Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Five Options for an Upgrade at 3C

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Edmonton Sun

OILERS NOTES: ‘Always moving’ McDavid a challenge to defend

Oilers general manager Ken Holland has until March 21 next year to make any trade moves, but so far it looks like he has two fourth-line centres in Derek Ryan and Ryan McLeod and could use a 3C with size and some snarl, also an ability to put up some points.
McDavid is ranked 35th for drawing penalties for forwards playing at least 18 minutes a night. Leon Draisaitl is 19th. Again, these are the top two scorers in the NHL, guys who have the puck an inordinate amount of time
Last Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada , Craig MacTavish said the Oilers were going to take goaltender Joseph Woll (who beat Buffalo that night for his first NHL win) at No. 63 in the 2016 draft, but Toronto got to him one spot ahead. The Oilers took defenceman Markus Niemelainen, currently in Bakersfield, instead.

BLH’s Thoughts: How about these names for 3C:

Dylan Strome (CHI) – Buy low opportunity, best friends with McDavid.

Nazem Kadri (COL) – Good all-round game, built for post-season if he can keep his composure.

Radek Faksa (DAL) – Selke nominee 3x in last 5yrs, 55.8% FO% last yr

Pavel Zacha (NJ) – Snarly Czech with size, right shot, and 51.5% FO% last yr.

Cody Eakin (BUF) – Great on the dot in recent years (54%+).

Eakin looks like the type Holland would acquire, doesn’t he? The resemblance to former Red Wing Kris Draper probably helps… Faksa is a defensive specialist as he starts almost 60% of his shifts in the defensive zone. Zacha can play wing and centre, consider him RNH-lite. Strome would be an interesting play because he can also play wing and would it make sense to put him up with Connor and move RNH to 3C with Hyman going down with Leon and Killer? Kadri is a bit of a wild card because we don’t know what’s going to happen with Colorado here. With MacKinnon out, he’s been moved up to the Avs’ 2nd line.

The Athletic

Three auditioning Oilers who are finding their groove and hope to find their place

McLeod is 1-0-1 after seven games, Skinner owns a 2.66 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage in three games, and Benson has no crooked numbers in five games.
Skinner is showing well, his early numbers have exceeded projected totals and he is building his resume at a good time. Next season, he’ll be waiver eligible, so it’s important for Edmonton to know what they have by next summer.
Benson avoided waivers but has been unable to wrestle playing time away from Perlini (who played in his 11th game against Winnipeg on Tuesday night).
The Oilers need to invest minutes in all three players and so far McLeod and Skinner appear to be emerging as players with some NHL future. Benson is lagging and will need to post some offence in the days ahead.
If any of these three men land jobs as NHL players it’s a bonus for the Oilers. McLeod’s role (No. 3 centre) represents high value, that’s a feature spot on an NHL team.

BLH’s Thoughts: The unfortunate thing about where the Oilers are at now is that young players have to be ready to go when they’re called up. There’s no time for a look-see these days and to be honest, the fact that Benson can’t get into the lineup regularly right now probably means he’s not ready to be a full-time NHLer. I mean, considering how much Edmonton’s bottom-six is struggling, Benson should be bossing it, but he isn’t.

The other thing working against this trio is Dave Tippett is very pro-veteran and has very little time for prospects not named Evan Bouchard.

I can feel some pressure starting to build from the local media and blogosphere with regards to the Oilers bottom-six and in my mind and knowing Ken Holland’s history, these three players could be trade fodder for Holland to upgrade his 3rd and 4th lines.

The Hockey Writers Rumors

Matt Larkin of the Hockey News threw Rask’s name out there, and NHL insider Chris Johnston did suggest that Boston is his preferred destination but didn’t rule out the possibility of him latching onto a contender if the fit isn’t there.
…the reason the Toronto Maple Leafs traded for Kyle Clifford versus simply claiming him from the waiver wire is that the organization wanted to be able to assign him to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. The move was all about roster flexibility.