Edmonton Oilers Talk: “There’s a Chance They Get Both…”

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Lowetide

Barrie had a good season. The only reasons to trade him (contract, blocking Bouchard) could be addressed next summer if required. Suppressing Bouchard’s point totals for another season would make him easier to sign to another deal. I don’t think the Oilers can MacGyver the cap without dealing Barrie.
a large group of veterans will be vulnerable to trade. This list includes Zack Kassian, Tyson Barrie and Warren Foegele.
I think the club will also deal one of Jesse Puljujarvi or Kailer Yamamoto, hints everywhere it will be the Finn but we’ll see how it shakes out. If both men are open to signing one-year deals, perhaps it won’t come to that, but my spider senses tell me the die is cast on JP.
I think Dmitri Samorukov or another LH blue in the prospect pool not named Broberg could also be leaving.
Holland will pursue Evander Kane and Brett Kulak, based on verbal in the ether there’s a chance the club gets both. We’ll see.
I’m not sure of the goaltender, but the best free agent by my estimate is Jack Campbell. I don’t know if the Oilers value any free-agent goalie beyond Ville Husso.

BLH’s Thoughts: Imagine the stink that would get kicked up if Bouchard spent another year on the second PP unit…

Just a comment on the Oilers first PP unit. We’ve just watched Cale Makar win a Conn Smythe manning the point for Colorado and I was pondering upon a power play in Edmonton that featured Connor McDavid on the point in that “Makar” role and Evan Bouchard on the left wall in the “MacKinnon” spot.

Now, Makar doesn’t take many slapshots, his bread and butter is in his wrist shot because he’s using the Phil Kessel Special and we know that McDavid’s more apt to use his wrister than his clapper plus he’s the league’s premier playmaker, he’s the best skater in the league and using this triangle of death offers Edmonton three threats to open up the other club’s PK. You could have Hyman net-front and Nuge/Kane (if he signs) in the slot or flanking the post depending on preference and situation.

Evan and Leon have two of the best shots in the league and they need to be featured but I feel safer with somebody who can skate extremely well on the point in the event shots get blocked and I don’t want Nurse there. Bouchard’s skating might get there one day, but he’s not got the speed to catch a speedy penalty killer when his shot gets blocked at the moment.

Okay, back to LT’s post.

I reckon common hockey thinking will have the Oilers dealing Puljujarvi when they should be trading Yamamoto. That being said, the smartest thing to do is keep both on the cheap. If Connor and Leon would rather play with Killer, let them. Last I checked there are more than two lines on a hockey team and Pulju would feature just fine alongside Ryan McLeod and whomever Jay Woodcroft slots in on the LW.

Would you trade Yamamoto and Samorukov to the Islanders for Scott Mayfield?

By the sounds of it, Jack Campbell is looking for some fat cash. It wouldn’t shock me if he was willing to drop his demands depending on the club he signs with but he’s heading into the back nine here and there aren’t going to be any more chances to sign a big dollar contract after this. My feeling is that seeing as there aren’t any true blue no.1 goalies on the market without any major blemishes (injury history, inexperience, inconsistency), maybe Holland should cap his future goalies earnings per year at around $4.5M. An average goalie can look amazing if the team in front of him is deep and sound defensively. Just ask Chris Osgood.

Oilersnation

Monday Musings… Will Teams Copy the Colorado Avalanche?

The NHL has often been a copycat league, and hopefully, more teams will try to mirror the speed, skill and style of the Avs. They won with more of an emphasis on offence, than on defence. They showed in the third period, they can lock it down defensively, when needed, but much of their run to the Cup was built on the strength of their puck moving and offensive skillset.
The lack of offensive punch (in the FA market amongst RHD) is why I believe Tyson Barrie could be a valuable trade chip if the Oilers opt to move him. He’s averaged 0.67 points/game over his last nine seasons and a $4.5m cap hit for two years for an offensive-minded D-man who can run the powerplay is good value.
Evander Kane’s arbitration case with the Sharks won’t occur prior to the start of free agency. This could lower his cap hit and term as teams who are interested might not wait, and rather sign other forwards first.
Georgiev, Blackwood, Kevin Fiala and Alex DeBrincat are some names we expect to move. I also see Las Vegas, Toronto, Philadelphia, both New York teams, Vancouver, and Montreal looking to make significant moves.
Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong told me he is very open to adding salary if it comes with draft picks. The Sabres already did that with Ben Bishop, and I could see them doing it again.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Avalanche got some massive help along the way to their championship. Injuries to key players on the other team in every series surely helped them along and man, did they get the benefit of a lot of calls from the refs. Also, Did they lock it down vs. Tampa in the third period of that deciding game the other night or did the Lightning simply run out of gas because they were so banged up? If Braden Point, Jusse Saros, St. Louis’ entire defense, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse are healthy, how would that have changed those series?

