Could the Oilers Be Looking at Nick Ritchie and Ryan Murray?

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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Edmonton Sun (Jim Matheson)

OILERS NOTES: Former Golden Bears forward Derek Ryan back where it all began

Apart from defencemen Randy Gregg and Cory Cross, Ryan is the most famous forward who ever played for the Golden Bears. Through his four years there, he was a star with the puck, and as an NHL centre, he has been tasked with stopping other people with it.
Which is exactly why the Oilers just signed the centre from Spokane to a two-year free-agent deal — to win draws, kill penalties, play smart and play third- or fourth-line. He’s a better Gaetan Haas, entering his sixth NHL season.
He also has a tie-in with Kailer Yamamoto.
- “I work out four times a week with Yams in Spokane. I’ve trained with him half a decade or so and when I was playing for the (Western Hockey League’s) Chiefs, he was at hockey camps I was working at. He’s always had exceptional skill and high hockey IQ,” he said.
Sources say a stumbling block in the Oilers chase of Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper was Kuemper’s salary. If they were prepared to give up the Coyotes’ desire for a first-round pick and a prospect, Edmonton felt Arizona had to pay all or most of Kuemper’s $4.5 million.
One NHL scout on Kyle Turris, who never found his niche here last year as a third-line centre or a penalty-killer or a key face-off guy: “He has to have a big training camp and show his competitive fire is back. His skating’s good enough but he was late to the party everywhere last season.” The Oilers would rather not bury $1.075 million of his contract ($2.1 million) on the farm in Bakersfield.

BLH’s Thoughts: I know Bob Stauffer (630CHED) has noted that the Oilers could try Kyle Turris on the 2nd line with Nuge and Leon during training camp, so that would speak to them not wanting to put him in Bakersfield and also to the idea that they might be pumping his tires in an attempt to trade him.

With Ryan, I just hope that Tippett doesn’t lean on him too much. If he was putting up great fancies in Calgary playing under 12 minutes a night, maybe that’s where his wheelhouse is and the Oilers should experiment with that sort of deployment at the beginning.

Interesting. #Oilers GM Ken Holland said on Oilers Now that Don Waddell and him had been talking for 2-3 weeks prior to making the Bear/Foegele trade. Said that the Canes were asking about a RS dman…#LetsGoOilers

— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) July 30, 2021

The Oilers Rig (Alex Thomas)

What Could Be Next For The Edmonton Oilers?

Sign the RFA’s – Foegele and Yamamoto will both need new contracts, as do Tyler Benson and Cooper Marody.
The expectation is that both Benson and Marody will come in at under $1,000,000 per year. Benson is more likely to sign a two-year deal, while Marody likely prefers a one-year pact.
The expectation here is that Yamamoto will carry a cap hit of $2,200,000 per year.
Foegele’s contract is more of a question. It’s possible he could sign a two-or-three-year deal worth somewhere in the $2,500,000 to $3,000,000 range.
Add a left-shot defenseman – Russell and Lagesson are both on the roster above, but it’s likely that Holland adds a defenseman in the coming weeks.
The club does maintain interest in free agent Slater Koekkoek, but he’s currently exploring the market. Other options include Brendan Smith, Ryan Murray, Jordie Benn and Jon Merrill.
Add a bottom-six winger – Ideally, the Oilers want to add a cheap veteran winger that can provide leadership, gritty play and some penalty killing ability.
Options are limited on the free agent market, but Marcus Sorensen, Michael Frolik and Mark Jankowski could be options. That trio won’t break the bank, and all three could be options later this summer as PTO’s.
Continue the goaltending search – There are no promises that Holland will be able to get the job done here.
As it currently stands, the Oilers will go to training camp with Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen once again as their NHL duo. Alex Stalock and Stuart Skinner will be there too, but neither is expected to wrestle a spot away.
Holland will likely check back in with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s had conversations with them in recent weeks, with Joonas Korpisalo the likely target. Alexander Georgiev of the New York Rangers is openly looking for a trade, and could be a target as well.

BLH’s Thoughts: Ken Holland said on Oilers Now yesterday morning that the team is close to being done making moves. He said that if they’re going to do more that it’ll be on the cheaper end, a more depth-adding type of acquisition. Holland also noted that he wants to give the kids (Benson, Holloway, Broberg) more of an opportunity next season as well.

So with that in mind, I’m going to close the door on the club making a change in between the pipes for now. I think that they have five left wingers (RNH, Hyman, Foegele, Shore, and Benson) that they could go into the season feeling comfortable with. They might want to bring back Alex Chiasson on the right side to give them five options over there as well (Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, Kassian, Archibald), but that’s open to debate because right now the Oilers only have a shade over $1M in cap space and they have to get Yamo and Foegele under contract as well as Benson and Marody…

In addition to Klefbom going on LTIR, a contract will need to be moved to open up more cap space…

"I could see the #Oilers going out and getting another left-shot D, okay. A guy I'd have interest in, Ryan Murray." – Bob Stauffer

Murray shares an agent with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) July 30, 2021

Oilersnation (Jason Gregor)

Are the Oilers Better?

