Edmonton Oilers Talk: Top 10 Trade Targets, Reasons for the Slump, Some Good News, and the Latest NHL Rumors

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

Did we just see rock bottom for the Oilers?

Believe it or not, there’s some good news here if you look hard enough.
- A big part of the recent slump is that Leon Draisaitl has gone cold, or at least what passes for cold when you’re that good, and we’ve seen this before and know it’s probably temporary.
- Connor McDavid has looked mortal too, with just 13 points in his last 13 games, and we know that won’t last.
Beyond that, this team is still dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak and various other injuries, so maybe we shouldn’t read too much into this current streak.
Mike Smith will get healthy eventually, and might even stay that way.
And yes, it still sounds like Kane is on the way, despite all the history. As a wise man once said about facing a moral dilemma, “whatever”.

BLH’s Thoughts: It’s funny, as I watched Edmonton losing to the Ottawa Senators I noticed something. Leon was consistently taking the puck over the other team’s blue line about 10 feet and then stopping and giving it away either by a blind backhand pass or by losing a puck battle on the boards. Right in that spot where an NHL superstar can’t be losing pucks because those turnovers lead to odd-man rushes the other way…

Now, that to me signifies a player who’s really down on his confidence.

When Draisaitl is flowing, he’s a steaming German locomotive and he takes that puck right into the other team’s zone deep.

But McIndoe raises some good points there. I mean, he’s probably being overly generous but nevertheless, the Oilers have a very challenging rest of the season to go here and if they can’t halt this streak by the end of January, they’d might as well kiss their season goodbye and prepare for the onslaught…

Edmonton Sun

This isn’t a slump, the Edmonton Oilers have serious problems

…the Oilers have nine wins in their last 25 starts (9-14-2). That’s a big enough sample size to suggest they aren’t going to pull out of this.
The most glaring issue is goaltending. It’s killing this team. No matter who they put in net, the save percentages over the last 14 games are nothing short of embarrassing.
- Mikko Koskinen: .875, .846, .903, .800, .897, .857.
- Mike Smith: .879, .854, .906.
- Stuart Skinner: .882, .900, .947, .824, .800.
The offence, held to two or fewer goals in nine of the last 14 games, has been just as bad as the goaltending since things went off the rails.
Jesse Puljujarvi, for all of his Bison King folk hero popularity, is having a miserable run. He’s goalless in 19 of his last 22 games despite playing almost all of them with McDavid.
For Zach Hyman, it’s no goals in 18 of his last 20 games. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hasn’t been scoring all year and Kailer Yamamoto, despite showing signs of life recently (three goals and four assists in seven games) has 13 points in his first 35 games.
Even the big stars aren’t themselves. McDavid and Draisaitl each have one point in the last three games and they’ve both been held pointless in the same game five times in the 2-10-2 slide.
The defence isn’t big enough and doesn’t defend well enough to win now, much less deep in the season and in the playoffs when both of those ingredients skyrocket in value.
…between cap restrictions, no movement clauses, lack of trading chips (outside of a first round pick that’s getting more valuable with each loss), getting significant help from outside is going to be tough.

BLH’s Thoughts: After reading that, is there any need for comment… I mean, how do you fix that without using some really old hockey phrase like, “They’re just going to have to bear down and work their way out.”? I mean, it might be true, but that’s not the answer you’re looking for.

David Staples was saying in one of his posts that right now there’s a feeling similar to when Todd McLellan was let go and I agree. The air is thick with anxiety around this club, but you have to wonder if a different voice is needed? I mean it worked for the Penguins when they let Michel Therrien go and brought up Dan Bylsma.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpPTr0qwsjQ

NHL Trade Talk

Top 10 NHL Trade Targets To Watch as Teams Prep for Deadline

Tomas Hertl – SJ – Hertl has been non-committal about sticking with the Sharks and he’s been a machine this season for the team, posting 31 points in 38 games.
Jakob Chychrun – ARI – There’s a lot of chatter surrounding Jakob Chychrun, but there’s no guarantee the Coyotes move him.
Joonas Korpisalo – CBJ – If a team feels like they badly need someone, Korpisalo’s name will continually pop up as someone teams are looking at.
Ben Chiarot – MTL – Chiarot is experienced, affordable, and can eat a ton of minutes for a team looking for a left-shot option.
Reilly Smith – VGK – Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff writes, “If Nick Foligno fetched one first- and two fourth-round picks, Smith should net a better return.”
Mark Giordano – SEA – There’s been lots of chatter about Mark Giordano going back to the Calgary Flames, but any team that has sufficient cap space and a need for a veteran blueliner with great leadership skills might be interested.
Lawson Crouse – ARI – He’s big and skilled and should provide a presence while a team tries to physically battle through numerous rigorous playoff series.
Phil Kessel – ARI – How bad the Coyotes want to move Kessel will factor into whether or not he gets moved and that’s not entirely clear.
Jake DeBrusk – BOS – If you’re moving assets for the player, you’ll likely be doing so with the plan to re-sign him and that won’t be cheap.
Max Domi – CBJ – Domi could be a good fit in a middle-six role on a contending team that has around $3 million in cap space to spare.