Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Manson, Kuemper, and More!

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!

The Athletic (Daniel Nugent-Bowman)

Mike Smith is ‘very motivated’ after his latest contract, and have the Oilers taken the next Darnell Nurse? Oilers draft day notebook

Smith is 39 and the Oilers signed him for two years. Part of that was to get a lower annual cap hit on a player they see as part of their leadership group. But part of that is they believe he can capably fulfill the deal.
Getting the second year on the deal was important to him. He knows this very well could be his last NHL contract. Smith said he always wanted to play next season, so it wasn’t Edmonton or bust. But he really wanted to return to the team.
“The day I got home after we got eliminated this year, we had a family meeting and I told the kids, ‘Dad wouldn’t be away for that long a period of time ever again.’ We’ll definitely be back in Edmonton as a family this year,” Smith said.

BLH’s Thoughts: Family has been a real theme this weekend. Numerous brothers were united via draft or trade and some pundits are speculating that the pain of Adam Larsson’s father passing in Edmonton was part of the reason he wanted to move on. Also, Jake Chiasson is the nephew of former NHL dman, Doug Lidster and Shane Lachance is the son of former NY Islander Scott Lachance.

I’m really looking forward to seeing an older Oilers team next season. The club has been relying on its youth for more than ten years to get them by and that plan has not gone well until recent.

The Edmonton Sun (Rob Tychkowski)

Hands tied, Edmonton Oilers make the best of limited draft picks

This wasn’t a great draft for the Oilers, but we all knew that six months ago. Having lost the third round pick in the James Neal deal, the second rounder to get nine games out of Andreas Athanasiou and the fifth rounder for Tyler Ennis, they knew going in that this wasn’t going to provide the same kind of windfall they’ve enjoyed in the past.
No household names there, but with COVID-19 throwing a major wrench into the scouting process for the past 18 months, this could be the year a lot of very good players emerge from the late rounds.

BLH’s Thoughts: If the Oilers don’t come away with at least one NHL player from this draft, the scouting team has a built in excuse, COVID-19.

Honestly though, I don’t think this year’s crop will yield many stars. Things really started to drop off after the first round and that’s when teams started throwing darts at the draft board. They’ll say they had their eyes on the guys the picked but for the amount of leagues that were shut down, I have a hard time believing them.

So, at the end of the day, I’m not going to get too upset of the job the Oilers did this weekend. What’s more important is how they handle the rest of the off-season and free agency is set to open in a few days.

Fun Fact: The second rounder that went to Detroit for Andreas Athanasiou was flipped to the Islanders who took Karpat winger and one-time 1st overall projected prospect, Aatu Raty.

Lowetide.ca

HARVEST MOON 2021

The 2021 draft feels like two drafts in one to this observer. Three picks (Xavier Bourgault, Jake Chiasson and Matvey Petrov) are classic NHL picks, players who could turn pro in a couple of years and be NHL-ready any time after the end of their draft plus two season.
The three other selections, Luca Munzenberger, Shane Lachance and Maximus Wanner, appear to me as something close to ‘draft and follow’ picks. What do I mean by that? Well, I think the Oilers see something in each of these men, but what we see today doesn’t line up with things we associate with a typical selection. Munzenberger had a big WJ’s, Lachance spiked during the year and Wanner impressed in very few games. That’s how I see it.

BLH’s Thoughts: Connor McDavid has five years left on his deal, Leon Draisaitl has four, this year’s draft crop and next year’s really need to hit because the club will need players on the ELC to be able to be impact NHLers in order to be able to afford giving raises to the two superstars.

I think Bourgault looks promising, but the rest of this year’s class I feel a tad underwhelmed with. I imagine as I read up on them more and hear what the pundits around Edmonton have to say on them that I’ll feel better though.

That said, Petrov intrigues me. He was drafted 1st overall in the CHL import draft by North Bay (OHL). I think the knock on him is his skating needs work and his two-way game needs to come around more. Edmonton can afford to wait on him until he’s 23 or 24 though, so those challenges will have a lot of time to be ironed out.

From Spector’s Hockey

NHL Rumor Mill – July 24, 2021

DAILY FACEOFF: The Colorado Avalanche, Seattle Kraken and Toronto Maple Leafs have expressed an interest in Arizona Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper. He’s a year away from unrestricted free agent eligibility and doesn’t intend to re-sign. The asking price is a first-round pick but that could be lowered considering the Carolina Hurricanes got Jonathan Bernier and a third-round from the Detroit Red Wings for Alex Nedeljkovic.
The Anaheim Ducks are listening to offers for Josh Manson, who’s a year away from UFA eligibility. They seek a first-round pick as part of the return. Moving him would leave a big gap on their blueline.
Wingers Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault could be available as the Vegas Golden Knights attempt to balance their forward lines. Smith can become a UFA next summer while Marchessault has three years left on his deal with an annual average value of $5 million. They could also listen on physical winger Ryan Reaves.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Oilers are definitely talking to the Ducks about Josh Manson or I should say that they’re in talks again about him. At the trade deadline this year Edmonton inquired but Anaheim wanted to package Rickard Rakell with the dman in order to maximize the return and the Oilers didn’t have the assets to get it done. Or so I’m told.

If Holland is going to get himself a replacement for Adam Larsson, it sounds like he might have to pay a premium or stick with what he’s got. What I was told over the weekend was that prices have skyrocketed on both the free agency front and the trade market.

The talk on Kuemper has died down again and I’m not sure Ken Holland wants to get into that bidding war if the price starts at a first rounder.

This is how Pavel used to tell you who was #1 back in the day! Click the pic and grab a shirt or a mask!

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