Edmonton Oilers Talk: Keith, Archibald, Sceviour, 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!

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The Athletic

Why Colton Sceviour could be an important addition for the Oilers

The need for a versatile winger became more pronounced with the Archibald news, and Sceviour’s skill set is a good match. He is undersized and a good skater, and he has surprising skill.
Archibald’s past three seasons show a slightly more successful scorer — more efficient than Sceviour, owing to a handsome 14.7 shooting percentage (including McDavid minutes).
Sceviour scores his points the old-fashioned way on the depth lines…
Sceviour has posted 1.30 points per 60 or better in the previous four seasons, so that’s a repeatable skill based on a significant sample size.
Offensively, Archibald produces a lot of chances on broken plays or quick outlets into an area to which he can skate to give a clear path.
Sceviour is also a good skater with many of the same qualities. He is superior as a thief, with his even-strength takeaways per 60 (0.95) towering over Archibald (0.41).
Sceviour is a capable replacement. The Oilers could have him on hand only to play during times when Archibald is in quarantine…

BLH’s Thoughts: From what I’ve seen of Sceviour in years passed, he’s a gritty little guy with some zip and he can score a goal now and then. The thing what separates Archibald from him is that when Archie hits a guy, he goes through him.

LT asked a good question in that post and that was, what if you woke one day and read that Archibald and Sceviour were traded for one another? Your reaction might lack any sort of enthusiasm because they’re basically the same player.

I don’t know what the club is going to do with Mr. Plandemic, but from the verbiage coming via the Edmonton sports media, it sounds like they club is giving him some time to carefully reconsider his stance and then as we get closer to the end of camp, they’ll start to apply some real pressure.

In the meantime, I don’t think they’re going to make it easy for Archibald. They’re already holding him out of skates with the rest of the group. I don’t imagine he’s attending any group meetings or other settings that involve many people in the same room.

We’ll see how this goes, but if I had to guess, I think two things might happen, he’ll either get the vaccination OR he’ll push his contract a year and simply not play. If he does opt out of the year his cap space will be available for Edmonton to use.

Oilersnation

Three Questions: The Ken Holland Presser

Arguably the most shocking moment from Ken Holland’s presser came when he revealed that Alex Stalock will be unlikely to play in 2021-22 because of a heart condition…
After wrapping up his press conference, Ken Holland jumped on Oilers Now and let Josh Archibald’s name slip (worst kept secret anyway) when asked about what will happen with the unvaccinated player on his roster…
According to PuckPedia, unvaccinated players that can’t travel with the team won’t count against the cap and aren’t paid as a result, so that makes me wonder if there’d be an appetite to simply suspend Archibald and recoup the savings?
Another thing that’s annoying a bunch of Oilers fans right now is the fact that Duncan Keith can’t participate in the first week of training camp as he remains in quarantine after getting back from the States for his COVID shot.
So how much does this first week of training camp really matter in the grand scheme of things? I honestly don’t know, but I can tell you with certainty that having Keith miss these tune-up games is a lot easier to swallow than if he was going to miss 30+ games like Archibald is going to.

BLH’s Thoughts: The first week of camp isn’t going to affect Keith in any way, shape, or form and I think the Oilers can survive quite well without Josh Archibald too.

What I’m wondering is how NHL teams might use unvaccinated players to circumvent the salary cap? It’s a dog eat dog world, folks. Don’t discount the idea.

NHLRumors.com

James Mirtle of The Athletic: Toronto Maple Leafs Kurtis Gabriel and Adam Brooks will likely be sent to the AHL, and will need to clear waivers to do so. The Leafs may have to make move to get under the cap ceiling.
Jeff Svoboda: Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said that he spoke with goaltender Joonas Korpisalo (last year of his contract) after they signed goaltender Elvis Merzlikins to a five-year contract extension.

“I think his attitude is perfect about it. He said to me, he’s not going to worry about this at all. He’s going to have a great season and go from there.”

TSN: Rasmus Dahlin‘s three-year, $6 million per year and Kirill Kaprizov‘s five-year, $9 million per deal’s help set comparables for Vancouver Canucks RFAs Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson according to Darren Dreger.
TSN: The Ottawa Senators and Brady Tkachuk’s camp continue to work on a deal.
Don Brennan: “#Senators couldn’t have really offered Tkachuk 8X8, right? There are 45 NHLers now making 8 mil-plus, and he’s already much better than 45th best in the league. In 3 yrs on that deal he might be the 100th highest paid. In 6, the 150th. Asking him to sign 8X8 is insulting.”