February 28, 2022 /

Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: “The Oilers are likely one of the teams taking a look at…”

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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Cult of Hockey

Did Koskinen’s 1st Star Saturday clear up or obsfucate the Edmonton Oilers goalie problems: 9 Things

  • If Nugent-Hopkins’ injury keeps him out of the lineup for any stretch of time, does his absence speed up the arrival of Dylan Holloway?… The club would prefer he stay in the AHL longer. But the time to win NHL games is now.
  • Evan Bouchard had a rough outing Saturday. It seemed like everything he touched went wrong. In-game, lots of people were saying that Bouchard should be benched… We have had an eye-full of short-sighted handling of young D-men in the past in this market. How did that work out with Jeff Petry? Justin Shultz? Maybe, just maybe it’s time to adopt a different tactic?
  • Whatever cures the Oilers goaltending, for now, will have to come from within dressing room.

BLH’s Thoughts: The time to win is now, so let’s throw in a rookie who’s not played a single minute in the NHL and is rehabbing a tricky wrist injury right into the fire, right? No pressure, kid! I mean, that is the very first thing on my list of how to win NHL games and surely, GMs who’ve been in the National Hockey League for 20 years or more have the same note at the top of their own list of ways to win… 

What’s that? AHL veteran Brad Malone was recalled instead of Holloway? Well, might as well fire Ken Holland now because he’s stunting the growth of Dylan Holloway and costing the Edmonton Oilers points. Mike Smith is probably already yelling at Philip Broberg for this and there’s no way Jay Woodcroft is a happy camper getting one of his trusted veterans from Bakersfield. I bet he walks this summer purely based on this decision alone… 

Evan Bouchard is struggling, no doubt about that, but I do think it’s prudent to keep in mind how young players develop and last I checked, it’s not in a straight line. So I do agree with Leavins in that benching him probably isn’t the way to go and I’d like to point out that his TOI under Manson has dropped significantly (I think around five or six minutes per game). So you might consider that to be somewhat of a benching, if you will.

Now, if you’re a team that is in win now mode, you’re probably less concerned about the long-term future, no? So let’s say that’s the case for a moment, is Evan Bouchard OFF of the table with regards to a trade?

To be clear, I’m not advocating the club trade him because he’s having a tough go, I really like this player, all I’m doing is putting he notion out there for all of those who are in “win-now” mode. 

Mike Smith sure played good vs. Carolina, eh? .931 sv%! Those two goals that Carolina scored were gorgeously executed and they deserve credit for embarrassing the Oilers on them. Not sure Smith had much of a chance on either, but at the end of the night, that save percentage tells me that the $2M 39yr old goalie played a large hand in keeping the Hurricanes no.1 offense at bay and Edmonton’s $30M top-six could only muster one goal. 

For what it’s worth, can the Oilers coaching staff come up with a new plan on the powerplay as it pertains to zone entries. For the love of Pete, every team knows how to stifle it before it gets going and even when Edmonton gets possession and is set up, they use the same play over and over. Gulutzan… My man… Get your shit together here, bud. 

One other minor grievance. The button hook on the right wing wall between the blue line and the top of circles is where Draisaitl, Bouchard, Barrie, etc. are getting caught up time and time again and it’s leading to chances the other way. They’ve got to cut that garbage out because the book is out. 

The Daily Goal Horn

  • …teams have contacted Columbus about Laine’s availability. It’s extremely unlikely that he would be traded at the deadline, but if no progess is made on a new contact around the NHL Draft the rumors will start to fly.
  • On HNIC, Elliotte Friedman reported that the Leafs would not hold back Muzzin if he is healthy and ready to play before the postseason… Friedman continued to say that the Leafs view this as having around $2M to spend at the deadline. We will see. One defenseman they reportedly have their eyes on is Dallas Stars’ John Klingberg.
  • Larry Brooks also believes Buffalo Sabres defenseman Colin Miller is a Rangers trade target.
  • According to Arthur Staple of The Athletic, Chris Drury call to check on Forsberg seems to take place around the same time Andy Strickland said he was being “actively shopped.”
  • “Seattle will explore the trade market for their veteran captain, see what’s out there, and most likely move him. And in general I’m told they hope to be aggressive with all their cap space in terms of making other moves.” – Pierre LeBrun
  • “So the Devils now are calling around the league with a pretty aggressive nature trying to find a goaltender for the rest of the season,” LeBrun said after the Devils lost two goalies to injury. “Which of course might be of interest to the Edmonton Oilers, who are looking at goalie options.”

BLH’s Thoughts: If Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ shoulder is done and he has to go on LTIR, that’s going to open up some precious cap room for Ken Holland to work with and we won’t be hearing about any “money in, money out” restrictions at that point. Now, I could be wrong here, but in theory, Semyon Varlamov and Scott Mayfield could be had for a lot less in terms of playing assets considering the Oilers wouldn’t need to send a Barrie or a Koskinen or a Kassian over. They could get in on a John Klingberg or a Mark Giordano trade if they wanted and the need to use a third party to facilitate the deal wouldn’t be required so much. 

It’s a double-sided sword, right? Edmonton would get a helluva lot more wiggle room to work with at the deadline but Nuge wouldn’t be part of the run. 

NHLRumors.com

  • Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: One potential blue line target for the Edmonton Oilers is Philadelphia Flyers Justin Braun. He’s a pending UFA with a $1.8 million salary cap hit.
    • Two potential New York Islanders trade targets for the Oilers are goaltender Semyon Varlamov and defenseman Scott Mayfield.
    • The Oilers are likely one of the teams taking a look at KHL free agent Andrei Kuzmenko. Kuzmenko shares the same agent, Dan Milstein, as Evander Kane.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m really curious about Hampus Lindholm if he doesn’t re-sign with Anaheim. Oscar Klefbom’s absence is disgustingly noticeable and Lindholm could basically replace him like-for-like. It’d cost Edmonton to get him on the open market, but they’d have another dman they could rely on for 20+ minutes a night too. I want to say he can play the off side too, but I’m not 100% on that either. So, don’t quote me there. 

One question might be though, would you rather spend the money to get Lindholm or spend the prospects, picks, and playing assets to acquire Jakob Chychrun from Arizona? If I’m not mistaken, I think Chychrun’s old man, Jeff, had a stint with the Oilers in the 80s or early90s. 

As for rentals, like I said above, if Edmonton gets some reprieve cap-wise, they could be in the market for any one of those names mentioned or the ones not mentioned like Carson Soucy, Scott Mayfield, Jeremy Lauzon, Justin Braun, or Colin Miller and the cost would be less so than if they don’t get that LTIR cap relief. 

March is upon us and teams are going to start making their moves. It wouldn’t shock me if Ken Holland were to make a move in the next 7-10 days to get a jump on things and then the day before and day of the trade deadline he gets busy again. 

Fun times! 

Seattle Karen
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CategoriesArmchair GM Beer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL Rumors

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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!