Edmonton Oilers Rumors: “…he’s a player who could be picked up for potentially little return…”

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!

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The Hockey Writers

3 Left-Shot Defensemen the Oilers Might Have on Trade Radar

Chiarot plays big minutes, is reliable, and offers production on both offense and defense. He’s the kind of player who could come in right now and take top-four minutes on the Oilers’ blue line. A left-side of Nurse, Keith, and Chiarot is a strong core that when the Oilers are healthy would make them dangerous.
Giordano is older and has a ton of control over where he goes, but he’s still playing over 20 minutes some nights and offers playoff experience and leadership.
McNabb may be a casualty of the Golden Knights salary cap situation… Another defenseman who plays 20 minutes per night, he’s a player who could be picked up for potentially little return and would offer better depth than the Oilers have.

BLH’s Thoughts: These are three playoff options for sure. During the regular season when skill is on display and often dominates games, these candidates might be susceptible to differing levels of disappointment, but when the game tightens up in the post-season, Chiarot, Giordano, and McNabb are the kinds of dmen you want clearing your creases and breaking up cycles.

Giordano and McNabb are such prototypical Holland deadline acquisitions though… I’m almost expecting to see them in Oilers silks come the end of March.

My only hesitation is that the Oilers are up against the salary cap. A small bump in the road, but one that will be felt as the trade deadline approaches. Hopefully Holland doesn’t clean out the tickle trunk that holds all of his team’s future draft picks to go all-in.

The Cult of Hockey

Stuart Skinner and Ryan McLeod rewarded for strong play, but not Colton Sceviour?

…it’s a bit of a surprise to see Colton Sceviour out of the line-up. He, too, had his best game as an Oiler against Chicago.
When it comes to creating Grade A shots and defending against them — the beating heart of two-way play in hockey — Sceviour has added a bit on the attack but been extremely stingy on defence.
If the bottom line for fourth line players is that they don’t give up much in their own end, Sceviour is so far passing that test, while Ryan and Kyle Turris have both struggled.
Sceviour has made must one major mistake on a Grade A shot against in 58 even strength minutes. Ryan has made 13 such mistakes in 146 minutes and Turris nine such mistakes in 104 minutes.
He’s not a fast. He’s not a dynamic playmaker. He’s not a big hitter. But he works hard and smart on defence and that goes a long way for a fourth line player.
When fourth line players are on the ice, one mistake by one of them can cause a goal against, and that goal against can easily cost his team a game. When fourth line players are out against top line players on the other team, as often happens in road games, it’s crucial that those fourth liners are able to play safe and smart hockey, something that Sceviour has demonstrated.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m with David here. I like what Sceviour’s brought to the 4th line and I’d have him in ahead of Turris everyday of the week at this point. When Ryan is in the zone, he’s obviously the ideal center for the 4th line thanks to his faceoff-taking and work on the PK, and on the LW I like Benson right now. The local lad has been slightly better than Perlini so far thanks to his assertive nature on the ice.

See, I’m old school in that I think the 4th line has to have a bit of bite and the ability to provide some energy to its team from time to time. I suppose the only problem I have with a Benson-Ryan-Sceviour 4th line is that it lacks size in a big way and I would imagine that’s why we’re hearing that the team is looking at a couple of bigger bodies out of Seattle in Mason Appleton and Nathan Basitan.

NHLTradeRumor.com

Pittsburgh Penguins President Brian Burke was on Hockey Night in Canada and he talked about the team interested in a forward with size and some grit.
- Burke did mention the team has some salary cap issues to get ironed out, but once they are, he said, the team is open for business and will trade for a forward with size.
Now that Evander Kane’s 21 game suspension is coming to an end for faking a COVID-19 vaccination card, the San Jose Sharks have to figure out what will they do with him?
- Curtis Pashleka of the Mercury News reports the Sharks lack of scoring at even strength and on the power play right now is impossible to ignore. (Evander) Kane is the type of player the Sharks need but with reports of the team not getting along with Kane is a big issue.