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The Hockey Writers
Oilers’ Offseason Moves: Insiders Agree that Fewer is Better
- For the most part, the Oilers could run it back with mostly the same roster, but they can’t get complacent and come back with mostly the same team.
- Only one team can win the Cup each season though, so with a few more bounces in the Oilers’ favour with this exact team, they could have advanced.
- Bieksa said that he thinks the Oilers had the right team but that it’s hard to win in the playoffs; it was more about the Oilers’ wingers who didn’t step up. There was no issue last postseason or during the latter half of this season with five-on-five scoring, but one arose this time around.
BLH’s Thoughts: This club has long been victim to reading their own headlines and this year is likely no different. The Oilers’ PP eclipsed some massive HOF special teams units from the past this year and my feeling is that they thought that might be able to carry them through a series or two. Shocking how that plan failed.
Look, the fact of the matter is, either management has to acquire some players who can hold their own defensively or there are some skaters on this team who need to have a good long look in the mirror and figure out what changes they’re going to be willing to make to get this club over the hump.
For example, is this team’s success predicated on RNH getting nearly 100pts per year or would it be served better if he could shut down the other team’s offense considering his high hockey IQ?
But just getting back to Edmonton’s offseason moves, seeing as this league is a copycat league and how three of the four remaining teams have an extremely aggressive forecheck, I feel like fans of this club should be prepared to see Ken Holland and his team go out and upgrade the bottom six forwards with a player or two who can play that high-tempo aggro hockey.
The Oilers aren’t that far off with players like Ryan McLeod, Warren Foegele, and Klim Kostin, and I wonder about the likes of Garnet Hathaway (big PK guy), Noel Acciari (they liked him before TO got him at the deadline), or and this is a big “or”; Michael Bunting.
Daily Hive
Three players the Oilers could move to clear cap space this summer
- Aside from a brief stint in 2019-20, Kailer Yamamoto has struggled to consistently produce offence for the Oilers. This is despite the fact that he’s getting plenty of opportunities, as a good chunk of his ice time comes alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
- Though the four-year, $13 million deal he was given by the Oilers during the 2021 offseason raised some eyebrows, Cody Ceci quickly proved in 2021-22 how good he is capable of being when at his best. Unfortunately, he was far from that this past season.
- As good as he has been, he may very well be expendable this summer, given that Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm slot ahead of him on the left side. Moving Kulak would allow Philip Broberg to get a regular spot in the lineup and would help free up $2.75 million in cap space for the Oilers.
BLH’s Thoughts: As most of the pundits are saying right now, I also am of the belief that it’ll be tinkering and not major surgery that will be done to the Oilers roster this summer.
That said, of the three mentioned above, Brett Kulak seems the least likely to be moved. Depth on the blueline isn’t easy to come by and Kulak has shown the ability to move up and down the lineup without hurting the club on the regular.
I would argue that Warren Foegele could replace him on that list but at the same time, players like McLovin’, Yamamoto, and Ceci were dealing with significant injuries this past season and into the playoffs.
So with that in mind, it wouldn’t shock me if the roster looked more similar this this season’s than not on opening night 2023/24. I mean, they’re going to cut salary but why not keep the gist of the roster around? It got them this far and just think how much damage the Oilers could do at the trade deadline with a shite ton of cap room with a team like the Winnipeg Jets looking to jettison some massive talents.
Trade Rumors
The Hockey Writers
- Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic writes that if Kyle Dubas is retained by the Toronto Maple Leafs as general manager, Dubas’ comments that he’s ready to trade one of this “core four” means that Mitch Marner is the most likely to be shopped during the offseason.
- Dennis King writes, “Lots of talk about the Oilers and Damon Severson who we can guess will be partnered with [Darnell] Nurse. What are his microstats? Anyone playing with Nurse has to be good with zone entry denials and first passes out of their zone.” If this report is accurate, it means the Oilers are contemplating trading Cody Ceci.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve always been of the thought that if anybody is traded out of Toronto that it’d be William Nylander. He’s my favorite out of the four and reminds me of Alex Mogilny a tad. LeBrun said the return on a Marner trade would have to be a top-pairing defenseman and I agree. Now, who’s trading a dman like that at the moment? Best bet for the Leafs might just be to go one more year with this core.
As for the Oilers and Severson, I know they like him and I’m curious if he’s got shades of a young Jeff Petry in his game and how Severson’s game would compliment either Darnell Nurse’s or Mattias Ekholm’s. The fancies from last season look promising and he spent most of the year with a guy who also can’t move the puck. Maybe there’s something here…
