Edmonton Oilers Talk: “The big topic is how the Oilers are going to move out three players in particular…”

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The Hockey Writers

Oilers Can Re-Sign Kane, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto, & McLeod for 2022-23

Puljujarvi should receive an extension for the max number of years at an AAV of $5 million or less.
Yamamoto and McLeod should get bridge deals until the Oilers know exactly what they have in them. This will allow them to control their own future and give the Oilers time to have skilled young players on good deals.
…they should take advantage of a short-term deal also worth around $5 million for Kane if possible.
The big topic is how the Oilers are going to move out three players in particular — Tyson Barrie ($4.5 million), Zack Kassian ($3.2 million), and Mike Smith ($2.2 million)… The best option for those three players is to trade them.
Expiring deals are Mikko Koskinen ($4.5 million), Kyle Turris ($1.65 million), Josh Archibald ($1.5 million), Kris Russell ($1.25 million), Brett Kulak ($925k), and Derick Brassard ($412k).
- The only possibilities here in players the Oilers would even think about bringing back are Koskinen, Kulak, and Brassard. Brassard would get $1 million or less, Kulak maybe around $2 million, and Koskinen for $2.5 million at the most in a backup role.
Duncan Keith makes way too much money to be a fourth defenceman at best, so I would consider buying out his contract.
They can realistically make it work, but it will probably cost them a draft pick or two and a good amount of shuffling around on the back end.

BLH’s Thoughts: Bob Stauffer has said that both Yamo and Jesse should be getting bridge deals, so that’ll cut down their cap hit a bit.

Can you see McLeod getting much more than what Kailer and Puljujarvi are making right now? I can’t.

Kane is an interesting case. I think the Oilers will try to re-sign him and if he’s smart he takes another one year deal for a little bit more than he’s making and shows the league what he can do over the course of an entire season with Edmonton. He’s performed this act once before with the Sharks and GMs are aware of that. The big question is, what would he be able to do in year two without contract stability.

That being said, Bob Stauffer brought up the top Russian free agent set to hit the market, Andrei Kuzmenko on his show a couple of times this week. If Kane decides the grass is greener on the other side, Ken Holland’s relationship with Kuzmenko’s agent, Dan Milstein, could come in very handy.

Right now the Canucks seem to think they’ve got the upper hand because they can offer him a guaranteed roster spot, but the Oilers have three things Jim Rutherford doesn’t,

Connor McDavid

Leon Draisaitl

A playoff team

But it may come down to the almighty dollar too… I suppose we’ll see how she goes, eh? Stauffer said Edmonton is a top-5 choice for this young man right now.

Kuzmenko is ranked number one among college, junior, and European free agents by Corey Pronman of The Athletic. He’s 26 years old and shoots right.

I wondered about a Barrie for DeBrusk deal but I asked my source out East there and was told the Bruins are commited to Lindholm, MacAvoy, and Carlo right now and will most likely turn their attention to a center if Bergeron retires.

I still think they’ll find Tyson a new home and move Philip Broberg into his slot and re-sign Brett Kulak to be his partner.

As for Zack Kassian, I was told that if they didn’t move him at the deadline (which they obviously didn’t), they would try to address that in the summer and I don’t know if they’ll need to add a sweetener. I think it’ll all depend on his the likes of Andrew Copp and Nic Deslauriers do with their new clubs this offseason. If they’re impactful, that will create a market for Zack and Edmonton might even win that trade.

Mike Smith… It wouldn’t shock me if Holland ran with him and Skinner next season at all should the no.1 keeper he’s targeting fail to materialize in the off-season. I don’t think he has a desire to trade him, buy him out, or demote him to Bakersfield. So we’ll see. The Rangers will be looking for a veteran backup for Shesterkin though…

They’re not buying Duncan Keith out…

The Cult of Hockey

Player grades: Puljujarvi and Nugent-Hopkins lead Edmonton Oilers to 5-2 win over San Jose Sharks