I believe Edmonton made significant upgrades at forward by adding Zach Hyman, Warren Foegele and Derek Ryan. Edmonton has two legit top-six left wingers in Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Foegele is a proven, solid third line winger. Ryan is a much-needed right shot who can win faceoffs.
Edmonton will be changing three full-time spots, while the third pair left defence will likely be a platoon spot with Kris Russell and whichever UFA D-man they sign. Ryan Murray would be a great signing to play there, but I sense he will cost too much.
Ceci has been solid the past two seasons, but he doesn’t have the overall snarl of Larsson. He moves the puck better, but isn’t as solid defensively and not as physical.
Bouchard will get some offensive zone starts, likely with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid’s lines, and I don’t expect Oilers defence coach, Jim Playfair, to overplay him early on.
- He has better offensive skills than Bear, and his size and length could allow him to be equal defensively. He doesn’t have the penalty killing prowess of Bear, but I think we will see him get some PK time as the season progresses. His smarts, along with his reach could be an asset on the PK.
The biggest question I have on the blueline is: Can they match the penalty killing of the departed defenders?
No changes thus far with Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen under contract. Stuart Skinner and Alex Stalock will also be in camp, but Stalock didn’t play a game last season and I’m not sure if he is an upgrade on Koskinen.
Smith will be the starter, but he shouldn’t have more than 52 starts at the most. It is unlikely he matches last season’s numbers, mainly because they were excellent.
- I’d be surprised to see him fall off a cliff statistically, and if he hovers between .915sv% and .917sv% then he’ll still be in the top-half of the league.
Is there a trade to be had? I think it is more likely we see a potential deal in-season or near the trade deadline if one of the goalies is struggling.

BLH’s Thoughts: The cool thing about Edmonton’s forwards this year is that the wingers are all tenacious and excellent on the wall. It’ll be tough to win a board battle against the Oilers this upcoming season and they forecheck really well too, so the opposition’s defenders are going to be under a lot of pressure and that might cause quite a few unforced errors thus creating scoring chances for Edmonton’s second or third man in.

With Edmonton’s penalty killing dmen, I reckon Nurse, Keith, and Ceci will get the most of the TOI there and Kris Russell will get some when he plays and whoever the end up signing or trading for to play on that third pair with Evan Bouchard. It wouldn’t shock me if that guy is someone who’s efficient at blocking shots, can clear cycles down low, take care of the front of the net, and stick up for his teammates. Slater Koekkoek comes to mind but also a wildcard option might be Zdeno Chara… Don’t be too quick to dismiss Big Z.

NHLRumors.com

David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: The Vegas Golden Knights appear to be out of the Jack Eichel trade talks according to GM Kelly McCrimmon.

- “We’re not likely to be involved in any other discussions. We used our money that we had available to us. We’ve addressed the needs that we identified going into this time frame. We’re anxious to get ready for training camp as we move into the next season.”

Michael Russo of The Athletic: Sources say the Minnesota Wild are out of the Jack Eichel trade talks as they are tired of the asking price that the Buffalo Sabres want.

Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic: Jack Eichel trade talks with the New York Rangers and basically everyone else has virtually stalled. The Minnesota Wild are out, and the Los Angeles Kings may not have the room for his $10 million cap hit. The Philadelphia Flyers and Vegas Golden Knights can’t afford him either.

Bruce Garrioch: After the Ottawa Senators signed defenseman Michael Del Zotto and traded for Nick Holden, you have to wonder if they will look at trading one of Victor Mete or Erik Brannstrom.

The Fourth Period: The St. Louis Blues continue to work on a Vladimir Tarasenko trade. They’ve been having trade talks with the New York Islanders, New York Rangers, and Vegas Golden Knights.

Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: A source said that it’s pretty quiet on the Vladimir Tarasenko trade front. The source added the longer they hold on to him the lesser his trade value becomes. A deal should have been made by now.

- A source said that the Seattle Kraken would have drafted Tarasenko to trade him to anyone, but this no-trade clause killed that idea.

Elliotte Friedman: The Toronto Maple Leafs have indicated that they are protecting their remaining salary cap space. They have about $3.5 million. They are holding it for likely a top-six winger.

Tom Gazzola: The Edmonton Oilers are still trying to trade goaltender Mikko Koskinen. There had been some interest in him yesterday afternoon.

Drew Livingstone: Philipp Grubauer on signing with the Kraken: “It was a no brainer for me to go there (Seattle)” + “They (Avs) had their time and their opportunity”