I won’t buy that the Avs were far and away the better club in this short post-season tournament, but at the same time, they found a way to stay healthier than their opponents and deal with their own injuries. I would imagine team speed and inner drive factored into that. I will say this though, they’re going to lose a couple of big pieces off that roster and they won’t be winning back to backs whereas Tampa’s roster is more or less set for another run next year although losing Ondrej Palat will really hurt.

Smart teams will start to build anti-speed systems… Watch. If I were running the Oilers, I’d be looking into this instead of focusing on how to keep up with Colorado. That doesn’t mean stop getting faster and more skilled though. Keep doing that, but build a system around stifling the speed of the opposition too.

Is this the kind of time for the Oilers to buy low on New Jersey goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood, once considered a candidate for a spot on the Olympic team? Can they afford to gamble on such an important position? The last time they gambled on a player, he wound up scoring at a 40 goal pace…

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey

Murat Ates believes Pierre-Luc Dubois sincerely wants to test the 2024 unrestricted free agent market as was reported last week by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He felt the 24-year-old Winnipeg Jets center hopes to play for the Montreal Canadiens in the long run and hasn’t been shy about expressing that within team circles.
Larry Brooks reports there’s chatter among NHL sources suggesting the New Jersey Devils could be in on Jack Campbell if the 30-year-old goaltender doesn’t re-sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs before the free-agent market opens on July 13.
(Terry) Koshan observed Colorado’s Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury and St. Louis’ Ville Husso as possible free-agent options for the Leafs. Trade targets could include Anaheim’s John Gibson, the New York Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov, the Rangers’ Alexandar Georgiev and Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick.

The Daily Goal Horn

The consensus among most insiders is that Kadri is destined to play elsewhere next season… he’s getting a big increase along the lines of $7M to $8M per season. That would eat a large portion of their available cap space and make it difficult to re-sign other players like Andre Burakovsky, Valeri Nichushkin, and Josh Manson.
(Tampa) GM Julien BriseBois will certainly look to re-sign trade deadline acquisition Nicholas Paul to a new contract. While he’d love to retain Ondrej Palat, they simply do not have the cap space to do it.
Alex Killorn and his $4.45M cap hit for one more year a top candidate (for trade).
Erik Cernak on defense is another possibility to be moved. He has one-year remaining with an AAV of $2.95M.

NHLRumors.com

There is a legit chance the captain Blake Wheeler is playing for a different team next season. Frank Seravalli has Wheeler at No. 3 on his trade board and Elliotte Friedman reported that a change of scenery could benifit Wheeler.
Would Wheeler consider a trade to the Arizona Coyotes and reuniting with Andrew Ladd?
The Canadiens signing Dubois to an offer sheet would likely get matched by the Jets. Josh Anderson and the 26th pick isn’t going to be enough. Nick Suzuki might interest the Jets.
The Edmonton Oilers top UFA goaltender targets are St. Louis Blues Ville Husso and Toronto Maple Leafs Jack Campbell. Husso’s price may get driven up to high for the Oilers. Campbell could work well with Stuart Skinner.
Jesse Puljujarvi could get $3.5 to $4 million in salary arbitration, which would be to munch. He’s owed a $1.4 million qualifying offer. The Oilers can hope that his play continues to progress and he comes in around $2.25 million.

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t see how an arbitrator gives Puljujarvi that much, but that’s just me. I love him but his traditional stats and inconsistent productivity just don’t merit that kind of contract yet and as I said above with Campbell, unless he changes his tune, he likely prices himself out of Edmonton’s range. What I do wonder though is if Ken Holland decides not to get outbid for a third season on a goaltending target…