The day has finally come everyone. The day where every faction of the Edmonton Oilers fanbase can come together as one glorious fanbase and… Treat it like any other day in the Oilogosphere by arguing about what moves Peter Chiarelli made or didn’t make… SMH…
Anyways, it’s draft day, one of MY favorite times of the year as a hockey fan. I don’t know about you but it has actually combined two of my favorite times into one, the trade deadline and the draft. As a person who enjoys the Oilers as a form of entertainment and not as an extension of my personal self-worth, reading rumor blogs and following insiders leading up to this day is about as good as it gets.
I’ll post twice today before the draft. This one will be re: rumors going into the draft and the next one will be an Oilers mock draft using the ISS hockey scouting service’s draft list.
I should tell you that I’ll be joining Mike from Oilers.live, Sean from theoilknight.com, and The Dirtbag for a LIVE podcast during the first round of the draft later today. If that interests you, you can head over to Mike’s website and there’ll be a link you can click to listen to us hosers flap our gums about the Oilers.
THE AVAIL
Peter Chiarelli held his pre-draft avail yesterday and told us nothing that we didn’t already know. The 10th overall is in play for the right player. If it isn’t used they’ll use it on the BPA (best player available). He’s not talking about Milan Lucic’s trade request. Eric Gryba was bought out because they didn’t think he’d play for the Oilers and they wanted to give him an opportunity to seek employment elsewhere.
Am I missing anything?
I know in a world where compassion is sometimes forgotten perhaps the Oilers were just letting Gryba go. Had no trade value and decided to eat the 300,000 for 2 years.
— Heather Marginet (@margih99) June 21, 2018
Anybody in any hockey-mad community knows that it’s a small one and that acts such as this one with Chiarelli and Gryba don’t go unnoticed. Other players will see this and remember it. I think it’s a positive light on Chiarelli. They weighed the options and decided to do it. If Chiarelli gets fired for 600k spent over two years, he never really had the job to begin with.
Things we should be talking about:
– McDavid b2b Art Ross and Lindsay
– The draft
Things we shouldn’t be talking about:
– Old trades
— BagDirt (@DirtbagDonny) June 22, 2018
Bob Stauffer said that the Oilers should have between 46 and 48 spots filled on the 50-man roster when all is said and done. So that leaves a few spots for trades, waiver claims, and NCAA free agents when the time comes.
RUMORS GOING INTO TONIGHT’S DRAFT
The MSM insiders have been talking Oilers since the day the regular season ended but more recently this is what they’ve been saying.
- Rishaug said that there are teams inquiring about Nuge’s services.
- Friedman has said that the Oilers are in on Parayko.
- McKenzie says the Oilers first rounder is definitely in play.
- LeBrun has talked about Lucic’s availability.
- Matheson has tossed out Julius Honka’s name on multiple occasions.
- Dreger did some Rishaug-ing of his own connecting Hanifin and the Oilers.
- Stauffer has a been throwing Ryan Ellis’ name out for a good two weeks.
The amateur insiders have also been filling websites with words about possible moves the Oilers will be making
- Eklund has the Oilers talking to both the Senators about Karlsson and the Flyers about Simmonds.
- Marshall has 6 teams in on the Oilers first rounder (NSH, CAR, CGY, COL, MIN, NYR).
- Treenas Oil has popped up with tweets about the Oilers and Habs on more than one occasion. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins being the piece of interest for Montreal obviously.
So make of it what you will. It’s called silly season for a reason. It’s obvious that Peter Chiarelli is on the hunt for that defenseman that will help on the PP. With names like Krug, Ellis, Ristolainen, Hamilton, Barrie, Faulk, etc. coming up over and over in my Twitter TL. My only hope is that whatever they do, don’t trade Puljujarvi, Nuge, Drai, or the 10th overall. Deal next year’s picks, Yamamoto, Bear, Jones, or whoever but this year’s draft crop for the Oilers is very important in my opinion.
I’d be very comfortable with them trading Kailer Yamamoto though. I feel that Puljujarvi has the higher ceiling and if the Oilers would like to move a blue-chip piece to get better right now, Yamamoto is the guy they should move.
The wingers that have been discussed as trade targets for the Oilers (Pacioretty, Simmonds, Skinner, etc) are all players that are one season from UFA. Do you think that the Oilers would be willing to sacrifice the long-term future of the club to acquire one of those players?
Peter Chiarelli HAS to walk the tight rope carefully this year. I’m pretty nervous to be honest. I don’t want them to cut into the core of the offense to improve the D. I’d rather they move on from Klefbom if they’re going to use a young player.
I do wonder however if they’d be willing to trade Klefbom and the 10th overall to move up. That would free up cap room and roster space and allow them to pick a player (anyone rated that high will do for me but I’d like Quinn Hughes) they covet. Maybe Arizona cuts that deal.
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