July 30, 2021 /

Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Georgiev Requests Trade Out of New York!

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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Edmonton Sun (Rob Tychkowski)

The day after: What to make of the new-look Edmonton Oilers
  • There is always risk involved when committing big money over several years to fill an vital spots on the roster. And Holland certainly stuck his chin out this offseason, dancing with a bit of danger in almost all of his acquisitions.
  • Barrie is controversial because there are more holes in his game than a first pairing guy should really have, and signing him might have squeezed out Ethan Bear.
  • Duncan Keith is risky because he’s pushing 40 and he cost them another young defenceman in Caleb Jones, who might come back to haunt them now that he’s being mentored by his brother in Chicago.
  • Hyman is a concern because the deal is seven years and you have to wonder about the engine life of a 29-year-old who logs the kind of hard miles that he does.
  • Foegele is questionable because he’s all they got for Bear.
  • The Oilers have more depth and tenacity up front now, and it’s going to make a difference.
  • On defence, the Oilers were in an untenable situation on the right side.
    • Something had to give, and that something was Bear. In the very short term, you can understand the Oilers’ logic. He is a talented young player with plenty of unrealized upside, but isn’t a first- or second-pairing defenceman on a “win now” team.
  • Cody Ceci on the second pairing is a slight downgrade from Larsson, no question, but Keith is the key to that equation.
  • Ceci and rejuvenated Keith could even be an upgrade on Larsson and the platoon of left defencemen (Jones, Lagesson, Dmitry Kulikov, and Kris Russell) who played there last year.
  • The best-laid plans can be gutted by average netminding and the potential for that is very real this season.

BLH’s Thoughts: I was just going over the sv% leaders from 1997 to 2021 and during Detroit’s best years their goaltending was painfully average if not below average. Not a lot of years with netminders over a .920 in that category and we’re talking about goalies like Chris Osgood, Manny Legace, Dominik Hasek, and Curtis Joseph. So this leads me to believe that on a Ken Holland built team, his focus is on developing a great group of skaters in front of his goaltender so that he doesn’t have to invest too many resources in the net. On his championship clubs, average goaltending in the regular season IS enough, the trick is to have a puck stopper who can step it up in the post-season. 

Sportsnet (Mark Spector)

Hyman will solidify Oilers’ top line, but other roster questions linger

  • It is near impossible to find a negative view on Hyman from around the hockey world. “Steady as a drumbeat,” was one description that sums up the player.
  • For some, signing an above average offensive D-man (Barrie) on a contract we would consider to be favourable is bad business. Those folks are not named McDavid, Leon Draisaitl or Darnell Nurse, however.
  • Who is Ceci? Is he the player who finished second in plus-minus (plus-18) and second in scoring (17 points, all even strength) while playing 18:31 per game for the Pittsburgh Penguins last season?
    • Or is he the guy who struggled in Toronto the year before that, part of a Leafs blue line that needed an overhaul?
  • This is the one acquisition Holland made on Wednesday that carries the biggest asterisk. We don’t blame him for losing Larsson, but on a day he needed a stout defender, acquiring Ceci is going to be on people’s radar for a long while in Edmonton.
  • Bear was, in the end, another small defenceman who doesn’t defend well enough. A right side of Barrie, Bear and young Evan Bouchard simply is not an option for a team that wants playoff success, so turning him into a bigger, third-line left-winger who can help Edmonton’s depth up front was good business.
  • Holland has a third-line centre-of-the-future in Ryan McLeod, and was unable to acquire a high-end 3C on Wednesday. So he landed what is essentially a high-end 4C in (Derek) Ryan, a smart utility forward who will insulate McLeod and help him grow into the role.
  • In goal, where Holland failed to get in on a goalie carousel that saw 14 netminders move through Central Registry on their way to new clubs Wednesday. He was in on Darcy Kuemper but couldn’t close the deal, and had a deal to move Mikko Koskinen’s contract if he could have landed the Arizona goalie.

BLH’s Thoughts: If the acquisitions of Zach Hyman, Warren Foegele, and Derek Ryan in addition to the internal additions of Ryan McLeod and (possibly) Tyler Benson can result in the Oilers spending less time defending, that’ll ultimately benefit the defense and the goaltenders, no? 

Tyson Barrie is anything but an “above average offensive dman”, his ability to produce points should be considered elite. Getting him an a below market value contract is most definitely a grade A free agent signing.

