Edmonton Oilers Talk: Marody, James Neal, and More NHL Rumors!

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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Oilersnation (Zach Laing)

The latest on James Neal…

The Edmonton Oilers elected to not place James Neal on waivers for the purpose of a buyout Monday morning. According to our own Jason Gregor, it’s because the team is believed to be examining trade options for the veteran winger.
The Oilers, as Gregor noted in another tweet, can still place Neal on waivers for the purpose of a buyout Tuesday morning as the window remains open.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m not going to toot my own horn, but we’ve been saying here and over on the Twitter machine that the Oilers have been trying to deal James Neal and Mikko Koskinen for a good month, if not more. By the time this post is published we’ll know whether or not Ken Holland has decided to pull the trigger on a buyout or a vastly unpopular trade. Good times!

Lowetide.ca

THE 50-MAN HAIRCUT

Ken Holland made an interesting move yesterday, qualifying Cooper Marody (among others) thus retaining his rights. What does that mean? Marody could be part of a trade in the next few days, or he could get a real shot at making the roster in the fall. Edmonton needs skill in the bottom six, Marody and Tyler Benson (also qualified) could be part of the solution. The team declined to qualify Jujhar Khaira and Dominik Kahun, one wonders if a contract for one or both gets signed in the coming days.

BLH’s Thoughts: I was a little shocked that Marody got qualified. I don’t see him or Benson as part of any solutions on the Oilers bottom-six. Being able to skate in the NHL is a real thing that I think a lot of fans don’t realize and if you can’t do that at an NHL level, you’d better have something else in your toolbox.

My feeling is that Benson will stick around if he isn’t traded before the start of next season. So in the event that he’s not dealt or claimed on waivers, he’ll be given a proper shot at winning a roster spot next season because the club still sees the potential in him.

Marody, on the other hand, I’m not confident the Oilers will keep him around the organization and I’m even less certain that he wants to be a hockey player as opposed to pursuing a life in the music industry. He’s too good to be an AHL player, but he doesn’t have the boots to play in the NHL and he’s 24 yrs old. The window in his NHL career is closing fast.

It sounds like JJ Khaira is off to either Seattle or Vancouver, for what it’s worth.

Spector’s Hockey

NHL Rumor Mill – July 26, 2021

WASHINGTON HOCKEY NOW: Sammi Silber reports the possibility of the Capitals trading Evgeny Kuznetsov appears less certain after GM Brian MacLellan downplayed that notion over the weekend. “We’ve never said we’re trading Kuznetsov,” he said. “I said we were open to discussions on most of our players in the trade market and if it comes up, it comes up and if it doesn’t make sense, same as always.”

BLH’s Thoughts: The Capitals look to be trying to open up some salary cap room after dealing Brendan Dillon to the Jets yesterday. I do wonder what their plan is here. Their roster is pretty much set aside from re-signing Ovechkin and Ilya Samsonov and they’ve got $13M is cap room to fill-in the rest of their roster. If they do deal Kuznetsov, that’ll create a massive hole on their 2nd line but it could open up another $8M-ish in cap room.

The Caps are an aging squad. I’m very curious as to how they play out their offseason this summer.

Daily Goal Horn

NHL Rumors: Blackhawks in on Marc-Andre Fleury; Mike Hoffman hits market; and Bruins let Nick Ritchie walk

Scott Powers of The Athletic said a source informed him the Blackhawks were interested in Marc-Andre Fleury just after the Duncan Keith deal… Elliotte Friedman is now noting that the Knights had a potential trade fall through but wasn’t sure if it was Robin Lehner to the Devils/Red Wings or Fleury to Chicago. Keep an eye on this one.
Hoffman, 31, struggled this season but came on late for the Blues. He finished with 36 points in 52 games and will help several teams looking for some scoring… The goal scoring winger took a one year deal with the Blues and does not have interest in another short-term contract. It’s said he wants at least 4-5 years and at over $5M AAV.
In a bit of a surprising move, the Bruins did not qualify forward Nick Ritchie. He is now a 25 year-old UFA and will garner a lot of interest on Wednesday.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m shocked that there’s speculation that Hoffman is going to get $5M/yr on a mid-term contract. He’s aging and I don’t think he had the greatest of seasons last year.

My belief is that the New York Rangers are going to take a swing at Ritchie, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t stop there. Keep in mind, there are still Kassian/Georgiev rumors flying about…