Edmonton Oilers Talk: Chiarelli Praise, Draisaitl’s Lack of Recognition, and the Latest NHL Rumors

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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Random Thoughts

INJURIES: With four of their regulars (Nurse, Ryan, Koekkoek, Smith) now out for varying lengths of time, we’re about to get a really good look at what our depth chart has to offer and whether they’re able to carry the mail while we wait for guys to come back.
DRAISAITL: If this guy was on any other team than the Edmonton Oilers, people would be pumping his tires as one of the best in the league but it honestly seems like he doesn’t get any of that love just because he plays on the same team as 97.
PENALTIES: I know the argument is that the refs can’t call every infraction on McDavid because the other team would be constantly shorthanded, but my question to that is: why the hell is that his problem?
SLOW STARTS: …this league is just too good to constantly be chasing the game and it’s starting to freak me out that the Oilers continuously find themselves chasing the game rather than setting the tone in it.
MIKE SMITH: I can’t help but wonder how far away we are from a time when Uncle Ken has to go shopping.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Oilers are kind of at their limits roster depth-wise, no? I mean, if another forward goes down, who’s getting the call, Cooper Marody? If Mikko Koskinen or Stu Skinner get hurt, is Ilya Konovalov getting recalled? Things aren’t so depthful at this point, are they?

I’ve always thought that Leon could be the one that leaves for “greener” pastures when his contract expires. I mean, if he continues this torrid pace, what is his next contract going to look like? Wanna bet it’ll be much closer to what Connor is making and will the Oilers be able to afford that?

Cult of Hockey

How an unpopular hockey man helped build this strong Edmonton Oilers team

… there’s no denying that the backbone of the current 2021-22 Oilers was in significant fashion put together by Chiarelli.
The heart of any hockey team is its Core 12, its top goalie, Top 4 d-men, and Top 6 forwards plus third-line centre.
Of those 12 key players on the 13-4 Oilers, the top winning percentage in the NHL’s Western Conference, Chiarelli drafted five of them: Connor McDavid, Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod. Chiarelli also signed McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to long-term deals, and he drafted the players, Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear, who later became key trading chips in acquiring Duncan Keith and Warren Foegele. Chiarelli also drafted Stuart Skinner.
As for the rest of Edmonton’s Core-12, Steve Tambellini drafted and signed long-term Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, while Craig MacTavish drafted Darnell Nurse and Draisaitl, two huge pieces to his credit.
With 20/20 hindsight we can see clearly that Chiarelli was weak in the trading game and had iffy results when it came to bringing in free agents, but his draft team led by Bob Green and Keith Gretzky did outstanding work. Their work continues to pay dividends for the Oilers, with Skinner and McLeod making bids just now to grab hold of Core-12 jobs on the Oilers.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve said it a million times before, but when the Oilers win the Stanley Cup, Chiarelli’s fingerprints are going to be all over it.

I can’t wait to hear Staples talk about this with Bob Stauffer, who’s admittedly had some run-ins with the former Oilers GM in the past, later this week.

NHLRumors.com

Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now: Multiple sources have said that Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk remains in the rumor mill, who has recently been moved to the fourth line… BHN reported the Bruins could be looking for a defenseman.
Arthur Staple of The Athletic: Darren Dreger reported that the New York Rangers are looking for a middle-six forward. It’s also believed that the Rangers could be looking to add a veteran defenseman as well.
Sportsnet: Quebec and NHL are in the news again as Quebec premier Francois Leaguault said that he’ll be talking with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

“The premier talked about soliciting Quebec investors to form a consortium so it’s not just one group that would bring the Nordiques back, and they also discussed how the government may consider investing their own capital in the project as well, this probably in the neighbourhood of a billion dollars.” – Jeff Marek, Sportsnet