December 18, 2019 /

2019/20 Edmonton Oilers GM37: Oilers @ Blues – 3P2W PLUS The Latest Oilers Trade Targets

Have you ever sat down and watched the original Wizard of Oz movie with Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” synced to it? I’ve done it a couple of times but not whilst writing an Edmonton Oilers post. I’m curious where it might take me or rather, where it might take us.

Tonight the Oilers will take on the Champs in St. Louis and it looks like it might take Hell freezing over for Edmonton to leave Missouri with any points, but I want to point out that the Blues are having a bit of an injury crisis. I’m going to list out the players that are banged up for St. Louis and by the end I’m hoping you can tell me what most of them have in common.

  • Carl Gunnarsson (D)
  • Ivan Barbashev (W)
  • Sammy Blais (W)
  • Vlad Tarasenko (W)

Having the first three names out of St. Louis’ lineup means a significant amount of sandpaper will be watching this one from home or the press box and that might play into Edmonton’s hands perfectly. Not that the Oilers require their opposition to be Dairy Queen soft serve in order for them to win. Did you see how hard Dallas played them two nights ago? All I’m saying is that we might see more of a skill game instead of the big boy hockey that won St. Louis the Cup last year (along with some epically hot goaltending…).

*WofO/Pink Floyd Update: Dorothy just landed in Munchkin land and opened the doors from her home and the cash register tones from “Money” greeted her and the yellow brick road. Very cool.  

The Hallout: Where the Oilers Will Turn Next

It’s been done. Hall is back in the Pacific and nobody is smiling more than Drew Doughty…

The return for Hall was pretty atrocious in my opinion, but people tell me times are changing. Kevin Bahl, Nick Merkley, Nate Schnarr, and a couple of draft picks sounds like a lot of hoping and wishing. There are rumors that Florida had Vincent Trocheck on the table and NJ passed… Brutal.

I don’t think Bahl will be anything more than a bottom-pairing defender and at best he’ll be Jamie Oleksiak. No disrespect to Oleksiak, but I feel like these sort of dmen could be had for cheaper. He’s turning heads because he’s having a good year in the OHL, but he should be. He’s 6’7″ and towers over everyone. He’s simply too strong for his opposition to stop him. Merkley is the equivalent of Cooper Marody and like the Condor, I doubt Merkely makes it to the NHL for any extended period of time. He’s had a real issue getting traction in Tuscon for Arizona’s farm team and staying healthy has been a big problem for him. Nate Schnarr had a good final year of junior when the team loaded up for the Memorial Cup. The two seasons prior he barely cracked the 30pt mark. A couple of draft picks later in their respective rounds (1st and 3rd or first if Arizona signs Hall AND makes it past the first round of the playoffs this year) aren’t really anything to get giddy about unless John Chayka plans on using them to open up cap space for next season as they have just over $1.6M available and only 15 players under contract on their current roster…

In my opinion, they need to get an asset that would’ve impacted their roster short term in this deal and Ray Shero decided against it. I always thought that Shero would be able to get more for Hall than he gave up for him but that’s not the case. Adam Larsson has been a top-pairing defender for the Oilers over the last three seasons and I don’t mean top-pairing because that’s where he plays. I mean overall. His fancy stats over that time frame put him in the top-60 of multiple “relative” categories of NHL defenders who’ve played 2000 minutes or more at 5×5. Metrics like CF%, FF%, xGF%, HDCF%, etc.

Check out all of the metrics here.

Now, the Edmonton Oilers will turn their attention to Jean Gabriel Pageau. There’s no doubt in my mind that they want him badly. Now whether that will be as a rental or as a trade and sign remains to be seen. Bob Stauffer said on Oilers Now yesterday that the Senators key man is looking for $5M per year. That’s a solid hike in pay from the $3M he’s making now but he’s only 27 years old and he’s sort of exactly what the Oilers need in their lineup, an elite utility man.

Actually, Ottawa has a few nice players that I think would benefit Edmonton. Anthony Duclair is having himself a helluva season (19 goals so far!) and he’s got wheels to burn. Connor Brown is another mid-20s winger that would offer the Oilers some size and scoring touch on the wings.

Of the three Sens forwards, I’d say Brown would be the cheapest, Pageau the most impactful, and Duclair the wildcard. If you’re Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion though, wouldn’t you want to re-up all three players? You can’t be gutting the team every year, right? And consider the fact that they have their own first-round pick, as well as San Jose’s and the Sharks are trending down down down. Could you imagine the Senators hitting the “lottery” with both and drafting Alexis Lafreniere in addition to Quinton Byfield?

