’s sake they take Marc Methot from Ottawa, are they keeping that guy? Because I think there’d be a stampede from teams wanting him.

(Methot for Eberle?)

JJ

EF: I think one of two things are going to happen, either he’s going to get snapped up in the expansion draft or he’s going to be playing for Edmonton because that contract is a one-way. That says to me that he’s going to be playing in Edmonton next year if not picked up by Vegas. 

DOUBLE DION COMING TO TOWN?

EF: I think he would go there (Edmonton). I think the tough thing is, even if you get Phaneuf at $5M as opposed to $7M, that’s going to be a tough squeeze for you guys. 

Unless it makes sense from a point of view where Ottawa takes something off of Edmonton’s hands money-wise. I don’t know if that makes a lot of sense. 

It’ll be interesting though, Phaneuf is more of a grinder than a speedster, and you play in the one division where Anaheim’s a real grinding team, the Kings are a real grinding team, Calgary’s more of a speed team than a grinding team. If you look at the top teams in your division, you’ve got some real grinders there. Even San Jose, they can really grind with ya too. 

Phaneuf actually could make some sense in the Pacific division. That would just have to be a deal that would make a lot of sense to me financially before I’d believe Edmonton was going to do it. 

There are teams out there that worry more about term than they do about money and if you could get Russell for three years, would you take that over Phaneuf at four? I think you probably would. 

(Phaneuf has always interested me since his days in Calgary and I like Friedman’s point about the grinding teams. See, Phaneuf is very much in the Kadri/Bieksa role in that he’ll annoy players physically but he won’t engage them. If he could be had for a lower price-point, I would support that move.)

HENDERSON’S FAVORITE PLAYER

EF: I’m going to guess that those two guys have a pretty good idea of what’s going on there, the Oilers and the agent, I’m sure they knew before he even signed last year. 

(Russell is going to have some better offers this summer. He showed that he is a fine defenseman when played in his wheelhouse and with the right support. I wouldn’t be surprised if Calgary or Toronto took a run at him or if Boston wheeled back with another offer.)

If Travis Hamonic gets traded, and I think it’s possible he does, that’s a big trade. Whoever gets him is going to hurt a bit. They’re going to be happy to get Hamonic but they’re going to give up a lot. 

Listen to the whole interview right below!

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Lowetide’s Defensive Targets

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Below is a list of targets our beloved Lowetide has come up with (Here’s the link). Now, I’ve been wanting to comment on something like this for a while now but my time is split between running around Taipei for work and my two young children at home, I haven’t had the chance. So I’d like to use Lowetide’s list and comment on each player because if anyone has their eye’s on the ball regarding the Oilers, it’s LT.

RD Josh Manson, Anaheim Ducks. A dream solution to 2RHD.

– Perfect dman for the Oilers right now. I agree with LT here. He’s as mean as his old man but doesn’t quite have the shot. Skates better and is a tad smarter though. Fearless.

RD Radko Gudas, Philadelphia Flyers. Duck killer, if acquired.

– Some might be scared off by his previous run-ins with player safety but he’d neutralize any threats from the opposition and be a mentor to someone like Darnell Nurse and Matt Benning. This guy is an absolute tank and his shot may very well be one of the hardest in the league. Players get hurt when he takes the ice one way or the other.

RD Alex Petrovic, Florida Panthers. Rugged D, good possession numbers.

– I’m not as sold on Petrovic as LT. He’s only okay to me. Kris Russell was a better defender with worse possession numbers for Edmonton in my opinion. There are better players out there and yeah, he’ll drop the gloves but he’s not a great scrapper.

RD Travis Hamonic, NY Islanders. A rumored target.

– Hottest rumor out there has Hamonic coming in for Eberle but I can’t see it. He’s better than De Haan I reckon but isn’t as consistent as of recent. The Isles would be better off finding a way to keep him but if Edmonton could get him, he’d be right up there with Manson as a very nice piece to add to the Oilers puzzle.

RD Mark Pysyk, Florida Panthers. Panthers young and emerging blue.

– Bob Green must be salivating at the thought of reuniting Griffin Reinhart and Mark Pysyk. Not only that but seeing as Reinhart looks to be the hill that Peter Chiarelli will die on these days, I’m sure he’d also be okay with him coming to Edmonton and attempting to re-animate that old Edmonton Oil Kings partnership. Is he a 2nd pairing dman though? Griffin sure isn’t.

RD Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes. He brings a lot of offense, bigger ask obvious.

– Is Faulk a better version of Justin Schultz? As LT says, he brings a lot of offense but he hemorrhages chances defensively and is that the kind of player you want partnering up with Kris Russell next season if KR were to be re-signed?

