Speculating from an Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest NHL news and rumors feat. Henrik Lundqvist, Josh Anderson, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Tuch, an interesting Edmonton Oilers hypothetical, and many more!
Hey. All of you. Scouching's Final Draft Ranking Show for 2020 is out.https://t.co/d1GCP4baAg
The written version is also out. In fact, it's been out since yesterday and none of you even knew except Patrons hehehehehehttps://t.co/bSO2vFD5CP
Enjoy!
— Will Scouch (@Scouching) October 2, 2020
The News and Rumors
- Larry Brooks (NY Post): There has been so much talk about St. Louis right defenseman Alex Pietrangelo lately, the premier free agent on the market, fleeing to Vegas when the market opens on Friday that I’m hearing substantial talk the Blues might be prepared to file tampering charges if that’s the way it shakes out.
BLH’s Thoughts: BOOM! How about that? Doug Armstrong is a major power broker within the NHL’s management family. If he feels like Vegas isn’t playing by the rules, written or otherwise, he’s got the clout to take things to a higher power. It’ll be interesting to see if things get this far what the ramifications could potentially be.
- Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun): One possible destination for Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray could be the Chicago Blackhawks. I’m led to believe they’ve expressed some interest.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’d rather have Matt Murray in net that Corey Crawford, personally. But is that the right move for the Blackhawks right now? You’d have to think that if they went the Murray route that they may have eyes on being a perennial playoff contender sooner than later and I’m just not sure that’s realistic. Yes, they shocked the world by beating Edmonton in the qualifiers but they were soundly beat in the next round.
- Chris Johnston (Sportsnet): Taylor Hall will be very open to “any kind of deal” when he hits the market. He’d entertain 1-2yr contracts.
BLH’s Thoughts: If you’re asking me as a fan, I think there’s a sliver of hope amongst those in the organization that he’ll sign in Edmonton for a year on the cheap. Is it a realistic hope? Probably not with the Avs sitting right there with all that cap room and potentially a better club.
With that in mind, if he’s willing to lower his salary demands, his options are endless. Man, I think Tampa could be an option if they came calling with the right offer.
- Seth Rorabaugh (Triblive.com): Tristan Jarry indicated that he and his teammates have been told to prepare for training camps to start (tentatively) on November 15th.
BLH’s Thoughts: Game on! That’s going to be one helluva long training camp then if the league isn’t prepared to start until after January 1st… Vets are going to love that!
- Aaron Ward (SiriusXM NHL Radio): Regarding Frederik Andersen to Carolina rumors, “Toronto wanted Dougie Hamilton and that was a non-starter.”
BLH’s Thoughts: Both players have their warts but that’s a hard line to take for Carolina. Andersen is an instant upgrade on Reimer and Mrazek, his real money is only a fraction of his AAV, and there’s only one year left on his deal. I don’t know. This seems like a pretty even player-for-player deal on paper if you ask me but no doubt I’m missing something if the Hurricanes are so opposed to the deal.
- Mike DeFabo (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette): Penguins GM Jim Rutherford says RFA Dominik Simon probably won’t get a qualifying offer before October 7th.
BLH’s Thoughts: Now, this is an interesting player that Edmonton could (should?) have some interest in. He made 750k last year and has seen quite a bit of time alongside Crosby and Malkin. I don’t know what happened last year with him as his goal share fancies cratered. What does it say about a player whose shot/possession metrics are very good but the goals keep going in with him on the ice? Two years ago he was fantastic. Not only was Pittsburgh winning the possession battle with him on the ice but the goals were going in too!
- Sean Shapiro (The Athletic): “I think we’re just waiting on official word now that Rick Bowness is the full-time head coach of the Dallas Stars.”
- The Fourth Period: LA Kings looking to add a top-4 d-man this off-season. Willing to part with at least one of their 2nd rounders. It’s possible they dangle a young player/prospect.
BLH’s Thoughts: Hmmm, a Todd McLellan-coached team is looking for a top-four defender. Where have I heard that before. I’d be willing to bet that the guy they bring in won’t be the kind of player the analytics community is in love with. TMac loves his meat and potatoes.
