Edmonton Oilers Talk: “We also know that the Oilers have had an interest in him at multiple points over the last 12 months.”

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The Athletic

There are somehow no favorites in the East, plus the Zegras stuff, a Flames slump, some Oilers questions and more

All the standard criticisms of the Oilers in the McDavid Era still seem to apply. There’s not enough depth. The blue line isn’t good enough. The goaltending is bad, and they somehow let the deadline go by without improving it.
They can still beat anyone on any given night because it’s the NHL, but when they run into a real contender playing anywhere near the height of their game, you get what we had last Saturday when the Flames pumped nine goals past them. They’ll be lucky to win a round.
I’d want no part of playing these guys in the playoffs, if only for the McDavid/Draisaitl factor.
…we have to acknowledge that this team has been pretty good under Jay Woodcroft, going 17-7-2. They’ve won four straight, and 10 of 13, and have largely locked in their playoff spot.
It would be nice to see the Oilers have a few of those down the stretch, or at least some wins where the degree of difficulty isn’t as high as possible.
…for now, they’re Schrodinger’s Contender — bad enough that the idea of them scaring anyone is laughable, as long as it’s not your team that has to play them.

BLH’s Thoughts: Interesting cherry pick of that Flames game to support the point there… I suppose the recent games against Colorado, Tampa, Florida, and Carolina don’t count. Beating the Capitals a couple of times is probably the equivalent to defeating the Coyotes.

The Oilers are .500 against Calgary, so not even an “real contender” has a clear advantage on them.

As thing stand, Edmonton has a 2-1-0 record vs. LA, they played the Avs once and took them to OT where Nazem Kadri may have gifted them the two points on that night. In addition to that, St. Louis is 1-2-0 vs McDavid’s men and the Predators haven’t been able to skate away with a ‘W’ in either game with the Oilers this year.

Vegas is out of the playoff picture right now but they’re heating up and they may very well sneak in. Their record against Edmonton this year is 1-2-0…

In terms of regular season teams that the Oilers might want to avoid, Dallas and Minnesota are undefeated in games versus Edmonton.

So, tell me more about how Ken Holland’s team should be afraid of the “real contenders”. This club is most likely going to head into the playoffs on fire and that is a very dangerous thing.

I will say this though, I do agree with McIndoe that the defense isn’t good enough and the netminding isn’t good enough, but you do know what the beauty of making it to the dance means, right? It means anything can happen baby!

Oilersnation

Weekly NHL Rumours – Next Season’s Goaltending Options

I feel pretty confident saying that Stuart Skinner will be up with the Oilers next season on a full-time basis just because the Oilers are facing a cap crunch and Skinner’s cap hit is only $750k.
The conversation around Smith is a lot more complex though. He turned 40-years-old last month and while yes, he is under contract, there’s no guarantee that he plays next year.
If the Oilers decide they want to move on from Smith, then they could look to either bury his contract or buy him out this summer.
The Oilers would save around $1.1 million in cap space if they decided to bury Smith next season… If they opted to buy out Smith then they would save $1.66 million next season but have an $833k penalty in 2023-24.
There are four names that stand out among UFA goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury, Jack Campbell, Darcy Kuemper, and Ville Husso.
- Fleury likely wouldn’t sign here considering he wouldnt waive his NMC at the deadline for the Oilers.
- I could see Campbell re-signing in Toronto as well.
- Kuemper would probably be the more expensive of the two just because he’s more established as number one. We also know that the Oilers have had an interest in him at multiple points over the last 12 months.
- Husso is intruiging for a number of reasons. On top of likely being cheaper than Kuemper, he’s also five years younger and that could be something the Oilers like.
- There has also been some talk that the New Jersey Devils could be looking to move Mackenzie Blackwood this summer. He has one more year and a cap hit of $2.8 million before becoming an RFA.
- There is also talk that the Washington Capitals likely won’t want to bring back both Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanacek next season.

BLH’s Thoughts: I really feel like Holland has to get the top netminder in this year’s FA class or else he’ll never hear the end of it. I mean, knowing this fanbase and the media, they’ll probably find something to bitch and moan about as it is. All I’m saying is that if he grabs Husso, the cries for blood might not be so loud.

Trade Rumors

Spector’s Hockey: Jim Matheson recently suggested the Oilers could be among the teams interested in Ville Husso if the St. Louis Blues goaltender tests this summer’s free-agent market.
- In a recent mailbag segment, Tarik El-Bashir wrote he doesn’t see the Washington Capitals going into next season with their current tandem of Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov.
- Fluto Shinzawa believes DeBrusk has made himself too invaluable for the Bruins to trade in the offseason unless his performance tumbles in the postseason.
- Curtis Pashelka recently reported the San Jose Sharks could be forced to make one or two cost-cutting moves to free up salary-cap space to re-sign Alexander Barabanov.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’m of the belief that Ville Husso is at the top of his shopping list and that he’s had his eye on him since well before Christmas.

Now, we all know what Holland’s going to be tasked with doing this summer in addition to getting that no.1 keeper. The RFAs need to be addressed and bringing back Evander Kane is going to need to be entertained.

But getting back to the goaltending, it might not matter who Holland eventually signs if the team in front of that goalie refuses to get their game out of the 1980s.

Personally, I would suggest trading one of the puck movers for a shutdown defender just to balance out the back end a bit and if Kane walks, would it make sense to move RNH back up to LW and then to sign a 3C off the open market? Maybe somebody like Johan Larsson would do the trick there.