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
Darnell Nurse, in context: Oilers will pay him like a franchise D, but is he more Sheldon Souray or Chris Pronger?
- Nurse’s closest Oilers match of the cap era isn’t Pronger, who deservedly retains the top spot. Instead, it’s two other defencemen, one acquired through free agency and the other via trade the day before the no-move clause on his new free-agent contract could take effect…
- The two players to whom Nurse comes closest on this scale are Sheldon Souray and Lubomir Visnovsky.
- Souray was a tough all-situations defenceman, as Nurse is. He didn’t have Nurse’s speed or puck-rushing abilities, but he was an even more intimidating fighter and was famous for the booming slap shot the Oilers coveted.
- It’s a little unfair to compare the two on the power play. Not only did Souray play with less impressive forwards, but he played for a team that prioritized the point shot.
- Where Souray was legitimately brilliant was on the penalty kill… Nurse hasn’t shown quite that caliber of play yet, though his performance in 2019-20 was better before adjusting for team strength.
- At five-on-five, Nurse is on balance the superior point producer and has better underlying metrics.
- The comparison to the often misunderstood Visnovsky is a little tougher. These days, people tend to regard Visnovsky as a power-play specialist, a la Tyson Barrie…
- Visnovsky isn’t really a comparable for Nurse. Stylistically, they’re much different. Nurse lacks that level of five-on-five brilliance but adds elements that were never really part of Visnovsky’s game.
- Nurse will have to deliver, but he won’t be alone. It will also be on the mostly veteran group around and behind him to give the coach two other good pairings.
BLH’s Thoughts: Before Nurse was drafted he was getting compared to Alex Pietrangelo and I’d say that has pretty much come to fruition save for the single-season production rate, but maybe that’s yet to come.
Souray never had the athleticism that Nurse has and Visnovsky never had the snarl. If you’re going to pick a former Edmonton Oiler to compare to Darnell, one could argue Kevin Lowe might be a decent candidate, but personally, I’d say stylistically, Chris Pronger is the best. However, Pronger was one of the dirtiest players in the game and that’s not a place Doc tends to go to.
The Athletic
How will Zach Hyman impact Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s 5-on-5 pairing? Oilers training camp questions
which under-the-radar players are worth keeping a close eye on?
- Turris spent a lot of time in Edmonton this summer. The impact is to be determined.
How does the addition of Zach Hyman impact the amount of time Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl play together at five-on-five?
- Having Hyman around should give the coach more confidence when using his two superstars on the same line whenever he so chooses; Hyman can play with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and increase the likelihood of a secondary group being effective.
How will Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci fare if, as expected, they are paired up?
- The plan when acquiring Keith was for the Oilers to give him an easier role with fewer minutes. He and Ceci and going to have to be impactful players, however, for the Oilers to have success.
How much — and in what roles — will Evan Bouchard play?
- Bouchard promises to be a regular on the blue line, all that’s left to figure out are his duties.
Will Derek Ryan ease some of Draisaitl’s tough assignments?
- Ryan is a righthanded centreman who won 52 percent of his draws last season – even if that’s the worst mark of his career – and is the type of player the Oilers have lacked under Tippett. He also played almost two minutes nightly shorthanded.
Where does Warren Foegele fit on this team?
- …with Hyman’s ability to play either wing, or if the coaching staff wanted to try Nugent-Hopkins for a bit at No. 3 centre, there might be some opportunities for Foegele to move up the lineup.
Can Zack Kassian be an effective player for the Oilers?
- …the Oilers won’t be giving up on Kassian anytime soon as long as he’s on the roster – not with that contract and not when he shows brief glimpses of being an effective contributor.
Will Tyler Benson make the team?
- It’s not now or never for Benson, but it’s getting close to that point.
Does Alex Stalock have a chance to supplant Mikko Koskinen as the backup goalie?
- It’s hard to know what to expect from Stalock considering he didn’t play at all last season. But he’d be a cheaper backup option than Koskinen with a more established track record if the Oilers wanted to use him.
BLH’s Thoughts: I feel like I’ve touched on all of this already this summer. That said, I think it’s foolish to tie an entire team’s potential for success on its second pair on defense.
NHLRumors.com
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: The latest on the top remaining restricted free agents.
- Quinn Hughes – Vancouver Canucks – A bridge deal may be the only solution as a five-year plus deal won’t come cheap.
- Elias Pettersson – Vancouver Canucks – Sportsnet’s Iain McIntyre thinks it could come in at $14 million for both Hughes and Pettersson.
- (SIGNED) Kirill Kaprizov – Minnesota Wild – The Athletic’s Michael Russo sources predict a two-year deal at $6.5 million or a six-plus deal at $9 million.
- Brady Tkachuk – Ottawa Senators – The Sens may have offered eight years at $8 million per.
- Rasmus Dahlin – Buffalo Sabres – A bridge contract may make the most sense for both sides.
- (SIGNED) Robert Thomas – St. Louis Blues – The Blues have less than $1 million in cap space and Thomas is looking for more than Jordan Kyrou‘s $2.8 million.
- Kieffer Bellows – New York Islanders – Had his name in the rumor mill at the end of the season. He was given a qualifying offer.
- Anatoly Golyshev – New York Islanders – Hasn’t played a game for the Islanders after signing back in the spring.
