Can Woodcroft and Manson Produce the Next Adam Larsson?

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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Copper N Blue (Chapman)

Forecasting Jesse Puljujärvi’s 2021-22

In some of his best work to date, Ken Holland helped repair the relationship between Jesse Puljujärvi and the Edmonton Oilers. Holland was able to get Puljujärvi to sign for two years at a tiny 1.175 AAV. It’s his best work since becoming GM of the Oilers.
It took six games for Puljujärvi to leave the third line and ascend to the top line with Connor McDavid…
Puljujärvi’s first year back in Edmonton was absolutely a success, though his 25 points might raise some eyebrows for a player that spent so much of his time on the top line. Puljujärvi scored 15 goals in the abbreviated season, a career high for him. 13 of those were at even strength.
Puljujärvi averaged about 13 and a half minutes a game this past season. Expect that number to go up in 2021-22. He finished with a 51% CF against elite competition, he was at 53% or better everywhere else.
Puljujärvi just needs to keep doing what he did in the past season for a good shot at 20 goals. I think he gets that and a little bit more. With Alex Chiasson not on the roster, Puljujärvi may be in line for some of those minutes going forward. I don’t think 25 goals is out of the question in 2021-22, though I’d take another season of what I just saw.
This past season’s numbers had Puljujärvi pacing for 38 points… I’ve got him getting a bit more time on the power play this season coming up, and I’ll put him in for 45 points on the year (23-22-45) over 82 healthy games.

BLH’s Thoughts: I like that prognostication by Chapman. I feel that the range he has Jesse in makes sense. I’m not sure he’ll be stapled to Connor’s wing all year, mind you, and that could present other challenges that may or may not impact his point totals.

I’m thinking the time is right to really start to lean on Pulju and take advantage of his age and development and see what happens. What’s the hurt in playing him in as many situations as possible and finding out if they’ve got an asset on their hands that they can put on the ice at any time?

The Cult of Hockey (Staples)

There’s one huge advantage for Oilers big d-man prospect Michael Kesselring

Kesselring, 21, split his time between college hockey for Northeastern and Bakersfield of the American Hockey League last season, where he was on an AHL contract, meaning he’s still got three full years on his Entry Level Contract with the Oilers.
This represents a huge advantage for Kesselring. It gives him extra development years over Oilers d-man prospects like Filip Berglund and Markus Niemelainen, who have just one year left on their Entry Level Contracts…
If Kesselring does make it, he’ll be that rarest of Oilers late round draft picks, one who actually makes a mark in the NHL. To date only six Oilers drafted later than 150th overall have played more than 400 NHL games…
Kesselring was drafted 164th overall in the 2018 draft…
…now 6-5, 215-pounds, and he’s got some skill but the best thing about him is his hockey sense. He’s a smart player who reads the game well and gets to where he needs to be on the ice.
His biggest drawback? His skating.
Kesselring is going to be expected to be a physical player. He should watch endless replays of the way Adam Larsson hammered players in semi-legal fashion.
Expectation for 2021-22: Kesselring takes a regular shift in Bakersfield and gets some PK time.

BLH’s Thoughts: Is it me or do a lot of Edmonton’s prospects drafted outside of the first couple of rounds have skating issues that need working out? Is that the case for most players drafted in the 3rd round or later, though? I just feel like I’ve been reading player reviews for the past week or so and every one of them has had something written in it about Player X’s skating…

I’d be more concerned if the Oilers haven’t seen some galactic leaps in skating development from some of their best players over the years. Nurse, Draisaitl, and Puljujarvi (all big guys) have improved massively in that department, so I think there’s a bit of fair play in thinking another big ginormous fella like Kesselring could do something similar.

Of course, there’s always the other side of the coin with the likes of Ty Benson and Cooper Marody. Skating issues of have followed them around for years like the plague and we’ve yet to get any indication that improvement has been made.

So, we’ll have to wait and see, but at the very least, I’m intrigued at the prospect of watching this behemoth patrol Bakersfield’s blueline next year alongside the likes of Markus Niemelainen and Vincent Desharnais. All three are 6’5″ or taller… Reminds me of the times when Steve Smith, Randy Gregg, and Jeff Beukeboom were policing Edmonton’s end in the mid-80s.

NHLTradeRumors.me

Jake DeBrusk has been a name in the rumor mill, but a deal has yet to come into fruition. However, according to Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic, the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames are both interested in the Bruins winger.

The Oilers certainly could benefit from adding another left winger to their lineup. Yet, the Flames could be a nice consolation option for him personally, as Calgary of course is in Alberta, too.

BLH’s Thoughts: Has Fluto taken a gander at either of Edmonton’s or Calgary’s Roster or paid even the slightest bit of attention to the moves both teams have made this summer? Jake DeBrusk is a top-six LW and both clubs are three deep in that position as it stands.