Edmonton Oilers Rumors: “He’s not an upgrade on any one of…

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Weekly Rumours – Trade Targets, DeBrusk, and the Habs next GM

Jake DeBrusk: I don’t see a way for the Oilers to squeeze in DeBrusk without screwing themselves over once everyone is healthy.
Joonas Korpisalo: If I’m the Oilers though, I don’t think I touch him. He had a great run in the bubble back in 2019-20 but since then he’s been posting below-average numbers. He’s not an upgrade on any one of Smith, Skinner, or Koskinen.
Other Names: If the Oilers wanted to add a forward though, I think that both Rickard Rakell (MY BOY!) and Reilly Smith would be good fits considering they’re both pending UFA’s. The fact that they both play on division rivals would make a trade difficult though.
Habs GM: Daniel Briere, Martin Lapointe and Mathieu Darche are three that really stand out to me. Roberto Luongo would make sense but it’s unclear if he would leave his post in the Panthers organization.

BLH’s Thoughts: In my mind, the only way to bring in DeBrusk is to send Kassian back in the same trade and move Yamo to the third line and Hyman over to Leon’s RW. Then you can stick DeBrusk up with Connor.

If the trade didn’t pan out, no big deal because you’re only out a prospect or a pick that’s been included in the deal to Boston and that $4M-ish in cap space can be used on somebody else in the offseason.

I love Rakell too, but Anaheim is having a good year and if I’m not mistaken, team success tends to play a factor in a player’s decision to re-sign with a team or not. Reilly Smith is gone either way but again, we find ourselves doing the same mental exercise when talking about the DeBrusk deal.

The Hockey Writers

Oilers’ Mikko Koskinen Is NHL’s Most Underappreciated Goaltender

He is a 12-2 goalie, tied for second in the league in wins, and doing so in just 14 games.
If Koskinen was being paid half of his salary, he would be praised with a record of 12-2. But since his contract hasn’t matched his play throughout the three years, that’s all people seem to remember about him.
Despite only losing twice, it seems as though the consensus is that both of those losses were Koskinen’s fault, but wins are just a result of the offence and outscoring the opponent.
No other goaltender with more than 10 wins has played fewer than 16 games, and Koskinen sits at only 14 games played thus far.
I mentioned that Koskinen has the second-most wins in the NHL. Only Jack Campbell of the Toronto Maple Leafs has more (13).
Koskinen has a SV% that is above league average. He sports a .914 SV% and has a better quality start percentage (QS%) than the league average, as well as the highest by a good margin to his career-best.
Quality starts is defined as starts with a better SV% than the average SV% for the year. Koskinen has seven quality starts after 13 games started, good for a .538 QS%. His previous high was .515 and this season is his only above the league average of .530.
Koskinen’s goal-against percentage (GA%) and goals saved above average (GSAA) are also better than the league average… Though Koskinen has just a 0.7 GSAA, it’s better than his numbers in two of the three prior seasons in Edmonton where he had a minus-6.2 and minus-6.4 GSAA.
Among the top goaltenders on teams that are at the top of the league, who do you think gets the least amount of credit? Koskinen.
If we look at the teams with over 30 points in the standings, there’s Shesterkin, Talbot, Campbell, Frederik Andersen, Sergei Bobrovsky, Samsonov, and Jacob Markstrom. Yes, most of them have been playing elite, but their team’s defence also hasn’t been decimated by injuries this year, losing four rostered players.
Goaltenders like Darcy Kuemper, Robin Lehner, Thatcher Demko, and Jordan Binnington all have a worse SV% than Koskinen and all have a negative GSAA.
Though Koskinen is only above average in most categories, he is seen by many as one of the worst goalies in the league, despite his stats and performance this season.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Giant Son of comedian Bill Burr and Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus has certainly done his part to contribute to Edmonton’s current record, but I’d have to say that any negative connotation connecting to Koskinen is down to that contract Chiarelli saddled the team with before they axed him. As Mr. Couch said in his post, if Koski were making the kind of money that a backup in the NHL usually makes, he’d be getting talked about with much more positivity around the league.

https://twitter.com/BeerLeagueHeroe/status/1461233923485499392

The Hockey Writers Rumors

Based on quotes in a recent Sean Leahy of NBC Sports article, Patrick Roy would be interested in the GM job in Montreal… Roy tried to shoot down speculation he might not be good in a team environment but there are many still many who wonder how he’d fare in a tandem with Jeff Gorton who will be a key player in all of the Canadiens’ major decisions moving forward.
Sam Carchidi of Philly.com believes Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher may need to make some tough decisions if his team continues to lose…There is some chatter about possibly asking captain Claude Giroux to waive his no-trade clause as Giroux is slated to become an unrestricted free agent. The other option is changing the coach.

“Alain Vigneault has term left, I think teams are really not thrilled about eating money right now coming out of COVID, they’re definitely not interested in that…I’ve wondered about a guy like Rick Tocchet, it’s just me kind of speculating.” – Elliotte Friedman, Sportsnet

Knowing the “The Sabres are definitely looking for an upgrade.” Friedman also tweeted that he’s heard the Sabres are talking to the Chicago Blackhawks about a Malcolm Subban trade. He announced a few minutes later that the deal was done and just needed to be made official. Kevin Weekes also reported the trade was finalized.