RD Kevin Shattenkirk FREE AGENT (80gp, 13-43-56). One year at big coin?

– Boy, that is a big ticket for one year. That being said, it’s a great opportunity for both parties to hit a home run as it’s well known Shattenkirk would like to be beamed up to the Rangers and New York needs to rid itself of one of Marc Staal or Dan Girardi before stumping up for Shattenkirk. And the Oilers could use the year to rip up the league offensively before McDavid’s new contract kicks in and that would also give them a year to find a replacement for Shattenkirk internally or externally.

RD Sami  Vatanen, Anaheim Ducks. Talented, inconsistent.

– Apparently, the teams are lining up for this Finnish defender even though he won’t be ready for the beginning of next season. I like him but man, coming back from that shoulder surgery will be hard. I can’t see him being as effective until the 2019 season. Not worth it to me.

RD Jason Demers, Florida Panthers. Veteran D visited Edmonton as UFA last summer.

– Honestly, I think that Matt Benning can do an equal-to-better job than Demers and he’s a helluva lot cheaper.

LD Kris Russell FREE AGENT. GM and coach like him, good chance he’ll return.

– I dig Russell but not at $4Mx4. Anything over $3M is an overpayment in my opinion.

RD David Savard, Columbus. Rarely mentioned but an interesting option.

– Really emerged this season on the Blue Jackets’ blue line. Very much an all-round defender but I think the Oilers are looking for somebody with a bit more offensive flair.

RD Matt Dumba, Minnesota Wild. Power play option, chaos in his game.

– Dumba isn’t a puck rusher like a Kris Letang but he’s got a cannon like Ryan Ellis. He hits like Scott Stevens but he defends a bit better than Justin Schultz. So plainly put, he has his pluses but the warts are pretty apparent too.

LD Ryan Murray, Columbus Blue Jackets. Doesn’t seem a fit.

– That’s a good summary of Murray from LT. Is he better or worse than Kris Russell in your opinion?

RD Cody Franson FREE AGENT. His fancy stats: Out of the blue and into the black.

– I reckon I heard Jason Gregor talking about how Franson has trouble pivoting and is Marshmellow Man soft…

RD Tyson Barrie, Colorado Avalanche. He had a poor year, but has talent.

– His price point is up there at $5.5M per year and he really is chaos defensively but he puts up the points and he doesn’t take shit from anybody. Just ask Pat Maroon. Could cost the Oilers dear to acquire him.

LD Brian Campbell FREE AGENT (80gp, 5-12-17). The man can still wheel.

– I like this option because it could be very helpful to the Oilers salary cap. I don’t think he’d cost very much, he’s a veteran (which I think the Oilers could use more of), and as LT says, he can still skate. Think of him as a 2006 Bret Hedican type.

LD Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins. Played over 23 minutes a game this past season.

– On the last year of his deal, making $4M, still plays a beastly game. I really believe he’d make a positive impact of the Oilers could get him. That said, the relationship between Boston and Chiarelli since his firing has been frosty at best.

RD Michael Stone FREE AGENT (64gp, 3-12-15). Last chance Texaco.

– He’s going to get the same kind of money that Kris Russell is going for, isn’t he? I don’t like it long-term. The Oilers need more offense in a defenseman for that kind of money on the 2nd pairing.

There are a couple names I believe Lowetide failed to mention, one being Jacob Trouba. I think he’d fit in well in Edmonton and surely that trade demand out of Winnipeg is still lingering.  The other being Noah Hanifin.

Don’t ask me why Ron Francis would even entertain the notion of dealing him. Maybe they reckon he’s going to ask for a pretty penny once his entry-level contract is up and they like Slavvin and Pesce in the long run a bit better. And with the likes of Roland McKeown, Hadyn Fleury, Jake Bean, and Klaus Dahlbeck coming up, perhaps they feel they could really cash in on him…

If that really is the case, I’d be happy to send Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to Carolina for Hanifin. I’d add to that to make it happen too. Noah Hanifin is a better version of Seth Jones and we saw how well he’s turned out for Columbus.

If I had to choose a top 5 out of the list of Lowetide’s above who I think the Oilers are after, I’d go with this:

  1. Kevin Shattenkirk
  2. Travis Hamonic
  3. Tyson Barrie
  4. Matt Dumba
  5. Justin Faulk

My top 5 would be different:

  1. Josh Manson
  2. Radko Gudas
  3. Travis Hamonic
  4. Tyson Barrie
  5. Zdeno Chara

Which dmen would you like to see the Oilers pursue? Are there any on Lowetide’s list above you wouldn’t tough with Zdeno Chara’s stick? Let us know in the comments below!

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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!

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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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