Kailer Yamamoto, 8. Great dive and deke on his power play goal…The ultimate glue player is sticking in on another big Oilers line this year.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 8. He rocked his return game, with seven major contributions to Grade A shots. He got an early Grade A shot off a Brassard feed, then he hit the post off a second Brassard pass. He went hard to the net, causing enough chaos for the puck to go in on Edmonton’s third goal.
Jesse Puljujarvi, 8. Best game in a long time. He made major contributions to seven Grade A shots. He, at least, came out flying in this game and threw a hard hit in the first. He also won the puck to kick off the sequence where RNH hit the post. He got his own 5-alarm shot in the second off a Devin Shore pass and a diagonal stretch by Bouchard. Drove hard to the net early in the third for a chance, then made a horizontal dart to kick off the sequence on Edmonton’s third goal.
Derick Brassard, 7. Looked fast and skilled in his debut game for Oilers. Set up RNH for two Grade As in the first, the second a 5-alarmer. Then got his own goal on a deflected shot.
Devin Shore, 7. He looked good all game. He set up JP for a Grade A and got one of his own off a Barrie feed in the second.
Tyson Barrie, 7. Edmonton’s most effective d-man this game. Like Bouchard, a fine game passing and moving the puck, but without any major mistakes on Grade A shots against.
Brett Kulak, 6. Super quiet game, just what you want from a depth d-man. He also kept a clean sheet.
Mike Smith, 6. Some big saves but created a lot of chaos for himself with erratic play.
Ryan McLeod, 3. Not his night. He put one off Kahkonen’s head off a Drai feed late in the second. But he failed to cover Karlsson on San Jose’s second goal, which led to a demotion to the fourth line.
Darnell Nurse, 5. Had some good moments but was a culprit on two goals against.

BLH’s Thoughts: Jesse looked rejuvenated last night and I’m happy he found some space to be himself.

Brett Kulak remind anybody else of a smaller better skating Jeff Petry? He’s got some fine edges on him and man is he cool under pressure. I like him so far.

Brassard, I didn’t mind at all. His line wasn’t the quickest but they got the job done. Now let’s see how they do it against one of the team’s elites this weekend down the QE2…

Lots of folks talking about Nurse this week. For what he’s making this year, he’s a steal, but the problem is, he won’t be making that next year and I think that’s what the majority of the fans who’re taking shots at him are getting at. They are projecting that he’ll still be the same player in 2023 and beyond but making almost $10M/yr and I think there’s an argument to be made there.

Look, the way I’m going to gauge it next season is I’ll be asking myself if he’s competing with his peers. Is he performing as good as Roman Josi? Would I rather have Nurse than Cale Makar or Miro Heiskanen? Is Darnell on par with Jacob Trouba and John Carlson? How are his stats comparing with Dougie Hamilton or Thomas Chabot?

For his sake, I hope the answer is a positive one or we might be looking at Shawn Horcoff 2.0. Especially if Philly Broberg takes a big jump…

On the other hand, if Darnell Nurse progresses another step and maybe learns to play within his ability, he’s going to be a terminator out there…

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey – Pierre LeBrun recently reported agent Pat Brisson, who represents Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Seth Jones, would meet this week with Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson… LeBrun believes a number of teams would be drooling over the possibility of Kane becoming available this summer.
- Charlie Roumeliotis and Scott Powers wondered what the future holds for Dylan Strome. The 25-year-old Blackhawks forward was a fixture in the rumor mill but wasn’t moved by the trade deadline.
- Corey Masisak speculates the San Jose Sharks’ addition of goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen from the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline could result in James Reimer getting shopped in the offseason.
The Daily Goal Horn – Here’s some other NHL Trade Deadline misses:
- Avalanche, Bruins, and Rangers all tried to trade for Claude Giroux (per Friedman)
- Rangers were outbid by the Flames for Calle Jarnkrok (per Friedman)
- Bruins and Kings were talking about Jakob Chychrun leading to the deadline but Arizona never got a reasonable offer (per LeBrun)
- Teams called about Zdeno Chara but Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello kept his promise not to move him (per Friedman)

BLH’s Thoughts: Edmonton was also in on Nick Paul and Artturi Lehkonen according to Bob Stauffer.