TSN’s Bob McKenzie released his NHL trade deadline special podcast yesterday and within it, he went over an interesting scenario in which the Edmonton Oilers could relieve themselves of Milan Lucic’s contract AND perhaps the Jesse Puljujarvi issue.
If Mark Stone is not back with the Senators and Duchene, they’re going to have to get to the salary cap floor. They may have to do some deals where they bring in money just to bring in money. But if you’re going to do that, weaponize that ability to take on other people’s bad contracts and I’m thinking Lucic.
I’m thinking out loud but if I were a general manager and I had plenty of room and didn’t mind shelling out the money and I’ve got to get to the cap floor, I might go to Edmonton and say, “Tell you what, I’ll take the Lucic contract from you but I want Puljujarvi and something else to do it.”
And that’s how you get out from underneath it. I don’t know how Edmonton would feel about that. Maybe Puljujarvi is going to get traded anyways but maybe they want an asset for him… But cap space is an asset and if the new general manager comes in there and is hamstrung with all these contracts, it’s going to be really difficult for them to turn the corner… (source)
I know my good friend SPR brought this exact scenario up earlier this week and I think he’s a little pissed that the Bobfather has stolen it…
https://twitter.com/TheOilKnight/status/1098761834293653504
This whole Puljujarvi debacle has me in pieces. I’m way too emotionally invested in this player, but it’s one of those things, right? We all have something or someone that we’d die on a hill for and for me it’s Pulju. I think I was the same with Yakupov though. I have a soft spot in my heart for those uber happy go lucky players who are always smiling.
I think I’m so used to seeing what Leon and Connor bring to the table that I’ve been watching the Oilers games this year to see what Jesse might do.
Well, he might not be doing much for them anymore. I’m pretty resigned to him leaving now and it’s upsetting. I did say that I’d hop on the “Fire Chiarelli” bandwagon if he traded Pulju and I feel like I’ve got nowhere to go now. OH, THE IRONY!
So I’m on the “Retire Hitchcock” bandwagon now. I blame him for this mess because he’s the one that said: “I can fix him”. Instead, he’s done the ol’ “Hitch and Ditch” with Puljujarvi and it won’t matter to him because he’s gone at the end of the year…
THE 2019 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Anyways, I didn’t want to just talk about my boy. I wanted to talk about the draft a little bit.
Right now, as I write this, the Oilers are sitting at 5th overall according to Tankathon.com. They have a 26.1% chance of hopping into the top-3 and an 8.5% chance of winning the draft lottery outright and getting the chance to draft Jack Hughes.
Wouldn’t that be something if the Oilers won the lottery again? Could you imagine the outrage? You’d have to think that the NHL would institute some rule (again) that would prevent a team from drafting 1st overall more than three times in a five year period or something to that effect if it did go down.
But I’m looking at the top-5 of this year’s draft and I’m seeing a lot of skill on the wing.
Mynhldraft.com has the following players in their top-5:
- Jack Hughes – C – USNTDP (USA)
- Kappo Kakko – RW – TPS (SM-Liiga)
- Kirby Dach – C – Saskatoon (WHL)
- Dylan Cozens – RW – Lethbridge (WHL)
- Trevor Zegras – C – USNTDP (USA)
That website aggregates all the major rankings and posts a mock draft once or twice a month. So I enjoy using that resource to see where the draft prospects are situated at any given time during the season.
So if Edmonton were to draft today and the rankings didn’t change, then their man would be Trevor Zegras. I’ve read reports that have referred him to as “Jack Hughes-lite”.
“A creative player with exciting puck skills. Zegras blends good speed with unique lines to cause separation through the neutral zone and distribute effectively to his mates.” (source)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQWUNxfbGV4
Tankathon.com’s top-5 players for the 2019 entry draft look like this:
- Jack Hughes – C – USNTDP (USA)
- Kappo Kakko – RW – TPS (SM-Liiga)
- Vasili Podkolzin – RW – Vityaz Podolsk (Russia u17)
- Dylan Cozens – C – Lethbridge (WHL)
- Kirby Dach – C – Saskatoon (WHL)
You’ll probably notice the position change for Cozens there from RW to C. He can play both but I expect him to be a winger to start his NHL career at least and perhaps make the jump a bit later when he’s grown into his body a bit.
I simmed the draft lottery and what do you know, the Oilers jumped up two spots into 3rd overall. They’d have the enigmatic Russian known as Vasili Podkolzin if that were the case.
A multi-tool force who plays nasty but also can beat you with ridiculous puck skills, Podkolzin’s desire to develop in Russia shouldn’t trump his game-breaking upside.” (source)
I’ve heard Podkolzin being described as a mean mother f*cker and with his skill and ability to take over games, doesn’t that remind you of Evgeni Malkin? Edmonton could take him and then leave him in Russia for a year or two and bring him over as a 20-year-old to maximize the impact upon arrival too.
This is what I'm talking about #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/zaMRMsu5gJ
— Costa Rontzocos (@Rontzeeez) December 30, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrtc2JWvHGU
One thing for certain, this guy is no Nail Yakupov.
For me, my top-5 players I’d like to draft go as thus:
- Jack Hughes – Closest thing to Patrick Kane you’ll see.
- Kappo Kakko – Combine Matt Duchene’s speed and agility with Joe Sakic’s wrist shot.
- Vasili Podkolzin – Russian Peter Forsberg?
- Kirby Dach – He reminds me of Ryan Getzlaf sans the jerk part.
- Dylan Cozens – I get a Jeff Carter feel when I watch Cozens play.
The comparisons are a bit glorified but you get the gist.
I think we all hope that the Oilers aren’t drafting in these spots anymore but the reality is that the combination of Chiarelli and Hitchcock has left us where we are. So we might as well cover it and get to know the players that could be part of the organization.
