Edmonton Oilers Offseason Talk: Dumba, Barbashev, Mantha, and Dylan Holloway

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The Athletic

10 Edmonton Oilers free-agent targets for this summer

Jesper Fast – “If there’s a perfect fit for what the Oilers need this summer, surely it’s Fast. A man who can hang with high-end skill and impact the goal share, Fast is also at the end of a contract that underpaid him.”
Ivan Barbashev – “He has been bringing more offence than Fast in recent years, and owns a 51 percent goal share over the last two seasons… Although Barbashev may be a more substantial overall offensive contributor to wins, he is also likely to be more expensive in free agency than Fast, and less effective without the puck.”
Garnet Hathaway – “Hathway’s numbers when he played for the Washington Capitals were strong in the areas Edmonton needs this summer… Puck IQ shows he averaged 3:48 a night versus elites, posting a 53.3 DFF percentage and 6-3 goals. It was impressive, and the third year in a row Hathaway managed it in Washington.”
Scott Mayfield – “Oilers fans would love Mayfield, a big (6-foot-5, 220 pounds) shutdown defender who can play big minutes against elites and win the shot and goal share.”
Matt Dumba – “If Edmonton signs a player like Dumba, it would also be as a replacement for Ceci… Dumba is considered an upgrade and will absolutely be more expensive.”

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve spoken about Hathaway since the trade deadline this past season. I think he’d be a perfect depth compliment to Edmonton’s roster on a short(ish) term deal. He’s very meat and potatoes in addition to be extremely adept on the defensive side of the puck. He was a mainstay on Washington’s PK unit during his time there to boot and the Oilers will definitely need somebody to replace Yamamoto in that regard.

Barbashev would be a dream and if I’m not mistaken a career come full circle. I think Edmonton traded the pick STL used to draft him. Anyway, he’s what Yamamoto should be but as LT says, he won’t come cheap and therein lies the rub unless Holland can magically find some cap room.

I’ve been watching Fast since the Pulju trade and he doesn’t come across as somebody who gets a lot of time with the elites. His most common linemates this year were Jordan Martinook and Jordan Staal (1600+ minutes combined), Carolina’s staple third liners. If he’s being signed to play in Edmonton’s top-6, there’s a problem.

Give me Mayfield over Dumba everyday of the week but somebody say a prayer for Evan Bouchard because he’s going to get paired up with Nurse eventually and that’ll be that.

Sportsnet

Oilers Off-Season Checklist: Move off Yamamoto, make room for Holloway

Move Kailer Yamamoto – “Yamamoto’s three-year averages — 13 goals, 29 points — while playing almost exclusively in the top six next to Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid, are pedestrian. His man games lost to injury — 55 in the past three years — speak to a player whose size cannot support his style. All of this for a cap hit of $3.1 million.”
Make room for Dylan Holloway – “Holloway is ready to start a season in the NHL and needs to, so that when the big games come in May and June, he has a full season under his belt and is ready to be a factor. He should begin his career in the bottom six, and if that opening is created by platooning players through the second-line right-wing spot left open by Yamamoto, so be it.”
Which Veteran Depth Forward Goes? – “I’m re-signing Bjugstad for sure — he’s a big, faceoff-winning, penalty-killing depth centre. He could get more money elsewhere but he’ll have to take a little less if he wants to play on a Cup contender in Edmonton. And I like one more year of Ryan, at no more than he made last season ($1.25 million).”
How Can Edmonton Defend Better? – “Holland needs to make a call here, because he needs a better group of six D-men to win a Stanley Cup. This group didn’t defend well enough, didn’t own its own net front often enough this spring when it counted.”

BLH’s Thoughts: So not only is the “preferred linemate” narrative over and done with but we’ve moved on to one that’s been used recently, “unproductive alongside 97 and 29”. And with that, it’s time to run Yamamoto out of Edmonton for Spector.

Now, we can go all the way back to last offseason and if you look hard enough you’ll find that I said Edmonton was exploring options on Yamo back then. So you can be sure that they probably have a decent idea of where they can move him and it won’t shock me if you start hearing the likes of Stauffer, Gregor, Seravalli, and Rishaug talking about where they “think” Killer might land.

Spector makes a good point on Holloway, mind you. That said, Edmonton’s got some options with him. He’s still on his ELC for one more season and if he’s deemed unready, Edmonton can stash him in Bakersfield for a time, but if they do do that, it won’t be for long. 20-30 games max and then he’d get recalled.

There’s a player in Hollywood but if Edmonton mucks up his development he could go from being Taylor Hall-lite to Devin Shore 2.0. No disrespect to Shore, but you get what I’m saying.

I’ll take Bjugstad back as well. Gotta make sure he’s played in his wheelhouse though and away from the other team’s elite forwards as they really eat him up.

Although I like Derek Ryan because he brings a ton of moxie and provides some 4th line scoring, he’s closer to 40 than 30 and there’s going to be some degradation in his game. I’d like him to come back in a part-time role.

As we spoke of above, if Holland can get Garnet Hathaway to Edmonton to join Ryan McLeod, and maybe Dylan Holloway, that would be an impressive 3rd line I reckon. Maybe have Bjugstad, Kostin, and Ryan on the 4th line… I can buy that soup.

I just believe that the Oilers need to bring in some bottom-six defense-first forwards to mentor the young guys and give the club the option to be able to choke out their opponents in the 3rd period instead of being the team that is getting choked out all of the time.

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey

Chris Johnston reports Toronto Maple Leafs team president Brendan Shanahan told the club’s top players – Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander – that they are not likely to be moved. The club’s vision right now is for those “core four” to return next season.
Daniel Austin believes addressing Elias Lindholm’s future is among the priorities facing Craig Conroy, who was formally introduced yesterday as the Flames new general manager.
Frank Seravalli reports Anthony Mantha has popped up in a few different trade conversations.
Sammi Silber suggested the Arizona Coyotes could offer up some interesting trade options for the Capitals.

BLH’s Thoughts: What would Auston Matthews fetch if one of the leagues “big market” teams were encouraged to explore options on him?

If Craig Conroy can’t get Lindholm to stay in Calgary, who could? Conroy’s smile could end world hunger if they let it.

The Caps should utilize their resources to rehab Mantha’s game before trying to hand him off to somebody else to deal with. They’ve got their hands full trying to find a new home for Kuznetsov.

Speaking of the disgruntled Russian, Keller to the Capitals for Kuznetsov? why not?