Going into this year’s trade deadline, I was almost giddy. I was looking forward to seeing some mad roster turnover for the Edmonton Oilers given the number of depth players that they had on their team. These are the sort of players that contenders usually pick up for their playoff run, or so I thought…
But before we get into that, I think we should take the time to acknowledge the handy work of former GM Peter Chiarelli.
GO CRAZY #CONDORSTOWN!!!!!! It's 17 straight wins, tied for the second longest in @TheAHL history. pic.twitter.com/fdsSMoRZ04
— Bakersfield Condors (@Condors) February 26, 2019
I don’t care what you say. The Oilers junior pipeline and minor league system was completely rebuilt thanks to Chiarelli and the Oilers are going to reap what he sowed going forward. At least, he got one thing majorly right…
Back to the trade deadline analysis.
What did I wake up to? Not a single trade from Bob Nicholson’s management crew.
Now, I didn’t think that they’d be pilfering off young assets and draft picks but I did expect them to move one of their defensemen, at least. Or one of Zack Kassian or Alex Chiasson… But nadda…
They did well earlier with the Cam Talbot and Sam Gagner trades, no arguing that. Getting that cap room open and bringing in a character guy with skill has proven to be some astute interim-GMing on Gretzky’s part, but I view this year’s deadline as a fail on Keith Gretzky, Craig MacTavish, Scott Howson, and Bob Nicholson.
When I got in touch with one of my sources to see how things were going earlier in the day, I was told that things weren’t looking rosy. That the team would most likely stand pat because they believed they could still make the playoffs.
I says, “WHAT?!”
Right now the Oilers have a 6% chance of making the post-season. Tell me how a group of grown men who’ve worked in professional hockey for most of, if not all, their adult lives can, with a straight face, believe the Oilers have a chance at making the playoffs?
I like to think that I’m one of the most optimistic Oilers fans out there and I try my best to find the positive in everything but this is a bit ridiculous.
The Oilers should’ve tried to gather as many picks and prospects as possible in the last 48 hours. They’ve got eight defensemen on the NHL roster right now… I get that they needed to have warm bodies for the game vs. NSH yesterday but they were a lot closer to Bakersfield then that they were three days ago.
The same source that told me that the team was most likely to stay quiet also intimated that the reason they weren’t really going for it to upgrade the team or, for lack of a better team, tank, was because Darryl Katz is set to lose a sack of money labeled “millions” from non-renewals on his suites.
Well la-di-frickin’-da… That’s simply called a “stupidity tax”.
Do that enough times and you’ll find yourself living in a van down by the river eating government cheese!
RIP: Chris Farley
ON THE OTHER HAND
Sometimes you’ve just got to get some things off of your chest before you can understand something through a clear(er) lens.
One thing that no other NHL team has right now is Connor McDavid, and you cannot discount the Oilers chances of going on a massive run when he’s playing. The team has performed fantastically during his suspension and if they can combine that with the kind of goaltending that Mikko Koskinen is giving and a healthy defense, you never know…
With a game in hand, the Oilers are only 7 points from a wildcard spot. They’re next five games are against Toronto, Ottawa, Columbus, Buffalo, and Vancouver. I won’t even speculate as to what they might come out of those games with point-wise as it could go either way against all of those teams.
The Oilers have been playing some of their best hockey since coming back from the bye week (3-5-4). There’s an intensity and a work ethic in their game that had been missing for some time and I think that it’s tied into Hitch being told to take it easy on the players.
They are 2-2-2 since Nick Kypreos made it public during Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday Headlines that the Oilers would like him to be a bit more “positive” if he’s to remain behind the bench.
SPEAKING OF POSITIVE
Bob Stauffer said on Oilers Now yesterday that a couple of weeks ago, the Oilers had inquired into the services of Matt Hendricks for the reason of bringing some more positivity to the room. Obviously, we know that didn’t happen, he was traded back to Winnipeg from Minnesota on the deadline for a late round draft pick, a 7th rounder if I’m not mistaken…
I would’ve been jumping for joy had they brought Hendy back. He’s one of my favorite all-time Oilers. Such a hard worker and what a positive influence he was on that team when he was there. Plus, he definitely would’ve scored in the shootout vs. NSH last night instead of Rattie getting stopped.
OTHER RUMORED TRADES
Mark Spector said that a Kassian to Toronto for Connor Brown deal never went through. I’d heard a Matt Benning for Brown trade was on the table and I think that Stauffer was saying the Maple Leafs wanted Jujhar Khaira because he was making a bit less. Probably the same reason that Edmonton wanted to keep him.
I’d heard bits and pieces about teams inquiring about Adam Larsson but nothing concrete. Milan Lucic was a hot topic for a short time. I think the Oilers were trying to get the Habs or the Panthers to take him on.
Lots of talk about Milan and Jesse Puljujarvi getting moved to Ottawa this summer and that makes sense but some might be asking whether Lucic would bother to waive his NMC to go there? I say he will because there’ll be a deal to retain salary and move him on again because the Senators will need to hit the cap floor.
Lastly, I got a DM saying that Boston was interested in one of the Oilers top-4 defenders but no other details. Sorry.
So take all of that for what you will.
In conclusion, the Oilers didn’t get worse on deadline day but on the other hand, they didn’t do anything to improve either.
So we’ll wait until the summer and see what the new GM has in store. You just hope it’s not another year of auditing before taking action.
What did you think of this year’s trade deadline for the Oilers? Let me know in the comments below!
