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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The Hockey Writers
Oilers and Ken Holland Need To Go All-in at the Trade Deadline
- Looking at the current roster, there seems to be a need for help on defence, adding more grit to the fourth line and solidifying the goaltending. If Oilers’ young netminder Stuart Skinner continues his strong play, you have to wonder what the Oilers’ brass will do.
- Knowing that the Oilers are dangerously close to the ceiling of the salary cap, they have to hope that some teams would be willing to retain salary in a trade or possibly take on salary from the Oilers. But it’s slim pickings in that department.
- The best hope the Oilers have for immediate improvement to their forward group is that Holloway comes back and contributes right away. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of immediate support down on the farm in Bakersfield, so you can be sure the Oilers would be looking at some low salary grit that could come in via trade or the waiver wire.
BLH’s Thoughts: There’s a lot of time to go before the Oilers need to make a decision on the degree of “all-in” they need to take this year. They’re going to have to get creative thanks to said salary cap and as things stand today, there’s no big rush to make any roster moves considering where the team sits in the standings.
Lowetide.ca
- Stuart Skinner is either an NHL goaltender or the greatest actor this city has produced since Michael J. Fox. He stopped 28 of 30, .933 and owns a 2.08 GAA and a .938 SP for the season. His cap hit next season? $750,000. Edmonton needs to know if he’s worth keeping from waivers next fall, early days but I think Ken Holland already has his answer.
BLH’s Thoughts: Yup, this guy is playing very well and he’s looking the part, no doubt about that. We also know that young goalies can go on some mega heaters and the cool right off (hello Patrick Lalime and Jim Carey).
Now, I’m not saying Stu Skinner is going to rocket to the moon this year and then that’s it. I will reserve my enthusiasm with him until the end of this year though.
That said, I’m loving what I’m seeing and hope it continues because the Lord knows this team needs a homegrown netminder to come through the system badly so the team can stop shopping for a $7M UFA netminder every summer.
The Hockey Writers Rumors
- The RFAs Calgary needs to sign are Matthew Tkachuk (who is notoriously hard to negotiate with), Andrew Mangiapane (who is having a breakout season), and Oliver Kylington (who is also coming into his own). The team has also stated they’d like to find a way to sign Johnny Gaudreau who will hit the UFA market.
- Michael Russo of The Athletic suggests that the Kevin Fiala situation in Minnesota is worth keeping an eye on. The snake-bitten forward has been pulled from his regular power-play duties and there seems to be a disconnect between him and the coach.
“it’s very possible he’ll be traded, perhaps even soon because he’s not playing well and things are getting visibly uncomfortable between him and Evason.” – Russo
- Arthur Staple of The Athletic writes that some of the targets the Rangers might be considering are Calle Jarnkrok or Marcus Johansson from the Seattle Kraken, Chris Tierney from the Ottawa Senators, Nino Niederreiter from the Carolina Hurricanes, Phil Kessel from the Arizona Coyotes, Dylan Strome from the Chicago Blackhawks, Artturi Lehkonen from the Montreal Canadiens, and Gabriel Vilardi of the Los Angeles Kings.
- As per Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal, he believes Nugent-Hopkins should get some Olympic consideration. While not an obvious selection for the team, Leavins argues that the skill he would bring to the roster on special teams would be an asset.
BLH’s Thoughts: Tell ya what, after that last pair of games against Winnipeg, I’m ready to change my tune on Mark Scheifele. I’d much rather have Nuge on Team Canada with McDavid, Nurse, and possibly Hyman.
