Holloway Could Miss Months According to Oilersnation Blogger

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Random Thoughts: The Boys Are Back in Town

I heard from a source late yesterday that Dylan Holloway is likely to miss some time (could be weeks or months) to start the season as he continues to recover from his wrist issues.
From what I was told, Holloway isn’t nearly as close to being 100% as we all would have hoped he’d be as the season approaches and that he may be out for a while depending on what doctors find…
I was also told that Holloway will be evaluated again as early as this week with surgery potentially being on the table, and we’ll have to hope that the news comes out more positive than the info I was given.
Was Cody Ceci’s high PDO the only reason he had a decent season with Pittsburgh?

BLH’s Thoughts: Ceci’s PDO (1.038) was merely 0.015 higher than Darnell Nurse’s (1.023) and 0.006 higher than Marco Scandella. Check out the list of dmen who played 800 minutes or more last year and look at the names. Lots of good players in that top ten that nobody would ever say got help from the PDO gods…

That’s nuts on Holloway. Did he not have surgery way back in March on that wrist/thumb? We’re going on six months for an injury that should heal in at most 8 weeks. I’d love to know what happened there that has caused the affected area not to heal properly.

Now, I’m willing to bet that on Monday, either Bob Stauffer or Jason Gregor will report that Dylan Holloway could be looking at extensive time on the IR. Gregor’s not tied to the organization, so he might be more inclined but if Bob gets the green light, he’ll say something on his show for sure.

Reckon with the recent signing of Cooper Marody, that part of the reason Edmonton brought him back was to cover for Holloway as he’ll be missing the start of the year and Bakersfield needs a center for it’s top line?

Either way, that’s not the most auspicious way to start one’s NHL career.

In any case, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.

Lowetide.ca

THE PAC-8

PREDICTED FINAL STANDINGS, PACIFIC HEIGHTS

Vegas Golden Knights. …the team’s top end talent (Lehner, Theodore, Pietrangelo, Stone, Pacioretty) and the best depth in the division means the Golden Knights will win the division for the third time in the franchise’s five seasons. I don’t see any team seriously pushing this group.
Edmonton Oilers. I think this team is going to spend much of the season going into the third period with the score tied 3-3. The good news is the club will win more than their share of those shootouts because of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The bad news is the team will be vulnerable to a hot goalie and a button-down team in the first round of the playoffs. Expect a trade for a substantial goalie at the deadline.
Calgary Flames. The defensemen can move the puck (third pair aside) and there’s plenty of firepower up front. In fact, this team has enough to ice three lines of quality forwards and some fine outscorers like Andrew Mangiapane and the newly acquired Blake Coleman. It’ll be close but I believe the Flames win the final playoff spot in the division.
Vancouver Canucks. I love their young elite talent and believe the Canucks goaltending will keep them in most games, but the defense is without a strong two-way defender who can eat minutes and keep the puck heading in a good direction.
Seattle Kraken. I love the goaltending, and they should have a capable defense, but there isn’t enough offense here.
Los Angeles Kings. Philip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson are excellent additions, and any number of young talents could emerge as legit Calder candidates, but this will be a year that LAK give us a taste of what is to come but will be sellers at the deadline.
Anaheim Ducks. This could be a target for Edmonton once the season is scrapped for parts, with John Gibson, Hampus Lindholm and Ryan Getzlaf possible targets.
San Jose Sharks. There is talent here, the goaltending is better and the aging defense can still compete on any given night. Offensively, several forwards didn’t get much done last season, some will recover but it won’t be enough.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m not convinced the Golden Knights will be as good as some are slating them to be. They lost two massive pieces of their identity when they traded Fleury and Reaves and I’m hearing that the players do not like their GM, he’s ruthless with the prospects and young players and they’re furious at how the Fleury situation was handled.

If the Canucks can get Pettersson and Hughes re-signed, I like that squad a bit better than Calgary’s. I just think that the Flames schtick is going to get old and better teams will have their way with them, especially ones with excellent power plays. Reffing was a major story last year, so I expect the parade to the box might be more consistent early on in 2021-22.

As for the Cali teams, I don’t like LA but I’m looking forward to when Edmonton plays them considering all the really good young players they have coming up, same with the Ducks. Byfield, Zegras, Drysdale, these are all players who should be superstars some day. I reckon the Ducks may leap over the Kings in the standings though thanks to John Gibson.

The Sharks are a mess… Simple as that. Players don’t want to be there, Evander Kane has mucked everything up thanks to his massive ego, and now the GM is coming under fire… At least they got William Eklund in the draft though. That guy’s going to be a beauty.

It’s pretty homerish to say, but I do it every year, I think the Oilers have enough talent to win the division, but I don’t really care if they do. All that I ask is they make the playoffs because with the additions that Ken Holland has made (and will make), my belief is that his club will do some damage and make it out of the first round.

Pro Hockey Talk

Kailer Yamamoto, Edmonton Oilers
Team salary cap situation: Currently more than $2 million over the salary cap
2020-21 stats: 52 games, 8 goals, 13 assists

Yamamoto is a very good young player and currently on a team whose salary cap situation would make matching an even modest offer difficult.
If Jesperi Kotkaniemi is worth $6.1 million and a first- and third-round pick, Yamamoto is certainly worth something in the $4.1 million range.
The compensation for that is a second-round pick. Well worth it if you can get him to sign it.
Yamamoto is a good player and shown flashes of being a quality top-six option but the track record at this point is so small that it would be difficult to commit anything longer term.
It also would not make much sense for Yamamoto to commit to that when there is a good chance he could bet on himself, prove his value even more, and turn that into a more significant pay day in the future.

BLH’s Thoughts: Two lines stick out for me from Gretz’s assessment of Yamamoto’s offer sheet potential,

“Yamamoto is certainly worth something in the $4.1 million range.”

“…the track record at this point is so small that it would be difficult to commit anything longer term…”

So would the plan be to OS Yamo on a one-year deal and then try to re-sign him long-term at a lower price point? Why would the player agree to that if his pre-stated value is already $4.1M? This isn’t a case of a one-year massive overpayment like the Kotkaniemi offer sheet and the teams who are in a position to tender and offer sheet aren’t likely to be trending in the same direction as the Oilers.

I think, on the other side of the coin, Edmonton is in a pretty good spot depth-wise, they might just take the pick(s) if Yamo signed an OS. Holland didn’t draft him and therefore he’s not attached to this player either… Really, the pressure is all on Killer here. He’s the one that needs to get back on the horse and return to the form that had him scoring at nearly a point-per-game a couple of seasons ago.