Edmonton Oilers Talk: JT Miller, Claude Giroux, William Lagesson, and the Latest NHL Rumors!

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!

The latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation comes from all of the internet’s top sites like Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, and TSN just to name a few!

If you’re short on time but want to keep up with the day’s Oilers news, you’ve come to the right place!

Give us a follow on the socials!

Oilersnation

Tough Times

Sure, being harder to play against can help.
It would also help if the penalty kill could get out of its own way and regain some of the form is displayed early this season.
It would also help the cause if Mike Smith could manage to get healthy and stay healthy or if Stuart Skinner would take the job.
I’ve still got hope for Skinner, but he shat the bed in the third period with the rest of the team vs. Ottawa and now he’s out on COVID protocol. That means Mikko Koskinen gets the net Thursday.
I’m still not exactly sure what “DO SOMETHING” entails, but I’ve got a text into Whitney and I’ll pass along anything that might be helpful or at least funny if I hear back.
Until then, making a point of being harder to play against starting Thursday can’t hurt the Oilers, even though I expect they’ll get rolled by the Panthers anyway.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Flames torched the Panthers last night and I would bet it had a lot to do with outworking them considering that’s a hallmark of Darryl Sutter’s teams.

Does anybody else think the Oilers should take a page out of Sutter’s book? Maybe this roster would have a tough time doing that considering it’s not the biggest nor the most physical, but its skill level is leaps and bounds better than what Calgary has and if the skillers can add a hard hat and lunchbox to their wardrobes, that would make that that much more dangerous of a team to play against.

I’m just really worried that Tippett’s men are going to try and outscore the Panthers and get burnt for it… The latest line combos sort of speak to that game plan, do they not?

Lines remain the same…
Perlini-McDavid-Yamamoto
Hyman-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Foegele-McLeod-Kassian
Shore-Ryan-Sceviour Benson rotating in.

Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Barrie
Russell-Bouchard

Koskinen. Smith skated on his own earlier in the day.

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) January 18, 2022

All I ask for, and I imagine lots of fans too, is they don’t quit and they make it as difficult as possible for the Panthers to come away with 2pts. Protect the middle, keep the panthers in the muck.

Cult of Hockey

Edmonton Oilers make a move, waiving defender William Lagesson

Remember last season when Edmonton Oilers preferred to waive their #3 goaltender rather than to risk losing defenceman William Lagesson?… It seems that’s changed.
The Oilers placed the 25-year-old Swedish defenceman on the waiver wire on Tuesday, presumably to make room for the return of Kris Russell from Long Term Injured Reserve. Russell has been practicing with Evan Bouchard on the third pairing these last couple of days.
While it’s undeniable that the player had a tough game in his last outing, it nonetheless seems an odd time to potentially be giving up on a long-term prospect. But when it comes to the Edmonton Oilers, these are indeed odd times.

BLH’s Thoughts: Well, I would say things have changed for sure. The emergences and debuts of Philip Broberg, Dmitri Samorukov, and Markus Niemelainen is what’s changed. The Oilers can afford to lose a defender like Lagesson on waivers knowing that they’ve got sufficient replacements on hand.

Wild Bill’s not been happy this year and you can’t really blame him but he can only control what he can control. His coach prefers vets to play with Evan Bouchard, simple as that. It’s a numbers game and Lagesson isn’t winning it. All he can do is work his ass off and hope somebody else sees that and appreciates it enough to give him a chance in another market.

The Daily Goal Horn

“One of the teams that has really been all over J.T. Miller to bring him back is the New York Rangers,” Servalli noted. “Are there younger pieces on the Rangers’ roster that they’d be willing to part with rather than just draft picks? And how important would it be for them to be in a spot where they have that extra year of J.T. Miller and not have to sweat (what his next contract) looks like.
“I would bet that (Claude) Giroux gets traded,” Friedman said. “I just think they have to figure out between him and them where it’s gonna go. I could see a situation where they say to him, ‘OK, why don’t you go chase a Cup this year and we’ll figure it out all out.’”

BLH’s Thoughts: Man, JT Miller could be exactly what the Oilers are lacking. Would you trade RNH for him? Would that even be enough or maybe it would be too much? What do you think?