Edmonton Oilers Talk: Kulak, Ellis, Gallagher, Next Year’s Roster, and More!

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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Lowetide

• This is it, you know. A quick exit and who knows what happens, but a strong showing in the postseason would mean progress and, perhaps as important, no need for turnover.
• The Oilers win a round, push deep in the second round and maybe ride a hot goalie to the final four.
• The recent games suggest a buy-in on what the coaching staff is saying, and the goaltending looks better than could have been hoped for based on long stretches of the season.
• The big item during the offseason is to return a roster that is better than the one currently playing in these games. It’s important to get better.

BLH’s Thoughts: One thing that bugs me about this right off the bat is the assumption that should the Oilers lose in the first round, the roster should be turned over. Why? If Edmonton had better luck health-wise this year they’d be Pacific Division champs or close to it. Why would you want to turn that sort of roster over after one series?

The second assumption that grinds my gears here is that the 2022/23 roster won’t be better that this year’s. My personal feeling is that aside from re-signings and FA/trade additions, next season the Oilers’ campaign won’t be affected by COVID like it was this year, there will be fewer new faces that will need time to get used to Jay Woodcroft’s systems, and the call-ups (Holloway, Savoie, Lavoie, Desharnais, Broberg, Niemelainen, etc.) will be that much better. So, organically the club is going to improve as its young players take the next step in their development. 

Now, if you want to talk about certain minor aspects of the roster coming back better, there might be a conversation to be had there, however, I don’t see those shortcomings being all that impactful in a macro sense.

On the whole though, this team will be as good or better than this year, book it. 

The Athletic

Is Kulak a strong candidate for signing?

• Broberg and Niemelainen can begin the season in the minors, and Samorukov will challenge in training camp if he’s healthy.
• At the very least, Kulak would be a suitable upgrade on No. 7 Kris Russell, but his fine play in early games for Edmonton suggests he can handle third-pairing minutes and calm the waters when Barrie is on the ice.
• Kulak is playing out the final year of a three-year deal with a $1.85 million cap hit. His next contract probably includes a slight bump, but a $2 million third-pairing defenceman who can help settle down the defence, chip in on the penalty kill and contribute to overall team speed should cover the bet.
• Kulak has good possession numbers in both cities and is helping Edmonton outscore when he’s on the ice. 

BLH’s Thoughts: Between Derrick Brassard and Kulak, the defenseman has been the more impressive of the two so far. I wouldn’t mind a short-term re-signing here if it meant the club would be adopting the 11-7 model more often than not next season, but I don’t know if that will be the case. I assume we’re going to find out what this club is lacking on its defense after the upcoming post-season. 

For me, the Oilers defense lacks size and physicality and if I had to take a stab at telling the future, I would say Edmonton will get knocked out of the playoffs this year because their defense couldn’t hold up against a bigger heavier team who employs a rabid forecheck and that means the likes of Tyson Barrie, Brett Kulak, and possibly Evan Bouchard would be replaced by an older more experienced rearguard who is adept at what they aren’t. 

Trade Rumors

• Spector’s Hockey: Pierre LeBrun reports there’s been ongoing talk between the Pittsburgh Penguins and defenseman Kris Letang. While Letang wants to focus on the season, there’s been more of a connection between his camp and the Penguins, though the progress has been slow.
  • The Athletic’s Josh Yohe guesses Malkin stays, Letang signs with the Montreal Canadiens and Rust cashes in with his hometown Detroit Red Wings.
• The Daily Goal Horn: (Kent) Hughes would probably like to unload the final five seasons of (Brendan) Gallagher’s six-year, US$39-million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of $6.5 million.
  • The Habs should have no shortage of suitors if they place him on the trade block. One team that Cowan highlights are the L.A. Kings.
• The Fourth Period: According to one source, some within the Flyers wonder if (Ryan) Ellis even wants to be part of the organization. As I was told earlier in the week, Ellis has not been seen around the team in three weeks.

BLH’s Thoughts: Ellis for Gallagher anybody?

Ryan Ellis is a fantastic defensemen when he’s healthy, as an Oilers fan, I’d love to have him on the blue line in Edmonton but not at his full ticket ($6.5M/yr for another five years). He does look like the kind of vet Ken Holland would get his hands on if he could though. For you, if Ellis could be had for $3.25M/yr until he’s 36 years old, would that be of interest or would you prefer to keep developing Evan Bouchard into a top-four dman and either promote 6’7″ hulking defender Vincent Desharnais or acquire a cycle-buster via free agency or trade?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBDad28CpY0