Yesterday, former NHL goaltender, current NHL pundit, and soon-to-be NHL executive Kevin Weekes was on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer and he had quite a bit to say about Edmonton’s current roster and what it lacks,
Had not for Mike Smith’s regular season, and you’ve been saying it all year Stauff, the Oil might’ve been in tough to make the playoffs this year and that’s kind of a bigger concern for me looking at it from an objective lens.
There’s some moves they’re going to have to make in the offseason. It’s a critical offseason for them as they go forward.
I don’t think they play with enough jam as a group and that’s one thing you know Winnipeg and Colorado with their big boys, they play hard. The Oil need some more Rottweilers in their group right now.
I want you to think of the best Oil teams… When the Oil went to the Cup final against Carolina, you had Jason Smith who played through how many broken bones. He was HARD to play against. Ok, well, you’ve got Darnell who’s hard to play against now. You had Jason Smith, you had Fernando Pisani, you had Raffi Torres that was a freight train, you had Jarrett Stoll that was hard to play against and hard in the middle of the ice, you saw what he did in LA and you know what he did there with the Oil.
Same thing, over the years you had Big Georges, you had Stevey Staios, you had Marty Gelinas that played hard, you had Dave Semenko that played hard, you had Charlie Huddy.
So when the Oil have been their best in the post-season, you might not be able to control the officiating, but you can control the lineup and when you’ve got more sandpaper in that lineup, again, that can play; and I’m sure Louie DeBrusk would say the same thing and Big Georges would say the same thing. When you have more sandpaper in your lineup it’s a difference-maker in the post-season.
Why?
The rink that’s 200x85ft regulation, I’m telling you, from playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it feels like someone has shrunk it to 150×50. There’s no time to breath, there’s no time to make plays and stylistically, a lot of the stuff Connor was able to do in the regular season, he’s not able to do in the post-season.
So that’s why you see a lot of these unsung heroes like a Fernando Pisani. You see some of the depth players step forward, you see what Sam Bennett was doing in South Florida after getting unshackled from Calgary because that style of game lends itself to the post-season.
Anytime the Oil have made a run and even the Cup teams, and I’ve talked to Mess about this numerous times. Any one of those teams that they had, they had a good dose of sandpaper.
I like the pieces, I like where they’re going, but I think to take the next level, you can’t control the officials, but you can control your lineup and I think they need some more Rottweilers in their lineup.
BLH’s Thoughts: I agree and disagree with Weekes. I would say that this team absolutely does need some more bite so that other clubs don’t think they can have their way with the Oilers’ stars but the regular season is built for skillers.
So, if I were GM, I’d definitely take Weekes’ advice to heart and stock up on meat tenderizers at the trade deadline. At that point, the team would be in a playoff spot safely and there’d be enough time to integrate the new skaters into the team as well.
Getting back to the Oilers and its roster, they do have players that will grind it out, but I’d say they didn’t have enough nor was the skill level high enough.
As much as I love James Neal, Alex Chiasson, and Jujhar Khaira, they weren’t as effective as the club needed them to be. Zack Kassian and Josh Archibald were fantastic but that’s only two guys. Surprisingly, the line of Tyler Ennis, Gaetan Haas, and Kailer Yamamoto were much more effective as Neal, Chaser, and JJ but the problem with running with them over a 7-game series is that they’re sure to break down. They’re simply not big enough to handle that kind of game over a long period of time.
So, if you’re the GM of the Oilers, who do you go out and get this summer to help out in the areas that Weekes is speaking to? Well, what about these forwards?
- Blake Coleman (2.04 pts/60, 7.68 hits/60)
- Barclay Goodrow (1.35 pts/60, 8.00 hits/60)
- Zach Hyman (2.14 pts/60, 4.97 hits/60)
- Luke Glendening (1.13 pts/60, 5.10 hits/60)
- Jordan Martinook (1.34 pts/60, 9.62 hits/60)
- Sean Kuraly (0.87 pts/60, 8.98 hits/60)
- Cedric Paquette (1.2 pts/60, 18.84 hits/60)
- Corey Perry (1.2 pts/60, 4.99 hits/60)
2020-21 stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com
My feeling is that you’d like a guy who’s close to two points per 60 and above eight hits per sixty if you’d like him playing in your bottom six. If he’s slated to play above that then I’d adjust the preferences a tad. The hits/60 could come down a bit but you still want his points/60 to be above two.
All those players are free agents but what about trade targets? Just off the top of my head, I do like Miles Woods and Nathan Bastian from the NJ Devils as both of those players can skate like the wind, they play a gritty game, and they’re massive.
I think the Washington Capitals are looking to shake things up a bit as their GM said the only untouchables on the roster are Niklas Backstrom and Alexander Ovechkin. As much as I think that Tom Wilson is a moron sometimes, he’s a massive threat physically every shift and he can play the game when he’s not headhunting. I also like Garnet Hathaway too. He’s got size, sandpaper, and plays a very honest brand of ice hockey, old-school if you will.
The Montreal Canadiens don’t seem to know what they have in Paul Byron and if Edmonton could find a way to steal him at a discounted salary from the Habs, he’d be a glorious addition to their bottom-six. He’s so fast and quick and he’s probably the most physical forward on their team aside from Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson.
Tampa, Vegas, and Pittsburgh are going to have some players available on the cheap this summer too due to cap compliance issues going into next season, right? What about targeting Alex Killorn, Yanni Gourde, William Carrier, or Zach Ashton-Reese?
One also might ask about Edmonton’s internal options and I would say they’re not quite there yet. Dylan Holloway will be a physical player when he’s developed into a fully mature NHL player as will Raphael Lavoie. Dmitri Samorukov and Markus Niemelainen are two more who will bring it from the blueline in the coming years.
Ultimately, what we want is a roster that is lead by the elite skill of Edmonton’s top-six but has the skill, scoring touch, grit and will power in its middle and bottom-six so that the offense cannot be fully shut down. Meaning, the other team could focus their defensive attention on Connor and Leon’s line but they’d be in a spot of bother because Edmonton’s other lines could pick up that slack.
A lineup like this for example,
Hyman-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Tatar-Draisaitl-Kassian
Holloway-McLeod-Yamamoto
Goodrow–Glendening–Hathaway
Shore
Nurse/Bear
Oleksiak/Larsson
Koekkoek/Bouchard
Broberg
Smith
Korpisalo
Could Edmonton get those skaters in green for under $12M? That’s probably debatable. I’m hesitant to say yes, and admittedly, that lineup appears to have over compensated on the physicality, but I’m just using those names as an example of the kind of players I’d personally like to see the Oilers sign. Brian Burke would most likely enjoy that team.
Anyway, what do you think about Weekes’ thoughts on the Oilers’ roster? Do they need some more Rottweilers? Let us know in the comments section below!
Give us a follow on the socials!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
