Don’t Believe the Hype

“THEY’RE TAKING CALLS OUT ON ALL THREE OF THE BIG BOYS. THEY’RE TAKING CALLS ON HALL” – Bob Stauffer, June 23rd Episode of Oilers Now

Lord tunderin’ Jebus! What in Sam’s living hell happened yesterday? PK Subban happened, that’s what. We’ve all been Subbanated. So instead of this draft being about Matthews and Laine, it’s going to be about where PK Subban is going, isn’t it? I’ll get into mythoughts on the Habs no.1 dman a little later. For now I want to talk about what Bob Stauffer was saying on yesterday’s Oilers Now.

DENNIS WIDEMAN

• For the 2nd day in a row Stauffer talked about a Lauri Korpikoski/Dennis Wideman deal.
  • Wideman has had a couple of good seasons in the past and I guess that and the fact that he’s a right-handed shooter qualifies him to be a potential target for the Oilers.
  • Chiarelli did say he could go the “stop-gap” route on the short-term but geez, does anybody actually think that Wideman would be anything more than Nikita Niktin 2.0?
• BS introduced us to the high-end, middle-end, low-end of what the Oilers could do with the hole on the right side of the defence.
  • High-End: PK Subban
  • Middle-End: Tyson Barrie/Travis Hamonic
  • Low-End: Dennis Wideman
    • Personally if the Oilers come to the point to where they’re picking off the low-end, I’d prefer they stick with what they have. Play Oesterle or Davidson on the RS and wait it out.

RIGHT SHOT DMAN RUMOURS

• BS proposed the following trade ideas:
  • Leon Draisaitl, #4 overall, Fayne and another salary player (Korpikoski) for Subban
    • Why in the hell would Montreal do that? It’d basically boil down to Draisaitl and Dubois for Subban. Surely Fayne and Korpi would move on after the season. He’d get crucified if he made any deal that didn’t involve Hall or RNH.
      • Stauffer rejected any proposals from callers that included Hall and Nugent-Hopkins later on in the show. Was adamant that Draisaitl would need to be the centre-piece.
  • Draisaitl, #4 overall, Yakupov, and Fayne for Subban and Eller
    • Later he added Montreal’s 9th overall pick.
    • Money issues with this one for the Oilers I think.
  • BS proposed the hypothetical: What if the Oilers acquired Travis Hamonic AND Dennis Wideman this summer?
    • Bs said himself that Hamonic’s offense isn’t really there like it would be with Barrie (who he’s still claiming is very much available) but that would be a bit better than what the Oilers currently have now.
      • But for Hamonic, the Isles will want Hall and this is where Chiarelli has to say no.
      • What about Draisaitl for Hamonic? Or that being the base of the deal?
    • BS exclaimed that the Oilers would HAVE to listen of the Isles put together a really good package and talked about Josh Ho-Sang and Michael Dal Colle.
• A 2-3% chance Subban gets moved proclaimed Stauffer.
  • I don’t see him getting moved. Any trade he makes for multiple pieces will set the Habs back unless a player like Hall is included. And likewise for Edmonton with Hall, they’ll lose any deal because his numbers won’t be able to be re-created in the aggregate.

OTHER MOVES

• Would Winnipeg consider moving down?
  • Stauffer is under the impression that the Jets need another center and could the Oilers package something with the #4 to get the talks started with the Jets?
  • Bob McKenzie did send out a tweet that said Winnipeg might not be sold on Laine…
    • When Bobby Mac talks, you listen.
• Florida Panthers’ UFA back-up Al Montoya came up
  • Bs fully expects the Oilers to entertain the idea of them signing a UFA goalie for $1.3M or less.
    • I dig it. Brossoit had some nice highlights but he’s not ready quite yet. One more season or less in Bakersfield and he should be good to go.
• Does the Keith Yandle signing affect any notion of acquiring Kevin Shattenkirk or Jason Demers?
  • BS reckons the right-shooting defender is going to have to come via trade and doesn’t think that the Oilers can take on another 2nd pairing defenseman who makes $5.5M per year.
• Tyler Bozak for Mark Faybe
  • BS said TOR is lacking RH’d dmen at the moment, they just game Kadri a bunch of cash and Auston Matthews is coming in but wasn’t sure if they’d take that deal.
  • He liked Bozak’s handedness, the secondary offence he’d bring and his ability on the faceoffs though.
• Mark McNeill for Jujhar Khaira
  • Just a hypothetical from Stauffer illustrating that whoever acquired McNeill would have to be damned sure he’d make their team because he’s not waiver exempt but Khaira is.

Do you think that the Oilers could realistically add PK Subban AND Travis Hamonic? Or is that a bit too far-fetched at this point given we’re talking about the Oilers dealing Hall, Draisaitl, the 4th overall pick, Yakupov, Nugent-Hopkins, etc. 

MILAN LUCIC

• Bob said if Milan is coming in, expect a money man on the left-side to go out “And I think you know who that’d be.”
• $6 per year times six years gets it done in Stauffer’s mind and the scenario where the Oilers are signing Lucic, one of Hall or Pouliot are going and what better way to address the defence than with Hall?
  • So Hall or Leon goes out, Lucic and PK Subban come in. Does that not put what Garth Snow did by adding Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy to shame?

What do you think about all of these rumours? Do you believe any of them? Let me know in the comments below!