Edmonton Oilers Talk: This Fanti Kid Could be Something…

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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The Cult of Hockey

Player grades: Ryan McLeod leads Edmonton Oilers in thumping of Arizona Coyotes

Jesse Puljujarvi, 8. Two excellent assists. He came out all smokestack lightning, forechecking hard, dumping Stralman with a reverse hit, popping pucks, including a battle won at the blueline and a quick lob pass to McD for the goal.
Leon Draisaitl, 8. His offensive game was in high gear… He was bound to score on such an iffy team and did half-way through the third, putting in JP’s pass. “Nice pass,” Drai said to the big Finlander, high praise from the master passer himself. It was his 48th of the year.
Ryan McLeod, 8. Rushed up the ice in the first, got the puck behind the net, then put it in off Vejmelka’s back… Shot himself out of a cannon early in the second, streaking up ice to take a diagonal Yamo dart, split the defence then deke out Vejmelka. He got an assist, setting up Barrie’s one-timer blast in the second, with Foegele puming in the rebound.
Josh Archibald, 5. He threw a hard hit in the first on Capobianco. Led the team with six hits in total.
Mikko Koskinen, 7. Very easy game, facing just 5 grade A shots, only three of them of the 5-alarm variety.
Tyson Barrie, 7. He pounded the puck on net on Foeg’s rebound goal. He, Drai and McL tied for a team-leading six shots on net. He also kept a clean sheet, making him the Oil’s best d-man on the night. He even played two minutes short-handed.

BLH’s Thoughts: That was Pulju’s best game in quite a long time. I can’t remember the last time he was that dominant in every aspect of the game. I mean, it was against an AHL team disguised as the Arizona Coyotes, but even so. The confidence is high and I’m desperate to see more breakaway clappers! Who even does that anymore? Ha!

Did Evander Kane say something to the refs last night? I mean, we’ve got pundits who’ve followed NHL hockey since the 60s saying they’ve never seen a sequence of penalty calls like that before. While at the same time the Coyotes could do whatever they wanted… Weird. Good game by Evander though, he was a force out there.

How about McLeod too. My-lanta, what a game from this young man! That second goal was as smooth goals come in the NHL. I think it was Louie DeBrusk who compared it to a goal from legendary Russian Red Wing, Sergei Federov, and I have a really hard time arguing against that statement on that goal. Don’t ask me which goal it was, but as you can see from the video below, McLeod has some of that silky smooth skating that Federov had and a debate probably could be had involving Paul Coffey’s name too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T09sQ1QHB3g

The Hockey Writers

Oilers Sign Free Agent College Goalie Ryan Fanti to Entry-Level Deal

At 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, Fanti is a 22-year-old free agent netminder who just finished his second college season for Minnesota-Duluth. He became the starter this year and posted some incredible numbers: 1.83 GAA along with a .929 SV% in 37 games along with seven shutouts.
He was a two-time selection for the NCHC All-Conference Academic Team.
Jordan McAlpine of College Hockey News wrote that Fanti deserved to win NCHC Goaltender of the Year for his play on an inconsistent Minnesota-Duluth squad.
UMD head coach Scott Sandelin praised Fanti, calling him the steadiest part of an often inconsistent team but also mentioned his leadership skills. “When you hear him talk and then just (saying) the right things and he’s been really, really outstanding for us,” Sandelin said.
This could open the door to the Oilers trading one of their goalie prospects in the summer if the team plans to make some additional moves to clear out cap space and get some of their forwards under contract.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urxmoAnNKms

BLH’s Thoughts: If this young man can play as well at the AHL level and then the NHL level as he has at the collegiate level, the Oilers might have the best 1-2 tandem in the world in four years. Pretty optimistic, mind you, but those highlight packages above have Fanti making some ridiculous saves…

The way he moves about the ice gives me some Cujo feels. He’s very athletic which is awesome, but that might not pan out at the professional level. Either way, I can’t wait to see how he does in Bakersfield should he get a few starts down the line here.

With the heater he’s on, could you imagine if he comes in and steals the starting job from Rodrigue or Konovalov after Skinner gets recalled?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYRWxRXROag&t=96s

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey: Patrick Johnston recently reported on Brock Boeser’s challenging contract situation with the Vancouver Canucks. The 25-year-old winger is in the final year of a three-year contract and is due a $7.5 million qualifying offer, resulting in his name frequently surfacing in trade rumors leading up to last Monday’s trade deadline.
- CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal reported Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes the next contract for Canucks center J.T. Miller “is going to be in the Mika Zibanejad area.” That’s an annual average value of $8.5 million.
- Aaron Portzline speculated we shouldn’t be surprised if Joonas Korpisalo re-signs with the Columbus Blue Jackets this summer as a UFA.
The Hockey Writers: Frank Seravalli on the DFO Rundown said he has heard there is “considerable friction” between Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and some of the younger players on the roster. Despite the disconnect, Seravalli thinks Blashill will actually be retained by the Red Wings. Co-host Jason Gregor doesn’t agree and said that Blashill will likely not make it to next season.
NHLTradeRumors.me: A team to watch here…the Chicago Blackhawks. They have been heavily linked to a Patrick Kane trade to New York and if it transpires this upcoming summer, expect to see Kravtsov heading to the windy city.
- There will be no lack of interest in Georgiev as several teams will be looking to upgrade their crease in the offseason. Teams to watch include the Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers or Buffalo Sabres.

BLH’s Thoughts: Boeser’s as good as gone one way or another and in what world does JT Miller get Zibanejad money?

Korpisalo probably won’t get great offers on the open market considering the season he’s had and now he’s coming off of hip surgery. So maybe staying with Columbus is the best thing for him right now.

Ken Holland had better get on it with Woodcroft and Manson or Stevie Y could swoop in and steal ’em both for his young squad should Blashill get the axe.

How in the world does NY fit Patrick Kane’s salary in? I know they’ve got around $30M in cap space today, but by the start of next season when they’ll be re-signing Kakko and Blais and then are they going to let Strome, Copp, and Vatrano walk? I mean, I guess it’s more feasible that I first thought and Kane’s only got one more year after this one @ 10.5M… Maybe it will go down. Can you envision a line of Panarin, Mika, and Kane? That’s just ridiculous…