- Pierre LeBrun (TSN): The Columbus Blue Jackets don’t want arbitration with Josh Anderson. They’ll have to re-sign him or put him on the trade market by the draft. The Montreal Canadiens would be interested in the RFA winger.
BLH’s Thoughts: I read some time ago that Anderson’s agent, the same one that reps Taylor Hall and Andreas Athanasiou, wants $6Mx7rs for the fleet-footed power forward… That has to be wrong. Columbus probably should move him along if they don’t feel he’s going to be able to fit in under their current plan. He’d be a wrecking ball in Montreal and they’ve got some skilled players they could move.
- Elliotte Friedman (Sportsnet): “I think one of the teams that’s considering and interested in signing Henrik Lundqvist is the Washingon Capitals.”
BLH’s Thoughts: That would be a fantastic play as the Capitals are getting ready to move into the Ilya Samsonov-era. Having a legend like Lundqvist to watch over him would be a genius move, in my opinion.
- More Friedman: The Lightning could trade Mikhail Sergachev or Anthony Cirelli to Detroit with a sweetener, all the Red Wings the sign the player, and then trade back for the player with retained cap later.
BLH’s Thoughts: Does this scream circumvention to you? I feel like there would be a massive uproar if these sort of moves took place between two clubs, especially these ones give then obvious connection between the two.
- David Pagnotta (The Fourth Period): The Arizona Coyotes have placed Michael Grabner on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buy-out.
BLH’s Thoughts: Is this the end of the line for Grabner in the NHL? He’s 34 and having trouble staying healthy. He’s a nuclear deterrent on the penalty kill, but is that a good reason to sign him when the rest of his game has fallen off of a cliff?
The Oilers Speculation
Yesterday evening I threw out a half-hearted trade proposal involving Ryan Nugent-Hopkins going to Columbus for Joonas Korpisalo and Boone Jenner and what I was thinking at the time was what if RNH has his eyes on a future elsewhere should the Oilers not meet his contract demands? Wouldn’t a good GM only be doing his job by looking into his market value? Last I heard, the Columbus Blue Jackets were on the hunt for a 2C.
The hypothetical also included Edmonton re-signing Taylor Hall for the year seeing as the team would need to replace Nuge in their top-6.
Edmonton needs someone who is a third line faceoff specialist and they need players who are ready and willing to run through a wall to get the job done. The 27yr old Boone Jenner is that player to the letter and he’s contracted for only two more years at $3.75M.
If I were #Oilers GM, I'd take a good long look at Predators RHC Colton Sissons. Last three years he has a 53.6 FO%.
Not an analytics darling (at least the publicly available metrics), but he's built for the post-season and Edmonton is in dire need of a RH'd faceoff specialist.
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) October 4, 2020
The Oilers also need a young goalie who can share the duties with Mikko Koskinen and is young enough that he could grow into someone who could become the starting netminder someday. Korpisalo only makes $2.8M for another two seasons to boot.
Are the Edmonton Oilers going to get closer to the Stanley Cup with a top-heavy club or one that is rich in roster depth?
Take a look at the roster before making your judgment call. Oh! And let’s just pretend the Chiasson/Bjork trade has been made.
Neal-McDavid-Kassian
Hall-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Bjork-Jenner-Puljujarvi
Khaira-Haas-Archibald
Nygard/Russell
Nurse/Bear
Jones/Larsson
Russell/Bouchard
Lagesson
Koskinen
Korpisalo
The defense is still concerning with Klefbom out, but do you still feel this roster is substantially worse without Nugent-Hopkins?
I get that fan favorites are just that and for good reason. They’re hard to see go but sometimes I get the impression that there are folks who’d be happy to see their team never win a championship as long as their favorite players on their team stay there…
With all of that said, this is just me throwing stuff out there. There’s no need to get all bent out of shape. By all accounts, the Oilers want RNH signed long-term as soon as possible and Nuge would like to stay as long as possible. But we do need to bear in mind that each party has their own line in the sand and at the end of the day, this is a business and sometimes hard decisions get made.
