Speculating from an Oilers fan’s perspective, BLH comments on the latest NHL news and rumors feat. Jesse Puljujarvi, Anthony Duclair, Kyle Turris, Johnny Gaudreau, and many more!
According to Pierre LeBrun, if Jacob Markstrom hits free agency, the Oilers will look to offer him longer term instead of a high salary because they are cap-strapped. #LetsGoOilers
— x – Oilers Access (@oilersaccess) October 7, 2020
The News and Rumors
- Pierre LeBrun (TSN): The Golden Knights trade options include; Alex Martinez, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Paul Stastny.
BLH’s Thoughts: Like I said the other day, Vegas isn’t going to come out of this clusterf*ck without some pain. They’ll have to mortgage some futures to move those contracts and I don’t blame the rest of the league’s GMs for taking it to the Golden Knights either. The expansion draft was a bugger for quite a few managers and they’re getting the pound of flesh now.
- Chris Johnston (Sportsnet): The Columbus Blue Jackets are listening to offers on defenceman David Savard going into this off-season.
BLH’s Thoughts: Edmonton has had interest in this player in the past and he’s a really decent two-way top-4 option. What would the cost be though? I’m not sure Edmonton has a lot to deal right now if CBJ is looking for skill. They could go the RNH route if contract negotiations aren’t proceeding well and ask for Savard, one of their goaltenders, and a good pick/prospect…
- Darren Dreger (TSN): The Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, and Calgary Flames all have interest in Maple Leafs d-man Tyson Barrie. He prefers to play in the West.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’d add Vancouver to that list. There’s some belief that Barrie wants to play for the new Seattle franchise, so a 1yr deal makes sense. I’m only hoping he joins the Oilers and not the Flames or the Canucks. Edmonton’s path to Lord Stanley’s Cup is already hard enough.
- Charlie Roumeliotis (NBC Sports): Goaltender options for the Chicago Blackhawks include; Darcy Kuemper, Anton Khudobin, Thomas Greiss, and Henrik Lundqvist.
BLH’s Thoughts: Funny, those are all options for the Oilers as well. Sounds like Khudobin is going to test the market, so that’s good news for Edmonton. Probably better news for ex-Oiler Cam Talbot, who I think has eyes on heading to Texas to play. Does anybody else think that the league is just waiting Arizona out until they can’t hold onto these contracts anymore?
- Pierre McGuire (NBC): If the Calgary Flames sign Taylor Hall, it is almost certain that Johnny Gaudreau would be traded.
- More McGuire: The Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils, and Columbus Blue Jackets could have some interest in Gaudreau if he’s made available.
BLH’s Thoughts: Is it Gaudreau who is saying he’ll only go to the East coast if he’s traded or what? If not, that’s pretty lazy reporting to list those teams. And of course, Taylor Hall is the most likely replacement for him… But I thought Hall wanted to win a Stanley Cup? How would playing for Calgary help him do that?
- Pierre Dorion (Ottawa Senators GM): Anthony Duclair opted to represent himself, the Senators offered a substantial raise, but no deal. Duclair will be a UFA on Friday.
- More Dorion: The Senators tried to move up several times to grab Ridly Greig. The scouts were pacing nervously back and forth hoping that he’d drop.
BLH’s Thoughts: I could be wrong but wasn’t Duclair’s qualifying offer required to be $1.6M-ish and the Sens added “substantially” to that? What does substantially mean? Another 900k? 500k? Jason Gregor said on his radio show that Duclair should easily get around $2.5M/yr on the open market and I agree with him. That’s more than fair for a 20g scorer.
Could he be a fit for the Oilers? Tough call. Every fast player that hits the market seems to be someone who can play with Connor McDavid if you listen to the Edmonton media. But near every time someone who can keep up with him is put on his line they fail to produce. Maybe it’s something to do with fewer goals being scored off the rush or something…
- NHL News: Kyle Turris was placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination.
BLH’s Thoughts: Thoughts on him below.
- Mike Futa (Sportsnet): The Florida Panthers fired director of amateur scouting Jason Bukala over a week ago.
BLH’s Thoughts: Did they leave him at the airport too?
- Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun): The Columbus Blue Jackets are seeking a pick and a center for Joonas Korpisalo.
