Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Soucy, Mayfield, Hakanpaa, Husso, and More!

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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Oilersnation

How the Edmonton Oilers could explore a Tyson Barrie or Zack Kassian trade

Ideally, a RD replacement for Barrie should be a strong defensive defenceman, with the ability to effectively defend the rush. This is one of Barrie’s major weaknesses; in the past two seasons, 71% of zone entry targets against Barrie led to clean, controlled entries (league average is 58.4%). 19% of those entry targets led to scoring chances (league average is 14.6%).
- Barrie to the Seattle Kraken for Carson Soucy
- Barrie to the Dallas Stars for Jani Hakanpää and a draft pick
- Barrie to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Teddy Blueger and a draft pick
- Barrie + to the New York Islanders for Scott Mayfield
- Barrie for a 2022 2nd round pick to any other team interested
The major issue with Kassian is his inconsistency and his frequent lack of effort. When he’s on his game, Kassian can be an effective and tenacious forechecker, and a solid offensive asset. However, Kassian only seems to be on his game once or twice for every twenty, and he’s generally a non-factor.
- Kassian + to the Ottawa Senators for Connor Brown
- Kassian + to the New Jersey Devils for draft picks

BLH’s Thoughts: Scott Mayfield would be a dreamy addition to this Oilers team considering they don’t have a skater as big as him on the right side nor somebody who is a pure shutdown defender like he is.

I think for myself, the player they decide to replace Tyson Barrie with has to be somebody who has the ability to move up the lineup and not compromise the quality of the club’s defense. Meaning, you can be taking a no.7 dman and thanks to injuries toss him into the top four. They need to have defenders who normally play 2nd pairing but can sub in on the top pair for time to time and similarly a 3rd pairing blueliner who can be thrown onto the 2nd pair and so on and so forth. Mayfield can do this and I was really impressed with Hakanpaa vs. Calgary in the playoffs this year. He was a wall. Very Cernak-like. The Oilers could use one or two of these for their post-season run next year.

Whoever they decide to employ on the blueline in 2022/23, I will be curious to see if Dave Manson does something about the passive zone entries. Man, has that ever been an issue in recent years. I think Markus Niemelainen is the only defender I’ve seen step up on oncoming wingers consistently and there’s no guarantee he’ll be getting any TOI next season with Broberg, Samorukov, etc. looking to get some games in too.

As for Kassian, I really feel like a buyout is coming for him. Holland wants that extra cap room ASAP and if he can move Barrie without taking a contract back, have Klef and Smith on LTIR, that should be about $12M extra on top of the $7M they’ve already got available. Seems like a lot, right? Maybe I’ve got something wrong though. Probably…

Cult of Hockey

True Grit: This Edmonton Oilers forward has it but rarely gets due credit

…when it comes to the smart, gritty and gutsy plays it often takes to create Grade A shots on net, few Edmonton Oilers are more willing and able than Puljujarvi.
- I’m talking fighting off opposing d-men to tip shots on net, crashing the net to battle to jam shots at the net, executing massive screens of the opposing goalie on hard outside shots, charging hard at the net to act as a major decoy, and digging in hard on the boards to win pucks that quickly get passed into the slot for the most dangerous of shots.
…he’s not a feared or fearsome player on the ice, but he is a glue player, doing the numerous tough and difficult jobs that help his teammates get off nasty slot and crease shots.
This past year, in 65 games Puljujarvi made 81 such hard plays at the net on Grade A shots, 1.25 per game, which was an improvement on his total from the previous season, when he was at 0.85 per game.
It’s something for the Oilers to consider as they ponder this player’s future, if only because this particular quality of Puljujarvi is so rarely noticed or mentioned by his critics. It’s as if he’s seen as some kind of perimeter player. He is most definitely not that.

BLH’s Thoughts: Nobody in the Oilers media/blogosphere has had the inner drive to do a breakdown like this. David Staples has gone so far as to put up a breakdown of the “hard plays” on Grade A shots in his post. Things like screens, tips, jams, hard charges, and battles won included and Jesse is in the top three for nearly every category.

As I’ve said time and time again since the season ended, as a fan, I want Pulju on the Oilers, but for his sake, he should move on from the OEG.

That said, if Jay Woodcroft allowed Jesse the same freedom in Edmonton as he did while he was coaching him in Bakersfield, we might see a different Puljujarvi… Does anybody think that’s a realistic scenario? I think it could be if #13 came back and was planted on the 3rd line.

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey

Patrick Johnston cited CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal reporting the Vancouver Canucks are once again listening to trade offers (on JT Miller).
Sammi Silber cites Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman telling Dhaliwal that the Washington Capitals have been linked to Miller and Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri.
Rob Simpson reports the New Jersey Devils have been mentioned as a suitor for Miller. They’re willing to part with their 2022 first-round pick (second overall) for the right price. He also mentioned the Pittsburgh Penguins could be interested if Evgeni Malkin departs via free agency next month.

NHLRumors.com

“Look, there were teams asking about Pat Kane at the deadline. I think Colorado did and I think the Rangers did and I’m sure there were others but I believe those were at least two teams.” – Elliotte Friedman
The Edmonton Oilers should target St. Louis Blues pending UFA goaltender Ville Husso this offseason. Stuart Skinner could be his backup.
If Marc-Andre Fleury was interested in Edmonton, he likely would have been traded to the Oilers at the trade deadline.

BLH’s Thoughts: Oilers fans, listen to the names that are/have been consistently popping up. Evander Kane, Ville Husso, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyson Barrie, Zack Kassian, and I suppose Brett Kulak to an extent. You can bet that all or the majority of these gentlemen will be joining Edmonton (Kane, Husso) or they’ll be playing somewhere else (Pulju, Barrie, Kassian). Ken Holland doesn’t allow a lot of info to get out but when he does, he makes sure everybody knows. Whether that’s a smokescreen for something else or not, he’s done this every year since he joined the Oilers.

Also, I think there are going to be some additions to the Oilers front office in terms of scouts, hockey analysts, etc. With all the new tracking info they just got from the league, they’re going to need more bright minds to sort it all out…