Other options for Edmonton to keep an eye on are Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell, Detroit’s Andreas Athanasiou, Chris Kreider from the Rangers, Nick Bonino, Mikael Granlund, and Craig Smith from Nashville, and lastly, Kyle Palmieri and Sami Vatanen out of New Jersey.

The magnifying glass is on Mike Smith to boot. If he continues to underperform, Ken Holland will not hesitate to rectify that should the Oilers be in a solid position to make the playoffs.

The Next Ten Games (31-40)

  • vs. LA Kings (11-16-2) – A pissed off Oilers team will make short order of the Kings in this rubber match. (WIN) WIN
  • vs. Buffalo Sabres (13-10-5) – No Dahlin for Buffalo but Jack Eichel is on a tear. Captain Jack will get his points but his team will not. (WIN) OT LOSS
  • vs. Carolina Hurricanes (16-11-1) – Carolina is too deep for this Oilers team plus Andrei Svechnikov is making a mockery of the NHL as a 19-year-old. (LOSS) LOSS
  • @ Minnesota Wild (13-11-4) – The Oilers seem to have trouble against teams like this for whatever reason. Immaturity in the club maybe? (LOSS) LOSS
  • vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (13-13-4) – The Leafs defense is soft like a Wendy’s Frosty but they’ve got the kind of offense that could really tear open the Oilers. It’s a toss-up for me but I’ll say Edmonton takes it. (WIN) LOSS
  • @ Dallas Stars (15-11-3) – Tough match-up for Edmonton here. Dallas already beat them once this year but that was when they were struggling. Now that they’re playing well, will the Oilers’ mindset going into this one be different? (WIN) WIN
  • @ St. Louis Blues (18-6-6) – Edmonton’s been performing very well against the league’s top teams. I don’t expect that to stop in St. Louis. (WIN)
  • vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (15-9-4) – The first game of a back-to-back at home and the Oilers are one up on Crosby’s Pens. Pittsburgh is going through one hell of an injury crisis mind you but as we’ve seen, the Oilers have failed to take advantage of these situations in the past. (LOSS)
  • vs. Montreal Canadiens (12-10-6) – I feel like the Habs usually give Edmonton a hard time when they come to town and their team is a lot better than their record tells us. (LOSS)
  • @ Vancouver Canucks (14-11-4) – I like the Oilers chances against Vancouver here and it’s the last game before the Christmas break. (WIN)

(Standings as of December 5th, 2019)

Three Player to Watch for the Blues

  • #33 Jordan Kyrou – This is the Blues’ crown jewel in terms of prospects. They’ve been marinating him in the AHL delicately and he’s proven he’s ready for the show now. He has a wicked shot and he’s very fast. Is already up on the first line.
  • #52 David Perron – the former Oiler always finds a way to make his former team pay on the scoreboard and he’s having another good year. He’s also super annoying. A shame the Oilers don’t have him anymore, he was a beauty.
  • #18 Robert Thomas – He will be St. Louis’ no.1 center someday. I see a lot of Claude Giroux in his game. Very crafty with the puck and is a really evasive skater. His emergence basically pushed Robbi Fabbri out I feel. The knee injuries probably had something to do with that too mind you.

Three Players to Watch for the Oilers

  • #10 “Dwight” Joakim Nygard – He’s due for a goal on that top line. He’s fit in pretty seamlessly and is providing an extra bit of intensity to that line. He keeps the speed up whereas Leon likes to slow things down. It’s a good change-up to be able to throw at the oppositions.
  • #39 Alex Chiasson – He’s on one of his streaks right now with six pts in his last ten games. I do wonder if he’s one of the players on the block for Holland, but damn, he brings that extra bit of oomph to a line and if Edmonton is in the playoffs, he could be really useful.
  • #6 Adam Larsson – For three games now he’s been Edmonton’s best defender. Would it be too much to ask for one more?

Final WofO/Pink Floyd Update:  Toto pulls back a curtain to reveal that the great and powerful Oz whilst Pink Floyd sings,  “Breathe, breathe in the air/Don’t be afraid to care/Leave but don’t leave me”…

Here’s the link to the movie sync so you can enjoy it for yourself. 

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CategoriesBeer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL Rumors

TagsEdmonton Oilers NHL St.Louis Blues Taylor Hall

Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!