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!
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The Athletic
Should the Oilers sign Evander Kane and what would it look like?
- He is 30, unlikely to be seeking a long-term agreement and human nature suggests he’ll be eager to prove himself.
- Kane’s skill is a brilliant match for Edmonton’s current roster. He has size, speed, goal scoring ability (20-plus goals five times, 30 goals twice), plays with an edge and can intimidate opponents. For his career, he has averaged 28 goals per 82 regular season games.
- If the two skill lines feature Connor McDavid with Kane and Puljujarvi, while Draisaitl centres Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman, the Oilers should be a more formidable offensive team.
- Holland values veterans and the leadership they bring, so Kane’s actions over several seasons and with multiple teams would be viewed through that lens.
- If he’s completely healthy, it’s likely Kane will play at similar levels to his last NHL season. That’s a player who can help you win.
- As it is, this year’s Oilers are more than one player away and the risks are there. Holland is notorious for conservative decision making, signing Kane to a team-friendly short-term deal is unlikely to be pursued.
- Kane will sign somewhere, and the numbers (including age) strongly suggest he will flourish.
BLH’s Thoughts: Another thing that we know is that Holland takes the temperatures of potential moves and draft picks before he pulls the trigger. We know of his interest in Philip Broberg well ahead of the team picking him. The Duncan Keith trade didn’t exactly come out of left-field, Zazh Hyman was coming to Edmonton while he was still playing for the Maple Leafs, Jacob Markstrom, Darcy Kuemper, etc etc etc.
Now, specifically to the Keith trade. There was major heat on Holland when the deal was still a rumor and he went ahead and pulled the trigger anyhow because he knew the veteran could help the team and was that not around the same time the Kyle Beach thing was going on for Chicago? Holland would’ve surely known about that…
I think we should all be aware that Ken Holland was also the man that introduced the NHL to Sean Avery and gave him 75 games before shipping him to LA for Mathieu Schneider.
What I’m getting at is if Holland believes a guy like Evander Kane will help his team and he can get him, he will. Public perception be damned.
The way I see it is that of all the team’s who’ve been publicly listed as interested (FLA, TB, CAR, EDM, TOR), Kane’s going to get the most playing time in Edmonton and Toronto IF he’s deployed as a LWer.
I think for him, where he chooses to play will speak a lot to his willingness to get back on the straight and narrow. Should he sign with a team in a market that isn’t necessarily considered a “hockey market”, that, to me, would indicate that he’s probably still looking to stay under the radar and avoid a bit of personal accountability. Whereas if he chose Edmonton or Toronto, he’d be in the fishbowl for all to see and nowhere to run. It’d say that he’s willing to be transparent to a certain degree I reckon.
I will throw out another team for you though, the Anaheim Ducks. They’ve got an absurd amount of cap room ($20M+), their top LWer is Brayden Tracy, and they’re looking good to make the post-season. He wouldn’t have to travel far either… But as it stands, it’s really up to the Ducks if they want a guy like him or not.
Nashville is another team that Jason Gregor threw out too.
FWIW, Gregor might be a guy to pay close attention to as his nephew plays in San Jose and was a teammate of Kane. He might have a different view on the troubled LWer than most.
Also, Ken Holland has a long history with Kane’s agent Dan Milstein considering that Milstein reps a ton of Russian players and the Red Wings have employed a few over the years.
The Cult of Hockey
Edmonton Oilers throwing in the towel? No, this is Ken Holland being prudent
- This in from Sportsnet’s reporter extraordinaire Elliotte Friedman, his “ 32 Thoughts ” podcast report that the Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland is now rejecting the idea of trading away the team’s first round pick this year, something he had previously said he was open to doing.
- “What I’m hearing is they want to get back healthy, get everyone back in the line-up, anyone who tests positive doesn’t have to test again for three months, and see where they go and kind of judge from there. But I still stand to my point that they realize that missing the playoffs is not an option.”
- Holland would only deal the first rounder it’s because he thinks it would be something like the 25th overall pick or later in the draft, Friedman said.
BLH’s Thoughts: So we can probably deduce from the fact that Holland isn’t trading that first rounder right now that he’s not trading for Marc-Andre Fleury or Ben Chiarot any time soon and that lends itself to the second comment above that Holland wants to see what this roster can do when it’s healthy before he decides to make any drastic changes.
If they come back after this with a full roster and they continue to lose, maybe then he rolls the dice because it’s hard enough to make the playoffs every year from the get-go let alone when you’re chasing the pack from lower in the standings. So many other things have to happen in your favor to win those post-season spots in the standings.
A mid-first rounder should be held onto until the draft weekend as it is anyhow. You never know which teams will be willing to trade down or trade up or which players will become available at that time. It’s simply a much more flexible time of year for GMs.
NHLRumors.com
- Larry Brooks of the NY Post: Dallas Stars defenseman John Klingberg will be linked to the New York Rangers as the NHL trade deadline draws nearer. The Rangers have the salary cap space and the prospects to possibly get a deal done.
- George Richards of Florida Hockey Now: The Florida Panthers will definitely be buyers ahead of the March 21st NHL trade deadline… Potential trade targets could include Jakob Chychrun, John Klingberg, Ben Chiarot, Mark Giordano and Nick Leddy.
- Steve Macfarlane of Calgary Hockey Now: There will be teams interested in ‘free agent’ Evander Kane… The Calgary Flames appeared to have some chemistry issues last season. Would they be able to handle bringing Kane into the mix?
