Yesterday the LA Kings relieved their head coach of his duties putting to rest the notion (and probably hopes of some Oilers fans) that Todd McLellan would be the first coach fired in the 2018/19 NHL season.
John Stevens was in his 2nd season as Kings skipper and nobody would’ve guessed that the Kings would be this poor with how they fared last year being a playoff team and then they went ahead and won the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes this summer.
I thought they’d be a lot better.
So that takes us to where it always does when a team is performing poorly.
THE RUMOR MILL!
As Oilers fans, we know all about the rumor mill. We know what it’s like to be fans of the team that other fan bases want to pick at in hopes of getting a player on the cheap and in some cases over the years, that’s exactly what has happened.
That brings us back around to the LA Kings. Are they a club who would consider a minor tear-down and rebuild on the fly? They do have the veteran pieces that I feel are of the highest importance when rebuilding your team in players like Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick.
If there’s a club that could pilfer off some complimentary players to address team needs without finding themselves drafting in the top-5 at the draft, it’s the Kings.
Craig Button said on the Jason Gregor Show recently that he thought the Kings’ biggest problem is that they are too slow. A problem that hindered the Oilers somewhat last year (Chiarelli fixed that this summer and is reaping the benefits as we speak) and is causing issues for teams like the Blues and the Ducks this season.
So how would the Kings go about getting some team speed from the Oilers?
I would say they’d have to consider forgetting about this season and go for players that could start helping them next season (vice versa for the Oilers perhaps) and this is a list of current Oilers I think would be more available than not.
- Caleb Jones (LD) – Jones is a FINE skater and a smooth puck mover.
- Ryan McLeod (C) – Speed personified. Should be ready for 2019.
- Ryan Strome (C) – He’s not Pavel Bure but he’s no Jason Allison either.
- Jesse Puljujarvi (RW) – Fast not quick and very powerful. Lots of potential left.
- Kailer Yamamoto – (RW) – Opposite to Puljujarvi. Quick, not fast. Tenacious too.
The Oilers are in a small spot of bother with regards to their RW depth. Ty Rattie is slated to return to action very soon, Drake Caggiula and Alex Chiasson are scoring consistently right now and Zack Kassian has really returned to form since that whole “The Oilers gave Kassian’s agent permission to seek out a trade” deal went public last week.
That leaves Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto more or less on the outs because neither are producing.
Now, I don’t think the Oilers are absolutely desperate to make a trade to sort out this RW issue. I think they’re happy to have the problem and I’d also go as far as to say that they’d be willing to send both Pulju and Yammo to the AHL if they could find a deal to bring in a RWer who could float throughout the lineup on the cheap. And maybe they have that guy already in Cooper Marody.
I’m not sure if Scottie Upshall is done either. So if the Oilers brought him in at some point during the year and then sent down Jesse and Kailer, they’d be more or less sorted BUT I don’t think that Peter Chiarelli wants to simply be “sorted”. I think his job depends on the playoffs.
So one has to ask the question, what kind of transaction is going to give the team the best chances at making the playoffs this year?
You’re probably wondering why I haven’t named the players on the Kings that I believe Edmonton is looking at and I’ve got no good reason for you, so let’s do that now.
- Tanner Pearson (LW) – 26 years old –
- Tyler Toffoli (RW) – 26 years old –
- Jake Muzzin (LD) – 29 years old –
Tanner Pearson has three years left on his deal and is paid $3.75M per year. Tyler Toffoli has two years left on his and is paid $4.6M per season and Jake Muzzin also has two years left to go on his contract that pays him $4M per annum.
Toffoli only has three goals so far and Pearson has managed to rack up a single assist to date while Muzzin has three assists and is dash three on the year with 15 PIMs.
I think it’s safe to say they are struggling production-wise.
But the rub in any deal the Kings and the Oilers make lies in how they manage the trade from a financial standpoint.
LA has a shade over 400k in cap space but could utilize the $5.8M cushion that Jonathan Quick provides them while he’s on the IR. The problem there though is that when he returns, they’d have to find a way to clear however much of that cushion they used. A conundrum that Edmonton is dealing with this season too with Andrej Sekera out.
I reckon there’ll be some that’ll say “trade Lucic to the Kings” and I think there’s some validity to that but on the other hand, you saw how the Capitals bulldozed their way to the Cup last year. Even the Golden Knights had Ryan Reaves playing an important role on their path to the final.
I’d be curious to know what a package of Lucic, Strome, and say Puljujarvi or Yamamoto would bring back. Nothing like trading an entire line eh? Because I’ll be honest, I love the idea of an Oilers roster that has Toffoli, Pearson, and Muzzin on it.
Experienced players, nay! Stanley Cup winning players really rev my engine when it comes to building a roster. I’m near obsessed with having players on a young team that know what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. Not only that, the Oilers have a coach who has no interest in developing players at the NHL level.
How would you go about negotiating a trade with the LA Kings for one, two, or all three of Pearson, Toffoli, or Muzzin? Or would you even bother?
Let us know in the comments below!
