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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Lowetide
KEEP YOUR LAMPS TRIMMED AND BURNING
- “What if Ken Holland bought out Kailer Yamamoto, traded Warren Foegele for a prospect, acquired Jansen Harkins to play No. 4 center (in exchange for the prospect acquired for Foegele), what could he do then? Well, he could sign Evan Bouchard, Ryan McLeod, Klim Kostin and Raphael Lavoie from the RFA pile, and he could sign two mid-level free agent right wingers (say Jesper Fast and Connor Brown) to address the team’s weakest position. Is that enough?”
- “What about Jack Campbell? Could the Oilers run a deal similar to what the Los Angeles Kings did yesterday? Say Jack Campbell, Xavier Bourgault, a 2024 second-round pick and Kailer Yamamoto for the rights to Jujhar Khaira? Folks, it’s Russian nesting dolls all over again. Zack Kassian 2.0 and the Oilers really really can’t afford it.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Jansen Harkins is a very meat and potatoes player and I do like the rest of that scenario being laid out, but my only contention is that Brown and Fast shore up the bottom-6 and stay out off the top two lines. Give that one remaining open spot to Dylan Holloway or Rafa Lavoie to start the year in a role they’d be familiar with instead of starting them as grinders at the bottom of the lineup.
I get LT’s facetiousness in the second suggestion and I don’t see the Oilers walking away from Campbell yet. However, I do see them walking away at some point and they just might use an Xavier Bourgault, a Matty Petrov, or another highly touted prospect along with some high draft picks to get rid of him. I still reckon they should try to scoot him to SJ in an Erik Karlsson deal, but that’s just me NHL95-ing it.
In all seriousness, the Oilers just need to solidify their depth in the same manner than the Golden Knights, Hurricanes, Bruins, or any of the other top teams in the league have.
You’d think that it would be easier for Edmonton to do this now that they’re a Cup contender but the same massive problem still exists… Location location location. The team plays in Central Alberta and there’s f*ck all to do there so high value free agents are less likely to go to Edmonton on team friendly deals.
You might be screaming, “What about Hyman, Kane, Nuge, Nurse, and Ekholm?” and to that I’d argue that if you’re guaranteed to play big minutes with the two best players in the league, Edmonton’s a consideration, but we’re not talking about those kinds of players right now, are we? Ken Holland needs to upgrade his foot soldiers and at bargain bin prices. That’s why we’re hearing that Nick Bjugstad will probably sign somewhere else, is it not? I mean do you think if Edmonton was located in California they’d have a lot of problems attracting cheap grinders to fill out their roster? I do not.
And so with that said, I think Holland should keep his powder dry this summer and promote from within. Then in March he should blow the doors off the deadline with trades because there won’t be the “location” resistance from the players and he’ll have that run to and in the playoffs to sell the team/city on said player if he wants them to stay.
The Hockey Writers
3 Edmonton Oilers Offseason Predictions
- “My prediction is that the Oilers offload Yamamoto, whether it be by trade or buyout, and as hockey insider Frank Seravalli mentioned, if the Oilers’ forward is bought out, $433,334 would count against their salary cap next season, and $533,334 in 2024-25. Building on the prediction, Edmonton would then use the money they’ve saved from Yamamoto’s salary and use it to sign Brown in the $2 million per season range.”
- “…my prediction for the offseason is that they strike out on signing a right-handed blueliner capable of playing in the top four and they decide to keep the 29-year-old Ceci.”
- “Now, Jonathan Toews’ name has been thrown around lately in the rumour mill and he also checks a lot of boxes for the Oilers if they’re unable to re-sign Bjugstad.”
BLH’s Thoughts: I’m going to say that Toews stays in the US. His wife is from Chicago and I can’t see her green-lighting a move to the frozen tundra that is Edmonton, AB. I do wonder about Bjugstad though. When he was acquired by the Oilers at the deadline he mentioned that he wanted to sign in the Alberta capital last summer. So there may be a chance he gives Edmonton a bit more rope in negotiations.
The other two notes aren’t predictions at all. They’re just agreements with pundits who’ve been saying Yamamoto could be bought out and Ceci could be staying.
Want some predictions? Here’s two:
- I think the Oilers will have a lot more cap spaces come trade deadline time due to an “untimely injury”…
- Dylan Holloway is going to announce himself to the world in 2023/24 with a big breakout year.
Shite, those weren’t offseason predictions… Okay, here are two for the summer:
- The Oilers bring back Sam Gagner on a cheap 2-way deal but with a high AHL salary.
- Oilers sign dman/winger (former Edmonton Oil King captain) Mark Pysyk to a 2-way deal.
Trade Rumors
Spector’s Hockey
- Pierre LeBrun reports that Pat Brisson, the agent for Pierre-Luc Dubois, has informed the Winnipeg Jets that his client doesn’t intend to sign a contract extension this summer.
- LeBrun expounded on his Dubois report, saying the Montreal Canadiens remain an interested party.
- Pierre LeBrun reports that Jeff Jackson, the agent for Alex DeBrincat, has submitted a list of preferred trade destinations to the Ottawa Senators.
- LeBrun said he doesn’t know which teams are on DeBrincat’s list. However, he speculates the likes of Nashville, Vegas and Dallas could be included. He also wondered if the Michigan native would be interested in playing for Detroit.
- Bruce Garrioch believes the Red Wings, Hurricanes, Washington Capitals, Seattle Kraken, Nashville Predators, and St. Louis Blues could be destinations for DeBrincat.
- Sheng Peng yesterday cited Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek speculating that the Sharks could be interested in Carter Hart.
Friedman on TJMS: “I do think Philly is looking at Tony DeAngelo, I think they are aggressive on that front about trying to see what the market is for him”.
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) June 8, 2023
BLH’s Thoughts: I did ponder on DeAngelo not to long ago… If you’re an Oilers fan and you can put aside that this guy is a bit of a prick, could you foresee him in Edmonton if it meant the Oilers had to move Evan Bouchard in a deal for a massive upgade somewhere else in the lineup? Do the math yourself, but somebody on the level of a Taylor Hall, Travis Konecny, Erik Karlsson, Connor Hellebuyck… A star player.
I don’t get the feeling that Dubois is going to sign a long-term deal with anybody. I think by the sounds of it he wants to walk right into UFA status and call his own shots.
Dallas and Vegas don’t make as much sense as Nashville for myself. The Preds have some significant prospects on the wing that they could shuffle to Ottawa for Debrincat and they could use another scoring winger to help Filip Forsberg out. Joakim Kemell, Reid Schaefer, Zach L’Heureux, and Fedor Svechkov could all be used in that sort of deal.
Do you think that San Jose could offload Vlasic’s deal on Philly AND get Hart? Would have to be substantial in terms of futures, but that’s one way of getting ahead of the rebuild a bit.