I have my own concerns over Ceci but one of them isn’t regarding his ability to come in an duplicate Adam Larsson’s game. I think he’s going to be solid beside Duncan Keith. What sent up yellow flags is how he said he wants to rediscover some of his offensive game that’s been lost over the years. I want him to focus on being a good defender and somebody who can get the puck to the forwards as quickly as possible, let them do the work on the offense. His d-partner is going to need someone who can cover when he gets aggressive on the puck, not the other way around.  

The Athletic (Jonathan Willis)

Oilers 2021-22 depth chart: How Zach Hyman, Duncan Keith, Warren Foegele and Cody Ceci change the picture
  • The big changes are in the bottom-six, a group that struggled mightily last season. The trade cost for Warren Foegele (Ethan Bear) was high but he instantly becomes a two-way force and anchor point for Edmonton’s third line.
  • The price for crafty right-shot centre Derek Ryan was much lower, but he’s a better bet at centre than the miscast Turris was last season. 
  • As it stands, the Oilers are set to have three young players join the group: Ryan McLeod, Tyler Benson and Cooper Marody. 
    • An established fourth-line/penalty-killing left wing would allow them to bump Benson into a reserve slot and force Marody to win a job rather than getting one by default.
  • One also wonders if Edmonton might revisit some of its still unsigned UFAs.
    • Chiasson’s 183 games in Edmonton make it his longest NHL stop and his 78 points make it his most productive; would he and the team have mutual interest in bringing him back on a six-figure contract?
  • This is now a thoroughly Ken Holland blue line, featuring four veterans signed as unrestricted free agents in top-six roles, with two of them new this year.
  • It’s likely that the Oilers add another body to the mix: probably someone big, cheap and with penalty-killing experience. There are plenty of options out there, including Koekkoek, whose first season in Edmonton was wiped out by injury.
  • As a mental exercise, try to imagine the coach shortening his bench to two pairings to defend a one-goal lead in a must-win game. Nurse makes the list for sure, and then Keith and Ceci … but the next-best bet on the right side might be Russell rather than any of the right-shooters. This looks like a wobbly group and they’ll have to prove otherwise.
  •  Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen. They’re both NHL-caliber goalies, and if neither is the true No. 1 the Oilers long for they still might be good enough in the aggregate to get the team to the postseason. They’ve done it twice; the third time will be the charm.
  • Finding a goalie through trade will be tough too. Teams are leery of a compacted Olympic schedule and generally want two guys who can play regularly. 
  • One advantage the Oilers do have is a lot of options behind Smith and Koskinen. Stalock has played 151 NHL games and owns a career .909 save percentage. Skinner’s AHL performance has him knocking on the door. Konovalov had a .923 save percentage in the second-best league in the world last year.
  • Give or take some minor deals at the edges, this appears to be the Oilers team that will compete for the Stanley Cup next season.

BLH’s Thoughts: I liked that mental exercise Jonathan presented because it made me think back to who Dave Tippett had on every second shift in overtime vs. Winnipeg in game four of their playoff series this year. It was Darnell Nurse and… wait for it… Tyson Barrie! To add to that, some say that Barrie got better and better as that series wore on… So I’ve got no reservations about Edmonton’s top-four in a close game. 

However, they will want to sign another LHD as well as another winger. I think Slater Koekkoek is somebody they like as he block shots, can transition the puck, has an element of offense to his game, and proved his worth last season to the coaching staff.

At forward, if they can’t find anybody else, Alex Chiasson makes a ton of sense too. Dave Tippett trusts him a great deal and he can be brought into the lineup on as the 4RW with Josh Archibald sliding over to the left side as he’s often done in Edmonton since his arrival. Chiasson would be a very cheap signing and this would force a Cooper Marody or a Tyler Benson to beat out a veteran for that spot. 

The Daily Goal Horn

NHL Rumors: Blues trade ask too high on Tarasenko; Rangers were in on Danault; and Wild out on Eichel
  • Armstrong has miscalculated the (Tarasenko) situation, asking for “too much” in return. There were once four teams interested in Tarasenko, and there are still at least two, but the options are dwindling after Wednesday’s signings around the league. – The Athletic
  • So we have it on good authority that the Rangers were indeed in on the bidding for Montreal shutdown center Phillip Danault when the free-agent market opened at noon on Wednesday, but dropped out when the bidding yielded a six-year offer of an average annual value of $5.5 million per season from the Kings. – NY Post
  • Although at least temporarily the Wild have backed out of Jack Eichel trade talks, sources say, because they’re fed up with the asking price from the Buffalo Sabres for the $10 million star with a neck injury. – The Athletic
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CategoriesArmchair GM Beer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL Rumors

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Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!