Can you believe the Oilers and what they’re doing with that group of defenseman right now? A real testament to Peter Chiarelli’s pro scouting department, eh?
As unlikely as it is, they might actually survive this injury debacle that has them playing Kevin Gravel and Matt Benning on the second pairing. It’s going to take a lot of heart, focus, and hard work; but I’ve got faith in them because of the way they are responding to Ken Hitchcock’s coaching.
That said, I’ve been told that they’re scouting a couple of very interesting players.
**Preface: Use your own judgment here. I’m only a guy who happens to know someone within a professional hockey organization. I’m not an insider per se, but I hear things and I’ve been given permission to pass them on to you. All of this could come true or none of it could. It’s more likely the latter because things change all of the time. My advice, treat this like water cooler banter and don’t take it too seriously. It’s all entertainment at the end of the day anyhow, right?**
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The 3-Time Champion
Here was the first message I got from one of my sources,
The Oilers have been talking with Chicago for the last month or so about Duncan Keith. It’s something to keep an eye on.
WOW! That’s not a name I thought would show up on the Oilers radar given the nature of their salary cap situation at the moment. I’m not even sure how a deal like that could even go down because I’d imagine the Hawks want some pretty good pieces in return for Keith.
The 3-Time Stanley Cup champion plays the left-side and only the left-side as far as I know, so if Edmonton did go ahead and through some sort of miracle, acquire Keith, where would that leave Klefbom, Nurse, and Gravel? And that’s just for this season, Keith has three more years after this one on his deal worth $5.5 million.
Nevermind the money, I would say that the 35-year-old Keith is definitely on the back nine of his career. His “good” stats are sliding and his PIMs are rising. Is that the kind of player Edmonton needs?
If Peter Chiarelli brought that contract in, surely an equal sum of money would have to go to Chicago. I can’t see Chiarelli moving Russell, they love him too much and he can play the right-side. I reckon Sekera is a no-go unless a tooth-shattering sweetener is sent with him. The only real option from the Oilers defense is Darnell Nurse and trading Nurse for a player 12 years his senior would be right daft. Wouldn’t it?
Lucic was playing on the 4th line against Philly. Could he be sent to Chicago? The Hawks aren’t desperate to get rid of Keith’s contract nor is Keith yearning to leave Chi-town. Or at least, that’s what we’re lead to believe.
Some have talked about a Seabrook for Lucic trade in the past. Given the Oilers need for an upgrade on the right side of their defense, this would seemingly make more sense. And Yes, I do think Seabrook would be an upgrade on Benning.
The Former Erie Otter
The second message I received went like this,
I’m in the Peg tomorrow checking out Anthony Cirelli.
You might remember this player as the man who scored the 2015 Memorial Cup-winning goal vs. Leon Draisaitl and the Kelowna Rockets.
Cirelli has two years left on his ELC. He’s mainly a bottom-six center, which I think is an area that the Oilers are looking to improve. Ryan Spooner hasn’t really found a way to express himself yet, but he is on a two-game point streak. So who really knows? Maybe he’s starting to get warmed up. All I know is that Cirelli’s nine goals on the year would have him fifth on the Oilers right behind Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Last season the ex-Oshawa General came on like gangbusters and scored 11 points in 18 games. He’s very fast and very assertive with his physicality. His production has slowed down this year (11pts in 33gp), but his faceoff percentage is up from 44.9% to 51.7%.
The only reason I can see the Lightning being interested in moving Cirelli is if they wanted someone with more experience to center their 3rd line for the playoffs. They’re slated to have around $8 million in cap space come trade deadline time, so they’ll be able to add a really nice player with an expiring contract; like Matt Duchene or a Kevin Hayes should they want to.
If You Haven’t Noticed
For those of you that follow the blog, I’ve put out a few posts recently detailing who the Oilers are looking at. I think you might notice a pattern amongst most of those players in that they’ve got high gritensity numbers.
Players with speed and character for the bottom-six are what the Oilers are after.
As for tonight, Uber-rookie Elias Pettersson will do his best to make a mockery of this make-shift defense the Oilers are putting together. I think it’s going to be another entertaining affair.
