Edmonton Oilers Talk: Stauffer Throws Out TWO Names the Oilers Should be In On

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Oilers Now

Bob Stauffer and Frank Seravalli Discussing What the Oilers Need

Seravalli – “You know what they need? They need edge. They need someone that makes your team really difficult to play against.”
Stauffer – “I can give you a guy. I don’t know how much edge he plays with but there’s a player out there that can kill penalties, he can skate, he can take faceoffs, he’s a right shot, he plays right wing and center and he’s on a team where we all know what’s going to happen with that team and that’s Chicago. The player’s name is…”
Seravalli – “Let me guess… Sam Lafferty.”
Stauffer – “Sam Lafferty. $1.125M cap hit. That’s the type of player Edmonton needs to go get.”

Who Seravalli Thinks the Oilers Miss

“I think you guys miss Zack Kassian more than you think in terms of being that player that’s difficult to play against… The reason his act wore thin at the end is because of the cap hit. If you had Zack Kassian’s style of play at $750k or $1M, I think everyone looks at that a bit differently, would they not?”

Bob Stauffer’s counter

“Yes, does that player play for Philly? Is that player’s name Zack as well?… What about Zack MacEwen?”
“MacEwen is what he is. He’s a 4th line player who runs around and bangs. He doesn’t scare anybody fighting-wise, but at least you know he’ll be there. So when the Dallas Stars try to rub your nose in it a bit, you’ve got a bit of pushback.

BLH’s Thoughts: Well, Lafferty might be a player with size, speed, and an ability to thrive on the PK, but 5v5 this guy is where offense goes to die. That said, he’s probably on par with Foegele, Shore, and Janmark, but he’s also only 27 years old and playing for Chicago probably does your fancies no help. Make no mistake about it, Edmonton’s watching this guy. Maybe he becomes a throw-in in a bigger deal?…

Zack MacEwen… Is he functional when he’s not throwing hands? I like that he’s fearless and he’ll take anybody on, but at the same time if he’s not feared by the others, what else is he good for? Tyler Benson will be back in a few weeks and I know for a fact that guy will go around hitting everything that moves. We used to have Josh Archibald who’d do the same but not a lot else.

Could the Oilers actually look at re-acquiring Zack Kassian if they could get ARI to retain half of his salary? Everybody loved him here… Personally, I don’t think so. Not this season anyhow. Maybe next year when he’s on the final season of his contract.

I have a name. What about Marcus Foligno? He makes just a shade over three million a year and he’ll have one more season after this left on his deal but he’s your prototypical power forward and over that last two seasons he’s had 11 fighting majors which puts him in the top-ten of the entire league. On top of that, he’s a 45pt winger and we know that the Wild are going to be shedding salary this offseason thanks to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. So that begs the question, would you trade one of Jesse Puljujarvi or Kailer Yamamoto in a deal to bring in Foligno?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYvmg67kmMU

GM15: Oilers @ Canes

Who to Keep an Eye on for Carolina

#20 Sebastian Aho – He’s the 2nd most productive Hurricane during this micro-slump with three goals and two assists on 16 shots. Of course, four of those points came in one game… So take those numbers for what you will. However, Aho loves putting up the points against the Oilers seeing as he 20pts in 11 games against them.
#88 Martin Necas – Necas is still lighting the lamp for Carolina and he has to be a shoe-in to get his name on the scoresheet once again this evening. Five goals and seven assists in his last dozen minus two. What a threat this guy has become for the Canes.
#86 Teuvo Teravainen – Has ZERO goals on the year and a paltry five assists. He’s due to break out here. This guy is way too good not to be scoring goals and you know how it is with the Oilers and snipers needing ginos.

Who to Keep an Eye on for Edmonton

#55 Dylan Holloway – It sounds like he’s going to get promoted into Edmonton’s top six to play alongside Leon Draisaitl. The lines haven’t been posted at the time of writing yet, but if that’s the case, that’s one hell of an opportunity for this young man. I mean, he’s got the speed, the hands, the IQ, but he’s new to the league and the other thing is whenever he’s been introduced to a new level of hockey; he’s struggled out of the game. I’ve written about this time and time again. Check out his stats going back to midget. Year one, pedestrian numbers. Year two, production explosion.
#93 Ryan Nugent Hopkins – 9 goals in 19 games versus Carolina and he’s scoring at over a point-per-game pace in his last ten and his TOI is about to blow up with Evander Kane out.
#97 Connor McDavid – Can he make it 15 goals in 15 games? Traditionally, McDavid’s had a really tough time scoring vs. the Canes as he only has TWO goals in 10 career matchups against them. That said, he’s got 10 assists though, so there’s a chance that one of his linemates (Puljujarvi/Nugent-Hopkins) could cash in.

BLH’s Thoughts: The Oilers are 6-4-0 in their last ten which is a tad better than Carolina who are 5-4-1. The Hurricanes have dropped their last two and Edmonton broke a 3-game skid versus Tampa last time out.

It sounds like Freddy Andersen tweaked something in practise the other day and therefor Rod the Bod’s boys will be relying on either veteran backup Antti Raanta or rookie Pyotr Kochetkov to shut down Edmonton. Either way, I always get a bit anxious when the other team plays somebody other than their no.1 for the reason that Oilers tend to find a way to make that guy look like a bloody all-star, right Charlie Lindgren, Scott Wedgewood, and Eric Comrie?

Carolina’s bottom six scoring has all but dried up in this 5-4-1 stretch of theirs just as Edmonton’s has in their little stumble. Weird… Another Stanley Cup contending team who relies heavily on their top-6 forwards to carry the load offensively. That’ll be two teams in two days that I’ve noticed this statistical anomaly…

As for tonight’s result. It’s hard not to feel good about the Oilers going into this one and they spanked Carolina earlier in the year when Svechnikov torched them for three. I’m going to say they SHOULD win tonight but leave a bit of room for error considering the game is on the road and in Carolina where the ghosts of 2005 still float about…