So the #Oilers Chiarelli was at the #Penguins #Capitals game last night. It will be interesting to see if he’s at a different east coast game tonight other than in Florida.
Not sure who he would be looking at from the Pens… or the Caps.— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) November 8, 2018
A source of mine texted me the other day with regards to what the Oilers are in the market for and I was told, “a puck moving PP defender”. In addition to that, they might possibly be looking for another center.
**Disclosure: I’m not an insider nor do I play one on the television. I simply offer information for your entertainment. I just so happen to know some folks who are employed by NHL clubs or are very close to people employed by NHL clubs and have been given shareable information. So take what you’re about to read as watercooler banter if you will. Something to chat about at the pub. Things change all of the time and so rarely do these things come to fruition. Thanks – BLH**
So when I poked a prodded a bit more to find out some names, these are the ones that were disclosed:
- Dmitri Orlov (D) – WAS – I cannot see the Caps trading Orlov away unless they’re setting up another trade. Another thing that must be considered here is his contract. Orlov will be paid $5.1M per season until 2022/23 and there’s a M-NTC that kicks in next season.Orlov has struggled this season, only putting up 2pts in 14 games thus far.
- Olli Maatta (D) – PIT – Maatta tied a career-high in points last year with 29 but for some reason is in Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan’s doghouse. He makes a shade over $4M a year on a contract that doesn’t expire until the ’21/22 season.Maatta has 4 points in 13 games to date this year.
Now, the thing that has me most questioning why the Oilers would be looking at these two players is PP TOI. Orlov has 12 minutes on the PP this season and Maatta has just under 13 minutes with the man-advantage.
Pittsburgh is obviously looking to shake some things up as they’re in quite the funk at the moment but you’d have to think that GM Jim Rutherford would like an upgrade on their blueline, right? I don’t know if Sprong and Maatta get them that but it’s definitely a start.
Washington might look to divest themselves of Orlov but any deal involving serious cash coming to Edmonton has to see it going out too and I haven’t the foggiest idea what the Capitals would be shopping for. They’re the reigning Stanley Cup champions, what would they even want? If I had to guess it might be prospects but even then they’ve got a nice crew of young dmen coming up like Djoos, Bowey, and Seigenthaler.
Final thought on these two rumored targets: Unlikely.
That sa
[/caption]That said, the Oilers have 1 goal all year from their blueline and that was a PP marker from PTO-signing Jason Garrison. They need production from the backend. If I were the Oilers I’d be looking at these players:
- Torey Krug (BOS) – $5.25M/yr – 4pts in 4gp.
- Connor Carrick (DAL) – $1.3M/yr – 4pts in 9gp.
- Colton Parayko (STL) – $5.5M/yr – 5pts in 13gp.
- Alex Pietrangelo (STL) – $6.5M/yr – 5pts in 13gp.
I don’t know where the Blues are going but they’re last in the Central right now and I really don’t know if they’re going to pull a playoff rabbit out of their ass this year. Would they be interested in a package that included Jesse Puljujarvi/Kailer Yamamoto and Darnell Nurse for Pietrangelo?
In Boston, Matt Grzelyck looks to be cementing his status in the Bruins lineup with 7pts so far this season. That has to put a guy like Torey Krug on notice given his salary and injury history. My feelings with Krug is that if he can help get a team to the playoffs, that’s what matters. The post-season is a whole different bowl of cherries and usually belongs to the teams with the best goaltending.
Does anybody know what the deal was with Connor Carrick in Toronto? He’s seemingly a good player. He’s young (24) and he’s right handed to boot. Aren’t those the kind of defenders teams are clamoring for? Admittedly, I haven’t watched him that much and so perhaps I shouldn’t even be including him but I like what his traditional stats say, so I guess we can fight about it if you want.
The name Tanner Pearson has also been mentioned to me recently. He hasn’t a goal scored all year and only has one assist to his name. He makes $3.75M per year but is only 36 years old.
The Kings are shite this year and Pearson has been a pretty consistent 40pt guy since he became a full-time NHLer, so I’m not going to read too too much into him not producing right now. He’s got 21 shots at ES, just as many as Ilya Kovalchuk and his ES PDO is a whopping .92. He’d fit right in with Lucic’s PDO party eh? Looch’s PDO is sitting at .929.
Riley Sheahan is another name that has popped up.
It’s fun to talk about the pla
[/caption]It’s fun to talk about the players coming in but what about the players that are possibly moving out?
Here’s a list of early-season candidates to be traded out of Edmonton:
- Ryan Strome (C)
- Zack Kassian (RW)
- Jujhar Khaira (C/LW)
- Darnell Nurse (D)
Now, you’re not going to get a lot back for those players but Strome for Pearson makes a lot of sense to me for some reason. Two players struggling to produce who make similar money.
I think a lot of people will also say Jesse Puljujarvi but I’m not convinced they’re ready to deal him. He’s only 20 years old people! He’s barely played over one NHL season. There’s no need to come up with stories that a trip to the minors might “save his career”. I mean honestly, how many of your careers were ended at age 20? How many were started at age 20?
That said, there’s, as Darren Dreger put it, tension between his camp and the Oilers. If you listened closely to Esa Tikkanen’s interview during the intermission yesterday you might have heard him say this about Pulju,
Nine minutes in the game is not enough to him but you have to learn and he has to keep it focused all the time what he can do best and that’s to score goals.
It’s an interesting quote I find. Obviously, Jesse isn’t happy with 9 minutes a game (Pulju played 9:06 vs. FLA) and I thought he looked hungry when he was on the ice but at the end of the evening his line was outshot and outscored. Not sure Yamamoto would’ve done any better.
If there’s one thing that has bugged me about Peter Chiarelli, it’s his reluctance to send players like Yamamoto and Puljujarvi down to the AHL and keep them there because now we’re sitting here talking about a 20-year-old who’s career is in jeopardy.
Down on their AHL club, they are playing the kids and playing them tons. Tyler Benson, Cameron Hebig, and Cooper Marody are lighting that league up! Give them Pulju and Yammo and it’s going to be lights out for their opposition.
Let’s create a culture of winning at some point in the Oilers organization here.
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