Edmonton Oilers Trade Talk: Is a Left-Shot Dman More Important than an Upgrade in Net for the Oilers?

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Week One Takeaways

I’m still not necessarily expecting Smith to have a .920 or better save percentage this season, but you can’t deny that he looks like the exact same goalie that we saw last season.
The Oilers will need to make sure they’re managing his workload this season and that’s where they’ll need Mikko Koskinen to be better than he was last year…
The general sense is that the Oilers will keep looking for an upgrade on Mikko Koskinen throughout the season but I’m starting to think that acquiring a left-shot defenseman might be more important than that.
If the Oilers are in a position to be major buyers at the deadline, it would be because they’re close to the top of their division and that would likely mean that Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen are both giving them above average results.
Acquiring a player who can comfortably play 20+ minutes a night and allow Keith to thrive in a third-pairing role could take the Oilers blueline from the middle of the pack, to really damn good.
If the Oilers want to win the Pacific Division this year, which I think they’re certainly capable of, then winning these head-to-head matchups against the Golden Knights will be massive.

BLH’s Thoughts: Another week one takeaway is the emergence of Jesse Puljujarvi as a legitimate first line RW and the slow painful fall from grace that Kailer Yamamoto is experiencing… Interesting to note that when Pulju was struggling, the coaches sat him or sent him to the AHL but in Yamamoto’s case, he got to stick with Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins until game four of last year’s playoff series with the Jets and last night when he was demoted to the 4th line…

As for Edmonton making a big splash, I don’t think that it’s out of the realm of possibility the club targets a defenseman at all. Maybe Holland gives his buddy Stevie Y a call and asks about Nick Leddy or Danny DeKeyser who are both playing 20 minutes a night in Detroit right now or what if Montreal is out of the playoff race, would it make sense to make a call on Ben Chiarot?

Surely any deal to bring in a LHD would be a rental considering the Oilers have Dmitri Samorukov on the verge of starting his NHL career and Philip Broberg and Markus Niemelainen right behind him.

Keep an ear out to what Bob Stauffer is saying on his radio show as the season progresses. He’ll throw out buzz phrases like “a player that would be under team control” or “somebody with term left on their deal” and all those mean is that the club is probably open to acquiring an asset who might be on an expiring contract but they’re an RFA at season’s end or somebody who’s got two or more years remaining on their current contract.

The Athletic

Success or failure for the Oilers could depend on their Duncan Keith-Cody Ceci tandem

Keith and Ceci are established NHLers, but they’re new to Edmonton and new to each other. The Oilers have invested a lot in their success, starting with 11 percent of their total cap space and significant trade assets in the case of Keith.
Despite Ceci’s modesty and despite Keith’s proficiency inside the offensive zone, both players bring value with the puck through the neutral zone. Over the past five years, Keith has been a high-end option exiting his own zone, especially as a passer. Ceci has done a strong job in terms of getting the puck into the offensive zone, a place where Keith’s numbers aren’t as good.
Where both players have negative numbers is at their own blue line. Keith and Ceci both have a long track record of allowing entries. They allow the opposition to both pass and carry the puck in, and neither has a high percentage of entry denials.
The best-case scenario for this pair would be if Ceci did mostly what he did in Pittsburgh, while Keith regains some of his historic strengths. Keith would move the puck out of the defensive zone and join in the attack offensively. Ceci meanwhile would support the attack in transition while adding a steadying presence in his own end.
The worst-case scenario would see Keith repeat his most recent season, while Ceci reverts to some of his historic weaknesses. Ceci would struggle to move the puck out of his own end and onto the attack while also failing to hold his own blue line. Keith would be a defensive liability without bringing the offence to balance it out.
Almost regardless of how Ceci plays, it’s fair to expect the Oilers to take a by-committee approach to the right side. They don’t have one dominant guy, but three players who might complement each other: Barrie in a mostly offensive role, Ceci in a mostly defensive role, and Bouchard in a two-way assignment.
If Keith struggles, Russell is the player most likely to take on a larger role. Over the past three seasons, the Oilers have allowed just 2.0 goals per hour with Russell on at five-on-five. They’ve also scored just 2.0 goals per hour.

BLH’s Thoughts: Well, so far so good. Even in last night’s defensive debacle of a hockey game Duncan Keith had a CF% rel of 9.32 and Ceci’s was 1.50 whereas Koekkoek and Barrie had a -22.51 and a -14.53 respectively.

Like I was saying during training camp, the vets are going to even out those peaks and valleys that Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear couldn’t.

Now, one thing I wasn’t expecting from Cody Ceci is how good he can hit a guy in stride if there’s even the slightest of lanes and when that’s one of your strengths and you’ve got time benders and locomotives like Connor McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi on your team, you’re in a good spot.

Ceci and Keith are the least of my worries and their performances so far validate that. I still say that we should wait until the 11th game until we start making more educated judgements though.

Spector’s Hockey

THE ATHLETIC: Kevin Kurz wonders if the San Jose Sharks can find a way to get out of the remaining three years on Evander Kane’s contract.

NBC SPORTS BAY AREA: Brian Witt wonders whether the Sharks might get into the bidding for Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel if they can somehow shed the remainder of Kane’s contract.

NBC SPORTS CHICAGO: Charlie Roumeliotis reports the Blackhawks don’t seem to be giving Dylan Strome the same opportunity everyone else is getting.