Speculating from an Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest Edmonton Oilers news as well as the freshest NHL speculation featuring players such as Zdeno Chara, Dominik Kahun, Erik Haula, Kyle Palmieri, and many more!
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Here's a bet and someone hold me to it. If Jesse Puljujarvi is a half a point per game or better player for the #Oilers by the end of the first month of the season, I will buy his jersey.
— Tyson On Dolynny TV (@DolynnyTV) October 18, 2020
The News and Rumors
- Icethetics.com: The “fourth jersey” program rumored to be coming to the NHL just got a bit of life with the leak of some photos via an Indonesian eBay seller.
[icethetics] Penguins, Flyers ‘reverse retro’ jerseys apparently leak https://t.co/Jb1L2Teupp pic.twitter.com/2AUBxWvZIJ
— FNTSYHKY (@fntsyhky) October 19, 2020
BLH’s Thoughts: I do prefer the original black version of the Pens uniform but that Flyers jersey is really nice. I don’t know if it’s been reported or not but I guess every team is going to be getting a “retro” jersey next season. That’ll be a tidy little bit of revenue for the league…
Personally, I’d love to see a new special uniform every season from each team like they do in the European soccer leagues.
- Fluto Shinzawa (The Athletic): Zdeno Chara’s agent Matt Keator says they received multiple inquiries from other teams. They’re considering all options and are in no rush to make a decision yet.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’d love for Zdeno Chara to play one season for the Oilers. What a presence he’d provide in their dressing room. Even if he was playing part-time, he would be so valuable to have. But If I’m looking at if from his perspective, why would I move out of the Boston area. That’s where I’ve been for the last hundred years and my roots are firmly placed. What can Edmonton provide me at this point in my career that Boston or a team nearby can’t.
- Lance Hornby (Toronto Sun): Leafs GM Kyle Dubas doesn’t anticipate moving a contract out for cap purposes. They might play with the cap on a gameday by going with a minimal roster.
BLH’s Thoughts: This is interesting. I’ll be keeping my eye on this to see how it works out. It might be something more teams do in the future who are under some financial pressure. And who knows, maybe we see the elimination of the 4th line eventually.
- Pierre LeBrun (TSN): Erik Haula’s agent Jay Grossman: “Really we’ve probably talked to 10-12 teams with legitimate interest. We’re sorting through those options.”
- NJ Devils haven’t been shopping Kyle Palmieri. No meaningful contract talks yet, either though. “I think the priority right now is to try and sign him if possible.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Crikey! I totally forget about Erik Haula. How’d that happen?! I wonder if he heads back to Florida. They still need a 3rd line center.
- Jason Gregor (TSN1260): The Edmonton Oilers made an offer to Dominik Kahun, he was looking for more money so they re-signed Tyler Ennis instead. They may circle back to see if the price changes in the future.
BLH’s Thoughts: Was it also reported that Leon Draisaitl was kinda pissed Edmonton passed on him again?
Leon is an unique individual. He gets kinda emotional when things don’t go his way eh? Remember there was a bit of stink not too long ago about him playing with Connor and not on his own line? The Puljujarvi stuff…
I’ll make this prediction now, One of Connor McDavid and Draisaitl will finish their contracts with the Oilers, not both, and I’m thinking it’ll be the German that Edmonton eventually moves on from.
The way I see it, if Tampa offered Victor Hedman for Drai, I’d be all over that.
- Tracey Myers (NHL.com): San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson says young players need to step up to the next level. SJ need someone to compete for the top-six up front but he likes the defense.
BLH’s Thoughts: At this point for the Sharks, they don’t have many prospects who are ready to contribute in their top-six. They acquired Ryan Donato and he’s the closest I’d say. I don’t know the status of Jonathan Dahlen, but he was once a highly-touted forward and he’s not that young anymore (22yrs old), maybe that’s another player who could do it.
- Kurt Leavins (Cult of Hockey): Easy to argue that a need for a veteran right-shot defender still exists for the Edmonton Oilers. Enter (perhaps) free-agent defenceman Madison Bowey.”
BLH’s Thoughts: As we spoke about a couple of times in the last seven days. Adding Bowey provides more competition for Evan Bouchard. Next season will be a big test for Bouchard, if he can’t beat out Bowey for a place on the Oilers, they’ve already got Philip Broberg coming in… They might just deal him for immediate help and with all that cap space next season, maybe that’s the right thing to do. Add to that the defensive depth of the 2021 NHL draft. Those are a lot of pieces falling in line…
- Adrian Dater (Colorado Hockey NOW): The Pepsi Center (COL) is emerging as a potential candidate to be a host arena should the NHL decide to set up divisional bubbles next season.
BLH’s Thoughts: There won’t be any bubbles. The NHLPA will kaibosh that. Look at the other leagues and how they’re functioning. Some hiccups but the bubble won’t be required by the time the NHL gets going again.
The Oilers Talk
How do you think the Oilers will do in a Canadian division? Do you think they could finish in the top four? I’m on the fence.
I look at the upgrades Montreal has made (Allen, Toffoli, Anderson, re-signed Petry/Gallagher) and I think they’re going to be very competitive.
Toronto has added Joe Thornton, Zach Bogosian, Wayne Simmonds, TJ Brodie, Mikko Lehtonen, and Alexander Barabanov. So it looks like they’ve added some real sandpaper and experience to their high-end skill.
The Senators brought in Austin Watson, Evgeni Dadonov, Josh Brown, Erik Gudbranson, as well as drafted Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson. Plus they traded for Matt Murray. They look to have improved their team drastically or at the very least, made themselves very difficult to play against.
As for the other Canadian teams,
- Vancouver added Braden Holtby and Nate Schmidt.
- Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom went to Calgary.
- Winnipeg traded for Paul Stastny, re-signed Dylan DeMelo and signed a handful of fringe NHLers.
These teams haven’t done a whole lot but the Jets still have the league’s best goalie and a really good top-5 group of forwards, the Flames added the best goalie available and they’re top-9 forwards is very competitive, and Vancouver potentially added a very good one goalie. It depends on if Holtby can bounce back but their defense is mobile and their forward group as a whole is very hard to play against.
Now, the Oilers signed Kyle Turris, Tyson Barrie, Tyler Ennis, Jesse Puljujarvi, and brought back Mike Smith. They added more skill, more offense, but they lost a massive piece of their defense with Klefbom going down. They didn’t improve their goaltending either.
The other thing is, realistically, every signing won’t be a hit. So which one of the players that Ken Holland brought in will tank?
So this is my concern, the schedule is expected to be shorter and compacted, which teams are going to be able to withstand the intensity? Now, what if the Canadian teams are only allowed to play each other? That is going to result in some penalty-filled affairs and most likely a few more injuries.
Is next season going to come down to who has,
A) The healthiest/deepest roster.
B) The best goaltending.
C) The best defense.
The fact of the matter is for the Oilers to beat out Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary for a playoff spot in 2020-21, their defense is going to have to be impeccable. No sophomore slumps will be allowed. I’m not concerned about Edmonton’s scoring one bit. For me, the pressure is on the defense and if they can underpromise and over-deliver, I don’t have to worry about the goaltending because that’s my second concern.
Should either the defense or the goaltending falter, I’ll be ramping the draft coverage up early.
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