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 Patrick Kane, Alexander Barkov, Kyle Palmieri, and many more!
16-year-old Brad Lambert scores his first Finnish Liiga goal.
He’s a top prospect for the #2022NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/gqaw1xetHo
— Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) October 23, 2020
The News and Rumors
- Pierre LeBrun (TSN): If an extension between the NJ Devils and Kyle Palmieri can’t be done, expect him to be moved at the 2021 trade deadline.
BLH’s Thoughts: My feeling is that it would be a mistake to let Palmieri go. Jack Hughes and Nico Hischer need someone to finish on their team. They should really make him a priority unless they can convince another veteran goal-scoring winger to sign with them… A rebuilding team. #Overpay
- Ryan Szporer (The Hockey Writers): Montreal Canadiens defenceman Ben Chiarot is likely the odd man out for the Habs at the Seattle Kraken expansion draft next year.
BLH’s Thoughts: And there goes the Habs’ Stanley Cup chances… Look, if Chiarot is the guy Seattle goes for, they should be jumping for joy. They’ve got Edmundson, Weber, and Petry on that blueline for the foreseeable future. That’s not too shabby, if you ask me.
- Ian McNaughton (The Hockey Writers): The Detroit Red Wings should look at Andreas Athanasiou, Sami Vatanen, Anthony Duclair, and Derick Brassard.
BLH’s Thoughts: I can’t see Steve Yzerman going round two with Athanasiou. Duclair wouldn’t be a bad addition and Brassard/Vatanen would be good veteran additions. I don’t believe they’d earn them more wins over the personnel they had last year, but at this point, it’s all about bringing in high-character players who can help develop the next group of great Detroit Red Wings. Meaning Vatanen and Brassard, not Athanasiou and Duclair.
- Mark Lazerus (The Athletic): Patrick Kane isn’t going anywhere. One League source said, ‘”He wants to win, yeah, but he doesn’t want to go anywhere else. Maybe ever.'”
BLH’s Thoughts: If I remember correctly, this was the same prevailing message for all of Chicago’s big boys (Toews, Kane, Seabrook, and Keith). Whenever I read this sort of thing or hear it in the media, I always go back to what I’ve been told more often than not, things change. They change all of the time. Are you telling me if the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, or the Boston Bruins came calling with the right offer that Kane or Toews would say no?
- Eric Stephens (The Athletic): There doesn’t seem to be any doubt that GM Bob Murray wants the Ducks to make a playoff push. There’s a sincere attempt to upgrade the defense.
BLH’s Thoughts: The Ducks will be an interesting team next season. They’ve got some really nice young players pushing their way onto the big club and some that are already there that are taking the next step in their NHL Careers.
Sam Steel, Max Jones, Trevor Zegras, Isac Lundestrom, and Troy Terry are very promising forwards for the club and then when you look at their defense, with the signing of Stanley Cup champion Kevin Shattenkirk, their top-4 is really solid too. They have Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson in addition to Shattenkirk. What about their goalie, you ask? John Gibson, one of the best in the league.
Tack all those players on to high-end vets like Ryan Getzlaf, Jakob Silfverberg, Adam Henrique, and Rikard Rakell… Wow. Not that bad.
So, if there’s a wildcard in the whole league worth keeping an eye one, it might be Anaheim. Especially if they find a way to add another really good defender.
- Corey Pronman (The Athletic): NHL teams have been told they will not be allowed to scout live in-person during the upcoming 2021 World Juniors, which will be in the Edmonton bubble.
BLH’s Thoughts: If those airport COVID rapid tests are successful, we might see things change. I believe I read the airport in Calgary is already implementing them.
- Aamulehti.fi: Panthers captain Alexsander Barkov is seriously considering playing with Tappara (SM-Liiga), the club he’s a co-owner of, on loan until training camp.
BLH’s Thoughts: It’s funny, the whole “European beer league” talk has really died down since Jesse Puljujarvi re-signed in Edmonton and now that a big wave of NHLers and AHLers are playing over there.
FWIW, I think that Tappara has some of the nicest jerseys in the SM-Liiga.
#NHL #hockey Patrik Laine #29 Tappara https://t.co/48DoT7sZXf pic.twitter.com/sZO3yBJpji
— Hockey Motion (@hockey_motion) May 28, 2016
- Iain MacIntyre (Sportsnet): The Canucks are still trying to re-sign free agent forward Josh Leivo. The deal they just signed with Jake Virtanen will give Vancouver a 24hr buyout window this weekend.
BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t see them buying out Loui Eriksson, that would cost too much. But, Brandon Sutter ($4.375M) is a player that I wonder about. He’d be on their cap for two more years ($2.04M in yr 1 and $1.16M in yr 2) but the buyout would save the team over $1.1M in real money. It’s right here if you want to check out all the details.
- Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun): The belief is if Sens GM Pierre Dorion could make a trade for another forward he would.
BLH’s Thoughts: Okay… What is this team trying to do? I mean, what is the organizational plan here? Are they looking to compete in 2020-21? They have players like Josh Norris, Alex Formenton, Drake Batherson, and a handful of bottom-sixers looking to make the club too. What kind of deal would they be after?
- Mike Chambers (Denver Post): The Avs need to add another defenseman and a physical veteran depth forward to add some toughness to their checking lines.
BLH’s Thoughts: Yup. I think this would be a good plan. There’s nothing wrong with adding some durability and sandpaper to the bottom-end of that lineup just the same way that Tampa did with Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn.
- Claude Julien (via Sportsnet): “It’s not so much that it didn’t work out [with Domi in Montreal]. Sometimes this is what hockey’s all about — you end up with a situation where now Max became I guess a little bit expendable, because we had those guys do so well, and at the same time, we’re able to get a big player that we really needed on the wing in Josh Anderson in exchange for him.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Man, no wonder the guy wanted out. Personally, I think the Canadiens are playing with fire here. How many times have we seen young players have a good handful of games only to cool right off down the road. Domi is a proven NHL forward and to me, it sounds like the coach didn’t really have time for him and got lucky with some good performances from a couple of younger (cheaper) players.
Here’s to hoping we see a Blue Jackets/Canadiens playoff matchup sometime soon.
The Oilers Talk
One thing that came across my mind is all the game time that is getting pilfered from Connor McDavid’s prime. Between injuries and pandemics, how many career points is he missing out on here? I mean, to me, there are two current NHLers who could break one of Wayne Gretzky’s records; McDavid and Alex Ovechkin. I’m just concerned that with all these cancelled games neither of them will actually get around to doing it.
Unless…
Ovie decides that the all-time goals record is priority and leaves Washington as an unrestricted free agent next season to join Connor and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton where the three of them will wreak havoc on the NHL’s scoring charts.
Now, before you roll your eyes at this, just remember that Brett Hull and Wayne Gretzky once played together.
It wasn’t amazing but nevertheless, it happened.
OH! And remember the time Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne signed for a year with the Colorado Avalanche when they were one of the best teams in the league?
That’s probably not a great example either…
YOU GET THE POINT! Never say never!
Haha. Have a good day folks!
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