BLH’s Thoughts: A 3rd rounder and Cooper Marody, that’s my final offer!
- Brooks Batten (NHL.com): Preds GM David Poile says he believes Yaroslav Askarov will likely stay in the KHL for two more seasons before making his way to Nashville. Poile adds that’s the right amount of time for a netminder to develop.
BLH’s Thoughts: It’s the right thing to do. Man, the Preds are lucky to have been able to pick this fella. Now all they have to do is swap out those underperforming and overpaid centers…
For what it’s worth, I’d take Ryan Johansen on the Oilers IF the Predators ate half his salary.
- Brian Lawton (NBC): Hearing from teams the ask to take on Marc-Andre Fleury and his $7M AAV is a 1st AND a 2nd round pick. In addition to that, a minimum of 33% salary retention.
BLH’s Thoughts: I spoke to this above. Everyone is going to be putting Vegas over a barrel as they try to move money.
- Frank Seravalli (TSN): The Philadelphia Flyers do not have any interest in paying Alex Pietrangelo on a long-term deal, despite losing Matt Niskanen to retirement.
BLH’s Thoughts: The one thing the Flyers could use is an absolute stud on defense and they’re openly passing on one that is available? This is a guy that could take the team to the next level. I mean Cup-winning level… Odd choice.
- Arpon Basu (The Athletic): Josh Anderson would be happy to work with the Montreal Canadiens on a long-term deal if that option is available.
BLH’s Thoughts: If you were the Habs GM, would you give this guy a long-term deal right now? I don’t think I would until I knew where he was health-wise.
https://twitter.com/TSN1040/status/1313922426678501377
The Oilers Speculation
He’s back!
Well, maybe. As long as Jesse Puljujarvi isn’t moved before the Oilers play a game in the 2020-21 NHL season (whenever that’s going to start), he’ll be back in the blue, white, and orange and hopefully sporting the old #98.
I read a couple of articles today from some prominent Edmonton media members that have been around since man discovered fire. One, who is well known for his hot takes, had a very toned down piece that I felt was quite fair in its tone towards Pulju.
While the other writer was on his horn saying something akin to “Jesse realized running home to Finland was a mistake and now he can come back to Edmonton and make much more money.”
All Jesse did was look out for himself and in the process do the club a favor. He took it upon himself to heal up mentally and physically in a manner that fit him personally because he didn’t feel the club could be trusted to do that given past experiences. How could that be misconstrued as him “running away”?
I don’t even know what to call that aside from flaming hot narcissistic bullshit. Good Christ man… What is the obsession with how much someone makes by the way?
I can’t wait for Puljujarvi to come back and shove it back in some of these reporters’ faces. I hope he gives them the cold shoulder during interviews and turns to the younger press members like Daniel Nugent-Bowman and gives him the time of day for as long as he needs.
Now, the prevailing thought is that Pulju will be on the 3rd line. I don’t know if that’s 100% true, maybe Tippett and Holland will prefer him to play in the top-6 to crank up that trade value. Who knows?
But let’s go on the assumption that 3RW is where he’ll play. He’ll need a center and maybe a winger on his line who he can play with. Fair to assume? Is it not also fair to assume that the club is looking for a proper third-line pivot? One who is possibly right-handed, good on faceoffs, defensively adept, but can also offer some bottom-6 offense? Who would the candidates be in that case?
I haven’t done all my homework but Kyle Turris getting bought out is an interesting option. Could you give him $2.5M and line him up with Jesse and say Joakim Nygard to have an offensively-leaning third line?
My reservation with him is that he’s not the greatest center defensively. He’s not horrible, but the ice tends to tilt the other way a bit according to the fancies. The one thing he has been VERY good at though is offensive faceoffs.
Over the last three years, he’s won 63.3% of the draws taken in the offensive zone.
Why is this important? Because when the games are tight and you’ve got an off. zone faceoff with very little time left on the clock, you want this guy taking your draws.
I don’t know. Maybe he’s the new Boyd Gordon but sans the sandpaper and plus the skill.
Lastly, on this player, he seems to get a production bump when he joins a new club. That’s not something you’d bet your house on happening again, but perhaps that knowledge would be valuable to a team looking to zoom some wingers.
With all that said, there’s talk he wants to head back to Ottawa. So all this could be for nadda.
