Do the Oilers Feel a Draft

Welcome back and thanks to those that have visited the new site and a special thanks to those that bought one of the BLH ’97 t-shirts! They’re still available if you want one but the sale is ending soon, today in fact! So head on over to Teespring and help keep this boat afloat.

Today I’d just like to quickly comment on a few things I’d like to see the Edmonton Oilers do and a few things I’d like to see them avoid doing.

Avoid Offer Sheeting Dougie Hamilton – This is a horrid idea and I’d never do it for the simple reason that the Edmonton Oilers would find themselves in a similar situation someday and no doubt they’d have one of their players offer-sheeted. It’s not a good way to go about business. Why not try and trade for him? Surely the Oilers would have something of interest to the Bruins. Then again Hamilton could be the second coming of Larry Robinson…

Avoid Trading the 16th Overall Pick – My feelings on the draft is that you have to come out of the first round with a sure thing. You don’t draft a player you think will be good someday, you draft a player that is good now. OR you trade that pick for a sure thing, a roster player. If the Oilers aren’t going to come home with Connor McDavid and Jeremy Roy/Timo Meier/Nick Merkley out of that first round then they should trade it with a roster player for help on the blue line.

Do Upgrade the Goaltending – Did I hear correctly this week? Did someone say that the Oilers were contemplating sending the 16th overall pick to the Rangers for their backup? Good Lord! Tell me this is just some ruse to try and up the market value on Cam Talbot. If someone is willing to offer a 1st rounder for a backup goalie, let them do it. If the Oilers did that, I’d see it as strike one for the new regime.

What they should do is stump up for a real no.1 goalie. Jonathan Bernier is a legitimate no.1 goalie and I can’t imagine he’d like to be plying his trade for the rebuilding Toronto Maple Leafs next season or the 2 seasons after that. He’s in the prime of his career and most likely would be a perfect candidate for the Edmonton Oilers going into next year. He’s worth a first rounder plus and I’m sure Shanny and Co. would be more than happy to pick up another first rounder in this year’s draft.

Trade Justin Schultz If… – I fear that maybe the Oilers will trade him or walk away from him this summer and he’ll turn into that right-handed shooting uber offensive dman that every team wants to QB their power play. The guy rarely gets hurt and is good for 30+ pts every season and he’s only 24 to boot! I’d like to give him one last opportunity to show what he can do with the proper coaching, a veteran defense partner and suitable ice-time. It’d be a shame if he were to go somewhere else and rack up 50 points, right? But with that said, if he can’t toe the company line, then he should be shipped out ASAP!

Hypothetically speaking, what kind of return would you expect for Schultz and the Penguins 1st rounder? Is that the kind of deal that would get you the aforementioned Jonathan Bernier? Reuniting Jultz and Gardiner must be on someone’s mind over in the Big Smoke.

Thank you for reading. Like I said, it’s only a short one today! The other writers on the team have assured me that there will be an explosion of posts in the upcoming week from them. So expect to be hit fast and furiously from the boys at Beer League Heroes.

Take Care!

-BLH