Man, did the Edmonton Oilers really shit the bed against the worst team in their conference last night? As good as Leon Draisaitl has been playing, he was horrid in that game. Same goes for Mike Smith, whose play has been either rock solid or cotton candy soft this season. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy and I don’t expect him to put up all-star numbers, but can we get some consistency?
The good thing is, they’ve got a back-to-back coming up against two really good teams (Vegas and Arizona), so we should see a much higher quality of effort shortly. It’d be a shame for them to hit a rut after such an impressive start to the year like the one we’re seeing Buffalo hit right now.
What better way to soothe one’s soul after such a piss poor display from his favorite team than to get into some current trade rumors going around the NHL.
Taylor Hall to the Montreal Canadiens?
Eric Engels via Twitter: “Elliotte doesn’t mention it, but speculation is bound to increase on the possibility Bergevin will look to rent pending UFA Taylor Hall. No intel on that right now, but given Habs good play and the fact that they’re armed with 12 picks and a strong prospect pool, you have to think it’s possible. With the draft in Montreal this summer, would think Bergevin would prefer to move a 2021 first-round pick if need be. Anyway, I repeat, all quiet on this front. But with Drouin’s long term injury, speculation won’t exactly cool on this front.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Hall is going to be a helluva rental for someone. No doubt Devils GM Ray Shero is getting a feel for the market as we speak. I don’t think the Oilers will mortgage the future to bring Hall back but teams like the Habs or the Avs could make some very promising offers to the Devils that would include high draft picks and bluechip prospects. Could a team like Tampa or Calgary or Nashville step in and make a shock trade for the former NHL MVP though?
Will Big Buff Return?
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman spoke briefly about Dustin Byfuglien’s ongoing situation in Winnipeg in their latest 31 Thoughts podcast. One thing that stood out was Friedman saying (I’m paraphrasing) that he isn’t sure if there’s an appetite from either side for the rearguard to go back and suit up for the Jets.
BLH’s Thoughts: I like this player A LOT and would love to see him in Oilers silks. Given it’d take some time for him to get back up to speed, but Edmonton hasn’t seen a defender of his quality since Pronger was in town. Depending on how desperate the Jets are to move him out, could Edmonton send Kris Russell, Sam Gagner, and a prospect like William Lagesson to Winnipeg to pry Byfuglien out of the airport-less city?
Will Calgary Move Kylington?
Another topic from the 31 Thoughts podcast was Oliver Kylington. Marek and Friedman bantered about the young Swede and in Friedman’s 31 Thoughts blog, he said this,
One interesting possibility: Oliver Kylington, who would like more opportunity. But, again, other teams have indicated the Flames are being careful not to undervalue their own players during tough times.
The Sportsnet insider mentioned that Kylington would like to play a lot more than he is at the moment.
BLH’s Thoughts: The feeling out there is that the players are going to have to dig themselves out of this one. Calgary already axed one coach (Glen Gulutzan) because the players quit on him and from what I’ve gathered, they’ll be sticking with Bill Peters here. Calgary’s stars are going through a funk and eventually, they’ll break out of it, but how long can the Flames wait? Personally, I don’t think they need a blockbuster trade here. There’ve been lots of Hall for Gaudreau rumors going about but that doesn’t make sense to me. They’ve got Johnny hockey locked up for a few more years at a very affordable price. That said, if some sort of roster shakeup is needed, moving Kylington isn’t going to hurt the roster in my opinion but maybe they’d be better off moving Travis Hamonic…
JG Pageau an Oiler?
The Oilers have been interested in this player for a while now and it’s my belief that they’d be willing to pay the price to acquire him. What that price is at the moment is unknown. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a first-round pick and a prospect though. To me, that seems high, but I think there’ve been some contemplations regarding a Jesse Puljujarvi/Pageau swap in the past though.
Look, Pageau is the perfect third-line center for the Oilers and I get that he’s an Ottawa boy, however, he’d have a much higher chance at winning a Stanley Cup with the Oilers. One has to consider what he’d be looking for in a contract extension though as he’s set to hit the open market as a free agent this summer.
Babcock to Seattle?
The GM of the new Seattle franchise, Ron Francis was asked what he’s looking for in a coach and this is his quote from the most recent 31 Thoughts blog,
“The most critical thing for me is the experience,”
Both Pierre LeBrun (The Athletic/TSN) and Jared Clinton (The Hockey News) recently wrote about this as well.
BLH’s Thoughts: Well, you can’t get much more experienced than Mike Babcock, but would he want to join an expansion team? I could argue that he’d be much more comfortable with Ron Francis as his GM than Kyle Dubas was and he’d have a hand in building the team he prefers. To add to that, since the rules are going to be the same for this expansion as they were for the Vegas one, there’s a good chance that Seattle is going to get some good players. Not sure they’ll get the kind of trade offers that the Golden Knights did this time around though.
