November 2, 2020 /

Edmonton Oilers Talk: Are You Ready for a Little “Schütteln und Backen”?

Depending on when you’re reading this post, the Edmonton Oilers may or may not have announced the signing of Dominik Kahun, a Czech-born German left-winger who spent many-a-season lighting up the German youth leagues alongside the reigning NHL MVP Leon Draisaitl.

Since Kahun joined the NHL two years ago, he’s managed to find a way to play for three different teams, the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. This is interesting. Why have three teams basically given up on this player? Maybe the answer will come to us by the time we’ve finished this post.

I’m thinking that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins playing alongside Connor McDavid in the play-ins was a bit of a tell on Coach Tippett’s part. It wouldn’t shock me if that’s how things started in the 2020-21 season either with Kahun flanking his pal Leon and Kailer Yamamoto on the 2nd line.

Another thing that wouldn’t surprise me, if Kahun played fewer than 10 minutes total alongside McDavid.

Whilst in Pittsburgh, he only played 11 minutes with Sidney Crosby, and in Buffalo, he played not even three minutes with Jack Eichel. Now, he only had a handful of games with the Sabres, so it’s not really fair to use that portion of his career as a line in the sand that’ll dictate if he can or can’t play with the best talents in the league.

Out of his over 1000 even-strength minutes with Chicago, he played only 100 with Patrick Kane but 400 with Jonathan Toews and Alex DeBrincat. With the Pens, he had 300 minutes away from Evgeni Malkin and only 126 with him. The player he played most with in Pittsburgh was Jared McCann (300 minutes) With Buffalo, it looks like he spent the majority of his ES TOI with Marcus Johansson (59 with, 10 without) and Jimmy Vesey (38 with, 18 without).

That information makes me wonder why NHL coaches don’t trust him to play with their best offensive players. He doesn’t play on the penalty kill either (less than 7 minutes in 135 games played) but he does contribute to the powerplay (Nearly 150 minutes in two seasons). I would say he’s a 2nd unit guy there.

I can’t see him being a 4th liner if he can’t cut it in Edmonton’s top-6, so the most logical place is on the 3rd line with Kyle Turris and Jesse Puljujarvi (to start). That line will be a soft-minutes offensive zone start line most likely and that would give the players on that line a real opportunity to improve Edmonton’s depth scoring.

Speaking of depth, if we look at a mock-up of next season’s lines, the wings are nearly six players deep now.

RCN reckons that Khaira and Chiasson are gonzo and they may very well be traded because I can’t see any of those right-wingers getting moved. However, Joakim Nygard is an intriguing case to me. I wonder if the Oilers might let him run out his contract in Europe and chalk everything up to him not being a good fit for the club. If that happened, maybe they could keep one of JJ or Chaser instead of losing them both as either can play the left side because they could send Quine down to the AHL.

it’s one of those things, right? Khaira is near elite on the PK and Chiasson is a top-3o goal scorer on the PP. So which do you choose?

I suppose we can assume that the Oilers feel Tyler Benson still needs more time in the AHL as the team is definitely not making it easy for him to break into the Oilers lineup. The more games that go by in Edmonton without Benson in their lineup, the harder it’s going to be for him to make it there at all. Will he need to make a pivot style-wise? We know he can score at the AHL level, so his offense is there but his skating his holding him back at the NHL level in order for him to be an impact player offensively. So, is it crazy to think that he might have to become an elite checker so that he can make it to the next level in his career?

Another thing, what if Kahun outperforms RNH? I don’t think that it’s a realistic scenario but it is worth bringing up I feel. There’s no way that the German is going to be signing for more than Nuge and that saved cap room would present a bit of temptation with the likes of Alexander Ovechkin and Taylor Hall potentially hitting the UFA market next off-season.

For the most part, this blog has had a bit of a negative slant to it and I want to make it clear that I’m just trying to see things from different points of view.

Personally, I love the Kahun signing. 975k for the year is fantastic value! He’ll be his best when he’s contributing offensively but I have a feeling folks will tire of him quickly if he starts to go the same way Tobias Reider did. When I watched his highlight tapes on YouTube, he didn’t seem all that impressive individually, but the puck seems to find him in the oppositions zone and when you’ve got an old BFF like Leon Draisaitl feeding you sauce all game long, the cellies are sure to follow.

For him to win over the Oilers fanbase, he’ll need to do two things right off the bat,

  • Score and score and score.
  • Do his best impression of Matt Hendricks.

If he produces from the get-go, he’ll buy himself some time. If he doesn’t but shows himself to be fearless and a tireless worker who loves the muck, that will go a long way with the Oilers’ ultras. Now, if he does both, watch out!

I don’t think that a 40+ point season is out of the realm of possibility with Kahun if everything goes to plan.

Let’s see how it goes though! I’m optimistic about what GM Ken Holland has done with his off-season so far. I thought the club was deep last year… Man, it’s become even deeper! What do you think?

Here’s what some of the fine folks in the Oilogosphere has had to say about the signing,

“Whether the newcomer can keep up scoring at anywhere near that rate, not to mention hold his own on the defensive side of the puck, are open questions. But it sure seems like a logical landing spot for the latest addition, now doesn’t it?” – Bruce McCurdy, The Cult of Hockey

“The reported contract is a ridiculous deal, one that would be unavailable to the Oilers if this were normal times. The connection between Draisaitl and Kahun (they go back to youth hockey together) might have contributed to this bargain contract. This contract can be absorbed onto the roster without effort by Holland.” – Lowetide, The Athletic

“This is a strong addition for the Oilers that could provide real value for the club. Kahun, in his two seasons, has posted solid secondary scoring numbers with some highly skilled players. His relationship with Draisaitl should also help his on-ice chemistry this season.” – Alex Thomas, The Oilers Rig

 

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CategoriesBeer League Hero Edmonton Oilers NHL

TagsDominik Kahun Edmonton Oilers NHL

Beer League Hero Written by:

I'm the Beer League Hero! I am from Camrose, Alberta but I make my home in Taipei City, Taiwan. I've been through the ups and downs and the highs and the Lowes, the Bonsignores and the McDavids, the Sathers and the Eakins but I'll never leave my Oilers, no matter what! They're with me until the end and then some. GO OILERS GO!