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!
The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, and The Daily Goal Horn just to name a few!
If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!
Give us a follow on the socials!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
The Cult of Hockey
9 Things
- “Some people have wondered aloud whether a cap-squeezed Edmonton Oilers would contemplate a buyout of Jack Campbell. My information is that there is zero chance of that. None. Period.”
- “I would not be the only one wondering whether Jonathan Toews would be a smart add for the Oilers… But I hear he is not even entertaining offers. If that is true…”
- ” I think a far more likely name to watch for Edmonton would be Tomas Nosek. It is not ideal that he is left-handed. But he is a natural center who was 59% on the dot last year, and 55% for his career and is a regular PK guy.”
- “(Connor) Brown has been an effective PK man his entire career and has seen more ice short-handed his last two full seasons than any of the current Oilers forwards like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Mattias Janmark.
- “Ryan McLeod’s camp has filed for salary arbitration. I do not think you will see a quick resolution to this.”
- ” The new deal for Bowen Byram has very likely jacked up the price tag for Evan Bouchard… It seems very unlikely that the Oilers and the player would settle on a 1-year “bridge” deal. The potential cost come 2024-25 would be just too much of a risk. But it is also hard to see how the bill will come in any less than a $3.9m AAV.”
- “Yet more change on the suddenly turbulent Sports Radio front in Edmonton. Bob Stauffer’s Oilers Now on 630 CHED will move to M-F 5pm-7pm this Fall, Reid Wilkins’ Inside Sports a single hour from 7-8pm. It will basically be “block” programming, especially during hockey season. This is likely all about revenues.”
BLH’s Thoughts: When will Bob and the boys finally cut the cord with CHED and just go for it on their own like Steve Dangle did earlier in the year? They’d make as much, if not more, in ad sales and they wouldn’t be controlled by the media company either. It’s just as easy to throw up Spotify in the car as it is to turn the radio knob.
You gotta wonder if the Oilers are going to have to make a decision between McLeod and Bouchard because it looks as if their agents aren’t in the mood to do any more favors for the club and the club isn’t in any position to really do any favors for the players…
Rumblings in the @EdmontonOilers office of an offer sheet coming for Bouchard……as per Garfield
— Tracy Lane (@TreenasOil) July 10, 2023
If there’s an offer sheet coming for Bouch, Edmonton might just take the picks and cap space. Anaheim, Chicago, and Arizona could do it because they’ve all got their own picks for the next three drafts. Chicago especially could as they have multiple first, second, and third round picks until the 2026 draft.
Imagine Bouchard feeding Hail Mary bombs to Bedard for the next decade. That being said, the Hawks have Seth Jones, Nikita Zaitsev, and Connor Murphy on their right side and NOBODY on their left… That’s about the only hitch in the scenario.
Do you think Anaheim would do it with Gudas and Drysdale already there?
Moving on…
Don’t let the fact that Connor Brown was Ottawa’s only PKer when he was there fool you into thinking he was “quite effective”. His fancies tell a different story if you do a little bit of digging over at Natural Stat Trick.
My theory is that his playing style got him on the penalty kill to begin with and the fact that he could skate like the wind made him an offensive threat on the kill and that’s why DJ Smith had him there. I don’t think he alone had such a massive defensive impact for the Sens that we can sit here today and with a straight face say he’s one of the league’s better penalty killers right now.
What Brown could potentially do is saw things off a bit more 5v5 and make his linemate’s jobs a bit easier.
Edmonton’s not signing anybody else I don’t think. They’re not going to have the cap space if they get both Bouch and Cloudy done up. That said, keep an eye on PTOs… I think there’s gold to be found in those hills.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say Jack Campbell will be with a different organization come the 24/25 season.
Oilersnation
Monday Mailbag
The Oilers have now lost to the Stanley Cup champions two years in a row and I want to know what lessons you learned about the team after watching both runs.
- “…the Vegas loss hurts more because it felt like a winnable series had the boys not made so many mistakes. Think about it, the Oilers had the lead in every single game of that series.” – Baggedmilk
Can the Oilers do anything apart from signing McLeod and Bouchard or would there still be room for another cheap forward or defender?
- “They can sign two forwards for $775-$800K contracts — guys who can push for spots in the bottom six.” – Gregor
Considering the impact players like Zegras, Boldy, Seider, and others from the 2019 draft have had on their respective clubs, should the Oilers be concerned about Philip Broberg’s development and how he still hasn’t established himself within the team’s system?
- “No. Broberg just turned 22 two weeks ago. Comparing him to prospects in other organizations with different depths of talent and player personnel doesn’t tell you much.” – Brownlee
Are we at all scared that Campbell doesn’t bounce back and Stu hits a sophomore slump and that we’re screwed between the pipes?
- “Many teams have questions about goaltending to start the season. Unless you have one of the top-seven goalies. I’d be surprised if both struggled.” – Gregor
BLH’s Thoughts: I’ll be surprised if both Oilers goalies don’t struggle and force Holland into making an unsavory trade early on in the season to save it.
On Broberg, fans are either going to have to be patient with him on the club on not on it because he’s going to be a top-4 dman at some point. Hopefully it’s with Edmonton because he’s the kind of post-season competitor they’ll need for years and years to come. Maybe, just maybe, he’s Ekholm 2.0 but he needs more experience first.
The Oilers have $5.62M in cap space right now. Add another 760k when Niemelainen gets sent down that that brings them to a shade over $6M. Now, they’ll want to keep a million in the bank for transactions so now we’re down to $5M and McLeod wants close to $2M whilst Bouchard wants over $4M… Hmmm.
Explain to me how they’re going to squeeze another $1.5M-ish in players in with negative cap space remaining after the RFAs are re-signed.
Neither loss really hurt that much, IMO. Colorado was better and I had no grand illusions about the Oilers making it past the 2nd round last season nor do I think they’ll make it past the 2nd round in 23/24 without a significant upgrade on defense and better players in their bottom six.
I reckon the Avs are going to run away with it next season if their netminding holds up. Dallas will be good again and Vegas too.
If the Oilers were smart they’d pull a Pierre Lacroix circa 1996 and get one of those elite netminders that are on the block and ride him to their 6th Stanley Cup.
Trade Rumors
Spector’s Hockey
- Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reporting free-agent winger Vladimir Tarasenko is mulling up to six offers from NHL clubs.
- Sean O’Leary cited Chris Johnston reporting the Leafs are trying to shed the final season of goaltender Matt Murray’s contract for salary-cap relief. He’s on their books for $4.6 million for 2023-24 before becoming a UFA next summer.
- Sheng Peng cited Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reporting the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks have a deal on the table involving Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers. It would see Myers head to San Jose straight up for winger Kevin Labanc.
- Sheng Peng indicates the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes are thought to be interested in Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson.
- Eric Stephens reports there is no known formal trade request from Gibson. When asked, the goalie and his agent declined to comment. However, sources close to Gibson and the Ducks say he has not asked to be traded.
BLH’s Thoughts: Jesus… Karlsson to the Penguins? That’s a ridiculous embarrassment of riches… Old, mind you, but still…
Ottawa getting Tarasenko continues to make no sense to me. Maybe some teams think he’s washed up seeing as he didn’t exactly light it up last year.
