Edmonton Oilers Offseason Talk: Parayko, Severson, Konecny, Kostin, and More!

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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Oilersnation

The best fitting free agents for the Edmonton Oilers

“I’m not signing Damon Severson for 6.1 million dollars…”
“I think I might be on the Gavrikov train…”
“Colton Parayko… On Frank’s trade targets board he did have the idea that they could look to move a defenseman in St Louis. One of the four, Falk, Krug, Parayko, Leddy, they all have no trade clauses, three of them make six and a half million and Leddy makes four.”
“You’re not going to have enough money to upgrade on Cody Ceci…”
“Yamamoto for DeMelo (WPG) would make sense.”
“Where does Patrick Kane want to go?”
“Vamelka and Schmaltz for Yamo, Campbell, Bourgault, a 1st and a 4th.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Fack. How annoying was it to go through the transcript on this… Good Christ do those boys at ON flap their gums a lot without saying much.

That said, the points they did make were fair-to-midland.

Damon Severson was the first name out of the blocks from Bob Stauffer when Edmonton got eliminated. So it’s probably safe to say they like him and I’m on the fence. Base level fancies trended up this year but I’ve not had a chance to take a look at his quality of competition. You don’t want to sign a guy for $6M/yr (double Ceci’s salary) if he can’t compete against the other team’s elite forwards. Its a waste of cap room in my opinion.

Gavrikov was really good against Edmonton in the first round but he’s a lefty… That takes care of that. Now, is there a right-handed version of him out there? If so, maybe that’s the kind of player you’d expend assets on to acquire.

Parayko… A couple of years ago I’d say do it but I really don’t know on him today. He’s signed long-term in St. Louis so that has it’s pros and cons. I’m just torn on his dip in performance in recent years. I feel like when a big man starts to decline it really starts to fall off fast and you don’t want any part of that ticket.

Dylan DeMelo is an interesting cat. He’s like a better Matt Benning. Plays with a ton of heart, grit, and passion. He’s physical as hell. There’s a sliver of offense to his game but is he the kind of defender that’s going to compliment Darnell Nurse or Mattias Ekholm because ultimately, that’s what you’re going for here. The $9M Man needs a puck mover and somebody who has an extremely high defensive hockey IQ.

As for that Yamo/DeMelo trade proposal, why would Winnipeg do that trade?

Patrick Kane is staying in the US. ON boys thought Buffalo, I wonder about Vegas.

Can Edmonton clear enough cap space to bring in Vamelka AND Schmaltz and would that trade really be addressing the team’s needs? I don’t think so.

Has anybody considered raiding Philly’s coffers? Travis Konecny is out there. Ivan Provorov is available. Carter Hart might be attainable. How do you feel about Sean Couturier? If Holland wants to give his bottom six a jolt, would he be interested in Scott Laughton?

The Athletic

Why Oilers winger Klim Kostin could be a key to the offseason

“Not only does he score well alongside men being paid several times what he earned a year ago, but his goals per 60 (1.29) is tied with Evander Kane for tops among Oilers wingers in 2022-23.”
“Kostin’s five-on-five goal share without McDavid tops the Oilers wingers for 2022-23… Kostin is a pure scorere.”
“Kostin has a strange statistical vibe, similar to a young Leon Draisaitl in 2016-17. In spite of frightful underlying numbers, his goal share is strong. This can happen in small samples.”
“He is a candidate to move to a skill line, especially since his cap hit will be around $2 million less than Yamamoto and over $1.5 million less than Foegele.”
“Kostin has issues away from the puck, but also room to grow. His shot would be a valuable power-play tool, and he could also improve in marking his man defensively.”
“Edmonton should sign him to a one-year deal at around $1 million and ticket him for the third line.”
“Kostin might also get a chance with the skill lines, and could emerge as something similar to Maroon when he spiked with the Oilers on the McDavid line.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Is he the new Zack Kassian? He reminds me of Kassian in some regards but I reckon there’s some Pat Maroon in him too. Either way, I like him because he’s a throwback player. In addition to that, he’s a Russian who fights. How often have you seen one of those over the years? Rare breed.

He is streaky however and I would imagine that’s why Woodcroft uses him sparingly and in the bottom-six more often than not.

For me, you’ve either got to have him on a scoring line with his ability to protect the puck and his 90mph wrist shot or on the 4th line banging bodies and providing depth offense. Simply for the reason that there’s less defense in his game than Evander Kane and that’s saying something.

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey

Matthew DeFranks recently noted that Blues general manager Doug Armstrong could use one of his three first-round picks in this year’s draft as trade bait to land a player…
- Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor, Calgary defenseman Rasmus Andersson and Columbus’ Patrik Laine topped his list.
- Edmonton winger Kailer Yamamoto, Philadelphia forward Joel Farabee and Washington defenseman Rasmus Sandin round out DeFranks’ list.
Kevin Kurz recently speculated that Josh Bailey has likely played his final game for the New York Islanders.
Geoff Baker believes the Seattle Kraken need to tweak their roster for 2023-24 and beyond if they hope to build on this season’s impressive performance… Baker believes adding “a tougher, more imposing forward or two” should be a priority.

BLH’s Thoughts: Yamo to the Blues? Definitely not for a first rounder but if STL were smart, maybe they’d use one or two of those first rounders to get out from under some shitty contracts… Brandon Saad and Marco Scandella come to mind.

Josh Bailey’s a guy that Ken Holland would look at isn’t it? Veteran. One year left on his deal. Solid two-way forward that can move up and down the lineup…

A Ron Francis team loading up on tough guys? I doubt it. I’d rather put my money on him adding functional toughness. Somebody like Marcus Foligno if he’s available not a Ryan Reaves-type.