If I’m reading the tea leaves right, I think Edmonton’s going to wait until March 7th or 8th to get their business done. Just so they can accrue that much more cap space to make moves and boy, do they need to make some moves. That effort against Calgary last night was putrid.
That said, I think there’s something going through the room. It got Nuge and forced him out for a couple games. They guys looked tired and as they should be after three games in four nights, but they also looked disinterested as if they wanted to get the game over with.
You know who looked really good though, Dylan Holloway. Might’ve been his best game. Loved his effort despite the score.
Today we’re going to talk about centers, faceoffs, depth additions, and the kind of 4th line I’d like to see the Oilers roll out for the playoffs.
I should start prefacing these blogs with the fact that I write them a day in advance and because we’re getting so close to the deadline there’s a good chance I might write about a player or a team and it be old news by the time it gets to your beautiful eyes. If that happens, my apologies!
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The Latest Edmonton Oilers Trade Rumors
Do Not Capital-ize on These Two
“Joel Edmundson in Washington is a name that has come up here and there in Oilers chat the last little while… Joel Edmundson’s 516 games would sure make me more comfortable. Edmundson is not the player he was a couple years ago. But as a 7-8, he would be an excellent fit. He can play comfortably on both sides. And with Montreal already retaining 50% of his $3.5m deal, there is a path to bring him in for as little as 900K.”
“If Ken Holland could pry both Edmundson and RHS Center Nic Dowd ($1.3m, 1+ years remaining) from the Capitals, that would tick two critical boxes for a would-be cup contender and give the club some renewed confidence.” – Kurt Leavins, Cult of Hockey
- Edmundson has been on the Oilers wish list since he was playing in St. Louis.
- I wonder if Washington is saying, we’ll give you Dowd and throw in Edmundson if you give us a 1st, because I don’t look at Edmundson and see him as the optimal pickup on defense for the Oilers. He could come in for Desharnais and play his off side though. but, then again, the majority of NHL coaches loathe having their dmen play there.
- Another scenario might be moving Kulak for cap space and bringing in Edmundson to play alongside Desharnais. That’s a heavy pairing.
- I don’t know if anybody has told the MSM back in Edmonton who are trying to sell Dowd to the fanbase as a right-shot center who can take faceoffs, but he’s no better than Derek Ryan on the dot. Just bigger. In fact, he’s worse. Ryan’s overall FO% is 56% and Dowd’s is 48.9%. Why would the Oilers pay for that?
- In fact, Edmonton has three centers who are over 52% on draws in the DZ. So, there’s no way in hell they should be paying for a downgrade.
- Small sample size, but Sam Gagner is 57% on the dot in the defensive zone. He’s also a right shot.
- Larger sample size (300+ DZ FO): Noel Acciari (PIT) 55%, Jake Evans (MTL): 51.8%
- They should be poaching Nico Sturm out of San Jose if they want a faceoff specialist. His FO% overall is nearly 60% and his DZFO% is 55.5%.
- If I were Edmonton, I’d see about Acciari from the Pens and Sturm if there was a concern about winning draws. Those two might be had for pennies on the dollar.
Duck Hunting
“I think they have some interest in two players from Anaheim — Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick,” said Friedman. “Now, I don’t know if that’s both or just one of the two, but both of those names are names that have been linked to the Oilers.” – Elliotte Friedman, Sportsnet
- Now, Henrique I can see why they like him. He’s producing points for a shite team in Anaheim at least. Overall, he’s winning draws at a 53% rate. In the def. zone he’s winning them at a 52.1% rate.
- Sam Carrick, there’s no other reason to get him other than playing style and faceoffs because he’s does F-all point-wise (8g 3a). On the whole, his FO% is 52.5, in the DZ it’s 49.7.
- Maybe I’m alone on this hill, but why are names like Carrick and Dowd even connected to Edmonton right now? Nico Sturm is 6’3″ and 210lbs and is top-5 in the league for faceoffs. I’d say skip him because he doesn’t produce but apparently that’s not an issue for the Oilers.
- But if Edmonton likes Carrick because he’s a pain in the ass for the opposition, I can buy into that reasoning. They sure as hell need more guys that can drag the team into the fight as we’ve witnessed this week. Maybe one on the back end, too, because Nurse, Ekholm, and Desharnais look like the league’s biggest trio of pacifists this year.
- So at this point, being the Oilers GMs we are, we should be trying to bring in Adam Henrique and Nico Sturm to shore up the center positions for the run, right?
- And just for what it’s worth, you’re going to hear pundits and bloggers try to sell you on a guy because he plays X amount of minutes on the PK. If they’re not telling you more about how he’s successful in that role, just that he gets a lot of TOI there, that should be a red flag. They tried that with Connor Brown, but the problem is, the game isn’t played with a man down for 60 minutes.
- So, yes, Sam Carrick plays the 2nd-most minutes on the kill for Anaheim, but how impactful is he aside from that, right? Maybe annoys the other team a bit or drops the gloves from time to time. I would hope he’s capable of shutting down top-six players, though, or else why bring him in?
The Shopping List
“Speaking of the Oilers, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug took a look at the dilemma on a recent episode of the Got Yer’ Back podcast and explained what he believes is the team’s order of trying to get things done over the next two weeks. He notes the order of importance goes, “a top-six right winger or a third-line center, and a depth defender and I think they stand pat on goaltending front.” – The Hockey Writers
- I feel like Henrique is the guy they really want for 3C. Laughton, Sissons, Dowd, I don’t think they’re on that level. Maybe Kevin Hayes is up there with Henrique but I’d need to dig in more on him. The center market is thin this year.
- Depth defender… Eric Johnson (BUF)? The aforementioned Joel Edmundson from Washington, Ilya Lybushkin (ANH), Mario Ferraro (SJ), JJ Moser or Sean Durzi (ARI), Jaycob Megna (CHI), Johnathan Kovacevic (MTL)… I could go on and on.
- If they went younger with that depth dman trade, that might afford them the opportunity to cash in on Philip Broberg.
- I think, just for me, they 4th line needs revamping. It needs some energy. The kind momentum changing characters this team has missed since they dealt Klim Kostin and Zack Kassian.
- Has anybody looked at Mark Kastelic in Ottawa? He’s one of nine players in the entire league who averages over 15 hits per 60 and 2 takeaways per 60. He’s 6’4″ and 225lbs and an odd stat on him, he’s never had a FO% under 56% since he started playing in the NHL three years ago.
- Another guy on that list, Stauffer favorite, Brett Murray in Buffalo.
- Nashvillle’s got a guy, Kiefer Sherwood. He’s another guy who hits a lot and is good at takeaways. He’s a bit better offensively than Kastelic but smaller, mind you. Probably why he averages four more minutes a game than the Senator.
- A grind line wouldn’t hurt. Kastelic-Sturm-Trenin… Average height and weight is 6’4″ 225lbs… If Edmonton wants to get bigger and tougher to play against, here you go.
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