Edmonton Oilers Talk: “If Stalock has to play a single minute for the Oilers this season it’s a bad sign…”

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The Athletic (Mitchell)

Lowetide: What should Oilers fans expect from Zach Hyman in his first season?

What should Oilers fans expect from Hyman?

Quality play in all disciplines, on any line and either wing.

Is he a lock for the McDavid line?

Yes. There’s no other way to justify the investment. I do think the coach is going to be tempted by a possible “supergroup” line with 97, 29 and Hyman.

Could he flourish on a second or third line?

Until his scoring touch goes away, or Dylan Holloway replaces him, there’s not enough depth on the roster to send Hyman to the third line for any length of time.

Will he be the net-front presence on the power play?

I expect Hyman will get time there, but it’s going to be tempting to run him on the PK in order to give the other high-skill forwards extra time at five-on-five.

What should Oilers fans expect from Hyman in his first season with the Oilers? A strong season from the No. 1 left-winger, 25 goals and 60 points. Maybe more. Oilers fans will love this player.

BLH’s Thoughts: I believe Hyman is a lock for the top-six. I won’t go as far as to say he’s a lock for McDavid’s line because I don’t know if Coach Tippett will choose to reunite Draisaitl and McDavid a lot more knowing that he’s got the soldiers to pull it off now.

I think that Hyman will get more time on the PP that folks may think. The net-front slot doesn’t require a Paul Kariya or a Pavel Bure type of skiller, that position is almost always filled by a big-bodied, grunt who can absorb the abuse and use muscle to put the puck in the net.

Oilersnation

Monday Mailbag – What to expect from Kailer Yamamoto

Will the real Kailer Yamamoto stand up this year and which one will it be?

The real Yamamoto? Expecting him to be a point-per-game player is unrealistic. That was a massive heater. – Gregor

BLH’s Thoughts: Funny, ask anybody this question and if the phrase “in the middle” isn’t uttered, you’ve found yourself a unicorn of sorts.

Yamamoto didn’t have that poor of a season last year, it was simply highlighted by that massive scoring drought. His pts/60 was 1.5 and if you compare that with the previous year’s 3.3, it’s painfully clear that his first year was an outlier. Yamo’s 21pts in 52gp in 2020-21, that’s just under a half-a-point per game. In a full season that would have him producing around 33pts and if I had to guess what his peak is, I’d say it’s around 45pts in a normal season and upwards of 55pts in a good one.

We shouldn’t be surprised if he gets fewer than 45 though. Well, I should say that I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t hit that mark, you’re free to feel whatever you choose.

If Holloway is as ready as some say he is, can you see him stealing a spot in the top 9?

I bet Holloway does a Yamamoto type of thing where he starts in the AHL and works his way onto the big club by the second half of the season. – baggedmilk

BLH’s Thoughts: This narrative seems to be the one that pundits like Bob Stauffer and Craig Button are throwing out there.

Personally, I wonder if his contract will play a role in the timing of when he starts his career in Edmonton. The Oilers are going to be tight against the cap for the next two years at least and would it not be better to have Holloway in Edmonton as an impact player in order to take advantage of his ELC?

What I mean is, if he wins a spot in training camp, both parties are still going to have to go through the speed bumps of having a rookie on the roster and hat means big peaks and deep valleys.

Conversely, stick him in Bakersfield, let him acclimate to the minor league pro game, monitor his progress, and call him up for a cup of coffee after New Year’s. Depending on how that goes, it wouldn’t hurt him to go back to the Condors to finish the year out and then re-join the Oilers for their playoff run should they get one.

If you were to guess, do you see Alex Stalock playing any games for the Oilers this season?

If Stalock has to play a single minute for the Oilers this season it’s a bad sign no matter how you slice it. – Brownlee

BLH’s Thoughts: Dark response from Brownlee, but fair. I can only see Stalock lacing up the skates if something happens with Mike Smith or Mikko Koskinen. Aside from that, he’ll go on waivers, get claimed, or traded. I believe the Oilers are happy bringing up Stu Skinner in any sort of crisis should it arise because they’ve got Konovalov and Rodrigue right behind him in the pecking order.

Do you think Klefbom can be back for the playoffs and come off LTIR just in time to see the cap rules lifted, or do you think he is actually done for good?

I hope he’s healthy enough to come back and play but at this point, I don’t think it’s going to happen. It would certainly be huge for the Oilers, but they shouldn’t be banking on it. – Yaremchuk

BLH’s Thoughts: Gregor seems to think that Klefbom won’t be coming back to play hockey because he hasn’t been able to work out at an NHL level and I suppose he could have a point there, but speaking more optimistically, Mario Lemieux finished a season after going through chemo treatments for months prior. Not only did he finish it, he won the scoring race.

Now, don’t misconstrue what I’m saying, obviously Klef isn’t the greatest hockey player of all-time, but the one thing we know with hockey players is that if there’s a burning desire to get back on the ice and play the game, they’ll do it. Regardless of if they’ve trained at an NHL level or not and if their coach and GM thinks they can help, they’ll do whatever they can in their power to make it happen.

There’s a little bit of chatter out there regarding the Oilers trading Klefbom’s contract next summer in order to open some cap space for Jesse Puljujarvi.

Spector’s Hockey

THE ATHLETIC:In a recent mailbag segment, Adam Vingan was asked whether the Nashville Predators should re-sign Filip Forsberg and Mattias Ekholm to long- or short-term contracts.

Vingan expects Ekholm to get a four-year deal worth around $6 million annually.
Vingan believes Forsberg could get up to $8 million annually on the open market. He feels the Predators should avoid paying that much but it’s hard to see Forsberg accepting less than the $8 million annually being paid to teammates Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES:Dylan Strome could be shopped but that might not happen if captain Jonathan Toews isn’t ready to return to action in September and October.

Brett Connolly could also hit the trade block.
Malcolm Subban could be traded rather than lost for nothing via waivers.